dy have as good places to sleep as us. I 'members a white
fambly named Sims what lived in Flatwoods. Dey was de porest white folks
I ever seed. Dey had a big drove of chillun and deir Pa never wukked a
lick in his life--He jus' lived on other folkses' labors. Deir little
log cabin had a partition in it, and 'hind dat partition dere warn't a
stitch of nothin'. Dey didn't have no floor but de ground, and back
'hind dat partition was dug out a little deeper dan in de rest of de
house. Dey filled dat place wid leaves and dat's whar all de chilluns
slept. Evvy day Miss Sallie made 'em take out de leaves what dey had
slep' on de night before and fill de dugout wid fresh leaves. On de
other side of de partition, Miss Sallie and her old man slept 'long wid
deir hog, and hoss, and cow, and dat was whar dey cooked and et too. I
ain't never gwine to forgit dem white folks.

"My grandma Patsy, Pappy's Ma, knocked 'round lookin' atter de sheep and
hogs, close to de house, 'cause she was too old for field wuk. Ma's
Mammy was my grandma Rose. Her job was drivin' de oxcart to haul in wood
from de new grounds and to take wheat and corn to mill and fetch back
good old home-made flour and meal. I never did hear nothin' 'bout my
grandpas. Ma done de cookin' for de white folks.

"I don't know if I was no pet, but I did stay up at de big house most of
de time, and one thing I loved to do up dar was to follow Miss Betsy
'round totin' her sewin' basket. When wuk got tight and hot in crop
time, I helped de other chillun tote water to de hands. De bucket would
slamp 'gainst my laigs all along de way, and most of de water would be
done splashed out 'fore I got to de field.

"Marse David and his fambly most allus sont deir notes and messages by
me and another yearlin' boy what was 'lowed to lay 'round de big house
yard so us would be handy to wait on our white folks. Dey give you de
note what dey done writ, and dey say: 'Boy, if you lose dis note, you'll
git a whuppin'! All de time you was carryin' dem notes you had your
whuppin' in your hand and didn't know it, lessen you lost de note. I
never heared of no trouble to 'mount to nothin' twixt white folks and
Niggers in our settlement.

"Us et good, not much diff'unt f'um what us does now. Most times it was
meat and bread wid turnip greens, lye hominy, milk, and butter. All our
cookin' was done on open fireplaces. Oh! I was fond of 'possums,
sprinkled wid butter and pepper, and baked down 'til de