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diff --git a/38830-h/38830-h.htm b/38830-h/38830-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6341192 --- /dev/null +++ b/38830-h/38830-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7200 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Unfettered, by Sutton E. Griggs</title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .tocnum {position: absolute; top: auto; right: 10%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .right {text-align: right;} + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Unfettered, by Sutton E. Griggs</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Unfettered</p> +<p> A Novel</p> +<p>Author: Sutton E. Griggs</p> +<p>Release Date: February 11, 2012 [eBook #38830]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNFETTERED***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Josephine Paolucci,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Internet Archive/American Libraries<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/americana">http://www.archive.org/details/americana</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/unfetterednovel00grigrich"> + http://www.archive.org/details/unfetterednovel00grigrich</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 420px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="420" height="650" alt="Cover" title="" /> +</div> + +<h1>UNFETTERED.</h1> + +<h2>A NOVEL.</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>SUTTON E. GRIGGS,</h2> + +<h4>Author of "IMPERIUM IN IMPERIO," "OVERSHADOWED," "DORLAN'S PLAN," Etc.</h4> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="center"> +NASHVILLE, TENN.:<br /> +THE ORION PUBLISHING COMPANY.<br /> +1902.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +COPYRIGHT<br /> +<span class="smcap">By Sutton E. Griggs.</span><br /> +1902.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><i>DEDICATION.</i></h2> + + +<p class="center"> +<i>While a last beloved sister<br /> +MARY,<br /> +Was, with patience and fortitude, awaiting the<br /> +slow but certain tread of the Grim Reaper,<br /> +she spared strength enough to read, from<br /> +beginning to end, "Overshadowed,"<br /> +that came to greet her ere she sped<br /> +to the home of the departed.<br /> +Were she mindful of happenings on the<br /> +earth to-day the author of this volume would<br /> +be sure of at least one sympathetic reader.<br /> +To her memory "Unfettered" is<br /> +affectionately dedicated.</i><br /> +<br /> +<i>THE AUTHOR.</i><br /> +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The chains that bound the body * * were as tender +chords of mercy compared with the shackles that gyved +his mind * *."—<i>Kelley Miller.</i></p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> +<h2>AUTHOR'S PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>On a sad occasion in days gone by, the people of the United States were +called upon to deal with the Negro's woes, and in the haze of battle there +arose to thrill the hearts of men a Fort Sumter, a Bull Run, a Gettysburg, +and, at last, an Appomattox.</p> + +<p>Since those pregnant days, in spite of a seeming retrogression in some +quarters, there has been a steady, unbroken march of the Negro in an upward +direction. One day our great nation that once dealt with the Negro's woes +will be summoned to deal with his strength, to kindly accept or finally +reject <i>all</i> that he can do.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>As the day of final adjustment is inevitable, it is wise for all of us who +love our country to make a study of the internal workings of a race now +shaking itself loose from the death sleep of the ages.</p> + +<p>It is the aim of "<span class="smcap">Unfettered</span>" to lead the reader into the inner life of the +Negro race and lay bare the aspirations that are fructifying there.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<p>Those who come to these pages in quest of pen pictures of either angels or +demons, are not likely to find what they seek, for our story has to do with +human beings, simply. That is, we should say, with the exception of—but +you will make your own exceptions when the tale is fully told.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">The Author.</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<p> +CHAPTER. <span class="tocnum">PAGE.</span><br /> +<br /> +I. AN ANGLO-SAXON'S DEATH <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_9'>9</a></span><br /> +II. "A NEW KING ... WHICH KNEW NOT JOSEPH" <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_15'>15</a></span><br /> +III. A FALLEN MAN SHOOTS <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_22'>22</a></span><br /> +IV. THE CLANS GATHER <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_29'>29</a></span><br /> +V. BREEDS TROUBLE FOR AFTER YEARS <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_37'>37</a></span><br /> +VI. AN ACT OF WHICH NOBODY IS PROUD <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_46'>46</a></span><br /> +VII. A MAN AGAINST A REGIMENT <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_54'>54</a></span><br /> +VIII. THE HINT NOT TAKEN <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_62'>62</a></span><br /> +IX. DORLAN WARTHELL <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_70'>70</a></span><br /> +X. CUPID SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_73'>73</a></span><br /> +XI. A STORMY INTERVIEW <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_78'>78</a></span><br /> +XII. MORLENE AND DORLAN <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_83'>83</a></span><br /> +XIII. A WHOLE CITY STIRRED <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></span><br /> +XIV. BLOODWORTH AT WORK <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_101'>101</a></span><br /> +XV. HARRY BECOMES A TOOL <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></span><br /> +XVI. A WOMAN AROUSED <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_111'>111</a></span><br /> +XVII. CLANDESTINELY, YET IN HONOR <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_121'>121</a></span><br /> +XVIII. WHO WINS? <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_126'>126</a></span><br /> +XIX. THE SCENE SHIFTS <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_134'>134</a></span><br /> +XX. THE BYSTANDERS CHEER <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_142'>142</a></span><br /> +XXI. TO BEGIN LIFE ANEW, AS IT WERE <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_149'>149</a></span><br /> +XXII. EXCUSABLE RUDENESS <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_153'>153</a></span><br /> +XXIII. A STREET PARADE <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_160'>160</a></span><br /> +XXIV. GOING FORTH TO UNFETTER <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_169'>169</a></span><br /> +XXV. TONY MARSHALL <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_179'>179</a></span><br /> +XXVI. A MORNING RIDE <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_185'>185</a></span><br /> +XXVII. THEY FEAR EACH OTHER <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_189'>189</a></span><br /> +XXVIII. "O DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING?" <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_194'>194</a></span><br /> +XXIX. IN THE BALANCES <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_201'>201</a></span><br /> +XXX. THE TELEGRAM <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_207'>207</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>DORLAN'S PLAN.</h3> + + +<p> +<span class="tocnum">PAGE.</span><br /> +<br /> +FOREWORD <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_219'>219</a></span><br /> +WHERE THE TROUBLE ARISES <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_223'>223</a></span><br /> +OUR PROBLEM <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_225'>225</a></span><br /> +THE INSPIRATION OF THE OPPOSITION <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_226'>226</a></span><br /> +STILL IN THE BALANCES <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_228'>228</a></span><br /> +HE WHO HAS HITHERTO FOLLOWED CALLED UPON TO LEAD <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_231'>231</a></span><br /> +REVISITING THE ORIENT <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_233'>233</a></span><br /> +CLASPING HANDS <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_234'>234</a></span><br /> +RENOVATION <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_237'>237</a></span><br /> +WHERE TO BEGIN <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_239'>239</a></span><br /> +"THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME" <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_240'>240</a></span><br /> +RELIGION A FACTOR <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_244'>244</a></span><br /> +TO WEAR WELL OUR CROWN <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_245'>245</a></span><br /> +IN THE UPPER REALMS <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_247'>247</a></span><br /> +"OF MAKING MANY BOOKS THERE IS NO END" <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_249'>249</a></span><br /> +WE EAT TO LIVE <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_251'>251</a></span><br /> +LITTLE AFRICAS <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_253'>253</a></span><br /> +"YE HAVE THE POOR WITH YOU ALWAYS" <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_254'>254</a></span><br /> +THE WINDS HAVE VEERED <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_255'>255</a></span><br /> +"THE FIELD IS THE WORLD" <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_256'>256</a></span><br /> +WHERE THE GALE BLOWS FIERCEST <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_257'>257</a></span><br /> +WITH THE HEN GOES HER BROOD <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_265'>265</a></span><br /> +THE PROBLEM OF THE OTHER MAN <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_266'>266</a></span><br /> +OUR LAST FOE <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_269'>269</a></span><br /> +MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_271'>271</a></span><br /> +THE END DRAWETH NIGH <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_274'>274</a></span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>AN ANGLO-SAXON'S DEATH.</h3> + + +<p>Gently the midsummer breezes rustled the green leaves of the giant oaks and +towering poplars that stood guard over the Dalton house, which, as though +spurning their protection, rose majestically above them and commanded a +splendid view of the Tennessee fields and woodlands, stretching far out on +either side of the leisurely flowing Cumberland.</p> + +<p>The subdued whisperings of the winds, their elf-like tread as they +cautiously crept from tree top to tree top, tended to create the suspicion +that they were aware of the tragedy which their mother, Nature, was so soon +to enact within the walls of the house around which we now see them +hovering.</p> + +<p>In a sumptuously furnished room of this magnificent structure, Maurice +Dalton, the present owner thereof, lies dying; battling heroically yet +losingly in that last, inevitable conflict which he had been summoned to +wage with the forces of decay. The head of this dying Anglo-Saxon rests, in +these its last moments, on the bosom of Aunt Catherine, an aged Negro +woman, who was his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> first and loving nurse in infancy, and has been his one +unswerving friend and worshipper in all of his after life.</p> + +<p>On former occasions, when disease had drawn him to the edge of the grave, +so skillfully did Aunt Catherine second the recuperative work of nature +that he was led back to life and health. Now that her healing art has +failed her, she sits heartbroken, and, like Rachel weeping for her +children, refuses to be comforted. No mother ever loved an offspring with +greater intensity than Aunt Catherine loved "Maury," as she called him.</p> + +<p>Near to Aunt Catherine stands Lemuel Dalton, a nephew and the sole +surviving relative of Maurice Dalton. Tall, slender and well featured, he +was an interesting figure at any time. His firm, gray eyes give evidence of +great grief over the approaching death of his uncle, although the death of +this uncle is his only known means of an early escape from poverty.</p> + +<p>At the foot of the bed on which Maurice Dalton lies, stands Morlene, a +beautiful girl just budding into womanhood. She is a Negro, although her +very pleasing complexion is so light as to give plain evidence of a strong +infusion of Anglo-Saxon blood.</p> + +<p>A wealth of lovely black hair crowning a head of perfect shape and queenly +poise; a face, the subtle charm of which baffles description; two lustrous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +black eyes, wondrously expressive, presided over by eyebrows that were +ideally beautiful; a neck which, with infinite regard for the requirements +of perfect art, descended and expanded so as to form part of a faultless +bust; as to form, magnificently well proportioned; when viewed as a whole, +the very essence of loveliness. Such was the picture of Morlene, who, once +seen, left an image that never again passed from the mind of the beholder.</p> + +<p>Morlene's bosom is just now the abode of many surging emotions. She views +in a dying and speechless state the person who alone on earth knows the +secret of her parentage. Maurice Dalton had promised to impart this +information to Morlene at some time, but has delayed doing so until now it +appears to be too late. Add to the fact that Maurice Dalton is carrying to +the silence of the grave the information so earnestly, passionately desired +by Morlene, the further fact that he had been her support, protection, and +sole dependence from earliest infancy. So keen had been his interest in +Morlene that only his known piety saved him from the suspicion that he was +her father.</p> + +<p>In addition to the sense of personal loss that Morlene is to sustain, she +must contend with her grief over the approaching death of a man whose +sweetness of soul and fatherly care had won from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> her almost a daughter's +love. With hands clasped like unto one supplicating, she strains her +beautiful eyes, as if, in her solicitude, to watch the soul along the whole +distance of its flight into the great unknown.</p> + +<p>Standing here and there in the room are distinguished white neighbors, +intimate friends, ready to testify that the noblest Roman of them all is +passing away.</p> + +<p>In an adjoining room, still other white neighbors are recounting in +undertones the many noble deeds performed by Maurice Dalton. Huddled +together under the trees in the yard to the back of the house are the +Negroes of this and other plantations, who, with woeful looks, peer +anxiously in the direction of the "big house," eager for news as to how the +battle was going. The vitality of Maurice Dalton was surprisingly great, +and he grappled with this "last of foes" far longer than had been deemed +possible. Probably it was his unfulfilled promise to Morlene that caused +his spirit to linger here so long after it had received the final summons.</p> + +<p>Morning wore away into the afternoon. The air grew humid and signs of +coming rain multiplied; yet the Negroes stood their ground, determined to +be as near as possible to their beloved landlord in the supreme moment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dark clouds which, ascending from the horizon, had been curtaining the +skies, now passed beneath the sun, intercepted his kindly rays and +journeyed onward until not a patch of blue was anywhere to be seen. +Excitedly the lightning displayed his fierce glance in the disturbed +heavens, first here and then there, and the occasional mutterings of the +thunders were heard.</p> + +<p>The Negroes at last mustered sufficient courage to make the attempt to have +Maurice Dalton to die, if die he must, in what they regarded as the ideal +manner. Any Negro that could die "happy," die in the midst of a frenzy of +joyous emotions, was deemed by the mass of Negroes as assured of an +entrance into heaven. In order to produce this condition of ecstasy, they +would gather about the bedside of the dying and sing such songs as were +calculated to deeply stir the emotions of the passing one. They now +concluded to use their singing upon Maurice Dalton. Leaving the shelter of +the trees they all drew near to the house and stood under a window of the +room in which lay the dying man.</p> + +<p>In plaintive tones, low, timorous and wavering at first, then louder and +bolder, in sweetest melody, they sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Swing low, sweet chariot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cum fur ter carry me home;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swing low, sweet chariot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cum fur to carry me home."<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>Ofttimes as a boy Maurice Dalton had stood on the outer edge of Negro open +air camp meetings and had heard, with deep emotion, this chant; and as the +music now comes floating into his room his paroxysms cease, a smile plays +upon his face which, though wasted, is handsome still.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he sat bolt upright in his bed. "Hush!" said he, feebly waving his +hand, as he turned his ear in an attitude of listening. "Did they say the +chariot had come?" he enquired of the weeping Aunt Catherine. Casting a +faint look of recognition on those who stood near him, he fell back upon +the bosom of Aunt Catherine—a corpse.</p> + +<p>The wild cry of anguish that escaped the lips of Aunt Catherine told its +own story to the Negroes in the yard. The singing ceased and they turned to +go. Tears were falling from their eyes, and Nature, as if in sympathy, +began to weep also. In after days the minds of the Negroes oft reverted to +the darkness and gloominess and utter dreariness of the day when Maurice +Dalton died.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>"A NEW KING ... WHICH KNEW NOT JOSEPH."</h3> + + +<p>"Morlene, you and Catherine will come into the library as soon as your +breakfast duties are over."</p> + +<p>Such was a command addressed to Morlene by Lemuel Dalton while he was +sitting at the breakfast table in the Dalton house, a few days subsequent +to the happenings recorded in the preceding chapter.</p> + +<p>Morlene passed out of the dining room into the kitchen to tell Aunt +Catherine what Lemuel Dalton had said. But Aunt Catherine had heard for +herself and was so much agitated by what she thought were sinister purposes +revealed by his tone of voice, that she began to tremble violently. A plate +which she was washing fell to the floor and broke, whereupon she whispered +to Morlene in tremulous tones:</p> + +<p>"Dar, now! I shuah knows dar is trubble brewin' 'round 'bout heah. Las' +night I drempt 'bout snakes an' didn't git to kill 'um. All dis mornin' my +right eye hez been jumpin' fit to kill, an' now I dun broke dis plate. W'en +hez Aunt Catherine broke er plate afo' dis? Shuah's yer bawn, chile, dar is +trubble brewin' in dis 'neck ub<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> de woods.'" In a still lower whisper she +said: "I wondah whut debbilmint our young marster's got in his he'd ter +sen' fur us?"</p> + +<p>Morlene, who was also apprehensive, shook her head slowly, signifying that +the master was an enigma to her as well.</p> + +<p>After the lapse of a few minutes, Aunt Catherine and Morlene repaired to +the library, where they found Lemuel Dalton tilted back in his desk chair, +his hands clasped behind his head. Turning the gaze of his gray eyes full +upon Aunt Catherine and Morlene, who were sitting together, he began:</p> + +<p>"Both of you are aware of the fact that I am now the proprietor of this +place. I have one more task which I wish to perform as plain Lemuel Dalton. +I will be rid of that task to-day, I think. To-morrow I intend assuming +charge here. I shall have no Negroes whatever about me, and the two of you +will please prepare to leave when I take charge to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Aunt Catherine groaned audibly at the announcement and her dilated eyes +showed that she viewed the suggestion with a species of horror. Morlene was +self-contained, being careful not to exhibit any emotion, if she felt any. +Lemuel Dalton, desirous of preventing an outburst of grief from Aunt +Catherine, hastened to say:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You will go from the place well provided for. I find, according to my +uncle's memorandum, that there are six hundred and forty-eight dollars to +your credit, money which was due you, but not called for by you. I notice +that you have been accustomed to give largely to objects of charity, else +this sum to your credit would be the larger. You will find the amount in +this package." So saying, he lightly tossed the package into her lap.</p> + +<p>"Morlene, I find a note in my uncle's memorandum which states that you are +entitled to be cared for by the Dalton estate so long as you live. I know +not what is the ground of your claim, nor do I care to know. I shall see to +it that you do not suffer. Understand, however, that you will always apply +to my lawyers for aid and not to me. With this one thousand dollars which I +now hand to you, our personal dealings come to a close."</p> + +<p>He tossed the package of money, which was in currency, toward Morlene, but +she took pains to see that it fell upon the floor and not upon her lap. +This was done so adroitly that Lemuel Dalton did not know but that the +failure of the package to reach its destination was due to his poor +marksmanship.</p> + +<p>Aunt Catherine asked in broken tones: "Marse Lemuel, will yer 'mit me ter +say er word?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<p>A frown of impatience appeared upon Lemuel Dalton's brow, but he nodded +assent.</p> + +<p>Aunt Catherine stood up and began:</p> + +<p>"Marse Lemuel, I wuz bawned on dis place. I wuz brung up hear ez a chile, +and all de fun an' frolics I ebber hed wuz right heah. Marse an' missus +'lowed me an' my ole man ter marry heah. It was in front ub dis very house +whar us, my ole man an' me, jumpt ober de brum stick es a marrige cerimony. +Since I hez been an 'oman ebry baby bawn in dis hous' hez cum in ter dese +arms fust. Yer own daddy Erasmus wuz one ob um, an' a lackly littul fellah +he wuz, too. Dese hans you see heah hez shrouded de Dalton dead since I ken +ricermimber. Durin' war times, w'en udder darkies wuz brakin' dey necks ter +go ter de Yankees, I staid right by missus an' I'se been in dis house ebber +since.</p> + +<p>"Nachally, Marse Lemuel, I lubs dis spot. I jes' doan' know nuthin' else. I +hed hoped to die heah an' be bur'i'd at de feet ub missus, for she promis' +me wid her dyin' bref ter let me wait fur de trump ub Gabrul by her side. +Now, Marse Lemuel, doan' dribe me erway. I'll wuck an' not charge nary +cent. I wants to stay whar I ken plant flowers on de grave ub Maury an' de +rest. Gib me er cot an' let me sleep in de ole barn lof' whar I played ez +er gal; but doan' dribe me erway."</p> + +<p>Here Aunt Catherine burst forth into sobbing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton's frown deepened. He arose and walked to the window, his back +to Aunt Catherine, who now dropped upon her knees to pray for God to +reinforce her plea.</p> + +<p>Lemuel turned, and discovering Aunt Catherine in an attitude of prayer, +said: "That is all unnecessary, Catherine. My mind is made up. I do not +mean to be unkind, but I simply shall not have Negroes about me."</p> + +<p>Aunt Catherine finished her prayer and arose. Taking the money which Lemuel +Dalton had given her, she said in gentle tones: "Whut I did fur our folkses +wuz fur lub. You shan't spile my lub by payin' me fur whut I hez dun." So +saying, she walked over to Lemuel Dalton in an humble attitude and dropped +the package of money at his feet. She then turned and went slowly and +disconsolately out of the room, her head drooping as she shuffled along.</p> + +<p>Morlene, who had manifested great self-control during the whole of the +affecting scene, now arose and boldly faced Lemuel Dalton.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said she, her eyes filled with tears, "it takes no prophet to +foretell that terrible sorrows await you! He who ignores human emotions, +will find many in this world more than a match for him at his own game! As +for the money which you gave me, I shall not touch one penny of it. Really, +I do not care to have my life linked by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> means of the smallest thread to a +man who shall come forth from the 'mills of the gods' ground as you will +be. You have not my anger, sir, but my most profound pity." So saying, she, +too, left the room.</p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton was seized with a nameless, indefinable terror, that caused +his blood to grow chill; and in that instant the consciousness came to him +with the certainty of a revelation that Morlene had spoken the truth. But +this feeling only remained for a few seconds. It was but a forerunner, +years ahead of its time. He cast it off, seeking to assure himself that +belief in a premonition was but an idle superstition. When he had fully +recovered his composure he said:</p> + +<p>"Now, I like that plucky spirit manifested by the girl. Give me, every +time, the haughty sufferer, too proud to crouch beneath the lash even when +its sting is keenest. I want none of your whining suppliants. A plague on +these Negroes who meet injury with woe-begone expressions. That sort of +thing tends to make the Anglo-Saxon chicken-hearted in dealing with them. +The more a Negro whines and supplicates the worse I hate him. But I tell +you I like the spirit of that girl." Such was Lemuel Dalton's soliloquy.</p> + +<p>"But other tasks await me," he said. Taking a pistol from his hip pocket, +he thoroughly examined it to see that it was in prime condition in every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +respect. Satisfied on this score, he put it back into the pocket from which +he had taken it. Going out to the stable, he mounted his horse and rode +away, taking the road that had been made to pass through and connect the +several parts of the vast Dalton estate. On every side of him were tokens +of what the forces of nature were doing for him. The earth holding in her +bosom the roots of acres of Indian corn, was yielding up her substance that +the grain might ripen unto harvest. The stalks were bravely bearing the +swelling ears. The beautiful drooping blades drank in the contributions +that the sun and the air had to bestow.</p> + +<p>Thus all nature was at one working for the welfare of the future master of +the Dalton place. But he had no eye for nature's loving panorama. A master +passion had his soul within its grasp.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>A FALLEN MAN SHOOTS.</h3> + + +<p>About one dozen years prior to the time of the beginning of our story, +Lemuel Dalton, then a lad, was fishing on the banks of a body of water +known as "Murray's Pond." The scene surrounding it was one of extreme +loveliness, and Lemuel, though a child, was yet poet enough to be silent +while nature was speaking to him so eloquently and yet so soothingly. There +was the shining sun above bathing the scene with its summer warmth. There +were the trees standing around, lazily luxuriant, surfeited. Wild flowers +of varied hues were present in great profusion, as much as to say, "See, +this is not so bad a world after all, else we could not be here." The trees +that stood near to the pond cast their shadows upon its clear waters and +saw with satisfaction themselves mirrored therein. A few cows had come to +the pond and stood in one section thereof, the embodiment of contentment, +leisurely tinkling their bells. Lemuel was absorbed in the contemplation of +this scene.</p> + +<p>A Negro boy, about Lemuel's age, but much larger, was fishing on the other +side of the pond.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> The scenery had no charms for this boy, who, tiring of +the monotony of unsuccessful angling, decided to leave his side of the pond +and engage in a conversation with Lemuel.</p> + +<p>When he drew near, Lemuel paid no attention to him, not so much as casting +a glance in his direction.</p> + +<p>Nothing daunted by this seeming indifference, the Negro boy attempted to +start up a conversation. "Good place to fish, ain't it?" he said.</p> + +<p>Not a muscle in Lemuel's face moved.</p> + +<p>Drawing a little closer, the Negro boy touched Lemuel on the shoulder, and +with a smile said, "Good place to fish, ain't it?"</p> + +<p>Lemuel moved away, neither speaking to nor looking at the boy.</p> + +<p>The Negro boy now got angry, and, throwing his fishing pole across his +shoulder, started away, saying with a sort of lilt that resembled singing:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I like sugar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I like hash,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'd rather be a nigger<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than poor white trash."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This was the taunting reply used by Negro children to avenge insults, real +or imaginary, coming from white children. It was tantamount to a +declaration of war, and was everywhere regarded as a <i>casus belli</i>, and +Lemuel Dalton accepted it as such.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> He sprang to his feet and was soon +engaged in a fisticuff with the Negro boy, who, however, proved to be his +superior and signally defeated him.</p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton, the man, is on his way to see this Negro, now also a man. It +is his purpose to settle this old score before assuming charge of his +estate on the morrow. We shall now acquaint you more fully with his +prospective antagonist.</p> + +<p>There lived on the Dalton estate a Negro of middle age and medium height, +who bore the name of Stephen Dalton. In his youth he was a slave of the +Dalton's and remained on the place after the coming of freedom. Sober, +industrious, thrifty, thoroughly honest, peaceably inclined, he enjoyed to +a remarkable degree the esteem of the white and colored people of all +classes.</p> + +<p>Maurice Dalton was only nominally the head of the Dalton estate, the +practical operations of his farming affairs being entrusted to the care of +this Negro, Stephen Dalton.</p> + +<p>Stephen Dalton's household consisted of himself, a son and a daughter, his +wife being dead. It was this son, who years ago, had had the fight with +Lemuel Dalton. Harry Dalton, for such was the son's name, was now a very +handsome, vigorous looking young man. He was conscious of his acceptable +personal appearance and was somewhat vain. This vanity was not lessened, of +course, by his knowledge of the fact that he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> the best farm hand in all +that section of country. He was, however, very companionable, and his +uniformly cheerful disposition made him a sort of favorite with all, in +spite of his touch of vanity. He had attended the public school located in +his vicinity, and while not very proficient, had succeeded in mastering +about all that the teacher could impart.</p> + +<p>On this particular day Harry has abandoned his field duties, and, watched +by his very devoted sister, Beulah, is engaged in practice in order that he +may be in prime condition for the sports incident to the coming of an +excursion from the neighboring city to a nearby grove. Harry was the +champion runner, jumper, boxer and baseball player, and was quite eager to +maintain his proud distinction.</p> + +<p>Beulah, who stood in the doorway of the three-room farm house in which they +lived, said to Harry, "Look behind you! Yonder comes old Lemuel Dalton!"</p> + +<p>Harry glanced over his shoulder, but did not desist from his practice.</p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton rode up to where Harry was, dismounted, hitched his horse, +and came directly in front of Harry.</p> + +<p>Since their fight at Murray's Pond the two had not spoken to each other, +and both now understood that a fight was to ensue. In a biting tone Lemuel +Dalton began:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I suppose you know that I am owner of this place. I have come to lay down +my law to you. You are the leading sport on the place. Regardless of the +condition of crops you quit to go to picnics, shows, dances, camp meetings, +funerals, and on every excursion that comes along. Your example is +demoralizing to the whole farm. I assume charge of this place to-morrow, +and I want you to understand that you cannot go to the picnic scheduled for +that day."</p> + +<p>Harry was fairly enraged that a white man should speak to him as though he +were a slave. Before he could suppress his anger enough to trust himself to +speak, Beulah cried out from the door:</p> + +<p>"Don't that beat you? Some poor white trash that gets places by the death +of their uncles don't know that Grant whipped Lee and Jeff Davis was hung +to a sour apple tree."</p> + +<p>Quivering with rage, Lemuel Dalton said to Harry: "You apologize for what +that girl has said."</p> + +<p>"She has spoken my sentiments," said Harry.</p> + +<p>The two now began to prepare for battle. Lemuel Dalton advanced toward +Harry and began the conflict with a stinging blow on Harry's left cheek. +The battle was then on in earnest. Harry had the advantage in point of +native strength. Lemuel's reach was longer than that of Harry, and he was +by far the more skillful. He had for years been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> taking boxing lessons +secretly, that he might be prepared for this very occasion. Lemuel Dalton +had the further advantage of coolness. Harry, allowing his emotions of +anger to influence him too largely, struck out wildly and thus dissipated +much of his strength. Lemuel's wariness in evading Harry's onslaughts and +skill in delivering blows added to Harry's irritation.</p> + +<p>As the battle progressed it began to dawn on Harry that somehow he had met +with more than his match. The thought of being defeated by Lemuel and in +the presence of Beulah was too galling, and Harry determined to prevent +such an outcome at all hazards. In a fit of exasperation, and in return for +a well aimed blow from Lemuel, Harry delivered a powerful kick in his +abdomen. Lemuel staggered backward and fell to the ground, Harry rushing +toward him.</p> + +<p>"Is that your game?" shouted Lemuel. Half raising himself by means of his +left elbow, with his right hand he drew his pistol in time to shoot Harry +just as the latter was about to throw himself upon him. Harry now fell to +the ground seriously wounded.</p> + +<p>Beulah came rushing to Harry's side screaming loudly.</p> + +<p>"That comes of insulting poor white trash," said Lemuel Dalton, as he +mounted his horse. As he turned to go he cast a look of triumph and +contempt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> at the wounded Negro and his screaming sister. Beulah's cries +brought help from the field near by, and strong hands bore Harry into the +house.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE CLANS GATHER.</h3> + + +<p>News of the fight between Lemuel Dalton and Harry Dalton soon spread +throughout the surrounding regions. The diffusion of news was so rapid +because in the country each person regarded himself as a courier in duty +bound to convey word to his immediate neighbors. The white farmers +abandoned their tasks, armed themselves and hurried to the Dalton house.</p> + +<p>At nightfall the Negro farm hands from far and near hastened to Stephen +Dalton's home, secreting in their clothes such weapons as pistols, +hatchets, razors, bowie knives, clubs, etc.</p> + +<p>Thus, what was originally a personal encounter between two individuals +contained the germs of a race war.</p> + +<p>When a sufficient number of the whites had gathered at the Dalton house to +justify it, an informal meeting was held in the large front room. 'Squire +Mullen, a short, fat man, with a face of full length but somewhat narrower +than it might have been, assumed the leadership of the meeting. His upper +lip was shaved clean, while his chin supported a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> beard about three inches +long. He spoke in a quick, jerky fashion, addressing Lemuel Dalton in the +name of the assemblage as follows:</p> + +<p>"We have heard of the difficulty between you and one of the darkeys on your +place. We have come to learn from you the particulars about it, to find out +just what action must be taken by us. We are not seeking to interfere with +your affairs, but darkeys must be made to feel always that whatever any one +of them does to one white man is considered as done to all white men; we +shall be pleased, therefore, to receive any information that you may see +fit to give."</p> + +<p>In response to this address Lemuel Dalton gave to the assemblage a full and +truthful account of the happening. When he was through, 'Squire Mullen +sprang to his feet saying, "Permit me, sir, to voice the sentiments of my +fellows. We did not come here to sit in judgment on your action. We came +here under the inspiration of the Anglo-Saxon motto, which is summed up in +these words, 'My country, may she be always right. But, right or wrong, my +country.' We came here, sir, to take up your cause; but your account shows +that you have struck us a blow in the face—square in the face."</p> + +<p>"You will, of course, explain your remarks," interposed Lemuel Dalton, in a +tone which signified his non-acceptance of 'Squire Mullen's view of +matters.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Certainly, certainly, sir. In the midst of circumstances such as exist in +the South, the greatest force that makes for peace is the cultivation in +the white man of a sense of superiority and in the darkey a sense of +inferiority. Engender in the darkey a sense of his inferiority and it will +paralyze his aggressiveness and do more to keep him down than a standing +army. What we practice in the South is racial hypnotism. We erect signs +everywhere, notifying the darkey of his inferiority. To be effective this +work must be co-operated in by practically the whole body of white men. +That's why we object to any white man's attempt to disabuse the Negro's +mind of this sense of inferiority. You, sir, have acted in a manner to +cause us to lose the aid of this sense of inferiority in dealing with our +darkeys. You have made our task of controlling them the harder. You have +thus done us harm and the darkeys harm."</p> + +<p>"You have not yet shown how my actions transgress your mode of procedure," +said Lemuel Dalton.</p> + +<p>"Why, sir, you fought the darkey on terms of equality. You fought him man +to man. You should have sat on your horse and scolded him. If he had spoken +insultingly, you should have used your horsewhip on him. If he had proven +dangerous, it was your duty to have shot him without further ado. A +fisticuff between a white man and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> a darkey savors too much of equality, a +feeling that must be kept out of the Negro at all hazards."</p> + +<p>"Permit me to add a word," requested a feeble-voiced young man, rising in a +most timid manner, rubbing his hands together nervously.</p> + +<p>'Squire Mullen gave him a reassuring look and he proceeded.</p> + +<p>"I simply wish to reinforce what 'Squire Mullen has said by a historical +incident. On a certain occasion when the Scythians were returning from a +war in which they had been engaged, they received news that the servants +whom they had left behind had mutinied and taken possession of the city and +the households of their former masters. The Scythians were preparing to +attack the slaves with a full accoutrement of arms when one of their number +protested. He told his fellows that the best way to conquer the slaves was +to discard arms and go with whips simply. He held that arms would suggest +equality, while whips would be a reminder to the slaves as to what they +were. The experiment succeeded and the Scythians effected a re-enslavement +without any bloodshed. So, I agree with 'Squire Mullen that it is a great +help to superiors to keep alive in inferiors a well developed sense of +their inferiority. It certainly helps to keep them in subjection. The +Scythian whips, which had as an aid the feeling of inferiority, were more +successful than arms would have been, carrying along with them the idea of +equality.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<p>"A profound thinker of our day sets forth this idea in these words:</p> + +<p>"'There are the respective mental traits produced by daily exercise of +power and by daily submission to power. The ideas, and sentiments, and +modes of behavior, perpetually repeated, generate on the one side an +inherited fitness for command, and on the other side an inherited fitness +for obedience; with the result that, in course of time, there arises on +both sides the belief that the established relations of classes are the +natural ones.'"</p> + +<p>The young man dropped into his seat and looked around rather bashfully and +wistfully, hoping that he would be regarded as having made an acceptable +contribution to the dominant thought of the occasion.</p> + +<p>All eyes were now directed to Lemuel Dalton, awaiting his reply.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said he, "if you will but go a little deeper into the subject +you will see that my action was in accordance with and not contrary to the +philosophy which you enunciate."</p> + +<p>There was a slight bustle of astonishment at this claim, but Lemuel +proceeded without regard thereto.</p> + +<p>"When I was a lad, that Negro insulted and then beat me. No doubt he +carried with him for years the thought that he was physically my superior. +I was determined to wrest from him this conception.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> Had I proceeded +against him on terms which he regarded as unfair, he would not have +inwardly restored to me the palm which he wrested from me years ago. But, +proceeding against him on terms of equality as I did, he is forced to +acknowledge in his innermost consciousness that I am physically his +superior. I, for one, think that we white men make a mistake in not seeking +by physical culture to maintain even our physical superiority. I am in +favor of the doctrine of Anglo-Saxon superiority in all realms, even the +physical."</p> + +<p>'Squire Mullen, with a smile upon his face, came forward and grasped Lemuel +Dalton by the hand.</p> + +<p>"We understand you better now, sir. We are proud of you, sir. Lads, hear +what he says. In developing brain don't forget brawn. The darkey now has +brawn. His strong physique and reproductive powers, show that he is in the +world to stay to the end of time. If, in the years to come, he adds mental +to physical endowment, we may be in the lurch unless we take care of the +physical side of our development. Give me your hand again, sir," said +'Squire Mullen, once more shaking hands with Lemuel Dalton.</p> + +<p>This matter having been disposed of, consideration was now given to Harry +and Beulah. It was the concensus of opinion that the education which Harry +and Beulah had received was mainly responsible for what the whites termed +"arrogant assumption of equality."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<p>The advisability and inadvisability of educating the Negro was gone into +and the conclusion reached that the only safe education for the Negro was +the education that taught him better how to work. It was decided that Harry +had been punished equitably for his offense against Lemuel Dalton as an +<i>individual</i>. They held that something must be done however, to avenge the +insult to the white <i>race</i>, perpetrated when one of their number was +assailed.</p> + +<p>As a result of their deliberations, lasting well up into the night, it was +decided to drive Harry and Beulah out of the settlement, both as a +punishment for their offense and as a warning to other Negroes against +"impudence towards their superiors."</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the Negroes had been coming and going at Stephen Dalton's. +They came in part from curiosity, in part to see if they were in danger, +and in part out of sympathy. They all listened critically to Beulah's +recital of the trouble.</p> + +<p>The practically unanimous verdict was that Beulah and Harry could and +should have avoided the conflict. Arriving at this conclusion they all +left, not being disposed to help in a case where all of the blame was not +on the white man. In the dead of the night the whites rode up to the house +and tacked thereon a notice, warning Harry and Beulah Dalton to remove from +the settlement forever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> before the dawn of day on the first of January of +the incoming year. When the Negroes heard of this decree they were +incensed.</p> + +<p>"Ernuf is ernuf," said one. "An' a nigger ain't er dog. 'Twuz ernuf ter +shoot de nigger. We didun't do nuffin' 'bout dat, kase de niggers wuz +some'ut ter blame. But dey ez carrin' de thing too fur. Ernuf is ernuf!"</p> + +<p>This sentiment was universal among the Negroes, and they decided, one and +all, to retaliate by leaving the settlement along with Harry and Beulah.</p> + +<p>About thirty miles distant was the city of R——, the great commercial +center of all the surrounding sections. This city now became the Mecca of +these Negroes. But other troubles were to ensue ere they accomplished their +design to enter R——.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>BREEDS TROUBLE FOR AFTER YEARS.</h3> + + +<p>When Lemuel Dalton rode into his yard fresh from his encounter with Harry +Dalton, Aunt Catherine and Morlene were in a wagon ready to be driven to +the city, where it was their purpose to dwell.</p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton noticed the look of inquiry which his battered appearance +evoked from Morlene's expressive eyes, and, as if to prevent her from +thinking that he had been worsted and that her prophecy was already coming +true, said in a haughty tone: "I do not know how much interest a knowledge +of the fact may be to you, yet, I inform you that I have just shot down +that impudent Negro, Harry Dalton."</p> + +<p>Morlene was of a deeply sympathetic mould, and, upon receiving this +information, tears came into her eyes. Alighting from the wagon, she said: +"Go! Go! Aunt Catherine, from this accursed place. I will come to the city +soon. It may be that Harry is not killed. If I can save his life I can ward +off that much of the terrible debt that this man is piling up against +himself." Gathering her skirts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> about her, weeping as she ran, she arrived +at Stephen Dalton's house and assumed charge of the nursing of Harry.</p> + +<p>Harry's wound was an exceedingly dangerous one, but the doctor's skill, +supplemented by Morlene's zealous care, eventually brought him to a stage +of convalescence. But Morlene's tenderness of heart had brought her into a +situation where unforeseen complications arose to sorely disturb her peace +of mind.</p> + +<p>So, soon as Harry became conscious of Morlene's presence in his home as his +nurse, he began to look upon his being shot as an especially kind act on +the part of providence. From early childhood he had been an ardent admirer +of Morlene, but her stay at the Dalton house under the guardianship of +Maurice Dalton, had caused him to feel that there was an impassable gulf +between them. He had never been able to summon sufficient courage to go up +to the "big house" with the intention of paying his respects to Morlene. He +now entertained not one spark of ill will toward Lemuel Dalton for shooting +him, since it was the means of drawing Morlene to his side. The scrupulous +care and great tenderness exercised by her in the nursing of Harry, were +construed by him to be indications of a strong attachment, and his hopes of +a favorable outcome of his suit grew greater from day to day, until he at +last regarded his acceptance as an assured fact.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>One day, after he was able to sit up, he beckoned for Morlene to come to +his side, intending to make a declaration of love. Morlene came and looked +into Harry's face tenderly, awaiting his request, which she presumed would +be upon some matter in line with her duties as a nurse. When Harry looked +up into her face, so tenderly beautiful, his heart failed him. "Too +beautiful for a fellow like me," he thought. "I have changed my mind, Miss +Dalton," said Harry, abandoning his purpose for the time being.</p> + +<p>Morlene looked at Harry out of those wondrous eyes of hers, playfully +feigning reproach, shaking her forefinger at him the while, in no wise +dreaming of the emotions at work in Harry's bosom.</p> + +<p>The day at last came when Harry found himself possessing sufficient courage +to make a declaration of love. It was indeed a rude awakening for Morlene +when she realized in what manner she had been the object of Harry's +thoughts, a contingency upon which she had in no wise calculated. When her +emotion of surprise had sufficiently abated to permit it, she told Harry in +a very pleasant manner that he was sick and should wait until he was well +before giving attention to so grave a question as marriage.</p> + +<p>Harry had discerned how his proposal had surprised Morlene, and he now knew +that she had not given him one thought as a possible husband. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> saw +clearly that Morlene's many acts of kindness to him were based purely on +sympathy, not love. This so discouraged Harry that it was not many days +before he began to grow worse. His decline was so persistent, refusing to +yield to any treatment, that the doctor was sorely puzzled as to the cause +of the relapse and the treatment necessary to effect a change.</p> + +<p>Harry's illness now reached such a stage that all began to despair of his +life. Beulah kept constant watch at his bedside, noting his every +expression. She noticed how Harry's eyes followed wherever Morlene moved +about in the room; how that he was restless when she was out of sight and +contented when she was near. And in all this devotion exhibited by Harry +she intuitively felt the presence of hopelessness. She framed the theory in +her mind that the mysterious cause of Harry's decline was none other than +an unrequited love for Morlene.</p> + +<p>The doctor came, felt Harry's pulse, shook his head, and left the room. +Beulah also went out and revealed to him her thoughts.</p> + +<p>"By Jove!" said he, "Why did I not think of that myself? The girl is as +beautiful as a sylph. She can save him, I am sure. That boy's relapse can +be explained on no other hypothesis. See what you can do with the girl. It +is the only hope left." So saying, the doctor went his way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>Beulah now re-entered the house and asked Morlene to take a walk with her. +Arm in arm the two girls went down the little pathway leading from the +house. Coming opposite to a grove of trees they turned toward it, entered, +and sat down upon a fallen log.</p> + +<p>"Morlene, are you in love with any one?" asked Beulah.</p> + +<p>"No, my dear. Why do you ask?" replied Morlene.</p> + +<p>"I have a request to make of you, which I can the more freely do since you +say that you are not in love."</p> + +<p>Morlene's face took on a puzzled expression.</p> + +<p>"What possible relation does my not being in love bear to any request that +you might make?" inquired Morlene.</p> + +<p>"The doctor has told me that the only hope of saving Harry's life lies in +your consenting to marry him. He is dying of love for you," said Beulah.</p> + +<p>Morlene stood up affrighted.</p> + +<p>Beulah continued: "Harry looks at you so sad-like. A word from you, +Morlene, will save him."</p> + +<p>Morlene sat down and raised a hand to her forehead. "Beulah," said she, "I +fear that there is something in what you say. I now recall that his decline +in health began about the time when I refused to consider a proposal of +marriage which he made. But Beulah, I do not <i>love</i> Harry. I think well of +him, but I do not love him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You could learn to love him," said Beulah.</p> + +<p>"No, I am quite sure, Beulah, that I could never love a man on Harry's +order. Something within tells me that somewhere in the world there is an +ideal man that awaits my coming. He shall awaken all the slumbering fires +of my soul and my life shall entwine itself about his. Beulah, I believe +all this with my whole heart."</p> + +<p>Morlene spoke in tones quavering with emotion, her beautiful face showing +signs of tragic earnestness and her eyes assuming a far-off expression as +if the soul was seeking to divine the future.</p> + +<p>"Morlene, you and I are poor country girls and can talk plainly to each +other. You have been reading books up at the Dalton house which set forth +the deeds of mighty men. Out of all that you have gleaned from books you +have constructed your ideal man whom you feel awaits you in the world. +Morlene, we country girls have only a limited education and know but little +of the requirements of the higher walks of life. The man whom your +imagination has selected will be so much your superior in point of culture +that he will not notice you."</p> + +<p>This was a well directed shaft and Morlene's body twitched as if it had +been entered by some deadly missile; for it had been the one dread of her +life that the man whom she could love would consider her mind too poorly +trained to become his companion. Morlene buried her face in her hands.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<p>Beulah followed up the advantage which she saw that she had gained, saying:</p> + +<p>"Morlene, your own judgment must teach you that your ideal is impossible of +attainment. Put over against this impracticable ideal my honest, +industrious, wounded brother, who is being destroyed by his love for you. +Do not, Morlene, allow poor Harry to die because of a vague hope."</p> + +<p>A pet squirrel which had been tamed by Harry, and which was very fond of +him, was jumping from limb to limb in a neighboring tree. Spying Morlene +and Beulah, it began to descend, making looks of inquiry at various stages +of its journey. Upon reaching the ground, it began to hop in the direction +of the two girls, halting now and then to turn its little head first one +way and then another, always keeping one or the other of his brown eyes +looking in their direction. When only a few feet from them, it reared upon +its hind feet and looked intently at them. They were evidently too sad in +appearance, for it immediately scampered away to resume its sport.</p> + +<p>"Even the squirrel has come to plead for Harry, Morlene," said Beulah.</p> + +<p>Morlene's answer was a deep sigh.</p> + +<p>"Beulah," said Morlene, taking her hands from her face, "you hardly know +what you ask. This love which God has planted in a woman's bosom is the +source of the highest joy that she knows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> during her stay on earth. You are +asking me to surrender the most precious gift of my Creator, my one chance +of supreme happiness."</p> + +<p>Beulah now burst into crying, calling into play woman's most formidable +weapons—her tears.</p> + +<p>"All right, Morlene. Poor Harry will be dead to-morrow, and I shall soon +die of grief. You know how my dear father loves us. Our deaths will break +his heart. When we are dead, Morlene, remember that the surrender of an +idle hope on your part would have saved us all."</p> + +<p>Beulah, weeping bitterly, now arose to go. Morlene's sympathetic nature +could not longer resist the strain.</p> + +<p>"Beulah, Beulah, it is hard to do as you ask. How hard, the future alone +can tell. I consent to sacrifice myself. I don't understand this world, +anyway! Why am I placed in such a trying situation? I will marry Harry!"</p> + +<p>It was now Morlene's time to cry. She wept bitterly, her gentle spirit +chiding the cruel fate that had woven such a web about her feet. +Parentless, homeless, friendless, now doomed to a loveless marriage, she +considered her lot an inexpressibly hard one.</p> + +<p>The two girls wept together, Beulah now weeping over the necessity of +imposing such a marriage on Morlene. Having as Harry's sister persuaded +Morlene into agreeing to the marriage, she now as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> a woman wept in sympathy +with Morlene over a prospective wedlock without love. When the two had +regained self-control, they returned to the house. Morlene went to Harry's +bedside and knelt there. She took his enfeebled arm and laid it across her +shoulder, smiling at him sweetly the while.</p> + +<p>"Harry," said she, "I have come to tell you that I am going to be your +wife, a true wife—one that will do all that is in her power for your +comfort and welfare."</p> + +<p>So saying she leaned forward and sealed her doom with a kiss.</p> + +<p>Beulah, eager to insure Harry's recovery, and fearing that Morlene, after a +period of reflection, might deny the binding force of a vow extorted from +her in the dread presence of death, hastened matters. The next day Harry +and Morlene were duly pronounced man and wife.</p> + +<p>When a woman's hand is chained and her heart is free!</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>AN ACT OF WHICH NOBODY IS PROUD.</h3> + + +<p>The decision reached by the assemblage of Negroes in the first burst of +excitement over the posting of the notice demanding that Harry and Beulah +leave the settlement, was adhered to, and on Christmas Eve several wagon +loads of young Negro men and women started on their journey to the city. +The crops had been marketed and each one had come into possession of the +profits on his year's labor. In no case was the amount very large, but it +caused all to be in good cheer.</p> + +<p>The occupants of the wagons were as numerous as the wagons could well hold, +and they rode standing up, holding to each other to keep from falling +whenever the uneven character of the road caused the wagons to jolt. A jug +of whiskey had been placed in each wagon and from it bottles were filled +and passed around, men, women and children alike taking each a "dram." Loud +laughing, playful bantering, sallies of coarse wit, ribald singing, +characterized this journey to the city. The more sober and religious +element of the Negroes, who were disgusted with this sort of conduct, +stayed behind to avoid contact with those inclined toward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> rowdyism. They +wished also to improve the occasion by holding one more service of worship +in their country church house.</p> + +<p>On Christmas morning the church was filled with those who had come to +worship God there, perhaps for the last time. The minister was expected to +preach a sermon appropriate to the occasion. Recognizing this expectation, +he sought to fulfill it, and chose for his text, Hebrews xi:16:</p> + +<p>"But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God +is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a +city."</p> + +<p>The preacher began his discourse in that deeply pathetic tone accompanied +with prolonged mournful cadences, once so largely in vogue among a certain +class of Negro preachers. This tone, so full of the note of sorrow, found +responsive chords in the bosoms of his hearers and a bond of fellowship for +the occasion was at once established between him and them. His every +utterance was saluted with an answering groan or sympathetic manifestation +of some kind, evoked as much by the tone of voice as by the sentiment +expressed. The responses of the people heightened the emotions of the +preacher. Thus the preacher and the people acting and reacting upon each +other, produced a highly emotional state of affairs.</p> + +<p>The burden of the preacher's discourse was an account of the wanderings of +Abraham and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> subsequent sorrowful career of his descendants in the land +of Egypt. With a constantly swelling tide of emotions the hearers followed +the dolorous account, which was made the more touching by instituting +comparisons, the purport of which was to show that the Negroes were having +similar experiences. In drawing to a close, he emphasized the thought that +the God that prepared a goodly land for the Jews would take care of the +Negroes. He urged them to leave the question of their earthly welfare in +the hands of God and center their thoughts on Heaven. He entered into a +dramatic description of the Christian's getting ready to wade across the +Jordan of death.</p> + +<p>Then came a vivid word painting of the scenes beyond—the green fields of +Eden; the pearly gates standing ajar; the gold paved streets; the jasper +walls; the tree of life; the long white robes; the silver slippers; the +starry crown; the palms of victory; the harps of gold. The Christian was to +go into the city, he set forth, and sit upon a throne singing God's praise, +looking out of the window of heaven while the sun was covered with +sackcloth and ashes and the moon was dripping away in blood.</p> + +<p>His very last remarks were made sitting down, in representation of the +final rest of the Christian in the midst of the stirring scenes depicted.</p> + +<p>The tumultuous scene which accompanied and followed this highly dramatic +peroration beggars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> description. Women screamed and shouted and fainted, +while men wept like babes and clambered from seat to seat wild with +emotion. Such was the character of the religious preparation that the +Negroes had for the grave responsibilities of life in the city. While these +things were transpiring at the church, a frightful tragedy was being +enacted elsewhere. A short outline of the circumstances leading up thereto +is now necessary.</p> + +<p>When the white farmers became aware of the fact that there was to be a +wholesale exodus of Negroes from the settlement, they were much enraged. +They recognized the fact that the Negro made a very good laborer, in spite +of his foibles, and they were loth to let him go. Their course toward him +was not, as they understood it, dictated by prejudice nor tainted with +injustice. They were thoroughly imbued with the doctrine that they were +inherently superior to the Negro and instituted repressive measures to keep +alive recognition of this claim. This was the Alpha and Omega of their +purposes, and they were angered, that their course, to them righteous, +should be accepted in any other spirit, and should operate to disturb the +social fabric. They argued with the Negroes, endeavoring to show them that +they were not opposed to Negroes <i>per se</i>, but to "sassy" Negroes that +tried to put on airs and represent themselves to be as good as white +people. All efforts to stem the tide of emigration failed, however.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton alone was undisturbed by the outcome. Years before, as the +prospective landlord of the Dalton place, he had made a careful study as to +how he could operate the plantation without the aid of Negroes. He had come +to the conclusion that the presence of the Negro on the farm lands of the +South, was the chief cause of its backwardness. He looked upon the Negro as +being of too conservative a mold, averse, like all primitive people, to +innovations. He had given earnest study to improved methods of farming and +had determined upon many changes that would dispense with much labor. He +had in mind to substitute barbed wire for rail fences and thus be rid of +Negro rail-splitters. Improved plows, planting, threshing and harvesting +machines—in fact, the whole category of labor-saving devices for farming +were to be brought into use. By thus elevating farm life from a condition +of extreme drudgery he felt hopeful of securing white farm hands to take +the place of Negroes. So the contemplated exodus did not in the least +affect Lemuel Dalton's peace of mind.</p> + +<p>Not so with other young white men of the settlement, yet living on their +fathers' places. In view of a prospective scarcity of "hands" they had been +notified that they would have to abandon their lives of ease and help to +man the farms. The thought of performing the drudgery incident to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> farm +life was very distasteful to them, and they became very bitter in their +feelings toward the Negroes.</p> + +<p>On this Christmas morning, a number of these young white men went to the +one whisky shop in the vicinity to drink off their troubles. As they became +intoxicated, their fury rose until it was evident that trouble of some sort +was certain to ensue. One of the drunken lot said, "Boys, what say you? +Down with the cause of all our troubles! What shall we do with Beulah +Dalton?"</p> + +<p>"Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!" rang out from the throats of the +half-drunken crowd.</p> + +<p>With much yelling and hooting, they started toward Stephen Dalton's home. +Beulah had always been disliked by the young white men, as she persistently +refused to speak to any of them that did not call her "Miss Beulah." This +long nourished feeling of animosity was no doubt a factor, though +unconsciously so, in the present movement against her.</p> + +<p>Beulah had remained at home, while the others went to the church. She was +completing her preparations for the journey to the city, to take place on +the morrow. She heard the wild shouts drawing nearer and nearer, and looked +out of her window to discover the meaning thereof. The crowd caught sight +of her, and with a yell of savage delight, came toward the house at full +speed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>Beulah had the presence of mind to barricade the doors. The windows were +furnished with thick oak doors that closed from the inside and effected a +protection for the apertures supplementary to that of the window panes. +These doors Beulah closed.</p> + +<p>When the crowd arrived at the house they found Beulah securely ensconced. +As their doings were not premeditated, they had come from their homes +without implements with which to batter down the doors. Finding their +purpose of capturing Beulah thwarted, they were under the necessity of +providing another mode of procedure.</p> + +<p>"Burn her up!" said one.</p> + +<p>"You are a coward. The gal ain't no rat. Give her a chance, fool," replied +another.</p> + +<p>"Who calls me a fool?" shouted the first speaker. "I will kill the +scoundrel," he added.</p> + +<p>A wrangle here broke out and a free for all fight was threatened, some +favoring one of the disputants and some the other. While they were engaged +in this drunken squabble, one of their number had gotten into the kitchen +and had saturated the floor with kerosene oil. He then set fire to the +building.</p> + +<p>Beulah heard the roaring flames and decided to make a bold dash for life. +She was a country girl, vigorous of frame and fleet of foot and hoped to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +outrun the crowd in their drunken condition. Quietly unpinning the barred +door, she leaped out and began to run. She chose the side of the house +opposite to the one where she heard the noise, and supposed that at least a +short interval would intervene before the crowd discovered that she had +escaped.</p> + +<p>But the young man who had set the house on fire had gone to that side of +the house in anticipation of an attempt to escape. When he saw Beulah run +forth from the building, he uttered a yell and with great effort of will +steadied himself sufficiently to hurl at the fleeing girl a stick of stove +wood which he had gotten in the kitchen. The stick struck her on the back +of her head. Beulah fell forward and in a few minutes breathed her last. +When the Negroes returned from church, they found the ashes of the house +and, a short distance away, Beulah lying on her face in a puddle of blood. +The perpetrators of the crime had fled.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>A MAN AGAINST A REGIMENT.</h3> + + +<p>Stephen Dalton, whose conservatism was proverbial; who had been from time +immemorial the assuager of race animosities; who had so successfully +mediated between the whites and the Negroes at every previous crisis, was +at last thoroughly aroused to action. The ills of which the Negroes had +complained, and concerning which he had always counseled moderation, were +now brought home to his own door. As a result of the race feeling his son +had been wounded, his house burned, the friendly relations of a lifetime +destroyed, and his daughter, the pride of his heart, murdered while at home +unprotected. With his gun on his shoulder he tramped from house to house +for miles around exhorting the Negroes to repair to a designated spot where +they would march in unison to attack the whites.</p> + +<p>The Negroes felt that the time for action had assuredly come if "cool +headed" Stephen, as he was called, was aroused to the point of action. +Their long pent-up feelings of resentment now became rampant and they +gathered in force at the point selected by Stephen. They came armed with +such weapons as they could buy, borrow or steal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<p>The white people of the settlement became thoroughly alarmed; for, though +the Negro was regarded as a normally peaceful being, they felt that there +was a latent sanguinary nature and a sort of reckless dare-devil bravery +that burst forth upon occasion and was dangerous. They telephoned to all +nearby stores, requesting that firearms and munitions of war be denied to +all would-be Negro purchasers. Word was sent to neighboring settlements to +guard the crossroads and prevent other Negroes from different sections +coming to the assistance of those already in arms.</p> + +<p>The telegraph and telephone stations were put under strict censorship, and +all newspaper reporters were warned to send out no accounts of the trouble +that would create the least vestige of a doubt as to the entire justice of +all the proceedings of the whites.</p> + +<p>Messages were sent to the governor that a race riot was imminent, and an +urgent plea was made for several companies of State troops. These were +forthwith dispatched.</p> + +<p>The whites who had armed themselves, now joined the ranks of the State +troops to assist in quelling the uprising of the Negroes. There was no +desire among the whites for bloodshed, and, being fully prepared for war, +now cast about for a means of bringing about peace.</p> + +<p>The usual mediator, Stephen Dalton, being the leader of the Negroes, they +had to search for another.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> They decided to impress into their service for +that task the Negro public school teacher.</p> + +<p>The Negro school teacher has perhaps been the greatest conservator of peace +in the South, laboring <i>for</i> the Negroes by the <i>appointment</i> of the +whites, being thus placed in a position where it was to his interest to +keep on good terms with both races. Thus the whites on this occasion sent +the school teacher to confer with the Negroes.</p> + +<p>Arriving at the Negro assemblage the teacher approached Stephen Dalton.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, sir," said he to Stephen.</p> + +<p>"Good evenin'," was Stephen's gruff response.</p> + +<p>By this time a number of Stephen's lieutenants had clustered around the +two, eagerly looking from the teacher to Stephen and from Stephen to the +teacher, bent on catching whatever might pass between them. They made no +attempt to conceal their feeling of curiosity, which was as manifest as in +the case of children.</p> + +<p>"May I be allowed to address this gathering?" asked the teacher of Stephen.</p> + +<p>"Whar is you frum?" queried Stephen, grumly.</p> + +<p>"I have just come from the white people's rendezvous," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Thought so. Bettah go back dar, I 'specks," said Stephen, turning his back +and walking away.</p> + +<p>The teacher now turned to the others who had crowded about him. "Men," said +he, "I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> something to say that concerns you all. Uncle Stephen is +interested in this whole affair in too personal a manner for you men to +commit your interests blindly to him. In times like these you need a man +who is in such a frame of mind that he can weigh everything. Now, you all +know that Uncle Stephen has had enough to unbalance anybody, and, I tell +you, men, unbalanced minds are not safe guides in such times as these."</p> + +<p>The men gathered about the teacher now looked in the direction of Stephen. +He, seeing that the teacher was engaging the attention of the crowd, +decided to return and order him away.</p> + +<p>"I is cummander in chief, heah, sur, and you mus' leave dis groun' at once, +sur," said Stephen to the teacher.</p> + +<p>The teacher now lifted his voice and said in tones that many could hear.</p> + +<p>"In former times when other people's oxen were gored, Uncle Stephen was not +driven away when he came to see you. Uncle Stephen is a good man, but I +don't think he is that much better than the rest of you. If <i>your</i> matters +could be talked of, it seems to be that <i>his</i> might be talked of, too."</p> + +<p>This blow was well aimed. There seems to be a feeling in the Negro race to +keep all upon a level and to resent anything that savors of superiority of +one Negro over another. No man who attempts to lead them can have any +measure of success unless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> he is thoroughly democratic in his behavior, +tastes and manner of approach. The teacher knew of this feeling, and his +remark was an adroit bid for its support.</p> + +<p>The Negroes now felt a little sullen toward Stephen Dalton, their +commander, because he desired to prevent free speech on this occasion when +he had availed himself of it so often in times of threatened trouble.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Stephen is in a mighty heap of trouble, an' ain't 'zactly at +hisself. Go er head, teacher, we'll hear you," said one.</p> + +<p>A murmur of approval went through the crowd, which had now swelled to large +proportions.</p> + +<p>Seeing that he had gained audience the teacher began. In his speech he set +forth that the killing of Beulah was not indicative of the feelings of the +best white people toward the Negroes, nor of the real feelings of the worse +elements of whites. He said that liquor was at the root of the murder, and +that in a measure the colored people were responsible, because it was their +vote that kept liquor from being voted out of the county at a local option +election held a short while previous. To this the Negroes nodded assent, +for they knew it to be true. The teacher asked why, as sensible people, +they were going to have all the folks of the community, good and bad, white +and colored, killed for an act that liquor was mainly responsible for, they +being responsible for the liquor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then the teacher recited the facts as to the superior training, numbers, +equipment, transportation facilities, means of inter-communication of the +whites. He dwelt upon the fact that the Negroes were practically cut off +from all other Negroes, and the battle would really be between that little +handful of Negroes and the whole body of white people of the South. The +teacher spoke earnestly, and impressed the throng that he was doing them a +service in calling their attention to their hopeless plight.</p> + +<p>When the teacher was through his hearers were won over to his way of +thinking.</p> + +<p>Stephen Dalton had foreseen what would be the outcome, knowing from +experience how susceptible the Negroes were to argument at such times. +Before the teacher had concluded he dropped his gun and ammunition and +walked away quite rapidly. Arriving at the place where the white soldiers +were stationed, he pulled off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, clenched his +fists, stepped forward and spoke as follows, his eyes gleaming with rage:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemens, the man whut you done sent up yonder will turn them people, +an' I reckin it's best. Dare aint no use'n er whole lots er folks dyin' fur +me one. Now I wants to make a fair propursition ter you."</p> + +<p>Stephen's voice grew loud and strident.</p> + +<p>"My house is burned, my boy is shot, my gal is killed, an' me all broke up +at dis age. Gentlemens,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> justis' comes in som'ers. Uv course nairy one man +uv you could stan er show befo' me, fair fist an' skull fight. Pick out any +two men an' sen um to me an' I'll lick um. Gentlemens, on dat plan I'll +take the whole regurment uv you. Now, gentlemens, I ax yer in de name uv +justis, consider my propursition. Ef you think that ain't fair, I'll take +any three uv yer fair fist and skull."</p> + +<p>Stephen now awaited an answer.</p> + +<p>The whites, who at heart sympathized with Stephen in his grief, regarded +him as unbalanced by trouble. No one replied, and there was no thought of +harming him.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Gentlemens, you kill er pore gal when her daddy wuz erway, but you +won't fight him, I see. Gentlemens, dare uster be bettah blood dan dat. I +was in de war wid my marster, an' he showd good blood to de Yankees. Is it +all gone, dat three uv you won't fight ur 'nigger,' ez you call him?"</p> + +<p>By this time the teacher had arrived, accompanied by two friends of +Stephen. They came to report that the Negroes had disbanded and would give +no more trouble. Stephen's two friends now approached him and stationing +themselves on either side, begged him to leave.</p> + +<p>The old man's head drooped upon his bosom. He had at last collapsed, having +been so long under a severe mental strain. His two friends supported him +between them and bore him from the spot,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> Stephen repeating over and over +in a broken voice: "Boys, dey don't fight fair. Dey don't fight fair, boys. +Beulah! Beulah! your daddy can't do nuthin'. He would if he could. Boys, +dey won't fight fair."</p> + +<p>The Negroes <i>en masse</i> now gathered up their few belongings and removed to +the city of R—— with all of its aggregation of vice, of temptation, of +hardships, of alluring promises, of elusive hopes.</p> + +<p>As they enter this typical American city, we fain would follow them, but +cannot just now. May the fates deal kindly with them.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE HINT NOT TAKEN.</h3> + + +<p>The eyes of the civilized world were now directed to the settlement wherein +Beulah was murdered, in order to witness there the workings of the +sentiment of justice.</p> + +<p>The poet's pen, the artist's brush, the sculptor's chisel, have long since +despaired of adequately setting forth the natural charms of the Southland, +the home of birds and flowers, grand with mountains, beautiful with +valleys, restful in the girdling arms of her majestic streams, presided +over by skies that are the bluest of the blue.</p> + +<p>Knowing the proud place given the Southland by the fiat of Nature, the +world of mankind riveted its gaze upon her eagerly and pressed to know the +fate of those who murdered Beulah. The great heart of the South throbbed +with a sense of shame over the perpetration of the crime and now sought to +shake itself loose from the benumbing influences of an ever-pervading race +feeling that was so powerful as to render inoperative so many higher +sentiments. The pulpit and the press spoke in terrible tones to the hearts +and consciences of the whites in denunciation of the crime and in demand +that the guilty parties be brought to trial.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>In addition to their natural horror of the crime, the best white people of +the South had another incentive for desiring that they should act worthily +in the matter. The white people had arrogated to themselves the right of +exclusive control of public affairs. This act had been quietly submitted to +by the Negroes, and the people of the North at that time appeared to be +disposed to accept in great measure the Southern white man's view of his +own problem. With all that they demanded practically conceded, they felt +the more under obligations to make human life within their borders safe and +sacred.</p> + +<p>The Governor of the State offered large rewards for the apprehension and +conviction of the perpetrators of the crime. In spite, however, of all the +indignation of the South, no arrests were made. The members of the mob were +in some way related to practically every influential family in the county +in which the crime had been committed. In many cases the prosecutors would +have found themselves proceeding against their closest kin.</p> + +<p>The coroner's jury, duly impanelled and sworn, viewed the remains of Beulah +and brought in the stereotyped verdict that "the deceased came to her death +at the hands of a party or parties to the jury unknown." This verdict +brought the incident to a close, so far as society, acting through legally +constituted agencies, was concerned. But the incident<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> was not in reality +closed; for when a given agency fails to adequately meet the demands of +humanity, the people find a way of making their power felt. Public +sentiment began to mete out, in its own peculiar way, the justice which the +courts had felt unable to administer.</p> + +<p>The young men who had committed the crime, found themselves ostracized on +every hand. Those who were engaged to be married, received notes cancelling +their engagements.</p> + +<p>When the people so elect they can make a citizen's garb burn into the soul +of a man with an intensity equal to that of prison stripes. If the +perpetrators of the crime were not convicts, the difference would not have +been discovered by a comparison of their feelings with those of real +convicts.</p> + +<p>It came to the ears of 'Squire Mullen that his son Alfred had been the one +to apply the torch and to strike the blow that brought on Beulah's death. +The 'Squire was the soul of honor, as he understood it, and while he +believed it to be the design of God that the white man should keep the +Negro in a subordinate place, he yet deemed it an unspeakable horror to +needlessly afflict a helpless people.</p> + +<p>'Squire Mullen went to the room of his son on the night of the day on which +he had heard of the part that the young man had played in the matter. The +hour was late; his son was asleep in bed. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> father said to himself as he +looked at his sleeping offspring:</p> + +<p>"I do not yet know that my boy is <i>that</i> guilty. Let me stroke those Saxon +curls and kiss his cheek once more before I find out whether or not he is +guilty." His caressings awoke Alfred, and the tenderness died out of the +'Squire's face, a look of stern justice mounted the throne.</p> + +<p>He said: "Alfred, news reaches me that you applied the torch to Uncle +Stephen's house while his daughter was in there, and that you struck the +blow that killed her. I have come to know of you, my son, as to whether you +did or did not do these things."</p> + +<p>Alfred sat up in bed, a look of deep remorse upon his young and handsome +face.</p> + +<p>"Father," he said, "I would give the world to be able to truthfully say +that the statements are false; but I cannot. The statements are true, too +true!"</p> + +<p>'Squire Mullen's eyes closed, his features became pinched, a harrowing +groan escaped his lips. In his heart, honor and justice were throttling the +love of his son. The moment was as excruciating as the soul of man ever +knew. The struggle was great, for the opposing forces were great; but the +conflict was of but a moment's duration.</p> + +<p>'Squire Mullen turned and dragged himself out of the room. His step was no +longer elastic. That<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> instant had brought on the old age which his +energetic will had persisted in delaying. In a few minutes he returned, +bringing with him the family pistol. He placed it on the lamp-stand that +stood at the head of Alfred's bed. Without saying a word he left the room. +He went to bed, but, alas, could not sleep. He lay throughout the night +expecting a sound that failed to come. When the fowls in the barnyard began +to signal the approach of day, he arose and went to Alfred's room again. He +said, "Alfred! Alfred! Alfred!" Alfred awoke.</p> + +<p>"Can you sleep on such a night?" said the 'Squire, in tones of agony. "Is +the family honor that low also? Can we thus bear open disgrace? Alfred! +Alfred! There is a pistol at the head of your bed." So saying, the 'Squire +returned to his room to again listen for the sound that would have been the +most welcome of any that could be made.</p> + +<p>Alfred now understood that his father desired him to commit suicide. He +grasped the pistol and held it in his hand. He longed at that moment for +the courage to die, but it was missing. He had been brought up from infancy +by a "black mammy," and she had succeeded in imbuing his soul with her +living fear of hell and her conceptions of a personal devil. As he sought +to lift the pistol to his head, vivid pictures of lurid flames and grinning +demons arose and paralyzed the hand that he desired to pull the trigger. +Day broke and he was yet alive.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>The 'Squire now came and took the pistol from the table where Alfred had +replaced it, saying not a word to his son. That day he summoned all of his +relations that were near by to gather at his home. In response to his +request they came, their wives and daughters accompanying them.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the afternoon the men repaired to the front yard, leaving +the women in the house. It was somewhat cold and a bonfire was started to +keep them warm. A circle of chairs was formed around the fire and the men +sat down, two chairs having been put within the circle to be occupied by +'Squire Mullen and Alfred. These two now took their seats side by side. A +huge leather back book was in the 'Squire's hands. His face wore a stern +aspect, but one could tell that grief born of love was gnawing at his +vitals. Since the previous night his hair had whitened and his brave eye +had lost its glitter. He arose to address the meeting. Opening the book +which he had in hand, he said: "Kinsmen, I hold in my hand the record book +of the Mullens. I shall on this occasion read to you a terse statement of +the most notable achievements of the Mullens from the time of William of +Normandy until the present."</p> + +<p>They all listened attentively while he read, Alfred's eyes being cast upon +the ground.</p> + +<p>Having traced the family history to his own generation, the 'Squire read of +the deeds of prowess of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> himself and the others assembled who had rendered +excellent service to the cause of the Southern Confederacy. When through +with this he called the name of Alfred Mullen.</p> + +<p>The 'Squire paused, then said: "Kinsmen, it would appear that I must now +record the deed of one who claims to be my offspring and a partaker of the +blood of our illustrious family. If so be, then the record must read that +Alfred Mullen, on a <i>Christmas</i> morn, murdered a Negro <i>girl</i> in the +absence of all <i>male</i> protection. The murder was <i>unprovoked</i>, and +committed by Alfred Mullen while he had the protection of a gang of his +fellows.</p> + +<p>"Kinsmen, I have summoned you here to know if this deed must go on record. +If you decide that it shall not go on record, you know what that means."</p> + +<p>Turning to Alfred, he said: "It means that you must abandon the name of +Mullen upon pain of being killed; that you must never lay claim to kinship +with us; that you must go forth with the mark of Cain upon your brow."</p> + +<p>The 'Squire now took his seat. There was a short pause. Then one by one the +relatives arose and, with becoming gravity, made speeches repudiating +Alfred, insisting that his sin against the traditional honor of the house +of Mullen was unpardonable.</p> + +<p>Before taking a final vote, Alfred was asked as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> to whether he had anything +to say. He made no reply; his head was still bowed. A vote was then taken +and Alfred stood expelled from the Mullen family forever.</p> + +<p>The assembly now adjourned, and all the men, save Alfred, returned to the +house, where sat the women in silence and in sorrow. Alfred, the out-cast, +had gone. When the men entered the room Mrs. Mullen read in their +countenances the fate of her boy, and she uttered a short, sharp scream of +anguish that she could not repress.</p> + +<p>"Mourn not for Cain," said 'Squire Mullen, whose twitching face belied the +sternness of his voice. His heart, too, was sadly, cruelly torn by what had +befallen his boy, but as best he could he maintained an outward calm.</p> + +<p>That night a mob was formed at 'Squire Mullen's house. In silence the men +proceeded to the barroom where their sons had imbibed the inspiration for +their nefarious crime. They dragged out all of the kegs and barrels +containing liquor, and emptied the contents on the ground. They then set +the building on fire, and it was soon an ash-heap. A committee waited upon +the barkeeper, reimbursed him for his losses and warned him to never more +sell liquor in that settlement.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>DORLAN WARTHELL.</h3> + + +<p>A few years subsequent to the events recorded in the last chapter, in the +city of R——, where our country friends had gone to live, on a sultry +summer evening, near sunset, Morlene went forth into the front yard of her +home for the purpose of watering her flowers. She had on an evening gown, +while her head was hidden in a bonnet. With her back to the street, she +stood leveling the water from the hose at the various flower groups. While +she was thus engaged, a man above the average in height, possessing a form +that conveyed the impression of nobility and strength, was in the act of +passing by. When he came directly behind Morlene, having a keen relish for +nature's supreme efforts at the artistic, he was so struck with the +outlines of her form that he involuntarily stopped.</p> + +<p>"Now that is what I call beauty," he exclaimed, without knowing that he +spoke.</p> + +<p>Morlene vaguely felt that some one had stopped, the fact of the cessation +of the footsteps dawning upon her consciousness. She turned full around and +her eyes fell on the handsome face of the man gazing at her. His skin was +smooth, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> features regular, his eye intelligent and his head so formed +as to indicate great brain power. As to color he was black, but even those +prejudiced to color forgot that prejudice when they gazed upon this +ebony-like Apollo. Wherever he appeared he was sure to attract attention as +a rare specimen of physical manhood. His was evidently an open, frank +nature, and his soul was in his face.</p> + +<p>As Morlene looked upon him, she felt her strength give way. The hose fell +from her hands. Her very soul sent up a wail: "Alas, O God, there he is! +Why did you let him come?" She turned and fled to her house.</p> + +<p>Dorlan Warthell, for such was the name of the man, was much discomfited +that he had so terrified the lady, and resolved at some convenient time to +apologize for the shock that his behavior had caused. He entered the yard, +stopped the waste of water from the hose and proceeded on his journey, +carrying in his mind the image of the most beautiful woman on whom he had +ever laid eyes.</p> + +<p>Morlene on entering her room, locked the door, burst into tears, buried her +face in her hands, sobbed violently. Judge her not too harshly, dear +reader. Allow her this brief moment of weeping over the re-opened grave of +her long buried ideal; for, one glance at Dorlan Warthell, say what you +will against love at sight, had somehow sufficed to tell her penetrating +spirit that he was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> one man, who, had she been free, could have exacted +that full strength of love, which, struggle as painfully as she might, +would not yield allegiance to Harry whom she had married under a species of +duress. Morlene dropped her hands from her face, forced a smile to appear, +stamped a pretty foot upon the floor and said between gritted teeth: +"Avaunt, ye idle dreams of youth; I am a woman now, a man's lawfully wedded +wife! Come not here to haunt me with visions of what might have been!"</p> + +<p>When Harry came home from his work that evening Morlene met him with a +greeting of more than usual warmth, as much as to say, "Poor Harry, your +place in my heart is the safer, now that my dreams of other days have been +met in concrete form and gloriously vanquished." She now consoled herself +with the thought that she would one day love Harry as she had always +desired to love a husband. Happy in this thought, she retired to rest, and, +much to her chagrin and annoyance, dreamed of the handsome stranger whom +she had seen.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>CUPID SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL.</h3> + + +<p>"This is a matter worthy of investigation," mused Dorlan Warthell, some few +moments after his chance meeting with Morlene. His head was inclined +forward slightly, an unwonted sparkle was in his eye, and half a smile +played upon his serious face. His mind was seeking to grasp the outlines of +that beautiful face which he had just passed.</p> + +<p>"Never," said he, "has Dorlan Warthell, the serious, allowed physical +beauty to so charm him. But is it mere physical beauty that has so suddenly +thrown itself across the pathway of my mind so that it will not move on? +Has nothing met me more than that lovely form, the head of a queen, angel +face, eyes that thrill? I may be mistaken, but methinks that nature has +given that choice dressing to a choice spirit. At any rate I hope to meet +her again."</p> + +<p>Dorlan Warthell arrived at his boarding place within a few minutes and, +when seated at the supper table, spoke as follows to Mrs. Morgan, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +landlady: "I notice that our street has some new denizens since the time of +my sojourn here a few years ago."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Mrs. Morgan, "There are Mr. Crutchfield, Mr. Yearby and Mr. +Dalton. These gentlemen have all come to this street since you were with us +last."</p> + +<p>"Who lives in that beautiful cottage painted white, with that wonderful +assortment of prettily arranged flowers in the front yard?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. and Mrs. Dalton live there," replied Mrs. Morgan, looking intently at +Dorlan, seeking to fathom the secret purpose which she felt inspired his +question; for she knew that Dorlan paid but little attention to the matter +of houses and neighbors.</p> + +<p>"Have Mr. and Mrs. Dalton any children—a daughter?" asked Dorlan, giving +strict attention to the food on his plate.</p> + +<p>"No; they are childless," said Mrs. Morgan, her interest growing.</p> + +<p>"I saw a young woman up there as I passed this evening; I suppose she is +visiting them."</p> + +<p>"I see the point—a young woman," said Mrs. Morgan inwardly.</p> + +<p>Aloud she said, "Perhaps so. If you could describe her I might be able to +tell who she is."</p> + +<p>Dorlan looked up quickly as much as to say, "Who in the world can describe +that beautiful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> woman." He kept that reflection to himself. He began to +describe the lady, when Mrs. Morgan interrupted him to say.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that was Mrs. Dalton—Mrs. Harry Dalton—undoubtedly the most +beautiful Negro girl in the country."</p> + +<p>Dorlan finished his meal in silence. He inwardly belabored himself for +having allowed his mind to be so taken up with the image of a married +woman. Repairing to his room, he was soon deeply engrossed in a book, as +thoroughly oblivious of Morlene, he thought, as if he had never seen or +heard of such a person.</p> + +<p>On the following day at ten o'clock Morlene called at the residence of Mrs. +Morgan, it being her usual time for giving music lessons to that lady's +young daughter. The girl had gone away on an errand for her mother and had +not yet returned. Morlene entered the music room and decided to amuse +herself by playing until the child should come. Dorlan was in a room +directly over the one in which Morlene was to play. Neither of them knew of +the presence of the other in the house.</p> + +<p>Morlene first began to play a light air upon the piano. But as she struck +the keys and brought forth harmonies, other and deeper emotions in her +bosom craved for expression. Soon she was making the piano tell her heart's +full story, to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> borne away, as she thought, upon the wings of the +passing breeze. The sounds floated up to Dorlan's open window and into his +room. At first he slightly knitted his brow, fearing that he was to be +bored by some mechanical performer; but the frown relaxed and gave place to +a look of supreme contentment as the harmonies deepened. He closed the book +that he was reading, folded his arms and gazed out of his window into the +distance. He was simply enraptured and had a keen desire to know who it was +that could make lifeless matter pay such eloquent tribute to the longings +of the human soul.</p> + +<p>At length Morlene began to play and sing:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"John Brown's body lies moulding in the clay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">John Brown's body lies moulding in the clay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">John Brown's body lies moulding in the clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As we go marching on.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As we go marching on!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Morlene's voice was a rich soprano and her tones were so round, full and +melodious that they made one feel that they did not belong to earth. Her +voice seemed to shake loose from each word tremblingly in that part of the +song setting forth the sad fate of John Brown. But as she reached the +words, "Hallelujah," the notes swelled into a grand paen of triumph, her +voice trilling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> so wondrously, even upon such a high elevation. Then came +the refrain in low, reverential tones, beauty muffling itself in the +presence of higher sentiments.</p> + +<p>Dorlan Warthell sprang to his feet, clasped his hands over his ears, saying +half aloud: "Spare me! Oh, spare me! I cannot, I cannot hear those strains +and perform the tasks before me. And yet I must! I must! I must!"</p> + +<p>Charles Sumner, who, upon the floor of the United States Senate, in tones +that resounded throughout the world, urged our Republic to clear her skirts +of the blood of the slave; Horace Greeley, who, daily in the columns of his +great newspaper, refused sleep to the American conscience until slavery was +extirpated; Henry Ward Beecher, whose eloquence across the seas quieted the +growlings of the British Lion all but ready to aid the South; these three +men, ere they fell asleep, saw fit to abandon the political party under +whose banner they had hitherto fought.</p> + +<p>And now Dorlan Warthell felt called upon to do likewise. On the eve of the +severing of his tender relations, some angel voice has come to serenade his +soul and conjure up the hallowed past. Ah! 'tis painful when the path of +duty must be paved with one's heart strings. It is also sometimes strewn +with one's blood.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>A STORMY INTERVIEW.</h3> + + +<p>On a night shortly subsequent to the day on which the playing and singing +of Morlene had so greatly affected Dorlan, he had a visitor.</p> + +<p>"How goes it, Dorl, old boy" said his visitor, slapping Dorlan on the +shoulder familiarly.</p> + +<p>"I am doing well, I hope, Congressman Bloodworth. Accept a seat in my +humble quarters," Dorlan replied. Congressman Bloodworth dropped into a +chair, crossed his short legs and began stroking his red mustache.</p> + +<p>Congressman Bloodworth was a white man, with an abnormally large head and a +frame somewhat corpulent. His complexion was sallow and his skin very +coarse. His eyes were large but exceedingly tame in appearance. He lifted +his hat from his head revealing an abundance of hair of a brilliantly red +hue.</p> + +<p>Dorlan took a seat at some little distance from Congressman Bloodworth +anticipating that the interview was not to end pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"Well, Dorlan, I have come for my answer," said Congressman Bloodworth in +his gross voice.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bloodworth, when we were last together I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> gave you to understand very +fully what to expect of me. Nothing has transpired since to cause me to +change and I am sure that I shall adhere to the course which I have chosen, +unto the end," said Dorlan, in a pleasant but most positive manner.</p> + +<p>"Dorlan, have you a memory?" queried Congressman Bloodworth.</p> + +<p>Dorlan nodded assent.</p> + +<p>"Then bear me witness, sir." So saying he took from his pocket a +typewritten document, which he proceeded to read.</p> + +<p>He began, "From the year 1619 until January 1, 1863, the Negro race was +subjected to slavery in the United States. The superior numbers, greater +intelligence and determined spirit of the enslavers prevented the enslaved +from cherishing any hope of setting themselves free. The great task of +redemption which the Negroes saw no way of accomplishing for themselves, +the Republican party accomplished for them at a cost of much treasure and +of hundreds of thousands of precious lives. This party enacted such laws as +made a recurrence of slavery absolutely impossible. It clothed the freedman +with the rights of a citizen. It extended to him the strong arm of the +Federal Government in the protection of those rights. The claim that these +facts establish over the allegiance of every Negro, I leave to the judgment +of any sane mind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> So much for the relationship which by implication should +exist between <i>you</i> and the political party named.</p> + +<p>"I now advert to my own peculiar claims upon you. Your early years you +spent in school and received great mental development. You found employment +as a stable boy in the home of an eminent statesman. During your leisure +hours you perused his library and became thoroughly imbued with the spirit +of the statesman. Owing to your residence in the South, there was no outlet +for your powers, as the South was not permitting men with black faces to +aid in running the government. By accident we met, you and I. I discovered +that you had great talent. I was lacking in native ability. I decided that, +as you had the necessary brains and I the white face, we might form a +combination. You planned, I executed; you acquired information, I exhibited +it. By your secret aid I went to Congress. Through you I arose from the +ranks to a commanding place in the public eye. For the past few years my +speeches in and out of Congress have been regarded as so full of merit that +they have been used as highly acceptable campaign documents. These speeches +were composed by you. In return for your furnishing me brain I have paid +you every cent of money which I have received as compensation for public +service. Making use of my white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> face you have been able to allow full play +to your intellect, which delights in grappling with great questions.</p> + +<p>"Dorlan Warthell, I come to you to-night with this carefully prepared +statement, that I may secure your final answer. Will you or will you not, +continue working through me and for the Republican party?"</p> + +<p>Congressman Bloodworth folded the paper from which he had read and looked +steadily at Dorlan.</p> + +<p>Dorlan replied, "Congressman Bloodworth, I am thoroughly convinced that the +Republican party is in error in the chief tenet of its present day creed. +My devotion to truth is far greater than my devotion to party. And, Mr. +Bloodworth, it was truth that set my people free. The Republican party +became the willing instrument of truth to effect that result. Now that the +result has been achieved, I must not confound the power with its +instrument. I worship at the shrine of truth, not at that of its temporary +agents. My spirit is free to choose its own allegiance, for no human +instrumentality has freed my spirit; its freedom came from God."</p> + +<p>"Sir," spoke out Congressman Bloodworth, "You deny my and the Republican +party's authority over you, in spite of what we have done for you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I assert that no event in the history of the world has yet happened that +makes it my duty to follow error," said Dorlan vehemently.</p> + +<p>"You shall die the death of a dog," shouted Congressman Bloodworth in rage.</p> + +<p>The two men had now risen and were glaring fiercely at each other. +Congressman Bloodworth looked as though it would please him to tear Dorlan +to shreds; but Dorlan's powerful, well constructed frame was too potent an +argument against such an attempt.</p> + +<p>Congressman Bloodworth turned away and left the room. Murder was in his +heart and stamped its impress on every lineament of his face.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>MORLENE AND DORLAN.</h3> + + +<p>The day following the night of the stormy interview was Morlene's day to +give lessons at Dorlan's boarding place. The teaching over, Morlene +proceeded to amuse herself by playing on the piano. She was in a buoyant +mood and was disposing of first one and then another wild, dashing air.</p> + +<p>Desirous of a diversion, Dorlan came down from his room and glided +stealthily into the parlor to listen unobserved to Morlene. Great was his +astonishment on discovering that the beautiful lady whom he had passed was +none other than the accomplished pianist and divine singer. For a few +moments he lived a divided existence, his eye surveying the beautiful form +of Morlene, while his ear was appropriating the rich harmonies which her +splendid touch was evoking from the keyboard.</p> + +<p>With a merry laugh at her own frolicsomeness, Morlene struck the piano keys +a farewell blow and arose to go. Wheeling around she saw Dorlan. The light +died out of her face. A feeling of terror crept over her as the thought +occurred that fate, relentless fate, seemed determined to throw that +fascinating stranger in her pathway.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do not be angry with me for my intrusion," said Dorlan. "My soul is the +seat of a long continued storm these days, and your music was so +refreshing," he continued.</p> + +<p>Dorlan's air of deference and his pleasing, well modulated voice caused +Morlene to at once recover her composure.</p> + +<p>The note of sadness in Dorlan's voice caught Morlene's ear and her +sympathetic nature at once craved to know his troubles that she might, if +possible, dissipate them. She saw that Dorlan was depending upon her to +begin a conversation as an assurance that he had given no offense. Morlene +sat down in the seat nearest her.</p> + +<p>"You speak of a storm," she said. "When you speak thus you arouse my +interest, for to my mind a storm is the most sublime occurrence in nature. +To see the winds aroused; to hear their mad rushing; to behold them as with +the multiplied strength of giants they grasp and overturn the strongest +works of man's hands—to see this, inspires one with awe and reverence for +the great force that pervades this universe, and impels us, whether we so +will or not, to conform to its ripening purposes.</p> + +<p>"If there is a storm in your bosom, matters exterior to yourself have +produced it. As an admirer of storms I beg you to lay bare to me such +portions of the journeyings of the winds as a stranger may be permitted to +view."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do you believe in strangers?" asked Dorlan, "I hold that no human beings +are, at bottom, strangers to each other. With Emerson I hold that 'there is +one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same +and to all the same. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to +all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.'</p> + +<p>"Those souls are quickest to recognize this fact which are best equipped to +reveal themselves and to comprehend the revelations of other souls. We know +some souls at a glance as thoroughly as one soul ever knows another."</p> + +<p>To these observations Morlene made no reply. Too well did she know that the +human being before her, was somehow, no stranger to her.</p> + +<p>"Starting out with the assumption that you shall find nothing strange in me +when you fully understand me, I am ready to show you the pathway of the +storm," continued Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Morlene, smiling, and partially revealing a set of teeth +as beautiful as fair lady ever desired.</p> + +<p>"A presidential election is fast approaching. I have heretofore labored +with the Republican party. In this campaign I part company with them," said +Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"My dear sir," said Morlene, rising, the picture of excitement, "Are you a +Democrat?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dorlan smiled at the intensity of the feeling displayed in the tone of +voice used for the question. "Oh, no," said he, reassuringly. "In the +South, Democracy's chief tenets are white man's supremacy and exclusiveness +in governmental affairs. Not having a white skin, self-preservation would +prevent me from entering the folds of that party."</p> + +<p>Morlene heaved a sigh of relief. She said, "I am glad to know that the +seeming hopelessness of our plight in the South has not caused you to seek +to influence us to surrender to this dictum of Southern Democracy. Proceed, +if you please."</p> + +<p>"I am thoroughly displeased with the policy of the Republican party toward +the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands, and in spite of the endearing +relations of the past, I am moved to part company with the party on this +issue," remarked Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am an enthusiastic expansionist, Mr.——."</p> + +<p>"Warthell is my name," supplied Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Warthell," said Morlene, the glow of eloquence on her face, "I have a +dream. I dream that wars and revolutions shall one day cease. The +classification of mankind into groups called nations, affords a feeling of +estrangement which destroys or modifies the thought of universal +brotherhood, and gives rise to the needless bickerings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> which result in +wars. I delight in any movement that sweeps away these pseudo-national +boundaries. The more separate nations that are congealed under one head, +the less is the area where conflicts are probable. When the tendency to +consolidate finally merges all governments into one, wars shall cease. Our +territorial expansion is but the march of destiny toward the ultimate goal +of all things. I am delighted to see our nation thus move forward, because +we have such an elastic form of government, so responsive to the needs and +sentiments of the people that bloody revolutions become unnecessary +wherever our flag floats. Just think how much our expansion makes for +universal peace by erasing the thought of separateness existing between +peoples, and giving to the federated powers such an ideal form of +government.</p> + +<p>"When our flag floats over the whole of the Western Hemisphere there will +be nobody over here to fight us; we shall not fight among ourselves and we +shall dare the European and Asiatic powers to go to war."</p> + +<p>"You are indeed an expansionist," remarked Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," said Morlene, wrought up in the subject that was stirring the +American people.</p> + +<p>"Some are expansionists for the sake of finding outlets for the +ever-increasing excess of our production. They hold that we are producing +far more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> than what we can consume, and must have outside buyers to avoid a +terrible congestion at home. Others are expansionists on the ground that +outlying possessions are a strategetical necessity in the time of war. Our +statesmen are expansionists, some of them, because our nation's becoming a +world power gives a broader scope for their intellects. Some are +expansionists because they desire to see weaker people have the benefits of +a higher civilization. While I admit the possible weight of these various +contentions, my interest in expansion is broadly humanitarian. England was +at one time a seething mass of warring tribes. The expansion of a central +power over the entire islands brought order out of chaos. Let the process +extend to the entire earth as fast as honorable opportunity presents +itself, and may the stars and stripes lead in the new evangel of universal +peace." Thus spoke Morlene.</p> + +<p>"Beautiful, beautiful dream. But it is my fear that enthusiasm over +expansion may cause us to lose sight of fundamental tenets of our political +faith. This leads me to state the point of difference between myself and +the Republican party," said Dorlan.</p> + +<p>The subject was one, as may be seen, of absorbing interest to Morlene, and +she leaned forward slightly, eager to catch each word that Dorlan might +utter. He began: "The Republican party has not informed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> the world as to +what will be the ultimate status of the Filipino. In the final adjustment +of things, whatever <i>that</i> may be, will the Filipino be able to say that he +stands upon the same plane, politically and otherwise, with all other free +and equal human beings. I labored earnestly to have the Republican party to +declare that no violence would be done to our national conception that +every man is inherently the political equal of every other man. The party +has promised that full physical, civil and religious liberty shall be +guaranteed. On the question of political liberty there is silence. Because +of this silence I leave it."</p> + +<p>"In what manner, Mr. Warthell, do you hope to affect the result in the +pending campaign?" enquired Morlene.</p> + +<p>"The Negroes, you know, are vitally affected by the issues in this +campaign. With England imposing its will upon India, with the Southern +whites imposing their will on the Negroes, only one great branch of the +white race exists which is not imposing its will upon a feebler race. I +allude to the white people of the North.</p> + +<p>"Should our nation impose its will upon the Filipinos, by the force of arms +and without the underlying purpose of ultimately granting to them full +political liberty, the weaker peoples the world over will lose their only +remaining advocate in the white race, namely the people of the North.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I hope to be able to show the Negroes that they, of all citizens in this +country, cannot afford to permit either silence as to, or the abandonment +of, the doctrine of the inherent equality of all men. The Negroes of the +pivotal states, when, united, can easily decide the election in whatever +direction they choose. It is my purpose to attempt to weld together the +Negroes in the hope of defeating any man that will not unequivocally and +openly declare in favor of the ultimate political equality of the +Filipinos."</p> + +<p>"Are you not leaning on a broken reed, Mr. Warthell?" asked Morlene in +earnest tones. "Have the Negroes acquired sufficient self-confidence to +feel justified in pitting their judgment against that of the Republican +party? Can the recent beneficiary be so soon transformed into a dictator? +More important still, can you uproot those tender memories which flourish +in the sentimental bosom of the Negro, associating, indissolubly his +freedom with the Republican party?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Dorlan sighed deeply. He recalled how madly he had to fight against the +tender memories aroused by Morlene's singing when we saw him so deeply +stirred. He remembered how that on that occasion her playing and singing +had carried his mind back to those great days when the freedom of the +Negroes was in the balances. He knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> what an effort it required on his +part to persuade his heart to allow him to strike a blow at that hitherto +hallowed name—Republican.</p> + +<p>Dorlan not replying, Morlene resumed, "Mr. Warthell, in attempting to +disillusion the Negroes with regard to the Republican party you shall march +against one of the strongest attachments in all of human history. I have +known deaths to result from assailing attachments far less deep-seated than +that. May a special providence preserve you."</p> + +<p>Morlene now arose to go, her beautiful face giving signs of the fear for +Dorlan's safety that had stolen into her heart.</p> + +<p>Subsequent happenings showed how well grounded were her fears.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>A WHOLE CITY STIRRED.</h3> + + +<p>The editor of one of the leading morning papers of R—— sat at his desk +one afternoon, knitting his brows as he read a document spread out before +him. Having finished reading it once, he began the second reading, wearing +on his face the same intent expression. Having concluded the second +reading, he laid the article down, rested his head on the back of his chair +and closed his eyes as if in deep meditation. After a few moments' +reflection he decided upon the third reading of the document. When he had +finished this last perusal, he went to the telephone and summoned Dorlan +Warthell to an immediate conference with him. Dorlan soon arrived and was +ushered into the editors's private office.</p> + +<p>"Be seated," said the editor, in a most cordial manner. "Mr. Warthell," +said he, "I have read your document the third time and I now desire to ask +you two questions. The character of your answers to them will determine +whether I shall propound to you a third." Looking earnestly into Dorlan's +face, he enquired, "Was it your desire and expectation that this article +should be published?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Most assuredly," said Dorlan, manifesting surprise that the editor should +deem it necessary to ask such a question.</p> + +<p>"Again," said the editor, "are you well acquainted with the moods of your +people?"</p> + +<p>"It is my impression that few men have studied them more earnestly than I +have," said Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"I see that I must ask my third question. Thinking that your article would +be published, knowing your people, have you exercised foresight enough to +have your life insured? If you have not, fail not to do so to-night; for a +straw in a whirlwind will account itself blessed in comparison with your +lot after this article appears to-morrow morning," said the editor.</p> + +<p>"I am content to abide by the consequences of my act," said Dorlan, +quietly.</p> + +<p>"Your blood be upon your own head," said the editor. This brought the +interview to a close and Dorlan took his departure.</p> + +<p>The next morning the following seemingly harmless article from the pen of +Dorlan Warthell appeared in the paper whose editor we saw pondering it. It +ran as follows:</p> + +<p>"In the great crisis of the sixties, the Republican party appeared before +the sepulchre of the buried manhood of the Negro race, called it forth from +the tomb and divested it of the habiliments of the grave. This portentous +achievement shook<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> the earth. The pillars of the Republic tottered but were +caught within the titantic grasp of the Republican party, which thereupon +made the foundations and superstructure more secure than ever before. As +long as the ocean mirrors in her bosom the face of the king of day, just so +long shall the hearts of the Negroes cherish the memories of the noble army +of men who wrought so nobly for humanity.</p> + +<p>"To further the ends so righteously sought a party name was adopted and +party machinery created by them. When their tasks were done and they had, +for the most part, been gathered to their fathers, other leaders arose and +began to operate under this same name and with this same machinery. The +charge has often been made that we bestow upon these instruments of our +salvation the same devotion that we yielded to the creators and original +wielders of the instruments. It is said that we blindly follow the party +name regardless of those wielding it and the use to which it is put. The +charge may be illustrated by the following comparison:</p> + +<p>"A noble man does a cripple a kindness. The man dies and a thrifty neighbor +comes into possession of the shoes, clothes and hat that he wore at the +time of helping the cripple. The neighbor puts on the leavings of the dead +man, appears before the cripple and demands his allegiance because of the +clothes worn. The cripple yields the devotion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> asked for, giving evidence +that he was ready to consider the dead man and the clothes as one and +inseparable. We are charged with acting like unto this cripple, in the +matter of rendering devotion to the party name and machinery, the clothes +left behind by the men who did the actual work of liberating us.</p> + +<p>"In the past we have had no suitable opportunity to clear by an overt act +our skirts of the charge which has been exceedingly damaging to our +reputation for intelligence; for the policies of the party have been mainly +good. But unforeseen circumstances have brought us face to face with the +golden opportunity of proving that the picture is overdrawn, that we have +not riveted political chains upon ourselves, to take the place of the +actual chains torn from us at so fearful a cost. While adding to our own +good name we can also do the cause of humanity untold good.</p> + +<p>"The Spanish-American war has brought us into contact with many million +Filipinos. We must decide what are to be our relations with them. Shall we +or shall we not deal with them on the principle that they are and shall +ever be regarded as our equals, is the burning question with the American +people. The party with which we have hitherto affiliated, claims to be so +busily engaged with our present duties on the Islands that they must +postpone consideration as to the final status of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> people thereof. The +Negroes can favor only one solution of the problem, the recognition of the +fact that all men are created equal. They should favor no postponement of a +decision, having themselves suffered from a postponement that lasted from +midnight of July 4th, 1776, until January 1st, 1863, the time that elapsed +between the promulgation of the declaration that all men are created equal, +and the application of that declaration to the American slave.</p> + +<p>"In view of the silence of the Republican party upon the question of the +ultimate status of the Filipinos, it has been decided to organize a party +that will spurn silence, that will insist that 'Old Glory' shall continue +to float over human beings that can look each other in the face and shout +'We are all equals; no man among us is, in any sense, less free than +another.'</p> + +<p>"All American citizens willing to consecrate their political efforts to the +attainment of this end are invited to elect delegates to be present at +Sinclair Hall on the fifteenth of the incoming month. The Negroes having +been the chief sufferers from the non-recognition of the principles for +which our new party will stand, are expected to take the lead in the new +organization.</p> + +<p> +"Yours for humanity,<br /> +<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Dorlan Warthell</span>."<br /> +</p> + +<p>The manifest purpose of Dorlan to withdraw the Negro vote from the +Republicans with the view of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> forming a new party created a profound +sensation. It was discussed by white and colored people, was the theme of +conversation in the street cars, hotel corridors, stores, barber shops, +saloons, brothels, and on every street corner.</p> + +<p>There are in the South, men and women, white and colored, who are +endeavoring to meet every issue that arises upon the highest possible +plane. The sentiments of such people found expression in the following +editorial which accompanied Dorlan's pronunciamento. It ran as follows:</p> + +<p>"A Negro has been found to display political independence and moral courage +of a high order. He has placed himself in a position where the unthinking +will liken him unto the serpent that buried its fangs in the bosom that +warmed it. None the less, his act is one of marked heroism. While not +endorsing his third party scheme (our party is good enough) we endorse the +spirit of initiative and independence that prompts it. We would that this +spirit of rebellion against party slavery characterized all the voters of +the Southland.</p> + +<p>"It is an open secret that the great body of the people of both races in +the South are prone to regard elections as nothing more nor less than a +perennial struggle for supremacy between the two races. This one issue has +been allowed to dwarf all other considerations. Indeed, the South is deaf +to all appeals, however urgent, to give consideration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> to the grave +questions arising from time to time affecting the welfare of us all and +determining our destiny. Such a condition of isolation from the centers of +thought activity is deplorable in the extreme.</p> + +<p>"Think of it: by birth a man comes into possession of a full set of +political opinions. He is born into a condition of intellectual serfdom; +the mind dares not to wander by a hair's breadth from the narrow estate of +thought on which it is born. He who elects to devote his attention to the +questions of State must reduce his mentality to the level of the parrot and +feel that his life's work will consist in learning to repeat glibly and +without alteration whatever party managers may promulgate. What a crime +against the human mind whose native air is freedom, to secure which +bonfires have been lighted with the thrones of kings!</p> + +<p>"What the South needs is a new emancipation. Her giant minds must be +allowed to enter the arena of intellectual conflict unfettered, if they are +to bring back to the South her departed glory. The Negroes can help to +bring about this emancipation. When they cease to vote <i>en masse</i>; when +they cease going to the polls as a mark of gratitude to the invaders of the +South who now sleep their last sleep and would discountenance, if they +could, the perpetuation of race hatred over past issues; when the sentiment +within the Negro race is sufficiently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> liberal to allow each Negro his +manhood right to record with his vote his own best judgment; when, we say, +these desirable conditions obtain among the Negroes, we whites will have an +opportunity to escape the scourge with which the party magnates herd us +together even as gratitude has herded the Negroes.</p> + +<p>"With joy we hail the advent of Dorlan Warthell in his new role. May he +succeed in inaugurating an era of independent thought among the Negroes. +Let us all hope that we are now beholding a streak of dawn, instead of the +trail of a falling star, whose soon fading light will leave our skies but +the darker. Let us hope that the hour is upon us when the sober torch of +reason and not the withering flames of passion, may guide all of our +voters, white and colored, to the polls."</p> + +<p>There are many people in the South who never read, who never ponder grave +questions, but assume the right to wreak vengeance on the heads of those +who perchance wander from beaten paths in search of truth. In the above +editorial the more enlightened element had spoken; but the unthinking were +also to be heard from.</p> + +<p>If Dorlan is depending upon his exalted patriotism, his broad love of +humanity, his eager, unselfish striving after the good of all—if, we say, +he is depending upon these things to shield him from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> wrath of those +whom his act affronted, let him remember that virtue was no shield to Him +whose blood, in the days of yore, anointed the spear of a Roman soldier +upon a hillside on the outskirts of Jerusalem.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>BLOODWORTH AT WORK.</h3> + + +<p>The Hon. Hezekiah T. Bloodworth had returned to his home from his interview +with Dorlan chagrined, dejected, sorely puzzled as to what to do next.</p> + +<p>It was being declared on all sides that the day of isolation was over with +the United States, and that it was henceforth to be a world power. Instead +of simply directing the affairs of the nation, her statesmen would now be +called upon to assist in shaping the destinies of the peoples of the whole +earth.</p> + +<p>Bloodworth had been cherishing the fond hope that he would be one of the +first of American statesmen that would leap into world prominence. His +bosom heaved as he thought of the day when his speeches would be read by +the inhabitants of all lands and his name would be a household word unto +the uttermost parts of the earth. He had unlimited faith in Dorlan's +ability and felt that Dorlan could rise equal to the emergency and furnish +him the brain power for his widened responsibilities. At the very moment +when he felt the need of Dorlan the keenest in all his life, Dorlan refuses +to be his mentor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bloodworth wept. His tears were not Alexandrian tears of regret that there +were no more worlds to conquer, but Bloodworthian tears shed because he +could neither borrow nor buy the brains necessary to conquer a world that +had come within his reach.</p> + +<p>"Hezzy, dear, what on earth troubles you?" asked Mrs. Bloodworth of her +perturbed husband.</p> + +<p>"My ancestors, confound them," roughly responded Bloodworth.</p> + +<p>"He is going crazy," thought Mrs. Bloodworth. "How do your ancestors +trouble you, Hezzy?" further queried Mrs. Bloodworth.</p> + +<p>"They have handed down to me no brains," roared Bloodworth.</p> + +<p>"There, I thought it was brain trouble," thought Mrs. Bloodworth.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, you have brains," said his wife.</p> + +<p>"So has a rabbit. Let me alone, now."</p> + +<p>This colloquy had taken place at the dinner table where Bloodworth was +voraciously devouring food, in an effort, it would appear, to be strong +abdominally if not intellectually. His grief over his plight had not yet +affected his appetite. When nearly through the meal a telegram was handed +him. It was from the Speakers' Bureau and read thus:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>Hon. Hezekiah T. Bloodworth</i>:</p> + +<p>"Your services are badly needed in the pivotal States. +Campaign a flat failure without your lucid speeches. +Delay no longer. Report at headquarters at once. The +aftermath."</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bloodworth had been given the assurance of a Cabinet portfolio in case his +party succeeded. The words, "The aftermath," in the telegram were intended +to call attention to the fact that his preferment was contingent upon his +campaign labors. He arose from the table in such an abrupt manner that he +upset it, much to the horror of Mrs. Bloodworth.</p> + +<p>"Do you wish to send a return message?" asked the messenger boy.</p> + +<p>"Tell the Speakers' Bureau and the pivotal States to go to the habitation +of the accursed," exclaimed Bloodworth, trudging about the floor, holding +the open telegram in both hands as though it was a heavy load.</p> + +<p>The messenger boy backed out of the room and hurried away, glad to get out +of the presence of the enraged Bloodworth.</p> + +<p>"Confound it; I will not be ruined thus" said Bloodworth. Grasping his hat +he hurried out of his house to the market. He soon returned and, thrusting +a package down on a table in his kitchen, said, "Cook, feed me on fish at +every meal. Get the very best fish. Here are some good ones. Begin at +supper time. Fish is good for brain food, they say, and I need brains!"</p> + +<p>Bloodworth dieted himself on fish for a few days and then began the +preparation of the speech<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> with which he was to open his campaign tour in +the pivotal states. After great labor the speech was at last finished, and +Congressman Bloodworth invited a few intimate friends to hear him deliver +it to them in private.</p> + +<p>"Friends," said he to the select audience, "of late my mind (meaning Dorlan +Warthell) has been a little erratic. It will not serve me as it once did. I +have called you here to ask you to tell me whether much of its vigor has +departed. If there is too great a gap between my past efforts and my +present one, I shall retire from public life. Remember, gentlemen, how much +depends on your decision, and be frank with me." Congressman Bloodworth +then began his speech. With great effort his hearers refrained from +laughter as they listened to what they thought was the most bunglesome +address that ever came from the lips of a public servant in a civilized +land.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bloodworth, for Heaven's sake, do not take the stump in this campaign. +You will be the butt of ridicule of the entire nation." Such was the +verdict rendered by one and acquiesced in by the others after listening to +the speech.</p> + +<p>Bloodworth now completely collapsed. "Gentlemen," he said between his sobs, +"take me to my room. I am ill. I knew that a breakdown was due to a man who +has worked as hard for his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> country as I have. Take me to my room, +gentlemen."</p> + +<p>Bloodworth was borne to his room and put to bed. He then dictated a +telegram to the Speakers' Bureau, informing them of his illness and +consequent inability to participate in the campaign.</p> + +<p>The Hon. Hezekiah T. Bloodworth was removed to the city of R—— to a +private sanitarium in order, he said, that he might receive the best +medical attention. Each day he would lay abed feigning that he was sick. +The doctors were unable to tell what was troubling their patient, but were +quite content to have him remain with them, so handsomely were they being +paid. Bulletins as to the state of his health were sent over the country +daily.</p> + +<p>Bloodworth succeeded in bribing his night nurses. With their collusion he +was able to escape from the sanitarium each night, returning just before +daybreak in the morning. These nights were spent by him in the lowest parts +of the city, in gambling dens patronized by the Negroes. He had become +aware of the great upheaval among the Negroes against Dorlan and he had +decided that the time was auspicious for the murder. His midnight orgies +enabled him to secure tools for his work.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>HARRY BECOMES A TOOL.</h3> + + +<p>The excitement among the Negroes was so very great that Dorlan decided that +something ought to be done to allay it, to the end that the convention +which he had called might find a more congenial atmosphere. He issued a +call for a public mass meeting, hoping at that meeting to put himself in a +better light before the people.</p> + +<p>Congressman Bloodworth heard of this proposed mass meeting and chose it as +the occasion on which to put an end to Dorlan's life. In his rounds by +night he had heard how that Harry Dalton, a ward chairman of the Republican +party, was extremely bitter in his feelings toward Dorlan. One night he +called at Harry's residence. Morlene met him at the door and his +countenance fell. He had not expected to find such intelligence as +Morlene's face indicated in a home where dwelled a man as rancorous as +Harry had been represented to be. Morlene invited him in. When he saw Harry +his spirits rose. His first glance impressed him that Harry could be used +as a tool.</p> + +<p>Morlene intuitively read sinister purposes in Bloodworth's face. He avoided +her searching gaze as much as possible.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<p>"May I have a private interview with you?" asked Bloodworth of Harry.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, certainly," said Harry, rising and leading the way to an +adjoining room, closing the door behind them. They took seats, Bloodworth +putting his chair near to Harry.</p> + +<p>"I have come to see you on an important matter," said Bloodworth. "But +before I begin I have one question to ask you," he continued. Pausing, and +looking directly into Harry's eyes, he asked, "Are you a Republican?"</p> + +<p>An angry flush passed over Harry's face. "You insult me, sir, to come into +my house to ask me if I am a Republican. I was born a Republican and will +die one."</p> + +<p>"Don't talk so loud," said Bloodworth, glancing uneasily toward the door, +where he thought Morlene might be listening.</p> + +<p>"Well, you must not insult me, sir. My color ought to tell you what I am."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," said Bloodworth, in a sad tone. "There was a time when all +colored men were true blue Republicans, but that day is past. A man right +here in your ward has gone astray."</p> + +<p>"Don't you compare me with that infernal scoundrel, Dorlan Warthell. He +claims to be an educated man, and has deserted the Republican party. I +could tear his liver out and show it to him, that I could."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I have come to talk to you about him."</p> + +<p>"If you have got any good to say of him, it's no use for you to begin. But +if you can tell of any way to get rid of the scoundrel, I am with you."</p> + +<p>"Let me tell you my history," said Bloodworth.</p> + +<p>Bloodworth now assumed a piteous tone and began: "I am a Southern man. +Before the war my father was rich, but would never own a slave, though he +lived right in the South.</p> + +<p>"When the war broke out, we turned our back on the South and joined the +Union Army. That is, my two brothers did. I stayed at home to care for my +aged parents.</p> + +<p>"When the war was over, the Negroes needed leaders. I decided to lead them. +This made all of the Southern white people mad at me, and they called me a +scalawag. But I led them just the same, and held office so that the Negroes +could say that a Republican was in office. I wanted to go higher. I found a +colored boy who was poor but brainy. I gave him all the money I made from +politics in return for his help to me. He worked along with me until he had +gotten thousands of dollars. Then he left me. He left me just when the +Republican party needed him most." Here Bloodworth managed to slip an onion +near his eyes and tears appeared.</p> + +<p>Harry was deeply moved at this show of emotion. He groaned audibly over the +perfidy of the Negro who deserted so true a Republican.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, Harry," sobbed Bloodworth, "he deserted the party of Lincoln, the +party that made his people free, the party that made it possible for you +all to be what you are. He deserted me, his true and tried friend. He +deserted his own race. Dorlan Warthell is that man."</p> + +<p>Harry was now moved to tears—tears of sympathy, tears of shame over the +nefarious deed of a colored man, tears of rage.</p> + +<p>"I am a Christian," said Harry. "I am a deacon of a church. But I swear by +high heaven that no such scoundrel shall be allowed to live! I shall kill +him!"</p> + +<p>"Nobly spoken! Nobly spoken!" said Bloodworth, grasping Harry's hand +warmly. "I am proud that I—that is, that my brothers shed their blood to +give freedom to such noble men as you. I am not afraid for the future of +your race while such men as you are living."</p> + +<p>Harry was grateful to the center of his heart for this tribute to his +worth. "May I ever prove worthy of your kind words," said Harry.</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt of that. The man who takes Dorlan Warthell out of the way +will do enough good to make up for any shortcomings that he might have. I +have a well arranged plan for his murder and was only looking for a man +worthy of the role of principal actor. Lo, I have found him!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bloodworth now unfolded the details of his plot to Harry, and explained to +him the part that the latter was to take in the killing.</p> + +<p>Morlene, who had listened at the keyhole, had heard in great agony the +plottings against the life of Dorlan Warthell. She had no qualms of +conscience about listening, for, having seen crime stamped on Bloodworth's +face, she had employed the usual method of entrapping criminals—spying.</p> + +<p>Bloodworth and Harry were fully determined upon Dorlan's murder. Morlene +determined to save his life, even if in so doing she lost her own.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>A WOMAN AROUSED.</h3> + + +<p>Morlene fully realized the gravity as well as the delicacy of the situation +that confronted her. A murder was being planned, the intended victim being +an innocent man and one for whom she entertained the greatest possible +respect; while the man chosen to strike the fatal blow was none other than +her own husband. Her first impulse was to confront Harry, but sober second +thought caused her to abandon this purpose, for she remembered that Harry +was headstrong; that he never abandoned anything that he had firmly +resolved upon doing. She saw that confronting Harry would only have the +effect of causing him to lay his plans the deeper and perhaps so far away +that she could not by any means intercept them.</p> + +<p>Morlene began to consider the advisability of putting in motion a counter +current of sentiment in favor of granting the individual citizen the right +of independent action, hoping to create such a broad spirit of tolerance +that the party or parties who were to use Harry as a tool would be afraid +to carry out their programme of murder.</p> + +<p>While Harry and Morlene were sitting at the breakfast table one morning, +she said to him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> "Harry, I have come across a very good campaign book and +would like to act as agent for it during the next few days. Do you object?"</p> + +<p>Without looking up Harry replied, "Of course, not," and continued in +meditation of what he regarded as Dorlan's traitorous crime. Every now and +then he would lay down his knife and fork and rest his hands on the table, +his eyes down-cast, so thoroughly was he aroused over Dorlan's presumption +in claiming the right to find fault with the Republican party.</p> + +<p>When Harry had gone to his work, Morlene took her canvassing outfit and +began her labors. She chose with much deliberation the parties to whom she +went to sell the book. Her first task upon meeting the party was to set +forth the claims of the book. She never failed in effecting a sale, for the +parties accosted were willing to pay the price of the book for the +privilege of being brought into contact with a woman of such remarkable +beauty. They could hardly listen to her recital of the claims of the book +for stealing glances at her well shaped, queenly poised head, her pleading, +thrilling eyes, her beautiful face, her perfect form. They sought by +prolonging the conversation to detain her in their presence as long as +possible.</p> + +<p>When through talking of her book, Morlene invariably brought up the +"Warthell movement" in order that she might discover the temper of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +people and find out just how much hope there was of arousing public +interest in the matter of securing Dorlan's immunity from attack because he +had essayed to pursue an independent course.</p> + +<p>A very eminent lawyer, the real head of the Democratic party of the State, +expressed himself thus to Morlene:</p> + +<p>"To be frank with you, Mrs. Dalton, the fact that the "Warthell movement" +might in the end break the solidarity of the Negro vote and cause a +fraction of that vote to eventually drift to us, has no charms for the +Democratic party. For several reasons we do not desire, at present, a +contingent of Negro voters. First of all, the coming of the Negro into our +ranks will cause our party to disintegrate, many men now being held in it +because they there escape contact with the Negro. In the second place, the +Anglo-Saxon habit of thought and the Negro habit of thought are so +essentially different that we prefer their separation."</p> + +<p>"Please explain yourself," requested Morlene.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," said the lawyer, not at all weary of the pleasure of looking +at and talking to the beauty. "Let me cite you to a Bible incident," he +resumed.</p> + +<p>"When Peter, in preaching to the Jews, set forth that God had raised Jesus +Christ from the dead, and had bestowed upon Him greater power and glory +than He had before possessed, the assertion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> proved to be a befitting +climax to a sermon which resulted in the conversion of some three thousand +persons. Paul, in closing a sermon to the Greeks at Athens, alluded to this +same resurrection of the dead. Instead of proving to be the effective +climax that it was when Peter was preaching to the Jews, it operated as the +weakest point in the discourse, for we are told that at that point, 'some +mocked,' and the assemblage postponed the hearing. Paul in summing up the +difference between the Jew and the Greek habit of thought, remarked that +the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. You note that +the very thing that appealed most strongly to the mind of the Jew—the +miraculous raising of the Jesus—was the most repellant to the Greek, who, +in his search for wisdom, demanded to know the how of every assertion.</p> + +<p>"Returning to the Anglo-Saxon and the Negro—I think I can name a number of +differences in their mental attitudes:</p> + +<p>"1. The Negro's talent is largely acquisitive; that of the Anglo-Saxon, +inquisitive.</p> + +<p>"2. The Negro is of a restful temperament; the Anglo-Saxon is characterized +by a 'restless discontented, striving, burning energy.' As a result the +Negro is painfully conservative, while the Anglo-Saxon is daringly +progressive.</p> + +<p>"3. The Negro deals with the immediate; the Anglo-Saxon has a keen eye for +the remote.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<p>"4. The Negro is prone to accept statements that lay claim to being +postulates; the Anglo-Saxon is skeptical, examining into the foundation of +things.</p> + +<p>"5. The Negro is impulsive, and is led to act largely by an immediately +exciting stimulus, causing the net results of his labors to appear as a +series of fits and jerks; the Anglo-Saxon is deliberate, cautious without +stagnation, wary and persistent, and his history reveals an unbroken +tendency in a given direction.</p> + +<p>"6. Hitherto the preponderating tendency of the Negro has been toward +disintegration, showing the lack of a proper measure of fellow-feeling; the +tendency of the Anglo-Saxon is toward racial integration.</p> + +<p>"7. The Negro proceeds by analogies; the Anglo-Saxon by logic.</p> + +<p>"8. The Anglo-Saxon is fond of serious discussion and you reach him best +through the sublime; the Negro is inordinately fond of joking and you get +closest to him through the ludicrous. I do not pretend to say that these +are hard and fast lines, separating the Anglo-Saxon and Negro minds into +distinct classes, but they indicate a general unlikeness in many +particulars.</p> + +<p>"Now, we Democrats know how to reach Anglo-Saxon minds and the process is +congenial to our general habit of thought. When we address Negroes, we +really have to readjust our faculties of approach. Public speakers find +that various sections<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> of the same country present this difference, even +when all of the people are of the same race. How much greater must be the +chasm between two such widely diverging races."</p> + +<p>Morlene exhibited no signs of abating interest, so the lawyer proceeded +further with his remarks.</p> + +<p>"Two other reasons may be given why we prefer to be rid of the Negro," he +continued. "The mass of Negroes are poor, some of them very poor, and we +have men among us who would not scruple at perpetually bribing these poor +by little acts of kindness. A poverty stricken, oppressed, helpless people +are comparatively easy prey for the well to do element of an opposite race. +In national politics the Negro's devotion to the Republican party exempts +him from the chicanery of designing whites who would debauch the suffrage. +We do not desire the ignorant Negro vote in municipal affairs for the same +reason that the nations of Europe oppose the dismemberment of Turkey. The +struggle for possession would be too fierce and demoralizing among the +parties desiring the furtherance of their interests. The other reason for +not wanting the Negro vote is that the respective traditions of the two +races are so essentially different.</p> + +<p>"You see they (the Negroes) revere Lincoln, Sumner, Whittier, Lovejoy, +Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Grant, John Brown, etc. We have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +no peculiar fondness for these characters. Jefferson Davis, R. E. Lee, +Stonewall Jackson, Pickett, Albert Sidney Johnson, etc., are the objects of +our love and enthusiasm. You see, it is quite natural that people having +such widely differing sentiments should in a measure live apart."</p> + +<p>Morlene saw clearly that there was no hope of arousing in this man +enthusiasm over Dorlan's work of altering the existing status in matters +political. She now departed, the lines of sadness deepening on her face. +The lawyer followed her to the door, bade her a polite adieu and turned +away, somehow full of the thought that he had conversed with a superior +creature.</p> + +<p>Morlene next went to the head of the Democratic "machine." He was the man +chosen to do the work of "counting out" the opposition if the occasion +seemed to require it. He readily purchased a book, and, when called upon, +expressed his opinion as to the "Warthell movement."</p> + +<p>"To tell the truth, we do not want that fellow to succeed. We hold our +people in line by threatening them with the bludgeon of mass voting and +Negro domination. The white people let us machine fellows have our own way +and will scarcely fight us under any consideration for fear that in +destroying the evil that we may represent, they might fall upon another +that is worse, namely, "nigger rule," as they call it. Of course, then, we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +machine fellows don't want any such times as that fellow is trying to +inaugurate."</p> + +<p>Morlene found the white Republican machine equally antagonistic to Dorlan. +They feared that the abandonment of the Republican party by the great mass +of Negroes of the South would cause a great influx of Southern whites, +which would mean that the day of the small man was over; for many of the +white men who were giants among the Negroes, simply because of their white +faces and professed sympathy, would appear to be only pigmies when brought +into contact with the abler sections of the whites.</p> + +<p>The Negro politicians of the smaller calibre that affiliated with the +machine viewed Dorlan's actions with contempt. Their interest in political +campaigns ended with ward meetings, county, district, State and national +conventions. Whatever profit a campaign was to bring to them personally, +they labored to secure while conventions were being held, for they knew +that they would be no more an important factor until the time arrived for +another series of conventions. Not seeing where Dorlan was to profit +personally by his course, they took him to be an enthusiastic crank of some +sort. "How much is there in it," was the shibboleth of their creed, learned +in the school of "peanut" politics where they operated.</p> + +<p>Morlene found many intelligent white and colored men who held views +directly opposite to those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> cited, but they almost invariably wound up by +saying, "But Warthell, it turns out, is ahead of his day. Conditions in the +South are such that good men of both races are better off out of politics." +They were averse to taking any active part in the matter, fearing that, in +view of the inflamed state of the public mind, other interests of theirs +might be jeopardized.</p> + +<p>Finding that all hope of enlisting public sentiment in Dorlan's favor had +to be abandoned, Morlene, with a heavy burden on her heart, now turned in +the direction of police headquarters. The chief was out, but a subordinate +presented himself and desired to know her business.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said she, "there is a plan on foot to assassinate Dorlan Warthell, a +highly respected Negro of this city."</p> + +<p>An angry look came into the face of the policeman. Morlene felt encouraged +by this, hoping that she was at last in a place where Dorlan had a friend. +She now gave the officer the plans of the conspirators as she had overheard +them, taking pains to emphasize the fact that Harry, her husband, was but a +weakling in the hands of the chief conspirator, and that she desired that +he be wrested from his grasp.</p> + +<p>The officer took a memorandum of what Morlene had said. When Morlene had +gotten some distance away she recollected something that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> deemed it +advisable to tell. She retraced her steps to headquarters, and, as she drew +near the office door, heard Warthell's name called by the officer with whom +she had conferred. Her heart seemed to cease to beat as she heard this +officer say, "Yes, I hope they will kill the scoundrel. I believe in every +man being true to his race. I call a Negro who will work against the +Republicans lower than the dogs. I call a Southern white man who will work +against the Democrats as even lower still. Yes, I hope they will kill the +scoundrel. Let every man stay with his own race, by gosh."</p> + +<p>Morlene turned away trembling in every fibre. When she had proceeded some +distance she turned, and pointing her finger in the direction of the +building from which she had just come, said, "Ah! justice, justice, whither +art thou fled? Red-handed murder now sits in thy temple and occupies thy +throne! How long wilst thou withhold thy presence from this beautiful, but +blighted Southland?" Passers by did not know what to make of this beautiful +woman standing with outstretched hand, a look of sorrow and lofty scorn +upon her face.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>CLANDESTINELY, YET IN HONOR.</h3> + + +<p>Returning to her home, Morlene sent the following note to Dorlan:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Mr. Dorlan Warthell</span>:</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>—I have come into possession of information +that renders an interview with you imperative. For +reasons that are entirely satisfactory to my +conscience, I desire that the interview be private. I +assure you that nothing but the most <i>desperate</i> +circumstances could influence me to take this step. +Upon the peril of your life meet me at the end of the +Broad Street car line promptly at eight o'clock.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"<span class="smcap">The Ardent Expansionist</span>."</p></div> + +<p>A few minutes before the appointed hour, Dorlan was at the place +designated. A thickly-veiled lady stepped off of the eight o'clock car and +her shapeliness told Dorlan that it was Morlene. The two walked onward +together until they were at such a distance as not to encounter inquisitive +passers-by.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Warthell," began Morlene, "my first task is to impart to you certain +information. There exists a conspiracy, the object of which is to effect +your murder at the mass meeting which you are to hold."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nothing that happens in the South any longer excites surprise in me," said +Dorlan, no trace of emotion in his voice. Not a muscle of his noble face +twitched at the news.</p> + +<p>Morlene resumed: "I have further to say, that the state of the public mind +toward you is such as is calculated to encourage rather than to destroy +criminal intentions directed against you. Enlightened or unenlightened, the +forces in favor of the existing order of things regard you as a disturbing +factor in the body politic. Your position is peculiarly dangerous in that +the weaker minds will grow to regard your murder as a civic duty."</p> + +<p>"No one can gainsay the elements of danger in the situation," said Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"The police, I fear, will not furnish you the protection that you need," +remarked Morlene.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," responded Dorlan.</p> + +<p>Morlene now threw back her veil and turned her anxious eyes full on Dorlan. +"Mr. Warthell," she said, "the cool manner in which you receive the +information which I give, indicates that you are not as regardful of your +life as might be the case."</p> + +<p>Dorlan replied: "My life has no charms for me, <i>per se</i>. I am wedded to +certain purposes for which I have learned to live. I will gladly yield my +life for their furtherance at any time that result can be achieved. If the +ends for which I strive are found to be unattainable, life has no further +interest for me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mr. Warthell, the world needs your services," said Morlene in earnest +tones.</p> + +<p>"It may be that the world has a greater need for my death. I am enough of a +fatalist to believe that whatever the world needs it gets. Note how +opportune have been the great births and deaths of history," replied +Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Warthell, I have not come here to theorize on the comparative value of +life and death. I have come to save your life. Have you any relatives +living?"</p> + +<p>"None," said Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that there was a mother or a sister to make the plea that I must +make!" said Morlene, sorrowfully. "Wait," she said, as though a new idea +had struck her. "Mr. Warthell, is there not somewhere in the world a noble +girl whose heart you have won and who has accepted you as the companion by +whose side she is to journey through life?"</p> + +<p>"My life has not been altogether without love," said Dorlan, a trace of +emotion appearing in his voice. "But it was a boyish love. The little girl +fell asleep in her twelfth summer. Were she alive to-night there might be +something to chain me to life. As it is my personal life is barren of +inducements and I am free to offer myself upon the altar for the good of my +country."</p> + +<p>Morlene dropped upon her knees; tears had made their appearance in her +eyes. With clasped hands and face upraised to his, she said: "Mr. +Warthell,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> I beg of you, spare your life. Spare me the horror of knowing +that you were foully murdered. You have no mother, no sister, no lover. I +am only a stranger to you. Argument fails me and I can only plead."</p> + +<p>Dorlan turned away, unable to look into that sweet, sorrowful face and say +it nay. "It is best that I die," said Dorlan to himself. "If I lived I +could not escape falling in love with this divine being." To Morlene he +remarked, his head still averted, "Sweet is your voice and earnest your +pleadings. Think it not ungallant in me to say that the stern voice of duty +engrosses my ear and I obey its summons. If I die at my post of duty you +will be one to revere my memory."</p> + +<p>Morlene arose and moved around so as to be face to face with Dorlan who was +seeking to avoid her gaze. "Answer one question for me, Mr. Warthell. Is +there anything connected with your life that causes you to think that death +would be a personal gain to you as well as a gain to your country? I do not +ask out of curiosity, you must know. It behooves me to know all the factors +to be reckoned with in my attempt to save your life."</p> + +<p>"No personal considerations would induce me to <i>seek</i> to destroy my life. +Let that information suffice," said Dorlan.</p> + +<p>The very suppression manifest in Dorlan's reply and tone of voice revealed +to Morlene that the full<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> answer to her query was "Yes." She now ceased her +pleading. She saw that the labor of saving Dorlan's life was more largely +upon her than she had at first supposed. She had even his indifference to +life to combat. Undaunted by this fresh complication she girded her spirit +for the conflict.</p> + +<p>In silence the two went toward the place where Morlene was to board the car +to return to her home. When they arrived at the place of parting, Morlene +said, "Remember, I say, you shall not die." Dorlan looked at her, smiled +sadly, turned and walked away.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>WHO WINS?</h3> + + +<p>The night of the mass meeting came at last, and there was a tremendous +outpouring of the Negroes, recruited mainly from the ranks of the toiling +masses. Scattered here and there in the audience were a few of the educated +Negroes, drawn to the meeting to see how Dorlan was to fare in his attempt +to breast the current of Negro loyalty to the Republican party. The women +in the audience outnumbered the men, a fact not to be wondered at, when it +is known that the Negro women of the South are, perhaps, the most ardent +and unyielding Republicans in the whole length and breadth of the land. +Closely veiled, Morlene sat in the audience, the embodiment of anxiety. The +moment for the supreme contest between herself on the one hand and +Bloodworth and Harry on the other, for the life of Dorlan, was drawing +frightfully near.</p> + +<p>At the appointed hour Dorlan entered the building from the rear door, +walked across the platform and took his seat. Somehow the world expects the +body of a man to give some indication of the soul within; wherefore all +pictures of Satan represent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> him as being ugly. Those who came to the +meeting hating Dorlan felt a more kindly feeling creeping into their +consciousness as they saw that heaven had thought kindly enough of him to +grant unto him the form of a prince, an intellectual brow, a truly handsome +face that wore a look of earnest, honest purpose.</p> + +<p>As Dorlan scanned the audience his heart swelled with joy at its immense +proportions. Wrong though they sometimes were, Dorlan had the most profound +faith in the good intentions of the Negro masses. He held that the +intentions of no people on earth were better, and that the sole need of the +Negroes was proper light.</p> + +<p>Dorlan's analysis of the situation was as follows: The feeling encountered +was largely a religious one. The Negroes believed unqualifiedly in the +direct interposition of God in the affairs of men. They believed in the +personality, activity and insidiousness of the Devil. They believed that +God had specifically created the Republican party to bring about their +emancipation. On the other hand they regarded the Democratic party as the +earthly abode of the devil, created specifically and solely for the purpose +of harassing them. Thus, whoever opposed the Republican party was sinning +against God; and whoever voted against that party was in league with the +devil.</p> + +<p>Such were the views held by the less enlightened, Dorlan felt. In order to +meet the situation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> he had prepared a speech that traced from a human point +of view the development of the two parties. Once disabuse their minds of +the direct, specific heavenly origin of the Republican party, and the way +would be open to show, that as men made it, men could improve upon its +policies. So at the appointed hour he arose and began his speech. It +riveted the attention of his hearers, and they listened with eager ears to +Dorlan's recital of the workings of the forces and counter forces that +brought about their emancipation. Freedom had burst upon them so suddenly, +was so glorious a boon, that their simple minds readily concluded that it +dropped bodily, as it were, from the skies. They were now glad to gain a +clear understanding of that phenomenal happening. Their feelings of +resentment died away entirely, and they who came to jeer, frequently broke +forth into applause.</p> + +<p>Dorlan closed his speech with a thrilling peroration, urging the Negroes to +gird themselves for the holy task of carrying to the uttermost parts of the +earth the doctrine of the inherent, inalienable equality of all men.</p> + +<p>Morlene could scarcely repress tears of joy over the happy turn of events. +But her joy was to be short lived.</p> + +<p>Bloodworth had employed a number of viciously inclined Negroes to put out +the lights, bar the doors and foment excitement. In the midst of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +disturbance Harry was to effect the murder of Dorlan. Bigoted Harry had not +been in the least affected, nor were his mercenary compatriots in any wise +moved, by Dorlan's utterances. When the speech was finished, at a given +signal the lights were extinguished and a tumult raised.</p> + +<p>Harry had closely noted the position of Dorlan on the platform, and as soon +as the lights were out began to make his way toward him. As there was no +one on the platform but Dorlan, he did not fear making a mistake as to the +man he was to assault.</p> + +<p>Morlene had employed a young man of strength and courage to sit by and keep +close watch on Harry to thwart any attempts he might make. As Harry made +his way with eager cat-like tread, he was followed by the young man +appointed to watch him. When near Dorlan, Harry drew his pistol but felt it +wrenched from his hand by some one of superior strength. Discovering that +he was followed, Harry turned and sought to mingle with the crowd in the +hope of eluding his pursuer. In this he was successful.</p> + +<p>Morlene, thickly veiled, had been sitting in a corner of the auditorium +throughout the meeting. In a satchel she had brought along a small lighted +lantern. She knew the building well, and even in the midst of the hubbub +and excitement incident to the putting out of the lights, had made her way +to the platform whereon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> was Dorlan. Now handling her lantern so that it +guided her directly to Dorlan, without informing others of her movements, +she crept to his side. She found him seated, his head bent forward resting +on his hand. Even now his first thought was of the future of the race, +seeking to keep alive in his bosom to the moment of death, the hope that it +would rise in spite of the unthinking element that now sought his life.</p> + +<p>Morlene whispered into his ear, "Mr. Warthell, do not die here. As a +friend, a sincere friend, I plead with you to live for all our sakes." The +presence of Morlene in such a dangerous situation thoroughly aroused +Dorlan. He sprang to his feet determined to live until she was out of +danger, at least. "Here is a lantern," said she, handing it to him.</p> + +<p>"Keep close to me," said Dorlan to Morlene. To the throng he said: +"Gentlemen, vacate the aisle to the extreme right. Whoever obstructs that +pathway to the door, does so at the peril of his life. I have given fair +warning and hold you accountable for whatever results from your failure to +obey." His voice was so commanding and he spoke with such self-assurance, +that the movement to clear the aisle designated began at once; but the +words had scarcely escaped his lips when he was stabbed from the rear. +Turning upon his assailant, he felled him to the floor with a powerful +blow. Flashing the light across the face of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> fallen man, Dorlan and +Morlene both saw that it was Harry.</p> + +<p>"My duty is here," said Morlene, as she stooped and took Harry's head upon +her lap.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye. I must go. I am wounded," said Dorlan to Morlene, as he started +for the door.</p> + +<p>Morlene assured herself that Harry was not seriously hurt, and administered +restoratives which she had been thoughtful enough to bring along. She was +the while experiencing anxious thoughts as to the dangerousness of Dorlan's +wound. At the earliest possible moment Morlene left Harry, (who was now +reviving) and went to telephone for the ambulance. It came and, with the +aid of lanterns, following a trail of blood, they came upon Dorlan, +unconscious, the wondering stars peeping down upon his upturned face.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Morlene reached home on that eventful night some time before Harry. After +his murderous assault on Dorlan, having recovered from the stunning effects +of the blow that had felled him, he had gone from saloon to saloon, +drinking and very hilarious over his night's work. At three o'clock in the +morning he reached his home in a half-drunken state. Morlene had been +anxiously awaiting his coming.</p> + +<p>As Harry stepped into the room, one glance at Morlene's face had the effect +of somewhat sobering him. Her face, her eyes, her attitude and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> when she +spoke, her voice, conveyed to the half-drunken Harry her feelings of utter +scorn and indignation. He dropped into a chair. His eyes were bleared, his +lips slightly ajar and his hands limp at his side, as he looked at the +wrathful Morlene.</p> + +<p>"Harry Dalton," said she, "You are to all intents and purposes a villainous +murderer. I know of your nefarious plottings and I witnessed your cowardly +attempt to assassinate Mr. Warthell, a man, the latchet of whose shoes the +possessor of a heart like yours is unworthy to unloose. But your intended +victim shall not die, unless an evil genius presides over the affairs of +men. I have only waited here to tell you how I loathe your crime and that I +exhausted every known means to thwart you. Now I leave you!"</p> + +<p>Morlene started toward the door through which Harry had just come and which +led into the hallway. Harry, who had taken a seat not far from the door, +arose as if to intercept her.</p> + +<p>"Stand back from that door, Harry," said Morlene pulling a pistol from her +pocket and pointing it at him. Morlene had been careful to see that every +chamber of the pistol was empty, so that no actual physical harm would +result from the drawing of it.</p> + +<p>Harry knew that Morlene, when a country girl, had learned to shoot well, +and her angry looks made him feel that her knowledge as to how to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> shoot +was supplemented with a determination to shoot if he disobeyed her. Lifting +his hands as if imploring her not to shoot, Harry recoiled and Morlene +glided out of the room, locking the door behind her.</p> + +<p>For some time Harry stood in the floor bewildered by the sudden and most +unexpected turn of events. At length he aroused himself and succeeded in +breaking out of the room. It was too late, however, to find any trace of +Morlene. She had made good her escape.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>THE SCENE SHIFTS.</h3> + + +<p>An aged Negro woman trudged along Newton Street in the city of Chicago. The +ponderous strokes of Father Time had at last bent her form forward, pushing +it toward the dust whence it came. She was aided in her shuffling gait by a +crooked and knotted walking stick, which she made use of with her left +hand. Her attire betokened extreme poverty and was evidently unequal to the +task of shielding her from the chilly winds, which sought with zeal every +unprotected spot, and whipped the tears from her eyes. In her right hand +she carried a small tin box, her bony fingers clasping it as tightly as +they could. A shawl was thrown over her head somewhat concealing her +features. Strange to say, a close inspection of the woman's face impressed +one that there was cheerfulness, even happiness, written thereon, despite +her forlorn condition. As she crept along she scanned the buildings +closely, evidently trying to locate some particular house.</p> + +<p>A young woman standing in the doorway of the Lincoln Hospital, attired in +the garb of a sick nurse, saw the old woman drawing near. "The poor soul +must be suffering greatly," said the nurse,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> reaching for her pocketbook. +She had determined upon emptying its contents into the aged woman's hand as +the latter passed by.</p> + +<p>Instead of passing, however, the woman stopped a short distance from the +nurse. Her frame shivering from cold, her eyes surveyed the entire front of +the building in the doorway of which stood the nurse. Seemingly satisfied +with the result of her inspection she drew nearer and said: "Leddy, please, +miss, is dis de Linktum horsepittul?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, aunty, this is the Lincoln Hospital," the nurse replied.</p> + +<p>The woman dropped her stick and the tin box and clapped her hands, saying, +"Thankee! Thankee Jesus! Thankee! Heah at las'! De ole' ship dun foun' er +harbur. Got er place ter cross ober Jordun." Looking at the nurse, she +said, "Chile, does yer know anyt'ing 'bout Jesus? Oh! he promis' me dis, +an' he's kep' his word." Fumbling in her pocket, she drew out a soiled and +crumpled piece of paper. This she handed to the nurse, who found that it +entitled the woman to admission into the hospital.</p> + +<p>"Come with me," said the nurse in kindly tones.</p> + +<p>Gathering up her stick and tin box, she did as she was bidden. The woman +was duly registered and assigned to the ward in which the nurse was an +attendant.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, the nurse sat by the bedside of her new patient humming a +tune. The woman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> almost stopped breathing to listen. Sitting up in her bed, +she said to the nurse, "Leddy, ken you fin' a pair ub specks fitten' fur +one ob my age?"</p> + +<p>"I will try, aunty," replied the nurse.</p> + +<p>After a diligent search, the nurse succeeded in finding a pair, wondering +as she searched what possible use the woman could have for them. The woman +adjusted the spectacles to her eyes and bent her gaze on the nurse.</p> + +<p>"Leddy, please sing dat chune ergin," she said.</p> + +<p>The nurse did as requested. Before she had proceeded far with the singing, +the woman burst forth, "Laws 'a mussy! Ef it ain't Lenie!"</p> + +<p>"Aunt Catherine!" exclaimed the nurse, springing to her feet and throwing +her arms around the woman's neck.</p> + +<p>Aunt Catherine's bedimmed eyesight and impaired hearing had prevented her +from discovering before this that her nurse was none other than Morlene. On +the other hand, Aunt Catherine's changed appearance was what interfered +with Morlene's recognition of her when they first met. When the woman said +"Lenie," it was all that was needed, for it was an appellation used in +addressing Morlene by Aunt Catherine only.</p> + +<p>After many exchanges of tender greetings, Morlene disentangled herself from +Aunt Catherine's loving embrace, saying, "Dear Aunt Catherine, do tell me +all about yourself since the day I left you to wait on—on—Harry. I +searched R—— from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> one end to the other, time and again, looking for you. +And here you are in Chicago! Tell me how you have fared?"</p> + +<p>"Chile," said Aunt Catherine, "seein' you, Lenie, hez driv' erway all my +trubbuls. 'Pears ter me, I dun got young ergin an' am down Souf at de ole +home." After an interval Aunt Catherine proceeded to tell her experiences, +not, however, before she had taken the tin box from under her pillow. With +that clasped fondly, she began:</p> + +<p>"W'en I retched de city arter leavin' de ole homestid, I 'gun ter hunt fur +wuck. I got er place ter cook fur er white fambly. De leddy dat hi'ed me +wuzunt rich. She wus jes a good liver. Her husban's bizness fell off an' +she had ter hire jes' one 'oman ter cook, an' wash, an' i'ne, an' scrub de +floors, an' keep house. I wuz de fus' ter try it, but I kudden' hole out, +chile. I jes' kudden'. Er sprightly gal tuck my place. Den I hed er hard +time, Lenie. Yer Aunt Catharine hed ter beg frum door ter door. I slep' on +bar' floors in shackly houses, dat wuz empty kase folks wouldn't rent 'um. +I went to de dumps an' scratched in de trash piles fur charcoals and scraps +ter burn ter keep me warm. I begged money ernuf ter cum ter Churcargo, an' +heah I is. Dey tole me dat Linktum wuz frum dis State an' I wuz in hopes ub +doin' bettah up heah. But, Lenie, 'pears ter me dat de po darky aint got +much ub er show enywhurs. I hez found it hard Norf an' Souf."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, henceforth, I shall take charge of you, and walk through life by +your side, my dear Aunt Catherine," said Morlene, feelingly.</p> + +<p>The woman dropped the tin box, pulled her spectacles down a little and +looked over them at Morlene. "Ain't the doctah tole yer yit?" asked Aunt +Catherine, in evident surprise.</p> + +<p>"Told me what, my dear?" enquired Morlene.</p> + +<p>"Why, chile, I aint heah fur long. De doctahs sez I kaint git well. De +gospil train dun blowed. It is rollin' into de depot. Capting Jesus is de +cunducter. I hez my ticket ready." Aunt Catherine with her broken voice now +tried to sing the following lines, swinging to and fro as she sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"De Gospil train am comin',<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I heah it jes' at han',<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I heah de car wheels movin',<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Er rumblin' through de lan'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Git on bo'd, little chillun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Git on bo'd, little chillun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Git on bo'd, little chillun,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dare's room fur many mo'."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Yes, Lenie, I'll soon be on bo'd," resumed Aunt Catherine. "De Yankees was +mighty anxious to set us poor darkeys free, but it ain't done me no good. +Fack ub de mattah, Lenie, freedum mebbe good fur you young uns who wuzunt +use ter de ole times. Fur your sakes I is glad its come. But I'se hed a +hard time. Enyhow, it is mos' ober now. Marse Maury is ded, an' Missus is +ded, an' a upstart is on de ole place, an' hez been driftin' 'bout<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> frum +'pillar ter pos'.'" Aunt Catherine's mind now ran back to the good old past +and a joyful light came into her face. "Do yer see dis tin box?" she asked, +breaking her silence.</p> + +<p>Morlene nodded affirmatively, not trusting herself to speak, so torn up +were her feelings over the account of faithful Aunt Catherine's sufferings.</p> + +<p>"Lenie," said she, leaning toward Morlene, a most serious look upon her +face, "as yer value yer own soul, do wid dis tin box lack I'm gwine ter +tell yer." Aunt Catherine was now speaking in low and solemn tones. "W'en +yer wuz er gal, Lenie, did yer ebber heah dat our fust juty on jedgment day +would be to git up frum whar eber we wuz burrit and hunt fur de diff'runt +pieces ub our finger nails dat we hed cut off all through life?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Aunt Catherine," responded Morlene.</p> + +<p>"Wal, dis box hez got all my finger nails dat I cut off since I wuz er gal. +Bury dis box at de foot ub Maury and Missus, Lenie. W'en jedgment day comes +I want ter git up wid dem. Ef my nails is burrit by dem, I'll have ter go +dare whar dey is. See? Yer know white folks ginilly ain't got heart-felt +'ligun like cullud folks. But Marse and Missus shuah got shuah 'nuf 'ligun. +I wants ter git up wid 'um an' stan' by 'um in jedgment, ter speak up fur +um, ef eny body wants ter go ergin' um jes' kase dey is white. See? Ef dey +doan b'long in hebun, den nobody doan." Here Aunt Catherine paused, the +talk having nearly exhausted her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But, Aunt Catherine," interposed Morlene, "when you do pass away, which I +hope will not be soon, let me bury your <i>whole body</i> where you tell me to +put this tin box. Lemuel Dalton surely would not refuse to allow the +fulfillment of the solemn promise made to you by Uncle Maurice and his +wife."</p> + +<p>"Chile, I hed ter sell dis ole body ter de doctah ter git mony ter lib on +while heah."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt Catherine!" exclaimed Morlene, holding up her hands in horror.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Aunt Catherine. "That aint so bad, Lenie," she said. +"I sole my soul ter Jesus long ergo, an' w'en he takes it, dese doctahs kin +do whut dey choose wid my pore ole body." Morlene now burst into tears.</p> + +<p>Lovingly Aunt Catherine stroked Morlene's hair with her hand, saying: +"Bettah be laughin' fur joy, chile, fur er few more risin's an' settin's ub +de sun an' I'll be in glory." Unable to longer endure the contemplation of +Aunt Catherine's sufferings and approaching end, Morlene arose and fled to +her room.</p> + +<p>A few days after the conversation herein recorded Aunt Catherine passed +peacefully away. The doctors that had purchased the body presented +themselves and laid claim thereto. Morlene told them the story of Aunt +Catherine's life of faithful service and subsequent sufferings, and begged +the boon of taking the body back to Tennessee for burial.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> Her request was +refused, however, the physicians deciding that they would not allow a +matter of sentiment to stand in the way of advancing the interests of +science. Taking the tin box, so solemnly committed to her charge, Morlene +turned her face toward Tennessee, journeying thither to fulfill the last +request of Aunt Catherine.</p> + +<p>For some time Morlene had been pondering a proper course to be pursued +toward Harry for the future, and her approaching visit to R——accentuated +the matter. More and more she began to regard him as an unbalanced +enthusiast, whose errors, in view of his outlook, were not altogether +unnatural. Pity, deep pity, stole into her heart for poor Harry, and she +decided, as her train was speeding onward, to return to him in the hope of +widening his horizon and giving him a clearer view of what was required of +an American citizen. If she would be of service to Harry, her train must +move at a faster rate than that at which it is now traveling.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>THE BYSTANDERS CHEER.</h3> + + +<p>From his quest of Morlene, on the morning of her escape, Harry returned to +his home in a sullen mood. Morlene's lack of appreciation of his +disinterested patriotism which her course revealed to him, was a blow in +itself, apart from his loss of her as a wife. The fact that he had lost his +wife and had not slept any during the whole night did not, however, cause +him to remain away from his accustomed labor that day. Cooking his own +breakfast, he ate his solitary meal and went forth to his daily task. +Anxious to learn what view others took of the happening of the previous +night, he purchased a copy of a morning paper and read its comments +thereon. It was the same paper that had commented so favorably upon what it +termed the "Warthell Movement." Harry turned immediately to the editorial +columns and read far enough to see that his act was being condemned. +Thereupon he tore the paper into shreds, threw it to the ground and +trampled upon it.</p> + +<p>"Sure sign that I did right to attack that scoundrel Warthell, if it has +made this old Democratic paper mad. Ha, ha, ha! Morlene thought I was doing +wrong. I wasn't though, anybody can see,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> for what would this old +Democratic paper be kicking about if what I did wasn't against it?" Thus +muttered Harry to himself as he went on to his work.</p> + +<p>"We'll hear a different tune when the Northern Republican papers begin to +discuss our attempt to get rid of these Negro traitors who are plotting to +undo all that the North has done for us. I take my medicine from the North; +let the South go where it please. See? Any Negro that will stand up for the +South against the North is an infernal, ungrateful, good for nothing +rascal, and <i>ought</i> to be killed. Tell him I said so." These last words, +addressed by Harry to himself, were accompanied with the shaking of a +clenched fist at an imaginary foe. The more he pondered his course, the +more he praised himself, and the more outrageous Morlene's desertion of him +seemed. Eagerly he awaited the coming of the Northern papers that he might +regard his vindication as complete.</p> + +<p>Harry went about his daily task in a half cheerful, half moody frame of +mind, pondering what steps to take with reference to his wife, but arriving +at no definite conclusion.</p> + +<p>After the lapse of a day or so the eagerly-looked-for Northern Republican +paper came. Harry smiled with satisfaction, saying to himself: "Now we +shall hear the thing talked about right."</p> + +<p>The article was headed, "A Crime Against Freedom." Harry now thought that +the article was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> going to gibbet Dorlan Warthell for having committed a +crime against the freedom of the Negro by refusing to longer affiliate with +the party that gave him freedom. He re-read the caption, "A Crime Against +Freedom." "Yes, yes; only it ought to be 'An Unpardonable Crime,' for that +is what it was." Eager to feast on the invectives to be hurled at Dorlan, +he stood still on the street corner and began to read:</p> + +<p>"The United States of America is a government ruled by the duly ascertained +will of a majority of its citizens. Each qualified citizen has the right of +casting one vote in support of whatever side of an issue that pleases him. +Each citizen has the further right to use all legitimate means in his power +to induce other citizens to cast their votes as he casts his.</p> + +<p>"The right of advocacy is, if possible, more sacred than the right to vote, +for the votes of fellow citizens go well nigh the whole length in shaping a +man's environments. Since the votes of others are the majority influence in +determining a man's environments, it is manifestly unjust to deny him the +opportunity of influencing these votes. He who strikes at freedom of speech +strikes at the corner-stone of our republic, and, to our view, commits the +greatest crime that a citizen can commit against a government.</p> + +<p>"It is well known that we are in full accord with the Republican party's +policy with reference to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> Philippine Islands. While we are firmly of +the opinion that the party is right, we nevertheless strenuously insist +that those who hold contrary views be accorded the right to advocate those +views.</p> + +<p>"Dorlan Warthell, a Negro in the South, has seen fit to publicly disapprove +of a portion of the party's policy, whereupon a Negro Republican zealot has +sought to take his life. The Republican party repudiates such vile methods +and the man who resorts to them.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Warthell has as much right to express his views, whatever they may be, +as the President of the nation. The fact that he is a member of a race that +obtained its freedom through the instrumentality of the Republican party +does not alter the matter in the least. The Republican party has no +political slaves and desires none. It seeks to commend itself to the hearts +and consciences of men, and spurns every semblance of coercion.</p> + +<p>"The miscreant who sought to kill Mr. Warthell, because that individual +dared to be a man, is unworthy of life. If the arms of justice are too +short to reach him, it is hardly to be hoped that he will have the good +sense to bring his own unprofitable existence to a close."</p> + +<p>When Harry had finished he let the paper fall to the ground. He felt as +though the very skies had fallen down upon him. To find the great +Republican party lifting its voice in condemnation of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> act was more +than he could bear. Stooping down, he picked up the paper and re-read the +closing paragraph.</p> + +<p>"I can surprise them yet. They say 'It is hardly to be hoped that he will +have the good sense to bring his own unprofitable existence to a close.' +Aha! we shall see!" said Harry, a grim determination settling over his +gloomy soul.</p> + +<p>Deserted by Morlene, repudiated by the Republican party, which he had +always regarded as the vicegerent of God, Harry decided to have his life +come to a close in some way. He began to give earnest thought to the +finding of the proper method of departure. In the matter of closing his +earthly career, he was hampered by his religious views. He was a firm +believer in Heaven and in a literal Hell. In common with many other +Negroes, he believed that the Bible contained a specific declaration to the +effect that all sins could be forgiven a man except the sin of self-murder.</p> + +<p>To cause himself to die and yet escape Hell was the problem that now +occupied Harry's mind. From day to day he deliberated on the matter. At one +time he was attracted by the thought of laying down upon a railroad track +in some isolated spot in the hope that he would fall asleep and fail to +awake on the approach of a train. In case he did not awake, he thought that +his death could properly be construed as an accident. Then he thought of +becoming an attendant upon the sick, choosing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> such patients to serve as +were afflicted with dangerous contagious diseases.</p> + +<p>Months and months passed, summer and fall sped by and made way for winter, +but Harry's purpose remained. The question of a way to die was at last +solved for him in a most unexpected manner. One afternoon as he was +returning from work, he saw far ahead of him, coming in his direction, a +pair of runaway horses hitched to a double seated carriage. As the carriage +came near he saw that the driver's seat was empty and that a white lady and +three children were seated in the carriage in imminent peril of their +lives. "Thank God!" Harry murmured, "the way appears." As the horses came +galloping down the street, Harry stationed himself in such a position that +he would be able to make an effort to intercept them.</p> + +<p>"Get out of the way, you fool!" frantically shouted one after another of +the bystanders. "Those horses will kill you." To all of this Harry paid no +heed. Harry's sublime heroism stilled the shoutings of the multitude. The +people stood mute gazing at Harry, so unflinchingly awaiting the coming of +the runaways. When the horses came sweeping by, Harry leapt to the head of +the one nearest him and grappled the bridle. The maddened horses bore him +from his feet and onward, but Harry clung to the bridle. Unable to longer +carry so heavy a weight clinging to his mouth, the horse to which Harry was +holding checked his speed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> and brought his fellow to a stand. This result +was not achieved, however, without fatal injuries to Harry.</p> + +<p>Turning the bridle loose Harry fell at the feet of the horses, others now +rushing forward to take charge of them. As Harry lay upon the ground +covered with dust and blood, a crowd of citizens gathered about him. The +lady whose life had been saved, the wife of a leading banker, got out of +the carriage, and, elbowing her way through the crowd, stooped down to wipe +the blood stains from Harry's face.</p> + +<p>Harry who had been unconscious revived and smiled feebly in recognition of +the kindness. The crowd that had witnessed his heroic deed now gave a +mighty cheer, joyful that he was alive. Before the cheering subsided, the +light of life died out of Harry's eyes and his soul had sped.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>TO BEGIN LIFE ANEW, AS IT WERE.</h3> + + +<p>When a few hours later Morlene arrived at her home in R——, she found +crepe on the door, and was told by a neighbor that was just leaving, that +Harry had died that day. She stood as if rooted to the spot, her beautiful +eyes recording the storm of pity that was rising in her bosom. Mechanically +she turned and placed one foot on the step to the porch, as if to leave. +"Horror! Horror! Horror everywhere!" she cried out. "But why am I fleeing? +It is abroad in the whole expanse of earth. If Harry <i>was</i> to die, tell me, +tell me, why he could not have awaited to carry my forgiveness with him." +In that moment, looking back upon her whole career since the death of +Maurice Dalton, she felt her faith in the benevolent character of the +arbiter of human destinies rudely shaken. Her body recoiled in response to +a like impulse of her soul that shrank from the benumbing misanthropism +that sought to lay its cold dead fingers on her heart. In one last supreme +effort to retain her faith she burst forth into song. In tones angelic, +from a heaving bosom, she poured forth the following words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Abide with me! Fast falls the eventide;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The darkness deepens—Lord, with me abide!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Help of the helpless,—O abide with me!"<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>When Morlene began to sing her eyes glistened with tears; but these now +disappeared as a look of submission stole therein. Again humbly obedient to +the forces that were guiding her life, she entered her home, knelt and +gazed long at the features of Harry, her spirit seeking to unravel that +mystic smile that his face was wearing even in death.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Two days later the business men of R—— swore, the housewives grew red in +the face, but it was all of no avail. The Negro laboring men and cooks were +determined upon going to Harry's funeral, even if it cost them their jobs. +So, business was partially paralyzed and the white women of fashionable +circles had to enter their own kitchens while the Negroes thronged to the +church wherein the funeral services were to be held.</p> + +<p>Though the funeral was to take place at two o'clock, the edifice was +crowded at twelve, those anxious for seats rushing there thus early. +According to the custom of the church to which Harry belonged, his body had +lain therein all the night previous and his brethren and sisters of the +church had assembled and conducted a song and prayer service over his +remains. When the hour for the funeral arrived, the pulpit was full of +ministers of various denominations.</p> + +<p>Harry had, according to the custom prevailing, chosen the hymns to be sung +at his funeral, the text<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> from which the funeral sermon was to be preached, +the ministers who were to officiate—in fact, had arranged for every detail +of the occasion. Everything was done according to his wishes.</p> + +<p>The services were at last brought to a close and the funeral procession was +formed. The hearse led the way being followed by the great concourse of the +members of the church, walking <i>en masse</i> and chanting mournful dirges as +they proceeded. Following the throng came the carriage containing Morlene +and Stephen Dalton, Harry's father. The old man's form is now bent, his +short hair white and he is sad at heart that it is Harry's funeral and not +his own. Following this carriage containing Morlene and Stephen Dalton was +that of the banker, who with his wife and children had come to pay this +tribute of respect to the memory of Harry. When the procession reached the +cemetery, twilight had come to render the interment peculiarly solemn.</p> + +<p>Harry was lowered to his last resting place and each one of his immediate +friends picked up a clod and cast it into the open grave, the good-bye +salutation for the dead. All staid until the grave was covered over, then +turned to leave.</p> + +<p>The cemetery in which Harry had been laid to rest was upon an elevation. +When the carriage containing Morlene had proceeded homeward for some +distance and was at the point where the slowly declining elevation had +reached a level<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> with the lower lands, she caused the driver to stop for a +few minutes while she and Stephen Dalton alighted. The two stood and looked +for awhile in silence toward the cemetery above them, the lighted lamps +burning dimly among the trees up there. One solitary star peered out of the +eastern sky. Its lonely light, like words spoken in the hour of grief, +evidently sought to cheer, but only served to make the feeling of sadness +deepen.</p> + +<p>By and by in tones soft and low and earnest, Morlene broke the silence, +saying: "Father, Harry's body lies up yonder, and, behold, the place is +lighted. May we not hope that his spirit, in spite of his weaknesses, has +gone <i>upward</i>, and may we not also hope that there the spirit, too, has +light, more light than came to it in this darkened world?" Stephen Dalton +made no reply. The only thing that he now cared to answer was the final +summons. He regarded himself as an alien on earth. The two re-entered the +carriage and drove to the city.</p> + +<p>The next day, Morlene repaired to the Dalton estate and buried at the +designated spot the box that Aunt Catherine had entrusted to her care. Thus +came to close one epoch in Morlene's life.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>EXCUSABLE RUDENESS.</h3> + + +<p>We left Dorlan sorely wounded on the night of the mass meeting. Though he +was immediately furnished with the best available medical attention, it did +not prevent the setting in of a species of blood poisoning which rendered +his condition peculiarly precarious. As soon as it was deemed advisable, he +was carried North and placed under the care of an eminent specialist.</p> + +<p>Dorlan began to slowly improve, but at such a rate that he now saw that he +was to be a mere onlooker to the presidential campaign in which he had +hoped to be the determining factor. On the day of the election his interest +was so great that he got out of bed and sat at his window, eagerly scanning +the faces of the voters as they went, and came from the polls, hoping, it +seemed, to tell from their countenances what verdicts they were rendering. +He had made arrangements with a newsboy to bring him a copy of the first +"Extra" to be issued giving information as to how the conflict had +terminated.</p> + +<p>At a comparatively early hour of the night the newsboy knocked on Dorlan's +door. "Come in," called out Dorlan. The boy poked his head in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> door, +cast a quick glance about, then entered. "Here's your paper, Mister. Good +news for <i>you</i>," said he, smiling as he handed the paper to Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"How do you know that it contains news pleasing to me?" inquired Dorlan, +looking at the boy earnestly.</p> + +<p>"'Cause you are a colored man," responded the boy, with an air of complete +assurance. Having been paid, he now hurried out to proceed on his route.</p> + +<p>"Even the children feel that they know the politics of every Negro by +glancing at his skin. Too bad! I suppose the boy means to say the +Republicans have won," mused Dorlan. He now looked at his paper and soon +was convinced that the Republicans had won an overwhelming victory.</p> + +<p>Dorlan was stunned. "What!" he exclaimed, "Has a reaction against that +idealism which has hitherto been its chief glory really set in in the +Anglo-Saxon race? Has commercialism really throttled altruism? Has the era +of the recognition of the inherent rights of men come to a close? Has our +government lent its sanction to the code of international morals that +accords the strong the right to rule the weak, brushing aside by the force +of arms every claim of the weak? Alas! Alas!"</p> + +<p>For many days Dorlan was very, very despondent. The <i>North</i> had voted to +re-enthrone the Republican party without exacting of it a specific promise +as to the regard to be had to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> claims of the Filipinos to inherent +equality. This amazed him. But as the political excitement subsided and he +could feel the pulse of the American people apart from the influence of +partizan zeal, he was the better able to analyze their verdict.</p> + +<p>First, the failure to declare as to the ultimate status of the Filipinos +was in a measure due to the politicians whose uniform policy is to postpone +action on new problems until public sentiment has had time to crystallize. +They were not quite certain as to what was the full import of the new +national appetite and they were avoiding specific declarations until they +could find out.</p> + +<p>Secondly, the people of the North were in no mood to be hurried as to their +policy with regard to the Filipinos. They had before them the example of +Negroes of the South even then calling upon the North to return and set +them free again. With this example of imperfect work before them the people +of the North refused to be wrought up into a great frenzy of excitement +over giving titular independence to the Filipinos.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, Dorlan discovered that the election, instead of revealing a +decline in altruism, on the contrary, gave evidence of the broadening and +deepening of that spirit. He now saw in the verdict of the North the high +resolve to begin at the very foundation and actually lift the Filipinos to +such a plane that they would not only have freedom, but the power to +properly exercise and preserve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> the same. Instead of losing its position as +the teacher of nations, our government was, he saw, to confirm its title to +that proud position. So nobly, so thoroughly, was it to do its work of +leading the Filipinos into all the blessings of higher civilization, that +other nations in contact with weaker peoples might find here a guide for +their statesmen to follow. Thus he found written in the <i>hearts</i> of the +noble people of the North the plank which provided adequately for the +ultimate status of the Filipinos, which plank he had earnestly longed to +see appear in the platforms of all political parties aspiring for the +control of the government.</p> + +<p>His faith in the people did not, however, influence him to forget that +"eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." He was still of the opinion +that the nation needed a balance wheel, needed a free lance ready to bear +down upon all who, drunk with the wine of prosperity or maddened by greed +for gain, might seek to lure the American people from the faith of the +fathers.</p> + +<p>Thus Dorlan, intending to begin anew his movement which we saw so +tragically interrupted, returned to R——, only to suffer a second +interruption in a manner now to be detailed.</p> + +<p>One afternoon as Dorlan sat in his room in the city of R——, musing on the +task before him, his elbows on the table and his noble, handsome face +resting in his hands, rich music, as on a former occasion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> more than a year +ago, came floating up to him. The music revealed the touch and the voice of +Morlene. He had not seen nor heard from her since that eventful night on +which she labored so valiantly to save his life.</p> + +<p>Dorlan arose and went down stairs with a view to renewing his acquaintance +with Morlene. He knew nothing whatever of Harry's death, which had +transpired in his absence. Dorlan entered the room where Morlene was +playing. She turned to receive the new comer whoever it might be. A joyful +exclamation escaped her lips when she perceived that it was Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Warthell, I am so very glad to see you alive and well. How often have +I subjected my actions to the closest scrutiny, disposed to accuse myself +of not doing all that might have been done to prevent that dastardly +assault upon you."</p> + +<p>Dorlan was so entranced with Morlene's loveliness that he did not catch the +full purport of what she was saying. Morlene was clad in mourning and +Dorlan was drinking in the beauty of her loveliness in this new +combination.</p> + +<p>When Morlene finished her sentence and it was incumbent upon Dorlan to +reply, he was momentarily embarrassed, not knowing what to say, having lost +what Morlene was saying by absorption in contemplating her great beauty. It +was tolerably clear to him that her remark was one of solicitous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> interest +in himself, and after a very brief pause he said:</p> + +<p>"Excuse me for not desiring to give attention to myself, in view of the +fact that I am but now made aware by your mourning that some dear one has +passed away."</p> + +<p>"You have not heard, then," said Morlene, a look of sadness creeping over +her face. She sat down on the piano stool whence she had arisen. "I have +lost my husband. He was killed in the act of stopping some runaway horses +more than a year ago."</p> + +<p>Immediately there burst upon Dorlan's consciousness the thought that +Morlene was free and that he might aspire for her hand. So great a hope +thrust upon him so suddenly bewildered him by its very glory. Ordinarily +imperturbable, even in the face of unexpected situations, he was now +visibly agitated. He knew that he ought to frame words of condolence, but +the new hope, springing from the secret chambers of his heart where he had +long kept it in absolute bondage, clamored so loudly for a hearing that he +could not deploy enough of his wits to speak in keeping with the amenities +of the situation.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me for a few moments, Mrs. Dalton," asked Dorlan, leaving the room. +He went up the stairs leading to his room, taking two steps at a bound. +Entering, he locked his door. Thrusting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> his hands into his pockets, he +gazed abstractedly at the floor for a moment, then up at the ceiling. The +word which as a boy he had used to denote great astonishment now came +unbidden to his lips.</p> + +<p>"Gee-whillikens!" he exclaimed. "And that divine woman is free! Thought, I +wish you would sink into my consciousness at once," said Dorlan, +apostrophizing. A few moments succeeded in imparting to him an outward look +of calm. He then returned and expressed his feelings of condolence in words +that suggested themselves to him as being appropriate. He soon excused +himself from Morlene's presence with a view to rearranging his whole system +of thinking so as to be in keeping with the new conditions with which he +was thus unexpectedly confronted. "I have a little problem of desired +expansion on my own hands, and I fear the government will have to wag along +without me the best way it can for a while," said Dorlan to himself.</p> + +<p>The ultimate status of Morlene Dalton was now of more importance to him +than the ultimate status of the Filipinos.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>A STREET PARADE.</h3> + + +<p>A band of Negro musicians playing a popular air, was passing through the +street on which Dorlan resided. He was in the act of going out of the gate +as the procession got opposite to him, and paused to allow it to pass. +There was a great concourse of Negro boys and girls, men and women, +following the band of musicians. Their clothes were unclean, ragged and +ill-fitting. Their faces and hands were soiled and seemed not to have been +washed for many a day. The motley throng seemed to be utterly oblivious of +its gruesome appearance, and all were walking along in boldness and with +good cheer.</p> + +<p>"Now those Negroes are moulding sentiment against the entire race," thought +Dorlan, as his eye scanned the unsightly mass. "Be the requirement just or +unjust the polished Negro is told to return and bring his people with him, +before coming into possession of that to which his attainments would seem +to entitle him. It is my opinion that there must be developed within the +race a stronger altruistic tie before it can push forward at a proper gait. +The classes must love the masses,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> in spite of the bad name the race is +given by the indolent, the sloven and the criminal element." Taking another +survey of the throng he said, "Ah! the squalor and misery of my poor +voiceless race! What we see here is but a bird's-eye view. The heart grows +sick when it contemplates the plight of the Negroes of the cities."</p> + +<p>Dorlan's eye now wandered from the people to the band. In the midst of the +musicians he saw a cart pulled by five dogs hitched abreast. In the cart +stood a man holding aloft a banner which bore a peculiar inscription.</p> + +<p>Dorlan read the inscription on the banner and looked puzzled. Coming out of +his gate he kept pace with the procession, never withdrawing his eye from +the banner. He read it the second, third, fourth and fifth times. At length +he called out, "Hold! here am I." The occupant of the cart leapt up and +gazed wildly over the throng, endeavoring to see the person that had +spoken.</p> + +<p>"Here," said Dorlan. The man looked at Dorlan, jumped from his cart and +rushed through the crowd and ran to Dorlan's side. Taking a knife from his +pocket he quickly made a slit in Dorlan's clothes just over the muscular +part of his left arm. The purposes of the man were so evidently amicable +that Dorlan interposed no objection. The man seemed to be satisfied with +what he saw. He now threw himself at Dorlan's feet and uttered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> loud +exclamations of joy. Arising he turned to pay and dismiss the band.</p> + +<p>The throng by this time was thoroughly excited over the curious antics of +the stranger, and had clustered around Dorlan wondering what it was that +had caused such an abrupt cessation of the open air concert which they were +enjoying. The stranger now locked his arm in that of Dorlan and the two +returned to Dorlan's home. The crowd followed and stood for a long time at +Dorlan's gate hoping that the two would return and afford an explanation. +As this did not happen, they at length dispersed.</p> + +<p>When Dorlan and the stranger entered the former's room and were seated, +they looked at each other in silence, Dorlan awaiting to be addressed and +the stranger seeking to further assure himself that he was not mistaken. He +arose and again looked at the markings on Dorlan's arm. He now spoke some +words in a strange tongue. Dorlan readily replied in the same language.</p> + +<p>The stranger now felt safe in beginning his narrative. Said he, in English, +"My name is Ulbah Kumi. I hail from Africa. I am one of an army of +commissioners sent out by our kingdom into all parts of the world where +Negroes have been held in modern times as slaves. We are hunting for the +descendants of a lost prince. This prince was the oldest son of our +reigning king, and was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> taken captive in a battle fought with a rival +kingdom. He was sold into slavery. The royal family had a motto and a +family mark. You recognized the motto on the banner; you have the royal +mark. You also look to be a prince. Tell me your family history and I will +make to you further disclosures."</p> + +<p>Dorlan now told of his father and his grandfather. His grandfather had +always claimed to be the heir to an African throne, had imbued his, +Dorlan's father, with that thought. The father had taught the same to +Dorlan. A certain formula, said to be known to no others on earth, was +cherished in their family.</p> + +<p>"Now! Now!" said Kumi when Dorlan recited that fact. "That formula is no +doubt a key that will unfold the hiding place of treasures that will make +you the richest man in the world. Here is an inventory of what is to be +found in that hiding place."</p> + +<p>Dorlan took the reputed inventory. The enormous value of the items cited +staggered his imagination. "This is incredulous," said Dorlan. "How could +Africans, unlearned in the values of civilized nations, know how to store +away these things."</p> + +<p>"Easily explained," said Kumi. "A white explorer spent years in our kingdom +collecting these things. We deemed them worthless, gave them to him readily +and called him fool. He took sick in our country and saw that he was going +to die. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> called your great grandfather, our king, to his bedside, told +him that civilization would make its way into Africa one day, and urged him +at all hazards to preserve and secrete the treasures that he had collected. +Our king was led to believe that these treasures would make him one of the +greatest rulers of earth, and he obeyed the dying man's injunction. The +white man left this inventory and a document giving the location of his +European home, the names and family history of his kin, asking that our +king remember them in the day of his affluence.</p> + +<p>"Our king gave the formula that leads to the hiding place to your +grandfather, your grandfather told it to your father, your father has, I +see, no doubt, told it to you.</p> + +<p>"As a further proof that I speak the truth I hand you now a few specimen +stones that were reserved to prevent this affair from being classed as a +myth." He now took from a pocket a box of costly stones and handed them to +Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"How these things would grace Morlene," thought Dorlan, as his eye passed +from one sparkling jewel to another.</p> + +<p>It now occurred to Dorlan that the acceptance of this fortune might entail +upon him a sacrifice of which he was incapable. It might involve his +leaving this country, a step that he could not even contemplate in view of +the fact that Morlene was now free. The looming of this contingency before +his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> mind caused him to drop the jewels as though they had suddenly become +hot. Kumi looked up at him in great astonishment.</p> + +<p>Dorlan's face now wore a pained expression. He had always been profoundly +interested in Africa and was congratulating himself on the opportunity now +offered to convert the proffered kingdom into an enlightened republic. It +now seemed that his own interests and those of his ancestral home were +about to clash. He cannot endure the thought of putting an ocean between +Morlene and himself. Nor can he with equanimity think of allowing Africa to +remain in her existing condition.</p> + +<p>"When am I expected to go to Africa?" enquired Dorlan in serious tones.</p> + +<p>"You may not have to come at all, and yet serve our purpose."</p> + +<p>"How so?" asked Dorlan, arising and drawing near to Kumi.</p> + +<p>The latter began: "We Africans are engaged in a sociological investigation +of many questions. We are seeking to know definitely what part the climate, +the surface, the flora and the fauna have played in keeping us in +civilization's back yard. Huxley thinks that our woolly hair and black +skins came to us only after our race took up its abode in Africa. He holds +that it was nature's contribution to render us immune from the yellow fever +germs so abundant in swampy regions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He thinks that those of our race who did not take on a dark hue and woolly +texture of hair were the less adapted to life in the tropics and eventually +died out, leaving those that were better adjusted to survive.</p> + +<p>"He thinks that these beneficial modifications were preserved and +transmitted with increasing strength from generation to generation until +our hue and our hair or the physical attributes for which they stand +rendered us immune from yellow fever. I may add that Livingstone says of +us, 'Heat alone does not produce blackness of skin, but heat with moisture +seems to insure the deepest hue.'</p> + +<p>"Now, nature, in thus protecting us against yellow fever, by changing our +color from the original, whatever it was, has painted upon us a sign that +causes some races to think that there is a greater difference between us +and them than there really is. So much for our color and the ills that it +has entailed."</p> + +<p>Dorlan interrupted Kumi to remark very feelingly:</p> + +<p>"I am truly glad that you are not inoculated with that utterly nonsensical +view to be met with in this country, which represents that the Negro's +color is the result of a curse pronounced by Noah upon his recovery from a +drunken stupor. Please proceed."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<p>Kumi resumed his remarks. "Mr. Herbert Spencer holds that our comparative +lack of energy is due to heat and <i>moisture</i>. He states that 'the earliest +recorded civilization grew up in a hot and dry region—Egypt; and in hot +and dry regions also arose the Babylonian, Assyrian and Phœnician +civilizations.' He points out that all 'the conquering races of the world +have hailed from within or from the borders of the hot and dry region +marked on the rain map 'rainless districts,' and extending across North +Africa, Arabia, Persia, and on through Thibet into Mongolia.'</p> + +<p>"He, therefore, would ascribe our backwardness principally to a woful lack +of energy, a condition brought on by our hot and moist climate.</p> + +<p>"When our investigation of these questions is complete," continued Kumi, +"we will know just what has brought us where we are and can determine +whether artificial appliances sufficient to counteract existing influences +can be discovered and instituted.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Benjamin Kidd seems to think that the tropics can never develop the +highest type of civilization. In the event that the government of the +tropics is to be conducted from the temperate zones, we tropical people +will desire Negroes to remain in the temperate zones, to advocate such +policies and form such alliances as shall be for our highest good.</p> + +<p>"So, it may turn out to be the best for you, our king, to remain here, for +our welfare, owing to our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> peculiar environments, depends, just now, as +much upon what others think of us as upon what we ourselves may do. The +question of your going to Africa is not, therefore, a pressing one, yet."</p> + +<p>"That leaves me somewhat free to deal with a question that <i>is</i> pressing, +and pressing hard," said Dorlan, clasping Kumi's hand in joy, now that the +way was clear for him to serve without conflict his own heart and the home +of his fathers.</p> + +<p>Kumi looked at Dorlan puzzled as to what question it was that was pressing +for a settlement. Dorlan did not enlighten him on the subject, however.</p> + +<p>But we know, do we not, dear reader?</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>GOING FORTH TO UNFETTER.</h3> + + +<p>Morlene was yet wearing mourning for Harry, and, as a consequence, Dorlan +was forced to delay the inauguration of his suit. If you think that this +procedure, or rather non-procedure, was to his liking, but ask the stars +unto whom his heart so often entrusted its secrets; ask the wee small hours +of the night who saw him restless, times without number.</p> + +<p>Somehow his business seemed to require him to pass Morlene's house rather +often; and yet the business could not have been so very urgent, in that he +found so much time to spare, talking to Morlene in an informal way at her +gate. And, to go further, if the truth must out, Morlene's presence at that +gate at Dorlan's time of passing did happen, we must admit, rather often to +be placed in the category with usual <i>accidental</i> occurrences.</p> + +<p>Now and then, at rare intervals, Dorlan would pay Morlene a call on some +matter of business, he would say. On those occasions it was interesting to +note how quickly the business matter was disposed of—in fact, was so often +actually forgotten by Dorlan and, it must be confessed, by Morlene, too.</p> + +<p>The truth of the matter is, to be plain, these two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> individuals had +discovered that their souls were congenial spirits, each seeming to need +the other, if it would have a sense of completeness. Now, this was the +latent Dorlan and the latent Morlene, the apparent Dorlan and the apparent +Morlene co-operating with society in its policy of adding to the duration +of the marriage vow, which reads until death, but which has been stretched +by society to an indefinite period thereafter. This discovery of a bond of +affinity, we say, was purely the work of the latent Dorlan and the latent +Morlene, for were not those two members of society abstaining from all +mention of the regard, the deep regard, the boundless——excuse us, the +period of mourning has not passed.</p> + +<p>One day Dorlan discovered by consulting his memorandum that about the usual +time between those business (?) propositions had elapsed and he searched +his mind for a plausible excuse for making a call.</p> + +<p>When Dorlan arrived at Morlene's home that night, imagine his feelings when +he saw on entering the parlor that she had at last laid aside her mourning +attire. The thought that she was now approachable set his soul ablaze.</p> + +<p>What Dorlan took to be the most wicked of all demons, seemed to say to him, +"Don't declare yourself on this the very first occasion. Those gate talks +and business visits are not supposed to have been acts of courtship, +remember."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Will you please leave me?" whispered Dorlan's soul to the imaginary +grinning demon that made the suggestion.</p> + +<p>Utterly repudiating all thought of further delay, Dorlan drew close to +Morlene. She saw the love signals in Dorlan's eyes. Rather than have her +soul flash back replies, she inclined her head forward and looking down, +clutched the table near which she stood.</p> + +<p>"Morlene," said Dorlan, "I really believe that my heart will burst if I do +not let out its secret. Morlene, I love you. But you know that and you know +how well. You have read this and more, too, in my countenance. Will you be +my wife?"</p> + +<p>Those words spoken into Morlene's ear at close range were elixir unto her +soul. Looking up into Dorlan's face, her eyes told of love, deep, +boundless. This Dorlan saw. But he saw more than love. He saw despair +written so legibly upon that sweet face that it could not be misunderstood +and would not be ignored.</p> + +<p>"Come," said Dorlan, leading Morlene to a seat. Sitting down by her side +and taking one of her lovely hands in his, he said in tones charged with +deepest emotion:</p> + +<p>"Tell me, dear girl, that you will be my wife. May I, poor worm of the +dust, be allowed to call you my own?" plead Dorlan, bestowing on Morlene +that peculiar look born of love stirred to its depths by anxiety.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I do not know, Mr. Warthell, I do not know. It——"</p> + +<p>"Do not know," gasped Dorlan, dropping the hand tenderly. "My God! she does +not know!" he groaned.</p> + +<p>"Wait but a second, and all will be plain," said Morlene, placing a hand +upon Dorlan's arm and looking eagerly into his grief-torn face.</p> + +<p>"Wait a second," repeated Dorlan mechanically. "A second in moments like +these seems akin to an eternity. But I wait."</p> + +<p>"Now, Mr. Warthell, be fair to yourself," said Morlene, soothingly. "You +remarked that I must have read some things in your countenance. Remember +your soul has an eyesight, and you have done some reading, too." Her eyes +were averted, her tones low, her speech halting as she made this +half-confession to Dorlan's eager ears.</p> + +<p>Dorlan, who had been feeling more like an arctic explorer than a suitor for +a lady's hand, felt his blood running warmer from the effects of this +morsel of cheer.</p> + +<p>"I will explain to you what it is that I do not know, Mr. Warthell. I do +not know how long it will be before conditions in the South will warrant +women of my way of thinking in becoming wives of men of your mould."</p> + +<p>"If," said Dorlan, rising, "consideration of this matter is to be postponed +until my environments<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> enable me to prove myself worthy of you, my doom is +certain. For the most benign influences of earth have not produced the man +that could claim your hand on the ground of merit."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Warthell, you misapprehend. A second thought would have told you not +to place a construction on my remarks that causes them to savor of egotism +on my part. It is far from me to suggest that anything is needed to make +you worthy of any woman. To the contrary, your esteem is a tribute than +which there is nothing higher, so I feel. Now, hear me calmly," said +Morlene.</p> + +<p>"Not until I have purged myself of contempt," said Dorlan, deferentially.</p> + +<p>"I hold that egotism is inordinate self-esteem, esteem carried beyond what +is deserved. Under this definition, show me, please, how you could manifest +egotism. It is absolutely unthinkable from my point of view."</p> + +<p>Morlene waved her hand deprecatingly, told Dorlan to be seated and began an +explanation of the peculiar situation in which they found themselves. +Dorlan was calmer now; he realized an undercurrent of love in all that +Morlene was saying and he knew, as all men know, that love will eventually +assert itself. So he bore Morlene's attempt to tie cords about her +affections, much in the spirit of one who might see a web woven across the +sky for the feet of the sun.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<p>Morlene said: "Mr. Warthell, to my mind it is the function of the wife to +idealize the aims of a husband, to quicken the energies that would flag, to +be at once the incentive and perennial inspiration of his noble +achievements, to point him to the stars and steady his hand as he carves +his name upon the skies. In the South the Negro wife is robbed of this holy +task. We are being taught in certain high quarters that self-repression is +the Negro's chiefest virtue. Our bodies are free—they no longer wear the +chains, but our spirits are yet in fetters. I have firmly resolved, Mr. +Warthell, to accept no place by a husband's side until I can say to his +spirit, 'Go forth to fill the earth with goodness and glory.'"</p> + +<p>Morlene paused for an instant.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Warthell, in you may slumber the genius of a Pericles, but a wife in +the South dare not urge upon you to become a town constable or a justice of +the peace. Talk about slavery! Ah! the chains that fetter the body are but +as ropes of down when compared to those that fetter the mind, the spirit of +man. And think ye I would enter your home simply to inspire that great soul +of yours to restlessness and fruitless tuggings at its chains! In the day +when a Negro has a man's chance in the race of life, I will let my heart +say to you, Mr. Warthell, all that it wishes to say."</p> + +<p>Morlene ceased speaking and the two sat long in silence. Dorlan was the +first to speak.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Morlene, I confess I am a slave. My neighbors, my white fellow citizens, +have formed a pen, have drawn a zigzag line about me and told me that I +must not step across on pain of death. Having a mind as other men, such +arbitrary restrictions are galling. I am then a slave, limited not by my +capacity to feel and do, but by the color of my skin. You do not wish to +marry a slave; refuse him for his own good. All of that is clear to me, and +I chide you not. Come! There are lands where a man's color places no +restrictions on his aspirations for what is high and useful. Let us flee +thither!"</p> + +<p>"No, no, no, Mr. Warthell! Let us not flee. At least, not yet. Our dignity +as a people demands that the manhood rights of the race be recognized on +every foot of soil on which the sun sees fit to cast his rays."</p> + +<p>"Now, Morlene," said Dorlan, "you as good as tell me that you will never be +my wife. Pray, tell me, why am I so rudely tossed about upon the bosom of +life's heaving ocean?" These words were spoken in tones of utter despair.</p> + +<p>"I have not said that I would not be your wife, Dorlan. I am trying every +day I live to devise a solution for our Southern problem."</p> + +<p>"She called me Dorlan, she called me Dorlan," said he to himself, rejoicing +inwardly over this fresh burst of sunshine just as his gloom was deepening. +Suddenly his face showed the illumination of a great hope.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Morlene! Morlene!" cried Dorlan, in a rush of enthusiasm, "Suppose I, +Dorlan Warthell, solve this problem; suppose I unfetter the mind of the +Negro and allow it full scope for operation; suppose I offer to you a +thoroughly substantial hope of racial regeneration, will you——" Here +Dorlan paused and looked lovingly into the sweet face upturned to his. "If +I do these things," he resumed in sober tone, "will you be my wife?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Warthell, if you can open the way for me to really be your wife, there +is nothing in my heart that bids me shrink from the love you offer."</p> + +<p>Dorlan's mind entertained one great burst of hope, then fled at once to the +great race problem that had hung pall-like over the heads of the American +people for so many generations, and now stood between himself and Morlene. +A sense of the enormity of the task that he had undertaken now overwhelmed +him. Dorlan bowed his head, the following thoughts coursing through his +agitated mind: "I am to weld two heterogeneous elements into a homogeneous +entity. I am to make a successful blend of two races that differ so widely +as do the whites and the Negroes. Each race has manifested its racial +instincts, and has shown us all, that wise planning must take account of +these. The problem is inherently a difficult one and of a highly complex +nature. But with an incentive such as I have, surely it can be solved.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln said the problem was incapable of +solution, that the two races could not live together on terms of equality. +They were great and wise, but not infallible. With Morlene as a prize, I +shall prove them wrong." Morlene, taking advantage of his abstraction, +bestowed on him an unreserved look of pitying love.</p> + +<p>Dorlan looked up suddenly from his reverie, and their eyes met once more. +There was no reserve now and Dorlan's joy was so keen that it seemed to +pain him. Arising to go, he said: "I go from you consecrating my whole +power to the task before me. Fortunate it is, indeed, for the South that +she has at least one man so surrounded that he cannot be happy himself +until he makes this wilderness of woe blossom as a rose. Farewell."</p> + +<p>Dorlan now left and walked slowly toward his home. He reflected, "I will +have no business at her home now until this problem is solved. Suppose I do +not solve it."</p> + +<p>Dorlan's fears began to assert themselves. "I may never, never see that +face again. Think of it!" he said. This thought was too much for Dorlan. He +paused, leaned upon the fence, thrust his hat back from his fevered brow. +He turned and retraced his steps to Morlene's home. She met him at the door +and was not surprised at his return. Her heart was craving for just another +sight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> of its exiled lord. Re-entering the parlor, they stood facing each +other.</p> + +<p>"Morlene," said Dorlan, "I have come to ask a boon of you. I can labor so +much better with a full assurance of your love. From your eyes, from your +words, I say humbly, I have come to feel that you have honored me with that +love. But the testimony is incomplete. Will you grant unto me the one +remaining assurance? Will you seal our most holy compact with a kiss?"</p> + +<p>Morlene's lips parted not, but she attempted an answer, nevertheless. Her +queenlike head was shaking negatively, saying, "Please do not require +that." But those telltale eyes were saying, "Why, young man the whole +matter rests with you." Morlene was conscious that her eyes were +contradicting the negative answer that her head was giving. To punish the +two beautiful traitors she turned them away from Dorlan and made them look +at the carpet. Morlene in this attitude was so exquisitely beautiful that +Dorlan was powerless to resist the impulse that made him take her into his +arms.</p> + +<p>One rapturous kiss, and Dorlan was gone!</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>TONY MARSHALL.</h3> + + +<p>Tony Marshall was one of the Negroes of the younger class who had left the +country district and had come to R—— as a result of the imbroglio between +Lemuel Dalton and Harry Dalton. He had come to the city with the untried +innocence of country life, sober, industrious and frugal, acceptable as a +wholesome infusion into Negro life in the city, which, so far as the masses +were concerned, stood sadly in need thereof. Without much difficulty he had +secured work as a porter in a hardware store. After a few years' sojourn in +the city, he had fallen in love and married.</p> + +<p>Among the Negroes of R—— Mrs. Tony Marshall was variously designated as +"a good looking woman," "a fine looking woman," and among the older ones as +"a likely gal;" and she richly deserved these encomiums passed on her +personal appearance. She was not a small woman, nor yet could you call her +large. Her form, while not delicately chiseled, presented an appearance +that seemed to be a satisfactory compromise between beauty and strength, +each struggling to be noted in this one form. Her face was well featured, +her hazle colored eyes making it very attractive. As to complexion,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> she +was dark, quite dark, and of a hue so soft and attractive therewith that +her complexion made her an object of envy.</p> + +<p>Tony Marshall adored his wife, and it was his one ambition to see her +happy. Everything that he did was with a view to her comfort and happiness. +On the meagre wages which he received he had not been able to provide for +her as he had desired.</p> + +<p>Noticing that young white men who had entered the employ of the hardware +company after his coming and knew no more of the requirements of the +business than he did—noticing that these had several times been promoted, +Tony Marshall made an application for an increase in his wages. The head of +the firm looked at him in astonishment. It was an unwritten and inexorable +rule in that and in many other establishments that the wages of Negro +employes were to remain the same forever, however efficient the labor and +however long the term of service.</p> + +<p>Failing of promotion where he was, and noting that the rate of one dollar +per day prevailed almost universally, Tony Marshall saw no relief in +changing employment, and decided to increase his own wages at his +employers' expense. He made a comparison between the salary which he was +receiving and that being received by the white employees who did work +similar in character to his. He began, therefore, to purloin the wares of +the company<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> and dispose of them at various pawn shops. As a "sop" to his +conscience he stole only so much as sufficed to bring his wages to the +level of others who did work like his. His thefts were the more easily +committed because he had won the unlimited confidence of his employers.</p> + +<p>Tony has just rented a more commodious house for the pleasure of his wife, +and as his rent is to be increased, he is pondering how to further increase +his income. On this particular morning when our story finds him, he is +debating this question as he walks to his work. At last he concluded to +steal that day a very fine pistol from the stock under his care, which +theft he hoped would net him such a nice sum that he could suspend +pilfering for a while. When he returned home that evening he carried the +pistol with him, and hid it under the front doorstep, it being his rule to +not allow his wife to know anything of his misdoings; for he could not bear +the thought of forfeiting her respect.</p> + +<p>"I am going to my lodge meeting now; I may not return until very late," +said Tony that night, as he kissed his wife good-bye. Instead of going to +the lodge meeting, however, Tony Marshall went to the section of the city +where were congregated practically all of the vicious Negroes of R——. +Entering a house, the front room of which was the abode of an aged couple, +he passed to the rear through a hall way. Giving the proper rap at a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> door, +he was admitted. He was now in a long room well crowded with Negro men and +many women, who sat at tables engaged in various kinds of gaming.</p> + +<p>The occupants of the room gazed up at the newcomer, quickly, enquiringly, +but seeing that it was the well known Tony, their attention returned to the +matters before them. The flapping of cards, the rolling of dice, outbursts +of profanity, the clinking of glasses as liquor drinking progressed, were +the sounds that filled the room.</p> + +<p>Tony found room at a dice table and was soon deeply engaged in the game. At +a late hour the accustomed rap was heard at the door and it was opened. +Great was the consternation of all when the newcomers were discovered to be +a half dozen policemen.</p> + +<p>The inmates of the gambling house saw at once that some frequenter of the +place had proven traitor and furnished the officers with information. They +were all placed under arrest and formed into a line to be marched to the +city jail. The Negroes had submitted with such good grace that the officers +felt able to dispense with the patrol wagon, the jail being near.</p> + +<p>Tony Marshall's thoughts were of his wife, Lula. She was of a highly +respectable family and her mortification would be boundless should she know +of his arrest in the gambling den and hear of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> being in the chain gang +working out his fine on the public highways.</p> + +<p>Tony Marshall decided to escape at the risk of his life. The gambling +fraternity had a code of signals that could give the cue to the proper +course to be pursued under any given circumstances. The leader of the gang +now gave three coughs, which meant, "Raise a row among yourselves." The +idea was to get up a fight among the prisoners and while the officers were +attempting to quell the fight, as many as could were to make their escape. +It was the rule that all who made their escape were to employ lawyers and +raise money to help out those left behind.</p> + +<p>A group began quarreling among themselves, and a fight soon followed. The +officers interposed to quell the disturbance and prisoners broke and ran in +all directions. The officers found that they had a larger number than they +could well manage under the circumstances, and they gave their attention to +corralling a few, letting the others escape in the hope of tracing them out +and re-arresting them on the morrow.</p> + +<p>Among those that escaped was Tony Marshall. Running by his home, he secured +the stolen pistol from beneath the doorstep, got his bicycle from the +woodhouse and was soon speeding out of the city. He chose the road that led +to the settlement whence he had come to the city. It was his intention +from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> that point to write to his wife, telling her that he had received a +most urgent call to see his aged mother who was represented to him to be +dying.</p> + +<p>Throughout the night Tony rode at a rapid rate, putting many miles between +himself and the city. About daybreak, as he was speeding along on his +bicycle, he glanced up into a tree and saw therein a squirrel. "Good luck!" +said he, "there is my breakfast." Jumping from his bicycle, he got on the +side of the road opposite to the tree that held the squirrel. Elevating his +pistol, he took aim and was upon the eve of pulling the trigger when he +heard the clatter of the hoofs of a horse galloping in his direction. He +dropped the pistol to his side and peered around the bend of the road to +catch sight of the newcomer on the scene. For a few minutes only we leave +him standing thus that we may fully acquaint you with the newcomer, that +the horror of the meeting between the two may not come as too great a shock +to you.</p> + +<p>"But how is the waiting, struggling, hoping Dorlan concerned in all of +this?" the reader asks. That, too, in due time will be apparent.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>A MORNING RIDE.</h3> + + +<p>We are at the Dalton house once more. It is the night on which we followed +Tony Marshall to the gambling den, which we saw raided by the officers of +the law. Under the window of Lemuel Dalton's bed room a dog had stationed +himself, and throughout the night uttered long, loud and piteous howls.</p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton professed to be above superstition and detested that in the +Negroes more than he did anything else, perhaps. While professing to the +contrary, he was in reality superstitious to a marked degree, even against +his own better sense. This semi-consciousness of the presence of a latent +superstition in the crevices of his inner-self, no doubt served to +intensify his antipathies against a people who had thus in spite of himself +injected superstition into him; for he blamed the Negroes for the +prevalence of superstition in the Southern States. So the howling of this +homeless dog bothered Lemuel, although he sought to assure himself, over +and over again, that it did not. He had arisen more than once and fired his +pistol out of the window in order to stop the noise of the dog. The dog +would quiet down for a brief period and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> resume his canine +lamentations. The howling of the dog, coupled with its persistence, +produced in Lemuel Dalton a state of mind bordering on terror. The Negroes +held that the howling of a dog beneath a window was a sure sign that an +inmate of the house was soon to die.</p> + +<p>Arising very early the next morning, Lemuel Dalton entered his library and +took a seat. He wheeled his chair until it faced the east window and, +tilting back in it, mechanically twirled his mustache, a look of deep +meditation coming over his face. "Confound the people who first brought the +Negroes to this country," he said. He was worried that he could not shake +off the superstition as to death following the howling of a dog.</p> + +<p>In the midst of his broodings Lemuel Dalton's pretty little wife (for he is +married now) came dashing into the room attired in a riding habit. Lemuel +Dalton wheeled around to meet her and her quick eye caught the cloud that +was just vanishing from his face.</p> + +<p>"Lemuel, my dear, what on earth are you allowing to trouble you?" she said, +shaking her riding whip at him, playfully, while her eyes were shining with +the love that she cherished for him.</p> + +<p>"I may tell you when you return from your morning ride," he said, opening +his arms to receive his wife.</p> + +<p>"You naughty lad," she cried, looking into his eyes with mock earnestness. +"When did you ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> hear of a woman consenting to wait a moment to obtain a +secret? Tell me <i>now</i> on pain of being doomed to bear this burden, my +humble self, in your arms for ever."</p> + +<p>"The very penalty that you affix as a menace is an inducement for me to +disobey. I resist the temptation, however, and tell you the subject of my +thoughts. I was thinking of the Negroes."</p> + +<p>A shiver ran over the frame of Mrs. Dalton and the cheerful smile died out +of her face. "Lemuel, will you people of the South ever be rid of this +eternal nightmare?" queried Mrs. Dalton, looking up into Lemuel's face.</p> + +<p>Lemuel tenderly stroked her beautiful hair, but did not essay to answer her +question. The fact of the matter was, he regarded the Negro problem as +growing graver and more complicated as time wore on. The strenuous efforts +of the Negro to rise and the decrease of the distance between the two races +he viewed with alarm. He did not care to communicate his real feelings to +his wife, so he said nothing.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dalton's nature was of a light and volatile kind and she thought of +the Negroes only for an instant. Wresting herself out of her husband's +arms, she skipped out of the room. She immediately reappeared at the door +of the library and threw a kiss at Lemuel in girlish fashion and was soon +mounted and riding out to get the benefit of the brisk morning air. As she +saunters along, we may learn a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> points in her history that bear upon +the case unto which events are leading. She was born and reared in a +section of the State of Maine where no Negroes whatever live. It was here +that Lemuel Dalton found, wooed, and wedded her. She had read from time to +time of the crimes of brutal Negroes and the summary punishments +administered to them, and she had rather imperceptibly grown to regard the +prevailing race type of the Negroes as being criminal. This opinion was not +an unnatural outgrowth of the newspaper habit of giving unlimited space and +flaming headlines to the vicious Negro, the exotic, while the many millions +who day by day went uncomplainingly to their daily tasks and wrought +worthily for the country's welfare, received but scant attention.</p> + +<p>The opinion that this state of affairs caused Mrs. Dalton to imbibe, was +the further fostered by the atmosphere of the Dalton house, which was so +thoroughly hostile to the Negro. The whole of the Dalton place was now +manned by white help, and Negroes would not so much as go there on errands +of business. It was from such a home and under the conditions outlined that +Mrs. Dalton went forth for her morning ride.</p> + +<p>It was the noise of Mrs. Dalton's horse that caused Tony Marshall to pause +in his attempt to kill the squirrel.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3>THEY FEAR EACH OTHER.</h3> + + +<p>As Tony peered around the bend in the road, Mrs. Dalton caught sight of him +and uttered a piercing scream. Tony knew the horse to be that of Lemuel +Dalton and he perceived at once that the situation was full of danger for +him, as the unintentional frightening of white women in the South had +furnished more than one victim for the mob. Knowing so well the feelings of +Lemuel Dalton toward Negroes, he reasoned that if the white woman who had +become frightened at him, returned to the house and reported that she had +come upon a Negro with a drawn pistol, public opinion among the whites +would at once adjudge him guilty of harboring a purpose of committing a +dastardly crime against woman's honor. He knew that a strong suspicion to +this effect meant instant and violent death to the party suspected. He was +determined to see to it that the woman did not leave him in a disturbed +frame of mind. Rushing forward, he grasped the horse's bridle. This all the +more frightened and excited Mrs. Dalton.</p> + +<p>"Lady," said Tony, fear in every lineament of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> his face; "Lady," he +repeated, in anxious tones, "don't be afraid. I am not going to harm you."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dalton instinctively looked down at the pistol, which seemed to be a +contradiction to his words.</p> + +<p>Seeing the look and interpreting it, Tony said, "There, I have thrown it +away," accompanying his words with the casting of the pistol by the +roadside.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dalton yet said nothing, her eye following the pistol. She noted that +Tony had not thrown it very far away.</p> + +<p>Tony, who was studying her countenance with a full knowledge of the fact +that his life depended upon the outcome of the interview, read her +impression that the casting aside of the pistol was but a ruse. "Lady," +said Tony, "I have caught hold of your horse to keep you from going away +from me frightened, for the white people will kill me on a mere suspicion +of wrong intention on my part. I am harmless. I used to live out here."</p> + +<p>This last remark increased Mrs. Dalton's agitation. She had heard of Harry +Dalton, knew nothing of his death and feared that this was he, returning +for vengeance.</p> + +<p>"I got into trouble in the city and am running away. That's how I am out +here so early."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he is a criminal," said Mrs. Dalton, excitedly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> + +<p>Tony saw that talking did not better his case, so he stopped. He bowed his +head to meditate.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dalton thought that he was planning an attack, and her agitation was +increasing every second.</p> + +<p>"Plague on it!" said Tony. "I am in a pretty fix. I'll swear I wish those +'cops' had me safe in prison. I have swapped the witch for the devil."</p> + +<p>Addressing Mrs. Dalton he said: "Well, lady, I'll let you go and take my +chances."</p> + +<p>As soon as Tony turned loose the bridle Mrs. Dalton gave whip to her horse, +intending to flee as fast as the speed of the animal would permit. Tony saw +that his action in turning the horse loose had not inspired confidence in +the woman and that she was leaving him fully impressed that his purposes +were evil. He now decided to take advantage of every circumstance that he +could to save his life.</p> + +<p>Seizing his pistol, he ran forward and fired, intending to kill the horse +and thus have a better chance to escape before the woman could reach her +home and start others in pursuit. At his second shot the horse reared and +Mrs. Dalton fell off to the ground. The horse also fell, a part of his huge +frame falling upon and crushing her prostrate form.</p> + +<p>When Tony Marshall saw what he had done, he turned to flee. Proceeding a +short distance, he halted. "I must go back to find out whether the woman is +dead," he said. He therefore turned and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> walked in a timorous manner toward +the fallen woman. "Some one may have heard the shot and may be hurrying +here," he thought, and halted again, casting furtive glances first up and +then down the road. "What, oh, what have I done to be in such a fix!" he +exclaimed in terror.</p> + +<p>Continuing to look about him fearfully, Tony approached the spot where the +horse and the woman lay. By dint of hard labor, he succeeded in removing +that portion of the horse that lay upon her. He was overjoyed to find from +her pulse that she was still alive. "What must I do next," he said. He sat +down to meditate. "I haven't yet murdered anybody and I shall not let this +woman die if I can help it," he said with determination.</p> + +<p>Tony arose and, going to Mrs. Dalton, lifted her in his arms and proceeded +in the direction of her home. After many pauses by the wayside for rest, he +at last reached the Dalton estate. Through the window of his library, +Lemuel Dalton saw his wife being brought home to him in an apparently +lifeless condition. At once Morlene's prophecy came back to him. Raising +the window and leaping out, he rushed to meet Tony and gathered his wife in +his arms.</p> + +<p>"Eulalie! Eulalie! Oh! Eulalie!" he cried. "Speak to me, beloved."</p> + +<p>"Lemuel," she murmured, as she looked at him out of half opened eyes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Thank God! Oh! Thank God, she lives," he exclaimed, bearing his wife +rapidly yet tenderly to her bedroom.</p> + +<p>The family physician was summoned and he hastened to the bedside with all +possible speed. Only a slight examination, however, was needed to disclose +the fact that human skill would be of no avail.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>"O DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING?"</h3> + + +<p>Dorlan had just drawn down the curtains to the windows of his room, thus +bringing to a close the contest that the artificial light of the room was +waging with the fading twilight, the last feeble protest of the sun, for +that day deposed. He was standing before his desk which was strewn with +books, pamphlets and newspaper clippings, bearing on the subject engaging +his attention, when suddenly his door was thrust open.</p> + +<p>Quickly turning to learn who his unceremonious visitor was, Dorlan saw the +Hon. Hezekiah T. Bloodworth standing in the doorway pointing a pistol +toward him. The pistol hand swayed to and fro, signifying the unsteadiness +of a drunken man, while Bloodworth's bloated face and reddened eyes +emphasized the fact of his debauchery.</p> + +<p>"Oh—hic—yes—hic—I've got—hic-hic-hic you—hic. +I'll—hic—kill—hic—hic—you—hic," stammered Bloodworth, attempting to +impart force enough to his unsteady fingers to pull the trigger of the +pistol.</p> + +<p>Dorlan started in the direction of the drunken man intending to disarm him. +Just then some one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> implanted a blow upon the base of Bloodworth's skull, +which sent that gentleman to the floor in a sprawling attitude. The pistol +which was in Bloodworth's hand exploded upon striking the floor, but no +serious damage resulted.</p> + +<p>A tall, somewhat slender white man had delivered the blow. This stranger +now forced Bloodworth to rise and accompany him down the stairs. Bloodworth +whined after the manner of a child, as he staggered along. The stranger +hailed a passing policeman and handed Bloodworth over to him. He then +returned to Dorlan's room. As he entered, Dorlan was struck with the look +of sorrow so legibly written in the face of the man. Such utter woe Dorlan +had never before seen depicted in a human countenance. The man, though +invited to sit down, declined to do so.</p> + +<p>Looking Dorlan in the face, the stranger said, "My name is Lemuel Dalton. I +perceive that you glean from my countenance that fate has hurled its +harpoon into my soul." Lemuel Dalton's frame shook as a tempest of emotions +swept through him. "My wife," he continued, "the most beautiful, the most +angelic, the most beloved woman of earth, has been needlessly slain."</p> + +<p>Dorlan was listening with absorbing interest and evident sympathy.</p> + +<p>"Circumstances killed my wife, sir. Circumstances—cold, cruel, +circumstances." Lemuel Dalton<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> paused as though desiring to give his words +ample opportunity to convey their awful message. "It was on this wise," he +resumed. "She met a Negro who was fleeing from justice. She had heard so +much of late of the crimes of Negroes against white women that she was +terribly frightened by the mere fact of seeing this Negro. The Negro was +frightened over the consequences likely to ensue as a result of her fright. +He sought to reassure her. She mistrusted him the more. To keep her from +reaching me in time to institute a successful pursuit, the Negro killed the +horse that she was riding. The horse in falling caught my wife partially +under his huge frame. She was fatally injured."</p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton now turned away from Dorlan to hide the tears that had +gathered in his eyes. "She died," said he, in broken tones. "On her dying +bed she begged me to not prosecute the Negro on the charge of murder. In +her last moments she said to me, 'Lemuel, good bye. Save other homes from a +like fate. Dispel this atmosphere of suspicion in which I have been stifled +unto my death.' I have obeyed her request with regard to the Negro. A +careful investigation demonstrated that he had told my wife and me the +truth in every detail. He is now in prison serving his sentence for the +offenses committed prior to his chance meeting with my wife."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + +<p>Pointing his finger at Dorlan he raised his tremulous voice and said in +ringing tones, "Do you realize, sir, that the social fabric of which you +are a part, furnished the viper that has stung me in a vital spot? Where, +sir, are your churches, your school rooms, all of your influences that are +supposed to produce worthy beings?" Lemuel Dalton's manner was so frantic +that Dorlan began to feel that he was dangerously near insanity.</p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton divined the thought that was passing through Dorlan's mind +and answered it, lowering his voice as he did so. "Oh, no! I am not at all +unbalanced. To show you that I am not I shall answer my own question. You +Negroes need more from us Southern whites than a feeling of indifference, +or a spirit of 'make it if you can.' I have come to learn at so sad a cost +that the safety and happiness of my race is inexorably bound up with the +virtue and well-being of your race." The look of intensity now faded from +his face; a sort of vacant expression appeared.</p> + +<p>As though listlessly looking at something in the distance, he said, half +musingly, "Morlene Dalton sent me to you. I went to her because she told me +years ago that I would come to this. I am here to-night to offer my help to +your race, and to ask what you all desire of me." He spoke slowly and in +solemn tones.</p> + +<p>"But, hold! before you speak, let me tell you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> that about me which is +subject to no compromise," he burst forth excitedly. Said he: "I am an +exclusive; I want no mixture of blood, thought or activities with the Negro +race. I want this white race to keep on manifesting its true inwardness to +the world. I wish our whole civilization to be permeated with our own +peculiar fragrance and that only. Whatever I can do for your people without +jeopardy to this conception I stand ready to do. True, this means that I +desire you to be an alien in our midst. But my present position is an +improvement on my former, in that I am now willing to do all that can be +done to make this alien, happy, prosperous and virtuous; but an alien ever, +remember. Will you kindly point out to a white man standing on this +platform what <i>he</i> may consistently do for the Negro?"</p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton ceased speaking and now sat in the chair which he had +previously refused.</p> + +<p>"I am grieved, profoundly grieved that your wife, who may be the prototype +of hundreds, has been drawn into the awful vortex of this race trouble."</p> + +<p>Lemuel Dalton arose from his seat and with glaring eyes looked down upon +Dorlan intently.</p> + +<p>Again the impression came to Dorlan that he was dealing with a mad man, and +he began to ponder a line of action based on that thought.</p> + +<p>"Tut, tut, you persist in thinking I am crazy,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> said Lemuel Dalton, again +guessing Dorlan's thoughts and bringing his will to bear to cause a more +calm expression to appear on his (Lemuel's) face.</p> + +<p>Drawing near to Dorlan, he said: "I came to discuss the race question with +you, but I am in no mood for that." He paused for an instant. Resuming in a +lower tone of voice, he said, slowly, "You colored folks believe in God. I +don't." Again he paused. "That is, I didn't. But the morning Eulalie, my +wife, was brought home wounded, I called God's name for the first time +since my early childhood." Here he paused again.</p> + +<p>"Eulalie was a Christian," he said, looking into Dorlan's face piercingly. +"Tell me the truth. Do you, do you," he asked falteringly. "Do you think +that—" here a pause—"I shall meet—Eulalie again?" The last words were +uttered in a loud screeching voice. Without waiting for an answer Lemuel +Dalton turned away to hide his fast falling tears. Out of the room he +walked, out into the darkness he went, alternately imploring and cursing +the great force, whatever it might be, that was operating through all +creation, and had suffered so terrible a load to fall upon his shoulders.</p> + +<p>As for Dorlan, he sat far into the night musing on the occurrences of the +evening. "To-night I have been confronted with an epitome of the situation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +of the Negro in this country," he said. "One white man comes who is angry +because I will not be his tool. Then follows the exclusive, who feels that +my touch is contaminating. Truly the Negro is between the upper and the +nether millstones.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Morlene what a task you have assigned unto this pilot, called by you +to guide the bark of the Negro over this perilous sea. As I take my post, +happy am I, that in my love of humanity I find my chart; in my love for my +race I have a compass; and in my love for you I have a lighthouse on the +shore.</p> + +<p>"Shine on, sweet soul, that I may pilot this vessel through the breakers, +above whose hidden heads the waves are ever chanting the solemn song of +death."</p> + +<p>Happy was Dorlan in this hour that his inherited riches would enable him to +conquer ills which the poverty of the race had hitherto rendered +insurmountable.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE BALANCES.</h3> + + +<p>At last the day came on which Dorlan was to submit his plan to Morlene.</p> + +<p>He arose early that morning, packed his trunk, boxed up his most important +papers and wrote out instructions as to the disposition to be made of his +other possessions. These preparations completed, he walked down town to the +post office and sent his plan to Morlene as registered matter. Having done +this, Dorlan returned to his boarding place and bade all a sorrowful +good-bye, stating that a great deal of uncertainty was attendant upon his +journey, and that he knew not whether he would ever return to R——. Going +down to the depot, he was soon aboard a train speeding away.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile Morlene had received the documents sent to her. In +addition to the plan, Dorlan had sent a personal letter, on the envelope of +which were written these words, "Please do not read the enclosed letter +until you have read and passed upon the plan." Morlene lifted the envelope +to her lips, kissed it, and laid it away, intending<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> to read the letter +after her study of the plan, in keeping with Dorlan's wishes.</p> + +<p>Morlene was deeply conscious as to how much depended upon her verdict on +Dorlan's plan. Her own and the happiness of Dorlan were involved. The +suffering, restless Negroes were to be offered a panacea and she was their +representative to accept or reject the proffered medicine. The welfare of +the South and the peace of the nation were at stake. Upon the outcome of +the race question in America the hopes of the darker races of the world +depended. Even the cause of popular government was involved, she felt, for +it was to be seen whether a republic could deal with a race problem of so +virulent a type. Thus, with the eyes of the world upon her, Morlene +unfolded the manuscript and began its study.</p> + +<p>As the document was somewhat voluminous, and as the issues involved were of +such grave import to the cause of humanity, Morlene decided that she would +proceed about her task with much deliberation. Had she known the contents +of Dorlan's personal letter she would have proceeded with more dispatch. +This Dorlan knew, and not desiring the personal element to appear in her +study of the plan enjoined that she should pursue her work without being +influenced by what was contained in his letter.</p> + +<p>So, after reading a while, Morlene laid the manuscript aside and spent the +remainder of the day in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> meditating on what she had read. The second day +she did likewise. Morlene began to be much elated, for, as the paper +progressed, she saw that Dorlan was treating the subject in a most +comprehensive way. Thus, from day to day, she read and pondered, her hopes +rising higher and higher.</p> + +<p>Sometimes when Dorlan would enter upon the discussion of some particularly +difficult question, her old feeling of fear would return, but when in a +most masterly manner he would sweep away the seeming difficulties just as +though they were so many cobwebs, her heart would leap joyfully. By and by, +after the lapse of many days Morlene drew near to the close of the +document. When, on the last day of her perusal, she read the last words of +the last page, and her mind flashed back to the beginning and surveyed in +general outline the whole, her enthusiasm knew no bounds. In quavering +tones the sweet voice of this girl, charged and surcharged with love and +patriotism, murmured the words, "Columbia is saved. Let all mankind +henceforth honor the name of Dorlan, the hero of humanity." She now secured +Dorlan's letter, broke the seal and read as follows, a look of pain +deepening on her beautiful face as she read.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><h4>THE LETTER.</h4> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Morlene</span>:</p> + +<p>"As best I could, heaven knows, I have wrestled with +the problem assigned to me by you,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> the queen of my +heart. Some one has said that the most <i>sublime</i> +incident in all of human history was Martin Luther's +standing alone before the Diet of Worms. Side by side +with that statement let all men now write that my +situation is the most excruciatingly <i>painful</i> one that +a human being has ever been called upon to endure. When +I first met you, circumstances forced me to stifle the +love that was ready to burst into a flame. +Subsequently, fate decreed that you should be free, and +my heart ran riot.</p> + +<p>"But fate was determined that one so beautiful and so +worthy as yourself should not be won until the wooer +appeared in some degree worthy of the lady whose hand +was desired.</p> + +<p>"Now, dear Morlene, tell me by what process, human or +divine, I could be made in any measure worthy of you? +If this plan is supposed to achieve that result, is +supposed to mark me as worthy of your hand, it has +failure written on its face. This conclusion would seem +to be beyond the realm of debate. And yet my reason +tells me that the plan must of necessity succeed; that, +being based upon incontrovertible laws there is no way +for it to fail.</p> + +<p>"Now, Morlene, my darling, with my powers of intuition +telling me that I must fail of winning your hand and +with my reason telling me I have successfully performed +the task assigned me, what must I do? Hope and Fear +have come to terms in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> my bosom, and one occupies the +throne one minute and the other the next. They +alternate thus by day and by night. In my dreams I am +sometimes as happy as the angels are reputed to +be—happier than they, I should say. But the joy is +short-lived, and in my dreams I find myself tumbling +over precipices and wading through miry swamps.</p> + +<p>"I could not stay in R——, and in quietness await your +verdict. I have had to travel, to lessen, if possible, +the strain of anxiety upon my mind. So, when you find +yourself reading this letter, I shall be hundreds of +miles away at Galveston, Texas, on the beach of the +great Gulf. I am here awaiting your verdict. If it is +favorable, I shall return to you forthwith. If +unfavorable, I am at a port where ships are daily +leaving for all parts of the world. Enough for that.</p> + +<p>"Finally, dear one, if the scheme which I submitted to +you affords the necessary assurance that the problem +will be solved, telegraph to me the one word, +'Unfettered.' If it does not afford such assurance, let +your message be 'Fettered still.'</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Am I yours,<br /> +<i>Forever or Never</i>?<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Dorlan Warthell</span>."</p> +</div> + +<p>When Morlene finished reading the letter it was covered with the tears that +had sped down her cheeks. "Dear, dear boy! how much he must have suffered, +if he loves me thus!" So saying,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> she arose and hastened toward the +telegraph office for the purpose of sending a message to Dorlan.</p> + +<p>"Suppose my delay has begotten in Dorlan the recklessness of despair," +thought Morlene, and fear born of the terrible thought seemed to lend her +wings.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/ce.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ch_1.jpg" width="400" height="55" alt="" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<h3>THE TELEGRAM.</h3> + + +<p>Arriving in the city of Galveston, Dorlan, anxious to receive the expected +message from Morlene at the earliest possible moment, took up his abode in +an establishment just opposite the telegraph office.</p> + +<p>Day after day Dorlan took his seat at the window of his room and watched +the messenger boys as they hurried to an fro delivering messages. He +thought of how much anxiety the countless messages represented, but +concluded that his was equal to all the other anxieties combined. Each +night, when he regarded the hour as too late to reasonably expect a message +from Morlene, he would go down to the beach and gaze out upon the great +expanse of waters. The tossing waves and the heaving billows reminded him +of his own heart. The tides would roll in to the shore and the waves would +lap his feet with their spray, as much as to say, "Come with us. We are +like you. We are restless. Come with us." Dorlan would look up at the +watching stars and out into the depths of the silent dark. Then he would +whisper to the pleading waves: "Not yet. Perhaps some day."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dorlan's <i>love</i>, in keeping with the well earned reputation of that master +passion, had led him to hope for an early answer from Morlene, in spite of +the extreme gravity and manifold complexity of the question that she was +now trying to decide. His <i>reason</i> told him better than to expect so early +a reply. Thus, when love gave evidence of disappointment, reason would say, +"Much love hath made thee mad, my boy. Give the dear girl a chance, will +you?" At the close of each day this colloquy between love and reason would +take place.</p> + +<p>But Morlene's delay began to extend beyond the utmost limits that Dorlan +had set. Thereupon love's tone became more insistent and the voice of +reason grew correspondingly feeble.</p> + +<p>Dorlan at last concluded that Morlene's decision was unfavorable to him, +and that she hesitated to deliver the final blow. Every vestige of hope had +fled and he now kept up his daily vigil purely out of respect for Morlene, +not that he longer expected a favorable answer.</p> + +<p>Unwilling for Morlene's sake to listen in the nights' solitude to the +wooing of the restless waves, Dorlan changed his nightly course and moved +about in the city. As he was listlessly wandering through the city one +night, he came upon a crowd standing in a vacant lot listening to a man +detail the reputed virtues of medicines which he was trying to sell.</p> + +<p>The medicine man's face was handsome, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> head covered with a profusion of +flaxen hair which fell in curls over his shoulders. His voice had a +pleasing ring and his whole personality was alluring. On the platform with +the man was a group of Negro boys who provided entertainment for the crowd +in the intervals between the introduction of the various medicines. Dorlan +stood on the outer edge of the throng and thought on the spectacle +presented.</p> + +<p>The white people of the South, as evidenced by their pleasure in Negro +minstrelsy, were prone to regard the Negro as a joke. And the unthinking +youths were now employed to dance and sing and laugh away the aspirations +of a people.</p> + +<p>Dorlan's veins began to pulsate with indignation as he reflected on the +fact that the ludicrous in the race was the only feature that had free +access to the public gaze. He was longing for an opportunity to show to the +audience that there was something in the Negro that could make their bosoms +thrill with admiration. In a most unexpected manner the opportunity was to +come.</p> + +<p>The medicine man near the hour of closing addressed the audience, saying: +"Gentlemen, it pains me to state that our aeronaut is confined to his bed +and will be unable to-night to make his customary balloon ascension and +descent in the parachute. That part of our evening's entertainment must +therefore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> be omitted, unless some one of you will volunteer to act in his +stead."</p> + +<p>The last remark was accompanied with a smile, the speaker taking it for +granted that no one would be willing to take the risk.</p> + +<p>"Two birds with one stone," said Dorlan. "The boys have taught this +audience how to laugh. I can show them an act of bravery. One bird!</p> + +<p>"There must be a great force somewhere directing the affairs of the +universe. His plannings puzzle me. Men have accidentally gone from balloons +to solve the great mystery of all things. Bird number two! Morlene +evidently does not care."</p> + +<p>Elbowing his way through the crowd, Dorlan clambered upon the platform and +said: "Gentlemen, the phases of Negro character are as varied as those of +other men. There is in us the sense of the humorous and the possibilities +of the tragic. We can partake of life to satiety, we can die of grief. +These boys have made you laugh. Allow me to awaken in you higher emotions. +I will make the ascension and descent and thus prevent the marring of our +evening's entertainment."</p> + +<p>The medicine man looked at Dorlan in astonishment, approached him and +talked with him a short while. Concluding that Dorlan was sane, knew what +he was about, and would not undertake the feat if incapable of successfully +performing it, the man now had the balloon prepared. The audience,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> glad +that they were not to be robbed of their expected pleasure, cheered lustily +when it was found that Dorlan was to make the trip into the air.</p> + +<p>Dorlan stepped into the balloon and was soon being whirled upward. His soul +felt a measure of relief as he rose above the staring crowd, above the tall +buildings, as he entered the regions of floating clouds, as he passed +upward toward the brightly shining moon and the quiet light of the stars. +On and on he swept.</p> + +<p>The pure air into which he had now come refreshed his spirit and he could +look at matters with a clearer vision. "Think," said Dorlan, as he stood in +the balloon and gazed into the stellar depths, "how long it took this +universe to evolve unto its present state. Think of the seemingly slow +process of world formation now going on in the Nebulae scattered through +those realms yonder." His mind reverting to his attitude toward Morlene, he +said:</p> + +<p>"And here I am impatient because that dear girl on whose heart the woes of +the world now rest has not hastened in deciding that I had harnessed the +forces that will solve one of the most difficult problems that ever +perplexed mankind."</p> + +<p>The utter unreasonableness of expecting so early an answer upon a question +that demanded such earnest thought, now appeared to him as almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +criminal. He saw that the time allowed Morlene, in what he regarded as his +saner moods, was thoroughly inadequate. These moments of elevation and +reflection restored hope to his bosom.</p> + +<p>Stimulated by the thought that Morlene was not necessarily lost to him as +yet, Dorlan now caused the balloon to start toward the earth. He would have +liked to come down all the way in the balloon since he was no longer +yearning for death, but he remembered his brave speech and the expectations +of the crowd below. So, in spite or his keen desire to live, he decided to +maintain his honor in the eyes of the waiting audience and descend in the +parachute at whatever cost. Not knowing what would be his fate, Dorlan +sprang out of the balloon, trusting to the parachute. At a terrific speed +he shot downward toward the earth. For a few seconds the parachute seemed +that it was not going to bear him safely to earth, but, happily for the +innocent Morlene, soon readjusted itself. Down, down, down, it came +bringing to the murky atmosphere, to the crowded streets, to the regions of +jarring ambitions, the troubled spirit that sought in an hour of despair to +fly its ills.</p> + +<p>Dorlan reached the ground in safety and received the congratulations of the +spectators, who, guided by the light attached to the balloon, had succeeded +in locating the possible point of descent.</p> + +<p>Dorlan now went home, fully resolved to await in calmer spirit the expected +answer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> + +<p>One day as Dorlan was sitting before his window, he saw a messenger boy +come out of the telegraph office, pause and look up at the number on the +house in which he was stopping.</p> + +<p>The boy then started across the street in Dorlan's direction. Dorlan ran +out of his room and down the steps, reaching the door before the boy. Sure +enough the telegram was for Dorlan. He snatched it from the boy and handed +him a dollar.</p> + +<p>Dorlan turned to go upstairs. "Wait for your change, Mister. We don't get +but ten cents extra."</p> + +<p>"Keep the dollar, lad," said Dorlan, hurrying up the stairway. Entering his +room he gently laid the telegram upon the center table and stood back to +gaze upon it. Dorlan could not conceive how he could endure the excess of +grief if the message was unfavorable, or the excess of joy if it was +favorable. Cautiously he approached the table, then seized the telegram and +tore it open.</p> + +<p>The next instant the lady of the house verily thought that a Comanche +Indian had broken into her establishment, so loud was Dorlan's shout of joy +when his eyes fell on the one word, "Unfettered." Her astonishment was even +greater when Dorlan so suddenly departed, leaving in her hands a roll of +money far in excess of her charges.</p> + +<p>Dorlan had no time for explanations. The soul that had come into the world +to mate with his was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> calling for him and all other considerations had to +fade away.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>As the train rolled into the shed adjacent to the great depot at R——, +Dorlan, who was standing on the platform of a coach, caught sight of +Morlene, who had come down to the station to meet him. He seemed to feel +that he could cover the remaining distance between himself and Morlene +quicker than the train, for he leapt upon the platform before the train +stopped and urged his way through the throng to the spot where she stood.</p> + +<p>Then, half forgetting and half remembering the multitude present, Dorlan +grasped the outstretched hands of Morlene drew her to him, and planted on +her lips a kiss—just one, mark you. The ladies who were standing near +looked searchingly at Dorlan, and rendered a silent verdict that Morlene +could be excused for not resenting the salutation from so handsome and so +noble looking a man.</p> + +<p>The men looked at Morlene and wondered how Dorlan could be content with +just that one. Those men always thereafter gave Dorlan the credit of being +a man of marvelous self-control. You see, they did not consult Morlene on +that point, who and who alone knew how frequent and how fervent were those +manifestations of regard after the proper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> authorities had said that she +was to be Mrs. Morlene Warthell thenceforth until death.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Over the hillsides of life, through its many valleys, alongside its +babbling brooks, in the splendor of the noonday, in the gloaming, in +deepest shades of evening, on and on, Dorlan and Morlene go, happy that +they are freed from the narrow and narrowing problems of race; happy that +at last they, in common with the rest of mankind, may labor for the +solution of those larger humanistic problems that have so long vexed the +heart of earth.</p> + +<p>We now bid this loving and laboring couple a fond adieu, well knowing that +wherever in this broad world these true souls may wander they will be +gladly received and housed as the benefactors of mankind.</p> + + +<h3>THE END OF UNFETTERED.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> +<h2>DORLAN'S PLAN.</h2> + +<h3>(SEQUEL TO "UNFETTERED.")</h3> + +<h3>A DISSERTATION ON THE RACE PROBLEM.</h3> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h3>SUTTON E. GRIGGS.</h3> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The solution of the Negro Problem involves the honor +or dishonor, the glory or shame, the happiness or +misery of the entire American people."—<i>Frederick +Douglass</i>.</p> + +<p>"I had rather see my people render back this question +rightly solved than to see them gather all the spoils +over which faction has contended since Cataline +conspired and Cæsar fought."—<i>Henry W. Grady</i>.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> +<h2>FOREWORD.</h2> + + +<p>Prior to the coming of Dorlan Warthell, there were many to be found in the +United States who utterly despaired of a happy solution of the problem of +adjusting the relations of the Anglo-Saxon and Negro races to each other on +an honorable and mutually satisfactory basis, taking care the while to meet +the highest demands of the present and of all future ages.</p> + +<p>Others, while not despairing, confessed that in the horizon subject to +their vision not a glimmer of light appeared; confessed that they were only +sustained by their general knowledge of nature's power to solve, through +tears and years, all her problems.</p> + +<p>Thus, until the day when Dorlan came, Columbia sat chained on the one side +by benumbing pessimism and on the other by deferred hope. Accepting the +judgment of so sweet and true a soul as Morlene, it was he who solved the +problem. In view of the complicated nature of the problem and the great +interests involved, its solution must ever be regarded as a noteworthy +achievement.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> + +<p>It occurred to us that the ages which now sleep in the womb of time would +be pleased to ponder the achievement, hoping to find in the spirit and +method of its undertaking, suggestions that would enable them to deal +wisely with the problems of their day.</p> + +<p>For the sake, therefore, of posterity we have concluded to place on record +a copy of Dorlan's Plan by means of which he swept away the last barrier +that stood between himself and the woman who had entered into his life to +give color to the whole of his existence in this world and in such other +worlds as may afford a dwelling place for the spirit of man.</p> + +<p>Perhaps a majority of those who have read "Unfettered" and have learned to +share Dorlan's exalted opinion of Morlene, will not care to read the Plan, +being content to rest the whole matter upon Morlene's decision. Those who +pay such a tribute to our heroine may thus escape the tedium of wading +through the dry details of a plan by means of which a long suffering race +was saved.</p> + +<p>Others who may be disposed to question Morlene's judgment, who think that +her love for Dorlan influenced her to decide in his favor, are hereby +furnished with the Plan and ordered to read it as a befitting punishment +for their temerity.</p> + +<p>As these "doubting Thomases" wearily plod their way through the Plan we +hope that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> will have ever present with them to add to their torture, +the thought that they would have escaped the punishment of reading all that +Dorlan wrote had they meekly accepted Morlene's verdict. As wail after wail +shall arise proclaiming what dull reading the Plan makes, we shall chuckle +gleefully and rub our hands joyfully, happy that those who would not take +the word of our heroine have come to the end so richly deserved.</p> + +<p>Those who accepted Morlene's verdict and now read the Plan simply for the +purpose of defending her from hypercritical personages are heroes indeed. +For, be it remembered, it often requires more courage to read some books +than it does to fight a battle.</p> + +<p>Such may be the case with Dorlan's Plan, and all have fair warning.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">The Author</span>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> +<h2>DORLAN'S PLAN.</h2> + +<h3>WHERE THE TROUBLE ARISES.</h3> + + +<p>The Negro is a human being. He has manifested every essential trait of +human nature. The following words from Emerson, spoken of each individual +member of the human family, may be specially affirmed with regard to the +Negro: "What Plato has thought he may think; what a saint has felt he may +feel; what at any time has befallen any man, he can understand."</p> + +<p>The general laws governing the physical and psychic natures of men; that +unfold the workings of the human body and the mental, moral, religious, +social and æsthetic processes of the soul—the general laws governing these +operations may be applied with as much force to the Negro as to any other +human being.</p> + +<p>This has been an age of astounding discoveries; but the physiologist, the +psychist, the ethical writer, the ecclesiastic, the sociologist, the +investigator of æsthetic manifestations, the ethnologist, the philologist, +the natural scientist, though searching eagerly, have discovered naught to +controvert<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> or in anywise impair the doctrine of the unity of the human +race as set forth in the declaration of Paul, "that all nations of men" +have been "made of one blood to dwell on all the face of the earth."</p> + +<p>Those who concede to the humanity of the Negro and hold to the theory that +man is upon the earth through the direct, specific, creative fiat of God, +are forced to admit that the Negro's certificate of membership in the human +family is signed by the Deity, and by virtue of that fact must be received +at face value.</p> + +<p>He who holds with the evolutionist that man is the product of evolutionary +forces, working incessantly through the countless ages that lie behind us, +must perceive that, in that event, the Negro can point to the fact that his +presence in the human family has the sanction of the multiplied myriads of +experiences that, from one forge, out of one material, through the one +process, made him along with other human beings. If God is represented as +presiding over the forces of evolution, the Negro may claim that God and +nature have fixed his status as a human being.</p> + +<p>Being forever established by the Supreme Architect of the universe within +the line drawn to encircle humanity to the exclusion of all things else, +the Negro is entitled to every right that inheres in the fact of his +humanity. He is entitled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> to all the benefits of the feeling of distinctive +fellowship—that feeling which operates to bind ant to ant, bird to bird, +and man to man, as apart from other orders of beings. He is entitled to the +designation, Brother. The Negro has identically the same right to live as +other human beings; the same right as they to tread unfettered any and all +of the pathways that destiny has marked out for human feet.</p> + +<p>It is this conception of the basic, inherent right of the Negro to share on +equal terms with all other human beings all the rights and privileges +appertaining to membership in the human family that gives rise to the Race +Problem in the United States of America. For, while the claim is +passionately cherished by the Negroes and is espoused with varying degrees +of warmth by one section of the American whites, it is most vigorously +opposed by another.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>OUR PROBLEM.</h3> + +<p>It is our task to so utilize the forces at our command as to nullify all +artificial hindrances to the development of the Negro; to remove from his +soul the man-imposed fetters; to so open the way that the man with a black +skin shall have his opportunities limited solely by his capacity, as is the +case with those not of his color. We are to institute merit as the test of +preferment; mind, as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> measure of the man. To reverse the standard of +measurement, to transfer it from color to culture, is our problem.</p> + +<p>The plan to be submitted must take cognizance of all the factors in the +situation; must be capable of being operated by the race constituted, +environed and conditioned as it is. With this conception of our task we +begin our labors.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>THE INSPIRATION OF THE OPPOSITION.</h3> + +<p>It is well in every species of combat for a man to seek to know the exact +nature of the opposing force. Knowing this, one understands the better how +to gauge his efforts. With this aim in view, we shall make a reconnoitre to +discover just what is arrayed against us.</p> + +<p>Mr. Herbert Spencer says: "It has come to be a maxim of science that in the +causes still at work, are to be identified the causes which, similarly at +work during past times, have produced the state of things now existing."</p> + +<p>We would expect, therefore, to find the past yet affecting the Negro, and +such is indeed the case. From the year 1619 until the close of the civil +war, the white people of the South held the Negroes in slavery.</p> + +<p>It is the habit of nature to confer upon a man those equalities that the +better fit him for his line<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> of work. In order to successfully hold slaves, +the Southern man fostered the belief that the Negro's humanity was somehow +of a different brand from his own. Having satisfied himself that essential +differences existed between himself and the Negro, he was the better +prepared to mete out treatment which he would have deemed outrageous if +applied to himself by another.</p> + +<p>To prevent uprisings on the part of the slaves repressive measures were +instituted, and the Southern white man became an adept in the art of +controlling others, and his nature became inured to the task. The traits of +character acquired in one generation were transmitted to succeeding +generations, so that notions of inherent superiority and the belief in the +right of repression became ingrained in Southern character.</p> + +<p>In confirmation of this conclusion, we again quote from Mr. Herbert +Spencer, who says: "The emotional nature prompting the general mode of +conduct is derived from ancestors—is a product of all ancestral +activities. * * * The governing sentiment is, in short, mainly the +accumulated and organized sentiment of the past."</p> + +<p>In view of the foregoing, it becomes evident that the repression which the +Negro encounters to-day is but the offspring of his repression of +yesterday.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>STILL IN THE BALANCES.</h3> + +<p>In Prof. Giddings' "analysis of the population of the United States +according to race, he says that the English temperament is represented by +about 33-1/3 per cent., the prevailing Irish by about 29 per cent., and the +prevailing Scotch by about 19 per cent. The percentage, not of course +precise, is, he thinks, indicative of the influence on the American life +and character of these racial tendencies."</p> + +<p>We are laboring to add the voice of the Negro to this national chorus. The +giving of the Negro an opportunity for untrammeled activity in the National +Government means that much of an addition to and consequent alteration of +our characteristic Americanism.</p> + +<p>It is evident that the Negro will bring into the national spirit the +influence of his peculiar characteristics. Now this adding to and taking +from the national spirit is a most grave matter. Often the characteristic +spirit of a people is a sole remaining reliance; is often the only asset +that the fluctuations of capricious fortune has not swept away.</p> + +<p>The great importance that attaches to the spirit that characterizes a +nation is set forth by Napoleon Bonaparte in the following words: "Had I +been in 1815 the choice of the English as I was of the French, I might have +lost the battle of Waterloo without losing a vote in the legislature or a +soldier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> from my ranks." Allusion is here made to that British tendency to +persist in a given course and adhere to the standards of chosen leaders in +the midst of circumstances adverse and even appalling. On the soil of +England and on many another spot where the Englishman's foot has trod, from +the dying embers, yea, the smouldering ashes of defeat, victory has so +often sprung as the result of the spirit to which Napoleon Bonaparte paid +tribute.</p> + +<p>The English speaking race holds woman in high esteem, but she has thus far +been denied the right of suffrage because of the uncertainty as to what +would be the resultant blend arising from her more active participation in +the affairs of State.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wm. E. Lecky, in opposing the granting of the right of suffrage to the +women of England, gave it as his opinion that the emotional element in +politics was already sufficiently great without the addition of the +strongly developed emotionalism of woman. The same sentiment of +conservatism that operates to cause woman's rejection is, beyond question, +a factor in our problem.</p> + +<p>The Negro has but lately entered civilization's parlor. He possesses an +oriental nature called to service in an occidental civilization. Of +remarkably quiescent tendencies he must play a part in a government born of +a revolutionary spirit and so devised that revolutions may be effected +whenever desired through means of the ballot box.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> + +<p>The remarkable manner in which we have responded to the quickening touch of +civilization; the revelation of traits of a sublime nature unparalleled in +the world's history (witness the keen sense of honor that led us to care +for the helpless wives and children of those who were at the seat of war +fighting for our continued enslavement); the successful meeting, where +conditions were favorable, of every test that civilization has thus far +imposed—these considerations influence us to believe that the grasping of +the flagstaff by Negro hands but means that the flag will float the higher +and flutter the prouder and diffuse through the earth even greater glory +than before our coming.</p> + +<p>Before we can take up the full place for which we aspire, we must meet and +combat the timorous conservatism that has hitherto impeded our progress.</p> + +<p>Thus are the lines of battle drawn. On one field stands the hopeful Negro +never to be contented save with a man's place. On the opposing field stands +the Southern white man with an inherited nature and cultivated sentiments +that render the repression of the Negro a congenial task. To one side +stands the representative of civilization at large, hesitating about doing +more in our behalf until we have fully cleared our skirts of the suspicion +that attaches to a new comer into civilization. With this conception of the +influences which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> we are to combat, we now plan for the momentous struggle.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>HE WHO HAS HITHERTO FOLLOWED CALLED UPON TO LEAD.</h3> + +<p>Napoleon has said that men of imagination rule the world. When society is +in a transitional state, men of imagination are able through clear +comprehension of the forces at work, to project themselves into the new +era, and, seeing where the movement tends, place themselves at the head of +the procession. Those deficient in this faculty cannot perceive the +ultimate goal of the processes forming before their very eyes; and, even +when new conditions have come bearing the stamp of immortality, they yet +are dreaming of a relapse into old conditions that are gone forever. They +are thus unfit for the duties of the new era, being devotees of the past. +The ruling of the world is, therefore, left, as Napoleon asserts, to men of +imagination.</p> + +<p>The present moment is one calling for the exercise of this faculty of the +mind on the part of the Negro in the United States. Hitherto the Republican +party has been looked upon as the agency which was to solve all his +problems. This was a very natural expectation as that party has been the +agency by means of which so much tending in that direction has been +accomplished.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> + +<p>A political party, aspiring for control of the Government, may choose a +paramount issue, but one in power labors to take care of all interests +committed to it. Now that the Republican party has won a place in the +hearts of the American people, the business interests of the country are +insistent that they be cared for first and foremost. The nation is making +an effort to extend its commerce into all parts of the earth, and the +Republican party is implored to be the agency through which this is to be +accomplished.</p> + +<p>In view of the many interests committed to its care, the Republican party +seems disinclined to make a specialty of the Negro Problem. While +reaffirming its old time position on that subject, it does not see its way +clear to jeopardize all other interests for the sake of that one plank of +its platform. While the friendship and moral support of that party is to be +retained, and while Negroes who sympathize with its economic policies +should abide with it, it is not wise for the race to rely upon it solely +for the proper adjustment of the Race Problem.</p> + +<p>In fact, the hour has come when the race must take the matter of its +salvation into its own hands. In times past, when the battles of the race +were to be fought, others led and the trusting Negro followed. In this new +era the Negroes must lead, must bear the main brunt of the battle. Thus,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +while estranging no friends of the past, and fully appreciating the +continued necessity of outside assistance wherever attainable, the foreword +of our new propaganda shall be Self-Reliance.</p> + +<p>Having hitherto been concerned with the task of comprehending and imbibing +a civilization which we had no appreciable share in developing, our +passivity, quiescence, docility, the readiness to follow others, were the +characteristics which we mainly manifested.</p> + +<p>Now that we are to cast off the role of a nursling and take our place as +co-creators of whatever the future has in store for the human race, a new +order of talents must be called into operation and a new mode of procedure +adopted.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for us we have the incentive of a largely inglorious past to be +redeemed, and the light of all of man's past to serve as our guide.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>REVISITING THE ORIENT.</h3> + +<p>To gain our first lesson in the work before us, we transport ourselves over +land and sea until, standing in the valley of the Nile, we can pause and +gaze upon the pyramids of Egypt, reminders of the day when our ancestral +home held aloft the torch of civilization. In those pyramids, we behold +that stones of enormous size and weight have been lifted to such distances +from the earth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> as to stagger the imagination and inspire wonder in the +hearts of all generations of all races that have seen or heard of the feat +unparalleled in ancient or modern times.</p> + +<p>Some African genius of the long ago constructed a device, now unknown to +earth, whereby the several strengths of individuals could be conjoined and +the sum of their strengths thus obtained applied to the task of lifting the +ponderous stones. Innumerable hosts would have failed in lifting those +pyramidal stones to the positions which they occupy had it not been for the +aid of the device that enabled them to work conjointly. From these +pyramids, eloquent in their silence, persistent reminders of the departed +glory of Africa, let the scattered sons of that soil learn their first +great need—Co-operation.</p> + +<p>Our initial step must be the creation of a device whereby the several +strengths of the millions of Negroes in the world may be harnessed to the +huge stone of a world hate, to the end that said stone shall be swung aloft +and hurled into the sea, sinking by the force of its own weight into +eternal oblivion.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>CLASPING HANDS.</h3> + +<p>In view of the fact that we cannot now point to any organization capable of +amassing the full strength of the race, and as the absence of such an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +organization might be construed to indicate that there is no need for such, +we now quote authorities that thoroughly demonstrate the absolute need of +co-operative effort.</p> + +<p>Prince Kropotkin, the eminent Russian naturalist, in discussing +co-operation among lower animals, remarks:</p> + +<p>"If we * * * * ask Nature, 'Who are the fittest: those who are continually +at war with each other, or those who support one another?' we at once see +that those animals which acquire habits of mutual aid are undoubtedly the +fittest. They have more chances to survive, and they attain, in their +respective classes, the highest development of intelligence and bodily +organization."</p> + +<p>Darwin, giving the results of his observation among the lower animals, pays +tribute to the spirit of co-operation, when he says: "Those communities (of +animals) which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members +would flourish best."</p> + +<p>Ascending from the lower animals, we find that co-operation is equally as +valuable and necessary for man. In the march of humanity toward an ideal +civilization, we find those races in the van which have best acquired the +art of co-operating, while the rear is brought up by those peoples in whom +the instinct of co-operation is thus far missing or but feebly developed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> + +<p>Prof. Henry Drummond remarks: "To create units in indefinite quantities and +scatter them over the world is not even to take one single step in +progress. Before any higher evolution can take place these units must by +some means be brought into relation so as not only to act together, but to +react upon each other. According to well known biological laws, it is only +in combinations, whether of atoms, cells, animals, or human beings that +individual units can make any progress, and to create such combinations is +in every case the first condition of development. Hence the first +commandment of Evolution everywhere is, 'Thou shalt mass, segregate, +combine, grow large.'"</p> + +<p>A recent writer has expressed the thought that "neither material +prosperity, nor happiness, nor physical vigor, nor higher intelligence," +constitute the difference between the 'higher' and the 'lower' races, but +that "those are higher in which broad social instincts and the habit of +co-operation exist."</p> + +<p>In whatever direction we turn we find evidence of the universality of this +law. The voices of science, history and sociology in unbroken harmony sing +to the Negro of the necessity of co-operative effort. We must, therefore, +proceed at once to the formation of a racial organization truly +representative, and able to present the combined resources of the race to +the work before us. When<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> this is done the Race Problem will at once assume +an acute phase; for the aggregate wisdom and power of the Negro none can +wisely ignore. Especially is it to be borne in mind that an aggregation of +the kind indicated is calculated to reveal, to develop, to impart added +greatness to men already peculiarly endowed with powers of aggressive +leadership. We must, then, add to the equation the enormous impetus to be +given to causes by the presence of great spirits arousing and guiding the +thoughts and energies of earnest, daring millions.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>RENOVATION.</h3> + +<p>When our great organization has been effected it must proceed to the +diligent study of such traits and environing influences as have in the past +operated to impair the spirit of co-operation. Locating the weak points, we +must proceed to induce in the Negro such mental and moral characteristics, +and must so regulate his environments as to insure efficient co-operation +for all the future.</p> + +<p>It is an evident fact that the spirit of jealousy is more prevalent in some +individuals than in others. The like may be asserted with regard to races. +Among the Negroes there appears to be an inordinate development of this +feeling of jealousy, which makes itself felt among the humblest and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> among +the highest. Success on the part of a Negro would appear to be a standing +invitation for the shooting of arrows into his bosom. While a strict +surveillance over leaders is highly commendable, the baneful effects of +hypercriticism and jealous intrigues are far reaching. Our racial +organization must tear up by the roots this extraordinary predisposition +toward jealousy and plant in its stead the flower of brotherly love.</p> + +<p>During our prolonged existence in a state of individualism, each man +working for himself and by himself, there was but little to engender in a +man the spirit of sacrifice in the interest of the race as an aggregation. +When our racial organization is perfected we must write upon every man's +heart the following words, causing each one to feel in his own case: "It is +expedient for us, that one man should die for the people."</p> + +<p>In the work of further congealing the race, of inducing in it the social +instincts so needful for efficient co-operation, we have the aid of the +scorching flames of race prejudice which flash in the faces of all Negroes +thus driving them closer together.</p> + +<p>As the wars of David with surrounding enemies made a nation of the loose +aggregation of the twelve tribes of Israel; as the hundred years of +fighting with France effected the integration of the people of England; as +the war of the Revolution sowed the seed that enabled the American people +to form<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> a nation out of the thirteen colonies; as the compact German +empire of to-day is the result of outside pressure; just so is American +prejudice producing a oneness of sentiment in the Negroes which inevitably +leads toward their acting as a unit in matters affecting their salvation.</p> + +<p>Having arranged for our organization, we are now to point out the lines +along which it is to labor.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>WHERE TO BEGIN.</h3> + +<p>Realizing that we must at every point demonstrate that we are intrinsically +as well as constitutionally entitled to the lofty estate of American +citizenship, our racial organization must neglect nothing needful in the +fitting of the race for the high destiny unto which it is called.</p> + +<p>In the work of preparing the race, first and foremost, attention must be +given to character building. Any hopes founded on aught else, are illusive. +Character is the bedrock on which we must build. In describing the +successful nation, Mr. Lecky gives voice to the following sentiments unto +which we must pay utmost heed:</p> + +<p>"Its foundation is laid in pure domestic life, in commercial integrity, in +a high standard of moral worth and of public spirit, in simple habits, in +courage, uprightness, and a certain soundness and moderation of judgment +which springs quite as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> much from character as from intellect. If you would +form a wise judgment of the future of a nation, observe carefully whether +these qualities are increasing or decaying. Observe especially what +qualities count for most in public life. Is character becoming of greater +or less importance? Are the men who obtain the highest posts in the nation, +men of whom in private life and irrespective of party, competent judges +speak with genuine respect? Are they of sincere convictions, consistent +lives, indisputable integrity? * * * It is by observing this moral current +that you can best cast the horoscope of a nation."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>"THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME."</h3> + +<p>In the matter of character building, first, attention must be paid to the +home. Prof. Henry Drummond has remarked that "the first great schoolroom of +the human race is the home." He further remarks that "It is the mature +opinion of every one who has thought upon the history of the world, that +the thing of highest importance for all times and to all nations is Family +Life."</p> + +<p>The home life of the Negro has had to encounter many antagonistic +influences. The work of home building could not progress under the +institution of slavery. The present builders of Negro homes are, therefore, +pioneers, in the work, lacking the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> aptitude that would be theirs did they +inherit natures that descended from many generations of home builders.</p> + +<p>Conditions under freedom, though an improvement on the past, have retarded +the proper development of the home life of the Negro. Often the Negro +husband, having been accustomed to seeing women labor, has no scruples as +to his wife's being a laborer, even when her home is full of children. The +Negro woman having been accustomed to work often continues to do so, after +her aid is no longer needed to help support the family.</p> + +<p>The average home is small and housekeeping duties are not onerous. Not many +possess libraries, and reading is not much in vogue. Thus many work in +order to keep employed.</p> + +<p>In other cases the scale of wages paid to the men is so very low that the +woman has to come to the rescue as a wage earner. This calls her from her +home and children.</p> + +<p>It is often the case in large families that the united savings of the +husband and wife are insufficient to take care of the family wants, and +consequently the children are sent out to work.</p> + +<p>The hours of toil for all classes of laborers are very long, so that +families are separated from early morning until after nightfall. So close +has been the confinement all the week that Sunday becomes the day for +general visiting and pleasure seeking. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> is very evident that the home +life has but a fighting chance under such conditions. And yet other factors +are to be added.</p> + +<p>The child being required to support himself early, assumes an air of +independence, and parental authority is correspondingly weakened.</p> + +<p>The home life of the Negro is also quite largely affected by the peculiar +hold which the secret society has upon the race. The thought that he will +enter a realm where much wisdom abides operates to draw the Negro to the +secret society. Then, too, if he is a member of such a body, he has, in the +fact of membership, a passport bearing testimony as to his social standing. +Again, the aid furnished by these societies during sickness, and their +public displays upon the occasion of the burial of their members are strong +attractions for the Negroes of limited means and of little note. The Negro +not content with membership in one such organization usually joins as many +as his means will permit. The meetings of the societies are numerous and +are held at night, necessitating much absence from home on the part of both +the father and the mother. The lodge meeting also furnishes an excuse to +such husbands as may have other reasons for not spending evenings at home.</p> + +<p>The weekly church services are held at night, calling for more time from +home. In view of all of which it is apparent that we are weak at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +foundation, the family life, and strenuous efforts are needed at this +point.</p> + +<p>Our organization must employ an army of workers to co-operate with Negro +mothers in the work of home building. Christian institutions where Negro +boys and girls are being trained must be induced to pay especial attention +to the question of the Negro's home. The laborers' working day must be +shortened, so that they may have more time at home. The white families must +be induced to have earlier suppers, so that those who cook for them may +return to their several homes the earlier.</p> + +<p>The scale of wages must be increased so that the mother and children may be +exempt from the task of bread winning. With an increase in wages and the +consequent ability to save a portion of his earnings for the 'rainy day,' +the lodge will not be the absolute necessity to the Negro that it now +appears to him to be. Under these improved conditions the mother and the +father can the better co-operate and make the home what it must be. Our +racial organization must bend its energies in the direction to accomplish +these results. For one thing it must link its great influence to that of +the forces laboring for the improvement of the condition of the toiling +masses.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>RELIGION A FACTOR.</h3> + +<p>In his very brilliant work on "Social Evolution," Benjamin Kidd remarks +that "there is not that direct connection between social development and +high intellectual development which has hitherto been almost universally +assumed to exist," and "that the wide interval between the peoples who have +attained the highest social development and the lowest, is not mainly the +result of a difference in intellectual, but a difference in ethical +development."</p> + +<p>He further states that the human race "would, in fact, appear to be growing +more and more religious, the winning sections being those in which, +<i>caeteris paribus</i>, this type of character is most fully developed." He is +firmly of the opinion that "the evolution which is slowly proceeding in +society is not primarily intellectual, but religious in character."</p> + +<p>The influence of religion upon a people's life is admittedly so great that +any program looking to betterment of their condition must take note of the +prevailing religious belief. The Christian religion was ingrafted upon our +racial life in the days of slavery. As we were in an abnormal state, it +should not occasion surprise if many did not get a normal grasp upon the +Christian religion.</p> + +<p>In the days of slavery the Negro felt that his lot in this world was a +rather hopeless one. No where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> could he catch a glimmer of hope. To him the +earth was without form and void. But his optimistic nature had to be fed, +and the glories of the world to come, pictured in the Bible, to him became +a living reality. Thenceforth his mind rested not on earth. The death bed, +the funeral, the grave, the world to come, received the wealth of his +spiritual energies. As a natural result the bearings of religion on this +present life were lightly passed over, lethargic conditions ensued and the +spirit of wise prevision was in large measure absent. The morbid dwelling +of the mind of the Negro on anticipated worlds must be discountenanced; a +more rounded view of religion inculcated.</p> + +<p>Without entering into sectarianism our racial organization must foster such +conceptions of religion as will make its ethical teachings, applicable to +life in this world, more prominent. With the home life cared for and proper +religious instruction guaranteed, our racial organization will have laid +secure foundations.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>TO WEAR WELL OUR CROWN.</h3> + +<p>Our racial organization must bear in mind that we are struggling for +untrammeled freedom in the greatest government that human intellect has +ever evolved. Without proper culture we cannot meet the requirements of +worthy citizenship. We must pay especial attention to our public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> schools, +and see to it that knowledge shall not be lacking. The value that education +will be to the citizen is admirably outlined by Thomas Jefferson, in the +following words used in setting forth the purposes of education.</p> + +<p>Education is intended:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. "To give every citizen the information he needs for +the transaction of his own business.</p> + +<p>2. "To enable him to calculate for himself, and to +express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and +accounts in writing.</p> + +<p>3. "To improve, by reading, his morals and faculties.</p> + +<p>4. "To understand his duties to his neighbors and +country, and to discharge with competence the functions +confided to him by either.</p> + +<p>5. "To know his rights; to exercise with order and +justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the +fiduciary of those he delegates; and to notice their +conduct with diligence, with candor and judgment. And +in general to observe with intelligence and +faithfulness all the social relations under which he +shall be placed."</p></div> + +<p>In order to insure the education of the masses, the following steps must be +taken:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. The Negroes must be stimulated to acquire taxable +values to such an extent that the Southern States shall +not administer the school funds for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> Negroes with +the feeling that they are making a charitable donation +to the race.</p> + +<p>2. Night schools must be fostered for adults.</p> + +<p>3. Money must be provided for the lengthening of the +school term.</p> + +<p>4. Salaries for teaching must be raised that a high +order of talent may be the more easily enlisted.</p> + +<p>5. Books must be supplied to the children too poor to +buy.</p> + +<p>6. Means must be instituted to prevent the too common +habit of withdrawing the Negro child from school at so +early an age to help support the family. These and such +other measures as close scrutiny may from time to time +suggest must be employed to make the public school +system among the Negroes what it ought to be.</p></div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>IN THE UPPER REALMS.</h3> + +<p>It is not enough to provide elementary training for our people. The great +minds of earth choose the devious pathways to be threaded by the wavering +feet of humanity. They pass upon what is true and what is false, what is +right and what is wrong, what is expedient and what is inexpedient. +Tremendous is the influence that has been exerted on human history by the +teachings of the great.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p> + +<p>Through the training of the intellect the Negroes must develop men capable +of interpreting and influencing world movements, men able to adjust the +race to any new conditions that may arise. We need men to do for the Negro +race what Prof. Henry Drummond sought to do for the Christian religion. In +the upper chamber of the house of human knowledge, the congress of +scientists presided over by Charles Darwin, and representing the culture of +the ages, met to promulgate a new religion; a religion that would establish +Nature as our ethical teacher, pointing with the finger of evolution, the +way for man to go. By dint of patient, faithful labor and notable +achievements in the realm of science, Prof. Drummond secured admittance +into this upper chamber and took his seat at the council table. Soon the +world heard his voice proclaiming in the tone of one speaking with +authority that the new revelations of science contained no poison for +Christianity; that the new teacher, Nature, was the friend, not the enemy, +of the old teacher, the Bible. He declared that Evolution and Christianity +have "the same author, the same end and the same spirit."</p> + +<p>Thus Drummond was on hand to seek to stay the Darwinian hand, if, after +shattering other conceptions, it had attempted to demolish the one worship +that modern civilization has thus far failed to destroy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> + +<p>To prepare Negroes for taking care of our interests in the realms of +highest thought, our racial organization must found universities, liberally +endow scholarships, provide equipments for original investigations and so +foster the cause of higher education that no race can boast of superior +intellectual attainments.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>"OF MAKING MANY BOOKS THERE IS NO END."</h3> + +<p>Books are the means by which each successive generation comes into +possession of the best (of which the records have been kept) that was +wrought during all preceding generations of human endeavor. Not only does +the art of printing thus connect with all that was good in the past, but it +also affords a man the opportunity of becoming a part of all that is being +done in his day.</p> + +<p>In view of these considerations it is evident that a race that does not +read must ever be a laggard race. Our racial organization must, therefore, +found libraries throughout the regions in which Negroes dwell, to the end +that we may have the benefit of all the elevating influences of good +literature.</p> + +<p>Our problem is, however, deeper than the mere founding of libraries, as is +apparent from the following considerations: During their sojourn in America +the great majority of Negroes have had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> such work assigned to them as +required much bodily exercise. But a comparatively few have led sedentary +lives. The laboring Negroes have been accustomed to sing as they worked or +have relieved the monotony of their labors by jovial bantering. The +occupations of a race eventually make themselves felt in more or less +marked racial characteristics.</p> + +<p>Thus, when a cotton factory was established recently to be operated by +Negro labor, it failed, the manager assigning as a partial cause thereof +the fact that the Negroes did not make the best operatives, in that sitting +still and being quiet caused them to be rather listless and sleepily +inclined. While, in other instances, tendencies in that direction have +perhaps been overcome, this one case serves to suggest that the inattention +to reading on the part of so many may be traceable to the same inherited +indisposition to sit still and be quiet, necessary concomitants of the +reading habit.</p> + +<p>Our racial organization must not, therefore, feel that its labors are +complete when the libraries are founded. Systematic efforts must be put +forth to create in our people a thirst for reading so that they may have +ears to hear what the past and present are thundering at us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>WE EAT TO LIVE.</h3> + +<p>However brave, brilliant and resourceful a general commanding an army may +be, however loyal and enthusiastic are his soldiers, he must inevitably +fail if he neglects his commissary department. The cravings of the human +stomach must be provided for or there will be no soul left in the emaciated +body to aspire for higher things.</p> + +<p>In arranging, therefore, for the welfare of the race our racial +organization must not neglect the material needs of our people. An +advancing army must protect at all hazzards its base of supplies. We now +outline a course of action in keeping with this thought.</p> + +<p>The man who knows that there is a prejudice against him, owes it to himself +to so contrive that he shall be as nearly as possible independent of the +workings of this prejudice. Negroes, therefore, should, in the main, seek +those callings in which they shall be above the whims and prejudices of +men.</p> + +<p>The land owner, the farmer, can come as near to being independent of his +fellows as a man may in these days attain. The sun, the elements, the soil, +his own strong arm, are his chief reliance and these forces are not subject +to enslavement, nor can prejudice weaken them. Nature has no favorites +among men. The rains fall upon the just and the unjust alike. Back to the +farms, therefore, should in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> large measure be our cry. With a strong +agricultural backbone the position of the race is much the more secure. The +conditions that operated to cause the Negroes to so largely abandon the +farms must be studied and altered when possible.</p> + +<p>Our racial organization shall give due recognition to the following needs, +doing all that is necessary to see that they are attained:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. The Negro must become the owner of the soil he +tills.</p> + +<p>2. He must be placed above the conditions of dire +necessity that causes him to resort to the credit +system of buying and the mortgaging of his crops, which +things have hitherto wrought his ruin.</p> + +<p>3. Provisions must be made whereby he may secure modern +appliances with which to farm.</p> + +<p>4. He must be educated so that he may know how to +obtain the best possible results from the soil.</p> + +<p>5. He must be taught to keep fully posted upon the +important happenings in the commercial world bearing +upon his interests.</p> + +<p>6. The Negro must join hands with the students of the +agricultural problem in general, ready to avail himself +of any new developments of value that may arise.</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>LITTLE AFRICAS.</h3> + +<p>In practically every Southern city there are certain sections inhabited +almost exclusively by the poorer, shiftless, more ignorant class of +Negroes. The houses in these Negro settlements are small, dilapidated and +often situated in marshy regions. The streets or alleys thereof are narrow +and crooked and destitute of drainage. In such sections barrooms thrive, +gambling dens flourish, and gathering places are afforded for lewd women +and vicious men. By day Negro women in filthy, unbecoming attire, +barefooted and bareheaded, congregate in the street and engage in loud, +unseemly talk. Idle Negro men are to be seen lounging around these +settlements. Garbage is emptied into the streets there to remain. Such +settlements as these breed disease and are menaces to the health of the +cities. They are the places where crimes and criminals of all kinds are +developed. They mar the beauty of the cities and keep down the price of +real estate in their neighborhoods. They do much to bring the whole Negro +race into disrepute. A revolution must be wrought in these settlements at +all hazards. The more refined among the Negroes must be employed to labor +among the masses and thus ameliorate the ills herein set forth. Tracts of +land should be purchased just beyond corporate limits, in easy access to +the business centers. Commodious houses should be constructed and sold to +the Negroes at moderate prices and on easy terms.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>"YE HAVE THE POOR WITH YOU ALWAYS."</h3> + +<p>The earnings of the Negroes being small, they have but little opportunity +to accumulate a surplus for old age and decrepitude. This evil is +accentuated by improvidence. So long as these conditions exist, there must +be aged Negroes unable to take care of themselves. For these homes should +be established.</p> + +<p>Orphan Asylums are sadly needed and must be provided for the tens of +thousands of young cast adrift annually through the deaths of impoverished +parents. At present youthful Negro offenders are sent to prisons where they +are in daily contact with hardened criminals. Reformatories must be +established where these beginners in crime may be lured from the paths of +vice, instead of being the better educated for evil as at present.</p> + +<p>Comparisons unfavorable to the Negro have been so often instituted that the +passion for appearing as well or better than the whites has taken hold of +many. Living side by side with a wealthy rival race, the Negro often +overstrains himself in an endeavor to keep well in sight of the white man. +As outgrowths of this condition their church houses, very often, their +dwellings, the furnishings for their homes, their dress are wont to cost +more than their earnings would warrant. There are money-seeking men who +have discovered the depths of this desire of the Negro to appear well.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> + +<p>They have formed loan companies and accept mortgages on all sorts of +possessions of the Negroes and exact rates of interest that are astounding.</p> + +<p>Dealers in various lines of ware do not hesitate to sell to the Negroes the +most costly articles on the installment plan, taking care to place charges +thereon far above their real value. Thus the meagre earnings of the race +are so largely absorbed in the manner indicated. It means perpetual poverty +to the masses unless corrected.</p> + +<p>Negroes must be taught to live simply, in keeping with their financial +condition. Penny saving banks must everywhere be established, and forces +set to work to urge the Negroes to save their money, thus counteracting the +influence of the myriad loan offices that tempt them to their financial +ruin.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>THE WINDS HAVE VEERED.</h3> + +<p>The age in which we live is fast shifting from a basis in which brute force +is a great factor, to one in which skill and intelligence are the prime +essentials. The day of the man who has naught to offer save his native +strength is fast drawing to a close, and his night is all but upon us.</p> + +<p>The general refinement of taste requiring a higher order of intelligence to +satisfy it; the inventive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> genius of man bringing into use complicated +machinery—these are influences at work rendering necessary a greater +measure of skill and a higher order of intelligence in the modern laborer.</p> + +<p>If the Negro would not be lost in the shift of the age, he must be trained +with a view to the requirements of modern civilization. To this end +Technological schools must be established throughout the South and other +centers of Negro labor.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>"THE FIELD IS THE WORLD."</h3> + +<p>The Negroes have evinced a keen desire for education, until now there are +more educated young men and women than there is congenial labor for them. +The schools have sent them forth far faster than conditions have permitted +them to be absorbed.</p> + +<p>The Negro parent that has to submit to great privations to educate his +child, viewing education from the simple standpoint of its ability to +afford a livelihood, has now under consideration the advisability of +continuing his effort to educate his offspring. The pupil, confronted with +so many of his fellows that have gone through school and failed of +congenial employment, is inclined to lay down his books and bring his +school days to a close. To relieve this very annoying congestion, Negroes +must invade all the avenues of trade and found enterprises<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> that will give +employment to the trained members of the race. The labor of the race is +fully able to sustain all branches of endeavor incident to civilized life.</p> + +<p>Simultaneous with this development of the home field, Puerto Rico, Cuba, +Hawaii, the Philippines and Africa must be utilized to relieve this +congestion.</p> + +<p>The well equipped young men and women must be inoculated with more of the +pioneer spirit.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>WHERE THE GALE BLOWS FIERCEST.</h3> + +<p>In labor, business, social and religious circles, a citizen is at liberty +to avoid contact with an undesirable neighbor if he so elects. As these +constitute the bulk of the activities of the American people, the normal +relation of the Negroes and whites is a peaceful one. But there are points +where contact is unavoidable.</p> + +<p>We have a common political structure, common courts and common public +utilities. At these points all citizens must meet and such friction as +arises comes mainly from these sources. We now outline the program to be +carried out by our racial organization at these points, beginning with the +ballot box.</p> + +<p>The United States is pre-eminently a political country, politics occupying +a relatively large space<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> in the public mind. With the national thought +focused on politics, in that arena a man is more sorely tried, his powers +put to more severe tests, his strong and his weak points more clearly +developed than in any other sphere of activity. He who emerges from the +galling fire of American politics unscathed, must be accorded a crown of +unfading glory.</p> + +<p>To illustrate the ordeal through which one must pass, we cite the following +comment:</p> + +<p>"In turning over the files of the American press, we read of Washington as +an embezzler; of Jefferson as an atheist, an anarchist and a libertine; of +Adams as a tyrant; and of Jackson as a bully, a border ruffian and an +assassin. Van Buren was accused of stealing gold spoons from the 'White +House.' The stock epithet applied to President Lincoln was the 'Illinois +baboon.' President Johnson was habitually described as a 'drunken boor.' +What was said by the newspapers of our later Presidents, from General Grant +to Mr. Cleveland, is fresh in the memory of every person of mature age. How +utterly insincere is all this hideous abuse may be seen in the fact that it +is hushed into silence as soon as the object of it passes out of the +political arena into private life. No breath of it ever lingers in the +allusions that are thereafter made to him by even the bitterest of his late +opponents."</p> + +<p>The Negro has assuredly received his full measure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> of blows from the hand +of America's master passion. When the Negro stepped into the arena to play +his part he had to encounter the feeling of caste, which insisted that he +was inherently disqualified to enter, the claim being set up that nature +had forever decreed against him in this respect. He was met with violence, +with fraud, and vituperation, with misrepresentation, with disregard for +all the forms of law. The votes which he sought to cast in his own favor +were boldly appropriated to the opposition. His cupidity was tempted, his +every weakness exploited. His virtues were minimized and his shortcomings +exaggerated and unduly paraded. This treatment of the Negro was not +necessarily special. It was in keeping with the rules of American politics +in which the Darwinian law of the survival of the fittest everywhere +obtains.</p> + +<p>In view of the galling fire which all participants in America who enter +politics must encounter, our racial organization will be confronted with a +serious task in the formulation of the political program for the Negro.</p> + +<p>The following suggestions will afford a basis for the projecting of a +policy that will enable the race to take care of itself at this, the most +crucial, the really pivotal point in its battle for honorable station.</p> + +<p>The difficulties in the way must not influence the Negro to regard the +political tree as bearing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> forbidden fruit, as regards himself. Such a +course would be an acceptance of the 'class' system, which is contrary to +the genius of American institutions.</p> + +<p>There is a development that comes from the contemplation of and the +participation in the affairs of State. Much of the superiority of the +American civilization is due to the fact that its citizens as a body are +treated as sovereigns, educated with a view to the fact that they are to +pass upon most grave and intricate problems.</p> + +<p>Again, as an encouragement to civic virtues the Negro youth, like other +youths, must be allowed to feel that the social group which he is expected +to serve, is permitted to reward him if his faithfulness to the needs of +the group justify such a course. Thus the political door, through which a +man enters to receive rewards from the State acting as a body, must never +be closed to the Negro. Far be it from the Negroes to ever yield so vital a +point. Instead of counselling retirement from politics, our racial +organization is to arrange for a wiser participation therein.</p> + +<p>The manner of the emancipation of the Negro was most unfortunate indeed. It +should have come from the nation as a whole, or should have been the direct +result of the Negro's own efforts, if he was to begin his career as a +citizen under ideal circumstances. As it is, he has been caused to feel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +that he owes a debt of gratitude to one party, so great as to constitute a +perpetual mortgage. The Negro must shake himself loose from all such +feelings if he is to be a true citizen. He must put the nation above the +party even if that party is accredited with having done him a personal +service. Nor must he be influenced by hatred of the party that in the past +was associated with his humiliation.</p> + +<p>When our national government was but beginning its career in the family of +nations, George Washington warned it against the undue cultivation of love +and hatred. Said he in his farewell address:</p> + +<p>"Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Nothing is more essential than that +permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate +attachments for others should be excluded, and that in place of them just +and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. The nation which +indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in +some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or its affection, +either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its +interest."</p> + +<p>He could say this and desire its application to both England and France, +though the former had fought against and the latter for the establishment +of the republic.</p> + +<p>Our racial organization must teach the Negro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> to observe this rule with +regard to all existing political parties. Let an unbiased study of present +and prospective policies influence party affiliations, rather than love and +hatred based upon a past forever dead.</p> + +<p>It is not wise for the Negroes to aspire to exercise political influence in +proportion to mere numbers with a view to securing <i>race</i> triumphs. Good +government, pure and simple, and not race supremacy, must be the end +forever sought. The right to rule must be accorded to the intelligence, to +the moral and material worth of every community as ascertained with regard +to the whole body of the people, whites and Negroes. No man white or black +must be supported or opposed on account of his color.</p> + +<p>The ranks of the Negroes must cease to be the place of refuge and the means +of power for the renegade weaklings from the camps of the whites, whose +only impelling motive is greed for the emoluments of office, and whose only +recommendation is the color of the skin. The white face in Negro ranks must +cease to bring a premium with the Negroes. That face, like all others, must +be adjudged purely upon its merits. The Negroes must convince the better +element of Southern whites that they will not take up and honor worthless +white men rightfully cast off or denied distinction in and by their own +race.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> + +<p>Again, the Negroes must not center their political activities on the mere +holding of offices. The office is not always the real seat of political +power. In American politics it is sometimes the political boss, sometimes +the party caucus, sometimes the committee of the law-making body, that is +the actual determining factor in matters.</p> + +<p>The Negro must make a study of the larger needs of the people and persist +in making himself felt at the most effective point. Though not holding +office himself he may yet exert a wholesome influence on the man that does, +if he but act wisely.</p> + +<p>It is said of American politics as a whole, that the best citizens are too +largely holding aloof. It is urged that the law making bodies do not any +longer represent the highest mental and moral development of the people. +Even if the good and strong of other groups of Americans are adopting such +a course, the better element of Negroes cannot afford to follow the +example.</p> + +<p>The interests of the race in matters political must not be left to those +least qualified for the responsibilities. Men, good and true, the ablest of +the race, must be induced to make the necessary sacrifices and enter +politics with a view to taking care at this point of the honor and welfare +of the race. Unworthy and incompetent men in the race must be given a back +seat, and their influence neutralized in political affairs, the place where +we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> are peculiarly on trial, and where so much may be won or lost.</p> + +<p>Finally, knowing that our hereditary influences and environments in the +past were not such as were best adapted to preparing a people +temperamentally for self-government; knowing that America is infested with +a strong color prejudice; knowing that the Negro's own record as a voter +and lawmaker is not altogether in his own favor; knowing the difficulties +that naturally arise from the attempts to blend such widely divergent race +types into a common political life; knowing how galling is the fire upon +any one who has the temerity to enter the arena of American politics; +knowing these things, the guiding star of the Negro, the light from which +his eye must never wander, is Caution. Others with less to lose may "play +the game of politics" lightly, but the Negro must give to the task the +highest there is in him.</p> + +<p>That the policy herein set forth may be carried out; that the Negro may be +prepared to demean himself nobly in the maelstrom of American politics, our +racial organization shall create a non-partisan bureau that shall +thoroughly educate the Negro as to his own history; as to the history of +the Anglo-Saxon race; as to our form of government; as to our political +parties; as to all the problems confronting our nation; as to the +predominating racial instincts of the Anglo-Saxon race which are often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> in +reality more of a governing force with us than mere written laws.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>WITH THE HEN GOES HER BROOD.</h3> + +<p>With the adjustment of the political question will come an era of good +feeling which will operate to ameliorate other conditions.</p> + +<p>The Negro complains that the courts of the South are arrayed against him; +that he does not receive there the treatment accorded to other citizens. So +much of this as is true is traceable to the fact that the courts are at +present sustained by the same race feeling which has for its end the +suppression of the Negro.</p> + +<p>When the Negro again becomes a political factor and the court is made +amenable to Negro public sentiment in common with the rest of the +community, care will then be taken that evenhanded justice is meted out to +all. Under such conditions the Negroes and white men of the South will be +in a frame of mind to meet and join hands for the protection of womanhood, +for the suppression of lynching, for the extirpation of criminality in +general.</p> + +<p>Chief among the reforms to be inaugurated will be the improvement of the +very deplorable prison systems, which being operated with a view to +producing revenue, are a blot upon our civilization.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p> + +<p>When better feelings prevail, the laws regulating public utilities will be +such as conform to the desires of the best citizens of all races.</p> + +<p>Thus it will be seen how many of the ills that ramified the whole of +Southern life were generated from the strife that had its origin at the +ballot box.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<h3>THE PROBLEM OF THE OTHER MAN.</h3> + +<p>With our racial organization thus laboring to prepare the race to meet the +highest requirements of civilization, the subjective phase of the problem +is provided for, and we may now direct our attention to extrinsic factors, +the forces without, that must be reckoned with.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the study of <i>our</i> problem, our racial organization must +bear in mind the fact that the Southern white man has <i>his</i> problem. He is +the lineal descendant of the builders of our civilization. We are heirs +thereof by adoption; the Southern white man by birth. It must be assumed +that the instincts that make possible our civilization are more deeply +written in his nature than in that of the Negro. To him primarily, +therefore, is committed the task of preserving in the Southland +characteristic Americanism. Thus while benefiting by the many noble traits +which the Negro brings, the Southern white man must yet resist whatever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +Africanizing tendencies that anywhere show themselves. Such is the Southern +white man's problem.</p> + +<p>There are Negroes that can meet every test of civilization, while there are +others upon whom residence in America has wrought but feebly. The Southern +white man closes the door in the face of the prepared Negro, holding that +to do otherwise would mean the influx of an uncontrollable mass of the +unprepared. He also states that coercive methods are necessary to preserve +in the South the Anglo-Saxon flavor to our civilization.</p> + +<p>The virile elements in all communities are in duty bound to draw the weaker +ones up to themselves, but indiscriminate repression and coercion are not +the proper means to be employed in these modern times. The weak are to be +elevated through the superior forces known to mind and morals.</p> + +<p>It is far better for the South and for the nation that the shortcomings of +the Negro be conquered by excellencies, than that they should be left as a +constantly rising flood tide destined to over-leap all walls whatsoever, +carrying devastation that many generations will be taxed to repair. The +white man of the South must be aided in his work by the people of the whole +land. In view of what is required of them, the white people of the South +ought, perhaps, to be more highly and more generally educated than those of +any other section of the country, whereas the percentage of illiteracy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +among them is greater than it is in any other section.</p> + +<p>Our racial organization must encourage the philanthropists of the world to +remember the white people of the South in the distribution of their wealth +for benevolent purposes. When education is more general in the South and +the white people are conscious that as an aggregation they represent a +higher degree of power, they will feel the more inclined to abandon the +policy of force, and proceed with the work of intellectually assimilating +the Negroes whom they have hitherto thrust out. When thus equipped the good +and strong in the South will coalesce and rule by the sheer force of +superior worth, which is the only method countenanced by truly civilized +peoples.</p> + +<p>Recognizing the fact that, in the interests of a composite American +civilization, it is desirable that the Negro be imbued with many of the +qualities of the white man, care should be taken that the Negro population +be so diffused throughout the country, that no section of the white race +shall have more work of this character than it can well perform. Our racial +organization shall therefore establish an emigration bureau, that shall +drain off unduly congested regions and locate Negroes in more desirable +localities. This lightening of the burdens of some places, coupled with the +program of more extended education, will aid the Southern white man to do +what the world expects of him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> namely, preserve his own strong parts and +impart strength to, not repress, the weak.</p> + +<p>Thus less and less grow the essential elements of the problem as the great +bulk of the Negroes measure up to the standard of the ideal citizen and the +Southern white man is the better prepared to shoulder the responsibility +that attaches to the post of seniority in the civilization under which we +live.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>OUR LAST FOE.</h3> + +<p>When all essential factors in the situation have been cancelled our racial +organization will find that there remains to be overthrown pride of race, +prejudice and self-interest. The Anglo-Saxon race has so long enjoyed the +thought of superiority over the Negro, that there will be those to oppose +the unfettering of the Negro through the sheer force of race pride. There +will be others who will continue in opposition, as a result of prejudice, +for which they can assign absolutely no reason. There will still be others +who have profited by race antagonisms, who have come into place and power +by their ability to crush out Negro aspirations. An era of peace would rob +this class of an occupation, and self-interest will influence them to +oppose the untrammeling of the Negro.</p> + +<p>Against pride of race, prejudice and selfishness, then, our racial +organization will find itself pitted in the last instance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> + +<p>Here, again, we are face to face with a situation that calls for somewhat +of a change of front on the part of the Negro. In the days of slavery the +Negro who sought for freedom fixed his eye upon the "North Star" and +journeyed thitherward. When freedom at last came to the Negro in the South +it came from Northern climes. His mind has grown accustomed to looking to +forces external to the South to bring him his desires.</p> + +<p>Enlightened communities are in great measure self-governing, and too much +reliance must not be placed on foreign forces. The Negro must more largely +seek to utilize forces present in the Southland. There are broadminded men +there that are able to rise above all considerations of pride, prejudice +and selfishness, and deal with all men according to the mandates of the +Golden Rule.</p> + +<p>Our racial organization must form an alliance with such white +neighbors—must labor with them in matters looking to the highest interests +of our common country. As evidence that there is a possibility of such an +alliance, we quote the following from "The Washington Post," a leading +newspaper in the nation's capital, and a recognized champion of Southern +interests: "So far as we are concerned—and we believe that the best +element of the South in every State will sustain our proposition—we hold +that, as between the ignorant of the two races, the Negroes are preferable. +They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> are conservative; they are good citizens; they take no stock in +social schisms and vagaries; they do not consort with anarchists; they +cannot be made the tools and agents of incendiaries. * * * Their influence +in government would be infinitely more wholesome than the influence of the +white sansculotte, the riffraff, the idlers, the rowdies, and the outlaws."</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD.</h3> + +<p>While paying strict attention to our home influences, we must not be +unmindful of the outside world. If we can bring to bear upon the local +situation the moral support of other sections of our country and of other +civilized lands, our travel in the direction sought will be the faster. One +of the chief labors of our racial organization will be to lay the case of +the Negro upon the heart of the world and cause all humanity to lift a +voice in our behalf. As evidence that this course is pregnant with hope, we +cite the following authorities:</p> + +<p>Herbert Spencer designates "the control exercised by public sentiment over +conduct at large" as "irresistible." He further says: "It requires only to +contemplate the social code which regulates life, down even to the color of +an evening necktie, and to note how those who dare not break this code have +no hesitation in smuggling, to see that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> an unwritten law enforced by +opinion, is more peremptory than a written law not so enforced. And still +more on observing that men disregard the just claims of creditors, who for +goods given cannot get the money, while they are anxious to discharge +so-called debts of honor to those who have rendered neither goods nor +services, we are shown that the control of prevailing sentiment, unenforced +by law and religion, may be more potent than law and religion together, +when they are backed by sentiment less strongly manifested. Looking at the +total activities of men, we are obliged to admit, that they are still, as +they were at the outset, guided by the aggregate feeling, past and +present."</p> + +<p>Huxley remarks: "It is only needful to look around us to see that the +greatest restrainers of the anti-social tendencies of men is fear, not of +the law, but of the opinions of their fellows. The conventions of honor +bind men who break legal, moral and religious bonds; and while people +endure the extremity of pain rather than part with life, shame drives the +weakest to suicide."</p> + +<p>Moses, recognizing the influence of the crowd even when in the wrong, felt +the necessity of imbedding in the Jewish code this declaration: "Thou shalt +not follow a multitude to do evil."</p> + +<p>Jesus Christ in projecting a world-wide kingdom designates public +reprobation as the highest form<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> of punishment to be known in his realm. +"Let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican."</p> + +<p>The exponents in the Anglo-Saxon race, of justice, liberty, equality and +progress, have contended most zealously for the freedom of the press and +have evinced in every way a keen appreciation of the value of this +instrumentality developed among them for the utilization of the force of +public sentiment. In discussing the manner of effecting results in problems +of the general nature of ours, Benjamin Kidd remarks: "* * * * In like +manner the effect produced on the minds of the British people by +descriptions of the wrongs and sufferings of oppressed nationalities, has +been one of the most powerful influences affecting the foreign policy of +England throughout the nineteenth century; and any close student of our +politics during this period would have to note that this influence, so far +as the will of the people found expression through the government in power, +has been a far more potent factor in shaping that policy than any clear +conception of those far reaching political motives so often attributed to +the British nation by other countries."</p> + +<p>Resolved upon the enlistment of the enlightened sentiment of the world, our +racial organization must utilize the talent of the race for oratory and +send able men with burning hearts to speak with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> flaming tongues of such +wrongs as the South wittingly or unwittingly imposes upon us. Negro +newspapers must be supported, until their unquestioned excellence makes a +way for them into homes without regard to race. Daily newspapers and +magazines, favorable to the highest interests of the race, must be +established so that the outpourings of the souls of Negro writers may have +better opportunities of reaching the world. The poem, the novel, the drama +must be pressed into service. The painter, the sculptor, the musical +composer must plead our cause in the world of æsthetics. The bird that +would live must thrill the huntsman with its song. With the sympathies of +the world thus enkindled, there are none who would wish to withhold our +rights. Even a Cain cries out against a situation in which every man's hand +would be against him. Our racial organization must gird itself for the +stupendous task of thus winning our great battle, of thus inducing the iron +hand to relax its grasp.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 59px;"> +<img src="images/dingbat.jpg" width="59" height="51" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>THE END DRAWETH NIGH.</h3> + +<p>Such is the program of endeavor to be set before our great racial +organization. Local organizations modeled after it, having in view similar +aims will be created and put in operation. It is evident that the task +before us involves the expenditure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> of enormous sums of money. It is true +that the organization once in operation would be cheerfully and adequately +supported by the Negroes. But the placing of it upon such a basis as will +disclose its value and secure devotion will require great sums of money.</p> + +<p>It so happens that Africa has but recently bestowed upon me, Dorlan +Warthell, untold millions. I have no qualms of conscience in thus applying +to the Negroes of America funds derived from Africa, for I firmly believe +with Mr. Wm. T. Stead in the Americanization of the globe, and believe that +in due time the Negroes of America are to be the immediate agents of the +Americanization of Africa. Money spent in the uplift of the American Negro +is, therefore, an investment in the interests of Africa that will pay a +glorious dividend. Once established our organization shall win such a hold +on the hearts of the Negroes of the world that the poor and the rich will +give unstintedly for its maintenance. The philanthropists within the race +may be confidently relied upon to do all that may be justly expected of +them in the matter.</p> + +<p>It only remains for me to state that I have, after a most careful search, +selected the men whose names you find appended. They constitute a +provisional congress that will superintend the formation of our permanent +organization. The men chosen are noted for their intellectual acumen,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +broad grasp of affairs, judicial temperament, constructive ability, moral +probity, and their capacity for sustained endeavor. Such are the qualities +that are <i>known</i> to characterize the men who have been chosen to groom this +infant race to march as one man to the drum beat of fate.</p> + +<p>As I view the matter, here lies before the Negro a field of endeavor as +great as the earth affords. He is provided with a sphere of possible +activity wherein may be won on American soil, as glorious a crown as was +ever woven for human brow.</p> + +<p>Equipped with an organization that can amass the full strength of the race; +blessed with the presence of great minds now furnished with facilities for +the attainment of great ends; cheered by a consciousness of power; aided by +the moral effect which our racial unity and our insistent attitude in the +right will produce; moving forward unfalteringly in the direction of all +that is true and good, decisive results must surely follow.</p> + +<p>Thanks to this plan, Morlene, I can now assure you that the death knell of +the Negro's night has been rung, the stars have shrunk bashfully out of +sight, and happy fingers are even now painting the eastern sky a golden +hue, a sure sign that the dawn is here.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Yours humbly,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Dorlan Warthell</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNFETTERED***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 38830-h.txt or 38830-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/8/3/38830">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/3/38830</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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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