​​Armchair Genealogist

Thare I was (cramd?) to git the cows at night and help milk night and turn the cows off to pasture and feed the hogs. They had a big stout woman to do the house work. She as mutch as she could do morning to get breakfast. They must have their breakfast preisly at six oclock. All must be seated around the table at that time or go without eating or git their breakfast at some other place. This was at the kitchen table. Old Mrs Mann had a table in her sitting room and eat by her self unless she had visitors. After the widow Goulds would get the kitching work all done up, then she had to git Mrs Mann something that was verry nice, the best that could be got everytime. But the hired hands had to eat sutch as they could git, old stinking bacon and old moldy cheese and rank frowery butter, sutch as would not sell, would be cooked for their work hired hands. Miz Goulds would get the maggots out of the (I in my ninetenth year) meat and chese as much as she could and work and salt the burley oven. What maggots she could not thick out of the meat would be cooked and they would help support us. She was a good and peisble woman. If old Mys Mann hollered at her, she would smile and let it pass and tend to her house work. She had to do all the work that was done in the house for Mys Mann would not do anything. Some times she, Miss Gould, would help milk the cows but not often. I had to milk four cows night and morning and feed the hogs and fetch in night wood and up in the morning and build on a fire as soon as there was any light to be seen for I must have the chores done and be at the table by five oclock or go without my breakfast. Sometimes I would be to late, then Mys Mann would schold, shake and shake her fist at me.

 

Sometimes I would not git my breakfast until Miss Gould would git the table cleaned off, then according to Mys Manns orders, I must go without eating but Miss Gould would leave the buttery dore unlocked and I would go in to the buttery and lock the dore and eat my fill. No one would know that I was in thare but Miss Gould. They always had a plenty of vittuals cooked in the buttery. Bread, biskets, pies and butter, milk, cream, shugar, molasses, after I had ate all that I wanted, I would unlock the dore and leave the key whare Miss Gould could find it, then I would go to my work.

Miss Gould was very friendly to me and so was Blogit and the old Major never found any fault with me that I ever heard of. No one but that rattled brained wife of his and she was soft in the head and rotten in the heart. I got so that I would not speak to her, neither would I answer her if she spoke to me and our war seemed to about end in some measure.

 

Pg. 51

When we both got back to the store, we was both swetty. Tim fixed something good to drink and we drank it and went to the house. They had eat their breakfast but Miss Gould had not cleaned off the table yet, I suppose she thought of me and waited some for me and I sat down to the table.