For the wedding the groom wore ordinary clothes,
sometimes you could not tell the original outfit for the patches, and
sometimes Kentucky jeans. The bride's trousseau, she would wear the
cast-off clothes of the mistress, or, at other times the clothes made by
other slaves.
"It was said our plantation contained 10,000 acres. We had a large
number of slaves, I do not know the number. Our work was hard, from
sunup to sundown. The slaves were not whipped.
"There was only one slave ever sold from the plantation, she was my
aunt. The mistress slapped her one day, she struck her back. She was
sold and taken south. We never saw or heard of her afterwards.
"We went to the white Methodist church with slave gallery, only white
preachers. We sang with the white people. The Methodists were christened
and the Baptists were baptised. I have seen many colored funerals with
no service. A graveyard on the place, only a wooden post to show where
you were buried.
"None of the slaves ran away. I have seen and heard many patrollers, but
they never whipped any of Mason's slaves. The method of conveying news,
you tell me and I tell you, but be careful, no troubles between whites
and blacks.
"After work was done, the slaves would smoke, sing, tell ghost stories
and tales, dances, music, home-made fiddles. Saturday was work day like
any other day. We had all legal holidays. Christmas morning we went to
the big house and got presents and had a big time all day.
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