"My mama even made our plow lines. She had a spinning wheel and you know
how to spin?--you can make ropes for plow lines too. Just twist the
cotton and have it about six inches long and put it in the loom and let
it go around and around. You keep puttin' the twisted cotton in the loom
and step on the peddle and no sooner than done, that was worked in a
rope. Now, if you don't know what I am talking about it is useless for
me to tell you.
"After papa died that left no one to work but mama and I tell you time
brought about a change. A house full of little children--we lived from
hand to mouth. Not enough corn to feed one mule. No syrup, no hogs, no
cows. Oh! we had a hard time. I remember hearing my mama many a night
ask God to help her through the struggle with her children. The more my
mama prayed the harder times got with her. Wasn't no churches around so
she had to sing and pray at home. The first Sunday School I remember
going to was in 1892. I went to school and got as high as fifth grade,
then I ran away from my mama.
"Just becaise I let old bad man overpower me I got grown and mannish.
Couldn't nobody tell me a thing. I would steal, I would fight, I would
lie. I remember in 1896 I went to church--that was about the fourth time
I had been to church. The preacher began preachin' and I went outdoors
and cut the harness off of his mule and broke one of his buggy wheels. I
went down in the woods and cut a cow just for meanness.
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