?Old Regular I
as four and five sermons by preachers in the services.   No formal qualification is required of male members to preach.   Feelings is the only, requirement.   If a man feels like preaching, he may do so providing he is in good standing with the church. Even the singing is of such a nature that no schooling is needed for learning the song being sung.   Someone-no special one-reads off the words of the songs one line at a time.   Then the congregation joins in.   All of the congregation may participate in the singing.
In an Old Regular Baptist Church, it is easy to tell the members from the non-members.   There is a section called the stand where the members sit.   The stand is situated about two steps up from the floor.   The pulpit is in the center of the stand. While there is no official rule requiring so, there is a tendency for men to sit on one side of the aisle and women on the other.
Before the service began, Mr. and Mrs. Slone were mingling with the crowd that had gathered on the outside. The women embracing, the men shaking hands with one another, the moderator soon called them all to join the service. For a lot of people in the mountains, the church is not a place to go hear the word of God, but to go see and be seen.   A lot of men hang on the outside squatting on the ground smoking or spitting their tobacco juice.   They can hear the preachers preach very loudly, usually with deep emotion.
There are usually a lot of women crying, wiping tears with a handkerchief. Often too, a few women members rise to an emotional sermon telling of the beauty of Heaven, shouting "Praise the Lord, and bless his sweet name. " Mrs. Slone, however, does not shout. She adheres to the principle in the Bible regarding silence for women during church services.
It is very common for children to be running in and out of the church. The church has no nursery and those who don't have older children to keep the younger ones home, must take them along.
The service is divided into two main parts-the singing and the preaching. The The first preacher is called the opener and he may be anybody who feels like it.   He warms the other preachers there to the spirit of preaching. The last preacher is someone who has a good reputation for his preaching. He is said to have wound up the meeting.
A simple invitation is given before the closing prayer.
Then the members of the home church who have prepared dinner invite visitors to go home with them. Often there are people who live in the vicinity but go home with their neighbors for dinner.
Mr. and Mrs. Slone invited the entire congregation in an announcement from their seat.   But when they were ready to go home, they invited a preacher and his wife who had traveled from a neighboring county, and several other men and their wives.
In the meantime at the Slone's residence, Carolyn, Janice and Ruby were cooking away in their kitchen. In the living room where the aroma of cooked chicken spread evenly over the room, a stereo was playing the latest rock records.   The girls would take turns going in to dance by it. Their parents wouldn't allow dancing when they were there.   But the girls were really like girls in the cities in their likes and dislikes. They talked about school, their latest flames, and the future.   Yes, unlike their elders, the Slone girls did not have the fatalism that had kept progress from their area while the rest of the state and nation prospered. Carolyn was going to go to college. She wanted to be a physical education teacher.   She was very active. Even when she wasn't working, she liked to be doing something.   She would play basketball with her brother's friends. She talked about college all the time. Ruby was setting the table when she heard the car door slam and rushed to see if it was her parent's guests. She reached over to turn the stereo off.
Mr. and Mrs. Slone had walked to church that morning, but rode back home with the preacher and his wife. When they got home, the Slones and their guests sat on their porch to await final preparation for dinner. Mrs. Slone went in to make sure the silverware was in the correct place. According to tradition in the mountains, the men were invited first to dine. They all sat down to a very good meal.
There was chicken n'dumplings, chicken gravy, green beans (out of the freezer), corn bread and biscuits, potatoe salad, jello, two kinds of cake and apple pie.   Milk, lemonade and coffee were served to drink.
The men talked about the service, their crops, and the moon-landing. Actually the preacher was the only one that believed man had landed on the moon.   Mr. Slone said he believed
all the rain had been caused by the attempts of man to out power God.
After the men finished eating, the women, who had been out on the porch talking about their 'ritis pains, their childrens' illnesses, and the service that day, were called to eat. The men were then out on the porch and continued their talks.   As the women were eating, Carolyn and Janice were washing the dishes the men had eaten from.   Ruby was in the living room rocking the baby of one of the women while she ate.
When the women had finished, each asked if she could help wash the dishes Both Mrs. Slone and her daughters refused to let them.   But Mrs. Baker, the preacher's wife, insisted on helping anyway.
Soon the dishes were all washed and the women and men were together talking.   It was getting late in the afternoon.   The guests were getting ready to depart.   Mr. Baker and his wife thanked Mr. and Mrs. Slone for the dinner and asked them to come visit their church and have dinner with them.
After the guests had all left, Mr. Slone changed into his work clothes. Soon he would have to do the night feeding.   About three o'clock, Billy had come from a restaurant he had been to with his friend and their girl friends.   His friend came home with him.   They went into the kitchen to eat some for they had had only cokes at the restaurant.   There was plenty of food left. After they had eaten, they and the girls went out to play some basketball.   They didn't mind that the girls played with them.   They enjoyed their company.
Since school was out, Billy's friend called his mother to say he wouldn't be home that night.   After several ball games, the Slones and their friend went in the house to wash.   Then they sat down to the table of leftovers and ate heartily, laughing and enjoying themselves.
Mr. and Mrs. Slone went to the barn to feed the stock.   Billy and his friend walked up to the pasture to get the cow.   Milking and feeding done, the Slone family sat down for a peaceful evening.   The two parents went to their bedroom where they sang hymns and talked about who they saw and what they heard.
The younger set was in the living room, playing records, but it was turned down much lower than it had been before their parents had arrived from church. Sometime later, everyone was in bed resting from what had been a typical Sunday of their lives.
Levy lip
for their morale and it's important for them legally.   It's much more difficult for the Army to move against these folks if they know when they do move against them, they're going to have 1, 000 people at the gates and with mass publicity.
We had a demonstration in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and it ain't nowhere.   If it can be done there, there's no reason why it can't be done here.   You don't have to worry about the Pentagon, the Justice Department, other folks are going to take care of that. . . you have to organize
where you are.   The people in Muldraugh might
be hostile at first, but you've got to organize those people.   I don't know just how one goes about doing that, but it takes patience. It certainly doesn't do a bit of good to talk about rednecks, imbeciles, pigs--that's not the way to win people over.   Those people are not the enemy, it's the people that run the military and the people who run that little town.
Note:  per Levy's suggestion about financial support--donations can be mailed c/o FT A, Box 336 in Louisville.
blue-tail fly
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