“Preacher, the Lord is looking down here to-day and sees all this as plain as you and me. As long as He is in the sky everything will come all right on the earth.”
“How’s your pantry?” asked the Preacher.
“Don’t know. ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,’ you know. When I hear these birds in the trees an’ see this old dog waggin’ his tail at me, and smell the breath of them flowers, and it all comes over me that I’m done killin’ men, and I’m at home, with a bed to sleep on, a roof over my head, a woman to pet me and tell me I’m great and handsome, I don’t feel like I’ll ever need anything more to eat! I believe I could live a whole month here without eatin’ a bite.”
“Good. You come to the prayer meeting to-night and say a few things like that, and the folks will believe they have been eating three square meals every day.”
“I’ll be there. I ain’t asked Annie what she’s got, but I know she’s got greens and turnips, onions and col-lards, and strawberries in the garden. Irish taters’ll be big enough to eat in three weeks, and sweets comin’ right on. We’ve got a few chickens. The blackberries and plums and peaches and apples are all on the road. Ah! Preacher, it’s my soul that’s been starved away from my wife and child!”
“You don’t know how much I need help sometimes Tom. I am always giving, giving myself in sympathy and help to others, I’m famished now and then. I feel faint and worn out. You seem to fill me again with life.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that, Preacher. I get downhearted sometimes, when I recollect I’m nothin’ but a poor white man. I’ll remember your words. I’m goin’ to do my part in the church work. You know where to find me.”
“Well, that’s partly what brought me here this morning. I want you to help me look after Mrs. Gaston and her little boy. She is prostrated over the death of the Colonel and is hanging between life and death. She is in a delirious condition all the time and must be watched day and night. I want you to watch the first half of the night with Nelse, and Eve and Mary will watch the last half.”
“Of course, I’ll do anything in the world I can for my Colonel’s widder. He was the bravest man that ever led a regiment, and he was a father to us boys. I’ll be there. But I won’t set up with that nigger. He can go to bed.”
“Tom, it’s a funny thing to me that as good a Christian as you are should hate a nigger so. He’s a human being. It’s not right.”