His groans were loud and frequent. Such things made an
impression that would last a lifetime.
Slave punishment, too, was not unknown, even in the household. Jennie
especially was often saucy and obstreperous. Jane Clemens, with more
strength of character than of body, once undertook to punish her for
insolence, whereupon Jennie snatched the whip from her hand. John
Clemens was sent for in haste. He came at once, tied Jennie's wrists
together with a bridle rein, and administered chastisement across the
shoulders with a cowhide. These were things all calculated to impress a
sensitive child.
In pleasant weather the children roamed over the country, hunting berries
and nuts, drinking sugar-water, tying knots in love-vine, picking the
petals from daisies to the formula "Love me-love me not," always
accompanied by one or more, sometimes by half a dozen, of their small
darky followers. Shoes were taken off the first of April. For a time a
pair of old woolen stockings were worn, but these soon disappeared,
leaving the feet bare for the summer. One of their dreads was the
possibility of sticking a rusty nail into the foot, as this was liable to
cause lockjaw, a malady regarded with awe and terror. They knew what
lockjaw was--Uncle John Quarles's black man, Dan, was subject to it.
Sometimes when he opened his mouth to its utmost capacity he felt the
joints slip and was compelled to put down the cornbread, or jole and
greens, or the piece of 'possum he was eating, while his mouth remained a
fixed abyss until the doctor came and restored it to a natural position
by an exertion of muscular power that would have well-nigh lifted an ox.
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