use our Marster
was so good to all of 'em dat dere warn't nothin' to run from.

"Marster made all his wuk tools at home. Plow-sheers was made out of
wood trimmed to de right shape and fastened to a iron point. When dey
was plowin' in de young cotton, dey nailed a board on one side of de
plow to rake de dirt back up 'round de cotton plants.

"Marster's gin was turned by a mule. Dat big old gin wheel had wooden
cogs what made de gin wuk when de old mule went 'round and 'round
hitched to dat wheel. Dat old cotton press was a sight. Fust dey cut
down a big old tree and trimmed off de limbs and made grooves in it for
planks to fit in. It was stood up wid a big weight on top of it, over de
cotton what was to be pressed. It was wukked by a wheel what was turned
by a mule, jus' lak de one what turned de gin. A old mule pulled de pole
what turned de syrup mill too. Missy, dem old mules done deir part 'long
side de Niggers dem days, and Marster seed dat his mules had good keer
too. When dem mules had done turned de mill 'til de juice was squez out
of de sugarcane stalks, dey strained dat juice and biled it down 'til it
was jus' de finest tastin' syrup you ever did see. Marster's mill whar
he ground his wheat and corn was down on de crick, so de water could
turn de big old wheel.

"Dem old cornshuckin's was sho' 'nough big times, 'cause us raised so
much corn dat it tuk several days to shuck it all. Us had to have two
generals. Dey chose sides and den dey got up on top of de biggest piles
of corn and kept de slaves a-singin' fast so dey would wuk fast. De fust
crowd what finished got de prize. Dere ain't much I can 'member of words
to dem old cornshuckin' songs. One general would start off singin':
'Shuck up dis corn, shuck up dis corn, 'cause us is gwine home,' and de
other general would be a-shoutin': 'Make dem shucks fly, make dem shucks
fly, us is gwine to go home.' Over and over dey kept on singin' dem
lines. Come nighttime Marster would have big bonfires built up and set
out torches for 'em to see how to wuk, and evvy time he passed 'round
dat jug of corn likker shucks would fly some faster. When all de corn
was done shucked and de big supper had been et, dere was wrastlin'
matches and dancin' and all sorts of frolickin'.

"'Til dey could git a colored preacher, slaves had to go to church wid
deir white folks. Missy, I 'members yit, de fust preacher I ever heared.
He was a white man, Preacher Gibson dey called him, and hi