ze all night. The next morning they'd pull the sticks out
and all the scent would be on them sticks and the cat wouldn't smell
at all. They'd cook it like they did possum, bake it with taters or
make dumplings.

We had plenty of salt. We got that from Grand Saline. Our coffee was
made from parched meal or wheat bran. We made it from dried sweet
potatoes that had been parched, too.

One of our choicest dishes was "Tom Pashofa", an Indian dish. We'd
take corn and beat it in a mortar with a pestle. They took out the
husks with a riddle and a fanner. The riddle was a kind of a sifter.
When it was beat fine enough to go through the riddle we'd put it in a
pot and cook it with fresh pork or beef. We cooked our bread in a
Dutch oven or in the ashes.

When we got sick we would take butterfly root and life-everlasting and
boil it and made a syrup and take it for colds. Balmony and queen's
delight boiled and mixed would make good blood medicine.

The slaves lived in log cabins scattered back of the house. He wasn't
afraid they'd run off. They didn't know as much as the slaves in the
states, I reckon. But Master Frank had a half brother that was as mean
as he was good. I believe he was the meanest man the sun ever shined
on. His name was Buck Colbert and he claimed he was a patroller. He
was sho' bad to whup niggers. He'd stop a nigger and ask him if he had
a pass and even if they did he'd read it and tell them they had stayed
over time and he'd beat 'em most to death. He'd say they didn't have
any business off the farm and to git back there and stay there.

One time he got mad at his baby's nurse because she couldn't git the
baby to stop crying and he hit her on the head with some fire-tongs
and she died. His wife got sick and she sent for me to come and take
care of her baby. I sho' didn't want to go and I begged so hard for
them not to make me that they sent an older woman who had a baby of
her own so she could nurse the baby if necessary.

In the night the baby woke up and got to crying and Master Buck called
the woman and told her to git him quiet. She was sleepy and was sort
of slow and this made Buck mad and he made her strip her clothes off
to her waist and he began to whip her. His wife tried to git him to
quit and he told her he'd beat her iffen she didn't shut up. Sick as
as she was she slipped off and went to Master Frank's and woke him up
and got him to go and make Buck quit whipping her. He had beat her so
tha