"Early Hurt had an overseer named Sanders. He tied my sister Crecie to
a stump to whip her. Crecie was stout and heavy. She was a grown young
woman and big and strong. Sanders had two dogs with him in case he
would have trouble with anyone. When he started layin' that lash on
Crecie's back, she pulled up that stump and whipped him and the dogs
both.
"Old Early Hurt came up and whipped her hisself. Said, 'Oh, you're too
bad for the overseer to whip, huh?'
"Wasn't no such things as lamps in them days. Jus' used pine knots.
When we quilted, we jus' got a good knot and lighted it. And when that
one was nearly burnt out, we would light another one from it.
"We had a old lady named 'Aunt' Charlotte; she wasn't my aunt, we jus'
called her that. She used to keep the children when the hands were
working. If she liked you she would treat your children well. If she
didn't like you, she wouldn't treat them so good. Her name was
Charlotte Marley. She was too old to do any good in the field; and she
had to take care of the babies. If she didn't like the people, she
would leave the babies' napkins on all day long, wet and filthy.
"My papa's mama, Sarah, was killed by lightning. She was ironing and
was in a hurry to get through and get the supper on for her master,
Early Hurt. I was the oldest child, and I always was scared of
lightning. A dreadful storm was goin' on. I was under the bed and I
heard the thunder bolt and the crash and the fall. I heard mama
scream. I crawled out from under the bed and they had grandma laid out
in the middle of the floor. Mama said, 'Child, all the friend you got
in the world is dead.' Early Hurt was standin' over her and pouring
buckets of water on her. When the doctor come, he said, 'You done
killed her now. If you had jus' laid her out on the ground and let the
rain fall on her, she would have come to, but you done drownded her
now.' She wouldn't have died if it hadn't been for them buckets of
water that Early Hurt throwed in her face.
"Honey, they ain't nothin' as sweet to drink out of as a gourd. Take
the seeds out. Boil the gourd. Scrape it and sun it. There ain't no
taste left. They don't use gourds now."