Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-08-29
rAE SOUTHERN NEGRO
THE Intense Enjoyment Afforded Him by
a Parttc patton in Funerals.

PartfC pltiou IN Funerals.
Corn shuckings are pleasant to a
negro; protracted meetings are still
,,6re so. especially if there are a plenty
If watermelons and chickens in easy
occess: but after all the quintessence
Of enjoyment to Sambo is funeral.
saws Mary w. Early in the Springfield
Nass) Republican. They will go
any distance and brave any difficulty
10 attend funeral, whether they have
known the deceased person or not.
They will
swim the Esk river where ford there is none"
rather than be baked in going to a
funeral They may (and in fact gen
orally do) neglect the i'll person, but
inst let him die and they will flock to
The house and TO the funeral in way
that suggests the gathering together
If eagles, over a carcass. 1t is a re-
markahe fact that though negroes
seem so amiabie and friendly they gem
orally show great Indifference aud
neglect to members of their own race
who fall i'll, and the latter would prob
ably come 10 serious want in most
eases but for the ministrations of white
persons.
A conspicuous instance of this kind
occurred recently in the city of Lynch
burg Va. A gentleman living there
had body-seryant taken ILL., and his
master, who was much attached to
him, did everything for him that kind
ness could suggest or money accom-
plish while his own race let him
severely alone" AT length he died.
aud then they commenced to flock to
have the pleasure of looking at the
corpse and assisting in the funeral.
But the master met them at the door
and waved them back. Go awavn
said he. You wouldn't come near
him while he was ILL., and now you
shan't have anything to do with his
funeral" Being wealthy, liberal and
kind-hearted this gentleman had
handsome funeral for his faithful body
servant but the pall-bearers and per-
sons occupying the hacks were all
white, and the negroes were extremely
discoutented at missing the treat.
In slavery times n very amusing cpl
sode occurred once at the funeral Of
negro woman. just after the coffin
was lowered into the grave her bus
band burst into wall of lamentation
that quite startled and touched the by
standerS. But it soon appeared that
he was not bewaiIing his "Seasted"
(deceased) mate, but bunch of KEYS
he bad let slip into the coffin and which
had been nailed up. How ! gwiue
open my chist, aud my cupboard, and
nv hen house nowP' he woefully
asked.
Negroes have many superS;tions on
the subject Of death If whippoor-
will CONES into the porch or near the
house they take it as sign that there
will soon be death in the family, and
they have the same superstition in re-
gard to Il forest bird coming into the
house, as is sometimes the case in a
violent storm or during a long spell of
incIement weather. If the grave is
dug too short they consider that GER
tain sign that there will soon be an
other death in the family. Nothing
could induce II negro to sweep under
meath the bed on which corpse lies.
Al a recent negro funeral wreath
OF pink hyaciutHs was laid on the cot
tn aud When Trey were going to lower
the coffin the chief pall-bearer seemed
quite perplexed as to the best DISPOSE
ton to make of this floral decoration.
Finally, however. he cut the gordan
knot by putting it on his own head,
and during the remainder of the
funeral service his shiny black face
aud woolIy locks were surmounted by
tins delicate and fragrant pink wreath.
A lunen, gives negroes an oppor-
mnity TO enjoy several things to wlnch
they are partial. They can wear
black and NOR over, black Grape. if
they are sufficiently near kin to the
deceased, They dearly love to wear
mourning, strange as it may appear,
when nature has already condemned
them to perpetual suit of sable. Then
they love to take naek ride to the
grave, il they are living in town. A
friend of mine gave me a diverting
account of seeing dozen little negroes
dlsmount from the hearse on its stop
ping at the house where the corpse
lay. These children bad availed them
selves OF the opportunity to take
drive, and tHeir spirits were not at all
affected by the funereal character of
the vehicle they bad boen driving in.
Negroes seem to think that death
IN the family confers a sort of pompos-
ity on the survivors, as an Illustration
ot which | may mention the incident
Of a little negro boy whose mother had
been dead only few days and who
was sitting apart from his usual play
fellows and declining to play with
tAemi whereon one of them tauntiugly
said: 'You needn't be so proud, if
your mother Is daid.