Arizona weekly citizen., 1886-11-27
EASTERN VIRGINIA.
PROSPERITY OF THE coLoREo Poe-
 ULATIoN SINCE THE WAR.

Former Influence of Master and Mistress The old Slavery Songs Rapidly Dying
 Out Religious Services - Material Prosperity-EItravagan Names The soft and well-bred manners of many beautiful negro woman come from having been in her early life much about the house, observing and initiating the manners of the white family. Then, the in- fiuence of the master and the mistress was directed against this religious savagery which seems natural to them They were encouraged to dance and sing and to be merry. In harvest time, the head man of the long row of reapers with gleaming scythes, was under orders by the overseer to sing his reaping song loudly, and the harvest field was full of melody. Whisky was given out, and the harvest, which was known as ~the black mans holiday" was made a season of merriment and feasting by the masters, who held to the sound doctrine that cheerfulness and industry are apt to go together. On every plan tation were one or more fiddlers or banjo ists, their rude music being in demand for the white people as much as for the black ones. A Amusician enjoyed many privileges anu IeCelNcu many ANb4c BEdNulllcS yuSI4g credited to art.
 OLD SLAVERY SONGS.
 Now, all this is changed The negro preachers have proclaimed that there Is nothing out of gehenna worse than danc- ing excepting fiddling and banjOing. The devil is represented to be the original dancing master and the father of the pro fession. The accordion Is allowed, but the banjo and fiddle are vigorously ta- bOoed- Tine prohibition extends to worldly songs, and the weird melodies they sang long years ago have given place to Moody and Sankey hymns. Their old slavery songs are rapidly dying out. The negroes have natural prejudice against | them as relics and reminders of their | slave days, and so Jim Crack Corn, | Johnny Booker. Jimmy Is the Hoe Cake | Donef and all of their primitive merry | songs are dead and forgotten.
 An exception to their rule of forgetting | must be made in favor of the Hampton | Normal school. There, the managers ap- | sreciating the wild beauty of these old | plantation airs, have tried to preserve | them and have trained a number of singers | in them But the negroes dislike them | excessively, and perhaps with reason | They sing hymns with genuine African | fervOr and abandon, and at least half of | their religious services consists of sing ing. And such singinSl It is generally | confined to member" as not to be a mem Der Of church quarantines a negro against his own kind. The worst foe to the civilization of the negroes is their slavish superstition and their absolute submission to their preachers, who are in turn the victims of tyranny themselves at inc hands nF nnEerrfpulouz xrbffa
 MATERIAL PROSPERITY.
 Not that the negro Is not thriving in this part of the world. On the contrary his little patch of ground, with his yoke Ofssteers or his scrub of horse, yield him a good living. and every year he rises a step in material prOsperity-Only that he has only escaped from one kind of slavery 10 fall into another. They still retain their fondness for extravagant names, although they are not as funny as formerly, as they no longer have the white people to suggest them. Scripture name-," as they are called are great favorites, among which Ananias Is not the least. When the names of the apostles are selected, the title Is very often given toe. Uncle Apostle James, was well known charac- ter in these parts. One of the planters hereabOuts named his servants after the dukedoms Of England, and Surrey, Nor folk and Richmond were colored indivi- duals of pompOsity corresponding to their names
 Another master took a classical turn. Terence and Juvenal were in the house and HerodOtus' place was on the coach box. Another named them in r.sirs He had not only an Ananias but q Sannbira aY Abelard and an Eloise. On{ day via ;tor nj !4eRse, not knOwilsy this char acteristic, hearing 7fs. iaAy black speci- men spoken 10 as Laura, inquired: "Well, Laura, whe is Petrarchg' and was cleo trifed by Lgura's replying: -Pstrarch, he in de kitchen helpin' to peel de 'taters fer dinner At another place a romantic mistress surrounded herself with Iris, Melissa, Venus and Cupid-the last two especial favOrite in the way of names, so much SO that feminine form of Cupid was evolved Cupid was always short ened to Gu, and Gus female contemporary was very apt to be named Caetta- This name l. still common ScOtt's novels supplied the names at another plantation. Nora Avenel, Amy RObsart and Lucy Aston were handmaids, and the name of the cook was Edith Plantagsnet. This name was very much admired, and not a syllable of it was abated, although it gradually changed its form to Edith Plantodgerkit-E Virginia Cor New York Mail and Express.