University of Virginia Library

Search this document 

139

APPENDIX.

WARM TIMES COMING.

[_]

The following song was suggested to my mind in 1860, from three dreams that I had, two previous and one on the night that the Charleston Convention assembled for the purpose of destroying the Union.

I dreamed of a map peddler stopping at my house, and asked me if I wanted to buy a map of the United States. Immediately he spread the map on the floor before me, and when I looked at it, it was all red—alike. I said to the man, “I don't want it, it is all one color— all red. At this he took out his knife and cut the map in two from West to East, right in the middle. I awoke and told my family and a few friends that trouble was brewing, and the Union would be divided.

In a few months after this, I dreamed one night that I was in a strange, wild, wilderness country, on a high eminence, covered with heavy timber and thick underbrush. On the top of this eminence was a queer looking furnace with its boilers heated to their utmost endurance.


140

Steam whistling out of every little crevice, but no engine or machinery attached! The woods were full of excited people of all sizes, sex and colors. Men on horses dressed in uniform, riding, wild with excitement. By and by, one of those officers came rushing through the woods, crying at the top of his voice, “All you colored people get out side! go out side!!”

I looked behind me and saw a crooked, rail fence, about sixteen rails high. We all rushed for this monstrous fence, and clambered over it in great haste. As I mounted the top rail, I threw one leg over and looked back, and to my surprise, the under-brush had been cleared off as clean as though it never grew there. Then the furnace on the top of the hill began to shoot like cannon. Awfully frightened, we started for home. On our way we crossed a valley and to our left stood two armies, shooting at each other with cannon and small arms. We all stopped to gaze, and two of the cannon were turned toward us, and threw blazing balls, resembling cotton-balls saturated with turpentine I thought one of those blazing shot struck me on the shoulder. I threw off my coat and awoke. I told my friends that trouble was brewing. All the sympathy I would get was a light joke about Joseph.

During the session of the Charleston Convention,


141

1860, (I think on the first night of the session,) I dreamed that an awful black cloud over-shadowed the whole continent. Men and women were out conjecturing the meaning of the dark day and black cloud. I thought some one said to me “Mc. come out and look, and tell us what is going to happen.” I went out and looked, and lo! the Heavens were overspread with a cloud as black as soot. It extended from horrizon to horrizon, Eastward, Westward and Southward, was as black as midnight. A narrow streak of blue sky could only be seen, stretched along, low down to the earth, in the North. I said to those standing by, “there will be a Universal Storm. It will extend all over the United States; it will be very heavy in the South. England and France will get a small portion, but Canada will escape.

This dream bore with great weight on my mind, and a voice seemed to sing in the air “O! there's warm times coming,” and I could not drive away the impression until I gave vent to my feelings in the following lines:

O! there's warm times coming friends
Warm times a coming,
O! there's warm times coming friends,
Wait a little longer.
The slaves will soon throw off their yoke,
And old America will smoke,

142

In the warm time coming.
Old South Carolina may secede,
And be a State no longer,
'Twill only cause the South to bleed,
While freedom will grow stronger.
O! there's warm times coming.
O! there's warm times coming, friends—
Warm times coming,
Slave-holders soon will have to kneel,
Before the bright and glowing steel,
In the warm times coming.
And then the black man's chains will fall,
And gall his limbs no longer,
The whizzing of the musket ball
Will make him feel the stronger.
O! there's warm times coming.
O! there's warm times coming friends—
Warm times coming,
For Right and Might are in the field,
And Right or Might has got to yield,
In the warm time coming.
The South has ruled the North so long,
She hates to yield the power,
But Freedom's host has got so strong—
They'll never shrink or cower.
O! there's warm times coming.
O! there's warm times coming friends—
Warm times coming,

143

Old men whose heads are turning gray,
Have long been waiting for this day—
This warm time coming.
Democracy is dead at last—
She'll bear the sway no longer,
The masters arms are failing fast—
The slaves are growing stronger,
For the warm time is coming.
O! there's warm times coming, friends—
Warm times coming,
The victory will not be to man—
Jehovah God will lead the van!
In the warm times coming.
The hands that murdered old John Brown,
Will shortly be suspended;
And Wise will see God's mighty frown,
Before the war is ended,
For there's warm times coming.

LET THE BANNER PROUDLY WAVE.

Written after the surrender of Lee.

[_]

Air—Nearer to our Happy Home.

Our glorious flag is floating,
Triumphantly at last;
Our nation is exulting,
The rebel's die is cast;

144

Rebellion now is conquered,
No more to lift it's head,
And best of all we now can sing,
Old Slavery is dead.

Chorus—

Let it wave, let it wave!
Let the banner proudly wave;
Let it wave, let it wave!
But never o'er a slave.
We are a happy nation,
Because our country's free
From war and desolation,
And from bold tyranny.
The tyrant's arm is broken,
No more to hold a slave,
This is the year of jubilee,
So let our banner wave.
Let it wave, &c.
We've stood and fought like demons,
Upon the battle field;
Both slaves and Northern freemen
Have faced the glowing steel.
Our blood beneath this banner
Has mingled with the whites,
And 'neath its folds we now demand
Our just and equal rights.
Let it wave, &c.

145

The world has seen our valor,
And nations now confess
That man is not in color,
In fashion nor in dress;
In Charleston and old Richmond,
In spite of Lee and Bragg,
We drove the Rebs in wild dismay,
And planted there our flag.
Port Hudson and Fort Pillow,
And Wagner's rugged crag,
Where many a colored soldier
Was murdered for this flag.
And Petersburg, Oulusta,
And Nashville, all can tell,
Who were the boys that stood in front,
And for this banner fell.
We've fed the Union soldiers,
When fleeing from the foe;
We've led them through the mountains,
Where white men dare not go,
Our “hoe-cake” and our cabbage,
And pork we freely gave,
That this old flag might be sustained,
Now let it proudly wave.
We've fought like men and brethren,
And we defy the world
To say we ever faltered,
Beneath this flag unfurled;
Our guns have broke our fetters,

146

And justice now demands
That we shall never more be slaves,
With muskets in our hands.

THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.

[_]

Air—I think when I read that sweet story of old.

Our voices we'll raise,
In loud anthems of praise,
Let them swell like the waves of the sea;
From the earth to the skies,
Let our glad praise arise,
“Thank God, old Columbia is FREE.”
[Repeat the last line twice; then sing the three last lines over.]
The homes of the brave,
Now contains not a slave;
Each homestead's a Liberty tree;
And the story we'll sing,
Till the welkin shall ring,
That all men are “equal and free.”
The flag of our country
No longer is stained,
With the blood of the poor dying slave;
The master and fetters,
The yoke and the chains,
Now moulder in infamy's grave.

147

Success to our country,
Success to our State;
May they grow in the strength of our God;
And the “Fifteenth Amendment,”
Which say to our race,
You no longer are ruled by the rod.
Three cheers we will give,
To the twenty-nine States,
That made our freedom a law;
And those noble heroes.
Who fought for our rights,
We will give them a hearty hurrah!

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

[_]

Air—Nancy Till.

Don't you hear the steam cars,
Don't you hear them hum?
Get your hat and shoes on—
Be ready when they come.
Master's fast asleep now—
I hope he'll not awake;
For here's an invitation now
To go across the Lake.

CHORUS.

Come, boys, come, and go along with me,
And I'll take you up where colored men are free

148

Come, boys, come—make no delay,
And I'll take you up to Canada.
I heard old master say,
Just a day or two ago,
That he was going to sell us all,
Down to “'Tucky ho;”
But here's the Underground Horse,
A very noble nag;
“A free ride to colored men,”
Is written on his flag.
The Underground Railroad,
Is a queer machine;
It carries many passengers,
And never has been seen.
Old master goes to Baltimore,
And mistress goes away,
And when they see their slaves again,
They're all in Canada.
Uncle Sam has tried hard
To find the mystic route;
But well do our engineers,
Know what they are about.
While he is sleeping soundly,
They are wide awake,
And firing up the engine,
That runs across the Lake.
The Underground Railroad
Is doing mighty well;

149

The number of her passengers
Is very hard to tell.
When once they ship for Canada,
It's hard to bring them back,
For “Johnny” runs a strong race,
And never flies the track.

“NO, MASTER, NEVER!”

Or the true feelings of those slaves who say they would not be free. The following shows their feelings when they are free.

[_]

Air—Pop goes the Weasel.

Old master always said,
Jack will never leave me;
He has a noble head,
He will not deceive me.
I will treat him every day
Kindly and clever,
Then he will not run away—
No, master, never!
One night I heard him say,
He was going to Cleveland,
A thought struck me right away,
That this was a free land.
I thought if I too could go.
The dearest ties I'd sever.

150

And never would come back no more—
Never! no, never!
The next morn at early dawn,
I heard old master knocking:
He says, “Jack, we must be gone—
Put on your shoes and stockings.”
Quickly I bounded out,
And got my clothes together,
And told my wife I'd not come back
No, Lizzie, never!
Soon we were on the way,
Toward the Forest City;
There to leave my wife a slave,
I thought it was a pity.
I heard mistress slightly say,
We'll all keep together,
Or Jack will go to Canada,
No, says master, never!
Jack, says he, be wide awake,
And let nobody tease you;
And don't go too near the lake—
The cold winds will freeze you!
Do you think I would run away,
And leave a man so clever,
And seek a home in Canada?
“No, master, never!”
We stopped at the Weddell House,

151

The thought then came o'er me,
That now's the time to go across,
As many have gone before me.
I went down to the steamboat wharf
Got on the Jacob Astor,
And cried aloud as she shoved off,
Farewell, old master.
The next day, in Malden town,
Who should I see but master,
He says, Jack, you must go home,
You'll starve and freeze to death sir.
Says I, you are a nice old man;
Very kind and clever;
But think I'll wear my chains again?
“No, master, never!”

“ONWARD AND UPWARD.”

Rejoice, Sons of Freedom, this is a glad day;
The Star Spangled Banner waves proudly once more,
The voice of four millions now joins in the lay,
And Freedom re-echoes from shore unto shore
Rejoice! Rejoice!! our Nation now is free:
Rejoice! Rejoice!! this is a jubilee,
“Onward and Upward,” our motto shall be;
The Lord has made our country FREE.
Rejoice, Sons of Freedom, our country is saved;
The dark pall of slavery is swept from our soil,

152

And four millions bondmen are snatched from their graves,
No more 'neath the lash of the driver to toil.
Press on, press on, and never backward go;
Press on, press on, and yield not to the foe.
“Onward and Upward” our motto shall be
The Lord has made our country free.
Rejoice, Sons of Freedom, the day's past and gone,
The dark day of slavery, the curse of the land
We no more are called by the sound of the horn
We'll no more be marked by the slaveholder's brand.
Thank God, thank God, our fetters now are broke;
Thank God, thank God, we'll no more wear the yoke.
“Onward and Upward” our motto shall be,
For God has set our nation free.
Press on, Sons of Freedom, O never look back;
Our sorrows and burdens we'll leave them behind,
And tell by our voting, although we are black,
That power is a union of well-balanced minds.
Look up, look up, there's work for us to do,
March on, march on, as an army brave and true.
“Onward and Upward” our motto shall be,
The Lord has made our country free.