<TITLE>25. Par 247-260</TITLE>L-247 And I said, "That's right. If He can't save my baby, then I can't..." I stopped. I--I just didn't know what to do. And then I said this, I said, "Lord, You gave her to me and You taken her away, blessed be the Name of the Lord! If You take even me, I'll still love You."

L-248 And I put my hand over on her, I said, "Bless you, sweetheart. Daddy wanted to raise you, with all my heart I wanted to raise you, and raise you to love the Lord. But the Angels are coming for you, sweetheart. Daddy will take your little body down and lay it on the arms of Mama. I'll bury you with her. Someday Daddy will meet you, you just wait up there with Mama."

L-249   When her mother was dying, she said, last words she said, she said, "Bill, stay on the field."

L-250 I said, "I'll..." She said... I said, "If I'm on the field when He comes, I'll get the kids and meet. If I'm not, I'll be buried by you. And you go over on the righthand side of the great gate, and when you see all of them come in, stand there and start hollering, 'Bill! Bill! Bill!' just as loud as you can. I'll meet you there." I kissed her good-bye. I'm on the battlefield today. That's been nearly twenty years ago. I got my date with my wife, I'm going to meet her.

L-251   And I took the little baby, when it died, and put it on the arms of the mother, and we taken it out to the cemetery. And I stood there to hear Brother Smith, the Methodist preacher that preached the funeral, "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust." (And I thought, "Heart to heart.") There she went.

L-252 Not long after that, I took little Billy there one morning. He was just a little bitty fellow. He was...

L-253 That's the reason he sticks with me and I stick with him, I had to be both Papa and Mama (both) to him. I'd take his little bottle. We couldn't afford to have a fire at night to keep his milk warm, and I'd lay it under my back like this and keep it warm by the heat of my body.

L-254 We've stuck together like buddies, and one of these days when I go off the field I want to hand him the Word, and say, "Go on, Billy. You stay with It." Some people wonders why I got him with me all the time. I can't give him up. He's even married, but I still remember she told me, "Stay with him." And we stuck together like buddies.

L-255   I remember walking around town, the bottle under my arm, he'd get to crying. One night he was... we was walking out in the back yard where just... (When she was fixing to have him, she was smothering, and I... just a girl, you know.) And I'd walk back and forth from the old oak tree in the back of the yard. And he was crying for his Mama, and I didn't have any Mama to take him to. And I'd pack him, I'd say, "Oh, honey." I said...

L-256 He said, "Daddy, where's my mama? Did you put her into that ground?"
I said, "No, honey. She's all right, she's up in Heaven."

L-257   And he said something there, liked to kill me, one afternoon. He was crying, was along late in the evening, and I was packing him on my back like that, packing him on my shoulder and patting him like this. And he said, "Daddy, please go get Mama and bring her here."
And I said, "Honey, I can't get Mama. Jesus..."
Said, "Well, tell Jesus to send me my mama. I want her."

L-258 And I said, "Well, honey, I... me and you going to go see her sometime."
And he stopped, said, "Daddy!"
And I said, "Yes?"
Said, "I seen Mama up there on that cloud."

L-259 My, liked to killed me! I thought, "My! 'I seen Mama up there on that cloud.'" I just almost fainted. I hugged the little fellow up to my bosom like that, and just held my head down, went on in.

L-260   Days passed. I couldn't forget it. I tried to work. Couldn't go back home, it wasn't a home no more. And I wanted to stay. We didn't have nothing but just that old tore up furniture, but it was something that she and I had enjoyed together. It was home.


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