wid grown folkses. When a boy got to be
a man enough to wear pants, he drawed rations and quit eatin' out of de
trough.

"All de slave quarters wuz log cabins and little famblies had cabins wid
jes' one room. Old Marster sho' did want to see lots of chilluns 'round
de cabins and all de big famblies wuz 'lowed to live in two-room cabins.
Beds for slaves wuz made by nailing frames, built out of oak or walnut
planks to de sides of de cabins. Dey had two or three laigs to make 'em
set right, and de mattresses wuz filled wid wheat straw. Dere warn't no
sto'-bought stoves den, and all our cookin' wuz done in de fireplace.
Pots wuz hung on iron cranes to bile and big pones of light bread wuz
cooked in ovens on de hearth. Dat light bread and de biscuits made out
of shorts wuz our Sunday bread and dey sho' wuz good, wid our home-made
butter. Us had good old corn bread for our evvyday bread, and dere ain't
nothin' lak corn bread and buttermilk to make healthy Niggers. Dere
wouldn't be so many old sick Niggers now if dey et corn bread evvyday
and let all dis wheat bread and sto'-bought, ready-made bread alone
'cept on Sunday.

"Dere wuz four or five acres in Marster's big old gyarden, but den it
tuk a big place to raise enough for all de slaves and white folkses too
in de same gyarden. Dere wuz jus' de one gyarden wid plenty of cabbage,
collards, turnip greens, beans, corn, peas, onions, 'taters, and jus'
evvything folkses laked in de way of gyarden sass. Marster never 'lowed
but one smokehouse on his place. It wuz plumb full of meat, and evvy
slave had his meat rations weighed out reg'lar. Dere wuz jes' one dairy
house too whar de slaves got all de milk and butter dey needed. Marster
sho' did b'lieve in seeing dat his Niggers had a plenty to eat.

"Marster raised lots of chickens and de slaves raised chickens too if
dey wanted to. Marster let 'em have land to wuk for deyselves, but dey
had to wuk it atter dey come out of his fields. All dey made on dis land
wuz deir own to sell and do what dey wanted to wid. Lots of 'em plowed
and hoed by moonlight to make deir own crops.

"Us used to hear tell of big sales of slaves, when sometimes mammies
would be sold away off from deir chilluns. It wuz awful, and dey would
jes' cry and pray and beg to be 'lowed to stay together. Old Marster
wouldn't do nothin' lak dat to us. He said it warn't right for de
chilluns to be tuk away from deir mammies. At dem sales dey would put a
Nigger on d