"I been whipped from sunup till sundown. Off and on, you know. They whip
me till they got tired and then they go and res' and come out and start
again. They kept a bowl filled with vinegar and salt and pepper settin'
nearby, and when they had whipped me till the blood come, they would
take the mop and sponge the cuts with this stuff so that they would hurt
more. They would whip me with the cowhide part of the time and with
birch sprouts the other part. There were splinters long as my finger
left in my back. A girl named Betty Jones come over and soaped the
splinters so that they would be softer and pulled them out. They didn't
whip me with a bull whip; they whipped me with a cowhide. They jus'
whipped me 'cause they could--'cause they had the privilege. It wasn't
nothin' I done; they just whipped me. My married young master, Joe, and
his wife, Jennie, they was the ones that did the whipping. But I
belonged to Miss Evelyn.
"They had so many babies 'round there I couldn't keep up with all of
them. I was jus' a young girl and I couldn't keep track of all them
chilen. While I was turned to one, the other would get off. When I
looked for that one, another would be gone. Then they would whip me all
day for it. They would whip you for anything and wouldn't give you a
bite of meat to eat to save your life, but they'd grease your mouth when
company come.