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Allen Parker's Worcester
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BY ALLEN PARKER (Worcester, Mass.: Chas. W. Burbank & Co., 1895, 96 pp) CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER III.WHEN I was a small child I lived with my mother, in different places. I remember that when I was about five years old we lived with a man by the name of Small, a name that fitted him very well for he was a very hard, mean man. At this time I had a little sister and my mother would leave us in the cabin during the day, telling me to take care of sister. She would get up at about six o'clock in the morning, get breakfast for the entire family, she being the only slave that the man Small hired. After breakfast she would put the house in order and do all the chores and would then work in the field till about eleven o'clock, when she would return and get dinner. If she happened to be at work near the cabin she would run in during the forenoon and feed the baby. After dinner was over and the house again in order she would return to the field and work till about four o'clock. She would then return, get supper and do the chores for the night. Everything that she cooked was first weighed or measured out to her and she was expected to make it go just so far. No matter how hungry we children were, we could not have anything to eat till the white folks had got all they wanted, and then we could have what was left, and if there was not enough left we had to wait till mother cooked some more. One day late in the fall Small got angry with mother and knocked her down, then getting over her he pounded her in the face with his fists, after which he left her on the cabin floor and went out. I was standing by my sister's cradle and saw it all but of course could not do anything to help my mother. When she got up her face was covered with blood. As soon as she was able she ran away to the woods, leaving us children in the cabin, and we did not see her again for several weeks. When my old mistress heard of the trouble, which she did in a very short time, she sent and got us, and although it was known where my mother was, she was not required to return till Christmas time Small not only lost her labor during this time but was obliged to pay for her just the same as if she had been at work for him. When the new year came round my mother was let out again to another man, but I stayed on the plantation with my sister. The next year my sister and I went with mother. We had a good place and stayed there three years. The following year I was let out alone for my board and clothes, that is two shirts and two blankets. There was no one in the family but the man and his wife. I had to pick up wood for the fire, do errands and help around the house what I could. Sometimes I had plenty to eat and sometimes almost nothing. I stayed there however until the latter part of the year, when one day the man and his wife went away on a visit leaving me locked up in the house with nothing to eat. How long they intended to stay I do not know, but it happened that my father had got leave to visit my mother, and on his way came to see me. When he found out how I was situated, he got into the house and took me out. Then taking me upon his back he carried me to my old mistress, who kept me with her until my mother was let the next year. The next year I went with my mother to live with a man by the name of George Williams, who proved to be a very good master. Williams had about five acres of land and kept a small store, he also had a horse and cow, but had no slave except my mother. There I had a very good time though I had to do some work. There were several children on the place and a part of my work was to help take care of them. My mother did the cooking, milked the cows and did the work on the farm. When the white children went to school I used to carry their dinners to them at noon. I would get there before school was out sometimes and would hear them singing their geography lessons, and it was not long before I knew some of these lessons by heart, but of course a slave child was not supposed to need any education. While we lived with Mr. Williams I had many good times playing with the other children for whatever the grown white people might think about the colored people, the little children did not know any difference when they were allowed to play with the slave children I do not remember any game we played that was different from those I have seen the children in the north with the exception of a play we used to have with a little brown bug which we called a "Doodle Bug" This bug as I remember it was about three quarters of an inch long, and spent most of its time so far as we know at the bottom of a hole in the ground, about half an inch in diameter and about two inches deep. When we wanted to play with the bug we would hunt around till we found what we called a Doodle Bug hole Then one of us would get down on all fours and put his mouth near the hole and begin calling "Doodle, Doodle, Doodle," after a while the bug would come out and play on the ground around the top of the hole. It would also allow itself to be taken into the hand, when we could play with it as long as we wished. The children believed that they must always call it Doodle or Mr. Doodle and that if they called it anything else it would not come out of its hole or allow itself to be handled. Be that as it was we used to get a great deal of amusement out of the Doodle Bug. Sometimes we would catch two or three and put them together, and then watch them play. On Sundays I used to drive the family to church. Now it happened that Mr. Williams had only one vehicle, and consequently that one had to do duty on any and all occasions. This vehicle was a two wheeled horse cart. The body was made of boards with stakes at the sides, and to these were fastened rails which ran all round the cart about three feet above the bottom. As we stood up in the cart the rails were very handy to take hold of. Perhaps on Saturday I would use the cart to carry out manure in, and on Sunday I would brush it out and wash it a little if it happened to be very dirty indeed. Sunday after Sunday we all went to church in this cart, which was drawn by the single horse owned by Mr. Williams. In those times father often visited us, and did what he could to make us all happy. Though of course we saw much less of him than most children see of their father. At the end of our stay with Mr. Williams, I was separated from my mother, as it was considered that I was then able to earn my own way living and a little more. So on the first of the following year I was let to a man by the name of Jacob Parker. I remained with him for two years, he paid five dollars the first and ten dollars for the second year, for my services in addition to my clothes. Up to this time the only garment had been the long shirt already spoken of, but this year I had a full regular outfit consisting, as I have said, of two shirts two pair of pants, two jackets, two pairs of shoes, and two blankets. At night I spread one of my blankets upon the floor over a board about eighteen inches wide and six feet long and laid dawn upon it covering myself with the other blanket using my coat for a pillow. In the morning I got up, picked up my blanket, put it one side and was ready for my day's work. Mr. Parker was a common poor white who owned or hired no slaves. I being the only colored person on the place, but I got along pretty well with him, and did what I could to help. The next two years I spent on the farm of John Cofell, another poor white He had no slaves himself but his wife by some means became possessed of a single female slave, who with myself made up the list of servants. The women did the cooking, and helped in the field; my work was all out of doors. Cofell was a hard man to work for and I was glad when I got through with him. RETURN TO TOP
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