For two long years they kept her captive,
And one dark night she stole away,
And many miles she put behind her
Before the dawning of the day.

Straight for home the brave woman headed
As on her trail the redskins came;
The creek down which she fled before them
To this day bears poor Jennie's name.

She reached the waters of Big Sandy
And plunged within the swollen tide.
The thriving little town of Auxier
Now stands upon the other side.

Her husband welcomed her, though bearing
A child sired by an Indian bold;
He proudly claimed the stalwart Adam,
Whose blood descendants are untold.

--Luke Burchett

MOUNTAIN PREACHER

When the Sabbath day is dawning in the mountains,
And the air is filled with bird song sweet and clear,
Once again I think of him who lives in spirit,
Though his voice has silent been for many a year.

And the music of the simple prayer he uttered
Seems to echo from the highest mountain peak,
And the people still respect the holy teaching
Of that mountain preacher, Zepheniah Meek.

I can see him there upon the wooded hillside,
While between two giant Trees of Heaven he stood,
And the blue skies formed a canopy above them,
As befitting one so humble, wise and good.

And he reads of how the Tree of Life is blooming,
From the thumbworn leaves of God's own book of love,
While the wind sweeps gently through the Trees of Heaven
And they seem to whisper softly up above.

Oh, your name still lives among Big Sandy's people,
Though your earthly form is molding 'neath the sod;
May your memory linger in their hearts forever,
While your spirit rests in peace at home with God.

--D. Preston

CHURCH IN THE MOUNTAINS

This was composed by a little girl in Rowan County, Kentucky, after she
had been to church in the mountains on Christy Creek in that county in
1939.

Have you been to church in the mountains?
'Tis a wonderful place to go,
Out beneath the sprea