IT WAS DURING THE WINTER OF THE "BIG SNOW"

    I was born December 17, 1885 in Greene County, Arkansas. The winter of  '85 was the winter of the "Big Snow" in Greene County. Pa and Ma used to say the snow got three feet deep on the level that winter. One morning while the "Big Snow" was on the ground, some one in the family knocked a cup of hot coffee over onto me while I was in Ma's arms. My older brother grabbed me and threw me headlong into the snow. Perhaps my snow bath helped to prepare for the many hard knocks that were to come my way in the years to come. 

BIRTH ON THE HILLFONTAIN COUNTY FARM

   I was born on the Hillfontain County Farm. My Pa, like a lot of people, thought  that he could get rich growing cotton on the eighty acres which he rented. The Hillfontain Farm has changed hands many times since I was a lad. I understand that William Sloan of Jonesboro, Arkansas, now owns it.

THE VALUE OF PRAYER LEARNED EARLY IN LIFE

   By the time I was seven years old, Pa was sending me on errands. One of my jobs was to take corn to the mill,  have it ground, and bring back corn meal. Pa would tie a sack of corn on a horse and set me up behind it. He would tell me to  have the miller  tie the meal on the horse like he had tied the corn. It was about four miles to the mill, and I was always afraid the horse would run away with me. One Saturday after  shelling a "turn of corn", Pa said, "Son, you are going to the mill for me."  He helped me on the horse and I started off to the mill at Walcott. There was very little cleared land on the way to Walcott from our place, and livestock roamed the woods at will. The woods were full of horses which ran loose. I called them "wild horses" and I was always afraid they would cause my horse to run away with me. On this particular Saturday afternoon, I had not gone to far when I saw a herd of horses ahead of me in the woods. I remembered Ma always said that when people got into trouble they should pray for the Lord to help

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