Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1880-01-21

Well cross the mighty river,
NV army cross over;
Well cross the river Jordan,
Ny army cross over.
Well cross the danger water,
My army cross over
Wen cross de mighty myo,
My army cross over;
o pharaoh's army drowned,
My army cross over
I do not know, and could never md
out, what the "mighty myo" meant. One
old man thought it to mean the river oil
death. Another song that thought to be
beautiful one is as follows:
"Bow low, Mary, bow low, Martha
For Jesus come and lock dc door
And carry de key away.
Sail, sail over yonder,
And view de promised land,
For Jesus come and lock de door,
And carry de key away.
Weep. q Mary bow low, Martha,
For Jesus come and lock de door,
And carry de key away.
Sail, sail, my true beheverI
Sail, SAIL over yonder.
Mary, bow low, Martha bow low,
For Jesus come and lock dc door,
And carry de key away
One of the strange things that struck
me, was the manner of conducting their
funerals, very often in the middle of the
night. The scene ut the grave, lit up by
flaming torches, the long, gray moss
hanging from the tree top, the lights and
shadows falling upon it, formed all sorts
of fantastic shapes, then, after the body
had been lowered into the grave, they
would march around and sing:
81 know moon rise, know star rise,
Lay dis body down;
I walk in do moonlight | walk in de starlight,
To lay dis body down.
I'll walk in dc graveyard, III walk through de
To lay dis body down.
III lie in de grave. and stretch out my arms,
Lay dis body down.
l 90 20 de judgement in dc evening OF de day,
When lay dis body down.
And nv soul. and your soul will meet in de day,
When lay dis yer body down."
"Iu lay in the grave and stretch out my arms"
Never, it seemed to me, was mans
longing for peace and dcliverance more
plaintively uttered than i'll that line.
Next in interest to the spiritual were
the sermons and prayers. Perhaps a
specimen or two may not be out of place.
On one occasion, while on picket, one
of my men was MORALLY wounded, and
after his death the chaplain conducted tho
funeral services, and the man was buried
with military honors. But one of tho
saints was dissatisfied with "bucra" ser
vices, and he called the faithful together
that night, and gave n discourse upon thu
, subject, dwelling very earnestly upon thu
uncertainty of life, etc. He gave then
the following:
"You niggers lib as dough you tot yo'
nebber died. You 90 to your tent, yo'
, black your shoe and shine up de buttons
and den you come up trou de street, an
step so high, and in de pride of You
, heart you say take kar dare groun, l d
, a comm Brederen, one box dead mea
: gone to de graveyard to-day. Who gwai
? tomorrow"
!. Who can say there is not good SCUM
logic in the remarks?
At praise meeting held in Beaufor
one night, there was quite number @
white ladies and gentlemen present; on
5 old darkey prayed:
I "Dat all de white brederen an siste
4 what line praise wild we tonight, migt
4 be boun up in de belly ban of faith"
g There is one thing that must be sale
/ This strong devotional turn was not a
ways accompanied by all the practices
n virtues. Far from it.
D There was one old Jim Cushman, II
Y representative scamp of the regimen
( who used to vex his righteous soul owe
e the admission of the unregenerate TO Il
{ praise meetings, and one night he can
n out of the meeting shaking his head ar
a growing: "Too much goat shout wild {
T, sheep, too much goat shout wild de sheep
Ie And vet il any of the officers sent o
l. Jim to buy anything for them, he won
n invariably get the money so mixed wi
n his own, that none ever came back to u
3 The Major once asked old Jim, in tn
o semi Ethiopian dialect that we often 81
e into: "Jim, how much wife you hab
The corners Of Jim's mouth dropped, M
re his eyes rolled up as if regretting lost o
he portunitics, and he answered: "On
" but four, sah." Still later old Jim we
re to the Colonel one day, and complain
ne that che didn't like dat new Adjuta
lie Goodrich" ''why, what is the trout
It with the Adjutant?" oval, sab, he j.
n. pure do make dem drummer knock
A. Lords chunes outen dem drum" T
10 bows had been playing marching along
n which old Jim claimed as apraise chuns
N When joined this regiment early
nt the spring of 1864, they were out to I
to Ferry at Broad river, doingspicket dut
r. Company X, to which had been orders
ly was in command of Lieutenant RobbiI
lis and when he had turned over the CO
pany property, ordinance, camp and q
" rison equipage, etc., he mustered I
lie company, as sort Of introduction.
". noticed one great, big fellow was ba
ed footed, but Robbins said nothing about
W. and finally spoke to him about il.
ne eyes," said he, che has such la
feet that we find II almost impossible
lis find shoes large enough for him, and,
re- deed you won't want him TO have shoes
TO will take him so long TO dress. When
oil has shoes he can't put on his pants ]
ID, the other men because his feet are
ey much larger. He is obliged to put III
er, on over his head"
re- don't know to this day whether ]
was Icing to me or not, but never
IL any one with such fearful rasin boxes
tie walk on, but think of how Rob got
be darkey and the pants together.
m One night while there, IL was my I
,g. of duty as officer Of the day, and / 7
on obliged 10 make the grand rounds. i
Iey preached one post and received the cl
tic ienge: "who Gus daref Haiti
he vance one with de countersigne."
ar. sergeant advanced and gave the coun
On sign, when my Ethope sang out, eco
so tersigne correct, agwance de whole
on, sarn."
am ofsen asked, did they make 2
we scntincls. answer, the very bes