The time consumed in this way made me late in reaching the mill, and by the time I got my corn ground and reached home it would be far into the night.

The road was a lonely one, and often led through dense forests.

I was always frightened.

The woods were said to be full of soldiers who had deserted from the army, and I had been told that the first thing a deserter did to a Negro boy when he found him alone was to cut off his ears.

Besides, when I was late in getting home I knew I would always get a severe scolding or a flogging.
I had no schooling whatever while I was a slave, though I remember on several occasions I went as far as the schoolhouse door with one of my young mistresses to carry her books.