Slaves as a rule preferred possums to
rabbits. Some liked fish best. Williams' favorite food was cornpone and
fried liver.
"Once before de wah, I was ridin Lazy, my donkey, a few miles from de
boss' place at Fairview, when along came a dozen or more patrollers. Dey
questioned me and decided I was a runaway slave and dey wuz gwine to
give me a coat of tar and feathers when de boss rode up and ordered my
release. He told dem dreaded white patrollers dat I was a freeman and a
'parson'."
When the slaves were made free, some of the overseers tooted horns,
calling the blacks from their toil in the fields. They were told they
need no longer work for their masters unless they so desired. Most of
the darkeys quit "den and dar" and made a quick departure to other
parts, but some remained and to this day their descendants are still to
be found working on the original plantations, but of course for pay.
Describing the clothing worn in summer time by the slaves, he said they
mostly went barefooted. The men and boys wore homespun, three-quarter
striped pants and sometimes a large funnel-shaped straw hat. Some wore
only a shirt as a covering for their body.
"In winter oxhide shoes were worn, much too large, and the soles
contained several layers of paper. We called them 'program' shoes,
because the paper used for stuffing, consisted of discarded programs. We
gathered herbs from which we made medicine, snake root and sassafras
bark being a great remedy for many ailments.
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