The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-01-06
HOW IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED.

-YeS. managed to get ny cotton picked,' said well known Arkansaw planter. Out it was only by an irreligious device Just about the time the cotton opened negro preacher came through the country spreading consternation, so terrible vas the attack on the wicked. The fellow was terribly in earnest and had most impressive air. He seemed at once to impart his insanity to his hear CTS, and upon the whole, 1 don't know but that he was as good and quite as much of moral reformer as such men as Barnes and Moody. The neighbor- hood church IS situated on my piantA- ton. and it seemed never to be without its crowd of semi-crazy worshipers. All day and all night the piaintive vail Of the moumer, the heavy groan of those sus- pended by thread over damnation. the happy shout of the blest and the satisfied hallelujah of the szncti6ed, could be heard. The cotton was neglected, and it was enly after violent threats that could get the men to feed the cattle The planters throughout the community were alarmed and sent away for cotton pick CTS. but as soon as they came the minis ter touched them with his wand of in- sanity. We begged the evangelis, to seek another neighborhood, assuring him that his work had proved highly satisfactory, and that all of the souls in the entire community were saved. This is the Isle of PA,mos.' he replied, and am especially charged by the Lord to watch over it asked one of my fore men why he would not work, and with a sorrowful shake of the head he replied
 ''I know dat |, seems mighty hard fur ter be deserted Jes' as de crop is made, but what is de loss ob few thousand acres ob cotton compared wid de souls ob men. No use'n talkin', de day an hour fur p.ntanee is come. an jess 'en we 'cept ob de cup ob sweetness de sponge wei wid vinegar an gall will be put to our lips
 Anxious 10 learn how the preacher had gained such control over the people, I attended one of his meetings. He be- gan his sermon with dignity and seem- ingiy sane declarations. He did not l speak like fanatic; he did not yell in shattered accents, the especial province of the negro preacher, but in a calm. quiet manner, he began to talk of sin in comparison with goodness. He drew graphic and striking picture of the sim ner, painted the righteous man, and held them up. His power was wonderful, and at the time felt that had never before heard such pulpit persuasion. After rub ping out the pictures with wave Of the hand, he conducted the religious man to heaven. where bliss awaited him. Then. , turning to the sinner he launched him into hell. Suddenly the demeanor of the preacher changed. He became as wild and passionate as he had been calm and quiet He initiated the yells of the , damned. He choked with the smoke of heii-fie shrieked like the lost woman and howled like the doomed man. He 1 told his congregation to agonue for the faith, to give themselves entirely into the keeping of the Lord. He admonished them to yield not to the demands of earthly labor but to beg for Christ. The widest confusion followed, and several white men who were present joined with the negroes in their dance of barbaric wildness.
 "Next day called together sev- eral planters to consul, with them as to the bes, means of ::gath- ering our crops. We could not use violence in banishing the preacher, for in fact he was no more fanatical than white preachers, only being more pow erful than the majority of them. We all agreed that religion was a pretty good thing at certain seasons of the year, but that during the cotton picking months it was destructive to the best interests of the county. But how to dispel the in- flueuce and reclaim our lAborers was the question. Finally we resolved to accom- plish our purposes by means of working on the superstitions of the people, and we decided to make devil. and present it during the meeting. We secured the services of an ingenious carpenter, and telling the people that agreed with them and that desired to- have repairs made | in the church, l induced them to dis pense with the day meeting. The car penter made horrible looking devil, 1 with great horns and nossrik from which blue blazes could emanate. A trap was arranged in the new ceiling, which we put in, so that at a, signal the devil could be ignited and lowered. made ar ranRemouts with old Dan a sfaid old