The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-12-29
Jack and his Sermon.
From the New York Observer. !

4 From the New York Observer
/ One afternoon, among the 'c,ntrab IN l.
brought into Eastport, on the Tennesset
triver, was man whom Ijuiged to b
about forty-five years old, and who, afte,
the wagons were unloaded, silenced tn,
whole batch Of black jabberers by announc.
4 ing
! DE cullered folks fand white gemmen
if daise-a-mind-to) mus member dat de glo
ry must be gibben to Gor.a-mighty; for di
'sponsible casion! Ole Jack will call YOU
'fectionate minds to de right spot whenc,
Fall de blessins flow, dis berry afternoon
jest bout sundown, for we'se moste de hap
py land Of Canaan 2
That wass notice of pr eaching, AID |
promised myself to be there, for was one
of the 'white gensmsw' who was a-mine-to.'
- sr* a
The introduction Of religious exercies wa.
by singing Some one of the crowd, witt
z slsaE sxest; voice, led of, with,
] Come thou fount OBJ e5sry bfessrn,
Tune my heart to sin dy praise
Soon the dear old familiar tune and its hal
lowed associations ftoucned the heart, and
then the words, ss edi
Teach m some meiodius sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above,
were carried bva volume of melody--on
the night air, with too much soul aud fervor
to allow thought about negro pronunca-
| tion. n
AT the close Of the hymn, Ole Jack moved
toa slight rise of the ground from which he
could be seenb by those around, and com.
menced his sermon. His text was, .whar
de chifum of Tzsul was tryin to leab de Ian
of Egyp, when de hole Ian was dark, 50
dark dat you could take hold OBJ it, and feel
um, like de black ciof on de coffin, but de
chitlum Of Lssul had light in dur dDezlen.'
The whole sermon was deliysred, not in
oratorical style of his people, bat ia geni.
al, kindly way he talked, as though 'he
opened his mouth and taught them saying. >
'In de fus place. the negroes, slaves, were
like the children ofIsrasl in Egypt under
hard taskmasters. Moses was their deliy
erer. Abraham Lincoln the deliverer of the
slaves. Naming the plaques in their or.
der, as recorded. he with much ingenuity
found a counterpart in some woe that had
fallen upon tlIis icouHtry, or that lie had
beard had afflicted the people from time to
time. And dnow,' said he, joining two of
the plaques dsre Is just upon dis berry
time, de dear dead body ob de fus born for
wusser yeti, OBJ de fader an husban, cold
and bloody in ebery house in de Ian: and
all is dark in de hole 'Nited States, so dat
nobody can see de fus sigs Of tracs in de
goods. Nobody can tell who he run
against, it Is so dark or how to git back home
again, it is dark; he can do noffin but stan
still and feel it, but de cAilguns Of Lszul Aa5
ttghtin de duel1in. Ebery culered man,
ebery slave got his eye on de light, it talks
to him, it sing to bin, il do his work for
him, it play wild the chiilen. De slave got
de light in de quarters While he look at
it, he know it neber will 60 out. No, neb
er tank de Lord and it warm him, it feed
him, it tel! him, 'Nebber m ind de dark long
night, Use gwi'ne to last till mornin.'
Another illustration was this. 'You white
gemmen don't know what is make De niger
happy tonight. We'se all on the same spot;
de same ground under de foot; de same
moon ober de head; de same ribber runnin g
by; but it am 10 more to you den any odder
rbber dat bring you, and swim the steam
boats wild de loads of more soJers and plen.
ty to eat; it am only de nice ribber, and it
'ook nice to night, if you .ink oh it; and to-
night Is muffin to you but berry nice night,
like las night, to morrow night but to me,
and desc ere cullered pe'ple it mean more
den eber you have sperience. To-day is de
fusday we draw de full long bret, an neber
tink to 10 OH round, see whose com inc I
Dis night we sing, an we pray, and we glib
glory to Gor.amity, and don't, borry de
time to do it, we does it us-selves, we don't
long to anybody, we'se for de fus time free
bat shiny riber am a line oh light in de
life Oh desc ere black pe'ple we'se coined
to shorel Morniu and night, from now, from
de bank ob dis Tennessee, is Gor- a. mity's
time! IL Is sunup to de niggeri DIS
night an unspeebG6Se, and full of joy T s.