Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves | Page 2

wid de Riddin' fambly an' her chilluns
b'longed to de Riddin's 'cause dey owned her. Miss Maxey Riddin' wuz
my brudder's young Missus, an' I wuz give to her sister, Miss Lula
Riddin', for to be her own maid, but us didn't git to wuk for 'em none
'cause it wuz jus' at dis time all de slaves got sot free. Atter dat my pa
tuk us all wid him an' went to farm on de old Widderspoon
(Witherspoon) place.
"It wuz 'way off in de woods. Pa cut down trees an' built us a log cabin.
He made de chimbly out of sticks an' red mud, an' put iron bars crost de
fireplace to hang pots on for to bile our vittuls an' made ovens for de
bakin'. De bes' way to cook 'tatoes wuz to roas' 'em in de ashes wid de
jackets on. Dey ain' nothin' better tastin' dan ash-roasted 'tatoes wid
good home-made butter to eat wid 'em. An 'us had de butter, 'cause us
kep' two good cows. Ma had her chickens an' tukkeys an' us raised
plenty of hogs, so we nebber wuz widout meat. Our reg'lar Sunday
breakfas' wuz fish what pa cotch out of de crick. I used to git tired out
of fish den, but a mess of fresh crick fish would sho' be jus' right now.
"Us always kep' a good gyardan full of beans, corn, onions, peas an'
'taters, an' dey warn't nobody could beat us at raisin' lots of greens,
'specially turnips an' colla'd greens. Us saved heaps of dry peas an'
beans, an' dried lots of peaches an' apples to cook in winter. When de
wind wuz a howlin an' de groun' all kivvered wid snow, ma would
make dried fruit puffs for us, dat sho' did hit de spot.
"When I wuz 'bout eight years old, dey sont me to school. I had to walk
from Epps Bridge Road to Knox School. Dey calls it Knox Institute
now. I toted my blue back speller in one han' and my dinner bucket in
de other. Us wore homespun dresses wid bonnets to match. De bonnets

wuz all made in one piece an' had drawstrings on de back to make 'em
fit, an' slats in de brims to make 'em stiff an' straight. Our dresses wuz
made long to keep our legs warm. I don't see, for to save me, how dey
keeps dese young-uns from freezin' now since dey let 'em go 'roun'
mos' naked.
"Our brush arbor church wuz nigh whar Brooklyn Mount Pleasant
Church is now, an' us went to Sunday School dar evvy Sunday. It
warn't much of a church for looks, 'cause it wuz made out of poles
stuck in de groun' an' de roof wuz jus' pine limbs an' brush, but dere
sho' wuz some good meetin's in dat old brush church, an' lots of souls
foun' de way to de heb'enly home right dar.
"Our reg'lar preacher wuz a colored man named Morrison, but Mr.
Cobb preached to us lots of times. He wuz a white gemman, an' he say
he could a sot all night an' lissen long as us sung dem old songs. Some
of 'em I done clar forgot, but de one I lak bes' goes sorter lak dis:
'I want to be an angel An' wid de angels stan' A crown upon my
forehead And a harp widin my han'.'
"Another tune wuz 'Roll, Jordan Roll.' Little chillun wuz larnt to sing,
'How Sweetly do de Time Fly, When I Please my Mother,' an' us
chillun sho' would do our best a singin' dat little old song, so Preacher
Cobb would praise us.
"When I jined de church dere wuz 35 of us baptized de same day in de
crick back of de church. While Preacher Brown wuz a baptizin' us, a
big crowd wuz standin' on de bank a shoutin' an' singin', 'Dis is de
healin' Water,' an', 'Makin' for de Promise Lan! Some of 'em wuz a
prayin' too. Atter de baptizin' wuz done dey had a big dinner on de
groun's for de new members, but us didn't see no jugs dat day. Jus' had
plenty of good somethin' t'eat.
"When us warn't in school, me an' my brudder wukked in de fiel' wid
pa. In cotton plantin' time, pa fixed up de rows an' us drap de seeds in
'em. Nex' day us would rake dirt over 'em wid wooden rakes. Pa made
de rakes hisse'f. Dey had short wooden teef jus' right for to kivver de

seed. Folkses buys what dey uses now an' don't take up no time makin'
nothin' lak dat.
"In dem days 'roun' de house an' in de fiel' boys jus' wo' one piece of
clo'es. It wuz jus' a