the name of my master, D. J. Estes, who owned my mother's family,
consisting of seven boys and two girls, I being the youngest of the
family.

After the war broke out all the male slaves in the neighborhood for
miles around ran off and joined the "Yankees." This left us little folks
to bear the burdens. At the age of five I had to carry water from the
spring about a quarter of a mile from the house, drive the cows to and
from the pastures, mind the calves, gather chips, etc.

In 1867 my mother moved to Nashville, Tennessee, my grandmother's home,
where I attended one term of school. Two of my brothers were lost in the
war, a fact that wrecked my mother's health somewhat and I thought I
could be of better service to her and prolong her life by getting work.
When summer came I got work milking cows for some neighbors, for which I
got two dollars a month. I also carried hot dinners for the laborers in
the fields, for which each one paid me twenty-five cents per month. All
of this, of course, went to my mother. I worked at different places
until I was sixteen years old, but long before that time I was taking
care of my mother.

At the age of sixteen I was employed in Nashville by a restaurant-keeper
named Hemphill. I worked there until I was twenty-one years of age. In
1881 I came to Chicago and got a position at 77 Clark Street, where I
remained for two years at a salary of ten dollars a week.

In 1883 I entered the Pullman service, my first superintendent being J.
P. Mehen. I remained in their service until 1897. During the time I was
in their service some of the most prominent people in the world traveled
in the car assigned to me, as I was selected to handle all special