. 00 - f~~J -8- good. old folks glinme is done stayed right wid me all through lite, so tar, and I alms to live by it to de end. I didn‘t ~~ho tnough jine up wid no church ‘tu I was d~one growed up and h~d left Marse ~era1d; den I jined de Gedar Grove Baptist church and was baptized dar, and dar‘s whar I b‘longs ylt. »Marster was too old to wuk when dey sot us free, so for a long tinte us jus‘ stayed dar and run his place for hint. I never seed none of dein Yankee so~jers but one time. Marster was off in Jefferson and while I was down at de was~hplace I seed ‘bout 12 men come ridin‘ over de hill. I was slio skeered and when I run and told Mistess she made us all come inside her house and lock all de doors. Dem Yankee mens jus‘ rode on through our yard down tO de river and • stayed dar a little while; den dey turned around and rid back through our yard and on down de big road, and us never aeed ‘eis no more. “Soon atter dey was sot free Niggers started up churches of dey own and it was some sight to see and hear ‘em on meetin‘ days. Dey would go in big crowdz and sometimes dey would go to mee~1n‘s a fur piece off. Dey was all fixed up in deir Sunday clothes and dey walked barfoots wid deir shoes acrost deir shoulders to keep ‘em from gittdn‘ dirty. ~rus‘ ‘fore dey got to de church dey stopped and put on deir shoes and den dey was ready to git together to hear de preacher.