Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-08-25
ONION AND AMERICAN.
SUMMERING.
The Resorts of Religion and
Fashion.

TIE ssTeuuPE9eeaEzsS at Sea CltM-Ile
Charms OF Negro MfnstreIsy for the
PIOus.
sea CIif Correspondence New York Herald.
There is a wonderful amount of at
traction even for Christian camp fol-
lowers IN the clog dance and the negro
minstrelsy. PIous souls Ike amuse-
ment about as well as the ungodly, and
a good plantation melody win take
about as well with one class as the
other. But when such melodies are
rendered by erstwhile slaves, who have
learned the crude rhymes which they
sing on the plantations where they
were born and served, and when they
are rendered by trained singers grown
up IN the freedmen's schools IN the
South, there is, of course, a double at
traction IN the entertainment. We
had such a concert II the Tabernacle
at Sea Cliff on Thursday evening. The
now famous Tennesseean troupe of
singers, from the Methodist College,
at Nashville, having spent a couple of
weeks at Chautauqua Lake Sunday
school assembly singing and entertain
ing the congregations gathered there,
paid a flying visit to Sea Cliff on
Thu rsday evening, and give US q chance
TO test their powers Of song once more.
They had travelled a day and a night,
and were not in as favorable condition
as they might have been. And yet,
what all the camp-meeting, holiness
conventions and temperance gath
erings could not do, these dusky
songsters did easily. They emptied
cottages, tents, boarding houses, hotels
Of their occupants, and for half an
hour a steady stream Of humanity
flowed into the great tabernacle. The
neighboring farms also gave their
quota to swell the aggregate, which
numbered between g, 600 and 1000 peo-
pie. Instead of an admission fee a
collection was taken up for the singers
toward the close, and the result was
more satisfactory than an admission
fee with a small audience would be.
This affair was probably the nearest ap-
prOach to a musical Jubilee, as original
~ intended by the Sea Cliff people,
that we shall have here this year. And
IN every sense this entertainment was
success, and the only successful affair
that has come off here during the
season. The Tennesseeans left this
place yesterday morning to fulfil
brief engagement at camp-meetings
North and East, and next week they
are expected here again. The audience
here on Thursday evening unanimously
invited them to come again.
With two or three exceptions the
songs the troupe sang were the original
plantation melodies sung by the Old
Folks at Home. The music and the
words might have been composed by
old Jubal and his brother for any
literary or artistic merit that either
possessed. There was a crude It ligious
spirit running through them al, how
ever, which was brought out by the
singers as only those to the manner
born could do it. As a specimen there
was one which told US
There's heavenly land up Wonder,
Oh, when shall get there? jRepeated)
The Roman soldiers cruel hand,
They crucifed the Son of Man,
Oh. when shall l get there2 etc.
The very night he was betrayed,
Oh, when shall I get there? etc.
He went a little way, and prayed
Oh, when shall get there, etc.
There's heavenly land up yOnder, etc.
And this kind of rhyme could be
spread out indefinitely by telling how
PLATE washed his hands and said he
found no fault IN that Just man, etc.
Another Of these quaint productions
told of the souls longing to be rocked
IN Abraham's bosom; another antiCl-
pated a mighty shout on the day of
Judgment, and another told of Jacob
wrestling with the angel until the break
Of day; others Of the hard trials and
tribUlations Of the old slaves, and of
their hopes and longings of a better
time; while others told the world that
they were Methodists, Baptists or
PresbyterIans, as the case might be.
But all the singing was not Of this
character. A few songs, with which
we are more or less familiar, from other
artists were rendered by the Tennessee
ans-such, for instance, as Moonlight
on the Lake" Rocked in the Cradle
of the Deep" and others.
ImPrOmPtU Artists.
CatskH Correspondence.
One Of the parlors of the hotel
where l am stopping was the scene
last night of much juvenile pleasure,
intermixed with q very charitable act.
An aged respectable widow lady resid-
ing in the village recently met with a
series of misfoTtUDes that rendered her
penniless, and the circumstance COM
ING TO the ears of the juvenile inmates
of the hotel, they determined upon
giving her pecuniary assistance. After
much elaboration 1t was decided to
raise the necessary funds by practicing
a Spardonable deception upon their
papas and mammas. In accordance
with their plans a notice was yesterday
posted IN the balcony TO the effect that
a choice selection of oil paintings by
celebrated artists would be on exhibit
ton that evening IN one Of the parlors,
Rdmittance ten cents. The exhibition
room was crowded to excess, and long
before the show opened the pockets Of
the infantile dOOrkeeper we're stuffed
full Of ten cent notes. As a member
of the press was invited by a COM
mittee Of fOur-year-Olds to attend. l
mention a few Of the most prominent
naintings: "a Bridal Scene" by II.
krness, consisted Of a horses bride
hanging on a nail; Square in Brus-
sels'' was represented by a square
niece of Brussels carpet; Horse Fair"
vas 4 measure Of oats, and a cork rep
resented "a City in Ireland Master
II. F. Nash, the Treasurer, reported at
tbe conclusion that be had realized
over $50 for the poor widow.
Putting IL On Too Thick.
Saratoga Letter.
It Is a very ungallant statement, but
+,71tb compeis me to make 1t, there is
lamentable absence of pretty women