"Dere was hunderds of acres in dat dere plantation. Marse Lewis had a
heap of slaves. De overseer, he had a bugle what he blowed to wake up
de slaves. He blowed it long 'fore day so dat dey could eat breakfast
and be out dere in de fields waitin' for de sun to rise so dey could see
how to wuk, and dey stayed out dar and wukked 'til black dark. When a
rainy spell come and de grass got to growin' fast, dey wukked dem slaves
at night, even when de moon warn't shinin'. On dem dark nights one set
of slaves helt lanterns for de others to see how to chop de weeds out of
de cotton and corn. Wuk was sho' tight dem days. Evvy slave had a task
to do atter dey got back to dem cabins at night. Dey each one hed to
spin deir stint same as de 'omans, evvy night.

"Young and old washed deir clothes Sadday nights. Dey hardly knowed what
Sunday was. Dey didn't have but one day in de Christmas, and de only
diff'unce dey seed dat day was dat dey give 'em some biscuits on
Christmas day. New Year's Day was rail-splittin' day. Dey was told how
many rails was to be cut, and dem Niggers better split dat many or
somebody was gwine to git beat up.

"I don't 'member much 'bout what us played, 'cept de way us run 'round
in a ring. Us chillun was allus skeered to play in de thicket nigh de
house 'cause Raw Head and Bloody Bones lived der. Dey used to skeer us
out 'bout red 'taters. Dey was fine 'taters, red on de outside and
pretty and white on de inside, but white folks called 'em
'nigger-killers.' Dat was one of deir tricks to keep us from stealin'
dem 'taters. Dere wern't nothin' wrong wid dem 'taters; dey was jus' as
good and healthy as any other 'taters. Aunt Lucy, she was de cook, and
she told me dat slaves was skeered of dem 'nigger-killer' 'taters and
never bothered 'em much den lak dey does de yam patches dese days. I
used to think I seed ha'nts at night, but it allus turned out to be