The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-19
BY CY WARMAN.
Copyright. 1896. by S. S. Mcclure,
LimiteG)

gets anywhere. For six hours it flows
out toward the open sea, and then the
tide comes up and pushes it back into
the boggs again. 1t is usually the color
of q brick-yard after a rain, and the
doctors say it is conducive to good
health. But the doctors live here; and
as there is one doctor for every twenty
people, it is perhaps just as well for the
doctors that the Potomac water is as
il is. Mind, I don't say it is unhealthy
1t is all right for drinking purposes
that we know, for the doctors, who are
experts, have said so; but it is not fit
to battle in. Sir Julian has been
obliged to SINK an artesian we'll at the
British embassy, in order to have clear
water for his bath. I've seen band
of flaZel-splitterS come rollicking down
the Virginia hills; but when they
reached the waters edge they took a
sip or two, gave a few disparaglng
grunts, and trotted back ITO the bush
again. 1t was all right for drinking
purposes, but what they really wanted
was a bath.
Aside from the Potomac and the
medical expert-locally known as the
"microbe chaser''-the most amusing
thing in Washington is the Negro. Not
the staggering political negro, the Sc
date specialized Sunday school negro,
nor the Scrappy, noisy negro, who is
always loaded down with raZorS and
apple jack, but the soaring ecStatic
campm Getting negro-he beats them ALL
The winter is the season here be-
cause congress is here, and in winter
the colored people work Some of them),
but with the first twitter of the wren
they want to qui; and get off and
frolic Along with the wren comes the
reviva!ist who never fails to cause a
great awakening among the dark peo-
pie of the capital. Over against the
Jail, which is near us, they have
erected a great tent, and here they hold
forth every night IN the week except
Saturday night. They begin in the
early twilight time, and about the hour
when the han dworking poor take to
their tents a mighty wave OF melody
comes up from. the malarial banks
where the wild thyme grows. The
chorus is always strong, the music
change:
by cool Siloam's Shady rills,
How fair the lilies grow
1t is a pretty picture that these
happy people paint of cool Sloan,
and ] hope and pray that they may be
able to keep it cool and shady. / have
tried at times TO enter into the spirit
Of the song, but l could not. 1 have
seen the pool.
A Shiny, stagnant hole it was, whose
green waters were oozing out over the
road Down this road an Arab rode
a thin legged donkey whose sharp feet
sank in the loan until the riders
b1Cad feet rested on the stiff mud.
Then the Arab stood up and laughed
while the little burrO struggled out
from between his legs.
by cool Siloam's shady rills''
The only shade near the pool is made
by the naked arms of a dead cotton
wood. The rills, if they were ever
there, have long since ceased to sing;
and there is not lily in sight
Sometimes, in the twilight, the lepers,
who live below the pool, come up and
carry away Jars of the warm water,
and these things are constantly COM
ing between me and the beautiful pic
ture made by the negro melodists in
the tent below.
The pool Ga Siloah is in the shadow
of the cross at the foot of calvary, and
the curse of God seems to have fallen
upon it and upon all the country
round about 1t is not pretty place
now and it is just as we'll for these
good souls to stay here and sing the
song as it used to be-better perhaps
be unoeceived.
But cool Sloan is only the opening
chorus in the evening exercises. AS
the hours waste and the candles burn
deep into the night a wilder song is
sung. In -ront of the box that the
preacher leans upon there is &, space
strewn with sawdust, and from time
to time, as the excitement increases.
a dusky rejoicer will leave his seat and
take few turns about this little cir
Gus. just as Senator Harris does when
Senator Lodge 1ourishes a red flag
across the little arena in front of the
presidents desk. AS the shouting sin
ner circles he steps quickly and exc
cutes a sort of chicken-f1utter that is
enthusiastic to the on-lookers.
Over in a dark corner a black man
viii stand up, close his eyes, open his
chimney and begin to pour forth a
song of his own making, words, music
and all It may have q chorus and it
may not. l have seen one of these ex-
Temporaneous Composers start a
simple song of three words, give us
glory, give us glory" and IN five min
utes every mouth in the tent was wide
open, and the song was kept I'D with
out the slightest variation for half
hour. During the rendering of this
beautiful chorus a woman began to do
the walk around: others Joined her I'M
til the little space was filed and she
found herself the fixed centre of a.
circling host OF bowling enthusiasts
Now they began to kick down the
benches and fling them out against the
tent walls and the circle grew larger
/ have heard old cattlemen tell how
bull would balk on the plains some
times, and the other cattle begin to cir
Gle about him and in little while the
whole herd, thousands of steers. would
be walking round and round and it was
next to impossible to break the circuit.
The cattle men call that milling" and
that is just what these darkies do.
That was my first and last visit. but
] know they do the same every night
First / hear cool Sloan" and then
there is quiet for a spell-for the
preaching is not so loud-and by and
by the big black man starts his little
song: Give us glory, give US glory -
and in a little while they seem TO get
it. Yes, there go the benches-like the
sound Of a circus breaking up after
the last performance. They We're sing
ing the opening song when I began to
write, and now they are beginning TO
mill Round and round, like the be-
wildered herd on the plain. Up and
down, like the tired Potomac, they are
always going but never get anywhere
They are happy now but thew will
soon forget, and next spring thew will
meet again, and sing, and shout it all
over again.
BY cool Siloam's shady rills."
THE CURIOUS SIDE OF LIFE.
FeIe, the hawaiian Fire Goddess.