Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-08-15
NOT A GOOD SHOWING
HOW THE COLORED FOLK WORSHIP AND
PRACTICE RELIGION.
Grown SupsrSddOus Since The War-Greaty OpPO-
sed 10 Dancing and Worldly SongS-Au
Members Of the Church-Pes6le Ef-
forts 70 Convert the Old and
Young.

! EASTERN VIRGINIA, August Ill
there is such thing on the face OF the
earth rs heathenism, it is the Christian reli'
gion rs practiced by the negroes. The gro
tesaueneSs of the American Bible Society,
the Boards of Foreign Missions, and all the
other prepostcrOus machinery relied upon
to convert astute and subtle Orientals into
shouting BaptistS or shricking MethOdlStS
is plain to every thinking mind; but with
a section of Africa set down in the middle
of the United States, it adds to the comic
atty of sending missionaries to Siam and
! Cochin China. The Protestant churches
have made but little effort toward evangeli-
! ling the negroes. Nine-tenthS of them are
! BaptiSts, but except for using them to swell
the number of their communicates, the
Baptist organizations appear to take but
little account of them. The Episcopal
Church has made a few languid and we'll
| bred efforts toward getting the impulSiNe
creatures tn submit to 4 regular liturgy,
! but with Indifferent success. The Catholic
Church in Virginia has made 4 beginning
towards getting them in which Is small,
! but promising, the power to command used
! bv the church being of good effect i'll gov
crning them: but for many Years yet the
religion of the negro must be almost 4 re-
! turn 10 the barbariSm of his fathers. Al
though their general improvement since
! the abolition slavery is Chccrlully acknOwl-
edged, their lapse into the superstition OF
the ages has certainly been Is marked. In
the 'cclo' the wah' time they were thrown
much more with white people, which had
its effect. The soft and wcll-brcd 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 influence of the master and mistress
was directed against this religious Savagcry
which seems natural to them. They were
encouraged to dance and sing and bc merry.
In harvest time, the head man of the lone
row of rcapcrs with cleaning scythrS, was
under orders by the OvcrSccr To sing his
rcaping song loudly, and the harvest field
WAS full of melody. WhiSkcy was given
out. and the harvest, which was known as
1.-THE black mans holiday, " was made 4
season Of mcrriment and icaSting by the
masters, who held to the sound doctrine
that chccrlulncSS and industry are apt IL
20 together. On every plantation were
one or more liddlcrS or hanioiStS, their rude
music being in demand for the white pcO'
pie as much as the blacl; ones. \ muSi-
clan enjoyed many privileges and received
many little gralitudcs Justly accredited tC
art. Now, all this is changed. The ne
gro preachers have proclaimed that there Is
nothing out of gchcnna worse than dancing
except iiddling and banioing. The devil is
represented rs being the original dancing
master acd the father of the profession.
| Accordion is allowed, but the banjo and
fiddle are vigorously tamboOcd. The pro
hibition extends To worldly SONGS, and the
weird mclUnics they sang long years a@G
have given place to Moody and Slnkry
HYMNS. Their old slavery songs are III
Ipidlv diving out The negroes have M
tural prejudice against them rs relies and
reminders ct their slave days. and 80 jim
Crack Corn, johnny Booker, jimmy is the
hoe cake done? and all of their primitive
merry songs are dead and forgotten. I'm
execution to this rule of forgetting must he
made in favor of the Hampton Normal
school. There. the managers appreciate
inc the wild beauty Of these old planta
ton airs, have tried 10 preserve them and
have trained Il number of singers. in them.
But the negroes dislike them cNprcSSiYcIy
and perhaps with reason. They sing hymns
with genuine African icrvOr and abandon,
and ut least half of their religious services
consists of singing. And such singing! II
Al a., a nnt
to De 4 member of church quarr2ntinc' Il
negro against his own kind. Thief, mur.
drrcr or lclOn OF any description, he must
vet he 4 member Of the church. The worst
foe To the civilization of the negroes is thcil
Slayish superstition and their absolute
submission 10 their preachers, who are III
turn thcvictimS ,oftyranny them 'clvrsa III.
! hands of INSCRIPTIONS white men. Until
! their religion takcSa better form and cca'c'
to be the cloak for every vice, their true
progrc@S will he slow Much ~ that natty
voungStcr with his shiny broadcloth suit,
his stylish cane AMI dude collar seems (,
be- IN improvement on his father bred III
slavery, accustomed TO nothing better than
| homcSpun trousers and a hickory shirt, the
mind of that father was not half such 4
slave 10 his master Us the mind of that
wcll-lrcSScl yOungStcr Is TO some kinky-
haired Erothcr ScigGinS, who can, and per
hlpS WILL conSign him to hell fire, rs the
youmgStrr firmly believes.
Now that the negro is not thriving in
this part of, the world. On the contrary his
little patch of ground, with his yoke OF
steers or his scrub of horse, yield him Il
la, rises a ~ q,
in material prosperity that he hIs
escaped from one kind of slavcrysto fall
into another. They still retain their fond
ness for cXtrlyagant names, although they
are not quite rs funny as formerly, ~ they
no longer have the white people to suggest
! them. Scripture names, rs they are
called are great lavOrtcs, among which
AnaniaS-is not the least. When the names
OF the Apostles are selected, the title is of
ten given too. Uncle Apostle James, was
4 we'll known character in these parts.
One Of the planters hcrcabouts named his
servants after the dukcdOms Of England,
and Surrey, Norfolk and Richmond were
colOrcd individuals of 4 propensity CORES
pOnding to their names. Another master
took classical turn. Terence and Juvenal
! were III the mousse anu lltIOlotuN pltC
WIS on the coach box. Another named
them in pairs. He had not only an Anan-
ias but Sapphira, IN Abelard and IN ElOise.
Onc day visitor at the house, not knowing
this characteristic, hearing an inky black
specimen spoken to rs Laura, inquired:
"Wcll, Laura, where is Pctrarch?' and was
electrified by I.aura's promptly replying:
"Pctrtrch, he in DE kitchen hclpin TO peel
dc taters fer dinner" At another place a
romantic mistress surrounded herself with
Iris. Melissa, Venus and Cupid-the last
two especial favOrics i'll the way of names,
80 much so that temcninc form of Cupid
was evolved. Cupid WAS always shortened
! to Gu and Gus female contemporary was
very apt to be named Cuctta. The name
| is still common. SCOTS novels supplied
the names at another plantation. Nora
Avcncl, Amy RobSart and Lucy Ashton
were landmarks, and the name of the cook
was, Edith Plantagcnct. This name was
very much admired, and not syllable
of it was abated, although it gradually
changed its form To Edith PlantOdgcrkit.
! Not long ago, a serious domestic quarrel