The Dillon tribune. [volume] (Dillon, Mont.) 1881-1941, 1886-10-08
EASTERN VIRGINIA.
PROSPERITY OF THE COLORED Pop
ULnTiCN SINCE THE WAR.


The Old slavery songs Rapidly Dyin.
Out - Religious Services - Material
t'rnspe rit ~ Extruyugunt Names.
The soft and Mell-bred ma,ancrs oil
many beautiful negro woman come from
having been in her early life mr1c!i about
the house, observing and initiating tho
laaannrrs OF the white family. Then, the in.
tl'lcacc of the master and the mistress was
directed against this religious savag.ry
which seems natural TO them. They were
encouraged IT, dance and sing and to be
merry. Il. harvest time, the head man of
the so,g row of reapers with cleaning
scytlcs. was under orders by the oversecr
tn sing his raaping 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 IL season of nerrimcnt and feusting
by the masters, who held to the sound
doctrine that cheerfulness and industry
are ap; to go together. On every PLAN
tation were one or more tildlers or banjo
lists, their rude music being in demand for
the white people as much as for the black
ones. musician enjoyed many privileges
and received many little gratuities Justly
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 dane
Ing excepting tildling 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-
,1,;1 n
songs, and the weird melodies they
sang long years ago have given place to
Moody aud Sankey hymns. Their old
slavery songs are rapidly dying out. The
negroes have u natural prejudice against
slave days, and SO Jim Crack Corn,
Johnny Booker, jimmy Is the Hoe Cake
Done: and ali 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 an.
preciating the wild beauty of these old
plantation airs. have tried to preserve
them and have trained q 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 singing! 1t is generally
confined to "llember," as not to be mem
Der OF church quarantines negro
against his own kind. The worst foe to
the civilization OF the negroes is their
slavisi' superstition and their absolute
submission to their preachers, who are in
turn the victims Of tyranny themselves at
the hands of INSCRIPTIONS white men,
MATERIAL PROSPERITY.
Not that the negro is not thriving in
this part Of the world. On the contrary
MS little patch of ground, with his yoke
ofssteers or his scrub of horse, yield him
q good living, and every year he rises a
step in material prosperity--only that he
mas onl escaped from one kind of slavery
to fall into another. They still retain their
loneliness for extravagant names, although
they are not as funny Us formerly, as
they no longer have the white pcople to
suggest them. Scripture names, Us
they are called are great favorites, among
winch Ananias is not the least When
INC names of the apostles are selected,
the title IS very often given too. Uncle
Apostle James, was well known charac-
ter in these parts. One of the planters
ilereabouts named his servants after the
dukedoms Of England, and Surrey, Nor
lolk and Richmond We're cOlore(l indlyi-
duals OF pomposity corresponding to
their names
Another master took Il classical turn.
Terence and Juvenal were in the house
and Herodotus' place was on the coach
box Another named them in pairs, He
had not only an Ananias but a Sapphira
M Abelal'l and I'M Eloisc One day u Wis.
'tor ut the house, not knowing this char
acterlst!c, hearing an inky black speci-
men spoken to us Laura, inquired: swell.
Laura, where is Petrurch?" and was cleo
trified by l.aura's replying: "Pctrarch. he
IN liz Kitchen hclpin' to peel lie 'taters fer
thinner" At another place II romantic
mistress surrounded herself with Iris,
Venus and Cupid-the last two
especial favoritc in the way of names, 50
much SO that a feminine form of CuDid
was evolved. Cupid was always short.
ened to Gu, and Gus female contemporary
was very apt to be named Cuetta. This
name is still common. Scott's novels
supplied the names ut another plantation.
Nora Aveuel, Amy Robsart and Lucy
Aston We're landmarks, and the maine Of
the cook was Edith Plantagenet. This
name was very much admired, and not
syllable 1T it was abated, although it
gradually changed it's form to Edith
t'lan todgerkit. Eastern Virginia Cor,
New York Mail and Express.
An Engli>l, Hunt Dall.
\ hunt ball is not very different from,
Dther large country house entertainments
The grand hall is devoted to dancing no
We'll as one or two Of the lrawinp.rOoms
4 n0n1> -.