St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-12-14

the church, where they lay until next
day. Wher got tired and went away
that night ,bs little preacher, utterly
worn out, hal .urled herself MP In q
splint-bottom chair, and was enjoying
the sleep Of innocent childhood.
could hardly sleep that night for think
ing about that meeting. I tell you,
boys, I was impressed"
II always thought you were above
such superstition, SQUIRE" remarked
some one. a. the squire stopped to refill
his pipe.
well. anyway, went back the next
night" resumed the squire, ''and for
the first time got . good view Of the
little preacher. She IL . perfect child
in looks and .wayA Her complexion il
about the color Of an old mustard
ground ginger cake. her teeth white
and even, the whites Of her large,
mournful eyes prominent and she
doesn't weigh more thar sixty or seven
ty pounds There were . lot of white
people in the congregation, but she
took NO notice Of them Curiosity
prompted me to 60 to listen to her, but
interest held me there. She spoke
right out in the most earnes. way, ~
il her only thought was prea ,aing the
Gospel Her delivery and gestures
were easy, and. in fact, what she said
and the way she said it beat nine
tenths of the preachers-especially
these evangelists-white or black.
''She opened service with very good
prayer, and read, or rather recited, .
chapter from the Bible, which did not
tear on tho sermon in the least Her
one thought seems to be to prepare for
the Great Beyond. which she dcsig-
mates as way over yonder.' She talks
about the hereafter in = most pathetic
way. and remember on that particu-
lar night her text was: Business in
Heaven
"'I'l meet you there. sinner she
said. for got business with Capt
Jesus l must tend TO it I must 60
where partin' is no mo-. got to put
on . long white robe, . starry crown,
silver slippers, and sit ut my Masters
fest. Ill meet you over yonder, way
over yonder, for we all got to cross
Jordan stream dry shod and 60 over
yonder. I'll meet you there, sad
hearted mothers. I'll meet you there.
wicked fathers I'm going to get In
side those pearly gateA Are you? Are
you? Sinner, you must get right
Learn it now. Now is the time. Way
over yonder may be too late for you. .
and so ON. Night after night went,
and each time she had . new sermon.
each ono containing = sad strain.
She made q pathetic figure. always
clad n deepest black without the
slightest touch OF color, that children
love o we'll, or the faintest suggestion
Of m cenament When occasion de.
manded she rebuked thoughtless per-
eone for bad behavior in . few clear
cut kind sentences. and went right on
.wteh her sermon. II the Gospel grind
essWould only learn that It isn't these
otAggering truths, which cannot be
grasped by the average mind, but ;
doctrine of simple, earnest faith that
arouses people to better living. But
they never will. Now it was the sin
cerity Of the little nagger, and the
earnestness of her followers, that i'm
pressed me, and, while can't say that
she conver ted me, she certainly set me
to thin king, and / concluded to leave
OF doing certain things.
'Iwanted to give her something, and
couldn't make up my mind what to
buy her. She reads poorly. and can
scarcely write ut all, but somehow
she didn't seem like child that would
care for toys. Finally, in q sort of
desperation, settled on . large wax
doll with highly colored cheeks and .
mass Of yellow hair. If you could
have seen her antics of delight when
she found that it was all her own. She
clasped it to her as II she would never
let it 60, and then she told me that she
used always to preach sermons to her
dolls, and that the people who over
heard her persuaded her to preach to
people, which was the very thing she
had always longed 70 do.
Everybody agrees that she Is won
der, and tell you she Is. Many white
people think her inspired, aud the
blacks believe that she is sent directly
from God IS . warning, and that the
judgment day is coming soon. don't
know. because I've never thought
great deal about such thingA But /
do think she il entirely different from
any little child that I've ever seen, and
l shall never. never forget her, with
her solemn ways and her unceasinR
about what we must do and
must not do is we want to meet each
other when We get home. way over
yonder.'
There was great shunling of feet.
and clearing Of throats
among the squire's visitors ~ he con-
cluded, and the clustering gentleman
from Kentucky began to denounce the
excise law In loud tones But tho
squire looked 1t the rings Of smoke -
he blew them upward from his corn
cob pipe, and had little to say the rest
u the evening.
EnglloA Oelf-Rellanoo.
L.