nditions of slaves was anything but agreeable;
Some masters were reasonably gentle to their slaves, while others were
cruel.

One of the saddest, darkest and most pathetic conditions that existed
during the period of slavery was the intimate mingling of slave owners,
in fact many white men, with negro women. It has become known that very
often a slave was sold who was the direct offspring of his or her owner.
This practice prevailed to some extent in the Purchase Region, but was
not universal. When the emancipation proclamation became effective and
the slaves were given freedom, some of them prefered to remain with
their masters, while others started out into the world for themselves.
Very often, some of the slaves, who had anticipated that liberty meant
more to them than anything else, and who went out into the cold world of
indifference, soon returned to their old masters. They found that their
former home was a much better place to abode than anything outside of
it.

Recreations of slaves:

The following is an old fashion ballad that was sung during the period
of slavery and which was very common throughout the Purchase Region:
"Jeff Davis rode a big white horse, but Lincoln rode a mule--Jeff Davis
was a fine, smart man, and Lincoln was a fool. Jeff Davis had a fine
white; Lincoln only had a mule--Jeff Davis was a wonderful man and
Lincoln was a fool".

Ring dancing was largely practiced during the slavery period. Especially
was this participated in throughout the Purchase Region. This was a
rather primative kind of dancing and was performed mostly by negro
children. The general procedure was to draw a ring on the ground,
ranging from 15 to 30 feet in diameter. The size of the ring to be used
was determined by the number of persons who were engaged in the dancing
ring. The youngsters would congregate within the ring and dance to the
rhythmic hand clapping and rhythm of the tambourine, which was performed
by the white people in the community.

Sometimes large congregations witnessed these primitive affairs, and
they became a great Saturday evening entertainment for the community at
large. During the periods of intermission, the youngsters, who had
engaged in the dancing would be given a kind of feast on barbecued meat
and cider drinking. At the conclusion of this brief festivity, they
would continue in their dancing, and very often this hilarity would be
carried on well into the evening.

Another kind of ent