Then there was another gray
old negro, but of a different stamp, politic, sage, cautious, yet with
boldness enough, talking about the rights of his race, yet so as not to
provoke his audience; discoursing of the advantage of living under laws,
and the wonders that might ensue, in that very assemblage, if there were
no laws; in the midst of this deep wisdom, turning off the anger of a
half-drunken fellow by a merry retort, a leap in the air, and a negro's
laugh. I was interested--there being a drunken negro ascending the
meeting-house steps, and near him three or four well-dressed and decent
negro wenches--to see the look of scorn and shame and sorrow and painful
sympathy which one of them assumed at this disgrace of her color.
The people here show out their character much more strongly than they do
with us; there was not the quiet, silent, dull decency of our public
assemblages, but mirth, anger, eccentricity,--all manifesting themselves
freely. There were many watermelons for sale, and people burying their
muzzles deep in the juicy flesh of them. There were cider and beer.
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