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Alabama 4

cheek like Jesus?"

"No, sir:" His face broke into a smile; "no sir, I wouldn't. Nobody
but Jesus could've done hit. I ain't very religious. I mean I don't do nothin'
like prayin' and shoutin'. It ain't in me, I guess. I joined the church: the
Missionary Baptist--in Pleasant Site. I goes to church every Sunday. My religion,"
he said, "can be b'iled down: it's just faith and a-trustin'. You don't know
nothin', and you just hope and trust you air right. Now, that's th' way I sees
hit."

The train from Birmingham, heading for Chicago came to a stop at the depot
as we watched the mail being piled in and the mail being piled out.

"I never have been to Birmingham, but I went up to Memphis and stayed there
fer a while once. No, I couldn't carry a bale on my shoulders." Luke is not a
big man; he is squat, long-armed. "Some of 'em could. I seed a feller once
that could jump three feet with a bale of cotton. He did hit thisuhway:"
Luke crouched with arms extened before him. "He'd grab hit with cotton hooks
in front of him, and he'd jump hit ahead of him.

"When I was in Memphis I rode a steamboat. The cheapest ridin' I ever done,
hit was. I was on the boat to go across, give 'em a dime,and they started goin'
up the river, and I jus' stayed all th' day. Hit was fun, but I ain't seen no boat
like that since."

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