died several people would come
in and bathe the body and dress it. Then somebody would knock up some
kind of box for 'em to be buried in. They would have the funeral and
then put the body on a wagon and all the family and friends would walk
to the cemetery behind the wagon. They didn't have graves like they does
now; they would dig some kind of hole and put you in it, then cover you
up.

"In olden times there was only a few undertakers, and of course there
warn't any in the country; so when a person died he was bathed and
dressed by friends of the family. Then he was laid on a ironing board
and covered with a sheet.

"For a long while us knowed that for some cause a part of the person's
nose or lips had been et off, but nobody could find out why. Finally
somebody caught a cat in the very act. Most people didn't believe a cat
would do this, but everybody started watchin' and later found out it was
so. So from then on, 'til the caskets come into use, a crowd of folks
stayed awake all night sittin' up with the dead."

One old woman lived on a plantation where "every Saturday they would
give you your week's 'lowance. They would give you a plenty to eat so
you could keep strong and work. They weighed your meat, flour, meal and
things like that, but you got all the potatoes, lard and other things
you wanted. You got your groceries and washed and ironed on Saturday
evenin' and on Saturday night everybody used that for frolicin'. Us
would have quiltin's, candy pullin's, play, or dance. Us done whatever
us wanted to. On these nights our mist'ess would give us chickens or
somethin' else so us could have somethin' extra. Well, us would dance,
quilt, or do whatever us had made up to do for 'bout three hours then us
would all stop and eat. When us finished eatin' us would tell tales or
somethin' for a while, then everybody would go home. Course us have
stayed there 'til almost day when us was havin' a good time.

"My marster wanted his slaves to have plenty of chillun. He never would
make you do much work when you had a lot of chillun, and had them fast.
My ma had nineteen chillun, and it looked like she had one every ten
months. My marster said he didn't care if she never worked if she kept
havin' chillun like that for him. He put ma in the kitchen to cook for
the slaves who didn't have families.

"People who didn't have families would live in a house together, but
whenever you married you lived in a house to yourself. You cou