Valmar Cormier
From:
Texas
VALMAR CORMIER was born a slave to Duplissent Dugat, a small
slave-holder of Lafayette, Louisiana. He tells his story in a
mixture of English and French. As far as he knows, he is nearly 90
years old. He now lives with his sister, Mary Moses, in the Pear
Orchard Settlement, in Beaumont, Texas.
"I 'member de day my old marster go to de war. I kin 'member dat jes'
like yesterday. He used to like to play de fiddle and make me dance when
I was li'l, but he went to de war and got kilt. He name Duplissent
Dugat. Mary, my sister, she don't 'member de old marster.
"De slaves did de work on dat farm. Dey was two growed-ups, my mama,
Colaste, and my uncle, and dere was us two chillen. My father was a
white man, a white Creole man. I never carry he name till after freedom.
"Marster was jes' a poor man and he have jes' a ordinary house. De slave
house was jes' a old plank house 'bout twelve feet by twenty feet and
have dirt floor. Us cook in de big fireplace and take a log 'bout four
foot long and have a big iron pot with a iron lid. Dey put red hot coals
under de pot and on top de lid and dey have a big iron poker with a hook
on it what dey took de lid off with.
"Befo' dey have coal oil lamp dey used to use homemake candles. Dey'd
kill de brutes and keep and save all de tallow and one day was set off
to make de candles. All de neighbors come and dey have kind of party and
eat and things. Sometime dey make three, four hunnerd candles in one day
and lay dem in a big box, so dey won't git break.
"Us make soap on de plantation, too. Dey melt de tallow and cracklin's
and git lye out de fireplace ash. We have cotton and corn and potatoes
growin', so we has plenty to eat. Us have coosh-coosh, dat cornbread and
meat, and some fish to eat. Snails us jes' go through de woods and pick
dem up and eat dem jes' like dat. Us eat plenty crawfish. De chillen git
string and old piece fat meat and tie on de end, and us go to de bog and
drap de string down dat crawfish hole. When de old man grab de meat with
he pincher, den us jerk us up a crawfish, and bile him in hot water, or
make de gumbo.
"Us drink French coffee befo' de war, but endurin' de war us couldn't
git de good kind. Den us make coffee out of coffee weed. Dey parch dat
weed in de iron oven, grind it and put it in de iron pot.
"I seed de sojers and I run under de house, I was so scared. Mary, she
hide under de bed in de house. De Yankees come take de cattle and went
'way with dem. I kin sho' rec'lect when dose sojers come and de road was
full goin' day and night. De Yankees find a lot of Confed'rate sojers
close to Duson, de other side of Rayne and dey captures lots and brung
dem back by dere.
"After while it all over and dey told us we free, but my mama kep'
working for old missus after freedom, 'cause old marster, he kilt in dat
war. Den old missus die and left three li'l chillen, but I don't know
what happen to them, 'cause us go to another place and I plow and Mary
she he'p pick cotton.
"I git marry at 20 and my first wife de French gal. We marry by de
priest in de church. Us have so many chillen us have to keep a map to
account for all dem, dere was 19 in all. We stays in Louisiana long
time, den come to Texas.
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