for his dinner. The building was left to the blacks. Without
premeditation, those present had dropped into one of those "meetings"
which white men of that region never encourage.

"Dey brung us heah in chains, O Lord!" shouted the orator. "Yea, in
chains dey done weigh us down! O Lord, make us delivery. O Lord,
smite down ouah oppressohs."

"Lord! Lord! yea, O Lord, smite down!" responded the ready chorus.
And there were sobs and strange savage gutterals which no white ear
may ever fully understand. The white listener on the station platform
understood enough, and his eager face grew tense and grave. A meeting
of the blacks, thus bold at such a time, meant nothing but danger,
perhaps danger immediate and most serious.

The wild chant rose and fell in a sudden gust, and then the voice
went on. "De time is heah; I seen it in a dream, I seen it in a
vision f'om de Lord. De Lord done tell it to de Queen, and done say
ter me, 'Rise, rise and slay mightily. Take de land o' de oppressoh,
take his women away f'om him an' lay de oppressoh in de dus'! Cease
dy labors, Gideon, cease an' take dy rest! Enter into de lan', O
Gideon, an' take it foh dyself! O, Lord, give us de arm of de
Avengeh. I seen it, I seen it on de sky! I done seen it foh yeahs,
an' now I seen it plain! De moon have it writ on her face las' night,
de birds sing it in de trees, de chicken act it in his talk dis vehy
mawnin'. De dog he howl it out las' night. De sun he show it plain
dis vehy day. De trees say it, now weeks an' weeks. All de worl' say
to nigger now, jes' like he heah it fifty yeah ago, jes' like he heah
it in de wah we made--'De Time, de Time!' I heah it in my ears. I
kain't heah nuthin' else but dat--'De Time, de Time am heah!' Nuthin'