Yes, child",
she replied, "I have worn hoop skirts. They were the fad in those days."
She related how her sister made hoop skirts by cutting slits in the hem
of the skirt, and running a hoop through it. "I can remember the cloth
that was made on the spinning wheel", she said. She told how she had
turned the reel many a day and spun the thread. She could not clearly
relate the construction of a spinning wheel.

Everyone, particularly the older people, was required to attend church.
For Christmas everyone was given a special Sunday suit to wear to
church. The slaves did not have a separate church of their own but were
allowed to attend the white church and occupy the balcony. Mrs. Jackson
began to laugh outright over the memory of a funny yet serious incident
that occurred in church one Sunday. She had a little white girl friend
with whom she played every day. One Sunday she looked over the balcony
and saw her in the audience below. They both began a little game of
looking and snatching back their heads. Finally she leaned over too far
and fell over the balcony into the white audience below. She hurt
herself pretty badly and cried so much that the service was broken up
for that day. Dr. Hoyle carried her home and administered the proper
treatment. After this incident she didn't look over balconies anymore.

Before she could learn anything definite the Civil War had begun and she
began to see soldiers going here and there dressed in their uniforms.
One event stands out clearly in her memory and that was the time the
master took all of his slaves and as many of his possession as he could
and went to Camp Ground, Georgia, to dodge the Yankee soldiers. After
the attack on Decatur, they returned to find all of the slave quarters
torn down. The master's house, which had 13 rooms, was still standing.
Most of the slaves had to stay in the "big house" until their homes
could be rebuilt. Many were still living in the master's house when the
papers were read telling them they were free. Dr. Hoyle asked his slaves
to remain and he would pay them for their services. Her family remained
with Dr. Hoyle's family one year after freedom. Afterwards they moved to
Atlanta, where she has lived practically all of her life. She married
immediately after freedom and proudly spoke of being the first person to
wed in the old "Big Bethel Church". She is now alone without sister,
brother, or child; but even at her old age she is unusually optimistic