Book learning was prohibited in any form.  Sometimes Mose tried to persuade Manning to teach him to read and write but Manning always refused.  Mose’s cousin who was taught to read and write forged Colonel Davis’ name to a check and drew the money from the bank before the hand writing was discovered.  For this act he was given a sound whipping and assigned to hard labor by the master, “And”, said Uncle Mose, “he didn’t even have the pleasure of spending one penny”.  When asked if his cousin was arrested and placed in jail he replied that the jails were not for the slaves, as their punishment was usually left to their individual masters.  When his cousin was whipped this was an exception to “The Colonel’s rule”; he was entirely against any form of whipping.  His usual method of punishment was to cut off individual privileges for a limited amount of time (in proportion to the nature of the offense), along with an assignment of extra heavy work.

The fame of the “Paddle-Rollers” was widespread among the slaves, but none of Colonel Davis’ servants attempted to run away or leave the plantation often without the required pass (if they did they were never caught).

There was very little talk on the plantation about the actual beginning of the Civil War.  Slaves was very guarded in their talk as they feared the master’s wrath.  Uncle Mose thought little or nothing about the War and had even less to say.

When the Yankee soldiers came to the plantation they drove wagons to the smoke house and took all the meat away.  “The funny part about it was that “The Colonel” had taken shelter in this particular house when he saw the Yankees coming,” said Uncle Mose.  “He didn’t have time to hide any of his other belongings.”  When the soldiers had left, The Colonel looked around and said to Manning and Mose:  “Just like I get that, I guess I can get some more.”

Uncle Mose says that when freedom was declared, his father came rushing to their cabin waving his arms like a windmill, shouting:  “Boy we is free—­you can go and git yourself a job ‘cause I ain’t goin’ to hitch up no more horses”.  Some of the slaves remained on the plantation where they worked for wages until their deaths.  His father was one of them and after his death, his mother moved to another plantation to live with another son.  Meanwhile Mose started traveling from place to place as soon as he was told that he was free to go as he pleased.  He paid one visit to the plantation where he learned of his father’s death.  He then asked Manning, who was operating the plantation, for the ox that had belonged to his father and when Manning refused to part with this animal, he made a secret visit back, that night, and took the animal away.  He has not been back since.

At this time Mr. Davis stretched himself, saying:  “Well, I guess that’s about as straight as I can get it—­Wish that I could tell you some more but I can’t.”  Smiling broadly, he bade the interviewer a pleasant good-bye.