atch their clothes, as she did
not like to see their clothes needing patching. "We used to have lots of
fun," he said, "more than the children do now. As children, we used to
play marbles around the house; but no other special game."

Uncle George said that the patrollers saw that the colored people were
in their houses at 8 o'clock every night. "They would come to the house
and look in; of course, if a man had a pass to another plantation or
some place, that was all right; or if he had some business somewhere.
But everybody had to be in the house by 8 o'clock." He also stated that
if a slave strayed off the plantation and didn't have a pass, if he
could out-run the "pateroller" and get back upon his own place, then he
was all right. The only slave he ever saw get a whipping, was one who
had stayed out after hours; then a switch was used on him by a
"pateroller". He said he never saw any slaves in chains or treated
badly, for his master was a good man, and so was his "Missus". One day
his mother went to a church that was not her own church. On coming back,
she saw a "pateroller" coming behind her. She began to run, and he did
too; but as he caught up with her, she stepped over a fence on her
master's place and dared the "pateroller" to do anything to her. He
didn't do a thing and would not get over the fence where she was, as he
would have been on somebody's place besides his own.

He said that when the corn-shucking time came, both whites and blacks
would gather at a certain plantation. Everybody shucked corn, and they
all had a good time. When the last ear of corn was shucked, the owner of
the plantation would begin to run from the place and all would run after
him. When they caught him, he was placed on the shoulders of two men and
carried around and around the house, all singing and laughing and having
a good time. Then they would carry the man into his house, pull off his
hat and throw it into the fire; place him in a chair; comb his head;
cross his knees for him and leave him alone. They would not let him
raise a second crop under his old hat--he had to have a new hat for a
new crop. Then they would all, colored and white, gather to eat. The
owner of the farm would furnish plenty to eat; sometimes he would have
some whiskey to drink, but not often, "as that was a dangerous thing to
have".

He said that if a man who was chewing or smoking met a woman, he would
throw his tobacco away before talking with the woman.