ness came they sang and danced and this was what they called a
"frolic." As a general rule this same thing was permitted after the
crops had been gathered. Music for these occasions was furnished by
violin, banjo and a clapping of hands. Mr. Bland says that he used to
help furnish this music as Mr. Coxton had bought him a violin.

On the Coxton plantation all slaves always had a sufficient amount of
clothing. These clothes which were issued when needed and not at any
certain time included articles for Sunday wear as well as articles for
work. Those servants who worked in the "big house" wore practically the
same clothes as the master and his wife with the possible exception that
it met the qualification of being second-handed. An issue of work
clothing included a heavy pair of work shoes called brogans, homespun
shirts and a pair of jeans pants. A pair of knitted socks was also
included The women wore homespun dresses for their working clothes. For
Sunday wear the men were given white cotton shirts and the women white
cotton dresses. All clothing was made on the plantation by those women
who were too old for field work.

In the same manner that clothing was sufficient, so was food plentiful.
At the end of each week each family was given 4 lbs. of meat, 1 peck of
meal, and some syrup. Each person in a family was allowed to raise a
garden and so they had vegetables whenever they wished to. In addition
to this they were allowed to raise chickens, to hunt and to fish.
However, none of the food that was secured in any of the ways mentioned
above could be sold. When anyone wished to hunt, Mr. Coxton supplied the
gun and the shot.

Although the slaves cooked for themselves, their breakfast and dinner
were usually sent to them in the fields after it had been prepared in
the cook house. The reason for this was that they had to get up too soon
in the morning, and at noon too much time would be lost if they were
permitted to go to their cabins for lunch.

The children who were too young to work in the field were cared for by
some old slave who likewise was unable to do field work. The children
were usually fed pot liquor, corn bread, milk, syrup, and vegetables.
Each one had his individual cup to eat from. The food on Sunday was
usually no different from that of any other day of the week. However,
Mr. Bland says that they never had to break in the smokehouse because of
hunger.

When asked to describe the living quarters of th