near Goldston an' dey
had 'bout three hundred slaves. Hannah, my mammy, wuz de head
seamstress. She had to 'ten' to de makin' of all de slaves clothes. De
niggers had good clothes. De cloth wuz home woven in de weavin' room.
Ten niggers didn' do nothin' but weave, but every slave had one Sunday
dress a year made out of store bought cloth. Ole Marse seed to dat. Ole
Marse made de niggers go to chu'ch too. He had er meetin' house on
plantation an' every Sunday we wuz ma'ched to meetin'. Dey wuz preachin'
every other Sunday an' Sunday School every Sunday. Marse Billy an' Mis'
Roby teached de Sunday School, but dey didn' teach us to read an' write,
no suh, dey sho didn'. If dey'd see us wid er book dey'd whip us. Dey
said niggers didn' need no knowledge; dat dey mus' do what dey wuz tole
to do. Marse Billy wuz er doctor too. He doctored de slaves when dey got
sick, an' if dey got bad off he sen' for er sho nuff doctor an' paid de
bills.

Every Chris'mas Marse Billy give de niggers er big time. He called dem
up to de big house an' give dem er bag of candy, niggertoes, an' sugar
plums, den he say: 'Who wants er egg nog, boys?' All dem dat wants er
dram hol' up dey han's.' Yo' never seed such holdin' up of han's. I
would hol' up mine too, an' Ole Marse would look at me an say, 'Go 'way
from hear, Sarah Anne, yo' too little to be callin' for nog.' But he
fill up de glass jus' de same an' put in er extra spoon of sugar an'
give it to me. Dat sho wuz good nog. 'Twuz all foamy wid whipped cream
an' rich wid eggs. Marse Billy an' Mis' Roby served it demselves from
dey Sunday cut glass nog bowl, an' it kept Estella an' Rosette busy
fillin' it up. Marse Billy wuz er good man.

When de war come on Marse Billy was too ole to go, but young Marse Billy
an' Marse Gaston went. Dey wuz Ole Marse's two boys. Young Marse Billy
Headen, Mis' Susie's husban' went too.

De day Ole Marse heard dat de Yankees wuz comin' he took all de meat
'cept two or three pieces out of de smoke house, den he got de silver
an' things an' toted dem to de wood pile. He dug er hole an' buried dem,
den he covered de place wid chips, but wid dat he wuzn' satisfied, so he
made pappy bring er load of wood an' throw it on top of it, so when de
Yankees come dey didn' fin' it.

When de Yankees come up in de yard Marse Billy took Mis' Roby an' locked
her up in dey room, den he walk 'roun' an' watched de Yankees, but dey
toted off what dey wanted. I wuzn' skeered of de