The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-04-15

| MOST ST0rPED-MOuRNERS CEoWDINC
THE HILL-SIDEs TO WREsTLE WITH THI
RsTITIoNs-TALKs WIFE
COLoRED PREACHERS-REv. JOHN JAS
PER GIVES HIS vIEws-A DESCRIPTION
OF THE WORK DOING.
| A most extraordinary revival Of religion
| Is prevailing among the colored people o.
Richmond and vicinity. It has no parable
| in our history. and is remarkable alike fol
the suddenness, with which it sprang into
existence, for the number who have yielded
to its influences, and for the painful anxiety
, Of the mourners and the felyid Joy Of the
converted. 1t is so widespread that it has
, reached all classes Of colorcd society.
| In some tobacco factories the managers
have found it difficult to get their hands to
perform their usual tasks, many oi the men
being disinclined to engage in temporal
affairs while bowed down with the weight
OF their sins. Nearly every housckeepeI
has in the past week or two had to contend
! with cooks, chamhermaids, and nurses, who
, can scarcely be gotten to utter word; ; who
imove about the. premises with ghost-like
quirtness, and who perform their ac'
cG;stomed duties slowly and in Il purely
mechanical way. The teachers OF the
! colored public schools have had much to
contend with. In several instances the
children have been so wholly given up to
! the religious excitement as to make it i'm.
possible for the usual work to be performed
In one case to be related the pupils OF
q public school, under the impression
| that they had no time to devote to books,
| became so uumanageable that the Superin.
| tendent Of Public Schools had to be in.
formed. He sagaciously determined to get
sensible colored preacher to go there and
talk to them. The children yielded to the
persuasions Of the worthy spiritual adviser
! and returned to their scholastic duties.
Last Sunday there were hundreds OF
grown men to be seen sprawled upon the
| hill-sides OF the suburbs, whittier they had
gone, according to the custom OF their race,
for purposes Of meditation and the better to
| find relief for their sin-oppressed souls.
Those who are "seeking" manifest their
trouble by deep and voiceless abstraction,
while those who have "found freedom ~
burst forth into glad acclaim and joyous
song, and embrace all the friends they may
chance to meet. The policemen doing duty
| in the sections of the city where the great
majority Of the colored people reside have
been compelled, nearly every night, to quiet
the new converts-and threaten some with
arrest-so loudly demonstrative were they.
Many Of the superStitlonS that belonged
to the race as slaves still survive, and are
treasured in the minds of the ignorant.
Happily for these simple, klnd-hearted, and
very impressible people, their ministers are
much better educated than formerly, and
with few exceptions they sternly discoun-
tenance old-time absurdlties, such as seek
inc hill-sides rather than the closet fol
prayer, and the relation OF miraculous eX-
periences, as seeing the Lord, DC. Still,
| there are those with whom all the ancient
superstitions yet linger. In this religious
excitement these have no doubt been guilty
Of ridiculous conduct. 1t Is, however, moi
the object OF this article to dwell upon the
necuIiar customs OF our colored brethren,
nor to burlesque or bring into painful prom.
inence their habits of speech. What is here
| given is, in the main, the statements OF
colored preachers who were interviewed on
the subject: ..--..---
THE OLD AFRICAN CHURCH.
Rev. J. Ii. Holmes, pastor OF the First
African church, said:
The revival has been going on at my
church for about three weeks. EXtraordl'
nary interest has been manifested, but am
really unable to tell you how many have
professed conversion. / will not know thai
with certainty until commence baptizing
but should think that the number SO fitl
is not less than two or three hundred. III
be 1T work at the baptizing all summer,
reckon. At the last revival, year or two
apo. baptiZed six hundred. / supposeIl
have as many this year before get through
T viii not commence, however, before june
as ! have to go away in May. We have
nooi in the church, and the baptlZlng VII
be there.
Isn't this a very unusual revival? the re-
porter asked.
nave never seen such a one, answered
Mr.. Holmes, and l have been here about
forty-three years. Never seen such stir
among the people and so many anxious
ones. And the astonishing thing Is that 1t
commenced itself. 1t came upon us uneX-
nectcdIy. We were not thinking about it,
but had to go and prepare for it. Sunday
before last the children Of the Sunday
school exhibited such concern for their
souls' welfare that we had to stop tie regu-
lar Supday-school lessons and turn the
school into prayer-meeting.
Is the religious interest confined to the
children?
Oh, no. 1t is among men, women, anG
children. The young Hen have been COM
ing from the hotels in great numbers ana
filing the anNious-seats.
Great big men have been spraWllng on
the ill-sides around about here seeking tor
religion.
Mr.. Holmes was asked why these people
sought the hill-sides. He answered that 1t
,,.,s Nv, oId hahit oF The colored DeODie, an d
that they had some sort OF fancy that they
could be more successful there than at their
homes. They went there, too, to be Dy
themselves and free from interruption. MI.
Holmes deplored the fact that many OF his
people were very ignorant. lie referred 10
an instance OF which he, many years ago,
had been informed, that certain man, read
ing the Scripture, which says you must
come to God naked, thought that the ln-
junction must be obeyed literally. In bis own
youth people were afraid to say that they
cot ANYTHING from the Bible, and what they
got they said they obtained in miraculous
| way.
had at Navy-Hill school with their pupils
| the latter being so deeply concerned about
| religion that they refused to follow the usuai
| routine Of study. Parson Holmes said:
MIR. Peay came down and asked me to go
to the Navy-Hill school; that the children
had an idea that they must devote them.
serves entirely to seeking for religion, anu
that they had no time for books. They kepl
their heads bowed down on the desks and
would not Join in the singing. They were
told that they would be excused from tht
singing, but not from the lessons and regu