he rode easy in the saddle he was tall and lean and at first you d a thought nothing but a streak of mean could make a man look so down right strong but one look in his eyes and you knowed you was wrong he was a mountain of a man and i want you to know he could preach hot hell or freezin snow he carried a bible in a canvas sack and folks just called him the reverend mr black he was poor as a beggar but he rode like a king sometimes in the evening i d hear him sing i gotta walk that lonesome valley i got to walk it by myself oh nobody else can walk it for me i got to walk it by myself you got to walk that lonesome valley you got to walk it by yourself oh nobody else can walk it for you you got to walk it by yourself if ever i could have thought this man in black was soft and had any yellow up his back i gave that notion up the day a lumberjack came in and it wasn t to pray yeah he kicked open the meeting house door and he cussed everybody up and down the floor then when things got quiet in the place he walked up and cusses in the preacher s face he hit that reverend like a kick of a mule and to my way of thinkin it took a real fool to turn the other face to that lumber jack but that s what he did the reverend mr black he stood like a rock a man among men and he let that lumberjack hit him again and then with a voice as quiet as could be he cut him down like a big oak tree when he said it s been many years since we had to part and i guess i learned his ways by heart i can still hear his sermon s ring down in the valley where he used to sing i followed him yes sir and i don t regret it and i hope i will always be a credit to his memory cause i want you to understand the reverend mr black was my old man 