The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-02-17

sentimental, in which some common
event Is made the basis of a religious
exhortatlon or is united with religious
sentiment. As practical illustration
OF the first class, the choir of the Con-
gregational church, who had prepared
themselves for the occasion, sang the
slave hymn sung everywhere in the
South, Steal away to Jesus
The doctrines expressed in their
hymns is strictly orthodox, and though
different language is used, the meaning
and teaching is the same as ours. AS
an illustration the speaker said your
pastor at times enforces the doctrine
Of the necessity Of consistent conduct
in the christian. The slave hymn says:
/" You say you're trabbling to the skies,
Den why don't you stop telling lies?
You say King Jesus set you free,
Den why don't you let your neighbors
be?"
In regard to overcoming temptation
the slave hymn says:
EFF you want 10 see old Satan run,
Yes, my Lord;
Jes' shoot him wild a gospel gun;
Yes, my Lord"
In regard to the doctrine of the bless
edness of sorrow and chastisement the
slave hymn says;
"Ef you want to catch the hebenly
breeze,
Go down to de valley upon your knees;
And put your mouth right smooth
with the ground,
And ask the Lord to turn you round,
Moses, Jonah, David and other prom
inent bible characters are favorites
with the slave poets, and their history
and acts are versified and universally
sung.
The choir rendered four pieces of
slave music, which the speaker used to
explain and illustrate the different
classes of slave Yersifcation and music.
The last piece rendered by the choir
was one of the "spirituals": $50
down, Moses, and tell Pharaoh
The speaker, who had travelled
largely in the South, drew vivid pic
ture of slave meetings and slave sing
ing. He said his hearers might, from
his description, have an idea that slave
singing, from its wide difference in
manner to ours, was ludicrous, nonsen-
steal and superficial; but it was not.
There is about it power that is ire
sistible. The negro was naturally rev
erent, religious, emotional and impress
sible. Let us, by educating him and
understanding his traits and tenden-
cies, use them in elevating him to a
higher civilization. The question had
been asked: Has the slave music any
genuine art merit? 1t has been criti-
cally examined and tested by some of
the best talent and most cultivated mu-
sicians, and pronounced to be of high
merit, and strictly original.
The Fisk University Jubilee singers
drew, both in this country and in Eu-
rope, audiences having critical tastes
Of highest cultivation, and they sang
before their audiences nothing but the
slave music of the South. The history
Of these singers from their first appear
ance before the American public to
of Great Britain, as wildly portrayed
by the speaker, was intensely interest
ing, and proved the truth of the adage
that "truth is stranger than fiction"
The first audience they sang before
here numbered fifteen; the second,
eighteen. In Springfield, the capital
of the great state Of Illinois, where the
ashes of the martyred Lincoln rest,
where, erected to his memory, stands a
monument to which the cOlored SOL
diers Of the war for the Union contri-
buted one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, in that city, these colored sing
ers were excluded from every hotel.
In the same city, Democratic ex-Gov-
ernor of Illinois opened his doors and
took them in till his house was full;
the rest were taken in and cared for by
a Democratic ex-Attorney- General.
Their third appearance was at the
Friday night prayer meeting in Henry
Ward Beecher's church. They sang
few pieces by invitation of Mr.. Beech
er; the audience called for more until
the whole evening was spent in sing
ing. At the close Mr.. Beecher moved
a vote of thanks, and the ballots would
be greenbacks, and every one could
vote as much as they pleased. The re-
suit was one thousand dollars for the
singers.
Their first appearance in England
was under the auspices of Lord Shaftes-
bury, in one of the finest opera houses
in the great city of London. His Lord
ship issued eight hundred private invi-
tations to the nobility, members of
I,Parllament, bishops, noted preachers
and gentlemen of the press. Their
success was greater than could have
been imagined. The next day they
were invited by the Duchess of Argyle
to lunch at her house. While enjoying
the hospitality Of the Duchess, her
Majesty, the Queen, with some mem
bers of her family, drove up to make
call. They sang before the Queen,
and the result was they were, by COM
mand Of the Queen, to appear on the
morrow before the royal family. This
was teleg7aphed to all the nobility of
the realm, and thereafter all the homes
of the nobility of England, Ireland,
Scotland and Wales were open to them,
for every loyal subject says: cit is
my privilege to honor whom my SOW
erelgn honors." Their success is at
tested by returning to the United States
with $52 1000, all of which was laid by
the generous singers on the altar of the
education of their race. The result of
this, the Fisk University in Nashville,
Tennessee, is one of the finest education
al institutions in the United States, and
devoted to one of the most worthy OBJ
jects.
BRISTOL.