a young
woman on the way with long, flowing disheveled hair, looking very much
excited.

Charley asked "What's the row up there?"

"An old 'oman 'fessed 'ligion this morn'".

Now we are at the door, and such a sight I never saw before. Here two
large negro women and two young white girls, 16 and 17 years old about,
from all appearances raving maniacs, still screeching, yelling, jumping,
hugging, dancing, crying, shaking hands, and uttering incoherent
sentences, foaming at the mouth, with perspiration rolling down their
cheeks in streams. No cessation, but each making as much noise as though
a dagger was at their hearts. The spell appeared to be partially broken
upon one of the girls seeing us. She stopped, looked at us with a
mesmeric glare for a few minutes, then shrunk sheepishly into a corner,
where she remained quietly until her sister (I suppose) returned to her
from covering the negro woman, and commenced violent demonstrations,
such as bumping her head against the wall, etc. until both soon moved.

We looked on thus for over half an hour. I was filled with amazement and
sometimes provoked to laughter. I had heard of such excitement in
revival meetings where enthusiastic preachers and brethren were at work,
working up the imagination of the victim. But to find it in such a
sequestered place with but four solitary women was such as I never
dreamt of. The superstitious character and education of the negro caused
me to wonder less at them than the white girls, which looked awful. But
when I remembered the unconcern of the people in the white house, I
concluded it was nothing strange after all for these ignorant people
(for I consider it nothing but ignorance of the true standard of the
human soul).

A revival is going on there, it seems, and the old woman said God had
been allowing her to go on in her "devilment" for a long time, but this
morning "Jesus stood right squar' in her way and she found him right in
the chair," and then again she started. The girls I suppose came to see
her and were taken with the influence. I felt it my duty to do what I
could to restore these poor creatures to their senses, and believe if I
had entered the room and spoken firmly to them in earnest, the spell
would be broken and the excitement quieted.

But modesty prevented me from making the experiment, and we went on in
quest of berries. Found plenty of beautiful ones in a field adjoining,
and we soon filled our pails and started