"My Mammy and Daddy, dey warn't from dis part of de country. My Mammy said dat not long atter she got to America from a trip on de water dat took nigh 6 months to make, dey brung her from Virginny and sold her down here in Georgy when she was jus' 'bout 16 years old. De onliest name she had when she got to Georgy was Nancy. I don't know whar my Daddy come from. Him and Mammy was both sold to Marse Isaac Dillard and he tuk 'em to live on his place in Elbert County, close to de place dey calls Goose Pond. Dey lived at home on dat big old plantation. By dat, I means dat Marse Isaac growed evvything needed to feed and clothe his folks 'cept de little sugar, coffee, and salt dey used. I don't 'member so much 'bout times 'fore de big war 'cause I warn't but 6 years old when us was made free. Tellin' de slaves dey was free didn't make much diff'unce on our place, for most of 'em stayed right on dar and wukked wid Old Marster jus' lak dey allus done. Dat plantation was jus' lak a little town, it was so big and it had evvything us wanted and needed.
"Slaves lived in log cabins what had red mud daubed in de cracks 'twixt de logs. De roofs was made out of boards what had so many cracks 'twixt 'em, atter a few rains made 'em swink (shrink), dat us could lay in bed and see de stars through dem big holes. Even if us did have leaky houses, folkses didn't git sick half as much as dey does now. Our homemade beds was made out of rough planks nailed to high poles; leastways de poles was high for de headpieces, and a little lower for de footpieces. For most of dem beds, planks was nailed to de wall for one long side and dere was two laigs to make it stand straight on de other long side. Dey never seed no metal springs dem days but jus' wove cords back and forth, up and down and across, to lay de mattress on. I never seed no sto'-bought bed 'til atter I was married. Bedticks was made out of homespun cloth stuffed wid wheatstraw, and sometimes dey slept on rye or oatstraw. Pillows was stuffed wid hay what had a little cotton mixed in it sometimes. Atter a long day of wuk in de fields, nobody bothered 'bout what was inside dem pillows. Dey slept mighty good lak dey was. Dey fixed planks to slide across de inside of de holes dey cut out for windows. De doors swung on pegs what tuk de place of de iron hinges dey uses dese days. Dem old stack chimblies was made out of sticks and red mud.
"De fireplaces was a heap bigger dan dey has now, for all de cookin' was done in open fireplaces den. 'Taters and cornpone was roasted in de ashes and most of de other victuals was biled in de big old pots what swung on cranes over de coals. Dey had long-handled fryin' pans and heavy iron skillets wid big, thick, tight-fittin' lids, and ovens of all sizes to bake in. All of dem things was used right dar in de fireplace. Dere never was no better tastin' somepin t'eat dan dat cooked in dem old cook-things in open fireplaces.
"Chillun never had no wuk to do. Dey jus' et and frolicked around gittin' into evvything dey could find. Dey never got no lickin's 'less dey was mighty bad, 'cause our Marster said he warn't gwine to 'low no beatin' on his Niggers 'cept what he done his own self, and dat was pow'ful little. In hot weather chillun played on de crick and de best game of all was to play lak it was big meetin' time. White chillun loved to play dar too wid de little slave chillun. Us would have make-believe preachin' and baptizin' and de way us would sing was a sight. One of dem songs us chillun loved de best went lak dis:
'Why does you thirst
By de livin' stream?
And den pine away
And den go to die.
'Why does you search
For all dese earthly things?
When you all can
Drink at de livin' spring,
And den can live.'
"When us started playin' lak us was baptizin' 'em, us th'owed all us could ketch right in de crick, clothes and all, and ducked 'em. Whilst us was doin' dat, us was singin':
'Git on board, git on board
For de land of many mansions,
Same old train dat carried
My Mammy to de Promised Land.'
"One day our Marster hid in de trees and watched us 'cause Mist'ess had done been fussin' down 'bout chillun all comin' in soaked to de hide. He waited 'til he seed all de preachin' and baptizin', den he hollered for us to stop and he tuk de ones what was doin' all de baptizin' and made 'em pray and sing, den he ducked 'em good in de water and made us all go up to de house to show Mist'ess how come so many of dem pore chillun had done been gittin' wet so much. Us got a tannin' den dat Marster 'lowed would help us to git sho' 'nough 'ligion.
"De wooden bowls what slave chillun et out of was made out of sweetgum trees. Us et wid mussel shells 'stid of spoons. Dem mussel shells was all right. Us could use 'em to git up plenty of bread and milk, or cornpone soaked wid peas and pot likker. Dey never let chillun have no meat 'til dey was big enough to wuk in de fields. Us had biscuit once a week, dat was Sunday breakfast, and dem biscuits was cakebread to us. De fust bought meat us chillun ever seed was a slab of side-meat Daddy got from de sto' atter us had done left de plantation, and us was skeered to eat it 'cause it warn't lak what us had been used to.
"Chillun jus' wore one piece of clothes in summertime and dey all went bar'foots. De gals' summer gyarment was a plain, sleeveless apron dress, and de boys wore skimpy little shirts and nothin' else. Dey mixed cow-hair wid de cotton when dey wove de cloth to make our winter clothes out of, and I'm a-tellin' you Missy, dat cow-hair cloth sho' could scratch, but it was good and warm and Marster seed to it dat us had all de clothes us needed. De 'omans made all de cloth used on de place; dey cyarded, spun, and den wove it. Mammy was de weaver; dat was all she done, jus' wove cloth. Dey dyed it wid red mud and ink balls, and sich lak.