round de heaven,
Dat all de people may join de band.
Walk 'em easy round de heaven. (_Thrice_.)
O, shout glory till 'em join dat band!"

The chorus was usually the greater part of the song, and often came in
paradoxically, thus:--

XVI. O YES, LORD.

"O, must I be like de foolish mans?
O yes, Lord!
Will build de house on de sandy hill.
O yes, Lord!
I'll build my house on Zion hill,
O yes, Lord!
No wind nor rain can blow me down,
O yes, Lord!"

The next is very graceful and lyrical, and with more variety of rhythm
than usual:--

XVII. BOW LOW, MARY.

"Bow low, Mary, bow low, Martha,
For Jesus come and lock de door,
And carry de keys away.
Sail, sail, over yonder,
And view de promised land.
For Jesus come, &c.
Weep, O Mary, bow low, Martha,
For Jesus come, &c.
Sail, sail, my true believer;
Sail, sail, over yonder;
Mary, bow low, Martha, bow low,
For Jesus come and lock de door
And carry de keys away."

But of all the "spirituals" that which surprised me the most, I
think,--perhaps because it was that in which external nature furnished
the images most directly,--was this. With all my experience of their
ideal ways of speech, I was startled when first I came on such a flower
of poetry in that dark soil.

XVIII. I KNOW MOON-RISE.

"I know moon-rise, I know star-rise,
Lay dis body down.
I walk in de moonlight, I walk in de starlight,
To lay dis body down.
I'll walk in de graveyard, I'll walk through de graveyard,
To lay dis body down.
I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms;
Lay dis body down.
I go to de judgment in de evenin' of de day,
When I lay dis body down;
And my soul and your soul will meet in de day
When I lay dis body down."

"I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms." Never, it seems to me,
since man first lived and suffered, was his infinite longing for peace
uttered more plaintively than in that line.

The next is one of the wildest and most striking of the whole series:
there is a mystical effect and a passionate striving throughout the
whole. The Scriptural struggle between Jacob and the angel, which is
only dimly expressed in the words, seems all uttered in the music. I
think it impressed my imagination more powerfully than any other of
these songs.

XIX. WRESTLING JACOB.

"O wrestlin' Jacob, Jacob, day's a-breakin';
I will not let thee go!
O wrestli