666 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



neglects his family relations in his songs, and seldom considers his 

 " spiritynl " finished until he has mentioned his father and mother 

 and sister and brother, and his preacher. 



A beautiful custom prevails among them of sending messages 

 by the dying to friends gone before into heaven. "When a woman 

 dies some friend or relative will kneel down and sing to the soul as 

 it takes its flight. This song contains endless verses, conveying 

 love and kisses to Aunt Fannie and Uncle Caesar and " Moss Jesus." 

 AVith omissions it is used upon other occasions with fine effect. 



RIDE ON, JESUS. 



Chorus. 



1 T- 



"want to 



to Heaven 



de morn - in'. 1. 



my mnd - der, 



i 



f?5ir 



m 



-^, H 



:iC 



_1: 



^ 





Oh, yes! Tell lier for me, 



Oh 



—-■X 



yes! Hide my lioss in 



de 



bat-tie ob de field, I want to go to Heaven in 



Old Mary, who sang this, was a nurse in our family. She, like 

 most negroes, had no idea how old she really was. She never 

 worried, though the heavens should fall, and this ignorance as to 

 when their birthdays rolled round may account for their longer 

 lives here and in Africa, and for their not showing their age. She 

 found great difficulty in arranging her religion to suit her morals, 

 and once, in my childish innocence, I remonstrated with her for 

 getting " baptisted " so many times, and she exclaimed indignantly: 

 " I's a Methodist wid a Baptist faith. I gits baptisted ebery sum- 

 mer when de water am rale warm, and I gits turned out ebery win- 

 ter fur dancin' and stcalin', and you ■would too, child, ef you was 

 a nigger." 



A few days ago I asked one of the most scholarly and noted 

 ministers of the colored race, who was visiting in New York, about 

 the negro music. lie is very black, and his parents were pure 

 Africans. lie said that undoubtedlv the tunes came directlv from 



