"On certain days o' de week one o' de old men on de place took us house servants to de fiel' to learn us to work. Us was brought up to know how to do anything dat come to han'. Marster would let us work at odd times for outsiders an' us could use de money for anything us pleased. My gran'ma sol' 'nough corn to buy her two feather beds.
"Us always had plenty t'eat. De old folks done de cookin' for all de fiel' han's, 'cept on Sund'y when ever' fam'ly cooked for dey ownse'fs. Old Mis' 'ud come over ever' Sund'y mornin' wid sugar an' white flour. Us 'ud mos' ingen'ally have fish, rabbits, 'possums, or coons. Lord, chil'! Dem 'possums was good eatin'. I can tas' 'em now.
"Folks dese days don't know nothin' 'bout good eatin'. My marster had a great big garden for ever'body an' I aint never seen such 'taters as growed in dat garden. Dey was so sweet de sugar 'ud bus' right th'ough de peelin' when you roasted 'em in de ashes.
"Old Aunt Emily cooked for all de chillun on de place. Ha'f a hour by de sun, dey was all called in to supper. Dey had pot likker an' ash cake an' such things as would make 'em grow.
"Chillun den didn' know nothin' 'bout all de fancy ailments what chillun have now. Dey run an' played all day in dey shirt tails in de summer time. When winter come dey had good warm clo'es[FN: clothes] same as us older ones.
"One day Marster's chillun an' de cullud chillun slipped off to de orchard. Dey was jus' a-eatin' green apples fas' as dey could when 'long come de master, hisse'f. He lined 'em all up, black an' white alike, an' cut a keen switch. Twant a one in dat line dat didn' git a few licks. Den he called de old doctor woman an' made 'er give 'em ever' one a dose o' medicine. Dey didn' a one of' em git sick.
"Marster an' Old Mis' had five chillun. Dey is all dead an' gone now, an' I's still here. One o' his sons was a Supreme Judge 'fore he died.
"My folks was sho' quality. Marster bought all de little places 'roun' us so he wouldn' have no po' white trash neighbors. Yes sir! He owned 'bout thirty-five hund'ed acres an' at leas' a hund'ed an' fifty slaves.
"Ever' mornin' 'bout fo' 'clock us could hear dat horn blow for us to git up an' go to de fiel'. Us always quit work 'fore de sun went down an' never worked at night. De overseer was a white man. His name was Josh Neighbors, but de driver was a cullud man, 'Old Man Henry.' He wasn't 'lowed to mistreat noboby. If he got too uppity dey'd call his han', right now. De rule was, if a Nigger wouldn' work he mus' be sol'. 'Nother rule on dat place was dat if a man got dissati'fied, he was to go to de marster an' ask him to put 'im in his pocket.' Dat meant he wanted to be sol' an' de money he brought put in de marster's pocket. I aint never known o' but two askin' to be 'put in de pocket.' Both of 'em was sol'.
"Dey had jails in dem days, but dey was built for white folks. No cullud person was ever put in one of 'em 'til after de war. Us didn' know nothin' 'bout dem things.