Boylan, nor was it precisely so at my master's. We used to have corn bread
enough, and some meat. When I was a boy, the pot-liquor, in which the meat
was boiled for the "great house," together with some little corn-meal
balls that had been thrown in just before the meat was done, was poured
into a tray and set in the middle of the yard, and a clam shell or pewter
spoon given to each of us children, who would fall upon the delicious fare
as greedily as pigs. It was not generally so much as we wanted,
consequently it was customary for some of the white persons who saw us
from the piazza of the house where they were sitting, to order the more
stout and greedy ones to eat slower, that those more young and feeble
might have a chance. But it was not so with Mr. Smith: such luxuries were
more than he could afford, kind and Christian man as he was considered to
be. So that by the expense of providing for my wife and children, all the
money I had earned and could earn by my night labor was consumed, till I
found myself reduced to five dollars, and this I lost one day in going to
the plantation.
Pages:
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29