in' in
her mouth most all de time.

"When marster come ter town she raised ole scratch wid de slaves. She
whupped all she could while marster wus gone. She tried to boss
marster but he wouldn't allow dat. He kept her from whuppin' many a
slave. She jist wouldn't feed a slave an' when she had her way our food
wus bad. She said underleaves of collards wus good enough for slaves.
Marster took feedin' in his hands an' fed us plenty at times. He said
people couldn't work widout eatin'.

"Our houses wus good houses, 'case marster seed to it dey wus fixed
right. We had good beds an' plenty of kiver. De houses wus called de
nigger houses. Dey wus 'bout two hundred yards from de big house. Our
houses had two rooms an' marster's had seven rooms.

"We didn't have any overseers, marster said he didn't believe in 'em
an' he didn't want any. De oldest slaves on the place woke us up in the
morning, an' acted as foreman. Marster hardly ever went to de field. He
tole Squire Holman an' Sam Sorrell, two ole slaves, what he wanted done
an' dey tole us an' we done it. I worked at de house as nurse an' house
girl most of de time.

"Mother an' father worked in de field. Mother wus named Judy an' father
wus named Sam. You sees father wus a slave foreman. Marster bought
Squire Holman from de Holmans an' let him keep his name. Dats why he
wus called dat.

"We worked from sunup till sunset wid a rest spell at 12 o'clock of two
hours. He give us holidays to rest in. Dat was Christmas, a week off
den, den a day every month, an' all Sundays. He said he wus a Christian
an' he believed in givin' us a chance. Marster died of consumption. He
give us patches an' all dey made on it. He give slaves days off to work
dere patches.

"I shore believes marster went to Heaven, but missus, well I don't
know. Don' know 'bout her, she wus so bad. She would hide her baby's
cap an' tell me to find it. If I couldn't fin' it, she whupped me. She
would call marster, an' I doin' de best I could to please her, an' say
come here Jacob an' whup dis nigger, but marster paid no attention to
her. He took our part. Many wus de meals he give us unbeknown to his
wife. Dere wus no mixin' white an' black on marster's place, no sir,
nothin' lak dat. He wus lak a father to us. Sometimes he brought hog
haslets an' good things to de nigger house an' tole us to cook it. When
it wus done he come an' et all he wanted, got up an' said, 'I'm goin'
now,' an' you didn't see him no mor