te boiled vegetables, roasted sweet
potatoes and black molasses. This food was cooked in iron pots which had
legs attached to their bottoms in order to keep them from resting
directly on the fire. These utensils were either hung over a fire or set
atop a mound of hot coals. Biscuits were a luxury but whenever they had
white bread it was cooked in another thick pan called a "spider". This
pan had a top which was covered with hot embers to insure the browning
of the bread on top.

Slave women had no time for their children. These were cared for by an
old woman who called them twice a day and fed them "pot likker"
(vegetable broth) and skimmed milk. Each child was provided with a
wooden laddle which he dipped into a wooden trough and fed himself. The
older children fed those who were too young to hold a laddle.

So exacting was "Big Jim" that slaves were forced to work even when
sick. Expectant mothers toiled in the fields until they felt their labor
pains. It was not uncommon for babies to be born in the fields.

There was little time for play on his plantation. Even the very small
children were assigned tasks. They hunted hen's eggs, gathered poke
berries for dyeing, shelled corn and drove the cows home in the evening.
Little girls knitted stockings.

There was no church on this plantation and itinerant ministers avoided
going there because of the owner's cruelty. Very seldom were the slaves
allowed to attend neighboring churches and still rarer were the
opportunities to hold meetings among themselves. Often when they were in
the middle of a song or prayer they would be forced to halt and run to
the "Big House." Woe to any slave who ignored the ringing of the bell
that summoned him to work and told him when he might "knock off" from
his labors.

Louisa and Sam last heard the ringing of this bell in the fall of 1865.
All the slaves gathered in front of the "Big House" to be told that they
were free for the time being. They had heard whisperings of the War but
did not understand the meaning of it all. Now "Big Jim" stood weeping on
the piazza and cursing the fate that had been so cruel to him by robbing
him of all his "niggers." He inquired if any wanted to remain until all
the crops were harvested and when no one consented to do so, he flew
into a rage; seizing his pistol, he began firing into the crowd of
frightened Negroes. Some were _killed_ outright and others were maimed
for life. Finally he was prevailed upon t