ladies of the garden club say his home is just a disgrace to the town if the mayor wants re elected he d better pass some laws and tear it down they want to cover it with flowers maybe even plant some dogwood trees i guess that they ve forgotten when we were kids what that place used to be i know it s just a shanty now but lord that place was built with human tears for it s the home of uncle lem who was born and raised and lived there ninety years there s not a boy in this old town that hadn t stopped for water at his well or sat on his porch in the evening and listened to the stories that he d tell his hair was the color of cotton fields and his skin was old and brown and he was born in that rundown shack before there was a town he bought that shack and piece of earth for the highest price you pay his mom was bought and sold there uncle lem was born a slave the mayor and some ladies of the garden club went out to that old shack to tell uncle lem that he d have to find another place to live but they found him there in that old broken down rocking chair and on an old brown paper sack they found his will now i wanna leave my old shotgun to the fine mayor of this town for i remember when he was just a little fella he used to follow me around lord i wish i had more to leave to my friends that i love but lord all i ve got s this old shack and piece of earth and i want it to go to the ladies of the garden club his hair was the color of cotton fields and his skin was old and brown and he was born in that rundown shack before there was a town he bought that shack and piece of earth for the highest price you pay his mom was bought and sold there uncle lem was born a slave  his mom was bought and sold there uncle lem was born a slave