Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-12-28
NO. so.


a correspondents OF lno new 1OrH Evening
Post writes from Lakeport, Chioot county,
Arkansas, of the habits and characteristics Of
the blacks inhabting the bends Of the Miss
issippi. These negroes form a somewhat
distinct class, and are among the most ignor-
ant and shiftless Of the south. Speaking Of
their religion and their preachers he says
But IL is In the more purely religious gather
ings and in the preaching that the Bend no.
gro rovels. Judged outwardly the negro is
the most religious of mankind. His meet
ings take place two or three times week,
besides Sundays, and often last all night SO
exhaustng are they, in fact, that revival"
season is dreaded by the planters, as it 80 Sc
riously impairs the work of their hands in
the fields. Along with every plantation for
hundreds of miles through the Bend region
goes the inevitable negro church. Let us
take one here near the Lakeport landing as a
specimen structure. 1t is Of rough, barn
like exterior, white-washed, and with seating
capacity for perhaps a hundred auditors.
Within are coarse benches, cobwebbed board
walls, long desk and platform made of un-
finished lumber, a dingy kerosene chandelier
with one or two lights, and behind the 80
called pulpit a line Of tawdry colored prints
pasted on the boards depicting scriptural
scenes like Moses and the burning bush, the
ark on Ararat and Daniel with the lions.
The men sit on one side, the women on the
other with huge stove as a dividing mark
between. This ediice, moreover, has a bell,
which most of its fellows lack and in one
case l have seen as a substitute a rusty,
broken buzz.saw hung by a rope, and when
struck by stone, gives a ludicrous cracked
note to summon the worshipers One may
well despair by any verbal description to pic
ture even the commonest absurdities of negro
worship here. But let me make the effort
The services usually open with a long, mo-
notonous hymn, chanted through perhaps
twenty stanzas. A brief address from one
Of the deacons follows, in which he gives a
summary of the services that are to come,
and exhorts his auditors to behave them
selves Then come from other deacons sew
eral wild and incoherent prayers, accompAn-
led by the swaying sisters with low hymn,
after the fashion Of the slow music of the
theatrical stage. Sometimes one of the sis
ters prays and recently 1 heard one of them,
in the excitement Of her appeal, say 20
Lord, I kno' dat Daniel took de fast express
for heaven prays yer send down dat train
for me too, and glib me free ticket 1t is
noteworthy, by the way, that much Of the
religious imagery of the blacks here is taken
from the railroads, aud some of its applica-
tions are very amusing
Next comes the sermon. The elder almost
always opens in an apologetcal tone, depre-
eating his own physical condition. He is
either 'drefful hoarse from n good deal of
preachin," or "a mighty bad cold got right
into his lung mule has kicked him" or
some other ailment has made him feel so bad
ly that his auditors mustn't spect much dis
time" Then he chooses his text, usually
from Job, or from 'de book of de Rebela-
tions," the fiery imagery of which is an mex
haustible mine for the negro e1horters. U.s.
ually the sermon consists of q review of some
of the metaphorcal pictures of the Scrip
ture, which the preacher describes himself as
seeing. As the emotion grows on him he be-
comes louder in utterance and more demon
strative in movement. He prances back and
forth from edge to edge Of the platform, now
with hands in air now bending forward or
leaping as high as he can toward the roof to
express his soaring exsltation. Precipitation
pours IN streams down his dusky skin. At
the end of every sentence he makes a loud,
indescribable noise, halfway between a snort
and groan, or drops his voice into sort of
parenthetcal chant, made up of set phrases
like 30 what a sight, or he gives a tre-
mendous snort, followed by kissing expec-
toration 1 supposed it due TO a genuine
cold but since then have discovered that it
is studied establishment of negro oratory
in the Bends. All through the sermon the
preacher is stimulated by the chants of the
sisters, the shouts Of the brethren, and a
swsying, rythmical movement which swings
the whole congregation in unison. Particu-
larly if the elder describes some fgurative
combat of his own with Satan, the shouts of
"Gib it to him !" ''Snoot him down." and
once Cut him with big razor urge on
the preacher to combat and almost lift the
roof. His sermon usually lasts a full hour,
with short interval about the middle of the
discourse for rest, during which the congre-
cation chant hymn. Instead of closing
with peroration, the sermon is finished of
with sort of anti climax, the preachers
voice sinking suddenly from a yell to a
few coloquial words thanking his congrega-
tion for their attention and hoping his words
will 'benefciate" them. Words must fail
utterly to depict the absurd effect of this clos
ing apology, or of the combination of shouts,
splitting, chants, and pastoral contortions
which lend their emphasis to one of these
negro discourses.
The exegesis of the Scripture by some of
these black pastors will be new to the most
advanced theologians. A sermon, for in
stance, of much local celebrity among the
dusky race here is preached by one of their
elders on 'de horse PAWN in de valley"
and is opened somewhat as follows "Dis
horse of the Scriptur breddering, figurate
to be de oster ostrich Dis oster laid five
eggs in de desert, cubbered dem in de san
for de sun Of glory to hatch out, den went of
ing, was de seeds of de church, least fgur-
ate dey was. But five Arabs who was de
| prosecutors of de church wanted to smash
dem egg. So dey try to seek dem out, and
drove de poor oster ten mile through de val
ley of Jehosaphat. Dey corner dat poor os-
ter at de head of de valley, and think they
hab him suah, but suddenly de oster rose
high in de mid air, and laugh dose wicked
Arabs to scorn De egg dey den hatch out,
and so, breddering, come de seeds of de
church to bear fruit" The description by
the pastor of the "oster's" chase through the
vslley-the preacher all the while tapping
his arms rooster fashion-was an immense
sensation in its way.
There is one sad side to negro religion as
manifested in the Bends. The universal tes-
timony of the planters is that it demoralizes
the negro far more than it leads him into the
path of virtue. Some morality is preached,
but the bulk of the sermonizinR consists OF
distorted imagery, exciting for the moment,
but more hurtful than healthful to ignorant
minds while the church is too often used as
a cloak for most Abominable licentiousness,
preacher here, as a rule is poor worker
in the field, as well as a very doubtful moral
ist