hen Marster
shouted 'Shut up,' I did shut up. He used to tell his wife, Miss
Elizabeth, 'You know Elizabeth, my little nigger, Dave, drives me nearly
crazy asking questions about the stars, moon, sun, and everything.'

"My family lived continuously on the Mappin plantation until after the
war. Perhaps the most grievous fault of slavery was its persistent
assault upon the home life. Fortunately, none of our family was ever
sold, and we remained together until after the war. Marster Mappin was
far above the average slave owner; he was good to his slaves, fed them
well, and was a very humane gentleman. We had such quantities of
food--good rations, raised on the plantation. We had cattle, goats,
hogs, sheep, chickens, turkeys, geese, all kinds of grain, etc. Very
often a beef was butchered, we had fresh meat, barbecued kids, plenty
vegetables, in fact just plenty to eat, and the slaves fared well. On
Sundays we had pies and cakes and one thing and another. A special cook
did the cooking for the single slaves. I'll say our rations were 150%
fit. Everyone had certain tasks to perform, and all that was done above
certain requirements was paid for in some way. We always had meat left
over from year to year, and this old meat was made into soap, by using
grease and lye and boiling all in a big iron pot. After the mixture
become cold, it was a solid mass, which was cut and used for soap. Those
were good old days. Everybody had plenty of everything.

"There were strict rules governing slaves, but our master was never
brutal. I being a child, never received any punishment from any one
except my mother and my Mistress. Punishment was inflicted with a raw
cow hide, which was cut in a strip about three inches wide, one end
being twisted. This made a very powerful and painful weapon. There were
unruly slaves, what we called desperadoes. There were 'speculators',
too, who would get possession of these, and if a slave come into
possession of one of these speculators, he either had to come under or
else he was sure to die. The Lynch law was used extensively. Those
slaves committing crimes against the state were more often considered
unworthy of trial, though some were brought to trial, punishment being
so many licks each day for so many days or weeks, or capital punishment.
It is true that many crimes were put upon the slaves when the white man
was guilty.

"We had plenty of amusements in those days, such as corn shuckings,
dances, run