ChurchonSunday

DIZNEY'S LOCUST GROVE BAPTIST CHURCH.

The picture to the above left is the circa 1924 congregation of our church (above right)

In order to tell you about our Sundays, I have to start on Saturday . Mom and Roger would bring in enough water to fill up the washtub that was for our weekly bath. A fire had to be built in the kitchen stove to warm up the water so wood and coal had to be carried into the house also. Considering all the hard work mom had to go to for us to have our bath, I understand why it was only a weekly thing. During the week, if there was school she would make sure the parts that showed were washed before we left the house. The first person in got a clean hot bath, by the last one the water was not so hot or clean. In the summer mom would open the door from the kitchen to the room that was never finished. She would put the washtub just beyond the door opening.
     Sunday morning after breakfast, mom would have us all dressed and lined up for our hair to be combed. The boys had to deal with a wet comb and some kind of gell to keep their hair in place (I think.) My brothers will have a fit if I am wrong about that. I had the worst ordeal though. On Saturday night while my hair was still wet, Mom would take what seemed like forever to get my curlie head looking just right.
     So out of the holler we would go, without daddy because he never went to church. Just below our house was a small cliff and an area where cars could turn around. Next we would would pass Uncle Elmer Presley's house, Mamow Cloud's brother. Uncle Elmer went to church occasionally, but not Aunt Maudie. Maxine, Alene and Larry went to church every Sunday. Their older brother and sisters had moved away. We passed several more houses where Cloud relatives lived. The last house was where Pauline Grubbs, my dad's sister, and her family lived. Sometimes if we were early we would wait there until everyone was ready to go. It was a good half mile from the top of the holler to the bottom where the paved road was. Past Pauline's house the valley opened up running the opposite direction left to right. There were houses to the left and right of the creek before you crossed the "big bridge" to the highway that ran on the other side of the creek. Then we walked to the left down the road a little piece where the church stood to the right of the road up against the mountain side.
    The church had two levels. The first level was for the sunday school classrooms. The outside steps were pretty steep and went up to the second floor. There were double doors at the entrance. Going through the doors, there was a row of pews one row on each side of the space leading directly to the alter. To the left of the door was a stairway that led down to the first floor classrooms. At the end of the pews was a raised stage with a tall wooden stand from which the preacher would lay his bible. Depending on the preacher and whether he was filled with the holy spirit, he would walk back and forth across the stage and preach.
     Behind the stage were two small rooms, one on each end of the stage and in the middle was a quior with about eight rows of penches. Each row was higher than the one in front of it, until it reached almost to the roof of the church. That was a grand site. The part of the congregation that wanted to sing marched up the to the room on the left, entered and used the steps in this room that led into the choir. My mom and I always sang in the choir. We had a piano and Mrs. Pace would play the piano for us. After the singing there would be business announcements from the secretary as to the amount given earlier and the total of the money in the church's account. Any other announcements of importance would be announced, such as upcoming revivals, who was sick and needed praying for, prayer requests taken from the congregation and prayer requests for those not saved and in need of accepting Jesus as their savior. My dad had a lot of prayers said for him..
     Then everyone would get up and go to their respective classrooms. Bible study was for everyone, adult or child. My favorite sunday school teacher was daddy's mother (Leona Cloud). My cousins Sheila and Alene were in my sunday school class. The other girls were Wanda, Cleta May, Christine, Fay and probably other girls I cannot think of at this time.
     After sunday school was over some of the people would leave and others would stay for the sermon which would be another hour. The people who left after sunday school came back at 7:00 that night for the second sermon. Sometimes mom would stay for the early sermon and bring us back again for the evening sermon. On Wednesday there would be an evening sermon. All the churches had the same schedule for their sermons.
     On Easter we usually went to mom's (Irene Hale Cloud) parents house. Papow Hale would gather up all the kids and lead them over the railroad tracks to his Brittans Creek Baptist Church. After Sunday school and church everyone would run down the railroad tracks to the playground and look for the eggs that were hidden while we were at church.
      After the Easter Egg hunt we all would go back to Mamow & Papow's house for a big dinner. The children would play outside while the adults ate. The the children were called in to eat. After dinner the children would go out to play again and the adults would head for the front porch or one of the beds to take a nap.
      On regular Sundays we would go back up Stretchneck Holler. Mom would kill a chicken and fry it for dinner along with cornbread, green beans, mashed potatoes, fried okra or green tomatoes. The best Sunday meals would be in the summer when we had fresh produce. We had a cow so we always had fresh milk and butter.
      Me and my brothers would amuse ourselves the rest of the day until it was time to go back to even services.   Sometimes mom would let the boys stay home with daddy, depending on what kind of mood he was in, but she always took me everywhere she went.