"It wuz 'way off in de woods. Pa cut down trees an' built us a log
cabin. He made de chimbly out of sticks an' red mud, an' put iron bars
crost de fireplace to hang pots on for to bile our vittuls an' made
ovens for de bakin'. De bes' way to cook 'tatoes wuz to roas' 'em in de
ashes wid de jackets on. Dey ain' nothin' better tastin' dan ash-roasted
'tatoes wid good home-made butter to eat wid 'em. An 'us had de butter,
'cause us kep' two good cows. Ma had her chickens an' tukkeys an' us
raised plenty of hogs, so we nebber wuz widout meat. Our reg'lar Sunday
breakfas' wuz fish what pa cotch out of de crick. I used to git tired
out of fish den, but a mess of fresh crick fish would sho' be jus' right
now.

"Us always kep' a good gyardan full of beans, corn, onions, peas an'
'taters, an' dey warn't nobody could beat us at raisin' lots of greens,
'specially turnips an' colla'd greens. Us saved heaps of dry peas an'
beans, an' dried lots of peaches an' apples to cook in winter. When de
wind wuz a howlin an' de groun' all kivvered wid snow, ma would make
dried fruit puffs for us, dat sho' did hit de spot.

"When I wuz 'bout eight years old, dey sont me to school. I had to walk
from Epps Bridge Road to Knox School. Dey calls it Knox Institute now. I
toted my blue back speller in one han' and my dinner bucket in de other.
Us wore homespun dresses wid bonnets to match. De bonnets wuz all made
in one piece an' had drawstrings on de back to make 'em fit, an' slats
in de brims to make 'em stiff an' straight. Our dresses wuz made long to
keep our legs warm. I don't see, for to save me, how dey keeps dese
young-uns from freezin' now since dey let 'em go 'roun' mos' naked.

"Our brush arbor church wuz nigh whar Brooklyn Mount Pleasant Church is
now, an' us went to Sunday School dar evvy Sunday. It warn't much of a