Columbia phoenix. (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1865, May 10, 1865, Image 3
Charleston-Burial of Slavery..
" Mdilor Columbia JPhohix--DEAR KIP: I en?
doso, you a scribblement, or hasty parody,
wbjfirW? amused myself with writing, instead of
going to church, yesterday. 1 ought to r.polo
C gis? for' sending yon such a scrawl, and sub
' mlttiog BO crude nn attempt to your critical
^. eve; out I know that your indulgence will
temper your judgment; while, otherwise, I
coald neither spoil the paper nor make the
exertion required to correct aud copy it over.
I place it at your mercy and disposal. Yours,
w ith true respect and regard, NV. II. 8;
The celebration of "The Burial of Shivery,"
which lately came off in Charleston, aud of
which a long and rather lumbering account is
given, in the columns of the Courier, was an
atiibitious^but, as it appears to us, abortive at?
tempt to unite the solemn and the showy, or to
invest a ep?cics of Timbucioo or g ic with the
character of civilized celebration; while it was
otherwise a blunder that certainly partook
somewhat of the ridiculous-to convert what
woe intended as triumph into a funeral cere?
mony'! The transparency, however",' exhibited
on the occasion, in which Cliffy and Dinah,
drawn to thc life, and iu appropriate attitudes
and costumes, byan artist, who seemed to have
dipped hie brush in Day's choicest blacking,
was a performance not Undeserving of the ap?
plause with which it was greeted, and formed
a caution, as the Yankees phrase it, to the
long-staring and rather mystified beholders. In
this not ill-executed sketch, which was ostenta?
tiously suspended over the speaking stand,
from which the apostle of negro liberty, (now
the dearest cause of humanity,) Parson Beecher,
addressed his many colored audience-Cully
was represented in the striking attitude ol
hurling his hoe into a bush, und looking defi?
antly at his former master, from whose mouth
proceeds a, label, with tho following words, so
largely printed on. it ns to ba legible to the
whole crowd: "The Almighty labored six days,
says the Bible; what is the hardship of your
doing the samt?-' On another scroll or label,
the conclusive answer of Cully is given: "I is
free, aud 1 isn't God Amighty." Dinah w;is
drawn in an equally significant attitude
namely, with ber anns folded, and lier mop
and broom stacked by her tide, and a luce and
top-knotted liberty-cap perched on herriked
tip woo!, with a guy and jaunty air, which in?
dicated, by a sly satiric touch of the painter's
brush, that site was much more pleased with it
?.a piece of holiday-finery tiian as an emblem
of freedom, or evidence o! the high and pre?
cious privileges which i-he had acquired and
l>een oo worthily endowed with. Tho following
;>csountof the grand precession, abridged from
?ie more partit-.--?ai* de tiri ts o? ttl trCourier, may
prove amusing lo such of your readers as have
not seen the original, vt- w hick but a few copies
i;uve aa yet reached tho city:
TUE PfiOCESS?Oy.
The various black guilds of the city, cons'st- !
iuj of the tailors, bricklayer.--, scissors grind -
ere, ?ic, having assembled at 10 o'clock, before
tiie headquarters of Gsn. Foster, were soon
tunned into order or organized as ?i proces?
sion, by tho mounted marshals and other mas?
ters bf the ceremonies-for-masters of some
kind were found necessary, or could not wei! be
? ii-*pensed willi on the occasion. At thc ap
jvoiuted hour, with drums beating, emblems and |
Mags flying, and the usu il cortege of beys, dogs |
and roiling clouds of cunt, the pi oeession moved 1
off, with measured tread, nud at first** with j
. tolerable regularity, along- Boundary or Cal- |
houn utreot, preoenting un imposing spectacle I
If the eye of the philanthropist, and an evi i
dence of the progress of tho ancWJie difYu- |
sion of lree principles-among Which the
making free with the property' o? others, when- j
aver this may be <:...;.:::-,:d necessary by the i
friendo of mankind for the promotion of these |
principles, may be considered as the most im?
portant, ns it ?9 unquestionably t'ne moet popu?
lar or greatly in voguo with those w'ho have
nothing to lose and everything to gain by the
doctrine and the practice nuder it. But to
proceed witli th? jirocessioi, which, though not
set off by thc coideur dc roue hues of a Parisian
champ de mai, or redolent of the odeur de roue
breathings of the Goddess of Beauty, formen1,
with the train of black charmers by which it
was graced, attended a truly belle asuembhe,
that exhibited an equal variety of complexion
and costume-tlie hitter consisting of the cast?
off and not always welt fitting garments which
the gcnnneii of the fete bad supplied themselves
with from the wardrobes of their late musters;
while thc ladies, more simple in their tastes,
figured generally in those sweeping white
dresses, for which, though they give to every
damsel thus arrayed the appearance- of a fly in
milk, or jackdaw on a snowy morning, are
strangely preferred or mach affected by the
whole race, of whatever color or shade oft
color^they may happen to be. The procession
having entered King street, that now fashion?
able promenade, where the Yankee beau and
African belle miry be daily seen, in trifling or
in tender talk; or yet in dashing hack and
mule-drawn buggy, taking more airs to them-,
selves than they are enabled to draw or breathe
amidst the mist and clouds of dust in which
they "live, and move, and have their being."
On arriving at the corner of Broad and King
streets, some disturbance aud confusion ?rose
nt the head or in the front rank of the proces?
sion, through some dispute about precedency
among its black and brown leaders, who had
been assigned equal positions and commands
by their Yankee friends, who were not suffi?
ciently aware of tlie feud existing between the
two colors, or that a pre-eminence was claimed
by those having white blood in their vein6 0ver
! those de.-cended fro n the sable Eve of the race,
who ducms to have been of n more frail and
Magdelenic character than her white sister,
who, at the South, at least, has left none to rise
up and reproach lier either with the legitimacy
or illegitimacy of their births. This point of
?tiquette, which cither of the offended gentle?
men would have prompt ly and politely yielded
on' the field of hattie, was mot, however, to
be so easily waived wlrere, though no blood
i was to be shed, ils claims and dignity were to
! be asserted and preserved or firmly upheld.
[The parties, therefore, were not so easily ap
! pea-td, atid a regular svt too or hutting match
i (a favorite mode of fighting with this certainly
j strong-headed, if not over strong-minded, mee)
would have ensued, had not the marshals and
other oi?ieials interposed and temporarily com?
pounded the quarrel, by which, however, the
cavalcade wits left in a rather decapitated con?
dition for the rest ofjtfbe day. ft nevertheless
! resumed ?ts march,.-a>:d, though now rapidly
falling into disorder, and appearing to have
business on both si.les of the street, continued lo
make for the distant btmrne nf-South L>ay, where
it eventually arrived with scarce'-y a corporal's
guard, ar a sufficient iiumher to form a decent
audience around Parson Beecher, dfiio, seated
solitarily aud alone under the transparency,
and nervously twitching his ii;igers, impatiently
awaited their arrival. BUL though .thia rem?
nant of a once gallant band at length reached
the ground, and listened with decent attention
to the parson as lo.'g as they could keep awake
to the species ofaerinonic oration which he had
prepared tor their satisfaction, few were exactly
m a condition or qualified to comprehend or
appreciate the merits of this de ommiLus rebus
diatribe-having qualified a little too often on
the wsy-to take anything more of ar. intoxicat?
ing kind than what they hud already brought
with them ia their beads, between whian anet
their feet there was not that understanding or
concertof action th at.-had so happily" ciisted
in the earlier part of the day, when the latter
submitted to tlie directions o: the former with
such mechanical at*d ni-ofeiaional precision.
Thus ended the first lesson-the .whfde affair
terminating in a i ai Tu re -sud 3:ibel like confu?
sion, p rescaling a sn tu r talia or drunken frater?
nization between Yankees and negroes, never
before exhibited to the world,-and forming '? n
reproach to a civilized community and a dis- .
grace to the eountry. . t
We have prepared, Mr. Editor, a brief 03
compendious repoit of Parson Bro vrilow's ora?
tion, delivered on thc above occasion, which wc
may, perhaps, prepare for another number of
the Phoenix.
??ocal Items.
The offi?e of the Columbia Phcejiix is on
Gates street, 6ccond door from Plain.
Zealy <fe Scott offer gn at inducements at.
their eale to day. Persons in want of house?
hold articles will do well to attend the sa-le.
See advertisement.
We are indebted to Messrs. Morrow and
Wadlow for copies of the Charleston Courier
of-the 4th, and the New York Htrdli, of thc
1st-from which we shall publish copious ex?
tracts in our next.
THE COLUMRIA PHOENIX.-Our paper is now
the only daily paper published in the whole
State. There are probably not more than eight- j
journals of any sort issued within the limits
South Gaiolina. Our readers will have seen
that.wc are gradually effecting improvements
in our little sheet. They may take for granted
that we will continue still to improve as fastas*
opportunity will allow. But it is the day of
small things, and we cannot move by will, but
as the winds will. In a little while, it is our
hope to enlarge our sheet, anc^-afford. more
variety, and exhibit more elaboiate results.
Our difficulty lies chiefly in the article,cf
paper. This, in the present condition of our
mills, is not to be obtained,.either in such quan?
tity or such quality :;-> we desire. But, let oin*
pleasant public wait upon us. We trust that,
we have shown already, from our first ?letty
beginning, that we havo the will, and qeed
only thc means,*to expand the wings of our
Phoenix, and 'to exult her flight, so that nenit
shf.ll fail to be gladdened by her ascent into :?.
clearer euiilfghi and over a wider provine*.
W OBITUARY."
Died, at Bamberg, S. C., on nih Mareh, 1805.
of pneumonia, Mrs. ESTtfKR ANN ROACH,
relict of the late Edward Roach, (Treuerer of
the city of Charleston,) r.gcd sixty year.-;.
lt.-. A--. M.\
A RECULAR commun?eatio?: of Co
- -,'lrlmljrn Chapter No. 5, will beheld attae
/Wiall ic t??e College [Campus, THIS AF?
TERNOON, at 4 o'alock. By order:
may 16 -1_J. MEN LE L. Secretary.
BARTER! BARTER!
^r^nE highest pri?e will be paid in CASH or
JL .fine BACON, for dry COW or CALF
HIDES, at the Shades, located between the new
l?tate House and tho Washington Iiotel, by
may 8 fig TURNER ? McKENNA.
A Young Lady,
TX7 HO is capable of teaching; thc English
V T Branches and Mathematics, desires a
SITUATION ns TEACHER, either ia a small'
school or private family. Coed reference;-1,
given, if required. Add res "h. B. B," i.exing
ton C. H., S. C. Anrii '/C sw-!*