, Enoch Womble. On the day that I was sold three doctors examined
me and I heard one of them say: "This is a thoroughbred boy. His teeth
are good and he has good muscles and eyes. He'll live a long time." Then
Mr. Womble said: "He looks intelligent too. I think I'll take him and
make a blacksmith out of him." And so to close the deal he paid his
sister five-hundred dollars for me."

According to Mr. Womble his new master was even meaner than the deceased
Mr. Ridley. He was likewise a plantation owner and a farmer and as such
he raised the same things that Mr. Ridley did with the exception of the
horses and the mules. In all there were about five-hundred acres to the
plantation. There were six children in the Womble family in addition to
Mr. Womble and his wife, and they all lived in a large one-storied frame
house. A large hickory tree grew through the center of the porch where a
hole had been cut out for its growth.

Mr. Womble says that his reputation of being an excellent house boy had
preceded him, and so here too he was put to work in the master's house
where he helped with the cooking, washed the dishes, cleaned the house,
and also acted as nurse for the younger white children. In addition to
this, he was also required to attend to the cows. He remembers how on
one night at a very late hour he was called by the master to go and
drive the cows from the pasture as the sleet and snow might do them more
harm than good. He was so cold that on the way back from the pasture he
stopped at the pig pens where he pushed one or two of them out of the
spots where they had lain so that he could squat there, and warm his
feet in the places left warm by their bodies. To add to his discomfort
the snow and sleet froze in his long hair and this made him even more
miserable than ever.

Mr. Womble was asked to tell what time he had to arise in the morning to
be at his day's work, and he replied that sometimes he didn't even go to
sleep as he had to keep one hand on the baby crib to keep it from
crying. Most of the time he got up at four o'clock in the morning, and
went to the kitchen where he helped the cook prepare breakfast. After
this was done, and he had finished waiting on the master and his family
he started to clean the house. When he had finished this, he had to take
care of the younger Womble children, and do countless the other things
to be done around a house. Of the other slaves, Mr. Womble says: "None
of them ever suffe