"Dis meetin' will please come to ordah," he announced; "is you-all ready fo' de question?" "W' are question, Bruddah Morrow?" called out a brother in the rear seats. "Bruddah Carroll, you is out of ordah. Whenst I git in dis cheer an take dis gabble,"--he extended the hatchet used, before its promotion, to chop kindling,--"take notice, I is de _Cheer_; you-all is to 'dress me as 'Mist' Cheerman.' You is axin' 'bout de question: de question is, Shall Sist' Esmereldy Humphreys continner to usu'p de rights of we-alls pastor? Ain't dat the onderstandin' of dis here awjence?" Signs of approval and assent came from the audience. The chairman, rising, took the attitude of the white speaker whom he had admired most at the convention, plunging one hand into the bosom of his coat--buttoned for that purpose--and gazing solemnly about him. All the colored population of the country-side were proud of the school-house, which was painted a neat lead color as to wood-work and brown as to walls; with red lettering done by a member who had followed the painter's trade (although not very far), declaring piously on the west wall, "The Lord will provide," and politely requesting on the east wall, "Please do not spit on the floor." A stately blackboard behind the teacher's desk showed her excellent moral sentiments and penmanship. There was no carpet on the floor, but it was clean and the windows glistened. "Dis yere school-house, dis yere chu'ch-house, are a credit to de cullud ladies an' gen'l'men of Zion Baptis' Chu'ch," declaimed Brother Morrow, sonorously, "an' we-all had orter have a pastor who w'u'd--we'd correspond. I ain't sayin' one word of disparaguement of our late deseased pastor. He be'n a good, pious man" ("Amen!" from two half-grown lads in the rear), "but he had a terrible sight of losses an' troubles, losin' all of his chillen like he done; an' him sick such a spell befo' de Lawd called him f'om grace to glory. Mabbe he didn't be'n eloquent like the supply we had, but Elder W'ite had nare right to git Sist' Lucy Tompkins to run 'way wid 'im, f'om 'er good, kin', respectable husban'" (a little crumpled, elderly negro raised his head with an air of modest pride), "an' he done borry two dollars an' fifty cents of de cheer dat I don't expec' nothin' of ontwel de jedgment day! So w'en our pastor passed away we'all was like sheep outen a shepherd; an' we'en Sist' Humphreys done offah to keep de' chu'ch-house clean an' cyah on de services of Zion, an' make no cha'ges, we-all acceptid." "Mist' Cheerman,"--a grizzled negro in decent black held up a finger,--"Mist' Cheerman, was hit Sist' Humphreys keep dis 'ouse dis away?" "Yes, Bruddah Moore; she are a right good scrubber," admitted the chairman, while the congregation stared at the speaker, the richest colored man in the county, who had moved into the neighborhood recently, this being his first appearance in Zion.