“There used to be plenty of colored folk fiddlers. Dancing, candy pulling, quilting,—that was about the only fun they would have. Corn shucking, too. They used to enjoy that. They would get on top of that pile and start singing—the white folks used to like that—sometimes they would shuck corn all night long. And they would sing and eat too.
“They had what they called the old-fashioned cotillion dance—partners—head, foot, and two sides—four men and four women—each man danced with his partner. Music by the fiddlers. I used to dance that.
“At the quilting, they’d get down and quilt. The boys and young men would be there too and they would thread the needles and laugh and talk with the girls, and the women would gossip.
“The masters would go there too and look at them and see what they’d do and how they’d do and make them do. They would do that at the candy pullin’ too, and anything else.
“The candy pulling—there they’d cook the candy and a man and a girl would pull candy together. Look to me like they enjoyed the corn shucking as much as they did anything else.”
Christmas
“They’d give time to celebrate Christmas time. They’d dance and so on like that. But they worked them from New Year’s day to Christmas Eve night the next year. The good white people would give them a pig and have them make merry. They’d make merry over it like we do now. That’s where it all come from.”
Run-Away Slaves
“I seen a many a runaway slave. I’ve seen the hounds catch them too. You could hear the hounds all hours of the night. Some Nigger was gone. Some of them would run away from the field. And some of them would slip out at night.
“I used to mock them hounds. The first hound would say ‘Oo-oo-oo, He-e-e-e-re he-e-e-e-e G-o-o-o-oes.’ The others would say, ‘Put ’im up. Put ’im up. Put ’im up. Put ’im up. Put ’im up.’ My mother would laugh at me. The lead-hound howled, and the catch dog wouldn’t say nothin’ but you could hear the sound of his feet. The lead hound didn’t catch the Nigger, but he would just follow him. When he caught up with him, he would step aside and let the catch dog get him if he wasn’t treed.”