Daily Yellowstone journal., 1885-06-30
LIFE "IN THE BRUSH"
A CHRISTIAN COMMISSION DELEGATE
IN THE eAcKWooos.
A. Despondent Church Member - Til"
-'He' of ratmos-PrlInitiye Religious
Customs Negro Met
odIes-Jubilee Singers.
TRey. H, W reriOu in Christian unint


A friend Of mine, New England pas
tor, made visit 10 the army as delegate
Of the niied States Christian commits
sion. Having occasion to call l,Dou q
family near the scene Of his labors. he in
troduced himself us clergyman. and ex
planned the object Of his visit TO the army.
At once he was piled with the ever recur
ring questions as to the cause of The war.
its probable continuance, results &C,
etc After giving his own views from the
northern standpoint. he took occasion 1"
draw out the opinion of his question
ers, which were substantially as follows,
lie had thought upon the question long
time, and was decidedly Of the opinion
that God had sent the war upon The cum.
try for their pride; that was the great sin
In the churches, especially among the sis
ters Once they spun, woye. and dyed
in buttetnut their own jeans and made
their own dresses which we've good
enough TO wear to big meetings. bar
becues, or weddings Tut now they want
store dresses meet every man car.
ried his hides 10 The tanner to make
leather for The family, and they were glad
enough To get good heavy air of shoes
made by free niger Jim Now they
must have Store shoes Oncet they made
their own b nnets. which kept the sun
from burning their faces and blistering
their necks, with no such thing as q rib.
bon on them. Now they are ashamed of
these and will hardly go 10 church unless
they have'a store bonnet all covered over
with ribbons and posies And they do
say that when Sister Mason went TO the
city with her husband TO attend the big
secession meetin', she got some new store
teeth My old woman here wanted store
shoes aud store dresses Just as much As
the rest Of the sisters.
After this jeremiah had gone through
with his wall. he proposed that they
should pray together. They knelt. and
at the conclusion Of the prayer offered by
the delegate Of the nited States Chris
tian commiss on, his addres, 10 the
Deity was in the same sad strain ia which
he had so long talked lie was burdened
with the sins OF others. especially the sins
of his -old woman. and very free and
voluble in confessing them. -Oh, Lord"
he said; here is my old woman. She is
very proud Proud as a worldlin' oh,
Lord. make her more humble. Make her
willing 10 bow low down at thy feet
Oh. Lord. lie her knee jints, and make
her bend and bow low" Then with in.
tense earnestness and emotion he con.
cluded) ., b, Lord lie her knee jinis
with the very lie OF Patmos.r
To those familiar with the people In the
brush, as have described them. all these
incidents are rs simple aud natural as n
the sight Of an omnibus in Broad way 10 a
dweller In New York In the vast army
Of illiterate adult whites, and In the com
muniues in which they chiefly live, there
are hundreds Of thousands who have
never read or heard Of but a single kind
of lille
Those familiar with their religious and
especially with their revival services are
aware how long and how earnestly their
prcat hers win exhort. urge. and plead
with the whole congregation TO kneel. TO
bow low before Cod Usually the church
members respond at once: and then came
the long struggle with the -worldlings. T"
One would judge from their earnestaess
and persistence 10 this matter that they
deemed their hearers well-nigh saved when
they induced them thus 10 kneeL
] recall an occasion OF this kind when a
young lady from New England. a teacher.
was for the first time present ut such q
meeting IL was near the home OF the
owner Of the hev. Nathan board, the
slave preacher. As soon as saw her In
the audience / knew that she was a
stranger In strange land, She looked
ap. allied. Mortified, at the sounds and
scenes around her. She did not kneeI
There were puddles Of tobacco juice all
around her. She was proud. Her knees
had not been Amounted with the -Ile Of
Fatmos. Thoroughly familiar with the
people ami all their ways OF thinking. as
i had been for so many years. was sure
she was all unaware how largely the long
continued appeals were addressed to her.
or how conspicuOusly the irreligion OF
New England was illustrated by her stub.
born pride. her refusal 10 bow low.
The same habit was almost universal
among the colored preachers, with the ad.
dition that their urgent appeals were sup.
plemented with the most tender and i'm
passioned negro melodies. Some thirty
years ago [ dropped into the principal
hotel in Richmond. Va. and looking over
the register saw the name OF George Il.
Cbeever. lie was on his return from
Europe. had landed at southern port
and wss slowly taking his way north. 1
sent up my card, aud on calling found
him absorbed In writing bis ~ anderings
Of a Pilgrim, etc. | informed several
81 my friends Of his presence IN the city.
who at once called on him. and he was
soon after invited 10 spend the evening
with pleasant company at the home
OF the pastor nf one Of the largest
churches In The city. tAt the conclu
sion of this pleasant Social gathering the
family servants weie called ia. as usual.
10 the evening worship They united
with the company Ia singing the hymn
selected, and after the prayer sung several
of their own beautiful melodies
have never forgotten the pleasure and
interest with which DR. ChccI or listened
TO one Of these songs. which was OF tho
character have Just described. like all
their songs. II was chiefly chorus. and the
chorus was only repetition Of the
words
Bow low, bow low, bow low
LIST the preacher. bow low Chorus
LIST tie brothers bow low" Chorus
@let the sitter. bow low" Chorus.
"Let the mourners how low" Chorus.
"Lat The sinner how low" rhorn-
Although the long dnwnout song was
little else but repetition Of the words
~bow low, the vote s were 80 rich. so
mellow and full OF emotion. aud the
music so weird. impassioned aud wonder.
full, that with others, ! was completely
entranced by IL ] remember that as !
left the house with Dr. Cheeycr he re.
peated. over and over. TO himself Bow
low. bow low. bow low. only wish
that the Jubilee Singers might reproduce
that. and Others that | have heard on
hundreda m nlaniafiana