rs, and onions. Why dey had a big patch of
nothin' but onions. Us did love onions. Dere was allus plenty of good
meat in Marster's big old smokehouse dat stood close by de well.
Marster, he believed in raisin' heaps of meat. He had cows, hogs, goats,
and sheep, not to mention his chickens and turkeys.

"All de cloth for slaves' clothes was made at home. Mammy was one of de
cooks up at de big house, and she made cloth too. Daddy was de shoe man.
He made de shoes for all de folks on de plantation.

"De log cabins what de slaves lived in was off a piece from de big
house. Dem cabins had rock chimblies, put together wid red mud. Dere
warn't no glass in de windows and doors of dem cabins--jus' plain old
home-made wooden shutters and doors." Julia laughed as she told of their
beds. "Us called 'em four posters, and dat's what dey was, but dey was
jus' plain old pine posties what one of de men on de plantation made up.
Two posties at de head and two at de foot wid pine rails betwixt 'em was
de way dey made dem beds. Dere warn't no sto'-bought steel springs dem
days, not even for de white folks, but dem old cord springs went a long
ways towards makin' de beds comfortable and dey holped to hold de bed
together. De four poster beds de white folks slept on was corded too,
but deir posties warn't made out of pine. Dey used oak and walnut and
sometimes real mahogany, and dey carved 'em up pretty. Some of dem big
old posties to de white folkses beds was six inches thick.

"Slaves all et up at de big house in dat long old kitchen. I kin jus'
see dat kitchen now. It warn't built on to de big house, 'cept it was at
de end of a big porch dat went from it to de big house. A great big
fireplace was 'most all de way 'cross one end of dat kitchen, and it had
racks and cranes for de pots and pans and ovens but, jus' let me tell
you, our Marster had a cookstove too. Yessum, it was a real sho' 'nough
iron cookstove. No'm, it warn't 'zactly lak de stoves us uses now. It
was jus' a long, low stove, widout much laigs, jus' flat on top wid eyes
to cook on. De oven was at de bottom. Mammy and Grandma Mary was mighty
proud of dat stove, 'cause dere warn't nobody else 'round dar what had a
cookstove so us was jus' plumb rich folks.

"Slaves didn't come to de house for dinner when dey was wukin' a fur
piece off in de fields. It was sont to 'em, and dat was what kilt one of
my brothers. Whilst it was hot, de cooks would set de bucket of dinner
on his