P~.ge ~ • ~ ~ 1


Cooke was a goodman, and he never let a overseer lay a finger on
	one of his niggerstR	.

	~Margaret were you ever whip~ed?~

	~argaret laughed; with her eyes twinkling merrily she replied,‘ “Ma i‘s e .C o o~e say he wuz gonna whip ‘nie ~ C au s e I Wa ~ ~ ~•O mi SC hevi ou s.

~	He was on his horse. I broke and run, and lEarse ain‘t give me that whippint till yett“

	“Yes, marri, r hearn stories o‘ ~ ghos‘es and hants, but I neve~‘ did b‘lieve in none of ‘ein. I uster love to play and to get out of all the work I could. Th~ old folk on the plantashrri u~ster tell us younguns: if we dUn‘ t hurry back from the spring with the water buek~ts, the hante and buggoos would cate:h us. I am‘ t never hurry till ye t ‚ and I n ev e r s e e a han t ~ I w j she d I e ou ]4 ‚ ~ e aus‘ I. d ~ t b‘ li ev e I would be Scart.* ‚

	“Margaret, did you learn to read?*

	00h! no main, that wui sum,pint we ~ ‘lowed to db; nobody could have lessons. ßut we went to Church to the Publican Baptist Chuxbch. Yes, main, I‘se she‘ dat wuz the nat~e - the Publican Baptist church - — ain‘t ~ been there all i~iy life ‘till I been grawn and r~rried? We uster go rnornin‘ and evenin‘, and thewhite people sat on Dne side and the slaves on the other.“

	~argaiet said h~r mother was a sean,stress and also a cook. Three other seamstresses worked on the plantation. There wa~ a spinning wheel and a loorrt, and all the cotton cloth for clothing was woven and then r~ade into clothes for all the slaves. There were three shoe r~akers Ofl the place who made shoes for the slavea, and did all the ~addl~ and harness repair.