doctor.

Down in the quarters we had the spinning house, where the old woman
card the wool and run the loom. They made double weave for the winter
time, and all the white folks and slaves had good clothes and good
food.

Master made us all eat all we could hold. He would come to the
smokehouse and look in and say, "You niggers ain't cutting down that
smoke side and that souse lak you ought to! You made dat meat and you
got to help eat it up!"

Never no work on Sunday 'cepting the regular chores. The overlooker
made everybody clean up and wash de children up and after the praying
we had games. Antny over and marbles and "I Spy" and de likes of that.
Some times de boys would go down in de woods and git a possum. I love
possum and sweet taters, but de coon meat more delicate and de har
don't stink up de meat.

I wasn't at the quarters much as a boy. I was at the big house with my
mammy, and I had to swing the fly bresh over my old Mistress when she
was sewing or eating or taking her nap. Sometime I would keep the
flies off'n old Master, and when I would get tired and let the bresh
slap his neck he would kick at me and cuss me, but he never did reach
me. He had a way of keeping us little niggers scared to death and
never hurting nobody.

I was down in the field burning bresh when I first heard the guns in
the War. De fighting was de battle at Kingston, North Carolina, and it
lasted four days and nights. After while bunches of Sesesh come riding
by hauling wounded people in wagons, and then pretty soon big bunches
of Yankees come by, but dey didn't ack like dey was trying very hard
to ketch up.

Dey had de country in charge quite some time, and they had forages
coming round all the time. By dat time old Master done buried his
money and all de silver and de big clock, but the Yankees didn't pear
to search out dat kind of stuff. All dey ask about was did anybody
find a bottle of brandy!

When de War ended up most all de niggers stay with old Master and work
on de shares, until de land git divided up and sold off and the young
niggers git scattered to town.

I never did have no truck wid de Ku Kluckers, but I had to step mighty
high to keep out'n it! De sho' nuff Kluxes never did bother around us
'cause we minded our own business and never give no trouble.

We wouldn't let no niggers come 'round our place talking 'bout
delegates and voting, and we jest all stayed on the place. But dey was
some low white trash and s