“De fust baptizin’ I ever seed was atter I was nigh ’bout grown.  If a slave from our place ever jined up wid a church ’fore de war was over, I never heared tell nothin’ ’bout it.

“Lordy, Miss!  I didn’t know nothin’ ’bout what a funeral was dem days.  If a Nigger died dis mornin’, dey sho’ didn’t waste no time a-puttin’ him right on down in de ground dat same day.  Dem coffins never had no shape to ’em; dey was jus’ squar-aidged pine boxes.  Now warn’t dat turrible?

“Slaves never went nowhar widout dem patterollers beatin’ ’em up if dey didn’t have no pass.

“Dere was hunderds of acres in dat dere plantation.  Marse Lewis had a heap of slaves.  De overseer, he had a bugle what he blowed to wake up de slaves.  He blowed it long ’fore day so dat dey could eat breakfast and be out dere in de fields waitin’ for de sun to rise so dey could see how to wuk, and dey stayed out dar and wukked ’til black dark.  When a rainy spell come and de grass got to growin’ fast, dey wukked dem slaves at night, even when de moon warn’t shinin’.  On dem dark nights one set of slaves helt lanterns for de others to see how to chop de weeds out of de cotton and corn.  Wuk was sho’ tight dem days.  Evvy slave had a task to do atter dey got back to dem cabins at night.  Dey each one hed to spin deir stint same as de ’omans, evvy night.

“Young and old washed deir clothes Sadday nights.  Dey hardly knowed what Sunday was.  Dey didn’t have but one day in de Christmas, and de only diff’unce dey seed dat day was dat dey give ’em some biscuits on Christmas day.  New Year’s Day was rail-splittin’ day.  Dey was told how many rails was to be cut, and dem Niggers better split dat many or somebody was gwine to git beat up.

“I don’t ’member much ’bout what us played, ’cept de way us run ’round in a ring.  Us chillun was allus skeered to play in de thicket nigh de house ’cause Raw Head and Bloody Bones lived der.  Dey used to skeer us out ’bout red ’taters.  Dey was fine ’taters, red on de outside and pretty and white on de inside, but white folks called ’em ‘nigger-killers.’  Dat was one of deir tricks to keep us from stealin’ dem ‘taters.  Dere wern’t nothin’ wrong wid dem ‘taters; dey was jus’ as good and healthy as any other ’taters.  Aunt Lucy, she was de cook, and she told me dat slaves was skeered of dem ‘nigger-killer’ ’taters and never bothered ’em much den lak dey does de yam patches dese days.  I used to think I seed ha’nts at night, but it allus turned out to be somebody dat was tryin’ to skeer me.

“’Bout de most fun slaves had was at dem cornshuckin’s.  De general would git high on top of de corn pile and whoop and holler down leadin’ dat cornshuckin’ song ’til all de corn was done shucked.  Den come de big eats, de likker, and de dancin’.  Cotton pickin’s was big fun too, and when dey got through pickin’ de cotton dey et and drunk and danced ’til dey couldn’t dance no more.

“Miss, white folks jus’ had to be good to sick slaves, ’cause slaves was property.  For Old Marster to lose a slave, was losin’ money.  Dere warn’t so many doctors dem days and home-made medicines was all de go.  Oil and turpentine, camphor, assfiddy (asafetida), cherry bark, sweetgum bark; all dem things was used to make teas for grown folks to take for deir ailments.  Red oak bark tea was give to chillun for stomach mis’ries.