It seems, however, that no less
than six or eight grown slaves were given in most instances as well as a
like number of children from two to four years of age. This provision on
the part of the parents of the newly-wedded pair was for the purpose as
"Uncle Dock" expressed it to give them a "start" of Negroes. The
children were not considered of much value at such an age and the young
master and his wife found themselves possessed with the responsibility
attached to their proper care and rearing until such time as they
reached the age at which they could perform some useful labor. These
responsibilities were bravely accepted and such children received the
best of care and attention, being it is said often kept in a room
provided for than in the master's own house where their needs could be
administered to under the watchful eye and supervision of their owners.
The food given these young children according to informants consisted
mainly of a sort of gruel composed of whole milk and bread made of whole
wheat flour which was set before them in a kind of trough and from which
they ate with great relish and grew rapidly.
Slaveowners, as a rule, arranged for their Negroes to have all needed
pleasure and enjoyment, and in the late summer after cultivation of the
crops was complete it was the custom for a number of them to give a
large barbecue for their combined groups of slaves, at which huge
quantities of beef and pork were served and the care-free hours given
over to dancing and general merry-making.
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