Negro Camp-meeting In Virginia

A correspondent ot' the New York Gnijihic writes from " Wesley Grove," London, Va., August 18, as follows : A glimmer oí' white tents iu a foro.tt tangle of green, faint sound of voic.e.s, irupatient neigh of horses, chirp of birds and insects, and the oamp is rcached. The tents fiaie wide open upon narro wstreets, all faciiig the rough-hown pulpit structure where the exhortéis sit, umi where, penned in, thu mourners kneel, awaiting the coming of the spirit. The ovening ilushes the sky ; bita of rosy reflections glow betwoen tree boughs ; the shadows ltiiigtheu, and quickly little lires spring iuto dancing lite in front of tho tents. Upon tall pyres, fit for llindoo sacrifioe, groat baniibrs of rlamo wave against the background of dark hemlocks. Littlichildren laugh and cry themselvea to sleep. All is silent. The souud of a horn is heard ; its echoings Btartlc the wood bird, and he rlies, scruaining, into doeper recesses. At the ruda desk tho preachers gravoly range thomselvos ; bi.'fore them, sitting and kneeling, are row upon rows of people, and beyond the white, uptuincd faces that glow with t strange lurid light a margin of black ones gloom, broken by vivid ñashes of teetli and wide-opened oyes. A strango scène as if the real were transforined into unsubstantial dream-figmcs. Light is a powerful wizard. There ia a prayer. The petitioner is tall aud attenuated : his gestures are the niovements of a luisshapen leafless tree, beuten by the tempest; his tones aie swift and discordant, and through the over-hanging shadows his eyes burn with hectic riery denunciations, uncouth appeals, all interrupted by wild shouts of "üloiy! glory ! hallelujuh ! Save me, Lord ! Come Jehovah !" The woods ring. Kverybody is awake. They sing. How their Iung8 expand in the great forest, and the rudo liyinn only dies away for want of human breath ! Prayers, hymns improvised, weird melodies, while sobs, piteous cries for mercy, go up from the crowded inouruers' bench. The negrocs break iu with shrill, vibrating cries. Their flerce tropical natures rush tiercely into spiritual battle. Now a womau spüngs from her knees. Wildly she casts off her bonnet, and flings loose her long black hair. Kestraint is uubearable ; she struggles to rend the fleshy robe of siu. The swaying crowd sing, they pray ; they shout again : " Hallelujah ! Another sinner saved !" Aud the woman rocks, sways, trembles, and wildly clasps those praying near her. The spirit wrestles with her. All pray. The shouts increase ; the sobs and cries grow intense and incoherent. Suddenly, piercing through the strainod voices, is the woman's cry of triumph, " Thank God ! I'm saved ! I'ni saved !" She fainU and falls, and the groat triumphal note is taken up by an hundred Ups and cleaves the aisles of the far-stretching, night-bound wood. One battle won. One soul saved lor aye - or else a strange, mad farce, to make the angels weep iu heaven. The night died out, and the next morning dawned under a ragged roof of olouds. Before noon the camp was a fearfully bedraggled place. We gathered in a large tent until we were more crowded than two broods of chickens under one motherly hen. Babies spra wied under feet. It was a mistake when some one sent down to posterity that a " cat" was the animal that possessed " nine lives." It is a baby. "'TÍ8 an ill wind that blows nobody good." Under a primitiva roof opposite sat a youth aud maiden of some sumrners, and the "ill wind" would trille with the wrapping that protected her buxom iorm. But, with natural American gallantry, the youth preseutly prossed the shawl about the shivering neck. Close, closer, closest. O, he had not been to school for nothing, and comparison in thi8 case was uot iu the least odious. However much camp meetings may have altered their character in the Northern States, and have degenerated into mere pleasure excursions- which is about what Ocean Grove, Sea Cliff and Martha's Vineyard amouut to- in the South the meetings retain all their religious character. The South was always more orthodox than the North, and does not so quickly take to new ways. We notice, too, that in the camp meeting above described there is no distinction of color, and that the negro is welcome to his share of salvation with his white brother. It is a good sign for the South thftt such a feeling prevails.