UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

the
Two
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
45
The huts of the slaves are mostlyof the poorestslaveshad
nothing from their ?naste?-sbut the corn,
kind. They are not as good as those temporary
or itsequivalentin potatoes or rice ; and to this
shanties which are thrown up beside railroads. they were not permitted to come but once a day.
They are erected with posts and crotches, with The custom was to blow the horn earlyin the
but little or no frame-work about them. They morning, as a signal for the hands to rise and go
have no stoves or chimneys; some of them have to work. When commenced, theycontinue work
something like a fireplace at one end, and a board until about eleven o'clock A. M., when, at the
or two off at that side, or on the roof, to let off signal, all hands left off,and went into their huts,
the smoke. Others have nothinglike a fireplace made their fires, made their corn-meal into hominy
in them ; in these the fireis sometimes made in
or cake, ate it,and went to work again at
the middle of the hut. These buildingshave but the signal of the horn,and worked until night, or
one apartment in them ; the places where they until their tasks were done. Some cooked their
pass in and out serve both for doors and windows ; breakfast in the fieldwhile at work. Each slave
the sides and roofs are covered with coarse, and must grindhis own corn in a hand-mill after he
mode of procedure on the plantation
which he was engaged. It may be here
intimate. There is a homely matter-of-fact
distinctnessin the stylethatforbidsthe idea
of itsbeing a fancysketch ;
it was a generalcustom, wherever I have been,
for the master to give each of his slaves,male who
in
and female,one -peckof corn per week for their food.
endeavoring
This,at fifty
to promote the improvement of
cents per bushel,which was all that
the
it was worth when I was there,would amount to negroes, in his address beforethe Georgia
twelve and a half cents per week forboard per head. Presbytery,
It cost me, upon an average, when at the "
South, The quantityallowed by custom isa peck
one dollar per day for board "
; priceof fourteen
of cor n a weekP'
bushels of corn per week. This would make
my board The
equalin amount to the board
Maryland Journal and Baltimore
offorty-six
slaves! This is allthat goodor bad masters allow Advertiser,
theirslaves,round about Savannah,on the plantations.
peck of corn, or the same measure of rice, is
One peck of gourd-seed corn is to be measured
for a
out to each slave once
every week. One
man with whom I labored,however,being desirous
to get all the work out of his hands he could,
before 1 left (aboutfifty in number), boughtfor
them every week, or twice a week, a beef's head
from market. With this they made a soup in a
large iron kettle,around which the hands came at
meal-time,and dipping out the of
soup, would mix corn a day to a full-task hand,with a
it with their hominy, and eat it as though it modicum of salt ; kind masters allowed a
were a feast. This man permittedhis slaves to
peckof corn a week."
eat twice a day while I was doing a jobfor him. The law of North Carolina
He promised me a beaver hat,and as
provides
good a suit
of clothes as could be bought in the city, if I would
accomplish so much for him before 1 returned to
the North ; givingme the entire control over his
slaves. Thus you may
see the temptationsoverseers
in many instances with refuse boards. In warm has done his work at night. There is generally
weather,especially in the spring țhe slaves keep one hand-mill on
every plantation for the use of
up a smoke, or fireand smoke, all nightțo drive the slaves.
away the gnats and mosquitos, which are
very Some of the planters have no corn ; others often
troublesome in all the low country of the South ; get out. The substitutefor it is the equivalent of
so much so that the whites sleepunder frames one peck of corn, either in rice or sweet potatoes,
with nets over them, knit so fine that the mosquitos
neither of which is as good for the slaves as corn.
cannot flythrough them.
Theycomplain more of beingfaintwhen fed on
Slavery as It Is, p. 19. rice or potatoes than when fed on corn. I was
The same Mr. Moulton givesthe following
with one man a few weeks who me
gave hia
hands to do a job of work,and,to
account of the food of the slaves, and*the
save time,one
cooked for all the rest. The following course was
taken :
"
crotched sticks were driven down at
one end of the yard,and,a small polebeing laid
on the crotches,they
mentioned that at the time he was at the
swung
a large iron kettle on
the middle of the pole;
South he was engagedin certain business
then made up a fireunder
the kettle,and boiled the hominy; when ready,
relationswhich caused him frequently to the hands were called around this kettle with
visitdifferentplantations, and to have under their wooden plates and spoons. They dipped
out and ate
his control many of the slaves. His standing around the kettle, or sitting
opportunities
upon
forobservation, therefore, were quite
the ground, as best suited their convenience.
When they had potatoes,theytook them out with
theirhands,and ate them.
Slavery Is, p. 18.
Thomas Clay,Esq.,a slave-holder of
Georgia,and a most benevolent man, and
interestedhimself very successfully
1883, says
of their food,
May 30,1788, says,
"
A single
the ordinaryprovision hard-working
slave, to which a small quantity meat is
occasionally, thoughrarely, CaptainWilliam Ladd, of Minot,Maine,
formerly Florida, says,
"
The usual allowance of food was a
quart
that
the master shall give his slavea quart of
corn a day,which isle3S than a peck a week
by one quart." Haywood'sManual. 525 ;
Slavery
sometimes have,to get all the work they
as It Is, p.
29. The master,therefore,
who
ean out of the poor slaves. The above is an gave a
exception
peck a week would feel
to the general rule of feeding.For,in all that he was goingbeyondthe law, and giving
other places where I worked and visited țhe
a quart for generosity.