River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-12-24
ONE OF WADE HAMPTON'S
SLAVES.


ton of picturesque street scene in the
quaintsouthern watering-place of Ashe-
vile; The evening gayety OF the town
was well distributed. When we des-
cended to the courthouse square great
crowd had collected black, white, and
yellow-about high platform, upon
which four glazing torches lighted up
the novel scene, and those who could
read might decipher this legend on a
standard at the back of the stage:
Happy JOHN
ONE OF THE SLAVES OF WADE HAMPTON.
COME AND SEE HIM.
Happy John who occupied the plat
form with Mary, bright 2 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 a flaming suit of calico, the
trousers and coat striped longitudinally
according to Punch Idea of Uncle
SAM" the coat a swallow-tail bound
and faced with scarlet, and a bell.
crowned white hat This couceit of
colored Yankee seemed to tickle all col
ors in the audience amazingly. Mary,
the bright woman Hhis is the uni
versal designation of the light mulatto)
was pleasing but bold yellow girl
who wore a natty cap trimmed with
scarlet, and had the assured or pert
manner of all travelling sawdust pre-
formers.
"Oh, yesh' exclaimed a bright wom-
an in the crowd, ''Happy John was
sure enough one of Wade Hampton
slaves, and he's right good looking
when he's not blackened up
Happy John sustained the promise of
his name, by spontaneous gayety and
enjoyment Of the fleeing moment; he
had glib tongue and ready, rude
wit, and talked to his audience with
delicious mingling of impudence, def
erence and patronage, commenting up
on them generally. admin
istering advice and correction in a
strain of humor that kept his hearers
in a 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 flaring torches, made a wild scene.
The entertainment was quite free, with
a collection" occasionally during the
performance.
What most impressed us, however,
was the turning to account by Happy
Join of the ''nigger" 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 John has
emphasized it by deepening his natural
color and eXaggerating the 'nigger''
peculiarities. | presume none of them
analyzed the nature of his infectious
gayety, nor thought of the pathos that
| lay so close to it, in the fact of his re-
cent slavery, and the distinction of be-
| ing one of Wade Hampton's 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 tlne pieces into a saucer, and
after sugaring and eulogizing the dry
messes, called for two small darby 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 yicto-
~. The cake was tempting and the
| Is cents irresistible, and a couple of
boys in ragged shirts and short trousers
and suspender apiece, came up
shamefacedly to enter for the prize.
Each one grasped his saucer in both
/ hands, and with face over the dish
awaited the word go" which John
gave. and started off the contest with
a 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 to see the rela-
tive progress, John stunning, ironic-
ally encouraging, and the crowd roar
ing. As the combat deepened and the
contestants strangled and stuffed and
sputtered. the crowd went into spasms
OF laughter. The smallest boy won by
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 unable to speak. The 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 and to the other-a stroke
of justice that greatly increased his
popularity. And then he dismissed the
assembly, saying that he had promised
the mayor to do so early, because he
cid not wish to run an opposition to
the political meeting going on in the
courthouse.