lubricated throat, by resuming her story:

"Oh, yessum! Marse Alec, had plenty for his slaves to eat. Dere was
meat, bread, collard greens, snap beans, 'taters, peas, all sorts of
dried fruit, and just lots of milk and butter. Marse Alec had 12 cows
and dat's whar I learned to love milk so good. De same Uncle Jim what
made our beds made our wooden bowls what dey kept filled wid bread and
milk for de chillun all day. You might want to call dat place whar Marse
Alec had our veg'tables raised a gyarden, but it looked more lak a big
field to me, it was so big. You jus' ought to have seed dat dere
fireplace whar dey cooked all us had to eat. It was one sho 'nough big
somepin, all full of pots, skillets, and ovens. Dey warn't never 'lowed
to git full of smut neither. Dey had to be cleant and shined up atter
evvy meal, and dey sho was pretty hangin' dar in dat big old fireplace.

"George and Mack was de hunters. When dey went huntin' dey brought back
jus' evvything: possums, rabbits, coons, squirrels, birds, and wild
turkeys. Yessum, wild turkeys is some sort of birds I reckon, but when
us talked about birds to eat us meant part'idges. Some folkses calls 'em
quails. De fishes us had in summertime was a sight to see. Us sho et
good dem days. Now us jus' eats what-some-ever us can git.

"Summertime us jus' wore what us wanted to. Dresses was made wid full
skirts gathered on to tight fittin' waisties. Winter clothes was good
and warm; dresses made of yarn cloth made up jus' lak dem summertime
clothes, and petticoats and draw's made out of osnaburg. Chillun what
was big enough done de spinnin' and Aunt Betsey and Aunt Tinny, dey wove
most evvy night 'til dey rung de bell at 10:00 o'clock for us to go to
bed. Us made bolts and bolts of cloth evvy year.