We found that for a whole week the coloured people in and around Tuskegee dropped work the day before Christmas, and that it was difficult for any one to perform any service from the time they stopped work until after the New Year.

Persons who at other times did not use strong drink thought it quite the proper thing to indulge in it rather freely during the Christmas week.

There was a widespread hilarity, and a free use of guns, pistols, and gunpowder generally.

The sacredness of the season seemed to have been almost wholly lost sight of.
During this first Christmas vacation I went some distance from the town to visit the people on one of the large plantations.

In their poverty and ignorance it was pathetic to see their attempts to get joy out of the season that in most parts of the country is so sacred and so dear to the heart.