I WAS A SLAVE: Book 1: Descriptions of Plantation Life

BETTY POWERS: “’Twas lak [It was like] a town wid de diffe’nt businesses. Thar am de blacksmith shop, shoe shop, carpenter shop, de milk house, de marster had ’bout 100 milk cows, de weavin’ room, de gin, an’ de feed mill. ... Now, in each cabin lives one fam’ly. ’Twas de father, mother an’ de chilluns. Ise can shut my eyes now, an’ see dem rows of cabins. Thar am three rows, an’ de rows am ’bout ha’f a mile long. Mammy, Pappy, an’ their 12 chilluns lives in our cabin, so Mammy have to cook fo’ 14 people, ’sides her field work. ... De marster am a sweet, fine man. ’Twas his wife an’ de overseer dat am tough. Dat womens had no mercy. She am a devil. How Ise hates her. Yous see dem long ears Ise have? Well, dat’s f’om de pullin’ dey gits f’om her. Ise am wo’kin’ ’round de house, keepin’ flies off de fo’ks, gittin’ wautah [water] and sich [such]. Fo’ ever’thin’ she don’t lak [like], ’twas a ear-pullin’ Ise gits. ’Twas pull, pull, an’ some mo’ pull ever’ time she comes neah me.”