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                       Memories of Childhood's
                             Slavery Days



                                  By


                           Annie L. Burton




                                BOSTON

                       ROSS PUBLISHING COMPANY


                                 1909




RECOLLECTIONS OF A HAPPY LIFE


The memory of my happy, care-free childhood days on the plantation,
with my little white and black companions, is often with me. Neither
master nor mistress nor neighbors had time to bestow a thought upon
us, for the great Civil War was raging. That great event in American
history was a matter wholly outside the realm of our childish
interests. Of course we heard our elders discuss the various events of
the great struggle, but it meant nothing to us.

On the plantation there were ten white children and fourteen <DW52>
children. Our days were spent roaming about from plantation to
plantation, not knowing or caring what things were going on in the
great world outside our little realm. Planting time and harvest time
were happy days for us. How often at the harvest time the planters
discovered cornstalks missing from the ends of the rows, and blamed
the crows! We were called the "little fairy devils." To the sweet
potatoes and peanuts and sugar cane we also helped ourselves.

Those slaves that were not married served the food from the great
house, and about half-past eleven they would send the older children
with food to the workers in the fields. Of course, I followed, and
before we got to the fields, we had eaten the food nearly all up. When
the workers returned home they complained, and we were whipped.

The slaves got their allowance every Monday night of molasses, meat,
corn meal, and a kind of flour called "dredgings" or "shorts." Perhaps
this allowance would be gone before the next Monday night, in which
case the slaves would steal hogs and chickens. Then would come the
whipping-post. Master himself never whipped his slaves; this was left
to the overseer.

We children had no supper, and only a little piece of bread or
something of the kind in the morning. Our dishes consisted of one
wooden bowl, and oyster shells were our spoons. This bowl served for
about fifteen children, and often the dogs and the ducks and the
peafowl had a dip in it. Sometimes we had buttermilk and bread in our
bowl, sometimes greens or bones.

Our clothes were little homespun cotton slips, with short sleeves. I
never knew what shoes were until I got big enough to earn them myself.

If a slave man and woman wished to marry, a party would be arranged
some Saturday night among the slaves. The marriage ceremony consisted
of the pair jumping over a stick. If no children were born within a
year or so, the wife was sold.

At New Year's, if there was any debt or mortgage on the plantation,
the extra slaves were taken to Clayton and sold at the court house. In
this way families were separated.

When they were getting recruits for the war, we were allowed to go to
Clayton to see the soldiers.

I remember, at the beginning of the war, two <DW52> men were hung in
Clayton; one, Caesar King, for killing a blood hound and biting off an
overseer's ear; the other, Dabney Madison, for the murder of his
master. Dabney Madison's master was really shot by a man named
Houston, who was infatuated with Madison's mistress, and who had hired
Madison to make the bullets for him. Houston escaped after the deed,
and the blame fell on Dabney Madison, as he was the only slave of his
master and mistress. The clothes of the two victims were hung on two
pine trees, and no <DW52> person would touch them. Since I have grown
up, I have seen the skeleton of one of these men in the office of a
doctor in Clayton.

After the men were hung, the bones were put in an old deserted house.
Somebody that cared for the bones used to put them in the sun in
bright weather, and back in the house when it rained. Finally the
bones disappeared, although the boxes that had contained them still
remained.

At one time, when they were building barns on the plantation, one of
the big boys got a little brandy and gave us children all a drink,
enough to make us drunk. Four doctors were sent for, but nobody could
tell what was the matter with us, except they thought we had eaten
something poisonous. They wanted to give us some castor oil, but we
refused to take it, because we thought that the oil was made from the
bones of the dead men we had seen. Finally, we told about the big
white boy giving us the brandy, and the mystery was cleared up.

Young as I was then, I remember this conversation between master and
mistress, on master's return from the gate one day, when he had
received the latest news: "William, what is the news from the seat of
war?" "A great battle was fought at Bull Run, and the Confederates
won," he replied. "Oh, good, good," said mistress, "and what did Jeff
Davis say?" "Look out for the blockade. I do not know what the end
may be soon," he answered. "What does Jeff Davis mean by that?" she
asked. "Sarah Anne, I don't know, unless he means that the <DW65>s
will be free." "O, my God, what shall we do?" "I presume," he said,
"we shall have to put our boys to work and hire help." "But," she
said, "what will the <DW65>s do if they are free? Why, they will
starve if we don't keep them." "Oh, well," he said, "let them wander,
if they will not stay with their owners. I don't doubt that many
owners have been good to their slaves, and they would rather remain
with their owners than wander about without home or country."

My mistress often told me that my father was a planter who owned a
plantation about two miles from ours. He was a white man, born in
Liverpool, England. He died in Lewisville, Alabama, in the year 1875.

I will venture to say that I only saw my father a dozen times, when I
was about four years old; and those times I saw him only from a
distance, as he was driving by the great house of our plantation.
Whenever my mistress saw him going by, she would take me by the hand
and run out upon the piazza, and exclaim, "Stop there, I say! Don't
you want to see and speak to and caress your darling child? She often
speaks of you and wants to embrace her dear father. See what a bright
and beautiful daughter she is, a perfect picture of yourself. Well, I
declare, you are an affectionate father." I well remember that
whenever my mistress would speak thus and upbraid him, he would whip
up his horse and get out of sight and hearing as quickly as possible.
My mistress's action was, of course, intended to humble and shame my
father. I never spoke to him, and cannot remember that he ever noticed
me, or in any way acknowledged me to be his child.

My mother and my mistress were children together, and grew up to be
mothers together. My mother was the cook in my mistress's household.
One morning when master had gone to Eufaula, my mother and my mistress
got into an argument, the consequence of which was that my mother was
whipped, for the first time in her life. Whereupon, my mother refused
to do any more work, and ran away from the plantation. For three years
we did not see her again.

Our plantation was one of several thousand acres, comprising large
level fields, upland, and considerable forests of Southern pine.
Cotton, corn, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, wheat, and rye were the
principal crops raised on the plantation. It was situated near the
P---- River, and about twenty-three miles from Clayton, Ala.

One day my master heard that the Yankees were coming our way, and he
immediately made preparations to get his goods and valuables out of
their reach. The big six-mule team was brought to the smoke-house
door, and loaded with hams and provisions. After being loaded, the
team was put in the care of two of the most trustworthy and valuable
slaves that my master owned, and driven away. It was master's
intention to have these things taken to a swamp, and there concealed
in a pit that had recently been made for the purpose. But just before
the team left the main road for the by-road that led to the swamp, the
two slaves were surprised by the Yankees, who at once took possession
of the provisions, and started the team toward Clayton, where the
Yankees had headquarters. The road to Clayton ran past our plantation.
One of the slave children happened to look up the road, and saw the
Yankees coming, and gave warning. Whereupon, my master left
unceremoniously for the woods, and remained concealed there for five
days. The <DW65>s had run away whenever they got a chance, but now it
was master's and the other white folks' turn to run.

The Yankees rode up to the piazza of the great house and inquired who
owned the plantation. They gave orders that nothing must be touched or
taken away, as they intended to return shortly and take possession. My
mistress and the slaves watched for their return day and night for
more than a week, but the Yankees did not come back.

One morning in April, 1865, my master got the news that the Yankees
had left Mobile Bay and crossed the Confederate lines, and that the
Emancipation Proclamation had been signed by President Lincoln.
Mistress suggested that the slaves should not be told of their
freedom; but master said he would tell them, because they would soon
find it out, even if he did not tell them. Mistress, however, said she
could keep my mother's three children, for my mother had now been gone
so long.

All the slaves left the plantation upon the news of their freedom,
except those who were feeble or sickly. With the help of these, the
crops were gathered. My mistress and her daughters had to go to the
kitchen and to the washtub. My little half-brother, Henry, and myself
had to gather chips, and help all we could. My sister, Caroline, who
was twelve years old, could help in the kitchen.

After the war, the Yankees took all the good mules and horses from
the plantation, and left their old army stock. We children chanced to
come across one of the Yankees' old horses, that had "U. S." branded
on him. We called him "Old Yank" and got him fattened up. One day in
August, six of us children took "Old Yank" and went away back on the
plantation for watermelons. Coming home, we thought we would make the
old horse trot. When "Old Yank" commenced to trot, our big melons
dropped off, but we couldn't stop the horse for some time. Finally,
one of the big boys went back and got some more melons, and left us
eating what we could find of the ones that had been dropped. Then all
we six, with our melons, got on "Old Yank" and went home. We also used
to hitch "Old Yank" into a wagon and get wood. But one sad day in the
fall, the Yankees came back again, and gathered up their old stock,
and took "Old Yank" away.

One day mistress sent me out to do some churning under a tree. I went
to sleep and jerked the churn over on top of me, and consequently got
a whipping.

My mother came for us at the end of the year 1865, and demanded that
her children be given up to her. This, mistress refused to do, and
threatened to set the dogs on my mother if she did not at once leave
the place. My mother went away, and remained with some of the
neighbors until supper time. Then she got a boy to tell Caroline to
come down to the fence. When she came, my mother told her to go back
and get Henry and myself and bring us down to the gap in the fence as
quick as she could. Then my mother took Henry in her arms, and my
sister carried me on her back. We climbed fences and crossed fields,
and after several hours came to a little hut which my mother had
secured on a plantation. We had no more than reached the place, and
made a little fire, when master's two sons rode up and demanded that
the children be returned. My mother refused to give us up. Upon her
offering to go with them to the Yankee headquarters to find out if it
were really true that all <DW64>s had been made free, the young men
left, and troubled us no more.

The cabin that was now our home was made of logs. It had one door, and
an opening in one wall, with an inside shutter, was the only window.
The door was fastened with a latch. Our beds were some straw.

There were six in our little family; my mother, Caroline, Henry, two
other children that my mother had brought with her upon her return,
and myself.

The man on whose plantation this cabin stood, hired my mother as
cook, and gave us this little home. We children used to sell
blueberries and plums that we picked. One day the man on whom we
depended for our home and support, left. Then my mother did washing by
the day, for whatever she could get. We were sent to get cold victuals
from hotels and such places. A man wanting hands to pick cotton, my
brother Henry and I were set to help in this work. We had to go to the
cotton field very early every morning. For this work, we received
forty cents for every hundred pounds of cotton we picked.

Caroline was hired out to take care of a baby.

In 1866, another man hired the plantation on which our hut stood, and
we moved into Clayton, to a little house my mother secured there. A
rich lady came to our house one day, looking for some one to take care
of her little daughter. I was taken, and adopted into this family.
This rich lady was Mrs. E. M. Williams, a music teacher, the wife of a
lawyer. We called her "Mis' Mary."

Some rich people in Clayton who had owned slaves, opened the Methodist
church on Sundays, and began the work of teaching the <DW64>s. My new
mistress sent me to Sunday school every Sunday morning, and I soon got
so that I could read. Mis' Mary taught me every day at her knee. I
soon could read nicely, and went through Sterling's Second Reader,
and then into McGuthrie's Third Reader. The first piece of poetry I
recited in Sunday school was taught to me by Mis' Mary during the
week. Mis' Mary's father-in-law, an ex-judge, of Clayton, Alabama,
heard me recite it, and thought it was wonderful. It was this:

    "I am glad to see you, little bird,
    It was your sweet song I heard.
    What was it I heard you say?
    Give me crumbs to eat today?
    Here are crumbs I brought for you.
    Eat your dinner, eat away,
    Come and see us every day."

After this Mis' Mary kept on with my studies, and taught me to write.
As I grew older, she taught me to cook and how to do housework. During
this time Mis' Mary had given my mother one dollar a month in return
for my services; now as I grew up to young womanhood, I thought I
would like a little money of my own. Accordingly, Mis' Mary began to
pay me four dollars a month, besides giving me my board and clothes.
For two summers she "let me out" while she was away, and I got five
dollars a month.

While I was with Mis' Mary, I had my first sweetheart, one of the
young fellows who attended Sunday school with me. Mis' Mary, however,
objected to the young man's coming to the house to call, because she
did not think I was old enough to have a sweetheart.

I owe a great deal to Mis' Mary for her good training of me, in
honesty, uprightness and truthfulness. She told me that when I went
out into the world all white folks would not treat me as she had, but
that I must not feel bad about it, but just do what I was employed to
do, and if I wasn't satisfied, to go elsewhere; but always to carry an
honest name.

One Sunday when my sweetheart walked to the gate with me, Mis' Mary
met him and told him she thought I was too young for him, and that she
was sending me to Sunday school to learn, not to catch a beau. It was
a long while before he could see me again,--not until later in the
season, in watermelon time, when Mis' Mary and my mother gave me
permission to go to a watermelon party one Sunday afternoon. Mis' Mary
did not know, however, that my sweetheart had planned to escort me. We
met around the corner of the house, and after the party he left me at
the same place. After that I saw him occasionally at barbecues and
parties. I was permitted to go with him some evenings to church, but
my mother always walked ahead or behind me and the young man.

We went together for four years. During that time, although I still
called Mis' Mary's my home, I had been out to service in one or two
families.

Finally, my mother and Mis' Mary consented to our marriage, and the
wedding day was to be in May. The winter before that May, I went to
service in the family of Dr. Drury in Eufaula. Just a week before I
left Clayton I dreamed that my sweetheart died suddenly. The night
before I was to leave, we were invited out to tea. He told me he had
bought a nice piece of poplar wood, with which to make a table for our
new home. When I told him my dream, he said, "Don't let that trouble
you, there is nothing in dreams." But one month from that day he died,
and his coffin was made from the piece of poplar wood he had bought
for the table.

After his death, I remained in Clayton for two or three weeks with my
people, and then went back to Eufaula, where I stayed two years.

My sweetheart's death made a profound impression on me, and I began to
pray as best I could. Often I remained all night on my knees.

Going on an excursion to Macon, Georgia, one time, I liked the place
so well that I did not go back to Eufaula. I got a place as cook in
the family of an Episcopal clergyman, and remained with them eight
years, leaving when the family moved to New Orleans.

During these eight years, my mother died in Clayton, and I had to take
the three smallest children into my care. My oldest sister was now
married, and had a son.

I now went to live with a Mrs. Maria Campbell, a <DW52> woman, who
adopted me and gave me her name. Mrs. Campbell did washing and ironing
for her living. While living with her, I went six months to Lewis'
High School in Macon. Then I went to Atlanta, and obtained a place as
first-class cook with Mr. E. N. Inman. But I always considered Mrs.
Campbell's my home. I remained about a year with Mr. Inman, and
received as wages ten dollars a month.

One day, when the family were visiting in Memphis, I chanced to pick
up a newspaper, and read the advertisement of a Northern family for a
cook to go to Boston. I went at once to the address given, and made
agreement to take the place, but told the people that I could not
leave my present position until Mr. Inman returned home. Mr. and Mrs.
Inman did not want to let me go, but I made up my mind to go North.
The Northern family whose service I was to enter had returned to
Boston before I left, and had made arrangements with a friend, Mr.
Bullock, to see me safely started North.

After deciding to go North, I went to Macon, to make arrangements with
Mrs. Campbell for the care of my two sisters who lived with her. One
sister was now about thirteen and the other fifteen, both old enough
to do a little for themselves. My brother was dead. He went to
Brunswick in 1875, and died there of the yellow fever in 1876. One
sister I brought in later years to Boston. I stayed in Macon two
weeks, and was in Atlanta three or four days before leaving for the
North.

About the 15th of June, 1879, I arrived at the Old Colony Station in
Boston, and had my first glimpse of the country I had heard so much
about. From Boston I went to Newtonville, where I was to work. The
gentleman whose service I was to enter, Mr. E. N. Kimball, was waiting
at the station for me, and drove me to his home on Warner Street. For
a few days, until I got somewhat adjusted to my new circumstances, I
had no work to do. On June 17th the family took me with them to
Auburndale. But in spite of the kindness of Mrs. Kimball and the
 nurse, I grew very homesick for the South, and would often
look in the direction of my old home and cry.

The washing, a kind of work I knew nothing about, was given to me;
but I could not do it, and it was finally given over to a hired woman.
I had to do the ironing of the fancy clothing for Mrs. Kimball and the
children.

About five or six weeks after my arrival, Mrs. Kimball and the
children went to the White Mountains for the summer, and I had more
leisure. Mr. Kimball went up to the mountains every Saturday night, to
stay with his family over Sunday; but he and his father-in-law were at
home other nights, and I had to have dinner for them.

To keep away the homesickness and loneliness as much as possible, I
made acquaintance with the hired girl across the street.

One morning I climbed up into the cherry tree that grew between Mr.
Kimball's yard and the yard of his next-door neighbor, Mr. Roberts. I
was thinking of the South, and as I picked the cherries, I sang a
Southern song. Mr. Roberts heard me, and gave me a dollar for the
song.

By agreement, Mrs. Kimball was to give me three dollars and a half a
week, instead of four, until the difference amounted to my fare from
the South; after that, I was to have four dollars. I had, however,
received but little money. In the fall, after the family came home, we
had a little difficulty about my wages, and I left and came into
Boston. One of my Macon acquaintances had come North before me, and
now had a position as cook in a house on Columbus Avenue. I looked
this girl up. Then I went to a lodging-house for <DW52> people on
Kendall Street, and spent one night there. Mrs. Kimball had refused to
give me a recommendation, because she wanted me to stay with her, and
thought the lack of a recommendation would be an inducement. In the
lodging-house I made acquaintance with a <DW52> girl, who took me to
an intelligence office. The man at the desk said he would give me a
card to take to 24 Springfield Street, on receipt of fifty cents. I
had never heard of an office of this kind, and asked a good many
questions. After being assured that my money would be returned in case
I did not accept the situation, I paid the fifty cents and started to
find the address on the card. Being ignorant of the scheme of street
numbering, I inquired of a woman whom I met, where No. 24 was. This
woman asked me if I was looking for work, and when I told her I was,
she said a friend of hers on Springfield Street wanted a servant
immediately. Of course I went with this lady, and after a conference
with the mistress of the house as to my ability, when I could begin
work, what wages I should want, etc., I was engaged as cook at three
dollars and a half a week.

From this place I proceeded to 24 Springfield Street, as directed,
hoping that I would be refused, so that I might go back to the
intelligence office and get my fifty cents. The lady at No. 24 who
wanted a servant, said she didn't think I was large and strong enough,
and guessed I wouldn't do. Then I went and got my fifty cents.

Having now obtained a situation, I sent to Mr. Kimball's for my trunk.
I remained in my new place a year and a half. At the end of that time
the family moved to Dorchester, and because I did not care to go out
there, I left their service.

From this place, I went to Narragansett Pier to work as a chambermaid
for the summer. In the fall, I came back to Boston and obtained a
situation with a family, in Berwick Park. This family afterward moved
to Jamaica Plain, and I went with them. With this family I remained
seven years. They were very kind to me, gave me two or three weeks'
vacation, without loss of pay.

In June, 1884, I went with them to their summer home in the Isles of
Shoals, as housekeeper for some guests who were coming from Paris. On
the 6th of July I received word that my sister Caroline had died in
June. This was a great blow to me. I remained with the Reeds until
they closed their summer home, but I was not able to do much work
after the news of my sister's death.

I wrote home to Georgia, to the white people who owned the house in
which Caroline had lived, asking them to take care of her boy Lawrence
until I should come in October. When we came back to Jamaica Plain in
the fall, I was asked to decide what I should do in regard to this
boy. Mrs. Reed wanted me to stay with her, and promised to help pay
for the care of the boy in Georgia. Of course, she said, I could not
expect to find positions if I had a child with me. As an inducement to
remain in my present place and leave the boy in Georgia, I was
promised provision for my future days, as long as I should live. It
did not take me long to decide what I should do. The last time I had
seen my sister, a little over a year before she died, she had said,
when I was leaving, "I don't expect ever to see you again, but if I
die I shall rest peacefully in my grave, because I know you will take
care of my child."

I left Jamaica Plain and took a room on Village Street for the two or
three weeks until my departure for the South. During this time, a lady
came to the house to hire a girl for her home in Wellesley Hills. The
girl who was offered the place would not go. I volunteered to accept
the position temporarily, and went at once to the beautiful farm. At
the end of a week, a man and his wife had been engaged, and I was to
leave the day after their arrival. These new servants, however, spoke
very little English, and I had to stay through the next week until the
new ones were broken in. After leaving there I started for Georgia,
reaching there at the end of five days, at five o'clock.

I took a carriage and drove at once to the house where Lawrence was
being taken care of. He was playing in the yard, and when he saw me
leave the carriage he ran and threw his arms around my neck and cried
for joy. I stayed a week in this house, looking after such things of
my sister's as had not been already stored. One day I had a headache,
and was lying down in the cook's room. Lawrence was in the dining-room
with the cook's little girl, and the two got into a quarrel, in the
course of which my nephew struck the cook's child. The cook, in her
anger, chased the boy with a broom, and threatened to give him a good
whipping at all costs. Hearing the noise, I came out into the yard,
and when Lawrence saw me he ran to me for protection. I interceded for
him, and promised he should get into no more trouble. We went at once
to a neighbor's house for the night. The next day I got a room in the
yard of a house belonging to some white people. Here we stayed two
weeks. The only return I was asked to make for the room was to weed
the garden. Lawrence and I dug out some weeds and burned them, but
came so near setting fire to the place that we were told we need not
dig any more weeds, but that we might have the use of the room so long
as we cared to stay.

In about a week and a half more we got together such things as we
wanted to keep and take away with us.

The last time I saw my sister, I had persuaded her to open a bank
account, and she had done so, and had made small deposits from time to
time. When I came to look for the bankbook, I discovered that her
lodger, one Mayfield, had taken it at her death, and nobody knew where
it might be now. I found out that Mayfield had drawn thirty dollars
from the account for my sister's burial, and also an unknown amount
for himself. He had done nothing for the boy. I went down to the bank,
and was told that Mayfield claimed to look after my sister's burial
and her affairs. He had made one Reuben Bennett, who was no relation
and had no interest in the matter, administrator for Lawrence, until
his coming of age. But Bennett had as yet done nothing for him. The
book was in the bank, with some of the account still undrawn, how much
I did not know. I next went to see a lawyer, to find out how much it
would cost me to get this book. The lawyer said fifteen dollars. I
said I would call again. In the meantime, I went to the court house,
and when the case on trial was adjourned I went to the judge and
stated my case. The judge, who was slightly acquainted with my sister
and me, told me to have Reuben Bennett in court next morning at nine
o'clock, and to bring Lawrence with me. When we had all assembled
before the judge, he told Bennett to take Lawrence and go to the bank
and get the money belonging to my sister. Bennett went and collected
the money, some thirty-five dollars. The boy was then given into my
care by the judge. For his kindness, the judge would accept no return.
Happy at having obtained the money so easily, we went back to our
room, and rested until our departure the next night for Jacksonville,
Florida. I had decided to go to this place for the winter, on account
of Lawrence, thinking the Northern winter would be too severe for him.

My youngest sister, who had come to Macon from Atlanta a few days
before my arrival, did not hear of Caroline's death until within a few
days of our departure. This youngest sister decided to go to Florida
with us for the winter.

Our trunks and baggage were taken to the station in a team. We had a
goodly supply of food, given us by our friends and by the people whose
hospitality we had shared during the latter part of our stay.

The next morning we got into Jacksonville. My idea was to get a place
as chambermaid at Green Cove Springs, Florida, through the influence
of the head waiter at a hotel there, whom I knew. After I got into
Jacksonville I changed my plans. I did not see how I could move my
things any farther, and we went to a hotel for <DW52> people, hired a
room for two dollars, and boarded ourselves on the food which had been
given us in Macon. This food lasted about two weeks. Then I had to
buy, and my money was going every day, and none coming in, I did not
know what to do. One night the idea of keeping a restaurant came to
me, and I decided to get a little home for the three of us, and then
see what I could do in this line of business. After a long and hard
search, I found a little house of two rooms where we could live, and
the next day I found a place to start my restaurant. For house
furnishings, we used at first, to the best advantage we could,