d. Mas'
Madison Mixon, hisse'f, was a mighty 'dulgent so't o' man, an' he liked
a laugh bettah dan anyone in de worl'. Well, my man could mek him laugh,
an' dat was enough fu' him. I used to lectuah dat man much 'bout his
onshifless ways, but he des went erlong, twell bimeby hyeah come de wah
an' evahthing was broke up. Den w'en hit come time dat Madison had to
scramble fu' hisself, dey wa'nt no scramble in him. He des' wouldn't
wo'k an' I had to do evahthing. He allus had what he called some gret
scheme, but deh nevah seemed to come to nuffin, an' once when he got de
folks to put some money in somep'n' dat broke up, dey come put' nigh
tahin' an' featherin' him. Finally, I des got morchully tiahed o' dat
man's ca'in' on, an' I say to him one day, 'Madison,' I say, 'I'm tiahed
of all dis foo'ishness, an' I'm gwine up Norf whaih I kin live an' be
somebody. Ef evah you mek a man out o' yo'se'f, an' want me, de Bible
say 'Seek an' you shell receive.' Cause even den I was a mighty han' to
c'ote de Scripters. Well, I lef' him, an' Norf I come, 'dough it jes'
nigh broke my hea't, fu' I sho did love dat black man. De las' thing I
hyeahed o' him, he had des learned to read an' write an' wah runnin' fu'
de Legislater 'twell de Klu Klux got aftah him; den I think he 'signed
de nomernation."

This was Martha's story, and the reason that there was no Mr. Mixon with
her when she came North, drifted from place to place and finally became
one of New York's large black contingent from the South. To her the
lessons of slavery had not been idle ones. Industrious, careful, and
hard-working, she soon became prosperous, and when, hunting a spiritual
home she settled upon Shiloh Chapel, she was welcomed there as a
distinct addition to the large and active membership.

Shiloh was not one of the fashionable churches of the city, but it was
primarily a church home for any Southern negro, for in it were
representatives of every one of the old slaveholding States. Its pastor
was one of those who had not yet got beyond the belief that any temporal
preparation for the preaching of the Gospel was unnecessary. It was
still his firm trust, and often his boast, that if one opened his mouth
the Lord would fill it, and it grew to be a settled idea that the Lord
filled his acceptably, for his converts were many and his congregation
increased.

The Rev. Silas Todbury's education may have been deficient in other
matters, but one thing he knew, and knew th