The Colorado statesman., 1912-04-27
A NEGRO WEDDING.


pings taken from the newspapers of
1856, the account of a negro wedding.
the description of a negro funeral and
a breakdown:
June "a, 1861 send you herein
the originals of three invitations to a
negro wedding which is to take place
on the 27th. The envelopes are In the
best style Of De La Nue C Co., open
work embossed, and of the finest tex
ture. They inclose an embossed card,
inscribed thus:
Mr.. and Mrs. Taylor will be pleas
ed to see you on Wednesday evening,
June 27. at 500 o'clock.
MARIA JOHNSON,
adam HAWKINS.
"The superscription is as follows:
Mr.. Charles Jackson and lady pres
ent; the second is to be Mr. Henry
Cassie and lady, present: and the
third is to Mrs. Jane Hawkins. The
notes are written in neat Italian hand
writing and tied with white satin rib
bon, la mode de Paris.
These invitations were all received
by members of my family. Mrs. Haw-
kins is my cook Mrs Jackson is my
laundress, Mrs. Cassie is my file de
Chambre. Thehy are all slaves. and
their husbands are also slaves owned
by some of my neighbors. The happy
bridegroom is related to my colored
, family. They will doubtless have a
happy time of it, and | commend to
Greeley the case of these oppressed
children of Africa. am sorry that
every abolitioinist in the land should
not have the opportunity of one such
wedding.
"A colored man by the name of
Samuel Jefferson, an original deacon
of the Third Colored Baptist church,
was buried yesterday afternoon. A
very large number of his friends fol-
lowed him to the grave We noticed
| in the procession three uniformed fire
| companies, two or three female benev-
olent ASSOCIATIONS. distinguished by
suitable dresses. The Porters' asso-
citation. of which he was a member.
turned out and wore black scarfs and
white rosettes. spectator counted
thirty-fve carriages well-flled, besides
number of other conveyances and
many on horseback following the
hearse. 1t is estimated that between
1000 and $500 negroes were in the
procession.
John Guerrard, a colored fireman,
and a member of engine company No.
5, was also buried yesterday after
| noon. The members of his company
| were in uniform and a large num-
ber of friends following him to the
grave.
I'VE will also add for the informa-
| ton of our northern friends that the
| funeral professions above noticed
were perfectly quiet and orderly. and
everything connected with them was
conducted with the utmost decorum
and propriety."
DESCRIPTION OF DANCE.
"At our own settlement (No. y |
found everything in a high fever of
preparation for the ball. huge boat
had just arrived from the cotton plan
tation at st. Simon laden with the
youth and beauty of that section of
the estate who had been invited to
join the party and the greeting among
| the arrivals and welcomers and the
heaven defying combination of colors
in the gala attire of both surpass all
my powers of description The ball
to which. of course, we went, took
place in the infirmary. AS the room
had fortunately but few occupants,
they were moved to another apart
ment. and without any very tender
consideration, for there was remote,
though visible suffering The dane
ing commenced and was continued. |
have seen Jim Grow, the veritable
James, all the contortions, filings and
kicks and capers you have beguiled
into accepting as indicative of, are
spurious, faint, feeble and impotent.
| in word, pale northern reproductions
of that ineffable black conception. 1t
| is impossible for words to describe the
things these people did with their
bodies, an6 above all with their faces.
the whites of their eyes and the whites
of their teeth and certain outlines
which either rather naturally and by
the grace of heaven, or by the prac-
tice of some peculiar dexterity, they
bring into prominence and most ludi-
crous display.
The languishing elegance of some.
the painstaking laboriousness of
others, above all the feats of certain
enthusiastic banjo players who seem
ed to me to thump his instrument with
every part of his body at once Con-
sidering what the atmosphere was
that we had Inhaled during the ex-