A BIT OF EXPERIENCE.

BY A TALLADEGA STUDENT.

Not long since I was forcibly reminded of the work and worth of the
schools of the American Missionary Association by witnessing the
services in a church. In a room large enough to comfortably seat one
hundred were fully two hundred and fifty, and a large crowd hovering
about the door. There was abundance of singing and praying. The songs
were mostly on the solo and chorus style--not set to music, what we call
plantation or "made-up songs." While singing, the leader adds new words
to suit his fancy and emotional fervor; thus the song often undergoes
several changes of words in the course of a few months, all the time
retaining the same tune. This is what is meant by "made-up songs." Among
those of my people in whom the emotional tide runs high this kind of
singing is _very popular_.

In that meeting, while singing the last part of each song the audience
would rise and turn their backs toward the pulpit. One started the
prayers, but soon the multitude of voices made it impossible to know who
was leading or what was being said. The minister came in late. He slowly
turned the pages of the Bible until he found his text. With a murmuring
voice he read a few verses and began preaching. Moving off slowly, like
an express train, he soon gathered a rapid motion of body and a furious
rattling of words. With head down and the white of his eyes turned
upward he kept up a constant spitting and walking for forty or
forty-five minutes. All the while the hearers responded with thrilling
animation. The sermon over, the singing was started as before for a long