Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment

[205]

Cry O my Lord!
O. &c. Brudder Moses promised for be dar too,
O, &c.
To drink from streams dat never run dry,
O de dying Lamb!

In the next, the conflict is at its height, and the lurid imagery of the Apocalypse is brought to bear. This book, with the books of Moses, constituted their Bible; all that lay between, even the narratives of the life of Jesus, they hardly cared to read or to hear.

XII. down in the Valley.

We'll run and never tire,
We'll run and never tire,
We'll run and never tire,
Jesus set poor sinners free.
Way down in de valley,
Who will rise and go with me?
You've heern talk of Jesus,
Who set poor sinners free.

De lightnin‘ and de flashin‘
De lightnin‘ and de flashin‘,
De lightnin‘ and de flashin‘,
Jesus set poor sinners free.
I can't stand the fire. ( Thrice.)
Jesus set poor sinners free,
De green trees a-flamin‘. ( Thrice.)
Jesus set poor sinners free,
Way down in de valley,
Who will rise and go with me?
You've heern talk of Jesus
Who set poor sinners free.

“De valley” and “de lonesome valley” were familiar words in their religious experience. To descend into that region implied the same process with the “anxious seat” of the camp-meeting. When a young girl was supposed to enter it, she bound a handkerchief by a peculiar