“A man named Pennington offered me 20¢ a day for labor.  I asked if he would pay in money.

“He replied, ‘If you’re looking for money, don’t come.’

“I went home and said to my wife, ‘I am going to leave here.’

“I came to Forrest City, Arkansas January 28, 1888.  I farmed in Forrest City, making one crop, and then I entered the ministry, and then I preached at Spring Park for two years.

“Then I entered Philander Smith College where I stayed from 1891-1897.  I preached from the time I left Philander until 1913.

“Then I studied law and completed the American Correspondence course in Law when I was fifty years old.  I am still practicing.

Wife and Family

“In 1897, when I graduated from Philander, my wife and six children were sitting on the front seat.

“I have eleven sons and daughters, of whom six are living.  I had seven brothers and sisters.

“My wife and I have been married fifty-six years.  I had to steal her away from her parents, and she has never regretted coming to me nor I taking her.”

Interviewer’s Comment

“Brother Mack” as he is familiarly and affectionately known to his friends is a man keen and vigorous, mentally and physically.  He attends Sunday school, church both in the morning and evening, and all departments of the Epworth League.  He takes the Epworth Herald, the Southwestern Christian Advocate, the Literary Digest, some poultry and farm magazines, the Arkansas Gazette, and the St. Louis Democrat, and several other journals.  He is on omnivorous reader and a clear thinker.  He raises chickens and goats and plants a garden as avocations.  He has on invincible reputation for honesty as well as for thrift and thought.

Nothing is pleasanter than to view the relationship between him and his wife.  They have been married fifty-six years and seem to have achieved a perfect understanding.  She is an excellent cook and is devoted to her home.  She attends church regularly.  Seems to be four or five years younger than her husband.  Like him, however, she seems to enjoy excellent health.

Interviewer:  Mrs. Bernice Bowden
Person interviewed:  Cresa Mack
                    1417 Short Indiana St., Pine Bluff, Ark. 
Age:  85

“I can tell you something about slavery days.  I was born at South Bend, Arkansas on the old Joe Clay place.  I ’member they used to work ’em scandalous.  They used me at the house and I used to wait on old mistress’ brother.  He was a old man named Cal Fletcher.

“I ‘member when they said the Yankees was comin’ the boss man put us in wagons and runned us to Texas.  They put the women and chillun in the wagons but the men had to walk.  I know I was something over twelve years old.

“Old mistress, Miss Sarah Clay, took her chillun and went to Memphis.