"Jus' a few of de slave famblies was 'lowed to do deir own cookin'
'cause Marster kept cooks up at de big house what never had nothin' else
to do but cook for de white folks and slaves. De big old fireplace in
dat kitchen at de big house was more dan eight feet wide and you could
pile whole sticks of cord-wood on it. It had racks acrost to hang de
pots on and big ovens and little ovens and big, thick, iron fryin' pans
wid long handles and hefty iron lids. Dey could cook for a hunderd
people at one time in dat big old kitchen easy. At one time dere was
tables acrost one end of de kitchen for de slaves t'eat at, and de slave
chillun et dar too.

"Marster was mighty good to slave chillun. He never sont us out to wuk
in de fields 'til us was 'most growed-up, say 12 or 14 years old. A
Nigger 12 or 14 years old dem days was big as a white child 17 or 18
years old. Why Miss, Niggers growed so fast, dat most of de Nigger
nurses warn't no older dan de white chillun dey tuk keer of. Marster
said he warn't gwine to send no babies to de fields. When slave chillun
got to be 'bout 9 or 10 years old dey started 'em to fetchin' in wood
and water, cleanin' de yards, and drivin' up de cows at night. De
bigges' boys was 'lowed to measure out and fix de stock feed, but de
most of us chillun jus' played in de cricks and woods all de time.
Sometimes us played Injuns and made so much fuss dat old Aunt Nancy
would come out to de woods to see what was wrong, and den when she found
us was jus' a-havin' fun, she stropped us good for skeerin' her.

"Mammy's job was to make all de cloth. Dat was what she done all de
time; jus' wove cloth. Some of de others cyarded de bats and spun
thread, but Mammy, she jus' wove on so reg'lar dat she made enough cloth
for clothes for all dem slaves on de plantation and, it's a fact, us did
have plenty of clothes. All de nigger babies wore dresses made jus' alak
for boys and gals. I was sho'ly mighty glad when dey 'lowed me to git
rid of dem dresses and wear shirts. I was 'bout 5 years old den, but dat
boys' shirt made me feel powerful mannish. Slave gals wore homespun
cotton dresses, and dey had plenty of dem dresses, so as dey could keep
nice and clean all de time. Dey knitted all de socks and stockin's for
winter. Dem gals wore shawls, and dere poke bonnets had ruffles 'round
'em. All de shoes was home-made too. Marster kept one man on de
plantation what didn't do nothin' but make shoes. Lordy, Missy! What
wo