"The slaves lived in old log houses. Some of them were plank houses.
Some of the slaves chinked 'em up with dirt. They had these big wooden
windows in the houses. Sometimes they would be two, sometimes they would
be three windows--one to each room. There would be two or three or four
rooms to the house. That would be according to the family. My mother had
three girls besides her own children. She had a four-room house. Her
house was built right in the white folks' yard. My grandmother didn't
work in the field. She tended to the children. She worked in the big
house. My mother was boss of the whole thing. She would go and work in
the field but grandmother would see after the children. She wouldn't
let me go from her to the gate without her. I just had to follow her
everywhere she went.
"Grandmother besides taking care of us used to make clothes. She cooked
for the white folks. But she sure had to see after us children. I seed
after myself. I was all the girl-child there and I just did what I
wanted to.
"The country was kind of wild in those days. The deer used to come
loping down and we would be scared and run and hide. Some people would
set the dogs on them and some people would kill them no matter who they
belonged.
You see, some people had them as pets.