Page:Memorials of a Southern Planter.djvu/62

54 MEMORIALS OF A SOUTHERN PLANTER. "Marster did eberything to comfort he people on comin' to Mississippi, eberything to comfort 'em. "Marster gib we all new fryin'-pans an' buckets for de journey. De big famblys he gib two buckets to. You see we sell all our things. We git good prices for 'em, too, 'fore we leff Figinny. He gib me one bucket. Dey make me very mad, 'cause dey tik my bucket to water de horses and de muels an' eberything. I say, 'Who got my bucket?' Eberybody say, 'I dunno.' So I say, 'Lem my bucket alone; marster done gib it to me. Nobody sharn't hab it.' Den one day I was settin' down, an' my bucket was by me, an' de ober- seer or some o' de white folks sen' for my bucket. I say, 'Lem my bucket 'lone. I don't keer who wants it. Marster gib it to me. Ef he want it he ken hab it, but nobody else.' Den de oberseer come an' say, 'Harriet, give me that bucket.' 'I won't. It is mine. Marster gib it to me.' Den he went to marster an' tole him dat I say dat. Den marster say, 'You let Harriet alone; let her bucket alone, every one of you. Do not touch it.' "When we come to Raymond marster say, 'This is the last town. If you want to buy anything, go in an' buy.' "So we all 'eluded dat, seein' 'twas de las' town, we would go in an' buy. I went in an' buy cups an' saucers an' plates an' coffee-pot an' things. Den when we got to de Burleigh land we was all right. I was jes' as well satisfied as eber I was in ole Figinny jes' as soon as I got settled." Mammy Harriet's testimony of the life and character of her master, taken down in the freshness of her grief for his loss, is not arranged with any system. It seems best to set it down just as she said it. She grew up with him. They were never separated until the last few years of his life, when he had not the means of supporting his faithful old servants about his person. He did not fail to provide her with such comforts as he was able to pay for as long as he lived. "Law, I tells eberybody dat mammy is jes' as well off as she was in slave'y times," her daughter has said, in seeing