ked right and served from the big
kitchen. We were given plenty of milk and sometimes butter. We were
permitted to have a fowl-house for chickens, separate from the white
folks. We wore warm clothes and stout brogan shoes in winter; went
barefooted from April until November and wore cotton clothes in summer.
The master and some of the women slaves spun the thread, wove the cloth
and made the clothes. My mother lived in a two-story farm house. Her
children were: William, Mattie and Thomas. We never had an overseer on
the place. Sometimes she'd whip the colored children, but only when it
was needed for correction.

"Yes, sir, I went with my young master, William, to Chester Court House,
and saw slaves put on a block and auctioned off to the highest bidder,
just like land or mules and cattle. Did we learn to read and write? We
were taught to read, but it was against the law to teach a slave to
write. The Legislature passed an act to that effect. A number of cases
in which slaves could write, the slave would forge a pass and thereby
get away to free territory. They had a time getting them back. On one
occasion I run in on my young master, William, teaching my Uncle Reuben
how to write. They showed their confusion.

"All slaves were compelled to attend church on Sunday. A gallery around
the interior of the church, contained the blacks. They were permitted to
join in the singing. Favorite preacher? Well, I guess my favorite
preacher was Robert Russell. He was allowed sometimes to use the white
folks school, which wasn't much in those days, just a little log house
to hold forth in winter. In summer he got permission to have a brush
arbor of pine tops, where large numbers came. Here they sang Negro
spirituals. I remember one was called: 'Steal away to Jesus.'

"Runaway slaves? Yes, we had one woman who was contrary enough to run
away: Addie, she run off in the woods. My mistress hired her out to the
McDonald family. She came back and we had to pelt and drive her away.

"How did we get news? Many plantations were strict about this, but the
greater the precaution the alerter became the slaves, the wider they
opened their ears and the more eager they became for outside
information. The sources were: Girls that waited on the tables, the
ladies' maids and the drivers; they would pick up everything they heard
and pass it on to the other slaves.

"Saturday afternoons? These were given to women to do the family
washing, ironing, e