welve
months. During his absence the Reverend's grandfather was in charge of
the farm.

The grandmother of Rev. Wamble was a full-blooded African negro, brought
to this country as a slave at seventeen years of age. She was a very
large and strong woman and was often hired out to do a man's work.
Slaves were forbidden to have papers in their possession and since they
were forbidden to read papers, hardly any slaves could read or write.
There never was any occasion or need to do these things. It was not
known that the Reverend's grandmother could read and write until after
the Civil War. The Reverend remembers his grandmother bringing an old
newspaper to his hide-out during the Civil War, late at night, after
the Wamble family had retired, and making a candle from fried meat
grease and a cord string, which made a very tiny light. She placed some
old blankets over the walls so that no light could be seen through the
cracks in the hut. She would then place the paper as near as possible to
the light, without burning it, and read the paper. It was never
discovered where or how she learned to read and write.

If a young, good-looking, husky negro was trustworthy, the family would
make him the driver of the family carriage. They would dress him in the
best clothes obtainable and with a silk-finished beaver skin hat. The
driver sat on a seat on the top and towards the front of the carriage.
He was compelled to stay on this seat when waiting for any of the family
that he might be driving, regardless of the weather or the length of
time that he had to wait.

The mail was carried in the same kind of vehicle with negro drivers. In
each town there was a certain rack at which this mail carriage would
stop in each village or wherever the designated stop was made. Upon
nearing the rack and coming to a stop, the driver would blow a bugle
call which could be heard for miles around, and people hearing this
bugle would come and get their mail. The Reverend remembers that several
of these drivers froze to death during the cold weather, and that in the
winter, many times the horses on the mail carriage upon coming to this
rack would stop, and the driver would be sitting frozen to death in his
seat.

Men would take him down, carefully saving the silk beaver-skin hat for
some other driver.

Since the slaves had no votes, they had no interest in politics when
they became free and knew nothing about political conditions other than
that aft