hen
return. These had much larger heads than the average. Some few, however,
with great heads, would come out once or twice a day. I never learned
what their business was, as they did not seem to do much of anything.
They very seldom went more than a few inches from the nests. I noticed,
too, that those that went in search of food and failed to get it, would
come back to the nests and stand around and consult with the guards and
then would return. They did this several times. Sometimes they would go
away and get into the weeds and rest awhile. However, when they saw
others coming, they would start out again. Sometimes, after making
several trips without success, I would give them crumbs of bread, and
they would hasten away to their nests. They never hesitated when they
had food, but would run right in. This was great fun for me, and I spent
most of the remainder of my time in this manner.

This was during the fall of '84. By the first week in December I had
recovered sufficiently to be able to walk very well with a stick and
could do a little work. I then returned to Snow Hill with my aunt, and,
though I was anxious to return home, I hated very much to leave my
little friends. I got home in time to make toy wagons for my Christmas
money.

The following year, although far from being well, I could do a little
work on my aunt's farm. I ought not to call it a farm, because it was
only a few acres which she rented from one of the tenants on Mr.
Simpson's plantation. The habit of sub-renting was very prevalent on
this plantation. A tenant with one mule would rent twenty-five acres, if
he had two mules he would rent fifty acres. Now in order to get work
done on his farm, he would sub-rent four or five acres, to some one who
would do this work for him. It was in this way that my aunt could get
land to work. We usually made on these few acres about twenty bushels of
corn and sometimes a half a bale or a whole bale of cotton.

Having to work for our plowing and to pay the rent of the land, we had
but little chance to do much work for ourselves. We very seldom had
enough to eat. Some days we would work from the rising of the sun until
dark without anything but water. Then my aunt would go out among the
neighbors in the evening and borrow a little corn meal or get a little
on condition that she would work to pay for it the next day. While my
aunt would go to hunt for the bread I would go out and beg for some milk
from some of ou