The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-30
NEGRO SOCIETIES.
THE SOUTHERN coLORED MAYS
 LOVE OF POMP

And Circumstancs-wonds Named
 Organization to Provide for Hem-
 bsrs' Sick Benefits and Funeral Ex
 psnsss How They Flourish in
 Charleston.
 The southern negro's love of pomp and circumstance is nowhere exempli- fled more Sorcibly than in the manner in which he multiplies his charitable organizations. Inordinately fond of company, he has few societies founded with the sole view of promoting social enjoyment. For the most part, what ever foundations he makes have semi-religious trend. the dues emitting members to sick benefits and funeral expenses. There is usually an elabo- syalea regalia and an intricate ritual. Not few negroes of southern city such as Charleston, belong to 20 less than score of these orders, the name of which are oftentimes curiously and wonderfully made. What, for instance, would the ordinary patron of secret or ganizations think of possessing mem bership in the Sons and Daughters of the Seven Golden Candlesticks of Char ity or in the Sons and Daughters Of I Will Rrise?
 The sons and daughters idea. is worked 10 the limit of endurance. There is scarcely well known name ill Biblical history that is not tackled on to it. There are in Charleston alone no E 3taI1 nf fhaca GnaiaTiaS with charters from the state of South Carolina. and how many there are that have no legal status no man may say with confidence.
 Dues are paid weekly, and, strange as 1t may seem when the great poverty of the negro of the south is considered, the arrears list is a brief one indeed. Of course the charges are small, usually about twenty-five cents month, but when 1t is remembered that many indl- viduals belong to six or eight or even more orders 1t is little short of marvel ous how the funds necessary to meet the demands of the collectors are found, and yet it is so deep disgrace te be expelled that instances of the kind are very rare. To hold membership in a : badge of honor. ...
 Meetings are held monthly in private residences, in public halls or, more ire quently still, in churches. These gata- erings begin at the fashionable hour of 10 ?. m. and continue not infreduently throughout the night. Refreshments are to be had for a small consideration, and as these are for the most part of a liquid nature the sons and daughters are prone to be conspicuous by their absence from their ceyeral places of employment next morning. Often the police have to interfere t6 restore that harmony in which brothers and sisters should ever dwell together. @
 Among the societies in Charleston are the Sons and Daughters of the Twelve Disciples, the Sons and Daughters of the Bearer of the Cross, the Sons and Daughters of the Evening Star, the < Sons and Daughters of the Celastial Travellers. the Sons and Daughters Of the Good Samaritan, the Sons and Daughters of the East. the Sons and Daughters of Lazarus, the Sons and Daughters of Christian Love- and thers might be added to these fully twoscore of others. The devotion of the negroes \ tothese organizations and their loyalty to their fellow members are absolute.
 The funeral of colored man or we- man who holds membership in 2 half dozen of these orders is spectacle worth witnessing. Occasionally. bitter feuds arise between rival societies for the possession of a corpse, for the ne- 1a,, 70. ,e. even to his love of melons. The cere- monies usually begin the night before the actual linterment is to take place. There are sermons, prayers and person. al experiences interspiced with wild bursts of irlcoherent melody, which arouses religious mervor to fever height. Men and women faint in the course of the exercises, many otheres fall into frances and talk of visions of their dead friends enthroned in glory.
 The ceremonies culminate in a formal procession. It is forming for Q hour be- fore the residence of the late !amented son or daughter. Negroes from the ut- termost parts of the city gather in the streets. The occasion is a festive one. They run and shout and caper. The members of the organizations to which the dead person belonged stand in sol enn order, clad in elaborate uniforms and bearing the banner and other in- signia of their respective orders, and when the cortege finally moves, wend- ing it's way at times through miles of the city's streets, it is followed by a mad rush of men, women and children, who block the thoroughfares, and traf- fic for the time being has to be suspend ed. The hope of such a funeral is the inspiration of many a negro's whole life. He slaves and deprives himself of actual necessities for years to meet the demands of the collectors of the socie- ties in order that he may go to his last resting place in the midst of such strangely weird pageantry.-C Charleston Letter in the New York Tribune.
 THE GERMAN EMPEROR ON FOLK