SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

"'Ihey kept hounds* Colonel Radford*s boys and the colored boys all
went hunting* We had possum and potatoes all along in winter; f possum
greasa won't make you sick* Eat all you want* I f d hear their horn and the
dogs* They would came in hungry every time* I never seen no whiskey* He
had his cider and vinegar press and made wine* We had cider and wine all
alonga Colonel Radford was his own overseer and Charlie his oldest boy*
They whooped mighty little* They would stand up and be whooped* Some of
the young ones was hard-headed and rude* He advised them and they minded
him pretty well.
w Our yards was large and beautiful; some had grass and some clean
spots about in the shade* Friday was wash day* Saturday was iron day*
uiss Betty would go about in the quarters to see if the houses was scrubbed
every week after washing* They had to wear clean clothes and have clean
beds about her place* She f d shame them to death*
"Colonel Radford had a colored church for us all* It was a log house
and he had a office for his boys to read and write and asmoke cob pipes in*
The white folks 1 church was at the corner of his place* I went there most*
They shouted and pat their hands0 Colonel Radford was a Baptist*
"Nearly every farm had a fiddler* Ever so often he had a big dance in
sheir parlor* I f d try to dance by myself* He had his own music by the
b'mds on his place* He let them have dances at the quarters every now and
then. Dancing was a piece of his religion*
"I don't think our everyday frocks was stiffened but our dress up
clothes v/as* It was made out of flour—boiled flour starcht We had striped
'reuses and stockings too* We had checked dresses* We had goobers and a
chestnut grove* We had a huckleberry patch* We had maple sugar to eat*
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