that they who sang them were not graduates of our best musical conservatories, but were the humble ex-slaves and the children of former slaves, whose gifts were the real and mysterious endowments of the all-wise and ever good God, then the glory of their accomplishments heightens and expands as it could not otherwise do.
In speaking of them, after they had spent some time in Germany, the Berliner Musik-Zeitung, a very critical journal, in passing its final sentence upon them, said:
Not only have we had a rare musical treat, but our musical ideas have also received enlargement, and we feel that something may be learned of these negro singers, if only we will consent to break through the fetters of custom and long use.
Long after this great building, "Jubilee Hall," which is dedicated to their memory, shall have crumbled to dust and shall no longer mark the spot upon which it now rests; long after its present occupants and the Jubilee Singers, who gave it birth, along with this humble author, shall all have returned to their mother, dust, and be no more among the living creatures of earth, still the deeds of this most wonderful company of self-sacrificing singers and ex-slaves will ever live as imperishable monuments to their memory. And then may they, with all the just made perfect, sing jubilee songs, even more gloriously triumphant than the songs of earth.
