I
am heartily thankful I was taught to say 'Yes Ma'am, and 'No, ma'am,'
'Yes, Sir, and No, Sir.' Now it is--'Yah! Yes, No, What, etc. Nothing
is a greater letter of credit than politeness and it costs nothing. T'is not
the child's fault but the parents and teachers.
I was, when a child, always doing something; was very fond of
climbing; seemed to have a mania for it. I never saw a tall tree that I
did not try to climb, or wish I could. I used to run bareheaded over the
fields and woods with the other children, lifting up rocks and logs to look
at the bugs and worms. When we found a dead chicken, bird, rat or
mouse, we would have a funeral. I would usually be the preacher and we
would kneel down and while one prayed, the rest would look through
their fingers, to see what the others were doing. We would sing and clap
our hands and shake hands, then we would play: "Come and see."
I never had but one doll, bought out of a store, it was given to me by
Dr. Jackson for taking my medicine, when I was sick. We made rag
dolls out of dresses. My delight was to have one of the colored women's
babies. We would go visiting and take our dolls, and would tell of the
dreadful times we had and of how mean our husbands were to the children;
sometimes one would tell of how good instead. And then we would
catch bees in the althea blooms. One of the delightful pastimes was to
make mud cakes and put them on boards to dry.
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