•I?f39] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



731 



land on tho margins by throwing over them and 

 leaving ihe earth which had been suspended in the 

 water. The aediment being derived trom the bot- 

 tom of the tai<e, is doubtless composed principally 

 of such parth as ibrnis the stifi' subsoil of the 

 Kwamp lands. Tiie earth most recently deposited 

 t'hns by the water has a singular appearance, and 

 shows that the earth must have very peculiar tex- 

 ture and qualities. The fine and fluid mud left in 

 the hollows of the ground behind ihe brush-bars, 

 after sufficient exposure to dry weather, hardens 

 and cracks, and separates by contraction into nu- 

 merous pieces of a i'ew inches across. When 

 these pieces are not more than a quarter of an inch 

 thick, they will become curved or curled by the 

 further drying, and in color, shape, and almost in 

 hardness, seem much more like a piece of old 

 shoe-sole, or some other piece of long exposed 

 leaiher, than earth or soil. After being again 

 wetted by exposure to steady rain for 24 hours, I 

 found these pieces to be softened, and made flex- 

 ible and somewhat elastic ; but they had not lost 

 any thing by the washing of the rain, and har- 

 dened as before, by drying. This same earth is 

 (bund in small pieces, like angular gravel, on the 

 surface and throughout the upper soil of the 

 lands recently brought under cultivation. 



No. 8. 



7%e negroes'' chapel and religious services. A short 

 lay sermon to the clergy. 



Somerset Place, Nov. 26. 



If my notes were other than agricultural, or on 

 such matters only as are in some degree connected 

 with agriculture, and if it were ever allowable to 

 speak thus publicly of the private scenes and social 

 habits to which confiding and frank hospitality 

 had afforded free access, I might mention many 

 more subjects presented in the mansion of my host, 

 and the circle of his family and visiters, in strong 

 contrast to the savage wildness of the natural 

 locality, or to the general absence of intelligence 

 and refinement in the surrounding population. 

 Far be it from me to treat of such matters, even 

 though nothing should be uttered but in commen- 

 dation. But there was one subject of observation 

 which may be made a proper exception to the 

 foregoing rule of conduct, and which offers a les- 

 son of wordly policy, as well as on duties of im- 

 measurably higher importance, to the agriculturists 

 and slave-holders of the south. 



On Sunday, the family and visiters designed to 

 attend the performance of the customary public 

 worship at the old neighborhood chapel a i'ew 

 miles without the swamp. But just before the 

 time to set out, rain began to tail, and going 

 abroad was thus prevented. It was therefore that 

 I was invited to attend with the family the service 

 in the negroes' chapel, which Mr. Collins has 

 erected for the use of his slai^es. A clergyman of 

 the episcopal church resides here, principally for 

 the purpose of imparting religious instruction to 

 the slaves, but who also officiates at the church in 

 the neighborhood. 



The negroes' chapel is a rude and rustic, but 

 neat building, white-washed without and within, 

 and provided comfortably, but in the plainest style, 



with the accommodations necessary for the congre- 

 gation, and for its sacred purpose. There is room 

 lor 200 persons, and I was told that sonietimes it 

 is filled. But at this forenoon service, the house 

 was not half filled, though the number still was ae 

 large as country congregations usually are. There 

 was loo about the customary proportion of females 

 to the males present, or about thrice as many of 

 the former as of the latter. This alone would 

 have told, if I had not been soinlbrmed otherwise, 

 that the attendance of theslaves is altogether volun- 

 tary. Everything is done to invite and persuade, 

 but nothing to compel their attendance. One 

 means, and I should think the most efficient, is 

 that the master and his family regularly make 

 part of the congregation, when not at the more 

 public chapel, and they participate fully in the ser- 

 vices, and acts of worship. 



The clergyman being engaged abroad, as al- 

 ways at the forenoon service, his place was sup- 

 plied by another member of the family, who is 

 licensed as a lay reader, and is also a candidate 

 for the ministry. The service was according to 

 the episcopal form ; and never on any other occa- 

 sion has it appeared to me more impressive. 



In the evening, the congregation again assem- 

 bled for a still more solemn service. The black au- 

 dience was much larger than before, but still com- 

 posed only of slaves belonging to this and the ad- 

 joining farm. The bishop of North Carolina, 

 was a visiter of the family, and his presence, 1 

 presume, had induced this appointment for ad- 

 ministering the sacrament. He was present in 

 his episcopal robes, and after the ordinary service, 

 performed by the resident clergyman, the bishop 

 delivered an address on the service about to be per- 

 formed, equally and admirably suited to the dignity 

 of the subject, and to the humble powers of com- 

 prehension of the greaternumber of his hearers. 

 The officiating priest then adminislered the sacra- 

 ment to all thecommunicants present, includingthe 

 bishop, the master and several of his family, and 

 about thirty of the slaves. 



It was the first time that I had ever been an 

 attentive witness to the perlbrraanee of this sol- 

 emn ceremony; of course I am allogether un- 

 worthy to appreciate it, and unfitted even to de- 

 scribe it. But never have I elsewhere been eo 

 strongly impressed by any religious service, or by 

 any pulpit eloquence, as by the unostentatious cere- 

 monial of this humble house of worship. Nor have 

 I ever before had so forcibly urged upon my un- 

 derstanding and sense of duty, what we owe for 

 affording the means of religious instruction to our 

 slaves, and the high importance, and the excellent 

 effects as here proved, of such instruction. 



Why is it that, by the many vvho have under- 

 taken the sacred duties of preaching the gospel, and 

 laboring for the salvation of souls, so few and such 

 feeble efforts have been made to give religious in- 

 struction to our slaves 1 The excuse which I have 

 heard made, in answer to this question, is, that the 

 owners of slaves might probably view any such 

 efforts with suspicion, or perhaps meet them vviih 

 hostility. As a slave-holder, and one prolesssing 

 to know something of my fellow slave-holders, I 

 pronounce that there is no ground for such an opi- 

 nion, or excuse. The assertion of the existence 

 of any such general or considerable opposition, 

 shows either gross ignorance, or otherwise is a 

 foul slander, for which there ie not a semblance of 



