REV, AUGUSTUS SHEPARD 11 



lie along the line of missionary work. Although 

 Augustus was third in point of years, he was 

 the first to make peace with God. At the age 

 of twenty, one Sunday afternoon in the year 

 1866, in the midst of the usual family devotion, 

 Augustus proclaimed faith in God. This con- 

 version was the beginning of the first great re- 

 vival in Raleigh after the close of the Civil War. 

 The whole city of Raleigh seemed to catch on 

 fire with the Holy Spirit, and great revivals 

 were held among the whites as well as the col- 

 ored people. It did not stop in Raleigh, but re- 

 vivals spread throughout the entire State. 

 Around this same family altar, one after an- 

 other of the children in rapid succession, until 

 they all professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 Although themselves unlettered, these parents 

 of this humble home realized fully the worth of 

 the soul, and in the salvation of their house; 

 and God abundantly answered their prayers. 



In April of the same year Augustus was bap- 

 tized by Rev. William Warrick, the first col- 

 ored Baptist preacher in Raleigh. His filial 

 obedience, his fraternal disposition, made him 

 the favorite, not only of his parents, but of the 

 entire household. In the smallest detail the 



