Stafford's son, Willie, was so glad to have me as his pupil that I had
not any trouble to get my lessons ready for him. He went to school every
day and he could not get through his head how it was that I could not go
to school every day as he did. His mother told him how it was and his
eyes would fill with tears and he would ask his mother and father to let
him stay at home on Sundays to read the Bible to me while I should get
the dinner ready, and they would let him stay, for he wanted to see me
going to the House of God on Sundays as they did and was willing to have
anything to eat that I might have the opportunity of attending the
church and Sunday-school. His mother would let me go to the
Sunday-school on every Sunday, for they were good people and were of the
kind that delighted in their help and they were members of the Church of
The Messiah, and they were a very happy family. They did not think that
anything was too good for my enjoyment and that is the reason that I
stayed with them and did not go back to the lady as she wanted me to do.
I could not tell which seemed to love me most, and then her son was so
willing to teach me, as Miss Abbie Bailey had, so I made up my mind that
as I had more time there for study I would remain, and I had some of the
best days of my life when I began to learn so fast, and he would bring
me before his mother and father that they might hear me recite my
lessons and see how well I was doing under him as my teacher. They felt
the more glad to see how much he was interested in teaching me. Later on
in years I was taken sick with the smallpox and was carried away to the
hospital. He was taken sick while I was away and his mother said that he
would call for me about the last one on this earth, and she tried to
find me, but she did not know where I was for some time after his death,
and then she felt so bad to think that he was gone and did not see me,
for he always loved to be with me that he might hear me sing, as I was
always on the wings of song if I were at my work; and that is the way
that I have been all of my life.