nday. My father wus named Marcillus Littlejohn and
my mother wus named Susan Littlejohn.

"We had gardens and patches and plenty to eat. We also got de holidays.
Marster bought charcoal from de men which dey burnt at night an' on
holidays. Dey worked an' made de stuff, an' marster would let dem have
de steer-carts an' wagons to carry deir corn an' charcoal to sell it in
town. Yes sir, dis wus mighty nice. We had plank houses. Dere wus not
but one log house on de plantation. Marster lived in de big house. It
had eight porches on it.

"Dere wus no churches on de plantation, an' I doan remember any prayer
meetin's. When we sang we turned de wash-pots an' tubs in de doors, so
dey would take up de noise so de white folks could not hear us. I do
remember de gatherin's at our home to pray fur de Yankees to come. All
de niggers thought de Yankees had blue bellies. The old house cook got
so happy at one of dese meetin's she run out in de yard an' called,
'Blue bellies come on, blue bellies come on.' Dey caught her an'
carried her back into de house.

"When de overseer whupped one o' de niggers he made all de slaves sing,
'Sho' pity Lawd, Oh! Lawd forgive!. When dey sang awhile he would call
out one an' whup him. He had a sing fur everyone he whupped. Marster
growed up wid de niggers an' he did not like to whup 'em. If dey sassed
him he would put spit in their eyes and say 'now I recon you will mind
how you sass me.'

"We had a lot o' game and 'possums. When we had game marster left de
big house, and come down an' et wid us. When marster wan't off drunk on
a spree he spent a lot of time wid de slaves. He treated all alike. His
slaves were all niggers. Dere were no half-white chilluns dere.

"Marster would not let us work until we were thirteen years old. Den he
put us to plowin' in soft lan', an' de men in rough lan'. Some of de
women played off sick an' went home an' washed an' ironed an' got by
wid it. De oberseer tried to make two of 'em go back to work. Dey flew
at him an' whupped him. He told de marster when he come home, marster
said, 'Did you 'low dem women to whup you?' 'Yes', he replied, den
marster tole him if women could whup him he didn't want him. But he let
him stay on. His name wus Jack Rivers. He wus hired by marster. Marster
Rivers did not have any slaves. Dere wus no jail on de plantation, case
when er overseer whupped er nigger he did not need any jail.

"De black folks better not be caught wid a book but