1886: The FUNERAL - Will Carleton, BLACK AMERICANA, Savannah, preacher, poem

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1886: The FUNERAL - Will Carleton, BLACK AMERICANA, Savannah, preacher, poem:
$14.95

“The Funeral”Harper\'s Weekly
1886This is a single wood-engraved sheet only which is over 125 years old! It was published as the cover page of the August 28, 1886, issue of Harper\'s Weekly, the leading illustrated paper in America at the time. It measures 10.5 x 15.25 inches in size, and is in excellent condition, with a little age toning, and a very slight bit of smudging just above the image (see photo).It presents a scene of mourners in a black church weeping while a minister preaches over them from his Bible. The drawing occupies all of the page except for the paper\'s masthead at the top, and an inset box in the lower right corner in which the beginning of a poem titled “The Funeral,” by Will Carleton appears. 20 lines of verse are on the page, but I got this print many years ago by itself, and do not have the concluding part of the poem, which was continued inside the paper.The text which is included says:“I was walking in Savannah, past a church decayed and dim,
When there slowly through the window came a plaintive funeral hymn;
And a sympathy awakened, and a wonder quickly grew,
Till I found myself environed in a little negro pew.“Out at front a colored couple sat in sorrow, nearly wild;
On the altar was a coffin, in the coffin was a child.
I could picture him when living—curly hair, protruding lip—
And had seen perhaps a thousand in my hurried Southern trip.“But no baby ever rested in the soothing arms of Death
That had fanned more flames of sorrow with his little fluttering breath;
And no funeral ever glistened with more sympathy profound
Than was in the chain of tear-drops that enclasped those mourners round.“Rose a sad old colored preacher at the little wooden desk—
With a manner grandly awkward, with a countenance grotesque;
With simplicity and shrewdness on his Ethiopian face;
With the ignorance and wisdom of a crushed, undying race.“And he said: ‘Now don\' be weepin\' for dis pretty bit o\' clay—
For de little boy who lived dere, he done gone an\' run away!
He was doin\' very finely, an\' he \'preciate your love;
But his sure \'nuff Father want him in de large house up TERMS: Add a flat $ 3.95 for delivery anywhere in the U.S. by 1st Class Mail. Pennsylvania residents add 6% tax. Foreign shipping to is $9.95 to Canada or $16.95 to other foreign countries.I normally mail items within 24 hours of receiving payment. All items are returnable for a full refund if the buyer is unsatisfied for any reason. _gsrx_vers_526 (GS 6.6.6 (526))