Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/432

Rh overflowing, and the congregation sang their own hymns. The singing ascended and poured forth like a melodious torrent; and the heads, feet, and elbows of the congregation moved all in unison with it, amid evident enchantment and delight in the singing, which was in itself exquisitely pure and full of melodious life.

The hymns and psalms which the negroes have themselves composed, have a peculiar, naïve character, child-like, full of imagery and life. Here is a specimen of one of their popular church hymns.

After the singing of the hymns, which was not led by any organ or musical instrument whatever, but which arose like burning melodious sighs from the breasts of the congregation, the preacher mounted the pulpit. He was a very black negro, young, with a very retreating forehead, and the lower portion of the countenance