“Chillun didn’t have much to do.  Us loved to hunt for turkey nests ’cause dey give us a teacake for evvy turkey egg us fetched in.  Chillun et in de yard at de big house, whar dey give us plenty of meat and cornbread wid good vegetables for dinner.  For breakfast and supper, us had mostly buttermilk and cornbread.  On Sundays us had bread made from wheat flour and sopped good old syrup wid it.  Sometimes Marse John would give us ’mission to kill little pigs at night and broil ’em over de coals in our yards, and how us did enjoy ’em!  I ain’t never suffered for nothin’ in all my life, ’cause de Grants was mighty good white folks.  De old White home on Prince Avenue was deir summer home.  When dey built it, woods was all ’round and dere warn’t many houses in dat section.

“Us had plenty of clothes made out of homespun checks, and Marse John give us brass-toed shoes.  Our dresses was well sewed and made wid belts to ’em.  Nobody went ’bout half naked on our plantation lak some of de old folks f’um other farms talks ’bout.  Us had good well-made clothes, even if dey was made out of common cloth.

“Nobody on our plantation run away to de North, and de paddyrollers didn’t git nobody at our place neither.  Marse John was too good to evvybody for his slaves to want to cut up and run ’way and do things to make de paddyrollers hunt ’em down.  Dey didn’t have no jails ’cause dey didn’t need none on our place.  Sometimes Marse John made a colored man named Uncle Jim Cooper give ’em a good whuppin’ when dey needed it.

“When us was sick, dey give us herbs and things of dat sort.  In de springtime, dey give us jerusalem oak seed in syrup for nine mornin’s and by den us was allus rid of de worms.  Dey ’tended to slave chillun so good and dutiful dat dere warn’t many of ’em died, and I don’t never ‘member no doctor comin’ to my Mamma’s house.

“Old Missus used to teach us in da blue back speller, and when I didn’t know my lesson she made me run f’um de house to de gyarden gate for punishment.  De more words I missed; de more times I had to run.  Us had our own church services on de plantation under home-made brush arbors, and our colored preacher was Uncle Charles Cooper.

“Once some sojers come by our place lookin’ for Marse John.  He had done hid in de loft of de meat house and told evvybody on de place dey better not tell whar he was.  Dey didn’t find Marse John, but dey did find his son, Marse Willie, and dey tuk him ’long wid ’em.  Marse Willie was de only chile dat Marster and Missus had and it nearly killed ’em for him to be tuk ’way from ’em.  When Mr. Lincoln’s general got to our place he was a-ridin’ a big red hoss dat sho’ was a grand animal.  Dem sojers went in de smokehouses and stores evvywhar and tuk what dey wanted.