we did have on that farm at our prayer--meetings and social gatherings.
All of us would meet at some convenient place on the farm, every
Sabbath-day, and would spend the time profitably, in exhortation and
prayer. The master and mistress were always there, and worked with a
will in the cause of Christ, and I would exhort and preach to the best
of my ability. Sometimes Mr. Dansley would read a chapter from the Bible
and comment thereon, and sometimes his wife would read and comment. All
of us prayed, and some of the white hands became, in a short time,
earnest public prayers. They had found the fount of true happiness, and
would drink largely therefrom on all occasions.

Our regular Sunday meetings soon became known in the neighborhood, and
the neighbors and their slaves would come and worship with us, until our
congregations became so large that Mr. Dansley allowed me to take the
hands and clear away a nice place in the woods, and make seats and a
stand, where we held our meetings regularly thereafter every Sunday, in
the forenoon, afternoon, and at night; besides, we held a social
prayer-meeting every Wednesday evening. These meetings were productive
of great good to the community and to individuals. In this way I
brought men and women to God even while in a condition of slavery, and
required to labor six days in the week in the grain and cotton fields.
If I, a slave, could accomplish this much, how much should the favored
preachers of the country accomplish? This is a hard question to answer,
however, and I shall not insist on its consideration, as every preacher
can not be a Lorenzo Dow, a John Smith, or a James Findley.

Among the field-hands under me were two brothers, white men, who, when I
first took charge of the farm were maliciously wicked toward each other,
and were almost constantly quarreling just like brothers(!). Before
three months had elapsed, under my kind of treatment, they were praying,