hisself an' his wife ol' marster had two boys an' nine girls".

Continuing, Mr. Orford said: "My Ma did'nt have many chillun--jus' ten
boys an' nine girls. I went to work in marster's house when I wus five
years old an' I stayed dere 'till I wus thirty-five. De fust work I had
to do wus to pick up chips, feed chickens, an' keep de yard clean. By de
time I wus eight years old I wus drivin' my missus in de carriage."

"All de rest of de slaves wus fiel' hands. Dey spent dere time plowing
an' takin' care of de plantation in general. Dere wus some who split
rails an' others who took care of de stock an' made de harness--de
slaves did everything dat needed to be done on de plantation. Everybody
had to git up 'fore daybreak an' even 'fore it wus light enuff to see
dey wus in de fiel' waitin' to see how to run a furrow. 'Long 'bout nine
o'clock breakfus' wus sent to de fiel' in a wagon an' all of 'em stopped
to eat. At twelve o'clock dey stopped again to eat dinner. After dat dey
worked 'till it wus to dark to see. Women in dem days could pick
five-hundred pounds of cotton a day wid a child in a sack on dere
backs."

"When de weather wus too bad to work in de fiel' de hands cribed an'
shucked corn. If dey had any work of dere own to do dey had to do it at
night".

According to Mr. Orford there was always sufficient food on the Orford
plantation for the slaves. All cooking was done by one cook at the cook
house. In front of the cook house were a number of long tables where the
slaves ate their meals when they came in from the fields. Those children
who were too young to work in the fields were also fed at this house but
instead of eating from the tables as did the grown-ups they were fed
from long troughs much the same as little pigs. Each was given a spoon
at meal time and then all of the food was dumped into the trough at the
same time.

The week day diet for the most part consisted of meats and
vegetables--"sometimes we even got chicken an' turkey"--says Mr. Orford.
Coffee was made by parching meal or corn and then boiling it in water.
None of the slaves ever had to steal anything to eat on the Orford
plantation.

All of the clothing worn on this plantation was made there. Some of the
women who were too old to work in the fields did the spinning and the
weaving as well as the sewing of the garments. Indigo was used to dye
the cloth. The women wore callico dresses and the men wore ansenberg
pants and shirts. The childr