The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-04-12
UNCLE 'ZEKIEL'S SPELL.
Some of the Mississippi Negro Myths
BY PAUL ORION.

| distance. AS dancing and card-play-
ing were in order below, l climbed to
the deck expecting solitude, but a
young man who seemed, like myself,
to prefer his cigar and reverie to the
mirth of the saloon, was seated at the
extreme end Of the deck. My cigar
tempting me and my match-case being
empty [ begged a light of him, and
on that accident hangs my tale.
The stranger, being courteous and
at his ease, we fell into conversation.
We were nearing Vicksburg. The
moonlight and the river led the talk
naturally to the region through which
we were passing, its scenery, climate,
politics and, what interested me still
more, the peculiarities of life and
thought among the colored popula-
tion. His knowledge Of these pro-
claimed him, if not native here, fa-
miliar with the customs and condi-
tions. Later on discovery mutually
pleasing widened our ground. We
claimed as Alma Mater the same
Eastern college. We had finished,
each in his way, the preparation, and
were now fairly launched upon that
examination which we call life.
While we laughed goodnaturedly at
the boyish pedantry with which those
by-gone days had inspired us, we still
recalled with pleasure everything con-
nected with them. talking until the
early morning. When my travelling
friend bade me goodbye, he invited me
to visit his home in the eastern part
of the State, where, he said, [ could
observe for myself whatever might
interest me in plantation life. I
promised to do so when I had seen
the Crescent City whittier | was go
ing, that mimic Paris of America,
whose Champs Elysee is park, mu-
sical with birds and fragrant with the
perfume of orange blossoms. Here
all is foreign-customs, language and
faces-whether of dark, bewitching
creoles or French ladies Of buoyant,
contagious vivacity. Activity, pleas
ure, Indifference, these are New Or
leans. 1t is the one city of America
where Americans become foreign"
whose graceful, afable citizens emerge
from the pestilence with the easy
gaiety of real Parisians after revolu-
tion.
Within a fortnight I reached the
railroad station nearest my new
friends plantation without warning
him of my coming. It happened to
be Saturday afternoon, which to the
Southern negroes is generally half
holiday. The village was called
Egypt, named, perhaps, by some long
dead pioneer, who felt himself a so
journer in a strange country, for
strange indeed must this smiling re-
gion seem to one accustomed to any
other habitation. From one end of
the horizon to the other, not tree
nor an eminence. On every hand the
sky closes down upon the cotton. 1t
was August, and the open balls hung
white and feecy. This is the far
famed prairie, vast snowy table,
arched by the bending sky. On the
south the nearer view was obstructed
by the village, which was within
stones throw of the station, and thith-
er I turned my steps. Aldrich calls
Tangier a great piece of "bric-a-brac,"
and jestingly covets it for America.
If he will take away the frame stores,
modern wagons, and perhaps a tithe
of the clothing that the Americanized
African deems essential to comfort, he
will find in any Southern village on a
Saturday afternoon an Oriental pic
ture that might have existed any
time within the last three thousand
years.
Here was every conceivable con-
veyance, every conceivable beast OF
burden. Only the oxen, possessing
the good-natured adaptability of cam
els, appeared prosperous and content
ed. Mules, long since relapsed into
chronic stubbornness, grown stolcal
and resigned to abuse, and melancholy
horses with dropping heads and con-
spicuous ribs, all seemed hurrying
with more or less rapidity to the
grave, having, long ago, under the
pressure of toll and starvation, lost
the power to hurry elsewhere. That
famous fable which presents us with
an amiable man carrying his donkey
in order to meet the approval of the
stranger he met on his way could
never have been related, had the rider
on that occasion come from 'the
quarters They have steadfast res
pect for the endurance of their crit
ters," always assured they can cay
little mo-
Standing among the carts and hor-
ses were fantastic groups of colored
people, talking and gesticulating volu-
bly,. Every female head was encased
in a red or yellow handkerchief.
Dresses, calicoes for the most part, in
every decided hue, red, blue, green,
and an abundance Of ''yaller." :" Here
was one dark lover of music clad in a
mosaic of many colored patches, turn
ing over in his hand his yearly savings,
while with shining eyes and open
mouth he listened to the strain of an
accordeon. Under this charm the
conflict would not be a long one, and
no matter how great his need of the
money, I suspect he carried home that
ACCORDION. Another cast longing
glances at a pair of embroidered sus-
penders, which a shrewd compatriot
had among other commodities thrown
over his shoulder and was advertising
orally. The wife of his bosom, who
had her own notions as to the expend-
ing of their means, was trying with
many gestures and loud persuasive
ness to draw him from the scene Of
temptation. The street stalls, sup
piled with gingerbread and sassafras
root beer, were. besieged with buyers.
In field near at hand a travelling cir
Gus had erected huge tent, towards
which many of the negroes were has
41o o,,4o,. z