On the occasion of these visits he conducted
services in the chapel on Sunday, and on week days visited every home
in Red Bay. Skipper Tom was class leader, and looked after the
religious welfare of the little community, presiding over his class in
the chapel, on the great majority of Sundays, when the missionary was
engaged elsewhere.
The people looked up to Skipper Tom. The folk of Red Bay, like most
people who live much in the open and close to nature, have a deep
religious reverence and a wholesome fear of God. As their class leader
Skipper Tom guided them in their worship, and they looked upon him as
an example of upright living. So it was that he had a great burden of
responsibility, with the morals of the community thrust upon him.
In one respect Skipper Tom was fortunate. He did not inherit a debt,
and all his life he had kept free from the truck system under which
his neighbors toiled hopelessly, year in and year out.
He had, in one way or another, picked up enough education to read and
write and figure. He could read and interpret his Bible and he could
calculate his accounts.
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