Madison Jefferson was enslaved in Virginia as a house servant, field hand and herder says in his 1841 interview in England: How pleasing in general are the reminiscences of the days of our youth!  How wont are we who have been brought up under the kind and watchful eye of a parent, to exclaim, with reference to that sunny period, “they were the happiest hours of my existence!”  It is not so, however, with the little slave.  Madison’s earliest recollections are embittered by the harsh treatment he received from his mistress when a houseboy, in which occupation he continued from the time he was four years old until about sixteen—at first, he was employed in taking care of the young children, of the women engaged in the field, or otherwise; afterwards in cleaning shoes, knives, carrying wood, and various household duties.  His mother, from Madison’s account, appears to have been a pious woman; she attended a Baptist chapel whenever she could get permission, and taught her children to pray to Him who is a “strength to the needy in his distress.”  Several of the slaves on the estate were in the habit of attending places of worship, and were members of churches; they had a place appropriated for them behind the door, not being allowed to sit with the whites.  Both Madison’s master and his son were members of the Methodist church!  Indeed, he adds, that “all the Methodists, even the preachers, are slave-holders, and think no harm of it.”