e Spanish needles an' de burrs would
stick all over 'em. De only shoes dat you got wus red brogans. If you
got anything better it wus some dat de marster give you fer brushing off
his shoes at de house. You wus so proud whenever dey give you a pair o'
shoes or a ol' straw hat dat dey wus through wid at de house you went
back an' showed it to everybody an' you wus mighty proud too. I used to
drive my marster's hoss an' buggy fer 'im an' so I used to git a lotsa
stuff like dat."

"Ol' marster wus a judge an' his name wus Luke Johnson. His wife wus
named Betsy an' his sons wus named Jim, Tom, Will, an' Dorn. His
daughters wus Janie, Mary, Catherine, an' Lissie. He had 300 acres of
land an' 75 slaves."

"All de houses on de plantation 'cept ol' marster's wus built out o'
logs. Ol' marster lived in a fine house. Sometimes when one o' de slaves
had a chance to go inside his house all de rest of de slaves would be
waitin' outside fer you to come out. When you did come out dey would
say: "You been in de marster's house--how did it look in dere--whut did
you see?" Dey would tell 'em: "you ought to go in dere--it's so pretty".
Whenever you got a chance to go in dere you had done pulled off yo' hat
long' fore you got to de door.

"On Sunday we would take soot out of de chimney an' wet it an' den go
an' borrow de marster's shoe brush an' go an' brush our shoes. We wus
gittin' ready to go to church."

"At church all de white folks would sit in de front an' all de slaves
would sit in de back. De preacher would preach an' say: "Obey yo' master
an' yo' missus an' you will always do right. If you see eggs in de yard
take 'em to yo' marster or yo' missus an' put 'em at her feet. If you
don't do dis she will needle you well or break bark over yo' head an' de
bad man will git you."

"Sometimes dey would give us a dollar at Christmas time an' if somebody
did'nt take it fum us we would have it de nex' Christmas 'cause we
didn't have nuthin' to spend it fer."

"When de war broke out ol' marster enlisted an' he took me 'long to wait
on him an' to keep his clothes clean. I had plenty o' fun 'cause dere
wus'nt so very much work to do. I 'members seein' 'im fightin' in
Richmond an' Danville, Virginia. I had a good time jes' watchin' de
soldiers fightin'. I did'nt have to fight any at all. I used to stand in
de door of de tent an' watch 'em fight. It wus terrible--you could hear
de guns firin' an' see de soldiers fallin' right an' left. All