Allen Parker was born into slavery in northeastern North Carolina. (According to David Cecelski, the year of birth was 1838). He wrote about slaves' lives as he remembered in
Recollections of Slavery Times. Worcester, MA: Chas. W. Burbank & Co., 1895.

Parker describes Christmas time, when some slaves had a full week free of labor. The young folk gathered on Christmas Eve for a dance. The musicians made of what they could for makeshift instruments and some provided rhythm by pattin' Juba. Songs were improvisational. One of the songs (pp66-67) corresponds to "Hogeye Man" (Parker has it as "honey man"):

"Sally's in de garden siftin' sand,
And all she want is a honey man.
De reason why I wouldn't marry,
Because she was my cousin
O, row de boat ashore, hey, hey,
Sally's in de garden siftin' sand."