at other Peter could have seen him."[379]

One of the dominant features of such a type of religion among the
Negroes was the resulting prevalence of superstition. It almost seems
that in their ignorance they adopted every form of supernatural fear
that was ever known among our ancestors. But if it had ended there the
matter would not have been so important socially. In their constant
association with white children they brought their fears of
"ghost-hauntings" and other fantastic ideas into the minds of the very
young. The peculiarity of the Negro slave as compared with the other
superstitious races was his own sinister imaginative productions. They
related none of the valuable tales of ancient mythology, but rather
did they fill the earth with goblins, witches and ghosts--the result
of their own dreams and fancies.[380]

The many stories of this sort which a "mammy" related to a child a
half century ago can be reproduced by the old man of the twentieth
century and the effect of the old ideas of magic is still with him.
The prevalence of superstitious ideas in Kentucky today might easily
be traced back to the associations of slavery times. But such a
weakness may not always have done harm; not every child was so
influenced. The natural play of the Negro instinct was worth much to
his peace and contentment. Here again Shaler has given us a rather
unique observation from his own experience:

"The only movements of the spirit in the religious field that I
can remember came from two sources: my mother's singing.... The
other spiritual influence came from the negroes. A number of them
used to meet at night to talk religion beneath a shed which lay
open to the northern sky. One of them, well named "Old Daniel,"
had a fervid imagination and excellent descriptive powers. He
would picture the coming of the great angel as if it were before
his eyes; the path of light shooting down from about the North
star,--the majesty of his train. Then the rolling of the heavens
"like a scroll"--I did not know what this process was like, but
it seemed vaguely fine--and then the burning up of the world. I
was always greatly moved when hearing these exhortations which
must indeed have been rather wonderful things, but they made no
permanent impression upon me. In fact I regarded them as 'nigger
talk.'"[381]

The patriarchal character of slavery as it existed in Kentuc