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46 SLAVE PLEACHING.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
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woman , with an Egyptian cast of countenance , said , "If Mr . P . had not ened the church I should myself this morning " , I came
op down and should have done it . " Then they talked together , and the old sibyl abused the white minister who had sent the Mississippi
thief to them , but the Memnonic woman said , " It never does wro ? ig to see the riht" and begun to excuse him . The sibyl replied"Why
g , doesn't he follow his own preaching , and do to others as he would they should do to him ? "
It was a glorious bit of drama , and I was enchanted with the officer of police and the protection shown to these poor slaves .
Every one who came in shook hands with Mm and with me , but the minister did not arrive , so I came away , promising to go back at
three in the afternoon . As I was walking down to ihe church at that hourI felt a familiar tap on the shoulder , and hearing " Good
, afternoon , madam , " I turned round and shook hands with my police friend of the morning . He told me Benjamin , the minister whom
the congregation had bought , was going to preach , so in I went ; he set a chair for me right in the middle of the church , opposite the
pulpit , which I declined and sat on a bench . The church was crammed as full as it could hold , with about an equal number of
men and women . The men were all well dressed , and looked healthy and peaceful if not happy . A certain pathetic expression of
resignation was the prevailing expression , which changed to radiant merriment tlie instant any occasion was presented . The women
were handsomely dressed , some of the young ones in fine bonnets , but the greater part had their heads covered with the regular negro
handkerchief of red or yellow , and a very picturesque and impressive congregation they made .
After some hymns and a short prayer , Benjamin "began his sermon from a text in Johndescribing the love and justice of Christ .
, Benjamin is , I should think , a pure black man , I could detect no trace of white blood in himbut I am often mistaken . His voice
, is agreeable and his manner good , his age I should guess about twenty-five . He put on a huge pair of white rimmed spectacles ;
I suspect they prevented him from seeing , but he thought they looked reverend . He began to preach in rather a sing-song way
without much that was remarkable , but gradually warmed , until at the end of an hour he became quite eloquent ; it is a fact that I
listened to him for more than an hour and thought it was twenty minutes . It is impossible for me to write down any sentences wliich .
will give you an idea of the impression his sermon made upon me , because so much of that impression came from time , place , the exact
adaptation of his sermon to his hearers , and my rapport at that time with them . Pie said " God had brought them together again ,
how deeply thankful they were , how Christ was waiting for all hearts- —richpoorblack , white , he wanted all . Come , com © at
, , once , before Christ there is no slave nor free , Christ is just . When
I say free , I do not speak of freedom here below in the body , I do
46 Slave Pleaching.
46 SLAVE _PLEACHING .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1860, page 46, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031860/page/46/
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