'Laws, you didn't think o' such a thing as my
sleepin' in dat 'ar' BED, did you? I never heerd o' such a thing in my
life.'

"Well, ye see, honey, I stayed an' lived with 'em. An' now jes' look
here: instead o' keepin' my promise an' bein' good, as I told the Lord
I would, jest as soon as everything got a'goin' easy, I FORGOT ALL ABOUT
GOD.

"Pretty well don't need no help; an' I gin up prayin.' I lived there two
or three years, an' then the slaves in New York were all set free, an'
ole massa came to our home to make a visit, an' he asked me ef I didn't
want to go back an' see the folks on the ole place. An' I told him I
did. So he said, ef I'd jes' git into the wagon with him, he'd carry me
over. Well, jest as I was goin' out to git into the wagon, I MET GOD!
an' says I, 'O God, I didn't know as you was so great!' An' I turned
right round an' come into the house, an' set down in my room; for 't was
God all around me. I could feel it burnin', burnin', burnin' all around
me, an' goin' through me; an' I saw I was so wicked, it seemed as ef it
would burn me up. An' I said, 'O somebody, somebody, stand between God
an' me! for it burns me!' Then, honey, when I said so, I felt as it
were somethin' like an amberill [umbrella] that came between me an' the
light, an' I felt it was SOMEBODY,--somebody that stood between me an'
God; an' it felt cool, like a shade; an' says I, 'Who's this that stands
between me an' God? Is it old Cato?' He was a pious old preacher; but
then I seemed to see Cato in the light, an' he was all polluted an'
vile, like me; an' I said, 'Is it old Sally?' an' then I saw her, an'
she seemed jes' so. An' then says I, 'WHO is this?' An' then, honey, for
a while it was like the sun shinin' in a pail o' water, when it moves up
an' down; for I begun to feel 't was somebody that loved me; an' I tried
to know him. An' I said, 'I know you! I know you! I know you!'--an' then
I said, 'I don't know you! I don't know you! I don't know you!' An' when
I said, 'I know you, I know you,' the light came; an' when I said, 'I
don't know you, I don't know you,' it went, jes' like the sun in a
pail o' water. An' finally somethin' spoke out in me an' said, 'THIS IS
JESUS!' An' I spoke out with all my might, an' says I, 'THIS IS JESUS!
Glory be to God!' An' then the whole world grew bright, an' the trees
they waved an' waved in glory, an' every little bit o' stone on the
ground shone like glass; an' I shouted an' said, 'Praise, p