The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-08-30
Scenes at q Camp Meeting.

CAMP POINT, ILL, August 20.-With
songs and shouts and the chanting SO
peculiar to the colored race, wierd
spectacle was enacted to-day and tonight
on the camp grounds Of the Christian
Evangelist Association near this place.
This association is composed of Jealous
colored people, and the meetings have
been in progress for week or more un-
der the leadership of the Rev. Fl. Salee,
of Quincy, assisted by Mrs. Florence
Schooler and others.
Large crowds of people Have attended
the meetings. Saturday and today closed
the exercises, and in the presence Of the
usual great throngs were enacted, with
solemnity and no little grotesqueness,
scenes from Bible days and well-known
parallels. These spectacles are not alto:
gether new in Western Illinois, and
these colored folks at Camp Point are be-
ieved to be the pioneers in this strange
method Of depicting scenes from Holy
Writ.
Bible times began yesterday afternoon
with the killing of the fatted calf in an:
ticipation Of the return of the prodigal
ing represented the "certain rich man,
the sons. One remained at home like a
good boy, while the other skipped out,
ostensibly with circus. After lapse
of wears, a Ia drama, a report gained cur
rency that the prodigal son, badly dis
figured through the prevailing financial
stringency, was on the homo stretch. In
fact, It was rumored thai he was some
where near Clayton.
The antici pated return was duly cele-
brated from Saturday night until about
o'clock this afternoon, when suddenly
the assembled throng beheld the tattered
prodigal fastening campward through q
wheat field. The aged father made haste
to fall upon the young mans neck, cry
ing: "Whar hab yo bin, 20 pore boy
You ise hongry but dar am chicken an
watermillion plenty ~ A feast followed
the greeting, while willing hands placed
crimson robe upon the young mans
shoulders. Luscious watermelons from
the sand hills of Meredosia on
the Illinois River, suffered during the re-
past.
The spectacle was followed by the
march Of the ten virgins. The young
women were fantastically arrayed and
went through the performance of attend
ing the marriage ceremony. The march
was stately and was accompanied by 9
weird chant. The grief and dismay OF
the five foolish virgins who had failed to
supply themselves with sufficient oil for
their lamps was dramatic. The crown
ing event of the whole meeting, the
closing act, was the ceremony of the
children of Israel crossing the Jordan
and laying the twelve memorial stones.
The grotesqueness was intensified by
the torches used in the procession. These
cast an unearthly glamour over the sur
roundings and intensified the impress
iveness Of the scene.
Night had thrown mantle over the
camp grounds and, with the assembled
throngs, part of the time hushed by the
impressive ceremonies and anon MUIR
muring surprise at the solemnity and
weirdness.of the scene, lent certain i'm
pressiveness to the ceremonies that was
Irresistible. OF course, no river Jordan,
with it's walls of water, could be had, but
one was improvised for the occasion, and
through it marched the triumphant hosts
singing and chanting as they marched.
It was the last hour of the meeting, and
the worshippers became more fervid in
their eXhortations as the night grew on.
TO many the scene was beautiful one,
and to .all it was impressive. But by
midnight the last song, the last shout
and the farewell prayer had been said
and solitude reigned around the tented
grounds.-ChicdgO Herald.