ld Master would be mad and she'd be
punished so she got some grub and her bonnet and she lit out. She hid
in de woods and cane brakes for two weeks and dey couldn't find her
either. One of de women slipped food out to her. Finally she come home
and old Master give her a whipping but he didn't hurt her none. He was
glad to git her back. She told us dat she could'a slipped off to de
North but she didn't want to leave us children. She was afraid young
Master would be mad and sell us and we'd a-had a hard time so she come
back. I don't know whether she ever burnt de bread any more or not.

Once one of de men got his 'lowance and he decided he'd have de meat
all cooked at once so he come to our cabin and got mammy to cook it
for him. She cooked it and he took it home. One day he was at work and
a dog got in and et de meat all up. He didn't have much food for de
rest of de week. He had to make out wid parched corn.

We all kept parched corn all de time and went 'round eating it. It was
good to fill you up iffen you was hungry and was nourishing, too.

When de niggers cooked in dere own cabins dey put de food in a sort of
tray or trough and everybody et together. Dey didn't have no dishes.
We allus ate at de Big House as mammy had to do de cooking for de
family.

I never had to work hard as old Master wanted us to grow up strong.
He'd have mammy boil Jerusalem Oak and make a tea for us to drink to
cure us of worms and we'd run races and get exercise so we would be
healthy.

Old Mistress and old Master had three children. Dey was two children
dead between Master Jason and Miss Jane. Dey was a little girl 'bout
my age, named Arline. We played together all de time. We used to set
on de steps at night and old Mistress would tell us about de stars.
She'd tell us and show us de Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Milky Way,
Ellen's Yard, Job's Coffin, and de Seven Sisters. I can show 'em to
you and tell you all about 'em yet.

I scared Arline and made her fall and break her leg twice. One time we
was on de porch after dark one night and I told her dat I heard
something and I made like I could see it and she couldn't so she got
scared and run and hung her toe in a crack and fell off de high porch
and broke her leg. Another time while de War was going on we was
dressed up in long dresses playing grown-ups. We had playhouses under
some big castor-bean bushes. We climbed up on de fence and jest for
fun I told her dat I seen some Yankees c