INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF METHODISM

By

The Reverend John Elmore DuBois

Edited by Elizabeth A. DuBois
(c) 1998  DuBois Publishing Co, Simsbury, Connecticut. All rights
reserved.

FOURTEEN (cont.)

French Vineyards in Alabama

	In the year 1828, I had business with a Mr. Glover, of Demopolis, one
of the first settlers of that place.  A young man familiar with the
route piloted me through the cane.  Our ride was a wild and romantic
one.  In our route we passed over large tracts of land owned by Mr.
Alfred Hatch, or Arcola, a man no less famed for his deeds of charity
and kindness than his lands were for their beauty and fertility.  In
this neighborhood were many small vineyards, deserted by the French, who
had settled on government lands, donated for the purpose of raising the
grape.  This no doubt would have been a grand success, but on the
restoration of peace in France the colony disbanded and returned to
their native land, and King Cotton took the place of the branching vine.

	At Mr. Glover's I saw a number of native Africans, not long in
America.  It is not necessary to say that they [had been subjectd to
the] were most disgusting types of barbarism. [sic]

Slave Trade in Charleston;
Mission Work Among the Africans

	This reminds me that while a boy, in Charleston, SC, I frequently saw
them landed from British and Northern ships, and then, almost in a state
of nudity, exhibited on the common, and required to dance for the
amusement of the curious crowds.  This inhumanity was not long
tolerated, and they were required to land on the islands beyond the city
and finally, when it was found that those who had already been landed
could not easily be driven away, permission was given to any one to hold
as slaves all he might capture.  Bear this in mind, Yankee vessels
brought them here and Yankee captors were their first  and most cruel
masters.  But to return, when these lands became better known, settlers
flocked in from all quarters, and soon the country was well occupied by
small planters, who by industry and frugality began to accumulate and
prosper.

	The consequence was that they were social, peaceful and happy, and
began to turn their attention to the elegances and refinements of life. 
Churches were built, congregations assembled, the ubiquitous "circuit
rider" was to be seen wending his way through the cane, his saddlebags
full of books, his head of knowledge , and his heart of Christ; and thus
armed he preached the gospel and proved himself a power in the land.

[to be continued]

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