The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1862-11-27
Music of The Port ROYAL Negroes.

The editor of DWighfs Journal of
Music publishes letter from Miss Lucy
McKim, of Philadelphia, accompanying
specimen Of the songs in vogue among
the negroes of Port Royal Miss McKim
accompanied her father thither on re-
cent visit, and writes as follows.
at is difficult to express the entire
character of these negro ballads by mere
musical notes and signs. The odd turns
made in the throat, and the curious ryth-
mic effect produced by single voices
Ginning in at different irregular intervals.
almost as impossible to place on score as
the singing of birds or the tones of an
Eolian harp. The airs, however, can be
reached. They are to decided not to be
easily understood, and their striking orig
inality would catch the ssear of any mu-
stefan. Besides this, they are valuable
as an expression of the character and
life of the race which is playing such
conspicuous part in our history. The
wild, sad strains tell, as the sufferers
themselves never could, of crushed hopes,
keen sorrows, and dull daily misery
which covered them as hopelessly as the
fog from the rice swamps. On the other
hand, the words breathe trusting faith
in the rest for the future-in "Canaan's
fair and happy land" to which their eyes
seemed constantly turned.
"A complaint might be made against
these songs on the score of monotony.
1t is true there is great deal of repeti-
ton of the music, but that is to accom-
modate the leader, who, if he be a good
one, is always an improvisation For in
stance, on one occasion the name of each
OF our party who was present was dex-
terously introduced"
"As the same song is sung at all sorts
of work, Of course the tempo is not al
ways alike. On the water the oars din
Poor Rosy to an even andante; a stout
boy and girl at the hominy mill will
make the same Poor Rosy fly, to keep
up with the whirling stone in the even
ing, after the days work is done
'Heabn shall be my home peals W
slowly and mournfully from the distant
quarters. One woman-a respectable
house servant, who had lost all but onc
of her twenty-five children-said to me:
"Pshaw don't har to desc yer chill en-,
MISE. Dey just rattles it off-dey don
L
sy' better dan all de songs, but it can
be sung widOut full heart and trou
bled sperritI'
''All the songs made good barcaroles
Whittier succeeded better than he knew
when he wrote his song of the Negr,
BOatman. 1t seemed wonderfully ap
plicable as We were being rowed acros
Hilton Head Harbor among Unite,
States gunboats-the Wabash and tn
Vermont towering n either side,
thought the crew must strike up
"And massa tink it day OBJ doom,
And we ob Jubilee
Perhaps the grandest singing W
heard was at the Baptist Church on S
Helena Island, when a congregation {
three hundred men and women Joined
a hymn
'.Roll, Jordon, roll, Jordonl
Roll, JordOn, roll -
at swelled forth like a triumphal al
them. That same hymn was sung |
thousands OF negroes on the Fourth
July last, when they marched in proce
sion under the Stars and Stripes, chez
ing them for the first time as the flag
our country A friend writing fro
there says the chorus was indescribsb
grand-'that the whole woods and wor
seemed joining in that rolling sound
There is much more in this new al
curious music, of which it is tempt
ton to write, but | must remember tn
it can speak for itself better than al
one for it
Very respectfully,
"LUcY MCKIM"