The slaves had regular
allowances of food, most of which they preferred to cook in their own
cabins. Their common food was corn bread and ham or bacon.
Some of the slaves were employed as servants in the master's house, but
the greater part of them worked in the fields. They went out to work very
early in the morning. It often happened that their breakfast and dinner
were carried to them in the fields, and during the short rest which they
had while eating their meals they would often sing together.
[Illustration: A Colonial Planter.]
The slaves had their holidays, one of them being at the time of
hog-killing, which was an annual festival. In some parts of the south, in
November or December, corn-husking bees were held, just as the white
people held them on the frontier. When the corn was harvested, it was
piled up in mounds fifty or sixty feet high. Then the slaves from
neighboring plantations were invited to come and help husk the corn. One
negro would leap up on the mound and lead the chorus, all joining lustily
in the singing.
[Illustration: A Slave Settlement.]
Other holidays were given the slaves on the Fourth of July and at
Christmas time.
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