The thing aimed at by all great souls has been to bring men and races back to the simplicity and purity of childhood--back to reality.
What is the most original product with which the Negro race stands accredited? Yes, I am almost ready to add, with which America stands accredited? Without hesitation I answer:--Those beautiful, weird, quaint, sweet melodies which were the simple, child-like expression of the anguish, the joy, the hopes, the burdens, the faith, the trials of our forefathers who wore the yoke of slavery.
Why are they the admiration of the world? Why does every attempt at improvement spoil them? Why do they never fail to touch the tenderest chord--to bring tears from the eyes of rich and poor--from king and humblest toiler alike?
Listen how in this beautiful song the soul in trouble is told not to go to houses and temples made by man, but to get close to Nature:
Ef yer want to see Jesus Go in de wilderness, Go in de wilderness, Go in de wilderness, Go in de wilderness. If yer want to see Jesus, Go in de wilderness Leanin' on de Lord. Oh brudder, how d'ye feel, when ye come out de wilderness, Come out de wilderness, Come out de wilderness, Oh, brudder, how d'ye feel, when ye come out de wilderness, Leanin' on de Lord?
Then, in another, hear how our foreparents broke through all the deceptions and allurements of false wealth, and in their long days of weariness expressed their faith in a place where every day would be one of rest:
Oh, religion is a fortune, I r'a'ly do believe. Oh, religion is a fortune, I r'a'ly do believe. Oh, religion is a fortune, I r'a'ly do believe, Whar Sabbaths hab no end. Whar yo' been, poor mourner, whar yo' been so long? "Been down in de valley, for to pray; An' I ain't done prayin' yet."
Then, how, when oppressed by years of servitude to which others thought there would be no end, we hear them break out into quaint and wild bursts of appeal to fact:
My Lord delibered Daniel, My Lord delibered Daniel, My Lord delibered Daniel; Why can't He deliber me? I met a pilgrim on de way, an' I ask him where he's gwine. "I'm bound for Canaan's happy lan', An' dis is de shoutin' band. Go on."
He delibered Daniel from de lion's den, Jonah from de belly ob de whale, An' de Hebrew children from de fiery furnace. Den why not ebery man?"