We had no more than reached the place, and
made a little fire, when master's two sons rode up and demanded that
the children be returned. My mother refused to give us up. Upon her
offering to go with them to the Yankee headquarters to find out if it
were really true that all negroes had been made free, the young men
left, and troubled us no more.
The cabin that was now our home was made of logs. It had one door, and
an opening in one wall, with an inside shutter, was the only window.
The door was fastened with a latch. Our beds were some straw.
There were six in our little family; my mother, Caroline, Henry, two
other children that my mother had brought with her upon her return,
and myself.
The man on whose plantation this cabin stood, hired my mother as
cook, and gave us this little home. We children used to sell
blueberries and plums that we picked. One day the man on whom we
depended for our home and support, left. Then my mother did washing by
the day, for whatever she could get. We were sent to get cold victuals
from hotels and such places. A man wanting hands to pick cotton, my
brother Henry and I were set to help in this work. We had to go to the
cotton field very early every morning. For this work, we received
forty cents for every hundred pounds of cotton we picked.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25