Evergreen boughs hid its rough beams and bare shingled roof, and long
wreaths of pine leaves hung in graceful festoons from its naked walls
and narrow windows. On the two sides of a wide aisle, which served to
separate the sheep on the right hand from the goats on the left, were
long rows of benches, with hard board bottoms, and rough open backs, and
beyond them, divided from the rest of the interior by a rustic railing,
was the 'family pew,' an enclosure about twelve feet square, neatly
carpeted, and furnished with half a dozen arm chairs. Opposite to this
was a platform elevated three steps from the floor, and on it stood a
rustic settee, a large easy chair, and a modest desk covered with green
baize, and decorated with small sprigs of evergreen. On this desk rested
a large Bible.

The enormous seashell which served as a bell to this 'house of prayer,'
was sending its last blast in long echoes through the old trees, when,
with Mrs. Preston and the children, I elbowed an opening through the
thick group of grinning Africans that blocked the doorway, and 'worked a
passage' down the crowded aisle to the family enclosure. Seating myself
in one of its cane-bottomed seats, I glanced around on the assemblage.
Such a gathering of woolly heads I had never seen. Every plantation
within a circuit of five miles had sent in a representation, till the
benches, the aisle, the small area around the pulpit, and the open space
near the doorway, were all densely packed. On the left, the men, in
gaudy cravats and many-colored waistcoats, were chatting merrily
together, and enjoying themselves as heartily as a parcel of Yankees at
a clambake; and on the right, the women, in red and yellow turbans, and
flaming shawls and neckerchiefs, were bobbing about and flaunting their
colors, like so many dolphins sporting in the sunshine. Preston was
seated in the lone chair at the back of the pulpit, and Boss Joe and
Black Jack occupied the settee near him. The latter shortly rose to open
the services, and, in a moment, a deep silence fell on the noisy
multitude. The old preacher had carefully combed his thin wool into a
pyramid on the top of his head, and he looked, dressed in glossy black
pants, longtailed blue coat, ruffled shirt, and high shirt collar, like
a stuffed specimen at an exhibition of wax figures. Stepping rather
unsteadily to the front of the platform, he flourished his red cotton
bandanna, and spreading his huge claws over the large B