No'am, I don't 'member much playin' when I was little, mos' of all de time was taken up wid workin'. My maw and paw and brothers all had to work in de field all de time. My job was a carrin' water to de house, and a cuttin' wood for de cookin' stove and de fireplace. Marster's house was built on a high hill so as he could see all over de country. Lots of times he has seen de bunch of Indians a commin' fo' dey got to de house. I has heard him say dat when he was little, his paw used to see de Indians commin' up de hill, and he would git some cloth, or some corn and pay de Indians not to fight dem. I never did see no fightin' Indians though, all I ever seed was jist them travelin' through de country. Some of de Indians knew my marster and stayed all night at his house lots of times. One Indian I 'member come a lots of times, Marster called him Big Chief , don't know what kind he was, lessin he was Cherokee, 'cause he was allus talking 'bout de Cherokee Indians and de raids dey made on de settlers.

De first thing I remember was a playin' in de back yard behind our cabin and a goose gittin' atter me. Don't know why dat old goose wanted to fight me, but I guess she was skeered I was a gittin too close to her nest. All I know is dat I run jist as fast as I could and hid under de bed. I stayed dere too, till my maw come in from de field. Maw said I was almost nearly smothered to death under de bed when she come in. De next time I 'members doing anything was when I went wid some of de older children to carry water from de spring to de house. De hill was high dat de house was built on, and we couldn't git no water in any of de wells dat was dug, so we had to carry all de water from de spring in de valley up de hill to de house. It took a long time to carry enough water to do all de cookin' and washin' for de big family dat lived in de big house, and we allus had to carry in 'nough to last all day befo' we quit. Sometimes we carried de water in pails jist as big as we could lift, and sometimes we carried 'bout ten buckets full in a big tub. We put a long pole through de handles of de tub, and got through lots quicker. Outside of cuttin' and haulin' wood, and carrying water, I had to help wash. I used de battlin' stick lots of days till my hands was blistered for a week. Dat was de times we washed de rugs and de quilts though. De clothes wasn't washed dat way. Dey was jist flapped against de rubbin' board till dey was clean, and den dey was washed through some clean water and hung on wires and bushes till dey was dry. It allus took all day to do de washin'. I helped scrub de floors, and look after de children until I got big enough to go to de fields. Den I had to plow, and hoe, and chop cotton, and pick peas and cotton. I guess de easiest job I ever had after I got big was a huskin' peas. All de peas was picked after dey was dry, and put into big sacks. Den somebody stomped on dem and rubbed dem against de floor of de crib till all de pea hulls got broke, and drapped offen de peas. We allus pulled off our shoes to do dis, so as we didn't break de peas into. De white folks didn't have to buy any peas and beans from de store dem days likes dey do now, allus had 'em at home. Good thing too, wasn't no store anywhar close. No'm don't 'member no nigger dogs. We had an overseer, or boss, as you calls it now, and I has seed lots of colored people whipped, but not as hard as I heard tell of. Yes'um de only time I ever seed dem tied up to a post an whipped was when dey tried to run. Forty stripes was all mos' of de whippin's called for. I never did git no whippin's a bein' tied. All I ever got was jist one or two lashes across de back when de overseer rode down de cotton row, and caught me a settin' down. I used to git by pretty easy. Guess I had a good master. No'm we didn't never go into de town, 'ceptin' once in a while to help load some supplies on de wagons, den we jist went right there and back. Master bought sugar and flour be de barrel, and lots of barrels at a time so as he wouldn't have to go to town so often. We growed and made our own syrup and meal, and lots of times we used parched corn for coffee. When we went to town, Marster bought coffee, but he bought it in green beans. After we got home, de beans had to be parched on de back of de stove and ground in de mill befo' dey could be used. When I was little I used to help maw parch de beans and den turn de mill to grind up de beans nearly every morning befo' breakfus'. We didn't have much time to play, didn't think much 'bout playin'. Sometimes we stole de sticks, or played 'Bear on de Log,' or 'hide and hunt,' dats all I 'members. We played on de days de older folks had a log rollin', and harvest celebrations, what time we wasn't bringing up brush for de fire. What did we eats? Anything we could git. We had plenty, sich as it was. In de winter, we had rabbits and squirrels, and in de summer we had vegetables and sometimes killed a beef, and den in winter we killed wild hogs we drove up from de bottom lands. Dats whar we got our lard grease, from de hogs. Yes'm dey sho' was good. No'm we didn't have to feed 'em, jist turned one hog out in de bottom lands in de spring, and in de fall, we drove up a whole herd. Anybody could kill as many as dey needed. Nobody ever killed anymore dan dey needed, 'cause dey was afraid dey wouldn't be 'nough to go round, and some of de peoples would have to do widout. Lots more love 'tween neighbors den, dan dere is now. Yes'm everybody allus done everything he could to git along wid everybody.

I'se got ten children, four boys and six gurls. Four of dem dead now, like my first wife. Yes'm I'se married ag'in, and we's both gittin' too old to go anywhere or work any, so our children is a keepin' us up, and we aint had to ask anybody for anything. Co'se we still keeps our chickens and hogs and sich, and dat helps out a whole lot.