Brazos Bill Davis

I wanted to put in one of the stories from my ancestor's book. His name is Brazos Bill Davis. I'm writing it just as he did.

Well as there was not any church to go to of a Sunday i have saw Pa and Ma walk off hog hunting or walk down on the shoals and look at the different kind of rocks and watch the water run over them all day long. i well remember on one occasion a Negro boy by the name of tom was going to learn me how to swim the comeing Sunday. he said Bill you hide them two one gallon jugs out that your pa has got and i will learn you how to swim next Sunday over yonder in that old slew. Well i taken them jugs and hid them down on the river bank in some high blood weeds untill the comeing Sunday morning. So i got up earley and eat breakfast whitch was corn bread and old blue milk from an old texas long horn cow and then wint to the negro quarter to see tom. So tom told me to go and get the jugs and go around the other side of the boardark hedge so no body wont see you and come to the wash hole by that big old cotton wood tree on the slew. Well i made the round just like tom told me and got to the wash hole before tom did and had my old cotton sack shirt off and was ready. I could just see my self through amagination swimming all over that place. Well tom did finially come and ask me where was the strings. I ask him what strings and he said i will have to have something to ty them jugs on to you with. Well it was not mutch over a mile back to the house so i put that old cotton sack shirt on and made the round just for strings. When i give tom the strings he said stick your toes out here. I ask him what was he going to do. And he was just dying off laughing and said I am going to ty these jugs on to your toes to ceep your feet on top of the water and any fool can ceep his head up pulling with his hands. So i stuck my toes out and tom tied a jug to each big toe and said now come right a round here and jump off of this bank where the water is deep and just as soon as you strike the water you must commence to pull with your hands so you can ceep your head above the water. So i wint on around there walking spraddle leged with a jug to each big toe and tom was lying down just dying laughing. I did not know what he was laughing at but i soon found out. I wint to the edge of the bank whitch was about 5 ft above the water and said one for the money and two for the show and three makes ready and four for the go. And i lit in and the water was about four ft deep and them jugs held my feet on top just like tom said they would and my head was down and i was makeing the mud fly. I couldent get my head up for them jugs. I was drowning then tom held my head above the water just a second and then he fell down to laugh some more and i had to scratch mud a gain. Well when that negro did get me out he sure did laugh and ask me why i did not pull with my hands. I was lying there on the bank more dead than alive and the water was flowing from my mouth like the niagra falls and my eyes were as red as a railroad danger light and tom said i never would learn to swim unless i wint by his instructions but said i might make a good soldier for the war as you all ways wanting to fight something. I was mad at tom as he like to cause me to domino.

Hope you liked this story.