African Americans -- Fiction; Southern States -- Fiction
The occasion of your correspondent's visit was the marriage of the
Major's only daughter, Beauregarde Forrest, to Mirabeau Lamar Temple, of
Dallas, Texas. The bride, a petite brunette of great beauty, entered
life eighteen years ago, inheriting her mother's name, but by the act of
the Georgia Legislature this was changed in honor of the two heroes of
the Confederacy dear to the heart of her illustrious father. The groom
bears the name of two Georgia families long ago transplated to the Lone
Star State and is an attorney of great promise.
The wedding supper was charming in its simplicity and homeliness, using
the word in its original sense. The broad back porch between the two
wings was closed in with smilax and the feast was spread on a great
home-made table twenty feet in diameter. Seats were placed for forty.
Such a display of delicacies and substantials has not been seen in this
section since the good old days before the war. The low growing ferns
and cut-flowers of the decorations--there by the hundreds--did not hide
the guests' smiling faces. Wine, the famous scuppernong of the Major's
own vintage, was the only stimulant visible, for the Major and his good
lady are almost total abstainers. When the guests were seated a grace
was pronounced by the Rev. Mr. Thigpen, and fun and merriment broke
loose. Toast after toast was given and sentiment and the poets were
interspersed with songs from the family negroes assembled in the
backyard by a gigantic bonfire. Some of the songs were of exquisite
harmony and pathos. Freedom, so far, had brought but little of
brightness into the lives of these humble people.
A dramatic situation that will one day enter into a story, came during
the supper festivities. A sudden excitement among the negroes was
followed by cries, some of merriment and some of fear, and by a stampede
of the juniors. In the red light of the bonfire an old negro suddenly
appeared, reining up a splendid grey horse. The old man was seated in a
red-wheeled road cart, enveloped in a flopping linen duster, and wore a
silk hat. His "Whoa, Chainlightning!" resounded all over the place. Then
he stood up and began to shout about Moses and the Hebrew children being
led out of Egypt into the promised land. Major Tommey listened for a
brief instant and rushed out. The newcomer met him with an equal rush
and their loud greetings floated back to us clear as the notes of a
plantation bell: "Eneas, you black rascal, where have you been?"
"O! Lord, Marse George! Glory be ter God! Out o' de wilderness! De
projeckin' son am back ergin!"
"It's Eneas!" screamed the little bride, gathering up her skirts and
rushing out. In the strong light, as the wedding party hurriedly
followed, we could see the old negro hanging to his master as he filled
the night with his weird cries. Catching the excitement, the negroes
around began to moan and chant, taking their text from the old man's
words.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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