I was only a little shaver at the time.

You see I was a little shaver in dem days, an' masta liked my Congo straction, an' petted me a heap, an' I never seed the cotton-field till my ole masta died; den dey put me out ob de house, because Mass Jack Dillard's fatherdat was my ole mistis's own step-brother's secon' sonhe 'cused me ob stealin' his gole pencil-case