The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-02-04


/: Corner of Flushing and Harrison Avenues,
Thursday evening, Jan. 10, 1875.
.......................
The Gentleman, accompanied by a lady, who
exhibits at this competitive trial the most grace
ful and genteel walk, elegant and pleasing man.
ner and digniied and noble bearing, viii be
presented with beautiful meerschaum pipe and,
superior in these accomplishments Will receive
handsome cake.
Several gentlemen viii be selected from the
audience to act as judges in deciding the ladies'
contest A number of ladies will also be selected
to Judge the merits of the gentlemen.
The grand walk win take place at IL o'clock.
All this was made subservient to the
worthy purpose of contributing to the sup
port Of the pastor of the colored Baptist
Church in Yonkers, the Rev. Mr.. Mathews,
whose congregation is small and poor, and
affords him but very slender salary.
The pastor was gratified at the patronage
he received. Cold as the night was, his
friends came from the remotest parts of
Brooklyn and New York, wearing white
cotton gloves and high standing collars.
They were all magnifcently perfumed
of candlestick jewelry illuminated their
shirt bosoms. The ladies were too gorgeous
for description.
IRREvERENCE.
'.What kind of jamboree is this p said
an irreverent white man to one of the re-
ligious colored patrons of the spree.
- ,Jamboreeio exclaimed the latter,
bristling behind an enormous shirt-collaI !;
g dis, sab, is not a jamboree. 1t Is, on de
contrary, notwithstanding, select and So
cial entertainment" And so it was. No
common darkies were admitted unless as
musicians or walters, or BY mistake. The
room was nicely fixed up for the occasion.
The walls were covered with illustrations
in high colors of various animals familiar
to the menageries. A notice on the maiA
pillar cautioned gentlemen to spit in the
spittoon. The hall was of triangular shape.
and in an angle table stood, bearing the
cake and the meerschaun pipe, besides
plates of apples and odds and ends OF con
fectionery. A colored gentleman stood
on the floor most of the evening to exhibit
a new pair of trowsers he bought at auc-
ton for fifty-six cents.
THE WALK.
The walk began at midnight. The mas
ter of the ceremonies, Mr.. Stubs, came
forward and said: "Genl'men and ladies,
de time is amost ready for de grand DEM
onstration to begin. You knows well as |
do dat de whole world will be proud to
know who is de ladies and genl'men dat
on dis suspicious occasion makes de best
display of noble and dignitied bearin', to-
gedder wild gracefulness and beauty OF car
rage. Carriage, ladies and genl emen, ac-
cording to de renowned Webster in his lat
est edition, means de manner of de walk.
| 1t might mean a four-wheeled vehicle, but
| it don't. When you have de carriage dat
Webster means you have more dan elder a
| four or five wheeled vehicle. God told
Adam to walk on his two feet and not &C
mousin' round froo de hills and dells OF
| Eden. Adam took de advice and walked
| like man. AM how did Adam walk
| Now. ladies and gentlemen, how did Adam
walk? OATS de queshun. Oar is no con-
| fidential obligation on you to walk in dc
footsteps of Adam. He made fool of his
self about dat apple, but he could walk
His bearin' was noble and dignified. Mil
town SAYS he walked in beauty like dc
night of starry chimes and cloudless skies.
TGreat applause Now, genl'men and la.
dies, begin to git ready. De ladies viii
Piles Sc take de genl'men and de genl'mer
de ladies', wild all doc respec' fer one and
de oder"
Great was the excitement while the
walk was going on. The highest-tonec
colOred folks among the spectators los
their balance and laughed like the pie
beians. Some splendidly developed feet
naced over the floor. "Sudden Diet to al
creepin' animiles! :" Regular beetle
crushers!" "My, what coffin full -
:" Good gracious, what pair for mixin
mortar!'' and hundred other such re
marks on the pedal extremities of the gal
liant fellows who took the floor were
dropped from the lookers-on.
THE ATTENDANCE
was quite large. The highest order of thu
colored population of Brooklyn and Will
liamsburg was there. 1t was a very merry
assemblage, with strong flavor OF reli
gion, and camp-meeting hymn or
breakdown was equally welcome. Some
gloriously dressed females were present
Miss johnson, of Johnstown Court, Brook
lyn, wore an acre of velvet, a Fra ID
avolo" hat, and yard or so of straight
hair, She was the belle of the occasion
She failed to win the cake in the wall
round, because she refused with nobl'
disdain to adopt the conventional gal
which the committee of judges erected a;
standard to guide them in their awards
A majority of the judges insisted that TIN
"slide" gait was the correct thing. They
had been to Dan Bryant's, and had seer
Nelse Seymour in his walk 'roand, an(
satisfied themselves that Nelse was goo(
model. Mr.. Plains, of the committee
bad seen Nelse, too, but he objected to hi
style as not being modern enough.
would do for slavery times, but in an err
of freedom it lacked dignity and indie
pendence. Er
THE WINNERS.
Mr.. Lyons, a young man studying COOK
cry in New York, carried off the meer
schaum pipe by the unanimous decision o
the lady judges.
When the ladies and gentlemen ha'
made the circuit of the room about wv
score times, the Judge Advocate, as IN
principal Judge called himself, cried out
f Let de fust couple decease from walk
ing" Then there was pause while IN
, Judge put on his glasses and looked NOR
, closely at the performance. LET de rar
couple decease from dar perambulations J!
, The orders were meekly Obeyed, untl
finally only two couples were left upol
the floor. At this juncture close con
sultation of woolly heads was neld, an
! after considerable flourish the Judge Ad
, yocate declared in favor of Miss Jayc0G
{ In the following words he surrendered he
: the cake:
HIS SPEECH.
: "Let dis cake remind you of de great
Am. 1t is roun'; so is de world. 1t
mysteeris; so is de works of Providence
q De frost you observe on de top of dis
/ we're cake conceals de sweetness dat cor
, teammates de inside. 1t is mysteeris in il
conformation, and wedder il is stuffed fu
OBJ raisins or huckleberries dis chile can
say. Now, you young men watts lookir
, dis way. bar in mind dis is sweetness to
sweet, and widout any Offense to de res
de ladies present, would cOnclu' by say
6 ing she is de sweeterest gal in dis yer
ROOM" 1Great applause.