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Notes From The Journal Of "A Massachusetts Clergyman."

Notes From The Journal Of "A Massachusetts Clergyman." image
Parent Issue
Day
12
Month
May
Year
1845
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

KiciiMOND, Va. March 22, 1845. Sobbath morning. My friend, Mr. R , callcd early tliis morning, tb inform me that he had applicd to the atitliorities and obtnined permission for me to attcno churcli to-day in Ihefirst colored Baptist Gburchtbe largest congreg-ation of coiored peopie in the city.- The )aw rcquirea that there shnl) be no meotng of iho coiored peopie, unless there are five white persons present, who are nppointed for lint purpose. The congregotion was Urge, jerhnps Iweïve hunrlred in the house, and five more nbout ihe Windows and doors, who ould r.ot rain ncccpss-. The congregation was very ordorly, and sccmed remarkably iQppy. 1 fe!t o degree of a disappointment at their apparent contentment and appearhnce,for all were wcll ciad and cleanly. While seatcd in the pulpit and looking over the vast congregotion, so apparcntly happy, I feil a sensation of pleasure in my heart, to know hat the poor bondmen conld have some priv lege?, biit this eensation was of short.duraion, as 1 recngnized onc who appeared to be one of the most devout wörsbippers, a man vhom I liad but a day or two befure 6cen fastenpd to the whipping post, and forty and one ashes lak] on the bare back, for on offcnze nol worth naniing! And yet he seemed to be one of the most devout and happy vhile I knew that his back must have been at that time very sore. Never until tliis morning 1 a ware that so largoa proporion of the slave populación are while - scarcey one that is not more or less white - many as wlme as most white persons. So white were they thnt my friend. Mr. Gougli, the temperance lecturer, who was with me in the pulpit, declared thnl they must be while- and yel they are slaves for life, and their poaterity oftcr tiiem!In the V. M. attended another colored churcli; the congregation anpeared like the one in ihe morning. On inkitig my sent lobserved a yónng lady in the congrfgalion who at once, from her appenrance, attracted my atlentios. She was perhaps twenty-five- white. A very intelligent look - her long blaclc hair bung in beantiful ringlets over her shouJders. Without exaggeration F think her tlie handsomest female I have peen for mnny months3. Can it bc, ihought Ty that this beautiful creature is a elavc7 I asked Ihe cler- grenen, who was eiuingby my side, if she was colored; his reply was "yes, and tliat ihe was a slave anda membpr of his chureh." He added 'That he had often thonght of her, ns f;he was sn good a girl - intpliigent and handsotne. It was wrong, for her to be a slave." From what my eyes have peen to day I judge that llcentiovsncs must be in Flrgin ia ahnost universal. In Ballimore ond Maryland, t',e slaves are niuch darker than in Richmond and Virginia. A startling fací for the chrisiian and muralista That the glave are not bo contented and happy as they appear to be, I judge from tbe fact lliat so many are soconstnnily running away - and the fact that the populace general!y go armed. And 1 saw myself weaponsof

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Subjects
Old News
Signal of Liberty