Willis fared well during the first nine years of his life which were spent in slavery.  To him it was the same as freedom for he was not a victim of any unpleasant experiences as related by some other ex-slaves.  He played base ball and looked after his younger brothers and sister while his mother was in the kitchen.  He was never flogged but received chastisement once from the father of Mr. Heyward.  That, he related, was light and not nearly so severe as many parents give their children today.

Wilhemina, his mother, and the cook, saw to it that her children were well fed.  They were fed right from the master’s table, so to speak.  They did not sit to the table with the master and his family, but ate the same kind of food that was served them.

Cornbread was baked in the Heyward kitchen but biscuits also were baked twice daily and the Negroes were allowed to eat as many as they wished.  The dishes were made of tin and the drinking vessels were made from gourds.  Few white people had china dishes and when they did possess them they were highly prized and great care was taken of them.

The few other slaves which Mr. Heyward kept around the town house tended the garden and the many chickens, ducks and geese on the place.  The garden afforded all of the vegetables necessary for feeding Master Heyward, his family and slaves.  He did not object to the slaves eating chicken and green vegetables and sent provisions of all kinds from his store to boot.

Although Mr. Heyward was wealthy there were many things he could not buy for Tallahassee did not afford them.  Willis remembers that candles were mostly used for light.  Home-made tallow was used in making them.  The moulds, which were made of wood, were of the correct size.  Cotton string twisted right from the raw cotton was cut into desired length and placed in the moulds first, then heated tallow was poured in until they were filled.  The tallow was allowed to set and cool, then they were removed, ready for use.

In those days coffee was very expensive and a substitute for it was made from parched corn.  The whites used it as well as the slaves.

Willis remembers a man named Pierce who cured cow hides.  He used to buy them and one time Willis skinned a cow and took the hide to him and sold it.  Sixty-five and seventy years ago everyone used horses or mules and they had to have shoes.  The blacksmith wore leather aprons and the horses and mules wore leather collars.  No one knew anything about composition leather for making shoes so the tanning of hides was a lucrative business.

Clothing, during Civil War days and early Reconstruction, was simple as compared to present day togs.  Cloth woven from homespun thread was the only kind Negroes had.  Every house of any note could boast of a spinning wheel and loom.  Cotton, picked by slaves, was cleared of the seed and spun into thread and woven into cloth by them.  It was common to know how to spin and weave.  Some of the cloth was dyed afterwards with dye made from indigo and polk berries.  Some was used in its natural color.