e that.
I wouldn't want to expose my own mother or the man who was Ned's father.
I was quite a small child during the war period, and I can tell you very
little of that time, except the things my mother told me when I grew old
enough to remember. My mother belonged to the Crawford family in Greene
County, but when I knew anything we were living in Athens and were the
slaves of Marster John Crawford.

"As children we played around the yard; those of us who were old enough
had odd jobs to do. The unceiled house that my father and mother shared
with three other families was weatherboarded and had a chimney made of
sticks and dirt. There was a bed in each corner of the room and from one
to three children slept in the bed with their parents: the rest of the
children slept on the floor. The tall old home-made wooden beds had very
much the appearance of beds used now, except that cords were used
instead of the metal springs that came into use later. Our osnaburg
mattress ticks were filled with straw. I'm quite sure there were no
pillows. There was also a two-story house on the lot for slaves." She
was asked what she called her father and mother during slavery time, and
her reply was: "I have always said father and mother because I liked it
better, and the Bible teaches us to say that.

"Grandmother Dilsey and grandfather Levi Crawford lived in Lexington. I
saw my grandmother one time, but I don't know what she did at the white
folks' house. Grandfather was a carpenter.

"I never got any money in slavery time. If the slaves ever got any, it
was when the Yankees came through here. At that time the white people
gave their money to the slaves for safekeeping, and after the Yankees
went on it was returned to the white owners.

"My mother was the cook and looked after the house. Oh, yes indeed, we
had good food to eat. Bread, milk, meat, collard greens, turnips, and
potatoes. I would say we had just everything that was grown in the
garden and on the plantations to eat at that time. The cooking was done
in the kitchen in the yard. The fireplace was as wide as the end of this
room, and a long iron bar extended from one end to the other. The great
cooking pots were suspended over the coals from this bar by means of pot
hooks. Heavy iron skillets with thick lids were much used for baking,
and they had ovens of various sizes. I have seen my mother bake
beautiful biscuits and cakes in those old skillets, and they were ideal
for roasti