homemade.

"Many of de slaves went bareheaded an barefooted. Some wore rags roun
dere heads an some wore bonnets. Marster lived in de great house. He
did not do any work but drank a lot of whiskey, went dressed up all de
time an had niggers to wash his feet an comb his hair. He made me
scratch his head when he lay down so he could go to sleep. When he got
to sleep I would slip out. If he waked up when I started to leave I
would have to go back an' scratch his head till he went to sleep agin.
Sometimes I had to fan de flies way from him while he slept. No
prayer-meetings wus allowed, but we sometimes went to de white folks
church. Dey tole us to obey our marsters an be obedient at all times.
When bad storms come dey let us rest but dey kept us in de fields so
long sometimes dat de storm caught us 'fore we could git to de cabins.
Niggers watched de wedder in slavery time an de ole ones wus good at
prophesyin' de wedder.

"Marster had no chilluns by white women. He had his sweethearts 'mong
his slave women. I ain't no man for tellin false stories. I tells de
truth an dat is de truth. At dat time it wus a hard job to find a
marster dat didn't have women 'mong his slaves. Dat wus a ginerel thing
'mong de slave owners.

"One of de slave girls on a plantation near us went to her missus an
tole her 'bout her marster forcing her to let him have sumthin to do
wid her an her missus tole her, 'Well go on you belong to him.'

"Another marster named Jimmie Shaw owned a purty slave gal nearly white
an he kept her. His wife caught 'im in a cabin in bed wid her. His wife
said sumthin to him 'bout it an' he cussed his wife. She tole him she
had caught him in de act. She went back to de great house an got a gun.
When de marster come in de great house she tole 'im he must let de
slave girls alone dat he belonged to her. He cussed her agin an sed she
would have to tend to her own dam business an' he would tend to his.
Dey had a big fuss an den marster Shaw started towards her. She grabbed
de gun an let him have it. She shot 'im dead in de hall. Dey had three
chillun, two sons an one married daughter. Missus Shaw took her two
sons an' left. De married daughter an her husband took charge of de
place. Missus an her sons never come back as I knows of.

"A lot of de slave owners had certain strong healthy slave men to serve
de slave women. Ginerally dey give one man four women an' dat man
better not have nuthin' to do wid de udder women an'