I lived in the same house with Huckstep,—­a large log house, roughly finished; where we were waited upon by an old woman, whom we used to call aunt Polly.  Huckstep was, I soon found, inordinately fond of peach brandy; and once or twice in the course of a month he had a drunken debauch, which usually lasted from two to four days.  He was then full of talk, laughed immoderately at his own nonsense and would keep me up until late at night listening to him.  He was at these periods terribly severe to his hands, and would order me to use up the cracker of my whip every day upon the poor creatures, who were toiling in the field, and in order to satisfy him, I used to tear it off when returning home at night.  He would then praise me for a good fellow, and invite me to drink with him.

He used to tell me at such times, that if I would only drink as he did, I should be worth a thousand dollars more for it.  He would sit hours with his peach brandy, cursing and swearing, laughing and telling stories full of obscenity and blasphemy.  He would sometimes start up, take my whip, and rush out to the slave quarters, flourish it about and frighten the inmates and often cruelly beat them.  He would order the women to pull up their clothes, in Alabama style, as he called it, and then whip them for not complying.  He would then come back roaring and shouting to the house, and tell me what he had done; if I did not laugh with him, he would get angry and demand what the matter was.  Oh! how often I have laughed, at such times, when my heart ached within me; and how often, when permitted to retire to my bed, have I found relief in tears!

He had no wife, but kept a colored mistress in a house situated on a gore of land between the plantation and that of Mr. Goldsby.  He brought her with him from North Carolina, and had three children by her.

Sometimes in his fits of intoxication, he would come riding into the field, swinging his whip, and crying out to the hands to strip off their shirts, and be ready to take a whipping:  and this too when they were all busily at work.  At another time, he would gather the hands around him and fall to cursing and swearing about the neighboring overseers.  They were, he said, cruel to their hands, whipped them unmercifully, and in addition starved them.  As for himself, he was the kindest and best fellow within forty miles; and the hands ought to be thankful that they had such a good man for their overseer.

He would frequently be very familiar with me, and call me his child; he would tell me that our people were going to get Texas, a fine cotton country, and that he meant to go out there and have a plantation of his own, and I should go with him and be his overseer.

The houses in the “negro quarters” were constructed of logs, and from twelve to fifteen feet square; they had no glass, but there were holes to let in the light and air.  The furniture consisted of a table, a few stools, and dishes made of wood, and an iron pot, and some other cooking utensils.  The houses were placed about three or four rods apart, with a piece of ground attached to each of them for a garden, where the occupant could raise a few vegetables.  The “quarters” were about three hundred yards from the dwelling of the overseer.