very first thing she remembered, Aunt Adeline
gave a rather surprising answer: "The first thing I recollect is my love
for my Mother--I loved her so and would cry when I couldn't be with her,
and as I growed up I kept on loving her jest that a-way even after I
married and had children of my own."

The first work she did was waiting in the house. Before she could read
her mistress taught her the letters on the newspapers and what they
spelled so she could bring them the papers they wanted. Her mother
worked in the field: she drove steers and could do all kinds of farm
work and was the best meat cutter on the plantation. She was a good
spinner too, and was required to spin a broach of "wool spinning" every
night. All the Negro women had to spin, but Aunt Adeline said her mother
was specially good in spinning wool and "that kind of spinning was
powerful slow". Thinking a moment, she added: "And my mother was one of
the best dyers anywhere 'round, and I was too. I did make the most
colors by mixing up all kinds of bark and leaves. I recollect the
prettiest sort of a lilac color I made with maple bark and pine bark,
not the outside pine bark, but that little thin skin that grows right
down next to the tree--it was pretty, that color was."

Aunt Adeline thinks they were more fortunate than any other little
slaves she knew because their marster had a little store right there
where he would give them candy every now and then--bright pretty sticks
of candy. She remembers one time he gave them candy in little tin cups,
and how proud of those cups they were. He never gave them money, but out
of the store they could get what money bought so they were happy. But
they had to have whippings, "yas'um, good er bad we got them whippings
with a long cowhide kept jest fer that. They whipped us to make us grow
better, I reckon".

Although they got whippings a-plenty they were never separated by sale.
"No mam, my white folks never believed in selling their niggers", said
Aunt Adeline, and related an incident proving this. "I recollect once my
oldest brother done something Marster didn't like an' he got mighty mad
with him an' said 'Gus, I'm goin' ter sell you, I ain't a-goin' to keep
you no longer'. Mistress spoke up right quick and said: 'No you ain't
a-goin' to sell Gus, neither, he's nussed and looked after all our
oldest chillun, and he's goin' to stay right here'. And that was the
last of that, Gus was never sold--he went to war with