nd as part of her duties
she had to help with the cooking. Mr. Lewis and his brothers and sisters
were never required to do very much work. Most of their time was spent
in playing around in the yard of the big house.

In answer to a query concerning the work requirements of the other
slaves on this particular plantation Mr. Lewis replied "De sun would
never ketch dem at de house. By de time it wus up dey had done got to de
fiel'--not jes gwine. I've known men to have to wait till it wus bright
enough to see how to plow without "kivering" the plants up. Dey lef' so
early in de mornings dat breakfus' had to be sent to dem in de fiel'. De
chillun was de ones who carried de meals dere. Dis was de first job dat
I had. All de pails wus put on a long stick an' somebody hold to each
end of de stick. If de fiel' hands was too far away fum de house at
dinner time it was sent to dem de same as de breakfus'".

All of the slaves on the plantation were awakened each morning by a
bugle or a horn which was blown by the overseer. The same overseer gave
the signal for dinner hour by blowing on the same horn. All were usually
given one hour for dinner. None had to do any work after leaving the
fields unless it happened to be personal work. No work other than the
caring for the stock was required on Sundays.

A few years before the Civil War Mrs. Bright married a Dr. Bennett
Ferrel and moved to his home in Georgia (Troupe County).

Mr. Lewis states that he and his fellow slaves always had "pretty fair"
food. Before they moved to Georgia the rations were issued daily and for
the most part an issue consisted of vegetables, rice, beans, meat
(pork), all kinds of fish and grits, etc.

"We got good clothes too says Mr. Lewis. All of 'em was bought. All de
chillun wore a long shirt until dey wus too big an' den dey was given
pants an' dresses. De shoes wus made out of red leather an' wus called
brogans. After we moved to Georgia our new marster bought de cloth an'
had all de clothes made on de plantation. De food wus "pretty fair" here
too. We got corn bread an' biscuit sometimes--an' it was sometimes
too--bacon, milk, all kinds of vegetables an' sicha stuff like dat. De
flour dat we made de biscuits out of was de third grade shorts."

The food on Sunday was almost identical with that eaten during the week.
However, those who desired to were allowed to hunt as much as they
pleased to at night. They were not permitted to carry guns and so wh