Show A Xegro Baptism in the Potomac At S 30 oclock on the morning of the 24th ult a very long bus stood in front of a little colored Baptist church on the lull at the head of Fifteenth street Washington The candidates on this occasion oc-casion numbered twentysixfour men and twentytwo women and girls They had all prepared themselves for the ceremony cere-mony by arraying themselves in garments gar-ments of white cloth flannel being the material used in most cases Their heads were covered by white turbans leaving the shining black faces in startling contrast con-trast These were crowded into the bus filling it to its utmost capacity The driver cracked his whip and the four horses went off at a brisk trot The occupants oc-cupants of the vehicle started up a devotional devo-tional hymn which they all sang in chorus with great fervor Behind the bus in a buggy rode the minister and two deacons who were to assist him in the rites Three or four other vehicles were filled with friends of the converts who had bundles of wraps to throw around them when they came out of the water The place chosen for the baptism is at lie foot of Fourteenth street not farm far-m > the Washington monument Soon ter 9 oclock the procession of vehicles stopped at the river bank The white robed candidates formed by twos and led by the minister and the deacons marched with slow and solemn tread a couple of hundred yards to the point for entering the water As they marched they sang Come holy spirit heavenly dove t to a wild weird melody With a long pole in his hand to feel his way the preacher waded out about twentyfive feet from the brink where the water was waist deep The men were taken first One of the deacons led them out two at a time The first to go began immediately to splash the water with their hands muttering shouts and exclamations ex-clamations of joy Each in turn tooK his place with hands clasped at the breast beside the minister facing the shore The high state of exhilaration manifested by all with but two or three exceptions seemed to leave little room however for the idea of physical suffering Not one of the females showed the slightest fear or desire to shrink from the chilling stream Some of the emotional sisters were so carried away by their feelings that they were only controlled with great difficulty and by sheer force Several times when the assisting deacon had three of these on his hands at once trying to get them to the shore the scene was so grotesque that not even the solemnity of the occasion occa-sion could prevent a smile upon the face of the most reverent spectator The excited ex-cited women threw thejr arms around the deacons neck sprang up and down and splashed the water in every direction direc-tion shouting and singing at the top of their voices Two or three times it was necessary for another man to wade out and assist in bringing them out of the Water One woman while on her way to the shore threw herself again into the Water shouting that she wanted to go under again During the exercises the company on the shore sang the quaint hymn of the negroes and shouted words of f flucr and encouragement to the converts con-verts as they passed through the water |