season, in watermelon time, when Mis' Mary and my mother gave me
permission to go to a watermelon party one Sunday afternoon. Mis' Mary
did not know, however, that my sweetheart had planned to escort me. We
met around the corner of the house, and after the party he left me at
the same place. After that I saw him occasionally at barbecues and
parties. I was permitted to go with him some evenings to church, but
my mother always walked ahead or behind me and the young man.

We went together for four years. During that time, although I still
called Mis' Mary's my home, I had been out to service in one or two
families.

Finally, my mother and Mis' Mary consented to our marriage, and the
wedding day was to be in May. The winter before that May, I went to
service in the family of Dr. Drury in Eufaula. Just a week before I
left Clayton I dreamed that my sweetheart died suddenly. The night
before I was to leave, we were invited out to tea. He told me he had
bought a nice piece of poplar wood, with which to make a table for our
new home. When I told him my dream, he said, "Don't let that trouble
you, there is nothing in dreams." But one month from that day he died,
and his coffin was made from the piece of poplar wood he had bought
for the table.

After his death, I remained in Clayton for two or three weeks with my
people, and then went back to Eufaula, where I stayed two years.

My sweetheart's death made a profound impression on me, and I began to
pray as best I could. Often I remained all night on my knees.

Going on an excursion to Macon, Georgia, one time, I liked the place