ning, jumping and boxing contest. Saturday was the big
frolicking time, and every body made the most of it. Slaves were allowed
to tend little patches of their own, and were often given Saturday
afternoons off to work their crops, then when laying-by time came, we
had more time for our patches. We were allowed all we could make over
and above our certain tasks. Marster used to buy me candy when he take
me with him, but I can't remember him giving me spending money.

"We were not compelled to attend church on Sundays, but most of the
slaves went from time to time. I was a Baptist, my family being Baptist,
but I have long since put Christianity above creeds. I learned too, many
years ago, that we can find in the contents of that old book we call the
Bible, a solution to every problem we run up against."--Uncle Dave is a
learned theologian, and has served many years as a minister, or Doctor
of Divinity. He is very modest, and says that he wants no titles on his
name. He believes that every man and every woman gets all the credit
they deserve in this world. "Going back to the church services, we
slaves attended the white folks churches. There were galleries built for
the slaves in some of the churches, in others, there was space reserved
in the back of the church for the colored worshippers. It was a custom
to hold prayer meetings in the quarters for the colored sick. One of
the slaves named Charity had been sick a long time, just wasting away.
One beautiful spring morning they came running for my mother saying that
Charity was dying. I was a very small child, and ran after my mother to
Charity's house. It was a very harrowing experience to me, as it
required three women to hold Charity on the bed while she was dying. I
became so frightened, I slipped into unconsciousness. They took me home,
and after hours went by I still was unconscious, and Marster became so
alarmed about me that they sent for Dr. Cogburn. He said that it was a
thousand wonders that I ever came back, but he gave me some medicine and
brought me around. About a year later, my hair turned white, and it has
been white ever since. They used to gather herbs and one thing and
another from the woods for simple maladies, but Marster always send for
the doctor when things looked serious to him.

"In 1863, Miss Elizabeth was going to have big company at her house, and
she was saving her strawberries for the occasion. I spied all these
nice, ripe strawberries throug