’Am I born to die
   To let dis body down.’

“None of our Niggers ever runned away to de North.  Dey was too busy runnin’ off to de woods.  Jus’ to tell de truth dem Niggers on our place was so dumb dey didn’t even take in ’bout no North.  Dey didn’t even know what de war was ’bout ’til it was all over.  I don’t know whar to start ’bout dem patterollers.  Dey was de devil turned a-loose.  Dere was a song ’bout ‘Run Nigger run, de patteroller git you!’ and dey sho’ would too, I want to tell you.

“What de slaves done on Saddy night?  Dey done anything dey was big ‘nough to do.  Dere warn’t no frolickin’ ’cept on Sadday night.  Niggers on our place wukked all day Sadday ’cept once a month.  Some of de slaves would slip off and stay half a day and de overseer wouldn’t miss ’em ‘cause dere was so many in de field.  It was jus’ too bad for any Nigger what got cotched at dat trick.  Sadday night, slaves was ’lowed to git together and frolic and cut de buck.

“Christmas Day Marse Billy called us to de big house and give us a little fresh meat and sweet bread, dat was cake.  Christmas warn’t much diff’unt f’um other times.  Jus’ more t’eat.  Us jus’ had dat one day off, and New Year’s Day was used as a holiday too.

“Oh, dem cornshuckin’s!  All day ‘fore a cornshuckin’ dey hauled corn and put it in great piles as high as dis here house.  Us sung all de time us was shuckin’ corn.  Dere was a lot of dem old shuckin’ songs.  De one us sung most was:  ‘Whooper John and Calline all night.’  Marse Billy, he give ’em coffee and whiskey all night and dat made ’em git rough and rowdy.  Den de shucks did fly.  Us had one more grand feast when de last ear of corn had done been shucked.  Dere warn’t nothin’ lackin’.

“Cotton pickin’s warn’t planned for fun and frolic lak cornshuckin’s.  If Marse Billy got behind in his crops, he jus’ sent us back to de fields at night when de moon was bright and sometimes us picked cotton all night long.  Marster give de ’oman what picked de most cotton a day off, and de man what picked de most had de same privilege.

“Old Aunt Martha what nussed de chillun while deir Mammies wukked in de field was de quiltin’ manager.  It warn’t nothin’ for ’omans to quilt three quilts in one night.  Dem quilts had to be finished ’fore dey stopped t’eat a bit of de quiltin’ feast.  Marse Billy ’vided dem quilts out ’mongst de Niggers what needed ’em most.

“Dem blue and white beads what de grown ‘omans wore was jus’ to look pretty.  Dey never meant nothin’ else.  Mammy would skeer us down ’bout Rawhead and Bloody Bones.  Us was all time a-lookin’ for him, but he never got dar.  What skeered us most was painters (panthers) a-howlin’ close to our cabins at night.  You could hear ’em most any night.  When Mammy wanted to make us behave all she had to say was:  ’I hears dem painters comin’!’ Dat made us jus’ shake all over and git mighty still and quiet.  De mens tried to run dem painters down, but dey never did ketch one.