“‘My soul will mount higher in a chariot of fire,
And de wurl’ is put under my feet.’
“Dis wuz the start uv it, but dere wuz heaps more.
“It wuz an awful time ter us wen we begun ter see dat our ole pastor wuz near ter de end uv his race. We had been a-dreddin’ it by degrees and it broke on us more and more. I think de dere man tried ter git us reddy fer it. He kep sayin’ to us: ‘My chilrun, my work on de earth is dun. I doan ask death no more odds dan a horse-fly.’ But den he’d preach so powerful dat we’d hope dat he’d hol’ out a good deal longer. He said ter me one day: ‘Compartivly speakin’, my time in dis wurl’ is skin deep,’ and I look at my hand and think how thin de skin is, and I feel dat sho’ nuff he mus’ soon be goin’.
“One night at de church he turned hissef loos. He said dat as fer ’imself it mattered nuthin’. He had paid all his debts, dat he did not keer whar or when he dropped; but he wanted everybody ter know dat he wud be wid Jesus. Dat wuz one uv de things dat he luved ter say. Den he told de church dat dar wuz nuthin’ lef’ uv him,—dat he wanted ’em to git tergedder and pay off der church debt and live tergedder lik little chil’run. He wuz mity gret dat night, an’ it looked lik de powers uv de wurl’ ter kum wuz dar.
“De people went out silent lik an’ dey said dat de gud ole pastor preached his own funeral dat night. He allus thought uv hissef es de servant uv King Jesus. Dat wuz a slavery dat he liked and nevur wished to git free from it. Towards de las’ he wuz all de time sayin’: ‘I am now at de river’s brink and waitin’ fer furder orders. It’s de same ter me ter go or stay, jes’ es Gord commands.’
“Some folks said dat he wuz conceited. Dey did not know him. He wuz too full uv de fear uv Gord to think he wuz sum great body, an’ he know’d his own sins an’ troubles too well ter boast. He must hev known dat Gord made him more uv a man dan de gen’ral run. He had ter kno’ dat, ’caus’ it wuz proved ter him every day, an’ in a heap uv ways. Besides dat, he hilt hisself up high. He had good respec’ for hisself and felt dat a man lik he wuz had got ter behave hisself ’cordin’ ter wat he wuz. But dat wuz very different from bein’ one uv dese giddy little fops dat is always trancin’ aroun’ showin’ hisself off, and braggin’ ’bout everything. I often wondered how Jasper could be so umble lik, wen so many cacklin’ fools wuz bodderin’ ’im.
“Brer Jasper could git up big things wen he tried. Wen dey got in a tight place ’bout de church an’ had to have money, he got up a skurshun ter Washington. He sent out de members ter sell tickets, an’ dey sold so many dat dey had ter have two trains ter carry ’em, and jes’ think, sir, he cleared $1,500 fer his church by dat skurshun, and he got up anudder to Staunton dat wuz mos’ as good as de udder one. Ah, he wuz a leader, I tell you he wuz. We never could have had our fine church if it had not bin fer him.
“It’s mity easy fer folks ter forget things. Some folks are teerin’ ’roun’ as if the church b’longed ter ’em now, and dey are ready ter tell you dat Jasper made mistakes and all dat, but sum uv us knows well dat Jasper built dat church. You need nevur spect ter hear any more sech preachin’ in dat pulpit as dat grand ole man uv God used ter give us.