r, and most of
these for a period not longer than six weeks. He also said that the
people were very indifferent as to the necessity of schoolhouses and
churches. Quite a few who cleared a little money the previous year had
spent it all in buying whiskey, in gambling, in buying cheap jewelry,
and for other useless articles. After spending two hours in such talk, I
retired for the evening. Thus ended the first day of my search for
first-hand information.

Instead of going farther northward, we turned our course westward for
the town of Tilden, which is only eight miles west of Snow Hill. The
road from Carlowville to Tilden is somewhat hilly, but a very pleasant
one, and for miles the large oak trees formed an almost perfect arch.

On reaching Tilden we learned that there would be a union meeting of two
churches that night. I decided that this would give me an opportunity to
study the religious life of these people for myself. The members of
churches number one and number two assembled at their respective places
at eight o'clock. The members of church number two had a short praise
service and formed a line of procession to march to church number one.
All the women of the congregation had their heads bound in pieces of
white cloth, and they sang peculiar songs as they marched. When the
members of church number two were within a few hundred yards of the
church number one, the singing then alternated, and finally, when the
members of church number two came to church number one, they marched
around this church three times before entering it.

After entering the church, six sermons were preached to the two
congregations by six different ministers, and at least three of these
could not read a word in the Bible. Each minister occupied at least one
hour. Their texts were as often taken from Webster's blue-back speller
as from the Bible, and sometimes this would be held upside down. It was
about two o'clock in the morning when the services were concluded. Here,
again, we found no school-houses, and the three months' school had been
taught in one of the little churches.

The next day we started for Camden, a distance of sixteen miles. This
section between Tilden and Camden is perhaps the most fertile section of
land in the State of Alabama. Taking a southwest course from Tilden, I
crossed into Wilcox County again, where I saw acres of corn and miles of
cotton, all being cultivated by Negroes.

The evening was far advanced when