Aunt Arrie told of their life on the plantation and it was not unlike that of other slaves who had good masters who looked after them.  They had plenty to eat and to wear.  Their food was given them and they cooked and ate their meals in the cabins in family groups.  Santa Claus always found his way to the Quarters and brought them stick candy and other things to eat.  She said for their Christmas dinner there was always a big fat hen and a hog head.

In slavery days the negroes had quiltings, dances, picnics and everybody had a good time, Aunt Arrie said, “an’ I kin dance yit when I hears a fiddle.”  They had their work to do in the week days, but when Sundays came there was no work, everybody rested and on “preachin’ days” went to Church.  Her father took them all to old Rehoboth, the neighborhood white church, and they worshiped together, white and black, the negroes in the gallery.  That was back in the days when there was “no lookin’ neither to the right nor to the left” when in church; no matter what happened, no one could even half way smile.  This all was much harder than having to listen to the long tiresome sermons of those days, Arrie thinks, specially when she recalled on one occasion “when Mr. Sutton wuz a preachin’ a old goat [HW:  got] up under the Church an’ every time Mr. Sutton would say something out real loud that old goat would go ’Bah-a-a Bah ba-a-a’ an’ we couldn’t laugh a bit.  I most busted, I wanted ter laugh so bad.”

“Yassum, in dem days” continued Aunt Arrie, “all us colored folks went to the white folks church kase us didn’t have no churches of our own and day want no colored preachers den, but some what wuz called “Chairbacks”.  The Chairback fellows went er round preachin’ an’ singin’ in the cabins down in the Quarters and dey use ter have the bes’ meetin’s, folks would be converted an’ change dey way.  De hymns dey sung de most wuz “Amazin’ Grace” an’ “Am I Born ter Die?” I ’members de meetin’s us use ter have down in our cabin an’ how everybody would pray an’ sing.”

“Dey ain’t nothin’ lak it use ter be,” sighed Aunt Arrie, “Now when I first could recollect, when a nigger died they sot up with de corpse all night and de next day had de funeral an’ when dey started to the burial ground with the body every body in the whole procession would sing hymns.  I’ve heard ’em ’nough times clear ‘cross the fields, singin’ and moanin’ as they went.  Dem days of real feelin’ an’ keerin’ is gone.”

When freedom came there were sad times on the Sybert plantation, Arrie said.  “Old Miss cried and cried, and all us cried too.  Old Miss said ‘You’al jest goin’ off to perish.’  Aunt Jennie, one of the oldest women slaves stayed on with her and took keer of her, but all us stayed on a while.  Us didn’t know whar to go an’ what ter do, an’ den come Dr. Peters and Mr. Allen frum Arkansas to git han’s to go out dar an’ work fer dem.  My Pa took his family and we stayed two years.  It took us might nigh