house they lived
in was weatherboarded; it was much warmer in such a house during cold
weather than the houses are now. "Every crack was chinked up with mud
and we had lots of wood." Her mother made all their beds, and had four
double beds sitting in the room. She made the ticking first and placed
the straw in the mattresses. "They beat the beds you can get now. These
men make half beds, den sell 'em to you, but dey ain't no good. Dey
don't know how to make 'em."

Aunt Charlotte said she remembered when the stars fell. "That was
something awful to see. Dey just fell in every direction. Master said to
wake the chilluns up and let 'em see it. Everybody thought the world was
coming to an end. We went out on de front porch to look at the sight;
we'd get scared and go back into de house, den come out again to see the
sight. It was something awful, but I sure saw it." (Records show that
the great falling of stars happened in the year 1833, so Aunt Charlotte
must be older than she claims, if she saw this eventful sight. Yet she
was positive she had seen the stars falling all over the heavens. She
made a sweep of her arm from high to low to illustrate how they fell.)

=Source:= Aunt Charlotte Foster, RFD #2, Spartanburg, S.C.
Interviewer: F.S. DuPre, Spartanburg, S.C.

Project #1655
Stiles M. Scruggs
Columbia, S.C.

JOHN FRANKLIN
EX-SLAVE 84 YEARS OLD.

"I is the son of John Franklin and Susan Bobo Franklin. I was born
August 10th, 1853 in Spartanburg County. My daddy was a slave on the
plantation of Marster Henry Franklin, sometimes called Hill and my mammy
was a slave on the plantation of Marster Benjamin Bobo. They was
brother-in-law's and lived on a plantation joining each other.

"My white marsters and their mistresses was good to us and to all their
slaves. We have plenty to eat and wear, on the Bobo plantation, from the
time I can remember up to the time I was 'bout eleven years old. In
1861, my marsters go away with their neighbors, to fight the damn
Yankees and the plantation was left in charge of the mistresses and
worked by the slaves. The slaves all raised 'bundance of rations, but
pretty soon there was a scarcity 'cause they was no coffee at the store
and stragglin' Yankees or what they call 'Rebel soldiers' come 'long
every few days and take all they can carry.

"That shortage begun in 1862, and it kept on gettin' worse all the time,
and when Lincoln set all niggers free, there w