"'Rockabye baby in the tree trops' was the onliest song I heard my maw
sing to git her babies to sleep. Slave folkses sung most all the time
but we didn' think of what we sang much. We jus' got happy and started
singin'. Sometimes we 'ud sing effen we felt sad and lowdown, but soon
as we could, we 'ud go off whar we could go to sleep and forgit all
'bout trouble!" James nodded his gray head with a wise look in his
bright eyes. "When you hear a nigger singin' sad songs hit's jus' kazen
he can't stop what he is doin' long enough to go to sleep!"

The laughter that greeted this sally brought an answering grin to the
wrinkled old face. Asked about marriage customs, James said:

"Folkses didn' make no big to-do over weddings like they do now. When
slaves got married they jus' laid down the broom on the floor and the
couple jined hands and jumped back-uds over the broomstick. I done seed
'em married that way many a time. Sometimes my marster would fetch
Mistess down to the slave quarters to see a weddin'. Effen the slaves
gittin' married was house servants, sometimes they married on the back
porch or in the back yard at the big 'ouse but plantation niggers what
was field hands married in they own cabins. The bride and groom jus'
wore plain clothes kazen they didn' have no more.

"When the young marsters and mistesses at the big houses got married
they 'lowed the slaves to gadder on the porch and peep through the
windows at the weddin'. Mos'en generally they 'ud give the young couple
a slave or two to take with them to they new home. My marster's chilluns
was too young to git married befo' the war was over. They was seven of
them chilluns; four of 'em was gals.

"What sort of tales did they tell 'mongs't the slaves 'bout the Norf