"Nawsuh, I ain’t never had no schoolin’, ’ceptin’ what I could git outen de little white folks’ books myself. Us niggers useta tote dere books to school for ’em an’ on de way I would look in de book an’ git a little learnin’.
"When us niggers on de McAlpin place et, us et raght at de same table dat de white folks et at. Atter dey finished dere meal, us slaves would sit down raght atter dem an’ eat de same kinda food. Yassuh.
[Illustration: _Tom McAlpin, Birmingham, Alabama_]
"Sho’ I ’members de war. I ’members when de war commence’, Jeff Davis called for volunteers; den a little later when de south needed mo’ mens to fight, Jeff Davis’ officers would go th’ough de streets, an’ grab up de white mens an’ put ropes ’roun’ dere wrists lak dey was takin’ ’em off to jail. An’ all de while dey was jus’ takin’ ’em off to de war. Dey made all de white mens go. It was called de ’scription. Some niggers went too. Dem niggers fought raght side of dere masters. Some went as body guards an’ some went as soldiers.
"Yassuh, Boss, I recalls de time dat de ’federate soldiers, bless dere souls, hid dere few hosses in de basement of de old Masonic Institute in Talladega an’ hid dere amunition in de hollow stone pillars. Gen’l Wilson an’ his raiders come th’ough dar, but dey never did fin’ dem 'federate supplies. Dem Yankees jus’ lak to scare eve’ybody roun’ de place to death. Dey shot up de town an’ dem blue coats tuk eve’ything we had: cotton, sugar, flour, hams, preserves, clothes, corn; eve’ything, Boss, eve’ything. Dey even burned up some houses.
"But Boss, dere ain’t never been nobody afightin’ lak our ’federates done, but dey ain’t never had a chance. Dere was jes’ too many of dem blue coats for us to lick. I seen our ’federates go off laughin’ an’ gay; full of life an’ health. Dey was big an’ strong, asingin’ Dixie an’ dey jus knowed dey was agoin’ to win. An’ boss, I seen ’em come back skin an’ bone, dere eyes all sad an’ hollow, an dere clothes all ragged. Boss, dey was all lookin’ sick. De sperrit dey lef’ wid jus’ been done whupped outten dem, but it tuk dem Yankees a long time to do it. Our 'federates was de bes’ fightin’ men dat ever were. Dere warn’t nobody lak our ’federates.