They brought us as much of good
things to eat as we could destroy in one week, but on New Year's Day we
went back to work. No, Ma'am, as I ricollect, we didn't have no corn
shuckings or cotton pickings only what we had to do as part of our
regular work.

"The white folks mostly got married on Wednesday or Thursday evenin's.
Oh! they had fine times, with everything good to eat, and lots of
dancing too. Then they took a trip. Some went to Texas and some to
Chicago. They call Chicago, the colored folks' New York now. I don't
remember no weddings 'mongst the slaves. My cousin married on another
plantation, but I warn't there.

"Where I was, there warn't no playing done, only 'mongst the little
chillun, and I can't remember much that far back. I recall that we sung
a little song, about:

'Little drops of water
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.'

"Oh! Yes, Ma'am, Marse Billy was good to his slaves, when they got sick.
He called in Dr. Jones Long, Dr. Harden, and Dr. Lumpkin when they was
real sick. There was lots of typhoid fever then. I don't know nothing
about no herbs, they used for diseases; only boneset and hoarhound tea
for colds and croup. They put penrile (pennyroyal) in the house to keep
out flies and fleas, and if there was a flea in the house he would shoo
from that place right then and there.

"The old folks put little bags of assfiddy (assafoetida) around their
chillun's necks to keep off measles and chickenpox, and they used
turpentine and castor oil on chillun's gums to make 'em teethe easy.
When I was living on Milledge Avenue, I had Dr. Crawford W. Long to see
about one of my babies, and he slit that baby's gums so the teeth could
come through. That looked might bad to me, but they don't believe in old
ways no more."

She laughed and said: "No, Ma'am, I don't know nothing about such low
down things as hants and ghosts! Rawhead and Bloody Bones, I just
thought he was a skelerpin, with no meat on him. Course lots of Negroes
believe in ghosts and hants. Us chillun done lots of flightin' like
chillun will do. I remember how little Marse Mark Stroud used to take
all the little boys on the plantation and teach 'em to play Dixie on
reeds what they called quills. That was good music, but the radio has
done away with all that now.

"I knowed I was a slave and that it was the War that sot me free. It was
'bout dinner time when Marse Billy come to the door and cal