. Highways and byways of the South. the early evening,and the following morning I was off for the NaturalBridge. The route was not unlike that I had trav-ersed up Arnolds Valley—sometimes bordered byfarm fields, but for the most part through lonelywoodland. Halfway there I overtook two bright littlecolored girls, and for a time walked along in theircompany. One of them carried a black hand-bag, andwhen we got acquainted, she confided that she wascollecting money for the church. She took out a dirtycard with figures around the edge — rows of ones,fives, and tens. Whenever a contribution was sec
. Highways and byways of the South. the early evening,and the following morning I was off for the NaturalBridge. The route was not unlike that I had trav-ersed up Arnolds Valley—sometimes bordered byfarm fields, but for the most part through lonelywoodland. Halfway there I overtook two bright littlecolored girls, and for a time walked along in theircompany. One of them carried a black hand-bag, andwhen we got acquainted, she confided that she wascollecting money for the church. She took out a dirtycard with figures around the edge — rows of ones,fives, and tens. Whenever a contribution was secured,a figure corresponding to the amount was crossed offwith a lead pencil. I noticed that the pencil had beenused most on the one-cent rows. We had not gone far when the girls pointed out anelderly negro in a field on the edge of the woods andsaid he was their grandfather. He was splitting outroofing, and I went over to see how the work wasdone. He had cut down an oak tree that he thought 22 2 Highways and Byways of the South. Splitting out Shingles from an Oak would be straight-grained, sawed it into three-footlengths, and was now riving these blocks into thinboards which he later reduced to a more even thick-ness on a rude shaving-horse. I sat down and we had A Virginia Wonder 223 a talk. He told me he had a little farm of thirty orforty acres, and I asked if he knew of other coloredpeople who owned their places. He paused in hiswork, shut one eye, and counted twenty-two persons
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