here in Washington an' I been here ev'ry since. I recollects well living
on the Hunt plantation. It wuz a big place an' we had fifteen or twenty
slaves"--(The "we" was proudly possessive)--"we wuz all as happy passel
o' niggers as could be found anywhere. Aunt Winnie wuz the cook an' the
kitchen wuz a big old one out in the yard an' had a fireplace that would
'commodate a whole fence rail, it wuz so big, an' had pot hooks, pots,
big old iron ones, an' everything er round to cook on. Aunt Winnie had a
great big wooden tray dat she would fix all us little niggers' meals in
an' call us up an' han' us a wooden spoon apiece an' make us all set
down 'round the tray an' eat all us wanted three times ev'ry day. In one
corner of the kitchen set a loom my Mother use to weave on. She would
weave way into the night lots of times.

"The fust thing I 'members is follerin' my Mother er 'round. She wuz the
housegirl an' seamstress an' everywhere she went I wuz at her heels. My
father wuz the overseer on the Hunt place. We never had no hard work to
do. My fust work wuz 'tendin' the calves an' shinin' my Master's shoes.
How I did love to put a Sunday shine on his boots an' shoes! He called
me his nigger an' wuz goin' ter make a barber out o' me if slavery had
er helt on. As it wuz, I shaved him long as he lived. We lived in the
Quarters over on a high hill 'cross the spring-branch from the white
peoples' house. We had comfortable log cabins an' lived over there an'
wuz happy. Ole Uncle Alex Hunt wuz the bugler an' ev'ry mornin' at 4:00
o'clock he blowed the bugle fer us ter git up, 'cept Sunday mornin's, us
all slept later on Sundays.

"When I wuz a little boy us played marbles, mumble peg, an' all sich
games. The little white an' black boys played together, an' ev'ry time
'Ole Miss' whipped her boys she whipped me too, but nobody 'cept my
Mistess ever teched me to punish me.