lsey
cloth. White ladies wore hoopskirts wid deir dresses, and dey looked lak
fairy queens. Boys wore plain shirts in summer, but in winter dey had
warmer shirts and quilted pants. Dey would put two pair of britches
togedder and quilt 'em up so you couldn't tell what sort of cloth dey
was made out of. Dem pants was called suggins.

"All de Niggers went barfoots in summer, but in winter us all wore
brogans. Old Miss had a shoe shop in de cellar under de big house, and
when dem two white 'omans dat she hired to make our shoes come, us
knowed wintertime was nigh. Dem 'omans would stay 'til day had made up
shoes enough to last us all winter long, den dey would go on to de next
place what dey s'pected to make shoes.

"Marse Ike Vinson was sho good to his Niggers. He was de hanger, 'cept
he never hung nobody. Him and Miss Ann had six chillun. Dey was Miss
Lucy, Miss Myrt, Miss Sarah, Miss Nettie, Marse Charlie, and Marse Tom.
Marse Ike's ma, Old Miss, wouldn't move to town wid him and Miss Ann;
she stayed on in de big house on de plantation. To tell de truf I done
forgot Old Miss' name. De overseer and his wife was Mr. Edmond and Miss
Betsey, and dey moved up to de big house wid old Miss atter Marse Ike
and Miss Ann moved to town. Stiles Vinson was de carriage driver, and he
fotched Marse Ike out to de plantation evvy day. Lord! Gracious alive!
It would take a week to walk all over dat plantation. Dere was more'n a
thousand acres in it and, countin' all de chillun, dere was mighty nigh
a hunnert slaves.

"Long 'fore day, dat overseer blowed a bugle to wake up de Niggers. You
could hear it far as High Shoals, and us lived dis side of Watkinsville.
Heaps of folkses all over dat part of de country got up by dat old
bugle. I will never forgit one time when de overseer said to us chillun,
'You fellows go to do field and fetch some corn tops.' Mandy said: 'He
ain't talkin' to us 'cause us ain't fellows and I ain't gwine.' Bless
your sweet life, I runned and got dem corn tops, 'cause I didn't want no
beatin'. Dem udder 'chillun got deir footses most cut off wid dem
switches whan dat overseer got to wuk to sho 'em dey had to obey him.
Dat overseer sho did wuk de Niggers hard; he driv' 'em all de time. Dey
had to go to de field long 'fore sunup, and it was way atter sundown
'fore dey could stop dat field wuk. Den dey had to hustle to finish deir
night wuk in time for supper, or go to bed widout it.

[HW sidenote: Beating]

"You