NOTE 11
(Chapter VII, page [191])
Similar to the work of Mr. Glennie and of Mr. Weston (after whom Weston Chapel was named) was that of Mr. Drayton.
The Rev. J. G. Drayton was both a clergyman and a planter, his plantation being the far-famed “Magnolia” in St. Andrew’s Parish, of which he was rector. Besides Magnolia chapel built by him, he ministered regularly for many years from about 1850, to two other chapels for the Negroes—Barker’s and Magwood’s, in the same parish. From a letter of a descendant of Mr. Drayton’s, these extracts are quoted rather freely:
“In looking back to them, I now realize how out of the ordinary these Services were; how beautiful the feeling existing between the priest and his people; how simple, sweet, and uplifting it all was—even to a little child—to sit there listening to his words, feeling that greater love through his love. The picture of him that I carry in my memory I wish that I might send to you. One cannot put an influence into words. His face during the prayers; the high, weird singing of the Negroes in the familiar hymns; the breath of the fresh spring woods as it brought the Easter message through the wide windows—all blend to make the memory. I remember, too, a ceremony that was always amusing. It was his habit before Service to distribute among the poorest of the congregation a contribution which, later, they placed, with the air of millionaires, in the alms basin. And then, after ‘Marse John’ had exhorted them to his and their satisfaction, there was a great crowding around his small phaeton. The drive home was frequently made lively, and precarious as well, because of the gifts of ‘frizzle fowls’ and ‘yard aigs.’ The roads were often bad and the eggs good, and one had to be careful.”
After the destruction of Sherman’s raid, being left very poor and the phæton destroyed, Mr. Drayton, though an old man, never faltered but used to walk some twelve or sixteen miles each Sunday to hold at least three Services in the houses of the parish. (The chapels were burned in the raid.)