THE JOLLY SLAVES. 349 



platform on which a speaker stood to address the enlight 

 ened men of freedom in the body of the hall, at a table to 

 hold their music-books sat a numerically-sufficient band, 

 of course accompanied by that bully of all rurally-played 

 instruments, the big drum. This band was piano even 

 to entire silence, or forte to the effect of drowning any 

 other noise, precisely as the majority of the mob in 

 the body of the building~assembled called out to " Hear 

 him," or " Music." I can assure my readers, that this 

 excessively effective and recherche method cut short every 

 "sad tale, saddening because 'twas doubly long," and 

 rendered useless the adoption by our, in this instance, 

 more refined transatlantic brethren of the horribly vulgar 

 noises, caterwauling, cocker owing, and " oh ! ohs ! " with 

 which the members of the English House of Commons 

 seek to put down tedious speakers. I had not an oppor 

 tunity of addressing the Americans on this platform, or I 

 should certainly have complimented them on having 

 whipped the mother country by chalks in this harmonious 

 method of obtaining silence. 



In our way back to St Joseph, in passing a bevy of 

 coloured men (slaves), the mayor said, " Now you shall 

 see the men who really enjoy themselves ; they are on 

 holiday to-day." Thus saying, he pulled up, and, ad 

 dressing the blacks, asked them who could " pat " I think 

 he called it, as an accompaniment to a dance and song. 

 For some time these men of colour were bashful, but, at 

 last, a woolly-headed really free man if freedom from all 

 care of self-maintenance constitutes it commenced pat 

 ting his thighs, singing, and dancing ; when this being too 

 much for his brother blacks, in a short time they were 

 worked up to the blithest pitch of merriment and activi 

 ty ; and when we had seen enough of it, the mayor tossed 



