the outside — an’ thar I must o’ drapped off to sleep that-a-way, fer I didn’t hear nothin’, no more until I woke up with a soft murmurin’ sound in my ears, an’ thar I seed maw. The rain had stopped an’ hit war mos’ day, I reckon, with a mornin’ moon shinin’ in an’ fallin’ on her whar she knelt by the bed, clost nigh to me. I can see hit now, that long line o’ white light streamin’ acrost the floor an’ fallin’ on her, makin’ her look like a white ghost spirit, an’ her two hands held up with that thar book ‘twixt ‘em.

“I knew hit war maw, fer I’d seed her pray before, but I war skeered fer all that. I lay right still an’ held my breath, an’ heered her thank the Lord fer