pasture an' kill a hog or sheep an' clean him by a branch an'
den hide de meat in de woods or in de loft of de house. Some of de white
folks would learn you how to steal fum other folks. Sometimes ol'
marster would say to one o' us: 'Blast you--you better go out an' hunt
me a hog tonight an' put it in my smokehouse---dey can search you
niggers' houses but dey can't search mine.'

"Once a week de marster give us three pounds of pork, a half gallon o'
syrup, an' a peck o' meal. You had to have a garden connected wid yo'
house fer yo' vegetables. De marster would let you go out in de woods
an' cut you as large a space as you wanted. If you failed to plant, it
wus jes' yo' bad luck. If you wanted to you could sell de corn or de
tobacco or anything else dat you raised to de marster an' he would pay
you. 'Course he wusn't goin' to pay you too much fer it.

"All de slaves had to work---my mother wus a plow han'. All de aged men
an' women had to tend to de hogs an' de cows an' do de weavin' an' de
sewin'. Sometimes ol' marster would let us have a frolic an' we could
dance all night if we wanted to as long as we wus ready to go to de
fiel' when de overseer blowed de bugle 'fo day nex' mornin'. De fiel'
han's had to git up early enuff to fix dey breakfas' befo' dey went to
de fiel'. We chillun took dinner to 'em at twelve o'clock. We used
baskets to take de dinner in, an' large pails to take de milk in. Dey
had to fix supper fer dey selves when dey lef' de fiel' at dark.

"All de clothes we wore wuz made on de plantation. De women had to card,
spin an' weave de thread an' den when de cloth wuz made it wuz dyed wid
berries. My step-father wuz de shoemaker on de plantation an' we always
had good shoes. He beat ol' marster out o' 'bout fifteen years work.
When he didn't feel like workin' he would play like he wuz sick an' ol'
marster would git de doctor for him. When anybody got sick dey always
had de doctor to tend to him."

Regarding houses, Mr. Green says: "We lived in log houses dat had wood
floors. Dere wuz one window an' a large fireplace where de cookin' wuz
done in de ashes. De chinks in de walls wuz daubed wid mud to keep de
weather out. De beds wuz made by hand an' de mattresses wuz big tickin's
stuffed wid straw."

Continuing he says: "Yo' actual treatment depended on de kind o' marster
you had. A heap o' folks done a heap better in slavery dan dey do now.
Everybody on our plantation wuz glad when de Yankee soldiers t