ld fix up
your house to suit yourself. The house where everybody lived that warn't
married, had 'bout a dozen and a half beds in it. Sometimes as many as
three and four slept in a bed together when it was cold. The others had
to sleep on the floor, but they had plenty of cover. Us didn't have
anythin' in this house but what was made by some of us. There warn't but
one room to this house with one fire place in it. Us never et in this
room, us had another house where everybody from this house and from the
house for the men who warn't married, et. Our beds was diff'unt from
these you see now. They was made by the slaves out of rough lumber. Our
marster seed to it that all the chillun had beds to sleep in. They was
taken good care of. Us had no such things as dressers or the like. Us
didn't have but a very few chairs 'cause the men didn't have time to
waste makin' chairs, but us had plenty of benches. Our trunks was made
by the men.

"People who had families lived by theyselves, but they didn't have but
one room to their houses. They had to cook and sleep in this one room,
and as their chillun got old enough they was sent over to the big house.
Everybody called it that. The house you lived in with your family was
small. It had a fire place and was only big enough to hold two beds and
a bench and maybe a chair. Sometimes, if you had chillun fast enough,
five and six had to sleep in that other bed together. Mothers didn't
stay in after their chillun was born then like they do now. Whenever a
child was born the mother come out in three days afterwards if she was
healthy, but nobody stayed in over a week. They never stayed in bed but
one day.

"When they called you to breakfast it would be dark as night. They did
this so you could begin workin' at daybreak. At twelve o'clock they
blowed the horn for dinner, but they didn't have to 'cause everybody
knowed when it was dinner time. Us could tell time by the sun. Whenever
the sun was over us so us could almost step in our shadow it was time to
eat. When us went in to eat all the victuals was on the table and the
plates was stacked on the table. You got your plate and fork, then got
your dinner. Some would sit on the floor, some in chairs, and some would
sit on the steps, but mos' everybody held their plates in their laps.
Whenever any of the slaves had company for dinner, us was allowed to set
the table and you and your company would eat at the table. In our
dinin'-room, we calle