m with red mud.
The old stack chimneys were made of mud and sticks. To make a bed, they
first cut four posts, usually of pine, and bored holes through them with
augers; then they made two short pieces for the head and foot. Two long
pieces for the sides were stuck through the auger holes and the bedstead
was ready to lay on the slats or cross pieces to hold up the mattress.
The best beds had heavy cords, wove crossways and lengthways, instead of
slats. Very few slaves had corded beds. Mattresses were not much; they
were made of suggin sacks filled with straw. They called that straw
'Georgia feathers.' Pillows were made of the same things. Suggin cloth
was made of coarse flax wove in a loom. They separated the flax into two
grades; fine for the white folks, and coarse for the Negroes.

"The only one of my grandparents I can bring to memory now is Grandma
Rose on my Pa's side. She was some worker, a regular man-woman; she
could do any kind of work a man could do. She was a hot horse in her
time and it took an extra good man to keep up with her when it came to
work.

"Children were not allowed to do much work, because their masters
desired them to have the chance to grow big and strong, and therefore
they had few opportunities to earn money of their own. I never did own
any money during slavery days, but I saw plenty of ten cent greenbacks
(shinplasters).

"White children and slave children played around the plantation together
but they were not allowed to fight. They had to be on friendly terms
with each other.

"What about our food? The biggest thing we had was buttermilk, some
sweet milk, and plenty of cornbread, hog meat, and peas. As a rule we
had wheat bread once a week, usually on Sunday. All kinds of fruits were
plentiful in their seasons. Each slave family was permitted to have
separate garden space, in fact, Old Boss insisted that they work their
own gardens, and they raised plenty of vegetables. Grown folks had
rabbits and 'possums but I never did get much 'quainted with them. We
fished in the cricks and rills 'round the plantation and brought in lots
of hornyheads and perch. You never saw any hornyheads? Why they is just
fish a little bigger and longer than minnows and they have little horns
on their heads. We caught a good many eels too; they look like snakes,
but folks call them eels. I wasn't much 'quainted with them fish they
brought from way down South; they called them mullets.

"The kitchen was a s