Religion

We went to church on Sunday — I won’t say ’cause we wanted to — for the simple damn reason we had to or else face the consequences. My mother belonged to the Presbyterian Church; my father belonged to the Baptist Church. They had a very nice working arrangement, they paid to both churches. We went to the Presbyterian Church in the morning. We went to the Baptist Church in the evening.

I enjoyed the Baptist Church really more because the Baptists at that time were a great bunch of singers. Oh boy, could they sing! You could sit out in the yard and hear them in...the church there singing.

The Hubleys, [my wife] Annie’s people, they were great singers. And there was a bunch of the Martins; [and] they’d be Albert and Malcolm’s crowd. Wonderful singers. You could hear them in the evening, listen, you could hear them for miles and miles. And Annie’s old grandfather, he drove a doubleseated wagon and he’d leave the church, him and the family, and they’d sing all the way to Pinette. And boy, could he sing! Oh boy, could he sing! And the girls were all good singers. Annie’s father was a wonderful singer. It seemed to run in the family and the strange part of it, Annie can’t read a note. It’s awful funny, isn’t it? But there’s where we got a lot of our amusement.

There was no wagons in the early days. If [people] went to church it was in the cart. And walk. There was people living in this vicinity that used to walk to the McDonaldite' church in Uigg. That’s quite a hike, isn’t it?. .. That was the McDonaldites you know. They believed in the visitation of the spirit. They used to take what they call the works. My mother had a very close leaning to them when I was about 13 or 14. The old man didn’t care much for the whoop they made... .

So I was ordered to get the horse and wagon ready and take her up. I was never there [before]. [My mother] went in the church and I tied the horse up and fixed up and I went in and I sit down. This old Ewan MacDougall was preaching, and I can still hear him. Oh my gosh, wasn’t he giving them hell and damnation!

And this woman in front of me took one of these fits, and her hands went, and her hat fell off, and she swung the hand around, and she got me right across the mouth. I just reached down and grabbed the cap and I took to the door, boys, and I stayed out.

1. Donald McDonald. See Introduction. 118 BELFAST PEOPLE