ne dollar and they let him down and said
'Well, old man, maybe you haven't got any more money.' So they let him
go when the mistress and her little chillun come down there. He didn't
have but one dollar in his pockets but had lots buried about the place
in two or three places."

While Margret was giving this information she was busily sewing together
what looked like little square pads. When examined they proved to be
tobacco sacks stuffed with cotton and then sewed together which would
make a quilt already quilted when she got enough of them sewed together
to cover a bed.

Interviewer: S. S. Taylor
Person interviewed: John Hunter
3200 W. 17th Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 74

Biographical

John Hunter claims to be only seventy-four years old, but when he is
talking he has the manner of an eye-witness to the things he relates. In
this connection, many of the ex-slaves seem to be sensitive concerning
oldness.

Hunter is blind. He lives with Mrs. Alston, herself the widow of an old
ex-slave. His relation to her is simply that of a renter, although where
he gets the rent from I don't know.

His father fought in the Confederate army until disabled by disease.

Hunter was born in North Carolina but has lived in this state something
like fifty years.

Houses

"Slave houses were old log huts. Some made log houses and some made tent
harbors. Just any sort of way on dirt. Some of them didn't have any
floors.

"One with a floor was built with one room. Cooked and et and everything
in that one room. About 16 x 16. One window. No glass panes in it.
Shutter window. Some niggers just built up a log house and dobbed it
with dirt to keep the air from coming through.

"Food was kept in an old chest. There weren't no such things as trunks
and cupboards. I brought one from North Carolina with me--old-fashioned
chest. Bed was homemade and nailed to the side of the wall. Some of them
had railings on both sides when they were trying to make it look nice.
Mattress was made out of straw or shucks. You could hear it rattling
like a hog getting in his bed at night. I have slept on 'em many a time.
Those with floors and those without were made alike. A box or anything
was used for a table. If his master would give him anything he would
make it out of a plank. Make it at night. Boxes and homemade stools were
used for chairs. No chairs like there is now. People are blessed now.
Didn't go a