s free before she ever owned a pair of shoes. Clothes had to be
furnished by the owner for the slaves he "hired out".

Mr. and Mrs. Brock had two daughters, Margaret and Mary Anne, who led
very quiet secluded lives. Mollie remembers visits of the traveling
preacher, who conducted services in a nearby church once a month. The
slaves walked behind the White folks' carriages to and from the church,
where they were seated in the rear during the services. If there were
baptisms, the Whites were baptized first, then the Darkies.

On this plantation the Negroes were not allowed to engage in any frolics
or attend social gatherings. They only knew Christmas by the return of
the hired out slaves, who came home for a week before the next auction.

The young lady daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Brock wore "drag tail" dresses,
and Mollie says the little Negroes had to hold these long skirts off the
ground whenever they were out doors, then spread them as they went into
the house so they could "strut."

The children were not allowed any education other than the "old Miss"
reading them the Bible on Sunday afternoons.

The older Negroes were not allowed to visit on other plantations often,
but when they did go they had to have passes from their masters or the
"patarolers" would whip them--if they were caught.

Hoar-hound and penny-royal were used for minor ailments, and "varnish"
was put on cuts by the "ole Miss". Mollie doesn't remember ever seeing a
doctor, other than a mid-wife, on the plantation. Home made remedies for
"palpitation of the heart" was to wear tied around the neck a piece of
lead, pounded into the shape of the heart, and punched with nine holes,
or to get some one "not kin to you", to tie some salt in a small bag and
wear it over your heart. Toothache was cured by smoking a pipe of "life
everlasting", commonly called "rabbit tobacco". Headaches were stopped
by beating the whites of an egg stiff, adding soda and putting on a
cloth, then tying around the head.

Mr. Brock died before the War, consequently not having any men to go
from the plantation, Mollie knew very little about it. She remembers
Confederate soldiers "practicin" at Locust Grove, the nearest town, and
one time the Yankees came to the plantation and "took off" a horse Mrs.
Brock had hidden in the swamp, also all the silver found buried.

Mollie knew nothing of the freedom of the slaves until her mother came
to get her. For two years they "hired out" on a