gardens of their own as food
sufficient for their needs was raised in the master's garden.

The houses that they lived in were one-roomed structures made of heavy
plank instead of logs, with planer [HW: ?] floors. At one end of this
one-roomed cabin there was a large chimney and fireplace made of rocks,
mud, and dirt. In addition to the one door, there was a window at the
back. Only one family could live in a cabin as the space was so limited.
The furnishings of each cabin consisted of a bed and one or two chairs.
The beds were well constructed, a great deal better than some of the
beds the ex-slave saw during these days. Regarding mattresses she said,
"We took some tick and stuffed it with cotton and corn husks, which had
been torn into small pieces and when we got through sewing it looked
like a mattress that was bought in a store."

Light was furnished by lightwood torches and sometimes by the homemade
tallow candles. The hot tallow was poured into a candle mold, which was
then dipped into a pan of cold water, when the tallow had hardened, the
finished product was removed.

Whenever there was sickness, a doctor was always called. As a child
Gussie was rather sickly, and a doctor was always called to attend to
her. In addition to the doctor's prescriptions there was heart leaf tea
and a warm remedy of garlic tea prepared by her grandmother.

If any of the slaves ever pretended sickness to avoid work, she knows
nothing about it.

As a general rule, slaves were not permitted to learn to read or write,
but the younger Moore children tried to teach her to spell, read, and
write. When she used to stand around Mrs. Moore when she was sewing she
appeared to be interested and so she was taught to sew.

Every Sunday afternoon they were all permitted to go to town where a
colored pastor preached to them. This same minister performed all
marriages after the candidates had secured the permission of the master.

There was only one time when Mr. Moore found it necessary to sell any of
his slaves. On this occasion he had to sell two; he saw that they were
sold to another kind master.

The whipping on most plantation were administered by the [HW: over]seers
and in some cases punishment was rather severe. There was no overseer on
this plantation. Only one of Mr. Moore's sons told the field hands what
to do. When this son went to war it became necessary to hire an
overseer. Once he attempted to whip one of the women but when sh