Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-05-14
Mistellaneous.
sHAHMAH IN PURSUIT OF FREEDOM

an 'aigerino in search Of Freedom. On his vow,
'hgefo was struck with a popularity on shipboord
wnlch he thus describes.
DEVOTIONAL FEELINGS OF AMERICANS,
A fresh gale from the North has sprung up, and
carried ne off the coast of St. Mary's, where we
are to land, and take in water so | shall have
time to speak of one popularity of this people,
which has been my study, more or less, ever since
Il came on board. l find, on acquaintance, one
Tedefming trait, which would 60 far to atone for
many shortcomings, because it may finally pre-.
pare the way to arres. and amend them. They
are more devout in their common life than any
people l have ever known. Do not infer from
this, o Hadgi Hassan, that they waste their time,
or spend their money, in pilgrimages to kiss the
holy stone Of the Kaaba, or perform its sacred
walk And as to the nine additions, appearances
do not indicate any very strict observances Of this
sort. But they have certain forms of worship,
which they use on almost all occasions. In their
work and in their rest, and even in their story.
telling, they often call on God in the most earnest
and vehement manner, and also sometimes or their
prophet. They frequently invoke curses on their
eees,ies and this | can understand perfectly, for
IT'S in strict accordance with the Word Of the
great Prophet, as written in the Holy Book. But
when l hear them pray God to curse themselves,
and especially their own eyes, | am perplexed. 1t
may, however, be merely a form of penance or Of
self'sacrifce, which is in use amongst them.
There is something in these CALCULATIONS thai,
affects me Strangely could almost say unplea..
antly; yet | have the strongest conviction of their
sincerity. They have no particular form for these
pra vpra naitbar 10 THAR rrorsb;o oo,e,oJ - stoto3
times. They do not welcome tho rising, nor dis
miss the setting sun with prayer and praise but
every man is permitted to adopt his own forms
and times for these exercises. / observe that their
CALCULATIONS become more ardent when there is a
great pressure of workout most especially when
the work goes wrong. All this is certainly very
natural for at such times we feel more need to
call on Allah for his help and guidance, l have
also observed that the men move with much great.
err celebrity while under their influence. Does not
this show their sincerity?
said that these people have no regular limo for
prayer but there may be a slight mistake in
this. A person called a Chaplain-wbich is, l
suppose, a kind of Marabout*-calls all the men
together once q week, on the Sabbath of their
Prophet; and talks to them awhile. l believe they
S~N ANSS ~ u tuCJ bdNC
none Of the zeal and heartiness oil the spontaneous
exercises and their gravity might very easily be
taken for dulnesS, as both speaker and hearers
seem to feel. There is q sensible relief at the
close, when l observe they all get a good, long in.
SEPARATION, and stretch themselves as If they had
felt contracted, or had not breathed freely under
the imposed restraint.
L observe that the Chaplain never makes use Of
any Of these forms of social prayer, which are in
common use by every other man on board, from
the Commodore down to the Cabin'boy. He must
either be less devout by nature than they or else
he is jealous of a wide diffusion OF the religious
principle, lest the foundations of his place should
be undermined, land his profession itself destroyed.
Their worship, being spontaneous, is more hearty
and sincere and when they can speak so well for
themselves, he may reasonably fear that they will
hardly employ another to pray for them. l have
observed, too. that these CALCULATIONS are seldom
uttered, unless. as it were, from habit, or by
chance. in the presence of the Spiritual Teacher.
Are they conscious of trespassing on his rights, or
afraid that he will vindicate his prerogative?
Tile also gives his impressions as to the charac-
ter of Sabbath observances,
w III ~ nAhDS ~
This is the Sabbath of the Prophet Jesus, and
with some of these people it is considered very
holy. My hest is one OF those who so regards it.
lie is very Jealous, as it seems, in all the obsery'
ances and forms Of his order. He paid me an
early visit this morning. as l hoped to explain
what had been left quite in the dark, in regard to
the affair at table, of which | have already spoken
to you; but l was disappointed. Between our
selves, I do not believe he wishes to speak of it;
for he has had several opportunities, but shows no
disposition to improve them. lie directly, how
ever, informed me of the purpose of his visit. 1t
was to instruct me concerning the obligations
which l, his guest, might consider myself as owing
to the day.
He said there was a great deal of looseness and
license in regard to the Sabbath, not only in New
Orleans, but even at the North. There was n
band of Reformors, so called-of Fanatics and
MISUNDERSTANDING were disposed to set all its
claims aside. But he, for one, thought that they
would Re forever binding. lie looked at the mat
ter economically. lie looked at everything in that
light. In fact, be considered it as much a mans
interest to serve God on the Sabbath as it was to
serve himself the remaining six days of the week.
Some people, indeed, thought that one day was too
little 20 devote to religious purposes; but if God
hadn't thought different, be wouldn't have fixed
it SO. And to return to the point he started from,
if a man could make his calling and election sure,
and take a good clear title out to 60 to Heaven at
the last. by attending to religion one day in the
week, it would pay reH. Some people pretend
to say that these services are very pleasant he, for
one, made no such false pretcnsion- 1t is pleasant
for a man that's accustomed to business and knows
it will do him good, to have things all done up, fair
and square-everything in is right time-every'
thing ia its proper place. He might be strict in
his notions. lie presumed he was but no al
lowed nothing to desain him from church on Sun.
day, that could by any way be got over. lie never
allowed any work on that day about his premises,
but works of abolute necessity, such as ~hogging,
aud hunting f~ugitives, and things that couldn't be
--a or - -. |