My grandmother was sent to Texas. My
mother said she wrote and had one letter from my grandmother after that,
but she never saw her again."
"My mother used to be a cook, and when she was busy cooking, my mistress
would nurse both me and her baby, who was four weeks older than me. If
it happened the other way around, my mother would nurse both of us. They
didn't think anything about it. When the old people died, and they left
small orphan children, the slaves would raise the children. My young
master was raised like this, he has written to me several times, since I
have been out here in Kansas, but the last time I wrote, I have had no
reply, so I suppose he was dead."
"When anyone died, they used to bury the body at least six feet under
the ground. There wasn't such a thing as a cemetery then, they were just
buried right on the plantation, usually close to the house. They would
put the body in a wagon, and walk to where to bury the person, and they
would sing all of the way."
"The slaves used to dance or go to the prayer meeting to pass their
time. There were also festivals we went to, during the Christmas
vacation. There was always a big celebration on Christmas. We worked
until Christmas Eve and from that time until New Year's we had a
vacation. We had no such thing as Thanksgiving, we had never heard of
such a thing.
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