“Sometimes when you is in a strange place it’s mighty handy to find somebody you have knowed a long time ago.  I ’member one time when I was visitin’ in Washin’ton and wanted to git a glimpse of de President.  I didn’t say nothin’ to nobody ’bout what was on my mind, but atter my son went to his wuk in de mornin’ I slipped off to de capitol widout tellin’ nobody whar I was gwine.  I found a waitin’ room outside de President’s office and I made up my mind I would set dar ’til de President had to go out for dinner or to go home for supper.  I never thought about he might have a side door he could come and go from widout usin’ de door to de waitin’ room.  Atter I had set dar in dat waitin’ room de best part of two days watchin’ for de President, somebody said:  ’Howdy, Uncle Ike!  What is you doin’ here in de President’s waitin’ room?’ I looked up and dar stood Albon Holsey.  He had growed up in Athens.  He was de boy dey ’signed to wait on President Taft when he was at Miss Maggie Welch’s home for a day and night in January ’fore he was inaugurated.  I bet Albon is still got dat $5.00 Mr. Taft give him de mornin’ he left Athens, but he don’t need to spend it now ’cause folks say he got rich off of his chain of stores for colored folks, and anyhow he’s got a fine job dese days.  Well, I s’plained to Albon dat I was jus’ waitin’ to git a peep at de President whenever he happened to pass through dat room.  Albon he smiled sort of wise-like.  He tuk out one of his cyards and writ sompin on it, and axed a lady to take it right in to de President.  She warn’t gone 2 minutes ’fore she come back and said:  ’De President will see Mr. Holsey and his friend now.’  I was wuss skeered dan I has ever been at any other time in my life.  Us walked in and I was ’fraid de President could hear my knees knockin’ together, and my heart was beatin’ so fast and loud it seemed to me lak it was ’bout to bust.  De President spoke to us and when he found out dat I was from Athens, he axed me lots of questions.  He said dat he was interested in Athens.  Soon Albon said us must be goin’ and when us got out of dar I was right weak, but I was might proud and happy to think de President had tuk time to talk pleasant lak wid a pore old Negro shoemaker.

“Another time in Washin’ton a friend of my son’s tuk me to a club one night whar some of de richest of our race is members.  Dat night I met a man who had went to school wid de Mr. Teddy Roosevelt dat was President atter Mr. McKinley; den I met another Negro dat had been a classmate of President Hoover and one dat went to school wid President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  It’s right strange how dey all heads for Washin’ton, D.C. to stay.

“Athens has allus been a real quiet town, and dere never was no real serious trouble here ’tween de races, not even when Matt Davis and Pink Morton was Postmasters here.  People was allus predictin’ trouble ’bout dat, but de folks here was too level-headed for dat.  Dey knowed dey could straighten out deir own troubles widout havin’ to fly off de handle in a race riot, and so dey ‘tended to deir own business’ and de races got along all right through it all.