ites, the stump eloquence of Happy John, the singing, the
laughter, the flaring torches, made a wild scene. The entertainment was
quite free, with a "collection" occasionally during the performance.

What most impressed us, however, was the turning to account by Happy
John of the "nigger" side of the black man as a means of low comedy,
and the enjoyment of it by all the people of color. They appeared to
appreciate as highly as anybody the comic element in themselves,
and Happy John had emphasized it by deepening his natural color and
exaggerating the "nigger" peculiarities. I presume none of them analyzed
the nature of his infectious gayety, nor thought of the pathos that lay
so close to it, in the fact of his recent slavery, and the distinction
of being one of Wade Hampton's niggers, and the melancholy mirth of this
light-hearted race's burlesque of itself.

A performance followed which called forth the appreciation of the crowd
more than the wit of Happy John or the faded songs of the yellow girl.
John took two sweet-cakes and broke each in fine pieces into a saucer,
and after sugaring and eulogizing the dry messes, called for two small
darky volunteers from the audience to come up on the platform and devour
them. He offered a prize of fifteen cents to the one who should first
eat the contents of his dish, not using his hands, and hold up the
saucer empty in token of his victory. The cake was tempting, and the
fifteen cents irresistible, and a couple of boys in ragged shirts and
short trousers and a suspender apiece came up shamefacedly to enter for
the prize. Each one grasped his saucer in both hands, and with face over
the dish awaited the word "go," which John gave, and started off the
contest with a banjo accompaniment. To pick up with the mouth the dry
cake and choke it down was not so easy as the boys apprehended, but they
went into the task with all their might, gobbling and swallowing as
if they loved cake, occasionally rolling an eye to the saucer of the
contestant to see the relative progress, John strumming, ironically
encouraging, and the crowd roaring. As the combat deepened and the
contestants strangled and stuffed and sputtered, the crowd went into
spasms of laughter. The smallest boy won by a few seconds, holding up
his empty saucer, with mouth stuffed, vigorously trying to swallow, like
a chicken with his throat clogged with dry meal, and utterly unable to
speak. The impartial John praised the victor