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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24716-8.txt b/24716-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4088ce3 --- /dev/null +++ b/24716-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5479 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The heart of happy hollow, by Paul Laurence Dunbar + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The heart of happy hollow + A collection of stories + +Author: Paul Laurence Dunbar + +Release Date: February 29, 2008 [EBook #24716] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HEART OF HAPPY HOLLOW *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Bergquist, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +Dialect and inconsistent spelling have been preserved. + +In The Scapegoat, Part II, text appears to be missing between +"hard" and "brought" in the sentence "The school-teacher is +giving you a pretty hard brought the school-children in for +chorus singing, secured an able orator, and the best essayist +in town." + + + + + THE HEART OF + HAPPY HOLLOW + + _A Collection of Stories_ + + PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR + + Reprint, 1904 + Dodd, Mead and Co., New York. + + + + +_Contents_ + + + _Foreword_ 3 + + _One_: THE SCAPEGOAT 5 + + _Two_: ONE CHRISTMAS AT SHILOH 21 + + _Three_: THE MISSION OF MR. SCATTERS 29 + + _Four_: A MATTER OF DOCTRINE 45 + + _Five_: OLD ABE'S CONVERSION 53 + + _Six_: THE RACE QUESTION 63 + + _Seven_: A DEFENDER OF THE FAITH 67 + + _Eight_: CAHOOTS 73 + + _Nine_: THE PROMOTER 81 + + _Ten_: THE WISDOM OF SILENCE 95 + + _Eleven_: THE TRIUMPH OF OL' MIS' PEASE 103 + + _Twelve_: THE LYNCHING OF JUBE BENSON 111 + + _Thirteen_: SCHWALLIGER'S PHILANTHROPY 121 + + _Fourteen_: THE INTERFERENCE OF PATSY ANN 129 + + _Fifteen_: THE HOME-COMING OF 'RASTUS SMITH 137 + + _Sixteen_: THE BOY AND THE BAYONET 145 + + + + +To My Friend +Ezra M. Kuhns + + + + +_Foreword_ + + +Happy Hollow; are you wondering where it is? Wherever Negroes colonise +in the cities or villages, north or south, wherever the hod carrier, the +porter, and the waiter are the society men of the town; wherever the +picnic and the excursion are the chief summer diversion, and the revival +the winter time of repentance, wherever the cheese cloth veil obtains at +a wedding, and the little white hearse goes by with black mourners in +the one carriage behind, there--there--is Happy Hollow. Wherever +laughter and tears rub elbows day by day, and the spirit of labour and +laziness shake hands, there--there--is Happy Hollow, and of some of it +may the following pages show the heart. + +The Author. + + + + +_One_ + +THE SCAPEGOAT + + +I + +The law is usually supposed to be a stern mistress, not to be lightly +wooed, and yielding only to the most ardent pursuit. But even law, like +love, sits more easily on some natures than on others. + +This was the case with Mr. Robinson Asbury. Mr. Asbury had started life +as a bootblack in the growing town of Cadgers. From this he had risen +one step and become porter and messenger in a barber-shop. This rise +fired his ambition, and he was not content until he had learned to use +the shears and the razor and had a chair of his own. From this, in a man +of Robinson's temperament, it was only a step to a shop of his own, and +he placed it where it would do the most good. + +Fully one-half of the population of Cadgers was composed of Negroes, and +with their usual tendency to colonise, a tendency encouraged, and in +fact compelled, by circumstances, they had gathered into one part of +the town. Here in alleys, and streets as dirty and hardly wider, they +thronged like ants. + +It was in this place that Mr. Asbury set up his shop, and he won the +hearts of his prospective customers by putting up the significant sign, +"Equal Rights Barber-Shop." This legend was quite unnecessary, because +there was only one race about, to patronise the place. But it was a +delicate sop to the people's vanity, and it served its purpose. + +Asbury came to be known as a clever fellow, and his business grew. The +shop really became a sort of club, and, on Saturday nights especially, +was the gathering-place of the men of the whole Negro quarter. He kept +the illustrated and race journals there, and those who cared neither to +talk nor listen to someone else might see pictured the doings of high +society in very short skirts or read in the Negro papers how Miss Boston +had entertained Miss Blueford to tea on such and such an afternoon. +Also, he kept the policy returns, which was wise, if not moral. + +It was his wisdom rather more than his morality that made the party +managers after a while cast their glances toward him as a man who might +be useful to their interests. It would be well to have a man--a shrewd, +powerful man--down in that part of the town who could carry his people's +vote in his vest pocket, and who at any time its delivery might be +needed, could hand it over without hesitation. Asbury seemed that man, +and they settled upon him. They gave him money, and they gave him power +and patronage. He took it all silently and he carried out his bargain +faithfully. His hands and his lips alike closed tightly when there was +anything within them. It was not long before he found himself the big +Negro of the district and, of necessity, of the town. The time came +when, at a critical moment, the managers saw that they had not reckoned +without their host in choosing this barber of the black district as the +leader of his people. + +Now, so much success must have satisfied any other man. But in many +ways Mr. Asbury was unique. For a long time he himself had done very +little shaving--except of notes, to keep his hand in. His time had been +otherwise employed. In the evening hours he had been wooing the +coquettish Dame Law, and, wonderful to say, she had yielded easily to +his advances. + +It was against the advice of his friends that he asked for admission to +the bar. They felt that he could do more good in the place where he was. + +"You see, Robinson," said old Judge Davis, "it's just like this: If +you're not admitted, it'll hurt you with the people; if you are +admitted, you'll move uptown to an office and get out of touch with +them." + +Asbury smiled an inscrutable smile. Then he whispered something into the +judge's ear that made the old man wrinkle from his neck up with +appreciative smiles. + +"Asbury," he said, "you are--you are--well, you ought to be white, +that's all. When we find a black man like you we send him to State's +prison. If you were white, you'd go to the Senate." + +The Negro laughed confidently. + +He was admitted to the bar soon after, whether by merit or by connivance +is not to be told. + +"Now he will move uptown," said the black community. "Well, that's the +way with a coloured man when he gets a start." + +But they did not know Asbury Robinson yet. He was a man of surprises, +and they were destined to disappointment. He did not move uptown. He +built an office in a small open space next his shop, and there hung out +his shingle. + +"I will never desert the people who have done so much to elevate me," +said Mr. Asbury. + +"I will live among them and I will die among them." + +This was a strong card for the barber-lawyer. The people seized upon the +statement as expressing a nobility of an altogether unique brand. + +They held a mass meeting and indorsed him. They made resolutions that +extolled him, and the Negro band came around and serenaded him, playing +various things in varied time. + +All this was very sweet to Mr. Asbury, and the party managers chuckled +with satisfaction and said, "That Asbury, that Asbury!" + +Now there is a fable extant of a man who tried to please everybody, and +his failure is a matter of record. Robinson Asbury was not more +successful. But be it said that his ill success was due to no fault or +shortcoming of his. + +For a long time his growing power had been looked upon with disfavour by +the coloured law firm of Bingo & Latchett. Both Mr. Bingo and Mr. +Latchett themselves aspired to be Negro leaders in Cadgers, and they +were delivering Emancipation Day orations and riding at the head of +processions when Mr. Asbury was blacking boots. Is it any wonder, then, +that they viewed with alarm his sudden rise? They kept their counsel, +however, and treated with him, for it was best. They allowed him his +scope without open revolt until the day upon which he hung out his +shingle. This was the last straw. They could stand no more. Asbury had +stolen their other chances from them, and now he was poaching upon the +last of their preserves. So Mr. Bingo and Mr. Latchett put their heads +together to plan the downfall of their common enemy. + +The plot was deep and embraced the formation of an opposing faction made +up of the best Negroes of the town. It would have looked too much like +what it was for the gentlemen to show themselves in the matter, and so +they took into their confidence Mr. Isaac Morton, the principal of the +coloured school, and it was under his ostensible leadership that the new +faction finally came into being. + +Mr. Morton was really an innocent young man, and he had ideals which +should never have been exposed to the air. When the wily confederates +came to him with their plan he believed that his worth had been +recognised, and at last he was to be what Nature destined him for--a +leader. + +The better class of Negroes--by that is meant those who were +particularly envious of Asbury's success--flocked to the new man's +standard. But whether the race be white or black, political virtue is +always in a minority, so Asbury could afford to smile at the force +arrayed against him. + +The new faction met together and resolved. They resolved, among other +things, that Mr. Asbury was an enemy to his race and a menace to +civilisation. They decided that he should be abolished; but, as they +couldn't get out an injunction against him, and as he had the whole +undignified but still voting black belt behind him, he went serenely on +his way. + +"They're after you hot and heavy, Asbury," said one of his friends to +him. + +"Oh, yes," was the reply, "they're after me, but after a while I'll get +so far away that they'll be running in front." + +"It's all the best people, they say." + +"Yes. Well, it's good to be one of the best people, but your vote only +counts one just the same." + +The time came, however, when Mr. Asbury's theory was put to the test. +The Cadgerites celebrated the first of January as Emancipation Day. On +this day there was a large procession, with speechmaking in the +afternoon and fireworks at night. It was the custom to concede the +leadership of the coloured people of the town to the man who managed to +lead the procession. For two years past this honour had fallen, of +course, to Robinson Asbury, and there had been no disposition on the +part of anybody to try conclusions with him. + +Mr. Morton's faction changed all this. When Asbury went to work to +solicit contributions for the celebration, he suddenly became aware that +he had a fight upon his hands. All the better-class Negroes were +staying out of it. The next thing he knew was that plans were on foot +for a rival demonstration. + +"Oh," he said to himself, "that's it, is it? Well, if they want a fight +they can have it." + +He had a talk with the party managers, and he had another with Judge +Davis. + +"All I want is a little lift, judge," he said, "and I'll make 'em think +the sky has turned loose and is vomiting niggers." + +The judge believed that he could do it. So did the party managers. +Asbury got his lift. Emancipation Day came. + +There were two parades. At least, there was one parade and the shadow of +another. Asbury's, however, was not the shadow. There was a great deal +of substance about it--substance made up of many people, many banners, +and numerous bands. He did not have the best people. Indeed, among his +cohorts there were a good many of the pronounced rag-tag and bobtail. +But he had noise and numbers. In such cases, nothing more is needed. The +success of Asbury's side of the affair did everything to confirm his +friends in their good opinion of him. + +When he found himself defeated, Mr. Silas Bingo saw that it would be +policy to placate his rival's just anger against him. He called upon him +at his office the day after the celebration. + +"Well, Asbury," he said, "you beat us, didn't you?" + +"It wasn't a question of beating," said the other calmly. "It was only +an inquiry as to who were the people--the few or the many." + +"Well, it was well done, and you've shown that you are a manager. I +confess that I haven't always thought that you were doing the wisest +thing in living down here and catering to this class of people when you +might, with your ability, to be much more to the better class." + +"What do they base their claims of being better on?" + +"Oh, there ain't any use discussing that. We can't get along without +you, we see that. So I, for one, have decided to work with you for +harmony." + +"Harmony. Yes, that's what we want." + +"If I can do anything to help you at any time, why you have only to +command me." + +"I am glad to find such a friend in you. Be sure, if I ever need you, +Bingo, I'll call on you." + +"And I'll be ready to serve you." + +Asbury smiled when his visitor was gone. He smiled, and knitted his +brow. "I wonder what Bingo's got up his sleeve," he said. "He'll bear +watching." + +It may have been pride at his triumph, it may have been gratitude at his +helpers, but Asbury went into the ensuing campaign with reckless +enthusiasm. He did the most daring things for the party's sake. Bingo, +true to his promise, was ever at his side ready to serve him. Finally, +association and immunity made danger less fearsome; the rival no longer +appeared a menace. + +With the generosity born of obstacles overcome, Asbury determined to +forgive Bingo and give him a chance. He let him in on a deal, and from +that time they worked amicably together until the election came and +passed. + +It was a close election and many things had had to be done, but there +were men there ready and waiting to do them. They were successful, and +then the first cry of the defeated party was, as usual, "Fraud! Fraud!" +The cry was taken up by the jealous, the disgruntled, and the virtuous. + +Someone remembered how two years ago the registration books had been +stolen. It was known upon good authority that money had been freely +used. Men held up their hands in horror at the suggestion that the Negro +vote had been juggled with, as if that were a new thing. From their +pulpits ministers denounced the machine and bade their hearers rise and +throw off the yoke of a corrupt municipal government. One of those +sudden fevers of reform had taken possession of the town and threatened +to destroy the successful party. + +They began to look around them. They must purify themselves. They must +give the people some tangible evidence of their own yearnings after +purity. They looked around them for a sacrifice to lay upon the altar of +municipal reform. Their eyes fell upon Mr. Bingo. No, he was not big +enough. His blood was too scant to wash away the political stains. Then +they looked into each other's eyes and turned their gaze away to let it +fall upon Mr. Asbury. They really hated to do it. But there must be a +scapegoat. The god from the Machine commanded them to slay him. + +Robinson Asbury was charged with many crimes--with all that he had +committed and some that he had not. When Mr. Bingo saw what was afoot he +threw himself heart and soul into the work of his old rival's enemies. +He was of incalculable use to them. + +Judge Davis refused to have anything to do with the matter. But in spite +of his disapproval it went on. Asbury was indicted and tried. The +evidence was all against him, and no one gave more damaging testimony +than his friend, Mr. Bingo. The judge's charge was favourable to the +defendant, but the current of popular opinion could not be entirely +stemmed. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty. + +"Before I am sentenced, judge, I have a statement to make to the court. +It will take less than ten minutes." + +"Go on, Robinson," said the judge kindly. + +Asbury started, in a monotonous tone, a recital that brought the +prosecuting attorney to his feet in a minute. The judge waved him down, +and sat transfixed by a sort of fascinated horror as the convicted man +went on. The before-mentioned attorney drew a knife and started for the +prisoner's dock. With difficulty he was restrained. A dozen faces in the +court-room were red and pale by turns. + +"He ought to be killed," whispered Mr. Bingo audibly. + +Robinson Asbury looked at him and smiled, and then he told a few things +of him. He gave the ins and outs of some of the misdemeanours of which +he stood accused. He showed who were the men behind the throne. And +still, pale and transfixed, Judge Davis waited for his own sentence. + +Never were ten minutes so well taken up. It was a tale of rottenness and +corruption in high places told simply and with the stamp of truth upon +it. + +He did not mention the judge's name. But he had torn the mask from the +face of every other man who had been concerned in his downfall. They had +shorn him of his strength, but they had forgotten that he was yet able +to bring the roof and pillars tumbling about their heads. + +The judge's voice shook as he pronounced sentence upon his old ally--a +year in State's prison. + +Some people said it was too light, but the judge knew what it was to +wait for the sentence of doom, and he was grateful and sympathetic. + +When the sheriff led Asbury away the judge hastened to have a short talk +with him. + +"I'm sorry, Robinson," he said, "and I want to tell you that you were no +more guilty than the rest of us. But why did you spare me?" + +"Because I knew you were my friend," answered the convict. + +"I tried to be, but you were the first man that I've ever known since +I've been in politics who ever gave me any decent return for +friendship." + +"I reckon you're about right, judge." + +In politics, party reform usually lies in making a scapegoat of someone +who is only as criminal as the rest, but a little weaker. Asbury's +friends and enemies had succeeded in making him bear the burden of all +the party's crimes, but their reform was hardly a success, and their +protestations of a change of heart were received with doubt. Already +there were those who began to pity the victim and to say that he had +been hardly dealt with. + +Mr. Bingo was not of these; but he found, strange to say, that his +opposition to the idea went but a little way, and that even with Asbury +out of his path he was a smaller man than he was before. Fate was strong +against him. His poor, prosperous humanity could not enter the lists +against a martyr. Robinson Asbury was now a martyr. + + +II + +A year is not a long time. It was short enough to prevent people from +forgetting Robinson, and yet long enough for their pity to grow strong +as they remembered. Indeed, he was not gone a year. Good behaviour cut +two months off the time of his sentence, and by the time people had come +around to the notion that he was really the greatest and smartest man in +Cadgers he was at home again. + +He came back with no flourish of trumpets, but quietly, humbly. He went +back again into the heart of the black district. His business had +deteriorated during his absence, but he put new blood and new life into +it. He did not go to work in the shop himself, but, taking down the +shingle that had swung idly before his office door during his +imprisonment, he opened the little room as a news- and cigar-stand. + +Here anxious, pitying custom came to him and he prospered again. He was +very quiet. Uptown hardly knew that he was again in Cadgers, and it knew +nothing whatever of his doings. + +"I wonder why Asbury is so quiet," they said to one another. "It isn't +like him to be quiet." And they felt vaguely uneasy about him. + +So many people had begun to say, "Well, he was a mighty good fellow +after all." + +Mr. Bingo expressed the opinion that Asbury was quiet because he was +crushed, but others expressed doubt as to this. There are calms and +calms, some after and some before the storm. Which was this? + +They waited a while, and, as no storm came, concluded that this must be +the after-quiet. Bingo, reassured, volunteered to go and seek +confirmation of this conclusion. + +He went, and Asbury received him with an indifferent, not to say, +impolite, demeanour. + +"Well, we're glad to see you back, Asbury," said Bingo patronisingly. He +had variously demonstrated his inability to lead during his rival's +absence and was proud of it. "What are you going to do?" + +"I'm going to work." + +"That's right. I reckon you'll stay out of politics." + +"What could I do even if I went in?" + +"Nothing now, of course; but I didn't know----" + +He did not see the gleam in Asbury's half shut eyes. He only marked his +humility, and he went back swelling with the news. + +"Completely crushed--all the run taken out of him," was his report. + +The black district believed this, too, and a sullen, smouldering anger +took possession of them. Here was a good man ruined. Some of the people +whom he had helped in his former days--some of the rude, coarse people +of the low quarter who were still sufficiently unenlightened to be +grateful--talked among themselves and offered to get up a demonstration +for him. But he denied them. No, he wanted nothing of the kind. It would +only bring him into unfavourable notice. All he wanted was that they +would always be his friends and would stick by him. + +They would to the death. + +There were again two factions in Cadgers. The school-master could not +forget how once on a time he had been made a tool of by Mr. Bingo. So he +revolted against his rule and set himself up as the leader of an +opposing clique. The fight had been long and strong, but had ended with +odds slightly in Bingo's favour. + +But Mr. Morton did not despair. As the first of January and Emancipation +Day approached, he arrayed his hosts, and the fight for supremacy became +fiercer than ever. The school-teacher is giving you a pretty hard +brought the school-children in for chorus singing, secured an able +orator, and the best essayist in town. With all this, he was formidable. + +Mr. Bingo knew that he had the fight of his life on his hands, and he +entered with fear as well as zest. He, too, found an orator, but he was +not sure that he was as good as Morton's. There was no doubt but that +his essayist was not. He secured a band, but still he felt unsatisfied. +He had hardly done enough, and for the school-master to beat him now +meant his political destruction. + +It was in this state of mind that he was surprised to receive a visit +from Mr. Asbury. + +"I reckon you're surprised to see me here," said Asbury, smiling. + +"I am pleased, I know." Bingo was astute. + +"Well, I just dropped in on business." + +"To be sure, to be sure, Asbury. What can I do for you?" + +"It's more what I can do for you that I came to talk about," was the +reply. + +"I don't believe I understand you." + +"Well, it's plain enough. They say that the school-teacher is giving you +a pretty hard fight." + +"Oh, not so hard." + +"No man can be too sure of winning, though. Mr. Morton once did me a +mean turn when he started the faction against me." + +Bingo's heart gave a great leap, and then stopped for the fraction of a +second. + +"You were in it, of course," pursued Asbury, "but I can look over your +part in it in order to get even with the man who started it." + +It was true, then, thought Bingo gladly. He did not know. He wanted +revenge for his wrongs and upon the wrong man. How well the schemer had +covered his tracks! Asbury should have his revenge and Morton would be +the sufferer. + +"Of course, Asbury, you know what I did I did innocently." + +"Oh, yes, in politics we are all lambs and the wolves are only to be +found in the other party. We'll pass that, though. What I want to say is +that I can help you to make your celebration an overwhelming success. I +still have some influence down in my district." + +"Certainly, and very justly, too. Why, I should be delighted with your +aid. I could give you a prominent place in the procession." + +"I don't want it; I don't want to appear in this at all. All I want is +revenge. You can have all the credit, but let me down my enemy." + +Bingo was perfectly willing, and, with their heads close together, they +had a long and close consultation. When Asbury was gone, Mr. Bingo lay +back in his chair and laughed. "I'm a slick duck," he said. + +From that hour Mr. Bingo's cause began to take on the appearance of +something very like a boom. More bands were hired. The interior of the +State was called upon and a more eloquent orator secured. The crowd +hastened to array itself on the growing side. + +With surprised eyes, the school-master beheld the wonder of it, but he +kept to his own purpose with dogged insistence, even when he saw that he +could not turn aside the overwhelming defeat that threatened him. But in +spite of his obstinacy, his hours were dark and bitter. Asbury worked +like a mole, all underground, but he was indefatigable. Two days before +the celebration time everything was perfected for the biggest +demonstration that Cadgers had ever known. All the next day and night he +was busy among his allies. + +On the morning of the great day, Mr. Bingo, wonderfully caparisoned, +rode down to the hall where the parade was to form. He was early. No one +had yet come. In an hour a score of men all told had collected. Another +hour passed, and no more had come. Then there smote upon his ear the +sound of music. They were coming at last. Bringing his sword to his +shoulder, he rode forward to the middle of the street. Ah, there they +were. But--but--could he believe his eyes? They were going in another +direction, and at their head rode--Morton! He gnashed his teeth in fury. +He had been led into a trap and betrayed. The procession passing had +been his--all his. He heard them cheering, and then, oh! climax of +infidelity, he saw his own orator go past in a carriage, bowing and +smiling to the crowd. + +There was no doubting who had done this thing. The hand of Asbury was +apparent in it. He must have known the truth all along, thought Bingo. +His allies left him one by one for the other hall, and he rode home in a +humiliation deeper than he had ever known before. + +Asbury did not appear at the celebration. He was at his little +news-stand all day. + +In a day or two the defeated aspirant had further cause to curse his +false friend. He found that not only had the people defected from him, +but that the thing had been so adroitly managed that he appeared to be +in fault, and three-fourths of those who knew him were angry at some +supposed grievance. His cup of bitterness was full when his partner, a +quietly ambitious man, suggested that they dissolve their relations. + +His ruin was complete. + +The lawyer was not alone in seeing Asbury's hand in his downfall. The +party managers saw it too, and they met together to discuss the +dangerous factor which, while it appeared to slumber, was so terribly +awake. They decided that he must be appeased, and they visited him. + +He was still busy at his news-stand. They talked to him adroitly, while +he sorted papers and kept an impassive face. When they were all done, he +looked up for a moment and replied, "You know, gentlemen, as an +ex-convict I am not in politics." + +Some of them had the grace to flush. + +"But you can use your influence," they said. + +"I am not in politics," was his only reply. + +And the spring elections were coming on. Well, they worked hard, and he +showed no sign. He treated with neither one party nor the other. +"Perhaps," thought the managers, "he is out of politics," and they grew +more confident. + +It was nearing eleven o'clock on the morning of election when a cloud no +bigger than a man's hand appeared upon the horizon. It came from the +direction of the black district. It grew, and the managers of the party +in power looked at it, fascinated by an ominous dread. Finally it began +to rain Negro voters, and as one man they voted against their former +candidates. Their organisation was perfect. They simply came, voted, and +left, but they overwhelmed everything. Not one of the party that had +damned Robinson Asbury was left in power save old Judge Davis. His +majority was overwhelming. + +The generalship that had engineered the thing was perfect. There were +loud threats against the newsdealer. But no one bothered him except a +reporter. The reporter called to see just how it was done. He found +Asbury very busy sorting papers. To the newspaper man's questions he had +only this reply, "I am not in politics, sir." + +But Cadgers had learned its lesson. + + + + +_Two_ + +ONE CHRISTMAS AT SHILOH + + +Martha Maria Mixon was a "widder lady." So she described herself +whenever anyone asked her as to her status in life. To her more intimate +friends she confided that she was not a "weed widder," but one of the +"grass" variety. The story of how her husband, Madison, had never been +"No 'count, even befo' de wah," and of his rapid degeneration +thereafter, was vividly told. + +"De fact of de mattah is," Mrs. Mixon was wont to say, "my man, Madison, +was nevah no han' to wo'k. He was de settin'-downest man you evah seed. +Hit wouldn't 'a' been so bad, but Madison was a lakly man, an' his +tongue wah smoothah dan ile; so hit t'wan't no shakes fu' him to fool +ol' Mas' 'bout his wo'k an' git erlong des erbout ez he pleased. Mas' +Madison Mixon, hisse'f, was a mighty 'dulgent so't o' man, an' he liked +a laugh bettah dan anyone in de worl'. Well, my man could mek him laugh, +an' dat was enough fu' him. I used to lectuah dat man much 'bout his +onshifless ways, but he des went erlong, twell bimeby hyeah come de wah +an' evahthing was broke up. Den w'en hit come time dat Madison had to +scramble fu' hisself, dey wa'nt no scramble in him. He des' wouldn't +wo'k an' I had to do evahthing. He allus had what he called some gret +scheme, but deh nevah seemed to come to nuffin, an' once when he got de +folks to put some money in somep'n' dat broke up, dey come put' nigh +tahin' an' featherin' him. Finally, I des got morchully tiahed o' dat +man's ca'in' on, an' I say to him one day, 'Madison,' I say, 'I'm tiahed +of all dis foo'ishness, an' I'm gwine up Norf whaih I kin live an' be +somebody. Ef evah you mek a man out o' yo'se'f, an' want me, de Bible +say 'Seek an' you shell receive.' Cause even den I was a mighty han' to +c'ote de Scripters. Well, I lef' him, an' Norf I come, 'dough it jes' +nigh broke my hea't, fu' I sho did love dat black man. De las' thing I +hyeahed o' him, he had des learned to read an' write an' wah runnin' fu' +de Legislater 'twell de Klu Klux got aftah him; den I think he 'signed +de nomernation." + +This was Martha's story, and the reason that there was no Mr. Mixon with +her when she came North, drifted from place to place and finally became +one of New York's large black contingent from the South. To her the +lessons of slavery had not been idle ones. Industrious, careful, and +hard-working, she soon became prosperous, and when, hunting a spiritual +home she settled upon Shiloh Chapel, she was welcomed there as a +distinct addition to the large and active membership. + +Shiloh was not one of the fashionable churches of the city, but it was +primarily a church home for any Southern negro, for in it were +representatives of every one of the old slaveholding States. Its pastor +was one of those who had not yet got beyond the belief that any temporal +preparation for the preaching of the Gospel was unnecessary. It was +still his firm trust, and often his boast, that if one opened his mouth +the Lord would fill it, and it grew to be a settled idea that the Lord +filled his acceptably, for his converts were many and his congregation +increased. + +The Rev. Silas Todbury's education may have been deficient in other +matters, but one thing he knew, and knew thoroughly--the disposition of +his people. He knew just what weaknesses, longings, and desires their +recent bondage had left with them, and with admirable shrewdness +contrived to meet them. He knew that in preaching they wanted noise, +emotion, and fire; that in the preacher they wanted free-heartedness and +cordiality. He knew that when Christmas came they wanted a great rally, +somewhat approaching, at least, the rousing times both spiritual and +temporal that they had had back on the old plantation, when Christmas +meant a week of pleasurable excitement. Knowing the last so well, it was +with commendable foresight that he began early his preparations for a +big time on a certain Christmas not long ago. + +"I tell you people," he said to his congregation, "we's goin' to have a +reg'lar 'Benjamin's mess'!" + +The coloured folk, being not quite sure of the quotation, laughed +heartily, exclaiming in admiration of their pastor, "Dat Todbu'y is +sholy one mess hisse'f." + +"Now any of de sistahs dat's willin' to he'p mek dis comin' Chris'mus a +real sho 'nough one, 'll 'blige me by meetin' me in de basement of de +chu'ch aftah services. De brothahs kin go 'long home 'twell dey called +fu'." + +There was another outburst of merriment at this sally, and it was a +good-natured score or more of sisters who a little later met the pastor +as agreed. Among them was Martha Maria Mixon, for she was very close to +her pastor, and for many a day had joyed his clerical heart with special +dinners. + +"Ah," said the preacher, rubbing his hands, "Sistah Marthy, I see you's +on han' ez usual to he'p me out, an' you, too, Sis Jinny, an' Sis +Dicey," he added, quick to note the signs of any incipient jealousy, and +equally ready to check it. "We's all hyeah, de faithful few, an' we's +all ready fu' wo'k." + +The sisters beamed and nodded. + +"Well, we goin' to have some'p'n evah night, beginnin' wid Chris'mus +night, straight on endurin' of de week, an' I want to separate you all +into companies fu' to take chawge of each night. Now, I's a-goin' to +have a powahful preachah f'om de Souf wid us, an' I want you all to show +him what we kin do. On Chris'mus day we goin' to have a sermont at de +chu'ch an' a festabal in de evenin' wid a Chris'mus tree. Sis' Marthy, I +want you to boa'd de minister." + +"La, Brothah Todbu'y, I don't scarcely feel lak I's 'portant 'nough fu' +dat," said Mrs. Mixon modestly, "but I'll do de bes' I kin. I hatter be +lak de widder's mice in de scuse o' meal." + +"We ain't got no doubt 'bout what you able to do, Sis Marthy," and the +pastor passed to the appointment of his other committees. After evening +services the brothers were similarly called in consultation and +appointed to their respective duties. + +To the black people to whom these responsibilities were thus turned +over, joy came, and with it the vision of other days--the vision of the +dear old days, the hard old days back there in the South, when they had +looked forward to their Christmas from year to year. Then it had been a +time of sadness as well as of joy, for they knew that though the week +was full of pleasure, after it was over must come separation and +sadness. For this was the time when those who were to be hired out, +loaned, or given away, were to change their homes. So even while they +danced they sighed, and while they shouted they moaned. Now there was no +such repressing fact to daunt them. Christmas would come. They would +enjoy themselves, and after it was over would go back to the same homes +to live through the round of months in the midst of familiar faces and +among their own old loved ones. The thought gave sweetness to their +labour, and the responsibilities devolving upon them imbued the sacred +holiday with a meaning and charm that it had never had before for them. +They bubbled over with importance and with the glory of it. A sister and +a brother could not meet without a friendly banter. + +"Hi, Sis' Dicey," Brother Williams would call out across the fence to +his neighbour, "I don' believe you doin' anything to'ds dat Chris'mus +celebration. Evah time I sees you, you's in de washtub tryin' to mek +braid an' meat fo' dat no 'count man o' yo'n." + +Sister Dicey's laugh rang out loud and musical before she replied, +"Nevah you min', Brothah Williams. I don' see yo' back bowed so much by +de yoke." + +"Oh, honey, I's labo'in' even ef you do'n know it, but you'll see it on +de day." + +"I 'low you labo'in' de mos' to git dat wife o' yo'n a new dress," and +her tormentor's guffaw seemed to admit some such benevolent intention. + +In the corners of every house where the younger and more worldly-minded +people congregated there was much whispering and giggling, for they had +their own plans for Christmas outside of the church affair. + +"You goin' to give me de pleasure of yo' comp'ny to de dance aftah de +festabal?" some ardent and early swain would murmur to his lady love, +and the whisper would fly back in well-feigned affright, "Heish, man, +you want to have Brothah Todbu'y chu'chin' me?" But if the swain +persisted, there was little chance of his being ultimately refused. So +the world, the flesh, and the devil kept pace with the things of the +spirit in the great preparation. + +Meanwhile Martha Maria Mixon went her own way, working hard, fixing and +observing. She had determined to excel herself this time, and not only +should her part at the church be above reproach, but the entertainment +which she would give that strange preacher would be a thing long to be +remembered. And so, almost startled at all that Shiloh was preparing for +his reception, hoary Christmas approached. + +All New York was a dazzling bazar through which the people thronged +ceaselessly, tumultuously. Everyone was a child again; holly wreaths +with the red berries gleaming amid the green were everywhere, and the +white streets were gay with laughter and bustle and life. + +On the night before the great day Martha sat before her fire and hummed +softly to herself. There was a smile upon her face, for she had worked +and worked well, and now all was ready and to her entire satisfaction. +Something which shall be nameless simmered in a tin cup on the back of +the stove before her, and every now and then she broke her reverie to +sip of it. It smelled sweet and pungent and suspicious, but, then--this +was Christmas Eve. She was half drowsing when a brisk knock startled her +into wakefulness. Thinking it was one of the neighbours in for a call +she bade the visitor enter, without moving. There was a stamping of +feet, and the door opened and a black man covered with snow stood before +her. He said nothing. Martha rubbed her eyes and stared at him, and then +she looked at the cup accusingly, and from it back to the man. Then she +rubbed her eyes again. + +"Wha--wha----" she stammered, rising slowly. + +"Don' you know me, Marthy, don' you know me; an' don' you want to see +yo' husban'?" + +"Madison Mixon, is dat you in de flesh?" + +"It's me, Marthy; you tol' me ef evah I made a man o' myse'f, to seek +you. It's been a long road, but I's tried faithful." + +All the memories of other days came rushing over Martha in an +overwhelming flood. In one moment everything was forgotten save that +here stood her long delinquent husband. She threw out her arms and took +a step toward him, but he anticipated her further advance and rushing to +her clasped her ample form in a close embrace. + +"You will tek me back!" he cried, "you will fu'give me!" + +"Yes, yes, of co'se, I will, Madison, ef you has made a man of yo'se'f." + +"I hopes to prove dat to you." + +It was a very pleasant evening that they spent together, and like old +times to Martha. Never once did it occur to her that this sudden finding +of a husband might be awkward on the morrow when the visitor came to +dinner. Nor did she once suspect that Madison might be up to one of his +old tricks. She accepted him for just what he said he was and intended +to be. + +Her first doubt came the next morning when she began to hurry her +preparations for church. Madison had been fumbling in his carpet bag and +was already respectably dressed. His wife looked at him approvingly, but +the glance turned to one of consternation when he stammered forth that +he had to go out, as he had some business to attend to. + +"What, on de ve'y fust day you hyeah, ain't you goin' to chu'ch wid me?" + +"De bus'ness is mighty pressin', but I hopes to see you at chu'ch by de +time de services begin. Waih does you set?" His hand was on the door. + +Martha sank into a chair and the tears came to her eyes, but she choked +them back. She would not let him see how much she was hurt. She told him +in a faltering voice where she sat, and he passed out. Then her tears +came and flooded away the last hope. She had been so proud to think that +she would walk to church with her husband that morning for the first +time in so long a while, and now it was all over. For a little while she +thought that she would not go, and then the memory of all the +preparations she had made and of the new minister came to her, and she +went on with her dressing. + +The church was crowded that morning when Martha arrived. She looked +around in vain for some sight of Madison, but she could see nothing of +him, and so she sank into her seat with a sigh. She could just see the +new minister drooping in his seat behind the reading desk. He was +evidently deep in meditation, for he did not get up during the hymn. + +Then Martha heard the Rev. Silas Todbury speaking. His words did not +affect her until she found that the whole of his closing sentence was +flashing through her brain like a flame. "We will now be exho'ted by de +Reverent Madison Mixon." + +She couldn't believe her ears, but stared wildly at the pulpit where the +new preacher stood. It was Madison. Her first impulse was to rise in her +seat and stop him. It was another of his tricks, and he should not +profane the church. But his look and voice silenced her and she sank +back in amazement. + +He preached a powerful sermon, and at its close told something of his +life and who he was, and Martha found herself all at once the centre of +attention; and her face glowed and her heart burned within her as the +people about her nodded and smiled at her through their tears, and +hurled "Amen" upon "Amen." + +Madison hurried to her side after the services. "I des wanted to s'prise +you a little, Marthy," he said. + +She was too happy to answer and, pressing his arm very tightly, she +walked out among her congratulating friends, and between her husband and +the Rev. Silas Todbury went proudly home to her Christmas dinner. + + + + +_Three_ + +THE MISSION OF MR. SCATTERS + + +It took something just short of a revolution to wake up the sleepy +little town of Miltonville. Through the slow, hot days it drowsed along +like a lazy dog, only half rousing now and then to snap at some flying +rumour, and relapsing at once into its pristine somnolence. + +It was not a dreamless sleep, however, that held the town in chains. It +had its dreams--dreams of greatness, of wealth, of consequence and of +growth. Granted that there was no effort to realise these visions, they +were yet there, and, combined with the memory of a past that was not +without credit, went far to give tone to its dormant spirit. + +It was a real spirit, too; the gallant Bourbon spirit of the old South; +of Kentucky when she is most the daughter of Virginia, as was evidenced +in the awed respect which all Miltonvillians, white and black alike, +showed to Major Richardson in his house on the hill. He was part of the +traditions of the place. It was shown in the conservatism of the old +white families, and a certain stalwart if reflected self-respect in the +older coloured inhabitants. + +In all the days since the school had been founded and Mr. Dunkin's +marriage to the teacher had raised a brief ripple of excitement, these +coloured people had slumbered. They were still slumbering that hot +August day, unmindful of the sensation that lay at their very doors, +heedless of the portents that said as plain as preaching, "Miltonville, +the time is at hand, awake!" + +So it was that that afternoon there were only a few loungers, and these +not very alert, about the station when the little train wheezed and +puffed its way into it. It had been so long since anyone save those whom +they knew had alighted at Miltonville that the loungers had lost faith, +and with it curiosity, and now they scarcely changed their positions as +the little engine stopped with a snort of disgust. But in an instant +indifference had fled as the mist before the sun, and every eye on the +platform was staring and white. It is the unexpected that always +happens, and yet humanity never gets accustomed to it. The loafers, +white and black, had assumed a sitting posture, and then they had stood +up. For from the cars there had alighted the wonder of a stranger--a +Negro stranger, gorgeous of person and attire. He was dressed in a suit +of black cloth. A long coat was buttoned close around his tall and +robust form. He was dead black, from his shiny top hat to his not less +shiny boots, and about him there was the indefinable air of distinction. +He stood looking about the platform for a moment, and then stepped +briskly and decisively toward the group that was staring at him with +wide eyes. There was no hesitation in that step. He walked as a man +walks who is not in the habit of being stopped, who has not known what +it is to be told, "Thus far shalt thou go and no further." + +"Can you tell me where I can find the residence of Mr. Isaac Jackson?" +he asked sonorously as he reached the stupefied loungers. His voice was +deep and clear. + +Someone woke from his astonishment and offered to lead him thither, and +together the two started for their destination, the stranger keeping up +a running fire of comment on the way. Had his companion been a close +observer and known anything about the matter, he would have found the +newcomer's English painfully, unforgivably correct. A language should be +like an easy shoe on a flexible foot, but to one unused to it, it proves +rather a splint on a broken limb. The stranger stalked about in +conversational splints until they arrived at Isaac Jackson's door. Then +giving his guide a dime, he dismissed him with a courtly bow, and +knocked. + +It was a good thing that Martha Ann Jackson had the innate politeness of +her race well to the fore when she opened the door upon the radiant +creature, or she would have given voice to the words that were in her +heart: "Good Lawd, what is dis?" + +"Is this the residence of Mr. Isaac Jackson?" in the stranger's suavest +voice. + +"Yes, suh, he live hyeah." + +"May I see him? I desire to see him upon some business." He handed her +his card, which she carefully turned upside down, glanced at without +understanding, and put in her apron pocket as she replied: + +"He ain't in jes' now, but ef you'll step in an' wait, I'll sen' one o' +de chillen aftah him." + +"I thank you, madam, I thank you. I will come in and rest from the +fatigue of my journey. I have travelled a long way, and rest in such a +pleasant and commodious abode as your own appears to be will prove very +grateful to me." + +She had been half afraid to invite this resplendent figure into her +humble house, but she felt distinctly flattered at his allusion to the +home which she had helped Isaac to buy, and by the alacrity with which +the stranger accepted her invitation. + +She ushered him into the front room, mentally thanking her stars that +she had forced the reluctant Isaac to buy a bright new carpet a couple +of months before. + +A child was despatched to find and bring home the father, while Martha +Ann, hastily slipping out of her work-dress and into a starched calico, +came in to keep her visitor company. + +His name proved to be Scatters, and he was a most entertaining and +ingratiating man. It was evident that he had some important business +with Isaac Jackson, but that it was mysterious was shown by the guarded +way in which he occasionally hinted at it as he tapped the valise he +carried and nodded knowingly. + +Time had never been when Martha Ann Jackson was so flustered. She was +charmed and frightened and flattered. She could only leave Mr. Scatters +long enough to give orders to her daughter, Lucy, to prepare such a +supper as that household had never seen before; then she returned to sit +again at his feet and listen to his words of wisdom. + +The supper progressed apace, and the savour of it was already in the +stranger's nostrils. Upon this he grew eloquent and was about to divulge +his secret to the hungry-eyed woman when the trampling of Isaac's boots +upon the walk told him that he had only a little while longer to contain +himself, and at the same time to wait for the fragrant supper. + +Now, it is seldom that a man is so well impressed with a smooth-tongued +stranger as is his wife. Usually his hard-headedness puts him on the +defensive against the blandishments of the man who has won his better +half's favour, and, however honest the semi-fortunate individual may be, +he despises him for his attainments. But it was not so in this case. +Isaac had hardly entered the house and received his visitor's warm +handclasp before he had become captive to his charm. Business, +business--no, his guest had been travelling and he must be both tired +and hungry. Isaac would hear of no business until they had eaten. Then, +over a pipe, if the gentleman smoked, they might talk at their ease. + +Mr. Scatters demurred, but in fact nothing could have pleased him +better, and the open smile with which he dropped into his place at the +table was very genuine and heartfelt. Genuine, too, were his praises of +Lucy's cooking; of her flaky buscuits and mealy potatoes. He was pleased +all through and he did not hesitate to say so. + +It was a beaming group that finally rose heavily laden from the supper +table. + +Over a social pipe a little later, Isaac Jackson heard the story that +made his eyes bulge with interest and his heart throb with eagerness. + +Mr. Scatters began, tapping his host's breast and looking at him +fixedly, "You had a brother some years ago named John." It was more like +an accusation than a question. + +"Yes, suh, I had a brothah John." + +"Uh, huh, and that brother migrated to the West Indies." + +"Yes, suh, he went out to some o' dem outlandish places." + +"Hold on, sir, hold on, I am a West Indian myself." + +"I do' mean no erfence, 'ceptin' dat John allus was of a rovin' +dispersition." + +"Very well, you know no more about your brother after his departure for +the West Indies?" + +"No, suh." + +"Well, it is my mission to tell you the rest of the story. Your brother +John landed at Cuba, and after working about some years and living +frugally, he went into the coffee business, in which he became rich." + +"Rich?" + +"Rich, sir." + +"Why, bless my soul, who'd 'a evah thought that of John? Why, suh, I'm +sho'ly proud to hyeah it. Why don't he come home an' visit a body?" + +"Ah, why?" said Mr. Scatters dramatically. "Now comes the most painful +part of my mission. 'In the midst of life we are in death.'" Mr. +Scatters sighed, Isaac sighed and wiped his eyes. "Two years ago your +brother departed this life." + +"Was he saved?" Isaac asked in a choked voice. Scatters gave him one +startled glance, and then answered hastily, "I am happy to say that he +was." + +"Poor John! He gone an' me lef'." + +"Even in the midst of our sorrows, however, there is always a ray of +light. Your brother remembered you in his will." + +"Remembered me?" + +"Remembered you, and as one of the executors of his estate,"--Mr. +Scatters rose and went softly over to his valise, from which he took a +large square package. He came back with it, holding it as if it were +something sacred,--"as one of the executors of his estate, which is now +settled, I was commissioned to bring you this." He tapped the package. +"This package, sealed as you see with the seal of Cuba, contains five +thousand dollars in notes and bonds." + +Isaac gasped and reached for the bundle, but it was withdrawn. "I am, +however, not to deliver it to you yet. There are certain formalities +which my country demands to be gone through with, after which I deliver +my message and return to the fairest of lands, to the Gem of the +Antilles. Let me congratulate you, Mr. Jackson, upon your good fortune." + +Isaac yielded up his hand mechanically. He was dazed by the vision of +this sudden wealth. + +"Fi' thousan' dollahs," he repeated. + +"Yes, sir, five thousand dollars. It is a goodly sum, and in the +meantime, until court convenes, I wish you to recommend some safe place +in which to put this money, as I do not feel secure with it about my +person, nor would it be secure if it were known to be in your house." + +"I reckon Albert Matthews' grocery would be the safes' place fu' it. +He's got one o' dem i'on saftes." + +"The very place. Let us go there at once, and after that I will not +encroach upon your hospitality longer, but attempt to find a hotel." + +"Hotel nothin'," said Isaac emphatically. "Ef my house ain't too common, +you'll stay right thaih ontwell co't sets." + +"This is very kind of you, Mr. Jackson, but really I couldn't think of +being such a charge upon you and your good wife." + +"'Tain't no charge on us; we'll be glad to have you. Folks hyeah in +Miltonville has little enough comp'ny, de Lawd knows." + +Isaac spoke the truth, and it was as much the knowledge that he would be +the envy of all the town as his gratitude to Scatters that prompted him +to prevail upon his visitor to stay. + +Scatters was finally persuaded, and the men only paused long enough in +the house to tell the curiosity-eaten Martha Ann the news, and then +started for Albert Matthews' store. Scatters carried the precious +package, and Isaac was armed with an old shotgun lest anyone should +suspect their treasure and attack them. Five thousand dollars was not to +be carelessly handled! + +As soon as the men were gone, Martha Ann started out upon her rounds, +and her proud tongue did for the women portion of Miltonville what the +visit to Matthews' store did for the men. Did Mrs. So-and-So remember +brother John? Indeed she did. And when the story was told, it was a +"Well, well, well! he used to be an ol' beau o' mine." Martha Ann found +no less than twenty women of her acquaintance for whom her brother John +seemed to have entertained tender feelings. + +The corner grocery store kept by Albert Matthews was the general +gathering-place for the coloured male population of the town. It was a +small, one-roomed building, almost filled with barrels, boxes, and +casks. + +Pride as well as necessity had prompted Isaac to go to the grocery just +at this time, when it would be quite the fullest of men. He had not +calculated wrongly when he reckoned upon the sensation that would be +made by his entrance with the distinguished-looking stranger. The +excitement was all the most hungry could have wished for. The men stared +at Jackson and his companion with wide-open eyes. They left off chewing +tobacco and telling tales. A half-dozen of them forgot to avail +themselves of the joy of spitting, and Albert Matthews, the proprietor, +a weazened little brown-skinned man, forgot to lay his hand upon the +scale in weighing out a pound of sugar. + +With a humility that was false on the very face of it, Isaac introduced +his guest to the grocer and the three went off together mysteriously +into a corner. The matter was duly explained and the object of the visit +told. Matthews burned with envy of his neighbour's good fortune. + +"I do' reckon, Mistah Scatters, dat we bettah not let de othah folks in +de sto' know anything 'bout dis hyeah bus'ness of ouahs. I got to be +'sponsible fu dat money, an' I doesn't want to tek no chances." + +"You are perfectly right, sir, perfectly right. You are responsible, not +only for the money itself, but for the integrity of this seal which +means the dignity of government." + +Matthews looked sufficiently impressed, and together they all went their +way among the barrels and boxes to the corner where the little safe +stood. With many turnings and twistings the door was opened, the package +inclosed and the safe shut again. Then they all rose solemnly and went +behind the counter to sample something that Matthews had. This was +necessary as a climax, for they had performed, not a mere deed, but a +ceremonial. + +"Of course, you'll say nothing about this matter at all, Mr. Matthews," +said Scatters, thereby insuring publicity to his affair. + +There were a few introductions as the men passed out, but hardly had +their backs turned when a perfect storm of comment and inquiry broke +about the grocer's head. So it came to pass, that with many mysterious +nods and headshakings, Matthews first hinted at and then told the +story. + +For the first few minutes the men could scarcely believe what they had +heard. It was so utterly unprecedented. Then it dawned upon them that it +might be so, and discussion and argument ran rife for the next hour. + +The story flew like wildfire, there being three things in this world +which interest all sorts and conditions of men alike: great wealth, +great beauty, and great love. Whenever Mr. Scatters appeared he was +greeted with deference and admiration. Any man who had come clear from +Cuba on such an errand to their fellow-townsman deserved all honour and +respect. His charming manners confirmed, too, all that preconceived +notions had said of him. He became a social favourite. It began with Mr. +and Mrs. Dunkin's calling upon him. Then followed Alonzo Taft, and when +the former two gave a reception for the visitor, his position was +assured. Miltonville had not yet arisen to the dignity of having a +literary society. He now founded one and opened it himself with an +address so beautiful, so eloquent and moving that Mr. Dunkin bobbed his +head dizzy in acquiescence, and Aunt Hannah Payne thought she was in +church and shouted for joy. + +The little town had awakened from its long post-bellum slumber and +accepted with eagerness the upward impulse given it. It stood aside and +looked on with something like adoration when Mr. Scatters and Mrs. +Dunkin met and talked of ineffable things--things far above the ken of +the average mortal. + +When Mr. Scatters found that his mission was known, he gave up further +attempts at concealing it and talked freely about the matter. He +expatiated at length upon the responsibility that devolved upon him and +his desire to discharge it, and he spoke glowingly of the great +government whose power was represented by the seal which held the +package of bonds. Not for one day would he stay away from his beloved +Cuba, if it were not that that seal had to be broken in the presence of +the proper authorities. So, however reluctant he might be to stay, it +was not for him to shirk his task: he must wait for the sitting of +court. + +Meanwhile the Jacksons lived in an atmosphere of glory. The womenfolk +purchased new dresses, and Isaac got a new wagon on the strength of +their good fortune. It was nothing to what they dreamed of doing when +they had the money positively in hand. Mr. Scatters still remained their +guest, and they were proud of it. + +What pleased them most was that their distinguished visitor seemed not +to look down upon, but rather to be pleased with, their homely fare. +Isaac had further cause for pleasure when his guest came to him later +with a great show of frank confidence to request the loan of fifty +dollars. + +"I should not think of asking even this small favour of you but that I +have only Cuban money with me and I knew you would feel distressed if +you knew that I went to the trouble of sending this money away for +exchange on account of so small a sum." + +This was undoubtedly a mark of special confidence. It suddenly made +Isaac feel as if the grand creature had accepted and labelled him as a +brother and an equal. He hastened to Matthews' safe, where he kept his +own earnings; for the grocer was banker as well. + +With reverent hands they put aside the package of bonds and together +counted out the required half a hundred dollars. In a little while Mr. +Scatters' long, graceful fingers had closed over it. + +Mr. Jackson's cup of joy was now full. It had but one bitter drop to mar +its sweetness. That was the friendship that had sprung up between the +Cuban and Mr. Dunkin. They frequently exchanged visits, and sat long +together engaged in conversation from which Isaac was excluded. This +galled him. He felt that he had a sort of proprietary interest in his +guest. And any infringement of this property right he looked upon with +distinct disfavour. So that it was with no pleasant countenance that he +greeted Mr. Dunkin when he called on a certain night. + +"Mr. Scatters is gone out," he said, as the old man entered and +deposited his hat on the floor. + +"Dat's all right, Isaac," said Mr. Dunkin slowly, "I didn't come to see +de gent'man. I come to see you." + +The cloud somewhat lifted from Isaac's brow. Mr. Dunkin was a man of +importance and it made a deal of difference whom he was visiting. + +He seemed a little bit embarrassed, however, as to how to open +conversation. He hummed and hawed and was visibly uneasy. He tried to +descant upon the weather, but the subject failed him. Finally, with an +effort, he hitched his chair nearer to his host's and said in a low +voice, "Ike, I reckon you has de confidence of Mistah Scatters?" + +"I has," was the proud reply, "I has." + +"Hum! uh! huh! Well--well--has you evah loant him any money?" + +Isaac was aghast. Such impertinence! + +"Mistah Dunkin," he began, "I considah----" + +"Hol' on, Ike!" broke in Dunkin, laying a soothing hand on the other's +knee, "don' git on yo' high hoss. Dis hyeah's a impo'tant mattah." + +"I ain't got nothin' to say." + +"He ain't never tol' you 'bout havin' nothin' but Cubian money on him?" + +Isaac started. + +"I see he have. He tol' me de same thing." + +The two men sat staring suspiciously into each other's faces. + +"He got a hun'ed an' fifty dollahs f'om me," said Dunkin. + +"I let him have fifty," added Jackson weakly. + +"He got a hun'ed an' fifty dollahs f'om thews. Dat's how I come to git +'spicious. He tol' him de same sto'y." + +Again that pregnant look flashed between them, and they both rose and +went out of the house. + +They hurried down to Matthews' grocery. The owner was waiting for them +there. There was solemnity, but no hesitation, in the manner with which +they now went to the safe. They took out the package hastily and with +ruthless hands. This was no ceremonial now. The seal had no longer any +fears for them. They tore it off. They tore the wrappers. Then paper. +Neatly folded paper. More wrapping paper. Newspapers. Nothing more. Of +bills or bonds--nothing. With the debris of the mysterious parcel +scattered about their feet, they stood up and looked at each other. + +"I nevah did believe in furriners nohow," said Mr. Dunkin sadly. + +"But he knowed all about my brothah John." + +"An' he sho'ly did make mighty fine speeches. Maybe we's missed de +money." This from the grocer. + +Together they went over the papers again, with the same result. + +"Do you know where he went to-night, Ike?" + +"No." + +"Den I reckon we's seed de las' o' him." + +"But he lef' his valise." + +"Yes, an' he lef' dis," said Dunkin sternly, pointing to the paper on +the floor. "He sho'ly is mighty keerless of his valybles." + +"Let's go git de constable," said the practical Matthews. + +They did, though they felt that it would be unavailing. + +The constable came and waited at Jackson's house. They had been there +about half an hour, talking the matter over, when what was their +surprise to hear Mr. Scatters' step coming jauntily up the walk. A +sudden panic of terror and shame seized them. It was as if they had +wronged him. Suppose, after all, everything should come right and he +should be able to explain? They sat and trembled until he entered. Then +the constable told him his mission. + +Mr. Scatters was surprised. He was hurt. Indeed, he was distinctly +grieved that his friends had had so little confidence in him. Had he +been to them anything but a gentleman, a friend, and an honest man? Had +he not come a long distance from his home to do one of them a favour? +They hung their heads. Martha Ann, who was listening at the door, was +sobbing audibly. What had he done thus to be humiliated? He saw the +effect of his words and pursued it. Had he not left in the care of one +of their own number security for his integrity in the shape of the +bonds? + +The effect of his words was magical. Every head went up and three pairs +of flashing eyes were bent upon him. He saw and knew that they knew. He +had not thought that they would dare to violate the seal around which he +had woven such a halo. He saw that all was over, and, throwing up his +hands with a despairing gesture, he bowed graciously and left the room +with the constable. + +All Miltonville had the story next day, and waited no less eagerly than +before for the "settin' of co't." + +To the anger and chagrin of Miltonvillians, Fox Run had the honour and +distinction of being the county seat, and thither they must go to the +sessions; but never did they so forget their animosities as on the day +set for the trial of Scatters. They overlooked the pride of the Fox +Runners, their cupidity and their vaunting arrogance. They ignored the +indignity of showing interest in anything that took place in that +village, and went in force, eager, anxious, and curious. Ahorse, afoot, +by oxcart, by mule-wagon, white, black, high, low, old, and young of +both sexes invaded Fox Run and swelled the crowd of onlookers until, +with pity for the very anxiety of the people, the humane judge decided +to discard the now inadequate court-room and hold the sessions on the +village green. Here an impromptu bar was set up, and over against it +were ranged the benches, chairs, and camp-stools of the spectators. + +Every man of prominence in the county was present. Major Richardson, +though now retired, occupied a distinguished position within the bar. +Old Captain Howard shook hands familiarly with the judge and nodded to +the assembly as though he himself had invited them all to be present. +Former Judge Durbin sat with his successor on the bench. + +Court opened and the first case was called. It gained but passing +attention. There was bigger game to be stalked. A hog-stealing case +fared a little better on account of the intimateness of the crime +involved. But nothing was received with such awed silence as the case of +the State against Joseph Scatters. The charge was obtaining money under +false pretences, and the plea "Not Guilty." + +The witnesses were called and their testimony taken. Mr. Scatters was +called to testify in his own defence, but refused to do so. The +prosecution stated its case and proceeded to sum up the depositions of +the witnesses. As there was no attorney for the defence, the State's +attorney delivered a short speech, in which the guilt of the defendant +was plainly set forth. It was as clear as day. Things looked very dark +for Mr. Scatters of Cuba. + +As the lawyer sat down, and ere the case could be given to the jury, he +rose and asked permission of the Court to say a few words. + +This was granted him. + +He stood up among them, a magnificent, strong, black figure. His eyes +swept the assembly, judge, jury, and spectators with a look half +amusement, half defiance. + +"I have pleaded not guilty," he began in a low, distinct voice that +could be heard in every part of the inclosure, "and I am not guilty of +the spirit which is charged against me, however near the letter may +touch me. I did use certain knowledge that I possessed, and the seal +which I happened to have from an old government position, to +defraud--that is the word, if you will--to defraud these men out of the +price of their vanity and their cupidity. But it was not a +long-premeditated thing. I was within a few miles of your town before +the idea occurred to me. I was in straits. I stepped from the brink of +great poverty into the midst of what you are pleased to deem a greater +crime." + +The Court held its breath. No such audacity had ever been witnessed in +the life of Fox Run. + +Scatters went on, warming to his subject as he progressed. He was +eloquent and he was pleasing. A smile flickered over the face of Major +Richardson and was reflected in the features of many others as the +speaker burst forth: + +"Gentlemen, I maintain that instead of imprisoning you should thank me +for what I have done. Have I not taught your community a lesson? Have I +not put a check upon their credulity and made them wary of unheralded +strangers?" + +He had. There was no disputing that. The judge himself was smiling, and +the jurymen were nodding at each other. + +Scatters had not yet played his trump card. He saw that the time was +ripe. Straightening his form and raising his great voice, he cried: +"Gentlemen, I am guilty according to the letter of the law, but from +that I appeal to the men who make and have made the law. From the hard +detail of this new day, I appeal to the chivalry of the old South which +has been told in story and sung in song. From men of vindictiveness I +appeal to men of mercy. From plebeians to aristocrats. By the memory of +the sacred names of the Richardsons"--the Major sat bolt upright and +dropped his snuffbox--"the Durbins"--the ex-judge couldn't for his life +get his pince-nez on--"the Howards"--the captain openly rubbed his +hands--"to the memory that those names call up I appeal, and to the +living and honourable bearers of them present. And to you, gentlemen of +the jury, the lives of whose fathers went to purchase this dark and +bloody ground, I appeal from the accusation of these men, who are not my +victims, not my dupes, but their own." + +There was a hush when he was done. The judge read the charge to the +jury, and it was favourable--very. And--well, Scatters had taught the +darkies a lesson; he had spoken of their families and their traditions, +he knew their names, and--oh, well, he was a good fellow after all--what +was the use? + +The jury did not leave their seats, and the verdict was acquittal. + +Scatters thanked the Court and started away; but he met three +ominous-looking pairs of eyes, and a crowd composed of angry Negroes was +flocking toward the edge of the green. + +He came back. + +"I think I had better wait until the excitement subsides," he said to +Major Richardson. + +"No need of that, suh, no need of that. Here, Jim," he called to his +coachman, "take Mr. Scatters wherever he wants to go, and remember, I +shall hold you responsible for his safety." + +"Yes, suh," said Jim. + +"A thousand thanks, Major," said the man with the mission. + +"Not at all, suh. By the way, that was a very fine effort of yours this +afternoon. I was greatly moved by it. If you'll give me your address +I'll send you a history of our family, suh, from the time they left +Vuhginia and before." + +Mr. Scatters gave him the address, and smiled at the three enemies, who +still waited on the edge of the green. + +"To the station," he said to the driver. + + + + +_Four_ + +A MATTER OF DOCTRINE + + +There was great excitement in Miltonville over the advent of a most +eloquent and convincing minister from the North. The beauty about the +Rev. Thaddeus Warwick was that he was purely and simply a man of the +doctrine. He had no emotions, his sermons were never matters of feeling; +but he insisted so strongly upon the constant presentation of the tenets +of his creed that his presence in a town was always marked by the +enthusiasm and joy of religious disputation. + +The Rev. Jasper Hayward, coloured, was a man quite of another stripe. +With him it was not so much what a man held as what he felt. The +difference in their characteristics, however, did not prevent him from +attending Dr. Warwick's series of sermons, where, from the vantage point +of the gallery, he drank in, without assimilating, that divine's words +of wisdom. + +Especially was he edified on the night that his white brother held +forth upon the doctrine of predestination. It was not that he understood +it at all, but that it sounded well and the words had a rich ring as he +champed over them again and again. + +Mr. Hayward was a man for the time and knew that his congregation +desired something new, and if he could supply it he was willing to take +lessons even from a white co-worker who had neither "de spi'it ner de +fiah." Because, as he was prone to admit to himself, "dey was sump'in' +in de unnerstannin'." + +He had no idea what plagiarism is, and without a single thought of +wrong, he intended to reproduce for his people the religious wisdom +which he acquired at the white church. He was an innocent beggar going +to the doors of the well-provided for cold spiritual victuals to warm +over for his own family. And it would not be plagiarism either, for this +very warming-over process would save it from that and make his own +whatever he brought. He would season with the pepper of his homely wit, +sprinkle it with the salt of his home-made philosophy, then, hot with +the fire of his crude eloquence, serve to his people a dish his very +own. But to the true purveyor of original dishes it is never pleasant to +know that someone else holds the secret of the groundwork of his +invention. + +It was then something of a shock to the Reverend Mr. Hayward to be +accosted by Isaac Middleton, one of his members, just as he was leaving +the gallery on the night of this most edifying of sermons. + +Isaac laid a hand upon his shoulder and smiled at him benevolently. + +"How do, Brothah Hayward," he said, "you been sittin' unner de drippin's +of de gospel, too?" + +"Yes, I has been listenin' to de wo'ds of my fellow-laborah in de +vineya'd of de Lawd," replied the preacher with some dignity, for he saw +vanishing the vision of his own glory in a revivified sermon on +predestination. + +Isaac linked his arm familiarly in his pastor's as they went out upon +the street. + +"Well, what you t'ink erbout pre-o'dination an' fo'-destination any how?" + +"It sutny has been pussented to us in a powahful light dis eve'nin'." + +"Well, suh, hit opened up my eyes. I do' know when I's hyeahed a sehmon +dat done my soul mo' good." + +"It was a upliftin' episode." + +"Seem lak 'co'din' to de way de brothah 'lucidated de matter to-night +dat evaht'ing done sot out an' cut an' dried fu' us. Well dat's gwine to +he'p me lots." + +"De gospel is allus a he'p." + +"But not allus in dis way. You see I ain't a eddicated man lak you, +Brothah Hayward." + +"We can't all have de same 'vantages," the preacher condescended. "But +what I feels, I feels, an' what I unnerstan's, I unnerstan's. The +Scripture tell us to get unnerstannin'." + +"Well, dat's what I's been a-doin' to-night. I's been a-doubtin' an' +a-doubtin', a-foolin' erroun' an' wonderin', but now I unnerstan'." + +"'Splain yo'se'f, Brothah Middleton," said the preacher. + +"Well, suh, I will to you. You knows Miss Sally Briggs? Huh, what say?" + +The Reverend Hayward had given a half discernible start and an +exclamation had fallen from his lips. + +"What say?" repeated his companion. + +"I knows de sistah ve'y well, she bein' a membah of my flock." + +"Well, I been gwine in comp'ny wit dat ooman fu' de longes'. You ain't +nevah tasted none o' huh cookin', has you?" + +"I has 'sperienced de sistah's puffo'mances in dat line." + +"She is the cookin'est ooman I evah seed in all my life, but +howsomedever, I been gwine all dis time an' I ain' nevah said de wo'd. I +nevah could git clean erway f'om huh widout somep'n' drawin' me back, +an' I didn't know what hit was." + +The preacher was restless. + +"Hit was des dis away, Brothah Hayward, I was allus lingerin' on de +brink, feahful to la'nch away, but now I's a-gwine to la'nch, case dat +all dis time tain't been nuffin but fo'-destination dat been a-holdin' me +on." + +"Ahem," said the minister; "we mus' not be in too big a hu'y to put ouah +human weaknesses upon some divine cause." + +"I ain't a-doin' dat, dough I ain't a-sputin' dat de lady is a mos' +oncommon fine lookin' pusson." + +"I has only seed huh wid de eye of de spi'it," was the virtuous answer, +"an' to dat eye all t'ings dat are good are beautiful." + +"Yes, suh, an' lookin' wid de cookin' eye, hit seem lak' I des +fo'destinated fu' to ma'y dat ooman." + +"You say you ain't axe huh yit?" + +"Not yit, but I's gwine to ez soon ez evah I gets de chanst now." + +"Uh, huh," said the preacher, and he began to hasten his steps homeward. + +"Seems lak you in a pow'ful hu'y to-night," said his companion, with +some difficulty accommodating his own step to the preacher's masterly +strides. He was a short man and his pastor was tall and gaunt. + +"I has somp'n' on my min,' Brothah Middleton, dat I wants to thrash out +to-night in de sollertude of my own chambah," was the solemn reply. + +"Well, I ain' gwine keep erlong wid you an' pestah you wid my chattah, +Brothah Hayward," and at the next corner Isaac Middleton turned off and +went his way, with a cheery "so long, may de Lawd set wid you in yo' +meddertations." + +"So long," said his pastor hastily. Then he did what would be strange in +any man, but seemed stranger in so virtuous a minister. He checked his +hasty pace, and, after furtively watching Middleton out of sight, turned +and retraced his steps in a direction exactly opposite to the one in +which he had been going, and toward the cottage of the very Sister +Griggs concerning whose charms the minister's parishioner had held +forth. + +It was late, but the pastor knew that the woman whom he sought was +industrious and often worked late, and with ever increasing eagerness he +hurried on. He was fully rewarded for his perseverance when the light +from the window of his intended hostess gleamed upon him, and when she +stood in the full glow of it as the door opened in answer to his knock. + +"La, Brothah Hayward, ef it ain't you; howdy; come in." + +"Howdy, howdy, Sistah Griggs, how you come on?" + +"Oh, I's des tol'able," industriously dusting a chair. "How's yo'se'f?" + +"I's right smaht, thankee ma'am." + +"W'y, Brothah Hayward, ain't you los' down in dis paht of de town?" + +"No, indeed, Sistah Griggs, de shep'erd ain't nevah los' no whaih dey's +any of de flock." Then looking around the room at the piles of ironed +clothes, he added: "You sutny is a indust'ious ooman." + +"I was des 'bout finishin' up some i'onin' I had fu' de white folks," +smiled Sister Griggs, taking down her ironing-board and resting it in +the corner. "Allus when I gits thoo my wo'k at nights I's putty well +tiahed out an' has to eat a snack; set by, Brothah Hayward, while I +fixes us a bite." + +"La, sistah, hit don't skacely seem right fu' me to be a-comin' in hyeah +lettin' you fix fu' me at dis time o' night, an' you mighty nigh +tuckahed out, too." + +"Tsch, Brothah Hayward, taint no ha'dah lookin' out fu' two dan it is +lookin' out fu' one." + +Hayward flashed a quick upward glance at his hostess' face and then +repeated slowly, "Yes'm, dat sutny is de trufe. I ain't nevah t'ought o' +that befo'. Hit ain't no ha'dah lookin' out fu' two dan hit is fu' +one," and though he was usually an incessant talker, he lapsed into a +brown study. + +Be it known that the Rev. Mr. Hayward was a man of a very level head, +and that his bachelorhood was a matter of economy. He had long +considered matrimony in the light of a most desirable estate, but one +which he feared to embrace until the rewards for his labours began +looking up a little better. But now the matter was being presented to +him in an entirely different light. "Hit ain't no ha'dah lookin' out fu' +two dan fu' one." Might that not be the truth after all. One had to have +food. It would take very little more to do for two. One had to have a +home to live in. The same house would shelter two. One had to wear +clothes. Well, now, there came the rub. But he thought of donation +parties, and smiled. Instead of being an extravagance, might not this +union of two beings be an economy? Somebody to cook the food, somebody +to keep the house, and somebody to mend the clothes. + +His reverie was broken in upon by Sally Griggs' voice. "Hit do seem lak +you mighty deep in t'ought dis evenin', Brothah Hayward. I done spoke to +you twicet." + +"Scuse me, Sistah Griggs, my min' has been mighty deeply 'sorbed in a +little mattah o' doctrine. What you say to me?" + +"I say set up to the table an' have a bite to eat; tain't much, but +'sich ez I have'--you know what de 'postle said." + +The preacher's eyes glistened as they took in the well-filled board. +There was fervour in the blessing which he asked that made amends for +its brevity. Then he fell to. + +Isaac Middleton was right. This woman was a genius among cooks. Isaac +Middleton was also wrong. He, a layman, had no right to raise his eyes +to her. She was the prize of the elect, not the quarry of any chance +pursuer. As he ate and talked, his admiration for Sally grew as did his +indignation at Middleton's presumption. + +Meanwhile the fair one plied him with delicacies, and paid deferential +attention whenever he opened his mouth to give vent to an opinion. An +admirable wife she would make, indeed. + +At last supper was over and his chair pushed back from the table. With a +long sigh of content, he stretched his long legs, tilted back and said: +"Well, you done settled de case ez fur ez I is concerned." + +"What dat, Brothah Hayward?" she asked. + +"Well, I do' know's I's quite prepahed to tell you yit." + +"Hyeah now, don' you remembah ol' Mis' Eve? Taint nevah right to git a +lady's cur'osity riz." + +"Oh, nemmine, nemmine, I ain't gwine keep yo' cur'osity up long. You +see, Sistah Griggs, you done 'lucidated one p'int to me dis night dat +meks it plumb needful fu' me to speak." + +She was looking at him with wide open eyes of expectation. + +"You made de 'emark to-night, dat it ain't no ha'dah lookin' out aftah +two dan one." + +"Oh, Brothah Hayward!" + +"Sistah Sally, I reckernizes dat, an' I want to know ef you won't let me +look out aftah we two? Will you ma'y me?" + +She picked nervously at her apron, and her eyes sought the floor +modestly as she answered, "Why, Brothah Hayward, I ain't fittin' fu' no +sich eddicated man ez you. S'posin' you'd git to be pu'sidin' elder, er +bishop, er somp'n' er othah, whaih'd I be?" + +He waved his hand magnanimously. "Sistah Griggs, Sally, whatevah high +place I may be fo'destined to I shall tek my wife up wid me." + +This was enough, and with her hearty yes, the Rev. Mr. Hayward had +Sister Sally close in his clerical arms. They were not through their +mutual felicitations, which were indeed so enthusiastic as to drown the +sound of a knocking at the door and the ominous scraping of feet, when +the door opened to admit Isaac Middleton, just as the preacher was +imprinting a very decided kiss upon his fiancee's cheek. + +"Wha'--wha'" exclaimed Middleton. + +The preacher turned. "Dat you, Isaac?" he said complacently. "You must +'scuse ouah 'pearance, we des got ingaged." + +The fair Sally blushed unseen. + +"What!" cried Isaac. "Ingaged, aftah what I tol' you to-night." His face +was a thundercloud. + +"Yes, suh." + +"An' is dat de way you stan' up fu' fo'destination?" + +This time it was the preacher's turn to darken angrily as he replied, +"Look a-hyeah, Ike Middleton, all I got to say to you is dat whenevah a +lady cook to please me lak dis lady do, an' whenevah I love one lak I +love huh, an' she seems to love me back, I's a-gwine to pop de question +to huh, fo'destination er no fo'destination, so dah!" + +The moment was pregnant with tragic possibilities. The lady still stood +with bowed head, but her hand had stolen into her minister's. Isaac +paused, and the situation overwhelmed him. Crushed with anger and defeat +he turned toward the door. + +On the threshold he paused again to say, "Well, all I got to say to you, +Hayward, don' you nevah talk to me no mor' nuffin' 'bout doctrine!" + + + + +_Five_ + +OLD ABE'S CONVERSION + + +The Negro population of the little Southern town of Danvers was in a +state of excitement such as it seldom reached except at revivals, +baptisms, or on Emancipation Day. The cause of the commotion was the +anticipated return of the Rev. Abram Dixon's only son, Robert, who, +having taken up his father's life-work and graduated at one of the +schools, had been called to a city church. + +When Robert's ambition to take a college course first became the subject +of the village gossip, some said that it was an attempt to force +Providence. If Robert were called to preach, they said, he would be +endowed with the power from on high, and no intervention of the schools +was necessary. Abram Dixon himself had at first rather leaned to this +side of the case. He had expressed his firm belief in the theory that if +you opened your mouth, the Lord would fill it. As for him, he had no +thought of what he should say to his people when he rose to speak. He +trusted to the inspiration of the moment, and dashed blindly into +speech, coherent or otherwise. + +Himself a plantation exhorter of the ancient type, he had known no +school except the fields where he had ploughed and sowed, the woods and +the overhanging sky. He had sat under no teacher except the birds and +the trees and the winds of heaven. If he did not fail utterly, if his +labour was not without fruit, it was because he lived close to nature, +and so, near to nature's God. With him religion was a matter of emotion, +and he relied for his results more upon a command of feeling than upon +an appeal to reason. So it was not strange that he should look upon his +son's determination to learn to be a preacher as unjustified by the real +demands of the ministry. + +But as the boy had a will of his own and his father a boundless pride in +him, the day came when, despite wagging heads, Robert Dixon went away to +be enrolled among the students of a growing college. Since then six +years had passed. Robert had spent his school vacations in teaching; and +now, for the first time, he was coming home, a full-fledged minister of +the gospel. + +It was rather a shock to the old man's sensibilities that his son's +congregation should give him a vacation, and that the young minister +should accept; but he consented to regard it as of the new order of +things, and was glad that he was to have his boy with him again, +although he murmured to himself, as he read his son's letter through his +bone-bowed spectacles: "Vacation, vacation, an' I wonder ef he reckons +de devil's goin' to take one at de same time?" + +It was a joyous meeting between father and son. The old man held his boy +off and looked at him with proud eyes. + +"Why, Robbie," he said, "you--you's a man!" + +"That's what I'm trying to be, father." The young man's voice was deep, +and comported well with his fine chest and broad shoulders. + +"You's a bigger man den yo' father ever was!" said his mother +admiringly. + +"Oh, well, father never had the advantage of playing football." + +The father turned on him aghast. "Playin' football!" he exclaimed. "You +don't mean to tell me dat dey 'lowed men learnin' to be preachers to +play sich games?" + +"Oh, yes, they believe in a sound mind in a sound body, and one seems to +be as necessary as the other in fighting evil." + +Abram Dixon shook his head solemnly. The world was turning upside down +for him. + +"Football!" he muttered, as they sat down to supper. + +Robert was sorry that he had spoken of the game, because he saw that it +grieved his father. He had come intending to avoid rather than to combat +his parent's prejudices. There was no condescension in his thought of +them and their ways. They were different; that was all. He had learned +new ways. They had retained the old. Even to himself he did not say, +"But my way is the better one." + +His father was very full of eager curiosity as to his son's conduct of +his church, and the son was equally glad to talk of his work, for his +whole soul was in it. + +"We do a good deal in the way of charity work among the churchless and +almost homeless city children; and, father, it would do your heart good +if you could only see the little ones gathered together learning the +first principles of decent living." + +"Mebbe so," replied the father doubtfully, "but what you doin' in de way +of teachin' dem to die decent?" + +The son hesitated for a moment, and then he answered gently, "We think +that one is the companion of the other, and that the best way to prepare +them for the future is to keep them clean and good in the present." + +"Do you give 'em good strong doctern, er do you give 'em milk and +water?" + +"I try to tell them the truth as I see it and believe it. I try to hold +up before them the right and the good and the clean and beautiful." + +"Humph!" exclaimed the old man, and a look of suspicion flashed across +his dusky face. "I want you to preach fer me Sunday." + +It was as if he had said, "I have no faith in your style of preaching +the gospel. I am going to put you to the test." + +Robert faltered. He knew his preaching would not please his father or +his people, and he shrank from the ordeal. It seemed like setting them +all at defiance and attempting to enforce his ideas over their own. Then +a perception of his cowardice struck him, and he threw off the feeling +that was possessing him. He looked up to find his father watching him +keenly, and he remembered that he had not yet answered. + +"I had not thought of preaching here," he said, "but I will relieve you +if you wish it." + +"De folks will want to hyeah you an' see what you kin do," pursued his +father tactlessly. "You know dey was a lot of 'em dat said I oughn't ha' +let you go away to school. I hope you'll silence 'em." + +Robert thought of the opposition his father's friends had shown to his +ambitions, and his face grew hot at the memory. He felt his entire +inability to please them now. + +"I don't know, father, that I can silence those who opposed my going +away or even please those who didn't, but I shall try to please One." + +It was now Thursday evening, and he had until Saturday night to prepare +his sermon. He knew Danvers, and remembered what a chill fell on its +congregations, white or black, when a preacher appeared before them with +a manuscript or notes. So, out of concession to their prejudices, he +decided not to write his sermon, but to go through it carefully and get +it well in hand. His work was often interfered with by the frequent +summons to see old friends who stayed long, not talking much, but +looking at him with some awe and a good deal of contempt. His trial was +a little sorer than he had expected, but he bore it all with the +good-natured philosophy which his school life and work in a city had +taught him. + +The Sunday dawned, a beautiful, Southern summer morning; the lazy hum of +the bees and the scent of wild honeysuckle were in the air; the Sabbath +was full of the quiet and peace of God; and yet the congregation which +filled the little chapel at Danvers came with restless and turbulent +hearts, and their faces said plainly: "Rob Dixon, we have not come here +to listen to God's word. We have come here to put you on trial. Do you +hear? On trial." + +And the thought, "On trial," was ringing in the young minister's mind as +he rose to speak to them. His sermon was a very quiet, practical one; a +sermon that sought to bring religion before them as a matter of +every-day life. It was altogether different from the torrent of speech +that usually flowed from that pulpit. The people grew restless under +this spiritual reserve. They wanted something to sanction, something to +shout for, and here was this man talking to them as simply and quietly +as if he were not in church. + +As Uncle Isham Jones said, "De man never fetched an amen"; and the +people resented his ineffectiveness. Even Robert's father sat with his +head bowed in his hands, broken and ashamed of his son; and when, +without a flourish, the preacher sat down, after talking twenty-two +minutes by the clock, a shiver of surprise ran over the whole church. +His father had never pounded the desk for less than an hour. + +Disappointment, even disgust, was written on every face. The singing was +spiritless, and as the people filed out of church and gathered in knots +about the door, the old-time head-shaking was resumed, and the comments +were many and unfavourable. + +"Dat's what his schoolin' done fo' him," said one. + +"It wasn't nothin' mo'n a lecter," was another's criticism. + +"Put him 'side o' his father," said one of the Rev. Abram Dixon's loyal +members, "and bless my soul, de ol' man would preach all roun' him, and +he ain't been to no college, neither!" + +Robert and his father walked home in silence together. When they were in +the house, the old man turned to his son and said: + +"Is dat de way dey teach you to preach at college?" + +"I followed my instructions as nearly as possible, father." + +"Well, Lawd he'p dey preachin', den! Why, befo' I'd ha' been in dat +pulpit five minutes, I'd ha' had dem people moanin' an' hollerin' all +over de church." + +"And would they have lived any more cleanly the next day?" + +The old man looked at his son sadly, and shook his head as at one of the +unenlightened. + +Robert did not preach in his father's church again before his visit came +to a close; but before going he said, "I want you to promise me you'll +come up and visit me, father. I want you to see the work I am trying to +do. I don't say that my way is best or that my work is a higher work, +but I do want you to see that I am in earnest." + +"I ain't doubtin' you mean well, Robbie," said his father, "but I guess +I'd be a good deal out o' place up thaih." + +"No, you wouldn't, father. You come up and see me. Promise me." + +And the old man promised. + +It was not, however, until nearly a year later that the Rev. Abram Dixon +went up to visit his son's church. Robert met him at the station, and +took him to the little parsonage which the young clergyman's people had +provided for him. It was a very simple place, and an aged woman served +the young man as cook and caretaker; but Abram Dixon was astonished at +what seemed to him both vainglory and extravagance. + +"Ain't you livin' kin' o' high fo' yo' raisin', Robbie?" he asked. + +The young man laughed. "If you'd see how some of the people live here, +father, you'd hardly say so." + +Abram looked at the chintz-covered sofa and shook his head at its +luxury, but Robert, on coming back after a brief absence, found his +father sound asleep upon the comfortable lounge. + +On the next day they went out together to see something of the city. By +the habit of years, Abram Dixon was an early riser, and his son was +like him; so they were abroad somewhat before business was astir in the +town. They walked through the commercial portion and down along the +wharves and levees. On every side the same sight assailed their eyes: +black boys of all ages and sizes, the waifs and strays of the city, lay +stretched here and there on the wharves or curled on doorsills, stealing +what sleep they could before the relentless day should drive them forth +to beg a pittance for subsistence. + +"Such as these we try to get into our flock and do something for," said +Robert. + +His father looked on sympathetically, and yet hardly with full +understanding. There was poverty in his own little village, yes, even +squalour, but he had never seen anything just like this. At home almost +everyone found some open door, and rare was the wanderer who slept +out-of-doors except from choice. + +At nine o'clock they went to the police court, and the old minister saw +many of his race appear as prisoners, receiving brief attention and long +sentences. Finally a boy was arraigned for theft. He was a little, +wobegone fellow hardly ten years of age. He was charged with stealing +cakes from a bakery. The judge was about to deal with him as quickly as +with the others, and Abram's heart bled for the child, when he saw a +negro call the judge's attention. He turned to find that Robert had left +his side. There was a whispered consultation, and then the old preacher +heard with joy, "As this is his first offence and a trustworthy person +comes forward to take charge of him, sentence upon the prisoner will be +suspended." + +Robert came back to his father holding the boy by the hand, and together +they made their way from the crowded room. + +"I'm so glad! I'm so glad!" said the old man brokenly. + +"We often have to do this. We try to save them from the first contact +with the prison and all that it means. There is no reformatory for black +boys here, and they may not go to the institutions for the white; so for +the slightest offence they are sent to jail, where they are placed with +the most hardened criminals. When released they are branded forever, and +their course is usually downward." + +He spoke in a low voice, that what he said might not reach the ears of +the little ragamuffin who trudged by his side. + +Abram looked down on the child with a sympathetic heart. + +"What made you steal dem cakes?" he asked kindly. + +"I was hongry," was the simple reply. + +The old man said no more until he had reached the parsonage, and then +when he saw how the little fellow ate and how tenderly his son +ministered to him, he murmured to himself, "Feed my lambs"; and then +turning to his son, he said, "Robbie, dey's some'p'n in 'dis, dey's +some'p'n in it, I tell you." + +That night there was a boy's class in the lower room of Robert Dixon's +little church. Boys of all sorts and conditions were there, and Abram +listened as his son told them the old, sweet stories in the simplest +possible manner and talked to them in his cheery, practical way. The old +preacher looked into the eyes of the street gamins about him, and he +began to wonder. Some of them were fierce, unruly-looking youngsters, +inclined to meanness and rowdyism, but one and all, they seemed under +the spell of their leader's voice. At last Robert said, "Boys, this is +my father. He's a preacher, too. I want you to come up and shake hands +with him." Then they crowded round the old man readily and heartily, and +when they were outside the church, he heard them pause for a moment, and +then three rousing cheers rang out with the vociferated explanation, +"Fo' de minister's pap!" + +Abram held his son's hand long that night, and looked with tear-dimmed +eyes at the boy. + +"I didn't understan'," he said. "I didn't understan'." + +"You'll preach for me Sunday, father?" + +"I wouldn't daih, honey. I wouldn't daih." + +"Oh, yes, you will, pap." + +He had not used the word for a long time, and at sound of it his father +yielded. + +It was a strange service that Sunday morning. The son introduced the +father, and the father, looking at his son, who seemed so short a time +ago unlearned in the ways of the world, gave as his text, "A little +child shall lead them." + +He spoke of his own conceit and vainglory, the pride of his age and +experience, and then he told of the lesson he had learned. "Why, +people," he said, "I feels like a new convert!" + +It was a gentler gospel than he had ever preached before, and in the +congregation there were many eyes as wet as his own. + +"Robbie," he said, when the service was over, "I believe I had to come +up here to be converted." And Robbie smiled. + + + + +_Six_ + +THE RACE QUESTION + + +Scene--Race track. _Enter old coloured man, seating himself._ + +"Oomph, oomph. De work of de devil sho' do p'ospah. How 'do, suh? Des +tol'able, thankee, suh. How you come on? Oh, I was des a-sayin' how de +wo'k of de ol' boy do p'ospah. Doesn't I frequent the racetrack? No, +suh; no, suh. I's Baptis' myse'f, an' I 'low hit's all devil's doin's. +Wouldn't 'a' be'n hyeah to-day, but I got a boy named Jim dat's long +gone in sin an' he gwine ride one dem hosses. Oomph, dat boy! I sut'ny +has talked to him and labohed wid him night an' day, but it was allers +in vain, an' I's feahed dat de day of his reckonin' is at han'. + +"Ain't I nevah been intrusted in racin'? Humph, you don't s'pose I been +dead all my life, does you? What you laffin' at? Oh, scuse me, scuse me, +you unnerstan' what I means. You don' give a ol' man time to splain +hisse'f. What I means is dat dey has been days when I walked in de +counsels of de on-gawdly and set in de seats of sinnahs; and long erbout +dem times I did tek most ovahly strong to racin'. + +"How long dat been? Oh, dat's way long back, 'fo' I got religion, mo'n +thuty years ago, dough I got to own I has fell from grace several times +sense. + +"Yes, suh, I ust to ride. Ki-yi! I nevah furgit de day dat my ol' Mas' +Jack put me on 'June Boy,' his black geldin', an' say to me, 'Si,' says +he, 'if you don' ride de tail offen Cunnel Scott's mare, "No Quit," I's +gwine to larrup you twell you cain't set in de saddle no mo'.' Hyah, +hyah. My ol' Mas' was a mighty han' fu' a joke. I knowed he wan't gwine +to do nuffin' to me. + +"Did I win? Why, whut you spec' I's doin' hyeah ef I hadn' winned? W'y, +ef I'd 'a' let dat Scott maih beat my 'June Boy' I'd 'a' drowned myse'f +in Bull Skin Crick. + +"Yes, suh, I winned; w'y, at de finish I come down dat track lak hit was +de Jedgment Day an' I was de las' one up! Ef I didn't race dat maih's +tail clean off, I 'low I made hit do a lot o' switchin'. An' aftah dat +my wife Mandy she ma'ed me. Hyah, hyah, I ain't bin much on hol'in' de +reins sence. + +"Sh! dey comin' in to wa'm up. Dat Jim, dat Jim, dat my boy; you nasty +putrid little rascal. Des a hundred an' eight, suh, des a hundred an' +eight. Yas, suh, dat's my Jim; I don't know whaih he gits his dev'ment +at. + +"What's de mattah wid dat boy? Whyn't he hunch hisse'f up on dat saddle +right? Jim, Jim, whyn't you limber up, boy; hunch yo'se'f up on dat hoss +lak you belonged to him and knowed you was dah. What I done showed you? +De black raskil, goin' out dah tryin' to disgrace his own daddy. Hyeah +he come back. Dat's bettah, you scoun'ril. + +"Dat's a right smaht-lookin' hoss he's a-ridin', but I ain't a-trustin' +dat bay wid de white feet--dat is, not altogethah. She's a favourwright +too; but dey's sumpin' else in dis worl' sides playin' favourwrights. +Jim bettah had win dis race. His hoss ain't a five to one shot, but I +spec's to go way fum hyeah wid money ernuff to mek a donation on de +pa'sonage. + +"Does I bet? Well, I don' des call hit bettin'; but I resks a little +w'en I t'inks I kin he'p de cause. 'Tain't gamblin', o' co'se; I +wouldn't gamble fu nothin', dough my ol' Mastah did ust to say dat a +honest gamblah was ez good ez a hones' preachah an' mos' nigh ez skace. + +"Look out dah, man, dey's off, dat nasty bay maih wid de white feet +leadin' right fu'm 'de pos'. I knowed it! I knowed it! I had my eye on +huh all de time. Oh, Jim, Jim, why didn't you git in bettah, way back +dah fouf? Dah go de gong! I knowed dat wasn't no staht. Troop back dah, +you raskils, hyah, hyah. + +"I wush dat boy wouldn't do so much jummying erroun' wid dat hoss. Fust +t'ing he know he ain't gwine to know whaih he's at. + +"Dah, dah dey go ag'in. Hit's a sho' t'ing dis time. Bettah, Jim, +bettah. Dey didn't leave you dis time. Hug dat bay mare, hug her close, +boy. Don't press dat hoss yit. He holdin' back a lot o' t'ings. + +"He's gainin'! doggone my cats, he's gainin'! an' dat hoss o' his'n +gwine des ez stiddy ez a rockin'-chair. Jim allus was a good boy. + +"Confound these spec's, I cain't see 'em skacely; huh, you say dey's +neck an' neck; now I see 'em! now I see 'em! and Jimmy's a-ridin' +like----Huh, huh, I laik to said sumpin'. + +"De bay maih's done huh bes', she's done huh bes'! Dey's turned into the +stretch an' still see-sawin'. Let him out, Jimmy, let him out! Dat boy +done th'owed de reins away. Come on, Jimmy, come on! He's leadin' by a +nose. Come on, I tell you, you black rapscallion, come on! Give 'em +hell, Jimmy! give 'em hell! Under de wire an' a len'th ahead. Doggone my +cats! wake me up w'en dat othah hoss comes in. + +"No, suh, I ain't gwine stay no longah, I don't app'ove o' racin', I's +gwine 'roun' an' see dis hyeah bookmakah an' den I's gwine dreckly home, +suh, dreckly home. I's Baptis' myse'f, an' I don't app'ove o' no sich +doin's!" + + + + +_Seven_ + +A DEFENDER OF THE FAITH + + +There was a very animated discussion going on, on the lower floor of the +house Number Ten "D" Street. House Number Ten was the middle one of a +row of more frames, which formed what was put down on the real estate +agent's list as a coloured neighbourhood. The inhabitants of the little +cottages were people so poor that they were constantly staggering on the +verge of the abyss, which they had been taught to dread and scorn, and +why, clearly. Life with them was no dream, but a hard, terrible reality, +which meant increasing struggle, and little wonder then that the +children of such parents should see the day before Christmas come +without hope of any holiday cheer. + +Christmas; what did it mean to them? The pitiful little dark +rag-muffins, save that the happy, well-dressed people who passed the +shanties seemed further away from their life, save that mother toiled +later in the evening at her work, if there was work, and that father +drank more gin and prayed louder in consequence; save that, perhaps--and +there was always a donation--that there might be a little increase in +the amount of cold victuals that big sister brought home, and there +might be turkey-dressing in it. + +But there was a warm discussion in Number Ten, and that is the principal +thing. The next in importance is that Miss Arabella Coe, reporter, who +had been down that way looking mainly for a Christmas story, heard the +sound of voices raised in debate, and paused to listen. It was not a +very polite thing for Miss Coe to do, but then Miss Coe was a reporter +and reporters are not scrupulous about being polite when there is +anything to hear. Besides, the pitch to which the lusty young voices +within were raised argued that the owners did not care if the outside +world shared in the conversation. So Arabella listened, and after a +while she passed through the gate and peeped into the room between the +broken slats of a shutter. + +It was a mean little place, quite what might be expected from its +exterior. A cook stove sat in the middle of the floor with a smoky fire +in it, and about it were clustered four or five black children ranging +from a toddler of two to a boy of ten. They all showed differing degrees +of dirt and raggedness, but all were far and beyond the point of +respectability. + +One of the group, the older boy, sat upon the bed and was holding forth +to his brothers and sisters not without many murmurs of doubt and +disbelief. + +"No," he was saying, "I tell you dey hain't no such thing as a Santy +Claus. Dat's somep'n dat yo' folks jes' git up to make you be good long +'bout Christmas time. I know." + +"But, Tom, you know what mammy said," said a dreamy-eyed little chap, +who sat on a broken stool with his chin on his hands. + +"Aw, mammy," said the orator, "she's jes' a-stuffin' you. She don' +believe in no Santy Claus hersel', less'n why'nt he bring huh de dress +she prayed fu' last Christmas." He was very wise, this old man of ten +years, and he had sold papers on the avenue where many things are +learned, both good and bad. + +"But what you got to say about pappy?" pursued the believer. "He say +dey's a Santy Claus, and dat he comes down de chimbly; and----" + +"Whut's de mattah wid you; look at dat stove pipe; how you s'pose +anybody go'n' to git in hyeah th'oo de chimbly?" + +They all looked up at the narrow, rusty stove pipe and the sigh of +hopelessness brought the tears to Arabella's eyes. The children seemed +utterly nonplussed, and Tom was swelling at his triumph. "How's any +Santy Claus go'n' to come down th'oo that, I want to know," he repeated. + +But the faith of childhood is stronger than reason. Tom's little sister +piped up, "I don't know how, but he comes th'roo' that away anyhow. He +brung Mamie Davith a doll and it had thoot on it out o' the chimbly." + +It was now Tom's turn to be stumped, but he wouldn't let it be known. He +only said, "Aw," contemptuously and coughed for more crushing arguments. + +"I knows dey's a Santy Claus," said dreamy-eyed Sam. + +"Ef dey is why'n't he never come here?" retorted Tom. + +"I jes' been thinkin' maybe ouah house is so little he miss it in de +night; dey says he's a ol' man an' I 'low his sight ain' good." + +Tom was stricken into silence for a moment by this entirely new view of +the matter, and then finding no answer to it, he said "Aw" again and +looked superior, but warningly so. + +"Maybe Thanty's white an' don' go to see col'red people," said the +little girl. + +"But I do know coloured people's houses he's been at," contended Sam. +"Aw, dem col'red folks dat's got the money, dem's de only ones dat Santy +Claus fin's, you bet." + +Arabella at the window shuddered at the tone of the sceptic; it reminded +her so much of the world she knew, and it was hard to believe that her +friends who prided themselves on their unbelief could have anything in +common with a little coloured newsboy down on "D" Street. + +"Tell you what," said Sam again, "let's try an' see if dey is a Santy. +We'll put a light in the winder, so if he's ol' he can see us anyhow, +an' we'll pray right hard fu' him to come." + +"Aw," said Tom. + +"Ith been good all thish month," chirped the little girl. + +The other children joined with enthusiasm in Sam's plan, though Tom sat +upon the bed and looked scornfully on. + +Arabella escaped from the window just as Sam brought the smoky lamp and +set it on the sill, but she still stood outside the palings of the fence +and looked in. She saw four little forms get down on their knees and she +crept up near again to hear. + +Following Sam's lead they began, "Oh, Santy," but Tom's voice broke in, +"Don't you know the Lord don't 'low you to pray to nobody but Him?" + +Sam paused, puzzled for a minute, then he led on: "Please 'scuse, good +Lord, we started wrong, but won't you please, sir, send Santy Clause +around. Amen." And they got up from their knees satisfied. + +"Aw," said Tom as Arabella was turning wet-eyed away. + +It was a good thing the reporter left as soon as she did, for in a few +minutes a big woman pushed in at the gate and entered the house. + +"Mammy, mammy," shrieked the children. + +"Lawsy, me," said Martha, laughing, "who evah did see sich children? +Bless dey hearts, an' dey done sot dey lamp in de winder, too, so's dey +po' ol' mammy kin see to git in." + +As she spoke she was taking the lamp away to set it on the table where +she had placed her basket, but the cry of the children stopped her. "Oh, +no, mammy, don't take it, don't take it, dat's to light Santy Claus in." + +She paused a minute bewildered and then the light broke over her face. +She smiled and then a rush of tears quenched the smile. She gathered the +children into her arms and said, "I's feared, honey, ol' man Santy ain' +gwine fu' you to-night." + +"Wah'd I tell you?" sneered Tom. + +"You hush yo' mouf," said his mother, and she left the lamp where it +was. + +As Arabella Coe wended her way home that night her brain was busy with +many thoughts. "I've got my story at last," she told herself, "and I'll +go on up and write it." But she did not go up to write it. She came to +the parting of the ways. One led home, the other to the newspaper office +where she worked. She laughed nervously, and took the former way. Once +in her room she went through her small store of savings. There was very +little there, then she looked down ruefully at her worn boots. She did +need a new pair. Then, holding her money in her hand, she sat down to +think. + +"It's really a shame," she said to herself, "those children will have no +Christmas at all, and they'll never believe in Santa Claus again. They +will lose their faith forever and from this it will go to other things." +She sat there dreaming for a long while and the vision of a very +different childhood came before her eyes. + +"Dear old place," she murmured softly, "I believed in Santa Claus until +I was thirteen, and that oldest boy is scarcely ten." Suddenly she +sprung to her feet. "Hooray," she cried, "I'll be defender of the +faith," and she went out into the lighted streets again. + +The shopkeepers looked queerly at Arabella that night as she bought as +if she were the mother of a large and growing family, and she appeared +too young for that. Finally, there was a dress for mother. + +She carried them down on "D" Street and placed them stealthily at the +door of Number Ten. She put a note among the things, which read: "I am +getting old and didn't see your house last year, also I am getting fat +and couldn't get down that little stove pipe of yours this year. You +must excuse me. Santa Claus." Then looking wilfully at her shoes, but +nevertheless with a glow on her face, she went up to the office to write +her story. + +There were joyous times at Number Ten the next day. Mother was really +surprised, and the children saw it. + +"Wha'd I tell you," said dreamy Sam. + +Tom said nothing then, but when he went down to the avenue to sell the +morning papers, all resplendent in a new muffler, he strode up to a boy +and remarked belligerently, "Say, if you says de ain't no Santy Claus +again, I'll punch yo' head." + + + + +_Eight_ + +CAHOOTS + + +In the centre of the quaint old Virginia grave-yard stood two monuments +side by side--two plain granite shafts exactly alike. On one was +inscribed the name Robert Vaughan Fairfax and the year 1864. On the +other was the simple and perplexing inscription, "Cahoots." Nothing +more. + +The place had been the orchard of one of the ante-bellum mansions before +the dead that were brought back from the terrible field of Malvern Hill +and laid there had given it a start as a cemetery. Many familiar names +were chiselled on the granite head-stones, and anyone conversant with +Virginia genealogy would have known them to belong to some of the best +families of the Old Dominion. But "Cahoots,"--who or what was he? + +My interest, not to say curiosity, was aroused. There must be a whole +story in those two shafts with their simple inscriptions, a life-drama +or perhaps a tragedy. And who was more likely to know it than the +postmaster of the quaint little old town. Just after the war, as if +tired with its exertions to repel the invader, the old place had fallen +asleep and was still drowsing. + +I left the cemetery--if such it could be called--and wended my way up +the main street to the ancient building which did duty as post-office. +The man in charge, a grizzled old fellow with an empty sleeve, sat +behind a small screen. He looked up as I entered and put out his hand +toward the mailboxes, waiting for me to mention my name. But instead I +said: "I am not expecting any mail. I only wanted to ask a few +questions." + +"Well, sir, what can I do for you?" he asked with some interest. + +"I've just been up there walking through the cemetery," I returned, "and +I am anxious to know the story, if there be one, of two monuments which +I saw there." + +"You mean Fairfax and Cahoots." + +"Yes." + +"You're a stranger about here, of course." + +"Yes," I said again, "and so there is a story?" + +"There is a story and I'll tell it to you. Come in and sit down." He +opened a wire door into his little cage, and I seated myself on a stool +and gave my attention to him. + +"It's just such a story," he began, "as you can hear in any of the +Southern States--wherever there were good masters and faithful slaves. +This particular tale is a part of our county history, and there ain't +one of the old residents but could tell it to you word for word and fact +for fact. In the days before our misunderstanding with the North, the +Fairfaxes were the leading people in this section. By leading, I mean +not only the wealthiest, not only the biggest land-owners, but that +their name counted for more in social circles and political councils +than any other hereabout. It is natural to expect that such a family +should wish to preserve its own name down a direct line. So it was a +source of great grief to old Fairfax that his first three children were +girls, pretty, healthy, plump enough little things, but girls for all +that, and consequently a disappointment to their father's pride of +family. When the fourth child came and it proved to be a boy, the +Fairfax plantation couldn't hold the Fairfax joy and it flowed out and +mellowed the whole county. + +"They do say that Fairfax Fairfax was in one of his further tobacco +fields when the good news was brought to him, and that after giving +orders that all the darkies should knock off work and take a holiday, in +his haste and excitement he jumped down from his horse and ran all the +way to the house. I give the story only for what it is worth. But if it +is true, it is the first case of a man of that name and family +forgetting himself in an emergency. + +"Well, of course, the advent of a young male Fairfax would under any +circumstances have proven a great event, although it was afterwards +duplicated, but there would have been no story to tell, there would have +been no 'Cahoots,' if by some fortuitous circumstance one of the slave +women had not happened to bring into the world that day and almost at +the same time that her mistress was introducing young Vaughan Fairfax to +the light, a little black pickaninny of her own. Well, if you're a +Southern man, and I take it that you are, you know that nothing ever +happens in the quarters that the big house doesn't know. So the news was +soon at the white father's ears and nothing would do him but that the +black baby must be brought to the house and be introduced to the white +one. The little black fellow came in all rolled in his bundle of shawls +and was laid for a few minutes beside his little lord and master. Side +by side they lay blinking at the light equally strange to both, and then +the master took the black child's hand and put it in that of the +white's. With the convulsive gesture common to babyhood the little hands +clutched in a feeble grasp. + +"'Dah now,' old Doshy said--she was the nurse that had brought the +pickaninny up--'dey done tol' each othah howdy.' + +"'Told each other howdy nothing,' said old Fairfax solemnly, 'they have +made a silent compact of eternal friendship, and I propose to ratify it +right here.' + +"He was a religious man, and so there with all the darkies clustered +around in superstitious awe, and with the white face of his wife looking +at him from among the pillows, he knelt and offered a prayer, and asked +a blessing upon the two children just come into the world. And through +it all those diminutive specimens of humanity lay there blinking with +their hands still clasped. + +"Well, they named the white child Robert Vaughan, and they began calling +the little darky Ben, until an incident in later life gave him the name +that clung to him till the last, and which the Fairfaxes have had +chiseled on his tomb-stone. + +"The incident occurred when the two boys were about five years old. They +were as thick as thieves, and two greater scamps and greater cronies +never tramped together over a Virginia plantation. In the matter of +deviltry they were remarkably precocious, and it was really wonderful +what an amount of mischief those two could do. As was natural, the white +boy planned the deeds, and the black one was his willing coadjutor in +carrying them out. + +"Meanwhile, the proud father was smilingly indulgent to their pranks, +but even with him the climax was reached when one of his fine young +hounds was nearly driven into fits by the clatter of a tin can tied to +its tail. Then the two culprits were summoned to appear before the +paternal court of inquiry. + +"They came hand in hand, and with no great show of fear or +embarrassment. They had gotten off so many times before that they were +perfectly confident of their power in this case to cajole the judge. But +to their surprise he was all sternness and severity. + +"'Now look here,' he said, after expatiating on the cruel treatment +which the dog had received. 'I want to know which one of you tied the +can to Spot's tail?' + +"Robert Vaughan looked at Ben, and Ben looked back at him. Silence +there, and nothing more. + +"'Do you hear my question?' old Fairfax asked with rising voice. + +"Robert Vaughan looked straight ahead of him, and Ben dug his big toe +into the sand at the foot of the veranda, but neither answered. + +"'Robert Vaughan Fairfax,' said his father, 'who played that trick on +Spot? Answer me, do you hear?' + +"The Fairfax heir seemed suddenly to have grown deaf and dumb, and the +father turned to the black boy. His voice took on the tone of command +which he had hardly used to his son. 'Who played that trick on Spot? +Answer me, Ben.' + +"The little darky dug harder and harder into the sand, and flashed a +furtive glance from under his brows at his fellow-conspirator. Then he +drawled out, 'I done it.' + +"'You didn't,' came back the instant retort from his young master, 'I +did it myself.' + +"'I done it,' repeated Ben, and 'You didn't,' reiterated his young +master. + +"The father sat and looked on at the dispute, and his mouth twitched +suspiciously, but he spoke up sternly. 'Well, if I can't get the truth +out of you this way, I'll try some other plan. Mandy,' he hailed a +servant, 'put these boys on a diet of bread and water until they are +ready to answer my questions truthfully.' + +"The culprits were led away to their punishment. Of course it would have +just been meat to Mandy to have stolen something to the youngsters, but +her master kept such a close eye upon her that she couldn't, and when +brought back at the end of three hours, their fare had left the +prisoners rather hungry. But they had evidently disputed the matter +between themselves, and from the cloud on their faces when they +reappeared before their stern judge, it was still unsettled. + +"To the repetition of the question, Vaughan answered again, 'I did it,' +and then his father tried Ben again. + +"After several efforts, and an imploring glance at his boy master, the +little black stammered out: + +"'Well, I reckon--I reckon, Mas,' me an' Mas' Vaughan, we done it in +cahoots.' + +"Old Fairfax Fairfax had a keen sense of humour, and as he looked down +on the strangely old young darky and took in his answer, the +circumstance became too much for his gravity, and his relaxing laugh +sent the culprits rolling and tumbling in the sand in an ectasy of +relief from the strained situation. + +"'Cahoots--I reckon it was "Cahoots,"' the judge said. 'You ought to be +named that, you little black rascal!' Well, the story got around, and so +it was, and from that day forth the black boy was 'Cahoots.' Cahoots, +whether on the plantation, at home, in the halls of the Northern +College, where he accompanied his young master, or in the tragic moments +of the great war-drama played out on the field of Malvern. + +"As they were in childhood, so, inseparable through youth and young +manhood, Robert Fairfax and Cahoots grew up. They were together in +everything, and when the call came that summoned the young Virginian +from his college to fight for the banner of his State, Cahoots was the +one who changed from the ease of a gentleman's valet to the hardship of +a soldier's body-servant. + +"The last words Fairfax Fairfax said as his son cantered away in his +gray suit were addressed to Cahoots: 'Take good care of your Mas' +Vaughan, Cahoots, and don't come back without him.' + +"'I won't, Mastah,' Cahoots flung back and galloped after his lifelong +companion. + +"Well, the war brought hard times both for master and man, and there +were no flowery beds of ease even for the officers who wore the gray. +Robert Fairfax took the fortunes of the conflict like a man and a +Virginia gentleman, and with him Cahoots. + +"It was at Malvern Hill that the young Confederate led his troops into +battle, and all day long the booming of the cannon and the crash of +musketry rising above the cries of the wounded and dying came to the +ears of the slave waiting in his tent for his master's return. Then in +the afternoon a scattered fragment came straggling back into the camp. +Cahoots went out to meet them. The firing still went on. + +"'Whah's Mas' Bob?' his voice pierced through the cannon's thunder. + +"'He fell at the front, early in the battle.' + +"'Whah's his body den, ef he fell?' + +"'We didn't have time to look for dead bodies in that murderous fire. It +was all we could do to get our living bodies away.' + +"'But I promised not to go back without him.' It was a wail of anguish +from the slave. + +"'Well, you'll have to.' + +"'I won't. Whah did he fall?' + +"Someone sketched briefly the approximate locality of Robert Fairfax's +resting place, and on the final word Cahoots tore away. + +"The merciless shot of the Federals was still raking the field. But amid +it all an old prairie schooner, gotten from God knows where, started out +from the dismantled camp across the field. 'Some fool going to his +death,' said one of the gray soldiers. + +"A ragged, tattered remnant of the wagon came back. The horses were +bleeding and staggering in their steps. The very harness was cut by the +balls that had grazed it. But with a light in his eyes and the look of a +hero, Cahoots leaped from the tattered vehicle and began dragging out +the body of his master. + +"He had found him far to the front in an abandoned position and brought +him back over the field of the dead. + +"'How did you do it?' They asked him. + +"'I jes' had to do it,' he said. 'I promised not to go home widout him, +and I didn't keer ef I did git killed. I wanted to die ef I couldn't +find Mas' Bob's body.' + +"He carried the body home, and mourned at the burial, and a year later +came back to the regiment with the son who had come after Robert, and +was now just of fighting age. He went all through this campaign, and +when the war was over, the two struck away into the mountains. They came +back after a while, neither one having taken the oath of allegiance, and +if there were any rebels Cahoots was as great a one to the day of his +death as his master. That tomb-stone, you see it looks old, was placed +there at the old master's request when his dead son came home from +Malvern Hill, for he said when Cahoots went to the other side they must +not be separated; that accounts for its look of age, but it was not +until last year that we laid Cahoots--Cahoots still though an old +man--beside his master. And many a man that had owned his people, and +many another that had fought to continue that ownership, dropped a tear +on his grave." + + + + +_Nine_ + +THE PROMOTER + + +Even as early as September, in the year of 1870, the newly emancipated +had awakened to the perception of the commercial advantages of freedom, +and had begun to lay snares to catch the fleet and elusive dollar. Those +controversialists who say that the Negro's only idea of freedom was to +live without work are either wrong, malicious, or they did not know +Little Africa when the boom was on; when every little African, fresh +from the fields and cabins, dreamed only of untold wealth and of +mansions in which he would have been thoroughly uncomfortable. These +were the devil's sunny days, and early and late his mowers were in the +field. These were the days of benefit societies that only benefited the +shrewdest man; of mutual insurance associations, of wild building +companies, and of gilt-edged land schemes wherein the unwary became +bogged. This also was the day of Mr. Jason Buford, who, having been free +before the war, knew a thing or two, and now had set himself up as a +promoter. Truly he had profited by the example of the white men for whom +he had so long acted as messenger and factotum. + +As he frequently remarked when for purposes of business he wished to air +his Biblical knowledge, "I jest takes the Scripter fur my motter an' +foller that ol' passage where it says, 'Make hay while the sun shines, +fur the night cometh when no man kin work.'" + +It is related that one of Mr. Buford's customers was an old plantation +exhorter. At the first suggestion of a Biblical quotation the old +gentleman closed his eyes and got ready with his best amen. But as the +import of the words dawned on him he opened his eyes in surprise, and +the amen died a-borning. "But do hit say dat?" he asked earnestly. + +"It certainly does read that way," said the promoter glibly. + +"Uh, huh," replied the old man, settling himself back in his chair. "I +been preachin' dat t'ing wrong fu' mo' dan fo'ty yeahs. Dat's whut comes +o' not bein' able to read de wo'd fu' yo'se'f." + +Buford had no sense of the pathetic or he could never have done what he +did--sell to the old gentleman, on the strength of the knowledge he had +imparted to him, a house and lot upon terms so easy that he might drowse +along for a little time and then wake to find himself both homeless and +penniless. This was the promoter's method, and for so long a time had it +proved successful that he had now grown mildly affluent and had set up a +buggy in which to drive about and see his numerous purchasers and +tenants. + +Buford was a suave little yellow fellow, with a manner that suggested +the training of some old Southern butler father, or at least, an +experience as a likely house-boy. He was polite, plausible, and more +than all, resourceful. All of this he had been for years, but in all +these years he had never so risen to the height of his own uniqueness as +when he conceived and carried into execution the idea of the "Buford +Colonizing Company." + +Humanity has always been looking for an Eldorado, and, however mixed the +metaphor may be, has been searching for a Moses to lead it thereto. +Behold, then, Jason Buford in the rôle of Moses. And equipped he was to +carry off his part with the very best advantage, for though he might not +bring water from the rock, he could come as near as any other man to +getting blood from a turnip. + +The beauty of the man's scheme was that no offering was too small to be +accepted. Indeed, all was fish that came to his net. + +Think of paying fifty cents down and knowing that some time in the dim +future you would be the owner of property in the very heart of a great +city where people would rush to buy. It was glowing enough to attract a +people more worldly wise than were these late slaves. They simply fell +into the scheme with all their souls; and off their half dollars, +dollars, and larger sums, Mr. Buford waxed opulent. The land meanwhile +did not materialise. + +It was just at this time that Sister Jane Callender came upon the scene +and made glad the heart of the new-fledged Moses. He had heard of Sister +Jane before, and he had greeted her coming with a sparkling of eyes and +a rubbing of hands that betokened a joy with a good financial basis. + +The truth about the newcomer was that she had just about received her +pension, or that due to her deceased husband, and she would therefore be +rich, rich to the point where avarice would lie in wait for her. + +Sis' Jane settled in Mr. Buford's bailiwick, joined the church he +attended, and seemed only waiting with her dollars for the very call +which he was destined to make. She was hardly settled in a little +three-room cottage before he hastened to her side, kindly intent, or its +counterfeit, beaming from his features. He found a weak-looking old lady +propped in a great chair, while another stout and healthy-looking woman +ministered to her wants or stewed about the house in order to be doing +something. + +"Ah, which--which is Sis' Jane Callender," he asked, rubbing his hands +for all the world like a clothing dealer over a good customer. + +"Dat's Sis' Jane in de cheer," said the animated one, pointing to her +charge. "She feelin' mighty po'ly dis evenin'. What might be yo' name?" +She was promptly told. + +"Sis' Jane, hyeah one de good brothahs come to see you to offah his +suvices if you need anything." + +"Thanky, brothah, charity," said the weak voice, "sit yo'se'f down. You +set down, Aunt Dicey. Tain't no use a runnin' roun' waitin' on me. I +ain't long fu' dis worl' nohow, mistah." + +"Buford is my name an' I came in to see if I could be of any assistance +to you, a-fixin' up yo' mattahs er seein' to anything for you." + +"Hit's mighty kind o' you to come, dough I don' 'low I'll need much +fixin' fu' now." + +"Oh, we hope you'll soon be better, Sistah Callender." + +"Nevah no mo', suh, 'til I reach the Kingdom." + +"Sis' Jane Callender, she have been mighty sick," broke in Aunt Dicey +Fairfax, "but I reckon she gwine pull thoo', the Lawd willin'." + +"Amen," said Mr. Buford. + +"Huh, uh, children, I done hyeahd de washin' of de waters of Jerdon." + +"No, no, Sistah Callendah, we hope to see you well and happy in de +injoyment of de pension dat I understan' de gov'ment is goin' to give +you." + +"La, chile, I reckon de white folks gwine to git dat money. I ain't +nevah gwine to live to 'ceive it. Des' aftah I been wo'kin' so long fu' +it, too." + +The small eyes of Mr. Buford glittered with anxiety and avarice. What, +was this rich plum about to slip from his grasp, just as he was about to +pluck it? It should not be. He leaned over the old lady with intense +eagerness in his gaze. + +"You must live to receive it," he said, "we need that money for the +race. It must not go back to the white folks. Ain't you got nobody to +leave it to?" + +"Not a chick ner a chile, 'ceptin' Sis' Dicey Fairfax here." + +Mr. Buford breathed again. "Then leave it to her, by all means," he +said. + +"I don' want to have nothin' to do with de money of de daid," said Sis' +Dicey Fairfax. + +"Now, don't talk dat away, Sis' Dicey," said the sick woman. "Brother +Buford is right, case you sut'ny has been good to me sence I been layin' +hyeah on de bed of affliction, an' dey ain't nobody more fitterner to +have dat money den you is. Ef de Lawd des lets me live long enough, I's +gwine to mek my will in yo' favoh." + +"De Lawd's will be done," replied the other with resignation, and Mr. +Buford echoed with an "Amen!" + +He stayed very long that evening, planning and talking with the two old +women, who received his words as the Gospel. Two weeks later the +_Ethiopian Banner_, which was the organ of Little Africa, announced that +Sis' Jane Callender had received a back pension which amounted to more +than five hundred dollars. Thereafter Mr. Buford was seen frequently in +the little cottage, until one day, after a lapse of three or four weeks, +a policeman entered Sis' Jane Callender's cottage and led her away +amidst great excitement to prison. She was charged with pension fraud, +and against her protestations, was locked up to await the action of the +Grand Jury. + +The promoter was very active in his client's behalf, but in spite of all +his efforts she was indicted and came up for trial. + +It was a great day for the denizens of Little Africa, and they crowded +the court room to look upon this stranger who had come among them to +grow so rich, and then suddenly to fall so low. + +The prosecuting attorney was a young Southerner, and when he saw the +prisoner at the bar he started violently, but checked himself. When the +prisoner saw him, however, she made no effort at self control. + +"Lawd o' mussy," she cried, spreading out her black arms, "if it ain't +Miss Lou's little Bobby." + +The judge checked the hilarity of the audience; the prosecutor +maintained his dignity by main force, and the bailiff succeeded in +keeping the old lady in her place, although she admonished him: "Pshaw, +chile, you needn't fool wid me, I nussed dat boy's mammy when she borned +him." + +It was too much for the young attorney, and he would have been less a +man if it had not been. He came over and shook her hand warmly, and this +time no one laughed. + +It was really not worth while prolonging the case, and the prosecution +was nervous. The way that old black woman took the court and its +officers into her bosom was enough to disconcert any ordinary tribunal. +She patronised the judge openly before the hearing began and insisted +upon holding a gentle motherly conversation with the foreman of the +jury. + +She was called to the stand as the very first witness. + +"What is your name?" asked the attorney. + +"Now, Bobby, what is you axin' me dat fu'? You know what my name is, and +you one of de Fairfax fambly, too. I 'low ef yo' mammy was hyeah, she'd +mek you 'membah; she'd put you in yo' place." + +The judge rapped for order. + +"That is just a manner of proceeding," he said; "you must answer the +question, so the rest of the court may know." + +"Oh, yes, suh, 'scuse me, my name hit's Dicey Fairfax." + +The attorney for the defence threw up his hands and turned purple. He +had a dozen witnesses there to prove that they had known the woman as +Jane Callender. + +"But did you not give your name as Jane Callender?" + +"I object," thundered the defence. + +"Do, hush, man," Sis' Dicey exclaimed, and then turning to the +prosecutor, "La, honey, you know Jane Callender ain't my real name, you +knows dat yo'se'f. It's des my bus'ness name. W'y, Sis' Jane Callender +done daid an' gone to glory too long 'go fu' to talk erbout." + +"Then you admit to the court that your name is not Jane Callender?" + +"Wha's de use o' my 'mittin', don' you know it yo'se'f, suh? Has I got +to come hyeah at dis late day an' p'ove my name an' redentify befo' my +ol' Miss's own chile? Mas' Bob, I nevah did t'ink you'd ac' dat away. +Freedom sutny has done tuk erway yo' mannahs." + +"Yes, yes, yes, that's all right, but we want to establish the fact that +your name is Dicey Fairfax." + +"Cose it is." + +"Your Honor, I object--I----" + +"Your Honor," said Fairfax coldly, "will you grant me the liberty of +conducting the examination in a way somewhat out of the ordinary lines? +I believe that my brother for the defence will have nothing to complain +of. I believe that I understand the situation and shall be able to get +the truth more easily by employing methods that are not altogether +technical." + +The court seemed to understand a thing or two himself, and overruled the +defence's objection. + +"Now, Mrs. Fairfax----" + +Aunt Dicey snorted. "Hoomph? What? Mis' Fairfax? What ou say, Bobby +Fairfax? What you call me dat fu'? My name Aunt Dicey to you an' I want +you to un'erstan' dat right hyeah. Ef you keep on foolin' wid me, I +'spec' my patience gwine waih claih out." + +"Excuse me. Well, Aunt Dicey, why did you take the name of Jane +Callender if your name is really Dicey Fairfax?" + +"W'y, I done tol' you, Bobby, dat Sis' Jane Callender was des' my +bus'ness name." + +"Well, how were you to use this business name?" + +"Well, it was des dis away. Sis' Jane Callender, she gwine git huh +pension, but la, chile, she tuk down sick unto deaf, an' Brothah +Buford, he say dat she ought to mek a will in favoh of somebody, so's de +money would stay 'mongst ouah folks, an' so, bimeby, she 'greed she mek +a will." + +"And who is Brother Buford, Aunt Dicey?" + +"Brothah Buford? Oh, he's de gemman whut come an' offered to 'ten' to +Sis' Jane Callender's bus'ness fu' huh. He's a moughty clevah man." + +"And he told her she ought to make a will?" + +"Yas, suh. So she 'greed she gwine mek a will, an' she say to me, 'Sis +Dicey, you sut'ny has been good to me sence I been layin' hyeah on dis +bed of 'fliction, an' I gwine will all my proputy to you.' Well, I don't +want to tek de money, an' she des mos' nigh fo'ce it on me, so I say +yes, an' Brothah Buford he des sot an' talk to us, an' he say dat he +come to-morror to bring a lawyer to draw up de will. But bless Gawd, +honey, Sis' Callender died dat night, an' de will wasn't made, so when +Brothah Buford come bright an' early next mornin', I was layin' Sis' +Callender out. Brothah Buford was mighty much moved, he was. I nevah did +see a strange pusson tek anything so hard in all my life, an' den he +talk to me, an' he say, 'Now, Sis' Dicey, is you notified any de +neighbours yit?' an' I said no I hain't notified no one of de +neighbours, case I ain't 'quainted wid none o' dem yit, an' he say, 'How +erbout de doctah? Is he 'quainted wid de diseased?' an' I tol' him no, +he des come in, da's all. 'Well,' he say, 'cose you un'erstan' now dat +you is Sis' Jane Callender, caise you inhe'it huh name, an' when de +doctah come to mek out de 'stiffycate, you mus' tell him dat Sis' Dicey +Fairfax is de name of de diseased, an' it'll be all right, an' aftah dis +you got to go by de name o' Jane Callender, caise it's a bus'ness name +you done inhe'it.' Well, dat's whut I done, an' dat's huccome I been +Jane Callender in de bus'ness 'sactions, an' Dicey Fairfax at home. Now, +you un'erstan', don't you? It wuz my inhe'ited name." + +"But don't you know that what you have done is a penitentiary offence?" + +"Who you stan'in' up talkin' to dat erway, you nasty impident little +scoun'el? Don't you talk to me dat erway. I reckon ef yo' mammy was +hyeah she sut'ny would tend to yo' case. You alluse was sassier an' +pearter den yo' brother Nelse, an' he had to go an' git killed in de +wah, an' you--you--w'y, jedge, I'se spanked dat boy mo' times den I kin +tell you fu' hus impidence. I don't see how you evah gits erlong wid +him." + +The court repressed a ripple that ran around. But there was no smile on +the smooth-shaven, clear-cut face of the young Southerner. Turning to +the attorney for the defence, he said: "Will you take the witness?" But +that gentleman, waving one helpless hand, shook his head. + +"That will do, then," said young Fairfax. "Your Honor," he went on, +addressing the court, "I have no desire to prosecute this case further. +You all see the trend of it just as I see, and it would be folly to +continue the examination of any of the rest of these witnesses. We have +got that story from Aunt Dicey herself as straight as an arrow from a +bow. While technically she is guilty; while according to the facts she +is a criminal according to the motive and the intent of her actions, she +is as innocent as the whitest soul among us." He could not repress the +youthful Southerner's love for this little bit of rhetoric. + +"And I believe that nothing is to be gained by going further into the +matter, save for the purpose of finding out the whereabouts of this +Brother Buford, and attending to his case as the facts warrant. But +before we do this, I want to see the stamp of crime wiped away from the +name of my Aunt Dicey there, and I beg leave of the court to enter a +nolle prosse. There is only one other thing I must ask of Aunt Dicey, +and that is that she return the money that was illegally gotten, and +give us information concerning the whereabouts of Buford." + +Aunt Dicey looked up in excitement, "W'y, chile, ef dat money was got +illegal, I don' want it, but I do know whut I gwine to do, cause I done +'vested it all wid Brothah Buford in his colorednization comp'ny." The +court drew its breath. It had been expecting some such _dénouement_. + +"And where is the office of this company situated?" + +"Well, I des can't tell dat," said the old lady. "W'y, la, man, Brothah +Buford was in co't to-day. Whaih is he? Brothah Buford, whaih you?" But +no answer came from the surrounding spectators. Brother Buford had faded +away. The old lady, however, after due conventions, was permitted to go +home. + +It was with joy in her heart that Aunt Dicey Fairfax went back to her +little cottage after her dismissal, but her face clouded when soon after +Robert Fairfax came in. + +"Hyeah you come as usual," she said with well-feigned anger. "Tryin' to +sof' soap me aftah you been carryin' on. You ain't changed one mite fu' +all yo' bein' a man. What you talk to me dat away in co't fu'?" + +Fairfax's face was very grave. "It was necessary, Aunt Dicey," he said. +"You know I'm a lawyer now, and there are certain things that lawyers +have to do whether they like it or not. You don't understand. That man +Buford is a scoundrel, and he came very near leading you into a very +dangerous and criminal act. I am glad I was near to save you." + +"Oh, honey, chile, I didn't know dat. Set down an' tell me all erbout +it." + +This the attorney did, and the old lady's indignation blazed forth. +"Well, I hope to de Lawd you'll fin' dat rascal an' larrup him ontwell +he cain't stan' straight." + +"No, we're going to do better than that and a great deal better. If we +find him we are going to send him where he won't inveigle any more +innocent people into rascality, and you're going to help us." + +"W'y, sut'ny, chile, I'll do all I kin to he'p you git dat rascal, but I +don't know whaih he lives, case he's allus come hyeah to see me." + +"He'll come back some day. In the meantime we will be laying for him." + +Aunt Dicey was putting some very flaky biscuits into the oven, and +perhaps the memory of other days made the young lawyer prolong his visit +and his explanation. When, however, he left, it was with well-laid plans +to catch Jason Buford napping. + +It did not take long. Stealthily that same evening a tapping came at +Aunt Dicey's door. She opened it, and a small, crouching figure crept +in. It was Mr. Buford. He turned down the collar of his coat which he +had had closely up about his face and said: + +"Well, well, Sis' Callender, you sut'ny have spoiled us all." + +"La, Brothah Buford, come in hyeah an' set down. Whaih you been?" + +"I been hidin' fu' feah of that testimony you give in the court room. +What did you do that fu'?" + +"La, me, I didn't know, you didn't 'splain to me in de fust." + +"Well, you see, you spoiled it, an' I've got to git out of town as soon +as I kin. Sis' Callender, dese hyeah white people is mighty slippery, +and they might catch me. But I want to beg you to go on away from hyeah +so's you won't be hyeah to testify if dey does. Hyeah's a hundred +dollars of yo' money right down, and you leave hyeah to-morrer mornin' +an' go erway as far as you kin git." + +"La, man, I's puffectly willin' to he'p you, you know dat." + +"Cose, cose," he answered hurriedly, "we col'red people has got to stan' +together." + +"But what about de res' of dat money dat I been 'vestin' wid you?" + +"I'm goin' to pay intrus' on that," answered the promoter glibly. + +"All right, all right." Aunt Dicey had made several trips to the little +back room just off her sitting room as she talked with the promoter. +Three times in the window had she waved a lighted lamp. Three times +without success. But at the last "all right," she went into the room +again. This time the waving lamp was answered by the sudden flash of a +lantern outside. + +"All right," she said, as she returned to the room, "set down an' lemme +fix you some suppah." + +"I ain't hardly got the time. I got to git away from hyeah." But the +smell of the new baked biscuits was in his nostrils and he could not +resist the temptation to sit down. He was eating hastily, but with +appreciation, when the door opened and two minions of the law entered. + +Buford sprang up and turned to flee, but at the back door, her large +form a towering and impassive barrier, stood Aunt Dicey. + +"Oh, don't hu'y, Brothah Buford," she said calmly, "set down an' he'p +yo'se'f. Dese hyeah's my friends." + +It was the next day that Robert Fairfax saw him in his cell. The man's +face was ashen with coward's terror. He was like a caught rat though, +bitingly on the defensive. + +"You see we've got you, Buford," said Fairfax coldly to him. "It is as +well to confess." + +"I ain't got nothin' to say," said Buford cautiously. + +"You will have something to say later on unless you say it now. I don't +want to intimidate you, but Aunt Dicey's word will be taken in any court +in the United States against yours, and I see a few years hard labour +for you between good stout walls." + +The little promoter showed his teeth in an impotent snarl. "What do you +want me to do?" he asked, weakening. + +"First, I want you to give back every cent of the money that you got out +of Dicey Fairfax. Second, I want you to give up to every one of those +Negroes that you have cheated every cent of the property you have +accumulated by fraudulent means. Third, I want you to leave this place, +and never come back so long as God leaves breath in your dirty body. If +you do this, I will save you--you are not worth the saving--from the pen +or worse. If you don't, I will make this place so hot for you that hell +will seem like an icebox beside it." + +The little yellow man was cowering in his cell before the attorney's +indignation. His lips were drawn back over his teeth in something that +was neither a snarl nor a smile. His eyes were bulging and +fear-stricken, and his hands clasped and unclasped themselves nervously. + +"I--I----" he faltered, "do you want to send me out without a cent?" + +"Without a cent, without a cent," said Fairfax tensely. + +"I won't do it," the rat in him again showed fight. "I won't do it. I'll +stay hyeah an' fight you. You can't prove anything on me." + +"All right, all right," and the attorney turned toward the door. + +"Wait, wait," called the man, "I will do it, my God! I will do it. Jest +let me out o' hyeah, don't keep me caged up. I'll go away from hyeah." + +Fairfax turned back to him coldly, "You will keep your word?" + +"Yes." + +"I will return at once and take the confession." + +And so the thing was done. Jason Buford, stripped of his ill-gotten +gains, left the neighbourhood of Little Africa forever. And Aunt Dicey, +no longer a wealthy woman and a capitalist, is baking golden brown +biscuits for a certain young attorney and his wife, who has the bad +habit of rousing her anger by references to her business name and her +investments with a promoter. + + + + +_Ten_ + +THE WISDOM OF SILENCE + + +Jeremiah Anderson was free. He had been free for ten years, and he was +proud of it. He had been proud of it from the beginning, and that was +the reason that he was one of the first to cast off the bonds of his old +relations, and move from the plantation and take up land for himself. He +was anxious to cut himself off from all that bound him to his former +life. So strong was this feeling in him that he would not consent to +stay on and work for his one-time owner even for a full wage. + +To the proposition of the planter and the gibes of some of his more +dependent fellows he answered, "No, suh, I's free, an' I sholy is able +to tek keer o' myse'f. I done been fattenin' frogs fu' othah people's +snakes too long now." + +"But, Jerry," said Samuel Brabant, "I don't mean you any harm. The +thing's done. You don't belong to me any more, but naturally, I take an +interest in you, and want to do what I can to give you a start. It's +more than the Northern government has done for you, although such wise +men ought to know that you have had no training in caring for +yourselves." + +There was a slight sneer in the Southerner's voice. Jerry perceived it +and thought it directed against him. Instantly his pride rose and his +neck stiffened. + +"Nemmine me," he answered, "nemmine me. I's free, an' w'en a man's free, +he's free." + +"All right, go your own way. You may have to come back to me some time. +If you have to come, come. I don't blame you now. It must be a great +thing to you, this dream--this nightmare." Jerry looked at him. "Oh, it +isn't a nightmare now, but some day, maybe, it will be, then come to +me." + +The master turned away from the newly made freeman, and Jerry went forth +into the world which was henceforth to be his. He took with him his few +belongings; these largely represented by his wife and four lusty-eating +children. Besides, he owned a little money, which he had got working for +others when his master's task was done. Thus, bur'dened and equipped, he +set out to tempt Fortune. + +He might do one of two things--farm land upon shares for one of his +short-handed neighbours, or buy a farm, mortgage it, and pay for it as +he could. As was natural for Jerry, and not uncommendable, he chose at +once the latter course, bargained for his twenty acres--for land was +cheap then, bought his mule, built his cabin, and set up his household +goods. + +Now, slavery may give a man the habit of work, but it cannot imbue him +with the natural thrift that long years of self-dependence brings. There +were times when Jerry's freedom tugged too strongly at his easy +inclination, drawing him away to idle when he should have toiled. What +was the use of freedom, asked an inward voice, if one might not rest +when one would? If he might not stop midway the furrow to listen and +laugh at a droll story or tell one? If he might not go a-fishing when +all the forces of nature invited and the jay-bird called from the tree +and gave forth saucy banter like the fiery, blue shrew that she was? + +There were times when his compunction held Jerry to his task, but more +often he turned an end furrow and laid his misgivings snugly under it +and was away to the woods or the creek. There was joy and a loaf for the +present. What more could he ask? + +The first year Fortune laughed at him, and her laugh is very different +from her smile. She sent the swift rains to wash up the new planted +seed, and the hungry birds to devour them. She sent the fierce sun to +scorch the young crops, and the clinging weeds to hug the fresh +greenness of his hope to death. She sent--cruellest jest of all--another +baby to be fed, and so weakened Cindy Ann that for many days she could +not work beside her husband in the fields. + +Poverty began to teach the unlessoned delver in the soil the thrift +which he needed; but he ended his first twelve months with barely enough +to eat, and nothing paid on his land or his mule. Broken and +discouraged, the words of his old master came to him. But he was proud +with an obstinate pride and he shut his lips together so that he might +not groan. He would not go to his master. Anything rather than that. + +In that place sat certain beasts of prey, dealers, and lenders of money, +who had their lairs somewhere within the boundaries of that wide and +mysterious domain called The Law. They had their risks to run, but so +must all beasts that eat flesh or drink blood. To them went Jerry, and +they were kind to him. They gave him of their store. They gave him food +and seed, but they were to own all that they gave him from what he +raised, and they were to take their toll first from the new crops. + +Now, the black had been warned against these same beasts, for others had +fallen a prey to them even in so short a time as their emancipation +measured, and they saw themselves the re-manacled slaves of a hopeless +and ever-growing debt, but Jerry would not be warned. He chewed the +warnings like husks between his teeth, and got no substance from them. + +Then, Fortune, who deals in surprises, played him another trick. She +smiled upon him. His second year was better than his first, and the +brokers swore over his paid up note. Cindy Ann was strong again and the +oldest boy was big enough to help with the work. + +Samuel Brabant was displeased, not because he felt any malice toward his +former servant, but for the reason that any man with the natural amount +of human vanity must feel himself agrieved just as his cherished +prophecy is about to come true. Isaiah himself could not have been above +it. How much less, then, the uninspired Mr. Brabant, who had his "I told +you so," all ready. He had been ready to help Jerry after giving him +admonitions, but here it was not needed. An unused "I told you so," +however kindly, is an acid that turns the milk of human kindness sour. + +Jerry went on gaining in prosperity. The third year treated him better +than the second, and the fourth better than the third. During the fifth +he enlarged his farm and his house and took pride in the fact that his +oldest boy, Matthew, was away at school. By the tenth year of his +freedom he was arrogantly out of debt. Then his pride was too much for +him. During all these years of his struggle the words of his master had +been as gall in his mouth. Now he spat them out with a boast. He talked +much in the market-place, and where many people gathered, he was much +there, giving himself as a bright and shining example. + +"Huh," he would chuckle to any listeners he could find, "Ol' Mas' +Brabant, he say, 'Stay hyeah, stay hyeah, you do' know how to tek keer +o' yo'se'f yit.' But I des' look at my two han's an' I say to myse'f, +whut I been doin' wid dese all dese yeahs--tekin' keer o' myse'f an' +him, too. I wo'k in de fiel', he set in de big house an' smoke. I wo'k +in de fiel', his son go away to college an' come back a graduate. Das +hit. Well, w'en freedom come, I des' bent an' boun' I ain' gwine do it +no mo' an' I didn't. Now look at me. I sets down w'en I wants to. I +does my own wo'kin' an' my own smokin'. I don't owe a cent, an' dis yeah +my boy gwine graduate f'om de school. Dat's me, an' I ain' called on ol' +Mas' yit." + +Now, an example is always an odious thing, because, first of all, it is +always insolent even when it is bad, and there were those who listened +to Jerry who had not been so successful as he, some even who had stayed +on the plantation and as yet did not even own the mule they ploughed +with. The hearts of those were filled with rage and their mouths with +envy. Some of the sting of the latter got into their retelling of +Jerry's talk and made it worse than it was. + +Old Samuel Brabant laughed and said, "Well, Jerry's not dead yet, and +although I don't wish him any harm, my prophecy might come true yet." + +There were others who, hearing, did not laugh, or if they did, it was +with a mere strained thinning of the lips that had no element of mirth +in it. Temper and tolerance were short ten years after sixty-three. + +The foolish farmer's boastings bore fruit, and one night when he and his +family had gone to church he returned to find his house and barn in +ashes, his mules burned and his crop ruined. It had been very quietly +done and quickly. The glare against the sky had attracted few from the +nearby town, and them too late to be of service. + +Jerry camped that night across the road from what remained of his former +dwelling. Cindy Ann and the children, worn out and worried, went to +sleep in spite of themselves, but he sat there all night long, his chin +between his knees, gazing at what had been his pride. + +Well, the beasts lay in wait for him again, and when he came to them +they showed their fangs in greeting. And the velvet was over their +claws. He had escaped them before. He had impugned their skill in the +hunt, and they were ravenous for him. Now he was fatter, too. He went +away from them with hard terms, and a sickness at his heart. But he had +not said "Yes" to the terms. He was going home to consider the almost +hopeless conditions under which they would let him build again. + +They were staying with a neighbour in town pending his negotiations and +thither he went to ponder on his circumstances. Then it was that Cindy +Ann came into the equation. She demanded to know what was to be done and +how it was to be gone about. + +"But Cindy Ann, honey, you do' know nuffin' 'bout bus'ness." + +"T'ain't whut I knows, but whut I got a right to know," was her +response. + +"I do' see huccome you got any right to be a-pryin' into dese hyeah +things." + +"I's got de same right I had to w'ok an' struggle erlong an' he'p you +get whut we's done los'." + +Jerry winced and ended by telling her all. + +"Dat ain't nuffin' but owdacious robbery," said Cindy Ann. "Dem people +sees dat you got a little some'p'n, an' dey ain't gwine stop ontwell +dey's bu'nt an' stoled evah blessed cent f'om you. Je'miah, don't you +have nuffin' mo' to do wid 'em." + +"I got to, Cindy Ann." + +"Whut fu' you got to?" + +"How I gwine buil' a cabin an' a ba'n an' buy a mule less'n I deal wid +'em?" + +"Dah's Mas' Sam Brabant. He'd he'p you out." + +Jerry rose up, his eyes flashing fire. "Cindy Ann," he said, "you a +fool, you ain't got no mo' pride den a guinea hen, an' you got a heap +less sense. W'y, befo' I go to ol' Mas' Sam Brabant fu' a cent, I'd +sta've out in de road." + +"Huh!" said Cindy Ann, shutting her mouth on her impatience. + +One gets tired of thinking and saying how much more sense a woman has +than a man when she comes in where his sense stops and his pride +begins. + +With the recklessness of despair Jerry slept late that next morning, but +he might have awakened early without spoiling his wife's plans. She was +up betimes, had gone on her mission and returned before her spouse +awoke. + +It was about ten o'clock when Brabant came to see him. Jerry grew sullen +at once as his master approached, but his pride stiffened. This white +man should see that misfortune could not weaken him. + +"Well, Jerry," said his former master, "you would not come to me, eh, so +I must come to you. You let a little remark of mine keep you from your +best friend, and put you in the way of losing the labour of years." + +Jerry made no answer. + +"You've proved yourself able to work well, but Jerry," pausing, "you +haven't yet shown that you're able to take care of yourself, you don't +know how to keep your mouth shut." + +The ex-slave tried to prove this a lie by negative pantomime. + +"I'm going to lend you the money to start again." + +"I won't----" + +"Yes, you will, if you don't, I'll lend it to Cindy Ann, and let her +build in her own name. She's got more sense than you, and she knows how +to keep still when things go well." + +"Mas' Sam," cried Jerry, rising quickly, "don' len' dat money to Cindy +Ann. W'y ef a ooman's got anything she nevah lets you hyeah de las' of +it." + +"Will you take it, then?" + +"Yes, suh; yes, suh, an' thank 'e, Mas' Sam." There were sobs some place +back in his throat. "An' nex' time ef I evah gets a sta't agin, I'll +keep my mouf shet. Fac' is, I'll come to you, Mas' Sam, an' borry fu' de +sake o' hidin'." + + + + +_Eleven_ + +THE TRIUMPH OF OL' MIS' PEASE + + +Between the two women, the feud began in this way: When Ann Pease +divorced her handsome but profligate spouse, William, Nancy Rogers had, +with reprehensible haste, taken him for better or for worse. Of course, +it proved for worse, but Ann Pease had never forgiven her. + +"'Pears lak to me," she said, "dat she was des a-waitin' fu' to step +inter my shoes, no mattah how I got outen 'em, whethah I died or +divo'ced." + +It was in the hey-day of Nancy Rogers' youth, and she was still +hot-tempered, so she retorted that "Ann Pease sut'ny did unmind huh' o' +de dawg in de mangah." The friends of the two women took sides, and a +war began which waged hotly between them--a war which for the first few +weeks threatened the unity of Mt. Pisgah Church. + +But the church in all times has been something of a selfish institution +and has known how to take care of itself. Now, Mt. Pisgah, of necessity, +must recognise divorce, and of equal necessity, re-marriage. So when the +Rev. Isaiah Johnson had been appealed to, he had spread his fat hands, +closed his eyes and said solemnly, "Whom God hath j'ined, let no man put +asundah;" peace, or at best, apparent peace, settled upon the troubled +waters. + +The solidity of Mt. Pisgah was assured, the two factions again spoke to +each other, both gave collections on the same Sunday; but between the +two principals there was no abatement of their relentless animosity. + +Ann Pease as it happened was a "puffessor," while the new Mrs. Pease was +out of the fold; a gay, frivolous person who had never sought or found +grace. She laughed when a black wag said of the two that "they might +bofe be 'peas,' but dey wasn't out o' de same pod." But on its being +repeated to Sister Pease, she resented it with Christian indignation, +sniffed and remarked that "Ef Wi'yum choosed to pick out one o' de +onregenerate an' hang huh ez a millstone erroun' his neck, it wasn't +none o' huh bus'ness what happened to him w'en dey pulled up de tares +f'om de wheat." + +There were some ultra-malicious ones who said that Sister Pease, seeing +her former husband in the possession of another, had begun to regret her +step, for the unregenerate William was good-looking after all, and the +"times" that he and his equally sinful wife had together were the wonder +and disgust, the envy and horror of the whole community, who watched +them with varying moods of eagerness. + +Sister Ann Pease went her way apparently undisturbed. Religion has an +arrogance of its own, and when at the end of the year the good widow +remained unmarried she could toss her head, go her way, and look down +from a far height upon the "po' sinnahs"; indeed, she had rather the +better of her frailer sister in the sympathies of the people. + +As one sister feelingly remarked, "Dat ooman des baihin' dat man in huh +prayahs, an' I 'low she'll mou'n him into glory yit." + +One year of married life disillusions, and defiant gaiety cannot live +upon itself when admiration fails. There is no reward in being daring +when courage becomes commonplace. The year darkened to winter, and +bloomed to spring again. The willows feathered along the river banks, +and the horse-chestnuts budded and burst into beautiful life. Then came +summer, rejoicing, with arms full of flowers, and autumn with lap full +of apples and grain, then winter again, and all through the days Nancy +danced and was gay, but there was a wistfulness in her eyes, and the tug +of the baby no longer drew her heart. She had come to be "Wi'yum's +Nancy," while the other, _that_ other was still "Sister Pease," who sat +above her in the high places of the people's hearts. + +And then, oh, blessedness of the winter, the revival came; and both she +and William, strangely stricken together with the realisation of their +sins, fell at the mercy seat. + +"There is more joy over one sinner that repenteth,"--but when Will and +Nancy both "came through" on the same night--well, Mt. Pisgah's walls +know the story. + +There was triumph in Nancy's face as she proclaimed her conversion, and +the first person she made for was Sister Pease. She shook her hands and +embraced her, crying ever aloud between the vociferations of the +congregation, "Oh, sistah, he'p me praise Him, he'p me praise Him," and +the elder woman in the cause caught the infection of the moment and +joined in the general shout. + +Afterwards she was not pleased with herself. But then if she hadn't +shouted, wouldn't it have been worse? + +The Rev. Isaiah was nothing if not dramatic in his tendencies, and on +the day when he was to receive William and Nancy Pease into full +membership with the church, it struck him that nothing could make upon +his congregation a profounder impression for good than to have the two +new Peases joined by the elder one, or as the wag would have put it, all +in one pod. And it was so ordered, and the thing was done. + +It is true that the preacher had to labour some with Sister Ann Pease, +but when he showed her how it was her Christian duty, and if she failed +of it her rival must advance before her in public opinion, she +acquiesced. It was an easier matter with "Sister Wi'yum Pease." She +agreed readily, for she was filled with condescending humility, which on +every occasion she took the opportunity of displaying toward her rival. + +The Rev. Isaiah Johnson only made one mistake in his diplomatic +manoeuvring. That was when he whispered to Sister Ann Pease, "Didn't I +tell you? Des see how easy Sister Wi'yum give in." He was near to losing +his cause and the wind was completely taken out of his sails when the +widow replied with a snort, "Give in, my Lawd! Dat ooman's got a right +to give in; ain't she got 'uligion an' de man, too?" + +However, the storm blew over, and by the time service was begun they +were all seated together on a front bench, Sister Nancy, William, and +Sister Ann. + +Now was the psychological moment, and after a soul-stirring hymn the +preacher rose and announced his text--"Behold how good and how pleasant +it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." + +Someone in the back part of the church suggested trinity as a substitute +and started a titter, but the preacher had already got his dramatic +momentum, and was sweeping along in a tumultuous tide of oratory. Right +at his three victims did he aim his fiery eloquence, and ever and again +he came back to his theme, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for +brethren to dwell together in unity," even though Ann Pease had turned +her back on William, whose head was low bowed, and Nancy was +ostentatiously weeping into a yellow silk handkerchief. + +The sermon spurred on to a tempestuous close, and then came the climax +when the doors of the church were opened. William and Nancy immediately +went up to end their probation, and after a few whispered remarks the +minister shook hands with each of them, then raising his voice he said: +"Now, brothahs and sistahs, befo' you all gives dese lambs de right +han' o' fellowship to welcome dem to de fol', I want Sister Ann Pease to +come up an' be de first to bid 'em God speed on the gospel way." Ann +Pease visibly swelled, but she marched up, and without looking at +either, shook hands with each of her enemies. + +"Hallelujah, praise de Lord," shouted the preacher, clapping his hands, +"Behold how good and how pleasant it is; and now let the congregation in +gineral come aroun' and welcome Brothah and Sistah Pease." + +His rich bass voice broke into "Bless Be the Tie that Binds," and as the +volume of the hymn, swelled by the full chorus of the congregation, +rolled away to the rafters of the little church, the people rose and +marched solemnly round, shaking hands with the new members and with each +other. + +Brother and Sister Pease were the last to leave church that day, but +they found Ann waiting for them at the door. She walked straight up to +them and spoke: "Nancy Rogers," she said, "I know you; I kin see claih +thoo you, and you ain't a foolin' me one bit. All I got to say is dat I +has done my Christian duty, an' I ain't gwine do no mo', so don' you +speak to me fo'm dis day out." + +For the brief space of a second there was something like a gleam in +Nancy's eyes, but she replied in all meekness, "I's a full-blown +Christian now, an' I feel it my bounden duty to speak to you, Sis' +Pease, an' I's gwine t' speak." + +Ignoring this defiance the other woman turned to her former husband. She +looked at him with unveiled contempt, then she said slowly, "An' ez fu' +Wi'yum, Gawd he'p you." + +Here all intercourse between these warring spirits might have ended but +for Nancy Pease's persistent civility. She would speak to her rival on +every occasion, and even call upon her if she could gain admittance to +the house. And now the last drop of bitterness fell into the widow's +cup, for the community, to distinguish between them, began calling her +"Ol' Sis' Pease." This was the climax of her sorrows, and she who had +been so devout came no more to the church; she who had been so cheerful +and companionable grew morose and sour and shut her doors against her +friends. She was as one dead to her old world. The one bit of vivid life +about her was her lasting hatred of the woman who bore her name. In vain +the preacher sought to break down the barrier of her animosity. She had +built it of adamant, and his was a losing fight. So for several years +the feud went on, and those who had known Ann in her cheerier days +forgot that knowledge and spoke of her with open aversion as "dat awful +ol' Mis' Pease." The while Nancy, in spite of "Wi'yum's" industrial +vagaries, had flourished and waxed opulent. She continued to flaunt her +Christian humility in the eyes of her own circle, and to withhold her +pity from the poor, lonely old woman whom hate had made bitter and to +whom the world, after all, had not been over-kind. But prosperity is +usually cruel, and one needs the prick of the thorn one's self to know +how it stings his brother. + +She was startled one day, however, out of her usual placidity. Sister +Martin, one of her neighbours, dropped in and settling herself with a +sigh announced the important news, "Well, bless Gawd, ol' Sis' Pease is +gone at last." + +Nancy dropped the plate she had been polishing, and unheeded, it smashed +into bits on the floor. + +"Wha'--what!" she exclaimed. + +"Yes'm," Sister Martin assured her, "de ol' lady done passed away." + +"I didn't know she was sick; w'en she die?" + +"She done shet huh eyes on dis worl' o' sorror des a few minutes ago. +She ain't bin sick mo'n two days." + +Nancy had come to herself now, and casting her eyes up in an excess of +Christian zeal, she said: "Well, she wouldn't let me do nuffin' fu' huh +in life, but I sut'ny shell try to do my duty by huh in death," and +drying her hands and throwing a shawl over her head, she hastened over +to her dead enemy's house. + +The news had spread quickly and the neighbourhood had just begun to +gather in the little room which held the rigid form. Nancy entered and +made her way through the group about the bed, waving the others aside +imperiously. + +"It is my Christian duty," she said solemnly, "to lay Sis' Pease out, +an' I's gwine do it." She bent over the bed. Now there are a dozen +truthful women who will vouch for the truth of what happened. When Nancy +leaned over the bed, as if in obedience to the power of an electric +shock, the corpse's eyes flew open, Ann Pease rose up in bed and +pointing a trembling finger at her frightened namesake exclaimed: "Go +'way f'om me, Nancy Rogers, don't you daih to tech me. You ain't got de +come-uppance of me yit. Don't you daih to lay me out." + +Most of this remark, it seems, fell on empty air, for the room was +cleared in a twinkling. Women holding high numerous skirts over their +heavy shoes fled in a panic, and close in their wake panted Nancy Pease. + +There have been conflicting stories about the matter, but there are +those who maintain that after having delivered her ultimatum, old Mis' +Pease immediately resumed the natural condition of a dead person. In +fact there was no one there to see, and the old lady did not really die +until night, and when they found her, there was a smile of triumph on +her face. + +Nancy did not help to lay her out. + + + + +_Twelve_ + +THE LYNCHING OF JUBE BENSON + + +Gordon Fairfax's library held but three men, but the air was dense with +clouds of smoke. The talk had drifted from one topic to another much as +the smoke wreaths had puffed, floated, and thinned away. Then Handon +Gay, who was an ambitious young reporter, spoke of a lynching story in a +recent magazine, and the matter of punishment without trial put new life +into the conversation. + +"I should like to see a real lynching," said Gay rather callously. + +"Well, I should hardly express it that way," said Fairfax, "but if a +real, live lynching were to come my way, I should not avoid it." + +"I should," spoke the other from the depths of his chair, where he had +been puffing in moody silence. Judged by his hair, which was freely +sprinkled with gray, the speaker might have been a man of forty-five or +fifty, but his face, though lined and serious, was youthful, the face of +a man hardly past thirty. + +"What, you, Dr. Melville? Why, I thought that you physicians wouldn't +weaken at anything." + +"I have seen one such affair," said the doctor gravely, "in fact, I took +a prominent part in it." + +"Tell us about it," said the reporter, feeling for his pencil and +notebook, which he was, nevertheless, careful to hide from the speaker. + +The men drew their chairs eagerly up to the doctor's, but for a minute +he did not seem to see them, but sat gazing abstractedly into the fire, +then he took a long draw upon his cigar and began: + +"I can see it all very vividly now. It was in the summer time and about +seven years ago. I was practising at the time down in the little town of +Bradford. It was a small and primitive place, just the location for an +impecunious medical man, recently out of college. + +"In lieu of a regular office, I attended to business in the first of two +rooms which I rented from Hiram Daly, one of the more prosperous of the +townsmen. Here I boarded and here also came my patients--white and +black--whites from every section, and blacks from 'nigger town,' as the +west portion of the place was called. + +"The people about me were most of them coarse and rough, but they were +simple and generous, and as time passed on I had about abandoned my +intention of seeking distinction in wider fields and determined to +settle into the place of a modest country doctor. This was rather a +strange conclusion for a young man to arrive at, and I will not deny +that the presence in the house of my host's beautiful young daughter, +Annie, had something to do with my decision. She was a beautiful young +girl of seventeen or eighteen, and very far superior to her +surroundings. She had a native grace and a pleasing way about her that +made everybody that came under her spell her abject slave. White and +black who knew her loved her, and none, I thought, more deeply and +respectfully than Jube Benson, the black man of all work about the +place. + +"He was a fellow whom everybody trusted; an apparently steady-going, +grinning sort, as we used to call him. Well, he was completely under +Miss Annie's thumb, and would fetch and carry for her like a faithful +dog. As soon as he saw that I began to care for Annie, and anybody could +see that, he transferred some of his allegiance to me and became my +faithful servitor also. Never did a man have a more devoted adherent in +his wooing than did I, and many a one of Annie's tasks which he +volunteered to do gave her an extra hour with me. You can imagine that I +liked the boy and you need not wonder any more that as both wooing and +my practice waxed apace, I was content to give up my great ambitions and +stay just where I was. + +"It wasn't a very pleasant thing, then, to have an epidemic of typhoid +break out in the town that kept me going so that I hardly had time for +the courting that a fellow wants to carry on with his sweetheart while +he is still young enough to call her his girl. I fumed, but duty was +duty, and I kept to my work night and day. It was now that Jube proved +how invaluable he was as a coadjutor. He not only took messages to +Annie, but brought sometimes little ones from her to me, and he would +tell me little secret things that he had overheard her say that made me +throb with joy and swear at him for repeating his mistress' +conversation. But best of all, Jube was a perfect Cerberus, and no one +on earth could have been more effective in keeping away or deluding the +other young fellows who visited the Dalys. He would tell me of it +afterwards, chuckling softly to himself. 'An,' Doctah, I say to Mistah +Hemp Stevens, "'Scuse us, Mistah Stevens, but Miss Annie, she des gone +out," an' den he go outer de gate lookin' moughty lonesome. When Sam +Elkins come, I say, "Sh, Mistah Elkins, Miss Annie, she done tuk down," +an' he say, "What, Jube, you don' reckon hit de----" Den he stop an' +look skeert, an' I say, "I feared hit is, Mistah Elkins," an' sheks my +haid ez solemn. He goes outer de gate lookin' lak his bes' frien' done +daid, an' all de time Miss Annie behine de cu'tain ovah de po'ch des' a +laffin' fit to kill.' + +"Jube was a most admirable liar, but what could I do? He knew that I +was a young fool of a hypocrite, and when I would rebuke him for these +deceptions, he would give way and roll on the floor in an excess of +delighted laughter until from very contagion I had to join him--and, +well, there was no need of my preaching when there had been no beginning +to his repentance and when there must ensue a continuance of his +wrong-doing. + +"This thing went on for over three months, and then, pouf! I was down +like a shot. My patients were nearly all up, but the reaction from +overwork made me an easy victim of the lurking germs. Then Jube loomed +up as a nurse. He put everyone else aside, and with the doctor, a friend +of mine from a neighbouring town, took entire charge of me. Even Annie +herself was put aside, and I was cared for as tenderly as a baby. Tom, +that was my physician and friend, told me all about it afterward with +tears in his eyes. Only he was a big, blunt man and his expressions did +not convey all that he meant. He told me how my nigger had nursed me as +if I were a sick kitten and he my mother. Of how fiercely he guarded his +right to be the sole one to 'do' for me, as he called it, and how, when +the crisis came, he hovered, weeping, but hopeful, at my bedside, until +it was safely passed, when they drove him, weak and exhausted, from the +room. As for me, I knew little about it at the time, and cared less. I +was too busy in my fight with death. To my chimerical vision there was +only a black but gentle demon that came and went, alternating with a +white fairy, who would insist on coming in on her head, growing larger +and larger and then dissolving. But the pathos and devotion in the story +lost nothing in my blunt friend's telling. + +"It was during the period of a long convalescence, however, that I came +to know my humble ally as he really was, devoted to the point of +abjectness. There were times when for very shame at his goodness to me, +I would beg him to go away, to do something else. He would go, but +before I had time to realise that I was not being ministered to, he +would be back at my side, grinning and pottering just the same. He +manufactured duties for the joy of performing them. He pretended to see +desires in me that I never had, because he liked to pander to them, and +when I became entirely exasperated, and ripped out a good round oath, he +chuckled with the remark, 'Dah, now, you sholy is gittin' well. Nevah +did hyeah a man anywhaih nigh Jo'dan's sho' cuss lak dat.' + +"Why, I grew to love him, love him, oh, yes, I loved him as well--oh, +what am I saying? All human love and gratitude are damned poor things; +excuse me, gentlemen, this isn't a pleasant story. The truth is usually +a nasty thing to stand. + +"It was not six months after that that my friendship to Jube, which he +had been at such great pains to win, was put to too severe a test. + +"It was in the summer time again, and as business was slack, I had +ridden over to see my friend, Dr. Tom. I had spent a good part of the +day there, and it was past four o'clock when I rode leisurely into +Bradford. I was in a particularly joyous mood and no premonition of the +impending catastrophe oppressed me. No sense of sorrow, present or to +come, forced itself upon me, even when I saw men hurrying through the +almost deserted streets. When I got within sight of my home and saw a +crowd surrounding it, I was only interested sufficiently to spur my +horse into a jog trot, which brought me up to the throng, when something +in the sullen, settled horror in the men's faces gave me a sudden, sick +thrill. They whispered a word to me, and without a thought, save for +Annie, the girl who had been so surely growing into my heart, I leaped +from the saddle and tore my way through the people to the house. + +"It was Annie, poor girl, bruised and bleeding, her face and dress torn +from struggling. They were gathered round her with white faces, and, oh, +with what terrible patience they were trying to gain from her fluttering +lips the name of her murderer. They made way for me and I knelt at her +side. She was beyond my skill, and my will merged with theirs. One +thought was in our minds. + +"'Who?' I asked. + +"Her eyes half opened, 'That black----' She fell back into my arms dead. + +"We turned and looked at each other. The mother had broken down and was +weeping, but the face of the father was like iron. + +"'It is enough,' he said; 'Jube has disappeared.' He went to the door +and said to the expectant crowd, 'She is dead.' + +"I heard the angry roar without swelling up like the noise of a flood, +and then I heard the sudden movement of many feet as the men separated +into searching parties, and laying the dead girl back upon her couch, I +took my rifle and went out to join them. + +"As if by intuition the knowledge had passed among the men that Jube +Benson had disappeared, and he, by common consent, was to be the object +of our search. Fully a dozen of the citizens had seen him hastening +toward the woods and noted his skulking air, but as he had grinned in +his old good-natured way they had, at the time, thought nothing of it. +Now, however, the diabolical reason of his slyness was apparent. He had +been shrewd enough to disarm suspicion, and by now was far away. Even +Mrs. Daly, who was visiting with a neighbour, had seen him stepping out +by a back way, and had said with a laugh, 'I reckon that black rascal's +a-running off somewhere.' Oh, if she had only known. + +"'To the woods! To the woods!' that was the cry, and away we went, each +with the determination not to shoot, but to bring the culprit alive into +town, and then to deal with him as his crime deserved. + +"I cannot describe the feelings I experienced as I went out that night +to beat the woods for this human tiger. My heart smouldered within me +like a coal, and I went forward under the impulse of a will that was +half my own, half some more malignant power's. My throat throbbed drily, +but water nor whiskey would not have quenched my thirst. The thought has +come to me since that now I could interpret the panther's desire for +blood and sympathise with it, but then I thought nothing. I simply went +forward, and watched, watched with burning eyes for a familiar form that +I had looked for as often before with such different emotions. + +"Luck or ill-luck, which you will, was with our party, and just as dawn +was graying the sky, we came upon our quarry crouched in the corner of a +fence. It was only half light, and we might have passed, but my eyes had +caught sight of him, and I raised the cry. We levelled our guns and he +rose and came toward us. + +"'I t'ought you wa'n't gwine see me,' he said sullenly, 'I didn't mean +no harm.' + +"'Harm!' + +"Some of the men took the word up with oaths, others were ominously +silent. + +"We gathered around him like hungry beasts, and I began to see terror +dawning in his eyes. He turned to me, 'I's moughty glad you's hyeah, +doc,' he said, 'you ain't gwine let 'em whup me.' + +"'Whip you, you hound,' I said, 'I'm going to see you hanged,' and in +the excess of my passion I struck him full on the mouth. He made a +motion as if to resent the blow against even such great odds, but +controlled himself. + +"'W'y, doctah,' he exclaimed in the saddest voice I have ever heard, +'w'y, doctah! I ain't stole nuffin' o' yo'n, an' I was comin' back. I +only run off to see my gal, Lucy, ovah to de Centah.' + +"'You lie!' I said, and my hands were busy helping the others bind him +upon a horse. Why did I do it? I don't know. A false education, I +reckon, one false from the beginning. I saw his black face glooming +there in the half light, and I could only think of him as a monster. +It's tradition. At first I was told that the black man would catch me, +and when I got over that, they taught me that the devil was black, and +when I had recovered from the sickness of that belief, here were Jube +and his fellows with faces of menacing blackness. There was only one +conclusion: This black man stood for all the powers of evil, the result +of whose machinations had been gathering in my mind from childhood up. +But this has nothing to do with what happened. + +"After firing a few shots to announce our capture, we rode back into +town with Jube. The ingathering parties from all directions met us as we +made our way up to the house. All was very quiet and orderly. There was +no doubt that it was as the papers would have said, a gathering of the +best citizens. It was a gathering of stern, determined men, bent on a +terrible vengeance. + +"We took Jube into the house, into the room where the corpse lay. At +sight of it, he gave a scream like an animal's and his face went the +colour of storm-blown water. This was enough to condemn him. We divined, +rather than heard, his cry of 'Miss Ann, Miss Ann, oh, my God, doc, you +don't t'ink I done it?' + +"Hungry hands were ready. We hurried him out into the yard. A rope was +ready. A tree was at hand. Well, that part was the least of it, save +that Hiram Daly stepped aside to let me be the first to pull upon the +rope. It was lax at first. Then it tightened, and I felt the quivering +soft weight resist my muscles. Other hands joined, and Jube swung off +his feet. + +"No one was masked. We knew each other. Not even the Culprit's face was +covered, and the last I remember of him as he went into the air was a +look of sad reproach that will remain with me until I meet him face to +face again. + +"We were tying the end of the rope to a tree, where the dead man might +hang as a warning to his fellows, when a terrible cry chilled us to the +marrow. + +"'Cut 'im down, cut 'im down, he ain't guilty. We got de one. Cut him +down, fu' Gawd's sake. Here's de man, we foun' him hidin' in de barn!' + +"Jube's brother, Ben, and another Negro, came rushing toward us, half +dragging, half carrying a miserable-looking wretch between them. Someone +cut the rope and Jube dropped lifeless to the ground. + +"'Oh, my Gawd, he's daid, he's daid!' wailed the brother, but with +blazing eyes he brought his captive into the centre of the group, and we +saw in the full light the scratched face of Tom Skinner--the worst white +ruffian in the town--but the face we saw was not as we were accustomed +to see it, merely smeared with dirt. It was blackened to imitate a +Negro's. + +"God forgive me; I could not wait to try to resuscitate Jube. I knew he +was already past help, so I rushed into the house and to the dead girl's +side. In the excitement they had not yet washed or laid her out. +Carefully, carefully, I searched underneath her broken finger nails. +There was skin there. I took it out, the little curled pieces, and went +with it to my office. + +"There, determinedly, I examined it under a powerful glass, and read my +own doom. It was the skin of a white man, and in it were embedded +strands of short, brown hair or beard. + +"How I went out to tell the waiting crowd I do not know, for something +kept crying in my ears, 'Blood guilty! Blood guilty!' + +"The men went away stricken into silence and awe. The new prisoner +attempted neither denial nor plea. When they were gone I would have +helped Ben carry his brother in, but he waved me away fiercely, 'You +he'ped murder my brothah, you dat was _his_ frien', go 'way, go 'way! +I'll tek him home myse'f' I could only respect his wish, and he and his +comrade took up the dead man and between them bore him up the street on +which the sun was now shining full. + +"I saw the few men who had not skulked indoors uncover as they passed, +and I--I--stood there between the two murdered ones, while all the while +something in my ears kept crying, 'Blood guilty! Blood guilty!'" + +The doctor's head dropped into his hands and he sat for some time in +silence, which was broken by neither of the men, then he rose, saying, +"Gentlemen, that was my last lynching." + + + + +_Thirteen_ + +SCHWALLIGER'S PHILANTHROPY + + +There is no adequate reason why Schwalliger's name should appear upon +the pages of history. He was decidedly not in good society. He was not +even respectable as respectability goes. But certain men liked him and +certain women loved him. He is dead. That is all that will be said of +the most of us after a while. He was but a weak member of the community, +but those who loved him did not condemn him, and they shut their eyes to +his shortcomings because they were a part of him. Without his follies he +would not have been himself. + +Schwalliger was only a race-horse "tout." Ah, don't hold up your hands, +good friends, for circumstances of birth make most of us what we are, +whether poets or pickpockets, and if this thick-set, bow-legged black +man became a "tout" it was because he had to. Old horsemen will tell you +that Schwalliger--no one knew where he got the name--was rolling and +tumbling about the track at Bennings when he was still so short in +stature that he got the name of the "tadpole." Naturally, he came to +know much of horses, grew up with them, in fact, and having no wealthy +father or mother to indulge him in his taste or help him use his +knowledge, he did the next best thing and used his special education for +himself in the humble capacity of voluntary adviser to aspiring +gamesters. He prospered and blossomed out into good clothes of a highly +ornate pattern. Naturally, like a man in any other business, he had his +ups and downs, and there were times when the good clothes disappeared +and he was temporarily forced to return to the occupation of rubbing +down horses; but these periods of depression were of short duration, and +at the next turn of fortune's wheel he would again be on top. + +"No, thuh," he was wont to say, with his inimitable lisp--"no, thuh, you +can't keep a good man down. 'Tain't no use a-talkin', you jeth can't. It +don't do me no harm to go back to rubbin' now an' then. It jeth nachully +keepth me on good termth with de hothes." + +And, indeed, it did seem that his prophecies were surer and his +knowledge more direct after one of these periods of enforced humility. + +There were various things whispered about Schwalliger; that he was no +more honest than he should be, that he was not as sound as he might be; +but though it might be claimed, and was, that he would prophesy, on +occasion, the success of three different horses to three different men, +no one ever accused him of being less than fair with the women who came +out from the city to enjoy the races and increase their excitement by +staking small sums. To these Schwalliger was the soul of courtesy and +honour, and if they lost upon his advice, he was not happy until he had +made it up to them again. + +One, however, who sets himself to work to give a race-horse tout a +character may expect to have his labour for his pains. The profession of +his subject is against him. He may as well put aside his energy and say, +"Well, perhaps he was a bad lot, but----." The present story is not +destined to put you more in love with the hero of it, but---- + +The heat and enthusiasm at Saratoga and the other race-courses was done, +and autumn and the glory of Bennings had come. The ingratiating +Schwalliger came back with the horses to his old stamping ground and to +happiness. The other tracks had not treated him kindly, and but for the +kindness of his equine friends, whom he slept with and tended, he might +have come back to Washington on the wooden steps. But he was back, and +that was happiness for him. Broke? + +"Well," said Schwalliger, in answer to a trainer's question, "I ain't +exactly broke, Misthah Johnthon, but I wath pretty badly bent. I goth +awa jutht ath thoon ath I commenth to feel mythelf crackin', but I'm +hyeah to git even." + +He was only a rubber again, but he began to get even early in the week, +and by Saturday he was again as like to a rainbow as any of his class. +He did not, however, throw away his rubber's clothes. He was used to the +caprices of fortune, and he did not know how soon again he should need +them. That he was not dressed in them, and yet saved them, made him +capable of performing his one philanthropy. + +Had he not been gorgeously dressed he would not have inspired the +confidence of the old Negro who came up to him on Tuesday morning, +disconsolate and weeping. + +"Mistah," he said deferentially through his tears, "is you a spo't?" + +Mr. Schwalliger's chest protruded, and his very red lips opened in a +smile as he answered: "Well, I do' know'th I'm tho much of a thpo't, but +I think I knowth a thing or two." + +"You look lak a spo'tin' gent'man, an' ef you is I thought mebbe you'd +he'p me out." + +"Wha'th the mattah? Up againtht it? You look a little ol' to be doin' +the gay an' frithky." But Schwalliger's eyes were kind. + +"Well, I'll tell you des' how it is, suh. I come f'om down in Ma'lan', +'case I wanted to see de hosses run. My ol' mastah was moughty fon' of +sich spo't, an' I kin' o' likes it myse'f, dough I don't nevah bet, suh. +I's a chu'ch membah. But yistiddy aftahnoon dee was two gent'men what I +seen playin' wid a leetle ball an' some cups ovah it, an' I went up to +look on, an' lo an' behol', suh, it was one o' dese money-mekin' t'ings. +W'y, I seen de man des' stan' dere an' mek money by the fis'ful. Well, I +'low I got sorter wo'ked up. De men dee axed me to bet, but I 'low how I +was a chu'ch membah an' didn't tek pa't in no sich carryin's on, an' den +dee said 'twan't nuffin mo' den des' a chu'ch raffle, an' it was mo' fun +den anyt'ing else. I des' say dat I could fin' de little ball, an' dee +said I couldn't, an' if I fin' it dee gin me twenty dollahs, an' if I +didn' I des' gin 'em ten dollahs. I shuk my haid. I wa'n't gwine be +tempted, an' I try to pull myse'f erway. Ef I'd 'a' gone den 'twould 'a' +been all right, but I stayed an' I stayed, an' I looked, an' I looked, +an' it did seem lak it was so easy. At las', mistah, I tried it, an' I +didn' fin' dat ball, an' dee got my ten dollahs, an' dat was all I had." + +"Uh, huh," said Schwalliger grimly, "thell game, an' dey did you." The +old man shuffled uneasily, but continued: + +"Yes, suh, dee done me, an' de worst of it is, I's 'fraid to go home, +even ef I could get dere, 'case dee boun' to axe me how I los' dat +money, an' dee ain't no way fu' me to hide it, an' ef dee fin' out I +been gamblin' I'll git chu'ched fu' it, an' I been a puffessor so +long----" The old man's voice broke, and Schwalliger smiled the crooked +smile of a man whose heart is touched. + +"Whereth thith push wo'kin'?" he said briefly. + +"Right ovah thaih," said the old Negro, indicating a part of the grounds +not far distant. + +"All right, you go on ovah thaih an' wait fu' me; an' if you thee me, +remembah, you don't thee me. I don't know you, you don't know me, but +I'll try to thee you out all right." + +The old man went on his way, a new light in his eyes at the hope +Schwalliger had inspired. Schwalliger himself made his way back to the +stables; his dirty, horsy, rubber's outfit was there. He smiled +intelligently as he looked at it. He was smiling in a different manner +when, all dressed in it, he came up nearer to the grand stand. It was a +very inane smile. He looked the very image of simplicity and ignorance, +like a man who was anxious and ready to be duped. He strolled carelessly +up to where the little game with the little ball was going on, and stood +there looking foolishly on. The three young men--ostensibly there was +only one--were doing a rushing business. They were playing very +successfully on that trait of human nature which feels itself glorified +and exalted when it has got something for nothing. The rustics, black +and white, and some who had not the excuse of rusticity, were falling +readily into the trap and losing their hard-earned money. Every now and +then a man--one of their confederates, of course, would make a striking +winning, and this served as a bait for the rest of the spectators. +Schwalliger looked on with growing interest, always smiling an ignorant, +simple smile. Finally, as if he could stand it no longer, he ran his +hand in his pocket and pulled out a roll of money--money in its most +beautiful and tempting form, the long, green notes. Then, as if a sudden +spirit of prudence had taken possession of him, he put it back into his +pocket, shook his head, and began working his way out of the crowd. But +the operator of the shell game had caught sight of the bills, and it was +like the scent of blood to the tiger. His eye was on the simple Negro at +once, and he called cheerfully: + +"Come up, uncle, and try your luck. See how I manipulate this ball. Easy +enough to find if you're only lucky." He was so flippantly shrewd that +his newness to the business was insolently apparent to Schwalliger, who +knew a thing or two himself. Schwalliger smiled again and shook his +head. + +"Oh, no, thuh," he said, "I don't play dat." + +"Why, come and try your luck anyhow; no harm in it." + +Schwalliger took out his money and looked at it again and shook his +head. He began again his backward movement from the crowd. + +"No," he said, "I wouldn' play erroun' hyeah befo' all thethe people, +becauthe you wouldn't pay me even ef I won." + +"Why, of course we would," said the flippant operator; "everybody looks +alike to us here." + +Schwalliger kept moving away, ever and anon sending wistful, inane +glances back at his tempter. + +The bait worked admirably. The man closed up his little folding table, +and, winking to his confederates, followed the retreating Negro. They +stayed about with the crowd, while he followed on and on until +Schwalliger had led him into a short alley between the stables. There he +paused and allowed his pursuer to catch up with him. + +"Thay, mithtah," he said, "what you keep on follerin' me fu'? I do' want +to play wid you; I ain't got but fo'ty dollahs, an' ef I lothe I'll have +to walk home." + +"Why, my dear fellow, there ain't no way for you to lose. Come, now, let +me show you." And he set the table down and began to manipulate the ball +dexterously. "Needn't put no money down. Just see if you can locate the +ball a few times for fun." + +Schwalliger consented, and, greatly to his delight, located the little +ball four times out of five. He was grinning now and the eye of the +tempter was gleaming. Schwalliger took out his money. + +"How much you got?" he said. + +"Just eighty-five dollars, and I will lay it all against your forty." + +"What you got it in?" asked Schwalliger. + +"Four fives, four tens, and five five-dollar gold-pieces." And the man +displayed it ostentatiously. The tout's eyes flashed as he saw his +opponent put his money back into his waistcoat pocket. + +"Well, I bet you," he said, and planked his money down. + +The operator took the shells and swept the pea first under one then +under the other, and laid the three side by side. Schwalliger laid his +hand upon one. He lifted it up and there was nothing there. + +"Ha, ha, you've had bad luck," said the operator--"you lose, you lose. +Well, I'm sorry for you, old fellow, but we all take chances in this +little game, you know." He was folding up his table when all of a +sudden a cry arose to heaven from Schwalliger's lips, and he grappled +with the very shrewd young man, while shriek on shriek of "Murder! +Robber! Police!" came from his lips. The police at Bennings were not +slow to answer a call like this, and they came running up, and +Schwalliger, who, among other things, was something of an actor, told +his story trembling, incoherently, while the operator looked on aghast. +Schwalliger demanded protection. He had been robbed. He had bet his +eighty-five dollars against the operator's forty, and when he had +accidentally picked out the right shell the operator had grabbed his +money and attempted to escape. He wanted his money. He had eighty-five +dollars, he said. "He had fo' fiveth, fo' tenth, and five five-dollar +gold-pieceth, an' he wanted them." + +The policeman was thorough. He made his search at once. It was even as +Schwalliger had said. The money was on the gambler even as the Negro had +said. Well, there was nothing but justice to be done. The officers +returned the eighty-five dollars to Schwalliger, and out of an unusual +access of clemency bade the operator begone or they would run him in. + +When he had gone, Schwalliger turned and winked slowly at the minions of +the law, and went quietly into a corner with them, and there was the +sound of the shuffling of silken paper. Later on he found the old man +and returned him his ten, and went back to don his Jacob's coat. + +Who shall say that Schwalliger was not a true philanthropist? + + + + +_Fourteen_ + +THE INTERFERENCE OF PATSY ANN + + +Patsy Ann Meriweather would have told you that her father, or more +properly her "pappy," was a "widover," and she would have added in her +sad little voice, with her mournful eyes upon you, that her mother had +"bin daid fu' nigh onto fou' yeahs." Then you could have wept for Patsy, +for her years were only thirteen now, and since the passing away of her +mother she had been the little mother for her four younger brothers and +sisters, as well as her father's house-keeper. + +But Patsy Ann never complained; she was quite willing to be all that she +had been until such time as Isaac and Dora, Cassie and little John +should be old enough to care for themselves, and also to lighten some of +her domestic burdens. She had never reckoned upon any other manner of +release. In fact her youthful mind was not able to contemplate the +possibility of any other manner of change. But the good women of +Patsy's neighbourhood were not the ones to let her remain in this +deplorable state of ignorance. She was to be enlightened as to other +changes that might take place in her condition, and of the unspeakable +horrors that would transpire with them. + +It was upon the occasion that little John had taken it into his infant +head to have the German measles just at the time that Isaac was slowly +recovering from the chicken-pox. Patsy Ann's powers had been taxed to +the utmost, and Mrs. Caroline Gibson had been called in from next door +to superintend the brewing of the saffron tea, and for the general care +of the fretful sufferer. + +To Patsy Ann, then, in ominous tone, spoke this oracle. "Patsy Ann, how +yo' pappy doin' sence Matildy died?" "Matildy" was the deceased wife. + +"Oh, he gittin' 'long all right. He was mighty broke up at de fus', but +he 'low now dat de house go on de same's ef mammy was a-livin'." + +"Oom huh," disdainfully; "Oom huh. Yo' mammy bin daid fou' yeahs, ain't +she?" + +"Yes'm; mighty nigh." + +"Oom huh; fou' yeahs is a mighty long time fu' a colo'd man to wait; but +we'n he do wait dat long, hit's all de wuss we'n hit do come." + +"Pap bin wo'kin right stiddy at de brick-ya'd," said Patsy, in loyal +defence against some vaguely implied accusation, "an' he done put some +money in de bank." + +"Bad sign, bad sign," and Mrs. Gibson gave her head a fearsome shake. + +But just then the shrill voice of little John calling for attention drew +her away and left Patsy Ann to herself and her meditations. + +What could this mean? + +When that lady had finished ministering to the sick child and returned, +Patsy Ann asked her, "Mis' Gibson, what you mean by sayin' 'bad sign, +bad sign?'" + +Again the oracle shook her head sagely. Then she answered, "Chil', you +do' know de dev'ment dey is in dis worl'." + +"But," retorted the child, "my pappy ain' up to no dev'ment, 'case he +got 'uligion an' bin baptised." + +"Oom-m," groaned Sistah Gibson, "dat don' mek a bit o' diffunce. Who is +any mo' ma'yin' men den de preachahs demse'ves? W'y Brothah 'Lias Scott +done tempted matermony six times a'ready, an' 's lookin' roun' fu' de +sebent, an' he's a good man, too." + +"Ma'yin'," said Patsy breathlessly. + +"Yes, honey, ma'yin', an' I's afeared yo' pappy's got notions in his +haid, an' w'en a widower git gals in his haid dey ain' no use +a-pesterin' wid 'em, 'case dey boun' to have dey way." + +"Ma'yin'," said Patsy to herself reflectively. "Ma'yin'." She knew what +it meant, but she had never dreamed of the possibility of such a thing +in connection with her father. "Ma'yin'," and yet the idea of it did not +seem so very unalluring. + +She spoke her thoughts aloud. + +"But ef pap 'u'd ma'y, Mis' Gibson, den I'd git a chanct to go to +school. He allus sayin' he mighty sorry 'bout me not goin'." + +"Dah now, dah now," cried the woman, casting a pitying glance at the +child, "dat's de las' t'ing. He des a feelin' roun' now. You po', +ign'ant, mothahless chil'. You ain' nevah had no step-mothah, an' you +don' know what hit means." + +"But she'd tek keer o' the chillen," persisted Patsy. + +"Sich tekin' keer of 'em ez hit 'u'd be. She'd keer fu' 'em to dey +graves. Nobody cain't tell me nuffin 'bout step-mothahs, case I knows +'em. Dey ain' no ooman goin' to tek keer o' nobody else's chile lak +she'd tek keer o' huh own," and Patsy felt a choking come into her +throat and a tight sensation about her heart while she listened as Mrs. +Gibson regaled her with all the choice horrors that are laid at the door +of step-mothers. + +From that hour on, one settled conviction took shape and possessed Patsy +Ann's mind; never, if she could help it, would she run the risk of +having a step-mother. Come what may, let her be compelled to do what she +might, let the hope of school fade from her sight forever and a day--but +no step-mother should ever cast her baneful shadow over Patsy Ann's +home. + +Experience of life had made her wise for her years, and so for the time +she said nothing to her father; but she began to watch him with wary +eyes, his goings out and his comings in, and to attach new importance to +trifles that had passed unnoticed before by her childish mind. + +For instance, if he greased or blacked his boots before going out of an +evening her suspicions were immediately aroused and she saw dim visions +of her father returning, on his arm the terrible ogress whom she had +come to know by the name of step-mother. + +Mrs. Gibson's poison had worked well and rapidly. She had thoroughly +inoculated the child's mind with the step-mother virus, but she had not +at the same time made the parent widow-proof, a hard thing to do at +best. So it came to pass that with a mysterious horror growing within +her, Patsy Ann saw her father black his boots more and more often and +fare forth o' nights and Sunday afternoons. + +Finally her little heart could contain its sorrow no longer, and one +night when he was later than usual she could not sleep. So she slipped +out of bed, turned up the light, and waited for him, determined to have +it out, then and there. + +He came at last and was all surprise to meet the solemn, round eyes of +his little daughter staring at him from across the table. + +"W'y, lady gal," he exclaimed, "what you doin' up at 'his time?" + +"I sat up fu' you. I got somep'n' to ax you, pappy." Her voice quivered +and he snuggled her up in his arms. + +"What's troublin' my little lady gal now? Is de chillen bin bad?" + +She laid her head close against his big breast, and the tears would come +as she answered, "No, suh; de chillen bin ez good az good could be, but +oh, pappy, pappy, is you got gal in yo' haid an' a-goin' to bring me a +step-mothah?" + +He held her away from him almost harshly and gazed at her as he queried, +"W'y, you po' baby, you! Who's bin puttin' dis hyeah foolishness in yo' +haid?" Then his laugh rang out as he patted her head and drew her close +to him again. "Ef yo' pappy do bring a step-mothah into dis house, Gawd +knows he'll bring de right kin'." + +"Dey ain't no right kin'," answered Patsy. + +"You don' know, baby; you don' know. Go to baid an' don' worry." + +He sat up a long time watching the candle sputter, then he pulled off +his boots and tiptoed to Patsy's bedside. He leaned over her. "Po' +little baby," he said; "what do she know about a step-mothah?" And Patsy +saw him and heard him, for she was awake then, and far into the night. + +In the eyes of the child her father stood convicted. He had "gal in his +haid," and was going to bring her a step-mother; but it would never be; +her resolution was taken. + +She arose early the next morning and after getting her father off to +work as usual, she took the children into hand. First she scrubbed them +assiduously, burnishing their brown faces until they shone again. Then +she tussled with their refractory locks, and after that she dressed them +out in all the bravery of their best clothes. + +Meanwhile her tears were falling like rain, though her lips were shut +tight. The children off her mind, she turned her attention to her own +toilet, which she made with scrupulous care. Then taking a small +tin-type of her mother from the bureau drawer, she put it in her bosom, +and leading her little brood she went out of the house, locking the door +behind her and placing the key, as was her wont, under the door-step. + +Outside she stood for a moment or two, undecided, and then with one +long, backward glance at her home she turned and went up the street. At +the first corner she paused again, spat in her hand and struck the +watery globule with her finger. In the direction the most of the spittle +flew, she turned. Patsy Ann was fleeing from home and a step-mother, +and Fate had decided her direction for her, even as Mrs. Gibson's +counsels had directed her course. + +The child had no idea where she was going. She knew no one to whom she +might turn in her distress. Not even with Mrs. Gibson would she be safe +from the horror which impended. She had but one impulse in her mind and +that was to get beyond the reach of the terrible woman, or was it a +monster? who was surely coming after her. On and on she walked through +the town with her little band trudging bravely along beside her. People +turned to look at the funny group and smiled good-naturedly as they +passed, and one man, a little more amused than the rest, shouted after +them, "Where you goin', sis, with that orphan's home?" + +But Patsy Ann's dignity was impregnable. She walked on with her head in +the air, the desire for safety tugging at her heart. + +The hours passed and the gentle coolness of morning turned into the +fierce heat of noon, and still with frequent rests they trudged on, +Patsy ever and anon using her divining hand, unconscious that she was +doubling and redoubling on her tracks. When the whistles blew for twelve +she got her little brood into the shade of a poplar tree and set them +down to the lunch which, thoughtful little mother that she was, she had +brought with her. After that they all stretched themselves out on the +grass that bordered the sidewalk, for all the children were tired out, +and baby John was both sleepy and cross. Even Patsy Ann drowsed and +finally dropped into the deep slumber of childhood. They looked too +peaceful and serene for passers-by to bother them, and so they slept and +slept. + +It was past three o'clock when the little guardian awakened with a +start, and shook her charges into activity. John wept a little at first, +but after a while took up his journey bravely with the rest. + +She had just turned into a side street, discouraged and bewildered, when +the round face of a coloured woman standing in the doorway of a +whitewashed cottage caught her eye and attention. Once more she paused +and consulted her watery oracle, then turned to encounter the gaze of +the round-faced woman. The oracle had spoken and she turned into the +yard. + +"Whaih you goin', honey? You sut'ny look lak you plumb tukahed out. Come +in an' tell me all 'bout yo'se'f, you po' little t'ing. Dese yo' little +brothas an' sistahs?" + +"Yes'm," said Patsy Ann. + +"W'y, chil', whaih you goin'?" + +"I don' know," was the truthful answer. + +"You don' know? Whaih you live?" + +"Oh, I live down on Douglas Street," said Patsy Ann, "an' I's runnin' +away f'om home an' my step-mothah." + +The woman looked keenly at her. + +"What yo' name?" she said. + +"My name's Patsy Ann Meriweather." + +"An' is yo' got a step-mothah?" + +"No," said Patsy Ann, "I ain' got none now, but I's sut'ny 'spectin' +one." + +"What you know 'bout step-mothahs, honey?" + +"Mis' Gibson tol' me. Dey sho'ly is awful, missus, awful." + +"Mis' Gibson ain' tol' you right, honey. You come in hyeah and set down. +You ain' nothin' mo' dan a baby yo'se'f, an' you ain' got no right to be +trapsein' roun' dis away." + +Have you ever eaten muffins? Have you eaten bacon with onions? Have you +drunk tea? Have you seen your little brother John taken up on a full +bosom and rocked to sleep in the most motherly way, with the sweetness +and tenderness that only a mother can give? Well, that was Patsy Ann's +case to-night. + +And then she laid them along like ten-pins crosswise of her bed and sat +for a long time thinking. + +To Maria Adams about six o'clock that night came a troubled and +disheartened man. It was no less a person than Patsy Ann's father. + +"Maria! Maria! What shall I do? Somebody don' stole all my chillen." + +Maria, strange to say, was a woman of few words. + +"Don' you bothah 'bout de chillen," she said, and she took him by the +hand and led him to where the five lay sleeping calmly across the bed. + +"Dey was runnin' f'om home an' dey step-mothah," said she. + +"Dey run hyeah f'om a step-mothah an' foun' a mothah." It was a tribute +and a proposal all in one. + +When Patsy Ann awakened, the matter was explained to her, and with +penitent tears she confessed her sins. + +"But," she said to Maria Adams, "ef you's de kin' of fo'ks dat dey mek +step-mothahs out o' I ain' gwine to bothah my haid no mo'." + + + + +_Fifteen_ + +THE HOME-COMING OF 'RASTUS SMITH + + +There was a great commotion in that part of town which was known as +"Little Africa," and the cause of it was not far to seek. Contrary to +the usual thing, this cause was not an excursion down the river, nor a +revival, baptising, nor an Emancipation Day celebration. None of these +was it that had aroused the denizens of "Little Africa," and kept them +talking across the street from window to window, from door to door, +through alley gates, over backyard fences, where they stood loud-mouthed +and arms akimboed among laden clothes lines. No, the cause of it all was +that Erastus Smith, Aunt Mandy Smith's boy, who had gone away from home +several years before, and who, rumour said, had become a great man, was +coming back, and "Little Africa," from Douglass Street to Cat Alley, was +prepared to be dazzled. So few of those who had been born within the +mile radius which was "Little Africa" went out into the great world and +came into contact with the larger humanity that when one did he became +a man set apart. And when, besides, he went into a great city and worked +for a lawyer whose name was known the country over, the place of his +birth had all the more reason to feel proud of her son. + +So there was much talk across the dirty little streets, and Aunt Mandy's +small house found itself all of a sudden a very popular resort. The old +women held Erastus up as an example to their sons. The old men told what +they might have done had they had his chance. The young men cursed him, +and the young girls giggled and waited. + +It was about an hour before the time of the arrival of Erastus, and the +neighbours had thinned out one by one with a delicacy rather surprising +in them, in order that the old lady might be alone with her boy for the +first few minutes. Only one remained to help put the finishing touches +to the two little rooms which Mrs. Smith called home, and to the +preparations for the great dinner. The old woman wiped her eyes as she +said to her companion, "Hit do seem a speshul blessin', Lizy, dat I been +spaihed to see dat chile once mo' in de flesh. He sholy was mighty nigh +to my hea't, an' w'en he went erway, I thought it 'ud kill me. But I kin +see now dat hit uz all fu' de bes'. Think o' 'Rastus comin' home, er big +man! Who'd evah 'specked dat?" + +"Law, Mis' Smif, you sholy is got reason to be mighty thankful. Des' +look how many young men dere is in dis town what ain't nevah been no +'count to dey pa'ents, ner anybody else." + +"Well, it's onexpected, Lizy, an' hit's 'spected. 'Rastus allus wuz a +wonnerful chil', an' de way he tuk to work an' study kin' o' promised +something f'om de commencement, an' I 'lowed mebbe he tu'n out a +preachah." + +"Tush! yo' kin thank yo' stahs he didn't tu'n out no preachah. Preachahs +ain't no bettah den anybody else dese days. Dey des go roun' tellin' dey +lies an' eatin' de whiders an' orphins out o' house an' home." + +"Well, mebbe hit's bes' he didn' tu'n out dat way. But f'om de way he +used to stan' on de chaih an' 'zort w'en he was a little boy, I thought +hit was des what he 'ud tu'n out. O' co'se, being' in a law office is +des as pervidin', but somehow hit do seem mo' worl'y." + +"Didn't I tell you de preachahs is ez worldly ez anybody else?" + +"Yes, yes, dat's right, but den 'Rastus, he had de eddication, fo' he +had gone thoo de Third Readah." + +Just then the gate creaked, and a little brown-faced girl, with large, +mild eyes, pushed open the door and came shyly in. + +"Hyeah's some flowahs, Mis' Smif," she said. "I thought mebbe you might +like to decorate 'Rastus's room," and she wiped the confusion from her +face with her apron. + +"La, chil', thankee. Dese is mighty pu'tty posies." These were the +laurels which Sally Martin had brought to lay at the feet of her +home-coming hero. No one in Cat Alley but that queer, quiet little girl +would have thought of decorating anybody's room with flowers, but she +had peculiar notions. + +In the old days, when they were children, and before Erastus had gone +away to become great, they had gone up and down together along the +byways of their locality, and had loved as children love. Later, when +Erastus began keeping company, it was upon Sally that he bestowed his +affections. No one, not even her mother, knew how she had waited for him +all these years that he had been gone, few in reality, but so long and +so many to her. + +And now he was coming home. She scorched something in the ironing that +day because tears of joy were blinding her eyes. Her thoughts were busy +with the meeting that was to be. She had a brand new dress for the +occasion--a lawn, with dark blue dots, and a blue sash--and there was a +new hat, wonderful with the flowers of summer, and for both of them she +had spent her hard-earned savings, because she wished to be radiant in +the eyes of the man who loved her. + +Of course, Erastus had not written her; but he must have been busy, and +writing was hard work. She knew that herself, and realised it all the +more as she penned the loving little scrawls which at first she used to +send him. Now they would not have to do any writing any more; they could +say what they wanted to each other. He was coming home at last, and she +had waited long. + +They paint angels with shining faces and halos, but for real radiance +one should have looked into the dark eyes of Sally as she sped home +after her contribution to her lover's reception. + +When the last one of the neighbours had gone Aunt Mandy sat down to rest +herself and to await the great event. She had not sat there long before +the gate creaked. She arose and hastened to the window. A young man was +coming down the path. Was that 'Rastus? Could that be her 'Rastus, that +gorgeous creature with the shiny shoes and the nobby suit and the +carelessly-swung cane? But he was knocking at her door, and she opened +it and took him into her arms. + +"Why, howdy, honey, howdy; hit do beat all to see you agin, a great big, +grown-up man. You're lookin' des' lak one o' de big folks up in town." + +Erastus submitted to her endearments with a somewhat condescending +grace, as who should say, "Well, poor old fool, let her go on this time; +she doesn't know any better." He smiled superiorly when the old woman +wept glad tears, as mothers have a way of doing over returned sons, +however great fools these sons may be. She set him down to the dinner +which she had prepared for him, and with loving patience drew from his +pompous and reluctant lips some of the story of his doings and some +little word about the places he had seen. + +"Oh, yes," he said, crossing his legs, "as soon as Mr. Carrington saw +that I was pretty bright, he took me right up and gave me a good job, +and I have been working for him right straight along for seven years +now. Of course, it don't do to let white folks know all you're thinking; +but I have kept my ears and my eyes right open, and I guess I know just +about as much about law as he does himself. When I save up a little +more I'm going to put on the finishing touches and hang out my shingle." + +"Don't you nevah think no mo' 'bout bein' a preachah, 'Rastus?" his +mother asked. + +"Haw, haw! Preachah? Well, I guess not; no preaching in mine; there's +nothing in it. In law you always have a chance to get into politics and +be the president of your ward club or something like that, and from that +on it's an easy matter to go on up. You can trust me to know the wires." +And so the tenor of his boastful talk ran on, his mother a little bit +awed and not altogether satisfied with the new 'Rastus that had returned +to her. + +He did not stay in long that evening, although his mother told him some +of the neighbours were going to drop in. He said he wanted to go about +and see something of the town. He paused just long enough to glance at +the flowers in his room, and to his mother's remark, "Sally Ma'tin brung +dem in," he returned answer, "Who on earth is Sally Martin?" + +"Why, 'Rastus," exclaimed his mother, "does yo' 'tend lak yo' don't +'member little Sally Ma'tin yo' used to go wid almos' f'om de time you +was babies? W'y, I'm s'prised at you." + +"She has slipped my mind," said the young man. + +For a long while the neighbours who had come and Aunt Mandy sat up to +wait for Erastus, but he did not come in until the last one was gone. In +fact, he did not get in until nearly four o'clock in the morning, +looking a little weak, but at least in the best of spirits, and he +vouchsafed to his waiting mother the remark that "the little old town +wasn't so bad, after all." + +Aunt Mandy preferred the request that she had had in mind for some time, +that he would go to church the next day, and he consented, because his +trunk had come. + +It was a glorious Sunday morning, and the old lady was very proud in +her stiff gingham dress as she saw her son come into the room arrayed in +his long coat, shiny hat, and shinier shoes. Well, if it was true that +he was changed, he was still her 'Rastus, and a great comfort to her. +There was no vanity about the old woman, but she paused before the glass +a longer time than usual, settling her bonnet strings, for she must look +right, she told herself, to walk to church with that elegant son of +hers. When he was all ready, with cane in hand, and she was pausing with +the key in the door, he said, "Just walk on, mother, I'll catch you in a +minute or two." She went on and left him. + +He did not catch her that morning on her way to church, and it was a +sore disappointment, but it was somewhat compensated for when she saw +him stalking into the chapel in all his glory, and every head in the +house turned to behold him. + +There was one other woman in "Little Africa" that morning who stopped +for a longer time than usual before her looking-glass and who had never +found her bonnet strings quite so refractory before. In spite of the +vexation of flowers that wouldn't settle and ribbons that wouldn't tie, +a very glad face looked back at Sally Martin from her little mirror. She +was going to see 'Rastus, 'Rastus of the old days in which they used to +walk hand in hand. He had told her when he went away that some day he +would come back and marry her. Her heart fluttered hotly under her +dotted lawn, and it took another application of the chamois to take the +perspiration from her face. People had laughed at her, but that morning +she would be vindicated. He would walk home with her before the whole +church. Already she saw him bowing before her, hat in hand, and heard +the set phrase, "May I have the pleasure of your company home?" and she +saw herself sailing away upon his arm. + +She was very happy as she sat in church that morning, as happy as Mrs. +Smith herself, and as proud when she saw the object of her affections +swinging up the aisle to the collection table, and from the ring she +knew that it could not be less than a half dollar that he put in. + +There was a special note of praise in her voice as she joined in singing +the doxology that morning, and her heart kept quivering and fluttering +like a frightened bird as the people gathered in groups, chattering and +shaking hands, and he drew nearer to her. Now they were almost together; +in a moment their eyes would meet. Her breath came quickly; he had +looked at her, surely he must have seen her. His mother was just behind +him, and he did not speak. Maybe she had changed, maybe he had forgotten +her. An unaccustomed boldness took possession of her, and she determined +that she would not be overlooked. She pressed forward. She saw his +mother take his arm and heard her whisper, "Dere's Sally Ma'tin" this +time, and she knew that he looked at her. He bowed as if to a stranger, +and was past her the next minute. When she saw him again he was swinging +out of the door between two admiring lines of church-goers who separated +on the pavement. There was a brazen yellow girl on his arm. + +She felt weak and sick as she hid behind the crowd as well as she could, +and for that morning she thanked God that she was small. + +Aunt Mandy trudged home alone, and when the street was cleared and the +sexton was about to lock up, the girl slipped out of the church and down +to her own little house. In the friendly shelter of her room she took +off her gay attire and laid it away, and then sat down at the window and +looked dully out. For her, the light of day had gone out. + + + + +_Sixteen_ + +THE BOY AND THE BAYONET + + +It was June, and nearing the closing time of school. The air was full of +the sound of bustle and preparation for the final exercises, field day, +and drills. Drills especially, for nothing so gladdens the heart of the +Washington mother, be she black or white, as seeing her boy in the blue +cadet's uniform, marching proudly to the huzzas of an admiring crowd. +Then she forgets the many nights when he has come in tired out and dusty +from his practice drill, and feels only the pride and elation of the +result. + +Although Tom did all he could outside of study hours, there were many +days of hard work for Hannah Davis, when her son went into the High +School. But she took it upon herself gladly, since it gave Bud the +chance to learn, that she wanted him to have. When, however, he entered +the Cadet Corps it seemed to her as if the first steps toward the +fulfilment of all her hopes had been made. It was a hard pull to her, +getting the uniform, but Bud himself helped manfully, and when his +mother saw him rigged out in all his regimentals, she felt that she had +not toiled in vain. And in fact it was worth all the trouble and expense +just to see the joy and pride of "little sister," who adored Bud. + +As the time for the competitive drill drew near there was an air of +suppressed excitement about the little house on "D" Street, where the +three lived. All day long "little sister," who was never very well and +did not go to school, sat and looked out of the window on the +uninteresting prospect of a dusty thoroughfare lined on either side with +dull red brick houses, all of the same ugly pattern, interspersed with +older, uglier, and viler frame shanties. In the evening Hannah hurried +home to get supper against the time when Bud should return, hungry and +tired from his drilling, and the chore work which followed hard upon its +heels. + +Things were all cheerful, however, for as they applied themselves to the +supper, the boy, with glowing face, would tell just how his company "A" +was getting on, and what they were going to do to companies "B" and "C." +It was not boasting so much as the expression of a confidence, founded +upon the hard work he was doing, and Hannah and the "little sister" +shared that with him. + +The child often, listening to her brother, would clap her hands or cry, +"Oh, Bud, you're just splendid an' I know you'll beat 'em." + +"If hard work'll beat 'em, we've got 'em beat," Bud would reply, and +Hannah, to add an admonitory check to her own confidence, would break in +with, "Now, don't you be too sho', son; dey ain't been no man so good +dat dey wasn't somebody bettah." But all the while her face and manner +were disputing what her words expressed. + +The great day came, and it was a wonderful crowd of people that packed +the great baseball grounds to overflowing. It seemed that all of +Washington's coloured population was out, when there were really only +about one-tenth of them there. It was an enthusiastic, banner-waving, +shouting, hallooing crowd. Its component parts were strictly and frankly +partisan, and so separated themselves into sections differentiated by +the colours of the flags they carried and the ribbons they wore. Side +yelled defiance at side, and party bantered party. Here the blue and +white of Company "A" flaunted audaciously on the breeze beside the very +seats over which the crimson and gray of "B" were flying, and these in +their turn nodded defiance over the imaginary barrier between themselves +and "C's" black and yellow. + +The band was thundering out "Sousa's High School Cadet's March," the +school officials, the judges, and reporters, and some with less purpose +were bustling about, discussing and conferring. Altogether doing nothing +much with beautiful unanimity. All was noise, hurry, gaiety, and +turbulence. In the midst of it all, with blue and white rosettes pinned +on their breasts, sat two spectators, tense and silent, while the +breakers of movement and sound struck and broke around them. It meant +too much to Hannah and "little sister" for them to laugh and shout. Bud +was with Company "A," and so the whole programme was more like a +religious ceremonial to them. The blare of the brass to them might have +been the trumpet call to battle in old Judea, and the far-thrown tones +of the megaphone the voice of a prophet proclaiming from the hill-top. + +Hannah's face glowed with expectation, and "little sister" sat very +still and held her mother's hand save when amid a burst of cheers +Company "A" swept into the parade ground at a quick step, then she +sprang up, crying shrilly, "There's Bud, there's Bud, I see him," and +then settled back into her seat overcome with embarrassment. The +mother's eyes danced as soon as the sister's had singled out their dear +one from the midst of the blue-coated boys, and it was an effort for her +to keep from following her little daughter's example even to echoing her +words. + +Company "A" came swinging down the field toward the judges in a manner +that called for more enthusiastic huzzas that carried even the Freshman +of other commands "off their feet." They were, indeed, a set of +fine-looking young fellows, brisk, straight, and soldierly in bearing. +Their captain was proud of them, and his very step showed it. He was +like a skilled operator pressing the key of some great mechanism, and at +his command they moved like clockwork. Seen from the side it was as if +they were all bound together by inflexible iron bars, and as the end man +moved all must move with him. The crowd was full of exclamations of +praise and admiration, but a tense quiet enveloped them as Company "A" +came from columns of four into line for volley firing. This was a real +test; it meant not only grace and precision of movement, singleness of +attention and steadiness, but quickness tempered by self-control. At the +command the volley rang forth like a single shot. This was again the +signal for wild cheering and the blue and white streamers kissed the +sunlight with swift impulsive kisses. Hannah and Little Sister drew +closer together and pressed hands. + +The "A" adherents, however, were considerably cooled when the next +volley came out, badly scattering, with one shot entirely apart and +before the rest. Bud's mother did not entirely understand the sudden +quieting of the adherents; they felt vaguely that all was not as it +should be, and the chill of fear laid hold upon their hearts. What if +Bud's company, (it was always Bud's company to them), what if his +company should lose. But, of course, that couldn't be. Bud himself had +said that they would win. Suppose, though, they didn't; and with these +thoughts they were miserable until the cheering again told them that the +company had redeemed itself. + +Someone behind Hannah said, "They are doing splendidly, they'll win, +they'll win yet in spite of the second volley." + +Company "A," in columns of fours, had executed the right oblique in +double time, and halted amid cheers; then formed left halt into line +without halting. The next movement was one looked forward to with much +anxiety on account of its difficulty. The order was marching by fours +to fix or unfix bayonets. They were going at a quick step, but the boys' +hands were steady--hope was bright in their hearts. They were doing it +rapidly and freely, when suddenly from the ranks there was the bright +gleam of steel lower down than it should have been. A gasp broke from +the breasts of Company "A's" friends. The blue and white drooped +disconsolately, while a few heartless ones who wore other colours +attempted to hiss. Someone had dropped his bayonet. But with muscles +unquivering, without a turned head, the company moved on as if nothing +had happened, while one of the judges, an army officer, stepped into the +wake of the boys and picked up the fallen steel. + +No two eyes had seen half so quickly as Hannah and Little Sister's who +the blunderer was. In the whole drill there had been but one figure for +them, and that was Bud, Bud, and it was he who had dropped his bayonet. +Anxious, nervous with the desire to please them, perhaps with a shade +too much of thought of them looking on with their hearts in their eyes, +he had fumbled, and lost all that he was striving for. His head went +round and round and all seemed black before him. + +He executed the movements in a dazed way. The applause, generous and +sympathetic, as his company left the parade ground, came to him from +afar off, and like a wounded animal he crept away from his comrades, not +because their reproaches stung him, for he did not hear them, but +because he wanted to think what his mother and "Little Sister" would +say, but his misery was as nothing to that of the two who sat up there +amid the ranks of the blue and white holding each other's hands with a +despairing grip. To Bud all of the rest of the contest was a horrid +nightmare; he hardly knew when the three companies were marched back to +receive the judges' decision. The applause that greeted Company "B" when +the blue ribbons were pinned on the members' coats meant nothing to his +ears. He had disgraced himself and his company. What would his mother +and his "Little Sister" say? + +To Hannah and "Little Sister," as to Bud, all of the remainder of the +drill was a misery. The one interest they had had in it failed, and not +even the dropping of his gun by one of Company "E" when on the march, +halting in line, could raise their spirits. The little girl tried to be +brave, but when it was all over she was glad to hurry out before the +crowd got started and to hasten away home. Once there and her tears +flowed freely; she hid her face in her mother's dress, and sobbed as if +her heart would break. + +"Don't cry, Baby! don't cry, Lammie, dis ain't da las' time da wah goin' +to be a drill. Bud'll have a chance anotha time and den he'll show 'em +somethin'; bless you, I spec' he'll be a captain." But this consolation +of philosophy was nothing to "Little Sister." It was so terrible to her, +this failure of Bud's. She couldn't blame him, she couldn't blame anyone +else, and she had not yet learned to lay all such unfathomed +catastrophes at the door of fate. What to her was the thought of another +day; what did it matter to her whether he was a captain or a private? +She didn't even know the meaning of the words, but "Little Sister," from +the time she knew Bud was a private, knew that that was much better than +being captain or any of those other things with a long name, so that +settled it. + +Her mother finally set about getting the supper, while "Little Sister" +drooped disconsolately in her own little splint-bottomed chair. She sat +there weeping silently until she heard the sound of Bud's step, then she +sprang up and ran away to hide. She didn't dare to face him with tears +in her eyes. Bud came in without a word and sat down in the dark front +room. + +"Dat you, Bud?" asked his mother. + +"Yassum." + +"Bettah come now, supper's puty 'nigh ready." + +"I don' want no supper." + +"You bettah come on, Bud, I reckon you mighty tired." + +He did not reply, but just then a pair of thin arms were put around his +neck and a soft cheek was placed close to his own. + +"Come on, Buddie," whispered "Little Sister," "Mammy an' me know you +didn't mean to do it, an' we don' keer." + +Bud threw his arms around his little sister and held her tightly. + +"It's only you an' ma I care about," he said, "though I am sorry I +spoiled the company's drill; they say "B" would have won anyway on +account of our bad firing, but I did want you and ma to be proud." + +"We is proud," she whispered, "we's mos' prouder dan if you'd won," and +pretty soon she led him by the hand out to supper. + +Hannah did all she could to cheer the boy and to encourage him to hope +for next year, but he had little to say in reply, and went to bed early. + +In the morning, though it neared school time, Bud lingered around and +seemed in no disposition to get ready to go. + +"Bettah git ready fer school," said Hannah cheerily to him. + +"I don't believe I want to go any more," Bud replied. + +"Not go any more? Why ain't you shamed to talk that way! O' cose you a +goin' to school." + +"I'm ashamed to show my face to the boys." + +"What you say about de boys? De boys ain't a-goin' to give you no +edgication when you need it." + +"Oh, I don't want to go, ma; you don't know how I feel." + +"I'm kinder sorry I let you go into dat company," said Hannah musingly; +"'cause it was de teachin' I wanted you to git, not de prancin' and +steppin'; but I did t'ink it would make mo' of a man of you, an' it +ain't. Yo' pappy was a po' man, ha'd wo'kin', an' he wasn't high-toned +neither, but from the time I first see him to the day of his death I +nevah seen him back down because he was afeared of anything," and Hannah +turned to her work. + +"Little Sister" went up to Bud and slipped her hand in his. "You ain't +a-goin' to back down, is you, Buddie?" she said. + +"No," said Bud stoutly, as he braced his shoulders, "I'm a-goin'." + +But no persuasion could make him wear his uniform. + +The boys were a little cold to him, and some were brutal. But most of +them recognised the fact that what had happened to Tom Harris might have +happened to any one of them. Besides, since the percentage had been +shown, it was found that "B" had outpointed them in many ways, and so +their loss was not due to the one grave error. Bud's heart sank when he +dropped into his seat in the Assembly Hall to find seated on the +platform one of the blue-coated officers who had acted as judge the day +before. After the opening exercises were over he was called upon to +address the school. He spoke readily and pleasantly, laying especial +stress upon the value of discipline; toward the end of his address he +said: "I suppose Company 'A' is heaping accusations upon the head of the +young man who dropped his bayonet yesterday." Tom could have died. "It +was most regrettable," the officer continued, "but to me the most +significant thing at the drill was the conduct of that cadet afterward. +I saw the whole proceeding; I saw that he did not pause for an instant, +that he did not even turn his head, and it appeared to me as one of the +finest bits of self-control I had ever seen in any youth; had he +forgotten himself for a moment and stopped, however quickly, to secure +the weapon, the next line would have been interfered with and your whole +movement thrown into confusion." There were a half hundred eyes glancing +furtively at Bud, and the light began to dawn in his face. "This boy has +shown what discipline means, and I for one want to shake hands with him, +if he is here." + +When he had concluded the Principal called Bud forward, and the boys, +even his detractors, cheered as the officer took his hand. + +"Why are you not in uniform, sir?" he asked. + +"I was ashamed to wear it after yesterday," was the reply. + +"Don't be ashamed to wear your uniform," the officer said to him, and +Bud could have fallen on his knees and thanked him. + +There were no more jeers from his comrades now, and when he related it +all at home that evening there were two more happy hearts in that South +Washington cottage. + +"I told you we was more prouder dan if you'd won," said "Little Sister." + +"An' what did I tell you 'bout backin' out?" asked his mother. + +Bud was too happy and too busy to answer; he was brushing his uniform. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The heart of happy hollow, by Paul Laurence Dunbar + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HEART OF HAPPY HOLLOW *** + +***** This file should be named 24716-8.txt or 24716-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/1/24716/ + +Produced by Greg Bergquist, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The heart of happy hollow + A collection of stories + +Author: Paul Laurence Dunbar + +Release Date: February 29, 2008 [EBook #24716] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HEART OF HAPPY HOLLOW *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Bergquist, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<div class="tnote"> +<h4>Transcriber's Note:</h4> +<p>Dialect and inconsistent spelling have been preserved.<br /> +<br /> +In The Scapegoat, Part II, text appears to be missing between <a href="#hard">"hard" and "brought"</a> in the sentence +"The school-teacher is giving you a pretty hard brought the school-children in for chorus singing, secured an able +orator, and the best essayist in town." +</p></div> +<div class="bbox"> +<h1>THE HEART OF<br /> +HAPPY HOLLOW</h1> +<p class="ast1">*</p> +<p class="story"><i>A Collection of Stories</i></p> + +<p class="author">PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR</p></div> + +<p class="center">Reprint, 1904<br /> +Dodd, Mead and Co., New York.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class="contents"> +<h3><i>Contents</i></h3> +<hr class="cont" /> +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Foreword</i> <a href="#Page_3">3</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>One</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> THE SCAPEGOAT </span><a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Two</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> ONE CHRISTMAS AT SHILOH </span><a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Three</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> THE MISSION OF MR. SCATTERS </span><a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Four</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> A MATTER OF DOCTRINE </span><a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Five</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> OLD ABE'S CONVERSION </span><a href="#Page_53">53</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Six</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> THE RACE QUESTION </span><a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Seven</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> A DEFENDER OF THE FAITH </span><a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Eight</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> CAHOOTS </span><a href="#Page_73">73</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Nine</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> THE PROMOTER </span><a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Ten</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> THE WISDOM OF SILENCE </span><a href="#Page_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Eleven</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> THE TRIUMPH OF OL' MIS' PEASE </span><a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Twelve</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> THE LYNCHING OF JUBE BENSON </span><a href="#Page_111">111</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Thirteen</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> SCHWALLIGER'S PHILANTHROPY </span><a href="#Page_121">121</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Fourteen</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> THE INTERFERENCE OF PATSY ANN </span><a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Fifteen</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> THE HOME-COMING OF 'RASTUS SMITH </span><a href="#Page_137">137</a><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Sixteen</i>:</span><span class="toc2"> THE BOY AND THE BAYONET </span><a href="#Page_145">145</a><br /> +<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<p class="title">THE HEART OF HAPPY HOLLOW</p> +<hr class="major" /> + + + +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 8em;"> +To My Friend<br /> +Ezra M. Kuhns<br /> +</p> +<p class="ast2">*</p> + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Foreword</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> + +<p>Happy Hollow; are you wondering where it is? Wherever Negroes colonise +in the cities or villages, north or south, wherever the hod carrier, the +porter, and the waiter are the society men of the town; wherever the +picnic and the excursion are the chief summer diversion, and the revival +the winter time of repentance, wherever the cheese cloth veil obtains at +a wedding, and the little white hearse goes by with black mourners in +the one carriage behind, there—there—is Happy Hollow. Wherever +laughter and tears rub elbows day by day, and the spirit of labour and +laziness shake hands, there—there—is Happy Hollow, and of some of it +may the following pages show the heart.</p> + +<p class="right"> +The Author.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span></p> +<h3><i>One</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">THE SCAPEGOAT</p> + + +<h4>I</h4> + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he law is usually supposed to be a stern mistress, not to be lightly +wooed, and yielding only to the most ardent pursuit. But even law, like +love, sits more easily on some natures than on others.</p> + +<p>This was the case with Mr. Robinson Asbury. Mr. Asbury had started life +as a bootblack in the growing town of Cadgers. From this he had risen +one step and become porter and messenger in a barber-shop. This rise +fired his ambition, and he was not content until he had learned to use +the shears and the razor and had a chair of his own. From this, in a man +of Robinson's temperament, it was only a step to a shop of his own, and +he placed it where it would do the most good.</p> + +<p>Fully one-half of the population of Cadgers was composed of Negroes, and +with their usual tendency to colonise, a tendency encouraged, and in +fact compelled, by circumstances, they had gathered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> into one part of +the town. Here in alleys, and streets as dirty and hardly wider, they +thronged like ants.</p> + +<p>It was in this place that Mr. Asbury set up his shop, and he won the +hearts of his prospective customers by putting up the significant sign, +"Equal Rights Barber-Shop." This legend was quite unnecessary, because +there was only one race about, to patronise the place. But it was a +delicate sop to the people's vanity, and it served its purpose.</p> + +<p>Asbury came to be known as a clever fellow, and his business grew. The +shop really became a sort of club, and, on Saturday nights especially, +was the gathering-place of the men of the whole Negro quarter. He kept +the illustrated and race journals there, and those who cared neither to +talk nor listen to someone else might see pictured the doings of high +society in very short skirts or read in the Negro papers how Miss Boston +had entertained Miss Blueford to tea on such and such an afternoon. +Also, he kept the policy returns, which was wise, if not moral.</p> + +<p>It was his wisdom rather more than his morality that made the party +managers after a while cast their glances toward him as a man who might +be useful to their interests. It would be well to have a man—a shrewd, +powerful man—down in that part of the town who could carry his people's +vote in his vest pocket, and who at any time its delivery might be +needed, could hand it over without hesitation. Asbury seemed that man, +and they settled upon him. They gave him money, and they gave him power +and patronage. He took it all silently and he carried out his bargain +faithfully. His hands and his lips alike closed tightly when there was +anything within them. It was not long before he found himself the big +Negro of the district and, of necessity, of the town. The time came +when, at a critical moment, the managers saw that they had not reckoned +without their host in choosing this barber of the black district as the +leader of his people.</p> + +<p>Now, so much success must have satisfied any other man. But in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> many +ways Mr. Asbury was unique. For a long time he himself had done very +little shaving—except of notes, to keep his hand in. His time had been +otherwise employed. In the evening hours he had been wooing the +coquettish Dame Law, and, wonderful to say, she had yielded easily to +his advances.</p> + +<p>It was against the advice of his friends that he asked for admission to +the bar. They felt that he could do more good in the place where he was.</p> + +<p>"You see, Robinson," said old Judge Davis, "it's just like this: If +you're not admitted, it'll hurt you with the people; if you are +admitted, you'll move uptown to an office and get out of touch with +them."</p> + +<p>Asbury smiled an inscrutable smile. Then he whispered something into the +judge's ear that made the old man wrinkle from his neck up with +appreciative smiles.</p> + +<p>"Asbury," he said, "you are—you are—well, you ought to be white, +that's all. When we find a black man like you we send him to State's +prison. If you were white, you'd go to the Senate."</p> + +<p>The Negro laughed confidently.</p> + +<p>He was admitted to the bar soon after, whether by merit or by connivance +is not to be told.</p> + +<p>"Now he will move uptown," said the black community. "Well, that's the +way with a coloured man when he gets a start."</p> + +<p>But they did not know Asbury Robinson yet. He was a man of surprises, +and they were destined to disappointment. He did not move uptown. He +built an office in a small open space next his shop, and there hung out +his shingle.</p> + +<p>"I will never desert the people who have done so much to elevate me," +said Mr. Asbury.</p> + +<p>"I will live among them and I will die among them."</p> + +<p>This was a strong card for the barber-lawyer. The people seized upon the +statement as expressing a nobility of an altogether unique brand.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span></p><p>They held a mass meeting and indorsed him. They made resolutions that +extolled him, and the Negro band came around and serenaded him, playing +various things in varied time.</p> + +<p>All this was very sweet to Mr. Asbury, and the party managers chuckled +with satisfaction and said, "That Asbury, that Asbury!"</p> + +<p>Now there is a fable extant of a man who tried to please everybody, and +his failure is a matter of record. Robinson Asbury was not more +successful. But be it said that his ill success was due to no fault or +shortcoming of his.</p> + +<p>For a long time his growing power had been looked upon with disfavour by +the coloured law firm of Bingo & Latchett. Both Mr. Bingo and Mr. +Latchett themselves aspired to be Negro leaders in Cadgers, and they +were delivering Emancipation Day orations and riding at the head of +processions when Mr. Asbury was blacking boots. Is it any wonder, then, +that they viewed with alarm his sudden rise? They kept their counsel, +however, and treated with him, for it was best. They allowed him his +scope without open revolt until the day upon which he hung out his +shingle. This was the last straw. They could stand no more. Asbury had +stolen their other chances from them, and now he was poaching upon the +last of their preserves. So Mr. Bingo and Mr. Latchett put their heads +together to plan the downfall of their common enemy.</p> + +<p>The plot was deep and embraced the formation of an opposing faction made +up of the best Negroes of the town. It would have looked too much like +what it was for the gentlemen to show themselves in the matter, and so +they took into their confidence Mr. Isaac Morton, the principal of the +coloured school, and it was under his ostensible leadership that the new +faction finally came into being.</p> + +<p>Mr. Morton was really an innocent young man, and he had ideals which +should never have been exposed to the air. When the wily confederates +came to him with their plan he believed that his worth had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> been +recognised, and at last he was to be what Nature destined him for—a +leader.</p> + +<p>The better class of Negroes—by that is meant those who were +particularly envious of Asbury's success—flocked to the new man's +standard. But whether the race be white or black, political virtue is +always in a minority, so Asbury could afford to smile at the force +arrayed against him.</p> + +<p>The new faction met together and resolved. They resolved, among other +things, that Mr. Asbury was an enemy to his race and a menace to +civilisation. They decided that he should be abolished; but, as they +couldn't get out an injunction against him, and as he had the whole +undignified but still voting black belt behind him, he went serenely on +his way.</p> + +<p>"They're after you hot and heavy, Asbury," said one of his friends to +him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," was the reply, "they're after me, but after a while I'll get +so far away that they'll be running in front."</p> + +<p>"It's all the best people, they say."</p> + +<p>"Yes. Well, it's good to be one of the best people, but your vote only +counts one just the same."</p> + +<p>The time came, however, when Mr. Asbury's theory was put to the test. +The Cadgerites celebrated the first of January as Emancipation Day. On +this day there was a large procession, with speechmaking in the +afternoon and fireworks at night. It was the custom to concede the +leadership of the coloured people of the town to the man who managed to +lead the procession. For two years past this honour had fallen, of +course, to Robinson Asbury, and there had been no disposition on the +part of anybody to try conclusions with him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Morton's faction changed all this. When Asbury went to work to +solicit contributions for the celebration, he suddenly became aware that +he had a fight upon his hands. All the better-class Negroes were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> +staying out of it. The next thing he knew was that plans were on foot +for a rival demonstration.</p> + +<p>"Oh," he said to himself, "that's it, is it? Well, if they want a fight +they can have it."</p> + +<p>He had a talk with the party managers, and he had another with Judge +Davis.</p> + +<p>"All I want is a little lift, judge," he said, "and I'll make 'em think +the sky has turned loose and is vomiting niggers."</p> + +<p>The judge believed that he could do it. So did the party managers. +Asbury got his lift. Emancipation Day came.</p> + +<p>There were two parades. At least, there was one parade and the shadow of +another. Asbury's, however, was not the shadow. There was a great deal +of substance about it—substance made up of many people, many banners, +and numerous bands. He did not have the best people. Indeed, among his +cohorts there were a good many of the pronounced rag-tag and bobtail. +But he had noise and numbers. In such cases, nothing more is needed. The +success of Asbury's side of the affair did everything to confirm his +friends in their good opinion of him.</p> + +<p>When he found himself defeated, Mr. Silas Bingo saw that it would be +policy to placate his rival's just anger against him. He called upon him +at his office the day after the celebration.</p> + +<p>"Well, Asbury," he said, "you beat us, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"It wasn't a question of beating," said the other calmly. "It was only +an inquiry as to who were the people—the few or the many."</p> + +<p>"Well, it was well done, and you've shown that you are a manager. I +confess that I haven't always thought that you were doing the wisest +thing in living down here and catering to this class of people when you +might, with your ability, to be much more to the better class."</p> + +<p>"What do they base their claims of being better on?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, there ain't any use discussing that. We can't get along without +you, we see that. So I, for one, have decided to work with you for +harmony."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span></p><p>"Harmony. Yes, that's what we want."</p> + +<p>"If I can do anything to help you at any time, why you have only to +command me."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to find such a friend in you. Be sure, if I ever need you, +Bingo, I'll call on you."</p> + +<p>"And I'll be ready to serve you."</p> + +<p>Asbury smiled when his visitor was gone. He smiled, and knitted his +brow. "I wonder what Bingo's got up his sleeve," he said. "He'll bear +watching."</p> + +<p>It may have been pride at his triumph, it may have been gratitude at his +helpers, but Asbury went into the ensuing campaign with reckless +enthusiasm. He did the most daring things for the party's sake. Bingo, +true to his promise, was ever at his side ready to serve him. Finally, +association and immunity made danger less fearsome; the rival no longer +appeared a menace.</p> + +<p>With the generosity born of obstacles overcome, Asbury determined to +forgive Bingo and give him a chance. He let him in on a deal, and from +that time they worked amicably together until the election came and +passed.</p> + +<p>It was a close election and many things had had to be done, but there +were men there ready and waiting to do them. They were successful, and +then the first cry of the defeated party was, as usual, "Fraud! Fraud!" +The cry was taken up by the jealous, the disgruntled, and the virtuous.</p> + +<p>Someone remembered how two years ago the registration books had been +stolen. It was known upon good authority that money had been freely +used. Men held up their hands in horror at the suggestion that the Negro +vote had been juggled with, as if that were a new thing. From their +pulpits ministers denounced the machine and bade their hearers rise and +throw off the yoke of a corrupt municipal government. One of those +sudden fevers of reform had taken possession of the town and threatened +to destroy the successful party.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span></p><p>They began to look around them. They must purify themselves. They must +give the people some tangible evidence of their own yearnings after +purity. They looked around them for a sacrifice to lay upon the altar of +municipal reform. Their eyes fell upon Mr. Bingo. No, he was not big +enough. His blood was too scant to wash away the political stains. Then +they looked into each other's eyes and turned their gaze away to let it +fall upon Mr. Asbury. They really hated to do it. But there must be a +scapegoat. The god from the Machine commanded them to slay him.</p> + +<p>Robinson Asbury was charged with many crimes—with all that he had +committed and some that he had not. When Mr. Bingo saw what was afoot he +threw himself heart and soul into the work of his old rival's enemies. +He was of incalculable use to them.</p> + +<p>Judge Davis refused to have anything to do with the matter. But in spite +of his disapproval it went on. Asbury was indicted and tried. The +evidence was all against him, and no one gave more damaging testimony +than his friend, Mr. Bingo. The judge's charge was favourable to the +defendant, but the current of popular opinion could not be entirely +stemmed. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty.</p> + +<p>"Before I am sentenced, judge, I have a statement to make to the court. +It will take less than ten minutes."</p> + +<p>"Go on, Robinson," said the judge kindly.</p> + +<p>Asbury started, in a monotonous tone, a recital that brought the +prosecuting attorney to his feet in a minute. The judge waved him down, +and sat transfixed by a sort of fascinated horror as the convicted man +went on. The before-mentioned attorney drew a knife and started for the +prisoner's dock. With difficulty he was restrained. A dozen faces in the +court-room were red and pale by turns.</p> + +<p>"He ought to be killed," whispered Mr. Bingo audibly.</p> + +<p>Robinson Asbury looked at him and smiled, and then he told a few things +of him. He gave the ins and outs of some of the misdemeanours of which +he stood accused. He showed who were the men behind the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> throne. And +still, pale and transfixed, Judge Davis waited for his own sentence.</p> + +<p>Never were ten minutes so well taken up. It was a tale of rottenness and +corruption in high places told simply and with the stamp of truth upon +it.</p> + +<p>He did not mention the judge's name. But he had torn the mask from the +face of every other man who had been concerned in his downfall. They had +shorn him of his strength, but they had forgotten that he was yet able +to bring the roof and pillars tumbling about their heads.</p> + +<p>The judge's voice shook as he pronounced sentence upon his old ally—a +year in State's prison.</p> + +<p>Some people said it was too light, but the judge knew what it was to +wait for the sentence of doom, and he was grateful and sympathetic.</p> + +<p>When the sheriff led Asbury away the judge hastened to have a short talk +with him.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Robinson," he said, "and I want to tell you that you were no +more guilty than the rest of us. But why did you spare me?"</p> + +<p>"Because I knew you were my friend," answered the convict.</p> + +<p>"I tried to be, but you were the first man that I've ever known since +I've been in politics who ever gave me any decent return for +friendship."</p> + +<p>"I reckon you're about right, judge."</p> + +<p>In politics, party reform usually lies in making a scapegoat of someone +who is only as criminal as the rest, but a little weaker. Asbury's +friends and enemies had succeeded in making him bear the burden of all +the party's crimes, but their reform was hardly a success, and their +protestations of a change of heart were received with doubt. Already +there were those who began to pity the victim and to say that he had +been hardly dealt with.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bingo was not of these; but he found, strange to say, that his +opposition to the idea went but a little way, and that even with Asbury<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> +out of his path he was a smaller man than he was before. Fate was strong +against him. His poor, prosperous humanity could not enter the lists +against a martyr. Robinson Asbury was now a martyr.</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>A year is not a long time. It was short enough to prevent people from +forgetting Robinson, and yet long enough for their pity to grow strong +as they remembered. Indeed, he was not gone a year. Good behaviour cut +two months off the time of his sentence, and by the time people had come +around to the notion that he was really the greatest and smartest man in +Cadgers he was at home again.</p> + +<p>He came back with no flourish of trumpets, but quietly, humbly. He went +back again into the heart of the black district. His business had +deteriorated during his absence, but he put new blood and new life into +it. He did not go to work in the shop himself, but, taking down the +shingle that had swung idly before his office door during his +imprisonment, he opened the little room as a news- and cigar-stand.</p> + +<p>Here anxious, pitying custom came to him and he prospered again. He was +very quiet. Uptown hardly knew that he was again in Cadgers, and it knew +nothing whatever of his doings.</p> + +<p>"I wonder why Asbury is so quiet," they said to one another. "It isn't +like him to be quiet." And they felt vaguely uneasy about him.</p> + +<p>So many people had begun to say, "Well, he was a mighty good fellow +after all."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bingo expressed the opinion that Asbury was quiet because he was +crushed, but others expressed doubt as to this. There are calms and +calms, some after and some before the storm. Which was this?</p> + +<p>They waited a while, and, as no storm came, concluded that this must be +the after-quiet. Bingo, reassured, volunteered to go and seek +confirmation of this conclusion.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span></p><p>He went, and Asbury received him with an indifferent, not to say, +impolite, demeanour.</p> + +<p>"Well, we're glad to see you back, Asbury," said Bingo patronisingly. He +had variously demonstrated his inability to lead during his rival's +absence and was proud of it. "What are you going to do?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to work."</p> + +<p>"That's right. I reckon you'll stay out of politics."</p> + +<p>"What could I do even if I went in?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing now, of course; but I didn't know——"</p> + +<p>He did not see the gleam in Asbury's half shut eyes. He only marked his +humility, and he went back swelling with the news.</p> + +<p>"Completely crushed—all the run taken out of him," was his report.</p> + +<p>The black district believed this, too, and a sullen, smouldering anger +took possession of them. Here was a good man ruined. Some of the people +whom he had helped in his former days—some of the rude, coarse people +of the low quarter who were still sufficiently unenlightened to be +grateful—talked among themselves and offered to get up a demonstration +for him. But he denied them. No, he wanted nothing of the kind. It would +only bring him into unfavourable notice. All he wanted was that they +would always be his friends and would stick by him.</p> + +<p>They would to the death.</p> + +<p>There were again two factions in Cadgers. The school-master could not +forget how once on a time he had been made a tool of by Mr. Bingo. So he +revolted against his rule and set himself up as the leader of an +opposing clique. The fight had been long and strong, but had ended with +odds slightly in Bingo's favour.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Morton did not despair. As the first of January and Emancipation +Day approached, he arrayed his hosts, and the fight for supremacy became +fiercer than ever. The school-teacher is giving you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> +<a name="hard" title="hard"></a>a pretty hard +brought the school-children in for chorus singing, secured an able +orator, and the best essayist in town. With all this, he was formidable.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bingo knew that he had the fight of his life on his hands, and he +entered with fear as well as zest. He, too, found an orator, but he was +not sure that he was as good as Morton's. There was no doubt but that +his essayist was not. He secured a band, but still he felt unsatisfied. +He had hardly done enough, and for the school-master to beat him now +meant his political destruction.</p> + +<p>It was in this state of mind that he was surprised to receive a visit +from Mr. Asbury.</p> + +<p>"I reckon you're surprised to see me here," said Asbury, smiling.</p> + +<p>"I am pleased, I know." Bingo was astute.</p> + +<p>"Well, I just dropped in on business."</p> + +<p>"To be sure, to be sure, Asbury. What can I do for you?"</p> + +<p>"It's more what I can do for you that I came to talk about," was the +reply.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I understand you."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's plain enough. They say that the school-teacher is giving you +a pretty hard fight."</p> + +<p>"Oh, not so hard."</p> + +<p>"No man can be too sure of winning, though. Mr. Morton once did me a +mean turn when he started the faction against me."</p> + +<p>Bingo's heart gave a great leap, and then stopped for the fraction of a +second.</p> + +<p>"You were in it, of course," pursued Asbury, "but I can look over your +part in it in order to get even with the man who started it."</p> + +<p>It was true, then, thought Bingo gladly. He did not know. He wanted +revenge for his wrongs and upon the wrong man. How well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> the schemer had +covered his tracks! Asbury should have his revenge and Morton would be +the sufferer.</p> + +<p>"Of course, Asbury, you know what I did I did innocently."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, in politics we are all lambs and the wolves are only to be +found in the other party. We'll pass that, though. What I want to say is +that I can help you to make your celebration an overwhelming success. I +still have some influence down in my district."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, and very justly, too. Why, I should be delighted with your +aid. I could give you a prominent place in the procession."</p> + +<p>"I don't want it; I don't want to appear in this at all. All I want is +revenge. You can have all the credit, but let me down my enemy."</p> + +<p>Bingo was perfectly willing, and, with their heads close together, they +had a long and close consultation. When Asbury was gone, Mr. Bingo lay +back in his chair and laughed. "I'm a slick duck," he said.</p> + +<p>From that hour Mr. Bingo's cause began to take on the appearance of +something very like a boom. More bands were hired. The interior of the +State was called upon and a more eloquent orator secured. The crowd +hastened to array itself on the growing side.</p> + +<p>With surprised eyes, the school-master beheld the wonder of it, but he +kept to his own purpose with dogged insistence, even when he saw that he +could not turn aside the overwhelming defeat that threatened him. But in +spite of his obstinacy, his hours were dark and bitter. Asbury worked +like a mole, all underground, but he was indefatigable. Two days before +the celebration time everything was perfected for the biggest +demonstration that Cadgers had ever known. All the next day and night he +was busy among his allies.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the great day, Mr. Bingo, wonderfully caparisoned, +rode down to the hall where the parade was to form. He was early. No one +had yet come. In an hour a score of men all told had collected. Another +hour passed, and no more had come. Then there smote upon his ear the +sound of music. They were coming at last.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> Bringing his sword to his +shoulder, he rode forward to the middle of the street. Ah, there they +were. But—but—could he believe his eyes? They were going in another +direction, and at their head rode—Morton! He gnashed his teeth in fury. +He had been led into a trap and betrayed. The procession passing had +been his—all his. He heard them cheering, and then, oh! climax of +infidelity, he saw his own orator go past in a carriage, bowing and +smiling to the crowd.</p> + +<p>There was no doubting who had done this thing. The hand of Asbury was +apparent in it. He must have known the truth all along, thought Bingo. +His allies left him one by one for the other hall, and he rode home in a +humiliation deeper than he had ever known before.</p> + +<p>Asbury did not appear at the celebration. He was at his little +news-stand all day.</p> + +<p>In a day or two the defeated aspirant had further cause to curse his +false friend. He found that not only had the people defected from him, +but that the thing had been so adroitly managed that he appeared to be +in fault, and three-fourths of those who knew him were angry at some +supposed grievance. His cup of bitterness was full when his partner, a +quietly ambitious man, suggested that they dissolve their relations.</p> + +<p>His ruin was complete.</p> + +<p>The lawyer was not alone in seeing Asbury's hand in his downfall. The +party managers saw it too, and they met together to discuss the +dangerous factor which, while it appeared to slumber, was so terribly +awake. They decided that he must be appeased, and they visited him.</p> + +<p>He was still busy at his news-stand. They talked to him adroitly, while +he sorted papers and kept an impassive face. When they were all done, he +looked up for a moment and replied, "You know, gentlemen, as an +ex-convict I am not in politics."</p> + +<p>Some of them had the grace to flush.</p> + +<p>"But you can use your influence," they said.</p> + +<p>"I am not in politics," was his only reply.</p> + +<p>And the spring elections were coming on. Well, they worked hard,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> and he +showed no sign. He treated with neither one party nor the other. +"Perhaps," thought the managers, "he is out of politics," and they grew +more confident.</p> + +<p>It was nearing eleven o'clock on the morning of election when a cloud no +bigger than a man's hand appeared upon the horizon. It came from the +direction of the black district. It grew, and the managers of the party +in power looked at it, fascinated by an ominous dread. Finally it began +to rain Negro voters, and as one man they voted against their former +candidates. Their organisation was perfect. They simply came, voted, and +left, but they overwhelmed everything. Not one of the party that had +damned Robinson Asbury was left in power save old Judge Davis. His +majority was overwhelming.</p> + +<p>The generalship that had engineered the thing was perfect. There were +loud threats against the newsdealer. But no one bothered him except a +reporter. The reporter called to see just how it was done. He found +Asbury very busy sorting papers. To the newspaper man's questions he had +only this reply, "I am not in politics, sir."</p> + +<p>But Cadgers had learned its lesson.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Two</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">ONE CHRISTMAS AT SHILOH</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">M</span>artha Maria Mixon was a "widder lady." So she described herself +whenever anyone asked her as to her status in life. To her more intimate +friends she confided that she was not a "weed widder," but one of the +"grass" variety. The story of how her husband, Madison, had never been +"No 'count, even befo' de wah," and of his rapid degeneration +thereafter, was vividly told.</p> + +<p>"De fact of de mattah is," Mrs. Mixon was wont to say, "my man, Madison, +was nevah no han' to wo'k. He was de settin'-downest man you evah seed. +Hit wouldn't 'a' been so bad, but Madison was a lakly man, an' his +tongue wah smoothah dan ile; so hit t'wan't no shakes fu' him to fool +ol' Mas' 'bout his wo'k an' git erlong des erbout ez he pleased. Mas' +Madison Mixon, hisse'f, was a mighty 'dulgent so't o' man, an' he liked +a laugh bettah dan anyone in de worl'. Well, my man could mek him laugh, +an' dat was enough fu' him. I used to lectuah dat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span> man much 'bout his +onshifless ways, but he des went erlong, twell bimeby hyeah come de wah +an' evahthing was broke up. Den w'en hit come time dat Madison had to +scramble fu' hisself, dey wa'nt no scramble in him. He des' wouldn't +wo'k an' I had to do evahthing. He allus had what he called some gret +scheme, but deh nevah seemed to come to nuffin, an' once when he got de +folks to put some money in somep'n' dat broke up, dey come put' nigh +tahin' an' featherin' him. Finally, I des got morchully tiahed o' dat +man's ca'in' on, an' I say to him one day, 'Madison,' I say, 'I'm tiahed +of all dis foo'ishness, an' I'm gwine up Norf whaih I kin live an' be +somebody. Ef evah you mek a man out o' yo'se'f, an' want me, de Bible +say 'Seek an' you shell receive.' Cause even den I was a mighty han' to +c'ote de Scripters. Well, I lef' him, an' Norf I come, 'dough it jes' +nigh broke my hea't, fu' I sho did love dat black man. De las' thing I +hyeahed o' him, he had des learned to read an' write an' wah runnin' fu' +de Legislater 'twell de Klu Klux got aftah him; den I think he 'signed +de nomernation."</p> + +<p>This was Martha's story, and the reason that there was no Mr. Mixon with +her when she came North, drifted from place to place and finally became +one of New York's large black contingent from the South. To her the +lessons of slavery had not been idle ones. Industrious, careful, and +hard-working, she soon became prosperous, and when, hunting a spiritual +home she settled upon Shiloh Chapel, she was welcomed there as a +distinct addition to the large and active membership.</p> + +<p>Shiloh was not one of the fashionable churches of the city, but it was +primarily a church home for any Southern negro, for in it were +representatives of every one of the old slaveholding States. Its pastor +was one of those who had not yet got beyond the belief that any temporal +preparation for the preaching of the Gospel was unnecessary. It was +still his firm trust, and often his boast, that if one opened his mouth +the Lord would fill it, and it grew to be a settled idea that the Lord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> +filled his acceptably, for his converts were many and his congregation +increased.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Silas Todbury's education may have been deficient in other +matters, but one thing he knew, and knew thoroughly—the disposition of +his people. He knew just what weaknesses, longings, and desires their +recent bondage had left with them, and with admirable shrewdness +contrived to meet them. He knew that in preaching they wanted noise, +emotion, and fire; that in the preacher they wanted free-heartedness and +cordiality. He knew that when Christmas came they wanted a great rally, +somewhat approaching, at least, the rousing times both spiritual and +temporal that they had had back on the old plantation, when Christmas +meant a week of pleasurable excitement. Knowing the last so well, it was +with commendable foresight that he began early his preparations for a +big time on a certain Christmas not long ago.</p> + +<p>"I tell you people," he said to his congregation, "we's goin' to have a +reg'lar 'Benjamin's mess'!"</p> + +<p>The coloured folk, being not quite sure of the quotation, laughed +heartily, exclaiming in admiration of their pastor, "Dat Todbu'y is +sholy one mess hisse'f."</p> + +<p>"Now any of de sistahs dat's willin' to he'p mek dis comin' Chris'mus a +real sho 'nough one, 'll 'blige me by meetin' me in de basement of de +chu'ch aftah services. De brothahs kin go 'long home 'twell dey called +fu'."</p> + +<p>There was another outburst of merriment at this sally, and it was a +good-natured score or more of sisters who a little later met the pastor +as agreed. Among them was Martha Maria Mixon, for she was very close to +her pastor, and for many a day had joyed his clerical heart with special +dinners.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said the preacher, rubbing his hands, "Sistah Marthy, I see you's +on han' ez usual to he'p me out, an' you, too, Sis Jinny, an' Sis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> +Dicey," he added, quick to note the signs of any incipient jealousy, and +equally ready to check it. "We's all hyeah, de faithful few, an' we's +all ready fu' wo'k."</p> + +<p>The sisters beamed and nodded.</p> + +<p>"Well, we goin' to have some'p'n evah night, beginnin' wid Chris'mus +night, straight on endurin' of de week, an' I want to separate you all +into companies fu' to take chawge of each night. Now, I's a-goin' to +have a powahful preachah f'om de Souf wid us, an' I want you all to show +him what we kin do. On Chris'mus day we goin' to have a sermont at de +chu'ch an' a festabal in de evenin' wid a Chris'mus tree. Sis' Marthy, I +want you to boa'd de minister."</p> + +<p>"La, Brothah Todbu'y, I don't scarcely feel lak I's 'portant 'nough fu' +dat," said Mrs. Mixon modestly, "but I'll do de bes' I kin. I hatter be +lak de widder's mice in de scuse o' meal."</p> + +<p>"We ain't got no doubt 'bout what you able to do, Sis Marthy," and the +pastor passed to the appointment of his other committees. After evening +services the brothers were similarly called in consultation and +appointed to their respective duties.</p> + +<p>To the black people to whom these responsibilities were thus turned +over, joy came, and with it the vision of other days—the vision of the +dear old days, the hard old days back there in the South, when they had +looked forward to their Christmas from year to year. Then it had been a +time of sadness as well as of joy, for they knew that though the week +was full of pleasure, after it was over must come separation and +sadness. For this was the time when those who were to be hired out, +loaned, or given away, were to change their homes. So even while they +danced they sighed, and while they shouted they moaned. Now there was no +such repressing fact to daunt them. Christmas would come. They would +enjoy themselves, and after it was over would go back to the same homes +to live through the round of months in the midst of familiar faces and +among their own old loved ones. The thought gave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> sweetness to their +labour, and the responsibilities devolving upon them imbued the sacred +holiday with a meaning and charm that it had never had before for them. +They bubbled over with importance and with the glory of it. A sister and +a brother could not meet without a friendly banter.</p> + +<p>"Hi, Sis' Dicey," Brother Williams would call out across the fence to +his neighbour, "I don' believe you doin' anything to'ds dat Chris'mus +celebration. Evah time I sees you, you's in de washtub tryin' to mek +braid an' meat fo' dat no 'count man o' yo'n."</p> + +<p>Sister Dicey's laugh rang out loud and musical before she replied, +"Nevah you min', Brothah Williams. I don' see yo' back bowed so much by +de yoke."</p> + +<p>"Oh, honey, I's labo'in' even ef you do'n know it, but you'll see it on +de day."</p> + +<p>"I 'low you labo'in' de mos' to git dat wife o' yo'n a new dress," and +her tormentor's guffaw seemed to admit some such benevolent intention.</p> + +<p>In the corners of every house where the younger and more worldly-minded +people congregated there was much whispering and giggling, for they had +their own plans for Christmas outside of the church affair.</p> + +<p>"You goin' to give me de pleasure of yo' comp'ny to de dance aftah de +festabal?" some ardent and early swain would murmur to his lady love, +and the whisper would fly back in well-feigned affright, "Heish, man, +you want to have Brothah Todbu'y chu'chin' me?" But if the swain +persisted, there was little chance of his being ultimately refused. So +the world, the flesh, and the devil kept pace with the things of the +spirit in the great preparation.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Martha Maria Mixon went her own way, working hard, fixing and +observing. She had determined to excel herself this time, and not only +should her part at the church be above reproach, but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> entertainment +which she would give that strange preacher would be a thing long to be +remembered. And so, almost startled at all that Shiloh was preparing for +his reception, hoary Christmas approached.</p> + +<p>All New York was a dazzling bazar through which the people thronged +ceaselessly, tumultuously. Everyone was a child again; holly wreaths +with the red berries gleaming amid the green were everywhere, and the +white streets were gay with laughter and bustle and life.</p> + +<p>On the night before the great day Martha sat before her fire and hummed +softly to herself. There was a smile upon her face, for she had worked +and worked well, and now all was ready and to her entire satisfaction. +Something which shall be nameless simmered in a tin cup on the back of +the stove before her, and every now and then she broke her reverie to +sip of it. It smelled sweet and pungent and suspicious, but, then—this +was Christmas Eve. She was half drowsing when a brisk knock startled her +into wakefulness. Thinking it was one of the neighbours in for a call +she bade the visitor enter, without moving. There was a stamping of +feet, and the door opened and a black man covered with snow stood before +her. He said nothing. Martha rubbed her eyes and stared at him, and then +she looked at the cup accusingly, and from it back to the man. Then she +rubbed her eyes again.</p> + +<p>"Wha—wha——" she stammered, rising slowly.</p> + +<p>"Don' you know me, Marthy, don' you know me; an' don' you want to see +yo' husban'?"</p> + +<p>"Madison Mixon, is dat you in de flesh?"</p> + +<p>"It's me, Marthy; you tol' me ef evah I made a man o' myse'f, to seek +you. It's been a long road, but I's tried faithful."</p> + +<p>All the memories of other days came rushing over Martha in an +overwhelming flood. In one moment everything was forgotten save that +here stood her long delinquent husband. She threw out her arms and took +a step toward him, but he anticipated her further advance and rushing to +her clasped her ample form in a close embrace.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span></p><p>"You will tek me back!" he cried, "you will fu'give me!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, of co'se, I will, Madison, ef you has made a man of yo'se'f."</p> + +<p>"I hopes to prove dat to you."</p> + +<p>It was a very pleasant evening that they spent together, and like old +times to Martha. Never once did it occur to her that this sudden finding +of a husband might be awkward on the morrow when the visitor came to +dinner. Nor did she once suspect that Madison might be up to one of his +old tricks. She accepted him for just what he said he was and intended +to be.</p> + +<p>Her first doubt came the next morning when she began to hurry her +preparations for church. Madison had been fumbling in his carpet bag and +was already respectably dressed. His wife looked at him approvingly, but +the glance turned to one of consternation when he stammered forth that +he had to go out, as he had some business to attend to.</p> + +<p>"What, on de ve'y fust day you hyeah, ain't you goin' to chu'ch wid me?"</p> + +<p>"De bus'ness is mighty pressin', but I hopes to see you at chu'ch by de +time de services begin. Waih does you set?" His hand was on the door.</p> + +<p>Martha sank into a chair and the tears came to her eyes, but she choked +them back. She would not let him see how much she was hurt. She told him +in a faltering voice where she sat, and he passed out. Then her tears +came and flooded away the last hope. She had been so proud to think that +she would walk to church with her husband that morning for the first +time in so long a while, and now it was all over. For a little while she +thought that she would not go, and then the memory of all the +preparations she had made and of the new minister came to her, and she +went on with her dressing.</p> + +<p>The church was crowded that morning when Martha arrived. She looked +around in vain for some sight of Madison, but she could see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> nothing of +him, and so she sank into her seat with a sigh. She could just see the +new minister drooping in his seat behind the reading desk. He was +evidently deep in meditation, for he did not get up during the hymn.</p> + +<p>Then Martha heard the Rev. Silas Todbury speaking. His words did not +affect her until she found that the whole of his closing sentence was +flashing through her brain like a flame. "We will now be exho'ted by de +Reverent Madison Mixon."</p> + +<p>She couldn't believe her ears, but stared wildly at the pulpit where the +new preacher stood. It was Madison. Her first impulse was to rise in her +seat and stop him. It was another of his tricks, and he should not +profane the church. But his look and voice silenced her and she sank +back in amazement.</p> + +<p>He preached a powerful sermon, and at its close told something of his +life and who he was, and Martha found herself all at once the centre of +attention; and her face glowed and her heart burned within her as the +people about her nodded and smiled at her through their tears, and +hurled "Amen" upon "Amen."</p> + +<p>Madison hurried to her side after the services. "I des wanted to s'prise +you a little, Marthy," he said.</p> + +<p>She was too happy to answer and, pressing his arm very tightly, she +walked out among her congratulating friends, and between her husband and +the Rev. Silas Todbury went proudly home to her Christmas dinner.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Three</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">THE MISSION OF MR. SCATTERS</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>t took something just short of a revolution to wake up the sleepy +little town of Miltonville. Through the slow, hot days it drowsed along +like a lazy dog, only half rousing now and then to snap at some flying +rumour, and relapsing at once into its pristine somnolence.</p> + +<p>It was not a dreamless sleep, however, that held the town in chains. It +had its dreams—dreams of greatness, of wealth, of consequence and of +growth. Granted that there was no effort to realise these visions, they +were yet there, and, combined with the memory of a past that was not +without credit, went far to give tone to its dormant spirit.</p> + +<p>It was a real spirit, too; the gallant Bourbon spirit of the old South; +of Kentucky when she is most the daughter of Virginia, as was evidenced +in the awed respect which all Miltonvillians, white and black alike, +showed to Major Richardson in his house on the hill. He was part of the +traditions of the place. It was shown in the conservatism of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> the old +white families, and a certain stalwart if reflected self-respect in the +older coloured inhabitants.</p> + +<p>In all the days since the school had been founded and Mr. Dunkin's +marriage to the teacher had raised a brief ripple of excitement, these +coloured people had slumbered. They were still slumbering that hot +August day, unmindful of the sensation that lay at their very doors, +heedless of the portents that said as plain as preaching, "Miltonville, +the time is at hand, awake!"</p> + +<p>So it was that that afternoon there were only a few loungers, and these +not very alert, about the station when the little train wheezed and +puffed its way into it. It had been so long since anyone save those whom +they knew had alighted at Miltonville that the loungers had lost faith, +and with it curiosity, and now they scarcely changed their positions as +the little engine stopped with a snort of disgust. But in an instant +indifference had fled as the mist before the sun, and every eye on the +platform was staring and white. It is the unexpected that always +happens, and yet humanity never gets accustomed to it. The loafers, +white and black, had assumed a sitting posture, and then they had stood +up. For from the cars there had alighted the wonder of a stranger—a +Negro stranger, gorgeous of person and attire. He was dressed in a suit +of black cloth. A long coat was buttoned close around his tall and +robust form. He was dead black, from his shiny top hat to his not less +shiny boots, and about him there was the indefinable air of distinction. +He stood looking about the platform for a moment, and then stepped +briskly and decisively toward the group that was staring at him with +wide eyes. There was no hesitation in that step. He walked as a man +walks who is not in the habit of being stopped, who has not known what +it is to be told, "Thus far shalt thou go and no further."</p> + +<p>"Can you tell me where I can find the residence of Mr. Isaac Jackson?" +he asked sonorously as he reached the stupefied loungers. His voice was +deep and clear.</p> + +<p>Someone woke from his astonishment and offered to lead him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> thither, and +together the two started for their destination, the stranger keeping up +a running fire of comment on the way. Had his companion been a close +observer and known anything about the matter, he would have found the +newcomer's English painfully, unforgivably correct. A language should be +like an easy shoe on a flexible foot, but to one unused to it, it proves +rather a splint on a broken limb. The stranger stalked about in +conversational splints until they arrived at Isaac Jackson's door. Then +giving his guide a dime, he dismissed him with a courtly bow, and +knocked.</p> + +<p>It was a good thing that Martha Ann Jackson had the innate politeness of +her race well to the fore when she opened the door upon the radiant +creature, or she would have given voice to the words that were in her +heart: "Good Lawd, what is dis?"</p> + +<p>"Is this the residence of Mr. Isaac Jackson?" in the stranger's suavest +voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh, he live hyeah."</p> + +<p>"May I see him? I desire to see him upon some business." He handed her +his card, which she carefully turned upside down, glanced at without +understanding, and put in her apron pocket as she replied:</p> + +<p>"He ain't in jes' now, but ef you'll step in an' wait, I'll sen' one o' +de chillen aftah him."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, madam, I thank you. I will come in and rest from the +fatigue of my journey. I have travelled a long way, and rest in such a +pleasant and commodious abode as your own appears to be will prove very +grateful to me."</p> + +<p>She had been half afraid to invite this resplendent figure into her +humble house, but she felt distinctly flattered at his allusion to the +home which she had helped Isaac to buy, and by the alacrity with which +the stranger accepted her invitation.</p> + +<p>She ushered him into the front room, mentally thanking her stars that +she had forced the reluctant Isaac to buy a bright new carpet a couple +of months before.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span></p><p>A child was despatched to find and bring home the father, while Martha +Ann, hastily slipping out of her work-dress and into a starched calico, +came in to keep her visitor company.</p> + +<p>His name proved to be Scatters, and he was a most entertaining and +ingratiating man. It was evident that he had some important business +with Isaac Jackson, but that it was mysterious was shown by the guarded +way in which he occasionally hinted at it as he tapped the valise he +carried and nodded knowingly.</p> + +<p>Time had never been when Martha Ann Jackson was so flustered. She was +charmed and frightened and flattered. She could only leave Mr. Scatters +long enough to give orders to her daughter, Lucy, to prepare such a +supper as that household had never seen before; then she returned to sit +again at his feet and listen to his words of wisdom.</p> + +<p>The supper progressed apace, and the savour of it was already in the +stranger's nostrils. Upon this he grew eloquent and was about to divulge +his secret to the hungry-eyed woman when the trampling of Isaac's boots +upon the walk told him that he had only a little while longer to contain +himself, and at the same time to wait for the fragrant supper.</p> + +<p>Now, it is seldom that a man is so well impressed with a smooth-tongued +stranger as is his wife. Usually his hard-headedness puts him on the +defensive against the blandishments of the man who has won his better +half's favour, and, however honest the semi-fortunate individual may be, +he despises him for his attainments. But it was not so in this case. +Isaac had hardly entered the house and received his visitor's warm +handclasp before he had become captive to his charm. Business, +business—no, his guest had been travelling and he must be both tired +and hungry. Isaac would hear of no business until they had eaten. Then, +over a pipe, if the gentleman smoked, they might talk at their ease.</p> + +<p>Mr. Scatters demurred, but in fact nothing could have pleased him +better, and the open smile with which he dropped into his place at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> +table was very genuine and heartfelt. Genuine, too, were his praises of +Lucy's cooking; of her flaky buscuits and mealy potatoes. He was pleased +all through and he did not hesitate to say so.</p> + +<p>It was a beaming group that finally rose heavily laden from the supper +table.</p> + +<p>Over a social pipe a little later, Isaac Jackson heard the story that +made his eyes bulge with interest and his heart throb with eagerness.</p> + +<p>Mr. Scatters began, tapping his host's breast and looking at him +fixedly, "You had a brother some years ago named John." It was more like +an accusation than a question.</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh, I had a brothah John."</p> + +<p>"Uh, huh, and that brother migrated to the West Indies."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh, he went out to some o' dem outlandish places."</p> + +<p>"Hold on, sir, hold on, I am a West Indian myself."</p> + +<p>"I do' mean no erfence, 'ceptin' dat John allus was of a rovin' +dispersition."</p> + +<p>"Very well, you know no more about your brother after his departure for +the West Indies?"</p> + +<p>"No, suh."</p> + +<p>"Well, it is my mission to tell you the rest of the story. Your brother +John landed at Cuba, and after working about some years and living +frugally, he went into the coffee business, in which he became rich."</p> + +<p>"Rich?"</p> + +<p>"Rich, sir."</p> + +<p>"Why, bless my soul, who'd 'a evah thought that of John? Why, suh, I'm +sho'ly proud to hyeah it. Why don't he come home an' visit a body?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, why?" said Mr. Scatters dramatically. "Now comes the most painful +part of my mission. 'In the midst of life we are in death.'" Mr. +Scatters sighed, Isaac sighed and wiped his eyes. "Two years ago your +brother departed this life."</p> + +<p>"Was he saved?" Isaac asked in a choked voice. Scatters gave him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> one +startled glance, and then answered hastily, "I am happy to say that he +was."</p> + +<p>"Poor John! He gone an' me lef'."</p> + +<p>"Even in the midst of our sorrows, however, there is always a ray of +light. Your brother remembered you in his will."</p> + +<p>"Remembered me?"</p> + +<p>"Remembered you, and as one of the executors of his estate,"—Mr. +Scatters rose and went softly over to his valise, from which he took a +large square package. He came back with it, holding it as if it were +something sacred,—"as one of the executors of his estate, which is now +settled, I was commissioned to bring you this." He tapped the package. +"This package, sealed as you see with the seal of Cuba, contains five +thousand dollars in notes and bonds."</p> + +<p>Isaac gasped and reached for the bundle, but it was withdrawn. "I am, +however, not to deliver it to you yet. There are certain formalities +which my country demands to be gone through with, after which I deliver +my message and return to the fairest of lands, to the Gem of the +Antilles. Let me congratulate you, Mr. Jackson, upon your good fortune."</p> + +<p>Isaac yielded up his hand mechanically. He was dazed by the vision of +this sudden wealth.</p> + +<p>"Fi' thousan' dollahs," he repeated.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, five thousand dollars. It is a goodly sum, and in the +meantime, until court convenes, I wish you to recommend some safe place +in which to put this money, as I do not feel secure with it about my +person, nor would it be secure if it were known to be in your house."</p> + +<p>"I reckon Albert Matthews' grocery would be the safes' place fu' it. +He's got one o' dem i'on saftes."</p> + +<p>"The very place. Let us go there at once, and after that I will not +encroach upon your hospitality longer, but attempt to find a hotel."</p> + +<p>"Hotel nothin'," said Isaac emphatically. "Ef my house ain't too common, +you'll stay right thaih ontwell co't sets."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span></p><p>"This is very kind of you, Mr. Jackson, but really I couldn't think of +being such a charge upon you and your good wife."</p> + +<p>"'Tain't no charge on us; we'll be glad to have you. Folks hyeah in +Miltonville has little enough comp'ny, de Lawd knows."</p> + +<p>Isaac spoke the truth, and it was as much the knowledge that he would be +the envy of all the town as his gratitude to Scatters that prompted him +to prevail upon his visitor to stay.</p> + +<p>Scatters was finally persuaded, and the men only paused long enough in +the house to tell the curiosity-eaten Martha Ann the news, and then +started for Albert Matthews' store. Scatters carried the precious +package, and Isaac was armed with an old shotgun lest anyone should +suspect their treasure and attack them. Five thousand dollars was not to +be carelessly handled!</p> + +<p>As soon as the men were gone, Martha Ann started out upon her rounds, +and her proud tongue did for the women portion of Miltonville what the +visit to Matthews' store did for the men. Did Mrs. So-and-So remember +brother John? Indeed she did. And when the story was told, it was a +"Well, well, well! he used to be an ol' beau o' mine." Martha Ann found +no less than twenty women of her acquaintance for whom her brother John +seemed to have entertained tender feelings.</p> + +<p>The corner grocery store kept by Albert Matthews was the general +gathering-place for the coloured male population of the town. It was a +small, one-roomed building, almost filled with barrels, boxes, and +casks.</p> + +<p>Pride as well as necessity had prompted Isaac to go to the grocery just +at this time, when it would be quite the fullest of men. He had not +calculated wrongly when he reckoned upon the sensation that would be +made by his entrance with the distinguished-looking stranger. The +excitement was all the most hungry could have wished for. The men stared +at Jackson and his companion with wide-open eyes. They left off chewing +tobacco and telling tales. A half-dozen of them forgot to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> avail +themselves of the joy of spitting, and Albert Matthews, the proprietor, +a weazened little brown-skinned man, forgot to lay his hand upon the +scale in weighing out a pound of sugar.</p> + +<p>With a humility that was false on the very face of it, Isaac introduced +his guest to the grocer and the three went off together mysteriously +into a corner. The matter was duly explained and the object of the visit +told. Matthews burned with envy of his neighbour's good fortune.</p> + +<p>"I do' reckon, Mistah Scatters, dat we bettah not let de othah folks in +de sto' know anything 'bout dis hyeah bus'ness of ouahs. I got to be +'sponsible fu dat money, an' I doesn't want to tek no chances."</p> + +<p>"You are perfectly right, sir, perfectly right. You are responsible, not +only for the money itself, but for the integrity of this seal which +means the dignity of government."</p> + +<p>Matthews looked sufficiently impressed, and together they all went their +way among the barrels and boxes to the corner where the little safe +stood. With many turnings and twistings the door was opened, the package +inclosed and the safe shut again. Then they all rose solemnly and went +behind the counter to sample something that Matthews had. This was +necessary as a climax, for they had performed, not a mere deed, but a +ceremonial.</p> + +<p>"Of course, you'll say nothing about this matter at all, Mr. Matthews," +said Scatters, thereby insuring publicity to his affair.</p> + +<p>There were a few introductions as the men passed out, but hardly had +their backs turned when a perfect storm of comment and inquiry broke +about the grocer's head. So it came to pass, that with many mysterious +nods and headshakings, Matthews first hinted at and then told the +story.</p> + +<p>For the first few minutes the men could scarcely believe what they had +heard. It was so utterly unprecedented. Then it dawned upon them that it +might be so, and discussion and argument ran rife for the next hour.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span></p><p>The story flew like wildfire, there being three things in this world +which interest all sorts and conditions of men alike: great wealth, +great beauty, and great love. Whenever Mr. Scatters appeared he was +greeted with deference and admiration. Any man who had come clear from +Cuba on such an errand to their fellow-townsman deserved all honour and +respect. His charming manners confirmed, too, all that preconceived +notions had said of him. He became a social favourite. It began with Mr. +and Mrs. Dunkin's calling upon him. Then followed Alonzo Taft, and when +the former two gave a reception for the visitor, his position was +assured. Miltonville had not yet arisen to the dignity of having a +literary society. He now founded one and opened it himself with an +address so beautiful, so eloquent and moving that Mr. Dunkin bobbed his +head dizzy in acquiescence, and Aunt Hannah Payne thought she was in +church and shouted for joy.</p> + +<p>The little town had awakened from its long post-bellum slumber and +accepted with eagerness the upward impulse given it. It stood aside and +looked on with something like adoration when Mr. Scatters and Mrs. +Dunkin met and talked of ineffable things—things far above the ken of +the average mortal.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Scatters found that his mission was known, he gave up further +attempts at concealing it and talked freely about the matter. He +expatiated at length upon the responsibility that devolved upon him and +his desire to discharge it, and he spoke glowingly of the great +government whose power was represented by the seal which held the +package of bonds. Not for one day would he stay away from his beloved +Cuba, if it were not that that seal had to be broken in the presence of +the proper authorities. So, however reluctant he might be to stay, it +was not for him to shirk his task: he must wait for the sitting of +court.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Jacksons lived in an atmosphere of glory. The womenfolk +purchased new dresses, and Isaac got a new wagon on the strength of +their good fortune. It was nothing to what they dreamed of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> doing when +they had the money positively in hand. Mr. Scatters still remained their +guest, and they were proud of it.</p> + +<p>What pleased them most was that their distinguished visitor seemed not +to look down upon, but rather to be pleased with, their homely fare. +Isaac had further cause for pleasure when his guest came to him later +with a great show of frank confidence to request the loan of fifty +dollars.</p> + +<p>"I should not think of asking even this small favour of you but that I +have only Cuban money with me and I knew you would feel distressed if +you knew that I went to the trouble of sending this money away for +exchange on account of so small a sum."</p> + +<p>This was undoubtedly a mark of special confidence. It suddenly made +Isaac feel as if the grand creature had accepted and labelled him as a +brother and an equal. He hastened to Matthews' safe, where he kept his +own earnings; for the grocer was banker as well.</p> + +<p>With reverent hands they put aside the package of bonds and together +counted out the required half a hundred dollars. In a little while Mr. +Scatters' long, graceful fingers had closed over it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jackson's cup of joy was now full. It had but one bitter drop to mar +its sweetness. That was the friendship that had sprung up between the +Cuban and Mr. Dunkin. They frequently exchanged visits, and sat long +together engaged in conversation from which Isaac was excluded. This +galled him. He felt that he had a sort of proprietary interest in his +guest. And any infringement of this property right he looked upon with +distinct disfavour. So that it was with no pleasant countenance that he +greeted Mr. Dunkin when he called on a certain night.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Scatters is gone out," he said, as the old man entered and +deposited his hat on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Dat's all right, Isaac," said Mr. Dunkin slowly, "I didn't come to see +de gent'man. I come to see you."</p> + +<p>The cloud somewhat lifted from Isaac's brow. Mr. Dunkin was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> man of +importance and it made a deal of difference whom he was visiting.</p> + +<p>He seemed a little bit embarrassed, however, as to how to open +conversation. He hummed and hawed and was visibly uneasy. He tried to +descant upon the weather, but the subject failed him. Finally, with an +effort, he hitched his chair nearer to his host's and said in a low +voice, "Ike, I reckon you has de confidence of Mistah Scatters?"</p> + +<p>"I has," was the proud reply, "I has."</p> + +<p>"Hum! uh! huh! Well—well—has you evah loant him any money?"</p> + +<p>Isaac was aghast. Such impertinence!</p> + +<p>"Mistah Dunkin," he began, "I considah——"</p> + +<p>"Hol' on, Ike!" broke in Dunkin, laying a soothing hand on the other's +knee, "don' git on yo' high hoss. Dis hyeah's a impo'tant mattah."</p> + +<p>"I ain't got nothin' to say."</p> + +<p>"He ain't never tol' you 'bout havin' nothin' but Cubian money on him?"</p> + +<p>Isaac started.</p> + +<p>"I see he have. He tol' me de same thing."</p> + +<p>The two men sat staring suspiciously into each other's faces.</p> + +<p>"He got a hun'ed an' fifty dollahs f'om me," said Dunkin.</p> + +<p>"I let him have fifty," added Jackson weakly.</p> + +<p>"He got a hun'ed an' fifty dollahs f'om thews. Dat's how I come to git +'spicious. He tol' him de same sto'y."</p> + +<p>Again that pregnant look flashed between them, and they both rose and +went out of the house.</p> + +<p>They hurried down to Matthews' grocery. The owner was waiting for them +there. There was solemnity, but no hesitation, in the manner with which +they now went to the safe. They took out the package hastily and with +ruthless hands. This was no ceremonial now. The seal had no longer any +fears for them. They tore it off. They tore the wrappers. Then paper. +Neatly folded paper. More wrapping paper. Newspapers. Nothing more. Of +bills or bonds—nothing. With the debris of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> the mysterious parcel +scattered about their feet, they stood up and looked at each other.</p> + +<p>"I nevah did believe in furriners nohow," said Mr. Dunkin sadly.</p> + +<p>"But he knowed all about my brothah John."</p> + +<p>"An' he sho'ly did make mighty fine speeches. Maybe we's missed de +money." This from the grocer.</p> + +<p>Together they went over the papers again, with the same result.</p> + +<p>"Do you know where he went to-night, Ike?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Den I reckon we's seed de las' o' him."</p> + +<p>"But he lef' his valise."</p> + +<p>"Yes, an' he lef' dis," said Dunkin sternly, pointing to the paper on +the floor. "He sho'ly is mighty keerless of his valybles."</p> + +<p>"Let's go git de constable," said the practical Matthews.</p> + +<p>They did, though they felt that it would be unavailing.</p> + +<p>The constable came and waited at Jackson's house. They had been there +about half an hour, talking the matter over, when what was their +surprise to hear Mr. Scatters' step coming jauntily up the walk. A +sudden panic of terror and shame seized them. It was as if they had +wronged him. Suppose, after all, everything should come right and he +should be able to explain? They sat and trembled until he entered. Then +the constable told him his mission.</p> + +<p>Mr. Scatters was surprised. He was hurt. Indeed, he was distinctly +grieved that his friends had had so little confidence in him. Had he +been to them anything but a gentleman, a friend, and an honest man? Had +he not come a long distance from his home to do one of them a favour? +They hung their heads. Martha Ann, who was listening at the door, was +sobbing audibly. What had he done thus to be humiliated? He saw the +effect of his words and pursued it. Had he not left in the care of one +of their own number security for his integrity in the shape of the +bonds?</p> + +<p>The effect of his words was magical. Every head went up and three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> pairs +of flashing eyes were bent upon him. He saw and knew that they knew. He +had not thought that they would dare to violate the seal around which he +had woven such a halo. He saw that all was over, and, throwing up his +hands with a despairing gesture, he bowed graciously and left the room +with the constable.</p> + +<p>All Miltonville had the story next day, and waited no less eagerly than +before for the "settin' of co't."</p> + +<p>To the anger and chagrin of Miltonvillians, Fox Run had the honour and +distinction of being the county seat, and thither they must go to the +sessions; but never did they so forget their animosities as on the day +set for the trial of Scatters. They overlooked the pride of the Fox +Runners, their cupidity and their vaunting arrogance. They ignored the +indignity of showing interest in anything that took place in that +village, and went in force, eager, anxious, and curious. Ahorse, afoot, +by oxcart, by mule-wagon, white, black, high, low, old, and young of +both sexes invaded Fox Run and swelled the crowd of onlookers until, +with pity for the very anxiety of the people, the humane judge decided +to discard the now inadequate court-room and hold the sessions on the +village green. Here an impromptu bar was set up, and over against it +were ranged the benches, chairs, and camp-stools of the spectators.</p> + +<p>Every man of prominence in the county was present. Major Richardson, +though now retired, occupied a distinguished position within the bar. +Old Captain Howard shook hands familiarly with the judge and nodded to +the assembly as though he himself had invited them all to be present. +Former Judge Durbin sat with his successor on the bench.</p> + +<p>Court opened and the first case was called. It gained but passing +attention. There was bigger game to be stalked. A hog-stealing case +fared a little better on account of the intimateness of the crime +involved. But nothing was received with such awed silence as the case of +the State against Joseph Scatters. The charge was obtaining money under +false pretences, and the plea "Not Guilty."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span></p><p>The witnesses were called and their testimony taken. Mr. Scatters was +called to testify in his own defence, but refused to do so. The +prosecution stated its case and proceeded to sum up the depositions of +the witnesses. As there was no attorney for the defence, the State's +attorney delivered a short speech, in which the guilt of the defendant +was plainly set forth. It was as clear as day. Things looked very dark +for Mr. Scatters of Cuba.</p> + +<p>As the lawyer sat down, and ere the case could be given to the jury, he +rose and asked permission of the Court to say a few words.</p> + +<p>This was granted him.</p> + +<p>He stood up among them, a magnificent, strong, black figure. His eyes +swept the assembly, judge, jury, and spectators with a look half +amusement, half defiance.</p> + +<p>"I have pleaded not guilty," he began in a low, distinct voice that +could be heard in every part of the inclosure, "and I am not guilty of +the spirit which is charged against me, however near the letter may +touch me. I did use certain knowledge that I possessed, and the seal +which I happened to have from an old government position, to +defraud—that is the word, if you will—to defraud these men out of the +price of their vanity and their cupidity. But it was not a +long-premeditated thing. I was within a few miles of your town before +the idea occurred to me. I was in straits. I stepped from the brink of +great poverty into the midst of what you are pleased to deem a greater +crime."</p> + +<p>The Court held its breath. No such audacity had ever been witnessed in +the life of Fox Run.</p> + +<p>Scatters went on, warming to his subject as he progressed. He was +eloquent and he was pleasing. A smile flickered over the face of Major +Richardson and was reflected in the features of many others as the +speaker burst forth:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, I maintain that instead of imprisoning you should thank me +for what I have done. Have I not taught your community a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> lesson? Have I +not put a check upon their credulity and made them wary of unheralded +strangers?"</p> + +<p>He had. There was no disputing that. The judge himself was smiling, and +the jurymen were nodding at each other.</p> + +<p>Scatters had not yet played his trump card. He saw that the time was +ripe. Straightening his form and raising his great voice, he cried: +"Gentlemen, I am guilty according to the letter of the law, but from +that I appeal to the men who make and have made the law. From the hard +detail of this new day, I appeal to the chivalry of the old South which +has been told in story and sung in song. From men of vindictiveness I +appeal to men of mercy. From plebeians to aristocrats. By the memory of +the sacred names of the Richardsons"—the Major sat bolt upright and +dropped his snuffbox—"the Durbins"—the ex-judge couldn't for his life +get his pince-nez on—"the Howards"—the captain openly rubbed his +hands—"to the memory that those names call up I appeal, and to the +living and honourable bearers of them present. And to you, gentlemen of +the jury, the lives of whose fathers went to purchase this dark and +bloody ground, I appeal from the accusation of these men, who are not my +victims, not my dupes, but their own."</p> + +<p>There was a hush when he was done. The judge read the charge to the +jury, and it was favourable—very. And—well, Scatters had taught the +darkies a lesson; he had spoken of their families and their traditions, +he knew their names, and—oh, well, he was a good fellow after all—what +was the use?</p> + +<p>The jury did not leave their seats, and the verdict was acquittal.</p> + +<p>Scatters thanked the Court and started away; but he met three +ominous-looking pairs of eyes, and a crowd composed of angry Negroes was +flocking toward the edge of the green.</p> + +<p>He came back.</p> + +<p>"I think I had better wait until the excitement subsides," he said to +Major Richardson.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span></p><p>"No need of that, suh, no need of that. Here, Jim," he called to his +coachman, "take Mr. Scatters wherever he wants to go, and remember, I +shall hold you responsible for his safety."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh," said Jim.</p> + +<p>"A thousand thanks, Major," said the man with the mission.</p> + +<p>"Not at all, suh. By the way, that was a very fine effort of yours this +afternoon. I was greatly moved by it. If you'll give me your address +I'll send you a history of our family, suh, from the time they left +Vuhginia and before."</p> + +<p>Mr. Scatters gave him the address, and smiled at the three enemies, who +still waited on the edge of the green.</p> + +<p>"To the station," he said to the driver.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Four</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">A MATTER OF DOCTRINE</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>here was great excitement in Miltonville over the advent of a most +eloquent and convincing minister from the North. The beauty about the +Rev. Thaddeus Warwick was that he was purely and simply a man of the +doctrine. He had no emotions, his sermons were never matters of feeling; +but he insisted so strongly upon the constant presentation of the tenets +of his creed that his presence in a town was always marked by the +enthusiasm and joy of religious disputation.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Jasper Hayward, coloured, was a man quite of another stripe. +With him it was not so much what a man held as what he felt. The +difference in their characteristics, however, did not prevent him from +attending Dr. Warwick's series of sermons, where, from the vantage point +of the gallery, he drank in, without assimilating, that divine's words +of wisdom.</p> + +<p>Especially was he edified on the night that his white brother held<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> +forth upon the doctrine of predestination. It was not that he understood +it at all, but that it sounded well and the words had a rich ring as he +champed over them again and again.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hayward was a man for the time and knew that his congregation +desired something new, and if he could supply it he was willing to take +lessons even from a white co-worker who had neither "de spi'it ner de +fiah." Because, as he was prone to admit to himself, "dey was sump'in' +in de unnerstannin'."</p> + +<p>He had no idea what plagiarism is, and without a single thought of +wrong, he intended to reproduce for his people the religious wisdom +which he acquired at the white church. He was an innocent beggar going +to the doors of the well-provided for cold spiritual victuals to warm +over for his own family. And it would not be plagiarism either, for this +very warming-over process would save it from that and make his own +whatever he brought. He would season with the pepper of his homely wit, +sprinkle it with the salt of his home-made philosophy, then, hot with +the fire of his crude eloquence, serve to his people a dish his very +own. But to the true purveyor of original dishes it is never pleasant to +know that someone else holds the secret of the groundwork of his +invention.</p> + +<p>It was then something of a shock to the Reverend Mr. Hayward to be +accosted by Isaac Middleton, one of his members, just as he was leaving +the gallery on the night of this most edifying of sermons.</p> + +<p>Isaac laid a hand upon his shoulder and smiled at him benevolently.</p> + +<p>"How do, Brothah Hayward," he said, "you been sittin' unner de drippin's +of de gospel, too?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I has been listenin' to de wo'ds of my fellow-laborah in de +vineya'd of de Lawd," replied the preacher with some dignity, for he saw +vanishing the vision of his own glory in a revivified sermon on +predestination.</p> + +<p>Isaac linked his arm familiarly in his pastor's as they went out upon +the street.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span></p><p>"Well, what you t'ink erbout pre-o'dination an' fo'-destination any how?"</p> + +<p>"It sutny has been pussented to us in a powahful light dis eve'nin'."</p> + +<p>"Well, suh, hit opened up my eyes. I do' know when I's hyeahed a sehmon +dat done my soul mo' good."</p> + +<p>"It was a upliftin' episode."</p> + +<p>"Seem lak 'co'din' to de way de brothah 'lucidated de matter to-night +dat evaht'ing done sot out an' cut an' dried fu' us. Well dat's gwine to +he'p me lots."</p> + +<p>"De gospel is allus a he'p."</p> + +<p>"But not allus in dis way. You see I ain't a eddicated man lak you, +Brothah Hayward."</p> + +<p>"We can't all have de same 'vantages," the preacher condescended. "But +what I feels, I feels, an' what I unnerstan's, I unnerstan's. The +Scripture tell us to get unnerstannin'."</p> + +<p>"Well, dat's what I's been a-doin' to-night. I's been a-doubtin' an' +a-doubtin', a-foolin' erroun' an' wonderin', but now I unnerstan'."</p> + +<p>"'Splain yo'se'f, Brothah Middleton," said the preacher.</p> + +<p>"Well, suh, I will to you. You knows Miss Sally Briggs? Huh, what say?"</p> + +<p>The Reverend Hayward had given a half discernible start and an +exclamation had fallen from his lips.</p> + +<p>"What say?" repeated his companion.</p> + +<p>"I knows de sistah ve'y well, she bein' a membah of my flock."</p> + +<p>"Well, I been gwine in comp'ny wit dat ooman fu' de longes'. You ain't +nevah tasted none o' huh cookin', has you?"</p> + +<p>"I has 'sperienced de sistah's puffo'mances in dat line."</p> + +<p>"She is the cookin'est ooman I evah seed in all my life, but +howsomedever, I been gwine all dis time an' I ain' nevah said de wo'd. I +nevah could git clean erway f'om huh widout somep'n' drawin' me back, +an' I didn't know what hit was."</p> + +<p>The preacher was restless.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span></p><p>"Hit was des dis away, Brothah Hayward, I was allus lingerin' on de +brink, feahful to la'nch away, but now I's a-gwine to la'nch, case dat +all dis time tain't been nuffin but fo'-destination dat been a-holdin' me +on."</p> + +<p>"Ahem," said the minister; "we mus' not be in too big a hu'y to put ouah +human weaknesses upon some divine cause."</p> + +<p>"I ain't a-doin' dat, dough I ain't a-sputin' dat de lady is a mos' +oncommon fine lookin' pusson."</p> + +<p>"I has only seed huh wid de eye of de spi'it," was the virtuous answer, +"an' to dat eye all t'ings dat are good are beautiful."</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh, an' lookin' wid de cookin' eye, hit seem lak' I des +fo'destinated fu' to ma'y dat ooman."</p> + +<p>"You say you ain't axe huh yit?"</p> + +<p>"Not yit, but I's gwine to ez soon ez evah I gets de chanst now."</p> + +<p>"Uh, huh," said the preacher, and he began to hasten his steps homeward.</p> + +<p>"Seems lak you in a pow'ful hu'y to-night," said his companion, with +some difficulty accommodating his own step to the preacher's masterly +strides. He was a short man and his pastor was tall and gaunt.</p> + +<p>"I has somp'n' on my min,' Brothah Middleton, dat I wants to thrash out +to-night in de sollertude of my own chambah," was the solemn reply.</p> + +<p>"Well, I ain' gwine keep erlong wid you an' pestah you wid my chattah, +Brothah Hayward," and at the next corner Isaac Middleton turned off and +went his way, with a cheery "so long, may de Lawd set wid you in yo' +meddertations."</p> + +<p>"So long," said his pastor hastily. Then he did what would be strange in +any man, but seemed stranger in so virtuous a minister. He checked his +hasty pace, and, after furtively watching Middleton out of sight, turned +and retraced his steps in a direction exactly opposite to the one in +which he had been going, and toward the cottage of the very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> Sister +Griggs concerning whose charms the minister's parishioner had held +forth.</p> + +<p>It was late, but the pastor knew that the woman whom he sought was +industrious and often worked late, and with ever increasing eagerness he +hurried on. He was fully rewarded for his perseverance when the light +from the window of his intended hostess gleamed upon him, and when she +stood in the full glow of it as the door opened in answer to his knock.</p> + +<p>"La, Brothah Hayward, ef it ain't you; howdy; come in."</p> + +<p>"Howdy, howdy, Sistah Griggs, how you come on?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I's des tol'able," industriously dusting a chair. "How's yo'se'f?"</p> + +<p>"I's right smaht, thankee ma'am."</p> + +<p>"W'y, Brothah Hayward, ain't you los' down in dis paht of de town?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, Sistah Griggs, de shep'erd ain't nevah los' no whaih dey's +any of de flock." Then looking around the room at the piles of ironed +clothes, he added: "You sutny is a indust'ious ooman."</p> + +<p>"I was des 'bout finishin' up some i'onin' I had fu' de white folks," +smiled Sister Griggs, taking down her ironing-board and resting it in +the corner. "Allus when I gits thoo my wo'k at nights I's putty well +tiahed out an' has to eat a snack; set by, Brothah Hayward, while I +fixes us a bite."</p> + +<p>"La, sistah, hit don't skacely seem right fu' me to be a-comin' in hyeah +lettin' you fix fu' me at dis time o' night, an' you mighty nigh +tuckahed out, too."</p> + +<p>"Tsch, Brothah Hayward, taint no ha'dah lookin' out fu' two dan it is +lookin' out fu' one."</p> + +<p>Hayward flashed a quick upward glance at his hostess' face and then +repeated slowly, "Yes'm, dat sutny is de trufe. I ain't nevah t'ought o' +that befo'. Hit ain't no ha'dah lookin' out fu' two dan hit is fu' +one,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> and though he was usually an incessant talker, he lapsed into a +brown study.</p> + +<p>Be it known that the Rev. Mr. Hayward was a man of a very level head, +and that his bachelorhood was a matter of economy. He had long +considered matrimony in the light of a most desirable estate, but one +which he feared to embrace until the rewards for his labours began +looking up a little better. But now the matter was being presented to +him in an entirely different light. "Hit ain't no ha'dah lookin' out fu' +two dan fu' one." Might that not be the truth after all. One had to have +food. It would take very little more to do for two. One had to have a +home to live in. The same house would shelter two. One had to wear +clothes. Well, now, there came the rub. But he thought of donation +parties, and smiled. Instead of being an extravagance, might not this +union of two beings be an economy? Somebody to cook the food, somebody +to keep the house, and somebody to mend the clothes.</p> + +<p>His reverie was broken in upon by Sally Griggs' voice. "Hit do seem lak +you mighty deep in t'ought dis evenin', Brothah Hayward. I done spoke to +you twicet."</p> + +<p>"Scuse me, Sistah Griggs, my min' has been mighty deeply 'sorbed in a +little mattah o' doctrine. What you say to me?"</p> + +<p>"I say set up to the table an' have a bite to eat; tain't much, but +'sich ez I have'—you know what de 'postle said."</p> + +<p>The preacher's eyes glistened as they took in the well-filled board. +There was fervour in the blessing which he asked that made amends for +its brevity. Then he fell to.</p> + +<p>Isaac Middleton was right. This woman was a genius among cooks. Isaac +Middleton was also wrong. He, a layman, had no right to raise his eyes +to her. She was the prize of the elect, not the quarry of any chance +pursuer. As he ate and talked, his admiration for Sally grew as did his +indignation at Middleton's presumption.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the fair one plied him with delicacies, and paid deferential<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> +attention whenever he opened his mouth to give vent to an opinion. An +admirable wife she would make, indeed.</p> + +<p>At last supper was over and his chair pushed back from the table. With a +long sigh of content, he stretched his long legs, tilted back and said: +"Well, you done settled de case ez fur ez I is concerned."</p> + +<p>"What dat, Brothah Hayward?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, I do' know's I's quite prepahed to tell you yit."</p> + +<p>"Hyeah now, don' you remembah ol' Mis' Eve? Taint nevah right to git a +lady's cur'osity riz."</p> + +<p>"Oh, nemmine, nemmine, I ain't gwine keep yo' cur'osity up long. You +see, Sistah Griggs, you done 'lucidated one p'int to me dis night dat +meks it plumb needful fu' me to speak."</p> + +<p>She was looking at him with wide open eyes of expectation.</p> + +<p>"You made de 'emark to-night, dat it ain't no ha'dah lookin' out aftah +two dan one."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Brothah Hayward!"</p> + +<p>"Sistah Sally, I reckernizes dat, an' I want to know ef you won't let me +look out aftah we two? Will you ma'y me?"</p> + +<p>She picked nervously at her apron, and her eyes sought the floor +modestly as she answered, "Why, Brothah Hayward, I ain't fittin' fu' no +sich eddicated man ez you. S'posin' you'd git to be pu'sidin' elder, er +bishop, er somp'n' er othah, whaih'd I be?"</p> + +<p>He waved his hand magnanimously. "Sistah Griggs, Sally, whatevah high +place I may be fo'destined to I shall tek my wife up wid me."</p> + +<p>This was enough, and with her hearty yes, the Rev. Mr. Hayward had +Sister Sally close in his clerical arms. They were not through their +mutual felicitations, which were indeed so enthusiastic as to drown the +sound of a knocking at the door and the ominous scraping of feet, when +the door opened to admit Isaac Middleton, just as the preacher was +imprinting a very decided kiss upon his fiancee's cheek.</p> + +<p>"Wha'—wha'" exclaimed Middleton.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span></p><p>The preacher turned. "Dat you, Isaac?" he said complacently. "You must +'scuse ouah 'pearance, we des got ingaged."</p> + +<p>The fair Sally blushed unseen.</p> + +<p>"What!" cried Isaac. "Ingaged, aftah what I tol' you to-night." His face +was a thundercloud.</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh."</p> + +<p>"An' is dat de way you stan' up fu' fo'destination?"</p> + +<p>This time it was the preacher's turn to darken angrily as he replied, +"Look a-hyeah, Ike Middleton, all I got to say to you is dat whenevah a +lady cook to please me lak dis lady do, an' whenevah I love one lak I +love huh, an' she seems to love me back, I's a-gwine to pop de question +to huh, fo'destination er no fo'destination, so dah!"</p> + +<p>The moment was pregnant with tragic possibilities. The lady still stood +with bowed head, but her hand had stolen into her minister's. Isaac +paused, and the situation overwhelmed him. Crushed with anger and defeat +he turned toward the door.</p> + +<p>On the threshold he paused again to say, "Well, all I got to say to you, +Hayward, don' you nevah talk to me no mor' nuffin' 'bout doctrine!"</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Five</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">OLD ABE'S CONVERSION</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he Negro population of the little Southern town of Danvers was in a +state of excitement such as it seldom reached except at revivals, +baptisms, or on Emancipation Day. The cause of the commotion was the +anticipated return of the Rev. Abram Dixon's only son, Robert, who, +having taken up his father's life-work and graduated at one of the +schools, had been called to a city church.</p> + +<p>When Robert's ambition to take a college course first became the subject +of the village gossip, some said that it was an attempt to force +Providence. If Robert were called to preach, they said, he would be +endowed with the power from on high, and no intervention of the schools +was necessary. Abram Dixon himself had at first rather leaned to this +side of the case. He had expressed his firm belief in the theory that if +you opened your mouth, the Lord would fill it. As for him, he had no +thought of what he should say to his people when he rose to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> speak. He +trusted to the inspiration of the moment, and dashed blindly into +speech, coherent or otherwise.</p> + +<p>Himself a plantation exhorter of the ancient type, he had known no +school except the fields where he had ploughed and sowed, the woods and +the overhanging sky. He had sat under no teacher except the birds and +the trees and the winds of heaven. If he did not fail utterly, if his +labour was not without fruit, it was because he lived close to nature, +and so, near to nature's God. With him religion was a matter of emotion, +and he relied for his results more upon a command of feeling than upon +an appeal to reason. So it was not strange that he should look upon his +son's determination to learn to be a preacher as unjustified by the real +demands of the ministry.</p> + +<p>But as the boy had a will of his own and his father a boundless pride in +him, the day came when, despite wagging heads, Robert Dixon went away to +be enrolled among the students of a growing college. Since then six +years had passed. Robert had spent his school vacations in teaching; and +now, for the first time, he was coming home, a full-fledged minister of +the gospel.</p> + +<p>It was rather a shock to the old man's sensibilities that his son's +congregation should give him a vacation, and that the young minister +should accept; but he consented to regard it as of the new order of +things, and was glad that he was to have his boy with him again, +although he murmured to himself, as he read his son's letter through his +bone-bowed spectacles: "Vacation, vacation, an' I wonder ef he reckons +de devil's goin' to take one at de same time?"</p> + +<p>It was a joyous meeting between father and son. The old man held his boy +off and looked at him with proud eyes.</p> + +<p>"Why, Robbie," he said, "you—you's a man!"</p> + +<p>"That's what I'm trying to be, father." The young man's voice was deep, +and comported well with his fine chest and broad shoulders.</p> + +<p>"You's a bigger man den yo' father ever was!" said his mother +admiringly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span></p><p>"Oh, well, father never had the advantage of playing football."</p> + +<p>The father turned on him aghast. "Playin' football!" he exclaimed. "You +don't mean to tell me dat dey 'lowed men learnin' to be preachers to +play sich games?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, they believe in a sound mind in a sound body, and one seems to +be as necessary as the other in fighting evil."</p> + +<p>Abram Dixon shook his head solemnly. The world was turning upside down +for him.</p> + +<p>"Football!" he muttered, as they sat down to supper.</p> + +<p>Robert was sorry that he had spoken of the game, because he saw that it +grieved his father. He had come intending to avoid rather than to combat +his parent's prejudices. There was no condescension in his thought of +them and their ways. They were different; that was all. He had learned +new ways. They had retained the old. Even to himself he did not say, +"But my way is the better one."</p> + +<p>His father was very full of eager curiosity as to his son's conduct of +his church, and the son was equally glad to talk of his work, for his +whole soul was in it.</p> + +<p>"We do a good deal in the way of charity work among the churchless and +almost homeless city children; and, father, it would do your heart good +if you could only see the little ones gathered together learning the +first principles of decent living."</p> + +<p>"Mebbe so," replied the father doubtfully, "but what you doin' in de way +of teachin' dem to die decent?"</p> + +<p>The son hesitated for a moment, and then he answered gently, "We think +that one is the companion of the other, and that the best way to prepare +them for the future is to keep them clean and good in the present."</p> + +<p>"Do you give 'em good strong doctern, er do you give 'em milk and +water?"</p> + +<p>"I try to tell them the truth as I see it and believe it. I try to hold +up before them the right and the good and the clean and beautiful."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span></p><p>"Humph!" exclaimed the old man, and a look of suspicion flashed across +his dusky face. "I want you to preach fer me Sunday."</p> + +<p>It was as if he had said, "I have no faith in your style of preaching +the gospel. I am going to put you to the test."</p> + +<p>Robert faltered. He knew his preaching would not please his father or +his people, and he shrank from the ordeal. It seemed like setting them +all at defiance and attempting to enforce his ideas over their own. Then +a perception of his cowardice struck him, and he threw off the feeling +that was possessing him. He looked up to find his father watching him +keenly, and he remembered that he had not yet answered.</p> + +<p>"I had not thought of preaching here," he said, "but I will relieve you +if you wish it."</p> + +<p>"De folks will want to hyeah you an' see what you kin do," pursued his +father tactlessly. "You know dey was a lot of 'em dat said I oughn't ha' +let you go away to school. I hope you'll silence 'em."</p> + +<p>Robert thought of the opposition his father's friends had shown to his +ambitions, and his face grew hot at the memory. He felt his entire +inability to please them now.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, father, that I can silence those who opposed my going +away or even please those who didn't, but I shall try to please One."</p> + +<p>It was now Thursday evening, and he had until Saturday night to prepare +his sermon. He knew Danvers, and remembered what a chill fell on its +congregations, white or black, when a preacher appeared before them with +a manuscript or notes. So, out of concession to their prejudices, he +decided not to write his sermon, but to go through it carefully and get +it well in hand. His work was often interfered with by the frequent +summons to see old friends who stayed long, not talking much, but +looking at him with some awe and a good deal of contempt. His trial was +a little sorer than he had expected, but he bore it all with the +good-natured philosophy which his school life and work in a city had +taught him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span></p><p>The Sunday dawned, a beautiful, Southern summer morning; the lazy hum of +the bees and the scent of wild honeysuckle were in the air; the Sabbath +was full of the quiet and peace of God; and yet the congregation which +filled the little chapel at Danvers came with restless and turbulent +hearts, and their faces said plainly: "Rob Dixon, we have not come here +to listen to God's word. We have come here to put you on trial. Do you +hear? On trial."</p> + +<p>And the thought, "On trial," was ringing in the young minister's mind as +he rose to speak to them. His sermon was a very quiet, practical one; a +sermon that sought to bring religion before them as a matter of +every-day life. It was altogether different from the torrent of speech +that usually flowed from that pulpit. The people grew restless under +this spiritual reserve. They wanted something to sanction, something to +shout for, and here was this man talking to them as simply and quietly +as if he were not in church.</p> + +<p>As Uncle Isham Jones said, "De man never fetched an amen"; and the +people resented his ineffectiveness. Even Robert's father sat with his +head bowed in his hands, broken and ashamed of his son; and when, +without a flourish, the preacher sat down, after talking twenty-two +minutes by the clock, a shiver of surprise ran over the whole church. +His father had never pounded the desk for less than an hour.</p> + +<p>Disappointment, even disgust, was written on every face. The singing was +spiritless, and as the people filed out of church and gathered in knots +about the door, the old-time head-shaking was resumed, and the comments +were many and unfavourable.</p> + +<p>"Dat's what his schoolin' done fo' him," said one.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't nothin' mo'n a lecter," was another's criticism.</p> + +<p>"Put him 'side o' his father," said one of the Rev. Abram Dixon's loyal +members, "and bless my soul, de ol' man would preach all roun' him, and +he ain't been to no college, neither!"</p> + +<p>Robert and his father walked home in silence together. When they were in +the house, the old man turned to his son and said:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span></p><p>"Is dat de way dey teach you to preach at college?"</p> + +<p>"I followed my instructions as nearly as possible, father."</p> + +<p>"Well, Lawd he'p dey preachin', den! Why, befo' I'd ha' been in dat +pulpit five minutes, I'd ha' had dem people moanin' an' hollerin' all +over de church."</p> + +<p>"And would they have lived any more cleanly the next day?"</p> + +<p>The old man looked at his son sadly, and shook his head as at one of the +unenlightened.</p> + +<p>Robert did not preach in his father's church again before his visit came +to a close; but before going he said, "I want you to promise me you'll +come up and visit me, father. I want you to see the work I am trying to +do. I don't say that my way is best or that my work is a higher work, +but I do want you to see that I am in earnest."</p> + +<p>"I ain't doubtin' you mean well, Robbie," said his father, "but I guess +I'd be a good deal out o' place up thaih."</p> + +<p>"No, you wouldn't, father. You come up and see me. Promise me."</p> + +<p>And the old man promised.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, until nearly a year later that the Rev. Abram Dixon +went up to visit his son's church. Robert met him at the station, and +took him to the little parsonage which the young clergyman's people had +provided for him. It was a very simple place, and an aged woman served +the young man as cook and caretaker; but Abram Dixon was astonished at +what seemed to him both vainglory and extravagance.</p> + +<p>"Ain't you livin' kin' o' high fo' yo' raisin', Robbie?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The young man laughed. "If you'd see how some of the people live here, +father, you'd hardly say so."</p> + +<p>Abram looked at the chintz-covered sofa and shook his head at its +luxury, but Robert, on coming back after a brief absence, found his +father sound asleep upon the comfortable lounge.</p> + +<p>On the next day they went out together to see something of the city. By +the habit of years, Abram Dixon was an early riser, and his son was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> +like him; so they were abroad somewhat before business was astir in the +town. They walked through the commercial portion and down along the +wharves and levees. On every side the same sight assailed their eyes: +black boys of all ages and sizes, the waifs and strays of the city, lay +stretched here and there on the wharves or curled on doorsills, stealing +what sleep they could before the relentless day should drive them forth +to beg a pittance for subsistence.</p> + +<p>"Such as these we try to get into our flock and do something for," said +Robert.</p> + +<p>His father looked on sympathetically, and yet hardly with full +understanding. There was poverty in his own little village, yes, even +squalour, but he had never seen anything just like this. At home almost +everyone found some open door, and rare was the wanderer who slept +out-of-doors except from choice.</p> + +<p>At nine o'clock they went to the police court, and the old minister saw +many of his race appear as prisoners, receiving brief attention and long +sentences. Finally a boy was arraigned for theft. He was a little, +wobegone fellow hardly ten years of age. He was charged with stealing +cakes from a bakery. The judge was about to deal with him as quickly as +with the others, and Abram's heart bled for the child, when he saw a +negro call the judge's attention. He turned to find that Robert had left +his side. There was a whispered consultation, and then the old preacher +heard with joy, "As this is his first offence and a trustworthy person +comes forward to take charge of him, sentence upon the prisoner will be +suspended."</p> + +<p>Robert came back to his father holding the boy by the hand, and together +they made their way from the crowded room.</p> + +<p>"I'm so glad! I'm so glad!" said the old man brokenly.</p> + +<p>"We often have to do this. We try to save them from the first contact +with the prison and all that it means. There is no reformatory for black +boys here, and they may not go to the institutions for the white; so for +the slightest offence they are sent to jail, where they are placed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> with +the most hardened criminals. When released they are branded forever, and +their course is usually downward."</p> + +<p>He spoke in a low voice, that what he said might not reach the ears of +the little ragamuffin who trudged by his side.</p> + +<p>Abram looked down on the child with a sympathetic heart.</p> + +<p>"What made you steal dem cakes?" he asked kindly.</p> + +<p>"I was hongry," was the simple reply.</p> + +<p>The old man said no more until he had reached the parsonage, and then +when he saw how the little fellow ate and how tenderly his son +ministered to him, he murmured to himself, "Feed my lambs"; and then +turning to his son, he said, "Robbie, dey's some'p'n in 'dis, dey's +some'p'n in it, I tell you."</p> + +<p>That night there was a boy's class in the lower room of Robert Dixon's +little church. Boys of all sorts and conditions were there, and Abram +listened as his son told them the old, sweet stories in the simplest +possible manner and talked to them in his cheery, practical way. The old +preacher looked into the eyes of the street gamins about him, and he +began to wonder. Some of them were fierce, unruly-looking youngsters, +inclined to meanness and rowdyism, but one and all, they seemed under +the spell of their leader's voice. At last Robert said, "Boys, this is +my father. He's a preacher, too. I want you to come up and shake hands +with him." Then they crowded round the old man readily and heartily, and +when they were outside the church, he heard them pause for a moment, and +then three rousing cheers rang out with the vociferated explanation, +"Fo' de minister's pap!"</p> + +<p>Abram held his son's hand long that night, and looked with tear-dimmed +eyes at the boy.</p> + +<p>"I didn't understan'," he said. "I didn't understan'."</p> + +<p>"You'll preach for me Sunday, father?"</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't daih, honey. I wouldn't daih."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, you will, pap."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span></p><p>He had not used the word for a long time, and at sound of it his father +yielded.</p> + +<p>It was a strange service that Sunday morning. The son introduced the +father, and the father, looking at his son, who seemed so short a time +ago unlearned in the ways of the world, gave as his text, "A little +child shall lead them."</p> + +<p>He spoke of his own conceit and vainglory, the pride of his age and +experience, and then he told of the lesson he had learned. "Why, +people," he said, "I feels like a new convert!"</p> + +<p>It was a gentler gospel than he had ever preached before, and in the +congregation there were many eyes as wet as his own.</p> + +<p>"Robbie," he said, when the service was over, "I believe I had to come +up here to be converted." And Robbie smiled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Six</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">THE RACE QUESTION</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">S</span>cene—Race track. <i>Enter old coloured man, seating himself.</i></p> + +<p>"Oomph, oomph. De work of de devil sho' do p'ospah. How 'do, suh? Des +tol'able, thankee, suh. How you come on? Oh, I was des a-sayin' how de +wo'k of de ol' boy do p'ospah. Doesn't I frequent the racetrack? No, +suh; no, suh. I's Baptis' myse'f, an' I 'low hit's all devil's doin's. +Wouldn't 'a' be'n hyeah to-day, but I got a boy named Jim dat's long +gone in sin an' he gwine ride one dem hosses. Oomph, dat boy! I sut'ny +has talked to him and labohed wid him night an' day, but it was allers +in vain, an' I's feahed dat de day of his reckonin' is at han'.</p> + +<p>"Ain't I nevah been intrusted in racin'? Humph, you don't s'pose I been +dead all my life, does you? What you laffin' at? Oh, scuse me, scuse me, +you unnerstan' what I means. You don' give a ol' man time to splain +hisse'f. What I means is dat dey has been days when I walked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> in de +counsels of de on-gawdly and set in de seats of sinnahs; and long erbout +dem times I did tek most ovahly strong to racin'.</p> + +<p>"How long dat been? Oh, dat's way long back, 'fo' I got religion, mo'n +thuty years ago, dough I got to own I has fell from grace several times +sense.</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh, I ust to ride. Ki-yi! I nevah furgit de day dat my ol' Mas' +Jack put me on 'June Boy,' his black geldin', an' say to me, 'Si,' says +he, 'if you don' ride de tail offen Cunnel Scott's mare, "No Quit," I's +gwine to larrup you twell you cain't set in de saddle no mo'.' Hyah, +hyah. My ol' Mas' was a mighty han' fu' a joke. I knowed he wan't gwine +to do nuffin' to me.</p> + +<p>"Did I win? Why, whut you spec' I's doin' hyeah ef I hadn' winned? W'y, +ef I'd 'a' let dat Scott maih beat my 'June Boy' I'd 'a' drowned myse'f +in Bull Skin Crick.</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh, I winned; w'y, at de finish I come down dat track lak hit was +de Jedgment Day an' I was de las' one up! Ef I didn't race dat maih's +tail clean off, I 'low I made hit do a lot o' switchin'. An' aftah dat +my wife Mandy she ma'ed me. Hyah, hyah, I ain't bin much on hol'in' de +reins sence.</p> + +<p>"Sh! dey comin' in to wa'm up. Dat Jim, dat Jim, dat my boy; you nasty +putrid little rascal. Des a hundred an' eight, suh, des a hundred an' +eight. Yas, suh, dat's my Jim; I don't know whaih he gits his dev'ment +at.</p> + +<p>"What's de mattah wid dat boy? Whyn't he hunch hisse'f up on dat saddle +right? Jim, Jim, whyn't you limber up, boy; hunch yo'se'f up on dat hoss +lak you belonged to him and knowed you was dah. What I done showed you? +De black raskil, goin' out dah tryin' to disgrace his own daddy. Hyeah +he come back. Dat's bettah, you scoun'ril.</p> + +<p>"Dat's a right smaht-lookin' hoss he's a-ridin', but I ain't a-trustin' +dat bay wid de white feet—dat is, not altogethah. She's a favourwright +too; but dey's sumpin' else in dis worl' sides playin' favourwrights. +Jim bettah had win dis race. His hoss ain't a five to one shot, but I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> +spec's to go way fum hyeah wid money ernuff to mek a donation on de +pa'sonage.</p> + +<p>"Does I bet? Well, I don' des call hit bettin'; but I resks a little +w'en I t'inks I kin he'p de cause. 'Tain't gamblin', o' co'se; I +wouldn't gamble fu nothin', dough my ol' Mastah did ust to say dat a +honest gamblah was ez good ez a hones' preachah an' mos' nigh ez skace.</p> + +<p>"Look out dah, man, dey's off, dat nasty bay maih wid de white feet +leadin' right fu'm 'de pos'. I knowed it! I knowed it! I had my eye on +huh all de time. Oh, Jim, Jim, why didn't you git in bettah, way back +dah fouf? Dah go de gong! I knowed dat wasn't no staht. Troop back dah, +you raskils, hyah, hyah.</p> + +<p>"I wush dat boy wouldn't do so much jummying erroun' wid dat hoss. Fust +t'ing he know he ain't gwine to know whaih he's at.</p> + +<p>"Dah, dah dey go ag'in. Hit's a sho' t'ing dis time. Bettah, Jim, +bettah. Dey didn't leave you dis time. Hug dat bay mare, hug her close, +boy. Don't press dat hoss yit. He holdin' back a lot o' t'ings.</p> + +<p>"He's gainin'! doggone my cats, he's gainin'! an' dat hoss o' his'n +gwine des ez stiddy ez a rockin'-chair. Jim allus was a good boy.</p> + +<p>"Confound these spec's, I cain't see 'em skacely; huh, you say dey's +neck an' neck; now I see 'em! now I see 'em! and Jimmy's a-ridin' +like——Huh, huh, I laik to said sumpin'.</p> + +<p>"De bay maih's done huh bes', she's done huh bes'! Dey's turned into the +stretch an' still see-sawin'. Let him out, Jimmy, let him out! Dat boy +done th'owed de reins away. Come on, Jimmy, come on! He's leadin' by a +nose. Come on, I tell you, you black rapscallion, come on! Give 'em +hell, Jimmy! give 'em hell! Under de wire an' a len'th ahead. Doggone my +cats! wake me up w'en dat othah hoss comes in.</p> + +<p>"No, suh, I ain't gwine stay no longah, I don't app'ove o' racin', I's +gwine 'roun' an' see dis hyeah bookmakah an' den I's gwine dreckly home, +suh, dreckly home. I's Baptis' myse'f, an' I don't app'ove o' no sich +doin's!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Seven</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">A DEFENDER OF THE FAITH</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>here was a very animated discussion going on, on the lower floor of the +house Number Ten "D" Street. House Number Ten was the middle one of a +row of more frames, which formed what was put down on the real estate +agent's list as a coloured neighbourhood. The inhabitants of the little +cottages were people so poor that they were constantly staggering on the +verge of the abyss, which they had been taught to dread and scorn, and +why, clearly. Life with them was no dream, but a hard, terrible reality, +which meant increasing struggle, and little wonder then that the +children of such parents should see the day before Christmas come +without hope of any holiday cheer.</p> + +<p>Christmas; what did it mean to them? The pitiful little dark +rag-muffins, save that the happy, well-dressed people who passed the +shanties seemed further away from their life, save that mother toiled +later in the evening at her work, if there was work, and that father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> +drank more gin and prayed louder in consequence; save that, perhaps—and +there was always a donation—that there might be a little increase in +the amount of cold victuals that big sister brought home, and there +might be turkey-dressing in it.</p> + +<p>But there was a warm discussion in Number Ten, and that is the principal +thing. The next in importance is that Miss Arabella Coe, reporter, who +had been down that way looking mainly for a Christmas story, heard the +sound of voices raised in debate, and paused to listen. It was not a +very polite thing for Miss Coe to do, but then Miss Coe was a reporter +and reporters are not scrupulous about being polite when there is +anything to hear. Besides, the pitch to which the lusty young voices +within were raised argued that the owners did not care if the outside +world shared in the conversation. So Arabella listened, and after a +while she passed through the gate and peeped into the room between the +broken slats of a shutter.</p> + +<p>It was a mean little place, quite what might be expected from its +exterior. A cook stove sat in the middle of the floor with a smoky fire +in it, and about it were clustered four or five black children ranging +from a toddler of two to a boy of ten. They all showed differing degrees +of dirt and raggedness, but all were far and beyond the point of +respectability.</p> + +<p>One of the group, the older boy, sat upon the bed and was holding forth +to his brothers and sisters not without many murmurs of doubt and +disbelief.</p> + +<p>"No," he was saying, "I tell you dey hain't no such thing as a Santy +Claus. Dat's somep'n dat yo' folks jes' git up to make you be good long +'bout Christmas time. I know."</p> + +<p>"But, Tom, you know what mammy said," said a dreamy-eyed little chap, +who sat on a broken stool with his chin on his hands.</p> + +<p>"Aw, mammy," said the orator, "she's jes' a-stuffin' you. She don' +believe in no Santy Claus hersel', less'n why'nt he bring huh de dress +she prayed fu' last Christmas." He was very wise, this old man of ten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> +years, and he had sold papers on the avenue where many things are +learned, both good and bad.</p> + +<p>"But what you got to say about pappy?" pursued the believer. "He say +dey's a Santy Claus, and dat he comes down de chimbly; and——"</p> + +<p>"Whut's de mattah wid you; look at dat stove pipe; how you s'pose +anybody go'n' to git in hyeah th'oo de chimbly?"</p> + +<p>They all looked up at the narrow, rusty stove pipe and the sigh of +hopelessness brought the tears to Arabella's eyes. The children seemed +utterly nonplussed, and Tom was swelling at his triumph. "How's any +Santy Claus go'n' to come down th'oo that, I want to know," he repeated.</p> + +<p>But the faith of childhood is stronger than reason. Tom's little sister +piped up, "I don't know how, but he comes th'roo' that away anyhow. He +brung Mamie Davith a doll and it had thoot on it out o' the chimbly."</p> + +<p>It was now Tom's turn to be stumped, but he wouldn't let it be known. He +only said, "Aw," contemptuously and coughed for more crushing arguments.</p> + +<p>"I knows dey's a Santy Claus," said dreamy-eyed Sam.</p> + +<p>"Ef dey is why'n't he never come here?" retorted Tom.</p> + +<p>"I jes' been thinkin' maybe ouah house is so little he miss it in de +night; dey says he's a ol' man an' I 'low his sight ain' good."</p> + +<p>Tom was stricken into silence for a moment by this entirely new view of +the matter, and then finding no answer to it, he said "Aw" again and +looked superior, but warningly so.</p> + +<p>"Maybe Thanty's white an' don' go to see col'red people," said the +little girl.</p> + +<p>"But I do know coloured people's houses he's been at," contended Sam. +"Aw, dem col'red folks dat's got the money, dem's de only ones dat Santy +Claus fin's, you bet."</p> + +<p>Arabella at the window shuddered at the tone of the sceptic; it reminded +her so much of the world she knew, and it was hard to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> believe that her +friends who prided themselves on their unbelief could have anything in +common with a little coloured newsboy down on "D" Street.</p> + +<p>"Tell you what," said Sam again, "let's try an' see if dey is a Santy. +We'll put a light in the winder, so if he's ol' he can see us anyhow, +an' we'll pray right hard fu' him to come."</p> + +<p>"Aw," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Ith been good all thish month," chirped the little girl.</p> + +<p>The other children joined with enthusiasm in Sam's plan, though Tom sat +upon the bed and looked scornfully on.</p> + +<p>Arabella escaped from the window just as Sam brought the smoky lamp and +set it on the sill, but she still stood outside the palings of the fence +and looked in. She saw four little forms get down on their knees and she +crept up near again to hear.</p> + +<p>Following Sam's lead they began, "Oh, Santy," but Tom's voice broke in, +"Don't you know the Lord don't 'low you to pray to nobody but Him?"</p> + +<p>Sam paused, puzzled for a minute, then he led on: "Please 'scuse, good +Lord, we started wrong, but won't you please, sir, send Santy Clause +around. Amen." And they got up from their knees satisfied.</p> + +<p>"Aw," said Tom as Arabella was turning wet-eyed away.</p> + +<p>It was a good thing the reporter left as soon as she did, for in a few +minutes a big woman pushed in at the gate and entered the house.</p> + +<p>"Mammy, mammy," shrieked the children.</p> + +<p>"Lawsy, me," said Martha, laughing, "who evah did see sich children? +Bless dey hearts, an' dey done sot dey lamp in de winder, too, so's dey +po' ol' mammy kin see to git in."</p> + +<p>As she spoke she was taking the lamp away to set it on the table where +she had placed her basket, but the cry of the children stopped her. "Oh, +no, mammy, don't take it, don't take it, dat's to light Santy Claus in."</p> + +<p>She paused a minute bewildered and then the light broke over her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> face. +She smiled and then a rush of tears quenched the smile. She gathered the +children into her arms and said, "I's feared, honey, ol' man Santy ain' +gwine fu' you to-night."</p> + +<p>"Wah'd I tell you?" sneered Tom.</p> + +<p>"You hush yo' mouf," said his mother, and she left the lamp where it +was.</p> + +<p>As Arabella Coe wended her way home that night her brain was busy with +many thoughts. "I've got my story at last," she told herself, "and I'll +go on up and write it." But she did not go up to write it. She came to +the parting of the ways. One led home, the other to the newspaper office +where she worked. She laughed nervously, and took the former way. Once +in her room she went through her small store of savings. There was very +little there, then she looked down ruefully at her worn boots. She did +need a new pair. Then, holding her money in her hand, she sat down to +think.</p> + +<p>"It's really a shame," she said to herself, "those children will have no +Christmas at all, and they'll never believe in Santa Claus again. They +will lose their faith forever and from this it will go to other things." +She sat there dreaming for a long while and the vision of a very +different childhood came before her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Dear old place," she murmured softly, "I believed in Santa Claus until +I was thirteen, and that oldest boy is scarcely ten." Suddenly she +sprung to her feet. "Hooray," she cried, "I'll be defender of the +faith," and she went out into the lighted streets again.</p> + +<p>The shopkeepers looked queerly at Arabella that night as she bought as +if she were the mother of a large and growing family, and she appeared +too young for that. Finally, there was a dress for mother.</p> + +<p>She carried them down on "D" Street and placed them stealthily at the +door of Number Ten. She put a note among the things, which read: "I am +getting old and didn't see your house last year, also I am getting fat +and couldn't get down that little stove pipe of yours this year. You +must excuse me. Santa Claus." Then looking wilfully at her shoes, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> +nevertheless with a glow on her face, she went up to the office to write +her story.</p> + +<p>There were joyous times at Number Ten the next day. Mother was really +surprised, and the children saw it.</p> + +<p>"Wha'd I tell you," said dreamy Sam.</p> + +<p>Tom said nothing then, but when he went down to the avenue to sell the +morning papers, all resplendent in a new muffler, he strode up to a boy +and remarked belligerently, "Say, if you says de ain't no Santy Claus +again, I'll punch yo' head."</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Eight</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">CAHOOTS</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n the centre of the quaint old Virginia grave-yard stood two monuments +side by side—two plain granite shafts exactly alike. On one was +inscribed the name Robert Vaughan Fairfax and the year 1864. On the +other was the simple and perplexing inscription, "Cahoots." Nothing +more.</p> + +<p>The place had been the orchard of one of the ante-bellum mansions before +the dead that were brought back from the terrible field of Malvern Hill +and laid there had given it a start as a cemetery. Many familiar names +were chiselled on the granite head-stones, and anyone conversant with +Virginia genealogy would have known them to belong to some of the best +families of the Old Dominion. But "Cahoots,"—who or what was he?</p> + +<p>My interest, not to say curiosity, was aroused. There must be a whole +story in those two shafts with their simple inscriptions, a life-drama<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> +or perhaps a tragedy. And who was more likely to know it than the +postmaster of the quaint little old town. Just after the war, as if +tired with its exertions to repel the invader, the old place had fallen +asleep and was still drowsing.</p> + +<p>I left the cemetery—if such it could be called—and wended my way up +the main street to the ancient building which did duty as post-office. +The man in charge, a grizzled old fellow with an empty sleeve, sat +behind a small screen. He looked up as I entered and put out his hand +toward the mailboxes, waiting for me to mention my name. But instead I +said: "I am not expecting any mail. I only wanted to ask a few +questions."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, what can I do for you?" he asked with some interest.</p> + +<p>"I've just been up there walking through the cemetery," I returned, "and +I am anxious to know the story, if there be one, of two monuments which +I saw there."</p> + +<p>"You mean Fairfax and Cahoots."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You're a stranger about here, of course."</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said again, "and so there is a story?"</p> + +<p>"There is a story and I'll tell it to you. Come in and sit down." He +opened a wire door into his little cage, and I seated myself on a stool +and gave my attention to him.</p> + +<p>"It's just such a story," he began, "as you can hear in any of the +Southern States—wherever there were good masters and faithful slaves. +This particular tale is a part of our county history, and there ain't +one of the old residents but could tell it to you word for word and fact +for fact. In the days before our misunderstanding with the North, the +Fairfaxes were the leading people in this section. By leading, I mean +not only the wealthiest, not only the biggest land-owners, but that +their name counted for more in social circles and political councils +than any other hereabout. It is natural to expect that such a family +should wish to preserve its own name down a direct line. So it was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> +source of great grief to old Fairfax that his first three children were +girls, pretty, healthy, plump enough little things, but girls for all +that, and consequently a disappointment to their father's pride of +family. When the fourth child came and it proved to be a boy, the +Fairfax plantation couldn't hold the Fairfax joy and it flowed out and +mellowed the whole county.</p> + +<p>"They do say that Fairfax Fairfax was in one of his further tobacco +fields when the good news was brought to him, and that after giving +orders that all the darkies should knock off work and take a holiday, in +his haste and excitement he jumped down from his horse and ran all the +way to the house. I give the story only for what it is worth. But if it +is true, it is the first case of a man of that name and family +forgetting himself in an emergency.</p> + +<p>"Well, of course, the advent of a young male Fairfax would under any +circumstances have proven a great event, although it was afterwards +duplicated, but there would have been no story to tell, there would have +been no 'Cahoots,' if by some fortuitous circumstance one of the slave +women had not happened to bring into the world that day and almost at +the same time that her mistress was introducing young Vaughan Fairfax to +the light, a little black pickaninny of her own. Well, if you're a +Southern man, and I take it that you are, you know that nothing ever +happens in the quarters that the big house doesn't know. So the news was +soon at the white father's ears and nothing would do him but that the +black baby must be brought to the house and be introduced to the white +one. The little black fellow came in all rolled in his bundle of shawls +and was laid for a few minutes beside his little lord and master. Side +by side they lay blinking at the light equally strange to both, and then +the master took the black child's hand and put it in that of the +white's. With the convulsive gesture common to babyhood the little hands +clutched in a feeble grasp.</p> + +<p>"'Dah now,' old Doshy said—she was the nurse that had brought the +pickaninny up—'dey done tol' each othah howdy.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span></p><p>"'Told each other howdy nothing,' said old Fairfax solemnly, 'they have +made a silent compact of eternal friendship, and I propose to ratify it +right here.'</p> + +<p>"He was a religious man, and so there with all the darkies clustered +around in superstitious awe, and with the white face of his wife looking +at him from among the pillows, he knelt and offered a prayer, and asked +a blessing upon the two children just come into the world. And through +it all those diminutive specimens of humanity lay there blinking with +their hands still clasped.</p> + +<p>"Well, they named the white child Robert Vaughan, and they began calling +the little darky Ben, until an incident in later life gave him the name +that clung to him till the last, and which the Fairfaxes have had +chiseled on his tomb-stone.</p> + +<p>"The incident occurred when the two boys were about five years old. They +were as thick as thieves, and two greater scamps and greater cronies +never tramped together over a Virginia plantation. In the matter of +deviltry they were remarkably precocious, and it was really wonderful +what an amount of mischief those two could do. As was natural, the white +boy planned the deeds, and the black one was his willing coadjutor in +carrying them out.</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile, the proud father was smilingly indulgent to their pranks, +but even with him the climax was reached when one of his fine young +hounds was nearly driven into fits by the clatter of a tin can tied to +its tail. Then the two culprits were summoned to appear before the +paternal court of inquiry.</p> + +<p>"They came hand in hand, and with no great show of fear or +embarrassment. They had gotten off so many times before that they were +perfectly confident of their power in this case to cajole the judge. But +to their surprise he was all sternness and severity.</p> + +<p>"'Now look here,' he said, after expatiating on the cruel treatment +which the dog had received. 'I want to know which one of you tied the +can to Spot's tail?'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span></p><p>"Robert Vaughan looked at Ben, and Ben looked back at him. Silence +there, and nothing more.</p> + +<p>"'Do you hear my question?' old Fairfax asked with rising voice.</p> + +<p>"Robert Vaughan looked straight ahead of him, and Ben dug his big toe +into the sand at the foot of the veranda, but neither answered.</p> + +<p>"'Robert Vaughan Fairfax,' said his father, 'who played that trick on +Spot? Answer me, do you hear?'</p> + +<p>"The Fairfax heir seemed suddenly to have grown deaf and dumb, and the +father turned to the black boy. His voice took on the tone of command +which he had hardly used to his son. 'Who played that trick on Spot? +Answer me, Ben.'</p> + +<p>"The little darky dug harder and harder into the sand, and flashed a +furtive glance from under his brows at his fellow-conspirator. Then he +drawled out, 'I done it.'</p> + +<p>"'You didn't,' came back the instant retort from his young master, 'I +did it myself.'</p> + +<p>"'I done it,' repeated Ben, and 'You didn't,' reiterated his young +master.</p> + +<p>"The father sat and looked on at the dispute, and his mouth twitched +suspiciously, but he spoke up sternly. 'Well, if I can't get the truth +out of you this way, I'll try some other plan. Mandy,' he hailed a +servant, 'put these boys on a diet of bread and water until they are +ready to answer my questions truthfully.'</p> + +<p>"The culprits were led away to their punishment. Of course it would have +just been meat to Mandy to have stolen something to the youngsters, but +her master kept such a close eye upon her that she couldn't, and when +brought back at the end of three hours, their fare had left the +prisoners rather hungry. But they had evidently disputed the matter +between themselves, and from the cloud on their faces when they +reappeared before their stern judge, it was still unsettled.</p> + +<p>"To the repetition of the question, Vaughan answered again, 'I did it,' +and then his father tried Ben again.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span></p><p>"After several efforts, and an imploring glance at his boy master, the +little black stammered out:</p> + +<p>"'Well, I reckon—I reckon, Mas,' me an' Mas' Vaughan, we done it in +cahoots.'</p> + +<p>"Old Fairfax Fairfax had a keen sense of humour, and as he looked down +on the strangely old young darky and took in his answer, the +circumstance became too much for his gravity, and his relaxing laugh +sent the culprits rolling and tumbling in the sand in an ectasy of +relief from the strained situation.</p> + +<p>"'Cahoots—I reckon it was "Cahoots,"' the judge said. 'You ought to be +named that, you little black rascal!' Well, the story got around, and so +it was, and from that day forth the black boy was 'Cahoots.' Cahoots, +whether on the plantation, at home, in the halls of the Northern +College, where he accompanied his young master, or in the tragic moments +of the great war-drama played out on the field of Malvern.</p> + +<p>"As they were in childhood, so, inseparable through youth and young +manhood, Robert Fairfax and Cahoots grew up. They were together in +everything, and when the call came that summoned the young Virginian +from his college to fight for the banner of his State, Cahoots was the +one who changed from the ease of a gentleman's valet to the hardship of +a soldier's body-servant.</p> + +<p>"The last words Fairfax Fairfax said as his son cantered away in his +gray suit were addressed to Cahoots: 'Take good care of your Mas' +Vaughan, Cahoots, and don't come back without him.'</p> + +<p>"'I won't, Mastah,' Cahoots flung back and galloped after his lifelong +companion.</p> + +<p>"Well, the war brought hard times both for master and man, and there +were no flowery beds of ease even for the officers who wore the gray. +Robert Fairfax took the fortunes of the conflict like a man and a +Virginia gentleman, and with him Cahoots.</p> + +<p>"It was at Malvern Hill that the young Confederate led his troops<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> into +battle, and all day long the booming of the cannon and the crash of +musketry rising above the cries of the wounded and dying came to the +ears of the slave waiting in his tent for his master's return. Then in +the afternoon a scattered fragment came straggling back into the camp. +Cahoots went out to meet them. The firing still went on.</p> + +<p>"'Whah's Mas' Bob?' his voice pierced through the cannon's thunder.</p> + +<p>"'He fell at the front, early in the battle.'</p> + +<p>"'Whah's his body den, ef he fell?'</p> + +<p>"'We didn't have time to look for dead bodies in that murderous fire. It +was all we could do to get our living bodies away.'</p> + +<p>"'But I promised not to go back without him.' It was a wail of anguish +from the slave.</p> + +<p>"'Well, you'll have to.'</p> + +<p>"'I won't. Whah did he fall?'</p> + +<p>"Someone sketched briefly the approximate locality of Robert Fairfax's +resting place, and on the final word Cahoots tore away.</p> + +<p>"The merciless shot of the Federals was still raking the field. But amid +it all an old prairie schooner, gotten from God knows where, started out +from the dismantled camp across the field. 'Some fool going to his +death,' said one of the gray soldiers.</p> + +<p>"A ragged, tattered remnant of the wagon came back. The horses were +bleeding and staggering in their steps. The very harness was cut by the +balls that had grazed it. But with a light in his eyes and the look of a +hero, Cahoots leaped from the tattered vehicle and began dragging out +the body of his master.</p> + +<p>"He had found him far to the front in an abandoned position and brought +him back over the field of the dead.</p> + +<p>"'How did you do it?' They asked him.</p> + +<p>"'I jes' had to do it,' he said. 'I promised not to go home widout him, +and I didn't keer ef I did git killed. I wanted to die ef I couldn't +find Mas' Bob's body.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span></p><p>"He carried the body home, and mourned at the burial, and a year later +came back to the regiment with the son who had come after Robert, and +was now just of fighting age. He went all through this campaign, and +when the war was over, the two struck away into the mountains. They came +back after a while, neither one having taken the oath of allegiance, and +if there were any rebels Cahoots was as great a one to the day of his +death as his master. That tomb-stone, you see it looks old, was placed +there at the old master's request when his dead son came home from +Malvern Hill, for he said when Cahoots went to the other side they must +not be separated; that accounts for its look of age, but it was not +until last year that we laid Cahoots—Cahoots still though an old +man—beside his master. And many a man that had owned his people, and +many another that had fought to continue that ownership, dropped a tear +on his grave."</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Nine</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">THE PROMOTER</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">E</span>ven as early as September, in the year of 1870, the newly emancipated +had awakened to the perception of the commercial advantages of freedom, +and had begun to lay snares to catch the fleet and elusive dollar. Those +controversialists who say that the Negro's only idea of freedom was to +live without work are either wrong, malicious, or they did not know +Little Africa when the boom was on; when every little African, fresh +from the fields and cabins, dreamed only of untold wealth and of +mansions in which he would have been thoroughly uncomfortable. These +were the devil's sunny days, and early and late his mowers were in the +field. These were the days of benefit societies that only benefited the +shrewdest man; of mutual insurance associations, of wild building +companies, and of gilt-edged land schemes wherein the unwary became +bogged. This also was the day of Mr. Jason Buford, who, having been free +before the war, knew a thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> or two, and now had set himself up as a +promoter. Truly he had profited by the example of the white men for whom +he had so long acted as messenger and factotum.</p> + +<p>As he frequently remarked when for purposes of business he wished to air +his Biblical knowledge, "I jest takes the Scripter fur my motter an' +foller that ol' passage where it says, 'Make hay while the sun shines, +fur the night cometh when no man kin work.'"</p> + +<p>It is related that one of Mr. Buford's customers was an old plantation +exhorter. At the first suggestion of a Biblical quotation the old +gentleman closed his eyes and got ready with his best amen. But as the +import of the words dawned on him he opened his eyes in surprise, and +the amen died a-borning. "But do hit say dat?" he asked earnestly.</p> + +<p>"It certainly does read that way," said the promoter glibly.</p> + +<p>"Uh, huh," replied the old man, settling himself back in his chair. "I +been preachin' dat t'ing wrong fu' mo' dan fo'ty yeahs. Dat's whut comes +o' not bein' able to read de wo'd fu' yo'se'f."</p> + +<p>Buford had no sense of the pathetic or he could never have done what he +did—sell to the old gentleman, on the strength of the knowledge he had +imparted to him, a house and lot upon terms so easy that he might drowse +along for a little time and then wake to find himself both homeless and +penniless. This was the promoter's method, and for so long a time had it +proved successful that he had now grown mildly affluent and had set up a +buggy in which to drive about and see his numerous purchasers and +tenants.</p> + +<p>Buford was a suave little yellow fellow, with a manner that suggested +the training of some old Southern butler father, or at least, an +experience as a likely house-boy. He was polite, plausible, and more +than all, resourceful. All of this he had been for years, but in all +these years he had never so risen to the height of his own uniqueness as +when he conceived and carried into execution the idea of the "Buford +Colonizing Company."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span></p><p>Humanity has always been looking for an Eldorado, and, however mixed the +metaphor may be, has been searching for a Moses to lead it thereto. +Behold, then, Jason Buford in the rôle of Moses. And equipped he was to +carry off his part with the very best advantage, for though he might not +bring water from the rock, he could come as near as any other man to +getting blood from a turnip.</p> + +<p>The beauty of the man's scheme was that no offering was too small to be +accepted. Indeed, all was fish that came to his net.</p> + +<p>Think of paying fifty cents down and knowing that some time in the dim +future you would be the owner of property in the very heart of a great +city where people would rush to buy. It was glowing enough to attract a +people more worldly wise than were these late slaves. They simply fell +into the scheme with all their souls; and off their half dollars, +dollars, and larger sums, Mr. Buford waxed opulent. The land meanwhile +did not materialise.</p> + +<p>It was just at this time that Sister Jane Callender came upon the scene +and made glad the heart of the new-fledged Moses. He had heard of Sister +Jane before, and he had greeted her coming with a sparkling of eyes and +a rubbing of hands that betokened a joy with a good financial basis.</p> + +<p>The truth about the newcomer was that she had just about received her +pension, or that due to her deceased husband, and she would therefore be +rich, rich to the point where avarice would lie in wait for her.</p> + +<p>Sis' Jane settled in Mr. Buford's bailiwick, joined the church he +attended, and seemed only waiting with her dollars for the very call +which he was destined to make. She was hardly settled in a little +three-room cottage before he hastened to her side, kindly intent, or its +counterfeit, beaming from his features. He found a weak-looking old lady +propped in a great chair, while another stout and healthy-looking woman +ministered to her wants or stewed about the house in order to be doing +something.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span></p><p>"Ah, which—which is Sis' Jane Callender," he asked, rubbing his hands +for all the world like a clothing dealer over a good customer.</p> + +<p>"Dat's Sis' Jane in de cheer," said the animated one, pointing to her +charge. "She feelin' mighty po'ly dis evenin'. What might be yo' name?" +She was promptly told.</p> + +<p>"Sis' Jane, hyeah one de good brothahs come to see you to offah his +suvices if you need anything."</p> + +<p>"Thanky, brothah, charity," said the weak voice, "sit yo'se'f down. You +set down, Aunt Dicey. Tain't no use a runnin' roun' waitin' on me. I +ain't long fu' dis worl' nohow, mistah."</p> + +<p>"Buford is my name an' I came in to see if I could be of any assistance +to you, a-fixin' up yo' mattahs er seein' to anything for you."</p> + +<p>"Hit's mighty kind o' you to come, dough I don' 'low I'll need much +fixin' fu' now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we hope you'll soon be better, Sistah Callender."</p> + +<p>"Nevah no mo', suh, 'til I reach the Kingdom."</p> + +<p>"Sis' Jane Callender, she have been mighty sick," broke in Aunt Dicey +Fairfax, "but I reckon she gwine pull thoo', the Lawd willin'."</p> + +<p>"Amen," said Mr. Buford.</p> + +<p>"Huh, uh, children, I done hyeahd de washin' of de waters of Jerdon."</p> + +<p>"No, no, Sistah Callendah, we hope to see you well and happy in de +injoyment of de pension dat I understan' de gov'ment is goin' to give +you."</p> + +<p>"La, chile, I reckon de white folks gwine to git dat money. I ain't +nevah gwine to live to 'ceive it. Des' aftah I been wo'kin' so long fu' +it, too."</p> + +<p>The small eyes of Mr. Buford glittered with anxiety and avarice. What, +was this rich plum about to slip from his grasp, just as he was about to +pluck it? It should not be. He leaned over the old lady with intense +eagerness in his gaze.</p> + +<p>"You must live to receive it," he said, "we need that money for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> +race. It must not go back to the white folks. Ain't you got nobody to +leave it to?"</p> + +<p>"Not a chick ner a chile, 'ceptin' Sis' Dicey Fairfax here."</p> + +<p>Mr. Buford breathed again. "Then leave it to her, by all means," he +said.</p> + +<p>"I don' want to have nothin' to do with de money of de daid," said Sis' +Dicey Fairfax.</p> + +<p>"Now, don't talk dat away, Sis' Dicey," said the sick woman. "Brother +Buford is right, case you sut'ny has been good to me sence I been layin' +hyeah on de bed of affliction, an' dey ain't nobody more fitterner to +have dat money den you is. Ef de Lawd des lets me live long enough, I's +gwine to mek my will in yo' favoh."</p> + +<p>"De Lawd's will be done," replied the other with resignation, and Mr. +Buford echoed with an "Amen!"</p> + +<p>He stayed very long that evening, planning and talking with the two old +women, who received his words as the Gospel. Two weeks later the +<i>Ethiopian Banner</i>, which was the organ of Little Africa, announced that +Sis' Jane Callender had received a back pension which amounted to more +than five hundred dollars. Thereafter Mr. Buford was seen frequently in +the little cottage, until one day, after a lapse of three or four weeks, +a policeman entered Sis' Jane Callender's cottage and led her away +amidst great excitement to prison. She was charged with pension fraud, +and against her protestations, was locked up to await the action of the +Grand Jury.</p> + +<p>The promoter was very active in his client's behalf, but in spite of all +his efforts she was indicted and came up for trial.</p> + +<p>It was a great day for the denizens of Little Africa, and they crowded +the court room to look upon this stranger who had come among them to +grow so rich, and then suddenly to fall so low.</p> + +<p>The prosecuting attorney was a young Southerner, and when he saw the +prisoner at the bar he started violently, but checked himself. When the +prisoner saw him, however, she made no effort at self control.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span></p><p>"Lawd o' mussy," she cried, spreading out her black arms, "if it ain't +Miss Lou's little Bobby."</p> + +<p>The judge checked the hilarity of the audience; the prosecutor +maintained his dignity by main force, and the bailiff succeeded in +keeping the old lady in her place, although she admonished him: "Pshaw, +chile, you needn't fool wid me, I nussed dat boy's mammy when she borned +him."</p> + +<p>It was too much for the young attorney, and he would have been less a +man if it had not been. He came over and shook her hand warmly, and this +time no one laughed.</p> + +<p>It was really not worth while prolonging the case, and the prosecution +was nervous. The way that old black woman took the court and its +officers into her bosom was enough to disconcert any ordinary tribunal. +She patronised the judge openly before the hearing began and insisted +upon holding a gentle motherly conversation with the foreman of the +jury.</p> + +<p>She was called to the stand as the very first witness.</p> + +<p>"What is your name?" asked the attorney.</p> + +<p>"Now, Bobby, what is you axin' me dat fu'? You know what my name is, and +you one of de Fairfax fambly, too. I 'low ef yo' mammy was hyeah, she'd +mek you 'membah; she'd put you in yo' place."</p> + +<p>The judge rapped for order.</p> + +<p>"That is just a manner of proceeding," he said; "you must answer the +question, so the rest of the court may know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, suh, 'scuse me, my name hit's Dicey Fairfax."</p> + +<p>The attorney for the defence threw up his hands and turned purple. He +had a dozen witnesses there to prove that they had known the woman as +Jane Callender.</p> + +<p>"But did you not give your name as Jane Callender?"</p> + +<p>"I object," thundered the defence.</p> + +<p>"Do, hush, man," Sis' Dicey exclaimed, and then turning to the +prosecutor, "La, honey, you know Jane Callender ain't my real name,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> you +knows dat yo'se'f. It's des my bus'ness name. W'y, Sis' Jane Callender +done daid an' gone to glory too long 'go fu' to talk erbout."</p> + +<p>"Then you admit to the court that your name is not Jane Callender?"</p> + +<p>"Wha's de use o' my 'mittin', don' you know it yo'se'f, suh? Has I got +to come hyeah at dis late day an' p'ove my name an' redentify befo' my +ol' Miss's own chile? Mas' Bob, I nevah did t'ink you'd ac' dat away. +Freedom sutny has done tuk erway yo' mannahs."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, yes, that's all right, but we want to establish the fact that +your name is Dicey Fairfax."</p> + +<p>"Cose it is."</p> + +<p>"Your Honor, I object—I——"</p> + +<p>"Your Honor," said Fairfax coldly, "will you grant me the liberty of +conducting the examination in a way somewhat out of the ordinary lines? +I believe that my brother for the defence will have nothing to complain +of. I believe that I understand the situation and shall be able to get +the truth more easily by employing methods that are not altogether +technical."</p> + +<p>The court seemed to understand a thing or two himself, and overruled the +defence's objection.</p> + +<p>"Now, Mrs. Fairfax——"</p> + +<p>Aunt Dicey snorted. "Hoomph? What? Mis' Fairfax? What ou say, Bobby +Fairfax? What you call me dat fu'? My name Aunt Dicey to you an' I want +you to un'erstan' dat right hyeah. Ef you keep on foolin' wid me, I +'spec' my patience gwine waih claih out."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me. Well, Aunt Dicey, why did you take the name of Jane +Callender if your name is really Dicey Fairfax?"</p> + +<p>"W'y, I done tol' you, Bobby, dat Sis' Jane Callender was des' my +bus'ness name."</p> + +<p>"Well, how were you to use this business name?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it was des dis away. Sis' Jane Callender, she gwine git huh +pension, but la, chile, she tuk down sick unto deaf, an' Brothah<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> +Buford, he say dat she ought to mek a will in favoh of somebody, so's de +money would stay 'mongst ouah folks, an' so, bimeby, she 'greed she mek +a will."</p> + +<p>"And who is Brother Buford, Aunt Dicey?"</p> + +<p>"Brothah Buford? Oh, he's de gemman whut come an' offered to 'ten' to +Sis' Jane Callender's bus'ness fu' huh. He's a moughty clevah man."</p> + +<p>"And he told her she ought to make a will?"</p> + +<p>"Yas, suh. So she 'greed she gwine mek a will, an' she say to me, 'Sis +Dicey, you sut'ny has been good to me sence I been layin' hyeah on dis +bed of 'fliction, an' I gwine will all my proputy to you.' Well, I don't +want to tek de money, an' she des mos' nigh fo'ce it on me, so I say +yes, an' Brothah Buford he des sot an' talk to us, an' he say dat he +come to-morror to bring a lawyer to draw up de will. But bless Gawd, +honey, Sis' Callender died dat night, an' de will wasn't made, so when +Brothah Buford come bright an' early next mornin', I was layin' Sis' +Callender out. Brothah Buford was mighty much moved, he was. I nevah did +see a strange pusson tek anything so hard in all my life, an' den he +talk to me, an' he say, 'Now, Sis' Dicey, is you notified any de +neighbours yit?' an' I said no I hain't notified no one of de +neighbours, case I ain't 'quainted wid none o' dem yit, an' he say, 'How +erbout de doctah? Is he 'quainted wid de diseased?' an' I tol' him no, +he des come in, da's all. 'Well,' he say, 'cose you un'erstan' now dat +you is Sis' Jane Callender, caise you inhe'it huh name, an' when de +doctah come to mek out de 'stiffycate, you mus' tell him dat Sis' Dicey +Fairfax is de name of de diseased, an' it'll be all right, an' aftah dis +you got to go by de name o' Jane Callender, caise it's a bus'ness name +you done inhe'it.' Well, dat's whut I done, an' dat's huccome I been +Jane Callender in de bus'ness 'sactions, an' Dicey Fairfax at home. Now, +you un'erstan', don't you? It wuz my inhe'ited name."</p> + +<p>"But don't you know that what you have done is a penitentiary offence?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span></p><p>"Who you stan'in' up talkin' to dat erway, you nasty impident little +scoun'el? Don't you talk to me dat erway. I reckon ef yo' mammy was +hyeah she sut'ny would tend to yo' case. You alluse was sassier an' +pearter den yo' brother Nelse, an' he had to go an' git killed in de +wah, an' you—you—w'y, jedge, I'se spanked dat boy mo' times den I kin +tell you fu' hus impidence. I don't see how you evah gits erlong wid +him."</p> + +<p>The court repressed a ripple that ran around. But there was no smile on +the smooth-shaven, clear-cut face of the young Southerner. Turning to +the attorney for the defence, he said: "Will you take the witness?" But +that gentleman, waving one helpless hand, shook his head.</p> + +<p>"That will do, then," said young Fairfax. "Your Honor," he went on, +addressing the court, "I have no desire to prosecute this case further. +You all see the trend of it just as I see, and it would be folly to +continue the examination of any of the rest of these witnesses. We have +got that story from Aunt Dicey herself as straight as an arrow from a +bow. While technically she is guilty; while according to the facts she +is a criminal according to the motive and the intent of her actions, she +is as innocent as the whitest soul among us." He could not repress the +youthful Southerner's love for this little bit of rhetoric.</p> + +<p>"And I believe that nothing is to be gained by going further into the +matter, save for the purpose of finding out the whereabouts of this +Brother Buford, and attending to his case as the facts warrant. But +before we do this, I want to see the stamp of crime wiped away from the +name of my Aunt Dicey there, and I beg leave of the court to enter a +nolle prosse. There is only one other thing I must ask of Aunt Dicey, +and that is that she return the money that was illegally gotten, and +give us information concerning the whereabouts of Buford."</p> + +<p>Aunt Dicey looked up in excitement, "W'y, chile, ef dat money was got +illegal, I don' want it, but I do know whut I gwine to do, cause I done +'vested it all wid Brothah Buford in his colorednization<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> comp'ny." The +court drew its breath. It had been expecting some such <i>dénouement</i>.</p> + +<p>"And where is the office of this company situated?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I des can't tell dat," said the old lady. "W'y, la, man, Brothah +Buford was in co't to-day. Whaih is he? Brothah Buford, whaih you?" But +no answer came from the surrounding spectators. Brother Buford had faded +away. The old lady, however, after due conventions, was permitted to go +home.</p> + +<p>It was with joy in her heart that Aunt Dicey Fairfax went back to her +little cottage after her dismissal, but her face clouded when soon after +Robert Fairfax came in.</p> + +<p>"Hyeah you come as usual," she said with well-feigned anger. "Tryin' to +sof' soap me aftah you been carryin' on. You ain't changed one mite fu' +all yo' bein' a man. What you talk to me dat away in co't fu'?"</p> + +<p>Fairfax's face was very grave. "It was necessary, Aunt Dicey," he said. +"You know I'm a lawyer now, and there are certain things that lawyers +have to do whether they like it or not. You don't understand. That man +Buford is a scoundrel, and he came very near leading you into a very +dangerous and criminal act. I am glad I was near to save you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, honey, chile, I didn't know dat. Set down an' tell me all erbout +it."</p> + +<p>This the attorney did, and the old lady's indignation blazed forth. +"Well, I hope to de Lawd you'll fin' dat rascal an' larrup him ontwell +he cain't stan' straight."</p> + +<p>"No, we're going to do better than that and a great deal better. If we +find him we are going to send him where he won't inveigle any more +innocent people into rascality, and you're going to help us."</p> + +<p>"W'y, sut'ny, chile, I'll do all I kin to he'p you git dat rascal, but I +don't know whaih he lives, case he's allus come hyeah to see me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span></p><p>"He'll come back some day. In the meantime we will be laying for him."</p> + +<p>Aunt Dicey was putting some very flaky biscuits into the oven, and +perhaps the memory of other days made the young lawyer prolong his visit +and his explanation. When, however, he left, it was with well-laid plans +to catch Jason Buford napping.</p> + +<p>It did not take long. Stealthily that same evening a tapping came at +Aunt Dicey's door. She opened it, and a small, crouching figure crept +in. It was Mr. Buford. He turned down the collar of his coat which he +had had closely up about his face and said:</p> + +<p>"Well, well, Sis' Callender, you sut'ny have spoiled us all."</p> + +<p>"La, Brothah Buford, come in hyeah an' set down. Whaih you been?"</p> + +<p>"I been hidin' fu' feah of that testimony you give in the court room. +What did you do that fu'?"</p> + +<p>"La, me, I didn't know, you didn't 'splain to me in de fust."</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, you spoiled it, an' I've got to git out of town as soon +as I kin. Sis' Callender, dese hyeah white people is mighty slippery, +and they might catch me. But I want to beg you to go on away from hyeah +so's you won't be hyeah to testify if dey does. Hyeah's a hundred +dollars of yo' money right down, and you leave hyeah to-morrer mornin' +an' go erway as far as you kin git."</p> + +<p>"La, man, I's puffectly willin' to he'p you, you know dat."</p> + +<p>"Cose, cose," he answered hurriedly, "we col'red people has got to stan' +together."</p> + +<p>"But what about de res' of dat money dat I been 'vestin' wid you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm goin' to pay intrus' on that," answered the promoter glibly.</p> + +<p>"All right, all right." Aunt Dicey had made several trips to the little +back room just off her sitting room as she talked with the promoter. +Three times in the window had she waved a lighted lamp. Three times +without success. But at the last "all right," she went into the room<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> +again. This time the waving lamp was answered by the sudden flash of a +lantern outside.</p> + +<p>"All right," she said, as she returned to the room, "set down an' lemme +fix you some suppah."</p> + +<p>"I ain't hardly got the time. I got to git away from hyeah." But the +smell of the new baked biscuits was in his nostrils and he could not +resist the temptation to sit down. He was eating hastily, but with +appreciation, when the door opened and two minions of the law entered.</p> + +<p>Buford sprang up and turned to flee, but at the back door, her large +form a towering and impassive barrier, stood Aunt Dicey.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't hu'y, Brothah Buford," she said calmly, "set down an' he'p +yo'se'f. Dese hyeah's my friends."</p> + +<p>It was the next day that Robert Fairfax saw him in his cell. The man's +face was ashen with coward's terror. He was like a caught rat though, +bitingly on the defensive.</p> + +<p>"You see we've got you, Buford," said Fairfax coldly to him. "It is as +well to confess."</p> + +<p>"I ain't got nothin' to say," said Buford cautiously.</p> + +<p>"You will have something to say later on unless you say it now. I don't +want to intimidate you, but Aunt Dicey's word will be taken in any court +in the United States against yours, and I see a few years hard labour +for you between good stout walls."</p> + +<p>The little promoter showed his teeth in an impotent snarl. "What do you +want me to do?" he asked, weakening.</p> + +<p>"First, I want you to give back every cent of the money that you got out +of Dicey Fairfax. Second, I want you to give up to every one of those +Negroes that you have cheated every cent of the property you have +accumulated by fraudulent means. Third, I want you to leave this place, +and never come back so long as God leaves breath in your dirty body. If +you do this, I will save you—you are not worth the saving—from the pen +or worse. If you don't, I will make this place so hot for you that hell +will seem like an icebox beside it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span></p><p>The little yellow man was cowering in his cell before the attorney's +indignation. His lips were drawn back over his teeth in something that +was neither a snarl nor a smile. His eyes were bulging and +fear-stricken, and his hands clasped and unclasped themselves nervously.</p> + +<p>"I—I——" he faltered, "do you want to send me out without a cent?"</p> + +<p>"Without a cent, without a cent," said Fairfax tensely.</p> + +<p>"I won't do it," the rat in him again showed fight. "I won't do it. I'll +stay hyeah an' fight you. You can't prove anything on me."</p> + +<p>"All right, all right," and the attorney turned toward the door.</p> + +<p>"Wait, wait," called the man, "I will do it, my God! I will do it. Jest +let me out o' hyeah, don't keep me caged up. I'll go away from hyeah."</p> + +<p>Fairfax turned back to him coldly, "You will keep your word?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"I will return at once and take the confession."</p> + +<p>And so the thing was done. Jason Buford, stripped of his ill-gotten +gains, left the neighbourhood of Little Africa forever. And Aunt Dicey, +no longer a wealthy woman and a capitalist, is baking golden brown +biscuits for a certain young attorney and his wife, who has the bad +habit of rousing her anger by references to her business name and her +investments with a promoter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Ten</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">THE WISDOM OF SILENCE</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">J</span>eremiah Anderson was free. He had been free for ten years, and he was +proud of it. He had been proud of it from the beginning, and that was +the reason that he was one of the first to cast off the bonds of his old +relations, and move from the plantation and take up land for himself. He +was anxious to cut himself off from all that bound him to his former +life. So strong was this feeling in him that he would not consent to +stay on and work for his one-time owner even for a full wage.</p> + +<p>To the proposition of the planter and the gibes of some of his more +dependent fellows he answered, "No, suh, I's free, an' I sholy is able +to tek keer o' myse'f. I done been fattenin' frogs fu' othah people's +snakes too long now."</p> + +<p>"But, Jerry," said Samuel Brabant, "I don't mean you any harm. The +thing's done. You don't belong to me any more, but naturally, I take an +interest in you, and want to do what I can to give you a start.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> It's +more than the Northern government has done for you, although such wise +men ought to know that you have had no training in caring for +yourselves."</p> + +<p>There was a slight sneer in the Southerner's voice. Jerry perceived it +and thought it directed against him. Instantly his pride rose and his +neck stiffened.</p> + +<p>"Nemmine me," he answered, "nemmine me. I's free, an' w'en a man's free, +he's free."</p> + +<p>"All right, go your own way. You may have to come back to me some time. +If you have to come, come. I don't blame you now. It must be a great +thing to you, this dream—this nightmare." Jerry looked at him. "Oh, it +isn't a nightmare now, but some day, maybe, it will be, then come to +me."</p> + +<p>The master turned away from the newly made freeman, and Jerry went forth +into the world which was henceforth to be his. He took with him his few +belongings; these largely represented by his wife and four lusty-eating +children. Besides, he owned a little money, which he had got working for +others when his master's task was done. Thus, bur'dened and equipped, he +set out to tempt Fortune.</p> + +<p>He might do one of two things—farm land upon shares for one of his +short-handed neighbours, or buy a farm, mortgage it, and pay for it as +he could. As was natural for Jerry, and not uncommendable, he chose at +once the latter course, bargained for his twenty acres—for land was +cheap then, bought his mule, built his cabin, and set up his household +goods.</p> + +<p>Now, slavery may give a man the habit of work, but it cannot imbue him +with the natural thrift that long years of self-dependence brings. There +were times when Jerry's freedom tugged too strongly at his easy +inclination, drawing him away to idle when he should have toiled. What +was the use of freedom, asked an inward voice, if one might not rest +when one would? If he might not stop midway the furrow to listen and +laugh at a droll story or tell one? If he might not go a-fishing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> when +all the forces of nature invited and the jay-bird called from the tree +and gave forth saucy banter like the fiery, blue shrew that she was?</p> + +<p>There were times when his compunction held Jerry to his task, but more +often he turned an end furrow and laid his misgivings snugly under it +and was away to the woods or the creek. There was joy and a loaf for the +present. What more could he ask?</p> + +<p>The first year Fortune laughed at him, and her laugh is very different +from her smile. She sent the swift rains to wash up the new planted +seed, and the hungry birds to devour them. She sent the fierce sun to +scorch the young crops, and the clinging weeds to hug the fresh +greenness of his hope to death. She sent—cruellest jest of all—another +baby to be fed, and so weakened Cindy Ann that for many days she could +not work beside her husband in the fields.</p> + +<p>Poverty began to teach the unlessoned delver in the soil the thrift +which he needed; but he ended his first twelve months with barely enough +to eat, and nothing paid on his land or his mule. Broken and +discouraged, the words of his old master came to him. But he was proud +with an obstinate pride and he shut his lips together so that he might +not groan. He would not go to his master. Anything rather than that.</p> + +<p>In that place sat certain beasts of prey, dealers, and lenders of money, +who had their lairs somewhere within the boundaries of that wide and +mysterious domain called The Law. They had their risks to run, but so +must all beasts that eat flesh or drink blood. To them went Jerry, and +they were kind to him. They gave him of their store. They gave him food +and seed, but they were to own all that they gave him from what he +raised, and they were to take their toll first from the new crops.</p> + +<p>Now, the black had been warned against these same beasts, for others had +fallen a prey to them even in so short a time as their emancipation +measured, and they saw themselves the re-manacled slaves of a hopeless +and ever-growing debt, but Jerry would not be warned. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> chewed the +warnings like husks between his teeth, and got no substance from them.</p> + +<p>Then, Fortune, who deals in surprises, played him another trick. She +smiled upon him. His second year was better than his first, and the +brokers swore over his paid up note. Cindy Ann was strong again and the +oldest boy was big enough to help with the work.</p> + +<p>Samuel Brabant was displeased, not because he felt any malice toward his +former servant, but for the reason that any man with the natural amount +of human vanity must feel himself agrieved just as his cherished +prophecy is about to come true. Isaiah himself could not have been above +it. How much less, then, the uninspired Mr. Brabant, who had his "I told +you so," all ready. He had been ready to help Jerry after giving him +admonitions, but here it was not needed. An unused "I told you so," +however kindly, is an acid that turns the milk of human kindness sour.</p> + +<p>Jerry went on gaining in prosperity. The third year treated him better +than the second, and the fourth better than the third. During the fifth +he enlarged his farm and his house and took pride in the fact that his +oldest boy, Matthew, was away at school. By the tenth year of his +freedom he was arrogantly out of debt. Then his pride was too much for +him. During all these years of his struggle the words of his master had +been as gall in his mouth. Now he spat them out with a boast. He talked +much in the market-place, and where many people gathered, he was much +there, giving himself as a bright and shining example.</p> + +<p>"Huh," he would chuckle to any listeners he could find, "Ol' Mas' +Brabant, he say, 'Stay hyeah, stay hyeah, you do' know how to tek keer +o' yo'se'f yit.' But I des' look at my two han's an' I say to myse'f, +whut I been doin' wid dese all dese yeahs—tekin' keer o' myse'f an' +him, too. I wo'k in de fiel', he set in de big house an' smoke. I wo'k +in de fiel', his son go away to college an' come back a graduate. Das +hit. Well, w'en freedom come, I des' bent an' boun' I ain' gwine do it +no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> mo' an' I didn't. Now look at me. I sets down w'en I wants to. I +does my own wo'kin' an' my own smokin'. I don't owe a cent, an' dis yeah +my boy gwine graduate f'om de school. Dat's me, an' I ain' called on ol' +Mas' yit."</p> + +<p>Now, an example is always an odious thing, because, first of all, it is +always insolent even when it is bad, and there were those who listened +to Jerry who had not been so successful as he, some even who had stayed +on the plantation and as yet did not even own the mule they ploughed +with. The hearts of those were filled with rage and their mouths with +envy. Some of the sting of the latter got into their retelling of +Jerry's talk and made it worse than it was.</p> + +<p>Old Samuel Brabant laughed and said, "Well, Jerry's not dead yet, and +although I don't wish him any harm, my prophecy might come true yet."</p> + +<p>There were others who, hearing, did not laugh, or if they did, it was +with a mere strained thinning of the lips that had no element of mirth +in it. Temper and tolerance were short ten years after sixty-three.</p> + +<p>The foolish farmer's boastings bore fruit, and one night when he and his +family had gone to church he returned to find his house and barn in +ashes, his mules burned and his crop ruined. It had been very quietly +done and quickly. The glare against the sky had attracted few from the +nearby town, and them too late to be of service.</p> + +<p>Jerry camped that night across the road from what remained of his former +dwelling. Cindy Ann and the children, worn out and worried, went to +sleep in spite of themselves, but he sat there all night long, his chin +between his knees, gazing at what had been his pride.</p> + +<p>Well, the beasts lay in wait for him again, and when he came to them +they showed their fangs in greeting. And the velvet was over their +claws. He had escaped them before. He had impugned their skill in the +hunt, and they were ravenous for him. Now he was fatter, too. He went +away from them with hard terms, and a sickness at his heart.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> But he had +not said "Yes" to the terms. He was going home to consider the almost +hopeless conditions under which they would let him build again.</p> + +<p>They were staying with a neighbour in town pending his negotiations and +thither he went to ponder on his circumstances. Then it was that Cindy +Ann came into the equation. She demanded to know what was to be done and +how it was to be gone about.</p> + +<p>"But Cindy Ann, honey, you do' know nuffin' 'bout bus'ness."</p> + +<p>"T'ain't whut I knows, but whut I got a right to know," was her +response.</p> + +<p>"I do' see huccome you got any right to be a-pryin' into dese hyeah +things."</p> + +<p>"I's got de same right I had to w'ok an' struggle erlong an' he'p you +get whut we's done los'."</p> + +<p>Jerry winced and ended by telling her all.</p> + +<p>"Dat ain't nuffin' but owdacious robbery," said Cindy Ann. "Dem people +sees dat you got a little some'p'n, an' dey ain't gwine stop ontwell +dey's bu'nt an' stoled evah blessed cent f'om you. Je'miah, don't you +have nuffin' mo' to do wid 'em."</p> + +<p>"I got to, Cindy Ann."</p> + +<p>"Whut fu' you got to?"</p> + +<p>"How I gwine buil' a cabin an' a ba'n an' buy a mule less'n I deal wid +'em?"</p> + +<p>"Dah's Mas' Sam Brabant. He'd he'p you out."</p> + +<p>Jerry rose up, his eyes flashing fire. "Cindy Ann," he said, "you a +fool, you ain't got no mo' pride den a guinea hen, an' you got a heap +less sense. W'y, befo' I go to ol' Mas' Sam Brabant fu' a cent, I'd +sta've out in de road."</p> + +<p>"Huh!" said Cindy Ann, shutting her mouth on her impatience.</p> + +<p>One gets tired of thinking and saying how much more sense a woman has +than a man when she comes in where his sense stops and his pride +begins.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span></p><p>With the recklessness of despair Jerry slept late that next morning, but +he might have awakened early without spoiling his wife's plans. She was +up betimes, had gone on her mission and returned before her spouse +awoke.</p> + +<p>It was about ten o'clock when Brabant came to see him. Jerry grew sullen +at once as his master approached, but his pride stiffened. This white +man should see that misfortune could not weaken him.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jerry," said his former master, "you would not come to me, eh, so +I must come to you. You let a little remark of mine keep you from your +best friend, and put you in the way of losing the labour of years."</p> + +<p>Jerry made no answer.</p> + +<p>"You've proved yourself able to work well, but Jerry," pausing, "you +haven't yet shown that you're able to take care of yourself, you don't +know how to keep your mouth shut."</p> + +<p>The ex-slave tried to prove this a lie by negative pantomime.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to lend you the money to start again."</p> + +<p>"I won't——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you will, if you don't, I'll lend it to Cindy Ann, and let her +build in her own name. She's got more sense than you, and she knows how +to keep still when things go well."</p> + +<p>"Mas' Sam," cried Jerry, rising quickly, "don' len' dat money to Cindy +Ann. W'y ef a ooman's got anything she nevah lets you hyeah de las' of +it."</p> + +<p>"Will you take it, then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh; yes, suh, an' thank 'e, Mas' Sam." There were sobs some place +back in his throat. "An' nex' time ef I evah gets a sta't agin, I'll +keep my mouf shet. Fac' is, I'll come to you, Mas' Sam, an' borry fu' de +sake o' hidin'."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Eleven</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">THE TRIUMPH OF OL' MIS' PEASE</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">B</span>etween the two women, the feud began in this way: When Ann Pease +divorced her handsome but profligate spouse, William, Nancy Rogers had, +with reprehensible haste, taken him for better or for worse. Of course, +it proved for worse, but Ann Pease had never forgiven her.</p> + +<p>"'Pears lak to me," she said, "dat she was des a-waitin' fu' to step +inter my shoes, no mattah how I got outen 'em, whethah I died or +divo'ced."</p> + +<p>It was in the hey-day of Nancy Rogers' youth, and she was still +hot-tempered, so she retorted that "Ann Pease sut'ny did unmind huh' o' +de dawg in de mangah." The friends of the two women took sides, and a +war began which waged hotly between them—a war which for the first few +weeks threatened the unity of Mt. Pisgah Church.</p> + +<p>But the church in all times has been something of a selfish institution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> +and has known how to take care of itself. Now, Mt. Pisgah, of necessity, +must recognise divorce, and of equal necessity, re-marriage. So when the +Rev. Isaiah Johnson had been appealed to, he had spread his fat hands, +closed his eyes and said solemnly, "Whom God hath j'ined, let no man put +asundah;" peace, or at best, apparent peace, settled upon the troubled +waters.</p> + +<p>The solidity of Mt. Pisgah was assured, the two factions again spoke to +each other, both gave collections on the same Sunday; but between the +two principals there was no abatement of their relentless animosity.</p> + +<p>Ann Pease as it happened was a "puffessor," while the new Mrs. Pease was +out of the fold; a gay, frivolous person who had never sought or found +grace. She laughed when a black wag said of the two that "they might +bofe be 'peas,' but dey wasn't out o' de same pod." But on its being +repeated to Sister Pease, she resented it with Christian indignation, +sniffed and remarked that "Ef Wi'yum choosed to pick out one o' de +onregenerate an' hang huh ez a millstone erroun' his neck, it wasn't +none o' huh bus'ness what happened to him w'en dey pulled up de tares +f'om de wheat."</p> + +<p>There were some ultra-malicious ones who said that Sister Pease, seeing +her former husband in the possession of another, had begun to regret her +step, for the unregenerate William was good-looking after all, and the +"times" that he and his equally sinful wife had together were the wonder +and disgust, the envy and horror of the whole community, who watched +them with varying moods of eagerness.</p> + +<p>Sister Ann Pease went her way apparently undisturbed. Religion has an +arrogance of its own, and when at the end of the year the good widow +remained unmarried she could toss her head, go her way, and look down +from a far height upon the "po' sinnahs"; indeed, she had rather the +better of her frailer sister in the sympathies of the people.</p> + +<p>As one sister feelingly remarked, "Dat ooman des baihin' dat man in huh +prayahs, an' I 'low she'll mou'n him into glory yit."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span></p><p>One year of married life disillusions, and defiant gaiety cannot live +upon itself when admiration fails. There is no reward in being daring +when courage becomes commonplace. The year darkened to winter, and +bloomed to spring again. The willows feathered along the river banks, +and the horse-chestnuts budded and burst into beautiful life. Then came +summer, rejoicing, with arms full of flowers, and autumn with lap full +of apples and grain, then winter again, and all through the days Nancy +danced and was gay, but there was a wistfulness in her eyes, and the tug +of the baby no longer drew her heart. She had come to be "Wi'yum's +Nancy," while the other, <i>that</i> other was still "Sister Pease," who sat +above her in the high places of the people's hearts.</p> + +<p>And then, oh, blessedness of the winter, the revival came; and both she +and William, strangely stricken together with the realisation of their +sins, fell at the mercy seat.</p> + +<p>"There is more joy over one sinner that repenteth,"—but when Will and +Nancy both "came through" on the same night—well, Mt. Pisgah's walls +know the story.</p> + +<p>There was triumph in Nancy's face as she proclaimed her conversion, and +the first person she made for was Sister Pease. She shook her hands and +embraced her, crying ever aloud between the vociferations of the +congregation, "Oh, sistah, he'p me praise Him, he'p me praise Him," and +the elder woman in the cause caught the infection of the moment and +joined in the general shout.</p> + +<p>Afterwards she was not pleased with herself. But then if she hadn't +shouted, wouldn't it have been worse?</p> + +<p>The Rev. Isaiah was nothing if not dramatic in his tendencies, and on +the day when he was to receive William and Nancy Pease into full +membership with the church, it struck him that nothing could make upon +his congregation a profounder impression for good than to have the two +new Peases joined by the elder one, or as the wag would have put it, all +in one pod. And it was so ordered, and the thing was done.</p> + +<p>It is true that the preacher had to labour some with Sister Ann<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> Pease, +but when he showed her how it was her Christian duty, and if she failed +of it her rival must advance before her in public opinion, she +acquiesced. It was an easier matter with "Sister Wi'yum Pease." She +agreed readily, for she was filled with condescending humility, which on +every occasion she took the opportunity of displaying toward her rival.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Isaiah Johnson only made one mistake in his diplomatic +manœuvring. That was when he whispered to Sister Ann Pease, "Didn't I +tell you? Des see how easy Sister Wi'yum give in." He was near to losing +his cause and the wind was completely taken out of his sails when the +widow replied with a snort, "Give in, my Lawd! Dat ooman's got a right +to give in; ain't she got 'uligion an' de man, too?"</p> + +<p>However, the storm blew over, and by the time service was begun they +were all seated together on a front bench, Sister Nancy, William, and +Sister Ann.</p> + +<p>Now was the psychological moment, and after a soul-stirring hymn the +preacher rose and announced his text—"Behold how good and how pleasant +it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."</p> + +<p>Someone in the back part of the church suggested trinity as a substitute +and started a titter, but the preacher had already got his dramatic +momentum, and was sweeping along in a tumultuous tide of oratory. Right +at his three victims did he aim his fiery eloquence, and ever and again +he came back to his theme, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for +brethren to dwell together in unity," even though Ann Pease had turned +her back on William, whose head was low bowed, and Nancy was +ostentatiously weeping into a yellow silk handkerchief.</p> + +<p>The sermon spurred on to a tempestuous close, and then came the climax +when the doors of the church were opened. William and Nancy immediately +went up to end their probation, and after a few whispered remarks the +minister shook hands with each of them, then raising his voice he said: +"Now, brothahs and sistahs, befo' you all gives dese<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> lambs de right +han' o' fellowship to welcome dem to de fol', I want Sister Ann Pease to +come up an' be de first to bid 'em God speed on the gospel way." Ann +Pease visibly swelled, but she marched up, and without looking at +either, shook hands with each of her enemies.</p> + +<p>"Hallelujah, praise de Lord," shouted the preacher, clapping his hands, +"Behold how good and how pleasant it is; and now let the congregation in +gineral come aroun' and welcome Brothah and Sistah Pease."</p> + +<p>His rich bass voice broke into "Bless Be the Tie that Binds," and as the +volume of the hymn, swelled by the full chorus of the congregation, +rolled away to the rafters of the little church, the people rose and +marched solemnly round, shaking hands with the new members and with each +other.</p> + +<p>Brother and Sister Pease were the last to leave church that day, but +they found Ann waiting for them at the door. She walked straight up to +them and spoke: "Nancy Rogers," she said, "I know you; I kin see claih +thoo you, and you ain't a foolin' me one bit. All I got to say is dat I +has done my Christian duty, an' I ain't gwine do no mo', so don' you +speak to me fo'm dis day out."</p> + +<p>For the brief space of a second there was something like a gleam in +Nancy's eyes, but she replied in all meekness, "I's a full-blown +Christian now, an' I feel it my bounden duty to speak to you, Sis' +Pease, an' I's gwine t' speak."</p> + +<p>Ignoring this defiance the other woman turned to her former husband. She +looked at him with unveiled contempt, then she said slowly, "An' ez fu' +Wi'yum, Gawd he'p you."</p> + +<p>Here all intercourse between these warring spirits might have ended but +for Nancy Pease's persistent civility. She would speak to her rival on +every occasion, and even call upon her if she could gain admittance to +the house. And now the last drop of bitterness fell into the widow's +cup, for the community, to distinguish between them, began calling her +"Ol' Sis' Pease." This was the climax of her sorrows, and she who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> had +been so devout came no more to the church; she who had been so cheerful +and companionable grew morose and sour and shut her doors against her +friends. She was as one dead to her old world. The one bit of vivid life +about her was her lasting hatred of the woman who bore her name. In vain +the preacher sought to break down the barrier of her animosity. She had +built it of adamant, and his was a losing fight. So for several years +the feud went on, and those who had known Ann in her cheerier days +forgot that knowledge and spoke of her with open aversion as "dat awful +ol' Mis' Pease." The while Nancy, in spite of "Wi'yum's" industrial +vagaries, had flourished and waxed opulent. She continued to flaunt her +Christian humility in the eyes of her own circle, and to withhold her +pity from the poor, lonely old woman whom hate had made bitter and to +whom the world, after all, had not been over-kind. But prosperity is +usually cruel, and one needs the prick of the thorn one's self to know +how it stings his brother.</p> + +<p>She was startled one day, however, out of her usual placidity. Sister +Martin, one of her neighbours, dropped in and settling herself with a +sigh announced the important news, "Well, bless Gawd, ol' Sis' Pease is +gone at last."</p> + +<p>Nancy dropped the plate she had been polishing, and unheeded, it smashed +into bits on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Wha'—what!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Yes'm," Sister Martin assured her, "de ol' lady done passed away."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know she was sick; w'en she die?"</p> + +<p>"She done shet huh eyes on dis worl' o' sorror des a few minutes ago. +She ain't bin sick mo'n two days."</p> + +<p>Nancy had come to herself now, and casting her eyes up in an excess of +Christian zeal, she said: "Well, she wouldn't let me do nuffin' fu' huh +in life, but I sut'ny shell try to do my duty by huh in death," and +drying her hands and throwing a shawl over her head, she hastened over +to her dead enemy's house.</p> + +<p>The news had spread quickly and the neighbourhood had just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> begun to +gather in the little room which held the rigid form. Nancy entered and +made her way through the group about the bed, waving the others aside +imperiously.</p> + +<p>"It is my Christian duty," she said solemnly, "to lay Sis' Pease out, +an' I's gwine do it." She bent over the bed. Now there are a dozen +truthful women who will vouch for the truth of what happened. When Nancy +leaned over the bed, as if in obedience to the power of an electric +shock, the corpse's eyes flew open, Ann Pease rose up in bed and +pointing a trembling finger at her frightened namesake exclaimed: "Go +'way f'om me, Nancy Rogers, don't you daih to tech me. You ain't got de +come-uppance of me yit. Don't you daih to lay me out."</p> + +<p>Most of this remark, it seems, fell on empty air, for the room was +cleared in a twinkling. Women holding high numerous skirts over their +heavy shoes fled in a panic, and close in their wake panted Nancy Pease.</p> + +<p>There have been conflicting stories about the matter, but there are +those who maintain that after having delivered her ultimatum, old Mis' +Pease immediately resumed the natural condition of a dead person. In +fact there was no one there to see, and the old lady did not really die +until night, and when they found her, there was a smile of triumph on +her face.</p> + +<p>Nancy did not help to lay her out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Twelve</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">THE LYNCHING OF JUBE BENSON</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">G</span>ordon Fairfax's library held but three men, but the air was dense with +clouds of smoke. The talk had drifted from one topic to another much as +the smoke wreaths had puffed, floated, and thinned away. Then Handon +Gay, who was an ambitious young reporter, spoke of a lynching story in a +recent magazine, and the matter of punishment without trial put new life +into the conversation.</p> + +<p>"I should like to see a real lynching," said Gay rather callously.</p> + +<p>"Well, I should hardly express it that way," said Fairfax, "but if a +real, live lynching were to come my way, I should not avoid it."</p> + +<p>"I should," spoke the other from the depths of his chair, where he had +been puffing in moody silence. Judged by his hair, which was freely +sprinkled with gray, the speaker might have been a man of forty-five or +fifty, but his face, though lined and serious, was youthful, the face of +a man hardly past thirty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span></p><p>"What, you, Dr. Melville? Why, I thought that you physicians wouldn't +weaken at anything."</p> + +<p>"I have seen one such affair," said the doctor gravely, "in fact, I took +a prominent part in it."</p> + +<p>"Tell us about it," said the reporter, feeling for his pencil and +notebook, which he was, nevertheless, careful to hide from the speaker.</p> + +<p>The men drew their chairs eagerly up to the doctor's, but for a minute +he did not seem to see them, but sat gazing abstractedly into the fire, +then he took a long draw upon his cigar and began:</p> + +<p>"I can see it all very vividly now. It was in the summer time and about +seven years ago. I was practising at the time down in the little town of +Bradford. It was a small and primitive place, just the location for an +impecunious medical man, recently out of college.</p> + +<p>"In lieu of a regular office, I attended to business in the first of two +rooms which I rented from Hiram Daly, one of the more prosperous of the +townsmen. Here I boarded and here also came my patients—white and +black—whites from every section, and blacks from 'nigger town,' as the +west portion of the place was called.</p> + +<p>"The people about me were most of them coarse and rough, but they were +simple and generous, and as time passed on I had about abandoned my +intention of seeking distinction in wider fields and determined to +settle into the place of a modest country doctor. This was rather a +strange conclusion for a young man to arrive at, and I will not deny +that the presence in the house of my host's beautiful young daughter, +Annie, had something to do with my decision. She was a beautiful young +girl of seventeen or eighteen, and very far superior to her +surroundings. She had a native grace and a pleasing way about her that +made everybody that came under her spell her abject slave. White and +black who knew her loved her, and none, I thought, more deeply and +respectfully than Jube Benson, the black man of all work about the +place.</p> + +<p>"He was a fellow whom everybody trusted; an apparently steady-going,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> +grinning sort, as we used to call him. Well, he was completely under +Miss Annie's thumb, and would fetch and carry for her like a faithful +dog. As soon as he saw that I began to care for Annie, and anybody could +see that, he transferred some of his allegiance to me and became my +faithful servitor also. Never did a man have a more devoted adherent in +his wooing than did I, and many a one of Annie's tasks which he +volunteered to do gave her an extra hour with me. You can imagine that I +liked the boy and you need not wonder any more that as both wooing and +my practice waxed apace, I was content to give up my great ambitions and +stay just where I was.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't a very pleasant thing, then, to have an epidemic of typhoid +break out in the town that kept me going so that I hardly had time for +the courting that a fellow wants to carry on with his sweetheart while +he is still young enough to call her his girl. I fumed, but duty was +duty, and I kept to my work night and day. It was now that Jube proved +how invaluable he was as a coadjutor. He not only took messages to +Annie, but brought sometimes little ones from her to me, and he would +tell me little secret things that he had overheard her say that made me +throb with joy and swear at him for repeating his mistress' +conversation. But best of all, Jube was a perfect Cerberus, and no one +on earth could have been more effective in keeping away or deluding the +other young fellows who visited the Dalys. He would tell me of it +afterwards, chuckling softly to himself. 'An,' Doctah, I say to Mistah +Hemp Stevens, "'Scuse us, Mistah Stevens, but Miss Annie, she des gone +out," an' den he go outer de gate lookin' moughty lonesome. When Sam +Elkins come, I say, "Sh, Mistah Elkins, Miss Annie, she done tuk down," +an' he say, "What, Jube, you don' reckon hit de——" Den he stop an' +look skeert, an' I say, "I feared hit is, Mistah Elkins," an' sheks my +haid ez solemn. He goes outer de gate lookin' lak his bes' frien' done +daid, an' all de time Miss Annie behine de cu'tain ovah de po'ch des' a +laffin' fit to kill.'</p> + +<p>"Jube was a most admirable liar, but what could I do? He knew that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> I +was a young fool of a hypocrite, and when I would rebuke him for these +deceptions, he would give way and roll on the floor in an excess of +delighted laughter until from very contagion I had to join him—and, +well, there was no need of my preaching when there had been no beginning +to his repentance and when there must ensue a continuance of his +wrong-doing.</p> + +<p>"This thing went on for over three months, and then, pouf! I was down +like a shot. My patients were nearly all up, but the reaction from +overwork made me an easy victim of the lurking germs. Then Jube loomed +up as a nurse. He put everyone else aside, and with the doctor, a friend +of mine from a neighbouring town, took entire charge of me. Even Annie +herself was put aside, and I was cared for as tenderly as a baby. Tom, +that was my physician and friend, told me all about it afterward with +tears in his eyes. Only he was a big, blunt man and his expressions did +not convey all that he meant. He told me how my nigger had nursed me as +if I were a sick kitten and he my mother. Of how fiercely he guarded his +right to be the sole one to 'do' for me, as he called it, and how, when +the crisis came, he hovered, weeping, but hopeful, at my bedside, until +it was safely passed, when they drove him, weak and exhausted, from the +room. As for me, I knew little about it at the time, and cared less. I +was too busy in my fight with death. To my chimerical vision there was +only a black but gentle demon that came and went, alternating with a +white fairy, who would insist on coming in on her head, growing larger +and larger and then dissolving. But the pathos and devotion in the story +lost nothing in my blunt friend's telling.</p> + +<p>"It was during the period of a long convalescence, however, that I came +to know my humble ally as he really was, devoted to the point of +abjectness. There were times when for very shame at his goodness to me, +I would beg him to go away, to do something else. He would go, but +before I had time to realise that I was not being ministered to, he +would be back at my side, grinning and pottering just the same. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> +manufactured duties for the joy of performing them. He pretended to see +desires in me that I never had, because he liked to pander to them, and +when I became entirely exasperated, and ripped out a good round oath, he +chuckled with the remark, 'Dah, now, you sholy is gittin' well. Nevah +did hyeah a man anywhaih nigh Jo'dan's sho' cuss lak dat.'</p> + +<p>"Why, I grew to love him, love him, oh, yes, I loved him as well—oh, +what am I saying? All human love and gratitude are damned poor things; +excuse me, gentlemen, this isn't a pleasant story. The truth is usually +a nasty thing to stand.</p> + +<p>"It was not six months after that that my friendship to Jube, which he +had been at such great pains to win, was put to too severe a test.</p> + +<p>"It was in the summer time again, and as business was slack, I had +ridden over to see my friend, Dr. Tom. I had spent a good part of the +day there, and it was past four o'clock when I rode leisurely into +Bradford. I was in a particularly joyous mood and no premonition of the +impending catastrophe oppressed me. No sense of sorrow, present or to +come, forced itself upon me, even when I saw men hurrying through the +almost deserted streets. When I got within sight of my home and saw a +crowd surrounding it, I was only interested sufficiently to spur my +horse into a jog trot, which brought me up to the throng, when something +in the sullen, settled horror in the men's faces gave me a sudden, sick +thrill. They whispered a word to me, and without a thought, save for +Annie, the girl who had been so surely growing into my heart, I leaped +from the saddle and tore my way through the people to the house.</p> + +<p>"It was Annie, poor girl, bruised and bleeding, her face and dress torn +from struggling. They were gathered round her with white faces, and, oh, +with what terrible patience they were trying to gain from her fluttering +lips the name of her murderer. They made way for me and I knelt at her +side. She was beyond my skill, and my will merged with theirs. One +thought was in our minds.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span></p><p>"'Who?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"Her eyes half opened, 'That black——' She fell back into my arms dead.</p> + +<p>"We turned and looked at each other. The mother had broken down and was +weeping, but the face of the father was like iron.</p> + +<p>"'It is enough,' he said; 'Jube has disappeared.' He went to the door +and said to the expectant crowd, 'She is dead.'</p> + +<p>"I heard the angry roar without swelling up like the noise of a flood, +and then I heard the sudden movement of many feet as the men separated +into searching parties, and laying the dead girl back upon her couch, I +took my rifle and went out to join them.</p> + +<p>"As if by intuition the knowledge had passed among the men that Jube +Benson had disappeared, and he, by common consent, was to be the object +of our search. Fully a dozen of the citizens had seen him hastening +toward the woods and noted his skulking air, but as he had grinned in +his old good-natured way they had, at the time, thought nothing of it. +Now, however, the diabolical reason of his slyness was apparent. He had +been shrewd enough to disarm suspicion, and by now was far away. Even +Mrs. Daly, who was visiting with a neighbour, had seen him stepping out +by a back way, and had said with a laugh, 'I reckon that black rascal's +a-running off somewhere.' Oh, if she had only known.</p> + +<p>"'To the woods! To the woods!' that was the cry, and away we went, each +with the determination not to shoot, but to bring the culprit alive into +town, and then to deal with him as his crime deserved.</p> + +<p>"I cannot describe the feelings I experienced as I went out that night +to beat the woods for this human tiger. My heart smouldered within me +like a coal, and I went forward under the impulse of a will that was +half my own, half some more malignant power's. My throat throbbed drily, +but water nor whiskey would not have quenched my thirst. The thought has +come to me since that now I could interpret the panther's desire for +blood and sympathise with it, but then I thought nothing. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> simply went +forward, and watched, watched with burning eyes for a familiar form that +I had looked for as often before with such different emotions.</p> + +<p>"Luck or ill-luck, which you will, was with our party, and just as dawn +was graying the sky, we came upon our quarry crouched in the corner of a +fence. It was only half light, and we might have passed, but my eyes had +caught sight of him, and I raised the cry. We levelled our guns and he +rose and came toward us.</p> + +<p>"'I t'ought you wa'n't gwine see me,' he said sullenly, 'I didn't mean +no harm.'</p> + +<p>"'Harm!'</p> + +<p>"Some of the men took the word up with oaths, others were ominously +silent.</p> + +<p>"We gathered around him like hungry beasts, and I began to see terror +dawning in his eyes. He turned to me, 'I's moughty glad you's hyeah, +doc,' he said, 'you ain't gwine let 'em whup me.'</p> + +<p>"'Whip you, you hound,' I said, 'I'm going to see you hanged,' and in +the excess of my passion I struck him full on the mouth. He made a +motion as if to resent the blow against even such great odds, but +controlled himself.</p> + +<p>"'W'y, doctah,' he exclaimed in the saddest voice I have ever heard, +'w'y, doctah! I ain't stole nuffin' o' yo'n, an' I was comin' back. I +only run off to see my gal, Lucy, ovah to de Centah.'</p> + +<p>"'You lie!' I said, and my hands were busy helping the others bind him +upon a horse. Why did I do it? I don't know. A false education, I +reckon, one false from the beginning. I saw his black face glooming +there in the half light, and I could only think of him as a monster. +It's tradition. At first I was told that the black man would catch me, +and when I got over that, they taught me that the devil was black, and +when I had recovered from the sickness of that belief, here were Jube +and his fellows with faces of menacing blackness. There was only one +conclusion: This black man stood for all the powers of evil, the result<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> +of whose machinations had been gathering in my mind from childhood up. +But this has nothing to do with what happened.</p> + +<p>"After firing a few shots to announce our capture, we rode back into +town with Jube. The ingathering parties from all directions met us as we +made our way up to the house. All was very quiet and orderly. There was +no doubt that it was as the papers would have said, a gathering of the +best citizens. It was a gathering of stern, determined men, bent on a +terrible vengeance.</p> + +<p>"We took Jube into the house, into the room where the corpse lay. At +sight of it, he gave a scream like an animal's and his face went the +colour of storm-blown water. This was enough to condemn him. We divined, +rather than heard, his cry of 'Miss Ann, Miss Ann, oh, my God, doc, you +don't t'ink I done it?'</p> + +<p>"Hungry hands were ready. We hurried him out into the yard. A rope was +ready. A tree was at hand. Well, that part was the least of it, save +that Hiram Daly stepped aside to let me be the first to pull upon the +rope. It was lax at first. Then it tightened, and I felt the quivering +soft weight resist my muscles. Other hands joined, and Jube swung off +his feet.</p> + +<p>"No one was masked. We knew each other. Not even the Culprit's face was +covered, and the last I remember of him as he went into the air was a +look of sad reproach that will remain with me until I meet him face to +face again.</p> + +<p>"We were tying the end of the rope to a tree, where the dead man might +hang as a warning to his fellows, when a terrible cry chilled us to the +marrow.</p> + +<p>"'Cut 'im down, cut 'im down, he ain't guilty. We got de one. Cut him +down, fu' Gawd's sake. Here's de man, we foun' him hidin' in de barn!'</p> + +<p>"Jube's brother, Ben, and another Negro, came rushing toward us, half +dragging, half carrying a miserable-looking wretch between them. Someone +cut the rope and Jube dropped lifeless to the ground.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span></p><p>"'Oh, my Gawd, he's daid, he's daid!' wailed the brother, but with +blazing eyes he brought his captive into the centre of the group, and we +saw in the full light the scratched face of Tom Skinner—the worst white +ruffian in the town—but the face we saw was not as we were accustomed +to see it, merely smeared with dirt. It was blackened to imitate a +Negro's.</p> + +<p>"God forgive me; I could not wait to try to resuscitate Jube. I knew he +was already past help, so I rushed into the house and to the dead girl's +side. In the excitement they had not yet washed or laid her out. +Carefully, carefully, I searched underneath her broken finger nails. +There was skin there. I took it out, the little curled pieces, and went +with it to my office.</p> + +<p>"There, determinedly, I examined it under a powerful glass, and read my +own doom. It was the skin of a white man, and in it were embedded +strands of short, brown hair or beard.</p> + +<p>"How I went out to tell the waiting crowd I do not know, for something +kept crying in my ears, 'Blood guilty! Blood guilty!'</p> + +<p>"The men went away stricken into silence and awe. The new prisoner +attempted neither denial nor plea. When they were gone I would have +helped Ben carry his brother in, but he waved me away fiercely, 'You +he'ped murder my brothah, you dat was <i>his</i> frien', go 'way, go 'way! +I'll tek him home myse'f' I could only respect his wish, and he and his +comrade took up the dead man and between them bore him up the street on +which the sun was now shining full.</p> + +<p>"I saw the few men who had not skulked indoors uncover as they passed, +and I—I—stood there between the two murdered ones, while all the while +something in my ears kept crying, 'Blood guilty! Blood guilty!'"</p> + +<p>The doctor's head dropped into his hands and he sat for some time in +silence, which was broken by neither of the men, then he rose, saying, +"Gentlemen, that was my last lynching."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Thirteen</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">SCHWALLIGER'S PHILANTHROPY</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>here is no adequate reason why Schwalliger's name should appear upon +the pages of history. He was decidedly not in good society. He was not +even respectable as respectability goes. But certain men liked him and +certain women loved him. He is dead. That is all that will be said of +the most of us after a while. He was but a weak member of the community, +but those who loved him did not condemn him, and they shut their eyes to +his shortcomings because they were a part of him. Without his follies he +would not have been himself.</p> + +<p>Schwalliger was only a race-horse "tout." Ah, don't hold up your hands, +good friends, for circumstances of birth make most of us what we are, +whether poets or pickpockets, and if this thick-set, bow-legged black +man became a "tout" it was because he had to. Old horsemen will tell you +that Schwalliger—no one knew where he got the name—was rolling and +tumbling about the track at Bennings when he was still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> so short in +stature that he got the name of the "tadpole." Naturally, he came to +know much of horses, grew up with them, in fact, and having no wealthy +father or mother to indulge him in his taste or help him use his +knowledge, he did the next best thing and used his special education for +himself in the humble capacity of voluntary adviser to aspiring +gamesters. He prospered and blossomed out into good clothes of a highly +ornate pattern. Naturally, like a man in any other business, he had his +ups and downs, and there were times when the good clothes disappeared +and he was temporarily forced to return to the occupation of rubbing +down horses; but these periods of depression were of short duration, and +at the next turn of fortune's wheel he would again be on top.</p> + +<p>"No, thuh," he was wont to say, with his inimitable lisp—"no, thuh, you +can't keep a good man down. 'Tain't no use a-talkin', you jeth can't. It +don't do me no harm to go back to rubbin' now an' then. It jeth nachully +keepth me on good termth with de hothes."</p> + +<p>And, indeed, it did seem that his prophecies were surer and his +knowledge more direct after one of these periods of enforced humility.</p> + +<p>There were various things whispered about Schwalliger; that he was no +more honest than he should be, that he was not as sound as he might be; +but though it might be claimed, and was, that he would prophesy, on +occasion, the success of three different horses to three different men, +no one ever accused him of being less than fair with the women who came +out from the city to enjoy the races and increase their excitement by +staking small sums. To these Schwalliger was the soul of courtesy and +honour, and if they lost upon his advice, he was not happy until he had +made it up to them again.</p> + +<p>One, however, who sets himself to work to give a race-horse tout a +character may expect to have his labour for his pains. The profession of +his subject is against him. He may as well put aside his energy and say, +"Well, perhaps he was a bad lot, but——." The present story is not +destined to put you more in love with the hero of it, but—<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span>—</p> + +<p>The heat and enthusiasm at Saratoga and the other race-courses was done, +and autumn and the glory of Bennings had come. The ingratiating +Schwalliger came back with the horses to his old stamping ground and to +happiness. The other tracks had not treated him kindly, and but for the +kindness of his equine friends, whom he slept with and tended, he might +have come back to Washington on the wooden steps. But he was back, and +that was happiness for him. Broke?</p> + +<p>"Well," said Schwalliger, in answer to a trainer's question, "I ain't +exactly broke, Misthah Johnthon, but I wath pretty badly bent. I goth +awa jutht ath thoon ath I commenth to feel mythelf crackin', but I'm +hyeah to git even."</p> + +<p>He was only a rubber again, but he began to get even early in the week, +and by Saturday he was again as like to a rainbow as any of his class. +He did not, however, throw away his rubber's clothes. He was used to the +caprices of fortune, and he did not know how soon again he should need +them. That he was not dressed in them, and yet saved them, made him +capable of performing his one philanthropy.</p> + +<p>Had he not been gorgeously dressed he would not have inspired the +confidence of the old Negro who came up to him on Tuesday morning, +disconsolate and weeping.</p> + +<p>"Mistah," he said deferentially through his tears, "is you a spo't?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Schwalliger's chest protruded, and his very red lips opened in a +smile as he answered: "Well, I do' know'th I'm tho much of a thpo't, but +I think I knowth a thing or two."</p> + +<p>"You look lak a spo'tin' gent'man, an' ef you is I thought mebbe you'd +he'p me out."</p> + +<p>"Wha'th the mattah? Up againtht it? You look a little ol' to be doin' +the gay an' frithky." But Schwalliger's eyes were kind.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll tell you des' how it is, suh. I come f'om down in Ma'lan', +'case I wanted to see de hosses run. My ol' mastah was moughty fon' of +sich spo't, an' I kin' o' likes it myse'f, dough I don't nevah bet, suh. +I's a chu'ch membah. But yistiddy aftahnoon dee was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> two gent'men what I +seen playin' wid a leetle ball an' some cups ovah it, an' I went up to +look on, an' lo an' behol', suh, it was one o' dese money-mekin' t'ings. +W'y, I seen de man des' stan' dere an' mek money by the fis'ful. Well, I +'low I got sorter wo'ked up. De men dee axed me to bet, but I 'low how I +was a chu'ch membah an' didn't tek pa't in no sich carryin's on, an' den +dee said 'twan't nuffin mo' den des' a chu'ch raffle, an' it was mo' fun +den anyt'ing else. I des' say dat I could fin' de little ball, an' dee +said I couldn't, an' if I fin' it dee gin me twenty dollahs, an' if I +didn' I des' gin 'em ten dollahs. I shuk my haid. I wa'n't gwine be +tempted, an' I try to pull myse'f erway. Ef I'd 'a' gone den 'twould 'a' +been all right, but I stayed an' I stayed, an' I looked, an' I looked, +an' it did seem lak it was so easy. At las', mistah, I tried it, an' I +didn' fin' dat ball, an' dee got my ten dollahs, an' dat was all I had."</p> + +<p>"Uh, huh," said Schwalliger grimly, "thell game, an' dey did you." The +old man shuffled uneasily, but continued:</p> + +<p>"Yes, suh, dee done me, an' de worst of it is, I's 'fraid to go home, +even ef I could get dere, 'case dee boun' to axe me how I los' dat +money, an' dee ain't no way fu' me to hide it, an' ef dee fin' out I +been gamblin' I'll git chu'ched fu' it, an' I been a puffessor so +long——" The old man's voice broke, and Schwalliger smiled the crooked +smile of a man whose heart is touched.</p> + +<p>"Whereth thith push wo'kin'?" he said briefly.</p> + +<p>"Right ovah thaih," said the old Negro, indicating a part of the grounds +not far distant.</p> + +<p>"All right, you go on ovah thaih an' wait fu' me; an' if you thee me, +remembah, you don't thee me. I don't know you, you don't know me, but +I'll try to thee you out all right."</p> + +<p>The old man went on his way, a new light in his eyes at the hope +Schwalliger had inspired. Schwalliger himself made his way back to the +stables; his dirty, horsy, rubber's outfit was there. He smiled +intelligently as he looked at it. He was smiling in a different manner +when,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span> all dressed in it, he came up nearer to the grand stand. It was a +very inane smile. He looked the very image of simplicity and ignorance, +like a man who was anxious and ready to be duped. He strolled carelessly +up to where the little game with the little ball was going on, and stood +there looking foolishly on. The three young men—ostensibly there was +only one—were doing a rushing business. They were playing very +successfully on that trait of human nature which feels itself glorified +and exalted when it has got something for nothing. The rustics, black +and white, and some who had not the excuse of rusticity, were falling +readily into the trap and losing their hard-earned money. Every now and +then a man—one of their confederates, of course, would make a striking +winning, and this served as a bait for the rest of the spectators. +Schwalliger looked on with growing interest, always smiling an ignorant, +simple smile. Finally, as if he could stand it no longer, he ran his +hand in his pocket and pulled out a roll of money—money in its most +beautiful and tempting form, the long, green notes. Then, as if a sudden +spirit of prudence had taken possession of him, he put it back into his +pocket, shook his head, and began working his way out of the crowd. But +the operator of the shell game had caught sight of the bills, and it was +like the scent of blood to the tiger. His eye was on the simple Negro at +once, and he called cheerfully:</p> + +<p>"Come up, uncle, and try your luck. See how I manipulate this ball. Easy +enough to find if you're only lucky." He was so flippantly shrewd that +his newness to the business was insolently apparent to Schwalliger, who +knew a thing or two himself. Schwalliger smiled again and shook his +head.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, thuh," he said, "I don't play dat."</p> + +<p>"Why, come and try your luck anyhow; no harm in it."</p> + +<p>Schwalliger took out his money and looked at it again and shook his +head. He began again his backward movement from the crowd.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "I wouldn' play erroun' hyeah befo' all thethe people, +becauthe you wouldn't pay me even ef I won."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span></p><p>"Why, of course we would," said the flippant operator; "everybody looks +alike to us here."</p> + +<p>Schwalliger kept moving away, ever and anon sending wistful, inane +glances back at his tempter.</p> + +<p>The bait worked admirably. The man closed up his little folding table, +and, winking to his confederates, followed the retreating Negro. They +stayed about with the crowd, while he followed on and on until +Schwalliger had led him into a short alley between the stables. There he +paused and allowed his pursuer to catch up with him.</p> + +<p>"Thay, mithtah," he said, "what you keep on follerin' me fu'? I do' want +to play wid you; I ain't got but fo'ty dollahs, an' ef I lothe I'll have +to walk home."</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear fellow, there ain't no way for you to lose. Come, now, let +me show you." And he set the table down and began to manipulate the ball +dexterously. "Needn't put no money down. Just see if you can locate the +ball a few times for fun."</p> + +<p>Schwalliger consented, and, greatly to his delight, located the little +ball four times out of five. He was grinning now and the eye of the +tempter was gleaming. Schwalliger took out his money.</p> + +<p>"How much you got?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Just eighty-five dollars, and I will lay it all against your forty."</p> + +<p>"What you got it in?" asked Schwalliger.</p> + +<p>"Four fives, four tens, and five five-dollar gold-pieces." And the man +displayed it ostentatiously. The tout's eyes flashed as he saw his +opponent put his money back into his waistcoat pocket.</p> + +<p>"Well, I bet you," he said, and planked his money down.</p> + +<p>The operator took the shells and swept the pea first under one then +under the other, and laid the three side by side. Schwalliger laid his +hand upon one. He lifted it up and there was nothing there.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, you've had bad luck," said the operator—"you lose, you lose. +Well, I'm sorry for you, old fellow, but we all take chances in this +little game, you know." He was folding up his table when all of a +sudden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> a cry arose to heaven from Schwalliger's lips, and he grappled +with the very shrewd young man, while shriek on shriek of "Murder! +Robber! Police!" came from his lips. The police at Bennings were not +slow to answer a call like this, and they came running up, and +Schwalliger, who, among other things, was something of an actor, told +his story trembling, incoherently, while the operator looked on aghast. +Schwalliger demanded protection. He had been robbed. He had bet his +eighty-five dollars against the operator's forty, and when he had +accidentally picked out the right shell the operator had grabbed his +money and attempted to escape. He wanted his money. He had eighty-five +dollars, he said. "He had fo' fiveth, fo' tenth, and five five-dollar +gold-pieceth, an' he wanted them."</p> + +<p>The policeman was thorough. He made his search at once. It was even as +Schwalliger had said. The money was on the gambler even as the Negro had +said. Well, there was nothing but justice to be done. The officers +returned the eighty-five dollars to Schwalliger, and out of an unusual +access of clemency bade the operator begone or they would run him in.</p> + +<p>When he had gone, Schwalliger turned and winked slowly at the minions of +the law, and went quietly into a corner with them, and there was the +sound of the shuffling of silken paper. Later on he found the old man +and returned him his ten, and went back to don his Jacob's coat.</p> + +<p>Who shall say that Schwalliger was not a true philanthropist?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Fourteen</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">THE INTERFERENCE OF PATSY ANN</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">P</span>atsy Ann Meriweather would have told you that her father, or more +properly her "pappy," was a "widover," and she would have added in her +sad little voice, with her mournful eyes upon you, that her mother had +"bin daid fu' nigh onto fou' yeahs." Then you could have wept for Patsy, +for her years were only thirteen now, and since the passing away of her +mother she had been the little mother for her four younger brothers and +sisters, as well as her father's house-keeper.</p> + +<p>But Patsy Ann never complained; she was quite willing to be all that she +had been until such time as Isaac and Dora, Cassie and little John +should be old enough to care for themselves, and also to lighten some of +her domestic burdens. She had never reckoned upon any other manner of +release. In fact her youthful mind was not able to contemplate the +possibility of any other manner of change. But the good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> women of +Patsy's neighbourhood were not the ones to let her remain in this +deplorable state of ignorance. She was to be enlightened as to other +changes that might take place in her condition, and of the unspeakable +horrors that would transpire with them.</p> + +<p>It was upon the occasion that little John had taken it into his infant +head to have the German measles just at the time that Isaac was slowly +recovering from the chicken-pox. Patsy Ann's powers had been taxed to +the utmost, and Mrs. Caroline Gibson had been called in from next door +to superintend the brewing of the saffron tea, and for the general care +of the fretful sufferer.</p> + +<p>To Patsy Ann, then, in ominous tone, spoke this oracle. "Patsy Ann, how +yo' pappy doin' sence Matildy died?" "Matildy" was the deceased wife.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he gittin' 'long all right. He was mighty broke up at de fus', but +he 'low now dat de house go on de same's ef mammy was a-livin'."</p> + +<p>"Oom huh," disdainfully; "Oom huh. Yo' mammy bin daid fou' yeahs, ain't +she?"</p> + +<p>"Yes'm; mighty nigh."</p> + +<p>"Oom huh; fou' yeahs is a mighty long time fu' a colo'd man to wait; but +we'n he do wait dat long, hit's all de wuss we'n hit do come."</p> + +<p>"Pap bin wo'kin right stiddy at de brick-ya'd," said Patsy, in loyal +defence against some vaguely implied accusation, "an' he done put some +money in de bank."</p> + +<p>"Bad sign, bad sign," and Mrs. Gibson gave her head a fearsome shake.</p> + +<p>But just then the shrill voice of little John calling for attention drew +her away and left Patsy Ann to herself and her meditations.</p> + +<p>What could this mean?</p> + +<p>When that lady had finished ministering to the sick child and returned, +Patsy Ann asked her, "Mis' Gibson, what you mean by sayin' 'bad sign, +bad sign?'"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span></p><p>Again the oracle shook her head sagely. Then she answered, "Chil', you +do' know de dev'ment dey is in dis worl'."</p> + +<p>"But," retorted the child, "my pappy ain' up to no dev'ment, 'case he +got 'uligion an' bin baptised."</p> + +<p>"Oom-m," groaned Sistah Gibson, "dat don' mek a bit o' diffunce. Who is +any mo' ma'yin' men den de preachahs demse'ves? W'y Brothah 'Lias Scott +done tempted matermony six times a'ready, an' 's lookin' roun' fu' de +sebent, an' he's a good man, too."</p> + +<p>"Ma'yin'," said Patsy breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, honey, ma'yin', an' I's afeared yo' pappy's got notions in his +haid, an' w'en a widower git gals in his haid dey ain' no use +a-pesterin' wid 'em, 'case dey boun' to have dey way."</p> + +<p>"Ma'yin'," said Patsy to herself reflectively. "Ma'yin'." She knew what +it meant, but she had never dreamed of the possibility of such a thing +in connection with her father. "Ma'yin'," and yet the idea of it did not +seem so very unalluring.</p> + +<p>She spoke her thoughts aloud.</p> + +<p>"But ef pap 'u'd ma'y, Mis' Gibson, den I'd git a chanct to go to +school. He allus sayin' he mighty sorry 'bout me not goin'."</p> + +<p>"Dah now, dah now," cried the woman, casting a pitying glance at the +child, "dat's de las' t'ing. He des a feelin' roun' now. You po', +ign'ant, mothahless chil'. You ain' nevah had no step-mothah, an' you +don' know what hit means."</p> + +<p>"But she'd tek keer o' the chillen," persisted Patsy.</p> + +<p>"Sich tekin' keer of 'em ez hit 'u'd be. She'd keer fu' 'em to dey +graves. Nobody cain't tell me nuffin 'bout step-mothahs, case I knows +'em. Dey ain' no ooman goin' to tek keer o' nobody else's chile lak +she'd tek keer o' huh own," and Patsy felt a choking come into her +throat and a tight sensation about her heart while she listened as Mrs. +Gibson regaled her with all the choice horrors that are laid at the door +of step-mothers.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span></p><p>From that hour on, one settled conviction took shape and possessed Patsy +Ann's mind; never, if she could help it, would she run the risk of +having a step-mother. Come what may, let her be compelled to do what she +might, let the hope of school fade from her sight forever and a day—but +no step-mother should ever cast her baneful shadow over Patsy Ann's +home.</p> + +<p>Experience of life had made her wise for her years, and so for the time +she said nothing to her father; but she began to watch him with wary +eyes, his goings out and his comings in, and to attach new importance to +trifles that had passed unnoticed before by her childish mind.</p> + +<p>For instance, if he greased or blacked his boots before going out of an +evening her suspicions were immediately aroused and she saw dim visions +of her father returning, on his arm the terrible ogress whom she had +come to know by the name of step-mother.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Gibson's poison had worked well and rapidly. She had thoroughly +inoculated the child's mind with the step-mother virus, but she had not +at the same time made the parent widow-proof, a hard thing to do at +best. So it came to pass that with a mysterious horror growing within +her, Patsy Ann saw her father black his boots more and more often and +fare forth o' nights and Sunday afternoons.</p> + +<p>Finally her little heart could contain its sorrow no longer, and one +night when he was later than usual she could not sleep. So she slipped +out of bed, turned up the light, and waited for him, determined to have +it out, then and there.</p> + +<p>He came at last and was all surprise to meet the solemn, round eyes of +his little daughter staring at him from across the table.</p> + +<p>"W'y, lady gal," he exclaimed, "what you doin' up at 'his time?"</p> + +<p>"I sat up fu' you. I got somep'n' to ax you, pappy." Her voice quivered +and he snuggled her up in his arms.</p> + +<p>"What's troublin' my little lady gal now? Is de chillen bin bad?"</p> + +<p>She laid her head close against his big breast, and the tears would come +as she answered, "No, suh; de chillen bin ez good az good could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> be, but +oh, pappy, pappy, is you got gal in yo' haid an' a-goin' to bring me a +step-mothah?"</p> + +<p>He held her away from him almost harshly and gazed at her as he queried, +"W'y, you po' baby, you! Who's bin puttin' dis hyeah foolishness in yo' +haid?" Then his laugh rang out as he patted her head and drew her close +to him again. "Ef yo' pappy do bring a step-mothah into dis house, Gawd +knows he'll bring de right kin'."</p> + +<p>"Dey ain't no right kin'," answered Patsy.</p> + +<p>"You don' know, baby; you don' know. Go to baid an' don' worry."</p> + +<p>He sat up a long time watching the candle sputter, then he pulled off +his boots and tiptoed to Patsy's bedside. He leaned over her. "Po' +little baby," he said; "what do she know about a step-mothah?" And Patsy +saw him and heard him, for she was awake then, and far into the night.</p> + +<p>In the eyes of the child her father stood convicted. He had "gal in his +haid," and was going to bring her a step-mother; but it would never be; +her resolution was taken.</p> + +<p>She arose early the next morning and after getting her father off to +work as usual, she took the children into hand. First she scrubbed them +assiduously, burnishing their brown faces until they shone again. Then +she tussled with their refractory locks, and after that she dressed them +out in all the bravery of their best clothes.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile her tears were falling like rain, though her lips were shut +tight. The children off her mind, she turned her attention to her own +toilet, which she made with scrupulous care. Then taking a small +tin-type of her mother from the bureau drawer, she put it in her bosom, +and leading her little brood she went out of the house, locking the door +behind her and placing the key, as was her wont, under the door-step.</p> + +<p>Outside she stood for a moment or two, undecided, and then with one +long, backward glance at her home she turned and went up the street. At +the first corner she paused again, spat in her hand and struck the +watery globule with her finger. In the direction the most of the spittle +flew, she turned. Patsy Ann was fleeing from home and a step-mother<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span>, +and Fate had decided her direction for her, even as Mrs. Gibson's +counsels had directed her course.</p> + +<p>The child had no idea where she was going. She knew no one to whom she +might turn in her distress. Not even with Mrs. Gibson would she be safe +from the horror which impended. She had but one impulse in her mind and +that was to get beyond the reach of the terrible woman, or was it a +monster? who was surely coming after her. On and on she walked through +the town with her little band trudging bravely along beside her. People +turned to look at the funny group and smiled good-naturedly as they +passed, and one man, a little more amused than the rest, shouted after +them, "Where you goin', sis, with that orphan's home?"</p> + +<p>But Patsy Ann's dignity was impregnable. She walked on with her head in +the air, the desire for safety tugging at her heart.</p> + +<p>The hours passed and the gentle coolness of morning turned into the +fierce heat of noon, and still with frequent rests they trudged on, +Patsy ever and anon using her divining hand, unconscious that she was +doubling and redoubling on her tracks. When the whistles blew for twelve +she got her little brood into the shade of a poplar tree and set them +down to the lunch which, thoughtful little mother that she was, she had +brought with her. After that they all stretched themselves out on the +grass that bordered the sidewalk, for all the children were tired out, +and baby John was both sleepy and cross. Even Patsy Ann drowsed and +finally dropped into the deep slumber of childhood. They looked too +peaceful and serene for passers-by to bother them, and so they slept and +slept.</p> + +<p>It was past three o'clock when the little guardian awakened with a +start, and shook her charges into activity. John wept a little at first, +but after a while took up his journey bravely with the rest.</p> + +<p>She had just turned into a side street, discouraged and bewildered, when +the round face of a coloured woman standing in the doorway of a +whitewashed cottage caught her eye and attention. Once more she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> paused +and consulted her watery oracle, then turned to encounter the gaze of +the round-faced woman. The oracle had spoken and she turned into the +yard.</p> + +<p>"Whaih you goin', honey? You sut'ny look lak you plumb tukahed out. Come +in an' tell me all 'bout yo'se'f, you po' little t'ing. Dese yo' little +brothas an' sistahs?"</p> + +<p>"Yes'm," said Patsy Ann.</p> + +<p>"W'y, chil', whaih you goin'?"</p> + +<p>"I don' know," was the truthful answer.</p> + +<p>"You don' know? Whaih you live?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I live down on Douglas Street," said Patsy Ann, "an' I's runnin' +away f'om home an' my step-mothah."</p> + +<p>The woman looked keenly at her.</p> + +<p>"What yo' name?" she said.</p> + +<p>"My name's Patsy Ann Meriweather."</p> + +<p>"An' is yo' got a step-mothah?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Patsy Ann, "I ain' got none now, but I's sut'ny 'spectin' +one."</p> + +<p>"What you know 'bout step-mothahs, honey?"</p> + +<p>"Mis' Gibson tol' me. Dey sho'ly is awful, missus, awful."</p> + +<p>"Mis' Gibson ain' tol' you right, honey. You come in hyeah and set down. +You ain' nothin' mo' dan a baby yo'se'f, an' you ain' got no right to be +trapsein' roun' dis away."</p> + +<p>Have you ever eaten muffins? Have you eaten bacon with onions? Have you +drunk tea? Have you seen your little brother John taken up on a full +bosom and rocked to sleep in the most motherly way, with the sweetness +and tenderness that only a mother can give? Well, that was Patsy Ann's +case to-night.</p> + +<p>And then she laid them along like ten-pins crosswise of her bed and sat +for a long time thinking.</p> + +<p>To Maria Adams about six o'clock that night came a troubled and +disheartened man. It was no less a person than Patsy Ann's father.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span></p><p>"Maria! Maria! What shall I do? Somebody don' stole all my chillen."</p> + +<p>Maria, strange to say, was a woman of few words.</p> + +<p>"Don' you bothah 'bout de chillen," she said, and she took him by the +hand and led him to where the five lay sleeping calmly across the bed.</p> + +<p>"Dey was runnin' f'om home an' dey step-mothah," said she.</p> + +<p>"Dey run hyeah f'om a step-mothah an' foun' a mothah." It was a tribute +and a proposal all in one.</p> + +<p>When Patsy Ann awakened, the matter was explained to her, and with +penitent tears she confessed her sins.</p> + +<p>"But," she said to Maria Adams, "ef you's de kin' of fo'ks dat dey mek +step-mothahs out o' I ain' gwine to bothah my haid no mo'."</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Fifteen</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">THE HOME-COMING OF 'RASTUS SMITH</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>here was a great commotion in that part of town which was known as +"Little Africa," and the cause of it was not far to seek. Contrary to +the usual thing, this cause was not an excursion down the river, nor a +revival, baptising, nor an Emancipation Day celebration. None of these +was it that had aroused the denizens of "Little Africa," and kept them +talking across the street from window to window, from door to door, +through alley gates, over backyard fences, where they stood loud-mouthed +and arms akimboed among laden clothes lines. No, the cause of it all was +that Erastus Smith, Aunt Mandy Smith's boy, who had gone away from home +several years before, and who, rumour said, had become a great man, was +coming back, and "Little Africa," from Douglass Street to Cat Alley, was +prepared to be dazzled. So few of those who had been born within the +mile radius which was "Little Africa" went out into the great world and +came into contact<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> with the larger humanity that when one did he became +a man set apart. And when, besides, he went into a great city and worked +for a lawyer whose name was known the country over, the place of his +birth had all the more reason to feel proud of her son.</p> + +<p>So there was much talk across the dirty little streets, and Aunt Mandy's +small house found itself all of a sudden a very popular resort. The old +women held Erastus up as an example to their sons. The old men told what +they might have done had they had his chance. The young men cursed him, +and the young girls giggled and waited.</p> + +<p>It was about an hour before the time of the arrival of Erastus, and the +neighbours had thinned out one by one with a delicacy rather surprising +in them, in order that the old lady might be alone with her boy for the +first few minutes. Only one remained to help put the finishing touches +to the two little rooms which Mrs. Smith called home, and to the +preparations for the great dinner. The old woman wiped her eyes as she +said to her companion, "Hit do seem a speshul blessin', Lizy, dat I been +spaihed to see dat chile once mo' in de flesh. He sholy was mighty nigh +to my hea't, an' w'en he went erway, I thought it 'ud kill me. But I kin +see now dat hit uz all fu' de bes'. Think o' 'Rastus comin' home, er big +man! Who'd evah 'specked dat?"</p> + +<p>"Law, Mis' Smif, you sholy is got reason to be mighty thankful. Des' +look how many young men dere is in dis town what ain't nevah been no +'count to dey pa'ents, ner anybody else."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's onexpected, Lizy, an' hit's 'spected. 'Rastus allus wuz a +wonnerful chil', an' de way he tuk to work an' study kin' o' promised +something f'om de commencement, an' I 'lowed mebbe he tu'n out a +preachah."</p> + +<p>"Tush! yo' kin thank yo' stahs he didn't tu'n out no preachah. Preachahs +ain't no bettah den anybody else dese days. Dey des go roun' tellin' dey +lies an' eatin' de whiders an' orphins out o' house an' home."</p> + +<p>"Well, mebbe hit's bes' he didn' tu'n out dat way. But f'om de way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> he +used to stan' on de chaih an' 'zort w'en he was a little boy, I thought +hit was des what he 'ud tu'n out. O' co'se, being' in a law office is +des as pervidin', but somehow hit do seem mo' worl'y."</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you de preachahs is ez worldly ez anybody else?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, dat's right, but den 'Rastus, he had de eddication, fo' he +had gone thoo de Third Readah."</p> + +<p>Just then the gate creaked, and a little brown-faced girl, with large, +mild eyes, pushed open the door and came shyly in.</p> + +<p>"Hyeah's some flowahs, Mis' Smif," she said. "I thought mebbe you might +like to decorate 'Rastus's room," and she wiped the confusion from her +face with her apron.</p> + +<p>"La, chil', thankee. Dese is mighty pu'tty posies." These were the +laurels which Sally Martin had brought to lay at the feet of her +home-coming hero. No one in Cat Alley but that queer, quiet little girl +would have thought of decorating anybody's room with flowers, but she +had peculiar notions.</p> + +<p>In the old days, when they were children, and before Erastus had gone +away to become great, they had gone up and down together along the +byways of their locality, and had loved as children love. Later, when +Erastus began keeping company, it was upon Sally that he bestowed his +affections. No one, not even her mother, knew how she had waited for him +all these years that he had been gone, few in reality, but so long and +so many to her.</p> + +<p>And now he was coming home. She scorched something in the ironing that +day because tears of joy were blinding her eyes. Her thoughts were busy +with the meeting that was to be. She had a brand new dress for the +occasion—a lawn, with dark blue dots, and a blue sash—and there was a +new hat, wonderful with the flowers of summer, and for both of them she +had spent her hard-earned savings, because she wished to be radiant in +the eyes of the man who loved her.</p> + +<p>Of course, Erastus had not written her; but he must have been busy, and +writing was hard work. She knew that herself, and realised it all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> the +more as she penned the loving little scrawls which at first she used to +send him. Now they would not have to do any writing any more; they could +say what they wanted to each other. He was coming home at last, and she +had waited long.</p> + +<p>They paint angels with shining faces and halos, but for real radiance +one should have looked into the dark eyes of Sally as she sped home +after her contribution to her lover's reception.</p> + +<p>When the last one of the neighbours had gone Aunt Mandy sat down to rest +herself and to await the great event. She had not sat there long before +the gate creaked. She arose and hastened to the window. A young man was +coming down the path. Was that 'Rastus? Could that be her 'Rastus, that +gorgeous creature with the shiny shoes and the nobby suit and the +carelessly-swung cane? But he was knocking at her door, and she opened +it and took him into her arms.</p> + +<p>"Why, howdy, honey, howdy; hit do beat all to see you agin, a great big, +grown-up man. You're lookin' des' lak one o' de big folks up in town."</p> + +<p>Erastus submitted to her endearments with a somewhat condescending +grace, as who should say, "Well, poor old fool, let her go on this time; +she doesn't know any better." He smiled superiorly when the old woman +wept glad tears, as mothers have a way of doing over returned sons, +however great fools these sons may be. She set him down to the dinner +which she had prepared for him, and with loving patience drew from his +pompous and reluctant lips some of the story of his doings and some +little word about the places he had seen.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," he said, crossing his legs, "as soon as Mr. Carrington saw +that I was pretty bright, he took me right up and gave me a good job, +and I have been working for him right straight along for seven years +now. Of course, it don't do to let white folks know all you're thinking; +but I have kept my ears and my eyes right open, and I guess I know just +about as much about law as he does himself. When I save<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> up a little +more I'm going to put on the finishing touches and hang out my shingle."</p> + +<p>"Don't you nevah think no mo' 'bout bein' a preachah, 'Rastus?" his +mother asked.</p> + +<p>"Haw, haw! Preachah? Well, I guess not; no preaching in mine; there's +nothing in it. In law you always have a chance to get into politics and +be the president of your ward club or something like that, and from that +on it's an easy matter to go on up. You can trust me to know the wires." +And so the tenor of his boastful talk ran on, his mother a little bit +awed and not altogether satisfied with the new 'Rastus that had returned +to her.</p> + +<p>He did not stay in long that evening, although his mother told him some +of the neighbours were going to drop in. He said he wanted to go about +and see something of the town. He paused just long enough to glance at +the flowers in his room, and to his mother's remark, "Sally Ma'tin brung +dem in," he returned answer, "Who on earth is Sally Martin?"</p> + +<p>"Why, 'Rastus," exclaimed his mother, "does yo' 'tend lak yo' don't +'member little Sally Ma'tin yo' used to go wid almos' f'om de time you +was babies? W'y, I'm s'prised at you."</p> + +<p>"She has slipped my mind," said the young man.</p> + +<p>For a long while the neighbours who had come and Aunt Mandy sat up to +wait for Erastus, but he did not come in until the last one was gone. In +fact, he did not get in until nearly four o'clock in the morning, +looking a little weak, but at least in the best of spirits, and he +vouchsafed to his waiting mother the remark that "the little old town +wasn't so bad, after all."</p> + +<p>Aunt Mandy preferred the request that she had had in mind for some time, +that he would go to church the next day, and he consented, because his +trunk had come.</p> + +<p>It was a glorious Sunday morning, and the old lady was very proud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> in +her stiff gingham dress as she saw her son come into the room arrayed in +his long coat, shiny hat, and shinier shoes. Well, if it was true that +he was changed, he was still her 'Rastus, and a great comfort to her. +There was no vanity about the old woman, but she paused before the glass +a longer time than usual, settling her bonnet strings, for she must look +right, she told herself, to walk to church with that elegant son of +hers. When he was all ready, with cane in hand, and she was pausing with +the key in the door, he said, "Just walk on, mother, I'll catch you in a +minute or two." She went on and left him.</p> + +<p>He did not catch her that morning on her way to church, and it was a +sore disappointment, but it was somewhat compensated for when she saw +him stalking into the chapel in all his glory, and every head in the +house turned to behold him.</p> + +<p>There was one other woman in "Little Africa" that morning who stopped +for a longer time than usual before her looking-glass and who had never +found her bonnet strings quite so refractory before. In spite of the +vexation of flowers that wouldn't settle and ribbons that wouldn't tie, +a very glad face looked back at Sally Martin from her little mirror. She +was going to see 'Rastus, 'Rastus of the old days in which they used to +walk hand in hand. He had told her when he went away that some day he +would come back and marry her. Her heart fluttered hotly under her +dotted lawn, and it took another application of the chamois to take the +perspiration from her face. People had laughed at her, but that morning +she would be vindicated. He would walk home with her before the whole +church. Already she saw him bowing before her, hat in hand, and heard +the set phrase, "May I have the pleasure of your company home?" and she +saw herself sailing away upon his arm.</p> + +<p>She was very happy as she sat in church that morning, as happy as Mrs. +Smith herself, and as proud when she saw the object of her affections +swinging up the aisle to the collection table, and from the ring she +knew that it could not be less than a half dollar that he put in.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span></p><p>There was a special note of praise in her voice as she joined in singing +the doxology that morning, and her heart kept quivering and fluttering +like a frightened bird as the people gathered in groups, chattering and +shaking hands, and he drew nearer to her. Now they were almost together; +in a moment their eyes would meet. Her breath came quickly; he had +looked at her, surely he must have seen her. His mother was just behind +him, and he did not speak. Maybe she had changed, maybe he had forgotten +her. An unaccustomed boldness took possession of her, and she determined +that she would not be overlooked. She pressed forward. She saw his +mother take his arm and heard her whisper, "Dere's Sally Ma'tin" this +time, and she knew that he looked at her. He bowed as if to a stranger, +and was past her the next minute. When she saw him again he was swinging +out of the door between two admiring lines of church-goers who separated +on the pavement. There was a brazen yellow girl on his arm.</p> + +<p>She felt weak and sick as she hid behind the crowd as well as she could, +and for that morning she thanked God that she was small.</p> + +<p>Aunt Mandy trudged home alone, and when the street was cleared and the +sexton was about to lock up, the girl slipped out of the church and down +to her own little house. In the friendly shelter of her room she took +off her gay attire and laid it away, and then sat down at the window and +looked dully out. For her, the light of day had gone out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span></p> +<h3><i>Sixteen</i></h3> +<hr class="short" /> +<p class="chapter">THE BOY AND THE BAYONET</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>t was June, and nearing the closing time of school. The air was full of +the sound of bustle and preparation for the final exercises, field day, +and drills. Drills especially, for nothing so gladdens the heart of the +Washington mother, be she black or white, as seeing her boy in the blue +cadet's uniform, marching proudly to the huzzas of an admiring crowd. +Then she forgets the many nights when he has come in tired out and dusty +from his practice drill, and feels only the pride and elation of the +result.</p> + +<p>Although Tom did all he could outside of study hours, there were many +days of hard work for Hannah Davis, when her son went into the High +School. But she took it upon herself gladly, since it gave Bud the +chance to learn, that she wanted him to have. When, however, he entered +the Cadet Corps it seemed to her as if the first steps toward the +fulfilment of all her hopes had been made. It was a hard pull to her,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> +getting the uniform, but Bud himself helped manfully, and when his +mother saw him rigged out in all his regimentals, she felt that she had +not toiled in vain. And in fact it was worth all the trouble and expense +just to see the joy and pride of "little sister," who adored Bud.</p> + +<p>As the time for the competitive drill drew near there was an air of +suppressed excitement about the little house on "D" Street, where the +three lived. All day long "little sister," who was never very well and +did not go to school, sat and looked out of the window on the +uninteresting prospect of a dusty thoroughfare lined on either side with +dull red brick houses, all of the same ugly pattern, interspersed with +older, uglier, and viler frame shanties. In the evening Hannah hurried +home to get supper against the time when Bud should return, hungry and +tired from his drilling, and the chore work which followed hard upon its +heels.</p> + +<p>Things were all cheerful, however, for as they applied themselves to the +supper, the boy, with glowing face, would tell just how his company "A" +was getting on, and what they were going to do to companies "B" and "C." +It was not boasting so much as the expression of a confidence, founded +upon the hard work he was doing, and Hannah and the "little sister" +shared that with him.</p> + +<p>The child often, listening to her brother, would clap her hands or cry, +"Oh, Bud, you're just splendid an' I know you'll beat 'em."</p> + +<p>"If hard work'll beat 'em, we've got 'em beat," Bud would reply, and +Hannah, to add an admonitory check to her own confidence, would break in +with, "Now, don't you be too sho', son; dey ain't been no man so good +dat dey wasn't somebody bettah." But all the while her face and manner +were disputing what her words expressed.</p> + +<p>The great day came, and it was a wonderful crowd of people that packed +the great baseball grounds to overflowing. It seemed that all of +Washington's coloured population was out, when there were really only +about one-tenth of them there. It was an enthusiastic, banner-waving,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> +shouting, hallooing crowd. Its component parts were strictly and frankly +partisan, and so separated themselves into sections differentiated by +the colours of the flags they carried and the ribbons they wore. Side +yelled defiance at side, and party bantered party. Here the blue and +white of Company "A" flaunted audaciously on the breeze beside the very +seats over which the crimson and gray of "B" were flying, and these in +their turn nodded defiance over the imaginary barrier between themselves +and "C's" black and yellow.</p> + +<p>The band was thundering out "Sousa's High School Cadet's March," the +school officials, the judges, and reporters, and some with less purpose +were bustling about, discussing and conferring. Altogether doing nothing +much with beautiful unanimity. All was noise, hurry, gaiety, and +turbulence. In the midst of it all, with blue and white rosettes pinned +on their breasts, sat two spectators, tense and silent, while the +breakers of movement and sound struck and broke around them. It meant +too much to Hannah and "little sister" for them to laugh and shout. Bud +was with Company "A," and so the whole programme was more like a +religious ceremonial to them. The blare of the brass to them might have +been the trumpet call to battle in old Judea, and the far-thrown tones +of the megaphone the voice of a prophet proclaiming from the hill-top.</p> + +<p>Hannah's face glowed with expectation, and "little sister" sat very +still and held her mother's hand save when amid a burst of cheers +Company "A" swept into the parade ground at a quick step, then she +sprang up, crying shrilly, "There's Bud, there's Bud, I see him," and +then settled back into her seat overcome with embarrassment. The +mother's eyes danced as soon as the sister's had singled out their dear +one from the midst of the blue-coated boys, and it was an effort for her +to keep from following her little daughter's example even to echoing her +words.</p> + +<p>Company "A" came swinging down the field toward the judges in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> manner +that called for more enthusiastic huzzas that carried even the Freshman +of other commands "off their feet." They were, indeed, a set of +fine-looking young fellows, brisk, straight, and soldierly in bearing. +Their captain was proud of them, and his very step showed it. He was +like a skilled operator pressing the key of some great mechanism, and at +his command they moved like clockwork. Seen from the side it was as if +they were all bound together by inflexible iron bars, and as the end man +moved all must move with him. The crowd was full of exclamations of +praise and admiration, but a tense quiet enveloped them as Company "A" +came from columns of four into line for volley firing. This was a real +test; it meant not only grace and precision of movement, singleness of +attention and steadiness, but quickness tempered by self-control. At the +command the volley rang forth like a single shot. This was again the +signal for wild cheering and the blue and white streamers kissed the +sunlight with swift impulsive kisses. Hannah and Little Sister drew +closer together and pressed hands.</p> + +<p>The "A" adherents, however, were considerably cooled when the next +volley came out, badly scattering, with one shot entirely apart and +before the rest. Bud's mother did not entirely understand the sudden +quieting of the adherents; they felt vaguely that all was not as it +should be, and the chill of fear laid hold upon their hearts. What if +Bud's company, (it was always Bud's company to them), what if his +company should lose. But, of course, that couldn't be. Bud himself had +said that they would win. Suppose, though, they didn't; and with these +thoughts they were miserable until the cheering again told them that the +company had redeemed itself.</p> + +<p>Someone behind Hannah said, "They are doing splendidly, they'll win, +they'll win yet in spite of the second volley."</p> + +<p>Company "A," in columns of fours, had executed the right oblique in +double time, and halted amid cheers; then formed left halt into line +without halting. The next movement was one looked forward to with much +anxiety on account of its difficulty. The order was marching by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span> fours +to fix or unfix bayonets. They were going at a quick step, but the boys' +hands were steady—hope was bright in their hearts. They were doing it +rapidly and freely, when suddenly from the ranks there was the bright +gleam of steel lower down than it should have been. A gasp broke from +the breasts of Company "A's" friends. The blue and white drooped +disconsolately, while a few heartless ones who wore other colours +attempted to hiss. Someone had dropped his bayonet. But with muscles +unquivering, without a turned head, the company moved on as if nothing +had happened, while one of the judges, an army officer, stepped into the +wake of the boys and picked up the fallen steel.</p> + +<p>No two eyes had seen half so quickly as Hannah and Little Sister's who +the blunderer was. In the whole drill there had been but one figure for +them, and that was Bud, Bud, and it was he who had dropped his bayonet. +Anxious, nervous with the desire to please them, perhaps with a shade +too much of thought of them looking on with their hearts in their eyes, +he had fumbled, and lost all that he was striving for. His head went +round and round and all seemed black before him.</p> + +<p>He executed the movements in a dazed way. The applause, generous and +sympathetic, as his company left the parade ground, came to him from +afar off, and like a wounded animal he crept away from his comrades, not +because their reproaches stung him, for he did not hear them, but +because he wanted to think what his mother and "Little Sister" would +say, but his misery was as nothing to that of the two who sat up there +amid the ranks of the blue and white holding each other's hands with a +despairing grip. To Bud all of the rest of the contest was a horrid +nightmare; he hardly knew when the three companies were marched back to +receive the judges' decision. The applause that greeted Company "B" when +the blue ribbons were pinned on the members' coats meant nothing to his +ears. He had disgraced himself and his company. What would his mother +and his "Little Sister" say?</p> + +<p>To Hannah and "Little Sister," as to Bud, all of the remainder of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> +drill was a misery. The one interest they had had in it failed, and not +even the dropping of his gun by one of Company "E" when on the march, +halting in line, could raise their spirits. The little girl tried to be +brave, but when it was all over she was glad to hurry out before the +crowd got started and to hasten away home. Once there and her tears +flowed freely; she hid her face in her mother's dress, and sobbed as if +her heart would break.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry, Baby! don't cry, Lammie, dis ain't da las' time da wah goin' +to be a drill. Bud'll have a chance anotha time and den he'll show 'em +somethin'; bless you, I spec' he'll be a captain." But this consolation +of philosophy was nothing to "Little Sister." It was so terrible to her, +this failure of Bud's. She couldn't blame him, she couldn't blame anyone +else, and she had not yet learned to lay all such unfathomed +catastrophes at the door of fate. What to her was the thought of another +day; what did it matter to her whether he was a captain or a private? +She didn't even know the meaning of the words, but "Little Sister," from +the time she knew Bud was a private, knew that that was much better than +being captain or any of those other things with a long name, so that +settled it.</p> + +<p>Her mother finally set about getting the supper, while "Little Sister" +drooped disconsolately in her own little splint-bottomed chair. She sat +there weeping silently until she heard the sound of Bud's step, then she +sprang up and ran away to hide. She didn't dare to face him with tears +in her eyes. Bud came in without a word and sat down in the dark front +room.</p> + +<p>"Dat you, Bud?" asked his mother.</p> + +<p>"Yassum."</p> + +<p>"Bettah come now, supper's puty 'nigh ready."</p> + +<p>"I don' want no supper."</p> + +<p>"You bettah come on, Bud, I reckon you mighty tired."</p> + +<p>He did not reply, but just then a pair of thin arms were put around his +neck and a soft cheek was placed close to his own.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span></p><p>"Come on, Buddie," whispered "Little Sister," "Mammy an' me know you +didn't mean to do it, an' we don' keer."</p> + +<p>Bud threw his arms around his little sister and held her tightly.</p> + +<p>"It's only you an' ma I care about," he said, "though I am sorry I +spoiled the company's drill; they say "B" would have won anyway on +account of our bad firing, but I did want you and ma to be proud."</p> + +<p>"We is proud," she whispered, "we's mos' prouder dan if you'd won," and +pretty soon she led him by the hand out to supper.</p> + +<p>Hannah did all she could to cheer the boy and to encourage him to hope +for next year, but he had little to say in reply, and went to bed early.</p> + +<p>In the morning, though it neared school time, Bud lingered around and +seemed in no disposition to get ready to go.</p> + +<p>"Bettah git ready fer school," said Hannah cheerily to him.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I want to go any more," Bud replied.</p> + +<p>"Not go any more? Why ain't you shamed to talk that way! O' cose you a +goin' to school."</p> + +<p>"I'm ashamed to show my face to the boys."</p> + +<p>"What you say about de boys? De boys ain't a-goin' to give you no +edgication when you need it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't want to go, ma; you don't know how I feel."</p> + +<p>"I'm kinder sorry I let you go into dat company," said Hannah musingly; +"'cause it was de teachin' I wanted you to git, not de prancin' and +steppin'; but I did t'ink it would make mo' of a man of you, an' it +ain't. Yo' pappy was a po' man, ha'd wo'kin', an' he wasn't high-toned +neither, but from the time I first see him to the day of his death I +nevah seen him back down because he was afeared of anything," and Hannah +turned to her work.</p> + +<p>"Little Sister" went up to Bud and slipped her hand in his. "You ain't +a-goin' to back down, is you, Buddie?" she said.</p> + +<p>"No," said Bud stoutly, as he braced his shoulders, "I'm a-goin'."</p> + +<p>But no persuasion could make him wear his uniform.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span></p><p>The boys were a little cold to him, and some were brutal. But most of +them recognised the fact that what had happened to Tom Harris might have +happened to any one of them. Besides, since the percentage had been +shown, it was found that "B" had outpointed them in many ways, and so +their loss was not due to the one grave error. Bud's heart sank when he +dropped into his seat in the Assembly Hall to find seated on the +platform one of the blue-coated officers who had acted as judge the day +before. After the opening exercises were over he was called upon to +address the school. He spoke readily and pleasantly, laying especial +stress upon the value of discipline; toward the end of his address he +said: "I suppose Company 'A' is heaping accusations upon the head of the +young man who dropped his bayonet yesterday." Tom could have died. "It +was most regrettable," the officer continued, "but to me the most +significant thing at the drill was the conduct of that cadet afterward. +I saw the whole proceeding; I saw that he did not pause for an instant, +that he did not even turn his head, and it appeared to me as one of the +finest bits of self-control I had ever seen in any youth; had he +forgotten himself for a moment and stopped, however quickly, to secure +the weapon, the next line would have been interfered with and your whole +movement thrown into confusion." There were a half hundred eyes glancing +furtively at Bud, and the light began to dawn in his face. "This boy has +shown what discipline means, and I for one want to shake hands with him, +if he is here."</p> + +<p>When he had concluded the Principal called Bud forward, and the boys, +even his detractors, cheered as the officer took his hand.</p> + +<p>"Why are you not in uniform, sir?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I was ashamed to wear it after yesterday," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Don't be ashamed to wear your uniform," the officer said to him, and +Bud could have fallen on his knees and thanked him.</p> + +<p>There were no more jeers from his comrades now, and when he related it +all at home that evening there were two more happy hearts in that South +Washington cottage.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span></p><p>"I told you we was more prouder dan if you'd won," said "Little Sister."</p> + +<p>"An' what did I tell you 'bout backin' out?" asked his mother.</p> + +<p>Bud was too happy and too busy to answer; he was brushing his uniform.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The heart of happy hollow, by Paul Laurence Dunbar + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HEART OF HAPPY HOLLOW *** + +***** This file should be named 24716-h.htm or 24716-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/1/24716/ + +Produced by Greg Bergquist, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The heart of happy hollow + A collection of stories + +Author: Paul Laurence Dunbar + +Release Date: February 29, 2008 [EBook #24716] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HEART OF HAPPY HOLLOW *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Bergquist, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +Dialect and inconsistent spelling have been preserved. + +In The Scapegoat, Part II, text appears to be missing between +"hard" and "brought" in the sentence "The school-teacher is +giving you a pretty hard brought the school-children in for +chorus singing, secured an able orator, and the best essayist +in town." + + + + + THE HEART OF + HAPPY HOLLOW + + _A Collection of Stories_ + + PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR + + Reprint, 1904 + Dodd, Mead and Co., New York. + + + + +_Contents_ + + + _Foreword_ 3 + + _One_: THE SCAPEGOAT 5 + + _Two_: ONE CHRISTMAS AT SHILOH 21 + + _Three_: THE MISSION OF MR. SCATTERS 29 + + _Four_: A MATTER OF DOCTRINE 45 + + _Five_: OLD ABE'S CONVERSION 53 + + _Six_: THE RACE QUESTION 63 + + _Seven_: A DEFENDER OF THE FAITH 67 + + _Eight_: CAHOOTS 73 + + _Nine_: THE PROMOTER 81 + + _Ten_: THE WISDOM OF SILENCE 95 + + _Eleven_: THE TRIUMPH OF OL' MIS' PEASE 103 + + _Twelve_: THE LYNCHING OF JUBE BENSON 111 + + _Thirteen_: SCHWALLIGER'S PHILANTHROPY 121 + + _Fourteen_: THE INTERFERENCE OF PATSY ANN 129 + + _Fifteen_: THE HOME-COMING OF 'RASTUS SMITH 137 + + _Sixteen_: THE BOY AND THE BAYONET 145 + + + + +To My Friend +Ezra M. Kuhns + + + + +_Foreword_ + + +Happy Hollow; are you wondering where it is? Wherever Negroes colonise +in the cities or villages, north or south, wherever the hod carrier, the +porter, and the waiter are the society men of the town; wherever the +picnic and the excursion are the chief summer diversion, and the revival +the winter time of repentance, wherever the cheese cloth veil obtains at +a wedding, and the little white hearse goes by with black mourners in +the one carriage behind, there--there--is Happy Hollow. Wherever +laughter and tears rub elbows day by day, and the spirit of labour and +laziness shake hands, there--there--is Happy Hollow, and of some of it +may the following pages show the heart. + +The Author. + + + + +_One_ + +THE SCAPEGOAT + + +I + +The law is usually supposed to be a stern mistress, not to be lightly +wooed, and yielding only to the most ardent pursuit. But even law, like +love, sits more easily on some natures than on others. + +This was the case with Mr. Robinson Asbury. Mr. Asbury had started life +as a bootblack in the growing town of Cadgers. From this he had risen +one step and become porter and messenger in a barber-shop. This rise +fired his ambition, and he was not content until he had learned to use +the shears and the razor and had a chair of his own. From this, in a man +of Robinson's temperament, it was only a step to a shop of his own, and +he placed it where it would do the most good. + +Fully one-half of the population of Cadgers was composed of Negroes, and +with their usual tendency to colonise, a tendency encouraged, and in +fact compelled, by circumstances, they had gathered into one part of +the town. Here in alleys, and streets as dirty and hardly wider, they +thronged like ants. + +It was in this place that Mr. Asbury set up his shop, and he won the +hearts of his prospective customers by putting up the significant sign, +"Equal Rights Barber-Shop." This legend was quite unnecessary, because +there was only one race about, to patronise the place. But it was a +delicate sop to the people's vanity, and it served its purpose. + +Asbury came to be known as a clever fellow, and his business grew. The +shop really became a sort of club, and, on Saturday nights especially, +was the gathering-place of the men of the whole Negro quarter. He kept +the illustrated and race journals there, and those who cared neither to +talk nor listen to someone else might see pictured the doings of high +society in very short skirts or read in the Negro papers how Miss Boston +had entertained Miss Blueford to tea on such and such an afternoon. +Also, he kept the policy returns, which was wise, if not moral. + +It was his wisdom rather more than his morality that made the party +managers after a while cast their glances toward him as a man who might +be useful to their interests. It would be well to have a man--a shrewd, +powerful man--down in that part of the town who could carry his people's +vote in his vest pocket, and who at any time its delivery might be +needed, could hand it over without hesitation. Asbury seemed that man, +and they settled upon him. They gave him money, and they gave him power +and patronage. He took it all silently and he carried out his bargain +faithfully. His hands and his lips alike closed tightly when there was +anything within them. It was not long before he found himself the big +Negro of the district and, of necessity, of the town. The time came +when, at a critical moment, the managers saw that they had not reckoned +without their host in choosing this barber of the black district as the +leader of his people. + +Now, so much success must have satisfied any other man. But in many +ways Mr. Asbury was unique. For a long time he himself had done very +little shaving--except of notes, to keep his hand in. His time had been +otherwise employed. In the evening hours he had been wooing the +coquettish Dame Law, and, wonderful to say, she had yielded easily to +his advances. + +It was against the advice of his friends that he asked for admission to +the bar. They felt that he could do more good in the place where he was. + +"You see, Robinson," said old Judge Davis, "it's just like this: If +you're not admitted, it'll hurt you with the people; if you are +admitted, you'll move uptown to an office and get out of touch with +them." + +Asbury smiled an inscrutable smile. Then he whispered something into the +judge's ear that made the old man wrinkle from his neck up with +appreciative smiles. + +"Asbury," he said, "you are--you are--well, you ought to be white, +that's all. When we find a black man like you we send him to State's +prison. If you were white, you'd go to the Senate." + +The Negro laughed confidently. + +He was admitted to the bar soon after, whether by merit or by connivance +is not to be told. + +"Now he will move uptown," said the black community. "Well, that's the +way with a coloured man when he gets a start." + +But they did not know Asbury Robinson yet. He was a man of surprises, +and they were destined to disappointment. He did not move uptown. He +built an office in a small open space next his shop, and there hung out +his shingle. + +"I will never desert the people who have done so much to elevate me," +said Mr. Asbury. + +"I will live among them and I will die among them." + +This was a strong card for the barber-lawyer. The people seized upon the +statement as expressing a nobility of an altogether unique brand. + +They held a mass meeting and indorsed him. They made resolutions that +extolled him, and the Negro band came around and serenaded him, playing +various things in varied time. + +All this was very sweet to Mr. Asbury, and the party managers chuckled +with satisfaction and said, "That Asbury, that Asbury!" + +Now there is a fable extant of a man who tried to please everybody, and +his failure is a matter of record. Robinson Asbury was not more +successful. But be it said that his ill success was due to no fault or +shortcoming of his. + +For a long time his growing power had been looked upon with disfavour by +the coloured law firm of Bingo & Latchett. Both Mr. Bingo and Mr. +Latchett themselves aspired to be Negro leaders in Cadgers, and they +were delivering Emancipation Day orations and riding at the head of +processions when Mr. Asbury was blacking boots. Is it any wonder, then, +that they viewed with alarm his sudden rise? They kept their counsel, +however, and treated with him, for it was best. They allowed him his +scope without open revolt until the day upon which he hung out his +shingle. This was the last straw. They could stand no more. Asbury had +stolen their other chances from them, and now he was poaching upon the +last of their preserves. So Mr. Bingo and Mr. Latchett put their heads +together to plan the downfall of their common enemy. + +The plot was deep and embraced the formation of an opposing faction made +up of the best Negroes of the town. It would have looked too much like +what it was for the gentlemen to show themselves in the matter, and so +they took into their confidence Mr. Isaac Morton, the principal of the +coloured school, and it was under his ostensible leadership that the new +faction finally came into being. + +Mr. Morton was really an innocent young man, and he had ideals which +should never have been exposed to the air. When the wily confederates +came to him with their plan he believed that his worth had been +recognised, and at last he was to be what Nature destined him for--a +leader. + +The better class of Negroes--by that is meant those who were +particularly envious of Asbury's success--flocked to the new man's +standard. But whether the race be white or black, political virtue is +always in a minority, so Asbury could afford to smile at the force +arrayed against him. + +The new faction met together and resolved. They resolved, among other +things, that Mr. Asbury was an enemy to his race and a menace to +civilisation. They decided that he should be abolished; but, as they +couldn't get out an injunction against him, and as he had the whole +undignified but still voting black belt behind him, he went serenely on +his way. + +"They're after you hot and heavy, Asbury," said one of his friends to +him. + +"Oh, yes," was the reply, "they're after me, but after a while I'll get +so far away that they'll be running in front." + +"It's all the best people, they say." + +"Yes. Well, it's good to be one of the best people, but your vote only +counts one just the same." + +The time came, however, when Mr. Asbury's theory was put to the test. +The Cadgerites celebrated the first of January as Emancipation Day. On +this day there was a large procession, with speechmaking in the +afternoon and fireworks at night. It was the custom to concede the +leadership of the coloured people of the town to the man who managed to +lead the procession. For two years past this honour had fallen, of +course, to Robinson Asbury, and there had been no disposition on the +part of anybody to try conclusions with him. + +Mr. Morton's faction changed all this. When Asbury went to work to +solicit contributions for the celebration, he suddenly became aware that +he had a fight upon his hands. All the better-class Negroes were +staying out of it. The next thing he knew was that plans were on foot +for a rival demonstration. + +"Oh," he said to himself, "that's it, is it? Well, if they want a fight +they can have it." + +He had a talk with the party managers, and he had another with Judge +Davis. + +"All I want is a little lift, judge," he said, "and I'll make 'em think +the sky has turned loose and is vomiting niggers." + +The judge believed that he could do it. So did the party managers. +Asbury got his lift. Emancipation Day came. + +There were two parades. At least, there was one parade and the shadow of +another. Asbury's, however, was not the shadow. There was a great deal +of substance about it--substance made up of many people, many banners, +and numerous bands. He did not have the best people. Indeed, among his +cohorts there were a good many of the pronounced rag-tag and bobtail. +But he had noise and numbers. In such cases, nothing more is needed. The +success of Asbury's side of the affair did everything to confirm his +friends in their good opinion of him. + +When he found himself defeated, Mr. Silas Bingo saw that it would be +policy to placate his rival's just anger against him. He called upon him +at his office the day after the celebration. + +"Well, Asbury," he said, "you beat us, didn't you?" + +"It wasn't a question of beating," said the other calmly. "It was only +an inquiry as to who were the people--the few or the many." + +"Well, it was well done, and you've shown that you are a manager. I +confess that I haven't always thought that you were doing the wisest +thing in living down here and catering to this class of people when you +might, with your ability, to be much more to the better class." + +"What do they base their claims of being better on?" + +"Oh, there ain't any use discussing that. We can't get along without +you, we see that. So I, for one, have decided to work with you for +harmony." + +"Harmony. Yes, that's what we want." + +"If I can do anything to help you at any time, why you have only to +command me." + +"I am glad to find such a friend in you. Be sure, if I ever need you, +Bingo, I'll call on you." + +"And I'll be ready to serve you." + +Asbury smiled when his visitor was gone. He smiled, and knitted his +brow. "I wonder what Bingo's got up his sleeve," he said. "He'll bear +watching." + +It may have been pride at his triumph, it may have been gratitude at his +helpers, but Asbury went into the ensuing campaign with reckless +enthusiasm. He did the most daring things for the party's sake. Bingo, +true to his promise, was ever at his side ready to serve him. Finally, +association and immunity made danger less fearsome; the rival no longer +appeared a menace. + +With the generosity born of obstacles overcome, Asbury determined to +forgive Bingo and give him a chance. He let him in on a deal, and from +that time they worked amicably together until the election came and +passed. + +It was a close election and many things had had to be done, but there +were men there ready and waiting to do them. They were successful, and +then the first cry of the defeated party was, as usual, "Fraud! Fraud!" +The cry was taken up by the jealous, the disgruntled, and the virtuous. + +Someone remembered how two years ago the registration books had been +stolen. It was known upon good authority that money had been freely +used. Men held up their hands in horror at the suggestion that the Negro +vote had been juggled with, as if that were a new thing. From their +pulpits ministers denounced the machine and bade their hearers rise and +throw off the yoke of a corrupt municipal government. One of those +sudden fevers of reform had taken possession of the town and threatened +to destroy the successful party. + +They began to look around them. They must purify themselves. They must +give the people some tangible evidence of their own yearnings after +purity. They looked around them for a sacrifice to lay upon the altar of +municipal reform. Their eyes fell upon Mr. Bingo. No, he was not big +enough. His blood was too scant to wash away the political stains. Then +they looked into each other's eyes and turned their gaze away to let it +fall upon Mr. Asbury. They really hated to do it. But there must be a +scapegoat. The god from the Machine commanded them to slay him. + +Robinson Asbury was charged with many crimes--with all that he had +committed and some that he had not. When Mr. Bingo saw what was afoot he +threw himself heart and soul into the work of his old rival's enemies. +He was of incalculable use to them. + +Judge Davis refused to have anything to do with the matter. But in spite +of his disapproval it went on. Asbury was indicted and tried. The +evidence was all against him, and no one gave more damaging testimony +than his friend, Mr. Bingo. The judge's charge was favourable to the +defendant, but the current of popular opinion could not be entirely +stemmed. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty. + +"Before I am sentenced, judge, I have a statement to make to the court. +It will take less than ten minutes." + +"Go on, Robinson," said the judge kindly. + +Asbury started, in a monotonous tone, a recital that brought the +prosecuting attorney to his feet in a minute. The judge waved him down, +and sat transfixed by a sort of fascinated horror as the convicted man +went on. The before-mentioned attorney drew a knife and started for the +prisoner's dock. With difficulty he was restrained. A dozen faces in the +court-room were red and pale by turns. + +"He ought to be killed," whispered Mr. Bingo audibly. + +Robinson Asbury looked at him and smiled, and then he told a few things +of him. He gave the ins and outs of some of the misdemeanours of which +he stood accused. He showed who were the men behind the throne. And +still, pale and transfixed, Judge Davis waited for his own sentence. + +Never were ten minutes so well taken up. It was a tale of rottenness and +corruption in high places told simply and with the stamp of truth upon +it. + +He did not mention the judge's name. But he had torn the mask from the +face of every other man who had been concerned in his downfall. They had +shorn him of his strength, but they had forgotten that he was yet able +to bring the roof and pillars tumbling about their heads. + +The judge's voice shook as he pronounced sentence upon his old ally--a +year in State's prison. + +Some people said it was too light, but the judge knew what it was to +wait for the sentence of doom, and he was grateful and sympathetic. + +When the sheriff led Asbury away the judge hastened to have a short talk +with him. + +"I'm sorry, Robinson," he said, "and I want to tell you that you were no +more guilty than the rest of us. But why did you spare me?" + +"Because I knew you were my friend," answered the convict. + +"I tried to be, but you were the first man that I've ever known since +I've been in politics who ever gave me any decent return for +friendship." + +"I reckon you're about right, judge." + +In politics, party reform usually lies in making a scapegoat of someone +who is only as criminal as the rest, but a little weaker. Asbury's +friends and enemies had succeeded in making him bear the burden of all +the party's crimes, but their reform was hardly a success, and their +protestations of a change of heart were received with doubt. Already +there were those who began to pity the victim and to say that he had +been hardly dealt with. + +Mr. Bingo was not of these; but he found, strange to say, that his +opposition to the idea went but a little way, and that even with Asbury +out of his path he was a smaller man than he was before. Fate was strong +against him. His poor, prosperous humanity could not enter the lists +against a martyr. Robinson Asbury was now a martyr. + + +II + +A year is not a long time. It was short enough to prevent people from +forgetting Robinson, and yet long enough for their pity to grow strong +as they remembered. Indeed, he was not gone a year. Good behaviour cut +two months off the time of his sentence, and by the time people had come +around to the notion that he was really the greatest and smartest man in +Cadgers he was at home again. + +He came back with no flourish of trumpets, but quietly, humbly. He went +back again into the heart of the black district. His business had +deteriorated during his absence, but he put new blood and new life into +it. He did not go to work in the shop himself, but, taking down the +shingle that had swung idly before his office door during his +imprisonment, he opened the little room as a news- and cigar-stand. + +Here anxious, pitying custom came to him and he prospered again. He was +very quiet. Uptown hardly knew that he was again in Cadgers, and it knew +nothing whatever of his doings. + +"I wonder why Asbury is so quiet," they said to one another. "It isn't +like him to be quiet." And they felt vaguely uneasy about him. + +So many people had begun to say, "Well, he was a mighty good fellow +after all." + +Mr. Bingo expressed the opinion that Asbury was quiet because he was +crushed, but others expressed doubt as to this. There are calms and +calms, some after and some before the storm. Which was this? + +They waited a while, and, as no storm came, concluded that this must be +the after-quiet. Bingo, reassured, volunteered to go and seek +confirmation of this conclusion. + +He went, and Asbury received him with an indifferent, not to say, +impolite, demeanour. + +"Well, we're glad to see you back, Asbury," said Bingo patronisingly. He +had variously demonstrated his inability to lead during his rival's +absence and was proud of it. "What are you going to do?" + +"I'm going to work." + +"That's right. I reckon you'll stay out of politics." + +"What could I do even if I went in?" + +"Nothing now, of course; but I didn't know----" + +He did not see the gleam in Asbury's half shut eyes. He only marked his +humility, and he went back swelling with the news. + +"Completely crushed--all the run taken out of him," was his report. + +The black district believed this, too, and a sullen, smouldering anger +took possession of them. Here was a good man ruined. Some of the people +whom he had helped in his former days--some of the rude, coarse people +of the low quarter who were still sufficiently unenlightened to be +grateful--talked among themselves and offered to get up a demonstration +for him. But he denied them. No, he wanted nothing of the kind. It would +only bring him into unfavourable notice. All he wanted was that they +would always be his friends and would stick by him. + +They would to the death. + +There were again two factions in Cadgers. The school-master could not +forget how once on a time he had been made a tool of by Mr. Bingo. So he +revolted against his rule and set himself up as the leader of an +opposing clique. The fight had been long and strong, but had ended with +odds slightly in Bingo's favour. + +But Mr. Morton did not despair. As the first of January and Emancipation +Day approached, he arrayed his hosts, and the fight for supremacy became +fiercer than ever. The school-teacher is giving you a pretty hard +brought the school-children in for chorus singing, secured an able +orator, and the best essayist in town. With all this, he was formidable. + +Mr. Bingo knew that he had the fight of his life on his hands, and he +entered with fear as well as zest. He, too, found an orator, but he was +not sure that he was as good as Morton's. There was no doubt but that +his essayist was not. He secured a band, but still he felt unsatisfied. +He had hardly done enough, and for the school-master to beat him now +meant his political destruction. + +It was in this state of mind that he was surprised to receive a visit +from Mr. Asbury. + +"I reckon you're surprised to see me here," said Asbury, smiling. + +"I am pleased, I know." Bingo was astute. + +"Well, I just dropped in on business." + +"To be sure, to be sure, Asbury. What can I do for you?" + +"It's more what I can do for you that I came to talk about," was the +reply. + +"I don't believe I understand you." + +"Well, it's plain enough. They say that the school-teacher is giving you +a pretty hard fight." + +"Oh, not so hard." + +"No man can be too sure of winning, though. Mr. Morton once did me a +mean turn when he started the faction against me." + +Bingo's heart gave a great leap, and then stopped for the fraction of a +second. + +"You were in it, of course," pursued Asbury, "but I can look over your +part in it in order to get even with the man who started it." + +It was true, then, thought Bingo gladly. He did not know. He wanted +revenge for his wrongs and upon the wrong man. How well the schemer had +covered his tracks! Asbury should have his revenge and Morton would be +the sufferer. + +"Of course, Asbury, you know what I did I did innocently." + +"Oh, yes, in politics we are all lambs and the wolves are only to be +found in the other party. We'll pass that, though. What I want to say is +that I can help you to make your celebration an overwhelming success. I +still have some influence down in my district." + +"Certainly, and very justly, too. Why, I should be delighted with your +aid. I could give you a prominent place in the procession." + +"I don't want it; I don't want to appear in this at all. All I want is +revenge. You can have all the credit, but let me down my enemy." + +Bingo was perfectly willing, and, with their heads close together, they +had a long and close consultation. When Asbury was gone, Mr. Bingo lay +back in his chair and laughed. "I'm a slick duck," he said. + +From that hour Mr. Bingo's cause began to take on the appearance of +something very like a boom. More bands were hired. The interior of the +State was called upon and a more eloquent orator secured. The crowd +hastened to array itself on the growing side. + +With surprised eyes, the school-master beheld the wonder of it, but he +kept to his own purpose with dogged insistence, even when he saw that he +could not turn aside the overwhelming defeat that threatened him. But in +spite of his obstinacy, his hours were dark and bitter. Asbury worked +like a mole, all underground, but he was indefatigable. Two days before +the celebration time everything was perfected for the biggest +demonstration that Cadgers had ever known. All the next day and night he +was busy among his allies. + +On the morning of the great day, Mr. Bingo, wonderfully caparisoned, +rode down to the hall where the parade was to form. He was early. No one +had yet come. In an hour a score of men all told had collected. Another +hour passed, and no more had come. Then there smote upon his ear the +sound of music. They were coming at last. Bringing his sword to his +shoulder, he rode forward to the middle of the street. Ah, there they +were. But--but--could he believe his eyes? They were going in another +direction, and at their head rode--Morton! He gnashed his teeth in fury. +He had been led into a trap and betrayed. The procession passing had +been his--all his. He heard them cheering, and then, oh! climax of +infidelity, he saw his own orator go past in a carriage, bowing and +smiling to the crowd. + +There was no doubting who had done this thing. The hand of Asbury was +apparent in it. He must have known the truth all along, thought Bingo. +His allies left him one by one for the other hall, and he rode home in a +humiliation deeper than he had ever known before. + +Asbury did not appear at the celebration. He was at his little +news-stand all day. + +In a day or two the defeated aspirant had further cause to curse his +false friend. He found that not only had the people defected from him, +but that the thing had been so adroitly managed that he appeared to be +in fault, and three-fourths of those who knew him were angry at some +supposed grievance. His cup of bitterness was full when his partner, a +quietly ambitious man, suggested that they dissolve their relations. + +His ruin was complete. + +The lawyer was not alone in seeing Asbury's hand in his downfall. The +party managers saw it too, and they met together to discuss the +dangerous factor which, while it appeared to slumber, was so terribly +awake. They decided that he must be appeased, and they visited him. + +He was still busy at his news-stand. They talked to him adroitly, while +he sorted papers and kept an impassive face. When they were all done, he +looked up for a moment and replied, "You know, gentlemen, as an +ex-convict I am not in politics." + +Some of them had the grace to flush. + +"But you can use your influence," they said. + +"I am not in politics," was his only reply. + +And the spring elections were coming on. Well, they worked hard, and he +showed no sign. He treated with neither one party nor the other. +"Perhaps," thought the managers, "he is out of politics," and they grew +more confident. + +It was nearing eleven o'clock on the morning of election when a cloud no +bigger than a man's hand appeared upon the horizon. It came from the +direction of the black district. It grew, and the managers of the party +in power looked at it, fascinated by an ominous dread. Finally it began +to rain Negro voters, and as one man they voted against their former +candidates. Their organisation was perfect. They simply came, voted, and +left, but they overwhelmed everything. Not one of the party that had +damned Robinson Asbury was left in power save old Judge Davis. His +majority was overwhelming. + +The generalship that had engineered the thing was perfect. There were +loud threats against the newsdealer. But no one bothered him except a +reporter. The reporter called to see just how it was done. He found +Asbury very busy sorting papers. To the newspaper man's questions he had +only this reply, "I am not in politics, sir." + +But Cadgers had learned its lesson. + + + + +_Two_ + +ONE CHRISTMAS AT SHILOH + + +Martha Maria Mixon was a "widder lady." So she described herself +whenever anyone asked her as to her status in life. To her more intimate +friends she confided that she was not a "weed widder," but one of the +"grass" variety. The story of how her husband, Madison, had never been +"No 'count, even befo' de wah," and of his rapid degeneration +thereafter, was vividly told. + +"De fact of de mattah is," Mrs. Mixon was wont to say, "my man, Madison, +was nevah no han' to wo'k. He was de settin'-downest man you evah seed. +Hit wouldn't 'a' been so bad, but Madison was a lakly man, an' his +tongue wah smoothah dan ile; so hit t'wan't no shakes fu' him to fool +ol' Mas' 'bout his wo'k an' git erlong des erbout ez he pleased. Mas' +Madison Mixon, hisse'f, was a mighty 'dulgent so't o' man, an' he liked +a laugh bettah dan anyone in de worl'. Well, my man could mek him laugh, +an' dat was enough fu' him. I used to lectuah dat man much 'bout his +onshifless ways, but he des went erlong, twell bimeby hyeah come de wah +an' evahthing was broke up. Den w'en hit come time dat Madison had to +scramble fu' hisself, dey wa'nt no scramble in him. He des' wouldn't +wo'k an' I had to do evahthing. He allus had what he called some gret +scheme, but deh nevah seemed to come to nuffin, an' once when he got de +folks to put some money in somep'n' dat broke up, dey come put' nigh +tahin' an' featherin' him. Finally, I des got morchully tiahed o' dat +man's ca'in' on, an' I say to him one day, 'Madison,' I say, 'I'm tiahed +of all dis foo'ishness, an' I'm gwine up Norf whaih I kin live an' be +somebody. Ef evah you mek a man out o' yo'se'f, an' want me, de Bible +say 'Seek an' you shell receive.' Cause even den I was a mighty han' to +c'ote de Scripters. Well, I lef' him, an' Norf I come, 'dough it jes' +nigh broke my hea't, fu' I sho did love dat black man. De las' thing I +hyeahed o' him, he had des learned to read an' write an' wah runnin' fu' +de Legislater 'twell de Klu Klux got aftah him; den I think he 'signed +de nomernation." + +This was Martha's story, and the reason that there was no Mr. Mixon with +her when she came North, drifted from place to place and finally became +one of New York's large black contingent from the South. To her the +lessons of slavery had not been idle ones. Industrious, careful, and +hard-working, she soon became prosperous, and when, hunting a spiritual +home she settled upon Shiloh Chapel, she was welcomed there as a +distinct addition to the large and active membership. + +Shiloh was not one of the fashionable churches of the city, but it was +primarily a church home for any Southern negro, for in it were +representatives of every one of the old slaveholding States. Its pastor +was one of those who had not yet got beyond the belief that any temporal +preparation for the preaching of the Gospel was unnecessary. It was +still his firm trust, and often his boast, that if one opened his mouth +the Lord would fill it, and it grew to be a settled idea that the Lord +filled his acceptably, for his converts were many and his congregation +increased. + +The Rev. Silas Todbury's education may have been deficient in other +matters, but one thing he knew, and knew thoroughly--the disposition of +his people. He knew just what weaknesses, longings, and desires their +recent bondage had left with them, and with admirable shrewdness +contrived to meet them. He knew that in preaching they wanted noise, +emotion, and fire; that in the preacher they wanted free-heartedness and +cordiality. He knew that when Christmas came they wanted a great rally, +somewhat approaching, at least, the rousing times both spiritual and +temporal that they had had back on the old plantation, when Christmas +meant a week of pleasurable excitement. Knowing the last so well, it was +with commendable foresight that he began early his preparations for a +big time on a certain Christmas not long ago. + +"I tell you people," he said to his congregation, "we's goin' to have a +reg'lar 'Benjamin's mess'!" + +The coloured folk, being not quite sure of the quotation, laughed +heartily, exclaiming in admiration of their pastor, "Dat Todbu'y is +sholy one mess hisse'f." + +"Now any of de sistahs dat's willin' to he'p mek dis comin' Chris'mus a +real sho 'nough one, 'll 'blige me by meetin' me in de basement of de +chu'ch aftah services. De brothahs kin go 'long home 'twell dey called +fu'." + +There was another outburst of merriment at this sally, and it was a +good-natured score or more of sisters who a little later met the pastor +as agreed. Among them was Martha Maria Mixon, for she was very close to +her pastor, and for many a day had joyed his clerical heart with special +dinners. + +"Ah," said the preacher, rubbing his hands, "Sistah Marthy, I see you's +on han' ez usual to he'p me out, an' you, too, Sis Jinny, an' Sis +Dicey," he added, quick to note the signs of any incipient jealousy, and +equally ready to check it. "We's all hyeah, de faithful few, an' we's +all ready fu' wo'k." + +The sisters beamed and nodded. + +"Well, we goin' to have some'p'n evah night, beginnin' wid Chris'mus +night, straight on endurin' of de week, an' I want to separate you all +into companies fu' to take chawge of each night. Now, I's a-goin' to +have a powahful preachah f'om de Souf wid us, an' I want you all to show +him what we kin do. On Chris'mus day we goin' to have a sermont at de +chu'ch an' a festabal in de evenin' wid a Chris'mus tree. Sis' Marthy, I +want you to boa'd de minister." + +"La, Brothah Todbu'y, I don't scarcely feel lak I's 'portant 'nough fu' +dat," said Mrs. Mixon modestly, "but I'll do de bes' I kin. I hatter be +lak de widder's mice in de scuse o' meal." + +"We ain't got no doubt 'bout what you able to do, Sis Marthy," and the +pastor passed to the appointment of his other committees. After evening +services the brothers were similarly called in consultation and +appointed to their respective duties. + +To the black people to whom these responsibilities were thus turned +over, joy came, and with it the vision of other days--the vision of the +dear old days, the hard old days back there in the South, when they had +looked forward to their Christmas from year to year. Then it had been a +time of sadness as well as of joy, for they knew that though the week +was full of pleasure, after it was over must come separation and +sadness. For this was the time when those who were to be hired out, +loaned, or given away, were to change their homes. So even while they +danced they sighed, and while they shouted they moaned. Now there was no +such repressing fact to daunt them. Christmas would come. They would +enjoy themselves, and after it was over would go back to the same homes +to live through the round of months in the midst of familiar faces and +among their own old loved ones. The thought gave sweetness to their +labour, and the responsibilities devolving upon them imbued the sacred +holiday with a meaning and charm that it had never had before for them. +They bubbled over with importance and with the glory of it. A sister and +a brother could not meet without a friendly banter. + +"Hi, Sis' Dicey," Brother Williams would call out across the fence to +his neighbour, "I don' believe you doin' anything to'ds dat Chris'mus +celebration. Evah time I sees you, you's in de washtub tryin' to mek +braid an' meat fo' dat no 'count man o' yo'n." + +Sister Dicey's laugh rang out loud and musical before she replied, +"Nevah you min', Brothah Williams. I don' see yo' back bowed so much by +de yoke." + +"Oh, honey, I's labo'in' even ef you do'n know it, but you'll see it on +de day." + +"I 'low you labo'in' de mos' to git dat wife o' yo'n a new dress," and +her tormentor's guffaw seemed to admit some such benevolent intention. + +In the corners of every house where the younger and more worldly-minded +people congregated there was much whispering and giggling, for they had +their own plans for Christmas outside of the church affair. + +"You goin' to give me de pleasure of yo' comp'ny to de dance aftah de +festabal?" some ardent and early swain would murmur to his lady love, +and the whisper would fly back in well-feigned affright, "Heish, man, +you want to have Brothah Todbu'y chu'chin' me?" But if the swain +persisted, there was little chance of his being ultimately refused. So +the world, the flesh, and the devil kept pace with the things of the +spirit in the great preparation. + +Meanwhile Martha Maria Mixon went her own way, working hard, fixing and +observing. She had determined to excel herself this time, and not only +should her part at the church be above reproach, but the entertainment +which she would give that strange preacher would be a thing long to be +remembered. And so, almost startled at all that Shiloh was preparing for +his reception, hoary Christmas approached. + +All New York was a dazzling bazar through which the people thronged +ceaselessly, tumultuously. Everyone was a child again; holly wreaths +with the red berries gleaming amid the green were everywhere, and the +white streets were gay with laughter and bustle and life. + +On the night before the great day Martha sat before her fire and hummed +softly to herself. There was a smile upon her face, for she had worked +and worked well, and now all was ready and to her entire satisfaction. +Something which shall be nameless simmered in a tin cup on the back of +the stove before her, and every now and then she broke her reverie to +sip of it. It smelled sweet and pungent and suspicious, but, then--this +was Christmas Eve. She was half drowsing when a brisk knock startled her +into wakefulness. Thinking it was one of the neighbours in for a call +she bade the visitor enter, without moving. There was a stamping of +feet, and the door opened and a black man covered with snow stood before +her. He said nothing. Martha rubbed her eyes and stared at him, and then +she looked at the cup accusingly, and from it back to the man. Then she +rubbed her eyes again. + +"Wha--wha----" she stammered, rising slowly. + +"Don' you know me, Marthy, don' you know me; an' don' you want to see +yo' husban'?" + +"Madison Mixon, is dat you in de flesh?" + +"It's me, Marthy; you tol' me ef evah I made a man o' myse'f, to seek +you. It's been a long road, but I's tried faithful." + +All the memories of other days came rushing over Martha in an +overwhelming flood. In one moment everything was forgotten save that +here stood her long delinquent husband. She threw out her arms and took +a step toward him, but he anticipated her further advance and rushing to +her clasped her ample form in a close embrace. + +"You will tek me back!" he cried, "you will fu'give me!" + +"Yes, yes, of co'se, I will, Madison, ef you has made a man of yo'se'f." + +"I hopes to prove dat to you." + +It was a very pleasant evening that they spent together, and like old +times to Martha. Never once did it occur to her that this sudden finding +of a husband might be awkward on the morrow when the visitor came to +dinner. Nor did she once suspect that Madison might be up to one of his +old tricks. She accepted him for just what he said he was and intended +to be. + +Her first doubt came the next morning when she began to hurry her +preparations for church. Madison had been fumbling in his carpet bag and +was already respectably dressed. His wife looked at him approvingly, but +the glance turned to one of consternation when he stammered forth that +he had to go out, as he had some business to attend to. + +"What, on de ve'y fust day you hyeah, ain't you goin' to chu'ch wid me?" + +"De bus'ness is mighty pressin', but I hopes to see you at chu'ch by de +time de services begin. Waih does you set?" His hand was on the door. + +Martha sank into a chair and the tears came to her eyes, but she choked +them back. She would not let him see how much she was hurt. She told him +in a faltering voice where she sat, and he passed out. Then her tears +came and flooded away the last hope. She had been so proud to think that +she would walk to church with her husband that morning for the first +time in so long a while, and now it was all over. For a little while she +thought that she would not go, and then the memory of all the +preparations she had made and of the new minister came to her, and she +went on with her dressing. + +The church was crowded that morning when Martha arrived. She looked +around in vain for some sight of Madison, but she could see nothing of +him, and so she sank into her seat with a sigh. She could just see the +new minister drooping in his seat behind the reading desk. He was +evidently deep in meditation, for he did not get up during the hymn. + +Then Martha heard the Rev. Silas Todbury speaking. His words did not +affect her until she found that the whole of his closing sentence was +flashing through her brain like a flame. "We will now be exho'ted by de +Reverent Madison Mixon." + +She couldn't believe her ears, but stared wildly at the pulpit where the +new preacher stood. It was Madison. Her first impulse was to rise in her +seat and stop him. It was another of his tricks, and he should not +profane the church. But his look and voice silenced her and she sank +back in amazement. + +He preached a powerful sermon, and at its close told something of his +life and who he was, and Martha found herself all at once the centre of +attention; and her face glowed and her heart burned within her as the +people about her nodded and smiled at her through their tears, and +hurled "Amen" upon "Amen." + +Madison hurried to her side after the services. "I des wanted to s'prise +you a little, Marthy," he said. + +She was too happy to answer and, pressing his arm very tightly, she +walked out among her congratulating friends, and between her husband and +the Rev. Silas Todbury went proudly home to her Christmas dinner. + + + + +_Three_ + +THE MISSION OF MR. SCATTERS + + +It took something just short of a revolution to wake up the sleepy +little town of Miltonville. Through the slow, hot days it drowsed along +like a lazy dog, only half rousing now and then to snap at some flying +rumour, and relapsing at once into its pristine somnolence. + +It was not a dreamless sleep, however, that held the town in chains. It +had its dreams--dreams of greatness, of wealth, of consequence and of +growth. Granted that there was no effort to realise these visions, they +were yet there, and, combined with the memory of a past that was not +without credit, went far to give tone to its dormant spirit. + +It was a real spirit, too; the gallant Bourbon spirit of the old South; +of Kentucky when she is most the daughter of Virginia, as was evidenced +in the awed respect which all Miltonvillians, white and black alike, +showed to Major Richardson in his house on the hill. He was part of the +traditions of the place. It was shown in the conservatism of the old +white families, and a certain stalwart if reflected self-respect in the +older coloured inhabitants. + +In all the days since the school had been founded and Mr. Dunkin's +marriage to the teacher had raised a brief ripple of excitement, these +coloured people had slumbered. They were still slumbering that hot +August day, unmindful of the sensation that lay at their very doors, +heedless of the portents that said as plain as preaching, "Miltonville, +the time is at hand, awake!" + +So it was that that afternoon there were only a few loungers, and these +not very alert, about the station when the little train wheezed and +puffed its way into it. It had been so long since anyone save those whom +they knew had alighted at Miltonville that the loungers had lost faith, +and with it curiosity, and now they scarcely changed their positions as +the little engine stopped with a snort of disgust. But in an instant +indifference had fled as the mist before the sun, and every eye on the +platform was staring and white. It is the unexpected that always +happens, and yet humanity never gets accustomed to it. The loafers, +white and black, had assumed a sitting posture, and then they had stood +up. For from the cars there had alighted the wonder of a stranger--a +Negro stranger, gorgeous of person and attire. He was dressed in a suit +of black cloth. A long coat was buttoned close around his tall and +robust form. He was dead black, from his shiny top hat to his not less +shiny boots, and about him there was the indefinable air of distinction. +He stood looking about the platform for a moment, and then stepped +briskly and decisively toward the group that was staring at him with +wide eyes. There was no hesitation in that step. He walked as a man +walks who is not in the habit of being stopped, who has not known what +it is to be told, "Thus far shalt thou go and no further." + +"Can you tell me where I can find the residence of Mr. Isaac Jackson?" +he asked sonorously as he reached the stupefied loungers. His voice was +deep and clear. + +Someone woke from his astonishment and offered to lead him thither, and +together the two started for their destination, the stranger keeping up +a running fire of comment on the way. Had his companion been a close +observer and known anything about the matter, he would have found the +newcomer's English painfully, unforgivably correct. A language should be +like an easy shoe on a flexible foot, but to one unused to it, it proves +rather a splint on a broken limb. The stranger stalked about in +conversational splints until they arrived at Isaac Jackson's door. Then +giving his guide a dime, he dismissed him with a courtly bow, and +knocked. + +It was a good thing that Martha Ann Jackson had the innate politeness of +her race well to the fore when she opened the door upon the radiant +creature, or she would have given voice to the words that were in her +heart: "Good Lawd, what is dis?" + +"Is this the residence of Mr. Isaac Jackson?" in the stranger's suavest +voice. + +"Yes, suh, he live hyeah." + +"May I see him? I desire to see him upon some business." He handed her +his card, which she carefully turned upside down, glanced at without +understanding, and put in her apron pocket as she replied: + +"He ain't in jes' now, but ef you'll step in an' wait, I'll sen' one o' +de chillen aftah him." + +"I thank you, madam, I thank you. I will come in and rest from the +fatigue of my journey. I have travelled a long way, and rest in such a +pleasant and commodious abode as your own appears to be will prove very +grateful to me." + +She had been half afraid to invite this resplendent figure into her +humble house, but she felt distinctly flattered at his allusion to the +home which she had helped Isaac to buy, and by the alacrity with which +the stranger accepted her invitation. + +She ushered him into the front room, mentally thanking her stars that +she had forced the reluctant Isaac to buy a bright new carpet a couple +of months before. + +A child was despatched to find and bring home the father, while Martha +Ann, hastily slipping out of her work-dress and into a starched calico, +came in to keep her visitor company. + +His name proved to be Scatters, and he was a most entertaining and +ingratiating man. It was evident that he had some important business +with Isaac Jackson, but that it was mysterious was shown by the guarded +way in which he occasionally hinted at it as he tapped the valise he +carried and nodded knowingly. + +Time had never been when Martha Ann Jackson was so flustered. She was +charmed and frightened and flattered. She could only leave Mr. Scatters +long enough to give orders to her daughter, Lucy, to prepare such a +supper as that household had never seen before; then she returned to sit +again at his feet and listen to his words of wisdom. + +The supper progressed apace, and the savour of it was already in the +stranger's nostrils. Upon this he grew eloquent and was about to divulge +his secret to the hungry-eyed woman when the trampling of Isaac's boots +upon the walk told him that he had only a little while longer to contain +himself, and at the same time to wait for the fragrant supper. + +Now, it is seldom that a man is so well impressed with a smooth-tongued +stranger as is his wife. Usually his hard-headedness puts him on the +defensive against the blandishments of the man who has won his better +half's favour, and, however honest the semi-fortunate individual may be, +he despises him for his attainments. But it was not so in this case. +Isaac had hardly entered the house and received his visitor's warm +handclasp before he had become captive to his charm. Business, +business--no, his guest had been travelling and he must be both tired +and hungry. Isaac would hear of no business until they had eaten. Then, +over a pipe, if the gentleman smoked, they might talk at their ease. + +Mr. Scatters demurred, but in fact nothing could have pleased him +better, and the open smile with which he dropped into his place at the +table was very genuine and heartfelt. Genuine, too, were his praises of +Lucy's cooking; of her flaky buscuits and mealy potatoes. He was pleased +all through and he did not hesitate to say so. + +It was a beaming group that finally rose heavily laden from the supper +table. + +Over a social pipe a little later, Isaac Jackson heard the story that +made his eyes bulge with interest and his heart throb with eagerness. + +Mr. Scatters began, tapping his host's breast and looking at him +fixedly, "You had a brother some years ago named John." It was more like +an accusation than a question. + +"Yes, suh, I had a brothah John." + +"Uh, huh, and that brother migrated to the West Indies." + +"Yes, suh, he went out to some o' dem outlandish places." + +"Hold on, sir, hold on, I am a West Indian myself." + +"I do' mean no erfence, 'ceptin' dat John allus was of a rovin' +dispersition." + +"Very well, you know no more about your brother after his departure for +the West Indies?" + +"No, suh." + +"Well, it is my mission to tell you the rest of the story. Your brother +John landed at Cuba, and after working about some years and living +frugally, he went into the coffee business, in which he became rich." + +"Rich?" + +"Rich, sir." + +"Why, bless my soul, who'd 'a evah thought that of John? Why, suh, I'm +sho'ly proud to hyeah it. Why don't he come home an' visit a body?" + +"Ah, why?" said Mr. Scatters dramatically. "Now comes the most painful +part of my mission. 'In the midst of life we are in death.'" Mr. +Scatters sighed, Isaac sighed and wiped his eyes. "Two years ago your +brother departed this life." + +"Was he saved?" Isaac asked in a choked voice. Scatters gave him one +startled glance, and then answered hastily, "I am happy to say that he +was." + +"Poor John! He gone an' me lef'." + +"Even in the midst of our sorrows, however, there is always a ray of +light. Your brother remembered you in his will." + +"Remembered me?" + +"Remembered you, and as one of the executors of his estate,"--Mr. +Scatters rose and went softly over to his valise, from which he took a +large square package. He came back with it, holding it as if it were +something sacred,--"as one of the executors of his estate, which is now +settled, I was commissioned to bring you this." He tapped the package. +"This package, sealed as you see with the seal of Cuba, contains five +thousand dollars in notes and bonds." + +Isaac gasped and reached for the bundle, but it was withdrawn. "I am, +however, not to deliver it to you yet. There are certain formalities +which my country demands to be gone through with, after which I deliver +my message and return to the fairest of lands, to the Gem of the +Antilles. Let me congratulate you, Mr. Jackson, upon your good fortune." + +Isaac yielded up his hand mechanically. He was dazed by the vision of +this sudden wealth. + +"Fi' thousan' dollahs," he repeated. + +"Yes, sir, five thousand dollars. It is a goodly sum, and in the +meantime, until court convenes, I wish you to recommend some safe place +in which to put this money, as I do not feel secure with it about my +person, nor would it be secure if it were known to be in your house." + +"I reckon Albert Matthews' grocery would be the safes' place fu' it. +He's got one o' dem i'on saftes." + +"The very place. Let us go there at once, and after that I will not +encroach upon your hospitality longer, but attempt to find a hotel." + +"Hotel nothin'," said Isaac emphatically. "Ef my house ain't too common, +you'll stay right thaih ontwell co't sets." + +"This is very kind of you, Mr. Jackson, but really I couldn't think of +being such a charge upon you and your good wife." + +"'Tain't no charge on us; we'll be glad to have you. Folks hyeah in +Miltonville has little enough comp'ny, de Lawd knows." + +Isaac spoke the truth, and it was as much the knowledge that he would be +the envy of all the town as his gratitude to Scatters that prompted him +to prevail upon his visitor to stay. + +Scatters was finally persuaded, and the men only paused long enough in +the house to tell the curiosity-eaten Martha Ann the news, and then +started for Albert Matthews' store. Scatters carried the precious +package, and Isaac was armed with an old shotgun lest anyone should +suspect their treasure and attack them. Five thousand dollars was not to +be carelessly handled! + +As soon as the men were gone, Martha Ann started out upon her rounds, +and her proud tongue did for the women portion of Miltonville what the +visit to Matthews' store did for the men. Did Mrs. So-and-So remember +brother John? Indeed she did. And when the story was told, it was a +"Well, well, well! he used to be an ol' beau o' mine." Martha Ann found +no less than twenty women of her acquaintance for whom her brother John +seemed to have entertained tender feelings. + +The corner grocery store kept by Albert Matthews was the general +gathering-place for the coloured male population of the town. It was a +small, one-roomed building, almost filled with barrels, boxes, and +casks. + +Pride as well as necessity had prompted Isaac to go to the grocery just +at this time, when it would be quite the fullest of men. He had not +calculated wrongly when he reckoned upon the sensation that would be +made by his entrance with the distinguished-looking stranger. The +excitement was all the most hungry could have wished for. The men stared +at Jackson and his companion with wide-open eyes. They left off chewing +tobacco and telling tales. A half-dozen of them forgot to avail +themselves of the joy of spitting, and Albert Matthews, the proprietor, +a weazened little brown-skinned man, forgot to lay his hand upon the +scale in weighing out a pound of sugar. + +With a humility that was false on the very face of it, Isaac introduced +his guest to the grocer and the three went off together mysteriously +into a corner. The matter was duly explained and the object of the visit +told. Matthews burned with envy of his neighbour's good fortune. + +"I do' reckon, Mistah Scatters, dat we bettah not let de othah folks in +de sto' know anything 'bout dis hyeah bus'ness of ouahs. I got to be +'sponsible fu dat money, an' I doesn't want to tek no chances." + +"You are perfectly right, sir, perfectly right. You are responsible, not +only for the money itself, but for the integrity of this seal which +means the dignity of government." + +Matthews looked sufficiently impressed, and together they all went their +way among the barrels and boxes to the corner where the little safe +stood. With many turnings and twistings the door was opened, the package +inclosed and the safe shut again. Then they all rose solemnly and went +behind the counter to sample something that Matthews had. This was +necessary as a climax, for they had performed, not a mere deed, but a +ceremonial. + +"Of course, you'll say nothing about this matter at all, Mr. Matthews," +said Scatters, thereby insuring publicity to his affair. + +There were a few introductions as the men passed out, but hardly had +their backs turned when a perfect storm of comment and inquiry broke +about the grocer's head. So it came to pass, that with many mysterious +nods and headshakings, Matthews first hinted at and then told the +story. + +For the first few minutes the men could scarcely believe what they had +heard. It was so utterly unprecedented. Then it dawned upon them that it +might be so, and discussion and argument ran rife for the next hour. + +The story flew like wildfire, there being three things in this world +which interest all sorts and conditions of men alike: great wealth, +great beauty, and great love. Whenever Mr. Scatters appeared he was +greeted with deference and admiration. Any man who had come clear from +Cuba on such an errand to their fellow-townsman deserved all honour and +respect. His charming manners confirmed, too, all that preconceived +notions had said of him. He became a social favourite. It began with Mr. +and Mrs. Dunkin's calling upon him. Then followed Alonzo Taft, and when +the former two gave a reception for the visitor, his position was +assured. Miltonville had not yet arisen to the dignity of having a +literary society. He now founded one and opened it himself with an +address so beautiful, so eloquent and moving that Mr. Dunkin bobbed his +head dizzy in acquiescence, and Aunt Hannah Payne thought she was in +church and shouted for joy. + +The little town had awakened from its long post-bellum slumber and +accepted with eagerness the upward impulse given it. It stood aside and +looked on with something like adoration when Mr. Scatters and Mrs. +Dunkin met and talked of ineffable things--things far above the ken of +the average mortal. + +When Mr. Scatters found that his mission was known, he gave up further +attempts at concealing it and talked freely about the matter. He +expatiated at length upon the responsibility that devolved upon him and +his desire to discharge it, and he spoke glowingly of the great +government whose power was represented by the seal which held the +package of bonds. Not for one day would he stay away from his beloved +Cuba, if it were not that that seal had to be broken in the presence of +the proper authorities. So, however reluctant he might be to stay, it +was not for him to shirk his task: he must wait for the sitting of +court. + +Meanwhile the Jacksons lived in an atmosphere of glory. The womenfolk +purchased new dresses, and Isaac got a new wagon on the strength of +their good fortune. It was nothing to what they dreamed of doing when +they had the money positively in hand. Mr. Scatters still remained their +guest, and they were proud of it. + +What pleased them most was that their distinguished visitor seemed not +to look down upon, but rather to be pleased with, their homely fare. +Isaac had further cause for pleasure when his guest came to him later +with a great show of frank confidence to request the loan of fifty +dollars. + +"I should not think of asking even this small favour of you but that I +have only Cuban money with me and I knew you would feel distressed if +you knew that I went to the trouble of sending this money away for +exchange on account of so small a sum." + +This was undoubtedly a mark of special confidence. It suddenly made +Isaac feel as if the grand creature had accepted and labelled him as a +brother and an equal. He hastened to Matthews' safe, where he kept his +own earnings; for the grocer was banker as well. + +With reverent hands they put aside the package of bonds and together +counted out the required half a hundred dollars. In a little while Mr. +Scatters' long, graceful fingers had closed over it. + +Mr. Jackson's cup of joy was now full. It had but one bitter drop to mar +its sweetness. That was the friendship that had sprung up between the +Cuban and Mr. Dunkin. They frequently exchanged visits, and sat long +together engaged in conversation from which Isaac was excluded. This +galled him. He felt that he had a sort of proprietary interest in his +guest. And any infringement of this property right he looked upon with +distinct disfavour. So that it was with no pleasant countenance that he +greeted Mr. Dunkin when he called on a certain night. + +"Mr. Scatters is gone out," he said, as the old man entered and +deposited his hat on the floor. + +"Dat's all right, Isaac," said Mr. Dunkin slowly, "I didn't come to see +de gent'man. I come to see you." + +The cloud somewhat lifted from Isaac's brow. Mr. Dunkin was a man of +importance and it made a deal of difference whom he was visiting. + +He seemed a little bit embarrassed, however, as to how to open +conversation. He hummed and hawed and was visibly uneasy. He tried to +descant upon the weather, but the subject failed him. Finally, with an +effort, he hitched his chair nearer to his host's and said in a low +voice, "Ike, I reckon you has de confidence of Mistah Scatters?" + +"I has," was the proud reply, "I has." + +"Hum! uh! huh! Well--well--has you evah loant him any money?" + +Isaac was aghast. Such impertinence! + +"Mistah Dunkin," he began, "I considah----" + +"Hol' on, Ike!" broke in Dunkin, laying a soothing hand on the other's +knee, "don' git on yo' high hoss. Dis hyeah's a impo'tant mattah." + +"I ain't got nothin' to say." + +"He ain't never tol' you 'bout havin' nothin' but Cubian money on him?" + +Isaac started. + +"I see he have. He tol' me de same thing." + +The two men sat staring suspiciously into each other's faces. + +"He got a hun'ed an' fifty dollahs f'om me," said Dunkin. + +"I let him have fifty," added Jackson weakly. + +"He got a hun'ed an' fifty dollahs f'om thews. Dat's how I come to git +'spicious. He tol' him de same sto'y." + +Again that pregnant look flashed between them, and they both rose and +went out of the house. + +They hurried down to Matthews' grocery. The owner was waiting for them +there. There was solemnity, but no hesitation, in the manner with which +they now went to the safe. They took out the package hastily and with +ruthless hands. This was no ceremonial now. The seal had no longer any +fears for them. They tore it off. They tore the wrappers. Then paper. +Neatly folded paper. More wrapping paper. Newspapers. Nothing more. Of +bills or bonds--nothing. With the debris of the mysterious parcel +scattered about their feet, they stood up and looked at each other. + +"I nevah did believe in furriners nohow," said Mr. Dunkin sadly. + +"But he knowed all about my brothah John." + +"An' he sho'ly did make mighty fine speeches. Maybe we's missed de +money." This from the grocer. + +Together they went over the papers again, with the same result. + +"Do you know where he went to-night, Ike?" + +"No." + +"Den I reckon we's seed de las' o' him." + +"But he lef' his valise." + +"Yes, an' he lef' dis," said Dunkin sternly, pointing to the paper on +the floor. "He sho'ly is mighty keerless of his valybles." + +"Let's go git de constable," said the practical Matthews. + +They did, though they felt that it would be unavailing. + +The constable came and waited at Jackson's house. They had been there +about half an hour, talking the matter over, when what was their +surprise to hear Mr. Scatters' step coming jauntily up the walk. A +sudden panic of terror and shame seized them. It was as if they had +wronged him. Suppose, after all, everything should come right and he +should be able to explain? They sat and trembled until he entered. Then +the constable told him his mission. + +Mr. Scatters was surprised. He was hurt. Indeed, he was distinctly +grieved that his friends had had so little confidence in him. Had he +been to them anything but a gentleman, a friend, and an honest man? Had +he not come a long distance from his home to do one of them a favour? +They hung their heads. Martha Ann, who was listening at the door, was +sobbing audibly. What had he done thus to be humiliated? He saw the +effect of his words and pursued it. Had he not left in the care of one +of their own number security for his integrity in the shape of the +bonds? + +The effect of his words was magical. Every head went up and three pairs +of flashing eyes were bent upon him. He saw and knew that they knew. He +had not thought that they would dare to violate the seal around which he +had woven such a halo. He saw that all was over, and, throwing up his +hands with a despairing gesture, he bowed graciously and left the room +with the constable. + +All Miltonville had the story next day, and waited no less eagerly than +before for the "settin' of co't." + +To the anger and chagrin of Miltonvillians, Fox Run had the honour and +distinction of being the county seat, and thither they must go to the +sessions; but never did they so forget their animosities as on the day +set for the trial of Scatters. They overlooked the pride of the Fox +Runners, their cupidity and their vaunting arrogance. They ignored the +indignity of showing interest in anything that took place in that +village, and went in force, eager, anxious, and curious. Ahorse, afoot, +by oxcart, by mule-wagon, white, black, high, low, old, and young of +both sexes invaded Fox Run and swelled the crowd of onlookers until, +with pity for the very anxiety of the people, the humane judge decided +to discard the now inadequate court-room and hold the sessions on the +village green. Here an impromptu bar was set up, and over against it +were ranged the benches, chairs, and camp-stools of the spectators. + +Every man of prominence in the county was present. Major Richardson, +though now retired, occupied a distinguished position within the bar. +Old Captain Howard shook hands familiarly with the judge and nodded to +the assembly as though he himself had invited them all to be present. +Former Judge Durbin sat with his successor on the bench. + +Court opened and the first case was called. It gained but passing +attention. There was bigger game to be stalked. A hog-stealing case +fared a little better on account of the intimateness of the crime +involved. But nothing was received with such awed silence as the case of +the State against Joseph Scatters. The charge was obtaining money under +false pretences, and the plea "Not Guilty." + +The witnesses were called and their testimony taken. Mr. Scatters was +called to testify in his own defence, but refused to do so. The +prosecution stated its case and proceeded to sum up the depositions of +the witnesses. As there was no attorney for the defence, the State's +attorney delivered a short speech, in which the guilt of the defendant +was plainly set forth. It was as clear as day. Things looked very dark +for Mr. Scatters of Cuba. + +As the lawyer sat down, and ere the case could be given to the jury, he +rose and asked permission of the Court to say a few words. + +This was granted him. + +He stood up among them, a magnificent, strong, black figure. His eyes +swept the assembly, judge, jury, and spectators with a look half +amusement, half defiance. + +"I have pleaded not guilty," he began in a low, distinct voice that +could be heard in every part of the inclosure, "and I am not guilty of +the spirit which is charged against me, however near the letter may +touch me. I did use certain knowledge that I possessed, and the seal +which I happened to have from an old government position, to +defraud--that is the word, if you will--to defraud these men out of the +price of their vanity and their cupidity. But it was not a +long-premeditated thing. I was within a few miles of your town before +the idea occurred to me. I was in straits. I stepped from the brink of +great poverty into the midst of what you are pleased to deem a greater +crime." + +The Court held its breath. No such audacity had ever been witnessed in +the life of Fox Run. + +Scatters went on, warming to his subject as he progressed. He was +eloquent and he was pleasing. A smile flickered over the face of Major +Richardson and was reflected in the features of many others as the +speaker burst forth: + +"Gentlemen, I maintain that instead of imprisoning you should thank me +for what I have done. Have I not taught your community a lesson? Have I +not put a check upon their credulity and made them wary of unheralded +strangers?" + +He had. There was no disputing that. The judge himself was smiling, and +the jurymen were nodding at each other. + +Scatters had not yet played his trump card. He saw that the time was +ripe. Straightening his form and raising his great voice, he cried: +"Gentlemen, I am guilty according to the letter of the law, but from +that I appeal to the men who make and have made the law. From the hard +detail of this new day, I appeal to the chivalry of the old South which +has been told in story and sung in song. From men of vindictiveness I +appeal to men of mercy. From plebeians to aristocrats. By the memory of +the sacred names of the Richardsons"--the Major sat bolt upright and +dropped his snuffbox--"the Durbins"--the ex-judge couldn't for his life +get his pince-nez on--"the Howards"--the captain openly rubbed his +hands--"to the memory that those names call up I appeal, and to the +living and honourable bearers of them present. And to you, gentlemen of +the jury, the lives of whose fathers went to purchase this dark and +bloody ground, I appeal from the accusation of these men, who are not my +victims, not my dupes, but their own." + +There was a hush when he was done. The judge read the charge to the +jury, and it was favourable--very. And--well, Scatters had taught the +darkies a lesson; he had spoken of their families and their traditions, +he knew their names, and--oh, well, he was a good fellow after all--what +was the use? + +The jury did not leave their seats, and the verdict was acquittal. + +Scatters thanked the Court and started away; but he met three +ominous-looking pairs of eyes, and a crowd composed of angry Negroes was +flocking toward the edge of the green. + +He came back. + +"I think I had better wait until the excitement subsides," he said to +Major Richardson. + +"No need of that, suh, no need of that. Here, Jim," he called to his +coachman, "take Mr. Scatters wherever he wants to go, and remember, I +shall hold you responsible for his safety." + +"Yes, suh," said Jim. + +"A thousand thanks, Major," said the man with the mission. + +"Not at all, suh. By the way, that was a very fine effort of yours this +afternoon. I was greatly moved by it. If you'll give me your address +I'll send you a history of our family, suh, from the time they left +Vuhginia and before." + +Mr. Scatters gave him the address, and smiled at the three enemies, who +still waited on the edge of the green. + +"To the station," he said to the driver. + + + + +_Four_ + +A MATTER OF DOCTRINE + + +There was great excitement in Miltonville over the advent of a most +eloquent and convincing minister from the North. The beauty about the +Rev. Thaddeus Warwick was that he was purely and simply a man of the +doctrine. He had no emotions, his sermons were never matters of feeling; +but he insisted so strongly upon the constant presentation of the tenets +of his creed that his presence in a town was always marked by the +enthusiasm and joy of religious disputation. + +The Rev. Jasper Hayward, coloured, was a man quite of another stripe. +With him it was not so much what a man held as what he felt. The +difference in their characteristics, however, did not prevent him from +attending Dr. Warwick's series of sermons, where, from the vantage point +of the gallery, he drank in, without assimilating, that divine's words +of wisdom. + +Especially was he edified on the night that his white brother held +forth upon the doctrine of predestination. It was not that he understood +it at all, but that it sounded well and the words had a rich ring as he +champed over them again and again. + +Mr. Hayward was a man for the time and knew that his congregation +desired something new, and if he could supply it he was willing to take +lessons even from a white co-worker who had neither "de spi'it ner de +fiah." Because, as he was prone to admit to himself, "dey was sump'in' +in de unnerstannin'." + +He had no idea what plagiarism is, and without a single thought of +wrong, he intended to reproduce for his people the religious wisdom +which he acquired at the white church. He was an innocent beggar going +to the doors of the well-provided for cold spiritual victuals to warm +over for his own family. And it would not be plagiarism either, for this +very warming-over process would save it from that and make his own +whatever he brought. He would season with the pepper of his homely wit, +sprinkle it with the salt of his home-made philosophy, then, hot with +the fire of his crude eloquence, serve to his people a dish his very +own. But to the true purveyor of original dishes it is never pleasant to +know that someone else holds the secret of the groundwork of his +invention. + +It was then something of a shock to the Reverend Mr. Hayward to be +accosted by Isaac Middleton, one of his members, just as he was leaving +the gallery on the night of this most edifying of sermons. + +Isaac laid a hand upon his shoulder and smiled at him benevolently. + +"How do, Brothah Hayward," he said, "you been sittin' unner de drippin's +of de gospel, too?" + +"Yes, I has been listenin' to de wo'ds of my fellow-laborah in de +vineya'd of de Lawd," replied the preacher with some dignity, for he saw +vanishing the vision of his own glory in a revivified sermon on +predestination. + +Isaac linked his arm familiarly in his pastor's as they went out upon +the street. + +"Well, what you t'ink erbout pre-o'dination an' fo'-destination any how?" + +"It sutny has been pussented to us in a powahful light dis eve'nin'." + +"Well, suh, hit opened up my eyes. I do' know when I's hyeahed a sehmon +dat done my soul mo' good." + +"It was a upliftin' episode." + +"Seem lak 'co'din' to de way de brothah 'lucidated de matter to-night +dat evaht'ing done sot out an' cut an' dried fu' us. Well dat's gwine to +he'p me lots." + +"De gospel is allus a he'p." + +"But not allus in dis way. You see I ain't a eddicated man lak you, +Brothah Hayward." + +"We can't all have de same 'vantages," the preacher condescended. "But +what I feels, I feels, an' what I unnerstan's, I unnerstan's. The +Scripture tell us to get unnerstannin'." + +"Well, dat's what I's been a-doin' to-night. I's been a-doubtin' an' +a-doubtin', a-foolin' erroun' an' wonderin', but now I unnerstan'." + +"'Splain yo'se'f, Brothah Middleton," said the preacher. + +"Well, suh, I will to you. You knows Miss Sally Briggs? Huh, what say?" + +The Reverend Hayward had given a half discernible start and an +exclamation had fallen from his lips. + +"What say?" repeated his companion. + +"I knows de sistah ve'y well, she bein' a membah of my flock." + +"Well, I been gwine in comp'ny wit dat ooman fu' de longes'. You ain't +nevah tasted none o' huh cookin', has you?" + +"I has 'sperienced de sistah's puffo'mances in dat line." + +"She is the cookin'est ooman I evah seed in all my life, but +howsomedever, I been gwine all dis time an' I ain' nevah said de wo'd. I +nevah could git clean erway f'om huh widout somep'n' drawin' me back, +an' I didn't know what hit was." + +The preacher was restless. + +"Hit was des dis away, Brothah Hayward, I was allus lingerin' on de +brink, feahful to la'nch away, but now I's a-gwine to la'nch, case dat +all dis time tain't been nuffin but fo'-destination dat been a-holdin' me +on." + +"Ahem," said the minister; "we mus' not be in too big a hu'y to put ouah +human weaknesses upon some divine cause." + +"I ain't a-doin' dat, dough I ain't a-sputin' dat de lady is a mos' +oncommon fine lookin' pusson." + +"I has only seed huh wid de eye of de spi'it," was the virtuous answer, +"an' to dat eye all t'ings dat are good are beautiful." + +"Yes, suh, an' lookin' wid de cookin' eye, hit seem lak' I des +fo'destinated fu' to ma'y dat ooman." + +"You say you ain't axe huh yit?" + +"Not yit, but I's gwine to ez soon ez evah I gets de chanst now." + +"Uh, huh," said the preacher, and he began to hasten his steps homeward. + +"Seems lak you in a pow'ful hu'y to-night," said his companion, with +some difficulty accommodating his own step to the preacher's masterly +strides. He was a short man and his pastor was tall and gaunt. + +"I has somp'n' on my min,' Brothah Middleton, dat I wants to thrash out +to-night in de sollertude of my own chambah," was the solemn reply. + +"Well, I ain' gwine keep erlong wid you an' pestah you wid my chattah, +Brothah Hayward," and at the next corner Isaac Middleton turned off and +went his way, with a cheery "so long, may de Lawd set wid you in yo' +meddertations." + +"So long," said his pastor hastily. Then he did what would be strange in +any man, but seemed stranger in so virtuous a minister. He checked his +hasty pace, and, after furtively watching Middleton out of sight, turned +and retraced his steps in a direction exactly opposite to the one in +which he had been going, and toward the cottage of the very Sister +Griggs concerning whose charms the minister's parishioner had held +forth. + +It was late, but the pastor knew that the woman whom he sought was +industrious and often worked late, and with ever increasing eagerness he +hurried on. He was fully rewarded for his perseverance when the light +from the window of his intended hostess gleamed upon him, and when she +stood in the full glow of it as the door opened in answer to his knock. + +"La, Brothah Hayward, ef it ain't you; howdy; come in." + +"Howdy, howdy, Sistah Griggs, how you come on?" + +"Oh, I's des tol'able," industriously dusting a chair. "How's yo'se'f?" + +"I's right smaht, thankee ma'am." + +"W'y, Brothah Hayward, ain't you los' down in dis paht of de town?" + +"No, indeed, Sistah Griggs, de shep'erd ain't nevah los' no whaih dey's +any of de flock." Then looking around the room at the piles of ironed +clothes, he added: "You sutny is a indust'ious ooman." + +"I was des 'bout finishin' up some i'onin' I had fu' de white folks," +smiled Sister Griggs, taking down her ironing-board and resting it in +the corner. "Allus when I gits thoo my wo'k at nights I's putty well +tiahed out an' has to eat a snack; set by, Brothah Hayward, while I +fixes us a bite." + +"La, sistah, hit don't skacely seem right fu' me to be a-comin' in hyeah +lettin' you fix fu' me at dis time o' night, an' you mighty nigh +tuckahed out, too." + +"Tsch, Brothah Hayward, taint no ha'dah lookin' out fu' two dan it is +lookin' out fu' one." + +Hayward flashed a quick upward glance at his hostess' face and then +repeated slowly, "Yes'm, dat sutny is de trufe. I ain't nevah t'ought o' +that befo'. Hit ain't no ha'dah lookin' out fu' two dan hit is fu' +one," and though he was usually an incessant talker, he lapsed into a +brown study. + +Be it known that the Rev. Mr. Hayward was a man of a very level head, +and that his bachelorhood was a matter of economy. He had long +considered matrimony in the light of a most desirable estate, but one +which he feared to embrace until the rewards for his labours began +looking up a little better. But now the matter was being presented to +him in an entirely different light. "Hit ain't no ha'dah lookin' out fu' +two dan fu' one." Might that not be the truth after all. One had to have +food. It would take very little more to do for two. One had to have a +home to live in. The same house would shelter two. One had to wear +clothes. Well, now, there came the rub. But he thought of donation +parties, and smiled. Instead of being an extravagance, might not this +union of two beings be an economy? Somebody to cook the food, somebody +to keep the house, and somebody to mend the clothes. + +His reverie was broken in upon by Sally Griggs' voice. "Hit do seem lak +you mighty deep in t'ought dis evenin', Brothah Hayward. I done spoke to +you twicet." + +"Scuse me, Sistah Griggs, my min' has been mighty deeply 'sorbed in a +little mattah o' doctrine. What you say to me?" + +"I say set up to the table an' have a bite to eat; tain't much, but +'sich ez I have'--you know what de 'postle said." + +The preacher's eyes glistened as they took in the well-filled board. +There was fervour in the blessing which he asked that made amends for +its brevity. Then he fell to. + +Isaac Middleton was right. This woman was a genius among cooks. Isaac +Middleton was also wrong. He, a layman, had no right to raise his eyes +to her. She was the prize of the elect, not the quarry of any chance +pursuer. As he ate and talked, his admiration for Sally grew as did his +indignation at Middleton's presumption. + +Meanwhile the fair one plied him with delicacies, and paid deferential +attention whenever he opened his mouth to give vent to an opinion. An +admirable wife she would make, indeed. + +At last supper was over and his chair pushed back from the table. With a +long sigh of content, he stretched his long legs, tilted back and said: +"Well, you done settled de case ez fur ez I is concerned." + +"What dat, Brothah Hayward?" she asked. + +"Well, I do' know's I's quite prepahed to tell you yit." + +"Hyeah now, don' you remembah ol' Mis' Eve? Taint nevah right to git a +lady's cur'osity riz." + +"Oh, nemmine, nemmine, I ain't gwine keep yo' cur'osity up long. You +see, Sistah Griggs, you done 'lucidated one p'int to me dis night dat +meks it plumb needful fu' me to speak." + +She was looking at him with wide open eyes of expectation. + +"You made de 'emark to-night, dat it ain't no ha'dah lookin' out aftah +two dan one." + +"Oh, Brothah Hayward!" + +"Sistah Sally, I reckernizes dat, an' I want to know ef you won't let me +look out aftah we two? Will you ma'y me?" + +She picked nervously at her apron, and her eyes sought the floor +modestly as she answered, "Why, Brothah Hayward, I ain't fittin' fu' no +sich eddicated man ez you. S'posin' you'd git to be pu'sidin' elder, er +bishop, er somp'n' er othah, whaih'd I be?" + +He waved his hand magnanimously. "Sistah Griggs, Sally, whatevah high +place I may be fo'destined to I shall tek my wife up wid me." + +This was enough, and with her hearty yes, the Rev. Mr. Hayward had +Sister Sally close in his clerical arms. They were not through their +mutual felicitations, which were indeed so enthusiastic as to drown the +sound of a knocking at the door and the ominous scraping of feet, when +the door opened to admit Isaac Middleton, just as the preacher was +imprinting a very decided kiss upon his fiancee's cheek. + +"Wha'--wha'" exclaimed Middleton. + +The preacher turned. "Dat you, Isaac?" he said complacently. "You must +'scuse ouah 'pearance, we des got ingaged." + +The fair Sally blushed unseen. + +"What!" cried Isaac. "Ingaged, aftah what I tol' you to-night." His face +was a thundercloud. + +"Yes, suh." + +"An' is dat de way you stan' up fu' fo'destination?" + +This time it was the preacher's turn to darken angrily as he replied, +"Look a-hyeah, Ike Middleton, all I got to say to you is dat whenevah a +lady cook to please me lak dis lady do, an' whenevah I love one lak I +love huh, an' she seems to love me back, I's a-gwine to pop de question +to huh, fo'destination er no fo'destination, so dah!" + +The moment was pregnant with tragic possibilities. The lady still stood +with bowed head, but her hand had stolen into her minister's. Isaac +paused, and the situation overwhelmed him. Crushed with anger and defeat +he turned toward the door. + +On the threshold he paused again to say, "Well, all I got to say to you, +Hayward, don' you nevah talk to me no mor' nuffin' 'bout doctrine!" + + + + +_Five_ + +OLD ABE'S CONVERSION + + +The Negro population of the little Southern town of Danvers was in a +state of excitement such as it seldom reached except at revivals, +baptisms, or on Emancipation Day. The cause of the commotion was the +anticipated return of the Rev. Abram Dixon's only son, Robert, who, +having taken up his father's life-work and graduated at one of the +schools, had been called to a city church. + +When Robert's ambition to take a college course first became the subject +of the village gossip, some said that it was an attempt to force +Providence. If Robert were called to preach, they said, he would be +endowed with the power from on high, and no intervention of the schools +was necessary. Abram Dixon himself had at first rather leaned to this +side of the case. He had expressed his firm belief in the theory that if +you opened your mouth, the Lord would fill it. As for him, he had no +thought of what he should say to his people when he rose to speak. He +trusted to the inspiration of the moment, and dashed blindly into +speech, coherent or otherwise. + +Himself a plantation exhorter of the ancient type, he had known no +school except the fields where he had ploughed and sowed, the woods and +the overhanging sky. He had sat under no teacher except the birds and +the trees and the winds of heaven. If he did not fail utterly, if his +labour was not without fruit, it was because he lived close to nature, +and so, near to nature's God. With him religion was a matter of emotion, +and he relied for his results more upon a command of feeling than upon +an appeal to reason. So it was not strange that he should look upon his +son's determination to learn to be a preacher as unjustified by the real +demands of the ministry. + +But as the boy had a will of his own and his father a boundless pride in +him, the day came when, despite wagging heads, Robert Dixon went away to +be enrolled among the students of a growing college. Since then six +years had passed. Robert had spent his school vacations in teaching; and +now, for the first time, he was coming home, a full-fledged minister of +the gospel. + +It was rather a shock to the old man's sensibilities that his son's +congregation should give him a vacation, and that the young minister +should accept; but he consented to regard it as of the new order of +things, and was glad that he was to have his boy with him again, +although he murmured to himself, as he read his son's letter through his +bone-bowed spectacles: "Vacation, vacation, an' I wonder ef he reckons +de devil's goin' to take one at de same time?" + +It was a joyous meeting between father and son. The old man held his boy +off and looked at him with proud eyes. + +"Why, Robbie," he said, "you--you's a man!" + +"That's what I'm trying to be, father." The young man's voice was deep, +and comported well with his fine chest and broad shoulders. + +"You's a bigger man den yo' father ever was!" said his mother +admiringly. + +"Oh, well, father never had the advantage of playing football." + +The father turned on him aghast. "Playin' football!" he exclaimed. "You +don't mean to tell me dat dey 'lowed men learnin' to be preachers to +play sich games?" + +"Oh, yes, they believe in a sound mind in a sound body, and one seems to +be as necessary as the other in fighting evil." + +Abram Dixon shook his head solemnly. The world was turning upside down +for him. + +"Football!" he muttered, as they sat down to supper. + +Robert was sorry that he had spoken of the game, because he saw that it +grieved his father. He had come intending to avoid rather than to combat +his parent's prejudices. There was no condescension in his thought of +them and their ways. They were different; that was all. He had learned +new ways. They had retained the old. Even to himself he did not say, +"But my way is the better one." + +His father was very full of eager curiosity as to his son's conduct of +his church, and the son was equally glad to talk of his work, for his +whole soul was in it. + +"We do a good deal in the way of charity work among the churchless and +almost homeless city children; and, father, it would do your heart good +if you could only see the little ones gathered together learning the +first principles of decent living." + +"Mebbe so," replied the father doubtfully, "but what you doin' in de way +of teachin' dem to die decent?" + +The son hesitated for a moment, and then he answered gently, "We think +that one is the companion of the other, and that the best way to prepare +them for the future is to keep them clean and good in the present." + +"Do you give 'em good strong doctern, er do you give 'em milk and +water?" + +"I try to tell them the truth as I see it and believe it. I try to hold +up before them the right and the good and the clean and beautiful." + +"Humph!" exclaimed the old man, and a look of suspicion flashed across +his dusky face. "I want you to preach fer me Sunday." + +It was as if he had said, "I have no faith in your style of preaching +the gospel. I am going to put you to the test." + +Robert faltered. He knew his preaching would not please his father or +his people, and he shrank from the ordeal. It seemed like setting them +all at defiance and attempting to enforce his ideas over their own. Then +a perception of his cowardice struck him, and he threw off the feeling +that was possessing him. He looked up to find his father watching him +keenly, and he remembered that he had not yet answered. + +"I had not thought of preaching here," he said, "but I will relieve you +if you wish it." + +"De folks will want to hyeah you an' see what you kin do," pursued his +father tactlessly. "You know dey was a lot of 'em dat said I oughn't ha' +let you go away to school. I hope you'll silence 'em." + +Robert thought of the opposition his father's friends had shown to his +ambitions, and his face grew hot at the memory. He felt his entire +inability to please them now. + +"I don't know, father, that I can silence those who opposed my going +away or even please those who didn't, but I shall try to please One." + +It was now Thursday evening, and he had until Saturday night to prepare +his sermon. He knew Danvers, and remembered what a chill fell on its +congregations, white or black, when a preacher appeared before them with +a manuscript or notes. So, out of concession to their prejudices, he +decided not to write his sermon, but to go through it carefully and get +it well in hand. His work was often interfered with by the frequent +summons to see old friends who stayed long, not talking much, but +looking at him with some awe and a good deal of contempt. His trial was +a little sorer than he had expected, but he bore it all with the +good-natured philosophy which his school life and work in a city had +taught him. + +The Sunday dawned, a beautiful, Southern summer morning; the lazy hum of +the bees and the scent of wild honeysuckle were in the air; the Sabbath +was full of the quiet and peace of God; and yet the congregation which +filled the little chapel at Danvers came with restless and turbulent +hearts, and their faces said plainly: "Rob Dixon, we have not come here +to listen to God's word. We have come here to put you on trial. Do you +hear? On trial." + +And the thought, "On trial," was ringing in the young minister's mind as +he rose to speak to them. His sermon was a very quiet, practical one; a +sermon that sought to bring religion before them as a matter of +every-day life. It was altogether different from the torrent of speech +that usually flowed from that pulpit. The people grew restless under +this spiritual reserve. They wanted something to sanction, something to +shout for, and here was this man talking to them as simply and quietly +as if he were not in church. + +As Uncle Isham Jones said, "De man never fetched an amen"; and the +people resented his ineffectiveness. Even Robert's father sat with his +head bowed in his hands, broken and ashamed of his son; and when, +without a flourish, the preacher sat down, after talking twenty-two +minutes by the clock, a shiver of surprise ran over the whole church. +His father had never pounded the desk for less than an hour. + +Disappointment, even disgust, was written on every face. The singing was +spiritless, and as the people filed out of church and gathered in knots +about the door, the old-time head-shaking was resumed, and the comments +were many and unfavourable. + +"Dat's what his schoolin' done fo' him," said one. + +"It wasn't nothin' mo'n a lecter," was another's criticism. + +"Put him 'side o' his father," said one of the Rev. Abram Dixon's loyal +members, "and bless my soul, de ol' man would preach all roun' him, and +he ain't been to no college, neither!" + +Robert and his father walked home in silence together. When they were in +the house, the old man turned to his son and said: + +"Is dat de way dey teach you to preach at college?" + +"I followed my instructions as nearly as possible, father." + +"Well, Lawd he'p dey preachin', den! Why, befo' I'd ha' been in dat +pulpit five minutes, I'd ha' had dem people moanin' an' hollerin' all +over de church." + +"And would they have lived any more cleanly the next day?" + +The old man looked at his son sadly, and shook his head as at one of the +unenlightened. + +Robert did not preach in his father's church again before his visit came +to a close; but before going he said, "I want you to promise me you'll +come up and visit me, father. I want you to see the work I am trying to +do. I don't say that my way is best or that my work is a higher work, +but I do want you to see that I am in earnest." + +"I ain't doubtin' you mean well, Robbie," said his father, "but I guess +I'd be a good deal out o' place up thaih." + +"No, you wouldn't, father. You come up and see me. Promise me." + +And the old man promised. + +It was not, however, until nearly a year later that the Rev. Abram Dixon +went up to visit his son's church. Robert met him at the station, and +took him to the little parsonage which the young clergyman's people had +provided for him. It was a very simple place, and an aged woman served +the young man as cook and caretaker; but Abram Dixon was astonished at +what seemed to him both vainglory and extravagance. + +"Ain't you livin' kin' o' high fo' yo' raisin', Robbie?" he asked. + +The young man laughed. "If you'd see how some of the people live here, +father, you'd hardly say so." + +Abram looked at the chintz-covered sofa and shook his head at its +luxury, but Robert, on coming back after a brief absence, found his +father sound asleep upon the comfortable lounge. + +On the next day they went out together to see something of the city. By +the habit of years, Abram Dixon was an early riser, and his son was +like him; so they were abroad somewhat before business was astir in the +town. They walked through the commercial portion and down along the +wharves and levees. On every side the same sight assailed their eyes: +black boys of all ages and sizes, the waifs and strays of the city, lay +stretched here and there on the wharves or curled on doorsills, stealing +what sleep they could before the relentless day should drive them forth +to beg a pittance for subsistence. + +"Such as these we try to get into our flock and do something for," said +Robert. + +His father looked on sympathetically, and yet hardly with full +understanding. There was poverty in his own little village, yes, even +squalour, but he had never seen anything just like this. At home almost +everyone found some open door, and rare was the wanderer who slept +out-of-doors except from choice. + +At nine o'clock they went to the police court, and the old minister saw +many of his race appear as prisoners, receiving brief attention and long +sentences. Finally a boy was arraigned for theft. He was a little, +wobegone fellow hardly ten years of age. He was charged with stealing +cakes from a bakery. The judge was about to deal with him as quickly as +with the others, and Abram's heart bled for the child, when he saw a +negro call the judge's attention. He turned to find that Robert had left +his side. There was a whispered consultation, and then the old preacher +heard with joy, "As this is his first offence and a trustworthy person +comes forward to take charge of him, sentence upon the prisoner will be +suspended." + +Robert came back to his father holding the boy by the hand, and together +they made their way from the crowded room. + +"I'm so glad! I'm so glad!" said the old man brokenly. + +"We often have to do this. We try to save them from the first contact +with the prison and all that it means. There is no reformatory for black +boys here, and they may not go to the institutions for the white; so for +the slightest offence they are sent to jail, where they are placed with +the most hardened criminals. When released they are branded forever, and +their course is usually downward." + +He spoke in a low voice, that what he said might not reach the ears of +the little ragamuffin who trudged by his side. + +Abram looked down on the child with a sympathetic heart. + +"What made you steal dem cakes?" he asked kindly. + +"I was hongry," was the simple reply. + +The old man said no more until he had reached the parsonage, and then +when he saw how the little fellow ate and how tenderly his son +ministered to him, he murmured to himself, "Feed my lambs"; and then +turning to his son, he said, "Robbie, dey's some'p'n in 'dis, dey's +some'p'n in it, I tell you." + +That night there was a boy's class in the lower room of Robert Dixon's +little church. Boys of all sorts and conditions were there, and Abram +listened as his son told them the old, sweet stories in the simplest +possible manner and talked to them in his cheery, practical way. The old +preacher looked into the eyes of the street gamins about him, and he +began to wonder. Some of them were fierce, unruly-looking youngsters, +inclined to meanness and rowdyism, but one and all, they seemed under +the spell of their leader's voice. At last Robert said, "Boys, this is +my father. He's a preacher, too. I want you to come up and shake hands +with him." Then they crowded round the old man readily and heartily, and +when they were outside the church, he heard them pause for a moment, and +then three rousing cheers rang out with the vociferated explanation, +"Fo' de minister's pap!" + +Abram held his son's hand long that night, and looked with tear-dimmed +eyes at the boy. + +"I didn't understan'," he said. "I didn't understan'." + +"You'll preach for me Sunday, father?" + +"I wouldn't daih, honey. I wouldn't daih." + +"Oh, yes, you will, pap." + +He had not used the word for a long time, and at sound of it his father +yielded. + +It was a strange service that Sunday morning. The son introduced the +father, and the father, looking at his son, who seemed so short a time +ago unlearned in the ways of the world, gave as his text, "A little +child shall lead them." + +He spoke of his own conceit and vainglory, the pride of his age and +experience, and then he told of the lesson he had learned. "Why, +people," he said, "I feels like a new convert!" + +It was a gentler gospel than he had ever preached before, and in the +congregation there were many eyes as wet as his own. + +"Robbie," he said, when the service was over, "I believe I had to come +up here to be converted." And Robbie smiled. + + + + +_Six_ + +THE RACE QUESTION + + +Scene--Race track. _Enter old coloured man, seating himself._ + +"Oomph, oomph. De work of de devil sho' do p'ospah. How 'do, suh? Des +tol'able, thankee, suh. How you come on? Oh, I was des a-sayin' how de +wo'k of de ol' boy do p'ospah. Doesn't I frequent the racetrack? No, +suh; no, suh. I's Baptis' myse'f, an' I 'low hit's all devil's doin's. +Wouldn't 'a' be'n hyeah to-day, but I got a boy named Jim dat's long +gone in sin an' he gwine ride one dem hosses. Oomph, dat boy! I sut'ny +has talked to him and labohed wid him night an' day, but it was allers +in vain, an' I's feahed dat de day of his reckonin' is at han'. + +"Ain't I nevah been intrusted in racin'? Humph, you don't s'pose I been +dead all my life, does you? What you laffin' at? Oh, scuse me, scuse me, +you unnerstan' what I means. You don' give a ol' man time to splain +hisse'f. What I means is dat dey has been days when I walked in de +counsels of de on-gawdly and set in de seats of sinnahs; and long erbout +dem times I did tek most ovahly strong to racin'. + +"How long dat been? Oh, dat's way long back, 'fo' I got religion, mo'n +thuty years ago, dough I got to own I has fell from grace several times +sense. + +"Yes, suh, I ust to ride. Ki-yi! I nevah furgit de day dat my ol' Mas' +Jack put me on 'June Boy,' his black geldin', an' say to me, 'Si,' says +he, 'if you don' ride de tail offen Cunnel Scott's mare, "No Quit," I's +gwine to larrup you twell you cain't set in de saddle no mo'.' Hyah, +hyah. My ol' Mas' was a mighty han' fu' a joke. I knowed he wan't gwine +to do nuffin' to me. + +"Did I win? Why, whut you spec' I's doin' hyeah ef I hadn' winned? W'y, +ef I'd 'a' let dat Scott maih beat my 'June Boy' I'd 'a' drowned myse'f +in Bull Skin Crick. + +"Yes, suh, I winned; w'y, at de finish I come down dat track lak hit was +de Jedgment Day an' I was de las' one up! Ef I didn't race dat maih's +tail clean off, I 'low I made hit do a lot o' switchin'. An' aftah dat +my wife Mandy she ma'ed me. Hyah, hyah, I ain't bin much on hol'in' de +reins sence. + +"Sh! dey comin' in to wa'm up. Dat Jim, dat Jim, dat my boy; you nasty +putrid little rascal. Des a hundred an' eight, suh, des a hundred an' +eight. Yas, suh, dat's my Jim; I don't know whaih he gits his dev'ment +at. + +"What's de mattah wid dat boy? Whyn't he hunch hisse'f up on dat saddle +right? Jim, Jim, whyn't you limber up, boy; hunch yo'se'f up on dat hoss +lak you belonged to him and knowed you was dah. What I done showed you? +De black raskil, goin' out dah tryin' to disgrace his own daddy. Hyeah +he come back. Dat's bettah, you scoun'ril. + +"Dat's a right smaht-lookin' hoss he's a-ridin', but I ain't a-trustin' +dat bay wid de white feet--dat is, not altogethah. She's a favourwright +too; but dey's sumpin' else in dis worl' sides playin' favourwrights. +Jim bettah had win dis race. His hoss ain't a five to one shot, but I +spec's to go way fum hyeah wid money ernuff to mek a donation on de +pa'sonage. + +"Does I bet? Well, I don' des call hit bettin'; but I resks a little +w'en I t'inks I kin he'p de cause. 'Tain't gamblin', o' co'se; I +wouldn't gamble fu nothin', dough my ol' Mastah did ust to say dat a +honest gamblah was ez good ez a hones' preachah an' mos' nigh ez skace. + +"Look out dah, man, dey's off, dat nasty bay maih wid de white feet +leadin' right fu'm 'de pos'. I knowed it! I knowed it! I had my eye on +huh all de time. Oh, Jim, Jim, why didn't you git in bettah, way back +dah fouf? Dah go de gong! I knowed dat wasn't no staht. Troop back dah, +you raskils, hyah, hyah. + +"I wush dat boy wouldn't do so much jummying erroun' wid dat hoss. Fust +t'ing he know he ain't gwine to know whaih he's at. + +"Dah, dah dey go ag'in. Hit's a sho' t'ing dis time. Bettah, Jim, +bettah. Dey didn't leave you dis time. Hug dat bay mare, hug her close, +boy. Don't press dat hoss yit. He holdin' back a lot o' t'ings. + +"He's gainin'! doggone my cats, he's gainin'! an' dat hoss o' his'n +gwine des ez stiddy ez a rockin'-chair. Jim allus was a good boy. + +"Confound these spec's, I cain't see 'em skacely; huh, you say dey's +neck an' neck; now I see 'em! now I see 'em! and Jimmy's a-ridin' +like----Huh, huh, I laik to said sumpin'. + +"De bay maih's done huh bes', she's done huh bes'! Dey's turned into the +stretch an' still see-sawin'. Let him out, Jimmy, let him out! Dat boy +done th'owed de reins away. Come on, Jimmy, come on! He's leadin' by a +nose. Come on, I tell you, you black rapscallion, come on! Give 'em +hell, Jimmy! give 'em hell! Under de wire an' a len'th ahead. Doggone my +cats! wake me up w'en dat othah hoss comes in. + +"No, suh, I ain't gwine stay no longah, I don't app'ove o' racin', I's +gwine 'roun' an' see dis hyeah bookmakah an' den I's gwine dreckly home, +suh, dreckly home. I's Baptis' myse'f, an' I don't app'ove o' no sich +doin's!" + + + + +_Seven_ + +A DEFENDER OF THE FAITH + + +There was a very animated discussion going on, on the lower floor of the +house Number Ten "D" Street. House Number Ten was the middle one of a +row of more frames, which formed what was put down on the real estate +agent's list as a coloured neighbourhood. The inhabitants of the little +cottages were people so poor that they were constantly staggering on the +verge of the abyss, which they had been taught to dread and scorn, and +why, clearly. Life with them was no dream, but a hard, terrible reality, +which meant increasing struggle, and little wonder then that the +children of such parents should see the day before Christmas come +without hope of any holiday cheer. + +Christmas; what did it mean to them? The pitiful little dark +rag-muffins, save that the happy, well-dressed people who passed the +shanties seemed further away from their life, save that mother toiled +later in the evening at her work, if there was work, and that father +drank more gin and prayed louder in consequence; save that, perhaps--and +there was always a donation--that there might be a little increase in +the amount of cold victuals that big sister brought home, and there +might be turkey-dressing in it. + +But there was a warm discussion in Number Ten, and that is the principal +thing. The next in importance is that Miss Arabella Coe, reporter, who +had been down that way looking mainly for a Christmas story, heard the +sound of voices raised in debate, and paused to listen. It was not a +very polite thing for Miss Coe to do, but then Miss Coe was a reporter +and reporters are not scrupulous about being polite when there is +anything to hear. Besides, the pitch to which the lusty young voices +within were raised argued that the owners did not care if the outside +world shared in the conversation. So Arabella listened, and after a +while she passed through the gate and peeped into the room between the +broken slats of a shutter. + +It was a mean little place, quite what might be expected from its +exterior. A cook stove sat in the middle of the floor with a smoky fire +in it, and about it were clustered four or five black children ranging +from a toddler of two to a boy of ten. They all showed differing degrees +of dirt and raggedness, but all were far and beyond the point of +respectability. + +One of the group, the older boy, sat upon the bed and was holding forth +to his brothers and sisters not without many murmurs of doubt and +disbelief. + +"No," he was saying, "I tell you dey hain't no such thing as a Santy +Claus. Dat's somep'n dat yo' folks jes' git up to make you be good long +'bout Christmas time. I know." + +"But, Tom, you know what mammy said," said a dreamy-eyed little chap, +who sat on a broken stool with his chin on his hands. + +"Aw, mammy," said the orator, "she's jes' a-stuffin' you. She don' +believe in no Santy Claus hersel', less'n why'nt he bring huh de dress +she prayed fu' last Christmas." He was very wise, this old man of ten +years, and he had sold papers on the avenue where many things are +learned, both good and bad. + +"But what you got to say about pappy?" pursued the believer. "He say +dey's a Santy Claus, and dat he comes down de chimbly; and----" + +"Whut's de mattah wid you; look at dat stove pipe; how you s'pose +anybody go'n' to git in hyeah th'oo de chimbly?" + +They all looked up at the narrow, rusty stove pipe and the sigh of +hopelessness brought the tears to Arabella's eyes. The children seemed +utterly nonplussed, and Tom was swelling at his triumph. "How's any +Santy Claus go'n' to come down th'oo that, I want to know," he repeated. + +But the faith of childhood is stronger than reason. Tom's little sister +piped up, "I don't know how, but he comes th'roo' that away anyhow. He +brung Mamie Davith a doll and it had thoot on it out o' the chimbly." + +It was now Tom's turn to be stumped, but he wouldn't let it be known. He +only said, "Aw," contemptuously and coughed for more crushing arguments. + +"I knows dey's a Santy Claus," said dreamy-eyed Sam. + +"Ef dey is why'n't he never come here?" retorted Tom. + +"I jes' been thinkin' maybe ouah house is so little he miss it in de +night; dey says he's a ol' man an' I 'low his sight ain' good." + +Tom was stricken into silence for a moment by this entirely new view of +the matter, and then finding no answer to it, he said "Aw" again and +looked superior, but warningly so. + +"Maybe Thanty's white an' don' go to see col'red people," said the +little girl. + +"But I do know coloured people's houses he's been at," contended Sam. +"Aw, dem col'red folks dat's got the money, dem's de only ones dat Santy +Claus fin's, you bet." + +Arabella at the window shuddered at the tone of the sceptic; it reminded +her so much of the world she knew, and it was hard to believe that her +friends who prided themselves on their unbelief could have anything in +common with a little coloured newsboy down on "D" Street. + +"Tell you what," said Sam again, "let's try an' see if dey is a Santy. +We'll put a light in the winder, so if he's ol' he can see us anyhow, +an' we'll pray right hard fu' him to come." + +"Aw," said Tom. + +"Ith been good all thish month," chirped the little girl. + +The other children joined with enthusiasm in Sam's plan, though Tom sat +upon the bed and looked scornfully on. + +Arabella escaped from the window just as Sam brought the smoky lamp and +set it on the sill, but she still stood outside the palings of the fence +and looked in. She saw four little forms get down on their knees and she +crept up near again to hear. + +Following Sam's lead they began, "Oh, Santy," but Tom's voice broke in, +"Don't you know the Lord don't 'low you to pray to nobody but Him?" + +Sam paused, puzzled for a minute, then he led on: "Please 'scuse, good +Lord, we started wrong, but won't you please, sir, send Santy Clause +around. Amen." And they got up from their knees satisfied. + +"Aw," said Tom as Arabella was turning wet-eyed away. + +It was a good thing the reporter left as soon as she did, for in a few +minutes a big woman pushed in at the gate and entered the house. + +"Mammy, mammy," shrieked the children. + +"Lawsy, me," said Martha, laughing, "who evah did see sich children? +Bless dey hearts, an' dey done sot dey lamp in de winder, too, so's dey +po' ol' mammy kin see to git in." + +As she spoke she was taking the lamp away to set it on the table where +she had placed her basket, but the cry of the children stopped her. "Oh, +no, mammy, don't take it, don't take it, dat's to light Santy Claus in." + +She paused a minute bewildered and then the light broke over her face. +She smiled and then a rush of tears quenched the smile. She gathered the +children into her arms and said, "I's feared, honey, ol' man Santy ain' +gwine fu' you to-night." + +"Wah'd I tell you?" sneered Tom. + +"You hush yo' mouf," said his mother, and she left the lamp where it +was. + +As Arabella Coe wended her way home that night her brain was busy with +many thoughts. "I've got my story at last," she told herself, "and I'll +go on up and write it." But she did not go up to write it. She came to +the parting of the ways. One led home, the other to the newspaper office +where she worked. She laughed nervously, and took the former way. Once +in her room she went through her small store of savings. There was very +little there, then she looked down ruefully at her worn boots. She did +need a new pair. Then, holding her money in her hand, she sat down to +think. + +"It's really a shame," she said to herself, "those children will have no +Christmas at all, and they'll never believe in Santa Claus again. They +will lose their faith forever and from this it will go to other things." +She sat there dreaming for a long while and the vision of a very +different childhood came before her eyes. + +"Dear old place," she murmured softly, "I believed in Santa Claus until +I was thirteen, and that oldest boy is scarcely ten." Suddenly she +sprung to her feet. "Hooray," she cried, "I'll be defender of the +faith," and she went out into the lighted streets again. + +The shopkeepers looked queerly at Arabella that night as she bought as +if she were the mother of a large and growing family, and she appeared +too young for that. Finally, there was a dress for mother. + +She carried them down on "D" Street and placed them stealthily at the +door of Number Ten. She put a note among the things, which read: "I am +getting old and didn't see your house last year, also I am getting fat +and couldn't get down that little stove pipe of yours this year. You +must excuse me. Santa Claus." Then looking wilfully at her shoes, but +nevertheless with a glow on her face, she went up to the office to write +her story. + +There were joyous times at Number Ten the next day. Mother was really +surprised, and the children saw it. + +"Wha'd I tell you," said dreamy Sam. + +Tom said nothing then, but when he went down to the avenue to sell the +morning papers, all resplendent in a new muffler, he strode up to a boy +and remarked belligerently, "Say, if you says de ain't no Santy Claus +again, I'll punch yo' head." + + + + +_Eight_ + +CAHOOTS + + +In the centre of the quaint old Virginia grave-yard stood two monuments +side by side--two plain granite shafts exactly alike. On one was +inscribed the name Robert Vaughan Fairfax and the year 1864. On the +other was the simple and perplexing inscription, "Cahoots." Nothing +more. + +The place had been the orchard of one of the ante-bellum mansions before +the dead that were brought back from the terrible field of Malvern Hill +and laid there had given it a start as a cemetery. Many familiar names +were chiselled on the granite head-stones, and anyone conversant with +Virginia genealogy would have known them to belong to some of the best +families of the Old Dominion. But "Cahoots,"--who or what was he? + +My interest, not to say curiosity, was aroused. There must be a whole +story in those two shafts with their simple inscriptions, a life-drama +or perhaps a tragedy. And who was more likely to know it than the +postmaster of the quaint little old town. Just after the war, as if +tired with its exertions to repel the invader, the old place had fallen +asleep and was still drowsing. + +I left the cemetery--if such it could be called--and wended my way up +the main street to the ancient building which did duty as post-office. +The man in charge, a grizzled old fellow with an empty sleeve, sat +behind a small screen. He looked up as I entered and put out his hand +toward the mailboxes, waiting for me to mention my name. But instead I +said: "I am not expecting any mail. I only wanted to ask a few +questions." + +"Well, sir, what can I do for you?" he asked with some interest. + +"I've just been up there walking through the cemetery," I returned, "and +I am anxious to know the story, if there be one, of two monuments which +I saw there." + +"You mean Fairfax and Cahoots." + +"Yes." + +"You're a stranger about here, of course." + +"Yes," I said again, "and so there is a story?" + +"There is a story and I'll tell it to you. Come in and sit down." He +opened a wire door into his little cage, and I seated myself on a stool +and gave my attention to him. + +"It's just such a story," he began, "as you can hear in any of the +Southern States--wherever there were good masters and faithful slaves. +This particular tale is a part of our county history, and there ain't +one of the old residents but could tell it to you word for word and fact +for fact. In the days before our misunderstanding with the North, the +Fairfaxes were the leading people in this section. By leading, I mean +not only the wealthiest, not only the biggest land-owners, but that +their name counted for more in social circles and political councils +than any other hereabout. It is natural to expect that such a family +should wish to preserve its own name down a direct line. So it was a +source of great grief to old Fairfax that his first three children were +girls, pretty, healthy, plump enough little things, but girls for all +that, and consequently a disappointment to their father's pride of +family. When the fourth child came and it proved to be a boy, the +Fairfax plantation couldn't hold the Fairfax joy and it flowed out and +mellowed the whole county. + +"They do say that Fairfax Fairfax was in one of his further tobacco +fields when the good news was brought to him, and that after giving +orders that all the darkies should knock off work and take a holiday, in +his haste and excitement he jumped down from his horse and ran all the +way to the house. I give the story only for what it is worth. But if it +is true, it is the first case of a man of that name and family +forgetting himself in an emergency. + +"Well, of course, the advent of a young male Fairfax would under any +circumstances have proven a great event, although it was afterwards +duplicated, but there would have been no story to tell, there would have +been no 'Cahoots,' if by some fortuitous circumstance one of the slave +women had not happened to bring into the world that day and almost at +the same time that her mistress was introducing young Vaughan Fairfax to +the light, a little black pickaninny of her own. Well, if you're a +Southern man, and I take it that you are, you know that nothing ever +happens in the quarters that the big house doesn't know. So the news was +soon at the white father's ears and nothing would do him but that the +black baby must be brought to the house and be introduced to the white +one. The little black fellow came in all rolled in his bundle of shawls +and was laid for a few minutes beside his little lord and master. Side +by side they lay blinking at the light equally strange to both, and then +the master took the black child's hand and put it in that of the +white's. With the convulsive gesture common to babyhood the little hands +clutched in a feeble grasp. + +"'Dah now,' old Doshy said--she was the nurse that had brought the +pickaninny up--'dey done tol' each othah howdy.' + +"'Told each other howdy nothing,' said old Fairfax solemnly, 'they have +made a silent compact of eternal friendship, and I propose to ratify it +right here.' + +"He was a religious man, and so there with all the darkies clustered +around in superstitious awe, and with the white face of his wife looking +at him from among the pillows, he knelt and offered a prayer, and asked +a blessing upon the two children just come into the world. And through +it all those diminutive specimens of humanity lay there blinking with +their hands still clasped. + +"Well, they named the white child Robert Vaughan, and they began calling +the little darky Ben, until an incident in later life gave him the name +that clung to him till the last, and which the Fairfaxes have had +chiseled on his tomb-stone. + +"The incident occurred when the two boys were about five years old. They +were as thick as thieves, and two greater scamps and greater cronies +never tramped together over a Virginia plantation. In the matter of +deviltry they were remarkably precocious, and it was really wonderful +what an amount of mischief those two could do. As was natural, the white +boy planned the deeds, and the black one was his willing coadjutor in +carrying them out. + +"Meanwhile, the proud father was smilingly indulgent to their pranks, +but even with him the climax was reached when one of his fine young +hounds was nearly driven into fits by the clatter of a tin can tied to +its tail. Then the two culprits were summoned to appear before the +paternal court of inquiry. + +"They came hand in hand, and with no great show of fear or +embarrassment. They had gotten off so many times before that they were +perfectly confident of their power in this case to cajole the judge. But +to their surprise he was all sternness and severity. + +"'Now look here,' he said, after expatiating on the cruel treatment +which the dog had received. 'I want to know which one of you tied the +can to Spot's tail?' + +"Robert Vaughan looked at Ben, and Ben looked back at him. Silence +there, and nothing more. + +"'Do you hear my question?' old Fairfax asked with rising voice. + +"Robert Vaughan looked straight ahead of him, and Ben dug his big toe +into the sand at the foot of the veranda, but neither answered. + +"'Robert Vaughan Fairfax,' said his father, 'who played that trick on +Spot? Answer me, do you hear?' + +"The Fairfax heir seemed suddenly to have grown deaf and dumb, and the +father turned to the black boy. His voice took on the tone of command +which he had hardly used to his son. 'Who played that trick on Spot? +Answer me, Ben.' + +"The little darky dug harder and harder into the sand, and flashed a +furtive glance from under his brows at his fellow-conspirator. Then he +drawled out, 'I done it.' + +"'You didn't,' came back the instant retort from his young master, 'I +did it myself.' + +"'I done it,' repeated Ben, and 'You didn't,' reiterated his young +master. + +"The father sat and looked on at the dispute, and his mouth twitched +suspiciously, but he spoke up sternly. 'Well, if I can't get the truth +out of you this way, I'll try some other plan. Mandy,' he hailed a +servant, 'put these boys on a diet of bread and water until they are +ready to answer my questions truthfully.' + +"The culprits were led away to their punishment. Of course it would have +just been meat to Mandy to have stolen something to the youngsters, but +her master kept such a close eye upon her that she couldn't, and when +brought back at the end of three hours, their fare had left the +prisoners rather hungry. But they had evidently disputed the matter +between themselves, and from the cloud on their faces when they +reappeared before their stern judge, it was still unsettled. + +"To the repetition of the question, Vaughan answered again, 'I did it,' +and then his father tried Ben again. + +"After several efforts, and an imploring glance at his boy master, the +little black stammered out: + +"'Well, I reckon--I reckon, Mas,' me an' Mas' Vaughan, we done it in +cahoots.' + +"Old Fairfax Fairfax had a keen sense of humour, and as he looked down +on the strangely old young darky and took in his answer, the +circumstance became too much for his gravity, and his relaxing laugh +sent the culprits rolling and tumbling in the sand in an ectasy of +relief from the strained situation. + +"'Cahoots--I reckon it was "Cahoots,"' the judge said. 'You ought to be +named that, you little black rascal!' Well, the story got around, and so +it was, and from that day forth the black boy was 'Cahoots.' Cahoots, +whether on the plantation, at home, in the halls of the Northern +College, where he accompanied his young master, or in the tragic moments +of the great war-drama played out on the field of Malvern. + +"As they were in childhood, so, inseparable through youth and young +manhood, Robert Fairfax and Cahoots grew up. They were together in +everything, and when the call came that summoned the young Virginian +from his college to fight for the banner of his State, Cahoots was the +one who changed from the ease of a gentleman's valet to the hardship of +a soldier's body-servant. + +"The last words Fairfax Fairfax said as his son cantered away in his +gray suit were addressed to Cahoots: 'Take good care of your Mas' +Vaughan, Cahoots, and don't come back without him.' + +"'I won't, Mastah,' Cahoots flung back and galloped after his lifelong +companion. + +"Well, the war brought hard times both for master and man, and there +were no flowery beds of ease even for the officers who wore the gray. +Robert Fairfax took the fortunes of the conflict like a man and a +Virginia gentleman, and with him Cahoots. + +"It was at Malvern Hill that the young Confederate led his troops into +battle, and all day long the booming of the cannon and the crash of +musketry rising above the cries of the wounded and dying came to the +ears of the slave waiting in his tent for his master's return. Then in +the afternoon a scattered fragment came straggling back into the camp. +Cahoots went out to meet them. The firing still went on. + +"'Whah's Mas' Bob?' his voice pierced through the cannon's thunder. + +"'He fell at the front, early in the battle.' + +"'Whah's his body den, ef he fell?' + +"'We didn't have time to look for dead bodies in that murderous fire. It +was all we could do to get our living bodies away.' + +"'But I promised not to go back without him.' It was a wail of anguish +from the slave. + +"'Well, you'll have to.' + +"'I won't. Whah did he fall?' + +"Someone sketched briefly the approximate locality of Robert Fairfax's +resting place, and on the final word Cahoots tore away. + +"The merciless shot of the Federals was still raking the field. But amid +it all an old prairie schooner, gotten from God knows where, started out +from the dismantled camp across the field. 'Some fool going to his +death,' said one of the gray soldiers. + +"A ragged, tattered remnant of the wagon came back. The horses were +bleeding and staggering in their steps. The very harness was cut by the +balls that had grazed it. But with a light in his eyes and the look of a +hero, Cahoots leaped from the tattered vehicle and began dragging out +the body of his master. + +"He had found him far to the front in an abandoned position and brought +him back over the field of the dead. + +"'How did you do it?' They asked him. + +"'I jes' had to do it,' he said. 'I promised not to go home widout him, +and I didn't keer ef I did git killed. I wanted to die ef I couldn't +find Mas' Bob's body.' + +"He carried the body home, and mourned at the burial, and a year later +came back to the regiment with the son who had come after Robert, and +was now just of fighting age. He went all through this campaign, and +when the war was over, the two struck away into the mountains. They came +back after a while, neither one having taken the oath of allegiance, and +if there were any rebels Cahoots was as great a one to the day of his +death as his master. That tomb-stone, you see it looks old, was placed +there at the old master's request when his dead son came home from +Malvern Hill, for he said when Cahoots went to the other side they must +not be separated; that accounts for its look of age, but it was not +until last year that we laid Cahoots--Cahoots still though an old +man--beside his master. And many a man that had owned his people, and +many another that had fought to continue that ownership, dropped a tear +on his grave." + + + + +_Nine_ + +THE PROMOTER + + +Even as early as September, in the year of 1870, the newly emancipated +had awakened to the perception of the commercial advantages of freedom, +and had begun to lay snares to catch the fleet and elusive dollar. Those +controversialists who say that the Negro's only idea of freedom was to +live without work are either wrong, malicious, or they did not know +Little Africa when the boom was on; when every little African, fresh +from the fields and cabins, dreamed only of untold wealth and of +mansions in which he would have been thoroughly uncomfortable. These +were the devil's sunny days, and early and late his mowers were in the +field. These were the days of benefit societies that only benefited the +shrewdest man; of mutual insurance associations, of wild building +companies, and of gilt-edged land schemes wherein the unwary became +bogged. This also was the day of Mr. Jason Buford, who, having been free +before the war, knew a thing or two, and now had set himself up as a +promoter. Truly he had profited by the example of the white men for whom +he had so long acted as messenger and factotum. + +As he frequently remarked when for purposes of business he wished to air +his Biblical knowledge, "I jest takes the Scripter fur my motter an' +foller that ol' passage where it says, 'Make hay while the sun shines, +fur the night cometh when no man kin work.'" + +It is related that one of Mr. Buford's customers was an old plantation +exhorter. At the first suggestion of a Biblical quotation the old +gentleman closed his eyes and got ready with his best amen. But as the +import of the words dawned on him he opened his eyes in surprise, and +the amen died a-borning. "But do hit say dat?" he asked earnestly. + +"It certainly does read that way," said the promoter glibly. + +"Uh, huh," replied the old man, settling himself back in his chair. "I +been preachin' dat t'ing wrong fu' mo' dan fo'ty yeahs. Dat's whut comes +o' not bein' able to read de wo'd fu' yo'se'f." + +Buford had no sense of the pathetic or he could never have done what he +did--sell to the old gentleman, on the strength of the knowledge he had +imparted to him, a house and lot upon terms so easy that he might drowse +along for a little time and then wake to find himself both homeless and +penniless. This was the promoter's method, and for so long a time had it +proved successful that he had now grown mildly affluent and had set up a +buggy in which to drive about and see his numerous purchasers and +tenants. + +Buford was a suave little yellow fellow, with a manner that suggested +the training of some old Southern butler father, or at least, an +experience as a likely house-boy. He was polite, plausible, and more +than all, resourceful. All of this he had been for years, but in all +these years he had never so risen to the height of his own uniqueness as +when he conceived and carried into execution the idea of the "Buford +Colonizing Company." + +Humanity has always been looking for an Eldorado, and, however mixed the +metaphor may be, has been searching for a Moses to lead it thereto. +Behold, then, Jason Buford in the role of Moses. And equipped he was to +carry off his part with the very best advantage, for though he might not +bring water from the rock, he could come as near as any other man to +getting blood from a turnip. + +The beauty of the man's scheme was that no offering was too small to be +accepted. Indeed, all was fish that came to his net. + +Think of paying fifty cents down and knowing that some time in the dim +future you would be the owner of property in the very heart of a great +city where people would rush to buy. It was glowing enough to attract a +people more worldly wise than were these late slaves. They simply fell +into the scheme with all their souls; and off their half dollars, +dollars, and larger sums, Mr. Buford waxed opulent. The land meanwhile +did not materialise. + +It was just at this time that Sister Jane Callender came upon the scene +and made glad the heart of the new-fledged Moses. He had heard of Sister +Jane before, and he had greeted her coming with a sparkling of eyes and +a rubbing of hands that betokened a joy with a good financial basis. + +The truth about the newcomer was that she had just about received her +pension, or that due to her deceased husband, and she would therefore be +rich, rich to the point where avarice would lie in wait for her. + +Sis' Jane settled in Mr. Buford's bailiwick, joined the church he +attended, and seemed only waiting with her dollars for the very call +which he was destined to make. She was hardly settled in a little +three-room cottage before he hastened to her side, kindly intent, or its +counterfeit, beaming from his features. He found a weak-looking old lady +propped in a great chair, while another stout and healthy-looking woman +ministered to her wants or stewed about the house in order to be doing +something. + +"Ah, which--which is Sis' Jane Callender," he asked, rubbing his hands +for all the world like a clothing dealer over a good customer. + +"Dat's Sis' Jane in de cheer," said the animated one, pointing to her +charge. "She feelin' mighty po'ly dis evenin'. What might be yo' name?" +She was promptly told. + +"Sis' Jane, hyeah one de good brothahs come to see you to offah his +suvices if you need anything." + +"Thanky, brothah, charity," said the weak voice, "sit yo'se'f down. You +set down, Aunt Dicey. Tain't no use a runnin' roun' waitin' on me. I +ain't long fu' dis worl' nohow, mistah." + +"Buford is my name an' I came in to see if I could be of any assistance +to you, a-fixin' up yo' mattahs er seein' to anything for you." + +"Hit's mighty kind o' you to come, dough I don' 'low I'll need much +fixin' fu' now." + +"Oh, we hope you'll soon be better, Sistah Callender." + +"Nevah no mo', suh, 'til I reach the Kingdom." + +"Sis' Jane Callender, she have been mighty sick," broke in Aunt Dicey +Fairfax, "but I reckon she gwine pull thoo', the Lawd willin'." + +"Amen," said Mr. Buford. + +"Huh, uh, children, I done hyeahd de washin' of de waters of Jerdon." + +"No, no, Sistah Callendah, we hope to see you well and happy in de +injoyment of de pension dat I understan' de gov'ment is goin' to give +you." + +"La, chile, I reckon de white folks gwine to git dat money. I ain't +nevah gwine to live to 'ceive it. Des' aftah I been wo'kin' so long fu' +it, too." + +The small eyes of Mr. Buford glittered with anxiety and avarice. What, +was this rich plum about to slip from his grasp, just as he was about to +pluck it? It should not be. He leaned over the old lady with intense +eagerness in his gaze. + +"You must live to receive it," he said, "we need that money for the +race. It must not go back to the white folks. Ain't you got nobody to +leave it to?" + +"Not a chick ner a chile, 'ceptin' Sis' Dicey Fairfax here." + +Mr. Buford breathed again. "Then leave it to her, by all means," he +said. + +"I don' want to have nothin' to do with de money of de daid," said Sis' +Dicey Fairfax. + +"Now, don't talk dat away, Sis' Dicey," said the sick woman. "Brother +Buford is right, case you sut'ny has been good to me sence I been layin' +hyeah on de bed of affliction, an' dey ain't nobody more fitterner to +have dat money den you is. Ef de Lawd des lets me live long enough, I's +gwine to mek my will in yo' favoh." + +"De Lawd's will be done," replied the other with resignation, and Mr. +Buford echoed with an "Amen!" + +He stayed very long that evening, planning and talking with the two old +women, who received his words as the Gospel. Two weeks later the +_Ethiopian Banner_, which was the organ of Little Africa, announced that +Sis' Jane Callender had received a back pension which amounted to more +than five hundred dollars. Thereafter Mr. Buford was seen frequently in +the little cottage, until one day, after a lapse of three or four weeks, +a policeman entered Sis' Jane Callender's cottage and led her away +amidst great excitement to prison. She was charged with pension fraud, +and against her protestations, was locked up to await the action of the +Grand Jury. + +The promoter was very active in his client's behalf, but in spite of all +his efforts she was indicted and came up for trial. + +It was a great day for the denizens of Little Africa, and they crowded +the court room to look upon this stranger who had come among them to +grow so rich, and then suddenly to fall so low. + +The prosecuting attorney was a young Southerner, and when he saw the +prisoner at the bar he started violently, but checked himself. When the +prisoner saw him, however, she made no effort at self control. + +"Lawd o' mussy," she cried, spreading out her black arms, "if it ain't +Miss Lou's little Bobby." + +The judge checked the hilarity of the audience; the prosecutor +maintained his dignity by main force, and the bailiff succeeded in +keeping the old lady in her place, although she admonished him: "Pshaw, +chile, you needn't fool wid me, I nussed dat boy's mammy when she borned +him." + +It was too much for the young attorney, and he would have been less a +man if it had not been. He came over and shook her hand warmly, and this +time no one laughed. + +It was really not worth while prolonging the case, and the prosecution +was nervous. The way that old black woman took the court and its +officers into her bosom was enough to disconcert any ordinary tribunal. +She patronised the judge openly before the hearing began and insisted +upon holding a gentle motherly conversation with the foreman of the +jury. + +She was called to the stand as the very first witness. + +"What is your name?" asked the attorney. + +"Now, Bobby, what is you axin' me dat fu'? You know what my name is, and +you one of de Fairfax fambly, too. I 'low ef yo' mammy was hyeah, she'd +mek you 'membah; she'd put you in yo' place." + +The judge rapped for order. + +"That is just a manner of proceeding," he said; "you must answer the +question, so the rest of the court may know." + +"Oh, yes, suh, 'scuse me, my name hit's Dicey Fairfax." + +The attorney for the defence threw up his hands and turned purple. He +had a dozen witnesses there to prove that they had known the woman as +Jane Callender. + +"But did you not give your name as Jane Callender?" + +"I object," thundered the defence. + +"Do, hush, man," Sis' Dicey exclaimed, and then turning to the +prosecutor, "La, honey, you know Jane Callender ain't my real name, you +knows dat yo'se'f. It's des my bus'ness name. W'y, Sis' Jane Callender +done daid an' gone to glory too long 'go fu' to talk erbout." + +"Then you admit to the court that your name is not Jane Callender?" + +"Wha's de use o' my 'mittin', don' you know it yo'se'f, suh? Has I got +to come hyeah at dis late day an' p'ove my name an' redentify befo' my +ol' Miss's own chile? Mas' Bob, I nevah did t'ink you'd ac' dat away. +Freedom sutny has done tuk erway yo' mannahs." + +"Yes, yes, yes, that's all right, but we want to establish the fact that +your name is Dicey Fairfax." + +"Cose it is." + +"Your Honor, I object--I----" + +"Your Honor," said Fairfax coldly, "will you grant me the liberty of +conducting the examination in a way somewhat out of the ordinary lines? +I believe that my brother for the defence will have nothing to complain +of. I believe that I understand the situation and shall be able to get +the truth more easily by employing methods that are not altogether +technical." + +The court seemed to understand a thing or two himself, and overruled the +defence's objection. + +"Now, Mrs. Fairfax----" + +Aunt Dicey snorted. "Hoomph? What? Mis' Fairfax? What ou say, Bobby +Fairfax? What you call me dat fu'? My name Aunt Dicey to you an' I want +you to un'erstan' dat right hyeah. Ef you keep on foolin' wid me, I +'spec' my patience gwine waih claih out." + +"Excuse me. Well, Aunt Dicey, why did you take the name of Jane +Callender if your name is really Dicey Fairfax?" + +"W'y, I done tol' you, Bobby, dat Sis' Jane Callender was des' my +bus'ness name." + +"Well, how were you to use this business name?" + +"Well, it was des dis away. Sis' Jane Callender, she gwine git huh +pension, but la, chile, she tuk down sick unto deaf, an' Brothah +Buford, he say dat she ought to mek a will in favoh of somebody, so's de +money would stay 'mongst ouah folks, an' so, bimeby, she 'greed she mek +a will." + +"And who is Brother Buford, Aunt Dicey?" + +"Brothah Buford? Oh, he's de gemman whut come an' offered to 'ten' to +Sis' Jane Callender's bus'ness fu' huh. He's a moughty clevah man." + +"And he told her she ought to make a will?" + +"Yas, suh. So she 'greed she gwine mek a will, an' she say to me, 'Sis +Dicey, you sut'ny has been good to me sence I been layin' hyeah on dis +bed of 'fliction, an' I gwine will all my proputy to you.' Well, I don't +want to tek de money, an' she des mos' nigh fo'ce it on me, so I say +yes, an' Brothah Buford he des sot an' talk to us, an' he say dat he +come to-morror to bring a lawyer to draw up de will. But bless Gawd, +honey, Sis' Callender died dat night, an' de will wasn't made, so when +Brothah Buford come bright an' early next mornin', I was layin' Sis' +Callender out. Brothah Buford was mighty much moved, he was. I nevah did +see a strange pusson tek anything so hard in all my life, an' den he +talk to me, an' he say, 'Now, Sis' Dicey, is you notified any de +neighbours yit?' an' I said no I hain't notified no one of de +neighbours, case I ain't 'quainted wid none o' dem yit, an' he say, 'How +erbout de doctah? Is he 'quainted wid de diseased?' an' I tol' him no, +he des come in, da's all. 'Well,' he say, 'cose you un'erstan' now dat +you is Sis' Jane Callender, caise you inhe'it huh name, an' when de +doctah come to mek out de 'stiffycate, you mus' tell him dat Sis' Dicey +Fairfax is de name of de diseased, an' it'll be all right, an' aftah dis +you got to go by de name o' Jane Callender, caise it's a bus'ness name +you done inhe'it.' Well, dat's whut I done, an' dat's huccome I been +Jane Callender in de bus'ness 'sactions, an' Dicey Fairfax at home. Now, +you un'erstan', don't you? It wuz my inhe'ited name." + +"But don't you know that what you have done is a penitentiary offence?" + +"Who you stan'in' up talkin' to dat erway, you nasty impident little +scoun'el? Don't you talk to me dat erway. I reckon ef yo' mammy was +hyeah she sut'ny would tend to yo' case. You alluse was sassier an' +pearter den yo' brother Nelse, an' he had to go an' git killed in de +wah, an' you--you--w'y, jedge, I'se spanked dat boy mo' times den I kin +tell you fu' hus impidence. I don't see how you evah gits erlong wid +him." + +The court repressed a ripple that ran around. But there was no smile on +the smooth-shaven, clear-cut face of the young Southerner. Turning to +the attorney for the defence, he said: "Will you take the witness?" But +that gentleman, waving one helpless hand, shook his head. + +"That will do, then," said young Fairfax. "Your Honor," he went on, +addressing the court, "I have no desire to prosecute this case further. +You all see the trend of it just as I see, and it would be folly to +continue the examination of any of the rest of these witnesses. We have +got that story from Aunt Dicey herself as straight as an arrow from a +bow. While technically she is guilty; while according to the facts she +is a criminal according to the motive and the intent of her actions, she +is as innocent as the whitest soul among us." He could not repress the +youthful Southerner's love for this little bit of rhetoric. + +"And I believe that nothing is to be gained by going further into the +matter, save for the purpose of finding out the whereabouts of this +Brother Buford, and attending to his case as the facts warrant. But +before we do this, I want to see the stamp of crime wiped away from the +name of my Aunt Dicey there, and I beg leave of the court to enter a +nolle prosse. There is only one other thing I must ask of Aunt Dicey, +and that is that she return the money that was illegally gotten, and +give us information concerning the whereabouts of Buford." + +Aunt Dicey looked up in excitement, "W'y, chile, ef dat money was got +illegal, I don' want it, but I do know whut I gwine to do, cause I done +'vested it all wid Brothah Buford in his colorednization comp'ny." The +court drew its breath. It had been expecting some such _denouement_. + +"And where is the office of this company situated?" + +"Well, I des can't tell dat," said the old lady. "W'y, la, man, Brothah +Buford was in co't to-day. Whaih is he? Brothah Buford, whaih you?" But +no answer came from the surrounding spectators. Brother Buford had faded +away. The old lady, however, after due conventions, was permitted to go +home. + +It was with joy in her heart that Aunt Dicey Fairfax went back to her +little cottage after her dismissal, but her face clouded when soon after +Robert Fairfax came in. + +"Hyeah you come as usual," she said with well-feigned anger. "Tryin' to +sof' soap me aftah you been carryin' on. You ain't changed one mite fu' +all yo' bein' a man. What you talk to me dat away in co't fu'?" + +Fairfax's face was very grave. "It was necessary, Aunt Dicey," he said. +"You know I'm a lawyer now, and there are certain things that lawyers +have to do whether they like it or not. You don't understand. That man +Buford is a scoundrel, and he came very near leading you into a very +dangerous and criminal act. I am glad I was near to save you." + +"Oh, honey, chile, I didn't know dat. Set down an' tell me all erbout +it." + +This the attorney did, and the old lady's indignation blazed forth. +"Well, I hope to de Lawd you'll fin' dat rascal an' larrup him ontwell +he cain't stan' straight." + +"No, we're going to do better than that and a great deal better. If we +find him we are going to send him where he won't inveigle any more +innocent people into rascality, and you're going to help us." + +"W'y, sut'ny, chile, I'll do all I kin to he'p you git dat rascal, but I +don't know whaih he lives, case he's allus come hyeah to see me." + +"He'll come back some day. In the meantime we will be laying for him." + +Aunt Dicey was putting some very flaky biscuits into the oven, and +perhaps the memory of other days made the young lawyer prolong his visit +and his explanation. When, however, he left, it was with well-laid plans +to catch Jason Buford napping. + +It did not take long. Stealthily that same evening a tapping came at +Aunt Dicey's door. She opened it, and a small, crouching figure crept +in. It was Mr. Buford. He turned down the collar of his coat which he +had had closely up about his face and said: + +"Well, well, Sis' Callender, you sut'ny have spoiled us all." + +"La, Brothah Buford, come in hyeah an' set down. Whaih you been?" + +"I been hidin' fu' feah of that testimony you give in the court room. +What did you do that fu'?" + +"La, me, I didn't know, you didn't 'splain to me in de fust." + +"Well, you see, you spoiled it, an' I've got to git out of town as soon +as I kin. Sis' Callender, dese hyeah white people is mighty slippery, +and they might catch me. But I want to beg you to go on away from hyeah +so's you won't be hyeah to testify if dey does. Hyeah's a hundred +dollars of yo' money right down, and you leave hyeah to-morrer mornin' +an' go erway as far as you kin git." + +"La, man, I's puffectly willin' to he'p you, you know dat." + +"Cose, cose," he answered hurriedly, "we col'red people has got to stan' +together." + +"But what about de res' of dat money dat I been 'vestin' wid you?" + +"I'm goin' to pay intrus' on that," answered the promoter glibly. + +"All right, all right." Aunt Dicey had made several trips to the little +back room just off her sitting room as she talked with the promoter. +Three times in the window had she waved a lighted lamp. Three times +without success. But at the last "all right," she went into the room +again. This time the waving lamp was answered by the sudden flash of a +lantern outside. + +"All right," she said, as she returned to the room, "set down an' lemme +fix you some suppah." + +"I ain't hardly got the time. I got to git away from hyeah." But the +smell of the new baked biscuits was in his nostrils and he could not +resist the temptation to sit down. He was eating hastily, but with +appreciation, when the door opened and two minions of the law entered. + +Buford sprang up and turned to flee, but at the back door, her large +form a towering and impassive barrier, stood Aunt Dicey. + +"Oh, don't hu'y, Brothah Buford," she said calmly, "set down an' he'p +yo'se'f. Dese hyeah's my friends." + +It was the next day that Robert Fairfax saw him in his cell. The man's +face was ashen with coward's terror. He was like a caught rat though, +bitingly on the defensive. + +"You see we've got you, Buford," said Fairfax coldly to him. "It is as +well to confess." + +"I ain't got nothin' to say," said Buford cautiously. + +"You will have something to say later on unless you say it now. I don't +want to intimidate you, but Aunt Dicey's word will be taken in any court +in the United States against yours, and I see a few years hard labour +for you between good stout walls." + +The little promoter showed his teeth in an impotent snarl. "What do you +want me to do?" he asked, weakening. + +"First, I want you to give back every cent of the money that you got out +of Dicey Fairfax. Second, I want you to give up to every one of those +Negroes that you have cheated every cent of the property you have +accumulated by fraudulent means. Third, I want you to leave this place, +and never come back so long as God leaves breath in your dirty body. If +you do this, I will save you--you are not worth the saving--from the pen +or worse. If you don't, I will make this place so hot for you that hell +will seem like an icebox beside it." + +The little yellow man was cowering in his cell before the attorney's +indignation. His lips were drawn back over his teeth in something that +was neither a snarl nor a smile. His eyes were bulging and +fear-stricken, and his hands clasped and unclasped themselves nervously. + +"I--I----" he faltered, "do you want to send me out without a cent?" + +"Without a cent, without a cent," said Fairfax tensely. + +"I won't do it," the rat in him again showed fight. "I won't do it. I'll +stay hyeah an' fight you. You can't prove anything on me." + +"All right, all right," and the attorney turned toward the door. + +"Wait, wait," called the man, "I will do it, my God! I will do it. Jest +let me out o' hyeah, don't keep me caged up. I'll go away from hyeah." + +Fairfax turned back to him coldly, "You will keep your word?" + +"Yes." + +"I will return at once and take the confession." + +And so the thing was done. Jason Buford, stripped of his ill-gotten +gains, left the neighbourhood of Little Africa forever. And Aunt Dicey, +no longer a wealthy woman and a capitalist, is baking golden brown +biscuits for a certain young attorney and his wife, who has the bad +habit of rousing her anger by references to her business name and her +investments with a promoter. + + + + +_Ten_ + +THE WISDOM OF SILENCE + + +Jeremiah Anderson was free. He had been free for ten years, and he was +proud of it. He had been proud of it from the beginning, and that was +the reason that he was one of the first to cast off the bonds of his old +relations, and move from the plantation and take up land for himself. He +was anxious to cut himself off from all that bound him to his former +life. So strong was this feeling in him that he would not consent to +stay on and work for his one-time owner even for a full wage. + +To the proposition of the planter and the gibes of some of his more +dependent fellows he answered, "No, suh, I's free, an' I sholy is able +to tek keer o' myse'f. I done been fattenin' frogs fu' othah people's +snakes too long now." + +"But, Jerry," said Samuel Brabant, "I don't mean you any harm. The +thing's done. You don't belong to me any more, but naturally, I take an +interest in you, and want to do what I can to give you a start. It's +more than the Northern government has done for you, although such wise +men ought to know that you have had no training in caring for +yourselves." + +There was a slight sneer in the Southerner's voice. Jerry perceived it +and thought it directed against him. Instantly his pride rose and his +neck stiffened. + +"Nemmine me," he answered, "nemmine me. I's free, an' w'en a man's free, +he's free." + +"All right, go your own way. You may have to come back to me some time. +If you have to come, come. I don't blame you now. It must be a great +thing to you, this dream--this nightmare." Jerry looked at him. "Oh, it +isn't a nightmare now, but some day, maybe, it will be, then come to +me." + +The master turned away from the newly made freeman, and Jerry went forth +into the world which was henceforth to be his. He took with him his few +belongings; these largely represented by his wife and four lusty-eating +children. Besides, he owned a little money, which he had got working for +others when his master's task was done. Thus, bur'dened and equipped, he +set out to tempt Fortune. + +He might do one of two things--farm land upon shares for one of his +short-handed neighbours, or buy a farm, mortgage it, and pay for it as +he could. As was natural for Jerry, and not uncommendable, he chose at +once the latter course, bargained for his twenty acres--for land was +cheap then, bought his mule, built his cabin, and set up his household +goods. + +Now, slavery may give a man the habit of work, but it cannot imbue him +with the natural thrift that long years of self-dependence brings. There +were times when Jerry's freedom tugged too strongly at his easy +inclination, drawing him away to idle when he should have toiled. What +was the use of freedom, asked an inward voice, if one might not rest +when one would? If he might not stop midway the furrow to listen and +laugh at a droll story or tell one? If he might not go a-fishing when +all the forces of nature invited and the jay-bird called from the tree +and gave forth saucy banter like the fiery, blue shrew that she was? + +There were times when his compunction held Jerry to his task, but more +often he turned an end furrow and laid his misgivings snugly under it +and was away to the woods or the creek. There was joy and a loaf for the +present. What more could he ask? + +The first year Fortune laughed at him, and her laugh is very different +from her smile. She sent the swift rains to wash up the new planted +seed, and the hungry birds to devour them. She sent the fierce sun to +scorch the young crops, and the clinging weeds to hug the fresh +greenness of his hope to death. She sent--cruellest jest of all--another +baby to be fed, and so weakened Cindy Ann that for many days she could +not work beside her husband in the fields. + +Poverty began to teach the unlessoned delver in the soil the thrift +which he needed; but he ended his first twelve months with barely enough +to eat, and nothing paid on his land or his mule. Broken and +discouraged, the words of his old master came to him. But he was proud +with an obstinate pride and he shut his lips together so that he might +not groan. He would not go to his master. Anything rather than that. + +In that place sat certain beasts of prey, dealers, and lenders of money, +who had their lairs somewhere within the boundaries of that wide and +mysterious domain called The Law. They had their risks to run, but so +must all beasts that eat flesh or drink blood. To them went Jerry, and +they were kind to him. They gave him of their store. They gave him food +and seed, but they were to own all that they gave him from what he +raised, and they were to take their toll first from the new crops. + +Now, the black had been warned against these same beasts, for others had +fallen a prey to them even in so short a time as their emancipation +measured, and they saw themselves the re-manacled slaves of a hopeless +and ever-growing debt, but Jerry would not be warned. He chewed the +warnings like husks between his teeth, and got no substance from them. + +Then, Fortune, who deals in surprises, played him another trick. She +smiled upon him. His second year was better than his first, and the +brokers swore over his paid up note. Cindy Ann was strong again and the +oldest boy was big enough to help with the work. + +Samuel Brabant was displeased, not because he felt any malice toward his +former servant, but for the reason that any man with the natural amount +of human vanity must feel himself agrieved just as his cherished +prophecy is about to come true. Isaiah himself could not have been above +it. How much less, then, the uninspired Mr. Brabant, who had his "I told +you so," all ready. He had been ready to help Jerry after giving him +admonitions, but here it was not needed. An unused "I told you so," +however kindly, is an acid that turns the milk of human kindness sour. + +Jerry went on gaining in prosperity. The third year treated him better +than the second, and the fourth better than the third. During the fifth +he enlarged his farm and his house and took pride in the fact that his +oldest boy, Matthew, was away at school. By the tenth year of his +freedom he was arrogantly out of debt. Then his pride was too much for +him. During all these years of his struggle the words of his master had +been as gall in his mouth. Now he spat them out with a boast. He talked +much in the market-place, and where many people gathered, he was much +there, giving himself as a bright and shining example. + +"Huh," he would chuckle to any listeners he could find, "Ol' Mas' +Brabant, he say, 'Stay hyeah, stay hyeah, you do' know how to tek keer +o' yo'se'f yit.' But I des' look at my two han's an' I say to myse'f, +whut I been doin' wid dese all dese yeahs--tekin' keer o' myse'f an' +him, too. I wo'k in de fiel', he set in de big house an' smoke. I wo'k +in de fiel', his son go away to college an' come back a graduate. Das +hit. Well, w'en freedom come, I des' bent an' boun' I ain' gwine do it +no mo' an' I didn't. Now look at me. I sets down w'en I wants to. I +does my own wo'kin' an' my own smokin'. I don't owe a cent, an' dis yeah +my boy gwine graduate f'om de school. Dat's me, an' I ain' called on ol' +Mas' yit." + +Now, an example is always an odious thing, because, first of all, it is +always insolent even when it is bad, and there were those who listened +to Jerry who had not been so successful as he, some even who had stayed +on the plantation and as yet did not even own the mule they ploughed +with. The hearts of those were filled with rage and their mouths with +envy. Some of the sting of the latter got into their retelling of +Jerry's talk and made it worse than it was. + +Old Samuel Brabant laughed and said, "Well, Jerry's not dead yet, and +although I don't wish him any harm, my prophecy might come true yet." + +There were others who, hearing, did not laugh, or if they did, it was +with a mere strained thinning of the lips that had no element of mirth +in it. Temper and tolerance were short ten years after sixty-three. + +The foolish farmer's boastings bore fruit, and one night when he and his +family had gone to church he returned to find his house and barn in +ashes, his mules burned and his crop ruined. It had been very quietly +done and quickly. The glare against the sky had attracted few from the +nearby town, and them too late to be of service. + +Jerry camped that night across the road from what remained of his former +dwelling. Cindy Ann and the children, worn out and worried, went to +sleep in spite of themselves, but he sat there all night long, his chin +between his knees, gazing at what had been his pride. + +Well, the beasts lay in wait for him again, and when he came to them +they showed their fangs in greeting. And the velvet was over their +claws. He had escaped them before. He had impugned their skill in the +hunt, and they were ravenous for him. Now he was fatter, too. He went +away from them with hard terms, and a sickness at his heart. But he had +not said "Yes" to the terms. He was going home to consider the almost +hopeless conditions under which they would let him build again. + +They were staying with a neighbour in town pending his negotiations and +thither he went to ponder on his circumstances. Then it was that Cindy +Ann came into the equation. She demanded to know what was to be done and +how it was to be gone about. + +"But Cindy Ann, honey, you do' know nuffin' 'bout bus'ness." + +"T'ain't whut I knows, but whut I got a right to know," was her +response. + +"I do' see huccome you got any right to be a-pryin' into dese hyeah +things." + +"I's got de same right I had to w'ok an' struggle erlong an' he'p you +get whut we's done los'." + +Jerry winced and ended by telling her all. + +"Dat ain't nuffin' but owdacious robbery," said Cindy Ann. "Dem people +sees dat you got a little some'p'n, an' dey ain't gwine stop ontwell +dey's bu'nt an' stoled evah blessed cent f'om you. Je'miah, don't you +have nuffin' mo' to do wid 'em." + +"I got to, Cindy Ann." + +"Whut fu' you got to?" + +"How I gwine buil' a cabin an' a ba'n an' buy a mule less'n I deal wid +'em?" + +"Dah's Mas' Sam Brabant. He'd he'p you out." + +Jerry rose up, his eyes flashing fire. "Cindy Ann," he said, "you a +fool, you ain't got no mo' pride den a guinea hen, an' you got a heap +less sense. W'y, befo' I go to ol' Mas' Sam Brabant fu' a cent, I'd +sta've out in de road." + +"Huh!" said Cindy Ann, shutting her mouth on her impatience. + +One gets tired of thinking and saying how much more sense a woman has +than a man when she comes in where his sense stops and his pride +begins. + +With the recklessness of despair Jerry slept late that next morning, but +he might have awakened early without spoiling his wife's plans. She was +up betimes, had gone on her mission and returned before her spouse +awoke. + +It was about ten o'clock when Brabant came to see him. Jerry grew sullen +at once as his master approached, but his pride stiffened. This white +man should see that misfortune could not weaken him. + +"Well, Jerry," said his former master, "you would not come to me, eh, so +I must come to you. You let a little remark of mine keep you from your +best friend, and put you in the way of losing the labour of years." + +Jerry made no answer. + +"You've proved yourself able to work well, but Jerry," pausing, "you +haven't yet shown that you're able to take care of yourself, you don't +know how to keep your mouth shut." + +The ex-slave tried to prove this a lie by negative pantomime. + +"I'm going to lend you the money to start again." + +"I won't----" + +"Yes, you will, if you don't, I'll lend it to Cindy Ann, and let her +build in her own name. She's got more sense than you, and she knows how +to keep still when things go well." + +"Mas' Sam," cried Jerry, rising quickly, "don' len' dat money to Cindy +Ann. W'y ef a ooman's got anything she nevah lets you hyeah de las' of +it." + +"Will you take it, then?" + +"Yes, suh; yes, suh, an' thank 'e, Mas' Sam." There were sobs some place +back in his throat. "An' nex' time ef I evah gets a sta't agin, I'll +keep my mouf shet. Fac' is, I'll come to you, Mas' Sam, an' borry fu' de +sake o' hidin'." + + + + +_Eleven_ + +THE TRIUMPH OF OL' MIS' PEASE + + +Between the two women, the feud began in this way: When Ann Pease +divorced her handsome but profligate spouse, William, Nancy Rogers had, +with reprehensible haste, taken him for better or for worse. Of course, +it proved for worse, but Ann Pease had never forgiven her. + +"'Pears lak to me," she said, "dat she was des a-waitin' fu' to step +inter my shoes, no mattah how I got outen 'em, whethah I died or +divo'ced." + +It was in the hey-day of Nancy Rogers' youth, and she was still +hot-tempered, so she retorted that "Ann Pease sut'ny did unmind huh' o' +de dawg in de mangah." The friends of the two women took sides, and a +war began which waged hotly between them--a war which for the first few +weeks threatened the unity of Mt. Pisgah Church. + +But the church in all times has been something of a selfish institution +and has known how to take care of itself. Now, Mt. Pisgah, of necessity, +must recognise divorce, and of equal necessity, re-marriage. So when the +Rev. Isaiah Johnson had been appealed to, he had spread his fat hands, +closed his eyes and said solemnly, "Whom God hath j'ined, let no man put +asundah;" peace, or at best, apparent peace, settled upon the troubled +waters. + +The solidity of Mt. Pisgah was assured, the two factions again spoke to +each other, both gave collections on the same Sunday; but between the +two principals there was no abatement of their relentless animosity. + +Ann Pease as it happened was a "puffessor," while the new Mrs. Pease was +out of the fold; a gay, frivolous person who had never sought or found +grace. She laughed when a black wag said of the two that "they might +bofe be 'peas,' but dey wasn't out o' de same pod." But on its being +repeated to Sister Pease, she resented it with Christian indignation, +sniffed and remarked that "Ef Wi'yum choosed to pick out one o' de +onregenerate an' hang huh ez a millstone erroun' his neck, it wasn't +none o' huh bus'ness what happened to him w'en dey pulled up de tares +f'om de wheat." + +There were some ultra-malicious ones who said that Sister Pease, seeing +her former husband in the possession of another, had begun to regret her +step, for the unregenerate William was good-looking after all, and the +"times" that he and his equally sinful wife had together were the wonder +and disgust, the envy and horror of the whole community, who watched +them with varying moods of eagerness. + +Sister Ann Pease went her way apparently undisturbed. Religion has an +arrogance of its own, and when at the end of the year the good widow +remained unmarried she could toss her head, go her way, and look down +from a far height upon the "po' sinnahs"; indeed, she had rather the +better of her frailer sister in the sympathies of the people. + +As one sister feelingly remarked, "Dat ooman des baihin' dat man in huh +prayahs, an' I 'low she'll mou'n him into glory yit." + +One year of married life disillusions, and defiant gaiety cannot live +upon itself when admiration fails. There is no reward in being daring +when courage becomes commonplace. The year darkened to winter, and +bloomed to spring again. The willows feathered along the river banks, +and the horse-chestnuts budded and burst into beautiful life. Then came +summer, rejoicing, with arms full of flowers, and autumn with lap full +of apples and grain, then winter again, and all through the days Nancy +danced and was gay, but there was a wistfulness in her eyes, and the tug +of the baby no longer drew her heart. She had come to be "Wi'yum's +Nancy," while the other, _that_ other was still "Sister Pease," who sat +above her in the high places of the people's hearts. + +And then, oh, blessedness of the winter, the revival came; and both she +and William, strangely stricken together with the realisation of their +sins, fell at the mercy seat. + +"There is more joy over one sinner that repenteth,"--but when Will and +Nancy both "came through" on the same night--well, Mt. Pisgah's walls +know the story. + +There was triumph in Nancy's face as she proclaimed her conversion, and +the first person she made for was Sister Pease. She shook her hands and +embraced her, crying ever aloud between the vociferations of the +congregation, "Oh, sistah, he'p me praise Him, he'p me praise Him," and +the elder woman in the cause caught the infection of the moment and +joined in the general shout. + +Afterwards she was not pleased with herself. But then if she hadn't +shouted, wouldn't it have been worse? + +The Rev. Isaiah was nothing if not dramatic in his tendencies, and on +the day when he was to receive William and Nancy Pease into full +membership with the church, it struck him that nothing could make upon +his congregation a profounder impression for good than to have the two +new Peases joined by the elder one, or as the wag would have put it, all +in one pod. And it was so ordered, and the thing was done. + +It is true that the preacher had to labour some with Sister Ann Pease, +but when he showed her how it was her Christian duty, and if she failed +of it her rival must advance before her in public opinion, she +acquiesced. It was an easier matter with "Sister Wi'yum Pease." She +agreed readily, for she was filled with condescending humility, which on +every occasion she took the opportunity of displaying toward her rival. + +The Rev. Isaiah Johnson only made one mistake in his diplomatic +manoeuvring. That was when he whispered to Sister Ann Pease, "Didn't I +tell you? Des see how easy Sister Wi'yum give in." He was near to losing +his cause and the wind was completely taken out of his sails when the +widow replied with a snort, "Give in, my Lawd! Dat ooman's got a right +to give in; ain't she got 'uligion an' de man, too?" + +However, the storm blew over, and by the time service was begun they +were all seated together on a front bench, Sister Nancy, William, and +Sister Ann. + +Now was the psychological moment, and after a soul-stirring hymn the +preacher rose and announced his text--"Behold how good and how pleasant +it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." + +Someone in the back part of the church suggested trinity as a substitute +and started a titter, but the preacher had already got his dramatic +momentum, and was sweeping along in a tumultuous tide of oratory. Right +at his three victims did he aim his fiery eloquence, and ever and again +he came back to his theme, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for +brethren to dwell together in unity," even though Ann Pease had turned +her back on William, whose head was low bowed, and Nancy was +ostentatiously weeping into a yellow silk handkerchief. + +The sermon spurred on to a tempestuous close, and then came the climax +when the doors of the church were opened. William and Nancy immediately +went up to end their probation, and after a few whispered remarks the +minister shook hands with each of them, then raising his voice he said: +"Now, brothahs and sistahs, befo' you all gives dese lambs de right +han' o' fellowship to welcome dem to de fol', I want Sister Ann Pease to +come up an' be de first to bid 'em God speed on the gospel way." Ann +Pease visibly swelled, but she marched up, and without looking at +either, shook hands with each of her enemies. + +"Hallelujah, praise de Lord," shouted the preacher, clapping his hands, +"Behold how good and how pleasant it is; and now let the congregation in +gineral come aroun' and welcome Brothah and Sistah Pease." + +His rich bass voice broke into "Bless Be the Tie that Binds," and as the +volume of the hymn, swelled by the full chorus of the congregation, +rolled away to the rafters of the little church, the people rose and +marched solemnly round, shaking hands with the new members and with each +other. + +Brother and Sister Pease were the last to leave church that day, but +they found Ann waiting for them at the door. She walked straight up to +them and spoke: "Nancy Rogers," she said, "I know you; I kin see claih +thoo you, and you ain't a foolin' me one bit. All I got to say is dat I +has done my Christian duty, an' I ain't gwine do no mo', so don' you +speak to me fo'm dis day out." + +For the brief space of a second there was something like a gleam in +Nancy's eyes, but she replied in all meekness, "I's a full-blown +Christian now, an' I feel it my bounden duty to speak to you, Sis' +Pease, an' I's gwine t' speak." + +Ignoring this defiance the other woman turned to her former husband. She +looked at him with unveiled contempt, then she said slowly, "An' ez fu' +Wi'yum, Gawd he'p you." + +Here all intercourse between these warring spirits might have ended but +for Nancy Pease's persistent civility. She would speak to her rival on +every occasion, and even call upon her if she could gain admittance to +the house. And now the last drop of bitterness fell into the widow's +cup, for the community, to distinguish between them, began calling her +"Ol' Sis' Pease." This was the climax of her sorrows, and she who had +been so devout came no more to the church; she who had been so cheerful +and companionable grew morose and sour and shut her doors against her +friends. She was as one dead to her old world. The one bit of vivid life +about her was her lasting hatred of the woman who bore her name. In vain +the preacher sought to break down the barrier of her animosity. She had +built it of adamant, and his was a losing fight. So for several years +the feud went on, and those who had known Ann in her cheerier days +forgot that knowledge and spoke of her with open aversion as "dat awful +ol' Mis' Pease." The while Nancy, in spite of "Wi'yum's" industrial +vagaries, had flourished and waxed opulent. She continued to flaunt her +Christian humility in the eyes of her own circle, and to withhold her +pity from the poor, lonely old woman whom hate had made bitter and to +whom the world, after all, had not been over-kind. But prosperity is +usually cruel, and one needs the prick of the thorn one's self to know +how it stings his brother. + +She was startled one day, however, out of her usual placidity. Sister +Martin, one of her neighbours, dropped in and settling herself with a +sigh announced the important news, "Well, bless Gawd, ol' Sis' Pease is +gone at last." + +Nancy dropped the plate she had been polishing, and unheeded, it smashed +into bits on the floor. + +"Wha'--what!" she exclaimed. + +"Yes'm," Sister Martin assured her, "de ol' lady done passed away." + +"I didn't know she was sick; w'en she die?" + +"She done shet huh eyes on dis worl' o' sorror des a few minutes ago. +She ain't bin sick mo'n two days." + +Nancy had come to herself now, and casting her eyes up in an excess of +Christian zeal, she said: "Well, she wouldn't let me do nuffin' fu' huh +in life, but I sut'ny shell try to do my duty by huh in death," and +drying her hands and throwing a shawl over her head, she hastened over +to her dead enemy's house. + +The news had spread quickly and the neighbourhood had just begun to +gather in the little room which held the rigid form. Nancy entered and +made her way through the group about the bed, waving the others aside +imperiously. + +"It is my Christian duty," she said solemnly, "to lay Sis' Pease out, +an' I's gwine do it." She bent over the bed. Now there are a dozen +truthful women who will vouch for the truth of what happened. When Nancy +leaned over the bed, as if in obedience to the power of an electric +shock, the corpse's eyes flew open, Ann Pease rose up in bed and +pointing a trembling finger at her frightened namesake exclaimed: "Go +'way f'om me, Nancy Rogers, don't you daih to tech me. You ain't got de +come-uppance of me yit. Don't you daih to lay me out." + +Most of this remark, it seems, fell on empty air, for the room was +cleared in a twinkling. Women holding high numerous skirts over their +heavy shoes fled in a panic, and close in their wake panted Nancy Pease. + +There have been conflicting stories about the matter, but there are +those who maintain that after having delivered her ultimatum, old Mis' +Pease immediately resumed the natural condition of a dead person. In +fact there was no one there to see, and the old lady did not really die +until night, and when they found her, there was a smile of triumph on +her face. + +Nancy did not help to lay her out. + + + + +_Twelve_ + +THE LYNCHING OF JUBE BENSON + + +Gordon Fairfax's library held but three men, but the air was dense with +clouds of smoke. The talk had drifted from one topic to another much as +the smoke wreaths had puffed, floated, and thinned away. Then Handon +Gay, who was an ambitious young reporter, spoke of a lynching story in a +recent magazine, and the matter of punishment without trial put new life +into the conversation. + +"I should like to see a real lynching," said Gay rather callously. + +"Well, I should hardly express it that way," said Fairfax, "but if a +real, live lynching were to come my way, I should not avoid it." + +"I should," spoke the other from the depths of his chair, where he had +been puffing in moody silence. Judged by his hair, which was freely +sprinkled with gray, the speaker might have been a man of forty-five or +fifty, but his face, though lined and serious, was youthful, the face of +a man hardly past thirty. + +"What, you, Dr. Melville? Why, I thought that you physicians wouldn't +weaken at anything." + +"I have seen one such affair," said the doctor gravely, "in fact, I took +a prominent part in it." + +"Tell us about it," said the reporter, feeling for his pencil and +notebook, which he was, nevertheless, careful to hide from the speaker. + +The men drew their chairs eagerly up to the doctor's, but for a minute +he did not seem to see them, but sat gazing abstractedly into the fire, +then he took a long draw upon his cigar and began: + +"I can see it all very vividly now. It was in the summer time and about +seven years ago. I was practising at the time down in the little town of +Bradford. It was a small and primitive place, just the location for an +impecunious medical man, recently out of college. + +"In lieu of a regular office, I attended to business in the first of two +rooms which I rented from Hiram Daly, one of the more prosperous of the +townsmen. Here I boarded and here also came my patients--white and +black--whites from every section, and blacks from 'nigger town,' as the +west portion of the place was called. + +"The people about me were most of them coarse and rough, but they were +simple and generous, and as time passed on I had about abandoned my +intention of seeking distinction in wider fields and determined to +settle into the place of a modest country doctor. This was rather a +strange conclusion for a young man to arrive at, and I will not deny +that the presence in the house of my host's beautiful young daughter, +Annie, had something to do with my decision. She was a beautiful young +girl of seventeen or eighteen, and very far superior to her +surroundings. She had a native grace and a pleasing way about her that +made everybody that came under her spell her abject slave. White and +black who knew her loved her, and none, I thought, more deeply and +respectfully than Jube Benson, the black man of all work about the +place. + +"He was a fellow whom everybody trusted; an apparently steady-going, +grinning sort, as we used to call him. Well, he was completely under +Miss Annie's thumb, and would fetch and carry for her like a faithful +dog. As soon as he saw that I began to care for Annie, and anybody could +see that, he transferred some of his allegiance to me and became my +faithful servitor also. Never did a man have a more devoted adherent in +his wooing than did I, and many a one of Annie's tasks which he +volunteered to do gave her an extra hour with me. You can imagine that I +liked the boy and you need not wonder any more that as both wooing and +my practice waxed apace, I was content to give up my great ambitions and +stay just where I was. + +"It wasn't a very pleasant thing, then, to have an epidemic of typhoid +break out in the town that kept me going so that I hardly had time for +the courting that a fellow wants to carry on with his sweetheart while +he is still young enough to call her his girl. I fumed, but duty was +duty, and I kept to my work night and day. It was now that Jube proved +how invaluable he was as a coadjutor. He not only took messages to +Annie, but brought sometimes little ones from her to me, and he would +tell me little secret things that he had overheard her say that made me +throb with joy and swear at him for repeating his mistress' +conversation. But best of all, Jube was a perfect Cerberus, and no one +on earth could have been more effective in keeping away or deluding the +other young fellows who visited the Dalys. He would tell me of it +afterwards, chuckling softly to himself. 'An,' Doctah, I say to Mistah +Hemp Stevens, "'Scuse us, Mistah Stevens, but Miss Annie, she des gone +out," an' den he go outer de gate lookin' moughty lonesome. When Sam +Elkins come, I say, "Sh, Mistah Elkins, Miss Annie, she done tuk down," +an' he say, "What, Jube, you don' reckon hit de----" Den he stop an' +look skeert, an' I say, "I feared hit is, Mistah Elkins," an' sheks my +haid ez solemn. He goes outer de gate lookin' lak his bes' frien' done +daid, an' all de time Miss Annie behine de cu'tain ovah de po'ch des' a +laffin' fit to kill.' + +"Jube was a most admirable liar, but what could I do? He knew that I +was a young fool of a hypocrite, and when I would rebuke him for these +deceptions, he would give way and roll on the floor in an excess of +delighted laughter until from very contagion I had to join him--and, +well, there was no need of my preaching when there had been no beginning +to his repentance and when there must ensue a continuance of his +wrong-doing. + +"This thing went on for over three months, and then, pouf! I was down +like a shot. My patients were nearly all up, but the reaction from +overwork made me an easy victim of the lurking germs. Then Jube loomed +up as a nurse. He put everyone else aside, and with the doctor, a friend +of mine from a neighbouring town, took entire charge of me. Even Annie +herself was put aside, and I was cared for as tenderly as a baby. Tom, +that was my physician and friend, told me all about it afterward with +tears in his eyes. Only he was a big, blunt man and his expressions did +not convey all that he meant. He told me how my nigger had nursed me as +if I were a sick kitten and he my mother. Of how fiercely he guarded his +right to be the sole one to 'do' for me, as he called it, and how, when +the crisis came, he hovered, weeping, but hopeful, at my bedside, until +it was safely passed, when they drove him, weak and exhausted, from the +room. As for me, I knew little about it at the time, and cared less. I +was too busy in my fight with death. To my chimerical vision there was +only a black but gentle demon that came and went, alternating with a +white fairy, who would insist on coming in on her head, growing larger +and larger and then dissolving. But the pathos and devotion in the story +lost nothing in my blunt friend's telling. + +"It was during the period of a long convalescence, however, that I came +to know my humble ally as he really was, devoted to the point of +abjectness. There were times when for very shame at his goodness to me, +I would beg him to go away, to do something else. He would go, but +before I had time to realise that I was not being ministered to, he +would be back at my side, grinning and pottering just the same. He +manufactured duties for the joy of performing them. He pretended to see +desires in me that I never had, because he liked to pander to them, and +when I became entirely exasperated, and ripped out a good round oath, he +chuckled with the remark, 'Dah, now, you sholy is gittin' well. Nevah +did hyeah a man anywhaih nigh Jo'dan's sho' cuss lak dat.' + +"Why, I grew to love him, love him, oh, yes, I loved him as well--oh, +what am I saying? All human love and gratitude are damned poor things; +excuse me, gentlemen, this isn't a pleasant story. The truth is usually +a nasty thing to stand. + +"It was not six months after that that my friendship to Jube, which he +had been at such great pains to win, was put to too severe a test. + +"It was in the summer time again, and as business was slack, I had +ridden over to see my friend, Dr. Tom. I had spent a good part of the +day there, and it was past four o'clock when I rode leisurely into +Bradford. I was in a particularly joyous mood and no premonition of the +impending catastrophe oppressed me. No sense of sorrow, present or to +come, forced itself upon me, even when I saw men hurrying through the +almost deserted streets. When I got within sight of my home and saw a +crowd surrounding it, I was only interested sufficiently to spur my +horse into a jog trot, which brought me up to the throng, when something +in the sullen, settled horror in the men's faces gave me a sudden, sick +thrill. They whispered a word to me, and without a thought, save for +Annie, the girl who had been so surely growing into my heart, I leaped +from the saddle and tore my way through the people to the house. + +"It was Annie, poor girl, bruised and bleeding, her face and dress torn +from struggling. They were gathered round her with white faces, and, oh, +with what terrible patience they were trying to gain from her fluttering +lips the name of her murderer. They made way for me and I knelt at her +side. She was beyond my skill, and my will merged with theirs. One +thought was in our minds. + +"'Who?' I asked. + +"Her eyes half opened, 'That black----' She fell back into my arms dead. + +"We turned and looked at each other. The mother had broken down and was +weeping, but the face of the father was like iron. + +"'It is enough,' he said; 'Jube has disappeared.' He went to the door +and said to the expectant crowd, 'She is dead.' + +"I heard the angry roar without swelling up like the noise of a flood, +and then I heard the sudden movement of many feet as the men separated +into searching parties, and laying the dead girl back upon her couch, I +took my rifle and went out to join them. + +"As if by intuition the knowledge had passed among the men that Jube +Benson had disappeared, and he, by common consent, was to be the object +of our search. Fully a dozen of the citizens had seen him hastening +toward the woods and noted his skulking air, but as he had grinned in +his old good-natured way they had, at the time, thought nothing of it. +Now, however, the diabolical reason of his slyness was apparent. He had +been shrewd enough to disarm suspicion, and by now was far away. Even +Mrs. Daly, who was visiting with a neighbour, had seen him stepping out +by a back way, and had said with a laugh, 'I reckon that black rascal's +a-running off somewhere.' Oh, if she had only known. + +"'To the woods! To the woods!' that was the cry, and away we went, each +with the determination not to shoot, but to bring the culprit alive into +town, and then to deal with him as his crime deserved. + +"I cannot describe the feelings I experienced as I went out that night +to beat the woods for this human tiger. My heart smouldered within me +like a coal, and I went forward under the impulse of a will that was +half my own, half some more malignant power's. My throat throbbed drily, +but water nor whiskey would not have quenched my thirst. The thought has +come to me since that now I could interpret the panther's desire for +blood and sympathise with it, but then I thought nothing. I simply went +forward, and watched, watched with burning eyes for a familiar form that +I had looked for as often before with such different emotions. + +"Luck or ill-luck, which you will, was with our party, and just as dawn +was graying the sky, we came upon our quarry crouched in the corner of a +fence. It was only half light, and we might have passed, but my eyes had +caught sight of him, and I raised the cry. We levelled our guns and he +rose and came toward us. + +"'I t'ought you wa'n't gwine see me,' he said sullenly, 'I didn't mean +no harm.' + +"'Harm!' + +"Some of the men took the word up with oaths, others were ominously +silent. + +"We gathered around him like hungry beasts, and I began to see terror +dawning in his eyes. He turned to me, 'I's moughty glad you's hyeah, +doc,' he said, 'you ain't gwine let 'em whup me.' + +"'Whip you, you hound,' I said, 'I'm going to see you hanged,' and in +the excess of my passion I struck him full on the mouth. He made a +motion as if to resent the blow against even such great odds, but +controlled himself. + +"'W'y, doctah,' he exclaimed in the saddest voice I have ever heard, +'w'y, doctah! I ain't stole nuffin' o' yo'n, an' I was comin' back. I +only run off to see my gal, Lucy, ovah to de Centah.' + +"'You lie!' I said, and my hands were busy helping the others bind him +upon a horse. Why did I do it? I don't know. A false education, I +reckon, one false from the beginning. I saw his black face glooming +there in the half light, and I could only think of him as a monster. +It's tradition. At first I was told that the black man would catch me, +and when I got over that, they taught me that the devil was black, and +when I had recovered from the sickness of that belief, here were Jube +and his fellows with faces of menacing blackness. There was only one +conclusion: This black man stood for all the powers of evil, the result +of whose machinations had been gathering in my mind from childhood up. +But this has nothing to do with what happened. + +"After firing a few shots to announce our capture, we rode back into +town with Jube. The ingathering parties from all directions met us as we +made our way up to the house. All was very quiet and orderly. There was +no doubt that it was as the papers would have said, a gathering of the +best citizens. It was a gathering of stern, determined men, bent on a +terrible vengeance. + +"We took Jube into the house, into the room where the corpse lay. At +sight of it, he gave a scream like an animal's and his face went the +colour of storm-blown water. This was enough to condemn him. We divined, +rather than heard, his cry of 'Miss Ann, Miss Ann, oh, my God, doc, you +don't t'ink I done it?' + +"Hungry hands were ready. We hurried him out into the yard. A rope was +ready. A tree was at hand. Well, that part was the least of it, save +that Hiram Daly stepped aside to let me be the first to pull upon the +rope. It was lax at first. Then it tightened, and I felt the quivering +soft weight resist my muscles. Other hands joined, and Jube swung off +his feet. + +"No one was masked. We knew each other. Not even the Culprit's face was +covered, and the last I remember of him as he went into the air was a +look of sad reproach that will remain with me until I meet him face to +face again. + +"We were tying the end of the rope to a tree, where the dead man might +hang as a warning to his fellows, when a terrible cry chilled us to the +marrow. + +"'Cut 'im down, cut 'im down, he ain't guilty. We got de one. Cut him +down, fu' Gawd's sake. Here's de man, we foun' him hidin' in de barn!' + +"Jube's brother, Ben, and another Negro, came rushing toward us, half +dragging, half carrying a miserable-looking wretch between them. Someone +cut the rope and Jube dropped lifeless to the ground. + +"'Oh, my Gawd, he's daid, he's daid!' wailed the brother, but with +blazing eyes he brought his captive into the centre of the group, and we +saw in the full light the scratched face of Tom Skinner--the worst white +ruffian in the town--but the face we saw was not as we were accustomed +to see it, merely smeared with dirt. It was blackened to imitate a +Negro's. + +"God forgive me; I could not wait to try to resuscitate Jube. I knew he +was already past help, so I rushed into the house and to the dead girl's +side. In the excitement they had not yet washed or laid her out. +Carefully, carefully, I searched underneath her broken finger nails. +There was skin there. I took it out, the little curled pieces, and went +with it to my office. + +"There, determinedly, I examined it under a powerful glass, and read my +own doom. It was the skin of a white man, and in it were embedded +strands of short, brown hair or beard. + +"How I went out to tell the waiting crowd I do not know, for something +kept crying in my ears, 'Blood guilty! Blood guilty!' + +"The men went away stricken into silence and awe. The new prisoner +attempted neither denial nor plea. When they were gone I would have +helped Ben carry his brother in, but he waved me away fiercely, 'You +he'ped murder my brothah, you dat was _his_ frien', go 'way, go 'way! +I'll tek him home myse'f' I could only respect his wish, and he and his +comrade took up the dead man and between them bore him up the street on +which the sun was now shining full. + +"I saw the few men who had not skulked indoors uncover as they passed, +and I--I--stood there between the two murdered ones, while all the while +something in my ears kept crying, 'Blood guilty! Blood guilty!'" + +The doctor's head dropped into his hands and he sat for some time in +silence, which was broken by neither of the men, then he rose, saying, +"Gentlemen, that was my last lynching." + + + + +_Thirteen_ + +SCHWALLIGER'S PHILANTHROPY + + +There is no adequate reason why Schwalliger's name should appear upon +the pages of history. He was decidedly not in good society. He was not +even respectable as respectability goes. But certain men liked him and +certain women loved him. He is dead. That is all that will be said of +the most of us after a while. He was but a weak member of the community, +but those who loved him did not condemn him, and they shut their eyes to +his shortcomings because they were a part of him. Without his follies he +would not have been himself. + +Schwalliger was only a race-horse "tout." Ah, don't hold up your hands, +good friends, for circumstances of birth make most of us what we are, +whether poets or pickpockets, and if this thick-set, bow-legged black +man became a "tout" it was because he had to. Old horsemen will tell you +that Schwalliger--no one knew where he got the name--was rolling and +tumbling about the track at Bennings when he was still so short in +stature that he got the name of the "tadpole." Naturally, he came to +know much of horses, grew up with them, in fact, and having no wealthy +father or mother to indulge him in his taste or help him use his +knowledge, he did the next best thing and used his special education for +himself in the humble capacity of voluntary adviser to aspiring +gamesters. He prospered and blossomed out into good clothes of a highly +ornate pattern. Naturally, like a man in any other business, he had his +ups and downs, and there were times when the good clothes disappeared +and he was temporarily forced to return to the occupation of rubbing +down horses; but these periods of depression were of short duration, and +at the next turn of fortune's wheel he would again be on top. + +"No, thuh," he was wont to say, with his inimitable lisp--"no, thuh, you +can't keep a good man down. 'Tain't no use a-talkin', you jeth can't. It +don't do me no harm to go back to rubbin' now an' then. It jeth nachully +keepth me on good termth with de hothes." + +And, indeed, it did seem that his prophecies were surer and his +knowledge more direct after one of these periods of enforced humility. + +There were various things whispered about Schwalliger; that he was no +more honest than he should be, that he was not as sound as he might be; +but though it might be claimed, and was, that he would prophesy, on +occasion, the success of three different horses to three different men, +no one ever accused him of being less than fair with the women who came +out from the city to enjoy the races and increase their excitement by +staking small sums. To these Schwalliger was the soul of courtesy and +honour, and if they lost upon his advice, he was not happy until he had +made it up to them again. + +One, however, who sets himself to work to give a race-horse tout a +character may expect to have his labour for his pains. The profession of +his subject is against him. He may as well put aside his energy and say, +"Well, perhaps he was a bad lot, but----." The present story is not +destined to put you more in love with the hero of it, but---- + +The heat and enthusiasm at Saratoga and the other race-courses was done, +and autumn and the glory of Bennings had come. The ingratiating +Schwalliger came back with the horses to his old stamping ground and to +happiness. The other tracks had not treated him kindly, and but for the +kindness of his equine friends, whom he slept with and tended, he might +have come back to Washington on the wooden steps. But he was back, and +that was happiness for him. Broke? + +"Well," said Schwalliger, in answer to a trainer's question, "I ain't +exactly broke, Misthah Johnthon, but I wath pretty badly bent. I goth +awa jutht ath thoon ath I commenth to feel mythelf crackin', but I'm +hyeah to git even." + +He was only a rubber again, but he began to get even early in the week, +and by Saturday he was again as like to a rainbow as any of his class. +He did not, however, throw away his rubber's clothes. He was used to the +caprices of fortune, and he did not know how soon again he should need +them. That he was not dressed in them, and yet saved them, made him +capable of performing his one philanthropy. + +Had he not been gorgeously dressed he would not have inspired the +confidence of the old Negro who came up to him on Tuesday morning, +disconsolate and weeping. + +"Mistah," he said deferentially through his tears, "is you a spo't?" + +Mr. Schwalliger's chest protruded, and his very red lips opened in a +smile as he answered: "Well, I do' know'th I'm tho much of a thpo't, but +I think I knowth a thing or two." + +"You look lak a spo'tin' gent'man, an' ef you is I thought mebbe you'd +he'p me out." + +"Wha'th the mattah? Up againtht it? You look a little ol' to be doin' +the gay an' frithky." But Schwalliger's eyes were kind. + +"Well, I'll tell you des' how it is, suh. I come f'om down in Ma'lan', +'case I wanted to see de hosses run. My ol' mastah was moughty fon' of +sich spo't, an' I kin' o' likes it myse'f, dough I don't nevah bet, suh. +I's a chu'ch membah. But yistiddy aftahnoon dee was two gent'men what I +seen playin' wid a leetle ball an' some cups ovah it, an' I went up to +look on, an' lo an' behol', suh, it was one o' dese money-mekin' t'ings. +W'y, I seen de man des' stan' dere an' mek money by the fis'ful. Well, I +'low I got sorter wo'ked up. De men dee axed me to bet, but I 'low how I +was a chu'ch membah an' didn't tek pa't in no sich carryin's on, an' den +dee said 'twan't nuffin mo' den des' a chu'ch raffle, an' it was mo' fun +den anyt'ing else. I des' say dat I could fin' de little ball, an' dee +said I couldn't, an' if I fin' it dee gin me twenty dollahs, an' if I +didn' I des' gin 'em ten dollahs. I shuk my haid. I wa'n't gwine be +tempted, an' I try to pull myse'f erway. Ef I'd 'a' gone den 'twould 'a' +been all right, but I stayed an' I stayed, an' I looked, an' I looked, +an' it did seem lak it was so easy. At las', mistah, I tried it, an' I +didn' fin' dat ball, an' dee got my ten dollahs, an' dat was all I had." + +"Uh, huh," said Schwalliger grimly, "thell game, an' dey did you." The +old man shuffled uneasily, but continued: + +"Yes, suh, dee done me, an' de worst of it is, I's 'fraid to go home, +even ef I could get dere, 'case dee boun' to axe me how I los' dat +money, an' dee ain't no way fu' me to hide it, an' ef dee fin' out I +been gamblin' I'll git chu'ched fu' it, an' I been a puffessor so +long----" The old man's voice broke, and Schwalliger smiled the crooked +smile of a man whose heart is touched. + +"Whereth thith push wo'kin'?" he said briefly. + +"Right ovah thaih," said the old Negro, indicating a part of the grounds +not far distant. + +"All right, you go on ovah thaih an' wait fu' me; an' if you thee me, +remembah, you don't thee me. I don't know you, you don't know me, but +I'll try to thee you out all right." + +The old man went on his way, a new light in his eyes at the hope +Schwalliger had inspired. Schwalliger himself made his way back to the +stables; his dirty, horsy, rubber's outfit was there. He smiled +intelligently as he looked at it. He was smiling in a different manner +when, all dressed in it, he came up nearer to the grand stand. It was a +very inane smile. He looked the very image of simplicity and ignorance, +like a man who was anxious and ready to be duped. He strolled carelessly +up to where the little game with the little ball was going on, and stood +there looking foolishly on. The three young men--ostensibly there was +only one--were doing a rushing business. They were playing very +successfully on that trait of human nature which feels itself glorified +and exalted when it has got something for nothing. The rustics, black +and white, and some who had not the excuse of rusticity, were falling +readily into the trap and losing their hard-earned money. Every now and +then a man--one of their confederates, of course, would make a striking +winning, and this served as a bait for the rest of the spectators. +Schwalliger looked on with growing interest, always smiling an ignorant, +simple smile. Finally, as if he could stand it no longer, he ran his +hand in his pocket and pulled out a roll of money--money in its most +beautiful and tempting form, the long, green notes. Then, as if a sudden +spirit of prudence had taken possession of him, he put it back into his +pocket, shook his head, and began working his way out of the crowd. But +the operator of the shell game had caught sight of the bills, and it was +like the scent of blood to the tiger. His eye was on the simple Negro at +once, and he called cheerfully: + +"Come up, uncle, and try your luck. See how I manipulate this ball. Easy +enough to find if you're only lucky." He was so flippantly shrewd that +his newness to the business was insolently apparent to Schwalliger, who +knew a thing or two himself. Schwalliger smiled again and shook his +head. + +"Oh, no, thuh," he said, "I don't play dat." + +"Why, come and try your luck anyhow; no harm in it." + +Schwalliger took out his money and looked at it again and shook his +head. He began again his backward movement from the crowd. + +"No," he said, "I wouldn' play erroun' hyeah befo' all thethe people, +becauthe you wouldn't pay me even ef I won." + +"Why, of course we would," said the flippant operator; "everybody looks +alike to us here." + +Schwalliger kept moving away, ever and anon sending wistful, inane +glances back at his tempter. + +The bait worked admirably. The man closed up his little folding table, +and, winking to his confederates, followed the retreating Negro. They +stayed about with the crowd, while he followed on and on until +Schwalliger had led him into a short alley between the stables. There he +paused and allowed his pursuer to catch up with him. + +"Thay, mithtah," he said, "what you keep on follerin' me fu'? I do' want +to play wid you; I ain't got but fo'ty dollahs, an' ef I lothe I'll have +to walk home." + +"Why, my dear fellow, there ain't no way for you to lose. Come, now, let +me show you." And he set the table down and began to manipulate the ball +dexterously. "Needn't put no money down. Just see if you can locate the +ball a few times for fun." + +Schwalliger consented, and, greatly to his delight, located the little +ball four times out of five. He was grinning now and the eye of the +tempter was gleaming. Schwalliger took out his money. + +"How much you got?" he said. + +"Just eighty-five dollars, and I will lay it all against your forty." + +"What you got it in?" asked Schwalliger. + +"Four fives, four tens, and five five-dollar gold-pieces." And the man +displayed it ostentatiously. The tout's eyes flashed as he saw his +opponent put his money back into his waistcoat pocket. + +"Well, I bet you," he said, and planked his money down. + +The operator took the shells and swept the pea first under one then +under the other, and laid the three side by side. Schwalliger laid his +hand upon one. He lifted it up and there was nothing there. + +"Ha, ha, you've had bad luck," said the operator--"you lose, you lose. +Well, I'm sorry for you, old fellow, but we all take chances in this +little game, you know." He was folding up his table when all of a +sudden a cry arose to heaven from Schwalliger's lips, and he grappled +with the very shrewd young man, while shriek on shriek of "Murder! +Robber! Police!" came from his lips. The police at Bennings were not +slow to answer a call like this, and they came running up, and +Schwalliger, who, among other things, was something of an actor, told +his story trembling, incoherently, while the operator looked on aghast. +Schwalliger demanded protection. He had been robbed. He had bet his +eighty-five dollars against the operator's forty, and when he had +accidentally picked out the right shell the operator had grabbed his +money and attempted to escape. He wanted his money. He had eighty-five +dollars, he said. "He had fo' fiveth, fo' tenth, and five five-dollar +gold-pieceth, an' he wanted them." + +The policeman was thorough. He made his search at once. It was even as +Schwalliger had said. The money was on the gambler even as the Negro had +said. Well, there was nothing but justice to be done. The officers +returned the eighty-five dollars to Schwalliger, and out of an unusual +access of clemency bade the operator begone or they would run him in. + +When he had gone, Schwalliger turned and winked slowly at the minions of +the law, and went quietly into a corner with them, and there was the +sound of the shuffling of silken paper. Later on he found the old man +and returned him his ten, and went back to don his Jacob's coat. + +Who shall say that Schwalliger was not a true philanthropist? + + + + +_Fourteen_ + +THE INTERFERENCE OF PATSY ANN + + +Patsy Ann Meriweather would have told you that her father, or more +properly her "pappy," was a "widover," and she would have added in her +sad little voice, with her mournful eyes upon you, that her mother had +"bin daid fu' nigh onto fou' yeahs." Then you could have wept for Patsy, +for her years were only thirteen now, and since the passing away of her +mother she had been the little mother for her four younger brothers and +sisters, as well as her father's house-keeper. + +But Patsy Ann never complained; she was quite willing to be all that she +had been until such time as Isaac and Dora, Cassie and little John +should be old enough to care for themselves, and also to lighten some of +her domestic burdens. She had never reckoned upon any other manner of +release. In fact her youthful mind was not able to contemplate the +possibility of any other manner of change. But the good women of +Patsy's neighbourhood were not the ones to let her remain in this +deplorable state of ignorance. She was to be enlightened as to other +changes that might take place in her condition, and of the unspeakable +horrors that would transpire with them. + +It was upon the occasion that little John had taken it into his infant +head to have the German measles just at the time that Isaac was slowly +recovering from the chicken-pox. Patsy Ann's powers had been taxed to +the utmost, and Mrs. Caroline Gibson had been called in from next door +to superintend the brewing of the saffron tea, and for the general care +of the fretful sufferer. + +To Patsy Ann, then, in ominous tone, spoke this oracle. "Patsy Ann, how +yo' pappy doin' sence Matildy died?" "Matildy" was the deceased wife. + +"Oh, he gittin' 'long all right. He was mighty broke up at de fus', but +he 'low now dat de house go on de same's ef mammy was a-livin'." + +"Oom huh," disdainfully; "Oom huh. Yo' mammy bin daid fou' yeahs, ain't +she?" + +"Yes'm; mighty nigh." + +"Oom huh; fou' yeahs is a mighty long time fu' a colo'd man to wait; but +we'n he do wait dat long, hit's all de wuss we'n hit do come." + +"Pap bin wo'kin right stiddy at de brick-ya'd," said Patsy, in loyal +defence against some vaguely implied accusation, "an' he done put some +money in de bank." + +"Bad sign, bad sign," and Mrs. Gibson gave her head a fearsome shake. + +But just then the shrill voice of little John calling for attention drew +her away and left Patsy Ann to herself and her meditations. + +What could this mean? + +When that lady had finished ministering to the sick child and returned, +Patsy Ann asked her, "Mis' Gibson, what you mean by sayin' 'bad sign, +bad sign?'" + +Again the oracle shook her head sagely. Then she answered, "Chil', you +do' know de dev'ment dey is in dis worl'." + +"But," retorted the child, "my pappy ain' up to no dev'ment, 'case he +got 'uligion an' bin baptised." + +"Oom-m," groaned Sistah Gibson, "dat don' mek a bit o' diffunce. Who is +any mo' ma'yin' men den de preachahs demse'ves? W'y Brothah 'Lias Scott +done tempted matermony six times a'ready, an' 's lookin' roun' fu' de +sebent, an' he's a good man, too." + +"Ma'yin'," said Patsy breathlessly. + +"Yes, honey, ma'yin', an' I's afeared yo' pappy's got notions in his +haid, an' w'en a widower git gals in his haid dey ain' no use +a-pesterin' wid 'em, 'case dey boun' to have dey way." + +"Ma'yin'," said Patsy to herself reflectively. "Ma'yin'." She knew what +it meant, but she had never dreamed of the possibility of such a thing +in connection with her father. "Ma'yin'," and yet the idea of it did not +seem so very unalluring. + +She spoke her thoughts aloud. + +"But ef pap 'u'd ma'y, Mis' Gibson, den I'd git a chanct to go to +school. He allus sayin' he mighty sorry 'bout me not goin'." + +"Dah now, dah now," cried the woman, casting a pitying glance at the +child, "dat's de las' t'ing. He des a feelin' roun' now. You po', +ign'ant, mothahless chil'. You ain' nevah had no step-mothah, an' you +don' know what hit means." + +"But she'd tek keer o' the chillen," persisted Patsy. + +"Sich tekin' keer of 'em ez hit 'u'd be. She'd keer fu' 'em to dey +graves. Nobody cain't tell me nuffin 'bout step-mothahs, case I knows +'em. Dey ain' no ooman goin' to tek keer o' nobody else's chile lak +she'd tek keer o' huh own," and Patsy felt a choking come into her +throat and a tight sensation about her heart while she listened as Mrs. +Gibson regaled her with all the choice horrors that are laid at the door +of step-mothers. + +From that hour on, one settled conviction took shape and possessed Patsy +Ann's mind; never, if she could help it, would she run the risk of +having a step-mother. Come what may, let her be compelled to do what she +might, let the hope of school fade from her sight forever and a day--but +no step-mother should ever cast her baneful shadow over Patsy Ann's +home. + +Experience of life had made her wise for her years, and so for the time +she said nothing to her father; but she began to watch him with wary +eyes, his goings out and his comings in, and to attach new importance to +trifles that had passed unnoticed before by her childish mind. + +For instance, if he greased or blacked his boots before going out of an +evening her suspicions were immediately aroused and she saw dim visions +of her father returning, on his arm the terrible ogress whom she had +come to know by the name of step-mother. + +Mrs. Gibson's poison had worked well and rapidly. She had thoroughly +inoculated the child's mind with the step-mother virus, but she had not +at the same time made the parent widow-proof, a hard thing to do at +best. So it came to pass that with a mysterious horror growing within +her, Patsy Ann saw her father black his boots more and more often and +fare forth o' nights and Sunday afternoons. + +Finally her little heart could contain its sorrow no longer, and one +night when he was later than usual she could not sleep. So she slipped +out of bed, turned up the light, and waited for him, determined to have +it out, then and there. + +He came at last and was all surprise to meet the solemn, round eyes of +his little daughter staring at him from across the table. + +"W'y, lady gal," he exclaimed, "what you doin' up at 'his time?" + +"I sat up fu' you. I got somep'n' to ax you, pappy." Her voice quivered +and he snuggled her up in his arms. + +"What's troublin' my little lady gal now? Is de chillen bin bad?" + +She laid her head close against his big breast, and the tears would come +as she answered, "No, suh; de chillen bin ez good az good could be, but +oh, pappy, pappy, is you got gal in yo' haid an' a-goin' to bring me a +step-mothah?" + +He held her away from him almost harshly and gazed at her as he queried, +"W'y, you po' baby, you! Who's bin puttin' dis hyeah foolishness in yo' +haid?" Then his laugh rang out as he patted her head and drew her close +to him again. "Ef yo' pappy do bring a step-mothah into dis house, Gawd +knows he'll bring de right kin'." + +"Dey ain't no right kin'," answered Patsy. + +"You don' know, baby; you don' know. Go to baid an' don' worry." + +He sat up a long time watching the candle sputter, then he pulled off +his boots and tiptoed to Patsy's bedside. He leaned over her. "Po' +little baby," he said; "what do she know about a step-mothah?" And Patsy +saw him and heard him, for she was awake then, and far into the night. + +In the eyes of the child her father stood convicted. He had "gal in his +haid," and was going to bring her a step-mother; but it would never be; +her resolution was taken. + +She arose early the next morning and after getting her father off to +work as usual, she took the children into hand. First she scrubbed them +assiduously, burnishing their brown faces until they shone again. Then +she tussled with their refractory locks, and after that she dressed them +out in all the bravery of their best clothes. + +Meanwhile her tears were falling like rain, though her lips were shut +tight. The children off her mind, she turned her attention to her own +toilet, which she made with scrupulous care. Then taking a small +tin-type of her mother from the bureau drawer, she put it in her bosom, +and leading her little brood she went out of the house, locking the door +behind her and placing the key, as was her wont, under the door-step. + +Outside she stood for a moment or two, undecided, and then with one +long, backward glance at her home she turned and went up the street. At +the first corner she paused again, spat in her hand and struck the +watery globule with her finger. In the direction the most of the spittle +flew, she turned. Patsy Ann was fleeing from home and a step-mother, +and Fate had decided her direction for her, even as Mrs. Gibson's +counsels had directed her course. + +The child had no idea where she was going. She knew no one to whom she +might turn in her distress. Not even with Mrs. Gibson would she be safe +from the horror which impended. She had but one impulse in her mind and +that was to get beyond the reach of the terrible woman, or was it a +monster? who was surely coming after her. On and on she walked through +the town with her little band trudging bravely along beside her. People +turned to look at the funny group and smiled good-naturedly as they +passed, and one man, a little more amused than the rest, shouted after +them, "Where you goin', sis, with that orphan's home?" + +But Patsy Ann's dignity was impregnable. She walked on with her head in +the air, the desire for safety tugging at her heart. + +The hours passed and the gentle coolness of morning turned into the +fierce heat of noon, and still with frequent rests they trudged on, +Patsy ever and anon using her divining hand, unconscious that she was +doubling and redoubling on her tracks. When the whistles blew for twelve +she got her little brood into the shade of a poplar tree and set them +down to the lunch which, thoughtful little mother that she was, she had +brought with her. After that they all stretched themselves out on the +grass that bordered the sidewalk, for all the children were tired out, +and baby John was both sleepy and cross. Even Patsy Ann drowsed and +finally dropped into the deep slumber of childhood. They looked too +peaceful and serene for passers-by to bother them, and so they slept and +slept. + +It was past three o'clock when the little guardian awakened with a +start, and shook her charges into activity. John wept a little at first, +but after a while took up his journey bravely with the rest. + +She had just turned into a side street, discouraged and bewildered, when +the round face of a coloured woman standing in the doorway of a +whitewashed cottage caught her eye and attention. Once more she paused +and consulted her watery oracle, then turned to encounter the gaze of +the round-faced woman. The oracle had spoken and she turned into the +yard. + +"Whaih you goin', honey? You sut'ny look lak you plumb tukahed out. Come +in an' tell me all 'bout yo'se'f, you po' little t'ing. Dese yo' little +brothas an' sistahs?" + +"Yes'm," said Patsy Ann. + +"W'y, chil', whaih you goin'?" + +"I don' know," was the truthful answer. + +"You don' know? Whaih you live?" + +"Oh, I live down on Douglas Street," said Patsy Ann, "an' I's runnin' +away f'om home an' my step-mothah." + +The woman looked keenly at her. + +"What yo' name?" she said. + +"My name's Patsy Ann Meriweather." + +"An' is yo' got a step-mothah?" + +"No," said Patsy Ann, "I ain' got none now, but I's sut'ny 'spectin' +one." + +"What you know 'bout step-mothahs, honey?" + +"Mis' Gibson tol' me. Dey sho'ly is awful, missus, awful." + +"Mis' Gibson ain' tol' you right, honey. You come in hyeah and set down. +You ain' nothin' mo' dan a baby yo'se'f, an' you ain' got no right to be +trapsein' roun' dis away." + +Have you ever eaten muffins? Have you eaten bacon with onions? Have you +drunk tea? Have you seen your little brother John taken up on a full +bosom and rocked to sleep in the most motherly way, with the sweetness +and tenderness that only a mother can give? Well, that was Patsy Ann's +case to-night. + +And then she laid them along like ten-pins crosswise of her bed and sat +for a long time thinking. + +To Maria Adams about six o'clock that night came a troubled and +disheartened man. It was no less a person than Patsy Ann's father. + +"Maria! Maria! What shall I do? Somebody don' stole all my chillen." + +Maria, strange to say, was a woman of few words. + +"Don' you bothah 'bout de chillen," she said, and she took him by the +hand and led him to where the five lay sleeping calmly across the bed. + +"Dey was runnin' f'om home an' dey step-mothah," said she. + +"Dey run hyeah f'om a step-mothah an' foun' a mothah." It was a tribute +and a proposal all in one. + +When Patsy Ann awakened, the matter was explained to her, and with +penitent tears she confessed her sins. + +"But," she said to Maria Adams, "ef you's de kin' of fo'ks dat dey mek +step-mothahs out o' I ain' gwine to bothah my haid no mo'." + + + + +_Fifteen_ + +THE HOME-COMING OF 'RASTUS SMITH + + +There was a great commotion in that part of town which was known as +"Little Africa," and the cause of it was not far to seek. Contrary to +the usual thing, this cause was not an excursion down the river, nor a +revival, baptising, nor an Emancipation Day celebration. None of these +was it that had aroused the denizens of "Little Africa," and kept them +talking across the street from window to window, from door to door, +through alley gates, over backyard fences, where they stood loud-mouthed +and arms akimboed among laden clothes lines. No, the cause of it all was +that Erastus Smith, Aunt Mandy Smith's boy, who had gone away from home +several years before, and who, rumour said, had become a great man, was +coming back, and "Little Africa," from Douglass Street to Cat Alley, was +prepared to be dazzled. So few of those who had been born within the +mile radius which was "Little Africa" went out into the great world and +came into contact with the larger humanity that when one did he became +a man set apart. And when, besides, he went into a great city and worked +for a lawyer whose name was known the country over, the place of his +birth had all the more reason to feel proud of her son. + +So there was much talk across the dirty little streets, and Aunt Mandy's +small house found itself all of a sudden a very popular resort. The old +women held Erastus up as an example to their sons. The old men told what +they might have done had they had his chance. The young men cursed him, +and the young girls giggled and waited. + +It was about an hour before the time of the arrival of Erastus, and the +neighbours had thinned out one by one with a delicacy rather surprising +in them, in order that the old lady might be alone with her boy for the +first few minutes. Only one remained to help put the finishing touches +to the two little rooms which Mrs. Smith called home, and to the +preparations for the great dinner. The old woman wiped her eyes as she +said to her companion, "Hit do seem a speshul blessin', Lizy, dat I been +spaihed to see dat chile once mo' in de flesh. He sholy was mighty nigh +to my hea't, an' w'en he went erway, I thought it 'ud kill me. But I kin +see now dat hit uz all fu' de bes'. Think o' 'Rastus comin' home, er big +man! Who'd evah 'specked dat?" + +"Law, Mis' Smif, you sholy is got reason to be mighty thankful. Des' +look how many young men dere is in dis town what ain't nevah been no +'count to dey pa'ents, ner anybody else." + +"Well, it's onexpected, Lizy, an' hit's 'spected. 'Rastus allus wuz a +wonnerful chil', an' de way he tuk to work an' study kin' o' promised +something f'om de commencement, an' I 'lowed mebbe he tu'n out a +preachah." + +"Tush! yo' kin thank yo' stahs he didn't tu'n out no preachah. Preachahs +ain't no bettah den anybody else dese days. Dey des go roun' tellin' dey +lies an' eatin' de whiders an' orphins out o' house an' home." + +"Well, mebbe hit's bes' he didn' tu'n out dat way. But f'om de way he +used to stan' on de chaih an' 'zort w'en he was a little boy, I thought +hit was des what he 'ud tu'n out. O' co'se, being' in a law office is +des as pervidin', but somehow hit do seem mo' worl'y." + +"Didn't I tell you de preachahs is ez worldly ez anybody else?" + +"Yes, yes, dat's right, but den 'Rastus, he had de eddication, fo' he +had gone thoo de Third Readah." + +Just then the gate creaked, and a little brown-faced girl, with large, +mild eyes, pushed open the door and came shyly in. + +"Hyeah's some flowahs, Mis' Smif," she said. "I thought mebbe you might +like to decorate 'Rastus's room," and she wiped the confusion from her +face with her apron. + +"La, chil', thankee. Dese is mighty pu'tty posies." These were the +laurels which Sally Martin had brought to lay at the feet of her +home-coming hero. No one in Cat Alley but that queer, quiet little girl +would have thought of decorating anybody's room with flowers, but she +had peculiar notions. + +In the old days, when they were children, and before Erastus had gone +away to become great, they had gone up and down together along the +byways of their locality, and had loved as children love. Later, when +Erastus began keeping company, it was upon Sally that he bestowed his +affections. No one, not even her mother, knew how she had waited for him +all these years that he had been gone, few in reality, but so long and +so many to her. + +And now he was coming home. She scorched something in the ironing that +day because tears of joy were blinding her eyes. Her thoughts were busy +with the meeting that was to be. She had a brand new dress for the +occasion--a lawn, with dark blue dots, and a blue sash--and there was a +new hat, wonderful with the flowers of summer, and for both of them she +had spent her hard-earned savings, because she wished to be radiant in +the eyes of the man who loved her. + +Of course, Erastus had not written her; but he must have been busy, and +writing was hard work. She knew that herself, and realised it all the +more as she penned the loving little scrawls which at first she used to +send him. Now they would not have to do any writing any more; they could +say what they wanted to each other. He was coming home at last, and she +had waited long. + +They paint angels with shining faces and halos, but for real radiance +one should have looked into the dark eyes of Sally as she sped home +after her contribution to her lover's reception. + +When the last one of the neighbours had gone Aunt Mandy sat down to rest +herself and to await the great event. She had not sat there long before +the gate creaked. She arose and hastened to the window. A young man was +coming down the path. Was that 'Rastus? Could that be her 'Rastus, that +gorgeous creature with the shiny shoes and the nobby suit and the +carelessly-swung cane? But he was knocking at her door, and she opened +it and took him into her arms. + +"Why, howdy, honey, howdy; hit do beat all to see you agin, a great big, +grown-up man. You're lookin' des' lak one o' de big folks up in town." + +Erastus submitted to her endearments with a somewhat condescending +grace, as who should say, "Well, poor old fool, let her go on this time; +she doesn't know any better." He smiled superiorly when the old woman +wept glad tears, as mothers have a way of doing over returned sons, +however great fools these sons may be. She set him down to the dinner +which she had prepared for him, and with loving patience drew from his +pompous and reluctant lips some of the story of his doings and some +little word about the places he had seen. + +"Oh, yes," he said, crossing his legs, "as soon as Mr. Carrington saw +that I was pretty bright, he took me right up and gave me a good job, +and I have been working for him right straight along for seven years +now. Of course, it don't do to let white folks know all you're thinking; +but I have kept my ears and my eyes right open, and I guess I know just +about as much about law as he does himself. When I save up a little +more I'm going to put on the finishing touches and hang out my shingle." + +"Don't you nevah think no mo' 'bout bein' a preachah, 'Rastus?" his +mother asked. + +"Haw, haw! Preachah? Well, I guess not; no preaching in mine; there's +nothing in it. In law you always have a chance to get into politics and +be the president of your ward club or something like that, and from that +on it's an easy matter to go on up. You can trust me to know the wires." +And so the tenor of his boastful talk ran on, his mother a little bit +awed and not altogether satisfied with the new 'Rastus that had returned +to her. + +He did not stay in long that evening, although his mother told him some +of the neighbours were going to drop in. He said he wanted to go about +and see something of the town. He paused just long enough to glance at +the flowers in his room, and to his mother's remark, "Sally Ma'tin brung +dem in," he returned answer, "Who on earth is Sally Martin?" + +"Why, 'Rastus," exclaimed his mother, "does yo' 'tend lak yo' don't +'member little Sally Ma'tin yo' used to go wid almos' f'om de time you +was babies? W'y, I'm s'prised at you." + +"She has slipped my mind," said the young man. + +For a long while the neighbours who had come and Aunt Mandy sat up to +wait for Erastus, but he did not come in until the last one was gone. In +fact, he did not get in until nearly four o'clock in the morning, +looking a little weak, but at least in the best of spirits, and he +vouchsafed to his waiting mother the remark that "the little old town +wasn't so bad, after all." + +Aunt Mandy preferred the request that she had had in mind for some time, +that he would go to church the next day, and he consented, because his +trunk had come. + +It was a glorious Sunday morning, and the old lady was very proud in +her stiff gingham dress as she saw her son come into the room arrayed in +his long coat, shiny hat, and shinier shoes. Well, if it was true that +he was changed, he was still her 'Rastus, and a great comfort to her. +There was no vanity about the old woman, but she paused before the glass +a longer time than usual, settling her bonnet strings, for she must look +right, she told herself, to walk to church with that elegant son of +hers. When he was all ready, with cane in hand, and she was pausing with +the key in the door, he said, "Just walk on, mother, I'll catch you in a +minute or two." She went on and left him. + +He did not catch her that morning on her way to church, and it was a +sore disappointment, but it was somewhat compensated for when she saw +him stalking into the chapel in all his glory, and every head in the +house turned to behold him. + +There was one other woman in "Little Africa" that morning who stopped +for a longer time than usual before her looking-glass and who had never +found her bonnet strings quite so refractory before. In spite of the +vexation of flowers that wouldn't settle and ribbons that wouldn't tie, +a very glad face looked back at Sally Martin from her little mirror. She +was going to see 'Rastus, 'Rastus of the old days in which they used to +walk hand in hand. He had told her when he went away that some day he +would come back and marry her. Her heart fluttered hotly under her +dotted lawn, and it took another application of the chamois to take the +perspiration from her face. People had laughed at her, but that morning +she would be vindicated. He would walk home with her before the whole +church. Already she saw him bowing before her, hat in hand, and heard +the set phrase, "May I have the pleasure of your company home?" and she +saw herself sailing away upon his arm. + +She was very happy as she sat in church that morning, as happy as Mrs. +Smith herself, and as proud when she saw the object of her affections +swinging up the aisle to the collection table, and from the ring she +knew that it could not be less than a half dollar that he put in. + +There was a special note of praise in her voice as she joined in singing +the doxology that morning, and her heart kept quivering and fluttering +like a frightened bird as the people gathered in groups, chattering and +shaking hands, and he drew nearer to her. Now they were almost together; +in a moment their eyes would meet. Her breath came quickly; he had +looked at her, surely he must have seen her. His mother was just behind +him, and he did not speak. Maybe she had changed, maybe he had forgotten +her. An unaccustomed boldness took possession of her, and she determined +that she would not be overlooked. She pressed forward. She saw his +mother take his arm and heard her whisper, "Dere's Sally Ma'tin" this +time, and she knew that he looked at her. He bowed as if to a stranger, +and was past her the next minute. When she saw him again he was swinging +out of the door between two admiring lines of church-goers who separated +on the pavement. There was a brazen yellow girl on his arm. + +She felt weak and sick as she hid behind the crowd as well as she could, +and for that morning she thanked God that she was small. + +Aunt Mandy trudged home alone, and when the street was cleared and the +sexton was about to lock up, the girl slipped out of the church and down +to her own little house. In the friendly shelter of her room she took +off her gay attire and laid it away, and then sat down at the window and +looked dully out. For her, the light of day had gone out. + + + + +_Sixteen_ + +THE BOY AND THE BAYONET + + +It was June, and nearing the closing time of school. The air was full of +the sound of bustle and preparation for the final exercises, field day, +and drills. Drills especially, for nothing so gladdens the heart of the +Washington mother, be she black or white, as seeing her boy in the blue +cadet's uniform, marching proudly to the huzzas of an admiring crowd. +Then she forgets the many nights when he has come in tired out and dusty +from his practice drill, and feels only the pride and elation of the +result. + +Although Tom did all he could outside of study hours, there were many +days of hard work for Hannah Davis, when her son went into the High +School. But she took it upon herself gladly, since it gave Bud the +chance to learn, that she wanted him to have. When, however, he entered +the Cadet Corps it seemed to her as if the first steps toward the +fulfilment of all her hopes had been made. It was a hard pull to her, +getting the uniform, but Bud himself helped manfully, and when his +mother saw him rigged out in all his regimentals, she felt that she had +not toiled in vain. And in fact it was worth all the trouble and expense +just to see the joy and pride of "little sister," who adored Bud. + +As the time for the competitive drill drew near there was an air of +suppressed excitement about the little house on "D" Street, where the +three lived. All day long "little sister," who was never very well and +did not go to school, sat and looked out of the window on the +uninteresting prospect of a dusty thoroughfare lined on either side with +dull red brick houses, all of the same ugly pattern, interspersed with +older, uglier, and viler frame shanties. In the evening Hannah hurried +home to get supper against the time when Bud should return, hungry and +tired from his drilling, and the chore work which followed hard upon its +heels. + +Things were all cheerful, however, for as they applied themselves to the +supper, the boy, with glowing face, would tell just how his company "A" +was getting on, and what they were going to do to companies "B" and "C." +It was not boasting so much as the expression of a confidence, founded +upon the hard work he was doing, and Hannah and the "little sister" +shared that with him. + +The child often, listening to her brother, would clap her hands or cry, +"Oh, Bud, you're just splendid an' I know you'll beat 'em." + +"If hard work'll beat 'em, we've got 'em beat," Bud would reply, and +Hannah, to add an admonitory check to her own confidence, would break in +with, "Now, don't you be too sho', son; dey ain't been no man so good +dat dey wasn't somebody bettah." But all the while her face and manner +were disputing what her words expressed. + +The great day came, and it was a wonderful crowd of people that packed +the great baseball grounds to overflowing. It seemed that all of +Washington's coloured population was out, when there were really only +about one-tenth of them there. It was an enthusiastic, banner-waving, +shouting, hallooing crowd. Its component parts were strictly and frankly +partisan, and so separated themselves into sections differentiated by +the colours of the flags they carried and the ribbons they wore. Side +yelled defiance at side, and party bantered party. Here the blue and +white of Company "A" flaunted audaciously on the breeze beside the very +seats over which the crimson and gray of "B" were flying, and these in +their turn nodded defiance over the imaginary barrier between themselves +and "C's" black and yellow. + +The band was thundering out "Sousa's High School Cadet's March," the +school officials, the judges, and reporters, and some with less purpose +were bustling about, discussing and conferring. Altogether doing nothing +much with beautiful unanimity. All was noise, hurry, gaiety, and +turbulence. In the midst of it all, with blue and white rosettes pinned +on their breasts, sat two spectators, tense and silent, while the +breakers of movement and sound struck and broke around them. It meant +too much to Hannah and "little sister" for them to laugh and shout. Bud +was with Company "A," and so the whole programme was more like a +religious ceremonial to them. The blare of the brass to them might have +been the trumpet call to battle in old Judea, and the far-thrown tones +of the megaphone the voice of a prophet proclaiming from the hill-top. + +Hannah's face glowed with expectation, and "little sister" sat very +still and held her mother's hand save when amid a burst of cheers +Company "A" swept into the parade ground at a quick step, then she +sprang up, crying shrilly, "There's Bud, there's Bud, I see him," and +then settled back into her seat overcome with embarrassment. The +mother's eyes danced as soon as the sister's had singled out their dear +one from the midst of the blue-coated boys, and it was an effort for her +to keep from following her little daughter's example even to echoing her +words. + +Company "A" came swinging down the field toward the judges in a manner +that called for more enthusiastic huzzas that carried even the Freshman +of other commands "off their feet." They were, indeed, a set of +fine-looking young fellows, brisk, straight, and soldierly in bearing. +Their captain was proud of them, and his very step showed it. He was +like a skilled operator pressing the key of some great mechanism, and at +his command they moved like clockwork. Seen from the side it was as if +they were all bound together by inflexible iron bars, and as the end man +moved all must move with him. The crowd was full of exclamations of +praise and admiration, but a tense quiet enveloped them as Company "A" +came from columns of four into line for volley firing. This was a real +test; it meant not only grace and precision of movement, singleness of +attention and steadiness, but quickness tempered by self-control. At the +command the volley rang forth like a single shot. This was again the +signal for wild cheering and the blue and white streamers kissed the +sunlight with swift impulsive kisses. Hannah and Little Sister drew +closer together and pressed hands. + +The "A" adherents, however, were considerably cooled when the next +volley came out, badly scattering, with one shot entirely apart and +before the rest. Bud's mother did not entirely understand the sudden +quieting of the adherents; they felt vaguely that all was not as it +should be, and the chill of fear laid hold upon their hearts. What if +Bud's company, (it was always Bud's company to them), what if his +company should lose. But, of course, that couldn't be. Bud himself had +said that they would win. Suppose, though, they didn't; and with these +thoughts they were miserable until the cheering again told them that the +company had redeemed itself. + +Someone behind Hannah said, "They are doing splendidly, they'll win, +they'll win yet in spite of the second volley." + +Company "A," in columns of fours, had executed the right oblique in +double time, and halted amid cheers; then formed left halt into line +without halting. The next movement was one looked forward to with much +anxiety on account of its difficulty. The order was marching by fours +to fix or unfix bayonets. They were going at a quick step, but the boys' +hands were steady--hope was bright in their hearts. They were doing it +rapidly and freely, when suddenly from the ranks there was the bright +gleam of steel lower down than it should have been. A gasp broke from +the breasts of Company "A's" friends. The blue and white drooped +disconsolately, while a few heartless ones who wore other colours +attempted to hiss. Someone had dropped his bayonet. But with muscles +unquivering, without a turned head, the company moved on as if nothing +had happened, while one of the judges, an army officer, stepped into the +wake of the boys and picked up the fallen steel. + +No two eyes had seen half so quickly as Hannah and Little Sister's who +the blunderer was. In the whole drill there had been but one figure for +them, and that was Bud, Bud, and it was he who had dropped his bayonet. +Anxious, nervous with the desire to please them, perhaps with a shade +too much of thought of them looking on with their hearts in their eyes, +he had fumbled, and lost all that he was striving for. His head went +round and round and all seemed black before him. + +He executed the movements in a dazed way. The applause, generous and +sympathetic, as his company left the parade ground, came to him from +afar off, and like a wounded animal he crept away from his comrades, not +because their reproaches stung him, for he did not hear them, but +because he wanted to think what his mother and "Little Sister" would +say, but his misery was as nothing to that of the two who sat up there +amid the ranks of the blue and white holding each other's hands with a +despairing grip. To Bud all of the rest of the contest was a horrid +nightmare; he hardly knew when the three companies were marched back to +receive the judges' decision. The applause that greeted Company "B" when +the blue ribbons were pinned on the members' coats meant nothing to his +ears. He had disgraced himself and his company. What would his mother +and his "Little Sister" say? + +To Hannah and "Little Sister," as to Bud, all of the remainder of the +drill was a misery. The one interest they had had in it failed, and not +even the dropping of his gun by one of Company "E" when on the march, +halting in line, could raise their spirits. The little girl tried to be +brave, but when it was all over she was glad to hurry out before the +crowd got started and to hasten away home. Once there and her tears +flowed freely; she hid her face in her mother's dress, and sobbed as if +her heart would break. + +"Don't cry, Baby! don't cry, Lammie, dis ain't da las' time da wah goin' +to be a drill. Bud'll have a chance anotha time and den he'll show 'em +somethin'; bless you, I spec' he'll be a captain." But this consolation +of philosophy was nothing to "Little Sister." It was so terrible to her, +this failure of Bud's. She couldn't blame him, she couldn't blame anyone +else, and she had not yet learned to lay all such unfathomed +catastrophes at the door of fate. What to her was the thought of another +day; what did it matter to her whether he was a captain or a private? +She didn't even know the meaning of the words, but "Little Sister," from +the time she knew Bud was a private, knew that that was much better than +being captain or any of those other things with a long name, so that +settled it. + +Her mother finally set about getting the supper, while "Little Sister" +drooped disconsolately in her own little splint-bottomed chair. She sat +there weeping silently until she heard the sound of Bud's step, then she +sprang up and ran away to hide. She didn't dare to face him with tears +in her eyes. Bud came in without a word and sat down in the dark front +room. + +"Dat you, Bud?" asked his mother. + +"Yassum." + +"Bettah come now, supper's puty 'nigh ready." + +"I don' want no supper." + +"You bettah come on, Bud, I reckon you mighty tired." + +He did not reply, but just then a pair of thin arms were put around his +neck and a soft cheek was placed close to his own. + +"Come on, Buddie," whispered "Little Sister," "Mammy an' me know you +didn't mean to do it, an' we don' keer." + +Bud threw his arms around his little sister and held her tightly. + +"It's only you an' ma I care about," he said, "though I am sorry I +spoiled the company's drill; they say "B" would have won anyway on +account of our bad firing, but I did want you and ma to be proud." + +"We is proud," she whispered, "we's mos' prouder dan if you'd won," and +pretty soon she led him by the hand out to supper. + +Hannah did all she could to cheer the boy and to encourage him to hope +for next year, but he had little to say in reply, and went to bed early. + +In the morning, though it neared school time, Bud lingered around and +seemed in no disposition to get ready to go. + +"Bettah git ready fer school," said Hannah cheerily to him. + +"I don't believe I want to go any more," Bud replied. + +"Not go any more? Why ain't you shamed to talk that way! O' cose you a +goin' to school." + +"I'm ashamed to show my face to the boys." + +"What you say about de boys? De boys ain't a-goin' to give you no +edgication when you need it." + +"Oh, I don't want to go, ma; you don't know how I feel." + +"I'm kinder sorry I let you go into dat company," said Hannah musingly; +"'cause it was de teachin' I wanted you to git, not de prancin' and +steppin'; but I did t'ink it would make mo' of a man of you, an' it +ain't. Yo' pappy was a po' man, ha'd wo'kin', an' he wasn't high-toned +neither, but from the time I first see him to the day of his death I +nevah seen him back down because he was afeared of anything," and Hannah +turned to her work. + +"Little Sister" went up to Bud and slipped her hand in his. "You ain't +a-goin' to back down, is you, Buddie?" she said. + +"No," said Bud stoutly, as he braced his shoulders, "I'm a-goin'." + +But no persuasion could make him wear his uniform. + +The boys were a little cold to him, and some were brutal. But most of +them recognised the fact that what had happened to Tom Harris might have +happened to any one of them. Besides, since the percentage had been +shown, it was found that "B" had outpointed them in many ways, and so +their loss was not due to the one grave error. Bud's heart sank when he +dropped into his seat in the Assembly Hall to find seated on the +platform one of the blue-coated officers who had acted as judge the day +before. After the opening exercises were over he was called upon to +address the school. He spoke readily and pleasantly, laying especial +stress upon the value of discipline; toward the end of his address he +said: "I suppose Company 'A' is heaping accusations upon the head of the +young man who dropped his bayonet yesterday." Tom could have died. "It +was most regrettable," the officer continued, "but to me the most +significant thing at the drill was the conduct of that cadet afterward. +I saw the whole proceeding; I saw that he did not pause for an instant, +that he did not even turn his head, and it appeared to me as one of the +finest bits of self-control I had ever seen in any youth; had he +forgotten himself for a moment and stopped, however quickly, to secure +the weapon, the next line would have been interfered with and your whole +movement thrown into confusion." There were a half hundred eyes glancing +furtively at Bud, and the light began to dawn in his face. "This boy has +shown what discipline means, and I for one want to shake hands with him, +if he is here." + +When he had concluded the Principal called Bud forward, and the boys, +even his detractors, cheered as the officer took his hand. + +"Why are you not in uniform, sir?" he asked. + +"I was ashamed to wear it after yesterday," was the reply. + +"Don't be ashamed to wear your uniform," the officer said to him, and +Bud could have fallen on his knees and thanked him. + +There were no more jeers from his comrades now, and when he related it +all at home that evening there were two more happy hearts in that South +Washington cottage. + +"I told you we was more prouder dan if you'd won," said "Little Sister." + +"An' what did I tell you 'bout backin' out?" asked his mother. + +Bud was too happy and too busy to answer; he was brushing his uniform. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The heart of happy hollow, by Paul Laurence Dunbar + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HEART OF HAPPY HOLLOW *** + +***** This file should be named 24716.txt or 24716.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/1/24716/ + +Produced by Greg Bergquist, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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