"We got up after daylight. Tom Eford didn't make his folks git up early.
But after he was dead and gone, things changed up. The res' made 'em git
up before daylight. He was a good man. The Lord knows. Yes Lord, way
before day. You'd be in the field to work way before day and then work
way into the night. The white folks called Eford's colored people poor
white folks because he was so good to them. Old Tom Eford was the
sheriff of Clayton.
"His folks came back to the house at noon and et their dinner at the
house. He had a cook and dinner was prepared for them just like it was
for the white folks. The colored woman that cooked for them had it ready
when they came there for it. They had a great big kitchen and the hands
ate there. They came back to the same place for supper. And they didn't
have to work late either. Old Tom Eford never worked his hands extra.
That is the reason they called his niggers poor-white folks. Folks lived
at home them days and et in the same place. When my old man was living,
I had plenty. Smokehouse was full of good meat. Now everything you git,
you have to buy.
"Next morning, they all et their breakfast in the same kitchen. They et
three meals a day every day. My mother never cooked except on Sunday.
She didn't need to.