the cats. There was no wooden floor in our cabin, the naked earth
being used as a floor. In the centre of the earthen floor there
was a large, deep opening covered with boards, which was used as
a place in which to store sweet potatoes during the winter. An
impression of this potato-hole is very distinctly engraved upon
my memory, because I recall that during the process of putting
the potatoes in or taking them out I would often come into
possession of one or two, which I roasted and thoroughly enjoyed.
There was no cooking-stove on our plantation, and all the cooking
for the whites and slaves my mother had to do over an open
fireplace, mostly in pots and "skillets." While the poorly built
cabin caused us to suffer with cold in the winter, the heat from
the open fireplace in summer was equally trying.

The early years of my life, which were spent in the little cabin,
were not very different from those of thousands of other slaves.
My mother, of course, had little time in which to give attention
to the training of her children during the day. She snatched a
few moments for our care in the early morning before her work
began, and at night after the day's work was done. One of my
earliest recollections is that of my mother cooking a chicken
late at night, and awakening her children for the purpose of
feeding them. How or where she got it I do not know. I presume,
however, it was procured from our owner's farm. Some people may
call this theft. If such a thing were to happen now, I should
condemn it as theft myself. But taking place at the time it did,
and for the reason that it did, no one could ever make me believe
that my mother was guilty of thieving. She was simply a victim of
the system of slavery. I cannot remember having slept in a bed
until after our family was declared free by the Emancipation