Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1853-06-04
Brother Sans Ascension.


In a little village in the State Hooserana, in
the year 1914, there was call sorts" of excite.
ment concerning the doctrines of the arch de-
celVcr, Miller. For months the midnight cry,
followed by the morning howl and the noonday
yell, had circulated through the village and
! surrounding counties to an extent not even
| equaled by Mr.. DIS celebrated speech. Men
disposed OF property for little or nothing. The
women were pale and ghastly from watching
and praying, or at least, those who believed in
the coming ascension looked as if they were
about half over a second attack of the ehilIs
and fever. There were, however, some "choice
| spIrts' (not choice in theirs, howeyer.) who
notwithstanding the popularity of the deluson,
would not enlist under the banner ofthe ascen.
slonlsts, and among these was wild, harum-
scarum blade, from "down east" by the name
| of Caleb Newham. Now, Caleb was as hard
| case as you would meet on fourth of july in
Texas, always alive for fun and sport, of ahy
and every description, and strong disbeleyer
in NlilIerism
The night of the third of April was the time
agreed upon out West for the grand exhibition
OF ground and lofty tum bling and about ten
O'Clock OF the night, numbers of the Milleries
assembled on the outskirts OF the town. on
little emlnence, upon which the proprietor had
allowed few trees to stand. In the crowd.
and the only representative of his race present,
was free negro, by the name of Sam, about
an ugly, black, woolly, and rough a descendant
OF Ham as ever baked his shins over kitchen
fire.
Sans head was small, body and arms yerv
long, and his legs bore remarkable resem-
oIahce to pair OF names; in fact, put Sam on
morse, his legs clasped around its neck, his
head towards the tail, and his arms clasping the
animals hams and at ten PAGES off you would
swear he was an old set of patent gearing.
The leader of the Millerites, owing to an an
cient grudge he bore him, hated Sam aHke
smoke" and had done all in his power to pre-
Vent his adnlttance among the select" but all
TO no purpose; Sam would creep in at every
meeting; tonight there he was again, dressed in
white robe of cheap cotton, secured to his
body by belt, and shouting and praying 40
loud as the best
Now, on the morning Of the third, Cabe had,
with deal OF perseverance, and more trouble,
managed to throw halfnch hemp cord over
the branch of an oak, which stretched its long
arms directly over the spot where the Mierites
would assemble; one end he had scnred TO the
body oftree, and the other to stump some dis.
tance off,
About ten o'clock, when the excitement was
getting about 'eighty pounds to the inch" Mr..
Cabe, wrapped in an old sheet, walked into tho
croud and proceeded to fasten, in as secure
manner as possible, the end of the rope to tho
back part of the belt, which confined SANS
robe and having succeeded, sloped to join some
of his companions who had the other end The
few stars in the sky threw a little light over the
scene, and in about minute or tw o, the hoarse
voice of Sam was heard exclaiming:
"Gor Almighty! Use going up just now9
Whose. OH"
And, sure enough, Sam was seen mounting
in the "etherial blue" This was however,
soon checked, when he clearrd "terra frma"
few feet.
"GIoryr' cried one.
"Hallalujah!' cried another.
Shrieks and ycls made the night hideous.--
Som e tainted; Others prayed, ard not few
ssld'
Now, whether it was owing to the liehtness
'fhis head, or the length and weight of bis
leels, Sans position was not pleasant one;
he belt to whick Cabe's cord was attached was
pound exactly around his centre of gravity, and
Sam swung like pair Of scales head upand
reels down, at the same time sweeping over
he crowd like pendulum, which motion
vas accelerated by his strenuous clapping Of
lands and vigorous kicking. At length he
became alarmed, and he wanted to come
lown!
'Lor massy," cried he, sjust take up poor
'igger to UNI bosom, or lef him down easy.
Let him down again, please um, Lor, dis poor
igger will go straight home to um bed, ugh-h.'
And Sans teeth chattered with alright, and
'e kicked again more vigorously than he did
'efore, bringing his head directly downwards,
nd his heelf upwards, when woman shrieked
"Oh! dear brother Sam, oh, take me up with
ou."
She sprang at his head as he swept by her
nd caug ght him by the wool, fetching him up
a standing"
"Gosh, sister," cried Sam, "et 60 um poor
gger's hair"
Cabe gave another pull at the rope, but the
iditional weight was too much, the belt gave
oy, and down came Sam, his he'd taking the
ader Of the saints %feeler" just between the
yes.
Gosh, is down again?' cried Sam. ~ is,
ess de Lor! But was nearly dar, seed de
,te."
The leader wiped his overhowing proboscis,
ok Sam by the nape of the neck, led him to
g edge of the crowd, and giving him kick,
id:
"Leave, you cussed baboon! You're so ugly,
tnoaod they Wouldn't let you in." s..
u"My SOP" said Mr. Spriggns to his little
n, who was devoring an egg--t was Mr..
'riggns" desire to instruct his boy-"my son,
you know that chickens came out of eggsp'
"Do they, father!" said the young hopeful;
thought that eggs came out of chickens
The elder Spriggins drew back from the
BILE sadly, and gazed on his son, then put on
5 hat and went to work.