I was thrilled. Mr. Stewart was so pleased with me that he soon let me hire myself out. I paid him about fifty dollars a year and could keep all that I earned over that for myself. I did all kinks of work, hauled logs, plowed fields, drove oxcarts, and more. Sometimes I was put to work with my father who was put in charge of other slaves chopping down trees in the woods. For weeks I was part of my fathers crew, chopping just as much wood as the men did.
It was while I was with my father that I learned the so much about the ways of the woods. He taught me things like the names of birds, which berries were good to eat and which ones were poisonous. I learned how to find plants that had medical value. These were the plants that slaves used to treat all sorts of ailments and fevers. My father taught me how to move through the woods without making a sound. Not even birds in their nests would be startled.