“We shall miss her at the church she loved so well, but she has left her light on its altars, and if we would see her again, let us find her footprints, and follow them. They have not been blotted out. We will find them leading from her doorway to those of affliction, to the church door, or wherever her gentle spirit was needed.
“This quiet Summer’s evening we will lay her tired body to rest on the hillside overlooking Red River; time for her is no more, but a home not made with hands, is hers to enjoy, though an endless Eternity.”
The service was concluded with a song and prayer, after which the orderly funeral procession passed up the lane, and on down to the colored graveyard, where so many of the Fort colored people have been laid to rest.
There was a certain dignity and refinement about Rev. Altheus Carr that was noticeable, and which he manifested on occasions when white people attended his services.
As for instance, at the large baptizings which followed his successful revivals, when the good singing was especially inspiring, several emotional members of his church were in the habit of shouting, and at times, they were noisy in their demonstrations. When he realized that they had reached a limit, he usually in an undertone, spoke some kind word of admonition.
Often they understood a gesture from him, and all would be quiet. He wielded a subtle influence over his people that was remarkable.
It is a fact worthy of mention, that only one member was publicly known to rebel at the new rules set up in Mount Zion church after he became its pastor.
His father, during his nine years charge of the church, had accepted for his services only what the members saw fit to pay him. His idea being that God did not intend for a price to be set on the preaching of the Gospel.
Neither did he advocate, or allow, church suppers as a means of raising funds for religious purposes.
But the world moves, and church conditions forced his successors to adopt new methods.