lace to keep warm. Atter he got big enough to wuk, day
treated him better.

"Evvybody cooked on fireplaces dem days, 'cause dere warn't no
sto'-bought stoves. Marse Tom fed all his slaves at de big house; he
kept 'em so regular at wuk dere warn't no time for 'em to do deir own
cookin'.

"Slaves lived in one-room log cabins dat had rock chimblies, and each
cabin had one little window wid a wooden shutter dey fastened at night
and in bad weather. Deir beds was made out of pine poles fastened to de
sides of dem old beds 'teesters,' 'cause de posties was so high. Ropes
or cords was criss-crossed to hold 'em together and to take de place of
springs. Nobody hadn't ever saw no iron springs on beds dem days. Dem
big old ticks was generally filled wid wheat straw, but sometimes slaves
was 'lowed to pick up waste cotton and wash, dry, and card it to stuff
deir bed-ticks wid. But Missy, dat was jus' too much trouble when a good
old straw tick slept so fine. Cheers was made out of oak splits, and
cane and rye plaits was used for de cheer-bottoms. Dem old cheers sot
mighty good and lasted a lifetime.

"Folks sho 'nough did live at home den; dey raised all sorts of
vegetables sich as corn, 'taters, wheat, rye, and oats, and what's more,
dey raised de cotton and wool to make de cloth for deir clothes. Cows,
hogs, goats, sheep, chickens, geese, and turkeys was runnin' all over
dem pastures, and dere warn't no lack of good victuals and home-made
clothes. When hogs and cows was kilt to put meat in de smokehouse deir
hides was tanned for leather to be used for harness and shoes, and a
heap of times a piece of hide was used for a cheer-seat.

"Daddy said dey had a powerful hard time gittin' things lak soda, salt,
sugar, and coffee durin' de war times. He said dat sometimes corn and
okra seeds was parched right brown and ground up to be used for coffee,
but it warn't nigh as good as sho 'nough coffee. When de salt had to be
used if folks and critters was to keep well. Dey dug up de dirt under
old smokehouses and biled it to git out de salt. Nobody didn't waste
none of dat salt. No Surree! It was too hard to git. When it got so dey
couldn't buy no soda, dey saved nice clean corncobs and burned dem into
a fine powder what dey used for soda. Was it fit for bread-makin'? Why,
Missy, dem biscuits made out of corncob soda and baked in dem old dutch
ovens was fit for anybody to eat and enjoy. De onliest trouble 'bout it
was gittin' 'em to bake