The light-hearted way in which the Negro turns serious things into fun is well illustrated by:--
Oh trial! Great trevelation children ho! Trial! We're bound to leave this world. Baptis', Baptis', Baptis' till I die. I been grown up in the Baptis' side an' die under Baptis' rule. Oh trial! Great trevelation children ho! Trial! We're bound to leave this world. Church-light, Church-light, Church-light till I die, I been grown up in the Church-light side an' die under Church-light rule. Oh! trial! Great trevelation children ho! Trial! We're bound to leave this world.]
And so on through all the sects and persuasions, Wesleyan, etc., etc., among them Mettetis (Methodist).
There is no doubt about the word being _trevelation_ a mixture of Revelation, one of their favourite books in the Bible, and tribulation, for which it is intended. The wrong phrasing of two notes to "bound" is as they give it. We should allow only one.
Every district has its rival churches and the various ministers have to humour their congregations, and not preach too hard things to them, so as to keep them from deserting to the enemy.
Father, I goin' to join the confirmation. No, me son, you must have a little patien', Why I tell you to have a little patien', You must go an' read the Revelation. I heard from my old generation That they never go an' join the confirmation, For they didn' have that great occasion To leave an' go an' join the confirmation.]
It will have been observed that rhyming is the last thing sought after. Here, however, we have a genius who has set his mind upon it with some success. Patience, as pronounced by the Jamaican without the final letters, is a good and new rhyme to the rest. In the old days of slavery, says the father, they did not have the occasion (_i.e._ opportunity) to leave their work to go and be confirmed.
The Black man is such an accomplished actor that he can assume any character. In these sings he throws off the stage trappings and shows his real attitude towards religion, his indifference and levity. He does not take it as a serious matter at all, and it has no effect upon his daily life. To go to church is a mark of respectability. To obtain that mark is one of his reasons for going. The other reason is to show his clothes and his boots. He will talk like a saint for the mere pleasure of rolling out words, and the ministers have to pretend to believe something of what he says. They are not, however, really deceived, and will tell you in private with a sigh that Christianity makes no progress; it is profession without practice. Of the Negro's real religion, which is bound up with Obeah, we get hardly a hint in the sings. This is what we should expect. Some things lie too deep for words and a man's religion is one of them. One general reference I have been able to find, and one particular one, and that is all. Here is the first:--