Briefly Mrs. Austin gave the following account of slavery as she knew
it. "My family lived in a two room well built house which had many
windows and a nice large porch. Our master, Mr. Hall was a merchant and
operated a clothing store. Because Mr. Hall lived in town he did not
need but a few slaves. My family which included my mother, father,
sister, and myself were his only servants. Originally Mr. Hall did not
own any slaves, however after marrying Mrs. Hall we were given to her by
her father as a part of her inheritance.

My mother nursed Mrs. Hall from a baby, consequently the Hall family was
very fond of her and often made the statement that they would not part
with her for anything in the world, besides working as the cook for the
Hall family my mother was also a fine seamstress and made clothing for
the master's family and for our family. We were allowed an ample amount
of good clothing which Mr. Hall selected from the stock in his store. My
father worked as a porter in the store and did other jobs around the
house. I did not have to work and spent most of my time playing with the
Hall children. We were considered the better class of slaves and did not
know the meaning of a hard time.

Other slave owners whipped their slaves severely and often, but I have
never known our master to whip any one of my family. If any one in the
family became ill the family doctor was called in as often as he was
needed.

We did not have churches of our own but were allowed to attend the white
churches in the afternoon. The White families attended in the forenoon.
We seldom heard a true religious sermon; but were constantly preached
the doctrine of obedience to our masters and mistresses. We were