red from that disease known as "mattress fever". They
all got up long before day, and prepared their breakfasts and then
before it was light enough to see clearly they were standing in the
field holding their hoes and other implements--afraid to start work for
fear that they would cover the cotton plants with dirt because they
could'nt see clearly due to the darkness." An overseer was hired by the
master to see that the work was done properly. If any of the slaves were
careless about their work they were made to take off their clothes in
the field before all the rest and then a sound whipping was
administered. Field hands also get whippings when they failed to pick
the required three-hundred pounds of cotton daily. To avoid a whipping
for this they sprinkled the white sand of the fields on the dew soaked
cotton and at the time it was weighed they were credited with more
pounds than they had actually picked. Around ten or eleven o'clock in
the morning they were all allowed to go to the cook house where they
were given dinner by the plantation cook. By one o'clock they were all
back in the field where they remained until it was too dark to see
clearly, and then they were dismissed by the overseer after he had
checked the number of pounds of cotton that they had picked.

The slaves knew that whenever Mr. Womble hired a new overseer he always
told the prospect that if he could'nt handle the slaves his services
would not be needed. The cook had heard the master tell a prospective
overseer this and so whenever a new one was hired the slaves were quick
to see how far they could go with him. Mr. Womble says that an overseer
had to be a very capable man in order to keep his job as overseer on the
Womble plantation because if the slaves found out that he was afraid of
them fighting him (and they did sometimes) they took advantage of him so
much so that the production dropped and the overseer either found
himself trying to explain to his employer or else looking for another
job. The master would never punish a slave for beating an overseer with
his fists stated Mr. Womble.

During rainy weather the slaves shucked corn, piled manure in the barns,
and made cloth. In the winter season the men split rails, built fences,
and dug ditches, while the women did the weaving and the making of
cloth. These slaves who were too old to work in the fields remained at
home where they nursed the sick slaves (when there was sickness) and
attended t