MY LIFE and TRAVELS:
Electronic Edition.
Levi Branham
edited by M. Swanson
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Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
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MY LIFE
AND
TRAVELS
By
LEVI BRANHAM
THE A. J. SHOWALTER CO. PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS
DALTON, GA.
1929
CHAPTER I
I WAS born in 1852 in Murray
county, Georgia, and lived there until 1863. Then I refugeed from here
(Murray county) to South Georgia, Terrell county of
which Dawson was the county seat.
My first owner that I am
able to recollect was Dr. Black, who later sold me to Mr. Jim Edmondson.
Dr. Black not only sold me but he sold all of his negroes
to Mr. Edmondson, declaring that he (Mr. Edmondson) would not separate
the Negroes.
A white boy, Sam Carter,
brother of Sooth Carter, was my first white playmate that I am able to
remember. We would tie pine tops together to make a seine
to catch fish. The place where we fished in our childhood
days is now under cultivation. During Sam's and my play together he claimed
that I gave him the whooping cough. This was during the civil war and Sam
was living in Spring Place.
In 1873 I left the South
and came back to Murray county to see my old play-mate. When I arrived
at his home he was sick of the measles which he said he
was going to give me because I gave him the whooping cough. Sure enough
I took the measles.
I spent a large portion of
my life in the Chief Vann house with my old master, Mr. Edmondson. He had
a daughter by the name of Jennie. Jennie had a waitress
who was named Tein. Another of his daughters was Sug, whose waitress
was Fannie. Another one of his daughters was Georgia whose waitress was
Elvie. These
were all of the single daughters that Mr. Edmondson had when I was
with him, but he had three married daughters whose names were Harriet,
Sallie and Sue.
Harriet married Bob Anderson, Sue married Street, and Sallie married
Dr. Mathis.
One of my young masters was John Edmondson, another, Tom Polk Edmondson. I was Tom Polk's waitman until he went to the Civil war between the North and South. Bill, the youngest, was quite small. All of the waitmen and waitresses stayed in the Edmondson house now known as the Chief Vann house. The room in which we stayed had a fine carpet on which we slept. Mr. Edmondson gave us fine blankets and we surely did sleep warm and comfortable.
My old mistress, "Miss Beckie",
was very good to us. She took more pains with us darkies than our parents
did, simply because she had more to care for us
with, and too, she loved us. Occasionally "Miss Beckie" would give
us tea for medicine. She had a hard time getting this tea in me, but I
had to take it after all.
Sometimes she would give us peach brandy which I was always glad to
get. Sometimes we would pretend that we were sick so we could get sweetened
coffee and
buttered biscuits which certainly tasted good to us darkies. I thought
as much of "Miss Beckie" as I did my mother.
When all the white boys and
girls would be away "Miss Beckie" would gather the little negro children
around the fire and talk with us. One day I said to "Miss
Beckie": "Why do we little negro children have to work for you?" She
said, "That's the way our fore-parents fixed the matter." I said to her,
"when I get grown I am going to change the situation somewhat."
While I was still a little
boy I was very fond of plowing. There was an old black man who plowed for
my master. Sometimes I would give him a dime or a
nickel to let me plow a round. That's the way I learned how to plow.
There was a pond in which
the boys of the neighborhood would go swimming. Usually when they were
swimming I would have something to do. I would hoe
off the ends of the row and two or three rows on each side then I would
say that I was through and then would go to the "Black Stump," which was
the name of the
swimming pool. Strange to say, I now own the pond which we called the
black stump.
All of those boys with whom
I used to play are dead and gone. There were the Wilson and Rembert families;
they are all gone. The last of them that I
remember was Jim Henry. He was one of my first friends. The same year
Jim Henry died he told me to clean out the swamp where the black stump
was so it could
be making grass while I slept. He said "some day another people will
be saying old Boisey died trying to make a nickel," and old Jim Henry died
trying to make a nickel. This was the last conversation that I remember
having with him. He was then clerking in Fite's store, Dalton, Georgia.
When he died I waited patiently at Spring Place, thinking he would be buried
here, but he was buried in Dalton, therefore I did not get to see the remains
of his body.
The old Chief Vann house
has been torn away considerably now from what it was when we lived there.
There were large sliding doors in the house.
Sometimes when there would be dances, there would be as many as sixteen
in a set at one time. I have often seen old Mr. Frank Peeples on the dancing
floor, but
oh, my! he was cutting a shine. Now Mr. Peeples is like me, he is not
able to do any dancing.
My old mistress would always
say she was going to whip me, but she never whipped me but once. She was
always threatening to whip me and one morning
after the others had gone to work and I was still lying in the bed,
my old mistress came upstairs to my room with an old cow hide and struck
me three or four licks. I
jumped up and ran to the field. That was the first cow hide and the
last one that I have seen. She never had a chance to whip anyone else,
or me either, because I took the hide and cut it in two with an axe and
then I buried it.
I had a very bad time when
I was small, and some very good times too. Mr. Edmondson, my master, owned
two farms, one in Tennessee and another in
Georgia. My mother was in Tennessee on his farm while I was in Georgia
with my old mistress, whom I loved as well as my mother, for she was very
dear to me.
On one occasion a group of
boys and I decided to go on a fishing trip. We secured several dress pins
and made them into fish hooks as best we could, and
then started off on our trip. We went down on the Conasauga river.
We wandered around for a while fishing here and there until at last one
of the boys noticed a
grape vine across the river. Then we began to play with it. We pulled
it up, and to our surprise there was a fish basket on it which contained
about five or six trout
weighing from four to five pounds. We carried the fish home to Mr.
Edmondson. He asked us where we got such fine fish and we told him we caught
them, so he
asked us where were our hooks, and when we showed him our pin hooks
he said, "Pshaw."
After we had exhibited the
fine fish to almost the whole plantation, our next job was to prepare them
for cooking. When the fish were cooked nicely by the
cook and ready for the table, all the white folks helped themselves
then it was left to the colored to eat their share, and by the time we
had finished eating, the owner
of the fish basket came up. How he knew we were the boys that got his
fish, I don't know, but I suppose some one told him what fine fish they
had seen a group of
us colored boys with. He came and told Mr. Edmondson about it. To settle
the matter Mr. Edmondson paid him a half dollar.
In those days people pulled
up the cotton stalks with their hands. This was mostly the children's job.
One day while a crowd of children and I were pulling up
stalks, my hands became very tired so I went to the house. Mr. Edmondson
asked me why I quit. I told him that I was tired, so to punish me for my
laziness he
carried me upstairs and put me on a very high porch so that I could
not escape. He told me to watch the other children and make them work,
while at the same time
they were about a mile from me, but I could see them. They seemed to
be having a very good time and I wanted to be with them, but could not
get down until some one came after me. Within a few days from then I began
to play off again, so Mr. Edmondson thinking the high porch punishment
was too good for me, made it harder for me. He carried me to a dark room
in the Chief Vann house and made me stay up there until dark and you may
know that I got enough of it that time. When they brought me down again
I was glad to stay down and from then on I never tried to play off any
more.
CHAPTER II.
MANY visitors would come
to see the white folks and I would have the privilege of putting up their
horses and shining their shoes and they would tip me with
nickels and dimes. Soon I accumulated four or five dollars and I asked
my mistress to let me go to Tennessee to see my mother. At last the day
came for us to go.
"Miss Beckie" gave me my money. She put it in a pair of my pants. There
were several white people along and also some colored folks who were going
to
Tennessee. We camped at a little place called Varnell. Mr. Tom Polk
Edmondson bought some whisky and gave me a drink of it. Finally I got to
feeling funny and
staggered to the wagon tongue and reached in the wagon for my breeches.
I found the breeches, but no money was in them. I don't know, but I suppose
some of
the work hands had stolen it. That was the first whisky I had ever
tasted.
When we returned to Georgia
"Miss Beckie" asked me did I give my money to my mother? I told her that
I lost it or some one had stolen it from me. She said
she expected they did.
While I was in Tennessee I would have to go to a little town called Jasper, to get the mail for the white folks. This town was about six miles from the farm where they lived.
There was a colored man on
the Tennessee farm who was interested in teaching the colored boys how
to read and write. He would make figures and letters on
a wooden pad to teach us. One day my mother decided to buy me a book,
so she gave me a dime and I went to the post office at Jasper where I saw
a good many
almanacs on a table. I asked Mr. Jim Owens, the postmaster, to give
me one of those books--and he gladly handed me one. I walked away very
proud with my
book in my hand and a dime in my pocket, thinking about what I would
buy. So I bought candy with the dime. When I reached home I told my mother
that I gave
the dime for the almanac.
I stayed in Tennessee for
about six months. While in Tennessee I became very fond of a white fellow
by the name of Mr. Bill Bramlett. He would often let me
ride his mule to the field. We were both very dear friends. After the
surrender I would often visit him while we both lived in Murray county.
We continued to be good friends until he died which was about eight or
ten years ago.
Mr. Edmondson transferred me back to Murray county to my old home in 1861.
CHAPTER III.
THE CHIEF VANN HOUSE WHERE I SPENT MY CHILDHOOD.
THE Chief Vann house now has a memorial tablet which marks the residence of Joseph Vann and reads like this:
"This Tablet marks the residence of Joseph Vann, a chief of the Cherokee Indians, built late in the Eighteenth Century.
"John Howard Payne, illustrious
author of 'Home Sweet Home,' suspicioned of sedition, was brought to this
house, examined and exonerated by the Georgia
authorities. Near here stood the first Moravian Mission of the Cherokees.
"This historic spot is marked by the Governor John Milledge Chapter, D. A. R., Dalton, Ga., 1915."
The old Indian or Chief Vann
house has a large spacious yard with many beautiful shade trees, and in
this yard is said to be a pot of money buried there by the
Indians, but no one has been able to locate it. I have played around
this yard many a day with my white playmates, Mr. Edmondson's children
and others. The house
is now occupied by Mr. John Cox, and owned by Dr. J. E. Bradford. The
latter has had the front porch remodeled, both upstairs and down, and the
upstairs porch is raised about six or seven inches higher than the former
one built by the Indians. The front of the house whichfaces the South,
has four white columns imitating white marble posts. The door to the entrance
of the house has a large arch, hand carved and pegged, which was made by
the Indians. The roomy hall is seventeen and a half feet wide with a beautiful
hanging stairway, the banisters of which are hand shaped and carved in
many beautiful designs, and on which not a nail was used; they are pegged
together where needed.
The walls on the outside
are sixteen inches wide in which the Indians had secret money drawers that
were unnoticeable to any one else. The inside walls are
twelve inches of solid brick. All of the brick and material of which
the house is made are said to have been sent from England to Savannah and
then hauled from
Savannah in an oxcart to Spring Place where the house now stands. The
fire places are five feet wide and have a hand carved mantel that reaches
up to the ceiling or
plastering.
The windows are also hand carved and slope in, being thirty-two inches wide, which is a beautiful sight to any natural eye.
The door hinges: The door hinges break in the center and have an extra large brass lift hook.
The basement: The basement
has two nice rooms and the one on the west facing the Cleveland road is
where John Howard Payne was kept as a prisoner until
examed by the Georgia authorities.
The garret: Oh! up in the beautiful garret, where I was often put in prison, are two beautiful little windows and it is floored with about one and a half foot plank, plastered with smooth white plastering, and the corners instead of being square are rounding. Each room has a small vacant place, or room, on each side which is said to have been the Indians' spying places.
The base boards: The base boards in the rooms are made of plank that measure thirty-five inches wide.
A part of the house has been taken away and built back by the white people.
The house: In the dining room was a long table at which about fifteen or twenty could be served.
In those days people used
fly brushes, so Mrs. Rebecka had a large one over the table with a great
long string that reached to the other end of the dining room
and I had to pull the string. Oh! how I would pull and watch the white
folks eat. They would eat and sit there and talk until I would get so hungry
looking at the food
my mouth would water. I always got plenty to eat, but just to stand
there and look at the good food would make me hungry.
CHAPTER IV.
MRS. REBECKA'S SHEEP.
MR. Edmondson had a cur dog
by the name of Watch, which we children did not like; he was a very good
dog, too. One day Mr. Westfield gave "Miss
Rebecka" a drove of sheep, about fifty, I suppose, so to do injury
to the dog, Mr. Edmondson's children and I took some sheep wool and packed
it between the
dog's teeth, then carried the dog to "Miss Rebecka" Edmondson and told
her that the dog had been killing her sheep. She ordered the dog to be
killed, believing that
he was killing sheep, but the poor dog was innocent. I have thought
over and over how bad it was that we told what was not true on the poor
dog, and I am
compelled to say that I hate to think how bad it was for us to do a
trick like that. But you know how boys are.
CHAPTER V.
IN 1861.
IN 1861 I saw a troop of soldiers drilling west of Spring Place, Georgia, near the place where I am now living. That was the first group of soldiers I ever saw.
When I was a boy, an old
colored man wanted a white boy and me to get some whisky for him, as the
colored people could not get any whisky in those days.
So Bill Ellis the white boy that went with me, he was about my age,
bought the whisky and had it put in a jug. We started on back, and on our
way we had to pass
through a place called "the haunted holler." There we stopped and began
to draw us some of the whisky. We had a bottle but could not see how to
pour the whisky,
so we drew it out in our mouths and then emptied it into the bottle
until we had the bottle full. We then took up our load and began to travel.
When I got home and
sat down by the fire it made me sick, and "Miss Rebecka" asked me what
was the matter, so I told her that I had been to town and some one had
shocked me on
the shocking machine. She said, "all right, I will see about it," and
Mrs. Scythe Luffman came along and told her that she had seen Bill and
me with some whisky, so she asked me again and I had to tell her the truth.
She then asked Bill about it and made it so plain that he had to tell her
just how it was. I tell you Mrs. Rebecka was hard to fool, but we sure
did fool her about Watch (the dog) killing her sheep.
CHAPTER VI.
WAR.
I HAVE seen three wars in
my life. When I was a boy we saw a comet and I asked Mrs. Rebecka what
was a comet. She said, "the comet is a sign of war,"
and I asked her did "they get up in the trees and shoot?" She said
"no, but sometimes they get behind trees."
This was the civil war. The next war was the Cuban war, and then the World war.
When we were refugeeing in
1863, we went as far as Mayhill and camped and bought seven sacks of flour
and each sack had one hundred pounds of flour in
it. Mr. Edmondson bought this to travel on and we carried ten or twelve
head of milk cows. Just about good day light Bragg's army came by and we
had to wait
until they got by. Then Mr. Bill Edmondson and the negro men stole
a mule and a hog from the army. The soldiers also had a little negro boy
riding along behind. I
wondered why they did not steal him, too. In this travel they also
stole a fine dog and this dog was a regular negro catcher. After the surrender
some man came
along and claimed the dog, but no one ever claimed the mule and the
hog. We got to keep them.
After we reached Terrell
county, we children were not used to ribbon cane and peanuts, so one day
Mr. Edmondson bought a lot of peanuts and cane and we
children had to shell the peanuts to plant. Mr. Edmondson stood over
us with a stick to keep us from eating them, but we managed to eat some
of them any way.
We would shell them and slip them into our mouths so quick that he
did not see us. And when he had the cane planted, we would slip to the
patch and dig it up and
chew it. After the cane was ripe we boys went to the patch and ruined
about a half acre. Mr. Edmondson had a whipping man, and he was my uncle,
so he called us
together and asked about the cane. As soon as one would own to eating
the cane he would let them alone and get the next one. I think I was about
the fourth and I
was so scared I gave the thing away when he had hit me about four licks.
There was one boy who never would own to eating the cane. He had about
twelve or
fifteen boys to whip, but we boys would always prepare ourselves for
whipping by wrapping our bodies in old tow sacks. Mr. Edmondson did not
care so much
about the cane as he did about us telling a lie. When we dug the peanuts
we put them in an old log house, and we boys would go down in the bottoms,
cut a long pole, and would stick one end in a crack of the house then all
of us would get on the other and raise it up so some one could stick his
hand in the crack and drag out the peanuts. Well one can never tell what
a crowd of boys will do.
During the Civil war, 1865,
Old Man Dover sent all the negroes over to a little town called Dover in
Terrell county to fast and pray. Another little negro boy
and I got our fish hooks and started to go fishing. He told us if we
did not go to fast and pray that we would have to get our hoes and go to
the field and work, so
we went on to Dover with the rest of the colored people and I got down
and prayed the best I knew how. This was the words of my prayer:
"O Lord, please help Abraham
Lincoln to whip Jefferson Davis." When we were all through praying we went
back home. Mr. Edmondson said to me, "what
did you pray?" and I told him that I prayed like this: "Oh Lord, please
help Jefferson Davis to whip Abraham Lincoln," and he said, "you prayed
right," and handed
me a half dollar. I was afraid to tell him what I prayed.
In 1862 the slave owners
had paddle rollers that they used to whip their slaves with when they were
caught away from home. Once two slaves who belonged
to Seay were caught on Mr. Edmondson's place for running off from their
master's home. I ran along behind them to see what the white people were
going to do
with the slaves. They whipped them, giving them twenty-nine or thirty-
licks each. All slaves caught after sundown without a pass were beaten.
It was always an
easy matter for Mr. Edmondson's slaves to obtain a pass, because most
of the white folks would give the slaves a pass. The slaves of other owners
would hardly
ever get a pass, but they would go anyway.
In 1863 I begged Mr. Edmondson
to let me stay with some other white people (Mrs. Keister.) After some
begging he consented for me to go. I went on to
Mrs. Keister's, and after I had stayed two days I became dissatisfied
and ran away. Mr. Edmondson told me that I would have to stay because I
had made a trade
with them. I went back and stayed about a month. During my stay with
Mrs. Keister I had to wash dishes. They drank milk from large tumblers,
and one day just before I washed the dishes I fell asleep and when I awoke
the milk had gotten hard in the tumblers. I studied what to do for a long
time. Finally I thought of pouring hot water into the tumblers to soften
the milk. I put all the tumblers in a row and poured water into them. Just
about the time I had finished filling all the glasses all of them bursted
open. I took the broken tumblers and threw them into the well. Every time
I would break anything I would throw it into the well. After the surrender
I came back to Mrs. Keister's and she told me about finding the broken
dishes in their well when they cleaned it out.
I went down south and stayed
about nine years. When I came back to Murray county I stayed with Mrs.
Keister again. I did not have anything to do, only cut
wood for the fires and tend to the horses. Mrs. Keister was very good
to me and when I did not have anything to do she would teach me how to
read and write.
She taught me arithmetic, geography, also history. About three years
ago (1926) I began to think of how nice Mrs. Keister was to me, so I sent
her some corn and
watermelons. A few weeks later I carried her some tomatoes. When I
reached her home I knocked and she came to the door. I asked her how she
felt; she said, "I am feeling very well, but I can hardly get about." I
went in and talked with her. She teased me about throwing dishes into the
well. Mrs. Keister was very feeble at this time, and told me her time was
not long. Her last words to me were, "We must be ready to meet death."
CHAPTER VII.
IN 1870
ONE day while I was plowing
in a field in Terrell county, a boy whose name I have forgotten, hid himself
in the hollow of a tree not very far from where I was
plowing near a road, and waited there until a man by the name of Fletcher
came along. When he sprang from the tree, he shot the man and killed him.
I had worked
there all day and did not know any one was near, and when I saw that
he had killed the man I was certainly scared, and did not know what to
do or where to go.
Mr. Fletcher had about fifteen or twenty men with him. They were bridge
builders, and one of the shots hit the saw that one of the colored men
had in his arm.
After he had killed the man
the boy rambled all night, and the next day, but did not get more than
five miles from where he had done the killing, so he was
found and brought back and put in jail. He was kept there for a year
or more, so one night, the jailer ran out in town and shot and reported
that a mob had
overpowered him and opened the jail, and cut the boy's throat. The
boy was there lying on the floor handcuffed, with his throat cut, and it
was always supposed the jailer killed him.
The jailer then moved to
Texas and lived there for a year or more. While there he was taken sick,
and while lying on his death bed he confessed to killing the
boy for one thousand ($1,000) dollars, but it was never known who gave
him the money to do the killing.
In 1870 there was a big show
in Terrell county, Dawson, Georgia, and while the ticket agent was engaged
in selling tickets as show folks do, they had a
woman for door keeper and a man there for protection. Two men who started
in had been drinking and the man pushed them back. They then began shooting.
The
door keeper, one of the ring masters and one of the men were killed.
One of the men killed was an Oxford, some relation to the Oxfords that
live up here now.
There were some mighty wealthy
and high toned people at the show. They had their drivers to drive the
hack right up to the tent door and spread down
carpets for them to walk on to keep from getting in the mud, but when
the shooting began they split the mud and made doors in all parts of the
tent. That was a sad and bad act, but old corn liquor was the cause of
it all.
In 1903 I saw a show man shot and killed in Dalton, Georgia, Whitfield county.
In 1908 I saw a gallows built
in Spring Place, Georgia, (Murray county) to hang a man by the name of
Harper who killed Mr. Ben Keith, sheriff of Murray
county, but he wasn't hanged and I do not know whatever became of the
gallows or the man Harper, either.
I saw a young man shot in Spring Place by the name of Mr. Gus Keister.
Some folks believe whatever
is to be will be, and I believe that, too. Of course that is hardshell
doctrine, but I am that way and this is my reason for believing
that: I saw two men in Spring Place, both had a pistol and both snapped
their guns, but neither of the guns fired. One of the men was Charlie Williams
and the other
was Captain Gibbs. They were both as brave as could be. I was in about
ten feet of one of them, and was so sure they were going to get killed
I shut my eyes to
keep from seeing them killed, but neither one was hurt.
I believe in dreams. In 1870 I dreamed that a rattle snake bit me twice. The next night I got cut twice. I never like to dream of wasps, because whenever I dream of them I am always confused afterwards. It seems that something good always follows when I dream of honeybees, and when I dream of watermelons I always receive money.
My Mistress told me that
the negroes were brought from Africa so that they could be enlightened
and that they may be taught to serve God. That may be so,
but I hardly know what to think of it. I had a colored friend who is
now dead, who always argued with me that negroes were brought from Africa
to be enlightened.
It seems that the negroes do not stick to one another as the white
people do. If one negro has money the others will stick to him, but if
he has no money they are all
down on him.
The negro race is a peculiar
race, so far as color and mind is concerned. Some are black, some dark
black, some are dark brown and some light brown, some
are yellow and some are nearly white. To me they resemble Joseph's
coat. They all have many different minds. I believe the North Georgia negroes
had better
treatment and were more enlightened than the South Georgia negroes.
Once upon a time Major Jackson and I carried a drove of mules that belonged to Mr. Sam Carter to South Georgia. The white man in South Georgia to whom we carried the mules, said he did not allow negroes in his house. I said to him, "I was reared in white folks' house." He said, "the negroes here would steal if they had to steal the dish rag." This white gentleman treated us very nice. Some of those negroes down in South Georgia said they wished Mr. Carter would bring them a sack of flour, because they had had no biscuits since last Christmas and it was almost Christmas again.
The old colored folks in
South Georgia told me that the negro foremen were as hard again on them
as their owners were. One old negro in South Georgia told
me that they had to steal or perish because the white folks did not
give them enough to eat.
I thank the Good Lord that my master always gave me plenty to eat and treated me like I was a human being.
The grandchildren and great
grandchildren of Mr. Edmondson seem to think a lots of me and my wife.
Always when they come from South Georgia and from
places in the north they would bring me and my wife something nice
to eat and wear. It seems that they cannot come to North Georgia without
coming to see "Uncle Boisey" and "Aunt Amanda."
Once I was working for a
man who was building a railroad from Albany, Georgia to Cuthbert. The contractor
had over a hundred mules and carts and lots of
work hands. The place where the work hands camped looked like a little
village. The tents used for shelter were made of poles were covered with
pine top, sand
and bark. Once upon a time a hard rain came and the sand over the tent
gave way and killed a family of two. The people had to dig to find them.
The contractor paid the hands
in money called "Kimbel and Bulloch", which was in no smaller pieces than
a dollar and no larger than two dollars. I do not
know what became of Bulloch, but I suppose there is a Kimball house
in Atlanta. I lost over a hundred dollars of Bulloch money because it went
dead.
I used to belong to an insurance
company, a twenty year payment. At the end of the twentieth year the company
paid me off. The amount was $1100.00. I put
the money in the Georgia State Bank. A white man named Mr. John Cole
told me to take the money out of the bank and pay it on my place. He said
if I lacked any he would lend me some. I took out the money as he advised
me to do and within two months after I took it out the bank failed, and
I lost $50.01. Some white man asked me what would I have done if I had
lost my $1100? I told him I suppose I would have died.
CHAPTER VIII.
BEGAN TEACHING SCHOOL.
AFTER several of the colored
people learned that I could read and write pretty well a colored man named
Blank Rivers begged me to teach school for the
colored people. There was a white man named Major Wilson who begged
me to teach. I told him that I was not able. He told me if I did not teach
the black
children of Murray county he would force the Ku Klux upon me. I told
him that I would do the best I could. Mr. Wilson wrote an article for me
to go around to the
houses of the colored people to get them to assign their children to
me.
In 1877, the third Monday
in July, I began teaching school. The school house had no floors and planks
were nailed on the sleepers to make benches for the
children to sit upon. The school session was three months long. I received
sixty-two ($62) dollars for the three months' work.
After teaching three months
I went to Terrell county, Dawson, Georgia, to attend a three months' school.
When I came back to Murray county I taught three
months again in 1878. I received sixty-six ($66) for the second three
months and I decided I would go to Dalton to a three months' school.
At this time in the Murray
county school I had between twenty and twenty-five scholars. There were
some twenty-five and thirty year olds who did not know
the alphabet. One woman came who had a son old enough to attend school.
In those days the colored
people of Murray county were very much in the dark. Sometimes I sit and
think how much we colored people have become
enlightened. I had to teach Sabbath school. Every Sabbath morning the
children would assemble and we would say the Lord's prayer. I taught Sunday
school from
the blue back speller.
The second year I taught Sabbath school from a book called Catechism. The next year I taught from a testament.
I don't know whether my teaching
was a success or not, but I believe it was. One of my scholars named Leon
McCamy became a preacher and is preaching in
Dalton now. West S. Bailey, a student who came to the first school
I taught is preaching in LaFayette, Ga.
I have taught a lot of boys and girls and always tried to teach them to be honest, just and polite to everybody. I have not heard of any of them stealing or swindling, but, some of them perhaps, have been in a little row about whiskey, which is a bad thing and will get everybody in trouble who follows it.
Mr. Edmondson and I were
talking one day, and I said to him, "I believe that they will do away with
whiskey now," and he said to me, "no." The Indians
deeded this land to the white man, and said as long as grass grows
and water runs, this will be your land. And as long as corn grows, and
water runs, the white man
will make whiskey," and I said, "one catching up would nip me in the
bud."
Once I was talking with a white woman about whiskey, and she said, "a bootlegger's wife dresses awful fine, but a poor man's wife must do the best she can."
Whiskey is the greatest evil
we have. Every court sooms to be filled with whiskey cases, sending men
to prison, etc. Whiskey is a good thing in some cases,
and a bad thing in others if not used in the right way. Corn liquor
has cost the life o fa lot of good men who would have been living now.
It has caused widows to
weep and mourn. Whiskey that is made these days will kill a horse,
much less a man. I am thankful that I have never been in any trouble about
whiskey, and hope I never will.
I went to Dalton to a bar--room
where there was a man selling pictures. Behind these pictures were different
pieces of money. Some of them had twenty-five
cents; some one dollar; some ten dollars and so on behind them and
some did not have any money behind the mat at all. A man wolking up and
down the counter
saying, "fifty cents, or a half-dollar buys the choicest pictures on
the board." I kept on buying pictures until I won about fifty dollars.
There were some young white
men with me. Colonel Maddox was one of them, and after I won the money
Colonel Maddox told me to go. I went off down the street pretending that
I was gone,
but I came back. Of course I did not let Colonel Maddox know that I
went back. I lost all the money that I won and seven dollars of my own
money that I carried
there with me. I did not tell Mr. Maddox that I went back until this
year (1929). I was planning on going to school, yet I was throwing my money
away. As it
happened Mr. Edmondson owed me some money which I was very glad to
get because I had to pay board. In those days Dalton was quite a small
town; no
factories there; only foundries and bar rooms were there. I was over
there the other day and saw how much Dalton had improved.
After going to school in
Dalton I taught school in Murray in 1879. I always had plenty of good friends
in Dalton and Spring Place. Huse Henry, the school
commissioner of Murray county, begged me to go to Carters, Georgia,
and teach there, but I went to Dalton one day and met the commissioner
there, Mr. Berry,
and he begged me to teach in his ward. Cohutta, Georgia. I told him
that I could not teach there. He wanted to know why, so I told him that
I heard that some of the
scholars there were studying Greek and Latin. He said that was not
so and I consented to teach. I went there and taught two sessions. The
people all liked me, both
white and colored. After leaving Cohutta I taught in Murray county
about eight or ten years. When I taught in Cohutta, I had about forty or
fifty scholars all the
while. I had no trouble in any way. The scholars were very obedient
and some of the scholars I taught there have grandchildren now.
When I left Murray county in 1863 war was going on in Chattanooga and Chickamauga. The guns and cannons were making such noise one could hardly hear anything else.
I have had plenty of good
luck and bad luck too, all of my life. I think I have had very few enemies,
my friends greatly outnumbered, and still outnumber my
enemies. I have lost hundreds of dollars on security debts. I went
a man's (Henry Johnson) security for a suit of clothes at Tate, Eaton &
Coffey's, Dalton, Georgia.
Mr. Johnson paid me. The next time Mr. Johnson bought something at
Mr. Coffey's he wanted me to go his security again. Mr. Coffey told me
to be careful about
going Johnson's security, but I told him that I was not afraid that
Mr. Johnson would not pay me because he paid off the first debt. Johnson
shot a man and did not
pay Mr. Coffey, so Mr. Coffey made me pay the debt of fifteen dollars.
He said, "I tried to keep you out of this, but you went into it anyway."
I never saw Johnson
any more.
Mr. Hardwick, a Dalton banker,
used to call me into the bank to warm during the cold days. He would see
me in Dalton and we would sit and talk for hours at
a time. He said to me, "I don't see how an ex-slave ever learned to
read and write. It's a hidden mystery to me." He seemed to be a very good
friend of mine. He always advised me not to go a man's security unless
he was able to go mine, but I never took heed, therefore I lost lots of
money.
My master owned all land
west from the Chief Vann house to the Conasauga river, which is a distance
of about four miles. He owned thirty-five or forty slaves.
Mr. Edmondson never had any overseers, but had a foreman. After crops
were laid by, Mr. Edmondson would give a picnic for his slaves. He would
take part in
the picnic. I tell you we surely did have a jubilee time.
When the war was in its highest
state, Mr. Edmondson sold the Chief Vann house and his land to Colonel
Tibbs. The latter kept it eight or nine years and sold
it to Goins from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Mr. Goins sold it to Mr. Dill
and Dill sold it to Chip Owens. Later Mr. Owens sold it to Mr. D. Kemp.
Mr. Kemp sold it
to Mr. Dooly; Dooly sold it to Sellers. Sellers sold it to Higdon.
Higdon sold it to Dr. Bradford who still owns it. I live now at the place
where I was born and
raised. As soon as I step out on my front porch I can see the old Edmondson
house now known as the Chief Vann house. When I was living at the Chief
Vann
house, I was young and active. I could run, jump and leap like a frog.
I used to think that there were only two boys that could hold me a light
and they were a white boy named Rob Rembert and a colored boy named George
Edmondson. We would always tie when we would try to throw stones at one
another.
I have, and am still helping
the unfortunate, such as those who have lost their buildings by fire and
those who are sick. I am hoping to still remain able to help
the needy.
CHAPTER IX.
MRS. Ida Treadwell has been
very kind to the colored people of this community. She has given us permission
to build one or two schools on her land.
Through the kindness of Mrs. Treadwell we colored people have been
able to build a church on her property. A young preacher, Reverend J. C.
Murray, of Dalton,
Georgia, came to us in 1922. He seems to be a very faithful church
worker. I think he is holding his own very well. He seems to be at his
best when he sings, "Be
Ready When He comes Again."
"Be ready when He comes again,
"Be ready when He comes again;
"Be ready when He comes again--
"He is coming again so soon.
"Don't let Him catch you with your work undone,
"Don't let Him catch you with your work undone,
"Don't let Him catch you with your work undone,
"He is coming again so soon.
"Be praying when He comes again,
"Be praying when He comes again,
"Be praying when He comes again,
"He is coming again so soon.
"Be watching when He comes again,
"Be watching when He comes again,
"Be watching when He comes again,
"He is coming again so soon.
"Oh Lord, when He comes again,
"Oh Lord, when He comes again,
"Oh Lord, when He comes again,
"He is coming again so soon.
"Don't let Him catch you on the ball--room floor,
"Don't let Him catch you on the ball--room floor,
"Don't let Him catch you on the ball--room floor,
"He is coming again so soon.
"Don't let Him catch you with a lyeing tongue,
"Don't let Him catch you with a lyeing tongue,
"Don't let Him catch you with a lyeing tongue,
"He is coming again so soon."
"Oh Lord when He comes again,
"Oh Lord when He comes again,
"Oh Lord when He comes again,
"He is coming again so soon."
Brother Murray is a fine preacher. He has been preaching here since 1922, and has not missed a meeting day since he began.
I used to own forty acres
of land adjoining Mr. Tom Treadwell. He was a good friend and adviser.
We were accustomed to going to Dalton very often and of
course we would go in wagons and buggies because there were no cars
in those days. One day as we were riding along the road to Dalton Mr. Treadwell
began to
compare a trip to Dalton with one to Glory. When we reached TreadweIl's
mill he said, "we have started on our journey." When we reached Maddox
mill, he said
we were half way on our journey and when we reached that great hill
at Dalton one could see the great city. If I asked Mr. Treadwell for a
favor, he would always
grant it.
In all of my travel I was
never arrested but once in my life. The bailiff came to the field and carried
me to Spring Place and wanted to carry me to Fashion to
court to stand a trial. The man who had me arrested was trying to pretend
that I had broken open some of his mail. After I reached Spring Place several
of my good
white friends told the bailiff that I could make a thousand dollar
bond, but that I was not going to any jail. My opponent had several children
for witnesses, but there was never anything done about the matter in court.
Lots of my white friends knew that I had not broken open any one's mail.
I have lots of friends in
Dalton, but when I go there now since Dalton has improved so rapidly it
seems that I am almost lost. I have always carried my cotton to
Dalton to market. Cotton was very cheap in those days. Mr. Barrett
was the cotton buyer and when cotton was five, six or eight cents, I would
say to Mr. Barrett
"please give me eight and a quarter and next time I won't ask you to
raise the price." He gave me eight and a quarter. The next year I carried
my cotton to Dalton it
was fifteen cents, and I wanted Mr. Barrett to give me fifteen and
a quarter, but he said to me, "didn't you say last year that you would
not ask me for any more than
cotton was worth?" I said, "yes," and he said, "well that's the way
with a man, he is just like a dog. The more he has the more he desires."
CHAPTER X.
SPRING PLACE, GEORGIA.
IN 1862, Spring Place was
a wealthy little town. Mr. Edmondson, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Seay were very
good to their negroes. Some of them around were
regular speculators. I knew a preacher by the name of Selvidge who
preached around Spring Place to the negroes, and his text was "Servant
obey your master."
And he would have the negroes washed and dressed then he would put
them on the block and bid them off like a group of horses or mules.
My master always said that
his negroes did not pay him anything; what he had, he had made in the Legislature.
He used to own a large plantation in Tennessee,
and he allowed the negroes to run an account there, and when they did
not or could not pay up he would let them work on Sunday at a sawmill,
paying them one
dollar a day, until they paid up their debts.
Some negroes had good masters and some had bad ones, but I think I had a good master.
Miss Carrie Henry, now Mrs. Carrie Cole, of Spring Place, was a student of Mrs. Edmondson and she was mighty good to the colored people at that time, and she is at this time, also. Sometimes I go over there and sit and talk with her and Mr. John Cole for a whole afternoon. There can't be found any better people than Mr. and Mrs. John Cole, of Spring Place, Georgia.
When I was a boy living in
the Chief Vann or Edmondson house, my work was to mind the calves, carry
water, churn and pull the fly bush, but some times I
would give them the dodge. Up in the garret in the Chief Vann house
Mr. Edmondson kept all of his sugar and it was my job to go up every morning
and bring down
enough sugar for breakfast and while I was up there, I would always
fill my pockets with sugar, and go around all day eating sugar when I got
ready. My pocket
would get so stiff sometimes it felt like it had been starched.
One day when I was a boy
one of my young masters came home and said that Breckenridge, Douglas and
Abe Lincoln were running for president, and that if
Mr. Abe Lincoln was elected that the negroes would be free. Then he
asked me if I wanted to be free and I told him "yes."
I have four boys and they are all farmers. I always tried to teach them to work and make an honest living and stay away from town as much as possible.
When I was a boy there wasn't
any railroads, telephones, electric lights or even steam saw-mills in Murray
county, but we now have electric lights and power,
telephone, telegraph wires, railroads, and automobiles to ride, air
ships and many other useful things. Spring Place was a beautiful and healthful
little town, but many
of the dwellings and business houses have been burned and several of
the wooden structures torn down; and some have decayed.
Mrs. Mary Black was born
August 3, 1825 and died June 3,1860. We having been slaves of Mrs. Black
before Mr. Edmondson purchased us, were
permitted by Mr. Edmondson to attend the funeral. That was the first
funeral I remember attending. She was buried in the Seay cemetery, which
is now known as
the Treadwell cemetery. Mrs. Black's name was Gima, but all of the
children, both black and white, called her Miss Mary, even her own children
called her Miss
Mary. There was an old colored lady on the place whom we called Mammy.
Mr. Smith Treadwell, the old man, was known by me in 1864. He was a prosperous farmer and a very good business man. When I first knew him, he lived in Terrell county. He owned a lots of property and slaves.
In 1889 Mr. Treadwell told
me that he had distilled whisky and brandy nearly all his life, but he
had never been arrested in his life. If any one wanted to buy
whiskey from him he would tell them if they wanted to buy whisky from
him they would have to carry it from his premises. I suppose that accounted
for his not being
arrested.
Mr. Treadwell was a regular
builder. He built a mill which is now known as Treadwell's mill. He built
many bridges also. It seems that he was prosperous in
everything he undertook.
I helped bury Mr. Treadwell,
but I did not help put the tomb to his grave. I was there a few days after
his tomb was put up, but I never saw any sign of the
picture, which resembles a man. Within a year I noticed the picture.
I think it resembles him very much. It seems to me that the picture becomes
plainer every day.
Several persons have asked me why that picture came on this tomb, but
I was not able to tell them. One man asked me if the picture came there
because Mr.
Treadwell was a good man, or did it come because he was a bad man.
I told him that the picture must have come because Mr. Treadwell was a
good man. I said to him I had been acquainted with Mr. Treadwell for a
long time before his death and always found him to be an honest man. He
attended to his own business and let other folks' business alone. That's
what it takes to be a good man.
Before Mr. Treadwell's death
he told me that he asked an old colored man to prepare his cane for the
syrup mill. This was immediately after the surrender at
the close of the Civil War. In those days the mill got half and the
land owner got half. The old man could not understand what he was going
to get because Mr.
Treadwell had promised him half to carry it to and from the mill. Mr.
Treadwell said he had to hire some one else to prepare his cane for the
mill.
I am always thinking of the
old Chief Vann house. I left there the latter part of 1863 and had not
been inside the house since then until about three weeks ago.
Mrs. Cox, the lady who now lives there seemed to take great pleasure
in showing me the different rooms in the house after I told her that I
lived there in my
boyhood with Mr. Edmondson. It seems that the house has been changed
a great deal since I was there. The plastered walls seem to be falling,
and when I was a boy that old house seemed like Heaven to me. It resembled
Hardwick's bank in Dalton that, it seemed too good for a fly to light upon.
In speaking of Hardwick's
bank, I must say that I was there about a year ago and saw Mr. Jim Steed
count about eight or nine thousand dollars. A few days
ago I was there and the people seemed to be coming in that bank like
bees. It kept two men and a woman busy taking in the money that the people
were bringing in.
While in the bank I was reminded of an old saying in the Bible. God
said: "The poor we would always have with us." I am poor and have been
poor all my life. I
expect to remain poor all my life.
I imagine if everybody was put on equal basis about two thirds of them would soon own everything and the other third would not have anything.
CHAPTER XI.
CHATSWORTH, GEORGIA.
IN 1894 I went through the
place which is now Chatsworth, but at that time there was no town there.
Chatsworth has six dry-goods stores, two hotels, and
four restaurants. I suppose the people there must have plenty to eat,
because of the number of restaurants and hotels. One of my greatest hopes
is that Chatsworth
will increase and be more prosperous in the future and that it will
not decrease and be unprosperous, because the merchants and all the business
men are my friends.
I have lots of friends in Dalton. Chatsworth is rapidly increasing,
but Dalton is so far gone I am afraid Chatsworth will not grow rapidly
enough to grow to be as
large as Dalton. I wish that both Chatsworth and Dalton will continue
to grow rapidly and be prosperous.
The first court was held
in the new court house on the second Monday in February, 1917. On the third
Monday in August, 1917, judgment was rendered
against Levi Branham, George Whitman and Harve Elliott for $198.50.
I had to pay $66.50 as security on a debt for Henry Beck.
Chatsworth was incorporated August 18, 1906, and became the county seat August 7, 1913. Two hundred and thirty acres, parts of lots of land Nos. 203, 230, 231, ninth district and third section, had a mayor and aldermen.
CHAPTER XII.
KU KLUX KLAN.
IN 1894 the white caps were
very severe in Murray county. The Murray county white caps threw Bill Roper
into a pit June 11, 1894. I think he remained in
the pit eight or nine days, then he was drawn out alive. He now lives
in Texas. He was accused of being a reporter, but he was not.
On June 7, 1894, Bill Roper and I went to Nix's Spring to buy some whisky. Bill Roper bought one gallon of whisky and I bought two gallons.
Three colored men were hanged
in Spring Place by the white caps. In 1874 a colored man named Carter Griffin
was hanged in Spring Place. John Ward was
hanged in 1875 for rape. In 1878 John Duncan was shot by the white
caps. The house where Duncan was killed bears the name "Duncan House."
After Duncan
was killed the Ku Klux attempted to make a raid on a colored fellow
named Walker Dwight. Dwight must have suspicioned that they were going
to make a raid on
him, so he and his wife locked the door of their house and went to
their crib. They locked the crib on the inside, and put the latch on the
outside. The Ku Klux went to Dwight's house and raided it, but they did
not find anyone there. They then went to the crib and finding the crib
locked they must have thought that there was no one in it, so they went
on without looking into the crib.
In 1891 John Bently Davis,
colored man, was shot down by the Ku Klux one night. During the night he
crawled to the house. Davis' weapons were an ax and
shotgun, the Ku Klux used pistols, and for a time they had a merry
little war. Davis cut two or three of the Ku Klux. Davis and the two Ku
Klux that were cut are
dead now. Davis went to Chattanooga after he recovered from his injuries
and went to work. While he was engaged in work he became over-heated and
death was
the result.
The lady that John Ward was
hanged about was named Mrs. Parrot. Immediately after John Ward was hanged,
John Austin and I ran a blacksmith shop. One
day when we were collecting I went to Mrs. Parrott's house to collect.
She seemed to be afraid of me and I was frightened, too. I soon left her
house without pay
for my blacksmith work. I went to another fellow's house and there
I spent the night. I never went back to Mrs. Parrot's to get my pay.
When I was quite a boy I
used to drive a gin pulled by four horses. Two boys drove one on one lever
and one on the other. The gin stood in front of the house
where Mr. Charlie King of Spring Place, now lives. The gin was run
by a horse I used to ride on the lever that pulled the gin. The ginned
cotton was allowed to fall
into a lint room. The cotton was packed with a wooden screw. It was
taken from the lint room to the press in baskets. The press was pulled
by a horse, also.
Times have changed now and have become what I call fast times. Steam and electric gins are the only kinds of gins that are to be seen these days.
When I was a boy we children
used to call cotton negro devil. We would go across the field and see if
any cotton was coming up. If we found any we would
pull it up and say "we have killed one negro devil."
In 1875 times were very rough
in this country, but I was never bothered. The Ku Klux used to come to
my house to borrow mules from me. Some people
would say that I knew who the Ku Klux were, but I did not know a one
of them after they were disguised.
The night John Ward was hanged
a crowd of white people and I were in a store. Some of them were praying
that Ward would not he hanged that night, but
while they were talking about the matter the Ku Klux came into the
store and ordered forty foot of rope with which to hang Ward. There was
only one door to the
store, but I went out by the Ku Klux. Some of the white men asked the
Ku Klux if they would allow us to get home, the Ku Klux said, "yes, every
rat to his hole." I
suppose every rat did get to his hole. I know I got to mine. The next
day a clerk at the store asked me if I hid in one of his boxes or did I
get home. I told him that I
went home. I left out behind a man named Jim Temple. I don't know whether
I made any tracks or not, but I got home.
The night before Ward was
hanged, that night he was hauling wood with two mules southeast of Spring
Place and I was hauling wood with a horse southwest
of Spring Place. I looked up and saw a crowd of men coming with guns
and I thought to myself that there must be a war in the country. They came
to me and asked
me if I had been in the southeast of Spring Place and I told them I
had not. They wanted to carry me to jail thinking that I might be the one
who raped Mrs. Parrot.
They said they would carry me and all other negroes that they found
to jail so they would be sure to get the right one. I told them "no," that
I was not going to be carried to jail alive. I told my horse to get up.
They did not bother with me any more. As it happened Mrs. Parrot described
Mr. Ward, the one who had offended her. She said she tore his shirt and
noticed that he had a scar on his breast. The white people examined Ward
and found that he had a scar. Ward owned that he was the guilty person.
I have had lots of ups and downs, but by the help of the Good Lord I have come out more than unconquered.
I was talking with a white
man about fifteen or sixteen years ago. He said that there were good negroes
and bad negroes, good white people and bad white
people. He further said that there is good land and bad land and the
land and people were made up alike. I have always tried to stay with the
good people.
Everything has changed either for good or bad, the land has changed and the people have changed.
I have been in several little towns and I find that there are colored folks in most of them but I suppose they are like Ham, they draw water and hew wood for Shem and Japeth's race. When Noah got drunk Ham laughed and God put a curse upon him and I believe it is so because the colored folks are always laughing at anything. The minister of the them. I don't know what they are doing, Gospel can't keep them straight, neither can the law keep them straight.
In 1878 I came from down the country to Spring Place. Spring Place was then a glorious little town with two bar rooms and two dry goods stores.
In 1884, fire broke out in Spring Place, burnt one store, one dwelling and the court house. All have been rebuilt since.
1906, fire destroyed the jewelry shop and a store.
1909, fire destroyed the
old Bond Johnson hotel; destroyed the entire block While the fire was raging
three prisoners were crying to be let out. Tump Brandon
was one of the prisoners. All came back but one; he kept going.
1914, the Shield's Hotel burnt.
In 1920 fire burnt Dr. Bagley's house and four people got burnt, two children and two adults, and two escaped.
The fifth fire was in 1921. Will Lonner's house was destroyed by fire.
1922, Mr. D. D. Kemp's house was destroyed by fire.
1927, fire destroyed Bishop's warehouse. Bishop had twelve bales; L. B. Brandon five bales; Ed Cox one bale; W. P. Whittle three; W. R. Ballew, one.
1929, Bishop's gin was destroyed by fire.
CHAPTER XIII.
I have seen three wars in
my life. I believe the Civil war was the most severe of all. During the
Civil war I was living at the Chief Vann house. Salt was so
scarce that my mistress had her servants dig up her smoke house and
boil the dirt down to salt. Everybody said times were hard, but they did
not seem hard to me.
I know I have been born again, regenerated and washed in the blood of the Lamb. I love everybody, both white and black.
I like the following familiar passages of Scripture:
Ecclesiastes, 1st chapter.
1. "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, King of Jerusalem.
2. "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
3. "What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
4. "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever.
5. "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
6. "The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about toward the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
7. "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
8. "All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9. "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
10. "Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
11. "There is no remembrance of old things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.
12. "I the Preacher was king over Israel and Jerusalem.
13. "And I gave my heart
to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under
heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of
man to be exercised therewith.
14. "I have all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
15. "That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
16. "I communed with mine
own heart, saying, lo, I am come to great estate and have gotten more wisdom
than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem;
yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
17. "And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
18. "For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow."
Psalm 91
1. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2. "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust.
3. "Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4. "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckle.
5. "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6. "Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at they right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
8. "Only with thine own eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9. "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10. "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11. "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12. "They shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13. "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14. "Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15. "He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
16. "With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation."
Psalm 23.
1. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3. "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake.
4. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5. "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou annointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
My love to the entire generation--both white and colored.
God has always intended to do whatever He does. We choose and can act freely and are held accountable to Him for all our actions.
Amen.
URL:
http://docsouth.unc.edu/branham/.html
Last update February 07, 2001