recollections of his mother are that she worked in the fields until "she
was thru' bornin' chillun" then she was put in charge of the milk and
butter. There were 75 or 80 cows to be milked twice a day and she had to
have 5 or 6 other women helpers.

Mr. Neal had several plantations in different localities and his family
did not live on this one in Pike County but he made regular visits to
each one. It had no name, was just called "Neal's Place." It consisted
of thirteen hundred acres. There were always two or three hundred slaves
on the place, besides the ones he just bought and sold for "tradin'". He
didn't like "little nigger men" and when he happened to find one among
his slaves he would turn the dogs on him and let them run him down. The
boys were not allowed to work in the fields until they were 12 years
old, but they had to wait on the hands, such as carrying water, running
back to the shop with tools and for tools, driving wagons of corn, wheat
etc. to the mill to be ground and any errands they were considered big
enough to do. Shade worked in the fields when he became 12 years old.

This plantation was large and raised everything--corn, wheat, cotton,
"taters", tobacco, fruit, vegetables, rice, sugar cane, horses, mules,
goats, sheep, and hogs. They kept all that was needed to feed the slaves
then sent the surplus to Savannah by the "Curz". The stage took
passengers, but the "Curz" was 40 or 50 wagons that took the farm
surplus to Savannah, and "fetched back things for de house."

Mr. Neal kept 35 or 40 hounds that had to be cooked for. He was "rich
with plenty of money" always good to his slaves and didn't whip them
much, but his son, "Mr. Jimmy, sure was a bad one". Sometimes he'd use
the cow hide until it made blisters, then hit them with the flat of the
hand saw until they broke and next dip the victim into a tub of salty