The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1899-10-27
Star
A FO DE A STORY.
TOLD BY THE LATE LAMENTED WAL
THALL AT WASHINGTON.
New York Verdict.

THALL AT WASHINGTON.
New York Verdict.
Walthall, OF Mississippi, looks not
a little like Mark Twain. Walthall Is
a Virginian, born at Richmond, hut
has long lived and fourished in Mis-
sissippi. He is an accurate type of
the Southern gentlemen OF the old
school, and comes To us from "A day
"befo' de wah," when Southern gentle.
men raised cotton, drank peach and
honey, paraded their man at ten PAGES
and played poker, "two-call-dve. in
DiRgahs." Once, when a passenger
on the steamboat Gran Turk, en- route
for St. Louis, Walthall was embarked
10 poker. A favorite negro stood be.
side his chair. A looker.on, who had
just come in, asked the negro:
"Do you belong to the boat?"
mo, sah," replied the negro with a
worried look. II doan know who l
b1ongs to. De title t me is mighty
shifty JUS now"
Don't know who you belong to,
chi" repeated the newcomer. "How
is that?"
well, sah," replied the negro,
"dey's '%sperimentin' wild my title in
dis pokah game, sab. 1'sc blonged to
\ Mars Poindexter Ovah dar. An to
Mars Walthall, ovah h'yar. I'm in a
now, sab, an l recken by g.
time another han or SOS dealt out,
I'll know who owns me agin."
Walthall not only looks like Mark
Twain, but like the latter, is a hu.
morlst. Often, in the cloak room Of
OF the Senate, Walthall will drive
dull care away by telling funny stories,
while his colleagues sleep. 1t is Wal
thall's custom to gather an audience
and relate stories OF the South.
Speaking OF the religious enthusiasm
Of negroes, Walthall told the follow.
ing:
Besides changing their names
whenever any event OF importance
happens" said Walthall. ''the South.
ern darkey frequently changes his
religion. He may start out as ii Meth
odist. In a week you'll find that he's
shifted his brush and belongs to the
Campbellite church. l had a boy,
Tom, black as a spade flush. Tom
came to me one day and said:
MARS Walthall, Use done jined the
Presbyterian church. CANT hunt no
mo on Sunday, now, sab. Use got
'ligion an Use got 1T hot
IL told him l was clad to hear it.
A little church going was better than
hunting on Sunday, and it was wiser
to save ones soul than to catch a DOS
sum. About a month later Tom OBJ
served:
MARS Walthall, Use gone Ovah to
d. Mefodis church. l b'longs to de
Mefodis now YO' see de Presbyteri.
ans a heap too dismal a religion fer a
niggar, sab. 1t make Tom mighty
gloomy. sab; so l bitches up wild d.
MefOdis, an | feel like Use safe now.
1t wasn't a month afterward when
Tom vouchsafed the information that
he had abandoned the Methodists for
the Baptists,
"Yessah,' said Tom, ~ jines wild a
deep watah passed. OF folks who calls
theyse'fs Baptis. About d. Mefodis,
sab, is one thing l don't like. Dey
gives way to what dey dominates
experience meetin's,' sab, whar every
man gifts up an tells what he's been
a'doin' all his past life, sab. Now da:
Is might 'barrassin' to a gen'man like
me, whose been alvin sorter loose
and lively I" a likely numbah ob
years. So / quit 'em an goes ovah to
d. Baptis. Oar all dey does is dip you
In d water, kersouse. and der you is,
safe In d. love of d. Lamb"