[TR: ***] = Transcriber Note
WASHINGTON 1941
"My name is Clayton Holbert, and I am an ex slave. I am eighty-six yearsold. I was born and raised in Linn County, Tennessee. My master's namewas Pleasant "Ples" Holbert. My master had a fairly large plantation; hehad, I imagine, around one hundred slaves."
"I was working the fields during the wind-up of the Civil War. Theyalways had a man in the field to teach the small boys to work, and I wasone of the boys. I was learning to plant corn, etc. My father, brotherand uncle went to war on the Union side."
"We raised corn, barley, and cotton, and produced all of our living onthe plantation. There was no such thing as going to town to buy things.All of our clothing was homespun, our socks were knitted, andeverything. We had our looms, and made our own suits, we also had reels,and we carved, spun, and knitted. We always wore yarn socks for winter,which we made. It didn't get cold, in the winter in Tennessee, just alittle frost was all. We fixed all of our cotton and wool ourselves."
"For our meat we used to kill fifteen, twenty, or fifty, and sometimes ahundred hogs. We usually had hickory. It was considered the best forsmoking meat, when we butchered. Our meat we had then was the finestpossible. It had a lot more flavor than that which you get now. If aperson ran out of meat, he would go over to his neighbor's house, andborrow or buy meat, we didn't think about going to town. When we wantedfresh meat we or some of the neighbors would kill a hog or sheep, andwould divide this, and then when we butchered we would give them part ofours. People were more friendly then then they are now. They have almostlost respect for each other. Now if you would give your neighborsomething they would never think of paying it back. You could alsoborrow wheat or whatever you wanted, and you could pay it back wheneveryou thrashed."
"We also made our own sorghum, dried our own fruits. We usually driedall of our things as we never heard of such a thing as canning."
"We always had brandy, wine, and cider on hand, and nothing was thoughtof it. We used to give it to the children even. When we had corn husks,log rolling, etc., we would invite all of the neighbors over, and thenwe would serve refreshments of wine, brandy or cider."
"We made our own maple syrup from the maple sugar trees. This is a lotbetter than the refined sugar people have nowdays, and is good for youtoo. You can't get this now though, except sometimes and it is awfullyhigh priced. On the plantations the slaves usual