milk and bread, but
dere was allus plenty of it. Marse Jack had lots of cows, and old Aunt
Mary didn't have no other job but to churn enough so dere would allus be
plenty of milk and butter, 'cause Marse Jack had done said milk was good
for chillun and dat us was to have it to drink any time us wanted it.

"Evvybody cooked on fireplaces den. I jus' wish you could see dat big
old fireplace in de big house kitchen; you could stand up in it. It had
long racks clear acrost de inside for de pots what dey biled in to hang
on. Bakin' was done in thick iron skillets dat had heavy lids. You sot
'em on coals and piled more coals all over 'em. Us had somepin dat most
folks didn't have; dat was long handled muffin pans. Dey had a lid dat
fitted down tight, and you jus' turned 'em over in de fire 'til de
muffins was cooked on both sides. I had dem old muffin irons here, but
de lid got broke off and dese here boys done lost 'em diggin' in de
ground wid 'em. Dem victuals cooked on open fireplaces was mighty fine,
and I wishes you could have a chance to see jus' how nice dey was.

"Evvy kind of vegetable us knowed anything 'bout was raised right dar on
de place and dey had big old fields of corn, oats, rye, and wheat. Us
had lots of fruit trees on de plantation too. Dere warn't no runnin' off
to de store evvy time dere was a special meal to be got up. Coffee,
sugar, salt, and black pepper was de most Marse Jack had to buy in de
way of victuals. Course dey was hard to git in war times. Parched corn
and okra seed was ground together for coffee, and us had to git up dirt
under old smokehouses and bile it down for salt. Dere was allus a little
sugar 'round de sides of de syrup barr'ls, and us had to make out wid
dat hot red pepper 'til atter de war was done over a good long time,
'fore dere was any more black pepper shipped in. Spite of all dat,
Honey, dem was good old days.

"Marster raised enough cows, sheep, hogs, chickens, and turkeys for us
to have all de meat us needed. He had lots of mules and oxen too. Dey
used de mules for 'most of de plowin' and for goin' to mill, and don't
forgit it took plenty of goin' to mill to feed as many Niggers as our
Marster had. Lordy, Lady! I never knowed how many slaves he owned. Oxen
pulled dem two-wheeled carts dey hauled in de craps wid, and I has rid
to town in a ox-cart many a time. Dem old oxen was enough to make a
preacher lose his best 'ligion. Dey had a heap of mean ways, but de wust
thing