The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-04-23

Look er here, Mister, what yo'
means er comm fer dinner dis time er
day? Din L tell yo Use gotter turn
out dis afternoon? Seem to me lax er
pusson doant never have no time fer
nothin count er white folks ways!-
Yassir, thanke sir-Tse sorter got er
misery in NAH haid yassir!
'Nawsir, l doant never tech hit
lessen Use sick. Dat amt right ceppen
fer sickness. Nawsir! Hit stings lax
er rattle snake, dat's what de preacher
say. Dey turns yo' outen de church..
NaWSr, l doant tech no dram ceppen
fer er misery. l doant lax de stuff
nohow, nawsir!" the ameliorated
cook laughed the mellow gutteral of
the old issue and started for the kitch-
en-, glass in hand, every ivory display
ed, and her eyes Wrinkled with anti
cipated pleasure.
turn out? Kase hits er annerversi-
typ"
"a what?'
"Er annerversity. All de members
NV de Lodge-dey gotter turn out fer
de annerversity. When wuz de Lodge
founded?' l dunno, sir, who hit wuZ
dat found hit, sah 'Whut is de ami
versity?' L done tole you dat dey all
halter turn out. 'Whut dey do when
dey turns out?' Rides, yassir, rides in
kerriges, all er round. L gotter go put
on NAH close. Yo' jest leave yo' din
ner whar hit is; | amt got no time to
clean up. | gotter turn out.
'Sah? Nawsir; yo' knows 1 can't
er tell de secruts er de Lodge
With this tip, it was natural that 1
for the turning out" An ex-
perience with certain funerals
of 'de Lodge" gave promise
that the spectacle would be one well
worth the time and effort. The fun
erals had been things of pomp and cir
cumstance, but nothing to the turn
out" In the one case, there were the
habiliments of grief in clothes, if the
shining light of pride in the teeth
lightened features of the mourners. In
the ''annerversity' parade how
| ever, joy was unconfined, un-
detached from any chill of
decorum.. True, the spectacu-
| lar feature of the aearse. WAS lacking.
| The DfacK-plumed horses constituted a
glory which it was sad to miss, the
woe-stricken countenance of the
preacher in the vanguard had
changed to a splitting smile which had
run utterly beyond control from ear
to ear but the dinity of sorrowful
pride had changed to the frank dis
Slowly, the procession turned into
the principal street. In the front car
riage was, the preacher, two deacons
and an ancient sister of the faith. pos
| sibly a charter member of the lodge
| The patriarchs were in long tailed
| black coats. white ties, one beaver
and two clerically round hats. the
| elder sister in faded weeds of widow
| hood, grim reminiscence no doubt of
10 of 10 eff n
| the arm of each was a white ribbon
| with red star. Truly. there was
| "glory enough here to go. round"
The front carriage was an open one,
SO that all might see the occupants
| The minister held on to his grin, as 1T
were, with both hands. He nodded
with painful gravity to his friends as
| he noted them on the sidewalk. The
| deacons, less removed from earthly
! affairs. waved eXultant hands to the
| throng along the street The old sister,
| dead to the world of leVity and par
aiding now as a stern religious duty
| kept sedate eyes to the front, pic
| true of militant humility. The coach
man, erect on his high seat as became
the Importance of the occasion and
| yet nervous with the idea of serving
| his own race in an apparently SerVile
capacity, fiicked the gray horses 80 q
! trot and jerked them back into a
walk alternately, the while he spat
into the street with forced nonchal-
ance.
Behind there followed more car
riages, hacks and buggies, packed all
of them to repletion with the rank and
ner or emblem, an affair of gold silk
splashed with red and with white
lamb eating up a pine tree in the
centre, was conspicuous in the fore
front. But there were banners and
cheese-cloth signs galore. These the
participants waved constantly along
the slow progress of the route, fearful
less some one might see.
Twenty -Fiftieth Annerversity,
said one of these to the gaping crowd
along the highway.
SISTERS OF MURCY AND aRUTHERS
OF THE BEST" proclaimed another
Good Samartins,' announced the
next; the wool of the black sheep
shall be whittier then snow"
Followed a startling sign which had
evidently been prepared by some
white friend of the Lodge:
EMANCIPATION II o = A G A
TION!' it challenges in vivid black
capitals.
Ladies of Virtues and Mites of De-
spare was the equivocal pronounce
ment of the following placard.
Beware of Fario's Army" warned
another, and at the end, his bare legs
dangling from the rear of a single
wagon, tagging like a poor relation
to the skirts of opulence and display,
small boy waved frantically a pole
on which a cheese-cloth device por-
trayed this prophetic denoument:
"HE EATETH THE PHILIPPIANS
WITH A TUNG OF FIRE"
Truly it was a gorgeous pageant.
One felt a town pride in tde lodge
no matter how mysterious it's power
or how sharply it may have fixed its
talons in the labor situation among
the cooks Prouder than any was l
in the particular cook of this narra-
ton. She was a symphony in blacks
and purples as became the dignity OF
her position and her girth. On her