Transcriber's Note: This document is the text of Trial and Triumph. Any bracketed notations such as [?], and those inserting letters or other comments are from the original text. 

Transcriber's Note About the Author:Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was born to free parents inBaltimore, Maryland. Orphaned at three, she was raised by her uncle, ateacher and radical advocate for civil rights. She attended the Academyfor Negro Youth and was educated as a teacher. She became a professionallecturer, activist, suffragette, poet, essayist, novelist, and the authorof the first published short story written by an African-American. Herwork spanned more than sixty years. 

TRIAL AND TRIUMPH

A Rediscovered Novel by

Frances E. W. Harper

Edited by Frances Smith Foster

Chapter I

"Oh, that child! She is the very torment of my life. I have been themother of six children, and all of them put together, never gave me asmuch trouble as that girl. I don't know what will ever become of her. "

"What is the matter now, Aunt Susan? What has Annette been doing?"

"Doing! She is always doing something; everlastingly getting herselfinto trouble with some of the neighbors. She is the most mischievous andhard-headed child I ever saw. "

"Well what has she been doing this morning which has so upset you?"

"Why, I sent her to the grocery to have the oil can filled, and aftershe came back she had not been in the house five minutes before therecame such an uproar from Mrs. Larkins', my next door neighbor, that Ithought her house was on fire, but----"

"Instead of that her tongue was on fire, and I know what that means. "

"Yes, that's just it, and I don't wonder. That little minx sitting upthere in the corner looking so innocent, stopped to pour oil on herclean steps. Now you know yourself what an aggravating thing that musthave been. "

"Yes, it must have been, especially as Mrs. Larkins is such a nicehousekeeper and takes such pride in having everything neat and niceabout her. How did you fix up matters with her. "

"I have not fixed them up at all. Mrs. Larkins only knows one cure forbad children, and that is beating them, and she always blames me forspoiling Annette, but I hardly know what to do with her. I've scoldedand scolded till my tongue is tired, whipping don't seem to do her a bitof good, and I hate to put her out among strangers for fear that theywill not treat her right, for after all she is very near to me. She ismy poor, dead Lucy's child. Sometimes when I get so angry with her thatI feel as though I could almost shake the life out of her, the thoughtof her dying mother comes back to me and it seems to me as if I couldsee her eyes looking so wistfully on the child and turning so trustinglyto me and saying, 'Mother, when I am gone won't you take care ofAnnette, and try to keep her with you?' And then all the anger dies outof me. Poor child! I don't know what is going to become of her when myhead is laid low. I'm afraid she is born for trouble. Nobody will everput up with her as I do. She has such an unhappy disposition. She is notlike any of my children ever were. "

"Yes. I've often noticed that she does seem different from otherchildren. She never seems light-hearted and happy. "

"Yes, that is so. She reminds me so of poor Lucy before she was born. She even moans in her sleep like she used to do. It was a dark day whenFrank Miller entered my home and Lucy became so taken up with him. Itseemed to me as if my poor girl just worshiped him. I did not feel thathe was all right, and I tried to warn my dear child of danger, but whatcould an old woman like me do against him with his handsome looks andoily tongue. "

"Yes, " said her neighbor soothingly, "you have had a sad time, butstill we cannot recall the dead past, and it is the living present withwhich we have to deal. Annette needs wise guidance, a firm hand and aloving heart to deal with her. To spoil her at home is only to prepareher for misery abroad. "

"I am afraid that I am not equal to the task. "

"If any man lack wisdom we are taught to ask it of One who givethliberally to all men and upbraideth none. There would be so much lessstumbling if we looked earnestly within for 'the light which lightethevery man that cometh into the world. '"

"Well, " said Mrs. Harcourt, Annette's grandmother, "there is one thingabout Annette that I like. She is very attentive to her books. If youwant to keep that child out of mischief just put a book in her hand; butthen she has her living to get and she can't get it by nursing her handsand reading books. She has got to work like the rest of us. "

"But why not give her a good education? Doors are open to her which wereclosed against us. This is a day of light and knowledge. I don't knowmuch myself, but I mean to give my girls a chance. I don't believe insaying, let my children do as I have done, when I think some of us havedone poorly enough digging and delving from morning till night. I don'tbelieve the good Lord ever sent anybody into his light and beautifulworld to be nothing but a drudge, and I just think it is because sometake it so easy that others, who will do, have to take it so hard. "

"It always makes my blood boil, " said a maiden lady who was present, "tosee a great hulk of a man shambling around complaining of hard times, and that he can't get work, when his wife is just working herself downto the grave to keep up the family. " I asked Mrs. Johnson, who justlives in the wash tub and is the main stay of her family, what would herhusband do if she were to die? and she said, 'get another wife. ' Now, Ijust think she has spoiled that man and if she dies first, I hope thathe will never find another woman to tread in her footsteps. He ought tohave me to deal with. When he got through with me he would never wantto laze around another woman. "

"I don't think he ever would, " said Mrs. Harcourt, while a gleam ofhumor sparkled in her eye. Her neighbor was a maiden lady who alwaysknew how to manage other people's husbands, but had never succeeded ingetting one of her own, and not having any children herself understoodperfectly well how to rate other people's. 

Just then a knock was heard at the door and Mr. Thomas, Annette's formerschool teacher, entered the room. After an exchange of courtesies heasked, "How does Annette come on with her new teacher?"

"I have not heard any complaint, " said Mrs. Harcourt. "At first Mrs. Joseph's girl did not want to sit with Annette, but she soon got over itwhen she saw how well the other girls treated Annette and how pleasantthe teacher was to her. Mr. Scott, who has been so friendly to us, toldus not to mind her; that her mother had been an ignorant servant girl, who had married a man with a little money; that she was still ignorant, loud and [dressy?] and liked to put on airs. The nearer the beggar thegreater the prejudice. "

"I think it is true, " said Mr. Thomas. "If you apply those words, not tocondition, but human souls, for none but beggarly souls would despise aman because of circumstances over which he had no control; noble, large-hearted men and women are never scornful. Contempt and ridiculeare the weapons of weak souls. I am glad however, that Annette isgetting on so well. I hope that she will graduate at the head of herclass, with high honors. "

"What's the use of giving her so much education? there are no openingsfor her here, and if she gets married she won't want it, " and Mrs. Harcourt sighed as she finished her sentence. 

Mr. Thomas looked grave for a moment and then his face relaxed into asmile. "Well, really, Mrs. Harcourt, that is not very complimentary tous young men; do we have no need of intelligent and well educatedwives? I think our race needs educated mothers for the home more than wedo trained teachers for the school room. Not that I would ignore orspeak lightly of the value of good colored teachers nor suggest as arace, that we can well afford to do without them; but to-day, if it wereleft to my decision, whether the education of the race should be placedin the hands of the school teacher or the mothers and there was no otheralternative, I should, by all means, decide for the education of therace through its motherhood rather than through its teachers. "

"But we poor mothers had no chance. We could not teach our children. "

"I think you could teach some of them more than they wish to learn; butI must go now; at some other time we will talk on this subject. "

Chapter II

"Oh, Annette!" said Mrs. Harcourt, turning to her granddaughter afterMr. Thomas had left the door; "What makes you so naughty? Why did youpour that oil on Mrs. Larkin's steps; didn't you know it was wrong?"

Annette stood silent looking like a guilty culprit. 

"Why don't you answer me; what makes you behave so bad?"

"I don't know, grandma, I 'specs I did it for the devil. The preachersaid the devil makes people do bad things. "

"The preacher didn't say any such thing; he said the devil tempts peopleto be bad, but you are not to mind every thing the devil tells you todo, if you do, you will get yourself into a lot of trouble. "

"Well, grandma, Mrs. Larkins is so mean and cross and she is alwaystelling tales on me and I just did it for fun. "

"Well, that is very poor fun. You deserve a good whipping, and I've agreat mind to give it to you now. "

"Why don't she let me alone; she is all the time trying to get you tobeat me. She's a spiteful old thing anyhow. I don't like her, and I knowshe don't like me. "

"Hush Annette, you must not talk that way of any one so much older thanyourself. When I was a child I wouldn't have talked that way about anyold person. Don't let me hear you talk that way again. You will neverrest till I give you a good whipping. "

"Yes ma'm, " said Annette very demurely. 

"Oh, Annette!" said her grandmother with a sudden burst of feeling. "Youdo give me so much trouble. You give me more worry than all my sixchildren put together; but there is always one scabby sheep in the flockand you will be that one. Now get ready for school and don't let me hearany more complaints about you; I am not going to let you worry me todeath. "

Annette took up her bonnet and glided quietly out of the door, glad toreceive instead of the threatened whipping a liberal amount of talk, andyet the words struck deeper than blows. Her own grandmother hadprophesied evil things of her. She was to be the scabby sheep of theflock. The memory of the blows upon her body might have passed soon awayafter the pain and irritation of the infliction were over, but thatinconsiderate prophecy struck deep into her heart and left its impressupon her unfolding life. Without intending it, Mrs. Harcourt had strucka blow at the child's self-respect; one of the things which she shouldhave strengthened, even if it was "ready to die. " Annette had enteredlife sadly handicapped. She was the deserted child of a selfish andunprincipled man and a young mother whose giddiness and lack ofself-control had caused her to trail the robes of her womanhood in thedust. With such an ante-natal history how much she needed judicious, buttender, loving guidance. In that restless, sensitive and impulsive childwas the germ of a useful woman with a warm, loving heart, ready torespond to human suffering, capable of being faithful in friendship anddevoted in love. Before that young life with its sad inheritance seemedto lay a future of trial, and how much, humanly speaking, seemed todepend upon the right training of that life and the development withinher of self-control, self-reliance and self-respect. There was nomother's heart for her to nestle upon in her hours of discouragement andperplexity; no father's strong, loving arms to shelter and defend her;no sister to brighten her life with joyous companionship, and no brotherto champion her through the early and impossible period of ripeningwomanhood. Her grandmother was kind to her, but not very tender andloving. Her struggle to keep the wolf from the door had absorbed herlife, and although she was neither hard nor old, yet she was notdemonstrative in her affections, and to her a restless child was anenigma she did not know how to solve. If the child were hungry or coldshe could understand physical wants, but for the hunger of the heart shehad neither sympathy nor comprehension. Fortunately Annette had found afriend who understood her better than her grandmother, and who, lookingbeneath the perverseness of the child, saw in her rich possibilities, and would often speak encouragingly to her. Annette early developed alove for literature and poetry and would sometimes try to make rhymesand string verses together and really Mrs. Lasette thought that she hadtalent or even poetic genius and ardently wished that it might becultivated and rightly directed; but it never entered the minds of hergrandmother and aunts that in their humble home was a rarely gifted souldestined to make music which would set young hearts to thrilling withhigher hopes and loftier aspirations. 

Mrs. Lasette had been her teacher before she married. After she became awife and mother, instead of becoming entirely absorbed in a round ofhousehold cares and duties, the moment the crown of motherhood fell uponher, as she often said, she had poured a new interest into the welfareof her race. [1] With these feelings she soon became known as a friendand helper in the community in which she lived. Young girls learned tolook to her for council and encouragement amid the different passages oftheir [lives?] sometimes with blushing cheeks they whispered in to herears tender secrets they did not always bring to their near relatives, and young men about to choose their life work, often came to consult herand to all her heart was responsive. With this feeling of confidence inher judgment, Mr. Thomas had entered her home after leaving Mrs. Harcourt's, educating himself for a teacher. He had spent several yearsin the acquisition of knowledge and was proving himself an acceptableand conscientious teacher, when the change came which deprived him ofhis school, by blending his pupils in the different ward schools of thecity. Public opinion which moves slowly, had advanced far enough toadmit the colored children into the different schools, irrespective ofcolor, but it was not prepared, except in a few places to admit thecolored teachers as instructors in the schools. "What are you going todo next?" inquired Mrs. Lasette of Mr. Thomas as he seated himselfsomewhat wearily by the fire. "I hardly know, I am all at sea, but I amgoing to be like the runaway slave who, when asked, 'Where is yourpass?' raised his fist and said 'Dem is my passes, ' and if 'I don't seean opening I will make one. '"

"Why don't you go into the ministry? When Mr. Pugh failed in hisexamination he turned his attention to the ministry, and it is said thathe is succeeding admirably. "

"Mrs. Lasette, I was brought up to respect the institutions of religion, and not to lay rash hands on sacred things, and while I believe thatevery man should preach Christ by an upright life, and chasteconversation, yet I think one of the surest ways to injure a Church, andto make the pulpit lose its power over the rising generation, is for menwithout a true calling, or requisite qualifications to enter theministry because they have failed in some other avocation and find inpreaching an open door to success. "

"But they often succeed. "

"How?"

"Why by getting into good churches, increasing their congregations andpaying off large church debts. " "And is that necessarily success? Weneed in the Church men who can be more than financiers and who canattract large congregations. We need earnest thoughtful Christly men, who will be more anxious to create and develop moral earnestness than toexcite transient emotions. Now there is Rev. Mr. Lamson who was educatedin R. College. I have heard him preach to, as I thought, an honest, wellmeaning, but an ignorant congregation, and instead of lifting them tomore rational forms of worship, he tried to imitate them and made acomplete failure. He even tried to moan as they do in worship but itdidn't come out natural. "

"Of course it did not. These dear old people whose moaning duringservice, seems even now so pitiful and weird, I think learned to mournout in prayers, thoughts and feelings wrung from their agonizing hearts, which they did not dare express when they were forced to have theirmeetings under the surveillance of a white man. "

"It is because I consider the ministry the highest and most sacredcalling, that I cannot, nay I dare not, rush into it unless I feelimpelled by the strongest and holiest motives. "

"You are right and I think just such men as you ought to be in theministry. "

"Are you calling me?" "I wish it were in my power. " "I am glad that itis not, I think there are more in the ministry now than magnify theircalling. "

"But Mr. Thomas[2] are you not looking on the dark side of the question?you must judge of the sun, not by its spots, but by its brightness. "

"Oh I did not mean to say that the ministry is crowded with unworthymen, who love the fleece more than the flock. I believe that there arein the ministry a large number who are the salt of the earth and whoselife work bears witness to their fitness. But unfortunately there aremen who seem so lacking in reverence for God, by their free handling ofsacred things; now I think one of the great wants of our people is morereverence for God who is above us, and respect for the man who is besideus, and I do hope that our next minister will be a good man, of activebrain, warm heart and Christly sympathies, who will be among us aliving, moral, and spiritual force, and who will be willing to teach uson the Bible plan of 'line upon line, precept upon precept, here alittle there a little. '"

"I hope he will be; it is said that brother Lomax our new minister is anexcellent young man. "

"Well I hope that we will not fail to receive him as an apostle and tryto hold up his hands. "

"I hope so. I think that to be called of God to be an ambassador forChrist, to help him build the kingdom of righteousness, love and peace, amid the misery, sin and strife, is the highest and most blessedposition that a man can hold, and because I esteem the calling so highlyI would not rush into it unless I felt divinely commissioned. "

Chapter III

Mrs. Harcourt was a Southern woman by birth, who belonged to that classof colored people whose freedom consisted chiefly in not being thechattels of the dominant race--a class to whom little was given and fromwhom much was required. She was naturally bright and intelligent, buthad come up in a day when the very book of the Christian's law was toher a sealed volume; but if she had not been educated through the aid ofschool books and blackboards, she had obtained that culture of mannersand behavior which comes through contact with well-bred people, closeobservation and a sense of self-respect and self-reliance, and whendeprived of her husband's help by an untimely death, she took up theburden of life bravely and always tried to keep up what she called "astiff upper lip. " Feeling the cramping of Southern life, she becamerestive under the privations and indignities which were heaped upon freepersons of color, and at length she and her husband broke up their homeand sold out at a pecuniary sacrifice to come North, where they couldbreathe free air and have educational privileges for their children. Butwhile she was strong and healthy her husband, whose health was not veryfirm, soon succumbed to the change of climate and new modes of livingand left Mrs. Harcourt a stranger and widow in a strange land with sixchildren dependent on her for bread and shelter: but during her shortsojourn in the North[3] she had enlisted the sympathy and respect ofkind friends, who came to her relief and helped her to help herself, thevery best assistance they could bestow upon her. Capable and efficient, she found no difficulty in getting work for herself and older children, who were able to add their quota to the support of the family by runningerrands, doing odd jobs for the neighbors and helping their motherbetween school hours. Nor did she lay all the household burdens on theshoulders of the girls and leave her boys to the mercy of the pavement;she tried to make her home happy and taught them all to have a share inadding to its sunshine. "It makes boys selfish, " she would say, "to havetheir sisters do all the work and let the boys go scot-free. I don'tbelieve there would be so many trifling men if the boys were trained tobe more helpful at home and to feel more for their mothers and sisters. "All this was very well for the peace and sunshine of that home, but asthe children advanced in life the question came to her with painfulemphasis----"What can I do for the future of my boys and girls?" She wasnot anxious to have them all professional men and school teachers andgovernment clerks, but she wanted each one to have some trade or callingby which a respectable and comfortable living could be made; but firstshe consulted their tastes and inclinations. Her youngest boy was veryfond of horses, but instead of keeping him in the city, where he was indanger of getting too intimate with horse jockeys and stable boys, shefound a place for him with an excellent farmer, who, seeing the tastesof the boy, took great interest in teaching him how to raise stock andhe became a skillful farmer. Her second son showed that he had somemechanical skill and ingenuity and she succeeded in getting him asituation with a first-class carpenter, and spared no pains to have himwell instructed in all the branches of carpentry, and would often say tohim, "John, don't do any sham work if you are going to be a carpenter;be thorough in every thing you do and try to be the best carpenter inA. P. , and if you do your work better than others, you won't have to beall the time going around advertising yourself; somebody will find outwhat you can do and give you work. " Her oldest son was passionately fondof books and she helped him through school till he was able to become aschool teacher. But as the young man was high spirited and ambitious, heresolved that he would make his school teaching a stepping stone to amore congenial employment. He studied medicine and graduated with M. D. , but as it takes a young doctor some time to gain the confidence of anold community, he continued after his graduation to teach and obtained acertificate to practice medicine. Without being forced to look to hismother for assistance, while the confidence of his community was slowlygrowing, he depended on the school for his living and looked to thefuture for his success as a physician. 

For the girls, because they were colored, there were but few avenuesopen, but they all took in sewing and were excellent seamstresses, except Lucy, who had gone from home to teach school in a distant city asthere were no openings of the kind for her at her own home. 

Mrs. Harcourt was very proud of her children and had unboundedconfidence in them. She was high-spirited and self-respecting and itnever seemed to enter her mind that any evil might befall the childrenthat would bring sorrow and shame to her home; but nevertheless it cameand Lucy, her youngest child, the pet and pride of the householdreturned home with a great sorrow tugging at her heart and a shadow onher misguided life. It was the old story of woman's weakness and follyand man's perfidy and desertion. Poor child, how wretched she was till"peace bound up her bleeding heart, " and even then the arrow had piercedtoo deep for healing. Sorrow had wasted her strength and laid thefoundation of disease and an early death. Religion brought balm to thewounded spirit, but no renewed vigor to the wasted frame and in a shorttime she fell a victim to consumption, leaving Annette to the care ofher mother. It was so pitiful to see the sorrow on the dear old face asshe would nestle the wronged and disinherited child to her heart andwould say so mournfully, "Oh, I never, never expected this!"

Although Annette had come into the family an unbidden and unwelcomeguest, associated with the saddest experience of her grandmother's life, yet somehow the baby fingers had wound themselves around the tendrils ofher heart and the child had found a shelter in the warm clasp of lovingarms. To her, Annette was a new charge, an increased burden; but burdento be defended by her love and guarded by her care. All her otherchildren had married and left her, and in her lowly home this youngchild with infantile sweetness, beguiled many a lonely hour. She lovedLucy and that was Lucy's child. 

 But where was he who sullied Her once unspotted name; Who lured her from life's brightness To agony and shame?

Did society, which closed its doors against Lucy and left her tostruggle as best she might out of the depth into which she had fallen, pour any righteous wrath upon his guilty head? Did it demand that heshould at least bring forth some fruit meet for repentance by at leasthelping Mrs. Harcourt to raise the unfortunate child? Not so. He leftthat poor old grandmother to struggle with her failing strength, notonly to bear her own burden, but the one he had so wickedly imposed uponher. He had left A. P. Before Lucy's death and gone to the Pacific coastwhere he became wealthy through liquor selling, speculation, gamblingand other disreputable means, and returned with gold enough to hide amultitude of sins, and then fair women permitted and even courted hissociety. Mothers with marriageable daughters condoned his offencesagainst morality and said, "oh, well, young men will sow their wildoats; it is no use to be too straight laced. " But there were a fewthoughtful mothers old fashioned enough to believe that the law ofpurity is as binding upon the man as the woman, and who, under noconditions, would invite him to associate with their daughters. Womenwho tried to teach their sons to be worthy of the love and esteem ofgood women by being as chaste in their conversation and as pure in theirlives as their young daughters who sat at their side sheltered in theirpleasant and peaceful homes. One of the first things that Frank Millerdid after he returned to A. P. Was to open a large and elegantlyfurnished saloon and restaurant. The license to keep such a place wasvery high, and men said that to pay it he resorted to very questionablemeans, that his place was a resort for gamblers, and that he employed ayoung man to guard the entrance of his saloon from any sudden invasionof the police by giving a signal without if he saw any of themapproaching, and other things were whispered of his saloon which showedit to be a far more dangerous place for the tempted, unwary andinexperienced feet of the young men of A. P. , than any low groggery inthe whole city. Young men who would have scorned to enter the lowestdens of vice, felt at home in his gilded palace of sin. Beautifulpictures adorned the walls, light streamed into the room through finelystained glass windows, women, not as God had made them, but as sin haddebased them, came there to spend the evening in the mazy dance, or tosit with partners in sin and feast at luxurious tables. Politicians camethere to concoct their plans for coming campaigns, to fix their slatesand to devise means for grasping with eager hands the spoils ofgovernment. Young men anxious for places in the gift of the governmentfound that winking at Frank Miller's vices and conforming to thedemoralizing customs of his place were passports to political favors, and lacking moral stamina, hushed their consciences and became partakersof his sins. [4] Men talked in private of his vices, and drank hisliquors and smoked his cigars in public. His place was a snare to theirsouls. "The dead were there but they knew it not. " He built a beautifulhome and furnished it magnificently, and some said that the woman whomarried him would do well, as if it were possible for any woman to marrywell who linked her destinies to a wicked, selfish and base man, whosebusiness was a constant menace to the peace, the purity and progress ofsociety. I believe it was Milton who said that the purity of a manshould be more splendid than the purity of a woman, basing his idea uponthe declaration, "The head of the woman is the man, and the head of theman is Jesus Christ. " Surely if man occupies this high rank in thecreation of God he should ever be the true friend and helper of womanand not, as he too often proves, her falsest friend and basest enemy. 

Chapter IV

"Annette, " said Mrs. Harcourt one morning early, "I want you to stiryour stumps to-day; I am going to have company this evening and I wantyou to help me to get everything in apple pie order. "

"Who is coming, grandma?"

"Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Lasette. "

"Mrs. Lasette!" Annette's eyes brightened. "I hope she will come; she isjust as sweet as a peach and I do love her ever so much; and who else?"

"Brother Lomax, the minister who preached last Sunday and gave us such agood sermon. "

"Is he coming, too?" Annette opened her eyes with pleased surprise. "Oh, I hope he will come, he's so nice. "

"What do you know about him?"

"Why, grandmother, I understood everything that he said, and I felt thatI wanted to be good just like he told us, and I went and asked aunt'Liza how people got religion. She had been to camp-meeting and seenpeople getting religion, and I wanted her to tell me all about it for Iwanted to get it too. "

"What did she tell you?"

"She told me that people went down to the mourner's bench and prayed andthen they would get up and shout and say they had religion, and that wasall she knew about it. "

"You went to the wrong one when you went to your aunt 'Liza. And whatdid you do after she told you?"

"Why, I went down in the garden and prayed and I got up and shouted, butI didn't get any religion. I guess I didn't try right. "

"I guess you didn't if I judge by your actions. When you get older youwill know more about it. "

"But, grandma, Aunt 'Liza is older than I am, why don't she know?"

"Because she don't try; she's got her head too full of dress and dancingand nonsense. "

Grandmother Harcourt did not have very much faith in what she calledchildren's religion, and here was a human soul crying out in thedarkness; but she did not understand the cry, nor look for the"perfecting of praise out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, " notdiscerning the emotions of that young spirit, she let the opportunityslip for rightly impressing that young soul. She depended too much onthe church and too little on the training of the home. For while thechurch can teach and the school instruct, the home is the place to traininnocent and impressible childhood for useful citizenship on earth and ahope of holy companionship in heaven; and every Christian should striveto have "her one of the provinces of God's kingdom, " where she can planther strongest batteries against the ramparts of folly, sin and vice. 

"Who else is coming, grandma?"

"Why, of course I must invite Mrs. Larkins; it would never do to leaveher out. "

Annette shrugged her shoulders, a scowl came over her face and she said:

"I hope she won't come. "

"I expect she will and when she comes I want you to behave yourself anddon't roll up your eyes at her and giggle at her and make ugly speeches. She told me that you made mouths at her yesterday, and that when Mr. Ross was whipping his horse you said you knew some one whom you wishedwas getting that beating, and she said that she just believed you meanther. How was that, Annette? If I were like you I would be all the timekeeping this neighborhood in hot water. "

Annette looked rather crestfallen and said, "I did make mouths at herhouse as I came by, but I didn't know that she saw me. "

"Yes she did, and you had better mind how you cut your cards with her. "

Annette finding the conversation was taking a rather disagreeable turnsuddenly remembered that she had something to do in the yard and ceasedto prolong the dialogue. If the truth must be confessed, Annette was nota very earnest candidate for saintship, and annoying her next doorneighbor was one of her favorite amusements. 

Grandma Harcourt lived in a secluded court, which was shut in on everyside but one from the main streets, and her environments were not of themost pleasant and congenial kind. The neighbors, generally speaking, belonged to neither the best nor worst class of colored people. Thecourt was too fully enclosed to be a thoroughfare of travel, but it wasa place in which women could sit at their doors and talk to one anotherfrom each side of the court. Women who had no scruples about drinking asmuch beer, and sometimes stronger drinks, as they could absorb, and someof the men said that the women drank more than men, and under thebesotting influence of beer and even stronger drinks, a fearful amountof gossiping, news-carrying and tattling went on, which often resultedin quarrels and contentions, which, while it never resulted in blood, sadly lowered the tone of social life. It was the arena of wordy strifein which angry tongues were the only weapons of warfare, and poor littleAnnette was fast learning their modes of battle. But there was one thingagainst which grandmother Harcourt set her face like flint, and that wassending children to saloons for beer, and once she flamed out withrighteous indignation when one of her neighbors, in her absence, sentAnnette to a saloon to buy her some beer. She told her in emphatic termsshe must never do so again, that she wanted her girl to grow up arespectable woman, and that she ought to be ashamed of herself, not onlyto be guzzling beer like a toper, but to send anybody's child to asaloon to come in contact with the kind of men who frequented suchplaces, and that any women who sent their children to such places weretraining their boys to be drunkards and their girls to bestreet-walkers. "I am poor, " she said, "but I mean to keep my credit upand if you and I live in this neighborhood a hundred years you mustnever do that thing again. "

Her neighbor looked dazed and tried to stammer out an apology, but shenever sent Annette to a beer saloon again, and in course of time shebecame a good temperance woman herself, influenced by the faithfulnessof grandmother Harcourt. 

The court in which Mrs. Harcourt lived was not a very desirable place, but, on account of her color, eligible houses could not always beobtained, and however decent, quiet or respectable she might appear onapplying for a house, she was often met with the rebuff, "We don't rentto colored people, " and men who virtually assigned her race the lowestplace and humblest positions could talk so glibly of the degradation ofthe Negro while by their Christless and inhuman prejudice they werehelping add to their low social condition. In the midst of herunfavorable environments Mrs. Harcourt kept her home neat and tidy; sentAnnette to school constantly and tried to keep her out of mischief, butthere was moral contagion in the social atmosphere of Tennis Court andAnnette too often succumbed to its influence; but Annette was young andliked the company of young girls and it seemed cruel to confine thechild's whole life to the home and schoolhouse and give her no chance tobe merry and playful with girls of her own age. So now and thengrandmother Harcourt would let her spend a little time with some of theneighbors' girls but from the questions that Annette often asked hergrandmother and the conversations she sometimes repeated Mrs. Harcourtfeared that she was learning things which should only be taught byfaithful mothers in hours of sacred and tender confidence, and shedetermined, even if it gave offence to her neighbors, that she wouldchoose among her own friends, companions for her granddaughter and notleave all her social future to chance. In this she was heartily aided byMrs. Lasette, who made it a point to hold in that neighborhood, mothers'meetings and try to teach mothers, who in the dark days of slavery hadno bolts nor bars strong enough to keep out the invader from scatteringtheir children like leaves in wintry weather, how to build up light andhappy homes under the new dispensation of freedom. To her it was alabor of love and she found her reward in the peace and love whichflowed into the soul and the improved condition of society. In lowlyhomes where she visited, her presence was a benediction and aninspiration. Women careless in their household and slatternly in theirdress grew more careful in the keeping of their homes and thearrangement of their attire. Women of the better class of their ownrace, coming among them awakened their self-respect. Prejudice and prideof race had separated them from their white neighbors and the morecultured of their race had shrunk from them in their ignorance, povertyand low social condition and they were left, in a great measure, tothemselves--ostracised by the whites on the one side and sociallyisolated from the more cultured of their race on the other hand. The lawtook little or no cognizance of them unless they were presented at itsbar as criminals; but if they were neither criminals nor paupers theymight fester in their vices and perpetuate their social condition. Whounderstood or cared to minister to their deepest needs or greatestwants? It was just here where the tender, thoughtful love of awarm-hearted and intelligent woman was needed. To her it was a labor oflove, but it was not all fair sailing. She sometimes met with coldnessand distrust where she had expected kindness and confidence; lack ofsympathy where she had hoped to find ready and willing cooperation; butshe knew that if her life was in harmony with God and Christly sympathywith man; for such a life there was no such word as fail. 

Chapter V

By dint of energy and perseverance grandmother Harcourt had succeeded ingetting everything in order when her guests began to arrive. She hadjust put the finishing touches upon her well-spread table and wasreviewing it with an expression of pleasure and satisfaction. And nowwhile the guests are quietly taking their seats let me introduce you tothem. 

Mr. Thomas came bringing with him the young minister, Rev. Mr. Lomax, whose sermon had so interested and edified Mrs. Harcourt the previousSunday. Mrs. Lasette, looking bright and happy, came with her daughter, and Mrs. Larkins entered arrayed in her best attire, looking starchedand prim, as if she had made it the great business of her life to takecare of her dignity and to think about herself. Mrs. Larkins, [5] thoughfor years a member of church, had not learned that it was unchristian tobe narrow and selfish. She was strict in her attendance at church andgave freely to its support; but somehow with all her attention to theforms of religion, one missed its warm and vivifying influence from herlife, and in the loving clasp of a helping hand, in the tender beam of asympathizing glance, weary-hearted mothers and wives never came to herwith their heartaches and confided to her their troubles. Littlechildren either shrank from her or grew quiet in her presence. What wasmissing from her life was the magnetism of love. She had become soabsorbed in herself that she forgot everybody else and thought more ofher rights than her duties. The difference between Mrs. Lasette and Mrs. Larkins was this, that in passing through life one scattered sunshineand the other cast shadows over her path. Mrs. Lasette was a fineconversationalist. She regarded speech as one of heaven's best gifts, and thought that conversation should be made one of the finest arts, andused to subserve the highest and best purposes of life, and alwaysregretted when it was permitted to degenerate into gossip andbackbiting. Harsh judgment she always tried to modify, often saying indoubtful cases, "Had we not better suspend our judgments? Truly we donot like people to think the worst of us and it is not fulfilling thelaw of love to think the worst of them. Do you not know that if we wishto dwell in his tabernacle we are not to entertain a reproach againstour neighbor, nor to back-bite with our lips and I do not think there isa sin which more easily besets society than this. " "Speech, " she wouldsay, "is a gift so replete with rich and joyous possibilities, " and shealways tried to raise the tone of conversation at home and abroad. Ofher it might be emphatically said, "She opened her mouth with wisdom andin her lips was the law of kindness. "

The young minister, Rev. Mr. Lomax, was an earnest, devout and giftedyoung man. Born in the midst of poverty, with the shadows of slaveryencircling his early life, he had pushed his way upward in the world, "toiling while others slept. " His father was dead. While living he haddone what he could to improve the condition of his family, and had, itwas thought, overworked himself in the struggle to educate and supporthis children. He was a kind and indulgent father and when his son hadmade excellent progress in his studies, he gave him two presents so dearto his boyish heart--a gun and a watch. But the hour came when theloving hands were closed over the quiet breast, and the widowed wifefound herself unable to provide the respectable funeral she desired togive him. Thomas then came bravely and tenderly to her relief. He soldhis watch and gun to defray the funeral expenses of his father. He was agood son to his aged mother, and became the staff of her decliningyears. With an earnest purpose in his soul, and feeling that knowledgeis power, he applied himself with diligence to his studies, passedthrough college, and feeling within his soul a commission to teach andhelp others to develop within themselves the love of nature, he enteredthe ministry, bringing into it an enthusiasm for humanity and love ofChrist, which lit up his life and made him a moral and spiritual forcein the community. He had several advantageous offers to labor in otherparts of the country, but for the sake of being true to the heavenlyvision, which showed him the needs of his people and his adaptation totheir wants, he chose, not the most lucrative, but the most needed workwhich was offered him with

 A joy to find in every station, Something still to do or bear. 

He had seen many things in the life of the people with whom he wasidentified which gave him intense pain, but instead of constantlycensuring and finding fault with their inconsistencies of conscience, hestrove to live so blamelessly before them that he would show them byexample a more excellent way and "criticise by creation. " To himreligion was a reasonable service and he wished it to influence theirconduct as well as sway their emotions. Believing that right thinking isconnected with right living, he taught them to be conservative withoutbeing bigoted, and liberal without being morally indifferent andcareless in their modes of thought. He wanted them to be able to give areason for the faith that was in them and that faith to be rooted andgrounded in love. He was young, hopeful, and enthusiastic and life wasopening before him full of hope and promise. 

"It has been a beautiful day, " said Mrs. Lasette, seating herself besideMrs. Larkins, [6] who always waited to be approached and was ever readyto think that some one was slighting her or ignoring her presence. 

"It has been a fine day, but I think it will rain soon; I judge by mycorn. "

"Oh! I think the weather is just perfect. The sun set gloriously thisevening and the sky was the brightest blue. "

"I think the day was what I call a weather breeder. Whenever you seesuch days this time of year, you may look out for falling weather. I[expect?] that it will snow soon. "

"How that child grows, " said Mrs. Larkins, as Annette entered the room. 

"Ill weeds grow apace; she has nothing else to do. That girl is goingto give her grandmother a great deal of trouble. "

"Oh! I do not think so. "

"Well, I do, and I told her grandmother so one day, but she did notthank me for it. "

"No, I suppose not. "

"I didn't do it for thanks; I did it just to give her a piece of my mindabout that girl. She is the most mischievous and worrisome child I eversaw. The partition between our houses is very thin and many a time whenI want to finish my morning sleep or take an afternoon nap, if Mrs. Harcourt is not at home, Annette will sing and recite at the top of hervoice and run up and down the stairs as if a regiment of soldiers wereafter her. "

"Annette is quite young, full of life and brimful of mischief, and girlsof that age I have heard likened to persimmons before they are ripe; ifyou attempt to eat them they will pucker your mouth, but if you waittill the first frost touches them they are delicious. Have patience withthe child, act kindly towards her, she may be slow in developing womanlysense, but I think that Annette has within her the making of a finewoman. "

"Do you know what Annette wants?"

"Yes, I know what she wants; but what do you think she wants?"

"She wants kissing. "

"I'd kiss her with a switch if she were mine. "

"I do not think it wise to whip a child of her age. "

"I'd whip her if she were as big as a house. "

"I do not find it necessary with my Laura; it is sufficient to deter herfrom doing anything if she knows that I do not approve of it. I havetried to establish perfect confidence between us. I do not think mydaughter keeps a secret from me. I think many young persons go astraybecause their parents have failed to strengthen their characters and toforewarn and forearm them against the temptations and dangers thatsurround their paths. How goes the battle?" said Mrs. Lasette, turningto Mr. Thomas. 

"I am still at sea, and the tide has not yet turned in my favor. Ofcourse, I feel the change; it has taken my life out of its accustomedchannel, but I am optimist enough to hope that even this change willresult in greater good to the greatest number. I think one of our greatwants is the diversification of our industries, and I do not believe itwould be wise for the parents to relax their endeavors to give theirchildren the best education in their power. We cannot tell what a racecan do till it utters and expresses itself, and I know that there is anamount of brain among us which can and should be utilized in otherdirections than teaching school or seeking for clerkships. Mr. Clarksonhad a very intelligent daughter whom he wished to fit for some otheremployment than that of a school teacher. He had her trained for aphysician. She went to B. , studied faithfully, graduated at the head ofher class and received the highest medal for her attainments, thusproving herself a living argument of the capability in her race. Herfriend, Miss Young, had artistic talent, and learned wood carving. Shedeveloped exquisite taste and has become a fine artist in that branch ofindustry. A female school teacher's work in the public schools is apt tobe limited to her single life, but a woman who becomes proficient in auseful trade or business, builds up for herself a wall of defenseagainst the invasions of want and privation whether she is married orsingle. I think that every woman, and man too, should be prepared forthe reverses of fortune by being taught how to do some one thingthoroughly so as to be able to be a worker in the world's service, andnot a pensioner upon its bounty. And for this end it does not become usas a race to despise any honest labor which lifts us above pauperism anddependence. I am pleased to see our people having industrial fairs. Ibelieve in giving due honor to all honest labor, in covering idlenesswith shame, and crowning labor with respect. "

Chapter VI

For awhile Mrs. Harcourt was busy in preparing the supper, to which theyall did ample justice. In her white apron, faultless neck handkerchiefand nicely fitting, but plain dress, Mrs. Harcourt looked theimpersonation of contented happiness. Sorrow had left deep furrows uponher kindly face, but for awhile the shadows seemed to have been liftedfrom her life and she was the pleasant hostess, forgetting her ownsorrows in contributing to the enjoyment of others. Supper being over, her guests resumed their conversation. 

"You do not look upon the mixing of the schools as being necessarilydisadvantageous to our people, " said the minister. 

"That, " said Mr. Thomas, "is just in accordance to the way we adaptourselves to the change. If we are to remain in this country as acomponent part of the nation, I cannot fail to regard with interest anystep which tends toward our unification with all the other branches ofthe human race in this Western Hemisphere. "

"Although, " said Mrs. Lasette, "I have been educating my daughter andhave felt very sorry when I have witnessed the disappointment of parentswho have fitted their children for teachers and have seen door afterdoor closed against them, I cannot help regarding the mixing of theschools as at least one step in a right direction. "

"But Mrs. Lasette, " said the minister, "as we are educated by othermeans than school books and blackboards, such as the stimulus of hope, the incentives of self-respect and the consensus of public opinion, willit not add to the depression of the race if our children are made tofeel that, however well educated they may be or exemplary as pupils, thecolor of their skin must debar them from entering avenues which arefreely opened to the young girls of every other nationality. "

Mr. Thomas replied, "In considering this question, which is so muchbroader than a mere local question, I have tried to look beyond the lifeof the individual to the life of the race, and I find that it is throughobstacles overcome, suffering endured and the tests of trial thatstrength is obtained, courage manifested and character developed. We arenow passing through a crucial period in our race history and what we somuch need is moral earnestness, strength of character and purpose toguide us through the rocks and shoals on which so many life barques havebeen stranded and wrecked. "

"Yes, " said Mrs. Lasette, "I believe that we are capable of being morethan light-hearted children of the tropics and I want our young peopleto gain more persistence in their characters, perseverance in theirefforts and that esprit de corps, which shall animate us with higher, nobler and holier purpose in the future than we have ever known in thepast; and while I am sorry for the parents who, for their children'ssake, have fought against the entailed ignorance of the ages with suchhumble weapons as the washboard, flat iron and scrubbing brush, and whohave gathered the crumbs from the humblest departments of labor, still Ifeel with Mr. Thomas that the mixing of the schools is a stride in themarch of the nation, only we must learn how to keep step in the progressof the centuries. "

"I do not think that I fully comprehend you, " Mr. Lomax replied. 

"Let me explain. I live in the 19th Ward. In that Ward are not a halfdozen colored children. When my husband bought the land we were morethan a mile from the business part of the city, but we were poor and theland was very cheap and my husband said that paying rent was likeputting money in a sinking fund; so he resolved, even if it put us to alittle disadvantage, that he would buy the tract of land where we nowlive. Before he did so, he called together a number of hisacquaintances, pointed out to them the tract of land and told them howthey might join with him in planting a small hamlet for themselves; butexcept the few colored neighbors we now have, no one else would joinwith us. Some said it was too far from their work, others that they didnot wish to live among many colored people, and some suspected myhusband of trying either to take the advantage of them, or ofagrandising himself at their expense, and I have now dear friends whomight have been living comfortably in their own homes, who, to-day, arecrowded in tenement houses or renting in narrow alleys and littlestreets. "

"That's true, " said Mrs. Larkins, "I am one of them. I wanted my husbandto take up with your husband's offer, but he was one of those men whoknew it all and he never seemed to think it possible that any coloredman could see any clearer than he did. I knew your husband's head waslevel and I tried to persuade Mr. Larkins to take up with his offer, buthe would not hear to it; said he knew his own business best, and shut meup by telling me that he was not going to let any woman rule over him;and here I am to-day, Larkins gone and his poor old widow scuffing nightand day to keep soul and body together; but there are some men youcouldn't beat anything into their heads, not if you took a sledgehammer. Poor fellow, he is gone now and I ought not to say anything aginhim, but if he had minded me, I would have had a home over my head andsome land under my feet; but it is no use to grieve over spilled milk. When he was living if I said, yes, he was always sure to say, no. Oneday I said to him when he was opposing me, the way we live is like theold saying, 'Pull Dick and pull devil, ' and what do you think he said?"

"I don't know, I'm sure, what was it?"

"Why, he just looked at me and smiled and said, 'I am Dick. ' Of coursehe meant that I was the other fellow. "

"But, " said Mrs. Lasette, "this is a digression from our subject. WhatI meant to say is this, that in our Ward is an excellent school housewith a half score of well equipped and efficient teachers. The formercolored school house was a dingy looking building about a mile and ahalf away with only one young school teacher, who had, it is true, passed a creditable examination. Now, when my daughter saw that thechildren of all other nationalities, it mattered not how low anddebasing might be their environments, could enter the school for whichher father paid taxes, and that she was forced either to stay at home orto go through all weathers to an ungraded school, in a poorly ventilatedand unevenly heated room, would not such public inequality burn into hersoul the idea of race-inferiority? And this is why I look upon the mixedschool as a right step in the right direction. "

"Taking this view of the matter I see the pertinence of your position onthis subject. Do you know, " continued Mr. Lomax, [7] his face lighting upwith a fine enthusiasm, "that I am full of hope for the future of ourpeople?"

"That's more than I am, " said Mrs. Larkins very coldly. "When you havesummered and wintered them as I have, you will change your tune. "

"Oh, I hope not, " he replied with an accent of distress in his voice. "You may think me a dreamer and enthusiast, but with all our faults Ifirmly believe that the Negro belongs to one of the best branches of thehuman race, and that he has a high and holy mission in the great dramaof life. I do not think our God is a purposeless Being, but his ways arenot as our ways are, and his thoughts are not our thoughts, and I darenot say 'Had I his wisdom or he my love, ' the condition of humanitywould be better. I prefer thinking that in the crucible of pain andapparent disaster, that we are held by the hand of a loving Father whois doing for us all, the best he can to fit us for companionship withhim in the eternities, and with John G. Whittier, I feel:

 Amid the maddening maze of things When tossed by storm and flood, To one fixed stake my spirit clings I know that God is good. 

"I once questioned and doubted, but now I have learned to love and trustin 'Him whom the heavens must receive till the time of the restitutionof all things. ' By this trust I do not mean a lazy leaning on Providenceto do for us what we have ability to do for ourselves. I think that ourpeople need more to be taught how to live than to be constantly warnedto get ready to die. As Brother Thomas said, we are now passing througha crucial period of our history and what we need is life--more abundantlife in every fibre of our souls; life which will manifest itself inmoral earnestness, vigor of purpose, strength of character and spiritualprogression. "

"I do hope, " said Mr. Thomas, "that as you are among us, you will impartsome of your earnestness and enthusiasm to our young people. "

"As I am a new comer here, and it is said that the people of A. P. , arevery sensitive to criticism, though very critical themselves and ratherset and conservative in their ways, I hope that I shall have the benefitof your experience in aiding me to do all I can to help the people amongwhom my lot is cast. "

"You are perfectly welcome to any aid I can give you. Just now some ofus are interested in getting our people out of these wretched alleys andcrowded tenement houses into the larger, freer air of the country. Wewant our young men to help us fight the battle against poverty, ignorance, degradation, and the cold, proud scorn of society. Before ourpublic lands are all appropriated, I want our young men and women to gethomesteads, and to be willing to endure privations in order to place ourmeans of subsistence on a less precarious basis. The land is a basis ofpower, and like Anteus in the myth, we will never have our full measureof material strength till we touch the earth as owners of the soil. Andwhen we get the land we must have patience and perseverance enough tohold it. "

"In one of our Western States is a city which suggests the idea ofAladdin's wonderful lamp. Where that city now stands was once thehomestead of a colored man who came from Virginia and obtained it underthe homestead law. That man has since been working as a servant for aman who lives on 80 acres of his former section, and who has plotted therest for the city of C. "

"How did he lose it?"

"When he came from the South the country was new and female labor ingreat demand. His wife could earn $1. 50 a day, and instead of moving onhis land, he remained about forty miles away, till he had forfeited hisclaim, and it fell into the hands of the present proprietor. Since thenour foresight has been developing and some months since in travelling inthat same State, I met a woman whose husband had taken up a piece ofland and was bringing it under cultivation. She and her childrenremained in town where they could all get work, and transmit him helpand in a few years, I expect, they will be comfortably situated in ahome owned by their united efforts. "

Chapter VII

What next? was the question Mr. Thomas was revolving in his mind, when aknock was heard at his door, and he saw standing on the threshold, oneof his former pupils. 

"Well, Charley, how does the world use you? Everything going onswimmingly?"

"Oh, no indeed. I have lost my situation. "

"How is that? You were getting on so well. Mr. Hazleton seemed to beperfectly satisfied with you, and I thought that you were quite afavorite in the establishment. How was it that you lost your place?"

"I lost it through the meanness of Mr. Mahler. "

"Mr. Mahler, our Superintendent of public schools?"

"Yes, it was through him that I lost my situation. "

"Why, what could you have done to offend him?"

"Nothing at all; I never had an unpleasant word with him in my life. "

"Do explain yourself. I cannot see why he should have used any influenceto deprive you of your situation. "

"He had it in his power to do me a mean, low-life trick, and he did it, and I hope to see the day when I will be even with him, " said the lad, with a flashing eye, while an angry flush mantled his cheek. 

"Do any of the family deal at Mr. Hazleton's store? Perhaps you gavesome of them offence through neglect or thoughtlessness in dealing withthem. "

"It was nothing of the kind. Mr. Mahler knew me and my mother. He knewher because she taught under him, and of course saw me often enough toknow that I was her son, and so last week when he saw me in the store, Inoticed that he looked very closely at me, and that in a few momentsafter he was in conversation with Mr. Hazleton. He asked him, 'if heemployed a nigger for a cashier?' He replied, 'Of course not. ' 'Well, 'he said, 'you have one now. ' After that they came down to the desk whereI was casting up my accounts and Mr. Mahler asked, 'Is Mrs. Cooper yourmother?' I answered, 'yes sir. ' Of course I would not deny my mother. 'Isn't your name Charley?'[8] and again I answered, yes; I could haveresorted to concealment, but I would not lie for a piece of bread, andyet for mother's sake I sorely needed the place. 

"What did Mr. Hazleton say?"

"Nothing, only I thought he looked at me a little embarrassed, just asany half-decent man might when he was about to do a mean and cruelthing. But that afternoon I lost my place. Mr. Hazleton said to me whenthe store was about to close, that he had no further use for me. Notdiscouraged, I found another place; but I believe that my evil geniusfound me out and that through him I was again ousted from that situationand now I am at my wits end. "

"But, Charley, were you not sailing under false colors?"

"I do not think so, Mr. Thompson. I saw in the window an advertisement, 'A boy wanted. ' They did not say what color the boy must be and Iapplied for the situation and did my work as faithfully as I knew how. Mr. Hazleton seemed to be perfectly satisfied with my work and as he didnot seek to know the antecedents of my family I did not see fit tothrust them gratuitously upon him. You know the hard struggle my poormother has had to get along, how the saloon has cursed and darkened ourhome and I was glad to get anything to do by which I could honestly earna dollar and help her keep the wolf from the door, and I tried to do mylevel best, but it made no difference; as soon as it was known that Ihad Negro blood in my veins door after door was closed against me; notthat I was not honest, industrious, obliging and steady, but simplybecause of the blood in my veins. "

"I admit, " said Mr. Thomas, trying to repress his indignation and speakcalmly, "that it was a hard thing to be treated so for a cause overwhich you had not the least control, but, Charley, you must try to pickup courage. "

"Oh, it seems to me that my courage has all oozed out. I think that Iwill go away; maybe I can find work somewhere else. Had I been a convictfrom a prison there are Christian women here who would have been glad tohave reached me out a helping hand and hailed my return to a life ofhonest industry as a blessed crowning of their labors of love; while I, who am neither a pauper nor felon, am turned from place after placebecause I belong to a race on whom Christendom bestowed the curse ofslavery and under whose shadow has flourished Christless and inhumancaste prejudice. So I think that I had better go and start life afresh. "

"No, Charley, don't go away. I know you could pass as a white man; but, Charley, don't you know that to do so you must separate from yourkindred and virtually ignore your mother? A mother, who, for your sake, would, I believe, take blood from every vein and strength from everynerve if it were necessary. If you pass into the white basis your mothercan never be a guest in your home without betraying your origin; youcannot visit her openly and crown her with the respect she so welldeserves without divulging the secret of your birth; and Charley, bydoing so I do not think it possible that however rich or strong orinfluential you may be as a white man, that you can be as noble and astrue a man as you will be if you stand in your lot without compromise orconcealment, and feel that the feebler your mother's race is the closeryou will cling to it. Charley, you have lately joined the church; yourmission in the world is not to seek to be rich and strong, but becausethere is so much sin and misery in the world by it is to clasp the handof Christ through faith and try to make the world better by yourinfluence and gladder and brighter by your presence. "

"Mr. Thomas I try to be, and I hope I am a Christian, but if theseprejudices are consistent with Christianity then I must confess that Ido not understand it, and if it is I do not want it. Are these peopleChristians who open the doors of charitable institutions to sinners whoare white and close them against the same class who are black? I do notcall such people good patriots, let alone clear-sighted Christians. Why, they act as if God had done wrong in making a man black, and that theyhave never forgiven him and had become reconciled to the workmanship ofhis hands. "

"Charley, you are excited just now, and I think that you are making thesame mistake that better educated men than you have done. You areputting Christianity and its abuses together. I do think, notwithstandingall its perversions, and all the rubbish which has gathered around itssimplicity and beauty, that Christianity is the world's best religion. I know that Christ has been wounded in what should have been the houseof his friends; that the banner of his religion which is broad enoughto float over the wide world with all its sin and misery, has beendrenched with the blood of persecution, trampled in the mire of slaveryand stained by the dust of caste proscription; but I believe that menare beginning more fully to comprehend the claims of the gospel ofJesus Christ. I am not afraid of what men call infidelity. I hold thefaith which I profess, to be too true, too sacred and precious to bedisturbed by every wave of wind and doubt. Amid all the religiousupheavals of the Nineteenth Century, I believe God is at the helm, thatthere are petrifactions of creed and dogma that are to [be] broken up, not by mere intellectual speculations, but by the greater solvent ofthe constraining love of Christ, and it is for this that I am praying, longing and waiting. Let schoolmen dispute and contend, the faith forwhich I most ardently long and earnestly contend, is a faith which worksby love and purifies the soul. "

"Mr. Thomas, I believe that there is something real about your religion, but some of these white Christians do puzzle me awfully. Oh, I thinkthat I will go. I am sick and tired of the place. Everything seems to beagainst me. "

"No, Charley; stay for your mother's sake. I know a noble and generousman who is brave enough to face a vitiated public opinion, and richenough to afford himself the luxury of a good conscience. I shall tellhim your story and try to interest him in your behalf. Will you stay?"

"I certainly will if he will give me any chance to get my living andhelp my mother. "

"It has been said that everything has two handles, and if you take it bythe wrong handle it will be too hard to hold. "

"I should like to know which is the right handle to this prejudiceagainst color. "

"I do not think that there is prejudice against color in this country. "

"No prejudice against color!" said Charley Cooper, [9] opening his eyeswith sudden wonder. "What was it that dogged my steps and shut doorafter door against me? Wasn't that prejudice against color?"

"Whose color, Charley? Surely not yours, for you are whiter than severalof Mr. Hazleton's clerks. Do you see in your case it was not prejudiceagainst color?"

"What was it, then?"

"It was the information that you were connected by blood with a onceenslaved and despised people on whom society had placed its ban, and towhom slavery and a low social condition had given a heritage of scorn, and as soon as he found out that you were connected with that race, hehad neither the manliness nor the moral courage to say, the boy iscapable and efficient. I see no cause why he should be dismissed for thecrimes of his white ancestors. I heard an eminent speaker once say thatsome people would sing, 'I can smile at Satan's rage, and face afrowning world, ' when they hadn't courage enough to face their next doorneighbor on a moral question. "

"I think that must be the case with Mr. Hazleton. "

"I once used to despise such men. I have since learned to pity them. "

"I don't see what you find to pity in Mr. Hazleton, unless it is hismeanness. "

"Well, I pity him for that. I think there never was slave more cowedunder the whip of his master than he is under the lash of publicopinion. The Negro was not the only one whom slavery subdued to thepliancy of submission. Men fettered the slave and cramped their ownsouls, denied him knowledge and then darkened their own spiritualinsight, and the Negro, poor and despised as he was, laid his hands uponAmerican civilization and has helped to mould its character. It is God'slaw. As ye sow, so shall ye reap, and men cannot sow avarice andoppression without reaping the harvest of retribution. It is a dangerousthing to gather

 The flowers of sin that blossom Around the borders of hell. "

Chapter VIII

"I never want to go to that school again, " said Annette entering Mrs. Lasette's sitting room, throwing down her books on the table and lookingas if she were ready to burst into tears. 

"What is the matter now, my dear child? You seem to be all out ofsorts. "

"I've had a fuss with that Mary Joseph. "

"Mary Joseph, the saloon-keeper's daughter?"

"Yes. "

"How did it happen?"

"Yesterday in changing seats, the teacher put us together according tothe first letter in our last names. You know that I, comes next to J;but there wasn't a girl in the room whose name begins with I, and so asJ comes next, she put Mary Joseph and myself together. "

"Ireland and Africa, and they were not ready for annexation?"

"No, and never will be, I hope. "

"Never is a long day, Annette, but go on with your story. "

"Well, after the teacher put her in the seat next to me she began towriggle and squirm and I asked her if anything was biting her, becauseif there was, I did not want it to get on me. "

"Oh, Annette, what a girl you are; why did you notice her? What did shesay?"

"She said if there was, it must have got there since the teacher puther on that seat, and it must have come from me. "

"Well, Mary Joseph knows how to scratch as well as you do. "

"Yes, she is a real scratch cat. "

"And what are you, my dear; a pattern saint?"

"No, " said Annette, as the ruefulness of her face relaxed into a smile, "but that isn't all; when I went to eat my lunch, she said she wasn'tused to eating with niggers. Then I asked her if her mother didn't eatwith the pigs in the old country, and she said that she would rather eatwith them than to eat with me, and then she called me a nigger and Icalled her a poor white mick. "

"Oh, Annette, I am so sorry; I am afraid that trouble may come out ofthis fuss, and then it is so wrong and unlady-like for you to bequarrelling that way. Do you know how old you are?"

"I am almost fourteen years old. "

"Where was the teacher all this time? Did she know anything about it?"

"No; she was out of the room part of the time, but I don't think shelikes colored people, because last week when Joe Smith was cutting up inschool, she made him get up and sit alongside of me to punish him. "

"She should not have done so, but I don't suppose she thought for onemoment how it looked. "

"I don't know, but when I told grandma about it, Mrs. Larkins was in theroom, and she said if she had done a child of hers so, she would havegone there and sauced her head off; but grandma said that she would notnotice it; that the easiest way is the best. "

"I think that your grandmother was right; but what did Joe say?"

He said that the teacher didn't spite him; that he would as lieve sit byme as any girl in school, and that he liked girls. "

"A little scamp. "

"He says he likes girls because they are so jolly. "

"But tell me all about Mary Joseph. "

"Well, a mean old thing, she went and told her horrid old father, andjust as I was coming along he took hold of my arm and said he had heardthat I had called his daughter, Miss Mary Joseph, a poor white mick andthat if I did it again he would give me a good thrashing, and that fortwo pins he would do it then. "

"What next?"

"I guess I felt like Mrs. Larkins does when she says her Guinea gets up. My Guinea was up but I was afraid to show it. Oh, but I do hate theseIrish. I don't like them for anything. Grandmother says that an Irishmanis only a negro turned wrong side out, and I told her so yesterdaymorning when she was fussing with me. "

"Say, rather, when we were fussing together; I don't think the fault wasall on her side. "

"But, Mrs. Lasette, she had no business calling me a nigger. "

"Of course not; but would you have liked it [any] better if she hadcalled you a negro?"

"No; I don't want her to call me anything of the kind, neither negro nornigger. She shan't even call me black. "

"But, Annette, are you not black?"

"I don't care if I am, she shan't call me so. "

"But suppose you were to say to Miss Joseph, 'How white your face is, 'do you suppose she would get angry because you said that she lookedwhite?"

"No, of course not. "

"But suppose you met her hurrying to school, and you said to her, howred and rosy you look this morning, would that make her angry?"

"I don't suppose that it would. "

"But suppose she would say to you, 'Annette, how black your face is thismorning, ' how would you feel?"

"I should feel like slapping her. "

"Why so; do you think because Miss Joseph----"

"Don't call her Miss, she is so mean and hateful. "

"But that don't hinder her from being Miss Joseph; If she is rude andcoarse, that is no reason why I should not have good manners. "

"Oh, Mrs. Lasette you are too sweet for anything. I wish I was likeyou. "

"Never mind my sweetness; that is not to the point. Will you listen tome, my dear?"

"Of course I will. I could listen to you all night. "

"Well, if it were not for signs there's no mistaking I should think youhad a lot of Irish blood in your veins, and had kissed the blarneystone. "

"No I haven't and if I had I would try to let----"

"Hush, my child; how you do rattle on. Do you think because Miss Josephis white that she is any better than you are. "

"No, of course not. "

"But don't you think that she can see and hear a little better than youcan?"

"Why, no; what makes you ask such a funny question?"

"Never mind, just answer me a few more questions. Don't you think if youand she had got to fighting that she would have whipped you because sheis white?"

"Why, of course not. Didn't she try to get the ruler out of my hand anddidn't because I was stronger. "

"But don't you think she is smarter than you are and gets her lessonsbetter. "

"Now you are shouting. "

"Why, Annette, where in the world did you get that slang?"

"Why, Mrs. Lasette, I hear the boys saying it in the street, and thegirls in Tennis Court all say it, too. Is there any harm in it?"

"It is slang, my child, and a young lady should never use slang. Don'tuse it in private and you will not be apt to use it in public. Howeverhumble or poor a person may be, there is no use in being coarse andunrefined. "

"But what harm is there in it?"

"I don't say that there is any, but I don't think it nice for youngladies to pick up all sorts of phrases in the street and bring them intothe home. The words may be innocent in themselves, but they may not havethe best associations, and it is safer not to use them. But let usreturn to Miss Joseph. You do not think that she can see or hear anybetter than you can, learn her lessons any quicker than you can, andwhen it comes to a trial of strength that she is stronger than you are, now let me ask you one more question. Who made Miss Joseph?"

"Why, the Lord, of course. "

"And who made you?"

"He made me, too. "

"Are you sure that you did not make yourself?"

"Why, of course not, " said Annette with an accent of wonder in hervoice. 

"Does God ever make any mistakes?"

"Why, no!"

"Then if any one calls you black, why should you get angry? You say itwould not make Miss Joseph angry to say she looked white, or red androsy. "

"I don't know; I know I don't like it and it makes me mad. "

"Now, let me explain the reason why it makes you angry to be calledblack. Suppose I were to burn my hand in that stove, what would I haveon my hand?"

"A sore place. "

"If it were your hand, what would you do?"

"I would put something on it, wrap it up to keep from getting cold intoit and try to get it well as soon as I could. "

"Well, that would be a very sensible way of dealing with it. In thiscountry, Annette, color has been made a sore place; it has beenassociated with slavery, poverty and ignorance. You cannot change yourcolor, but you can try to change the association connected with ourcomplexions. Did slavery force a man to be servile and submissive? Learnto hold up your head and respect yourself. Don't notice Mary Joseph'staunts; if she says things to tease you don't you let her see that shehas succeeded. Learn to act as if you realized that you were born intothis world the child of the Ruler of the universe, that this is hisworld and that you have as much right in it as she has. I think it wasGilbert Haven, a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a man forwhose tombstone I do not think America has any marble too white or anylaurel too green, who saw on his travels a statue of Cleopatra, whichsuggested to him this thought, 'I am black, but comely, the sun haslooked down upon me, but I will make you who despise me feel that I amyour superior, ' and, Annette, I want you to be so noble, true and purethat if everybody should hate you, that no one could despise you. No, Annette, if Miss Joseph ever attempts to quarrel with you don't putyourself on the same level by quarreling with her. I knew her parentswhen they were very poor; when a half dozen of them slept in one room. He has made money by selling liquor; he is now doing business in one ofthe most valuable pieces of property I see in East L street. He has beena curse, and his saloon a nuisance in that street. He has gone up inproperty and even political influence, but oh, how many poor souls havegone down, slain by strong drink and debauchery. "

Chapter IX

True to his word, Mr. Thomas applied to Mr. Hastings, the merchant, ofwhom he had spoken to his young friend. He went to his counting-room andasked for a private interview, which was readily granted. They hadkindred intellectual and literary tastes and this established betweenthem a free masonry of mind which took no account of racial differences. 

"I have a favor to ask, " said Mr. Thomas, "can you spare me a fewmoments?"

"I am at your service, " Mr. Hasting replied, "what can I do for you?"

"I have, " he said, "a young friend who is honest and industrious andcompetent to fill the place of clerk or cashier in your store. He hasbeen a cashier for Hazleton & Co. , and while there gave entiresatisfaction. "

"Why did he leave?"

"I cannot say, because he was guilty of a skin not colored like yourown, but because a report was brought to Mr. Hazleton that he had Negroblood in his veins. "

"And what then?"

"He summarily dismissed him. "

"What a shame!"

"Yes, it was a shame, but this pride of caste dwarfs men's moralperception so that it prepares them to do a number of contemptiblethings which, under other circumstances, they would scorn to do. "

"Yes, it is so, and I am sorry to see it. "

"There are men, Mr. Hastings, who would grow hotly indignant if youwould say that they are not gentlemen who would treat a Negro in amanner which would not be recognized as fair, even by ruffians of thering, for, I believe, it is their code of honor not to strike a man whenhe is down; but with respect to the colored man, it seems to be asettled policy with some not only to push him down, but to strike himwhen he is down. But I must go; I came to ask a favor and it is notright to trespass on your time. "

"No; sit still. I have a little leisure I can give you. My fall tradehas not opened yet and I am not busy. I see and deplore these things ofwhich you complain, but what can be done to help it?"

"Mr. Hastings, you see them, and I feel them, and I fear that I amgrowing morbid over them, and not only myself, but other educated menof my race, and that, I think, is a thing to be deprecated. Between thewhite people and the colored people of this country there is a unanimityof interest and I know that our interests and duties all lie in onedirection. Can men corrupt and intimidate voters in the South without areflex influence being felt in the North? Is not the depression of laborin the South a matter of interest to the North? You may protect yourselffrom what you call the pauper of Europe, but you will not be equallyable to defend yourself from the depressed laborer of the new South, andas an American citizen, I dread any turn of the screw which will lowerthe rate of wages here; and I like to feel as an American citizen thatwhatever concerns the nation concerns me. But I feel that this prejudiceagainst my race compresses my soul, narrows my political horizon andmakes me feel that I am an alien in the land of my birth. It meets me inthe church, it confronts me in business and I feel its influence inalmost every avenue of my life. "

"I wish, Mr. Thomas, that some of the men who are writing and talkingabout the Negro problem would only come in contact with the thoughtfulmen of your race. I think it would greatly modify their views. "

"Yes, you know us as your servants. The law takes cognizance of ourcrimes. Your charitable institutions of our poverty, but what do any ofyou know of our best and most thoughtful men and women? When we writehow many of you ever read our books and papers or give yourselves anytrouble to come near us as friends and help us? Even some of yourprofessed Christians are trying to set us apart as if we were sociallepers. "

"You draw a dark picture. I confess that I feel pained at the conditionof affairs in the South, but what can we do in the South?"

"Set the South a better example. But I am hindering you in yourbusiness. "

"Not at all. I want to see things from the same standpoint that you do. "

"Put yourself then in my place. You start both North and South from thepremise that we are an inferior race and as such you have treated us. Has not the consensus of public opinion said for ages, 'No valor redeemsour race, no social advancement nor individual development wipes off theban which clings to us'; that our place is on the lowest round of thesocial ladder; that at least, in part of the country we are too low forthe equal administrations of religion and the same dispensations ofcharity and a fair chance in the race of life?"

"You bring a heavy verdict against us. I hardly think that it can besustained. Whatever our motives may have been, we have been able toeffect in a few years a wonderful change in the condition of the Negro. He has freedom and enfranchisement and with these two great rights hemust work out his social redemption and political solution. If his meansof education have been limited, a better day is dawning upon him. Doorsonce closed against him in the South are now freely opened to him, and Ido not think that there ever was a people who freed their slaves whohave given as much for their education as we have, and my only hope isthat the moral life of the race will keep pace with its intellectualgrowth. You tell me to put myself in your place. I think if I were acolored young man that I would develop every faculty and use every powerwhich God had given me for the improvement and development of my race. And who among us would be so blind and foolish as to attempt to keepdown an enlightened people who were determined to rise in the scale ofcharacter and condition? No, Mr. Thomas, while you blame us for ourtransgressions and shortcomings, do not fail to do all you can to rouseup all the latent energies of your young men to do their part worthilyas American citizens and to add their quota to the strength and progressof the nation. "

"I am conscious of the truth and pertinence of your remarks, but bearwith me just a few moments while I give an illustration of what I mean. "

"Speak on, I am all attention. The subject you bring before me is oftoo vital importance to be constantly ignored. "

"I have a friend who is presiding elder in the A. M. E. Church and hiswife, I think, is capable of being a social and intellectual accessionin any neighborhood in which they might live. He rented a house in thecity of L. And being of a fair complexion I suppose the lessee rented tohim without having a suspicion of his race connection. When it wasascertained that he and his family were colored, he was ordered toleave, and this man, holding among the ministers of that city theposition of ambassador for Christ, was ordered out of the house onaccount of the complexion of his family. Was there not a screw loose inthe religious sentiment of that city which made such an act possible? Afriend of mine who does mission work in your city, some time since, found a young woman in the slums and applied at the door of a midnightmission for fallen women, and asked if colored girls could be received, and was curtly answered, 'no. ' For her in that mission there was no room. The love of Christ constrained no hand to strive to rescue her from thedepths of degradation. The poor thing went from bad to worse till atlast, wrecked and blighted, she went down to an early grave the victimof strong drink. That same lady found on her mission a white girl;seeing a human soul adrift, regardless of color, she went, in companywith some others, to that same mission with the poor castaway; to herthe door was opened without delay and ready admittance granted. But Imight go on reciting such instances until you would be weary of hearingand I of relating them; but I appeal to you as a patriot and Christian, is it not fearfully unwise to keep alive in freedom the old animositiesof slavery? To-day the Negro shares citizenship with you. He is notarraying himself against your social order; his hands are not drippingwith dynamite, nor is he waving in your face the crimson banners ofanarchy, but he is increasing in numbers and growing in intelligence, and is it not madness and folly to subject him to social and publicinequalities, which are calculated to form and keep alive a hatred ofrace as a reaction against pride of caste?"

"Mr. Thomas, you have given me a new view of the matter. To tell you thetruth, we have so long looked upon the colored man as a pliable andsubmissive being that we have never learned to look at any hatred on hispart as an element of danger, and yet I should be sorry to know that byour Southern supineness we were thoughtlessly helping create a blackIreland in our Gulf States, that in case the fires of anarchy shouldever sweep through our land, that a discontented and disaffected peoplein our midst might be as so much fuel to fire. "

"But really I have been forgetting my errand. Have you any opening inyour store for my young friend?"

"I have only one vacancy, and that is the place of a utility man. "

"What are the duties of that position?"

"Almost anything that comes to hand; tying up bundles, looking after themails, scattering advertisements. A factotum whose work lies here, thereand everywhere. "

"I am confident that he will accept the situation and render youfaithful service. "

"Well, then send him around tomorrow and if there is anything in him Imay be able to do better by him when the fall trade opens. "

And so Charley Cooper was fortunate enough in his hour of perplexity tofind a helping hand to tide him over a difficult passage in his life. Gratefully and faithfully did he serve Mr. Hastings, who never regrettedthe hour when he gave the struggling boy such timely assistance. Thediscipline of the life through which he was passing as the main stay ofhis mother, matured his mind and imparted to it a thoughtfulness pasthis years. Instead of wasting his time in idle and pernicious pleasure, he learned how to use his surplus dollar and how to spend his leisurehours, and this knowledge told upon his life and character. He was notvery popular in society. Young men with cigars in their mouths and theperfume of liquor on their breaths, shrugged their shoulders and calledhim a milksop because he preferred the church and Sunday school to theliquor saloon and gambling dens. The society of P. Was cut up anddivided into little sets and coteries; there was an amount ofintelligence among them, but it ran in narrow grooves and scarcelyone[10] intellect seemed to tower above the other, and if it did, nopeople knew better how to ignore a rising mind than the society peopleof A. P. If the literary aspirant did not happen to be of their set. Asto talent, many of them were pleasant and brilliant conversationalists, but in the world of letters scarcely any of them were known orrecognized outside of their set. They had leisure, a little money andsome ability, but they lacked the perseverance and self-denialnecessary to enable them to add to the great resources of naturalthought. They had narrowed their minds to the dimensions of their setand were unprepared to take expansive[11] views of life and duty. Theytook life as a holiday and the lack of noble purposes and high and holyaims left its impress upon their souls and deprived them of that joy andstrength which should have crowned their existence and given to theirlives its "highest excellence and beauty. "

Chapter X

Two years have elapsed since we left Annette recounting her schoolgrievances to Mrs. Lasette. She has begun to feel the social contemptwhich society has heaped upon the colored people, but she has determinednot to succumb to it. There is force in the character of that fiery, impetuous and impulsive girl, and her school experience is bringing itout. She has been bending all her mental energies to compete for thehighest prize at the commencement of her school, from which she expectsto graduate in a few weeks. The treatment of the saloon-keeper'sdaughter, and that of other girls of her ilk, has stung her intostrength. She feels that however despised her people may be, that amonopoly of brains has not been given to the white race. Mr. Thomas hasencouraged her efforts, and taught her to believe that not only is herown honor at stake as a student, but that as a representative of herbranch of the human race, she is on the eve of winning, or losing, notonly for herself, but for others. This view of the matter increases herdetermination and rouses up all the latent energies of her nature, andshe labors day and night to be a living argument of the capability inher race. For other girls who will graduate in that school, there willbe open doors, and unclosed avenues, while she knows that the color ofher skin will bar against her the doors of workshops, factories andschool rooms, and yet Mr. Thomas, knowing all the discouragements aroundher path, has done what he could to keep her interest in her studiesfrom flagging. He knows that she has fine abilities, but that they mustbe disciplined by trial and endeavor before her life can be rounded bysuccess and triumph. He has seen several of her early attempts atversification; pleased and even delighted with them, he has shown themto a few of his most intellectual friends. Eager and earnest for theelevation of the colored people, he has been pained at the coldness withwhich they have been received. 

"I do not call that poetry, " said one of the most intelligent women ofA. P. 

"Neither do I see anything remarkable about her, " said another. 

"I did not, " said Mr. Thomas, "bring you the effusions of anacknowledged poet, but I think that the girl has fine ability, whichneeds encouragement and recognition. "

But his friends could not see it; they were very charry of theiradmiration, lest their judgment should be found at fault, and then itwas so much easier to criticise than it was to heartily admire; and theyknew it seemed safer to show their superior intelligence by dwelling onthe defects, which would necessarily have an amount of crudeness in themthan to look beneath the defects for the suggestions of beauty, strengthand grace which Mr. Thomas saw in these unripe, but promising effusions. It seemed perfectly absurd with the surroundings of Tennis Court toexpect anything grand or beautiful [to] develop in its midst; but withAnnette, poetry was a passion born in her soul, and it was as naturalfor her to speak in tropes and figures as it was for others to talk inplain, common prose. Mr. Thomas called her "our inveterate poet, " andencouraged her, but the literary aspirants took scarcely any interest inthe girl whom they left to struggle on as best she might. In her ownhome she was doomed to meet with lack of encouragement and appreciationfrom her relatives and grandmother's friends. One day her aunt, ElizaHanson, was spending the day with her mother, and Annette showed hersome of her verses and said to her, "that is one of my best pieces. "

"Oh, you have a number of best pieces, " said her aunt, carelessly. "Canyou cook a beefsteak?"

"I suppose I could if I tried. "

"Well, you had better try than to be trying to string verses together. You seem to think that there must be something very great about you. Iknow where you want to get. You want to get among the upper tens, butyou haven't got style enough about you for that. "

"That's just what I tell her, " said her grandmother. "She's got too manyairs for a girl in her condition. She talks about writing a book, andshe is always trying to make up what she calls poetry. I expect that shewill go crazy some of these days. She is all the time talking toherself, and I just think it is a sin for her to be so much taken upwith her poetry. "

"You had better put her to work; had she not better go out to service?"

"No, I am going to let her graduate first. "

"What's the use of it? When she's through, if she wants to teach, shewill have to go away. "

"Yes, I know that, but Mrs. Lasette has persuaded me to let Annettegraduate, and I have promised that I would do so, and besides I think totake Annette from school just now would almost break her heart. "

"Well, mother, that is just like you; you will work yourself almost todeath to keep Annette in school, and when she is through what good willit do her?"

"Maybe something will turn up that you don't see just now. When a goodthing turns up if a person ain't ready for it they can't take hold ofit. "

"Well, I hope a good husband will turn up for my Alice. "

"But maybe the good husband won't turn up for Annette. "

"That is well said, for they tell me that Annette is not very popular, and that some of the girls are all the time making fun of her. "

"Well, they had better make fun of themselves and their own bad manners. Annette is poor and has no father to stand by her, and I cannotentertain like some of their parents can, but Annette, with all herfaults, is as good as any of them. Talk about the prejudice of the whitepeople, I think there is just as much prejudice among some colored asthere is among them, only we do not get the same chance to show it; weare most too mixed up and dependent on one another for that. " Just thenMrs. Lasette entered the room and Mrs. Hanson, addressing her, said, "Wewere just discussing Annette's prospects. Mother wants to keep Annetteat school till she graduates, but I think she knows enough now to teacha country school and it is no use for mother to be working as she doesto keep Annette in school for the sake of letting her graduate. Thereare lots of girls in A. P. Better off than she who have never graduated, and I don't see that mother can afford to keep Annette at school anylonger. "

"But, Eliza, Annette is company for me and she does help about thehouse. "

"I don't think much of her help; always when I come home she has a bookstuck under her nose. "

"Annette, " said Mrs. Lasette, "is a favorite of mine; I have always awarm place in my heart for her, and I really want to see the child dowell. In my judgment I do not think it advisable to take her from schoolbefore she graduates. If Annette were indifferent about her lessons andshowed no aptitude for improvement I should say as she does notappreciate education enough to study diligently and has not aspirationenough to keep up with her class, find out what she is best fitted forand let her be instructed in that calling for which she is bestadapted. "

"I think, " said Mrs. Hanson, "you all do wrong in puffing up Annettewith the idea that she is something extra. You think, Mrs. Lasette, thatthere is something wonderful about Annette, but I can't see it, and Ihear a lot of people say she hasn't got good sense. "

"They do not understand the child. "

"They all say that she is very odd and queer and often goes out into thestreet as if she never saw a looking glass. Why, Mrs. Miller's daughterjust laughed till she was tired at the way Annette was dressed when shewent to call on an acquaintance of hers. Why, Annette just makes herselfa perfect laughing stock. "

"Well, I think Mary Miller might have found better employment thanlaughing at her company. "

"Now, let me tell you, Mary Miller don't take her for company, and thatvery evening Annette was at my house, just next door, and when MaryMiller went to church she never asked her to go along with her, althoughshe belongs to the same church. "

"I am sorry to say it, " said grandmother Harcourt, "but your Alicehardly ever comes to see Annette, and never asks her to go anywhere withher, but may be in the long run Annette will come out better than somewho now look down upon her. It is a long road that has no turn andAnnette is like a singed cat; she is better than she looks. "

"I think, " said Mrs. Lasette, "while Annette is very bright andintelligent as a pupil, she has been rather slow in developing in someother directions. She lacks tact, is straightforward to bluntness andhas not any style about her and little or no idea of company manners, but she is never coarse nor rude. I never knew her to read a book whoseauthor I would blush to name, and I never heard her engage in anyconversation I would shrink to hear repeated. I don't think there is agirl of purer lips in A. P. Than Annette, and I do not think your set, asyou call it, has such a monopoly of either virtue or intelligence thatyou can afford to ridicule and depress any young soul who does nothappen to come up to your social standard. Where dress and style arepassports Annette may be excluded, but where brain and character countAnnette will gain admittance. I fear, " said Mrs. Lasette, rising to go, "that many a young girl has gone down in the very depths who might havebeen saved if motherly women, when they saw them unloved and lonely, hadreached out to them a helping hand and encouraged them to live usefuland good lives. We cry am I my sister's keeper? [I?] will not wipe theblood off our hands if through pride and selfishness we have stabbed byour neglect souls we should have helped by our kindness. I always feelfor young girls who are lonely and neglected in large cities and are indanger of being ensnared by pretended sympathies and false friendship, and, to-day, no girl is more welcome at any social gathering thanAnnette. "

"Mrs. Lasette, " said Mrs. Hanson, "you are rich and you can do as youchoose in A. P. You can set the fashion. "

"No; I am not rich, but I hope that I will always be able to lend ahand to any lonely girl who is neglected, slighted and forgotten whileshe is trying to do right, who comes within my reach while I live inA. P. Good morning. "

"Annette, " said Mrs. Hanson, [12] "has a champion who will stand by her. "

"Yes, " said Mrs. Harcourt, [13] "Anna is true as steel; the kind of womanyou can tie to. When my great trouble came, she was good as gold, andwhen my poor heart was almost breaking, she always had a kind word forme. I wish we had ten thousand like her. "

"Well, mother, I must go, but if Annette does graduate don't let her goon the stage looking like a fright. General H's daughter has a beautifulnew silk dress and a lovely hat which she got just a few weeks beforeher mother's death; as she has gone in black she wants to sell it, andif you say so, and will pay for it on installments, I can get if forAnnette, and I think with a little alteration it would be splendid forher graduation dress. "

"No; Eliza, I can't afford it. "

"Why, mother, Annette will need something nice for the occasion, and itwill not cost any more than what you intend to pay for her dress andhat. Why not take them?"

"Because Annette is not able to wear them. Suppose she had that one finedress and hat, would she not want more to match with them? I don't wanther to learn to dress in a style that she cannot honestly afford. Ithink this love of dress is the ruination of many a young girl. I thinkthis straining after fine things when you are not able to get them, isperfectly ridiculous. I believe in cutting your coat according to yourcloth. I saw Mrs. Hempstead's daughter last Sunday dressed up in ahandsome light silk, and a beautiful spring hat, and if she or hermother would get sick to-morrow, they would, I suppose, soon be objectsof public charity or dependent on her widowed sister, who is too proudto see her go to the poor house; and this is just the trouble with a lotof people; they not only have their own burdens to bear but somebodyelse's. You may call me an old fogy, but I would rather live cheap anddress plain than shirk my burdens because I had wasted when they hadsaved. You and John Hanson are both young and have got your health andstrength, and instead of buying sealskins, and velvets and furbelows, you had better be laying up for a rainy day. You have no more need for asealskin cloak than a cat has for a catechism. Now you do as you please, I have had my say. "

Chapter XI

It has been quite a length of time since we left Mr. Thomas and hisyoung friend facing an uncertain future. Since then he has not only beensuccessful in building up a good business for himself, but in openingthe gates to others. His success has not inflated him with pride. Neither has he become self-abashed and isolated from others lessfortunate, who need his counsel and sympathy. Generous and noble in hischaracter, he was conservative enough to cling to the good of the pastand radical enough to give hospitality to every new idea which wascalculated to benefit and make life noble and better. Mr. Thomas, inlaying the foundation of his education, was thoughtful enough to entera manual labor school, where he had the double advantage of gettingan education and learning a trade, through which he was enabled torely on himself without asking aid from any one, which in itself wasan education in manliness, self-respect and self-reliance, that hecould not have obtained had he been the protege of the wealthiestphilanthropist in the land. As he had fine mechanical skill andingenuity, he became an excellent carpenter. But it is one thing to havea trade and another thing to have an opportunity to exercise that trade. It was a time when a number of colored churches were being erected. Tobuild large and even magnificent churches seemed to be a ruling passionwith the colored people. Their homes might be very humble, their wallsbare of pictured grace, but by united efforts they could erect large andhandsome churches in which they had a common possession and it was oneof the grand satisfactions of freedom that they were enabled to buildtheir own churches and carry on their own business without beinginterfered with, and overlooked by a class of white ecclesiastics whosepresence was a reminder of their implied inferiority. The church ofwhich Mr. Thomas was a member was about to erect a costly edifice. Thetrustees would probably have willingly put the work in the hands of acolored man, had there been a sufficient number to have done the work, but they did not seem to remember that white prejudice had barred theNorthern workshops against the colored man, that slavery, by degradingand monopolizing labor had been the means of educating colored men inthe South to be good mechanics, and that a little pains and search ontheir part might have brought to light colored carpenters in the Southwho would have done the work as efficiently as those whom they employed, but as the trustees were not very farsighted men, they did the mostavailable thing that came to hand; they employed a white man. Mr. Thomas' pastor applied to the master builder for a place for hisparishioner. 

"Can you give employment to one of my members, on our church?" Rev. Mr. Lomax asked the master builder. 

"I would willingly do so, but I can not. "

"Why not?"

"Because my men would all rise up against it. Now, for my part, I haveno prejudice against your parishioner, but my men will not work with acolored man. I would let them all go if I could get enough colored mento suit me just as well, but such is the condition of the labor market, that a man must either submit to a number of unpalatable things or runthe risk of a strike and being boycotted. I think some of these men whowant so much liberty for themselves have very little idea of it forother people. "

After this conversation the minister told Mr. Thomas the result of hisinterview with the master builder, and said, "I am very sorry; but it is as it is, and it can't be any better. "

"Do you mean by that that things are always going to remain as theyare?"

"I do not see any quick way out of it. This prejudice is the outgrowthof ages; it did not come in a day, nor do I expect that it will vanishin an hour. "

"Nor do I; but I do not think the best way for a people to mend theirpastures is to sit down and bewail their fate. "

"No; we must be up and going for ourselves. White people will----"

"White people, " exclaimed Mr. Thomas somewhat impatiently. "Is there nota great deal of bosh in the estimate some of us have formed of whitepeople. We share a common human feeling, from which the same causeproduces the same effect. Why am I today a social Pariah, begging forwork, and refused situation after situation? My father is a wealthySoutherner; he has several other sons who are inheritors of his name andheirs of his wealth. They are educated, cultured and occupy high socialpositions. Had I not as good a right to be well born as any of them? Andyet, through my father's crime, I was doomed to the status of a slavewith its heritage of ignorance, poverty and social debasement. Talk ofthe heathenism of Africa, of hostile tribes warring upon each other andselling the conquered foes into the hands of white men, but how muchhigher in the scale of moral progression was the white man who doomedhis own child, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, to a life ofslavery? The heathen could plead in his defence the fortunes of war, andthe hostility of an opposing tribe, but the white man who enslaved hischild warred upon his hapless offspring and wrote chattel upon hiscondition when his hand was too feeble to hurl aside the accursed handand recognize no other ownership but God. I once felt bitterly on thissubject, and although it is impossible for my father to make fullreparation for the personal wrong inflicted on me, I owe him no grudge. Hating is poor employment for any rational being, but I am not preparedto glorify him at the expense of my mother's race. She was faithful tome when he deserted me to a life of ignorance and poverty, and althoughthree-fourths of the blood in my veins belongs to my father's face, Ifeel a kinship with my mother's people that I do not with his, and Iwill defend that race from the aspersions of the meanest Negro hater inthe land. Heathenism and civilization live side by side on Americansoil, but all the heathenism is not on the side of the Negro. Look atslavery and kukluxism with their meanness and crimes, mormonism with itsvile abominations, lynch law with its burnings and hangings, ournational policy in regard to the Indians and Chinese. "

"I do not think, " said the minister, "that there is another civilizedcountry in the world where men are lynched for real or supposed crimesoutside of America. "

"The Negro need not bow his head like a bulrush in the presence of arace whose records are as stained by crime and dishonor as theirs. Letothers decry the Negro, and say hard things about him, I am not preparedto join in the chorus of depreciation. "

After parting with the minister, Mr. Thomas resolved, if pluck andenergy were of any avail, that he would leave no stone unturned inseeking employment. He searched the papers carefully for advertisements, walked from one workshop to the other looking for work, and waseventually met with a refusal which meant, no negro need apply. At lastone day when he had tried almost every workshop in the place, he enteredthe establishment of Wm. C. Nell, an Englishman who had not been longenough in America to be fully saturated by its Christless and inhumanprejudices. He was willing to give Mr. Thomas work, and put tools in hishands, and while watching how deftly he handled them, he did not noticethe indignant scowls on the faces of his workmen, and their murmurs ofdisapprobation as they uttered their dissatisfaction one to the other. At length they took off their aprons, laid down their tools and asked tobe discharged from work. 

"Why, what does this mean?" asked the astounded Englishman. 

"It means that we will not work with a nigger. "

"Why, I don't understand? what is the matter with him?"

"Why, there's nothing the matter, only he's a nigger, and we never putniggers on an equality with us, and we never will. "

"But I am a stranger in this country, and I don't understand you. "

"Well, he's a nigger, and we don't want niggers for nothing; would youhave your daughter marry a nigger?"

"Oh, go back to your work; I never thought of such a thing. I think theNegro must be an unfortunate man, and I do not wish my daughter to marryany unfortunate man, but if you do not want to work with him I will puthim by himself; there is room enough on the premises; will that suit youany better?"

"No; we won't work for a man who employs a nigger. "

The builder bit his lip; he had come to America hearing that it was aland of liberty but he had found an undreamed of tyranny which hadentered his workshop and controlled his choice of workmen, and as muchas he deprecated the injustice, it was the dictum of a vitiated publicopinion that his field of occupation should be closed against the Negro, and he felt that he was forced, either to give up his business or submitto the decree. 

Mr. Thomas then thought, "my money is vanishing, school rooms andworkshops are closed against me. I will not beg, and I can not resort toany questionable means for bread. I will now take any position or do anywork by which I can make an honest living. " Just as he was lookinggloomily at the future an old school mate laid his hand upon hisshoulder and said, "how do you do, old fellow? I have not seen you for aweek of Sundays. What are you driving at now?"

"Oh, nothing in particular. I am looking for work. "

"Well, now this is just the ticket. I have just returned from thePacific coast and while I was there I did splendidly; everything Itouched turned to gold, and now I have a good job on hand if you are nottoo squeamish to take it. I have just set up a tiptop restaurant andsaloon, and I have some of the best merchants of the city as mycustomers, and I want a first rate clerk. You were always good atfigures and if you will accept the place come with me right away. Sincehigh license went into operation, I am making money hand over fist. Itis just like the big fish eating up the little fish. I am doing arushing business and I want you to do my clerking. "

The first thought which rushed into Mr. Thomas' mind was, "Is thyservant a dog that he should do this thing?" but he restrained hisindignation and said, "No, Frank, I cannot accept your offer; I am a temperance man and aprohibitionist, and I would rather have my hands clean than to have themfoul. "

"You are a greater milksop than I gave you credit for. Here you arehunting work, and find door after door closed against you, not becauseyou are not but because you are colored, and here am I offering you easyemployment and good wages and you refuse them. "

"Frank, " said Mr. Thomas, "I am a poor man, but I would rather rise upearly, and sit up late and eat the bread of carelessness, than to rollin wealth by keeping a liquor saloon, and I am determined that nodrunkard shall ever charge me with having helped drag him down tomisery, shame and death. No drunkard's wife shall ever lay the wreck ofher home at my door. "

"My business, " said Frank Miller, "is a legitimate one; there is moneyin it, and I am after that. If people will drink too much and make foolsof themselves I can't help it; it is none of my business, and if I don'tsell to them other people will. I don't think much of a man who does notknow how to govern himself, but it is no use arguing with you when youare once set in your ways; good morning. "

Chapter XII

It was a gala day in Tennis Court. Annette had passed a highlysuccessful examination, and was to graduate from the normal school, andas a matter of course, her neighbors wanted to hear Annette "speak herpiece" as they called the commencement theme, and also to see how shewas going to behave before all "them people. " They were, generallyspeaking, too unaspiring to feel envious toward any one of their racewho excelled them intellectually, and so there was little or no jealousyof Annette in Tennis Court; in fact some of her neighbors felt a kind ofpride in the thought that Tennis Court would turn out a girl who couldstand on the same platform and graduate alongside of some of theiremployers' daughters. If they could not stand there themselves they wereproud that one of their race could. 

"I feel, " said one, "like the boy when some one threatened to slap offhis face who said 'you can slap off my face, but I have a big brotherand you can't slap off his face;'" and strange as it may appear, Annettereceived more encouragement from a class of honest-hearted but ignorantand well meaning people who knew her, than she did from some of the mostcultured and intelligent people of A. P. Nor was it very strange; theywere living too near the poverty, ignorance and social debasement of thepast to have developed much race pride, and a glowing enthusiasm in itsprogress and development. Although they were of African descent, theywere Americans whose thoughts were too much Americanized to be whollyfree from imbibing the social atmosphere with which they were inconstant contact in their sphere of enjoyments. The literature they readwas mostly from the hands of white men who would paint them in anycolors which suited their prejudices or predilections. The religiousideas they had embraced came at first thought from the same sources, though they may have undergone modifications in passing through theirchannels of thought, and it must be a remarkable man or woman who thinksan age ahead of the generation in which his or her lot is cast, and whoplans and works for the future on the basis of that clearer vision. Noris it to be wondered at, if under the circumstances, some of the morecultured of A. P. Thought it absurd to look for anything remarkable tocome out of the black Nazareth of Tennis court. Her neighbors had anidea that Annette was very smart; that she had a great "head piece, " butunless she left A. P. To teach school elsewhere, they did not see whatgood her education was going to do her. It wasn't going to put any mealin the barrel nor any potatoes in the bin. Even Mrs. Larkins relaxed herancient hostility to Annette and opened her heart to present her with abasket of flowers. Annette within the last year had become very muchchanged in her conduct and character. She had become friendly in hermanner and considerate in her behavior to Mrs. Larkins since she hadentered the church, during a protracted meeting. Annette was rathercrude in her religious views but here again Mrs. Lasette became herfaithful friend and advisor. In dealing with a young convert she thoughtmore was needed than getting her into the church and making her feelthat the moment she rose from the altar with rejoicing on her lips, thatshe was a full blown christian. That, to Mrs. Lasette was the initialstep in the narrow way left luminous by the bleeding feet of Christ, andwhat the young convert needed was to be taught how to walk worthy of herhigh calling, and to make her life a thing of usefulness andfaithfulness to God and man, a growth in grace and in the savingknowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Simply attired in a dress which Mrs. Lasette thought fitted for the occasion, Annette took her seat quietlyon the platform and calmly waited till her turn came. Her subject wasannounced: "The Mission of the Negro. " It was a remarkable productionfor a girl of her age. At first she portrayed an African family seatedbeneath their bamboo huts and spreading palms; the light steps of theyoung men and maidens tripping to music, dance and song; their pastimessuddenly broken upon by the tramp of the merchants of flesh and blood;the capture of defenceless people suddenly surprised in the midst oftheir sports, the cries of distress, the crackling of flames, the crueloaths of reckless men, eager for gold though they coined it from tearsand extracted it from blood; the crowding of the slaveships, the horrorsof the middle passage, the landing of the ill-fated captives werevividly related, and the sad story of ages of bondage. It seemed as ifthe sorrow of centuries was sobbing in her voice. Then the scenechanged, and like a grand triumphal march she recounted the deliveranceof the Negro, and the wondrous change which had come over his condition;the slave pen exchanged for the free school, the fetters on his wristfor the ballot in his right hand. Then her voice grew musical when shebegan to speak of the mission of the Negro, "His mission, " she said, "isgrandly constructive. " Some races had been "architects of destruction, "but their mission was to build over the ruins of the dead past, the mostvaluable thing that a man or woman could possess on earth, and that isgood character. That mission should be to bless and not to curse. Tolift up the banner of the Christian religion from the mire and dust intowhich slavery and pride of caste had trailed it, and to hold it up as anensign of hope and deliverance to other races of the world, of whom thegreater portion were not white people. It seemed as if an inspirationlit up the young face; her eye glowed with unwonted fervor; it seemed asif she had fused her whole soul into the subject, which was full ofearnestness and enthusiasm. Her theme was the sensation of the hour. Mengrew thoughtful and attentive, women tender and sympathetic as theyheard this member of a once despised people, recount the trials andtriumphs of her race, and the hopes that gathered around their future. The day before Annette graduated Mr. Thomas had met a friend of his atMrs. Lasette's, who had lately returned from an extensive tour. He hadmingled with many people and had acquired a large store of information. Mr. Thomas had invited him to accompany him to the commencement. He hadexpected that Annette would acquit herself creditably, but she had farexceeded his most sanguine expectations. Clarence Luzerne had comebecause his friend Mr. Thomas had invited him and because he and Mrs. Lasette had taken such great interest in Annette's welfare, and hiscuriosity was excited to see how she would acquit herself and comparewith the other graduates. He did not have much faith in graduatingessays. He had heard a number of such compositions at commencementswhich had inspired him with glowing hopes for the future of the authors, which he had never seen realized, and he had come more to gratify Mr. Thomas than to please himself. But if he came through curiosity, heremained through interest, which had become more and more absorbing asshe proceeded. 

"Clarence, " said Mr. Thomas to his friend, noticing the deep interest hewas manifesting, "Are you entranced? You appear perfectly spell-bound. "

"Well, I am; I am really delighted and indebted to you for a rare andunexpected pleasure. Why, that young lady gave the finest productionthat I have heard this morning. I hardly think she could have written itherself. It seems wonderful that a girl of her age should have done itso well. You are a great friend of hers; now own up, are not your fingermarks upon it? I wouldn't tell it out of our ranks, but I don't thinkshe wrote that all herself. "

"Who do you think wrote it for her?"

"Mrs. Lasette. "

"I do not think so; Mrs. Lasette is a fine writer, but that nervous, fervid and impassioned style is so unlike hers, that I do not think shewrote one line of it, though she might have overlooked it, and madesome suggestions, but even if it were so that some one else wrote it, weknow that no one else delivered it, and that her delivery wasexcellent. "

"That is so; why, she excelled all the other girls. Do you know what wasthe difference between her and the other girls?"

"No; what was it?" said Mr. Thomas. 

"They wrote from their heads, she wrote from her heart. Annette hasbegun to think; she has been left a great deal to herself, and in herloneliness, she has developed a thoughtfulness past her years, and Ithink that a love for her race and a desire to serve it has become agrowing passion in her soul; her heart has supplied her intellect. "

"Ah, I think from what you say that I get the true clue to the power andpathos with which she spoke this morning and that accounts for herwonderful success. "

"Yes, " said Mr. Luzerne, [14] "it is the inner life which develops theouter life, and just such young people as Annette make me more hopefulof the future of the race. "

Mrs. Lasette witnessed Annette's graduation with intense interest andpleasure. Grandmother Harcourt looked the very impersonation ofsatisfaction as she gathered up the floral gifts, and modestly waitedwhile Annette received the pleasant compliments of admiring friends. 

At his request Mr. Thomas introduced Mr. Luzerne to Annette, who in themost gracious and affable manner, tendered to Annette his heartycongratulations which she modestly received, and for the time being allwent merry as a marriage bell. 

Chapter XIII

"What a fool he is to refuse my offer, " thought the saloon-keeper. "What a pity it is, " said Mr. Thomas to himself, "that a man of hiseducation and ability should be engaged in such accursed business. "

After refusing the saloonkeeper's offer Mr. Thomas found a job ofwork. It was not a job congenial to his feelings, but his motto was, "If I do not see an opening I will make one. " After he had turnedfrom Mr. Englishman's workshop, burning with a sense of wrong whichhe felt powerless to overcome, he went on the levee and looked aroundto see if any work might be picked up by him as a day laborer. He sawa number of men singing, joking and plying their tasks with nimblefeet and apparently no other care upon their minds than meeting thedemands of the present hour, and for a moment he almost envied theirlightheartedness, and he thought within himself, where all men are bornblind, no man misses the light. These men are contented with privileges, and I who have fitted myself for a different sphere in life, am chaffingbecause I am denied rights. The right to sell my labor in any workshopin this city same as the men of other nationalities, and to receive withthem a fair day's wages for a fair day's work. But he was strong andhealthy and he was too high spirited to sit moping at home dependingupon his mother to divide with him her scanty means till somethingshould turn up. The first thing that presented itself to him was the jobof helping unload a boat which had landed at the wharf, and a hand wasneeded to assist in unloading her. Mr. Thomas accepted the position andwent to work and labored manfully at the unaccustomed task. That beingfinished the merchant for whom he had done the work, hired him to laborin his warehouse. He showed himself very handy in making slight repairswhen needed and being ready to turn his hand to any service out of hisroutine of work, hammering a nail, adjusting a disordered lock andshowing a general concern in his employer's interests. One day hisemployer had engaged a carpenter to make him a counter, but the maninstead of attending to his work had been off on a drunken spree, andneglected to do the job. The merchant, vexed at the unnecessary delay, said to Mr. Thomas in a bantering manner, "I believe you can do almostanything, couldn't you make this counter?"

Mr. Thomas answered quite modestly, "I believe I could if I had mytools. "

"Tools! What do you mean by tools?"

Mr. Thomas told him how he learned to be a carpenter in the South andhow he had tried so unsuccessfully in the North to get an opportunity towork at his trade until discouraged with the attempt, he had made up hismind to take whatever work came to hand till he could see farther. 

The merchant immediately procured the materials and set Mr. Thomas towork, who in a short time finished the counter, and showed by hisworkmanship that he was an excellent carpenter. The merchant pleasedwith his work and satisfied with his ability, entrusted him with theerection of a warehouse and, strange as it may appear, some of those menwho were too proud or foolish to work with him as a fellow laborer, werehumble enough to work under him as journeymen. When he was down theywere ready to kick him down. When he was up they were ready to receivehis helping hand. Mr. Thomas soon reached that "tide in his affairswhich taken at the flood leads on to fortune. " Against the odds whichwere against him his pluck and perseverance prevailed, and he wasenabled not only to build up a good business for himself, but also tohelp others, and to teach them by his own experience not to be tooeasily discouraged, but to trust to pluck more than luck, and learn inwhatever capacity they were employed to do their work heartily as untothe Lord and not unto men. 

Anxious to do what she could to benefit the community in which shelived, Mrs. Lasette threw open her parlors for the gathering togetherof the best thinkers and workers of the race, who choose to availthemselves of the privilege of meeting to discuss any question of vitalimportance to the welfare of the colored people of the nation. Knowingthe entail of ignorance which slavery had left them, she could not becontent by shutting up herself to mere social enjoyments within theshadow of her home. And often the words would seem to ring within hersoul, "my people is destroyed for lack of knowledge, " and with thosewords would come the question, am I doing what I can to dispel thedarkness which has hung for centuries around our path? I have beenblessed with privileges which were denied others; I sat 'mid the lightof knowledge when some of my ill-fated sisters did not know what it wasto see daylight in their cabins from one week's end to the other. Sometimes when she met with coldness and indifference where she leastexpected it, she would grow sad but would not yield to discouragement. Her heart was in the right place. "Freely she had received and freelyshe would give. " It was at one of Mrs. Lasette's gatherings that Mr. Thomas met Rev. Mr. Lomax on whose church he had been refused a place, and Mr. Thurman, a tradesman who also had been ousted from his positionthrough pride of caste and who had gone into another avocation, andalso Charley Cooper, of whom we have lost sight for a number of years. He is now a steady and prosperous young man, a constant visitor atMrs. Lasette's. Rumor says that Mrs. Lasette's bright-eyed and lovelydaughter is the magnet which attracts him to their pleasant home. Rev. Lomax has also been absent for several years on other charges, but whenhe meets Mr. Thomas, the past flows back and the incidents of theirlatest interviews naturally take their place in the conversation. "Ithas been some time since we met, " said Mr. Thomas, heartily shaking theminister's hand. 

"How has life used you since last we met?" said Rev. Lomax to Mr. Thomas. "Are you well?"

"Perfectly well, I have had a varied experience since I met you, butI have no reason to complain, and I think my experience has beeninvaluable to me, and with this larger experience and closerobservation, I feel that I am more able to help others, and that, Ifeel, has been one of my most valued acquirements. I sometimes thinkof members of our people in some directions as sheep without ashepherd, and I do wish from the bottom of my heart that I knew thebest way to help them. "

"You do not, " said the minister, somewhat anxiously, "ignore the powerof the pulpit. "

"No, I do not; I only wish it had tenfold force. I wish we had tenthousand ministers like Oberlin who was not ashamed to take the leadin opening a road from Bande Roche to Strasburgh, a distance of severalmiles to bring his parishioners in contact with the trade and businessof a neighboring village. I hope the time will come when every ministerin building a church which he consecrates to the worship of God willbuild alongside of it or under the same roof, parish buildings or roomsto be dedicated to the special wants of our people in their peculiarcondition. "

"I do wish, Brother Lomax, those costly buildings which you erect willcover more needs and wants of our people than some of them do now. "

"What would you have in them?"

"I would have a parish building to every church, and I would have inthem an evening home for boys. I would have some persons come in andteach them different handicrafts, so as at least to give them anopportunity to be more expert in learning how to use their hands. Iwould have that building a well warmed and well lighted room in winter, where all should be welcome to come and get a sandwich and a warm cupof tea or coffee and a hot bowl of soup, and if the grogshops wereselling liquor for five cents, I would sell the soup for three or fourcents, with a roll. I would have a room reserved for such ladies as Mrs. Lasette, who are so willing to help, for the purpose of holding mother'smeetings. I would try to have the church the great centre of moral, spiritual and intellectual life for the young, and try to presentcounter attractions to the debasing influence of the low grogshops, gambling dens and houses of ill fame. "

"Part of our city (ought I confine myself to saying part of the city)has not the whole city been cursed by rum? But I now refer to a specialpart. I have seen church after church move out of that part of the citywhere the nuisance and curse were so rife, but I never, to my knowledge, heard of one of those churches offering to build a reading room andevening home for boys, or to send out paid and sustained by theirefforts, a single woman to go into rum-cursed homes and teach theirinmates a more excellent way. I would have in that parish building themost earnest men and women to come together and consult and counselwith each other on the best means to open for ourselves, doors whichare still closed against us. "

"I am sure, " said the minister, "I am willing to do what I can for thetemporal and spiritual welfare of our people, and in this I have theexample of the great Physician who did not consider it beneath him toattend to physical maladies as well as spiritual needs, and who did notconsider the synagogue too holy, nor the Sabbath day too sacred toadminister to the destitute and suffering. "

"I was very sorry when I found out, Brother Thomas, that I could nothave you employed on my church, but I do not see what else I could havedone except submit. "

"That was all you could have done in that stage of the work when Iapplied, and I do not wish to bestow the slightest censure on you or thetrustees of your church, but I think, if when you were about to buildhad you advertised for competent master-builders in the South, that youcould have gotten enough to have built the church without havingemployed Mr. Hoog the master-builder. Had you been able to have gone tohim and said, 'we are about to build a church and it is more convenientfor us to have it done by our citizens than to send abroad for laborers. We are in communication with a colored master builder in Kentucky, whois known as an efficient workman and who would be glad to get the job, and if your men refuse to work with a colored man our only alternativewill be to send for colored carpenters and put the building in theirhands. ' Do you think he would have refused a thirty thousand dollar jobjust because some of his men refused to work with colored men? I thinkthe greater portion of his workmen would have held their prejudices inabeyance rather than let a thirty thousand dollar job slip out of theirhands. Now here is another thing in which I think united effort couldhave effected something. Now, here is my friend Mr. Thurman; he was asaddler versed in both branches of harness making. For awhile he gotsteady work in a saddler's shop, but the prejudice against him was sogreat that his employer was forced to dismiss him. He took work home, but that did not heal the dissatisfaction, and at last he gave it upand went to well-digging. Now, there were colored men in that placewho could have, as I think, invested some money in buying materialand helped him, not as a charity, but as a mere business operationto set up a place for himself; he had the skill; they had the money, and had they united both perhaps to-day there would be a flourishingbusiness carried on by the man who is now digging wells for a living. I do hope that some time there will be some better modes ofcommunication between us than we now possess; that a labor bureauwill be established not as a charity among us, but as a businesswith capable and efficient men who will try to find out the differentindustries that will employ men irrespective of color and advertiseand find steady and reliable colored men to fill them. Colored menin the South are largely employed in raising cotton and other produce;why should there not be more openings in the South for colored mento handle the merchandize and profit by it?"

"What hinders?" said Rev. Lomax. 

"I will not say what hinders, but I will say what I think you can tryto do to help. Teach our young to dedicate their young lives to thenoble service of devoting them to the service of our common cause; tothrow away their cigars, dash down the foaming beer and sparkling wineand strive to be more like those of whom it was said, 'I write unto you, young men, because you are strong. '"

Chapter XIV

Grandmother Harcourt was failing. Annette was rising towards life'ssummit. Her grandmother was sinking to death's vale. 

 The hours are rifting day by day Strength from the walls of living clay. 

Her two children who were living in A. P. Wished her to break up her homeand come and live with them. They had room in their hearts and homes forher, but not for Annette. There was something in Annette's temperamentwith which other members of the family could not harmonize. They werenot considerate enough to take into account her antenatal history, andto pity where they were so ready to condemn. Had Annette been borndeficient in any of her bodily organs, they could have made allowancefor her, and would have deemed it cruel to have demanded that she shouldhave performed the same amount of labor with one hand that she couldhave done with both. They knew nothing of heredity, except its effects, which they were not thoughtful enough to trace back to the causes overwhich Annette had no control, and instead of trying to counteract themas one might strive to do in a case of inherited physical tendencies, they only aggravated, and constantly strengthened all the unlovelyfeatures in Annette's character, and Annette really seemed like ananomalous contradiction. There was a duality about her nature as ifthe blood of two races were mingling in her veins. To some personsAnnette was loving and love-able, bright, intelligent, obliging andcompanionable; to others, unsociable, unamiable and repelling. Her heartwas like a harp which sent out its harmonious discords in accordancewith the moods of the player who touched its chords. To some who sweptthem it gave out tender and touching melody, to others its harshest andsaddest discords. Did not the Psalmist look beneath the mechanism of thebody to the constitution of the soul when he said that "We are fearfullyand wonderfully made?"

But the hour came when all discussion was ended as to who was to shelterthe dear old grandmother in her declining years. Mrs. Harcourt wassuddenly paralyzed, and in a few days Annette stood doubly orphaned. Grandmother Harcourt's children gathered around the bedside of theirdying mother. She was conscious but unable to speak. Occasionally hereyes would rest lovingly upon Annette and then turn wistfully to herchildren. Several times she assayed to speak, but the words died uponher lips. Her eldest son entered the room just as life was trembling onits faintest chords. She recognized him, and gathering up her remainingstrength she placed his hand on Annette's, and tried again to speak. Heunderstood her and said very tenderly, "Mother, I will look after Annette. "

All the care faded from the dear old face. Amid the shadows that neverdeceive flitted a smile of peace and contentment. The fading eye lit upwith a sudden gaze of joy and wonder. She reached out her hand as if tomeet a welcome and precious friend, and then the radiant face grewdeathly pale; the outstretched hands relaxed their position, and with asmile, just such a smile as might greet a welcoming angel, her spiritpassed out into the eternities, and Annette felt as she had never feltbefore, that she was all alone. The love that had surrounded and watchedover her, born with her perverseness, and sheltered her in its warmclasp, was gone; it had faded suddenly from her vision, and left in itsstead a dull and heavy pain. After the funeral, Mrs. Harcourt's childrenreturned to the house where they quietly but earnestly discussed thequestion what shall be done with Annette. Mrs. Hanson's house was rathersmall; that is, it was rather small for Annette. She would have foundroom in her house if she only had room in her heart for her. She hadnursed her mother through her sickness, and said with unnaturalcoldness, "I have got rid of one trouble and I do not want another. "Another sister who lived some distance from A. P. , would have takenAnnette, but she knew that other members of her family would object, asthey would be fearful that Annette would be an apple of discord amongthem. At length, her uncle Thomas decided that she should go with him. He felt that his mother had died with the assurance on her mind that hewould care for Annette, and he resolved to be faithful in accepting whatwas to him the imposition of a new burden on his shoulders. His wife wasa cold and unsympathizing woman. She was comfortably situated but didnot wish that comfort invaded by her husband's relations. In householdmatters her husband generally deferred to her judgment, but here was noother alternative than that of taking Annette under the shadow of hishome, or leaving her unprotected in the wide world, and he was toomerciful and honorable to desert Annette in her saddest hour of need. Having determined that Annette should share his home, he knew that itwas advisable to tell his wife about his decision, and to prepare herfor Annette's coming. 

"Well, " said Dr. Harcourt's wife after her husband's return from thefuneral, "what are you going to do with Annette?"

"She is coming here, " said Dr. Harcourt quietly and firmly. 

"Coming here?" said Mrs. Harcourt, looking aghast. "I think at least youmight have consulted me. "

"That is true, my dear, I would have gladly done so had you been presentwhen the decision was made. "

"But where are her aunts, and where was your brother, John; why didn'tthey take her?"

"John was at home sick with the rheumatism and sister Jane did notappear to be willing to have her come. "

"I guess Jane is like I am; got enough to do to look after her ownfamily. "

"And sister Eliza said she hadn't any room. "

"No room; when she has eight rooms in her house and only two children?She could have made room for her had she chosen. "

"May be her husband wasn't willing. "

"Oh, it is no such thing. I know John Hanson[15] better than that; Lizais the head man of that house, and just leads him by the nose wherevershe wants him to go, and besides, Mrs. Lord's daughter is therepretending to pay board, but I don't believe that she pays it one-halfthe time. "

"She is company for Alice and they all seem very fond of her. "

"I do get so sick of that girl, mambying and jambying about that family;calling Liza and her husband 'Ma and Pa, ' I haven't a bit of faith inher. "

"Well, I confess that I am not very much preposessed in her favor. Shejust puts me in mind of a pussy cat purring around you. "

"Well, now as to Annette. You do not want her here?"

"Not if I can help it. "

"But can't she help you to work?"

"She could if she knew how. If wishes were horses beggars might ride. Your mother made a great mistake in bringing Annette up. Annette has agood education, but when that is said, all is said. "

"Why, my dear mother was an excellent housekeeper. Did she not teachAnnette?"

"Your mother was out a great deal as a sick nurse, and when she wentaway from home she generally boarded Annette with a friend, who did not, as your mother paid her good board, exact any service from Annette, andwhile with her she never learned to make a loaf of bread or to cook abeefsteak, and when your mother was at home when she set Annette to doany work, if she did it awkwardly and clumsily she would take it out ofher hand and do it herself rather than bother with her, and now Isuppose I am to have all the bother and worry with her. "

"Well my dear. "

"Oh don't come dearing me, and bringing me all this trouble. "

"Well my dear, I don't see how it could be helped. I could not leaveAnnette in the house all by herself. I couldn't afford to make myselfthe town's talk. May be things will turn out better than you expect. We've got children of our own, and we don't know when we are gone, howthey will fare. "

"That is true, but I never mean to bring my children up in such a waythat they will be no use anywhere, and no one will want them. "

"Well, I don't see any other way than bringing Annette here. "

"Well, if I must, I must, " she said with an air of despondency. 

Dr. Harcourt rode over to his sister's where Annette was spending theday and brought the doubly orphaned girl to his home. As she entered theroom, it seemed as though a chill struck to her heart when her Aunt badeher good morning. There was no warm pressure in the extended hand. Noloving light in the cold unsympathizing eyes which seemed to stab herthrough and through. The children eyed her inquisitively, as if wishingto understand her status with their parents before they became sociablewith her. After supper Annette's uncle went out and her aunt sat quietlyand sewed till bed time, and then showed Annette to her room and leftthe lonely girl to herself and her great sorrow. Annette sat silent, tearless, and alone. Grief had benumbed her faculties. She had sometimessaid when grandmother had scolded her that "she was growing cross andcold. " But oh, what would she not have given to have had thedeath-created silence broken by that dear departed voice, to have feltthe touch of a vanished hand, to have seen again the loving glance ofthe death darkened eye. But it was all over; no tears dimmed her eye, asshe sat thinking so mournfully of her great sorrow, till she unfastenedfrom her neck a little keepsake containing a lock of grandmother's hair, then all the floodgates of her soul were opened and she threw herselfupon her bed and sobbed herself to sleep. In the morning she awoke withthat sense of loss and dull agony which only they know, who have seenthe grave close over all they have held dearest on earth. The beautifulhome of her uncle was very different from the humble apartments; hereshe missed all the freedom and sunshine that she had enjoyed beneath theshelter of her grandmother's roof. 

"Can you sew?" said her aunt to Annette, as she laid on the table apackage of handkerchiefs. 

"Yes ma'm. "

"Let me see how you can do this, " handing her one to hem. Annette hemmedthe handkerchief nicely; her aunt examined it, put it down and gave hersome others to hem, but there was no word of encouragement for her, noteven a pleasant, "well done. " They both relapsed into silence; betweenthem there was no pleasant interchange of thought. Annette was toleratedand endured, but she did not feel that she was loved and welcomed. Itwas no place to which she could invite her young friends to spend apleasant evening. Once she invited some of her young friends to herhome, but she soon found that it was a liberty which she should becareful never to repeat. Soon after Annette came to live with her aunther aunt's mother had a social gathering and reunion of the members ofher family. All Dr. Harcourt's children were invited, from the least tothe greatest, but poor Annette was left behind. Mrs. Lasette, whohappened in the house the evening before the entertainment, asked, "Isnot Annette going?" when Mrs. Harcourt replied, very coldly, "She is notone of the family, " referring to her mother's family circle. 

A shadow flitted over the face of Mrs. Lasette; she thought of her owndaughter and how sad it would be to have her live in such a chillyatmosphere of social repression and neglect at a period of life whenthere was so much danger that false friendship might spread their luresfor her inexperienced feet. I will criticize, she said to herself, bycreation. I, too, have some social influence, if not among the careless, wine-bibbing, ease-loving votaries of fashion, among some of the mostsubstantial people of A. P. , and as long as Annette preserves herrectitude at my house she shall be a welcome guest and into thatsaddened life I will bring all the sunshine that I can. 

Chapter XV

"Well mama, " said Mrs. Lasette's daughter to her mother, "I cannotunderstand why you take so much interest in Annette. She is veryunpopular. Scarcely any of the girls ever go with her, and even hercousin never calls for her to go to church or anywhere else, and Isometimes feel so sorry to see her so much by herself, and some of thegirls when I went with her to the exposition, said that they wouldn'thave asked her to have gone with them, that she isn't our set. "

"Poor child, " Mrs. Lasette replied; "I am sorry for her. I hope that youwill never treat her unkindly, and I do not think if you knew the sadstory connected with her life that you would ever be unkind enough toadd to the burden she has been forced to bear. "

"But mamma, Annette is so touchy. Her aunt says that her tear bags mustlay near her eyes and that she will cry if you look at her, and that sheis the strangest, oddest creature she ever saw, and I heard she did notwish her to come. "

"Why, my dear child, who has been gossipping to you about yourneighbors?"

"Why, Julia Thomas. "

"Well, my daughter, don't talk after her; gossip is liable to degenerateinto evil speaking and then I think it tends to degrade and belittle themind to dwell on the defects and imperfections of our neighbors. Learnto dwell on the things that are just and true and of good report, but Iam sorry for Annette, poor child. "

"What makes her so strange, do you know?"

"Yes, " said Mrs. Lasette somewhat absently. 

"If you do, won't you tell me?"

Again Mrs. Lasette answered in the same absent manner. 

"Why mama, what is the matter with you; you say yes to everything andyet you are not paying any attention to anything that I say. You seemlike someone who hears, but does not listen; who sees, but does notlook. Your face reminds me of the time when I showed you the picture ofa shipwreck and you said, 'My brother's boat went down in just such afearful storm. '"

"My dear child, " said Mrs. Lasette, rousing up from a mournful reverie, "I was thinking of a wreck sadder, far sadder than the picture youshowed me. It was the mournful wreck of a blighted life. "

"Whose life, mama?"

"The life of Annette's [grand]mother. We were girls together and I lovedher dearly, " Mrs. Lasette replied as tears gathered in her eyes when sherecalled one of the saddest memories of her life. 

"Do tell me all about it, for I am full of curiosity. "

"My child, I want this story to be more than food for your curiosity; Iwant it to be a lesson and a warning to you. Annette's grandmother wasleft to struggle as breadwinner for a half dozen children when herhusband died. Then there were not as many openings for colored girls asthere are now. Our chief resource was the field of domestic service, andcircumstances compelled Annette's mother to live out, as we called it. In those days we did not look down upon a girl and try to ostracize herfrom our social life if she was forced to be a servant. If she was poorand respectable we valued her for what she was rather than for what shepossessed. Of course we girls liked to dress nicely, but fine clotheswas not the chief passport to our society, and yet I think on the wholethat our social life would compare favorably with yours in goodcharacter, if not in intellectual attainments. Our dear old mothers weregenerally ignorant of books, but they did try to teach good manners andgood behavior; but I do not think they saw the danger around the pathsof the inexperienced with the same clearness of vision we now do. Mrs. Harcourt had unbounded confidence in her children, and as my motherthought, gave her girls too much rein in their own hands. Our mother wasmore strict with her daughters and when we saw Mrs. Harcourt's daughtershaving what we considered such good times, I used to say, 'O, I wishmother wasn't so particular!' Other girls could go unattended toexcursions, moonlight drives and parties of pleasure, but we never wentto any such pleasure unless we were attended by our father, brother orsome trusted friend of the family. We were young and foolish then andused to chafe against her restrictions; but to-day, when I think of myown good and noble husband, my little bright and happy home, and mydear, loving daughter, I look back with gratitude to her thoughtful careand honor and bless her memory in her grave. Poor Lucy Harcourt was notso favored; she was pretty and attractive and had quite a number ofadmirers. At length she became deeply interested in a young man who cameas a stranger to our city. He was a fine looking man, but there wassomething about him from which I instinctively shrank. My mother feltthe same way and warned us to be careful how we accepted any attentionfrom him; but poor Lucy became perfectly infatuated with him and it wasrumored that they were to be shortly married. Soon after the rumor heleft the city and there was a big change in Lucy's manner. I could nottell what was the matter, but my mother forbade me associating with her, and for several months I scarcely saw her, but I could hear from othersthat she was sadly changed. Instead of being one of the mostlight-hearted girls, I heard that she used to sit day after day in hermother's house and wring her hands and weep and that her mother's heartwas almost broken. Friends feared that Lucy was losing her mind andmight do some desperate deed, but she did not. I left about that time toteach school in a distant village, and when I returned home I heard sadtidings of poor Lucy. She was a mother, but not a wife. Her brothers hadgrown angry with her for tarnishing their family name, of which theywere so proud; her mother's head was bowed with agony and shame. Thefather of Lucy's child had deserted her in her hour of trial and lefther to bear her burden alone with the child like a millstone around herneck. Poor Lucy; I seldom saw her after that, but one day I met her inthe Park. I went up to her and kissed her, she threw her arms around meand burst into a flood of tears. I tried to restrain her from givingsuch vent to her feelings. It was a lack of self-control which hadplaced her where she was. "

"'Oh Anna!' she said, 'it does me so much good to hold your hand in mineonce more. I reminds me of the days when we used to be together. Oh, what would I give to recall those days. '"

"I said to her, Lucy, you can never recall the past, but you can try toredeem the future. Try to be a faithful mother. Men may build over thewreck and ruin of their young lives a better and brighter future, whyshould not a woman? Let the dead past bury its dead and live in thefuture for the sake of your child. She seemed so grateful for what I hadsaid. Others had treated her with scorn. Her brother Thomas had refusedto speak to her; her betrayer had forsaken her; all the joyousness hadfaded from her life and, poor girl, I was glad that I was able to say ahelpful and hopeful word to her. Mother, of course, would not let usassociate with her, but she always treated her kindly when she came anddid what she could to lighten the burden which was pressing her down tothe grave. But, poor child, she was never again the same light-heartedgirl. She grew pale and thin and in the hectic flush and falteringtread I read the death sign of early decay, and I felt that my misguidedyoung friend was slowly dying of a broken heart. Then there came a daywhen we were summoned to her dying bed. Her brothers and sisters werepresent; all their resentment against her had vanished in the presenceof death. She was their dear sister about to leave them and they bent intearful sorrow around her couch. As one of her brothers, who was a goodsinger, entered the room, she asked him to sing 'Vital spark of heavenlyflame. ' He attempted to sing, but there were tremors in his voice and hefaltered in the midst of the hymn. 'Won't you sing for your dyingsister. '"

"Again he essayed to sing, but [his?] voice became choked with emotion, and he ceased, and burst into tears. Her brother Thomas who had been sohard and cold, and had refused to speak to her, now wept and sobbed likea child, but Lucy smiled as she bade them good bye, and exclaimed, 'Welcome death, the end of fear. I am prepared to die. ' A sweet peacesettled down on her face, and Lucy had exchanged, I hope, the sorrow andpain of life for the peace and rest of heaven, and left Annette tooyoung to know her loss. Do you wonder then my child that I feel such aninterest in Annette and that knowing as I do her antenatal history thatI am ever ready to pity where others condemn, and that I want to do whatI can to help round out in beauty and usefulness the character of thatsinned against and disinherited child, whose restlessness andsensitiveness I trace back to causes over which she had no control. "

"What became of Frank Miller? You say that when he returned to A. P. Thatsociety opened its doors to him while they were closed to Annette'smother. I don't understand it. Was he not as guilty as she was?"

"Guiltier, I think. If poor Lucy failed as a woman, she tried to befaithful as a mother, while he, faithless as a man, left her to bear herburden alone. She was frail as a woman, but he was base, mean, andselfish as a man. "

"How was it that society received him so readily?"

"All did not receive him so readily, but with some his money, likecharity, covered a multitude of sins. But from the depths of my heart Idespised him. I had not then learned to hate the sin with all my heart, and yet the sinner love. To me he was the incarnation of social meannessand vice. And just as I felt I acted. We young folks had met at a socialgathering, and were engaged in a pastime in which we occasionallyclasped hands together. Some of these plays I heartily disliked, especially when there was romping and promiscuous kissing. During theplay Frank Miller's hand came in contact with mine and he pressed it. Ican hardly describe my feelings. It seemed as if my very veins were onfire, and that every nerve was thrilling with repulsion and indignation. Had I seen him murder Lucy and then turn with blood dripping hands tograsp mine, I do not think that I should have felt more loathing than Idid when his hand clasped mine. I felt that his very touch waspollution; I immediately left the play, tore off my glove, and threw itin the fire. "

"Oh, mother, how could you have done so? You are so good and gentle. "

Mrs. Lasette replied, "I was not always so. I do not hate his sin anyless now than I did then but I think that I have learned a Christiancharity which would induce me to pluck such as he out of the fire whileI hated the garments spotted by his sins. I sat down trembling withemotion. I heard a murmur of disapprobation. There was a check to thegayety of the evening. Frank Miller, bold and bad as he was lookedcrestfallen and uneasy. Some who appeared to be more careful of themanners of society than its morals, said that I was very rude. Otherssaid that I was too prudish, and would be an old maid, that I waslooking for perfection in young men, and would not find it. That youngmen sow their wild oats, and that I was more nice than wise, and that Iwould frighten the gentlemen away from me. I told them if the young menwere so easily frightened, that I did not wish to clasp hands for lifewith any such timid set, and that I was determined that I would have amoral husband or none; that I was not obliged to be married, but that Iwas obliged to be true to my conscience. That when I married I expectedto lay the foundation of a new home, and that I would never trust myfuture happiness in the hands of a libertine, or lay its foundationsover the reeling brain of a drunkard, and I determined that I wouldnever marry a man for whose vices I must blush, and whose crimes I mustcondone; that while I might bend to grief I would not bow to shame; thatif I brought him character and virtue, he should give me true manhoodand honor in return. "

"And I think mother that you got it when you married father. "

"I am satisfied that I did, and the respect and appreciation my daughterhas for her father is only part of my life's reward, but it was my dearmother who taught me to distinguish between the true and the false, andalthough she was [not?] what you call educated, she taught me that nomagnificence of fortune would atone for meanness of spirit, that withoutcharacter the most wealthy and talented man is a bankrupt in soul. Andshe taught me how to be worthy of a true man's love. "

"And I think you have succeeded splendidly. "

"Thank you, my darling. But mother has become used to compliments. "

Chapter XVI

"I do not think she gets any more than she deserves, " said Mr. Lasette, entering the room. "She is one of whom it may be said, 'Her childrenarise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her;many daughters have done virtuously but thou excellest them all. '"

"I do not think you will say that I am excelling if I do not hasteabout your supper; you were not home to dinner and must be hungry bythis time, and it has been said that the way to a man's heart is throughhis stomach. "

"Oh, isn't that a libel on my sex!"

"Papa, " said Laura Lasette, after her mother had left the room, "did youknow Frank Miller? Mother was telling me about him but she did notfinish; what became of him?"

"Now, you ask me two questions in one breath; let me answer one at atime. "

"Well, papa, I am all attention. "

"Do I know Frank Miller, the saloon keeper? Yes; he is connected with aturning point in my life. How so? Well, just be patient a minute and Iwill tell you. I was almost a stranger in A. P. When I first met yourmother. It was at a social where Frank Miller was a guest. I had heardsome very damaging reports concerning his reputation, but from themanner in which he was received in society, I concluded that I had beenmisinformed. Surely, I thought, if the man is as vicious as he has beenrepresented, good women, while they pity him, will shrink instinctivelyfrom him, but I saw to my surprise, that with a confident and unblushingmanner, he moved among what was called the elite of the place, and thatinstead of being withheld, attentions were lavished upon him. I hadlived most of my life in a small inland town, where people were oldfashioned enough to believe in honor and upright conduct, and from whatI had heard of Frank Miller I was led to despise his vices and detesthis character, and yet here were women whom I believed to be good andvirtuous, smiling in his face, and graciously receiving his attentions. I cannot help thinking that in their case, "Evil is wrought by want of thought" As well as want of heart. 

They were not conscious of the influence they might exert by being trueto their own womanhood. Men like Frank Miller are the deadliest foes ofwomen. One of the best and strongest safe guards of the home is theintegrity of its women, and he who undermines that, strikes a fearfulblow at the highest and best interests of society. Society is woman'srealm and I never could understand how, if a woman really loves purityfor its own worth and loveliness, she can socially tolerate men whoselives are a shame, and whose conduct in society is a blasting, witheringcurse. "

"But, papa, tell me how you came to love my mother; but I don't see howyou could have helped it. "

"That's just it, my daughter. I loved her because I could not help it;and respected her because I knew that she was worthy of respect. I waspresent at a social gathering where Frank was a guest, and was watchingyour mother attentively when I saw her shrink instinctively from histouch and leave the play in which she was engaged and throw her glove inthe fire. Public opinion was divided about her conduct. Some censured, others commended her, but from that hour I learned to love her, and Ibecame her defender. Other women would tolerate Frank Miller, but herewas a young and gracious girl, strong enough and brave enough to pour onthe head of that guilty culprit her social disapprobation and I gloriedin her courage. I resolved she should be my wife if she would accept me, which she did, and I have never regretted my choice and I think that Ihave had as happy a life as usually falls to the lot of mortals. "

Chapter XVII

"Papa, " said Laura Lasette, "all the girls have had graduating partiesexcept Annette and myself. Would it not be nice for me to have a partyand lots of fun, and then my birthday comes next week; now wouldn't itbe just the thing for me to have a party?"

"It might be, darling, for you, but how would it be for me who wouldhave to foot the bill?"

"Well, papa, could you not just give me a check like you do mamasometimes?"

"But mama knows how to use it. "

"But papa, don't I know how also?"

"I have my doubts on that score, but let me refer you to your mother. She is queen of this realm, and in household matters I as a loyalsubject, abide by her decisions. "

"Well, I guess mama is all right on this subject. "

Mrs. Lasette was perfectly willing to gratify her daughter, and it wasdecided to have an entertainment on Laura's birthday. 

The evening of Mrs. Lasette's entertainment came bringing with it intoher pleasant parlors a bright and merry throng of young people. It wasmore than a mere pleasure party. It was here that rising talent wasencouraged, no matter how humble the garb of the possessor, and Mrs. Lasette was a model hostess who would have thought her entertainment afailure had any one gone from it smarting under a sense of socialneglect. Shy and easily embarrassed Annette who was very seldom invitedanywhere, found herself almost alone in that gay and chattering throng. Annette was seated next to several girls who laughed and chattedincessantly with each other without deigning to notice her. Mrs. Lasetteentering the room with Mr. Luzerne whom she presented to the company, and noticing the loneliness and social isolation of Annette, gave him aseat beside her, and was greatly gratified that she had found the meansto relieve the tedium of Annette's position. Mrs. Lasette had known himas a light hearted boy, full of generous impulses, with laughing eyesand a buoyant step, but he had been absent a number of years, and haddeveloped into a handsome man with a magnificent physique, elegant inhis attire, polished in his manners and brilliant in conversation. Justsuch a man as is desirable as a companion and valuable as a friend, staunch, honorable and true, and it was rumored that he was quitewealthy. He was generally cheerful, but it seemed at times as if somesad memories came over him, dashing all the sunshine from his face andleaving in its stead, a sadness which it was touching to behold. Somemystery seemed to surround his life, but being reticent in reference tohis past history, there was a dignity in his manner which repelled allintrusion into the secrecy over which he choose to cast a veil. Annettewas not beautiful, but her face was full of expression and her mannerwinsome at times. Lacking social influence and social adaptation, shehad been ignored in society, her faults of temper made prominent hermost promising traits of character left unnoticed, but this treatmentwas not without some benefit to Annette. It threw her more entirely onher own resources. At first she read when she had leisure, to beguileher lonely hours, and fortunately for her, she was directed in herreading by Mrs. Lasette, who gave and lent her books, which appealed toall that was highest and best in her nature, and kindled within her alofty enthusiasm to make her life a blessing to the world. With such anearnest purpose, she was not prepared to be a social favorite in anysociety whose chief amusement was gossip, and whose keenest weapon wasridicule. 

Mr. Luzerne had gone to Mrs. Lasette's with the hope of meeting some ofthe best talent in A. P. , and had come to the conclusion that there wasmore lulliancy than depth in the intellectual life with which he came incontact; he felt that it lacked earnestness, purpose and grandenthusiasms and he was astonished to see the social isolation ofAnnette, whose society had interested and delighted him, and afterparting with her he found his mind constantly reverting to her and feltgrateful to Mrs. Lasette for affording him a rare and charming pleasure. Annette sat alone in her humble room with a new light in her eyes and asense of deep enjoyment flooding her soul. Never before had she metwith such an interesting and congenial gentleman. He seemed tounderstand as scarcely as any one else had done or cared to do. In theeyes of other guests she had been treated as if too insignificant fornotice, but he had loosened her lips and awakened within her a dawningsense of her own ability, which others had chilled and depressed. He hadfingered the keys of her soul and they had vibrated in music to histouch. Do not smile, gentle reader, and say that she was very easilyimpressed, it may be that you have never known what it is to be hungry, not for bread, but for human sympathy, to live with those who were neverinterested in your joys, nor sympathized in your sorrows. To whom yourcoming gave no joy and your absence no pain. Since Annette had lost hergrandmother, she had lived in an atmosphere of coldness and repressionand was growing prematurely cold. Her heart was like a sealed fountainbeneath whose covering the bright waters dashed and leaped in imprisonedboundary. Oh, blessed power of human love to lighten human suffering, well may we thank the giver of every good and perfect gift for the lovewhich gladdens hearts, brightens homes and sets the solitary in themidst of families. Mr. Luzerne frequently saw Annette at the house ofMrs. Lasette and occasionally called at her uncle's, but there was anair of restraint in the social atmosphere which repressed and chilledhim. In that home he missed the cordial freedom and genial companionshipwhich he always found at Mrs. Lasette's but Annette's apparentloneliness and social isolation awakened his sympathy, and her brightintelligence and good character commanded his admiration and respect, which developed within him a deep interest for the lovely girl. He oftenspoke admiringly of her and never met her at church, or among herfriends that he did not gladly avail himself of the opportunity ofaccompanying her home. Madame rumor soon got tidings of Mr. Luzerne'sattentions to Annette and in a shout the tongues of the gossips of A. P. Began to wag. Mrs. Larkins who had fallen heir to some money, moved outof Tennis court, and often gave pleasant little teas to her youngfriends, and as a well spread table was quite a social attraction inA. P. , her gatherings were always well attended. After rumor had caughtthe news of Mr. Luzerne's interest in Annette, Mrs. Larkins had a socialat her house to which she invited him, and a number of her youngfriends, but took pains to leave Annette out in the cold. Mr. Luzerne onhearing that Annette was slighted, refused to attend. At the suppertable Annette's prospects were freely discussed. 

"I expected that Mr. Luzerne would have been here this evening, but hesent an apology in which he declined to come. "

"Did you invite Annette?" said Miss Croker. 

"No, I did not. I got enough of her when I lived next door to her. "

"Well that accounts for Mr. Luzerne's absence. They remind me of theSiamese twins; if you see one, you see the other. "

"How did she get in with him?"

"She met him at Mrs. Lasette's party, and he seemed so taken up with herthat for a while he had neither eyes nor ears for any one else. "

"That girl, as quiet as she looks, is just as deep as the sea. "

"It is not that she's so deep, but we are so shallow. Miss Booker andMiss Croker were sitting near Annette and not noticing her, and we girlswere having a good time in the corner to ourselves, and Annette waslooking so lonely and embarrassed I think Mr. Luzerne just took pity onher and took especial pains to entertain her. I just think we steppedour feet into it by slighting Annette, and of course, as soon as we sawhim paying attention to her, we wouldn't change and begin to make muchof her. "

"I don't know what he sees in Annette with her big nose and plain face. "

"My father, " said Laura Lasette, "says that Annette is a credit to herrace and my mother is just delighted because Mr. Luzerne is attractedto her, but, girls, had we not better be careful how we talk about her?People might say that we are jealous of her and we know that we aretaught that jealousy is as cruel as the grave. "

"We don't see anything to be jealous about her. She is neither prettynor stylish. "

"But my mother says she is a remarkable girl, " persisted Laura. 

"Your mother, " said Mrs. Larkins, "always had funny notions aboutAnnette, and saw in her what nobody else did. "

"Well, for my part, I hope it will be a match. "

"It is easy enough for you to say so, Laura. You think it is a surething between you and Charley Cooper, but don't be too sure; there'smany a slip between the cup and the lip. "

There was a flush on Laura's cheek as she replied, "If there are athousand slips between the cup and the lip and Charlie and I shouldnever marry, let me tell you that I would almost as soon court another'shusband as a girl's affianced lover. I can better afford to be an oldmaid than to do a dishonorable thing. "

"Well, Laura, you are a chip off the old block; just like your mother, always ready to take Annette's part. "

"I think, Mrs. Larkins, it is the finest compliment you can pay me, totell me that I am like my dear mother. "

Chapter XVIII

"Good morning, " said Mr. Luzerne, entering Mr. Thomas' office. "Are youbusy?"

"Not very; I had just given some directions to my foreman concerning ajob I have undertaken, and had just settled down to read the paper. Wellhow does your acquaintance with Miss Harcourt prosper? Have you poppedthe question yet?"

"No, not exactly; I had been thinking very seriously of the matter, butI have been somewhat shaken in my intention. "

"How so, " said Mr. Thomas, laying down his paper and becoming suddenlyinterested. 

"You know that I have had an unhappy marriage which has overshadowed allmy subsequent life, and I cannot help feeling very cautious how I risk, not only my own, but another's happiness in a second marriage. It istrue that I have been thinking of proposing to Miss Harcourt and I doprefer her to any young lady I have ever known; but there is adepreciatory manner in which people speak of her, that sorely puzzlesme. For instance, when I ask some young ladies if they know Annette, they shrug their shoulders, look significantly at each other and say, 'Oh, yes, we know her; but she don't care for anything but books; oh sheis so self conceited and thinks she knows more than any one else. ' Butwhen I spoke to Mrs. Larkins about her, she said Annette makes a fineappearance, but all is not gold that glitters. By this time my curiositywas excited, and I asked, 'What is the matter with Miss Harcourt? I hadno idea that people were so ready to pick at her. ' She replied, 'Nowonder; she is such a spitfire. '"

"Well, " said Mr. Thomas, a little hotly, "if Annette is a spitfire, Mrs. Larkins is a lot of combustion. I think of all the women I know, she hasthe greatest genius for aggravation. I used to board with her, but as Idid not wish to be talked to death I took refuge in flight. "

"And so you showed the white feather that time. "

"Yes, I did, and I could show it again. I don't wonder that people havenick-named her 'Aunty talk forever. ' I have known Annette for years andI known that she is naturally quick tempered and impulsive, but she isnot malicious and implacable and if I were going to marry to-morrow Iwould rather have a quick, hot-tempered woman than a cold, selfish one, who never thought or cared about anyone but herself. Mrs. Larkins' mouthis not a prayer-book; don't be uneasy about anything she says againstAnnette. "

Reassured by Mr. Thomas, Clarence Luzerne decided that he would ask Dr. Harcourt's permission to visit his niece, a request which was readilygranted and he determined if she would consent that she should be hiswife. He was wealthy, handsome and intelligent; Annette was poor andplain, but upright in character and richly endowed in intellect, and noone imagined that he would pass by the handsome and stylish girls ofA. P. To bestow his affections on plain, neglected Annette. Some of thegirls who knew of his friendship for Annette, but who never dreamed ofits termination in marriage would say to Annette, "Speak a good word forme to Mr. Luzerne;" but Annette kept her counsel and would smile andthink: I will speak a good word for myself. Very pleasant was thegrowing friendship between Annette and Mr. Luzerne. Together they readand discussed books and authors and agreed with wonderful unanimity, which often expressed itself in the words:

"I think as you do. " Not that there was any weak compliance for the sakeof agreement, but a unison of thought and feeling between them whichgave a pleasurable zest to their companionship. 

"Miss Annette, " said Luzerne, "do you believe that matches are made inheaven?"

"I never thought anything about it. "

"But have you no theory on the subject?"

"Not the least; have you?"

"Yes; I think that every human soul has its counterpart, and is neversatisfied till soul has met with soul and recognized its spiritualaffinity. "

"Affinity! I hate the word. "

"Why?"

"Because I think it has been so wrongly used, and added to the socialmisery of the world. "

"What do you think marriage ought to be?"

"I think it should be a blending of hearts, an intercommunion of souls, a tie that only love and truth should weave, and nothing but deathshould part. "

Luzerne listened eagerly and said, "Why, Miss Annette, you speak as ifyou had either loved or were using your fine imaginative powers on thesubject with good effect. Have you ever loved any one?"

Annette blushed and stammered, and said, "I hardly know, but I think Ihave a fine idea of what love should be. I think the love of a woman forthe companion of her future life should go out to him just as naturallyas the waves leap to the strand, or the fire ascends to the sun. "

"And this, " said Luzerne, taking her hand in his, "is the way I feeltowards you. Surely our souls have met at last. Annette, " said he, in avoice full of emotion, "is it not so? May I not look on your hand as aprecious possession, to hold till death us do part?"

"Why, Mr. Luzerne, " said Annette, recovering from her surprise, "this isso sudden, I hardly know what to say. I have enjoyed your companionshipand I confess have been pleased with your attentions, but I did notdream that you had any intentions beyond the enjoyment of the hour. "

"No, Annette, I never seek amusement in toying with human hearts. Ishould deem myself a villain if I came into your house and stole yourpurse, and I should think myself no better if I entered the citadel of awoman's heart to steal her affections only to waste their wealth. Herstolen money I might restore, but what reparation could I make forwasted love and blighted affections? Annette, let there be truth betweenus. I will give you time to think on my proposal, hoping at the sametime that I shall find favor in your eyes. "

After Mr. Luzerne left, Annette, sat alone by the fireside, a delicioussense of happiness filling her soul with sudden joy. Could it be thatthis handsome and dignified man had honored her above all the girls inA. P. , by laying his heart at her feet, or was it only a dream fromwhich would come a rude awakening? Annette looked in the glass, but nostretch of imagination could make her conceive that she was beautiful ineither form or feature. She turned from the glass with a faint sigh, wishing for his sake that she was as beautiful as some of the othergirls in A. P. , whom he had overlooked, not thinking for one moment thatin loving her for what she was in intellect and character he had paidher a far greater compliment than if she had been magnificentlybeautiful and he had only been attracted by an exquisite form and lovelyface. In a few days after Mr. Luzerne's proposal to Annette he came forthe answer, to which he looked with hope and suspense. 

"I am glad, " he said, "to find you at home. "

"Yes; all the rest of the family are out. "

"Then the coast is clear for me?" There was tenderness and decision inhis voice as he said, "Now, Annette, I have come for the answer whichcannot fail to influence all my future life. " He clasped the little handwhich lay limp and passive in his own. His dark, handsome eyes were benteagerly upon her as if scanning every nook and corner of her soul. Hereye fell beneath his gaze, her hand trembled in his, tears of joy werespringing to her eyes, but she restrained them. She withdrew her handfrom his clasp; he looked pained and disappointed. "Have I been toohasty and presumptuous?"

Annette said no rather faintly, while her face was an enigma he did notknow how to solve. 

"Why did you release your hand and avert your eyes?"

"I felt that my will was succumbing to yours, and I want to give you ananswer untrammeled and uncontrolled by your will. "

Mr. Luzerne smiled, and thought what rare thoughtfulness and judgmentshe has evinced. How few women older than herself would have thought asquickly and as clearly, and yet she is no less womanly, although sheseems so wise. 

"What say you, my dear Annette, since I have released your hand. May Inot hope to hold this hand as the most precious of all my earthlypossessions until death us do part?"

Annette fixed her eyes upon the floor as if she were scanning thefigures on the carpet. Her heart beat quickly as she timidly repeatedthe words, "Until death us do part, " and placed her hand again in his, while an expression of love and tender trust lit up the mobile andexpressive face, and Annette felt that his love was hers; the mostprecious thing on earth that she could call her own. The engagementbeing completed, the next event in the drama was preparation for thewedding. It was intended that the engagement should not be long. Together they visited different stores in purchasing supplies for theirnew home. How pleasant was that word to the girl, who had spent suchlonely hours in the home of her uncle. To her it meant one of thebrightest spots on earth and one of the fairest types of heaven. In theevening they often took pleasant strolls together or sat and chatted ina beautiful park near their future home. One evening as they sat quietlyenjoying themselves Annette said, "How happened it that you preferred meto all the other girls in A. P. ? There are lots of girls more stylishand better looking; what did you see in poor, plain me?" He laughinglyreplied:

 "I chose you out from all the rest, The reason was I loved you best. "

"And why did you prefer me?" She answered quite archly:

 "The rose is red, the violet's blue, Sugar is sweet and so are you. "

"I chose you because of your worth. When I was young, I married forbeauty and I pierced my heart through with many sorrows. "

"You been married?" said Annette with a tremor in her tones. "Why, Inever heard of it before. "

"Did not Mr. Thomas or Mrs. Lasette tell you of it? They knew it, but itis one of the saddest passages of my life, to which I scarcely everrefer. She, my wife, drifted from me, and was drowned in a freshet nearOrleans. "

"Oh, how dreadful, and I never knew it. "

"Does it pain you?"

"No, but it astonishes me. "

"Well, Annette, it is not a pleasant subject, let us talk of somethingelse. I have not spoken of it to you before, but to-day, when it pressedso painfully upon my mind, it was a relief to me to tell you about it, but now darling dismiss it from your mind and let the dead past bury itsdead. "

Just then there came along where they were sitting a woman whose facebore traces of great beauty, but dimmed and impaired by lines of sorrowand disappointment. Just as she reached the seat where they weresitting, she threw up her hands in sudden anguish, gasped out, "Clarence! my long lost Clarence, " and fell at his feet in a dead faint. 

As Mr. Luzerne looked on the wretched woman lying at his feet, his facegrew deathly pale. He trembled like an aspen and murmured in abewildered tone, "has the grave restored its dead?"

But with Annette there was no time for delay. She chaffed, the rigidhands, unloosed the closely fitting dress, sent for a cab and had herconveyed as quickly as possible to the home for the homeless. Thenturning to Luzerne, she said bitterly, "Mr. Luzerne, will you explainyour encounter with that unfortunate woman?" She spoke as calmly as shecould, for a fierce and bitter anguish was biting at her heartstrings. "What claim has that woman on you?"

"She has the claim of being my wife and until this hour I firmlybelieved she was in her grave. " Annette lifted her eyes sadly to his;he calmly met her gaze, but there was no deception in his glance; hiseyes were clear and sad and she was more puzzled than ever. 

"Annette, " said he, "I have only one favor to ask; let this scene be asecret between us as deep as the sea. Time will explain all. Do notjudge me too harshly. "

"Clarence, " she said, "I have faith in you, but I do not understand you;but here is the carriage, my work at present is with this poor, unfortunate woman, whose place I was about to unconsciously supplant. "

Chapter XIX

And thus they parted. All their air castles and beautiful chambers ofimagery, blown to the ground by one sad cyclone of fate. In the city ofA. P. , a resting place was found for the stranger who had suddenly dashedfrom their lips the scarcely tasted cup of happiness. Mr. Luzerneemployed for her the best medical skill he could obtain. She wassuffering from nervous prostration and brain fever. Annette was constantin her attentions to the sufferer, and day after day listened to herdelirious ravings. Sometimes she would speak of a diamond necklace, andsay so beseechingly, "Clarence, don't look at me so. You surely can'tthink that I am guilty. I will go away and hide myself from you. Clarence, you never loved me or you would not believe me guilty. "

But at length a good constitution and careful nursing overmastereddisease, and she showed signs of recovery. Annette watched over her whenher wild ravings sounded in her ears like requiems for the loved andcherished dead. Between her and the happiness she had so fondlyanticipated, stood that one blighted life, but she watched that lifejust as carefully as if it had been the dearest life on earth she knew. 

One day, as Annette sat by her bedside, she surmised from the look onher face that the wandering reason of the sufferer had returned. Beckoning to Annette she said "Who are you and where am I?"

Annette answered, "I am your friend and you are with friends. "

"Poor Clarence, " she murmured to herself; "more sinned against thansinning. "

"My dear friend, " Annette said very tenderly, "you have been very ill, and I am afraid that if you do not be very quiet you will be very sickagain. " Annette gently smoothed her beautiful hair and tried to sootheher into quietness. Rest and careful nursing soon wrought a wondrouschange in Marie Luzerne, but Annette thoughtfully refrained from allreference to her past history and waited for time to unravel the mysteryshe could not understand, and with this unsolved mystery the matchbetween her and Luzerne was broken off. At length, one day when Marie'shealth was nearly restored, she asked for writing materials, and said, "I mean to advertise for my mother in a Southern paper. It seems like ahorrid dream that all I knew or loved, even my husband, whom I deserted, believed that I was dead, till I came suddenly on him in the park with ayoung lady by his side. She looked like you. Was it you?"

"Yes, " said Annette, as a sigh of relief came to her lips. If Clarencehad wooed and won her he had not willfully deceived her. "Oh, how Iwould like to see him. I was wayward and young when I left him in anger. Oh, if I have sinned I have suffered; but I think that I could diecontent if I could only see him once more. " Annette related the strangesad story to her physician, who decided that it was safe and desirablethat there should be an interview between them. Luzerne visited his longlost wife and after a private interview, he called Annette to the room, who listened sadly while she told her story, which exonerated Luzernefrom all intent to deceive Annette by a false marriage while she had alegal claim upon him. 

"I was born, " she said, "in New Orleans. My father was a Spaniard andmy mother a French Creole. She was very beautiful and my father met herat a French ball and wished her for his companion for life, but as shewas an intelligent girl and a devout Catholic she would not consent tolive a life by which she would be denied the Sacrament of her Church; sowhile she could not contract a civil marriage, which would give her thelegal claims of a wife, she could enter into an ecclesiastical marriageby which she would not forfeit her claim to the rights and privileges ofthe Church as a good Catholic. I was her only child, loved and petted bymy father, and almost worshipped by my mother, and I never knew what itwas to have a wish unfilled if it was in her power to gratify it. When Iwas about 16 I met Clarence Luzerne. People then said that I was verybeautiful. You would scarcely think so now, but I suppose he thought so, too. In a short time we were married, and soon saw that we were utterlyunfitted to each other; he was grave and I was gay; he was careful andindustrious, I was careless and extravagant; he loved the quiet of hishome and books; I loved the excitements of pleasure and the ball room, and yet I think he loved me, but it was as a father might love a waywardchild whom he vainly tried to restrain. I had a cousin who had beenabsent from New Orleans a number of years, of whose antecedents I knewnot scarcely anything. He was lively, handsome and dashing. My husbanddid not like his society, and objected to my associating with him. I didnot care particularly for him, but I chafed against the restraint, andin sheer waywardness I continued the association. One day he brought mea beautiful diamond necklace which he said he had obtained in a distantland. I laid it aside intending to show it to my husband; in themeantime, a number of burglaries had been committed in the city of B. , and among them was a diamond necklace. My heart stood still with suddenfear while I read of the account and while I was resolving what to do, my husband entered the house followed by two officers, who demanded thenecklace. My husband interfered and with a large sum of money obtainedmy freedom from arrest. My husband was very proud of the honor of hisfamily and blamed me for staining its record. From that day my husbandseemed changed in his feelings towards me. He grew cold, distant andabstracted, and I felt that my presence was distasteful to him. I couldnot enter into his life and I saw that he had no sympathy with mine, andso in a fit of desperation I packed my trunk and took with me some moneyI had inherited from my father and left, as I said in a note, forever. Ientered a convent and resolved that I would devote myself to the serviceof the poor and needy, for life had lost its charms for me. I hadscarcely entered the convent before the yellow fever broke out and ragedwith fearful intensity. I was reckless of my life and engaged myself asa nurse. One day there came to our hospital a beautiful girl with awealth of raven hair just like mine was before I became a nurse. Inursed her through a tedious illness and when she went out from thehospital, as I had an abundance of clothing, I supplied her from mywardrobe with all she needed, even to the dress she wore away. Theclothing was all marked with my name. Soon after I saw in the paper thata young woman who was supposed from the marks on her clothing and thegeneral description of her person to be myself was found drowned in afreshet. I was taken ill immediately afterwards and learned onrecovering that I had been sick and delirious for several weeks. Isought for my mother, inquired about my husband, but lost all trace ofthem both till I suddenly came across my husband in Brightside Park. ButClarence, if you have formed other ties don't let me come between youand the sunshine. You are free to apply for a divorce; you can make theplea of willful desertion. I will not raise the least straw in your way. I will go back to the convent and spend the rest of my life in penitenceand prayer. I have sinned; it is right that I should suffer. " Clarencelooked eagerly into the face of Annette; it was calm and peaceful, butin it he read no hope of a future reunion. 

"What say you, Annette, would you blame me if I accepted this release?"

"I certainly would. She is your lawful wife. In the church of her fatheryou pledged your faith to her, and I do not think any human law canabsolve you from being faithful to your marriage vows. I do not say itlightly. I do not think any mother ever laid her first born in the gravewith any more sorrow than I do to-day when I make my heart the sepulchrein which I bury my first and only love. This, Clarence, is the saddesttrial of my life. I am sadder to-day than when I stood a lonely orphanover my grandmother's grave, and heard the clods fall on her coffin andstood lonely and heart-stricken in my uncle's house, and felt that I wasunwelcome there. But, Clarence, the great end of life is not theattainment of happiness but the performance of duty and the developmentof character. The great question is not what is pleasant but what isright. "

"Annette, I feel that you are right; but I am too wretched to realizethe force of what you say. I only know that we must part, and that meansbinding my heart as a bleeding sacrifice on the altar of duty. "

"Do you not know who drank the cup of human suffering to its bitterdregs before you? Arm yourself with the same mind, learn to suffer andbe strong. Yes, we must part; but if we are faithful till death heavenwill bring us sweeter rest. " And thus they parted. If Luzerne had feltany faltering in his allegiance to duty he was too honorable and uprightwhen that duty was plainly shown to him to weakly shrink from itsperformance, and as soon as his wife was able to travel he left A. P. , for a home in the sunny South. After Luzerne had gone Annette thought, "I must have some active work which will engross my mind and use everyfaculty of my soul. I will consult with my dear friend Mrs. Lasette. "

All unnerved by her great trial, Annette rang Mrs. Lasette's front doorbell somewhat hesitatingly and walked wearily into the sitting-room, where she found Mrs. Lasette resting in the interval between twilightand dark. "Why Annette!" she said with pleased surprise, "I am so gladto see you. How is Clarence? I thought you would have been marriedbefore now. I have your wedding present all ready for you. "

"Mrs. Lasette, " Annette said, while her voice trembled withinexpressible sorrow, "it is all over. "

Mrs. Lasette was lighting the lamp and had not seen Annette's face inthe dusk of the evening, but she turned suddenly around at the sound ofher voice and noticed the wan face so pitiful in its expression ofintense suffering. 

"What is the matter, my dear; have you and Luzerne had a lover'squarrel?"

"No, " said Annette, sadly, and then in the ears of her sympathizingfriend she poured her tale of bitter disappointment. Mrs. Lasette foldedthe stricken girl to her heart in tenderest manner. 

"Oh, Mrs. Lasette, " she said, "you make me feel how good it is for girlsto have a mother. "

"Annette, my brave, my noble girl, I am so glad. "

"Glad of what, Mrs. Lasette?"

"Glad that you have been so true to conscience and to duty; glad thatyou have come through your trial like gold tried in the fiercest fire;glad that my interest in you has not been in vain, and that I have beenable to see the blessed fruitage of my love and labors. And now, my dearchild, what next?"

"I must have a change; I must find relief in action. I feel so weak andbruised in heart. "

"A bruised reed will not break, " murmured Mrs. Lasette to herself. 

"Annette, " said Mrs. Lasette, "this has been a fearful trial, but itmust not be in vain; let it bring you more than happiness; let it bringyou peace and blessedness. There is only one place for us to bring oursins and our sorrows, and that is the mercy seat. Let us both kneelthere to-night and ask for grace to help in this your time of need. Weare taught to cast our care upon Him for he careth for us. Come, mychild, with the spirit of submission and full surrender, and consecrateyour life to his service, body, soul and spirit, not as a dead offering, but a living sacrifice. "

Together they mingled their prayers and tears, and when Annette rosefrom her knees there was a look of calmness on her face, and a deeppeace had entered her soul. The strange trial was destined to bring joyand gladness and yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness in thefuture. Mrs. Lasette wrote to some friends in a distant Southern townwhere she obtained a situation for Annette as a teacher. Here she soonfound work to enlist her interest and sympathy and bring out all theactivity of her soul. She had found her work and the people among whomshe labored had found their faithful friend. 

Chapter XX

Luzerne's failure to marry Annette and re-instatement of his wife wasthe sensation of the season. Some pitied Annette; others blamed Luzerne, but Annette found, as a teacher, opportunity among the freedmen to be afriend and sister to those whose advantages had been less than hers. Life had once opened before her like a fair vision enchanted withdelight, but her beautiful dream had faded like sun rays mingling withthe shadows of night. It was the great disappointment of her life, butshe roused up her soul to bear suffering and to be true to duty, andinto her soul came a joy which was her strength. Little children learnedto love her, the street gamins knew her as their friend, aged womenblessed the dear child as they called her, who planned for their comfortwhen the blasts of winter were raging around their homes. Before hergreat trial she had found her enjoyment more in her intellectual thanspiritual life, but when every earthly prop was torn away, she learnedto lean her fainting head on Christ the corner-stone and the language ofher heart was "Nearer to thee, e'en though it be a cross that raisethme. " In surrendering her life she found a new life and more abundantlife in every power and faculty of her soul. 

Luzerne went South and found Marie's mother who had mourned her child asdead. Tenderly they watched over her, but the seeds of death were sowntoo deeply in her wasted frame for recovery, and she wasted away andsank into a premature grave, leaving Luzerne the peaceful satisfactionof having smoothed her passage to the grave, and lengthened with hiscare, her declining days. Turning from her grave he plunged into activelife. It was during the days of reconstruction when tricksters anddemagogues were taking advantage of the ignorance and inexperience ofthe newly enfranchised citizens. Honorable and upright, Luzernepreserved his integrity among the corruptions of political life. Menrespected him too much to attempt to swerve him from duty for personaladvantage. No bribes ever polluted his hands, nor fraud, nor politicalchicanery ever stained his record. 

He was the friend and benefactor of his race, giving them what gold isever too poor to buy--the benefit of a good example and a noble life, and earned for himself the sobriquet by which he was called, "honestLuzerne. " And yet at times he would turn wistfully to Annette and thememory of those glad, bright days when he expected to clasp hands withher for life. At length his yearning had become insatiable and hereturned to A. P. 

Laura Lasette had married Charley Cooper who by patience and industryhad obtained a good position in the store of a merchant who was manlyenough to let it be known that he had Negro blood in his veins, but thathe intended to give him a desk and place in his establishment and hetold his employees that he intended to employ him, and if they were notwilling to work with him they could leave. Charley was promoted just thesame as others according to his merits. Time had dealt kindly with Mrs. Lasette, as he scattered his silvery crystals amid her hair, and of herit might be said, Each silver hair, each wrinkle there Records some good deed done, Some flower she scattered by the way Some spark from love's bright sun. 

Mrs. Larkins had grown kinder and more considerate as the years passedby. Mr. Thomas had been happily married for several years. Annette wasstill in her Southern home doing what she could to teach, help andbefriend those on whose chains the rust of ages had gathered. Mr. Luzerne found out Annette's location and started Southward with a freshhope springing up in his heart. 

It was a balmy day in the early spring when he reached the city whereAnnette was teaching. Her home was a beautiful place of fragrance andflowers. Groups of young people were gathered around their teacherlistening eagerly to a beautiful story she was telling them. Elderlywomen were scattered in little companies listening to or relating somestory of Annette's kindness to them and their children. 

"I told her, " said one, "that I had a vision that some one who was fair, was coming to help us. She smiled and said she was not fair. I told hershe was fair to me. "

"I wish she had been here fifteen years ago, " said another one. "Beforeshe came my boy was just as wild as a colt, but now he is jist as stiddyas a judge. "

"I just think, " said another one, "that she has been the making of myLucy. She's just wrapped up in Miss Annette, thinks the sun rises andsets in her. " Old mothers whose wants had been relieved, came with thechildren and younger men too, to celebrate Annette's 31st birthday. Happy and smiling, like one who had passed through suffering into peaceshe stood, the beloved friend of old and young, when suddenly she hearda footstep on the veranda which sent the blood bounding in swiftcurrents back to her heart and left her cheek very pale. It was yearssince she had heard the welcome rebound of that step, but it seemed asfamiliar to her as the voice of a loved and long lost friend, or aprecious household word, and before her stood, with slightly bowed formand hair tinged with gray, Luzerne. Purified through suffering, which tohim had been an evangel of good, he had come to claim the love of hisspirit. He had come not to separate her from her cherished life work, but to help her in uplifting and helping those among whom her lot wascast as a holy benediction, and so after years of trial and pain, theirsouls had met at last, strengthened by duty, purified by that faithwhich works by love, and fitted for life's highest and holiest truths. 

And now, in conclusion, permit me to say under the guise of fiction, Ihave essayed to weave a story which I hope will subserve a deeperpurpose than the mere amusement of the hour, that it will quicken andinvigorate human hearts and not fail to impart a lesson of usefulnessand value. 

Notes

1. In the original, this sentence reads: "After she became a wife andmother, instead of becoming entirely absorbed in a round of householdcares and duties, and she often said, that the moment the crown ofmotherhood fell upon her how that she had poured a new interest in thewelfare of her race. "

2. The original reads "But Mr. Thompson. "

3. The original reads "but during her short sojourn in the South. "

4. In the original this sentence reads: "Young men anxious for places inthe gift of government found that by winking at Frank Miller's vices andconforming to the demoralizing customs of his place, were the passportsto political favors, and lacking moral stamina, hushed their consciencesand became partakers of his sins. "

5. The original reads "Mrs. Larking. "

6. The original reads "said Mrs. Larkins, seating herself beside Mrs. Larking. "

7. The original reads "continued Mr. Slocum. "

8. The original reads "'Isn't your name Benny?'"

9. The original reads "said Charley Hastings. "

10. The original reads "scarcely on intellect. "

11. The original reads "expensive views. "

12. The original reads "Mrs. Harcourt. "

13. The original reads "Mrs. Hanson. "

14. The original reads "Mr. Thomas. "

15. The original reads "Tom Hanson. "