The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-10-11

it, neither heard of it; so, to my mind,
those who have our children in hand
should be, if they are not, conscious of
the great fact that they are moulding
characters, and giving directions to lives,
and that God will call them to account
hereafter for how faithfully or unfaithful-
ly they perform the responsible duties OF
that high calling.
1t was during the time l was going to
my first school that great revival meet
ing was held at Holland church, eight
miles south of Raleigh, by Rev. Daniel
Culbreth, father of Mrs. w. b. Hutchings
and Mrs. w. w. Wynne, of this city. IN
which meeting my father was converted.
Our teacher dismissed school one day,
and as a mother hen would lead her lit
tie chicks. she led all we little immortals
to the church, to see and hear; and, so we
witnessed for the first time in our lives
the exercises oil an old time Methodist re-
vival in full blast; and Rev. Daniel Cul
breth stands, in my memory, the first
minister of the gospel | ever heard. He
was an old time Methodist preacher, full
of faith and of the Holy Ghost, popular
who knew him For many years he la
bored in and around Raleigh, and among
other things he did, was the moving of
the old church, which stood where Christ
Church now stands, down Edenton street.
to where st. Pauls M. E. q. church now
stands That occurred away back in the
forties, when the colored people were
served by some of the ablest white preach
ers which the Conference could send to
them. Father Culbreth lived, when I was
a boy, very near where the freight depot
of the Southern Railway is, and it was
my good fortune to board at his house,
and be under his care when as a country
boy, l came to Raleigh to school 1 shall
ever believe that his godly influence over
me, had much to do in keeping me from
falling into the temptations of the city,
to which I, as a country boy was sub
jected. 1 shall always revere his memory.
1 spoke of going to Hollands Church,
and 1 wild go back there for a few
minutes, and speak of some of the old
time people who used to worship there
AS / ride up l see a great crowd, most of
them standing about in groups; some sit
ting on a log between two oaks; some
get nearer and 1 recognize Old Uncle
Sam Walton leaning his chin on the head
of his long staff; he is the oldest man,
and his children have married and gone,
some one or two, and he looks as if. he
will soon bid adieu to earth and go to
the land of the saints. And l see Parker
Rand, William Rand, n. G. Rand John
Walton, Samuel Whitaker, Willis Whita-
ker, Jonathan Smith, Alfred Williams,
Simeon Williams, Tom Whitaker, Viii
liam Turner, Simeon Turner, VIM. D.
Crowder, Adam Banks, j. J. l.. McCul-
lers, Samuel Utley, Allen Adams, and
others whose names l have not space to
write. all full of life and seemingly hap
ply; and all their voices sound so naturally
l cannot help feeling that our meeting is
real But, alasl all have gone beyond the
river except w. D. Crowder and S. S.
Turner, whom l saw in the flesh few
weeks ago, at a protracted meeting at
the old church. These old men-those
strong men-who in my boyhood welded
such an influence in that community, and
in the county, have all gone but two. But
their children are there, and, although in
my visit recently, while l found not the
father, / did find sons and daughters who
are nobly and successfully filling the sta
Ions their fathers once occupied, and 1
did find the old church at which 1 went
to Sunday school sixty years ago, still
offering an asylum to the sinner and
home to the child of God, Oh, these old
time memories! how they call up scenes
and faces, and make us to live over again
the happiest periods of life.
r. H. WHITAKER.