第46章

There is a plain little meeting-house on Barnwell Street (One of the streets of the city of Cleveland.) in which the colored people--or a goodly portion of them--worship on Sundays.The seats are cushionless, and have perpendicular backs.The pulpit is plain white--trimmed with red, it is true, but still a very unostentatious affair for colored people, who are supposed to have a decided weakness for gay hues.Should you escort a lady to this church, and seat yourself beside her, you will infallibly be touched on the shoulder, and politely requested to move to the "gentlemen's side."Gentlemen and ladies are not allowed to sit together in this church.

They are parted remorselessly.It is hard--we may say it is terrible--to be torn asunder in this way, but you have to submit, and of course you had better do so gracefully and pleasantly.

Meeting opens with an old-fashioned hymn, which is very well sung indeed by the congregation.Then the minister reads a hymn, which is sung by the choir on the front seats near the pulpit.Then the minister prays.He hopes no one has been attracted there by idle curiosity--to see or be seen--and you naturally conclude that he is gently hitting you.Another hymn follows the prayer, and then we have the discourse, which certainly has the merit of peculiarity and boldness.The minister's name is Jones.He don't mince matters at all.He talks about the "flames of hell" with a confident fierceness that must be quite refreshing to sinners.

"There's no half-way about this," says he, "no by-paths.

"There are in Cleveland lots of men who go to church regularly, who behave well in meeting, and who pay their bills.

"They ain't Christians though.

"They're gentlemen sinners.

"And whar d'ye spose they'll fetch up?

"I'll tell ye--they'll fetch him up in h--ll, and they'll come up standing too--there's where they'll fetch up.

"Who's my backer?

"Have I got a backer?

"Whar's my backer?

"This is my backer (striking the Bible before him)--the Bible will back me to any amount!"To still further convince his hearers that he was in earnest, he exclaimed, "That's me--that's Jones!"He alluded to Eve in terms of bitter censure.It was natural that Adam should have been mad at her."I shouldn't want a woman that wouldn't mind me, myself," said the speaker.

He directed his attention to dancing, declaring it to be a great sin.Whar there's dancing there's fiddling--whar there's fiddling there's unrighteousness, and unrighteousness is wickedness, and wickedness is sin! That's me--that's Jones."Bosom the speaker invariably called "buzzim," and devil "debil,"with a fearfully strong accent on the "il."1.42.SPIRITS.

Mr.Davenport (One of the afterwards notorious Davenport Brothers.), who has been for some time closely identified with the modern spiritual movement, is in the city with his daughter, who is quite celebrated as a medium.They are accompanied by Mr.Eighme and his daughter, and are holding circles in Hoffman's Block every afternoon and evening.We were present at the circle last evening.Miss Davenport seated herself at a table on which was a tin trumpet, a tambourine, and a guitar.The audience were seated around the room.

The lights were blown out, and the spirit of an eccentric individual, well known to the Davenports, and whom they call George, addressed the audience through the trumpet.He called several of those present by name in a boisterous voice, and dealt several stunning knocks on the table.George has been in the spirit-world some two hundred years.He is a rather rough spirit, and probably run with the machine and "killed for Kyser" when in the flesh.

(Kyser is an extensive New York butcher, and "to kill" [or slaughter] for him has passed into a saying with the roughs, or "bhoys," of New York.To "run with a [fire] machine.") He ordered the seats in the room to be wheeled round so the audience would face the table.He said the people on the front seat must be tied with a rope.The order was misunderstood, the rope being merely drawn before those on the front seat.He reprimanded Mr.Davenport for not understanding the instructions.What he meant was that the rope should be passed around each person on the front seat and then tightly drawn, a man at each end of the seat to hold on to it.This was done, and George expressed himself satisfied.There was no one near the table save the medium.All the rest were behind the rope, and those on the front seat were particularly charged not to let any one pass by them.George said he felt first-rate, and commenced kissing the ladies present.The smack could be distinctly heard, and some of the ladies said the sensation was very natural.For the first time in our eventful life we sighed to be a spirit.We envied George.We did not understand whether the kissing was done through a trumpet.After kissing considerably, and indulging in some playful remarks with a man whose Christian name was Napoleon Bonaparte, and whom George called "Boney," he tied the hands and feet of the medium.He played the guitar and jingled the tambourine, and then dashed them violently on the floor.The candles were lit, and Miss Davenport was securely tied.She could not move her hands.Her feet were bound, and the rope (which was a long one) was fastened to the chair.No person in the room had been near her or had anything to do with tying her.Every person who was in the room will take his or her oath of that.She could hardly have tied herself.We never saw such intricate and thorough tying in our life.The believers present were convinced that George did it.The unbelievers didn't exactly know what to think about it.