somebody dat was tryin' to skeer me.

"'Bout de most fun slaves had was at dem cornshuckin's. De general would
git high on top of de corn pile and whoop and holler down leadin' dat
cornshuckin' song 'til all de corn was done shucked. Den come de big
eats, de likker, and de dancin'. Cotton pickin's was big fun too, and
when dey got through pickin' de cotton dey et and drunk and danced 'til
dey couldn't dance no more.

"Miss, white folks jus' had to be good to sick slaves, 'cause slaves was
property. For Old Marster to lose a slave, was losin' money. Dere warn't
so many doctors dem days and home-made medicines was all de go. Oil and
turpentine, camphor, assfiddy (asafetida), cherry bark, sweetgum bark;
all dem things was used to make teas for grown folks to take for deir
ailments. Red oak bark tea was give to chillun for stomach mis'ries.

"All I can ricollect 'bout de comin' of freedom was Old Marster tellin'
us dat us was free as jack-rabbits and dat from den on Niggers would
have to git deir own somepin t'eat. It warn't long atter dat when dem
yankees, wid pretty blue clothes on come through our place and dey stole
most evvything our Marster had. Dey kilt his chickens, hogs, and cows
and tuk his hosses off and sold 'em. Dat didn't look right, did it?

"My aunt give us a big weddin' feast when I married Tom Adams, and she
sho' did pile up dat table wid heaps of good eatments. My weddin' dress
was blue, trimmed in white. Us had six chillun, nine grandchillun, and
19 great-grandchillun. One of my grandchillun is done been blind since
he was three weeks old. I sont him off to de blind school and now he kin
git around 'most as good as I kin. He has made his home wid me ever
since his Mammy died.