the friends went home happy in the memory of a day spent in toil freely
given to one who needed it.

All those affairs were working ones, but Uncle Henry told of one that
marked the end of toil for a season and that was the Fourth of July as
celebrated on the Hunt and Alfriend plantations. He said: "On the
evenin' of the third of July all plows, gear, hoes an' all sich farm
tools wuz bro't in frum the fields an' put in the big grove in front o'
the house where a long table had been built. On the Fo'th a barbecue wuz
cooked, when dinner wuz ready all the han's got they plows an' tools,
the mules wuz bro't up an' gear put on them, an' den ole Uncle Aaron
started up a song 'bout the crops wuz laid by an' res' time had come,
an' everybody grabbed a hoe er sumpin', put it on they shoulder an'
jined the march 'round an' round the table behind Uncle Aaron singin'
an' marchin', Uncle Aaron linin' off the song an' ev'ry body follerin'
him. It wuz a sight to see all the han's an' mules er goin' 'round the
table like that. Den when ev'ry body wuz might nigh 'zausted, they
stopped an' et a big barbecue dinner. Us use ter work hard to git laid
by by de Fo'th so's we could celebrate. It sho' wuz a happy time on our
plantations an' the white peoples enjoyed it as much as us niggers did.

"Us use ter have good times over there in Hancock County", continued
Uncle Henry. Ev'rybody wuz so good an' kind ter one 'nother; 't'ain't
like that now--no mam, not lak it use ter be. Why I 'members onst, when
I fust growed up an' wuz farmin' fer myself, I got sick way long up in
the Spring, an' my crop wuz et up in grass when one evenin' Mr.
Harris--(he wuz overseein' fer Mr. Treadwell over on the next plantation
to the Alfriends)--come by. I wuz out in the field tryin' ter scratch
'round as best I could, Mr. Harris say: 'Brit, you in de grass mighty
bad.' I say: 'Yassir, I is, but I been sick an' couldn't hep' myself,