I wished to avoid what seems to me the only error of Lowell's "Biglow Papers" in respect to dialect, the occasional use of an extreme misspelling, which merely confuses the eye, without taking us any closer to the peculiarity of sound.
The favorite song in camp was the following, sung with no accompaniment but the measured clapping of hands and the clatter of many feet.

It was sung perhaps twice as often as any other.

This was partly due to the fact that it properly consisted of a chorus alone, with which the verses of other songs might be combined at random.
I.HOLD YOUR LIGHT.
"Hold your light, Brudder Robert, Hold your light, Hold your light on Canaan's shore.
"What make ole Satan for follow me so?
Satan ain't got notin' for do wid me.
Hold your light, Hold your light, Hold your light on Canaan's shore." This would be sung for half an hour at a time, perhaps each person present being named in turn.

It seemed the simplest primitive type of "spiritual." The next in popularity was almost as elementary, and, like this, named successively each one of the circle.

It was, however, much more resounding and convivial in its music.
II.