The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-09-29
ABan and a Prayer, Meeting. III,

u prayer imeeClnS we nave, says an
exchange. A few days since, while on
q visit to the 'sWhite Sulphur Bath, "
the proprietor informed me that al
night he intended to give a ball and
supper to the employees of his estab-
lishmenf, including those who had
remained faithful to their trusts dur
ing the recent "strike," and those
who had taken the places and per-
formed the duties of the recreant
ones who had been driven away in
disgrace. After tea we strolled out
to the ball room, which we found
brilliantly lighted and filed with an
assembly of mixed colors. The
guests of the establishment were
seated around the room, interested
spectators of the amusing scene, while
on the floor the negroes and their in
vited friends were whirling away to
the inspiring strains of the music.
Cooks, chamber-maids, nurses, wash
er-women, and field hands were min
gled together, dressed in the very
best that their wardrobes could afford.
Round jackets. claw hammer and
pigeon tail coats, of various styles,
on the men, were set off by the
muslius, tarletans, calicoes, filters,
founces, furbelows. ribbons, wreaths
and waterfalls of the women. Here q
stalwart ebony-hued leader of hoe
gang, with foot like child's coffin,
balanced to saddle-complexioned
nurse, who famed snd firted with
all the airs of shoddy Saratoga
belle; while at the other end of the
set, tall and lithey ostler was cut
ting che pigeon wing, greatly to his
own satisfaction and the amusement
OF his partner and the spectators.
But the most noted figure in the
group was the "chef de cuisine"
which, vulgarly interpreted, means
''head cook" With skin as black
as night and rs slick as billiard ball,
figure that did not 5elie his calling,
and dressed in a style becoming his
figure, he looked every inch like a
black Count Fosco. Disdaining the
stately walking, which is mis-named
dancing in these latter days, he pi-
rouetted with grace and precision
which would have reflected credit
upon the ballet master of the "Blaclz
Crook"
After few cotillions had been dis
posed OF, the company were marched
to the dining room of the hotel, where
most elegant and bountiful supper
had been prepared for them. Amid
speeches, toasts and sentiments, sar-
dimes, marmalades, ices, cakes and
jellies, were disposed of, and the or
der was given, "On with the dance, "
and the ball room again re-echoed to
the sounds of music, and trembled
under the rapid steps of the dancers
just at IL o'clock, the leader of the
band tapped his violin and notified
the company that he could not vio-
late either his own convictions, or
the proprieties of life, by fourishing
his bow on the Sabbath, and silence
like q pail suddenly fell upon the
scene.
We have long beon acquainted with
the emotional character of the negro,
but we never before Witnessed so
marked an instance of his capacity to
change "From grave to gay, from
lively to severe.
After few hurried and whispered
conversations, it was, by common
consent, agreed to spend the re-
mainder of the night in devotional
exercises, and hymn was raised by
small mahogany -colored man, in a
long waistcoat and pumps, who had
previously shown himself an adept in
the saltatory art, and who now de-
veloped a voice of great power and
sweetness. A gray-headed veteran of
the cotton patch soon put in q crash
ing bass, and the other men and
women swelled the volume of song
with voices ranging from true and
smooth tenor to the sharp and fut-
tering notes of the loftiest treble or
alto. AT this point we withdrew and
sought our couch, hut late in the
night we were awakened to hear the
stentorian voice of the colored gen
tlen IN so expert at the double shuttle
and cross hop early in the evening,
pleading with fervor and JUNCTION for
the Divine blessing upon wicked and
wandering souls, the screams and
shouts of dusky belle under convic-
ton, and the splendid chorus of more
than fifty voices, led by the Count,
as they sent down the valley by the
springs, and over the hills in the soft
moonlight, the echoes of
..Jerusalem, my happy homo.
When shall rest in thee 2"