Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1885-12-23


Series in The Atlantic, Charles Dud-
ley Warner gives this piquant descrip-:
ton Of a picturesque street scene in the
quaint southern watering place Of Ashe-
vile; The evening gayety of the town
was well distributed. When we des-.
cended to the courthouse square a great
crowd had co!lected-black, white, and
yellow-about high platform, upon
which four glaring torches lighted up
the novel scene, and those who could
read might decipher this legend on a
standard at the back of the stage:
u ~ HAPPY JOHN
ONE OF THE SLAVES OF WADE HAMPTON.
CONE AND SEE HIM.
Happy John who occupied the plat
form with Mary, ''bright' yellow
girl, took the comical view of his race,
which was greatly enjoyed by his audi
ence, his face was blackened to the
proper color of the stage-darkey, and
he wore flaming suit of calico, the
trousers and coat striped longitudinally
according to Punch's Idea of "UncIe
SAM" the coat a swallow-tail bound
and faced with scarlet. and bell
crowned white hat. This couceit of a
colored Yankee seemed to tickle all COL
ors in the audience amazingly. Mary,
the ''bright' woman (this is the uni
versal designation of the light mulatto)
was d pleasing but bold yellow girl
who wore Datty cap trimmed with
scarlet, and had the assured or pert
manner of all travelling sawdust pre-
formers.
'.Ob, yes!' exclaimed bright wom-
an in the crowd. Happy John was
sure enough one of Wade Hampton S
slaves, and he's right good looking
when he's not blackened up
Happy John sustained the promise OF
bis name, by spontaneous gayety and
enjoyment of the fleeing moment; he
had a glib tongue and ready, rude
wit, and talked to his audience with a
delie ious mingling of impotence, def
erence and patronage, commenting up
on them generally. admin
istering advice and correction in a
strain of humor that kept his hearers
in pleased excitement. He handled
the banjo and the guitar alternately,
and talked all the time when he was
not singing. Mary Chow much harder
featured and brazen woman is in such
a position than a man of the same cal.
iber (sang in an untutored treble, songs
of sentiment, often risque, in solo and
in company with John, but with cold,
Indifferent air, in contrast to the rollick-
ing enjoyment of her comrade. The
favorite song, which the crowd COM
PEELED her to repeat, touched lightly
the uncertainties of love, expressed in
the falsetto pathetic refrain:
Mary's gone away wild de- coon.
All this. with the moon. the soft sum.
mer night, the mixed crowd of darkies
and whites, the stump eloquence OF
Happy John, the singing, the laughter,
the flariDg torches, made wild scene.
The entert ainment was quite free, with
"collection' occasionally during the
performance.
What most impressed us, however,
was the turning to account by Happy
Join of the ''Digger' side of the black
man as means of low comedy, and
the enjoyment of it by all the people OF
color. They appeared to appreciate as
highly as anybody the comic element
in themselves, and happy JohL has
emphasized it by deepening his natural
color and exaggerating the ''nigger
pccnliarities. presume none OF them
analNzed the nature of his infectious
gaycty. nor thought of the pathos tina,
lay so close to it, in the fact of his re-
cent slavery. and the distinction of be-
ing one of Wade Hamptons niggers.
and the melancholy mirth of this light.
hearted races burlesque of Itself.
A performance followed which called
forth the appreciation of the crowd
more than the wit of Happy John or
the faded songs of the yellow girl.
John took two sweet-cakes and broke
each in fine pieces into a saucer, and
after sugaring and eulogizing the dry
messes, called for two small darky vol
unteers from the audience TO come up
on the platform and Cevour them. He
offered prize of Is cents to the one
who should first eat the contents Of his
dish, not using his hands, and hold up
the saucer empty in token of his victo-
ry. The cake was tempting and the
Is cents irresistible, and couple of
boys in ragged shirts and short trousers
and a suSpender apiece, came up
shamefaced]y to enter for the prize
Each one grasped his saucer III both
hands, and with face over the dish
awaited the word "go," which John
gave. and started off the contest with
u banjo accompaniment. To pick up
with the mouth the dry cake and choke
it down was not so easy as the boys
apprehended. but they went into the
task with all their might, gobbling
and swallowing as if they loved cake,
occasionally rolling an eye to the sau-
Ger of the contestant 10 see the rela-
tive progress, John strumming, ironic-
ally encouraging, and the crowd roar
ing. As the combat deepened" and the
contestants strangled and stuffed and
sputttret the crowd went into spasms
OF laughter. The smallest boy won by
a few seconds. holding up his empty
saucer, with mouth stuffed. vigorously
trying to swallow, like chicken with
his throat clogged with dry meal, and
utterly unaDie 10 speak. Inc impair
tial John praised the victor in mock
heroics, but said that the trial was so
even that he would divide the prize. 10
cents to one aud 5 to the other-a stroke
of justice that greatly increased his
popularity. Aud then he dismissed the
assembly, saying that he had promised
the mayor TO do so early, because he
c id not wish to run an opposition to
the political meeting going on in the
courthouse.
Newspaper and Magazine Work.
lno.ha1f IF Tho really ooo1 writ ORG