“Was it a goos?” cried Uncle Ben, before the sentence was finished by the soldier. Uncle Ben’s question about a ghost, started quite a number to their feet, and many trembled as they looked each other in the face, and upon the soldier, who appeared to feel the importance of his position.
Ned, the boy who was holding the torch, began to tell a ghost story, but he was at once stopped by Uncle Ben, who said, “Shet your mouf, don’t you see de gentmun ain’t told us what he see in de ‘white sheet?’”
“Well,” commenced the soldier, again, “I saw on a large sheet of paper, a printed Proclamation from President Lincoln, like the one I’ve just read, and that satisfied me that you’d all be free to-day.”
Every one was disappointed at this, for all were prepared for a ghost story, from the first remark about the “white sheet” of paper. Uncle Ben smiled, looked a little wise, and said, “I speck dat’s a Yankee trick you’s given us, Mr. Solger.”
The laugh of the man in blue was only stopped by Uncle Ben’s striking up the following hymn, in which the whole company joined:—
“A storm am brewin’ in de Souf,
A storm am brewin’ now.
Oh! hearken den, and shut your mouf,
And I will tell you how:
And I will tell you how, ole boy,
De storm of fire will pour,
And make de black folks sing for joy,
As dey neber sing afore.
“So shut your mouf as close as deafh,
And all you niggas hole your breafh,
And do de white folks brown!
“De black folks at de Norf am ris,
And dey am comin’ down—
And comin’ down, I know dey is,
To do de white folks brown!
Dey’ll turn ole Massa out to grass,
And set de niggas free,
And when dat day am come to pass
We’ll all be dar to see!
“So shut your mouf as close as deafh,
And all you niggas hole your breafh,
And I will tell you how.
“Den all de week will be as gay
As am de Chris’mas time;
We’ll dance all night and all de day,
And make de banjo chime,
And make de banjo chime, I tink,
And pass de time away,
Wid ’nuf to eat and ’nuf to drink,
And not a bit to pay!