shucks. Atter all de shuckin' wuz done, dere wuz eatin' and
dancin'. And it wuz eatin' too! Dey kilt hogs, barbecued 'em, and
roasted some wid apples in dey mouf's to give 'em a good flavor, and
course a little corn likker went wid it. Dey had big doin's at syrup
makin' time too, but dat wuz hard wuk den. Makin' syrup sho' wuz a heap
of trouble.

"Later us lived wid de Johnson fambly, and atter my old man died, I come
to dis town wid de Johnsons. Dere wuz three chilluns, Percy, Lewis, and
a gal. I stayed wid 'em 'til de chilluns wuz all growed up and
eddicated. All my other w'ite folks is gone; my sister done gone too,
and my son; all de chillun dat I had, deys done daid too.

"Now I has to wash so I kin live. I used to have plenty, but times is
changed and now sometimes I don't have nothin' but bread, and jus' bread
is hard to git, heap of de time.

"I put in for one of dem old age pensions, but dey ain't give me nothin'
yet, so I jus' wuk when I kin, and hope dat it won't be long 'fore I has
plenty again."

OLD SLAVE STORY

DELLA BRISCOE
Macon, Georgia

By Adella S. Dixon [HW: (Colored)]
[JUL 28 1937]

Della Briscoe, now living in Macon, is a former slave of Mr. David Ross,
who owned a large plantation in Putnam County. Della, when a very tiny
child, was carried there with her father and mother, Sam and Mary Ross.
Soon after their arrival the mother was sent to work at the "big house"
in Eatonton. This arrangement left Della, her brother and sister to the
care of their grandmother, who really posed as their mother. The
children grew up under the impression that their mother was an older
sister and did not know the truth until just after the close of the
Civil War, when the mother became seriously ill and called the children
to her bedside to tell them goodbye.

Mr. David Ross had a large family and was considered the richest planter
in the county. Nearly every type of soil was found on his vast estate,
composed of hilly sections as well as acres of lowlands. The highway
entering Eatonton divided the plantation and, down this road every
Friday, Della's father drove the wagon to town with a supply of fresh
butter, for Mrs. Ross' thirty head of cows supplied enough milk to
furnish the city dwellers with butter.

Refrigeration was practically unknown, so a well was used to keep the
butter fresh. This cool well was eighty feet deep and passed through a
layer of solid rock. A rope ladder was suspended f