The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-01-16
NEGRO LIFE LII ElcEIuA.
Wild and Weird Performances at a Camp
Meeting.

Florida Letter to San Francisco Chronicle
After dinner it was arranged by a few
among the crowd. to Soto camp-meeting,
which was held about a mile from the
house. Accordingly vehicles We're made
ready and away we started. Long be.
fore We arrived upon the grounds we
We're made aware of the vicinity by
stentorian shouts, and presently we
came in sight OF the sheds, log huts and
the campers. The Florida darky knows
his value and does not look up or bow
down to the white population as a rule,
like his black brothers of southern
states. Not he; rather p~atronizes them,
except in the cases of old family slaves
who have not outlived their good man
ners. 1t must have been one of these,
an aged man with STOPPING shoulders
and q patriarchal face, who invited us ia
witness de exercises" We had already
witnessed" some of the exercises of a
few outsiders who were very full of
whisky, but they were probably not
Of the brothers. There were no
seats. The people we're standing,
reclining on the ground and in
some instances knee!ing. An African
preacher with a peculiar co~untehance
aud immense ears was holding forth on
"De Day OBJ Judgment" "Yoll be dar,
Broder John; n you, Sister Sally
Nudge, n yoll lief to par befo' de great
jedge OBJ oil de yeth, n wha'll yo' say
when he axes yo' fo' vo' record? WhatIl
yo' say? I'll tole vo' what; yoll call en-
the san OBJ Florily to jes' scoop'n swal-
low yo' all up, Oar amt no hills, nor
rocks, nor mountains her, but de san
is mighty shifty n de IL mighty hot;
aar's a place hottn'n Floridy." Terri
BILE groans burst forth at this, and as
the daring preacher pictured the tor
ments of that opposite condition to
paradise the yells and shouts and even
skrieks became deafening. One big
black woman, whose ~vociferations were
louder than the rest, managed to keep
one eye on us and one on the preacher
during the entire sermon.
The preachers description of heaven
vas amusing, the principal delights of
that REGION seeming to consist in having
no work to do, no corr to shuck, no
taters to hoe, no cotton to pick, and the
nallelujahs We're correspondingly in
Eensitied. Then the singing! The most
graphic pen could not do justice to
that. One song, in which ever the
children participated, swinging and roll
ing their small black bodies, was some
thing Ike this:
~ wo! Come into dis meetin',
+ me, pore souls:
G.. ., git yo' sins all pardoned,
me, pore souls;
CO ZEN carry de big cross onward,
Oh, pore souls!
Git on board de gospel train, Oh!
Come, pore souls.
And so on, to a wailing, dirge-like
tune. l did not hear any very cheerful
music, but all smote the ear with sad
ness, no matter what the words were.
Presently the sexes separated, the men
standing off in q circle, the women
missing together, led by q tall crone of
o most unearthly countenance, her hair
carried up from her temples to a point,
two long tusks falling over her lower
lip and growing longer every time she
opened her mouth. This strange wom-
an began the exercises, lifting one hand
after the other, wagging her head,
stamping right and left, with O curious
monotony, and soon every woman and
child in the meeting engaged in this
holy dance, the mea looking on and APP
pearing to be affected by the rhapsodies
Of their wives, sisters, sweethearts and
clil1rap