o his slaves.
His plantation was a large one and on it was raised cotton, corn,
cane[TR:?], vegetables, and live stock. More cotton was grown than
anything else.

From the time he was 1 year and 6 months of age until he was 9 years old
he lived in the "big house" with his mother. At night he slept on the
floor there. In spite of this, his and his mother's treatment was
considerably better than that received by those slaves who worked in the
fields. While their food consisted of the same things as did that of the
field slaves, sometimes choice morsels came back to the kitchen from the
Master's table. He says that his mother's clothes were of better quality
than the other slave women (those who were not employed in the house).

As a child his first job was to cut wood for the stove, pick up chips,
and to drive the cows to and from the pasture. When 9 years old he was
sent to the field as a plow boy. Here he worked with a large number of
other slaves (he does not know the exact number) who were divided into
two groups, the plow group and the hoe group. His father happened to be
the foreman of the hoe gang. His brothers and sisters also worked here
in the fields being required to hoe as well as plow. When picking time
came, everyone was required to pick. The usual amount of cotton each
person was required to pick was 200 lbs. per day. However, when this
amount was not picked by some they were not punished by the overseer, as
was the case on neighboring plantations, because Mr. Coxton realized
that some could do more work than others. Mr. Coxton often told his
overseer that he had not been hired to whip the slaves, but to teach
them how to work.

Says Mr. Bland: "Our working hours were the same as on any other
plantation. We had to get up every morning before sun-up and when it was
good and light we were in the field. A bugle was blown to wake us." All
the slaves stayed in the field until dark. After leaving the field they
were never required to do any work but could spend their time as they
saw fit to. No work was required on Saturday or Sunday with the
exception that the stock had to be cared for. Besides those days when no
work was required, there was the 4th of July and Christmas on which the
slaves were permitted to do as they pleased. These two latter dates were
usually spent in true holiday spirit as the master usually gave a big
feast in the form of a barbecue and allowed them to invite their
friends.

When dark