t together until slavery was abolished.

Interviewer's Comment

Mr. Howard seems to be a very kind old man, lives in the house for aged
colored people (The Alpha Home).

He has no relatives, except a brother. He seems well satisfied living in
the home.

Submitted January 10, 1938
Indianapolis, Indiana

Grace Monroe
Dist. 4
Jefferson County

SLAVE STORY
MR. MATTHEW HUME, A FORMER SLAVE

Mr. Hume had many interesting experiences to tell concerning the part
slavery had played in his family. On the whole they were fortunate in
having a good master who would not keep an overseer who whipped his
"blacks".

His father, Luke Hume, lived in Trimble County Kentucky and was allowed
to raise for himself one acre of tobacco, one acre of corn, garden
stuff, chickens and have the milk and butter from one cow. He was
advised to save his money by the overseer, but always drank it up. On
this plantation all the slaves were free from Saturday noon until Monday
morning and on Christmas and the Fourth of July. A majority of them
would go to Bedford or Milton and drink, gamble and fight. On the
neighboring farm the slaves were treated cruelly. Mr. Hume had a
brother-in-law, Steve Lewis, who carried marks on his back. For years he
had a sore that would not heal where his master had struck him with a
blacksnake whip.

Three good overseers were Jake Mack and Mr. Crafton, Mr. Daniel Payne
was the owner who asked his people to report any mistreatment to him. He
expected obedience however.

When Mr. Hume was a small boy he was placed in the fields to hoe. He
also wanted a new implement. He was so small he was unable to keep near
enough to the men and boys to hear what they were talking about, he
remembered bringing up the rear one day, when he saw a large rock he
carefully covered it with dirt, then came down hard on it breaking his
hoe. He missed a whipping and received a new tool to replace the old
one, after this he could keep near enough to hear what the other workers
were talking about.

Another of his duties was to go for the cattle, he had to walk around
the road about a mile, but was permitted to come back through the fields
about a quarter of a mile. One afternoon his mistress told him to bring
a load of wood when he came in. In the summer it was the custom to have
the children carry the wood from the fields. When he came up he saw his
mistress was angry this peeved him, so that he stalked into the hall and
sl