21. XXI.
GOES ON WITH HIS CHURCH.
Church of St. Vallandigum, June the 10th, 1863.
We hed a blessid and improvin time yisterday.
My little flock staggered in at the usual hour in
the mornin, every man in a heavenly frame uv
mind, hevin bin ingaged all nite in a work uv
mercy, to-wit: a mobbin uv 2 enrollin officers.
One uv em resisted, and they smote him hip and
thigh, even ez Bohash smote Jaheel. (Skriptooral,
wich is nessary, bein in the ministry.) He
wuz left for dead.
We opened servis by singin a hym, wich I writ,
commencin ez follows:
“Shel niggers black this land possess,
And mix with us up here?
O no, my frends, we rayther guess
We 'll never stand that 'ere.
I then held forth from this text: “Whar hev
ye laid him?” I statid that the person I referred
to wuz the marterd Vallandigum, and I, in behaff
uv a outraged Dimokrasy, demanded uv the
tyrant Linkin, “Wher hev yoo laid him?” A
unconvertid individooal sed, “He 's laid him out!”
wich remark cost him a broken head. I went on
to show why our saint hed bin martered. It wuz
becoz he wuz a Dimekrat—becoz he dared to exercise
the rites guaranteed to every American,
exceptin Ablishnists and niggers, uv aboosin the
guverment. Fer this, and nuthin else, wuz he
eggsiled. “My frends,” sez I, drawin myself up
to my full hite, and lookin as much like Fernandywood
ez possible, “I am willin to be marterd.
I denounce this war as unholy, unconstooshnel,
unrighteous, and unmittygated. It is nuthin less
than a invashen uv Dimekratik states, for the sole
purpus uv freein niggers. Linkin is a tyrant,
Burnside a tool, Order 38 a relik uv barberism,
and I will resist the enrollment, the conskripshen,
and the tax. Hooray fer Geff Davis.”
Our class-meetin wuz more interestiner than
ever. One old, white-headed brother sed that at
times his way was dark, and his pathway gloomy.
Wunst he wuz very near becomin a infidle. He
reely believed at one time that the nigger was
human, and wunst he voted for a Republican road
supervisor. But he hed repented, and was, he
trusted, forgiven. His mind wuz now easy, and
he should vote the whole Dimekratik tickit.
Two backsliders, who scratched their tickits last
fall, confest their sin, publicly. I exhorted em
two hours, fined em a gallon uv whisky appeece,
and took em into full communion. The whisky
will be devotid to the missionary service, wich
is me.
This is a deliteful feeld uv labor. At the Corners
they give me sech flooids ez I need at all
the doggeries but one, and at that one they trust
me, wich amounts to the same thing. I hev borrid
uv my flock over 60 dollars already. It is a
rich feeld, and wun wich will endoor much workin.
My nose is deepnin in color every hour.
Petroleum V. Nasby,
Paster uv sed Church, in charge.
