*Related by "Uncle" John Estell*
*[Missouri], age 85.*
_Slavery_
"The slaves had a hard time, some of them. All the work was done by
hand. The slaves cradled the wheat. They raised hemp for clothes. The
old master had one woman who made clothes the year round for the hands.
We had to get a pass from the master to leave the place. If any of the
slaves got in trouble they were taken to the whippin' post. If they had
done a big crime they got 60 or 70 lashes with a whip, for a small crime
they got about thirty, if their master would not pay their fine. The
white folks went to singin' school then they would sing one or two songs
that's all they knew. They would have big basket meetings. All the
slaves had to set in the gallery when we went to church. Most everybody
went on hossback. Some of the farmers were good to their men and some
bad. When some farm had more slaves than was needed, he would hire them
out to some body or sell them. New Year's day was always sale day or the
day they would hire out for the year. When we wanted to get married we
had to ask the master and the girls' mother and father. All the married
man got Thursday night off to go to see their wives.
"At Christmas time we got a week off and we got Saturday afternoon off.
At Christmas the old boss would fix a big bowl of eggnog for us niggers.
The niggers were superstitious. They would not live in a house where a
sinner had died. There was an old man and woman lived down the road from
our house that fit all the time, and by that house after dark one night
one saw them walkin' around in the house. None of us niggers would go by
there after dark, we always rode around the place. People are lots
smarter now than they was then."