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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18be465 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68017 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68017) diff --git a/old/68017-0.txt b/old/68017-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cf03882..0000000 --- a/old/68017-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3837 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hazel, by Mary White Ovington - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Hazel - -Author: Mary White Ovington - -Illustrator: Harry Roseland - -Release Date: May 7, 2022 [eBook #68017] - -Language: English - -Produced by: David E. Brown and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (The New York Public Library's - Digital Collections) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAZEL *** - - -[Illustration: Hazel] - - - - - HAZEL - - BY - MARY WHITE OVINGTON - AUTHOR OF “HALF A MAN” - - _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ - BY - HARRY ROSELAND - - CRISIS PUBLISHING COMPANY - 26 VESEY STREET - NEW YORK - - - - - Copyright, 1913 - BY - MARY WHITE OVINGTON - - ROBERT N. WOOD, - PRINTER - 202 East Ninety-ninth Street, New York - - - - - TO - E. D. M. - - - - -PREFACE - - -When I was a little girl, my favorite books dealt with children whose -lives were like my own. I smudged with many readings the pages that -told of Susy and Prudy and Dotty in Portland, of their visits to the -country, of their every-day happenings. Their adventures were far -dearer to me than those of foreign lads and lasses and richly clad -little princesses whose ways were not as my ways. - -I have thought for some time that the colored children in the United -States might also like to have their intimate books telling of -happenings that were like their own. They must be tired of reading -always of far-away children. So, out of my years of experience among -these soft-eyed, velvet-cheeked small friends, I have written this -story. - -I have purposely avoided dialect. Correct English spelling is difficult -enough to young readers without superimposing other forms for the -not too-familiar words. I have, however, tried to give the turn of -expression in the southern speech. - -I hope my colored child friends will smudge my pages. And if the white -child stops to read, I trust that she will feel an awakened sympathy -for the dark-faced boys and girls whose world is outside her own. - - M. W. O. - - BROOKLYN, N. Y., - _September 15, 1913_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. THE QUEEN OF SHEBA 7 - - II. HEALTH AND A DAY 20 - - III. LEAVE TAKING 30 - - IV. THE JOURNEY 41 - - V. GRANNY 54 - - VI. LETTERS 67 - - VII. THAT OLD TIME RELIGION 74 - - VIII. BROTHER AND SISTER 84 - - IX. LOST 98 - - X. SPRING 114 - - XI. CHOOSING A BIRTHDAY 125 - - XII. GOOD-BYE 139 - - XIII. HOME 153 - - - - -HAZEL - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE QUEEN OF SHEBA - - -It was raining, and Hazel Tyler had not been allowed to go out all day. -As she sat looking out of her window into the narrow Boston street she -would have made a pretty picture but for the woe-begone expression on -her brown face. Her hair was soft and curly, her eyes dark and clear, -her mouth full, but delicate. Usually it was happy in expression; but -this afternoon it drooped at the corners. Four o’clock! Two hours more -before supper. Oh, this stupid, stupid Saturday! - -She got up and walked from the tiny parlor, where she had been sitting, -into a tiny bedroom where a large baby doll lay on the bed she and her -mother shared. Hazel took the doll up, shook it severely, and put it -down again. She was growing to care very little for dolls; they were -not warm and dimpled and you had to do all the talking for them. She -left the tiny bedroom and stepped into a tiny kitchen thus making the -tour of the apartment. - -“Mother,” she said to a slender woman who stood at an ironing-board, -“may I go around and play with the McGinnis’s baby? It’s such a little -way.” - -Mrs. Tyler looked up. Her face like Hazel’s was gentle and delicate, -but the features were finer and the skin lighter in shade. She was -ironing an elaborate pink tea gown, and she seemed ill-fitted for such -taxing work. - -“No, Hazel,” she replied. “I’ve told you that you can’t go out in the -rain while you have a cold. There is no use in teasing.” - -Hazel knew this to be true, and for a time was silent, watching her -mother. She ran her slender finger along the tucks of the pink gown. - -“What pretty clothes Mrs. Hollingsworth always has,” she said. “I wish -I could have something pretty. I’ve nothing to wear but this blue -serge.” - -Hazel’s mother looked at her a second and the child felt abashed. -She knew very well that since her father’s death--her dear, dear -father--her mother had had to support them both, and how hard she had -worked at whatever would bring in money--at sewing, hairdressing, and -even this tiring laundry. She knew, too, that when the rent was paid, -and the grocer’s and butcher’s bills settled, the little money left -went first to her and her wants. Why, only last week she had had pretty -hair ribbons; and her mother’s black dress was growing shabby. She bent -over and kissed the hand that was patting the pink wrapper into place. - -“I’ll go into the parlor and make my picture-puzzle,” she said. - -“That’s right, dear,” Mrs. Tyler answered. - -The little girl worked for a time at the elaborate puzzle spread out -on the parlor table; but its green trees were perplexing, and she soon -returned to the kitchen to find the pink dress finished and on the top -of a pile of speckless linen in the laundry basket. Her mother stood -with hat and coat on. - -“I’m going to run out to make sure that John comes to-night to get the -clothes,” Mrs. Tyler said. “Now, don’t look so woe-begone, dear. I’ll -cook waffles for supper, and we’ll have the maple syrup that Mrs. Brown -brought us from the country.” - -Hazel’s face brightened. “May we eat off the pretty china?” she asked. - -“Yes, you may set the table with it when I get back.” And Mrs. Tyler -went out into the narrow hall, down the dark stairs and into the narrow -street. - -She could hardly have reached the corner when Hazel heard a knock at -the door, and opened it to a little black girl who at once stepped -gaily into the room. - -“Where you been all day, Hazel?” she asked. - -She was a jolly little girl of ten, a year younger than Hazel, with -plump arms and legs and a sturdy body. Her crinkly hair was tied with -a bright red ribbon, and she wore a gay bandanna about her neck. Her -black eyes shone with good will. - -“How do you do, Charity?” Hazel said, a little hesitatingly. - -She liked this new neighbor and had played with her the rare afternoons -that she had been allowed on the street; but she knew her mother -scarcely approved of Charity. But then her mother did not approve of -any of the girls and boys on Hammond Street and one must play with some -one. - -“Your mother’s out,” said Charity. “I know, for I saw her go. Where you -been all day, Hazel?” - -“Here at home,” Hazel answered. “I’ve got a sore throat, and I’m not -allowed to go out, and there’s nothing to do in this poky place.” - -“Let’s play,” said Charity, “you shut your eyes and I’ll hide.” - -“Pooh,” Hazel replied contemptuously, “you know, Charity, there isn’t a -single place here big enough for a cat to hide in.” - -“Well, let’s, let’s,” Charity looked about for inspiration, and her -glance fell on the doll in the adjoining room, “let’s play house.” - -“No, you would just beat the baby. Let’s play a new game, something -brand new that we never played before.” - -Charity began jumping about on one foot, and on into the little parlor, -but she had no suggestion to offer. Hazel followed her and as her eye -fell on the family Bible, her face lighted with excitement. - -“I know,” she declared, “let’s play a Bible game. Let’s act a Bible -story the way we act history at school.” - -Charity stood on her two feet. “George Washington?” she asked. - -“No, not George Washington, but like that. A Bible story. We can’t be -Joseph and his Brethren,” Hazel went on musing, “there’re too many of -them. I don’t like Jacob--” - -“I’ll be King Solomon,” Charity exclaimed quite suddenly. - -She sat in the arm chair and held herself erect. Taking her bandanna -she wreathed it in a turban about her head. - -“That’s splendid, Charity,” Hazel said heartily. “That’s your crown and -you’re sitting on your throne. Now who shall I be?” - -“You? Why, of course, you’ll be the Queen of Sheba.” - -Hazel laughed gleefully. “I’ll be a real queen, won’t I? What’ll I do, -Charity?” Her friend’s knowledge of Bible history was evidently greater -than her own. - -“You ask me questions,” Charity explained, “all sorts of questions, and -I answer them.” - -“But what do I wear?” - -“Let me recollect.” Charity shut her eyes to think the harder. “The -Queen of Sheba she come to Jerusalem, with, with a very great _train_. -You must wear a train, Hazel.” - -“There isn’t a thing with a train here,” Hazel replied mournfully. - -Looking into the kitchen her eyes fell upon the laundry basket with the -pink dress on top. “I could borrow Mrs. Hollingsworth’s tea gown,” she -said. - -Now Charity might make slips in grammar and slap unoffending dolls, -but the laundry was sacred to her. Once the pile of muslin was ironed -and placed in the basket it was not to be tampered with. - -“You daren’t,” she said. - -Hazel walked into the other room, took the pink wrapper and slowly put -it on. Her heart beat fast and her fingers trembled, but she fastened -the dress at the throat and held it up about her. Entering the parlor -she went to the chair in which King Solomon sat, and bowed low, -dropping the pink dress so that it trailed upon the floor. Then she -looked up into the king’s dark face. - -“Isn’t this a royal great train?” she said softly. - -King Solomon nodded. He was saying to himself, “You bet, my mother -needn’t say she’s such a good little girl again!” - -The Queen of Sheba bowed once more. “What do I do next, Charity?” - -“You ask me questions.” - -“I can’t think of any;” and the queen, like Alice in Through the -Looking Glass, courtesied again to help her think. “What did I have -for dinner?” she said at last. - -“Myrrh and mint and jasper and honey and the honeycomb.” - -The queen looked up in admiration. “That’s a beautiful answer; how did -you think of all those things? But is jasper something to eat?” - -King Solomon did not regard the question. “Ask me something else?” he -demanded. - -“What--what--what did I have for breakfast?” - -The king stuck out his tongue derisively. “Can’t you think of a single -thing, Hazel Tyler, but food?” - -Hazel felt her lack of originality. “Have you had pleasant weather this -past week in Jerusalem?” she asked politely. - -“It has rained,” replied King Solomon, “for forty days and nights; and -great was the fall thereof.” - -The king’s answers were so much more impressive than the queen’s -questions that Hazel sought for first place. - -“Now I shall dance before the king,” she said, and began slowly -advancing and receding before King Solomon’s throne, holding up the -pink dress as she moved. She looked very pretty and graceful as she -made her low courtesies and King Solomon’s eyes gleamed approbation. - -“If you like a me, as I like a you,” he began to sing and the Queen of -Sheba stepped in a little livelier fashion toward the kitchen door. -“’Cause I love you,” he went on, and the little queen danced before him -over the door-sill and into the kitchen where she struck against the -table and fell in a heap upon the floor. - -The singing stopped. Charity stooped to where Hazel sat, a frightened -heap. She examined the pink gown. It had a black smudge on the back. - -“Have to be done all over again,” said Charity briefly. - -Hazel rose and took the dress off. Her lip quivered. - -“I’d best go home,” said Charity. “There ain’t nothing I can do. Oh, -Hazel won’t you catch it!” - -“My mother never whips me,” said Hazel sharply. - -“She ain’t like mine,” said Charity. - -The bandanna was off King Solomon’s head and he crept out of the door -and down the stairs to his home. - -The Queen of Sheba sat on the kitchen chair with the soiled dress on -her lap. Like the queen of old, “there was no more spirit in her.” -She remained quite still two, three, five minutes. Then she heard her -mother knock. - -She opened the door, the dress in her hand, and showed the spot without -speaking. - -“How did it happen?” Mrs. Tyler asked. - -“I was playing with Charity. It wasn’t her fault,” hastily, “she told -me not to touch it, but I was the Queen of Sheba and I wanted a train. -Will it have to be done all over, Mother? Charity said it would have to -be done all over.” - -“Yes, it will,” said Mrs. Tyler, and turned to the tub where she began -to draw water. - -“You must go to bed, Hazel,” she said sternly. “Later I will bring you -a supper of bread and milk.” - -As the little girl lay in bed, she could hear her mother rub, rubbing -the dress against the wash-board. Then that sound ceased, and the door -of the refrigerator was opened and shut. She silently ate the bread -and milk brought her. No jolly time together at the table over the -waffles and maple syrup and the pretty flowered plates! She heard her -mother’s tired footsteps moving from ironing-board to stove and back -to ironing-board, and she noted the click of the iron as it fell upon -the metal holder. She could almost count each movement up and down the -waist and the long skirt. - -At length John came. He was kept waiting a few minutes. Then the basket -was handed him, the outer door closed, and the long day’s work was done. - -Hazel stole out of bed into the kitchen where her mother sat. She put -her arms about her neck and kissed her again and again. - -“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. - -Her mother kissed back and held her close. - -“It does seem, Mother dear,” Hazel said at length, “as though, ever -since we came to this place, I couldn’t have the least bit of fun -without making such a lot of trouble.” - - - - -CHAPTER II - -HEALTH AND A DAY - - -The sky was washed the clear blue of late November the next morning, -and Hazel could count the few little white clouds floating on it as -she walked to church. The cold, fresh air quickened her blood and made -her want to skip and dance, but she stayed demurely at her mother’s -side. They soon left their dingy street and turned into a well-to-do -neighborhood where white people lived, and then went on with the white -people into a large church. The usher nodded pleasantly to them, and -they took a pew to the left, half way up the aisle. Here they sat in -silence while the organ played its solemn, spiritual music. - -As she listened to the music the anxious look, that was usually -present, left Mrs. Tyler’s face. This was her dear and holy place -where her mother and her mother’s mother had worshipped. As a little -girl she had known its first minister--the noble, courageous citizen -who had never failed to plead for the freedom of the slave. After her -marriage with her southern husband she had gone a few times to listen -to the big-hearted oratory at the colored church; but the service there -did not touch her spirit, and she and her husband had agreed on Sunday -mornings to worship in different places the same Heavenly Father. Hazel -had always accompanied her mother, and she was quite at home among the -white people. More than one greeted her with a smile. - - “My heart is resting, oh, my God, - My heart is in Thy care,” - -sang the congregation. - -Hazel loved this hymn. She joined in the singing with her clear child’s -voice. She always loved the hymns, and she even loved the sermon, for -was not the minister her dear friend? When the sermon was finished -there was the five cents to be dropped into the contribution plate, and -there was the beautiful benediction at the end of the service asking -that the peace of God abide in her heart. “Amen,” sang the choir, and -the organ pealed that the service was over. - -“How do you do, Hazel?” the lady behind her asked. “She seems a little -peaked, doesn’t she?” addressing the mother. - -The anxious look returned to Mrs. Tyler’s face. “She hasn’t been very -well,” she answered. - -“Keep her in the fresh air as much as you can, though I know that that -is difficult to do in cold weather.” - -“How do you do, Hazel?” “How do you do, Mrs. Tyler?” came from many -sides as the two walked from the church into the street. - -Their Sunday dinner was to be eaten with their old friends, the -Perkins, who lived in Jamaica Plains. As their car stopped, Hazel -fairly raced down the street where she had spent her life until her -father’s death, and turned up the steps of a pleasant cottage, and -almost into the arms of a big, smiling black man. He carried her -off at once, leaving Mrs. Tyler to be ministered to by his young, -bright-faced wife. The two visitors were evidently at home. - -The dinner was a lavish one, beginning with turkey and ending with -ice-cream. Mr. Perkins heaped Hazel’s plate, urging her to eat. But -though these were her favorite dishes her appetite was small. He -encouraged her to tell him of her doings, of how well she ranked at -school. “Right at the top, Hazel; you know you are going to college.” -He asked how she liked the new story he had given her, “The Jungle -Book.” After dinner was over he took her to his study across the hall -from the parlor where the two women sat. - -“How Henry loves children,” Mrs. Tyler said to her friend. Mrs. Perkins -nodded. Behind where she sat, was the picture of the only child born to -her and her husband, the child whom they had lost five years ago. She -knew how his hungry heart went out to this little girl. - -Mrs. Tyler faced the picture. She had loved the child and mothered her. -A lump rose in her throat. - -“Sarah,” she said, laying her hand on her friend’s arm, “I’ve got to -talk with you about Hazel. I’m worried, I’m worried.” - -“Hazel, why hasn’t she been well?” - -“No, all this autumn she has seemed so delicate. She takes cold easily -and she doesn’t throw it off. I fear the long winter for her.” - -“I wish you hadn’t left Jamaica Plains.” - -“I had to. I mustn’t spend the little money left me. I must work and -save. Hazel will need more every year. But I don’t want to save just -for doctor’s bills. Sometimes, Sarah, she frightens me. She looks as -her father looked----” - -Mrs. Tyler stopped. She could not yet speak of her husband’s long -illness and of the blank left by his death. - -“I’m not saying this just to complain,” she went on after a moment. -“I’ve a wild idea that I can’t keep out of my head.” - -“What is it, Lucy?” - -“It’s to send Hazel for the winter to her grandmother Tyler’s.” - -“To Alabama? Oh, Lucy, how could you! It’s so far away.” - -“I know, but it’s a home in a beautiful place where she could be -out-of-doors all day long. My husband used to tell me about the good -times he had as a boy among the pines with plenty of space around him. -He, like Hazel, would have hated to have been shut up in three rooms.” - -“But it’s in the South,” Mrs. Perkins said earnestly. “We don’t -know the South, Lucy, but I fear it with its jim-crow cars and its -lynchings.” - -“Don’t,” gasped Mrs. Tyler. Then, after a little, she laughed. “There -are thousands and tens of thousands of colored children who grow up -there in safety. Hazel will be under good care. Her grandmother will -have more time to give to her than I.” - -“Has she written for Hazel?” - -“Not recently, but I know she would welcome her. She is alone just now, -but she is always mothering some child. She will love Hazel, for Hazel -is like her father in many ways. Perhaps living with her grandmother, -she will learn to be still more like him. I cannot bear the thought of -having her leave me, but I know that if she goes she will be in good -hands.” - -A tremendous noise issued from the room across the hall, and Hazel -popped out her head to call, “He’s Shere Khan, a tiger of the jungle, -and I’m Mowgli.” - -“Come here and let me eat you, Little Frog,” called out the tiger, and -made a hideous sound between a snarl and roar. - -“It’s Sunday, Henry. Don’t make so much noise,” said his wife. - -“Don’t make so much noise, Shere Khan,” said Mowgli, and fearlessly -shut herself up with the tiger in the jungle. - -Through the door the two women heard the little girl cough. - -“How could you get the child South?” Mrs. Perkins asked. - -[Illustration: Granny] - -“Why, oddly enough, one of my neighbors, Mrs. Graham, is going South -in two or three weeks. She lives at Montgomery, only a couple of -hours by train from Mother Tyler’s home. She is a kindly, sensible -soul whom Hazel likes. I can trust the child with her. I dread it, -Sarah,” and Mrs. Tyler clasped her hands tightly together, “I dread it -inexpressibly, but I dread her staying here more.” - -“Couldn’t you go with her?” - -“That would be impossible. What could I do there to earn money? I must -stay at home and work. I’ve plans for building up a good business. I -feel sure that I can, but it will take time. Perhaps I shall succeed -more quickly if I put all my energy into my work. And then Hazel will -return in the spring, for it wouldn’t be good for her to stay through -a southern summer. If I am busy every minute I’m hoping that the time -won’t seem so long. It will pass quickly if I hear that Hazel gains in -health.” - -“Who’s talking about health?” asked Mr. Perkins, as he came out of his -room with Hazel at his side. - -“I am,” replied Mrs. Tyler. - -“You remember Emerson: ‘Give me health and a day and I will make the -pomp of emperors ridiculous.’ Lucy, may I take this young lady out for -a walk?” - -“Surely, Henry.” - -Hazel put on her hat and coat and raced off with her boon companion. - -“She will need a warmer coat,” Mrs. Tyler said, and her brow puckered. -“If she stays here she must have warm clothes and even then I shall -have sometimes to keep her indoors. She was restless yesterday and -naughty, and that isn’t like Hazel. Health. That is more than anything -else in the world, isn’t it? What shall I do, Sarah?” - -Her friend had risen and was looking at the picture of her little child. - -“I can only say this Lucy,” she at length answered. “You will never -cease to reproach yourself if anything happens and you haven’t done -everything possible for Hazel. If a winter in the South will mean -health for her, then if she is ill you will always regret that you did -not send her away.” - -“People are ill in the South,” said Mrs. Tyler, wanting to contradict -the advice she sought. - -“Of course. But you will have done all you could.” - -Mrs. Tyler looked hard at the floor, for a minute. When she raised her -eyes to her friend’s they were full of tears. - -“It won’t really be living while she’s away,” she said; “but I’ll write -to mother Tyler to-night.” - - - - -CHAPTER III - -LEAVE TAKING - - -When Hazel first learned that she was to go away from her mother, she -cried bitterly. But as the preparations for her departure began, she -regained her spirits. Who could grieve for long in the midst of such -excitement? - -In the first place, there was the new trunk, very small and shining. - -“Look at it, Charity,” she said, the afternoon it came home “See my -initials on the side, H. T. That stands for Hazel Tyler.” - -Charity looked, and envy entered her heart. When she visited her granny -in Virginia her clothes were stuffed into a shabby, collapsible bag. - -“Folks ’ll think you stuck up,” she said. - -“Well, let them,” answered Hazel. “This is a steamer trunk, Charity,” -she went on, opening it, “see the cunning tray. When it’s shut you -push it under your berth on the steamer. I’m going to have a warm shawl -in it to wear on deck.” - -“Bet you’ll be sick,” said Charity. - -Nevertheless, she was deeply impressed with the little trunk, and -watched Hazel as day after day she packed and repacked it. - -“I’m putting all my clothes in the bottom, Charity. Mother says for me -to take my summer and my winter clothes both. Here is my blue gingham, -and Mother has let down my white muslin dress again. Isn’t it pretty -with the lace and embroidery?” - -Charity sniffed. “Bet you won’t wear your white dress. Folks wear -calico down there. Who’s going to spend the time washing and ironing -for you?” - -Hazel looked a little troubled. “Why, Granny, I suppose.” - -“Humph, your Granny ’ll be too busy to wait on you.” - -Hazel patted the white dress better in place. “I can keep it clean -quite a while,” she said. - -“See, Charity, the pretty present Mrs. Perkins gave me,” she said -later, taking a dainty box from the tray and opening it. “Six -handkerchiefs and each marked with an ‘H.’ Nobody can take them, can -they, because the ‘H’ shows they belong to me.” - -Charity deliberately took one from the box. “Guess I’ve got one now,” -she declared. - -But while she refused to show enthusiasm regarding Hazel’s preparations -she was really greatly interested and appeared one day with something, -new to Hazel, in her hand. - -“It’s a sun-bonnet,” she explained, holding it out. “Everyone wears -them down there; the sun is so hot. Mother and I made it for you.” - -“Oh, it’s such a pretty pink,” cried Hazel, turning it about on her -hand. “Thank you and your mother so much, Charity,” and she kissed her -companion. - -Charity’s eyes shone. “Put it on,” she commanded. - -The brown face with the soft hair looked very attractive set in the -pink muslin frill. Hazel viewed herself in the glass and jumped up and -down with pleasure. - -“It’s like a play to be wearing a sun-bonnet.” - -“Take it off and I’ll show you how to pack it.” And together they put -it in the tray. - -“I’ve another present, Charity,” Hazel confided, taking out a small -package, and showing a long, black hair-ribbon. “It’s from Miss Gray, -my teacher. Mother says I must count these presents for Christmas, -because I’ll be away at Christmas. Perhaps I’ll put them in my stocking -Christmas eve.” - -“Pooh! Folks don’t hang up stockings South.” - -“Why, Charity, you’d think they didn’t do anything down there.” - -Charity cogitated. “They don’t do much,” she decided, and added a -little wistfully, “it’s lots more fun on Hammond Street.” - -Hazel slipped her hand in her friend’s. “I wish you were going with -me,” she whispered. - -“I wish you weren’t going away,” Charity whispered back. - -Hazel and her mother had a long discussion regarding a suitable -present to take to Granny. Hazel wanted to buy a black and white -gingham dress she saw at Jordan, Marsh’s; but did Granny wear a -thirty-six like her mother, or a forty-four, like Charity’s mamma? Such -uncertainty made the dress impracticable. A pretty black and white -kitten strayed into the Tyler flat and when Hazel had fed it, and -become attached to it, she felt that it would be a better present even -than the dress. No arguments concerning the difficulty of carrying a -kitten to Alabama could make her forsake her plan; only when her mother -asked that it be left to keep her company did Hazel at once give it up. - -“Yes, do keep it, Mother dear,” she said. - -But still Granny’s present was unsettled. Mrs. Perkins unconsciously -determined what it should be. - -“Lucy,” she said, one day, “here is a card that entitles you to six -photographs. You have a good picture of Hazel, but she has none of you. -Please have them taken immediately and give the child one.” - -“Yes, and give one to Granny,” Hazel said. And although Mrs. Tyler -protested, Granny’s present, carefully packed in many rolls of tissue -paper, was her daughter-in-law’s picture tastefully framed. - -Hazel could not decide, even to the day of departure, whether she -should give it to Granny on her arrival or should wait until Christmas. - -One day her minister climbed the tenement stairs and called upon her -and her mother. The trunk was in the parlor and he examined with deep -interest the contents that Hazel showed him. Especially he admired the -pink sun-bonnet. - -“You must wear it to church next summer,” he said. “Only I should look -at it so much I might forget to preach my sermon.” - -He encouraged Mrs. Tyler in what she was doing. “It will be the making -of the child,” he assured her. “I’ve lived a little in that country and -I know how healthful it is.” - -At parting he placed a package shaped like a book in Hazel’s hands. -“This is for Christmas,” he said; and taking a pencil from his pocket, -he wrote in big letters, “Not to be opened until Christmas.” - -Hazel gave him a kiss, and holding the book declared, “I will keep it -sacredly until Christmas.” - -She walked down the stairs with him. “You’ll take good care of my -mother at the church, won’t you?” she asked, squeezing his hand, “She -works so hard. She says she’s saving to send me to college, and now -I’ll lose a whole year at school. It troubles me.” - -“Why, it mustn’t trouble you, little girl,” said the minister. They -reached the street and he looked down at her anxious face. “We will -look after your mother. The ladies will see that she gets work. That is -the only way that we can help her, for she will take nothing that she -does not earn.” - -Then he raised his hat and bade the child good-bye. - -It was nearing the time of departure--Thursday, and the ship sailed -Saturday. The trunk was packed for the last time, with Mrs. Tyler’s -gifts, a box of writing-paper and a dictionary, on top. - -“I hope you will write me a little every day, Hazel,” her mother said. -“It will be good practice for you. Mail the letters once or twice a -week, but write a little every day.” - -“It will be like a diary,” said Hazel. - -“Yes, dear.” - -“And you’ll write often to me, Mother, won’t you?” - -“I’ll write often, but you will write without waiting for an answer. -That will be your gift to me.” - -The days were so full that Hazel had not much time to think of the -Southland to which she was going; but at odd minutes she questioned -what it might be like. She had traveled no further from Boston than -neighboring seashore resorts, and until her father’s death she had seen -little of any but refined people, white or colored. - -“Charity,” she said, Friday night, “I’ve been saying good-bye to the -McGinnis’s baby. He is so dear and dimpled and rosy. Are there many -white babies South?” - -“Sure,” answered Charity. “But don’t you have nothing to do with white -folks. There’s two kinds of white folks down there: those that hates -you and those that calls you ‘a cute little nigger.’ My mother says -that ain’t so, for she knows the first families of Virginia, but I -ain’t acquainted with ’em.” - -“My father used to tell about white people near his home who were -nice,” said Hazel reflectively. - -“Poor white trash, I guess. There ain’t any first families in Alabama.” - -That night, before they went to bed, Hazel questioned her mother about -the white folks. - -“Won’t they like me?” she said. “Will they call out ‘Nigger,’ the way -the boys on Shawmut Avenue do to Charity?” - -“I don’t know, dear, I don’t know. Granny can help you about that, -not I. But I would not bother with them, Hazel. They go their way -and you go yours. On the steamer, in the train, at the church and at -school--everywhere you will be separated. Their world will not be your -world. Leave them alone.” - -“I will remember,” Hazel said softly. - -The kind world that she had known seemed slipping away from her. She -held her mother’s hand tight. - -“I will be with the colored people,” she said, “and I will love Granny.” - -“And when night comes, Hazel, remember we shall both be saying our -prayers to the same Father in Heaven. I shall ask him to bless you.” - -“And I to bless you, Mother dear.” - -“And when I look at the stars at night I shall know that the same stars -shine on you, only you will see the huge heavens and I shall only see a -piece from my city window.” - -“And the stars shine on Father, too,” said Hazel. “I think he sees the -stars.” - -With this thought she went to bed and, after a little, fell asleep, but -her mother lay awake the night long. - -The last present came as they stood on the steamer. Mr. Perkins brought -it to her and demanded and received six hugs in thanks. It was a soft -woolen coat, blue outside and red within, finer than anything Hazel had -ever owned. - -“It’s to keep your heart warm for your old friend,” Mr. Perkins said, -as he buttoned it about her. “Take very good care of her, Mrs. Graham;” -he spoke earnestly to the woman at Hazel’s side. “Don’t let her from -your sight.” - -“I’ll be mighty careful,” Mrs. Graham answered. - -Then the bell rang and visitors were ordered ashore. - -Hazel gave her mother one more kiss. “I’ll be back soon,” she whispered. - -Mrs. Tyler did not try to answer; but her last look was at a shy, brave -little girl in a new blue coat, going out into an unknown, untried -world. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE JOURNEY - - -Charity was right. The shawl did not come out of the trunk until the -ship had passed Cape Hatteras and the voyage was nearly at an end. Poor -Hazel lay in her upper berth, sick and wretched. When at length she was -able to dress and climb to the deck the rough weather was over, and she -saw a clear, blue sky and an expanse of soft, tranquil water. She grew -better at once, and ate her dinner with an appetite. - -The landing was wearying, and the long journey to Alabama in a dirty, -ill-ventilated car was inexpressibly tiring. The child grew wretchedly -weary, and a big lump rose in her throat when night came on. She was -homesick and uncomfortable. Instead of her pleasant bed at home, there -was only a hard seat on which to rest. Mrs. Graham pillowed her as -well as she could, but the sensitive child lay awake the most of the -night: for if she fell asleep from weariness, a vicious jolt of the -train shook her awake again. Early in the evening their train stopped -to wait until an express overtook it and passed on ahead. Hazel saw -the Pullman with its comfortable beds and its brightly-lighted dining -car where colored waiters were serving delicious-looking food to white -people. - -“Why don’t we ride in a car like that?” she asked Mrs. Graham. - -But she knew the answer before she heard it. “Colored people are not -allowed to in the South.” - -All things come to an end, however, even a wakeful night. In the -morning Montgomery was reached, and at the station Hazel was met by a -kindly colored man who said that his name was Jenks and that he was -a friend of Granny’s. He was to look after Hazel and take her to her -grandmother’s home. So the little girl bade Mrs. Graham an affectionate -good-bye and went with her new companion. - -Mr. Jenks lived in a quiet, country-like street, and Hazel picked out -his house before they reached it. It had roses growing by the doorway, -and a sweet-faced young woman, like her mother, stood on the porch. - -“You’re tired out, aren’t you, honey?” the young woman said, giving -Hazel a kiss. “You don’t travel again until late afternoon. Come in and -have breakfast, and then lie down and sleep.” - -The biscuit and egg tasted delicious. To her hostess’s surprise Hazel -refused coffee. “My mother doesn’t want me to drink it until I am grown -up,” she explained; and instead she had a glass of milk. Breakfast -over, she gladly accepted the invitation to lie down in the clean, -white bed in the little room upstairs. How good it was to get into a -fresh night-gown and creep between the sheets! Her head swam from the -motion of the cars, but soon that stopped and she was in the land of -dreams. - -She dreamed that her mother called, “Come, Hazel, it is time for -dinner,” and she answered, “Yes, I’m coming,” and tried to run from -the bedroom into the little kitchen; but she could not move. Again the -voice called her, and with a great effort she caught her mother’s hand, -and awoke to find that she was clutching Mrs. Jenks’ dress. - -“You’ve slept a long while, dear,” her hostess said. “There’s only time -to wash and dress for dinner. Here is hot water I’ve brought for you. -You’ll feel better when you’ve had a bath.” - -She washed and dressed, and was just fastening her collar when there -was a knock at her door. Opening it she found a little girl of about -six who shyly held out to her a bunch of roses. - -“Are these for me?” Hazel asked. - -The child nodded. - -Hazel looked with astonishment at the flowers. They were like hot-house -roses. At home they would cost ten, fifteen cents apiece, so much that -you only looked at them in the florist’s window. You could never afford -to buy them, unless it were for a wedding or a funeral. And she held -all these lovely pink and white blossoms in her hand! - -“Thank you so much,” she said to the child, who still remained outside. -Hazel went to the washstand and filling the glass she found there with -water, placed the roses in it. Then, viewing her treasures with great -pride, she took out one bud and pinned it to her dress. - -It seemed very festive, like a party, to be wearing a pink rose. And -the dinner was festive, too, with more roses on the table and Mr. and -Mrs. Jenks and their two little daughters talking and laughing. Hazel -ate heartily of the chicken and sweet potato and guava jelly, the last -a gift from a friend in Florida and only put on the table at special -occasions. But this was a special occasion, for while Hazel was only -a little girl she was a visitor from the North, and from the North’s -best-loved city, Boston. - -Dinner over, Hazel and the children played together, building towers of -blocks and destroying them only to build others. The time seemed short -when Mrs. Jenks called her to make ready to go to the train. - -“My husband will take you all the way,” she said to Hazel, who rose -reluctantly from the floor. The child went to her room, took the roses -out of the water, dried their stems and tied them together with a bit -of thread from her traveling bag. They would be a comfort, she thought, -in the dirty train. Then putting on her hat and coat she went down -stairs. - -It was hard to say good-bye to her new friends. The children clung to -her and Mrs. Jenks invited her to make them a visit when she returned -in the spring. “You haven’t been a bit of trouble,” she answered in -reply to Hazel’s thanks for her hospitality. “I wish I could keep you -over night.” - -Hazel wished the same in her heart, but she only said good-bye again -and returned to the railroad station. - -“Let me have your check,” Mr. Jenks said. “And have you the money for -your ticket?” - -“Yes,” answered Hazel, and with a feeling of pride, she took the money -needed from her leather purse. The business of ticket and trunk -accomplished, the two took their seats in the car and were soon moving -out into the big world. - -“It isn’t far now, is it?” asked Hazel when they had traveled for an -hour and a half. - -“No,” her companion replied, “we shall soon be at the station; and then -we drive three miles to your grandmother’s.” - -The station was reached at last, and when they got out Hazel met a -colored man whom Mr. Jenks called John, and whom he seemed to know very -well. John took the check for Hazel’s trunk, and placed the luggage on -the back of his wagon. Then giving the reins to Mr. Jenks, he walked -away. - -“See you right soon,” he called. - -“I’m to drive you. Jump in,” Mr. Jenks commanded, and Hazel climbed to -the seat by his side. - -It was sunset. There was but one house near the station, and their -road led through a sparsely tenanted country. Slender pines stood in -the fields, and beyond the sky glowed golden. The air was clear and -fragrant, and Hazel found herself drinking in deep breaths. Suddenly -from the meadow came a bird’s note, long and sweet and plaintive. Again -and again the bird called. - -“A meadow lark,” Mr. Jenks said. - -The child pressed her hands together. She felt exquisitely sad, and yet -full of awe and wonder. The bird sang on and on from the meadow, and -when at length she left it behind, the sunset had changed to red and -the air was growing chill. - -“Yes, I have a warm coat,” she said in answer to Mr. Jenks’ look, and -she buttoned the blue coat about her neck. - -Fields and pines and pines and fields. The sunset light, purple now, -a single star shining in the west. Then a cabin by the road, and the -horse stopped. - -Hazel trembled as Mr. Jenks lifted her down. The cabin door opened and -a tall, large woman came down the steps, put her arm about Hazel and -spoke to Mr. Jenks. - -“You done brought my child,” she said. “Come in and rest yourself.” - -“Not to-night,” Mr. Jenks answered. “I’m going back to John’s.” - -He took the trunk from the wagon and placed it on the ground. - -“Good-night, Hazel. Good-night, Aunt Ellen,” and turning his team, he -drove away. - -The room that Hazel entered was lighted by a kerosene lamp and a fire -of logs that sent forth a rich, yellow flame. Her grandmother helped -the child take off her hat and coat, and then, sitting on a low chair -by the blaze, drew the little girl toward her. - -“You favors your mother, honey,” she said, “but your eyes looks at me -like your father’s did. They’s dark and tired, now. You’s come over the -sea and over the land clear to your granny. Put your head on my breast -where your daddy rested when he was a baby.” - -Hazel put her arms around the old woman’s neck and held her tight. -Little warm pulses of feeling swept through her. The pines, the sunset, -the bird’s note, and this loving welcome by the open fire, all made her -heart beat fast and her body shake. She was sobbing before she knew it. - -Granny understood what to do. She put the little girl in her chair, and -leaving her for a moment came back with a gray kitten, very small and -warm and helpless. Hazel ceased crying as she took it on her lap and -gently stroked its fur. - -“Is it named?” she asked after a moment. - -“No, honey; it’s been saving for you.” - -“Then, please, I will call it Lucy after my mother.” - -She stroked it tenderly and thought of the purring black and white -kitten in the kitchen at home. - -“You has a sweet, loving mother, I know.” - -“I’ve her picture for you.” And that settled the question of whether -Granny’s present should be kept until Christmas. - -It was decided not to open the trunk until morning. A warm supper was -eaten before the fire, and then Granny declared that it was time good -little girls were in bed. - -The room in which they sat seemed very large to Hazel. Granny’s big -bed was at one end, and the fire-place at the other. A door to the left -of the fire-place lead into Hazel’s bedroom, the one other room of the -house. - -“Here your father used to sleep, honey,” Granny said, “and here you -rest to-night.” - -But in this last statement Granny was mistaken. After Hazel had said -her prayers and had crept among the soft feathers a terrible feeling -of loneliness came over her. She heard her grandmother walking in the -other room, and then the light grew less and she knew the lamp was out. -Her door was open and she could see shadows on the wall beyond. - -“Granny,” she called. “Are you going to bed?” - -“Yes, honey.” - -“Could I have pussy Lucy with me?” - -Her grandmother brought her the little kitten and placed it on the -pillow. - -“Shut your eyes, honey, and the sand man will come.” - -But the sand man refused to visit the little room. Granny went to bed, -and Hazel could hear no sound save the chirp of a late cricket outside -the open window. Out there were the heavens, where her father had gone, -filled with their myriad stars. Was her mother gazing at them and -thinking of her? She hugged the kitten, and looked for comfort into the -other room. It seemed to her, as she watched the flickering shadows, -that the light was growing less. Yes, the fire would go out, and she -would be left alone in darkness. Her heart pounded and a strange terror -possessed her. She did not yet know this new home, and while she loved -the light of the moon and the stars, she hated blackness. If she should -wake up alone, the fire gone, only the black night about! - -Her throat grew hot. Holding the kitten in one hand against her warm -neck and cheek, she left her bed and walked into Granny’s room. The -firelight showed her standing there, a slim, timid figure. - -She sat by the hearth a minute and watched the blaze just as her father -had watched it when he was a little boy. The kitten tumbled to her lap, -and crawled to the floor. - -Then she heard a sweet, drawling voice, “Lonely, baby? Come by the big -bed to-night.” - -And the lonely baby climbed into the great pile of feathers, and with -one hand pillowing her cheek, the other touching the warm face of her -father’s mother, fell fast asleep. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -GRANNY - - -When Hazel awoke the next morning her grandmother was up and dressed, -and moving about the room. The child watched her unobserved. - -Here was someone quite different from any of the people Hazel had -known. Until she moved to Hammond Street she had met only the small -class of business and professional colored people of her city. These -men and women dressed and acted like the cultivated white people about -them. Their view-point was that of their New England white neighbors; -and their children, who were educated with white children, were staunch -little New Englanders, with the same speech, the same dress, the same -ambitions as their white schoolmates. On Hammond Street colored people -were different. But then, they were poor, and did not have time for -the niceties of life. But no one she had known in Jamaica Plains or in -the South End was in the least like this grandmother. - -The first thing Hazel noted was her strength. She had felt it the night -before when she had snuggled up against the old woman’s breast, and she -felt it this morning as she watched her move about the room lifting the -full kettle as though it were made of tin, not of iron. And yet the -hair that the child could see under the turban was grey, and the face -bore many wrinkles. - -She was dressed as though she had come out of a story book. On her -head was a turban of a rich, deep red, and about her neck was a gay -bandanna; her calico dress, faded now, still showed its red stripes on -a grey background. Her dark brown face with its big features was alight -with expression. She was looking toward the bed and Hazel shut her eyes. - -She opened them in a few seconds and began to study the room. Here -again was something quite outside her experience. It was large and the -walls were of wood, but partly covered with pictures, photographs in -frames, postal cards, illustrations cut from newspapers. On the bureau -was her picture, taken when she was a baby. - -One end of the room was the kitchen, where there were shelves with pots -and pans and glasses filled with delicious-looking jelly. There was -a sideboard full of china, and a table which Granny was setting for -breakfast. And last, the room was full of a delicious fragrance, the -odor of wood smoke. - -Granny looked over again, and nodded. - -“I see you’s awake, sugar,” she said, “Getting acquainted with the new -room and them as is in it. Run and dress now or the breakfast will -spoil.” - -Hazel scampered into her room where everything was in readiness for -her. The little trunk had been moved in, the pitcher was filled with -water, and the roses she had brought were in a glass on the bureau. She -dressed carefully, putting on the blue gingham that showed her slender -prettiness. Granny looked approval as she came in to breakfast. - -After breakfast the trunk was unpacked. Granny was full of praise of -the photograph that brought her daughter home to her, and wanted to -see again and again the pretty gifts that Hazel had received from her -friends. Then everything was put in place, the trunk was stowed under -the bed and Hazel put on her pink sun-bonnet and went out-of-doors. - -The morning was warm, and though it was December she had no need of a -coat. Granny’s house was fenced in and within the enclosure was her -garden and a little outhouse in which was a small cooking-stove and a -loom. The garden showed a few late vegetables and in the front of the -house roses climbed upon the porch, and grew in tall bushes by the -fence. - -The landscape dipped at the back of the cabin, and Hazel looked over -fields of corn and stubble and dry cotton stalks. A number of cabins -were dotted about among the fields. In front, across the road, was a -hill, half covered with pines. No house was visible from the road, but -among the pines, to the left, was a chimney from which smoke issued. -Hazel felt that she was a long way from trolley and library, from -rattling carts and loud-voiced children, from school and playground. - -Dinner-time came; and after dinner there was a long letter to write -to Mother who had learned of the journey only on hurriedly written -post-cards. But while the child kept busy, the day was tedious to her -and she was glad with the coming of the night to seek her little room, -grown familiar now. What, she wondered, would she do in the many days -that stretched before her? How could she ever occupy herself until the -summer came? - -The week that followed was the longest that Hazel had ever known. -Accustomed as she was to regular hours for school and play and -home-work she now found the time from breakfast to supper very hard to -fill. And Granny did not help her much. She was watching the little -girl, “studying” she would have said. So Hazel wandered about somewhat -aimlessly, and yet gradually learned to enjoy her new surroundings. - -Her first acquaintances were the hens. - -“Look, Granny,” she cried one morning. “I’ve found an egg!” and she -held up her treasure. - -“You has, sugar, sure enough. I just naturally overlooked that egg this -morning. That white hen always done find a new place to hide from me.” - -“Perhaps I can find more eggs,” Hazel thought, and hunted assiduously, -but without success. She grew fond, however, of the clucking creatures, -and often fed them from the food left on her plate. - -Her grandmother had a flock of turkeys, and their wanderings lead Hazel -on many a pleasant walk. She did not like to go out of sight of her -home, but when the turkeys turned to the pines across the road she -loved to follow them over the pine-cones among the trees. Here she -would sit and watch the smoke as it curled from Granny’s chimney, and -would listen to the monotonous soughing of the wind among the pines. - -But there was a serpent in this garden; it went on four legs and -grunted and was dirty and disgusting. Hazel had seen pigs in a pig-pen -in Massachusetts, but here in Alabama they had the freedom of the -road. She soon realized why the garden was fenced in. In the North -you imprisoned your live stock; but in the South you let them loose -and enclosed with picket-fence your house and garden. This was very -nice for the animals but not so nice for timid little girls. Hens, -turkeys, cows, pigs, all roamed at will. The few cows that Hazel met -were thin and spiritless, and she did not fear them much; but when the -inquisitive pig came near to where she sat, she jumped up and scurried -away. Such great ugly creatures, rightly called hogs! So out-of-doors, -save in the narrow garden enclosure, had its drawbacks. - -Granny, Hazel found, was an important person in the neighborhood. No -one went by her porch without a word of welcome. If she were about, -Granny would call to her, and ask her to come and meet Uncle Silas, or -Aunt Harriet, or whoever the visitor might be. She was not especially -attracted by these people who took a long time to say that the weather -was fine, or to ask how Granny’s hens were laying. She answered their -questions, but she did not volunteer any information. - -One day two white ladies, for whom Granny sometimes did laundry work, -stopped as they drove by in their buggy. They saw Hazel, and at once -began to question her. They wanted to know why she had come to Alabama, -how she got there, and asked her many details of her life at home. When -they left Hazel turned somewhat excitedly to her grandmother. - -“Why do they say such things to me?” she asked. “My mother, if she went -to see them, wouldn’t ask about every teenty thing they did. - -“‘Is your pa living?’ - -“‘What does your ma do?’ - -“‘How is she buying you such clothes?’ - -“‘How long have you been to school?’ - -“‘Are you reckoning to stay here this winter?’ - -“‘Are you working for Aunt Ellen?’ - -“Just like that, Granny.” - -Granny gave one of her big laughs, and sat down with Hazel on the steps. - -“These people here are just naturally curious, sugar. Don’t you get put -out at ’em. I knows the proper city manners. If old man Lee above here -should drink himself to death with whiskey, or old mammy Smith down -below should burn up in her house, you city folks ’ud just inquire, -polite-like, the next time you met one of the family, ‘I heard you-all -met with an accident, I’m so sorry. I hope you-all is doing well now.’ -But we hasn’t city manners down here. Nothing much happens except the -hoeing of the corn and the picking of the cotton; and when a little -girl with soft eyes and a pretty dress and sweet ways comes among us, -we’s just naturally curious. We wants to see her and learn all about -it.” - -Hazel laughed, but she still criticized the visitors. “They weren’t -pretty or well-dressed and they made mistakes the teacher corrects us -for at school. Were they first families?” - -Granny looked mystified. - -[Illustration: She still picked her cotton in the autumn and planted it -in the spring] - -“Charity, you know I’ve told you about Charity, said all the nice white -people in the South were first families. She said there were lots of -them in Virginia but she guessed there weren’t any in Alabama.” - -Granny answered more gravely than before, “There’s first families -everywhere, child, but its like the Scriptures, some of them as thinks -they’re first will be last; and the last, as thinks they’re no account, -will be first. By their fruits you shall know them; by their charity -and kindness. And it’s soon, dearie, for you to be judging them by -their fruits.” - -If Hazel had little to busy herself with, she saw that Granny was -rarely idle. The old woman never hurried, and was ready to stop and -speak to the passing neighbor, but when the day was done she had -accomplished a great deal. She still picked her cotton in the autumn -and planted it in the spring; but now she was busy about her house, -her laundry, her poultry, her spinning-wheel and loom. For she was one -of the very few old people left who spun and wove, and travelers from -many parts of the country had bits of her handiwork. Hazel watched her -spinning with wide eyes. One day she asked timidly if she might learn. - -“I’s right glad to teach you, honey,” was the answer. “The children -about here thinks they’s above learning to spin.” - -“I don’t,” said Hazel, and took her place at the wheel. - -And now the days grew less long and were full of pleasant anticipation. -In the morning, before breakfast, she hunted eggs. After breakfast was -over, she put her room in order and helped Granny with the dishes, and -then she turned to her spinning. She soon became expert at twisting -the thread, and grew so interested that Granny sometimes had to -send her away to play. Before dinner, she went among the pines and -practised gymnastic exercises that she had learned at school. She was a -conscientious little body; and having come South to get well, did all -that she knew to bring about the desired result. - -“If I am to get home,” she would argue to herself, “I must grow -stronger every day;” and swinging wide her arms, she would take deep -breaths of the delicious air. - -In the afternoon she would write to her mother, and later she and -Granny would often take a walk across the bare fields, occasionally -stopping at a neighbor’s cottage. Hazel would look shyly at the -barefooted, barelegged little black children, but she could not think -of anything to say to them, and they in their turn only stared. - -When dusk came she would watch the turkeys as they went to roost in the -trees. One tree seemed almost full of these strange birds, half wild, -half domesticated. In the evening Granny and she would sit before the -open fire and tell one another stories. Hazel loved to recite poetry, -and Granny never tired of the “Village Blacksmith” and “The little -Shadow that goes in and out with me.” Hazel had an odd assortment of -poems, among them Whittier’s “Slave Ship” which she recited with great -feeling. “Those were dark days,” Granny would say, and then perhaps, -to Hazel’s unending delight, would sing, “Let my people go,” or “Oh, -freedom over me!” The strange music in the quiet house by the open -fire, stirred the child’s heart. Then, when she was safe in bed, -Granny would stand near the candle and would make funny figures upon -the wall--Brer Rabbit and his numerous family. And with a laugh and a -good-night, Hazel would turn over and fall asleep. - -So the quiet days went by and brought in the New Year. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -LETTERS - - - December 26. - - Darling Mother:-- - -Christmas day is like the Fourth of July, they set off fire crackers, -and it is so warm that you wear summer dresses. I wore my white dress. - -I read last night to Granny from the minister’s book. You know he -wrote, not to be opened until Christmas. It is full of poems. The first -one says: - - Where did you come from, baby dear? - Out of the everywhere into here. - -There are babies living about here, only their mothers don’t wash them -very much. There are no bath tubs and no hot water faucets. I take my -bath in the wash tub. - - - December 27. - -I went to Sunday school Sunday, and there were 16 children. The teacher -comes from the school at Jonesville, 8 miles away. It is a fine school, -as fine as the Jamaica Plains grammar school, and ladies from the North -come down to teach. They teach only colored boys and girls. - -The Sunday school was in the church, and all the boys and girls had -bare feet. Some are so poor they had no pennies to bring, and guess, -what do you think they put in the plate, EGGS!!! Only it was a hat. An -egg is worth a penny, and I eat a great many of them. - -They had the same singing books we have at Boston. Some kind ladies -sent them down. The children sing much prettier than at home. The -teeniest can sing alto. - -Everybody is very poor. Not Granny, her sons have been good to her. -People eat bacon. Granny often kills a chicken, but no one, not the -richest people, eat roast beef. - - - December 28. - -I forgot to tell you, mother darling, that the Sunday school teacher -was colored. There were not any classes. She explained the lesson to -everybody. I like her very much. She kissed me good-bye and told me to -come again, but Sunday school is only once a month and so is church. - -Tell Charity I wear the sun-bonnet some days, and Granny says I shall -wear it more when the sun gets hot. - -Darling Mother, I think of Father a great deal because I sleep in his -bed and Granny showed me the first shoes he wore. They are all out at -the toes. They are not little because he went barefoot. At first I used -to cry but now I don’t. Granny says he was always jolly. I can make -Granny laugh when I tell her about Boston. She pretends not to believe -about elevators and sky-scrapers and telefones. I think she really -doesn’t truly believe about telefones. - - - December 30. - -You don’t mind if I sometimes skip a day, do you, Mother? Because -sometimes I am busy. I am spinning. I am like Priscilla in Miles -Standish. It is more fun to spin than to sew or cook or wash or iron. -When Granny washes she makes a fire out-of-doors and boils water in a -great big iron pot. - - - December 31. - -I have written a New Year’s poem for you. - - Where did you come from, mother dear? - Out of the skies and the atmosphere. - - Here is pussy Lucy, mother dear, - She is named after you, do you hear? - - Pussy Lucy will die - And so will you and I. - - Your affectionate daughter, - HAZEL TYLER. - - - January 1. - -Dear Hazel, - -A Happy New Year, darling! Last night I saw the Old Year out and the -New Year in at the Perkins. There were thirty of us, and we sang, and -Mr. Douglass played on his violin, until twelve o’clock. Then we all -said Happy New Year to one another. - -[Illustration: “I am spinning. I am like Priscilla in Miles Standish”] - -The New Year has begun well for me in my business. I have ten people -I go to every week. Just think of it! That is ten dollars a week -shampooing hair! They say I have a gentle touch. You used to like to -have me wash your hair, do you remember? I hope you are taking good -care of it. - -You see I am getting quite rich. I do not do any laundry except Mrs. -Hollingsworth’s. Mrs. Hollingsworth sent the pink tea gown the other -day, and said it was not worth laundering again, and for me to keep it. -So I have it for my little Queen of Sheba. - -Charity helps me sometimes. I want to tell you that I have grown -very fond of Charity. Her father is no account. He has gone away and -her mother has to work out as a cook. That leaves Charity all alone -until nine o’clock at night, so sometimes she comes up to see me. One -afternoon, just before Christmas, I didn’t get home until seven at -night, and I found Charity in the kitchen ironing. She had climbed up -the fire-escape, opened the kitchen window, and dropped in. She looked -up and said, “You bet now, I surprised you.” But when I looked at the -ironing I was more surprised. I couldn’t have done it better. - -Of course, I asked her to stay to supper, and we had griddle cakes and -maple syrup and we talked about you. Then I told Charity stories. She -didn’t know Cinderella, or Jack and the Beanstalk, and it was a real -comfort to have her put her arms around me and bid me good-night. For -it was Christmas Eve, Hazel dear. When she left I cuddled the kitty. I -gave her a collar with a bell on it for Christmas. - -We are having snow and cold east winds, while you are playing in the -sunshine without a coat. Mr. Perkins pretends to be very provoked every -time I see him, and says Boston has the finest climate in the world, -but I am glad you are escaping it. It has snowed and thawed and rained -and snowed again all in twenty-four hours. - -The ladies in the church sewing-circle sent a box last week to a school -for colored children at Jonesville. They tell me that it is quite near -you. I wonder if you have heard of it. - -I hope you are getting stronger every day, darling, and that when you -come home Charity will have to lend you her clothes, you will be so -plump. - -Give Granny my love, and kiss pussy Lucy for me to-night. I have named -my kitten for you. - - Your loving, - MOTHER. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THAT OLD TIME RELIGION - - -The Lee family had left their cabin up the road and were on their way -to church. They were all out this Sunday evening, old man Lee, sober -for once, his wife, Scipio, a heavy, solemn-looking boy of thirteen, -Julius, Theora, Thomas and Ezekiel. Mother Lee had evidently long -since given up keeping all her children’s clothes in repair. Her -boys’ garments were few and ragged. But upon her little girl she had -attempted some embellishment. Theora’s crinkly hair was tied with a -piece of bright cotton cloth, and on her feet were shoes and stockings. - -The family caught up with Granny and Hazel, and the mother felt a -sullen resentment at Hazel’s dress. The child wore her blue coat, -and a dark blue hat with a grey quill. She nodded pleasantly to her -neighbors, but kept close to Granny’s side. She was afraid of old -man Lee whom she had seen one night staggering past her home, and his -children seemed dull. Granny, who had a kindly word for everyone, -talked with the mother, and Hazel watched the deepening twilight. - -It was a pleasant walk to church, along the road and then through the -open fields. At a turn to the west the new moon shone before them, a -clear bow in the deep blue sky. Hazel stopped to look at the lovely -crescent; but she was recalled to earth by hearing a sharp voice call: -“Where you going, Scip? Stop your mooning and help me with Zeke.” - -Scipio had been looking at the moon, too! She watched him with -awakening sympathy as, moving past her, he picked up his little -brother. As she hurried to join Granny she found herself by his side, -and turning, and nodding her head toward the moon, she said in her -clear, distinct voice: “It is pretty, isn’t it?” - -“Yes, ma’am,” said Scipio. - -The church was small, and when they entered the bare room was more -than half filled, so they took their places near the door. The only -light was furnished by two kerosene lamps, and in the corners of the -room were strange shadows. As the black men and women and children -continued to come the place grew crowded and the air became close and -full of an uncleanly odor. - -“Move up, Hazel,” Granny said, for the child was at the end of the -bench and there was space for one more on it. - -Hazel moved up reluctantly, dreading a seat-mate, but Scipio, who had -been standing, slipped in at her side. She felt relieved. - -The minister, a portly man in a long black coat, mounted the platform -and the congregation began to sing: - - “That old time religion, - That old time religion, - That old time religion, - Is good enough for me.” - -They did not rise, but remained in their seats swaying a little back -and forth. It was strange minor music. - -After the singing, the minister prayed and read from the Bible, and -then he began to preach. He gave as his text: - -“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation -of Hell?” - -He began by drawing a picture of heaven, the dwelling-place of the -saints. He measured the thousand furlongs of the city; he depicted the -streets of gold and the gates of pearl; he garnished the walls with -chrysolite, beryl and amethyst. His voice at times was low and soft, -and then suddenly it became loud and dramatic, and almost shook the -little building. Hazel awoke from her absorption in his manner to note -his words when he called out: - -“And the building of the wall was jasper.” - -“There,” she thought triumphantly, “I was right that day and Charity -was wrong. Jasper isn’t something to eat.” - -She was wholly unaccustomed to hearing the congregation take a -spontaneous part in the service, and was amazed at their frequent cries -of “That’s so,” and “Amen.” - -But the preacher did not mean to dwell long this evening on the -celestial sphere. He was concerned with showing his hearers the terrors -of the underworld. In a few moments he depicted them as standing in the -lake of fire and brimstone, burning, burning, not for a day but forever -and ever. The flames seemed to leap up as the minister shouted: “And -the devil will reach out for you, ye generation of vipers, he’ll reach -out for you across the flames, and he’ll catch you and draw you into -the burning lake.” - -“Lord save us!” “Please have mercy, Jesus,” came from the moaning crowd. - -Hazel was aghast. - -“Come to the Lord and be saved,” cried the preacher. “Be saved by the -blood of the Lamb!” - -A change came over the congregation. The moaning ceased. From different -parts of the room arose calls of “Yes, Jesus,” “I’s coming, Lord.” -Women began to sway back and forth, crying loudly for salvation. - -Hazel looked at Granny. The old woman had forgotten her. - -“The devil shan’t get us in the burning pit,” shouted the preacher. - -“No, Lord,” said Granny. - -“Lord save us,” shouted old man Lee in front. - -Hazel grew frightened. She felt suffocated and wanted to get away. -Glancing at Scipio she saw that he sat as stolid as ever, unmoved -apparently by all that was going on about him. - -“Scip,” she whispered, “I want to get out.” - -He looked at her frightened face, and, taking her hand, butted with -his head until he had made a way through the crowd of people standing -between them and the open door. Then they passed out into the night. - -The little moon was setting behind the trees. The air was fresh and -cool, but not chill. Above were the peaceful stars. - -“The heathen are burning,” shouted the preacher, “and every day the -devil pours on fresh oil and the flames mount higher and higher to the -sky.” - -“Scip,” said Hazel with a quick breath, “do you believe in hell?” - -“Yes, ma’am,” said Scipio. - -“You don’t believe what he is saying? You don’t believe God will put us -in fire to burn forever and ever?” - -“I seen a lynching once,” Scipio replied. “It were just like that, they -poured on oil.” - -“Oh, don’t,” Hazel gasped. She seized his arm with her two hands; -“don’t,” she cried. - -After a moment she whispered, “But it didn’t last forever. He died?” - -“Yes, ma’am. He died.” - -“And wicked men burned him, and it was only for a few minutes. God -wouldn’t make him burn forever and ever.” - -“Don’t you fret,” said Scipio. She had let go of his arm, but he knew -that she was trembling. “They-all is sure they’ll get off. They’s sure -the devil won’t catch them. There’s my pa, he ain’t done a stroke of -work this week. Been crazy drunk. But he’s got religion. Hear him -holler!” - -“I don’t believe it’s like that, Scip,” Hazel said very earnestly. -“Religion is being good and honest and pure in heart.” - -A man approached the children as they stood a little apart from the -throng about the door. - -“Howdy, little ’un,” he leered, lounging up to Hazel. “You’s a pretty -trick.” - -Hazel caught Scipio by the hand. - -The boy moved forward into the light, leaving the little girl in the -shadow. He held her hand tight. - -“Let her alone,” he said. - -“Deliver us from the fire of hell and take us into the kingdom of -heaven,” called the preacher. - -“Amen, Hallelujah,” came out upon the night. - -The strange man advanced another step toward Hazel. Scipio stood still, -his chin forward like a bulldog. The man muttered a curse and turned -away. - -A hymn was sung and the service broke up. Granny was among the first to -leave the building. - -“I’s glad to find you, child,” she said as Hazel came up to her. -“Where you done gone?” - -“I felt faint, Granny, and came out to get a breath of fresh air,” -Hazel explained. - -At that moment old man Lee called roughly to his son, “Come here, you -lazy hound,” and moved as if to strike him. - -Hazel started forward. “Please don’t blame Scip, Mr. Lee,” she said. -“He’s been taking care of me.” And turning to the boy she added: “Thank -you, Scip.” - -Something in her speech, perhaps the unfamiliar “Mr. Lee,” quieted the -old man. He turned away from his eldest son who went to help with the -baby. - -Hazel was silent on the way home, for she felt that this time Granny -could not share her thoughts. The old woman was happy at having seen -her friends and hummed a hymn. Perhaps, had Hazel given her her -confidence, she would have said that hell was just a place to scare -people with: that the Lord never meant the devil should keep anyone -there. - -They reached home before the Lees whom they saw coming slowly behind, -Scipio with the baby in his arms. - -Granny gave Hazel a good-night kiss, but the little girl did not go at -once to bed. For some time, wrapped in her warm shawl, she sat at the -window, looking out upon the stars. They rested her perturbed spirit. -At length, a smile lighted her face. A new thought had come to her. - -“My own father wouldn’t have hurt anybody,” she whispered. “Not even if -they were wicked. And God is my Father in Heaven.” - -And comforted, she knelt and said the Lord’s prayer, and asked God -to bless her mother and Charity and Mr. and Mrs. Perkins and Granny -and--and Scip. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -BROTHER AND SISTER - - -“Do you know, Scip,” Hazel confided, “I’m dreadfully afraid of pigs.” - -“They won’t hurt you,” Scip replied. - -The two children were sitting among the pines on the hill that -overlooked their homes. A few hogs grunted near them among the cones. - -“Of course, I’m not afraid when you’re here,” Hazel explained, “but -when I come up alone sometimes they try to get around me and it makes -me fidgety.” - -“They might give you fleas,” said Scip. - -He found a stick for her. “Hit ’em with that,” he said. “That’ll fix -’em.” - -“Would it do for cows, too, Scip?” - -“Yes’m.” - -“I’m afraid of cows and pigs and I’m terribly afraid of bulls. I expect -you think I’m a coward.” - -“No, I don’t,” Scip said, looking squarely at her. “You wasn’t afraid -of my father, Sunday night.” - -Hazel changed the subject. “What do you want to do when you grow up?” -she asked. - -“Go to school.” - -The girl laughed. “Why now’s the time to go to school, before you grow -up. You can’t go afterwards.” - -“Can’t I?” the boy asked anxiously, “I ain’t got time now.” - -“Haven’t you been to school at all?” - -“Six weeks when I were ten, and four weeks when I were eight.” - -“That’s all?” - -“Yes, ma’am.” - -“Then you can’t read?” - -“I’s feared I’s forgot. I can print some.” - -Hazel thought a moment, and then said, “Would you like me to teach you, -Scip? I’m not busy. I don’t have anything that I _have_ to do except -make my bed, and of course I help Granny with the dishes and ironing. -I can iron nicely now, and I can spin, too. But I could teach you any -time you would come. I have books.” - -Scipio dug a stick in the ground and scattered the pine-cones. “I ain’t -smart,” he muttered. “I’s feared you couldn’t learn me.” - -“I’ll try,” Hazel answered. “I’m a young teacher, don’t you think, -Scip?” She jumped up and laughed. “You must do everything I say. Let’s -begin now. I’ll go and get my books.” - -She ran down the hill, her blue dress blowing in the wind, her small -head gaily erect. - -“Like a blue-bird,” Scipio thought. - -She came back in a few minutes, her hands full. - -“I’ve pencil and paper,” she called. “Scip, can’t we find a nice place -to keep school in?” - -“There’s a green spot a way up,” the boy replied. “You might like it.” - -He led her among the trees to a little enclosure. Small pines, not more -than six feet high, made a natural hedge, and shut them out from the -road below. - -“How pretty,” cried Hazel. “It’s like a little house. Here, take the -books, Scip, and I’ll decide what to do.” - -He obediently held the books for her. - -As she looked about among the pines a new idea came to her. - -“We won’t call it school,” she declared. “We’ll play house. You and I -will be brother and sister. We’ll play that I’ve had advantages, I’ve -been North to school, and now I’ve come home. This will be our house -and this,” tapping with her foot, “will be the parlor. We’ll sit down -here and I’ll teach you.” - -She took the books and papers from his hands and placed them on the -ground. “I can sit down and lean against this tree and pretend I’m in a -chair. Here is the paper and pencil. I haven’t a primer so I’ll start -and print the letters. Sit down, Scip.” - -He seated himself beside her. - -“Do you know your alphabet?” she asked. - -“I don’t rightly know whether I remember it all, ma’am.” - -“You mustn’t say ma’am to me, I’m your sister.” - -“No, ma’am.” - -Hazel laughed. “You’re so funny, Scip. Now do you know what that letter -is?” pointing to the first on his paper. - -“Yes, Sister. That’s A.” - -The little girl almost jumped at her new name. She did not know how -common the appellation was in the South. - -“And the next one, Scip?” - -“B.” - -And so on. I and J proved stumbling blocks, but once passed the end was -reached without further mistake. - -“Now words,” said Hazel, turning from the alphabet, “are letters put -together. Can you spell any words?” - -“I can print my name.” - -“Please do, then.” - -Scipio took the pencil and laboriously printed S C I P I O L E E. - -“The C isn’t pronounced,” Hazel said thoughtfully. “I guessed it was -spelt SIPIO. You can never guess at spelling, though, it’s so queer.” - -[Illustration: Scipio Lee] - -“It’s a fool name,” said Scip, moodily. “My pa and ma done give us all -fool names but Tom.” - -“I think Scipio was a Roman, and the Romans were very brave. You aren’t -afraid of anything are you?” - -“I’s afraid of my father.” - -Hazel was silent. She felt very sorry for her new playmate. - -“Shall we go on?” she said at length. - -“Yes, ma’am.” - -She let the “ma’am” pass, and began to teach again. - -“We’ll spell the things about us. There are the pigs. See, pig is spelt -P I G.” And she printed it for him. - -He slowly repeated the letters. - -“Say it phonetically,” she commanded. “P--ig.” - -He tried unsuccessfully to imitate her. - -“Oh, Scip, you’re so funny. This is the sound of P, Pe̤, Pe̤.” She -blew the P out from between her lips. “P--ig P--en, P--encil, P, P, P, -say them, Scip.” - -He did better this time. - -“Now, can’t you think of something that begins with P yourself?” - -“P, P, P, Peep,” Scip said, stumbling on the word by chance. - -“Yes, that’s right. That’s what the chickens say, isn’t it? Have you -chickens at your house?” - -“Yes, Sister. We tries to raise ’em; but they ain’t pert like Aunt -Ellen’s chickens.” - -“There’s another P. P--ert. Don’t you hear it, Scip?” - -He repeated it after her. - -“Good! Now I’ll write these words for your lesson to-morrow. Can you -come here to-morrow, do you think?” - -“I try to,” he answered, looking at her gravely. “We ain’t over busy -now. Ma, she’d be glad to have me come. She’d kep’ me in school if -she’d been ’lowed. I come if I can, but I can’t never be sure.” - -“What is the best time for you to get away?” - -“I reckon when dinner’s done. Pa goes to sleep then sometimes.” - -“We’ll play like this, Scip. I’ll always be here after dinner, if it -is pleasant. Granny doesn’t need me then, so I’ll come to my house up -here. And I’ll brush up, and get things tidy; and if my brother comes -I’ll teach him his lessons. If he doesn’t, I’ll play by myself. Now -I’ll write out your words.” And she made a fair copy and handed it to -him. - -He held it by the corner carefully, afraid of soiling the page. - -Hazel gathered up her belongings and together they moved from the -little enclosure. - -“This is our house, isn’t it, Scip? And we won’t tell anyone about it. -We might go to it a roundabout way. Oh, where is my stick to scare the -pigs with?” - -Scipio brought it to her. - -“This ain’t much account,” he said. “I done bring you a better one -to-morrow.” - -“Will you? Thank you. Good-bye, Scip.” - -“Good-bye, Sister.” - -He watched her run down the road and into her grandmother’s open door. -Then he trudged home. - -Hazel told Granny that evening of what she had undertaken. - -“I’s right glad, sugar,” Granny said heartily. “That boy’s been put -upon. The old man works him like he was a mule, and then drinks up all -he makes. They is Ward’s tenants, he that keeps the store down the -tracks, and Ward always gives his tenants whiskey. I pity that poor -woman. Every year it’s just the same. Slave, slave and not a thing to -show for it.” - -“Scip says they had a good crop of cotton last year.” - -“He’s right, they done did. And what good come to them? Ward, he -weighed the cotton and ’lowed old man Lee owed it on his books. He see -to it his men always owes the half of the cotton and the half of the -corn as is theirs by rights.” - -Hazel looked puzzled. - -“You don’t understand, child, and it ain’t no wonder. But I’s been -through it. I’s owned my land many years now, though, thanks to my -sons. You see, Ward, the master here, he owns the land and the store -and the seed and the mules and the cows and the calves. Along come a -colored family, like the Lees, and the master say to them: ‘You-all -wants work. I done give you-all a house and mule for half the crop you -done raise.’ Understand?” - -“Yes, I understand,” said Hazel. - -“Then the family move in; but they’s got to plant and make the crops -afore anything comes to them. Then Master Ward he tell them to trade at -his store and there ain’t no hurry to pay. So he run up a bill against -them, charging what he feel like, and he sell the old man whiskey, -’stead of shoes for the children, ’cause there’s more money made in -whiskey than in shoes and when fall come the crop is all drunk up, all -traded off.” - -“But, Granny, my mother keeps such careful accounts, every penny. Don’t -they know how much money they spend?” - -“Of course they don’t. They don’t have pennies to spend, honey. And the -store won’t give them no account.” - -“Then no matter how hard Scip works he won’t get any money?” - -“Not a cent, sugar.” - -“Then if I were he I wouldn’t work at all!” - -“Reckon you’d be turned out then pretty quick without a roof over your -head. That happened once before Scip were big. The others they ain’t -much account for work. They was born tired. But Scip he’s strong and -steady-like.” - -“Perhaps he’ll run away and get rich.” - -“Perhaps he will,” said Granny, “and perhaps he’ll stay by his mother.” - -The teaching progressed, for Hazel was unusually apt for a child at -her profession; and if Scip failed at times as a pupil it was not for -lack of application on his part. At least four afternoons in the week -he found it possible to slip away from the fields or the dirty cabin to -the house, as Hazel liked to call it, among the pines. She had made it -look like a dwelling-place, bringing two boxes for seats and a third -for a table. One day Scipio brought her some early violets and she flew -down to Granny’s for a tin can which she filled with water. In this -she placed the flowers, setting the can in a corner against the pines. -After that the tin vase was often filled. When her pupil could not come -she tidied her pine-needle carpet, or, armed with the two-pronged stick -Scip had given her, walked bravely among the cows and the grunting -pigs. Some days teacher and scholar found it too cold to sit still long -and raced one another through the trees, or teased the turkeys whose -“gobble, gobble” always amused Hazel. But usually they worked hard at -the task of learning to read. Hazel wisely gave up for the present the -effort to teach the boy’s clumsy fingers to guide the pencil to write. - -One afternoon he was late and seemed unusually slow in responding to -his teacher’s questionings. - -“Oh, Scip, you must remember that word,” Hazel said impatiently. “Look -down and study the letters again,” and she pointed to the H O R S E -plainly printed on the copy in her lap. - -As the boy bent over she saw that his hair was matted with blood, and -that blood was oozing from a gash in his forehead. - -“Scip,” she cried, “what has happened?” - -“Don’t you mind Sister,” he answered. “I can read the letters,” he went -on--“H O R S E”--studying it, “but I can’t rightly remember what -they done spell.” - -“Scip, how did your head get that way?” - -“It ain’t nothing.” - -“I’m going right to the house to get some water to wash the blood off -for you.” - -“Don’t you do that, Hazel,” he said earnestly. “It ain’t much, and -you’d mind the blood. My father’s been drunk again,” he added sullenly. - -“Oh, Scip, dear, I’m so sorry,” Hazel cried, “I’m so sorry,” and -longing to give such comfort as she could she put her arms about his -neck and kissed him. - -The tears came to the boy’s eyes. His child’s face, grown dull and -expressionless from neglect and cruelty, quivered in every muscle. -Hazel moved back shyly, startled at her own impulsiveness. He looked -down at the copy in her lap, at her slender brown hands, and said -gently, “Don’t you mind, Hazel. I don’t mind no more.” - -Then placing his black finger on the word over which he had been -puzzling, “It’s ‘Horse,’ ain’t it? H o r s e, Horse. Reckon you -thought I was a mule!” - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -LOST - - -“Granny, it was as cold as Boston in my room this morning. It doesn’t -seem as though it would ever be warm again. It’s freezing cold!” - -“It’s freezing, indeed, honey, but eat breakfast and you’ll be warmer.” - -The first winter weather had come when, by the calendar, winter should -have been nearly over. Hazel had so long enjoyed the mild air that she -had begun to believe nothing else was possible in Alabama. Now she was -to learn that in a warm climate one most keenly feels the cold. - -“I wonder if Mother is freezing up in Boston,” she mused, as she and -Granny together did the housework. “She goes out to work a good deal -now. I hope she isn’t taking cold.” - -“Don’t borrow trouble, honey.” - -“But if she should take cold Charity would take care of her. Charity -gets her supper sometimes now, Mother says, when she’s tired. And then -Mother reads to her out of the Blue Fairy Book. I couldn’t bring many -books, Granny, in just one little trunk, but I do wish I could read to -you in the Blue Fairy Book. You would like it so much.” - -“Then I done rob Charity of her good time.” - -“But in Boston,” Hazel explained, “you have a library where you can get -any book in the world.” - -“Telephone for it, I suppose,” said Granny sceptically. - -“Yes,” answered Hazel absently. - -“It will be too cold for Scip to come to play house this afternoon,” -the little girl declared somewhat petulantly as they sat at dinner -after a morning indoors; “his father’s sure to be cross. But I’ll go -up, Granny, because I never miss, you know.” - -She put on her hat and her warm coat and climbed the little hill. - -The wind was high, but crouched in her enclosure, Hazel scarcely felt -it. But she could hear it though, soughing through the pines--she -believed the trees were never silent. To-day their singing leaves -trumpeted the winter and called for action. - -“I believe I’ll go to the top of the hill,” she said to herself. “Scip -isn’t coming and it’s a good day to explore.” - -She climbed up the hillside, striking once with her trusty stick at a -stray pig, and soon reached the top. Below on one side was her home and -the cabins with which she was familiar; on the other side stretched an -unknown country, a land where she had been told the white folks lived. - -“I’ll go just a little further,” Hazel decided. - -The cold air made her feel like exercising. She was in much better -health than when she had come to Alabama; in better health, her mother -would have seen, than she had ever been in her life. The tingling air -gave her courage, and she raced unconcernedly past cows and pigs down -the hill on the other side. - -It seemed remarkably like the side she had left. There were the same -log cabins, the same stretches of land filled with dry cotton stalks, -the same hens, the same hogs. If she came upon a clapboarded house it -was devoid of paint. She met an occasional lean, ragged white child, -dull of complexion, who stared at her but had no word of greeting. But -the cold kept the people indoors. - -Hazel walked a little way along the road, when she was startled by a -dog, which ran out from under a house and barked furiously at her. She -held her stick tight, determined to use it if necessary, though Scip -had said nothing about hitting dogs. But the animal only barked and she -passed by it in safety. This incident, however, made her apprehensive, -and after a little more investigation without interesting results she -turned to go home. - -What had become of the hill down which she had run? - -It seemed to have melted into the landscape. Striving to retrace her -steps she ran up one acclivity after another, wearying herself in the -hunt, but from none did she see the Lees’ cabin and Granny’s home. And -the more she ran, the more she became completely turned around. - -The sun was low in the west. It was bitter cold and she felt tired. -Worst of all, she was in the land of the unknown white folk who called -you “nigger,” and who went their way and wanted you to go yours. How -could she ask her way of them? - -She walked briskly along the road again, searching for a house where -a colored family lived. Indeed, there were such houses, but their -occupants were snuggled over their fires, and did not come out and show -their friendly dark faces to the little colored girl. Only a dog rushed -at her. She thought at first it was the one that had barked when she -came over the hill, but this was an ugly cur that snapped at her heels, -and caused her to run, it mattered not in what direction, so that she -left it behind. - -When she took note again of her surroundings the sun was dropping into -a dark cloud near the horizon. She was familiar now with the short -twilight of the South, and she knew that night would soon be upon her. -She must be brave and knock at one of these houses to ask the way. - -Her training led her to choose the most pretentious one in sight, a -large, square, unpainted, frame house. And again her training sent her -to the front door where she knocked timidly. - -The door was opened almost immediately, as though someone had been -passing through the hall, and a high-pitched voice bade her enter. - -“Whose child are you?” the voice said. - -“I’m Aunt Ellen’s granddaughter,” answered Hazel, knowing enough to -call her grandmother by that familiar title, “and I’ve lost my way. Can -you please tell me how to get back to her house?” - -“Sister,” the white woman called shrilly, and another woman appeared at -an open door at Hazel’s left, “here’s Aunt Ellen’s child come to ask -her way, and if the little nigger didn’t knock at the front door!” - -“You don’t say so, Jane,” said Sister. - -Hazel recognized the two white ladies who had stopped at Granny’s house -on their drive, and had asked her so many questions. She pressed her -lips tightly together at the word “nigger,” but then she had expected -it, and anyway they knew where Granny lived. “I don’t want to be any -trouble,” she said in her most dignified manner, “and if you will -please explain to me how to get to Granny’s, I will go. I came over the -hill, but it is getting so dark I am afraid I couldn’t return that way.” - -If she imagined she would be permitted to leave so easily she was -mistaken. - -“Come by the kitchen,” Miss Jane said, and led her to the rear of the -house. - -Hazel went unwillingly, but the bright fire in the stove made her give -a little cry of pleasure. - -“Warm yourself, child,” Miss Jane said kindly. “Rest your hat and coat, -and sit by the fire. How much might that coat cost now?” she asked, -examining the garment that Hazel obediently took off. - -“I don’t know,” Hazel replied. “It was given to me.” - -“Who might give you a coat like that?” the other sister queried. - -“A friend of my father’s. You know my father is dead,” Hazel added. - -“Yes, I know, honey,” Miss Jane said sympathetically. “He was a right -nice boy. He used to come here to sell my mother vegetables. He’d fix -everything to sell as neat and nice, and he’d tell about the doings -around his way until we’d almost die laughing. I’ve often wondered if -he took to gardening up North.” - -“We had a tiny garden where we lived,” Hazel answered eagerly, “and -father worked in it in the early morning before he went to business. He -was a lawyer, you know.” - -“A lawyer?” - -“Yes, ma’am, a lawyer.” - -“A nigger lawyer! That beats all. Marty,” calling into the darkness, -“did you know Aunt Ellen’s son, George, used to be a nigger lawyer?” - -“Yes, Miss Jane; I sure knowed.” - -“This is his child. Make her a cup of warm coffee and give her some -biscuits. She’s come a long way.” - -The coffee, an unfamiliar but delectable drink, warmed not only Hazel’s -body, but her heart. The two sisters did not leave the kitchen, but -plied her with questions which she answered, trying to remember what -Granny had told her. Here were two women living alone in a big house -with few neighbors; they were giving her food and she ought to talk if -they wanted her to. So she told them about her former home, and the -flat in Hammond Street, and her mother’s present work. - -“Seems to me your father ought to have left something if he had a -practice,” the younger sister, whose name was Laura, remarked. - -“He did,” Hazel answered quickly; “but mother won’t touch anything but -the interest, and you know what seems a good deal of money makes a -very little interest. She spent some to send me down here, and she’s -planning to spend more to send me to college.” - -“What will you do with all your learning?” Miss Jane asked. - -“I’ll teach.” - -“Niggers?” - -Hazel did not want to answer; but sitting very erect, with a precision -that would have done any teacher credit, she replied: “Everybody goes -to school in Boston, every single child. And the teachers don’t ask -whether they are black or white, or rich or poor. There are Turks, -and Arabians, and (switching to the map of Europe as safer ground) -Hungarians, and Bulgarians, and Norwegians, and Swedians, (doubtfully) -and Greeks, and Spaniards, and Romans, and Germans and Irish.” - -“You don’t say,” exclaimed Miss Laura, “all those heathen!” - -There was a moment’s silence. - -“When are you going home?” asked Miss Jane. - -“In May, I think, if anyone can be found to take me. I came down with -Mrs. Graham, but she doesn’t return until July.” - -“A white lady?” - -“No, Miss Fairmount.” - -Hazel had heard the name in the course of their conversation, and felt -pleased to be able to use it. - -But Miss Fairmount felt differently. - -“My name is Jane,” she said. “You should call me Miss Jane.” - -“Not Miss Fairmount?” - -“Certainly not. It is impertinent in a nigger.” - -The blood rushed to Hazel’s face. She felt as though someone had struck -her. Rising from her chair she said in an unsteady voice, “I must go -home now. Granny will be anxious. Please tell me what road to take?” - -Night had come on and the lamps were lighted. - -“You don’t suppose we’d let you go home alone, child,” Miss Jane said. -“Marty ’ll take you. Marty, you get on your shawl and take Hazel to -Aunt Ellen’s. It’s not far beyond your house. Laura, show Hazel the -birds in the parlor. Maybe she’d like to look at them.” - -Miss Laura took up a lamp, and led the child into the parlor, where -she had been sitting when Hazel entered the house. The walls were bare -of pictures and the furniture was heavy and decayed. In one corner was -a table on which was a glass case containing three stuffed birds, a -mocker, a humming bird and a cardinal. Hazel admired appreciatively, -but her eyes would wander across the room where stood a huge -four-poster, covered with an elaborate spread. - -“They’re very pretty,” she said politely. “Granny tells me I must -hear the mocking birds in the spring. We don’t have mocking birds in -Massachusetts.” - -“The North and the South are very different,” Miss Laura said, looking -perplexedly at the child. - -Hazel called them Miss Jane and Miss Laura when she said good-bye. She -held out her hand a little shyly to Miss Jane, fearing that might be -impertinent in the South. But Miss Jane took it, and stroked her coat, -and told her to come again, and Miss Laura shook hands too, and sent -a message to Aunt Ellen. Then, the good-bye over, in proper southern -fashion the little colored girl went out the back door. - -Marty was not communicative, like her mistress, and scarcely spoke as -they walked along the dark road. When they had gone a short distance -past her cabin a boy appeared ahead of them. - -“Hazel,” he called. - -“Scip,” she answered, and ran to him. - -He caught her roughly. “Where you been?” he asked. - -“I was lost, Scip, and I asked Miss Jane and Miss Laura the way home, -and I had to wait until Marty could come home with me.” - -“Reckon I can leave you now,” Marty said, and with an interchange of -good-nights she turned back. - -“Was Granny worried, Scip?” Hazel asked. “Did she send you for me?” - -“In course she were worried. You hadn’t ought to be out at night alone.” - -Hazel explained what had happened. They hurried over the road, and -once she stumbled and caught Scip’s hand. - -“How cold you are!” she exclaimed; and noticed that he had only a -ragged jacket and that his feet were bare. - -“It was kind of you to come, Scip,” she began, and then she saw Granny -on the road in front of her cabin, and ran into her arms. - -“Won’t you come in and get warm?” she called to the boy; but he -answered “No,” and went on his way. - -Granny heard the whole story that night before the fire. - -“I tried to remember what you said about knowing them by their fruits,” -Hazel explained seriously, “and they were kind to me and gave me food -and sent me home with Marty. But they hurt my feelings dreadfully. They -said I was impertinent when I said ‘Miss Fairmount,’ instead of ‘Miss -Jane,’ and at home, really truly, it would have been impertinent to -have said Miss Jane; and,” the child hung her head, “they called me -‘nigger.’” - -Granny’s strong, kindly face grew sad. - -“You’s a hard road to travel, dearie, as you goes through life with -your pretty face and your gentle ways. I’s feared the stones will often -bruise your feet and the briars tear your hands. Shall I give you a -token to keep in your heart as you go down the road? I learned it to -your father when he was a boy and he never forgot it.” - -“Please tell me, Granny, and I will not forget.” - -“Watch _how_ folks says things, and not _what_ they says. Now, Miss -Jane, she didn’t do that to-day, and she hurt my baby girl. She ain’t -quality and that’s a fact. She were thinking of the words when you said -‘Miss Jane’ and not the feeling in your heart and voice. Don’t you make -the mistake she made.” - -Hazel was silent for a few seconds. When she answered her voice was -unsteady. - -“Nobody knows how angry I am, right through, when anyone calls me a -nigger.” - -“And yet, honey, I’s heard a forlorn, ignorant mammy say it to her baby -when it sounded like she were whispering to the Lord. It’s an ugly -word. I hates it, too. But there’s white folks as don’t mean any harm -by it. You fell in good hands to-day, and I thank the Lord for it. -There’s those as might have spoken slick enough but as would have been -rough in their hearts.” - -Hazel gave Granny a hug. - -“I do love you, Granny,” she said with a little sob, “and I’ll forget -all the horrid things to-day, and remember the coffee and the fire -and Miss Laura showing me those three poor little stuffed birds. But -Granny;” brightening, “what do you think was in their parlor? Why, -right there in the company room in that great big house they had a -bed!” - - - - -CHAPTER X - -SPRING - - -Hazel awoke one morning to find it spring. She had seen it beginning, -but she had not fully recognized it until now. A mocking bird told her -all about it. He sat on a rosebush and chattered so fast and so gaily -and as it seemed to Hazel of such a number of happenings, that she -hurried through breakfast to learn what it was all about. And then she -saw that spring had come. - -“Granny, look!” she cried excitedly. “Everything is growing. The leaves -are jumping out, just as fast, and the flowers are opening and the -birds are singing, singing! Why that mocking bird”--she stopped for -the highest praise she could command, “Why that mocking bird is lots -jollier than any birds we have near Boston.” - -“Well, sugar,” said Granny, “I’s glad to know once when the South come -out on top.” - -“Why, Granny,” Hazel went on, disregarding the gentle sarcasm, “our -teacher used to take us out in the spring to hear the bluebirds and -song sparrows, and they just twitter, twitter like little birds, but -that mocking bird!” - -She stopped to listen again to the riot of song that came from the -slender bird standing with tilted tail on the top of the rosebush. - -“He’s talking to his mate, sugar,” said Granny. “Run out and play all -the morning. The spring done call you, too.” - -Hazel accepted spring’s summons, and ran down the road. She had not -gone far when a redbird whistled, and she stopped to hear his full rich -notes. A Judas tree blossomed across the road. Sweet-smelling blossoms -and bright new leaves seemed everywhere. Even the pine showed fresh -young shoots at the end of each bough. Truly the world was made new. - -She had wandered for two hours up and down the road and among the pines -until she found herself on the hill just above the Lees’ cabin. She -wondered if Scip were very busy, and looking about for him she heard an -angry voice, and then a child’s cry of pain. - -“It’s old man Lee,” she thought, and shrank back trembling. Then -remembering what Scip had said of her bravery she walked slowly forward -trying to find courage to plead for mercy. - -A few steps showed her what was happening. It was not old man Lee, -however, whom she saw administering discipline, but Scipio flogging -his little brother Tom. He was beating him harshly, and as Hazel ran -forward, without timidity now, he gave him a kick. The little fellow -limped off, sobbing, and Scipio turned to see Hazel coming toward him, -her eyes blazing, her hands clenched. - -“What did you do that for?” she cried out. - -“He sassed me,” Scipio answered. - -“You’re a wicked, wicked boy,” Hazel said, her voice shaking with -excitement, “and I’ll never speak to you again.” - -Then she turned and ran down the road, leaving the lad staring -speechless after her. - -[Illustration: She stopped to listen to the riot of song] - -All the joy had gone out of the spring. It was a commonplace day and -the sun made her head ache. - -Granny was surprised when, dinner over, Hazel failed to go to her -house among the pines. The little girl had been as regular as if she -were already a teacher in a real school, and this failure to keep her -appointment boded something serious. - -“She don’t keep colored people’s time,” Granny had said proudly to a -neighbor; “she done never forget the clock on the meeting-house in -Boston.” So when Hazel went to her spinning-wheel and worked hard -and nervously, the old woman felt troubled but deemed it best to say -nothing. - -“Will you walk a way with me, dearie?” she said in the middle of the -afternoon. “I’s an errand and I’s pining for company.” - -Hazel put on the pink sun-bonnet and together they went down the road. - -“Look at that turkey-cock,” Granny said, pointing to one in the field -at their side. And indeed he was a wonderful sight. Every feather -stood out. His great tail was spread, his body thrown back for his -majestic stride. Near him was the hen bird, indifferent to all of -his efforts to attract her attention. He went up to her, beating his -outstretched wings upon the ground. He walked pompously about her. -Hazel forgot her trouble for a little in watching him. - -“That’s his courting,” said Granny. “He can’t sing like the mocker, so -he makes up with his fine feathers.” - -“She doesn’t care about him,” said Hazel, and took no further interest -in their walk. - -A letter from her mother brightened things a little the next morning. -It was full of interesting news, of going to the theatre, of the church -sale, and of Charity and her perplexities over her school work. But -what sunshine the letter brought was clouded by the last message: “Give -my love to Scip.” - -And she would never speak to him again! - -She held to her resolve and stayed indoors after dinner; but at four -o’clock, when Scipio surely would not be there, she ran up to her -house among the pines. Someone had visited it before her. The cones -were brushed away, leaving the floor as she liked to have it, and -in the tin can that served as a vase were strange wild flowers, the -blossoms of the pitcher-plant. How wonderful they were with their -streaked leaves! She had never seen them before. - -Near the flowers was a piece of old paper in which something was -wrapped. Looking, Hazel found bright birds’ feathers: blue quills from -the jay, black iridescent crow’s feathers and the rose-colored quills -of the cardinal. Someone must have been collecting them for a long time. - -Hazel counted the feathers, drew them, one after another, across her -cheek, feeling their soft surfaces, played a little with the flowers -and then gathering the offerings together, carried them soberly home. -In her room she pulled the little trunk out from under the bed and -placed the feathers carefully in the tray. Then she locked the trunk, -and pushed it back in its place. Her precious possessions were safe. - -She had received many presents in her short life, but they had all been -bought with money. These gifts showed the patient toil by which they -had been purchased. She was glad she had gone to the pines; she would -accept Scipio’s silent message and play with him again, to-morrow. - -Granny came in from the garden where she had been at work. “It’s going -to rain, sugar,” she called. “We’d best build up the fire.” - -“Is my kitten indoors?” Hazel asked anxiously, and ran down the road to -find it playing among some dry branches. - -When she returned, the kitten in her arms, the drops were already -falling, and in a little time the shower had settled into a steady -downpour. - -“The rain will refresh the earth,” said Granny wisely. “All the world -will shine beautiful to-morrow.” - -“It’s pleasant to hear the rain on the roof, isn’t it?” said Hazel -later, as she sipped the cocoa that Granny had learned to make for her, -and ate her cornbread. - -Sometimes at supper they did not set any table, but ate before the fire -(just like a picnic, Hazel would say) and they were sitting that way -to-night. - -“I never heard the rain beat on the roof until I came to Alabama,” -Hazel said. “I’ve heard a great many new things, haven’t I, but the -most beautiful of all is the mocking bird. What is it doing now out in -the rain? I should think it would be very wet?” - -Granny laughed. “Its head is under its wing and the water done run off -its back. But it likes it, honey, it don’t never take cold. Listen how -it’ll sing to-morrow.” - -They were silent for a minute, enjoying the fire. Then Granny rose to -her feet. - -“Someone is outside,” she said; and moving quickly, she threw open the -door. - -On the porch stood Scipio. - -“Come in, child,” she invited. - -“I can’t,” he answered. “I’s wet and soiled.” - -Hazel ran to where he stood. “Come in, oh, please come in, Scip,” she -cried; and Scipio stepped within the door while Granny went back to -the fire. - -The boy’s scanty clothing was soaked. He would not advance into the -room, but remained with head bent, a heavy figure in the shadow. He -looked tired and the circles beneath his eyes showed the need of sleep. - -As he stood, hungry and ragged, he might have embodied the patient -laborer of his patient race who for so long has planted the crop only -to see another reap the harvest. - -Hazel caught her breath as she saw his big lips tremble. - -“Oh, Scip,” she whispered, “it was mean of me.” - -The boy looked up at her. “I know I’s rough,” he said. - -“Shut that door, Scip,” Granny called out, “and come in here. Never -mind your clothes, child. We’s had working folks here before, and a -little water won’t spoil this floor. Come get warm and drink this -cocoa. Our Boston lady,” Granny said this with mock grandeur, “she done -try make me believe cocoa beats coffee; she don’t know everything yet, -Scip. But you can manage to drink the stuff, I reckon. Set here now, on -this stool, close to the blaze. Don’t act like you thought you’d outen -the fire. Hazel, pass that cornbread and give Scip a big plate for -himself. Our guests always has big plates. And you, Scip, do your best -by the bananas we boughten yesterday. Our Boston lady thinks they’s -mighty fine, and the Lord certainly done do them up in pretty yellow -husks. See me shell one, Scip.” And so Granny talked on until Scip, -with his big plate on his lap, seated by the warm fire, felt at home. - -When supper was over Granny made the shadows on the wall that Hazel -loved, and after she was through Scip made still cleverer ones, Hazel -thought. Then they all sat very still while Hazel recited poetry and -read out of the book the minister gave her. It was a jolly evening. - -When Scipio had said good-night, and with many invitations to come -again, had gone out into the rain, Hazel brought the pitcher-plants in -to her grandmother. - -“Do they grow near here?” she asked. - -“No, they come from the swamp, three miles south.” - -“I quarrelled with Scipio, Granny,” Hazel pursued, her cheeks hot, -“because I saw him beat his little brother Tom.” - -“Tom ain’t good for much,” said Granny dryly. “He’s lazy.” - -“But he’s so little,” Hazel pleaded. She put down the flowers and, -stooping, picked up the kitten playing on the hearth. “He’s little, -like a kitten.” - -Granny smiled sadly as she replied: “I’s afraid the children here has -to learn to catch mice mighty young. Scip has worked ever since he -could toddle to the cotton fields. He thinks Tom might naturally help -him.” - -“They ought both to be at play,” Hazel said with a little catch in her -breath. “You said so this morning. It’s spring.” - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -CHOOSING A BIRTHDAY - - “Monday’s child is fair of face; - Tuesday’s child is full of grace; - Wednesday’s child is happy and glad; - Thursday’s child is sour and sad; - Friday’s child is loving in giving; - And Saturday’s child must work for its living. - But the child that is born on the Sabbath day - Is blithe and bonnie and good and gay.” - - -“I was born on Tuesday. What day were you born on, Granny?” Hazel asked. - -“What day was I born on, sugar? I don’t know the year I was born on -much less the day.” - -“Why, Granny,” said Hazel, startled, “Haven’t you a birthday?” - -“I suppose I has, child. But I knows no more when I come into the -world than I knows when the Lord ’ll take me out of it. You see, I was -sold down here when I was about four year old. That I knows. I can -recollect when I first come here. The violets were blooming, and my -mistress clapped her hands when she see me picking the little blossoms. -That were in the spring of ’46. But whether I were just four, or most -five, or only three maybe, I don’t rightly know.” - -Granny saw the tears standing in Hazel’s eyes. “Your mother?” the child -said. - -“We never found one another; and there’s thousands like that. Every -day in the year there was children sent from their folks to the bottom -lands. But don’t think about it, sugar. It ain’t no use fretting about -what’s past. Howsomever, that’s why I can’t tell whether I’s a Monday -or a Tuesday or a Saturday child. The Lord alone can reckon my days.” - -When Hazel had finished the dishes she went out-of-doors to think over -what she had heard. The story of the past stirred her deeply, but had -it not also a present import? Granny had never had a birthday, had -never known what it was to be the centre of a birthday party, to have a -cake with candles, most of all to have the proud feeling that here was -a day that belonged to her alone. Could nothing be done about it? - -Hazel looked up at the clear blue sky and about her at the riot of -flowers. What a beautiful time of year for a birthday! So much better -than her month of November. Why not give Granny a birthday now? - -“Scip,” Hazel called excitedly as he met her on the hillside that -afternoon. “I’m going to give Granny a birthday party. Will you help?” -And she explained Granny’s condition. - -Scipio listened attentively, only half understanding, for birthdays had -never been celebrated in the Lee household. But, of course, he promised -to help if Hazel would show him the way; and before they went to their -books ways and means were already devised by Hazel’s active mind. - -That afternoon the little girl was a long time writing her home letter. -Some explanation was necessary, and then the admonition to please send -them, quick, quick, and as many dozen as she thought right. “Pink and -green and blue and yellow and white, please, like the candles I have.” - -The next question was, who should come to the party? - -“Only children, I think, Scip,” Hazel said as she discussed it with -him. “If I didn’t ask all the grown people those left out would be -offended, wouldn’t they?” - -“I reckon there might be trouble,” Scip answered. - -“There’ll be you and Tom and Theora--” - -“That’s enough for we-all,” said Scip as he saw Hazel hesitate. “Jule -can stay home and work.” - -Hazel sighed, but felt relieved. It would be well to have the guests -very young so that she could handle them. - -“And Mammy Smith’s little girl, and Carrie and Johnnie Hunt, that will -be enough, and I’ll teach them songs and games.” - -There were busy days next week. Hazel drilled the little country -children, who looked shyly at her and understood nothing of what -she was saying. Hazel called them stupid many times in her heart and -sometimes with her lips, but they were only unfamiliar with all that -she was trying to put into their lives. But one thing was sure. They -could sing the birthday verse. - -“Here’s a little box for you, honey,” Granny said one morning, handing -Hazel a package. “Come by the post,” and she eyed it curiously. - -“It’s--it’s a secret just now,” Hazel stammered. - -“A secret? Well, child, don’t you tell it until you is good and ready,” -and Granny went to her work in the garden. - -In her room Hazel opened the box. It contained six dozen little -candles, pink and green and blue and yellow and white. Just what she -wanted. Mother always did exactly right. - -But now, most difficult of all, to make the cake! - -Granny loved to cook in the old way over the fire, but she had a stove -in an outhouse which she used now that the warm weather had come. If -Hazel could get access to this, without Granny’s knowing it, she would -make and try to bake the cake. At home she did the mixing and her -mother the baking. But would Granny go away long enough for her to do -her work? There was the great difficulty. - -On the day after the candles came, however, it was solved. - -“Aunt Ellen,” a breathless boy called, rushing into the cabin in the -morning, “Ma’s sick and wants you.” - -And Aunt Ellen went at once and left Hazel alone. - -When the cake was baked and frosted Hazel looked at it with mingled -delight and distrust. It had risen, but had it not fallen since? She -must not taste it to find out. It was made of sugar and flour and eggs -and it had been beaten until her hand and arm were first prickly, and -then stiff with fatigue. It ought to be light. And anyway it was round -and had white icing; certainly it was a beautiful _looking_ birthday -cake. - -Hazel put it carefully in the bottom of her trunk. The party she -decided should be on the morrow. - -“What is the matter with you, child?” Granny said the next day as they -sat down to dinner. “You’s as restless as a bird, and you ain’t eating -more’n a bird would eat.” - -“Ain’t you going to teach Scip?” she said later, when Hazel failed to -take her books and papers and climb the hill. - -“Scip can’t come to-day, Granny, he said so. Let me help you.” And -Hazel began to straighten things in the room. “Can’t we sweep a little?” - -The old woman was clearly puzzled but she helped Hazel with the work. - -“Let’s dress up and pretend it’s Christmas,” Hazel exclaimed when three -o’clock came. “I’ll put on my white dress and you put on your new -calico.” - -“I’s got to work, child,” Granny said a little severely. - -“Oh, don’t work this afternoon,” Hazel cried jumping up and down. “Play -with me, won’t you please play with me? I do want you to play with me, -Granny, just one day.” And before four o’clock Hazel had her way and -the two were sitting in their best gowns. “Much like fools,” Granny -said. - -“I’ll be back in a moment,” Hazel cried suddenly, and ran from the -cabin door down the road. Granny waited a minute or two and then went -to the porch to look out. Coming up the road was a little procession -led by Hazel, with Scipio in the rear; between were three little girls -and two little boys. They all marched solemnly to the porch where -Granny stood. - -“Now,” commanded Hazel, and the children sang: - - “Happy birthday to you, - Happy birthday to you. - Happy birthday, Aunt Ellen, - Happy birthday to you.” - -Granny looked the children over; but she did not ask them in. - -“It’s your birthday, Granny,” Hazel said, her voice shaking with -excitement. “I chose to-day for your birthday.” - -The old woman glanced at Hazel without smiling and held herself very -erect. She felt that they were making game of her. - -“It’s a pretend party,” Hazel tried to explain; but as she looked into -Granny’s eyes she suddenly wanted to cry. - -The little children stood quietly, waiting to be told what to do next. - -Then Scipio stepped forward. - -“Aunt Ellen,” he said in his slow way, “it’s like this; you’s been kind -to we-all here. There’s many of us as you’s helped into the world like -you did Mrs. Brown’s baby yesterday. We wants to do something for you, -so we’s just come and we’s brought you some flowers.” - -The five waiting children looked at Hazel. She nodded, and they stepped -forward and each gave a bouquet to Granny. - -The old woman’s face softened as Scipio spoke, and now she smiled -kindly and asked the children in. As they entered she noticed that each -one was decked out a little, and she glanced at her own dress and then -at Hazel’s. - -“She’s a smart one,” she thought. - -“May we play a game, Granny?” Hazel asked hesitatingly. Scipio had -seemingly saved the day, but she must make no further mistakes. - -“Yes, child.” - -“Then you sit here by the hearth, Granny, and Scip with you, and we’ll -act a charade.” - -She took the children out on the porch and presently they came in, each -on hands and feet, and meowed with persistence if not with fervor. - -“That’s meant to be a word, Granny and Scip, can you guess what it is?” - -“Cats,” said Granny. - -“That’s right,” Hazel cried, clapping her hands. “_Cat._ You guessed -right the first time, didn’t you? Now we act the next word.” - -She skipped out of the room with the children onto the porch. She was -beginning to feel like herself. Granny smoothed her dress complacently. - -Presently two boys came in and stood across the room each holding -the end of a long string. A third child, a girl with an apron on, -walked solemnly forward and fastened a towel to the string with a -clothes-pin. Immediately Hazel, with a dark shawl stretched out at -arms-length to look like wings, hopped up and nipped off the nose of -the maid, who gave a very creditable sob. - -“Along came a black-bird and nipped off her nose,” the two boys said. - -“That’s a little word,” explained Hazel, “and if you put it with cat it -makes a longer word.” - -Granny and Scip listened in silence; a charade seemed outside their -mental horizon. - -But Hazel and her troupe acted the whole word with studied care, and -five little cats rolled about ecstatically in the green stuff Hazel -threw to them. - -“I knows it, Hazel,” Scipio cried suddenly. “It’s _Catnip_. You make it -like you learn me words.” - -Hazel beamed at him. He had pleased his little teacher to-day more than -he could ever have hoped to please her in all his life. This might be -Granny’s pretend birthday, but it was a real day of triumph for Hazel’s -pretend brother. - -“And now, Granny,” Hazel said, still a little tremulously, “would you -go on the porch with the children for just a few minutes and shut the -door and leave Scipio and me here?” - -Granny went willingly enough. She was beginning to enter into the -spirit of the game. - -“Darken the room as much as you can, Scip. Well put it in the middle of -the table, and the candles on it and around it, and the flowers about -them. We must light them, quickly, quickly. Oh, Scip, Scip, see! It’s -the beautifulest kind of a birthday cake when you have seventy candles.” - -“Let her come in right now,” Scipio said. - -Granny with the children entered the room. On the table was a big white -cake. Candles were in it and candles were around it, two rows deep. -Each little flame twinkled as it rose from the bright-colored wax. It -was a lovely sight. - -“What you done do, sugar?” Granny gasped. - -“It’s a birthday cake for you, Granny. I wanted you so to have a -birthday cake. I’ve had five that I can remember, but they’re -prettiest when you’re seventy. I wanted you so to have a birthday that -I chose one for you; and April is a nice time, don’t you think? You do -like it, don’t you, Granny?” and Hazel ran to her grandmother’s side. - -“Baby,” Granny said holding her tight. “It’s the most beautiful thing -as ever was. It’s the prettiest sight these eyes has ever seen. -Scip,” she called suddenly, “don’t you let those candles burn down. -Everybody’s got to see my cake.” - -“And now, Granny,” Hazel said when the candles were blown out, “you -must cut the cake for the children.” - -“Cut the cake for them tricks,” Granny cried excitedly. “No, indeed. -The children can have corn-pone. Everybody has got to see my birthday -cake. Where did you buy it, honey?” - -“I made it,” Hazel answered, and that completed Granny’s amazement and -Hazel’s happiness. - -The children had their corn-pone, with jelly on it, and the cake was -left on the table. News of this wonder soon reached the community, -and the first visitors came that evening. For one week the sight -lasted. Twelve times did the candles, for a brief space, shine out on -the white icing and brighten the flowers. The cake was not moved from -the table, but remained there day and night, and the kitten was kept -rigidly indoors to frighten away any possible mouse. At length, when -the candles had burned to their sockets, Granny cut through the icing -and gave a slice to Hazel and one to herself. - -Hazel ate and said nothing, but she was glad it had not been cut -before. Staleness might seem to account in part for the very heavy -character of the half-cooked dough. - -But Granny ate her piece as if it had been ambrosia, the food of the -gods. - -“That are splendid cake,” she exclaimed. “That icing are as sweet as -you are, sugar, and I can’t say more.” - -And she took another slice. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -GOOD-BYE - - -“Granny, please help me to weave once more,” said Hazel, “and I’ll have -a good big piece of cotton cloth.” - -Ever since Hazel had spun the cotton she had wanted to weave it, but -her grandmother’s loom was too large for her to handle. Granny had -solved the difficulty by saying they could do it together, Hazel -throwing the shuttle while she pushed the frame. In this fashion they -had woven their cloth. “It’s your work, honey,” Granny had insisted. -“You’re doing the weaving, not me.” - -“Isn’t it hot!” Hazel said, after they had worked for an hour. “April -in the South is as warm as June at home. Is it hotter than this in the -summer?” - -“I expect it is,” said Granny, looking at the child’s moist curls. -“Don’t do any more now.” - -They went out on the porch to get cool. - -“I’ve thought a great deal about my weaving,” said Hazel, very -seriously, “and, Granny, I’ve decided to cut some of the cloth into -wash-rags so that I can make presents to a number of my friends. I can -hem them, can’t I?” - -“Yes, dearie.” - -“And then I shall make ten pieces at least. Granny, who is that coming -down the road?” - -Granny stood up and saw a young white lady coming toward them on -horseback, who pulled up her horse as she reached the porch. - -“Does Hazel Tyler live here?” she asked. - -“Yes,” Hazel replied, going out to her, “I am Hazel Tyler.” - -“I know your minister,” said the young lady, smiling, “and he asked me -to come to see you.” - -Hazel’s heart swelled with pride. The young lady dismounted, tied her -horse, and then, declining to go indoors, sat on the steps with them. - -“I am afraid you won’t like my errand, Mrs. Tyler,” the new-comer said, -“but I have come to ask Hazel if she wishes to go home with me.” - -“You couldn’t have come on a less welcome errand to me,” said Granny -sadly, “but the hot days is coming, and I suppose the child must go -North again.” - -The young lady, whose name was Miss Davis, then explained that she -came from Boston, that she taught in the Jonesville school, and that -she should return to her home the middle of May. “And if that will be -convenient for Hazel,” she concluded, “she can go by rail all the way -with me.” - -“If my mother tells me it is what she wants me to do,” Hazel said, “of -course I would love to travel with you.” - -“I think from your minister’s letter, that you will hear shortly from -your mother,” answered Miss Davis, and went into the details of the -journey. - -Hazel learned that if she were in company with a white person she might -ride in the Pullman car and sleep in the fascinating bed that pulled -down from the top. She would only be traveling two days, and her -mother would be at the end of the journey. But Granny! She did not want -to look in her direction as she talked with Miss Davis. - -“Wasn’t she pretty?” she asked the old woman as their visitor trotted -down the road. - -“I didn’t see as she was well-favored,” Granny answered. - -Hazel put her arms about her grandmother’s neck. “I don’t leave for -three weeks,” she said, “and I’m coming back again. Why, Granny, I -truly do love the South. At least, the part where you are.” - -“You dear baby,” was Granny’s only answer. - -When Scip heard the news among the pines that afternoon, he started as -though Hazel had struck him. - -“Who going to take you?” he asked. - -Hazel explained about Miss Davis, and the comfort of the train. Scipio -could find no fault, but remained silent watching a redbird that hopped -fearlessly about among their books on the ground. They had made a pet -of this cardinal, scattering food for him, and making bird sounds in -conversation which Hazel insisted he could understand. When she had -finished talking, the bird flew to a bough near them and began his -clear, sweet song. - -“He is asking you to stay,” Scip said. - -He felt like crying. - -“I’m going to my mother, Scip,” Hazel said softly. - -After a little pause she went on: “I’ll write letters to you. See, I’ll -make you a plain copy of written letters. I’ll make it very plain. -You’ve only learned to print, Scip, but these next three weeks you -must learn about writing.” And glad to have something definite to do, -the little teacher turned to her task with earnest persistence and the -matter of departure was not spoken of again. - -But it hung over the three weeks. The mocking bird’s morning song -now had a note of sadness. “You’re going away,” he said. The hen was -reproachful as she showed her chickens. “You won’t see them grow up,” -she clucked. Pussy Lucy purred, “You can’t play with me when I get to -be a cat.” And even the pigs grunted, “Why do you leave our babies -now that they are so cunning?” for spring had glorified the pigs that -fathered and mothered dear little offspring. - -“There are so many things to say good-bye to,” Hazel said to Granny one -night. - -As for Granny, she was openly heart-broken. “You’s been the light of -this house,” she said, “and the sun done drop out of my sky when you -leave me. But I don’t blame your mother for calling you, not one speck.” - -The first of May, Hazel began to pack her trunk. But there were certain -possessions that went in and out with her changing mood. What books -should she leave for Scip? - -Scip had nothing to read. That she knew, and meant to leave him some of -her little library, but how much? - -She had six books which she kept on a shelf in her room. The first was -a New Testament given her by her father. Of that there was no question; -it was hers for ever and ever. The second was a simple reader that she -fortunately had brought and had used in her lessons. Of course, that -would go to Scip. The third was the dictionary. Scip should have that, -for Mother would be glad to give it to him. The fourth was “What Katy -did,” a girl’s book, that she knew Scip wouldn’t care for; it could go -in the trunk. The fifth and sixth were the Jungle Book, and Child Life, -the Christmas gift of her minister. - -When the first week of May came to an end, it seemed probable that the -Jungle Book would remain on the shelf. Scipio did not fully appreciate -it--it was evident he thought some of the conversation silly--but he -liked the pictures, especially the one of the tiger. Hazel adored the -Jungle Book, but, though she knew she should not count on this, she -guessed shrewdly that when Mr. Perkins learned of her generosity he -would give her another copy. But Child Life was different. And for many -days it seemed that Child Life would remain in the trunk. - -Hazel was an only child, and she had had few serious calls upon -her generosity. Pretty things had been given her, and she had been -genuinely grateful, but she had come imperceptibly to regard them as -her right. Never in her life had she given away anything for which she -deeply cared. And she cared deeply for this book of poems. But Scip -cared for them, too, and knew some of them almost by heart. Such a book -would help him in his reading very much. - -She had told Granny about the Boston library, where you could get any -book in the world. Of course, it would have Child Life. But it was one -thing to get a book for two weeks from a library, and another to have -it on your book shelf every month of the year for your very own. And -then, this book had her name in it, written by her minister. She hugged -it close. It would not be right to give away the minister’s present. -And feeling a little like a hypocrite she put it back in the trunk. - -That afternoon she impressed upon Scipio that he must write to her. -She had spoken of it before, but he had said nothing. “You really must -write, Scip. You can print now quite nicely, you know. It will be good -practice for you, and I shall want to hear. You will, won’t you?” - -Scipio shook his head. - -Hazel felt disappointed and angry. “You must, Scip. Why won’t you?” - -He gave his reason. “I ain’t got no money, and they won’t give stamps -at the store.” - -When she went home Hazel took Child Life out of the trunk and put it, -almost savagely, on her table. “It’s a wicked shame,” she said to -herself. “He works and works and he can’t have one single thing.” She -took her pen, dipped it in the ink, and turning to the title page wrote -under her own name, “To Scipio Lee.” - -When she was done she looked at it hard and winked the tears from -her eyes. Then she placed it on the shelf with the primer and the -dictionary and the Jungle Book. - -“Granny, will you write to me when I leave here?” she asked that night -as they sat on the porch. - -“Yes, sugar; but you mustn’t be surprised at my kind of writing. -Colored children weren’t taught to read and write in slavery days, but -your father he learned me. When he were about twelve he began. ‘It may -be I done leave home and mammy by and by,’ he said, ‘and I wants to get -letters from my mother.’ So he worked with me every day like you work -with Scip.” - -“I remember the letters you wrote. Father loved them. I would -understand what they were about now. So you’ll surely write me,” she -went on persistently. - -“Yes, honey.” - -“Then, Granny, will you let Scip put his letters inside of yours, -because he hasn’t money to buy stamps?” - -“I sure will, you dear child.” - -It had been arranged that Miss Davis should call for Hazel the Monday -morning after her school closed and should take her to the station. She -was to come at ten o’clock. The day before, Sunday, Scipio, on Granny’s -and Hazel’s urgent invitation, took supper with them. The boy felt more -conscious of his ill-kept clothes within doors than when with Hazel in -the woods, but she had been persistent and he had come. She took him -into her room and showed him the shelf with its four books. - -“I give them to you,” she said solemnly, and put them in his arms. - -He looked bewildered. “You ain’t leaving all these for me?” he asked. - -She nodded, “Yes, they’ve got your name in them.” - -“I can’t have ’em,” he said, almost crying. “I ain’t any place to keep -’em. The boys is worse than ever now you don’t let me lick ’em.” - -Hazel was dumb for a moment. Then she called Granny to her. - -The old woman appeared in the doorway and the situation was explained -to her. - -“Could Scip keep the books here on this shelf?” Hazel asked. “Then they -would be quite safe.” - -“Why, in course,” Granny replied heartily. “And maybe he’ll read aloud -sometimes to me. We could make them out together.” - -“I’m going to know how to read,” Scip said resolutely. “I never had -nothing to read before, but now I’ve got books and a dictionary.” - -Hazel read to them for a long time that evening; it was easier than to -talk. She read the favorite poem of each; for Granny, “The Hen with One -Chicken,” who thought she was so much busier than the ducks and turkeys -with their broods; for Scip, “The Night with a Wolf,” “The Captain’s -Daughter,” and the one she, too, liked so much, of the little girl in -the woods. - - “Are you not often, little maid, - Beneath the sighing trees afraid?” - -And the little girl’s answer: - - “Afraid, beneath the tall, strong trees, - That bend their arms to shelter me?” - -“Do you know,” Hazel said confidentially, “I used to be a little -frightened in the woods, but I never am now. I think of the poem and I -have Scip’s stick!” - -“I’m coming again,” she said to Scip as he went down the porch to his -home. “I’m coming again,” and she repeated it often to Granny before -she went to bed. - -Miss Davis arrived in a carriage the next morning on the front seat -with the driver, her trunk behind. Hazel’s was placed beside it, and -then the child turned to say good-bye. - -Scipio was there with Theora and Tom hanging shyly to their big -brother. He was very gentle with them. Hazel kissed both the children -good-bye, and put out her hand to Scip. - -He took it and said softly, “Good-bye, Sister.” - -Granny held her close and could not let her go. “You’s been the light -of my house,” she said. “Tell your mother I bless her for letting me -have you. And I send you back to her sound and well, honey. She’ll be -full of happiness. But we-all ’ll miss you sorely.” - -Hazel could only give her one more hug. Then she scrambled to the seat -between the driver and Miss Davis, and the horse started off. - -When she looked back she saw Granny standing in the road, her hand on -Scipio’s shoulder. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -HOME - - -It was necessary to stay in Montgomery over night in order to make -railroad connections; so Hazel was able to visit Mr. and Mrs. Jenks -again, while Miss Davis went to a hotel. Mrs. Jenks and her husband -were delighted at the change in Hazel’s appearance. The thin, shy child -had grown almost plump and was full of spirits. She talked gaily at -dinner, she romped with the children, and she gave her host such a -generous good-night hug that he was breathless and disheveled when it -was over. - -“Excuse me,” Hazel called as she ran upstairs, “but that is the way Mr. -Perkins likes me to say good-night to him. And, oh,” ecstatically, “I -shall see him next Sunday!” - -The following morning Mrs. Jenks put up an enormous box of luncheons -and breakfasts and suppers for Hazel. Such a quantity of bread and -butter sandwiches, such a lot of sliced chicken and hard-boiled eggs, -and a jar of guava jelly with a spoon that didn’t have to be returned. - -“It will be less expensive for you than to get your meals on the -train,” Mrs. Jenks began hesitatingly. - -Hazel broke in impetuously, “I know all about it, Mrs. Jenks. I’m not -wanted in the dining car because I’m colored. I’m traveling North as -Miss Davis’s maid, and I’m to do little things for her and to play I -really am a maid. She says her traveling dress hooks up the back and -around the side with about a hundred hooks, and that she could never -wear it except for me. And I must keep her hair smooth for her because -her mother says it is always untidy--it isn’t, it’s beautiful. And I’m -to fan the flies away from her when she takes a nap. As if I thought -flies were on trains! But we are going to play that I am her maid, to -make a game of it, because it is better to do that than to keep feeling -angry. How many meals do I eat? One, two, three, four, five? This is -plenty, for I can get milk and cocoa. I’m going to sleep in an upper -berth, think, and climb up on a ladder! It will be great fun.” - -Mrs. Jenks smiled and sighed and put some cakes in the box. - -Miss Davis called for Hazel in a carriage, and the little girl felt -very proud as she drove away with her new friend. The station was an -exciting place. Hazel saw a check marked “Boston” put on her trunk and -knew that home was near. She entered the Pullman car with Miss Davis -and held her hand tightly as the porter showed them their seats. All -her safety from insult, she knew, lay in the presence of her white -companion. They sat down together and at length the train drew out of -the station, headed for the North and home. - -The little girl looked up at her friend. “I’m trying to think all the -time of Mother,” she said, “but I can’t forget Granny and Scip.” - -“You’ll visit them again,” Miss Davis said consolingly. “When people -once begin to travel they never stop.” - -The journey was full of interest to Hazel, and not an unkind word was -said to her during the trip. Indeed, an old lady in the seat across -the aisle took a fancy to her, and sent her a big plate of ice-cream -from the dining car. “Two portions, I’m sure,” Miss Davis said when she -heard about it. New York was reached, a din of trolleys and elevateds -and a big, beautiful station with a restaurant where everyone could sit -and eat, and then Boston and home. - -It was night when they got off the train at the South Station, and -Hazel trembled as she walked by Miss Davis’s side. If Mother should -miss her! Then she saw a big black man and she rushed toward and past -him and into her mother’s arms. - -“I waited a long time for my greeting,” said Mr. Perkins, smoothing his -coat collar, “but it was satisfactory when I got it.” - -“Where is Miss Davis?” asked Hazel when she could look about her again. - -“She left her good-bye,” said Mr. Perkins; “she was hurrying to meet -someone, too; perhaps it was her brother, and perhaps it wasn’t. Come, -Little Frog, give me your check. I’ll look after your trunk when I’ve -put you and your mother on the car. You’re coming to dine with us -Sunday.” - -How beautiful home looked with its three dear little rooms! The table -was set for supper. There was a big dish of strawberries, white bread -and butter, and a spider on the fire with a lamb chop in it ready to -cook! In a moment Charity came in. - -The two little girls flew into one another’s arms. - -“My, ain’t you fat, Hazel!” said Charity. - -Hazel laughed delightedly. “I like to be fat,” she said. - -“I am going to cook your chop,” said Charity, and Mrs. Tyler let her. - -“Mother,” said Hazel as she ate her supper, “you don’t know, for you -haven’t been South, how good this chop tastes. There are two things I -don’t want to see again for a long time; one is bacon and the other is -corn bread.” Then, feeling that this might seem ungrateful to Granny, -“they are both good, but I’ve had enough of them.” - -“There’s a moving-picture show around the corner,” said Charity, when -Hazel had finished her supper, “want to go? I’ve got two dimes.” - -“Oh, not to-night, Charity.” - -“Well, whenever you want, the price is on me.” - -Hazel was not allowed to help with the dishes, for she was a visitor -this evening. To-morrow she would slip back into the routine of home. -She and her mother talked and talked far into the night, there was so -much to tell about, and both were so happy. At length Hazel dropped -off to sleep, but her mother lay awake until the dawn showed her her -child’s face again. “How well she looks,” Mrs. Tyler said again and -again to herself. “I did right to send her away.” - -“Here is a wash-cloth that I spun and wove for you, Charity,” Hazel -said the next morning and handed it triumphantly to her friend. - -Charity looked it over carefully. “I can buy ’em like that for five -cents at Jordan, Marsh’s.” - -“Can you?” answered Hazel, trying not to be hurt. “And it took me days -and days to make it.” - -“Sure,” said Charity loftily, “didn’t I tell you it was slow down -South?” - -When Hazel took the same gift to her school-teacher, however, she heard -a very different comment. - -“You’ve done a wonderful thing, Hazel,” Miss Grey said. “You’ve -followed an industry from its beginning to the finished product. Next -year, if it is possible, we will get a spinning-wheel and loom and you -can demonstrate the spinning and weaving to the school.” - -Hazel repeated this to Charity. - -“Bet you’d break your thread,” Charity declared, “when you had to spin -before all the boys and girls.” - -The homecoming was very exciting. There was the first Sunday at church, -and the Sunday school service, when they wanted to hear about their -song-books down in Alabama, and the good time at the Perkins’s and the -trolley rides with Charity. Mr. Perkins gave Hazel a dollar for trolley -rides, telling her that she must not forget the city and its delights. - -June came, and one late afternoon Mrs. Tyler returned from her work -looking so happy that Hazel accused her of having a secret. - -Mrs. Tyler nodded assent. “You shall hear it after supper,” she said. - -So when the dishes were washed they sat down together, and Hazel heard -the secret. - -“We are going away for the summer,” said her mother. “I find I can -make more money at my shampooing in the country than here. Some of my -customers go to a beautiful place by the sea and they promise me plenty -of business there.” - -“Is it at Revere Beach?” asked Hazel. - -“No indeed, goosey, much further than that, ’way down in Maine.” - -“More traveling?” - -“Yes, more traveling, but not so far as Alabama.” - -“I shall miss Charity,” mused Hazel, “but I believe wherever you go you -have to miss somebody. Are there pines in Maine?” - -“Pines?” - -“Yes, pine trees. Do they grow there?” - -“I think so, dear.” - -“Then, if there are pine trees, I shall like it very much!” - -Just before they left town letters came from Granny and Scip. - -“Mother,” said Hazel after reading them, “my heart is content. Scipio -is living with Granny; at least, he is staying there at night. She -never did like living alone, the least bit, and so she got Scip’s -father to let the boy stay with her. She gives him supper and breakfast -and Granny says he was half starved before, and at night they both read -out of the books I left. Granny says they think of me.” - -Scipio’s letter was plainly printed and showed constant consultation -with the dictionary. - - Dear Sister: - - Aunt Ellen has took me in. - - I am going to help her pick cotton when it ripes. - - The cat is playing by the fire. - - SCIPIO LEE. - -“I’m so glad you trimmed my summer hat with the feathers Scip gave me, -Mother,” Hazel said, “I shall tell him about it the next time I write.” - - -THE END. - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - - Archaic or variant spelling has been retained from the original. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAZEL *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Hazel</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Mary White Ovington</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Harry Roseland</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 7, 2022 [eBook #68017]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: David E. Brown and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (The New York Public Library's Digital Collections)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAZEL ***</div> - - -<div class="figcenter hide"><img src="images/coversmall.jpg" width="40%" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i002.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">Hazel</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -</div> -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>HAZEL</h1> - -<p>BY<br /> -<span class="xlarge">MARY WHITE OVINGTON</span><br /> -AUTHOR OF “HALF A MAN”</p> - -<p><i>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS</i><br /> -BY<br /> -<span class="large">HARRY ROSELAND</span></p> - -<p><span class="large">CRISIS PUBLISHING COMPANY</span><br /> -<span class="smcap">26 Vesey Street</span><br /> -NEW YORK</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center"> -Copyright, 1913<br /> -BY<br /> -MARY WHITE OVINGTON<br /> -<br /> -<span class="smcap">Robert N. Wood,<br /> -Printer</span><br /> -202 East Ninety-ninth Street, New York</p> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center">TO<br /> -<span class="antiqua">E. D. M.</span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[v]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak">PREFACE</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> I was a little girl, my favorite books -dealt with children whose lives were like my -own. I smudged with many readings the -pages that told of Susy and Prudy and Dotty -in Portland, of their visits to the country, of -their every-day happenings. Their adventures -were far dearer to me than those of foreign -lads and lasses and richly clad little princesses -whose ways were not as my ways.</p> - -<p>I have thought for some time that the colored -children in the United States might also like -to have their intimate books telling of happenings -that were like their own. They must be tired -of reading always of far-away children. So, -out of my years of experience among these -soft-eyed, velvet-cheeked small friends, I have -written this story.</p> - -<p>I have purposely avoided dialect. Correct -English spelling is difficult enough to young -readers without superimposing other forms for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span> -the not too-familiar words. I have, however, -tried to give the turn of expression in the -southern speech.</p> - -<p>I hope my colored child friends will smudge -my pages. And if the white child stops to -read, I trust that she will feel an awakened -sympathy for the dark-faced boys and girls -whose world is outside her own.</p> - -<p class="right">M. W. O.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Brooklyn, N. Y.</span>,<br /> - <i>September 15, 1913</i>.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table"> - -<tr><td class="tdr"><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td class="tdr" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Queen of Sheba</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_7"> 7</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Health and a Day</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_20"> 20</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Leave Taking</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30"> 30</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Journey</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_41"> 41</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Granny</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54"> 54</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Letters</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_67"> 67</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">That Old Time Religion</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_74"> 74</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Brother and Sister</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_84"> 84</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Lost</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_98"> 98</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">X.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Spring</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_114"> 114</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Choosing a Birthday</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_125"> 125</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Good-Bye</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_139"> 139</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Home</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_153"> 153</a></td></tr> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> - -<p class="ph2">HAZEL</p> - -<hr class="tiny" /> -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER I<br /> - - -<small>THE QUEEN OF SHEBA</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was raining, and Hazel Tyler had not -been allowed to go out all day. As she sat -looking out of her window into the narrow -Boston street she would have made a pretty -picture but for the woe-begone expression on -her brown face. Her hair was soft and curly, -her eyes dark and clear, her mouth full, but -delicate. Usually it was happy in expression; -but this afternoon it drooped at the corners. -Four o’clock! Two hours more before supper. -Oh, this stupid, stupid Saturday!</p> - -<p>She got up and walked from the tiny parlor, -where she had been sitting, into a tiny bedroom -where a large baby doll lay on the bed she -and her mother shared. Hazel took the doll<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> -up, shook it severely, and put it down again. -She was growing to care very little for dolls; -they were not warm and dimpled and you had -to do all the talking for them. She left the -tiny bedroom and stepped into a tiny kitchen -thus making the tour of the apartment.</p> - -<p>“Mother,” she said to a slender woman -who stood at an ironing-board, “may I go -around and play with the McGinnis’s baby? -It’s such a little way.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Tyler looked up. Her face like Hazel’s -was gentle and delicate, but the features were -finer and the skin lighter in shade. She was -ironing an elaborate pink tea gown, and she -seemed ill-fitted for such taxing work.</p> - -<p>“No, Hazel,” she replied. “I’ve told you -that you can’t go out in the rain while you have -a cold. There is no use in teasing.”</p> - -<p>Hazel knew this to be true, and for a time -was silent, watching her mother. She ran her -slender finger along the tucks of the pink -gown.</p> - -<p>“What pretty clothes Mrs. Hollingsworth -always has,” she said. “I wish I could have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> -something pretty. I’ve nothing to wear but -this blue serge.”</p> - -<p>Hazel’s mother looked at her a second and -the child felt abashed. She knew very well -that since her father’s death—her dear, dear -father—her mother had had to support them -both, and how hard she had worked at whatever -would bring in money—at sewing, hairdressing, -and even this tiring laundry. She -knew, too, that when the rent was paid, and the -grocer’s and butcher’s bills settled, the little -money left went first to her and her wants. -Why, only last week she had had pretty hair -ribbons; and her mother’s black dress was -growing shabby. She bent over and kissed -the hand that was patting the pink wrapper -into place.</p> - -<p>“I’ll go into the parlor and make my picture-puzzle,” -she said.</p> - -<p>“That’s right, dear,” Mrs. Tyler answered.</p> - -<p>The little girl worked for a time at the elaborate -puzzle spread out on the parlor table; -but its green trees were perplexing, and she -soon returned to the kitchen to find the pink<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> -dress finished and on the top of a pile of speckless -linen in the laundry basket. Her mother -stood with hat and coat on.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to run out to make sure that -John comes to-night to get the clothes,” Mrs. -Tyler said. “Now, don’t look so woe-begone, -dear. I’ll cook waffles for supper, and we’ll -have the maple syrup that Mrs. Brown brought -us from the country.”</p> - -<p>Hazel’s face brightened. “May we eat off -the pretty china?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you may set the table with it when I -get back.” And Mrs. Tyler went out into the -narrow hall, down the dark stairs and into -the narrow street.</p> - -<p>She could hardly have reached the corner -when Hazel heard a knock at the door, and -opened it to a little black girl who at once -stepped gaily into the room.</p> - -<p>“Where you been all day, Hazel?” she asked.</p> - -<p>She was a jolly little girl of ten, a year younger -than Hazel, with plump arms and legs and a -sturdy body. Her crinkly hair was tied with -a bright red ribbon, and she wore a gay bandanna<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> -about her neck. Her black eyes shone -with good will.</p> - -<p>“How do you do, Charity?” Hazel said, a -little hesitatingly.</p> - -<p>She liked this new neighbor and had played -with her the rare afternoons that she had been -allowed on the street; but she knew her mother -scarcely approved of Charity. But then her -mother did not approve of any of the girls -and boys on Hammond Street and one must -play with some one.</p> - -<p>“Your mother’s out,” said Charity. “I -know, for I saw her go. Where you been all -day, Hazel?”</p> - -<p>“Here at home,” Hazel answered. “I’ve -got a sore throat, and I’m not allowed to go -out, and there’s nothing to do in this poky -place.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s play,” said Charity, “you shut your -eyes and I’ll hide.”</p> - -<p>“Pooh,” Hazel replied contemptuously, “you -know, Charity, there isn’t a single place here -big enough for a cat to hide in.”</p> - -<p>“Well, let’s, let’s,” Charity looked about for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span> -inspiration, and her glance fell on the doll in -the adjoining room, “let’s play house.”</p> - -<p>“No, you would just beat the baby. Let’s -play a new game, something brand new that we -never played before.”</p> - -<p>Charity began jumping about on one foot, -and on into the little parlor, but she had no -suggestion to offer. Hazel followed her and -as her eye fell on the family Bible, her face -lighted with excitement.</p> - -<p>“I know,” she declared, “let’s play a Bible -game. Let’s act a Bible story the way we act -history at school.”</p> - -<p>Charity stood on her two feet. “George -Washington?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“No, not George Washington, but like that. -A Bible story. We can’t be Joseph and his -Brethren,” Hazel went on musing, “there’re -too many of them. I don’t like Jacob—”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be King Solomon,” Charity exclaimed -quite suddenly.</p> - -<p>She sat in the arm chair and held herself -erect. Taking her bandanna she wreathed it -in a turban about her head.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>“That’s splendid, Charity,” Hazel said -heartily. “That’s your crown and you’re -sitting on your throne. Now who shall -I be?”</p> - -<p>“You? Why, of course, you’ll be the Queen -of Sheba.”</p> - -<p>Hazel laughed gleefully. “I’ll be a real -queen, won’t I? What’ll I do, Charity?” Her -friend’s knowledge of Bible history was evidently -greater than her own.</p> - -<p>“You ask me questions,” Charity explained, -“all sorts of questions, and I answer them.”</p> - -<p>“But what do I wear?”</p> - -<p>“Let me recollect.” Charity shut her eyes -to think the harder. “The Queen of Sheba -she come to Jerusalem, with, with a very great -<i>train</i>. You must wear a train, Hazel.”</p> - -<p>“There isn’t a thing with a train here,” -Hazel replied mournfully.</p> - -<p>Looking into the kitchen her eyes fell upon -the laundry basket with the pink dress on top. -“I could borrow Mrs. Hollingsworth’s tea -gown,” she said.</p> - -<p>Now Charity might make slips in grammar<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> -and slap unoffending dolls, but the laundry -was sacred to her. Once the pile of muslin -was ironed and placed in the basket it was -not to be tampered with.</p> - -<p>“You daren’t,” she said.</p> - -<p>Hazel walked into the other room, took the -pink wrapper and slowly put it on. Her -heart beat fast and her fingers trembled, but -she fastened the dress at the throat and held -it up about her. Entering the parlor she -went to the chair in which King Solomon sat, -and bowed low, dropping the pink dress so -that it trailed upon the floor. Then she -looked up into the king’s dark face.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t this a royal great train?” she said -softly.</p> - -<p>King Solomon nodded. He was saying to -himself, “You bet, my mother needn’t say -she’s such a good little girl again!”</p> - -<p>The Queen of Sheba bowed once more. -“What do I do next, Charity?”</p> - -<p>“You ask me questions.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t think of any;” and the queen, like -Alice in Through the Looking Glass, courtesied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> -again to help her think. “What did I have -for dinner?” she said at last.</p> - -<p>“Myrrh and mint and jasper and honey -and the honeycomb.”</p> - -<p>The queen looked up in admiration. “That’s -a beautiful answer; how did you think of all -those things? But is jasper something to -eat?”</p> - -<p>King Solomon did not regard the question. -“Ask me something else?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“What—what—what did I have for breakfast?”</p> - -<p>The king stuck out his tongue derisively. -“Can’t you think of a single thing, Hazel -Tyler, but food?”</p> - -<p>Hazel felt her lack of originality. “Have -you had pleasant weather this past week in -Jerusalem?” she asked politely.</p> - -<p>“It has rained,” replied King Solomon, -“for forty days and nights; and great was the -fall thereof.”</p> - -<p>The king’s answers were so much more -impressive than the queen’s questions that -Hazel sought for first place.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>“Now I shall dance before the king,” she -said, and began slowly advancing and receding -before King Solomon’s throne, holding up the -pink dress as she moved. She looked very -pretty and graceful as she made her low courtesies -and King Solomon’s eyes gleamed -approbation.</p> - -<p>“If you like a me, as I like a you,” he began -to sing and the Queen of Sheba stepped in a -little livelier fashion toward the kitchen door. -“’Cause I love you,” he went on, and the -little queen danced before him over the door-sill -and into the kitchen where she struck -against the table and fell in a heap upon the -floor.</p> - -<p>The singing stopped. Charity stooped to -where Hazel sat, a frightened heap. She -examined the pink gown. It had a black -smudge on the back.</p> - -<p>“Have to be done all over again,” said -Charity briefly.</p> - -<p>Hazel rose and took the dress off. Her lip -quivered.</p> - -<p>“I’d best go home,” said Charity. “There<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> -ain’t nothing I can do. Oh, Hazel won’t you -catch it!”</p> - -<p>“My mother never whips me,” said Hazel -sharply.</p> - -<p>“She ain’t like mine,” said Charity.</p> - -<p>The bandanna was off King Solomon’s head -and he crept out of the door and down the -stairs to his home.</p> - -<p>The Queen of Sheba sat on the kitchen chair -with the soiled dress on her lap. Like the queen -of old, “there was no more spirit in her.” -She remained quite still two, three, five minutes. -Then she heard her mother knock.</p> - -<p>She opened the door, the dress in her hand, -and showed the spot without speaking.</p> - -<p>“How did it happen?” Mrs. Tyler asked.</p> - -<p>“I was playing with Charity. It wasn’t -her fault,” hastily, “she told me not to touch -it, but I was the Queen of Sheba and I wanted -a train. Will it have to be done all over, -Mother? Charity said it would have to be -done all over.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it will,” said Mrs. Tyler, and turned -to the tub where she began to draw water.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>“You must go to bed, Hazel,” she said sternly. -“Later I will bring you a supper of bread and -milk.”</p> - -<p>As the little girl lay in bed, she could hear -her mother rub, rubbing the dress against the -wash-board. Then that sound ceased, and the -door of the refrigerator was opened and shut. -She silently ate the bread and milk brought -her. No jolly time together at the table over -the waffles and maple syrup and the pretty -flowered plates! She heard her mother’s tired -footsteps moving from ironing-board to stove -and back to ironing-board, and she noted the -click of the iron as it fell upon the metal -holder. She could almost count each movement -up and down the waist and the long -skirt.</p> - -<p>At length John came. He was kept waiting -a few minutes. Then the basket was handed -him, the outer door closed, and the long day’s -work was done.</p> - -<p>Hazel stole out of bed into the kitchen where -her mother sat. She put her arms about her -neck and kissed her again and again.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.</p> - -<p>Her mother kissed back and held her close.</p> - -<p>“It does seem, Mother dear,” Hazel said -at length, “as though, ever since we came -to this place, I couldn’t have the least bit of -fun without making such a lot of trouble.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER II<br /> - - -<small>HEALTH AND A DAY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> sky was washed the clear blue of late -November the next morning, and Hazel could -count the few little white clouds floating on -it as she walked to church. The cold, fresh -air quickened her blood and made her want -to skip and dance, but she stayed demurely -at her mother’s side. They soon left their -dingy street and turned into a well-to-do -neighborhood where white people lived, and -then went on with the white people into a large -church. The usher nodded pleasantly to them, -and they took a pew to the left, half way up -the aisle. Here they sat in silence while the -organ played its solemn, spiritual music.</p> - -<p>As she listened to the music the anxious look, -that was usually present, left Mrs. Tyler’s -face. This was her dear and holy place where -her mother and her mother’s mother had worshipped.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> -As a little girl she had known its -first minister—the noble, courageous citizen who -had never failed to plead for the freedom of -the slave. After her marriage with her southern -husband she had gone a few times to listen -to the big-hearted oratory at the colored church; -but the service there did not touch her spirit, -and she and her husband had agreed on Sunday -mornings to worship in different places the -same Heavenly Father. Hazel had always -accompanied her mother, and she was quite at -home among the white people. More than -one greeted her with a smile.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“My heart is resting, oh, my God,</div> -<div class="indent">My heart is in Thy care,”</div> -</div></div> - -<p>sang the congregation.</p> - -<p>Hazel loved this hymn. She joined in the -singing with her clear child’s voice. She always -loved the hymns, and she even loved the sermon, -for was not the minister her dear friend? -When the sermon was finished there was the -five cents to be dropped into the contribution -plate, and there was the beautiful benediction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> -at the end of the service asking that the peace -of God abide in her heart. “Amen,” sang the -choir, and the organ pealed that the service -was over.</p> - -<p>“How do you do, Hazel?” the lady behind -her asked. “She seems a little peaked, doesn’t -she?” addressing the mother.</p> - -<p>The anxious look returned to Mrs. Tyler’s -face. “She hasn’t been very well,” she answered.</p> - -<p>“Keep her in the fresh air as much as you -can, though I know that that is difficult to do -in cold weather.”</p> - -<p>“How do you do, Hazel?” “How do you -do, Mrs. Tyler?” came from many sides as -the two walked from the church into the street.</p> - -<p>Their Sunday dinner was to be eaten with -their old friends, the Perkins, who lived in -Jamaica Plains. As their car stopped, Hazel -fairly raced down the street where she had -spent her life until her father’s death, and -turned up the steps of a pleasant cottage, and -almost into the arms of a big, smiling black -man. He carried her off at once, leaving Mrs.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> -Tyler to be ministered to by his young, bright-faced -wife. The two visitors were evidently -at home.</p> - -<p>The dinner was a lavish one, beginning with -turkey and ending with ice-cream. Mr. Perkins -heaped Hazel’s plate, urging her to eat. -But though these were her favorite dishes -her appetite was small. He encouraged her -to tell him of her doings, of how well she ranked -at school. “Right at the top, Hazel; you -know you are going to college.” He asked how -she liked the new story he had given her, -“The Jungle Book.” After dinner was over -he took her to his study across the hall from -the parlor where the two women sat.</p> - -<p>“How Henry loves children,” Mrs. Tyler -said to her friend. Mrs. Perkins nodded. Behind -where she sat, was the picture of the only -child born to her and her husband, the child -whom they had lost five years ago. She knew -how his hungry heart went out to this little girl.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Tyler faced the picture. She had loved -the child and mothered her. A lump rose in -her throat.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>“Sarah,” she said, laying her hand on her -friend’s arm, “I’ve got to talk with you about -Hazel. I’m worried, I’m worried.”</p> - -<p>“Hazel, why hasn’t she been well?”</p> - -<p>“No, all this autumn she has seemed so -delicate. She takes cold easily and she doesn’t -throw it off. I fear the long winter for -her.”</p> - -<p>“I wish you hadn’t left Jamaica Plains.”</p> - -<p>“I had to. I mustn’t spend the little money -left me. I must work and save. Hazel will -need more every year. But I don’t want to -save just for doctor’s bills. Sometimes, Sarah, -she frightens me. She looks as her father -looked——”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Tyler stopped. She could not yet -speak of her husband’s long illness and of the -blank left by his death.</p> - -<p>“I’m not saying this just to complain,” -she went on after a moment. “I’ve a wild idea -that I can’t keep out of my head.”</p> - -<p>“What is it, Lucy?”</p> - -<p>“It’s to send Hazel for the winter to her -grandmother Tyler’s.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>“To Alabama? Oh, Lucy, how could you! -It’s so far away.”</p> - -<p>“I know, but it’s a home in a beautiful -place where she could be out-of-doors all day -long. My husband used to tell me about the -good times he had as a boy among the pines -with plenty of space around him. He, like -Hazel, would have hated to have been shut -up in three rooms.”</p> - -<p>“But it’s in the South,” Mrs. Perkins said -earnestly. “We don’t know the South, Lucy, -but I fear it with its jim-crow cars and its -lynchings.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t,” gasped Mrs. Tyler. Then, after -a little, she laughed. “There are thousands -and tens of thousands of colored children who -grow up there in safety. Hazel will be under -good care. Her grandmother will have more -time to give to her than I.”</p> - -<p>“Has she written for Hazel?”</p> - -<p>“Not recently, but I know she would welcome -her. She is alone just now, but she is always -mothering some child. She will love Hazel, -for Hazel is like her father in many ways.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> -Perhaps living with her grandmother, she will -learn to be still more like him. I cannot bear -the thought of having her leave me, but I -know that if she goes she will be in good hands.”</p> - -<p>A tremendous noise issued from the room -across the hall, and Hazel popped out her head -to call, “He’s Shere Khan, a tiger of the jungle, -and I’m Mowgli.”</p> - -<p>“Come here and let me eat you, Little Frog,” -called out the tiger, and made a hideous sound -between a snarl and roar.</p> - -<p>“It’s Sunday, Henry. Don’t make so much -noise,” said his wife.</p> - -<p>“Don’t make so much noise, Shere Khan,” -said Mowgli, and fearlessly shut herself up -with the tiger in the jungle.</p> - -<p>Through the door the two women heard the -little girl cough.</p> - -<p>“How could you get the child South?” Mrs. -Perkins asked.</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i031.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">Granny</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>“Why, oddly enough, one of my neighbors, -Mrs. Graham, is going South in two or three -weeks. She lives at Montgomery, only a couple -of hours by train from Mother Tyler’s home. -She is a kindly, sensible soul whom Hazel likes. -I can trust the child with her. I dread it, -Sarah,” and Mrs. Tyler clasped her hands -tightly together, “I dread it inexpressibly, but -I dread her staying here more.”</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t you go with her?”</p> - -<p>“That would be impossible. What could -I do there to earn money? I must stay at -home and work. I’ve plans for building up a -good business. I feel sure that I can, but it -will take time. Perhaps I shall succeed more -quickly if I put all my energy into my work. -And then Hazel will return in the spring, for -it wouldn’t be good for her to stay through a -southern summer. If I am busy every minute -I’m hoping that the time won’t seem so long. -It will pass quickly if I hear that Hazel gains -in health.”</p> - -<p>“Who’s talking about health?” asked Mr. -Perkins, as he came out of his room with Hazel -at his side.</p> - -<p>“I am,” replied Mrs. Tyler.</p> - -<p>“You remember Emerson: ‘Give me health -and a day and I will make the pomp of emperors<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> -ridiculous.’ Lucy, may I take this young -lady out for a walk?”</p> - -<p>“Surely, Henry.”</p> - -<p>Hazel put on her hat and coat and raced off -with her boon companion.</p> - -<p>“She will need a warmer coat,” Mrs. Tyler -said, and her brow puckered. “If she stays -here she must have warm clothes and even -then I shall have sometimes to keep her indoors. -She was restless yesterday and naughty, and -that isn’t like Hazel. Health. That is more -than anything else in the world, isn’t it? What -shall I do, Sarah?”</p> - -<p>Her friend had risen and was looking at the -picture of her little child.</p> - -<p>“I can only say this Lucy,” she at length -answered. “You will never cease to reproach -yourself if anything happens and you haven’t -done everything possible for Hazel. If a winter -in the South will mean health for her, -then if she is ill you will always regret that -you did not send her away.”</p> - -<p>“People are ill in the South,” said Mrs. Tyler, -wanting to contradict the advice she sought.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>“Of course. But you will have done all you -could.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Tyler looked hard at the floor, for a -minute. When she raised her eyes to her -friend’s they were full of tears.</p> - -<p>“It won’t really be living while she’s away,” -she said; “but I’ll write to mother Tyler -to-night.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER III<br /> - - -<small>LEAVE TAKING</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> Hazel first learned that she was to -go away from her mother, she cried bitterly. -But as the preparations for her departure -began, she regained her spirits. Who could -grieve for long in the midst of such excitement?</p> - -<p>In the first place, there was the new trunk, -very small and shining.</p> - -<p>“Look at it, Charity,” she said, the afternoon -it came home “See my initials on the -side, H. T. That stands for Hazel Tyler.”</p> - -<p>Charity looked, and envy entered her heart. -When she visited her granny in Virginia her -clothes were stuffed into a shabby, collapsible -bag.</p> - -<p>“Folks ’ll think you stuck up,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Well, let them,” answered Hazel. “This -is a steamer trunk, Charity,” she went on, -opening it, “see the cunning tray. When it’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> -shut you push it under your berth on the steamer. -I’m going to have a warm shawl in it to wear -on deck.”</p> - -<p>“Bet you’ll be sick,” said Charity.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, she was deeply impressed with -the little trunk, and watched Hazel as day -after day she packed and repacked it.</p> - -<p>“I’m putting all my clothes in the bottom, -Charity. Mother says for me to take my -summer and my winter clothes both. Here -is my blue gingham, and Mother has let down -my white muslin dress again. Isn’t it pretty -with the lace and embroidery?”</p> - -<p>Charity sniffed. “Bet you won’t wear your -white dress. Folks wear calico down there. -Who’s going to spend the time washing and -ironing for you?”</p> - -<p>Hazel looked a little troubled. “Why, -Granny, I suppose.”</p> - -<p>“Humph, your Granny ’ll be too busy to wait -on you.”</p> - -<p>Hazel patted the white dress better in place. -“I can keep it clean quite a while,” she -said.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>“See, Charity, the pretty present Mrs. Perkins -gave me,” she said later, taking a dainty -box from the tray and opening it. “Six -handkerchiefs and each marked with an ‘H.’ -Nobody can take them, can they, because the -‘H’ shows they belong to me.”</p> - -<p>Charity deliberately took one from the box. -“Guess I’ve got one now,” she declared.</p> - -<p>But while she refused to show enthusiasm -regarding Hazel’s preparations she was really -greatly interested and appeared one day with -something, new to Hazel, in her hand.</p> - -<p>“It’s a sun-bonnet,” she explained, holding -it out. “Everyone wears them down there; -the sun is so hot. Mother and I made it for -you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s such a pretty pink,” cried Hazel, -turning it about on her hand. “Thank you -and your mother so much, Charity,” and she -kissed her companion.</p> - -<p>Charity’s eyes shone. “Put it on,” she -commanded.</p> - -<p>The brown face with the soft hair looked very -attractive set in the pink muslin frill. Hazel<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> -viewed herself in the glass and jumped up -and down with pleasure.</p> - -<p>“It’s like a play to be wearing a sun-bonnet.”</p> - -<p>“Take it off and I’ll show you how to pack -it.” And together they put it in the tray.</p> - -<p>“I’ve another present, Charity,” Hazel confided, -taking out a small package, and showing -a long, black hair-ribbon. “It’s from Miss -Gray, my teacher. Mother says I must count -these presents for Christmas, because I’ll be -away at Christmas. Perhaps I’ll put them in -my stocking Christmas eve.”</p> - -<p>“Pooh! Folks don’t hang up stockings -South.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Charity, you’d think they didn’t -do anything down there.”</p> - -<p>Charity cogitated. “They don’t do much,” -she decided, and added a little wistfully, “it’s -lots more fun on Hammond Street.”</p> - -<p>Hazel slipped her hand in her friend’s. “I -wish you were going with me,” she whispered.</p> - -<p>“I wish you weren’t going away,” Charity -whispered back.</p> - -<p>Hazel and her mother had a long discussion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> -regarding a suitable present to take to Granny. -Hazel wanted to buy a black and white gingham -dress she saw at Jordan, Marsh’s; but did -Granny wear a thirty-six like her mother, or -a forty-four, like Charity’s mamma? Such -uncertainty made the dress impracticable. A -pretty black and white kitten strayed into the -Tyler flat and when Hazel had fed it, and become -attached to it, she felt that it would be a better -present even than the dress. No arguments -concerning the difficulty of carrying a kitten -to Alabama could make her forsake her plan; -only when her mother asked that it be left to -keep her company did Hazel at once give it up.</p> - -<p>“Yes, do keep it, Mother dear,” she said.</p> - -<p>But still Granny’s present was unsettled. -Mrs. Perkins unconsciously determined what -it should be.</p> - -<p>“Lucy,” she said, one day, “here is a card -that entitles you to six photographs. You -have a good picture of Hazel, but she has none -of you. Please have them taken immediately -and give the child one.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and give one to Granny,” Hazel said.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> -And although Mrs. Tyler protested, Granny’s -present, carefully packed in many rolls of -tissue paper, was her daughter-in-law’s picture -tastefully framed.</p> - -<p>Hazel could not decide, even to the day -of departure, whether she should give it to -Granny on her arrival or should wait until -Christmas.</p> - -<p>One day her minister climbed the tenement -stairs and called upon her and her mother. -The trunk was in the parlor and he examined -with deep interest the contents that Hazel -showed him. Especially he admired the pink -sun-bonnet.</p> - -<p>“You must wear it to church next summer,” -he said. “Only I should look at it so much -I might forget to preach my sermon.”</p> - -<p>He encouraged Mrs. Tyler in what she was -doing. “It will be the making of the child,” -he assured her. “I’ve lived a little in that -country and I know how healthful it is.”</p> - -<p>At parting he placed a package shaped like -a book in Hazel’s hands. “This is for Christmas,” -he said; and taking a pencil from his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> -pocket, he wrote in big letters, “Not to be -opened until Christmas.”</p> - -<p>Hazel gave him a kiss, and holding the book -declared, “I will keep it sacredly until Christmas.”</p> - -<p>She walked down the stairs with him. “You’ll -take good care of my mother at the church, -won’t you?” she asked, squeezing his hand, -“She works so hard. She says she’s saving -to send me to college, and now I’ll lose a whole -year at school. It troubles me.”</p> - -<p>“Why, it mustn’t trouble you, little girl,” -said the minister. They reached the street -and he looked down at her anxious face. -“We will look after your mother. The -ladies will see that she gets work. That -is the only way that we can help her, for -she will take nothing that she does not -earn.”</p> - -<p>Then he raised his hat and bade the child -good-bye.</p> - -<p>It was nearing the time of departure—Thursday, -and the ship sailed Saturday. The -trunk was packed for the last time, with Mrs.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> -Tyler’s gifts, a box of writing-paper and a -dictionary, on top.</p> - -<p>“I hope you will write me a little every -day, Hazel,” her mother said. “It will be -good practice for you. Mail the letters -once or twice a week, but write a little every -day.”</p> - -<p>“It will be like a diary,” said Hazel.</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear.”</p> - -<p>“And you’ll write often to me, Mother, -won’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll write often, but you will write without -waiting for an answer. That will be your -gift to me.”</p> - -<p>The days were so full that Hazel had not -much time to think of the Southland to which -she was going; but at odd minutes she questioned -what it might be like. She had traveled -no further from Boston than neighboring seashore -resorts, and until her father’s death she -had seen little of any but refined people, white -or colored.</p> - -<p>“Charity,” she said, Friday night, “I’ve -been saying good-bye to the McGinnis’s baby.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> -He is so dear and dimpled and rosy. Are there -many white babies South?”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” answered Charity. “But don’t you -have nothing to do with white folks. There’s -two kinds of white folks down there: those -that hates you and those that calls you ‘a -cute little nigger.’ My mother says that ain’t -so, for she knows the first families of Virginia, -but I ain’t acquainted with ’em.”</p> - -<p>“My father used to tell about white people -near his home who were nice,” said Hazel -reflectively.</p> - -<p>“Poor white trash, I guess. There ain’t -any first families in Alabama.”</p> - -<p>That night, before they went to bed, Hazel -questioned her mother about the white folks.</p> - -<p>“Won’t they like me?” she said. “Will -they call out ‘Nigger,’ the way the boys on -Shawmut Avenue do to Charity?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, dear, I don’t know. Granny -can help you about that, not I. But I would -not bother with them, Hazel. They go their -way and you go yours. On the steamer, in -the train, at the church and at school—everywhere<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> -you will be separated. Their world -will not be your world. Leave them alone.”</p> - -<p>“I will remember,” Hazel said softly.</p> - -<p>The kind world that she had known seemed -slipping away from her. She held her mother’s -hand tight.</p> - -<p>“I will be with the colored people,” she said, -“and I will love Granny.”</p> - -<p>“And when night comes, Hazel, remember -we shall both be saying our prayers to the same -Father in Heaven. I shall ask him to bless -you.”</p> - -<p>“And I to bless you, Mother dear.”</p> - -<p>“And when I look at the stars at night I shall -know that the same stars shine on you, only -you will see the huge heavens and I shall only -see a piece from my city window.”</p> - -<p>“And the stars shine on Father, too,” said -Hazel. “I think he sees the stars.”</p> - -<p>With this thought she went to bed and, -after a little, fell asleep, but her mother lay -awake the night long.</p> - -<p>The last present came as they stood on the -steamer. Mr. Perkins brought it to her and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> -demanded and received six hugs in thanks. -It was a soft woolen coat, blue outside and red -within, finer than anything Hazel had ever -owned.</p> - -<p>“It’s to keep your heart warm for your old -friend,” Mr. Perkins said, as he buttoned it -about her. “Take very good care of her, -Mrs. Graham;” he spoke earnestly to the -woman at Hazel’s side. “Don’t let her from -your sight.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be mighty careful,” Mrs. Graham -answered.</p> - -<p>Then the bell rang and visitors were ordered -ashore.</p> - -<p>Hazel gave her mother one more kiss. “I’ll -be back soon,” she whispered.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Tyler did not try to answer; but her -last look was at a shy, brave little girl in a new -blue coat, going out into an unknown, untried -world.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IV<br /> - - -<small>THE JOURNEY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Charity</span> was right. The shawl did not come -out of the trunk until the ship had passed -Cape Hatteras and the voyage was nearly at -an end. Poor Hazel lay in her upper berth, -sick and wretched. When at length she was -able to dress and climb to the deck the rough -weather was over, and she saw a clear, blue -sky and an expanse of soft, tranquil water. -She grew better at once, and ate her dinner -with an appetite.</p> - -<p>The landing was wearying, and the long -journey to Alabama in a dirty, ill-ventilated -car was inexpressibly tiring. The child grew -wretchedly weary, and a big lump rose in her -throat when night came on. She was homesick -and uncomfortable. Instead of her pleasant -bed at home, there was only a hard seat on -which to rest. Mrs. Graham pillowed her as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -well as she could, but the sensitive child lay -awake the most of the night: for if she fell -asleep from weariness, a vicious jolt of the train -shook her awake again. Early in the evening -their train stopped to wait until an express -overtook it and passed on ahead. Hazel saw -the Pullman with its comfortable beds and its -brightly-lighted dining car where colored waiters -were serving delicious-looking food to white -people.</p> - -<p>“Why don’t we ride in a car like that?” -she asked Mrs. Graham.</p> - -<p>But she knew the answer before she heard -it. “Colored people are not allowed to in the -South.”</p> - -<p>All things come to an end, however, even a -wakeful night. In the morning Montgomery -was reached, and at the station Hazel was met -by a kindly colored man who said that his -name was Jenks and that he was a friend of -Granny’s. He was to look after Hazel and -take her to her grandmother’s home. So the -little girl bade Mrs. Graham an affectionate -good-bye and went with her new companion.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>Mr. Jenks lived in a quiet, country-like -street, and Hazel picked out his house before -they reached it. It had roses growing by the -doorway, and a sweet-faced young woman, like -her mother, stood on the porch.</p> - -<p>“You’re tired out, aren’t you, honey?” the -young woman said, giving Hazel a kiss. “You -don’t travel again until late afternoon. Come -in and have breakfast, and then lie down and -sleep.”</p> - -<p>The biscuit and egg tasted delicious. To -her hostess’s surprise Hazel refused coffee. -“My mother doesn’t want me to drink it until -I am grown up,” she explained; and instead -she had a glass of milk. Breakfast over, she -gladly accepted the invitation to lie down -in the clean, white bed in the little room upstairs. -How good it was to get into a fresh -night-gown and creep between the sheets! Her -head swam from the motion of the cars, but -soon that stopped and she was in the land of -dreams.</p> - -<p>She dreamed that her mother called, “Come, -Hazel, it is time for dinner,” and she answered,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -“Yes, I’m coming,” and tried to run from the -bedroom into the little kitchen; but she could -not move. Again the voice called her, and -with a great effort she caught her mother’s -hand, and awoke to find that she was clutching -Mrs. Jenks’ dress.</p> - -<p>“You’ve slept a long while, dear,” her hostess -said. “There’s only time to wash and dress -for dinner. Here is hot water I’ve brought -for you. You’ll feel better when you’ve had -a bath.”</p> - -<p>She washed and dressed, and was just fastening -her collar when there was a knock at her -door. Opening it she found a little girl of -about six who shyly held out to her a bunch -of roses.</p> - -<p>“Are these for me?” Hazel asked.</p> - -<p>The child nodded.</p> - -<p>Hazel looked with astonishment at the flowers. -They were like hot-house roses. At home they -would cost ten, fifteen cents apiece, so much -that you only looked at them in the florist’s -window. You could never afford to buy them, -unless it were for a wedding or a funeral. And<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> -she held all these lovely pink and white blossoms -in her hand!</p> - -<p>“Thank you so much,” she said to the child, -who still remained outside. Hazel went to -the washstand and filling the glass she found -there with water, placed the roses in it. Then, -viewing her treasures with great pride, she -took out one bud and pinned it to her dress.</p> - -<p>It seemed very festive, like a party, to be -wearing a pink rose. And the dinner was -festive, too, with more roses on the table and -Mr. and Mrs. Jenks and their two little daughters -talking and laughing. Hazel ate heartily of -the chicken and sweet potato and guava jelly, -the last a gift from a friend in Florida and only -put on the table at special occasions. But -this was a special occasion, for while Hazel was -only a little girl she was a visitor from the North, -and from the North’s best-loved city, Boston.</p> - -<p>Dinner over, Hazel and the children played -together, building towers of blocks and destroying -them only to build others. The time -seemed short when Mrs. Jenks called her to -make ready to go to the train.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>“My husband will take you all the way,” -she said to Hazel, who rose reluctantly from the -floor. The child went to her room, took the -roses out of the water, dried their stems and -tied them together with a bit of thread from -her traveling bag. They would be a comfort, -she thought, in the dirty train. Then putting -on her hat and coat she went down stairs.</p> - -<p>It was hard to say good-bye to her new -friends. The children clung to her and Mrs. -Jenks invited her to make them a visit when -she returned in the spring. “You haven’t -been a bit of trouble,” she answered in reply -to Hazel’s thanks for her hospitality. “I wish -I could keep you over night.”</p> - -<p>Hazel wished the same in her heart, but she -only said good-bye again and returned to the -railroad station.</p> - -<p>“Let me have your check,” Mr. Jenks -said. “And have you the money for your -ticket?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Hazel, and with a feeling -of pride, she took the money needed from her -leather purse. The business of ticket and trunk<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> -accomplished, the two took their seats in the -car and were soon moving out into the big -world.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t far now, is it?” asked Hazel when -they had traveled for an hour and a half.</p> - -<p>“No,” her companion replied, “we shall -soon be at the station; and then we drive -three miles to your grandmother’s.”</p> - -<p>The station was reached at last, and when -they got out Hazel met a colored man whom -Mr. Jenks called John, and whom he seemed -to know very well. John took the check for -Hazel’s trunk, and placed the luggage on the -back of his wagon. Then giving the reins to -Mr. Jenks, he walked away.</p> - -<p>“See you right soon,” he called.</p> - -<p>“I’m to drive you. Jump in,” Mr. Jenks -commanded, and Hazel climbed to the seat -by his side.</p> - -<p>It was sunset. There was but one house -near the station, and their road led through -a sparsely tenanted country. Slender pines -stood in the fields, and beyond the sky glowed -golden. The air was clear and fragrant, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> -Hazel found herself drinking in deep breaths. -Suddenly from the meadow came a bird’s -note, long and sweet and plaintive. Again -and again the bird called.</p> - -<p>“A meadow lark,” Mr. Jenks said.</p> - -<p>The child pressed her hands together. She -felt exquisitely sad, and yet full of awe and -wonder. The bird sang on and on from the -meadow, and when at length she left it behind, -the sunset had changed to red and the air was -growing chill.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I have a warm coat,” she said in answer -to Mr. Jenks’ look, and she buttoned the blue -coat about her neck.</p> - -<p>Fields and pines and pines and fields. The -sunset light, purple now, a single star shining -in the west. Then a cabin by the road, and -the horse stopped.</p> - -<p>Hazel trembled as Mr. Jenks lifted her down. -The cabin door opened and a tall, large woman -came down the steps, put her arm about Hazel -and spoke to Mr. Jenks.</p> - -<p>“You done brought my child,” she said. -“Come in and rest yourself.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>“Not to-night,” Mr. Jenks answered. “I’m -going back to John’s.”</p> - -<p>He took the trunk from the wagon and placed -it on the ground.</p> - -<p>“Good-night, Hazel. Good-night, Aunt -Ellen,” and turning his team, he drove away.</p> - -<p>The room that Hazel entered was lighted by -a kerosene lamp and a fire of logs that sent -forth a rich, yellow flame. Her grandmother -helped the child take off her hat and coat, and -then, sitting on a low chair by the blaze, drew -the little girl toward her.</p> - -<p>“You favors your mother, honey,” she said, -“but your eyes looks at me like your father’s -did. They’s dark and tired, now. You’s -come over the sea and over the land clear to -your granny. Put your head on my breast -where your daddy rested when he was a -baby.”</p> - -<p>Hazel put her arms around the old woman’s -neck and held her tight. Little warm pulses -of feeling swept through her. The pines, the -sunset, the bird’s note, and this loving welcome -by the open fire, all made her heart beat fast<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> -and her body shake. She was sobbing before -she knew it.</p> - -<p>Granny understood what to do. She put -the little girl in her chair, and leaving her for -a moment came back with a gray kitten, very -small and warm and helpless. Hazel ceased -crying as she took it on her lap and gently -stroked its fur.</p> - -<p>“Is it named?” she asked after a moment.</p> - -<p>“No, honey; it’s been saving for you.”</p> - -<p>“Then, please, I will call it Lucy after my -mother.”</p> - -<p>She stroked it tenderly and thought of the -purring black and white kitten in the kitchen -at home.</p> - -<p>“You has a sweet, loving mother, I know.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve her picture for you.” And that settled -the question of whether Granny’s present should -be kept until Christmas.</p> - -<p>It was decided not to open the trunk until -morning. A warm supper was eaten before -the fire, and then Granny declared that it was -time good little girls were in bed.</p> - -<p>The room in which they sat seemed very<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> -large to Hazel. Granny’s big bed was at one -end, and the fire-place at the other. A door -to the left of the fire-place lead into Hazel’s -bedroom, the one other room of the house.</p> - -<p>“Here your father used to sleep, honey,” -Granny said, “and here you rest to-night.”</p> - -<p>But in this last statement Granny was mistaken. -After Hazel had said her prayers and -had crept among the soft feathers a terrible -feeling of loneliness came over her. She heard -her grandmother walking in the other room, -and then the light grew less and she knew the -lamp was out. Her door was open and she -could see shadows on the wall beyond.</p> - -<p>“Granny,” she called. “Are you going to -bed?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, honey.”</p> - -<p>“Could I have pussy Lucy with me?”</p> - -<p>Her grandmother brought her the little kitten -and placed it on the pillow.</p> - -<p>“Shut your eyes, honey, and the sand man -will come.”</p> - -<p>But the sand man refused to visit the little -room. Granny went to bed, and Hazel could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> -hear no sound save the chirp of a late cricket -outside the open window. Out there were the -heavens, where her father had gone, filled with -their myriad stars. Was her mother gazing -at them and thinking of her? She hugged the -kitten, and looked for comfort into the other -room. It seemed to her, as she watched the -flickering shadows, that the light was growing -less. Yes, the fire would go out, and she would -be left alone in darkness. Her heart pounded -and a strange terror possessed her. She did -not yet know this new home, and while she -loved the light of the moon and the stars, -she hated blackness. If she should wake up -alone, the fire gone, only the black night about!</p> - -<p>Her throat grew hot. Holding the kitten -in one hand against her warm neck and cheek, -she left her bed and walked into Granny’s -room. The firelight showed her standing there, -a slim, timid figure.</p> - -<p>She sat by the hearth a minute and watched -the blaze just as her father had watched it -when he was a little boy. The kitten tumbled -to her lap, and crawled to the floor.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>Then she heard a sweet, drawling voice, -“Lonely, baby? Come by the big bed to-night.”</p> - -<p>And the lonely baby climbed into the great -pile of feathers, and with one hand pillowing -her cheek, the other touching the warm face -of her father’s mother, fell fast asleep.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER V<br /> - - -<small>GRANNY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> Hazel awoke the next morning her -grandmother was up and dressed, and moving -about the room. The child watched her unobserved.</p> - -<p>Here was someone quite different from any -of the people Hazel had known. Until she -moved to Hammond Street she had met only -the small class of business and professional -colored people of her city. These men and -women dressed and acted like the cultivated -white people about them. Their view-point -was that of their New England white neighbors; -and their children, who were educated -with white children, were staunch little New -Englanders, with the same speech, the same -dress, the same ambitions as their white schoolmates. -On Hammond Street colored people -were different. But then, they were poor,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> -and did not have time for the niceties of life. -But no one she had known in Jamaica Plains -or in the South End was in the least like this -grandmother.</p> - -<p>The first thing Hazel noted was her strength. -She had felt it the night before when she had -snuggled up against the old woman’s breast, -and she felt it this morning as she watched her -move about the room lifting the full kettle as -though it were made of tin, not of iron. And -yet the hair that the child could see under the -turban was grey, and the face bore many -wrinkles.</p> - -<p>She was dressed as though she had come out -of a story book. On her head was a turban of -a rich, deep red, and about her neck was a -gay bandanna; her calico dress, faded now, -still showed its red stripes on a grey background. -Her dark brown face with its big -features was alight with expression. She was -looking toward the bed and Hazel shut her -eyes.</p> - -<p>She opened them in a few seconds and -began to study the room. Here again was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> -something quite outside her experience. It -was large and the walls were of wood, but -partly covered with pictures, photographs in -frames, postal cards, illustrations cut from -newspapers. On the bureau was her picture, -taken when she was a baby.</p> - -<p>One end of the room was the kitchen, where -there were shelves with pots and pans and -glasses filled with delicious-looking jelly. There -was a sideboard full of china, and a table which -Granny was setting for breakfast. And last, -the room was full of a delicious fragrance, the -odor of wood smoke.</p> - -<p>Granny looked over again, and nodded.</p> - -<p>“I see you’s awake, sugar,” she said, “Getting -acquainted with the new room and them -as is in it. Run and dress now or the breakfast -will spoil.”</p> - -<p>Hazel scampered into her room where everything -was in readiness for her. The little -trunk had been moved in, the pitcher was -filled with water, and the roses she had brought -were in a glass on the bureau. She dressed -carefully, putting on the blue gingham that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> -showed her slender prettiness. Granny looked -approval as she came in to breakfast.</p> - -<p>After breakfast the trunk was unpacked. -Granny was full of praise of the photograph -that brought her daughter home to her, and -wanted to see again and again the pretty gifts -that Hazel had received from her friends. -Then everything was put in place, the trunk -was stowed under the bed and Hazel put on -her pink sun-bonnet and went out-of-doors.</p> - -<p>The morning was warm, and though it was -December she had no need of a coat. Granny’s -house was fenced in and within the enclosure -was her garden and a little outhouse in which -was a small cooking-stove and a loom. The -garden showed a few late vegetables and in -the front of the house roses climbed upon -the porch, and grew in tall bushes by the -fence.</p> - -<p>The landscape dipped at the back of the -cabin, and Hazel looked over fields of corn -and stubble and dry cotton stalks. A number -of cabins were dotted about among the fields. -In front, across the road, was a hill, half covered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> -with pines. No house was visible from the -road, but among the pines, to the left, was a -chimney from which smoke issued. Hazel felt -that she was a long way from trolley and -library, from rattling carts and loud-voiced -children, from school and playground.</p> - -<p>Dinner-time came; and after dinner there -was a long letter to write to Mother who had -learned of the journey only on hurriedly written -post-cards. But while the child kept busy, -the day was tedious to her and she was glad -with the coming of the night to seek her little -room, grown familiar now. What, she wondered, -would she do in the many days that -stretched before her? How could she ever -occupy herself until the summer came?</p> - -<p>The week that followed was the longest that -Hazel had ever known. Accustomed as she -was to regular hours for school and play and -home-work she now found the time from breakfast -to supper very hard to fill. And Granny -did not help her much. She was watching -the little girl, “studying” she would have said. -So Hazel wandered about somewhat aimlessly,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> -and yet gradually learned to enjoy her new -surroundings.</p> - -<p>Her first acquaintances were the hens.</p> - -<p>“Look, Granny,” she cried one morning. “I’ve -found an egg!” and she held up her treasure.</p> - -<p>“You has, sugar, sure enough. I just -naturally overlooked that egg this morning. -That white hen always done find a new place -to hide from me.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps I can find more eggs,” Hazel -thought, and hunted assiduously, but without -success. She grew fond, however, of the clucking -creatures, and often fed them from the food -left on her plate.</p> - -<p>Her grandmother had a flock of turkeys, -and their wanderings lead Hazel on many a -pleasant walk. She did not like to go out -of sight of her home, but when the turkeys -turned to the pines across the road she loved -to follow them over the pine-cones among -the trees. Here she would sit and watch the -smoke as it curled from Granny’s chimney, -and would listen to the monotonous soughing -of the wind among the pines.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>But there was a serpent in this garden; it -went on four legs and grunted and was dirty -and disgusting. Hazel had seen pigs in a pig-pen -in Massachusetts, but here in Alabama -they had the freedom of the road. She soon -realized why the garden was fenced in. In -the North you imprisoned your live stock; -but in the South you let them loose and enclosed -with picket-fence your house and garden. -This was very nice for the animals but not -so nice for timid little girls. Hens, turkeys, -cows, pigs, all roamed at will. The few cows -that Hazel met were thin and spiritless, and -she did not fear them much; but when the -inquisitive pig came near to where she sat, -she jumped up and scurried away. Such great -ugly creatures, rightly called hogs! So out-of-doors, -save in the narrow garden enclosure, -had its drawbacks.</p> - -<p>Granny, Hazel found, was an important -person in the neighborhood. No one went -by her porch without a word of welcome. -If she were about, Granny would call to her, -and ask her to come and meet Uncle Silas, or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span> -Aunt Harriet, or whoever the visitor might -be. She was not especially attracted by these -people who took a long time to say that the -weather was fine, or to ask how Granny’s -hens were laying. She answered their questions, -but she did not volunteer any information.</p> - -<p>One day two white ladies, for whom Granny -sometimes did laundry work, stopped as they -drove by in their buggy. They saw Hazel, -and at once began to question her. They -wanted to know why she had come to Alabama, -how she got there, and asked her many details -of her life at home. When they left Hazel -turned somewhat excitedly to her grandmother.</p> - -<p>“Why do they say such things to me?” -she asked. “My mother, if she went to see -them, wouldn’t ask about every teenty thing -they did.</p> - -<p>“‘Is your pa living?’</p> - -<p>“‘What does your ma do?’</p> - -<p>“‘How is she buying you such clothes?’</p> - -<p>“‘How long have you been to school?’</p> - -<p>“‘Are you reckoning to stay here this winter?’</p> - -<p>“‘Are you working for Aunt Ellen?’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>“Just like that, Granny.”</p> - -<p>Granny gave one of her big laughs, and sat -down with Hazel on the steps.</p> - -<p>“These people here are just naturally curious, -sugar. Don’t you get put out at ’em. I knows -the proper city manners. If old man Lee -above here should drink himself to death with -whiskey, or old mammy Smith down below -should burn up in her house, you city folks ’ud -just inquire, polite-like, the next time you met -one of the family, ‘I heard you-all met with an -accident, I’m so sorry. I hope you-all is doing -well now.’ But we hasn’t city manners down -here. Nothing much happens except the hoeing -of the corn and the picking of the cotton; -and when a little girl with soft eyes and a -pretty dress and sweet ways comes among us, -we’s just naturally curious. We wants to see -her and learn all about it.”</p> - -<p>Hazel laughed, but she still criticized the -visitors. “They weren’t pretty or well-dressed -and they made mistakes the teacher corrects us -for at school. Were they first families?”</p> - -<p>Granny looked mystified.</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i070.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">She still picked her cotton in the autumn and planted it in the spring</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>“Charity, you know I’ve told you about -Charity, said all the nice white people in -the South were first families. She said there -were lots of them in Virginia but she guessed -there weren’t any in Alabama.”</p> - -<p>Granny answered more gravely than before, -“There’s first families everywhere, child, -but its like the Scriptures, some of them as -thinks they’re first will be last; and the last, -as thinks they’re no account, will be first. -By their fruits you shall know them; by their -charity and kindness. And it’s soon, dearie, -for you to be judging them by their fruits.”</p> - -<p>If Hazel had little to busy herself with, she -saw that Granny was rarely idle. The old -woman never hurried, and was ready to stop -and speak to the passing neighbor, but when -the day was done she had accomplished a great -deal. She still picked her cotton in the autumn -and planted it in the spring; but now she was -busy about her house, her laundry, her poultry, -her spinning-wheel and loom. For she was -one of the very few old people left who spun -and wove, and travelers from many parts of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> -the country had bits of her handiwork. Hazel -watched her spinning with wide eyes. One -day she asked timidly if she might learn.</p> - -<p>“I’s right glad to teach you, honey,” was -the answer. “The children about here thinks -they’s above learning to spin.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t,” said Hazel, and took her place at -the wheel.</p> - -<p>And now the days grew less long and were -full of pleasant anticipation. In the morning, -before breakfast, she hunted eggs. After breakfast -was over, she put her room in order and -helped Granny with the dishes, and then she -turned to her spinning. She soon became -expert at twisting the thread, and grew so -interested that Granny sometimes had to send -her away to play. Before dinner, she went -among the pines and practised gymnastic exercises -that she had learned at school. She -was a conscientious little body; and having -come South to get well, did all that she knew -to bring about the desired result.</p> - -<p>“If I am to get home,” she would argue to -herself, “I must grow stronger every day;”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> -and swinging wide her arms, she would take -deep breaths of the delicious air.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon she would write to her -mother, and later she and Granny would often -take a walk across the bare fields, occasionally -stopping at a neighbor’s cottage. Hazel would -look shyly at the barefooted, barelegged little -black children, but she could not think of -anything to say to them, and they in their -turn only stared.</p> - -<p>When dusk came she would watch the turkeys -as they went to roost in the trees. One tree -seemed almost full of these strange birds, half -wild, half domesticated. In the evening Granny -and she would sit before the open fire and tell -one another stories. Hazel loved to recite poetry, -and Granny never tired of the “Village Blacksmith” -and “The little Shadow that goes -in and out with me.” Hazel had an odd assortment -of poems, among them Whittier’s “Slave -Ship” which she recited with great feeling. -“Those were dark days,” Granny would say, -and then perhaps, to Hazel’s unending delight, -would sing, “Let my people go,” or “Oh,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> -freedom over me!” The strange music in the -quiet house by the open fire, stirred the child’s -heart. Then, when she was safe in bed, Granny -would stand near the candle and would make -funny figures upon the wall—Brer Rabbit and -his numerous family. And with a laugh and a -good-night, Hazel would turn over and fall -asleep.</p> - -<p>So the quiet days went by and brought in -the New Year.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VI<br /> - - -<small>LETTERS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p class="right">December 26.</p> - -<p>Darling Mother:—</p> - -<p>Christmas day is like the Fourth of July, -they set off fire crackers, and it is so warm that -you wear summer dresses. I wore my white -dress.</p> - -<p>I read last night to Granny from the minister’s -book. You know he wrote, not to be opened -until Christmas. It is full of poems. The -first one says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">Where did you come from, baby dear?</div> -<div class="verse">Out of the everywhere into here.</div> -</div></div> - -<p>There are babies living about here, only their -mothers don’t wash them very much. There -are no bath tubs and no hot water faucets. -I take my bath in the wash tub.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span></p> - - -<p class="right">December 27.</p> - -<p>I went to Sunday school Sunday, and there -were 16 children. The teacher comes from -the school at Jonesville, 8 miles away. It is -a fine school, as fine as the Jamaica Plains -grammar school, and ladies from the North -come down to teach. They teach only colored -boys and girls.</p> - -<p>The Sunday school was in the church, and -all the boys and girls had bare feet. Some -are so poor they had no pennies to bring, and -guess, what do you think they put in the -plate, EGGS!!! Only it was a hat. An -egg is worth a penny, and I eat a great many -of them.</p> - -<p>They had the same singing books we have -at Boston. Some kind ladies sent them down. -The children sing much prettier than at home. -The teeniest can sing alto.</p> - -<p>Everybody is very poor. Not Granny, -her sons have been good to her. People eat -bacon. Granny often kills a chicken, but -no one, not the richest people, eat roast -beef.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span></p> - - -<p class="right">December 28.</p> - -<p>I forgot to tell you, mother darling, that the -Sunday school teacher was colored. There were -not any classes. She explained the lesson to everybody. -I like her very much. She kissed me -good-bye and told me to come again, but Sunday -school is only once a month and so is church.</p> - -<p>Tell Charity I wear the sun-bonnet some days, -and Granny says I shall wear it more when the -sun gets hot.</p> - -<p>Darling Mother, I think of Father a great -deal because I sleep in his bed and Granny -showed me the first shoes he wore. They are -all out at the toes. They are not little because -he went barefoot. At first I used to cry but -now I don’t. Granny says he was always -jolly. I can make Granny laugh when I tell -her about Boston. She pretends not to believe -about elevators and sky-scrapers and telefones. -I think she really doesn’t truly believe about -telefones.</p> - - -<p class="right">December 30.</p> - -<p>You don’t mind if I sometimes skip a day, do -you, Mother? Because sometimes I am busy.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> -I am spinning. I am like Priscilla in Miles -Standish. It is more fun to spin than to sew -or cook or wash or iron. When Granny washes -she makes a fire out-of-doors and boils water -in a great big iron pot.</p> - - -<p class="right">December 31.</p> - -<p>I have written a New Year’s poem for you.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">Where did you come from, mother dear?</div> -<div class="verse">Out of the skies and the atmosphere.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">Here is pussy Lucy, mother dear,</div> -<div class="verse">She is named after you, do you hear?</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">Pussy Lucy will die</div> -<div class="verse">And so will you and I.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="right"><span class="indentright">Your affectionate daughter,</span><br /> -<span class="smcap">Hazel Tyler</span>.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p class="right">January 1.</p> - -<p>Dear Hazel,</p> - -<p>A Happy New Year, darling! Last night -I saw the Old Year out and the New Year in -at the Perkins. There were thirty of us, and -we sang, and Mr. Douglass played on his violin,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> -until twelve o’clock. Then we all said Happy -New Year to one another.</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i079.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">“I am spinning. I am like Priscilla in Miles Standish”</p> - -<p>The New Year has begun well for me in my -business. I have ten people I go to every -week. Just think of it! That is ten dollars -a week shampooing hair! They say I have a -gentle touch. You used to like to have me -wash your hair, do you remember? I hope -you are taking good care of it.</p> - -<p>You see I am getting quite rich. I do not -do any laundry except Mrs. Hollingsworth’s. -Mrs. Hollingsworth sent the pink tea gown -the other day, and said it was not worth laundering -again, and for me to keep it. So I have it -for my little Queen of Sheba.</p> - -<p>Charity helps me sometimes. I want to -tell you that I have grown very fond of Charity. -Her father is no account. He has gone away -and her mother has to work out as a cook. -That leaves Charity all alone until nine o’clock -at night, so sometimes she comes up to see me. -One afternoon, just before Christmas, I didn’t -get home until seven at night, and I found -Charity in the kitchen ironing. She had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> -climbed up the fire-escape, opened the kitchen -window, and dropped in. She looked up and -said, “You bet now, I surprised you.” But -when I looked at the ironing I was more surprised. -I couldn’t have done it better.</p> - -<p>Of course, I asked her to stay to supper, and -we had griddle cakes and maple syrup and we -talked about you. Then I told Charity stories. -She didn’t know Cinderella, or Jack and the -Beanstalk, and it was a real comfort to have -her put her arms around me and bid me good-night. -For it was Christmas Eve, Hazel dear. -When she left I cuddled the kitty. I gave her -a collar with a bell on it for Christmas.</p> - -<p>We are having snow and cold east winds, -while you are playing in the sunshine without -a coat. Mr. Perkins pretends to be very -provoked every time I see him, and says -Boston has the finest climate in the world, -but I am glad you are escaping it. It has -snowed and thawed and rained and snowed -again all in twenty-four hours.</p> - -<p>The ladies in the church sewing-circle sent a -box last week to a school for colored children<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> -at Jonesville. They tell me that it is quite -near you. I wonder if you have heard of it.</p> - -<p>I hope you are getting stronger every day, -darling, and that when you come home Charity -will have to lend you her clothes, you will be -so plump.</p> - -<p>Give Granny my love, and kiss pussy Lucy -for me to-night. I have named my kitten -for you.</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="indentright">Your loving,</span><br /> -<span class="smcap">Mother</span>.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VII<br /> - - -<small>THAT OLD TIME RELIGION</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Lee family had left their cabin up the -road and were on their way to church. They -were all out this Sunday evening, old man Lee, -sober for once, his wife, Scipio, a heavy, solemn-looking -boy of thirteen, Julius, Theora, Thomas -and Ezekiel. Mother Lee had evidently long -since given up keeping all her children’s clothes -in repair. Her boys’ garments were few -and ragged. But upon her little girl she -had attempted some embellishment. Theora’s -crinkly hair was tied with a piece of bright -cotton cloth, and on her feet were shoes and -stockings.</p> - -<p>The family caught up with Granny and Hazel, -and the mother felt a sullen resentment at -Hazel’s dress. The child wore her blue coat, -and a dark blue hat with a grey quill. She -nodded pleasantly to her neighbors, but kept<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> -close to Granny’s side. She was afraid of -old man Lee whom she had seen one night -staggering past her home, and his children -seemed dull. Granny, who had a kindly word -for everyone, talked with the mother, and -Hazel watched the deepening twilight.</p> - -<p>It was a pleasant walk to church, along the -road and then through the open fields. At -a turn to the west the new moon shone before -them, a clear bow in the deep blue sky. Hazel -stopped to look at the lovely crescent; but -she was recalled to earth by hearing a sharp -voice call: “Where you going, Scip? Stop -your mooning and help me with Zeke.”</p> - -<p>Scipio had been looking at the moon, too! -She watched him with awakening sympathy -as, moving past her, he picked up his little -brother. As she hurried to join Granny she -found herself by his side, and turning, and -nodding her head toward the moon, she said -in her clear, distinct voice: “It is pretty, isn’t -it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, ma’am,” said Scipio.</p> - -<p>The church was small, and when they entered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> -the bare room was more than half filled, so -they took their places near the door. The -only light was furnished by two kerosene -lamps, and in the corners of the room were -strange shadows. As the black men and women -and children continued to come the place -grew crowded and the air became close and -full of an uncleanly odor.</p> - -<p>“Move up, Hazel,” Granny said, for the -child was at the end of the bench and there -was space for one more on it.</p> - -<p>Hazel moved up reluctantly, dreading a -seat-mate, but Scipio, who had been standing, -slipped in at her side. She felt relieved.</p> - -<p>The minister, a portly man in a long black -coat, mounted the platform and the congregation -began to sing:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="first">“That old time religion,</div> -<div class="verse">That old time religion,</div> -<div class="verse">That old time religion,</div> -<div class="verse">Is good enough for me.”</div> -</div></div> - -<p>They did not rise, but remained in their -seats swaying a little back and forth. It was -strange minor music.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span>After the singing, the minister prayed and -read from the Bible, and then he began to -preach. He gave as his text:</p> - -<p>“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how -can ye escape the damnation of Hell?”</p> - -<p>He began by drawing a picture of heaven, -the dwelling-place of the saints. He measured -the thousand furlongs of the city; he depicted -the streets of gold and the gates of pearl; he -garnished the walls with chrysolite, beryl and -amethyst. His voice at times was low and -soft, and then suddenly it became loud and -dramatic, and almost shook the little building. -Hazel awoke from her absorption in his manner -to note his words when he called out:</p> - -<p>“And the building of the wall was jasper.”</p> - -<p>“There,” she thought triumphantly, “I was -right that day and Charity was wrong. Jasper -isn’t something to eat.”</p> - -<p>She was wholly unaccustomed to hearing -the congregation take a spontaneous part in -the service, and was amazed at their frequent -cries of “That’s so,” and “Amen.”</p> - -<p>But the preacher did not mean to dwell long<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> -this evening on the celestial sphere. He was -concerned with showing his hearers the terrors -of the underworld. In a few moments he -depicted them as standing in the lake of fire -and brimstone, burning, burning, not for a day -but forever and ever. The flames seemed to -leap up as the minister shouted: “And the -devil will reach out for you, ye generation of -vipers, he’ll reach out for you across the flames, -and he’ll catch you and draw you into the -burning lake.”</p> - -<p>“Lord save us!” “Please have mercy, Jesus,” -came from the moaning crowd.</p> - -<p>Hazel was aghast.</p> - -<p>“Come to the Lord and be saved,” cried -the preacher. “Be saved by the blood of the -Lamb!”</p> - -<p>A change came over the congregation. The -moaning ceased. From different parts of the -room arose calls of “Yes, Jesus,” “I’s coming, -Lord.” Women began to sway back and forth, -crying loudly for salvation.</p> - -<p>Hazel looked at Granny. The old woman -had forgotten her.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span>“The devil shan’t get us in the burning -pit,” shouted the preacher.</p> - -<p>“No, Lord,” said Granny.</p> - -<p>“Lord save us,” shouted old man Lee in -front.</p> - -<p>Hazel grew frightened. She felt suffocated -and wanted to get away. Glancing at Scipio -she saw that he sat as stolid as ever, unmoved -apparently by all that was going on about -him.</p> - -<p>“Scip,” she whispered, “I want to get -out.”</p> - -<p>He looked at her frightened face, and, taking -her hand, butted with his head until he had -made a way through the crowd of people -standing between them and the open door. -Then they passed out into the night.</p> - -<p>The little moon was setting behind the trees. -The air was fresh and cool, but not chill. Above -were the peaceful stars.</p> - -<p>“The heathen are burning,” shouted the -preacher, “and every day the devil pours on -fresh oil and the flames mount higher and -higher to the sky.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>“Scip,” said Hazel with a quick breath, -“do you believe in hell?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, ma’am,” said Scipio.</p> - -<p>“You don’t believe what he is saying? You -don’t believe God will put us in fire to burn -forever and ever?”</p> - -<p>“I seen a lynching once,” Scipio replied. -“It were just like that, they poured on oil.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t,” Hazel gasped. She seized his -arm with her two hands; “don’t,” she cried.</p> - -<p>After a moment she whispered, “But it -didn’t last forever. He died?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, ma’am. He died.”</p> - -<p>“And wicked men burned him, and it was -only for a few minutes. God wouldn’t make -him burn forever and ever.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you fret,” said Scipio. She had -let go of his arm, but he knew that she was -trembling. “They-all is sure they’ll get off. -They’s sure the devil won’t catch them. There’s -my pa, he ain’t done a stroke of work this week. -Been crazy drunk. But he’s got religion. Hear -him holler!”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe it’s like that, Scip,” Hazel<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> -said very earnestly. “Religion is being good -and honest and pure in heart.”</p> - -<p>A man approached the children as they -stood a little apart from the throng about the -door.</p> - -<p>“Howdy, little ’un,” he leered, lounging up to -Hazel. “You’s a pretty trick.”</p> - -<p>Hazel caught Scipio by the hand.</p> - -<p>The boy moved forward into the light, -leaving the little girl in the shadow. He held -her hand tight.</p> - -<p>“Let her alone,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Deliver us from the fire of hell and take -us into the kingdom of heaven,” called the -preacher.</p> - -<p>“Amen, Hallelujah,” came out upon the night.</p> - -<p>The strange man advanced another step -toward Hazel. Scipio stood still, his chin -forward like a bulldog. The man muttered a -curse and turned away.</p> - -<p>A hymn was sung and the service broke -up. Granny was among the first to leave the -building.</p> - -<p>“I’s glad to find you, child,” she said as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> -Hazel came up to her. “Where you done -gone?”</p> - -<p>“I felt faint, Granny, and came out to get -a breath of fresh air,” Hazel explained.</p> - -<p>At that moment old man Lee called roughly -to his son, “Come here, you lazy hound,” -and moved as if to strike him.</p> - -<p>Hazel started forward. “Please don’t blame -Scip, Mr. Lee,” she said. “He’s been taking -care of me.” And turning to the boy she -added: “Thank you, Scip.”</p> - -<p>Something in her speech, perhaps the unfamiliar -“Mr. Lee,” quieted the old man. -He turned away from his eldest son who went -to help with the baby.</p> - -<p>Hazel was silent on the way home, for she -felt that this time Granny could not share her -thoughts. The old woman was happy at having -seen her friends and hummed a hymn. -Perhaps, had Hazel given her her confidence, -she would have said that hell was just a place -to scare people with: that the Lord never -meant the devil should keep anyone there.</p> - -<p>They reached home before the Lees whom<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> -they saw coming slowly behind, Scipio with -the baby in his arms.</p> - -<p>Granny gave Hazel a good-night kiss, but -the little girl did not go at once to bed. For -some time, wrapped in her warm shawl, she -sat at the window, looking out upon the stars. -They rested her perturbed spirit. At length, -a smile lighted her face. A new thought had -come to her.</p> - -<p>“My own father wouldn’t have hurt anybody,” -she whispered. “Not even if they -were wicked. And God is my Father in -Heaven.”</p> - -<p>And comforted, she knelt and said the Lord’s -prayer, and asked God to bless her mother -and Charity and Mr. and Mrs. Perkins and -Granny and—and Scip.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VIII<br /> - - -<small>BROTHER AND SISTER</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Do</span> you know, Scip,” Hazel confided, “I’m -dreadfully afraid of pigs.”</p> - -<p>“They won’t hurt you,” Scip replied.</p> - -<p>The two children were sitting among the -pines on the hill that overlooked their homes. -A few hogs grunted near them among the cones.</p> - -<p>“Of course, I’m not afraid when you’re here,” -Hazel explained, “but when I come up alone -sometimes they try to get around me and it -makes me fidgety.”</p> - -<p>“They might give you fleas,” said Scip.</p> - -<p>He found a stick for her. “Hit ’em with -that,” he said. “That’ll fix ’em.”</p> - -<p>“Would it do for cows, too, Scip?”</p> - -<p>“Yes’m.”</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid of cows and pigs and I’m -terribly afraid of bulls. I expect you think -I’m a coward.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>“No, I don’t,” Scip said, looking squarely -at her. “You wasn’t afraid of my father, -Sunday night.”</p> - -<p>Hazel changed the subject. “What do you -want to do when you grow up?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Go to school.”</p> - -<p>The girl laughed. “Why now’s the time to -go to school, before you grow up. You can’t -go afterwards.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t I?” the boy asked anxiously, “I -ain’t got time now.”</p> - -<p>“Haven’t you been to school at all?”</p> - -<p>“Six weeks when I were ten, and four weeks -when I were eight.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, ma’am.”</p> - -<p>“Then you can’t read?”</p> - -<p>“I’s feared I’s forgot. I can print some.”</p> - -<p>Hazel thought a moment, and then said, -“Would you like me to teach you, Scip? I’m -not busy. I don’t have anything that I <i>have</i> -to do except make my bed, and of course I -help Granny with the dishes and ironing. I -can iron nicely now, and I can spin, too. But<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> -I could teach you any time you would come. -I have books.”</p> - -<p>Scipio dug a stick in the ground and scattered -the pine-cones. “I ain’t smart,” he -muttered. “I’s feared you couldn’t learn me.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll try,” Hazel answered. “I’m a young -teacher, don’t you think, Scip?” She jumped -up and laughed. “You must do everything -I say. Let’s begin now. I’ll go and get my -books.”</p> - -<p>She ran down the hill, her blue dress blowing -in the wind, her small head gaily erect.</p> - -<p>“Like a blue-bird,” Scipio thought.</p> - -<p>She came back in a few minutes, her hands -full.</p> - -<p>“I’ve pencil and paper,” she called. “Scip, -can’t we find a nice place to keep school in?”</p> - -<p>“There’s a green spot a way up,” the boy -replied. “You might like it.”</p> - -<p>He led her among the trees to a little enclosure. -Small pines, not more than six feet -high, made a natural hedge, and shut them -out from the road below.</p> - -<p>“How pretty,” cried Hazel. “It’s like a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> -little house. Here, take the books, Scip, and -I’ll decide what to do.”</p> - -<p>He obediently held the books for her.</p> - -<p>As she looked about among the pines a new -idea came to her.</p> - -<p>“We won’t call it school,” she declared. -“We’ll play house. You and I will be brother -and sister. We’ll play that I’ve had advantages, -I’ve been North to school, and now I’ve come -home. This will be our house and this,” tapping -with her foot, “will be the parlor. We’ll -sit down here and I’ll teach you.”</p> - -<p>She took the books and papers from his hands -and placed them on the ground. “I can sit -down and lean against this tree and pretend -I’m in a chair. Here is the paper and pencil. -I haven’t a primer so I’ll start and print the -letters. Sit down, Scip.”</p> - -<p>He seated himself beside her.</p> - -<p>“Do you know your alphabet?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“I don’t rightly know whether I remember -it all, ma’am.”</p> - -<p>“You mustn’t say ma’am to me, I’m your -sister.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>“No, ma’am.”</p> - -<p>Hazel laughed. “You’re so funny, Scip. -Now do you know what that letter is?” pointing -to the first on his paper.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Sister. That’s A.”</p> - -<p>The little girl almost jumped at her new name. -She did not know how common the appellation -was in the South.</p> - -<p>“And the next one, Scip?”</p> - -<p>“B.”</p> - -<p>And so on. I and J proved stumbling blocks, -but once passed the end was reached without -further mistake.</p> - -<p>“Now words,” said Hazel, turning from the -alphabet, “are letters put together. Can you -spell any words?”</p> - -<p>“I can print my name.”</p> - -<p>“Please do, then.”</p> - -<p>Scipio took the pencil and laboriously printed -<span class="gesperrt">SCIPIO LEE</span>.</p> - -<p>“The C isn’t pronounced,” Hazel said -thoughtfully. “I guessed it was spelt SIPIO. -You can never guess at spelling, though, it’s -so queer.”</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i099.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">Scipio Lee</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span>“It’s a fool name,” said Scip, moodily. -“My pa and ma done give us all fool names -but Tom.”</p> - -<p>“I think Scipio was a Roman, and the Romans -were very brave. You aren’t afraid of anything -are you?”</p> - -<p>“I’s afraid of my father.”</p> - -<p>Hazel was silent. She felt very sorry for -her new playmate.</p> - -<p>“Shall we go on?” she said at length.</p> - -<p>“Yes, ma’am.”</p> - -<p>She let the “ma’am” pass, and began to -teach again.</p> - -<p>“We’ll spell the things about us. There -are the pigs. See, pig is spelt <span class="gesperrt">PIG</span>.” And -she printed it for him.</p> - -<p>He slowly repeated the letters.</p> - -<p>“Say it phonetically,” she commanded. -“P—ig.”</p> - -<p>He tried unsuccessfully to imitate her.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Scip, you’re so funny. This is the -sound of P, Pe̤, Pe̤.” She blew the P out -from between her lips. “P—ig P—en, P—encil, -P, P, P, say them, Scip.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>He did better this time.</p> - -<p>“Now, can’t you think of something that -begins with P yourself?”</p> - -<p>“P, P, P, Peep,” Scip said, stumbling on the -word by chance.</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s right. That’s what the chickens -say, isn’t it? Have you chickens at your -house?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Sister. We tries to raise ’em; but -they ain’t pert like Aunt Ellen’s chickens.”</p> - -<p>“There’s another P. P—ert. Don’t you -hear it, Scip?”</p> - -<p>He repeated it after her.</p> - -<p>“Good! Now I’ll write these words for -your lesson to-morrow. Can you come here -to-morrow, do you think?”</p> - -<p>“I try to,” he answered, looking at her -gravely. “We ain’t over busy now. Ma, she’d -be glad to have me come. She’d kep’ me in -school if she’d been ’lowed. I come if I can, -but I can’t never be sure.”</p> - -<p>“What is the best time for you to get away?”</p> - -<p>“I reckon when dinner’s done. Pa goes to -sleep then sometimes.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>“We’ll play like this, Scip. I’ll always be -here after dinner, if it is pleasant. Granny -doesn’t need me then, so I’ll come to my house -up here. And I’ll brush up, and get things -tidy; and if my brother comes I’ll teach him -his lessons. If he doesn’t, I’ll play by myself. -Now I’ll write out your words.” And she made -a fair copy and handed it to him.</p> - -<p>He held it by the corner carefully, afraid of -soiling the page.</p> - -<p>Hazel gathered up her belongings and together -they moved from the little enclosure.</p> - -<p>“This is our house, isn’t it, Scip? And we -won’t tell anyone about it. We might go to -it a roundabout way. Oh, where is my stick -to scare the pigs with?”</p> - -<p>Scipio brought it to her.</p> - -<p>“This ain’t much account,” he said. “I -done bring you a better one to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“Will you? Thank you. Good-bye, Scip.”</p> - -<p>“Good-bye, Sister.”</p> - -<p>He watched her run down the road and into -her grandmother’s open door. Then he trudged -home.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span>Hazel told Granny that evening of what -she had undertaken.</p> - -<p>“I’s right glad, sugar,” Granny said heartily. -“That boy’s been put upon. The old man -works him like he was a mule, and then drinks -up all he makes. They is Ward’s tenants, -he that keeps the store down the tracks, and -Ward always gives his tenants whiskey. I -pity that poor woman. Every year it’s just -the same. Slave, slave and not a thing to -show for it.”</p> - -<p>“Scip says they had a good crop of cotton -last year.”</p> - -<p>“He’s right, they done did. And what good -come to them? Ward, he weighed the cotton -and ’lowed old man Lee owed it on his books. -He see to it his men always owes the half of -the cotton and the half of the corn as is theirs -by rights.”</p> - -<p>Hazel looked puzzled.</p> - -<p>“You don’t understand, child, and it ain’t -no wonder. But I’s been through it. I’s -owned my land many years now, though, -thanks to my sons. You see, Ward, the master<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> -here, he owns the land and the store and the -seed and the mules and the cows and the -calves. Along come a colored family, like the -Lees, and the master say to them: ‘You-all -wants work. I done give you-all a house and -mule for half the crop you done raise.’ Understand?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I understand,” said Hazel.</p> - -<p>“Then the family move in; but they’s got -to plant and make the crops afore anything -comes to them. Then Master Ward he tell -them to trade at his store and there ain’t no -hurry to pay. So he run up a bill against -them, charging what he feel like, and he sell -the old man whiskey, ’stead of shoes for the -children, ’cause there’s more money made in -whiskey than in shoes and when fall come the -crop is all drunk up, all traded off.”</p> - -<p>“But, Granny, my mother keeps such careful -accounts, every penny. Don’t they know how -much money they spend?”</p> - -<p>“Of course they don’t. They don’t have -pennies to spend, honey. And the store won’t -give them no account.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>“Then no matter how hard Scip works he -won’t get any money?”</p> - -<p>“Not a cent, sugar.”</p> - -<p>“Then if I were he I wouldn’t work at all!”</p> - -<p>“Reckon you’d be turned out then pretty -quick without a roof over your head. That -happened once before Scip were big. The -others they ain’t much account for work. -They was born tired. But Scip he’s strong and -steady-like.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he’ll run away and get rich.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he will,” said Granny, “and perhaps -he’ll stay by his mother.”</p> - -<p>The teaching progressed, for Hazel was unusually -apt for a child at her profession; and -if Scip failed at times as a pupil it was not for -lack of application on his part. At least four -afternoons in the week he found it possible -to slip away from the fields or the dirty cabin -to the house, as Hazel liked to call it, among -the pines. She had made it look like a dwelling-place, -bringing two boxes for seats and a third -for a table. One day Scipio brought her some -early violets and she flew down to Granny’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> -for a tin can which she filled with water. In -this she placed the flowers, setting the can in a -corner against the pines. After that the tin -vase was often filled. When her pupil could -not come she tidied her pine-needle carpet, -or, armed with the two-pronged stick Scip -had given her, walked bravely among the cows -and the grunting pigs. Some days teacher -and scholar found it too cold to sit still long -and raced one another through the trees, or -teased the turkeys whose “gobble, gobble” -always amused Hazel. But usually they worked -hard at the task of learning to read. Hazel -wisely gave up for the present the effort to teach -the boy’s clumsy fingers to guide the pencil -to write.</p> - -<p>One afternoon he was late and seemed unusually -slow in responding to his teacher’s -questionings.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Scip, you must remember that word,” -Hazel said impatiently. “Look down and study -the letters again,” and she pointed to the -<span class="gesperrt">HORSE</span> plainly printed on the copy in her -lap.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>As the boy bent over she saw that his hair -was matted with blood, and that blood was -oozing from a gash in his forehead.</p> - -<p>“Scip,” she cried, “what has happened?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you mind Sister,” he answered. “I -can read the letters,” he went on—“<span class="gesperrt">HORSE</span>”—studying -it, “but I can’t rightly remember -what they done spell.”</p> - -<p>“Scip, how did your head get that way?”</p> - -<p>“It ain’t nothing.”</p> - -<p>“I’m going right to the house to get some -water to wash the blood off for you.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you do that, Hazel,” he said earnestly. -“It ain’t much, and you’d mind the blood. -My father’s been drunk again,” he added -sullenly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Scip, dear, I’m so sorry,” Hazel cried, -“I’m so sorry,” and longing to give such comfort -as she could she put her arms about his -neck and kissed him.</p> - -<p>The tears came to the boy’s eyes. His -child’s face, grown dull and expressionless from -neglect and cruelty, quivered in every muscle. -Hazel moved back shyly, startled at her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> -own impulsiveness. He looked down at the -copy in her lap, at her slender brown hands, -and said gently, “Don’t you mind, Hazel. I -don’t mind no more.”</p> - -<p>Then placing his black finger on the word -over which he had been puzzling, “It’s ‘Horse,’ -ain’t it? <span class="gesperrt">Horse</span>, Horse. Reckon you thought -I was a mule!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IX<br /> - - -<small>LOST</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Granny</span>, it was as cold as Boston in my -room this morning. It doesn’t seem as though -it would ever be warm again. It’s freezing -cold!”</p> - -<p>“It’s freezing, indeed, honey, but eat breakfast -and you’ll be warmer.”</p> - -<p>The first winter weather had come when, -by the calendar, winter should have been nearly -over. Hazel had so long enjoyed the mild -air that she had begun to believe nothing else -was possible in Alabama. Now she was to -learn that in a warm climate one most keenly -feels the cold.</p> - -<p>“I wonder if Mother is freezing up in Boston,” -she mused, as she and Granny together did -the housework. “She goes out to work a -good deal now. I hope she isn’t taking cold.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t borrow trouble, honey.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span>“But if she should take cold Charity would -take care of her. Charity gets her supper -sometimes now, Mother says, when she’s tired. -And then Mother reads to her out of the Blue -Fairy Book. I couldn’t bring many books, -Granny, in just one little trunk, but I do wish -I could read to you in the Blue Fairy Book. -You would like it so much.”</p> - -<p>“Then I done rob Charity of her good time.”</p> - -<p>“But in Boston,” Hazel explained, “you -have a library where you can get any book -in the world.”</p> - -<p>“Telephone for it, I suppose,” said Granny -sceptically.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Hazel absently.</p> - -<p>“It will be too cold for Scip to come to play -house this afternoon,” the little girl declared -somewhat petulantly as they sat at dinner -after a morning indoors; “his father’s sure to -be cross. But I’ll go up, Granny, because I -never miss, you know.”</p> - -<p>She put on her hat and her warm coat and -climbed the little hill.</p> - -<p>The wind was high, but crouched in her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> -enclosure, Hazel scarcely felt it. But she -could hear it though, soughing through the -pines—she believed the trees were never silent. -To-day their singing leaves trumpeted the winter -and called for action.</p> - -<p>“I believe I’ll go to the top of the hill,” she -said to herself. “Scip isn’t coming and it’s -a good day to explore.”</p> - -<p>She climbed up the hillside, striking once -with her trusty stick at a stray pig, and soon -reached the top. Below on one side was her -home and the cabins with which she was familiar; -on the other side stretched an unknown -country, a land where she had been told the -white folks lived.</p> - -<p>“I’ll go just a little further,” Hazel decided.</p> - -<p>The cold air made her feel like exercising. -She was in much better health than when she -had come to Alabama; in better health, her -mother would have seen, than she had ever -been in her life. The tingling air gave her -courage, and she raced unconcernedly past -cows and pigs down the hill on the other side.</p> - -<p>It seemed remarkably like the side she had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> -left. There were the same log cabins, the same -stretches of land filled with dry cotton stalks, -the same hens, the same hogs. If she came -upon a clapboarded house it was devoid of -paint. She met an occasional lean, ragged -white child, dull of complexion, who stared -at her but had no word of greeting. But the -cold kept the people indoors.</p> - -<p>Hazel walked a little way along the road, -when she was startled by a dog, which ran out -from under a house and barked furiously -at her. She held her stick tight, determined -to use it if necessary, though Scip had said -nothing about hitting dogs. But the animal -only barked and she passed by it in safety. -This incident, however, made her apprehensive, -and after a little more investigation -without interesting results she turned to go -home.</p> - -<p>What had become of the hill down which -she had run?</p> - -<p>It seemed to have melted into the landscape. -Striving to retrace her steps she ran up one -acclivity after another, wearying herself in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> -hunt, but from none did she see the Lees’ -cabin and Granny’s home. And the more -she ran, the more she became completely -turned around.</p> - -<p>The sun was low in the west. It was bitter -cold and she felt tired. Worst of all, she was -in the land of the unknown white folk who -called you “nigger,” and who went their way -and wanted you to go yours. How could she -ask her way of them?</p> - -<p>She walked briskly along the road again, -searching for a house where a colored family -lived. Indeed, there were such houses, but -their occupants were snuggled over their fires, -and did not come out and show their friendly -dark faces to the little colored girl. Only a -dog rushed at her. She thought at first it -was the one that had barked when she -came over the hill, but this was an ugly cur -that snapped at her heels, and caused her to -run, it mattered not in what direction, so that -she left it behind.</p> - -<p>When she took note again of her surroundings -the sun was dropping into a dark cloud<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> -near the horizon. She was familiar now with -the short twilight of the South, and she knew -that night would soon be upon her. She must -be brave and knock at one of these houses to -ask the way.</p> - -<p>Her training led her to choose the most -pretentious one in sight, a large, square, unpainted, -frame house. And again her training -sent her to the front door where she knocked -timidly.</p> - -<p>The door was opened almost immediately, as -though someone had been passing through the -hall, and a high-pitched voice bade her enter.</p> - -<p>“Whose child are you?” the voice said.</p> - -<p>“I’m Aunt Ellen’s granddaughter,” answered -Hazel, knowing enough to call her -grandmother by that familiar title, “and I’ve -lost my way. Can you please tell me how to -get back to her house?”</p> - -<p>“Sister,” the white woman called shrilly, -and another woman appeared at an open door -at Hazel’s left, “here’s Aunt Ellen’s child come -to ask her way, and if the little nigger didn’t -knock at the front door!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>“You don’t say so, Jane,” said Sister.</p> - -<p>Hazel recognized the two white ladies who -had stopped at Granny’s house on their drive, -and had asked her so many questions. She -pressed her lips tightly together at the word -“nigger,” but then she had expected it, and -anyway they knew where Granny lived. “I -don’t want to be any trouble,” she said in her -most dignified manner, “and if you will please -explain to me how to get to Granny’s, I will -go. I came over the hill, but it is getting so -dark I am afraid I couldn’t return that way.”</p> - -<p>If she imagined she would be permitted to -leave so easily she was mistaken.</p> - -<p>“Come by the kitchen,” Miss Jane said, -and led her to the rear of the house.</p> - -<p>Hazel went unwillingly, but the bright fire -in the stove made her give a little cry of -pleasure.</p> - -<p>“Warm yourself, child,” Miss Jane said -kindly. “Rest your hat and coat, and sit -by the fire. How much might that coat -cost now?” she asked, examining the garment -that Hazel obediently took off.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>“I don’t know,” Hazel replied. “It was -given to me.”</p> - -<p>“Who might give you a coat like that?” -the other sister queried.</p> - -<p>“A friend of my father’s. You know my -father is dead,” Hazel added.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know, honey,” Miss Jane said -sympathetically. “He was a right nice boy. -He used to come here to sell my mother vegetables. -He’d fix everything to sell as neat -and nice, and he’d tell about the doings around -his way until we’d almost die laughing. I’ve -often wondered if he took to gardening up -North.”</p> - -<p>“We had a tiny garden where we lived,” -Hazel answered eagerly, “and father worked -in it in the early morning before he went to -business. He was a lawyer, you know.”</p> - -<p>“A lawyer?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, ma’am, a lawyer.”</p> - -<p>“A nigger lawyer! That beats all. Marty,” -calling into the darkness, “did you know -Aunt Ellen’s son, George, used to be a nigger -lawyer?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span>“Yes, Miss Jane; I sure knowed.”</p> - -<p>“This is his child. Make her a cup of warm -coffee and give her some biscuits. She’s come -a long way.”</p> - -<p>The coffee, an unfamiliar but delectable -drink, warmed not only Hazel’s body, but her -heart. The two sisters did not leave the kitchen, -but plied her with questions which she answered, -trying to remember what Granny had told -her. Here were two women living alone in -a big house with few neighbors; they were -giving her food and she ought to talk if they -wanted her to. So she told them about her -former home, and the flat in Hammond Street, -and her mother’s present work.</p> - -<p>“Seems to me your father ought to have -left something if he had a practice,” the younger -sister, whose name was Laura, remarked.</p> - -<p>“He did,” Hazel answered quickly; “but -mother won’t touch anything but the interest, -and you know what seems a good deal of money -makes a very little interest. She spent some -to send me down here, and she’s planning to -spend more to send me to college.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>“What will you do with all your learning?” -Miss Jane asked.</p> - -<p>“I’ll teach.”</p> - -<p>“Niggers?”</p> - -<p>Hazel did not want to answer; but sitting -very erect, with a precision that would have -done any teacher credit, she replied: “Everybody -goes to school in Boston, every single -child. And the teachers don’t ask whether -they are black or white, or rich or poor. There -are Turks, and Arabians, and (switching to -the map of Europe as safer ground) Hungarians, -and Bulgarians, and Norwegians, and -Swedians, (doubtfully) and Greeks, and Spaniards, -and Romans, and Germans and Irish.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t say,” exclaimed Miss Laura, -“all those heathen!”</p> - -<p>There was a moment’s silence.</p> - -<p>“When are you going home?” asked Miss -Jane.</p> - -<p>“In May, I think, if anyone can be found -to take me. I came down with Mrs. Graham, -but she doesn’t return until July.”</p> - -<p>“A white lady?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>“No, Miss Fairmount.”</p> - -<p>Hazel had heard the name in the course of -their conversation, and felt pleased to be able -to use it.</p> - -<p>But Miss Fairmount felt differently.</p> - -<p>“My name is Jane,” she said. “You should -call me Miss Jane.”</p> - -<p>“Not Miss Fairmount?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly not. It is impertinent in a nigger.”</p> - -<p>The blood rushed to Hazel’s face. She felt -as though someone had struck her. Rising -from her chair she said in an unsteady voice, -“I must go home now. Granny will be anxious. -Please tell me what road to take?”</p> - -<p>Night had come on and the lamps were -lighted.</p> - -<p>“You don’t suppose we’d let you go home -alone, child,” Miss Jane said. “Marty ’ll take -you. Marty, you get on your shawl and take -Hazel to Aunt Ellen’s. It’s not far beyond -your house. Laura, show Hazel the birds in -the parlor. Maybe she’d like to look at -them.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>Miss Laura took up a lamp, and led the child -into the parlor, where she had been sitting -when Hazel entered the house. The walls -were bare of pictures and the furniture was -heavy and decayed. In one corner was a -table on which was a glass case containing -three stuffed birds, a mocker, a humming bird -and a cardinal. Hazel admired appreciatively, -but her eyes would wander across the room -where stood a huge four-poster, covered with -an elaborate spread.</p> - -<p>“They’re very pretty,” she said politely. -“Granny tells me I must hear the mocking -birds in the spring. We don’t have mocking -birds in Massachusetts.”</p> - -<p>“The North and the South are very different,” -Miss Laura said, looking perplexedly -at the child.</p> - -<p>Hazel called them Miss Jane and Miss Laura -when she said good-bye. She held out her -hand a little shyly to Miss Jane, fearing that -might be impertinent in the South. But Miss -Jane took it, and stroked her coat, and told -her to come again, and Miss Laura shook<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> -hands too, and sent a message to Aunt Ellen. -Then, the good-bye over, in proper southern -fashion the little colored girl went out the back -door.</p> - -<p>Marty was not communicative, like her mistress, -and scarcely spoke as they walked along -the dark road. When they had gone a short -distance past her cabin a boy appeared ahead -of them.</p> - -<p>“Hazel,” he called.</p> - -<p>“Scip,” she answered, and ran to him.</p> - -<p>He caught her roughly. “Where you been?” -he asked.</p> - -<p>“I was lost, Scip, and I asked Miss Jane and -Miss Laura the way home, and I had to wait -until Marty could come home with me.”</p> - -<p>“Reckon I can leave you now,” Marty said, -and with an interchange of good-nights she -turned back.</p> - -<p>“Was Granny worried, Scip?” Hazel asked. -“Did she send you for me?”</p> - -<p>“In course she were worried. You hadn’t -ought to be out at night alone.”</p> - -<p>Hazel explained what had happened. They<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> -hurried over the road, and once she stumbled -and caught Scip’s hand.</p> - -<p>“How cold you are!” she exclaimed; and -noticed that he had only a ragged jacket and -that his feet were bare.</p> - -<p>“It was kind of you to come, Scip,” she -began, and then she saw Granny on the road -in front of her cabin, and ran into her arms.</p> - -<p>“Won’t you come in and get warm?” she -called to the boy; but he answered “No,” -and went on his way.</p> - -<p>Granny heard the whole story that night -before the fire.</p> - -<p>“I tried to remember what you said about -knowing them by their fruits,” Hazel explained -seriously, “and they were kind to me and -gave me food and sent me home with Marty. -But they hurt my feelings dreadfully. They -said I was impertinent when I said ‘Miss -Fairmount,’ instead of ‘Miss Jane,’ and at -home, really truly, it would have been impertinent -to have said Miss Jane; and,” the -child hung her head, “they called me ‘nigger.’”</p> - -<p>Granny’s strong, kindly face grew sad.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>“You’s a hard road to travel, dearie, as you -goes through life with your pretty face and your -gentle ways. I’s feared the stones will often -bruise your feet and the briars tear your hands. -Shall I give you a token to keep in your heart -as you go down the road? I learned it to -your father when he was a boy and he never -forgot it.”</p> - -<p>“Please tell me, Granny, and I will not -forget.”</p> - -<p>“Watch <i>how</i> folks says things, and not <i>what</i> -they says. Now, Miss Jane, she didn’t do that -to-day, and she hurt my baby girl. She ain’t -quality and that’s a fact. She were thinking -of the words when you said ‘Miss Jane’ -and not the feeling in your heart and voice. -Don’t you make the mistake she made.”</p> - -<p>Hazel was silent for a few seconds. When -she answered her voice was unsteady.</p> - -<p>“Nobody knows how angry I am, right -through, when anyone calls me a nigger.”</p> - -<p>“And yet, honey, I’s heard a forlorn, ignorant -mammy say it to her baby when it sounded -like she were whispering to the Lord. It’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> -an ugly word. I hates it, too. But there’s -white folks as don’t mean any harm by it. -You fell in good hands to-day, and I thank -the Lord for it. There’s those as might have -spoken slick enough but as would have been -rough in their hearts.”</p> - -<p>Hazel gave Granny a hug.</p> - -<p>“I do love you, Granny,” she said with a -little sob, “and I’ll forget all the horrid things -to-day, and remember the coffee and the fire -and Miss Laura showing me those three poor -little stuffed birds. But Granny;” brightening, -“what do you think was in their parlor? -Why, right there in the company room in that -great big house they had a bed!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER X<br /> - - -<small>SPRING</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Hazel</span> awoke one morning to find it spring. -She had seen it beginning, but she had not -fully recognized it until now. A mocking -bird told her all about it. He sat on a rosebush -and chattered so fast and so gaily and as -it seemed to Hazel of such a number of happenings, -that she hurried through breakfast -to learn what it was all about. And then she -saw that spring had come.</p> - -<p>“Granny, look!” she cried excitedly. “Everything -is growing. The leaves are jumping -out, just as fast, and the flowers are opening -and the birds are singing, singing! Why that -mocking bird”—she stopped for the highest -praise she could command, “Why that mocking -bird is lots jollier than any birds we have -near Boston.”</p> - -<p>“Well, sugar,” said Granny, “I’s glad to -know once when the South come out on top.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>“Why, Granny,” Hazel went on, disregarding -the gentle sarcasm, “our teacher used to -take us out in the spring to hear the bluebirds -and song sparrows, and they just twitter, -twitter like little birds, but that mocking -bird!”</p> - -<p>She stopped to listen again to the riot of song -that came from the slender bird standing -with tilted tail on the top of the rosebush.</p> - -<p>“He’s talking to his mate, sugar,” said -Granny. “Run out and play all the morning. -The spring done call you, too.”</p> - -<p>Hazel accepted spring’s summons, and ran -down the road. She had not gone far when -a redbird whistled, and she stopped to hear -his full rich notes. A Judas tree blossomed -across the road. Sweet-smelling blossoms and -bright new leaves seemed everywhere. Even -the pine showed fresh young shoots at the -end of each bough. Truly the world was -made new.</p> - -<p>She had wandered for two hours up and down -the road and among the pines until she found -herself on the hill just above the Lees’ cabin.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> -She wondered if Scip were very busy, and looking -about for him she heard an angry voice, -and then a child’s cry of pain.</p> - -<p>“It’s old man Lee,” she thought, and shrank -back trembling. Then remembering what Scip -had said of her bravery she walked slowly -forward trying to find courage to plead for -mercy.</p> - -<p>A few steps showed her what was happening. -It was not old man Lee, however, whom she -saw administering discipline, but Scipio flogging -his little brother Tom. He was beating -him harshly, and as Hazel ran forward, without -timidity now, he gave him a kick. The -little fellow limped off, sobbing, and Scipio -turned to see Hazel coming toward him, her -eyes blazing, her hands clenched.</p> - -<p>“What did you do that for?” she cried out.</p> - -<p>“He sassed me,” Scipio answered.</p> - -<p>“You’re a wicked, wicked boy,” Hazel said, -her voice shaking with excitement, “and I’ll -never speak to you again.”</p> - -<p>Then she turned and ran down the road, -leaving the lad staring speechless after her.</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i130.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">She stopped to listen to the riot of song</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>All the joy had gone out of the spring. It -was a commonplace day and the sun made her -head ache.</p> - -<p>Granny was surprised when, dinner over, -Hazel failed to go to her house among the pines. -The little girl had been as regular as if she -were already a teacher in a real school, and this -failure to keep her appointment boded something -serious.</p> - -<p>“She don’t keep colored people’s time,” -Granny had said proudly to a neighbor; “she -done never forget the clock on the meeting-house -in Boston.” So when Hazel went to her -spinning-wheel and worked hard and nervously, -the old woman felt troubled but deemed it -best to say nothing.</p> - -<p>“Will you walk a way with me, dearie?” -she said in the middle of the afternoon. “I’s -an errand and I’s pining for company.”</p> - -<p>Hazel put on the pink sun-bonnet and together -they went down the road.</p> - -<p>“Look at that turkey-cock,” Granny said, -pointing to one in the field at their side. And -indeed he was a wonderful sight. Every<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> -feather stood out. His great tail was spread, -his body thrown back for his majestic stride. -Near him was the hen bird, indifferent to all -of his efforts to attract her attention. He went -up to her, beating his outstretched wings -upon the ground. He walked pompously about -her. Hazel forgot her trouble for a little in -watching him.</p> - -<p>“That’s his courting,” said Granny. “He -can’t sing like the mocker, so he makes up with -his fine feathers.”</p> - -<p>“She doesn’t care about him,” said Hazel, -and took no further interest in their walk.</p> - -<p>A letter from her mother brightened things -a little the next morning. It was full of interesting -news, of going to the theatre, of the -church sale, and of Charity and her perplexities -over her school work. But what sunshine -the letter brought was clouded by the -last message: “Give my love to Scip.”</p> - -<p>And she would never speak to him again!</p> - -<p>She held to her resolve and stayed indoors -after dinner; but at four o’clock, when Scipio -surely would not be there, she ran up to her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> -house among the pines. Someone had visited -it before her. The cones were brushed away, -leaving the floor as she liked to have it, and in -the tin can that served as a vase were strange -wild flowers, the blossoms of the pitcher-plant. -How wonderful they were with their streaked -leaves! She had never seen them before.</p> - -<p>Near the flowers was a piece of old paper -in which something was wrapped. Looking, -Hazel found bright birds’ feathers: blue quills -from the jay, black iridescent crow’s feathers -and the rose-colored quills of the cardinal. -Someone must have been collecting them for -a long time.</p> - -<p>Hazel counted the feathers, drew them, -one after another, across her cheek, feeling -their soft surfaces, played a little with the flowers -and then gathering the offerings together, -carried them soberly home. In her room she -pulled the little trunk out from under the bed -and placed the feathers carefully in the tray. -Then she locked the trunk, and pushed it back -in its place. Her precious possessions were -safe.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span>She had received many presents in her short -life, but they had all been bought with money. -These gifts showed the patient toil by which -they had been purchased. She was glad she -had gone to the pines; she would accept -Scipio’s silent message and play with him again, -to-morrow.</p> - -<p>Granny came in from the garden where she -had been at work. “It’s going to rain, sugar,” -she called. “We’d best build up the fire.”</p> - -<p>“Is my kitten indoors?” Hazel asked anxiously, -and ran down the road to find it playing -among some dry branches.</p> - -<p>When she returned, the kitten in her arms, -the drops were already falling, and in a little -time the shower had settled into a steady -downpour.</p> - -<p>“The rain will refresh the earth,” said Granny -wisely. “All the world will shine beautiful -to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“It’s pleasant to hear the rain on the roof, -isn’t it?” said Hazel later, as she sipped the -cocoa that Granny had learned to make for -her, and ate her cornbread.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span>Sometimes at supper they did not set any -table, but ate before the fire (just like a picnic, -Hazel would say) and they were sitting that -way to-night.</p> - -<p>“I never heard the rain beat on the roof -until I came to Alabama,” Hazel said. “I’ve -heard a great many new things, haven’t I, -but the most beautiful of all is the mocking -bird. What is it doing now out in the rain? -I should think it would be very wet?”</p> - -<p>Granny laughed. “Its head is under its -wing and the water done run off its back. But -it likes it, honey, it don’t never take cold. -Listen how it’ll sing to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>They were silent for a minute, enjoying -the fire. Then Granny rose to her feet.</p> - -<p>“Someone is outside,” she said; and moving -quickly, she threw open the door.</p> - -<p>On the porch stood Scipio.</p> - -<p>“Come in, child,” she invited.</p> - -<p>“I can’t,” he answered. “I’s wet and -soiled.”</p> - -<p>Hazel ran to where he stood. “Come in, -oh, please come in, Scip,” she cried; and Scipio<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> -stepped within the door while Granny went -back to the fire.</p> - -<p>The boy’s scanty clothing was soaked. He -would not advance into the room, but remained -with head bent, a heavy figure in the shadow. -He looked tired and the circles beneath his -eyes showed the need of sleep.</p> - -<p>As he stood, hungry and ragged, he might -have embodied the patient laborer of his patient -race who for so long has planted the crop only -to see another reap the harvest.</p> - -<p>Hazel caught her breath as she saw his -big lips tremble.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Scip,” she whispered, “it was mean -of me.”</p> - -<p>The boy looked up at her. “I know I’s -rough,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Shut that door, Scip,” Granny called out, -“and come in here. Never mind your clothes, -child. We’s had working folks here before, -and a little water won’t spoil this floor. Come -get warm and drink this cocoa. Our Boston -lady,” Granny said this with mock grandeur, -“she done try make me believe cocoa beats<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> -coffee; she don’t know everything yet, Scip. -But you can manage to drink the stuff, I -reckon. Set here now, on this stool, close to -the blaze. Don’t act like you thought you’d -outen the fire. Hazel, pass that cornbread and -give Scip a big plate for himself. Our guests -always has big plates. And you, Scip, do your -best by the bananas we boughten yesterday. -Our Boston lady thinks they’s mighty fine, and -the Lord certainly done do them up in pretty -yellow husks. See me shell one, Scip.” And so -Granny talked on until Scip, with his big plate -on his lap, seated by the warm fire, felt at home.</p> - -<p>When supper was over Granny made the -shadows on the wall that Hazel loved, and -after she was through Scip made still cleverer -ones, Hazel thought. Then they all sat very -still while Hazel recited poetry and read out -of the book the minister gave her. It was a -jolly evening.</p> - -<p>When Scipio had said good-night, and with -many invitations to come again, had gone -out into the rain, Hazel brought the pitcher-plants -in to her grandmother.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>“Do they grow near here?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“No, they come from the swamp, three -miles south.”</p> - -<p>“I quarrelled with Scipio, Granny,” Hazel -pursued, her cheeks hot, “because I saw him -beat his little brother Tom.”</p> - -<p>“Tom ain’t good for much,” said Granny -dryly. “He’s lazy.”</p> - -<p>“But he’s so little,” Hazel pleaded. She -put down the flowers and, stooping, picked up -the kitten playing on the hearth. “He’s little, -like a kitten.”</p> - -<p>Granny smiled sadly as she replied: “I’s -afraid the children here has to learn to catch -mice mighty young. Scip has worked ever -since he could toddle to the cotton fields. He -thinks Tom might naturally help him.”</p> - -<p>“They ought both to be at play,” Hazel -said with a little catch in her breath. “You -said so this morning. It’s spring.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XI<br /> - - -<small>CHOOSING A BIRTHDAY</small></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="first">“Monday’s child is fair of face;</div> -<div class="verse">Tuesday’s child is full of grace;</div> -<div class="verse">Wednesday’s child is happy and glad;</div> -<div class="verse">Thursday’s child is sour and sad;</div> -<div class="verse">Friday’s child is loving in giving;</div> -<div class="verse">And Saturday’s child must work for its living.</div> -<div class="verse">But the child that is born on the Sabbath day</div> -<div class="verse">Is blithe and bonnie and good and gay.”</div> -</div></div> - - -<p>“<span class="smcap">I was</span> born on Tuesday. What day were -you born on, Granny?” Hazel asked.</p> - -<p>“What day was I born on, sugar? I don’t -know the year I was born on much less the -day.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Granny,” said Hazel, startled, -“Haven’t you a birthday?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose I has, child. But I knows no -more when I come into the world than I knows -when the Lord ’ll take me out of it. You see, -I was sold down here when I was about four<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> -year old. That I knows. I can recollect -when I first come here. The violets were -blooming, and my mistress clapped her hands -when she see me picking the little blossoms. -That were in the spring of ’46. But whether -I were just four, or most five, or only three -maybe, I don’t rightly know.”</p> - -<p>Granny saw the tears standing in Hazel’s -eyes. “Your mother?” the child said.</p> - -<p>“We never found one another; and there’s -thousands like that. Every day in the year -there was children sent from their folks to the -bottom lands. But don’t think about it, sugar. -It ain’t no use fretting about what’s past. -Howsomever, that’s why I can’t tell whether -I’s a Monday or a Tuesday or a Saturday -child. The Lord alone can reckon my days.”</p> - -<p>When Hazel had finished the dishes she -went out-of-doors to think over what she had -heard. The story of the past stirred her -deeply, but had it not also a present import? -Granny had never had a birthday, had never -known what it was to be the centre of a birthday -party, to have a cake with candles, most<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> -of all to have the proud feeling that here was -a day that belonged to her alone. Could nothing -be done about it?</p> - -<p>Hazel looked up at the clear blue sky and -about her at the riot of flowers. What a -beautiful time of year for a birthday! So -much better than her month of November. -Why not give Granny a birthday now?</p> - -<p>“Scip,” Hazel called excitedly as he met -her on the hillside that afternoon. “I’m going -to give Granny a birthday party. Will you -help?” And she explained Granny’s condition.</p> - -<p>Scipio listened attentively, only half understanding, -for birthdays had never been celebrated -in the Lee household. But, of course, -he promised to help if Hazel would show him -the way; and before they went to their books -ways and means were already devised by Hazel’s -active mind.</p> - -<p>That afternoon the little girl was a long -time writing her home letter. Some explanation -was necessary, and then the admonition -to please send them, quick, quick, and as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> -many dozen as she thought right. “Pink -and green and blue and yellow and white, -please, like the candles I have.”</p> - -<p>The next question was, who should come -to the party?</p> - -<p>“Only children, I think, Scip,” Hazel said -as she discussed it with him. “If I didn’t -ask all the grown people those left out would be -offended, wouldn’t they?”</p> - -<p>“I reckon there might be trouble,” Scip -answered.</p> - -<p>“There’ll be you and Tom and Theora—”</p> - -<p>“That’s enough for we-all,” said Scip as he -saw Hazel hesitate. “Jule can stay home -and work.”</p> - -<p>Hazel sighed, but felt relieved. It would -be well to have the guests very young so that -she could handle them.</p> - -<p>“And Mammy Smith’s little girl, and Carrie -and Johnnie Hunt, that will be enough, and -I’ll teach them songs and games.”</p> - -<p>There were busy days next week. Hazel -drilled the little country children, who looked -shyly at her and understood nothing of what<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> -she was saying. Hazel called them stupid -many times in her heart and sometimes with -her lips, but they were only unfamiliar with -all that she was trying to put into their lives. -But one thing was sure. They could sing -the birthday verse.</p> - -<p>“Here’s a little box for you, honey,” Granny -said one morning, handing Hazel a package. -“Come by the post,” and she eyed it curiously.</p> - -<p>“It’s—it’s a secret just now,” Hazel stammered.</p> - -<p>“A secret? Well, child, don’t you tell it -until you is good and ready,” and Granny -went to her work in the garden.</p> - -<p>In her room Hazel opened the box. It -contained six dozen little candles, pink and -green and blue and yellow and white. Just -what she wanted. Mother always did exactly -right.</p> - -<p>But now, most difficult of all, to make the -cake!</p> - -<p>Granny loved to cook in the old way over -the fire, but she had a stove in an outhouse -which she used now that the warm weather<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> -had come. If Hazel could get access to this, -without Granny’s knowing it, she would make -and try to bake the cake. At home she did -the mixing and her mother the baking. But -would Granny go away long enough for her -to do her work? There was the great difficulty.</p> - -<p>On the day after the candles came, however, -it was solved.</p> - -<p>“Aunt Ellen,” a breathless boy called, rushing -into the cabin in the morning, “Ma’s sick -and wants you.”</p> - -<p>And Aunt Ellen went at once and left Hazel -alone.</p> - -<p>When the cake was baked and frosted Hazel -looked at it with mingled delight and distrust. -It had risen, but had it not fallen since? -She must not taste it to find out. It was -made of sugar and flour and eggs and it had -been beaten until her hand and arm were -first prickly, and then stiff with fatigue. It -ought to be light. And anyway it was round -and had white icing; certainly it was a beautiful -<i>looking</i> birthday cake.</p> - -<p>Hazel put it carefully in the bottom of her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> -trunk. The party she decided should be on -the morrow.</p> - -<p>“What is the matter with you, child?” -Granny said the next day as they sat down -to dinner. “You’s as restless as a bird, and -you ain’t eating more’n a bird would eat.”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t you going to teach Scip?” she said -later, when Hazel failed to take her books -and papers and climb the hill.</p> - -<p>“Scip can’t come to-day, Granny, he said -so. Let me help you.” And Hazel began -to straighten things in the room. “Can’t -we sweep a little?”</p> - -<p>The old woman was clearly puzzled but she -helped Hazel with the work.</p> - -<p>“Let’s dress up and pretend it’s Christmas,” -Hazel exclaimed when three o’clock came. -“I’ll put on my white dress and you put on your -new calico.”</p> - -<p>“I’s got to work, child,” Granny said a little -severely.</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t work this afternoon,” Hazel -cried jumping up and down. “Play with me, -won’t you please play with me? I do want<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> -you to play with me, Granny, just one day.” -And before four o’clock Hazel had her way and -the two were sitting in their best gowns. -“Much like fools,” Granny said.</p> - -<p>“I’ll be back in a moment,” Hazel cried -suddenly, and ran from the cabin door down -the road. Granny waited a minute or two -and then went to the porch to look out. Coming -up the road was a little procession led by -Hazel, with Scipio in the rear; between were -three little girls and two little boys. They -all marched solemnly to the porch where -Granny stood.</p> - -<p>“Now,” commanded Hazel, and the children -sang:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="first">“Happy birthday to you,</div> -<div class="verse">Happy birthday to you.</div> -<div class="verse">Happy birthday, Aunt Ellen,</div> -<div class="verse">Happy birthday to you.”</div> -</div></div> - -<p>Granny looked the children over; but she -did not ask them in.</p> - -<p>“It’s your birthday, Granny,” Hazel said, -her voice shaking with excitement. “I chose -to-day for your birthday.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>The old woman glanced at Hazel without -smiling and held herself very erect. She felt -that they were making game of her.</p> - -<p>“It’s a pretend party,” Hazel tried to explain; -but as she looked into Granny’s eyes she suddenly -wanted to cry.</p> - -<p>The little children stood quietly, waiting -to be told what to do next.</p> - -<p>Then Scipio stepped forward.</p> - -<p>“Aunt Ellen,” he said in his slow way, -“it’s like this; you’s been kind to we-all -here. There’s many of us as you’s helped -into the world like you did Mrs. Brown’s -baby yesterday. We wants to do something -for you, so we’s just come and we’s brought -you some flowers.”</p> - -<p>The five waiting children looked at Hazel. -She nodded, and they stepped forward and each -gave a bouquet to Granny.</p> - -<p>The old woman’s face softened as Scipio -spoke, and now she smiled kindly and asked -the children in. As they entered she noticed -that each one was decked out a little, and she -glanced at her own dress and then at Hazel’s.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>“She’s a smart one,” she thought.</p> - -<p>“May we play a game, Granny?” Hazel -asked hesitatingly. Scipio had seemingly saved -the day, but she must make no further mistakes.</p> - -<p>“Yes, child.”</p> - -<p>“Then you sit here by the hearth, Granny, -and Scip with you, and we’ll act a charade.”</p> - -<p>She took the children out on the porch and -presently they came in, each on hands and feet, -and meowed with persistence if not with fervor.</p> - -<p>“That’s meant to be a word, Granny and -Scip, can you guess what it is?”</p> - -<p>“Cats,” said Granny.</p> - -<p>“That’s right,” Hazel cried, clapping her -hands. “<i>Cat.</i> You guessed right the first -time, didn’t you? Now we act the next word.”</p> - -<p>She skipped out of the room with the children -onto the porch. She was beginning to feel -like herself. Granny smoothed her dress complacently.</p> - -<p>Presently two boys came in and stood across -the room each holding the end of a long string. -A third child, a girl with an apron on, walked -solemnly forward and fastened a towel to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> -string with a clothes-pin. Immediately Hazel, -with a dark shawl stretched out at arms-length -to look like wings, hopped up and -nipped off the nose of the maid, who gave a -very creditable sob.</p> - -<p>“Along came a black-bird and nipped off -her nose,” the two boys said.</p> - -<p>“That’s a little word,” explained Hazel, “and -if you put it with cat it makes a longer word.”</p> - -<p>Granny and Scip listened in silence; a charade -seemed outside their mental horizon.</p> - -<p>But Hazel and her troupe acted the whole -word with studied care, and five little cats -rolled about ecstatically in the green stuff -Hazel threw to them.</p> - -<p>“I knows it, Hazel,” Scipio cried suddenly. -“It’s <i>Catnip</i>. You make it like you learn -me words.”</p> - -<p>Hazel beamed at him. He had pleased his -little teacher to-day more than he could ever -have hoped to please her in all his life. This -might be Granny’s pretend birthday, but it -was a real day of triumph for Hazel’s pretend -brother.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>“And now, Granny,” Hazel said, still a little -tremulously, “would you go on the porch with -the children for just a few minutes and shut -the door and leave Scipio and me here?”</p> - -<p>Granny went willingly enough. She was -beginning to enter into the spirit of the game.</p> - -<p>“Darken the room as much as you can, -Scip. Well put it in the middle of the table, -and the candles on it and around it, and the -flowers about them. We must light them, -quickly, quickly. Oh, Scip, Scip, see! It’s -the beautifulest kind of a birthday cake when -you have seventy candles.”</p> - -<p>“Let her come in right now,” Scipio said.</p> - -<p>Granny with the children entered the room. -On the table was a big white cake. Candles -were in it and candles were around it, two rows -deep. Each little flame twinkled as it rose -from the bright-colored wax. It was a lovely -sight.</p> - -<p>“What you done do, sugar?” Granny gasped.</p> - -<p>“It’s a birthday cake for you, Granny. I -wanted you so to have a birthday cake. I’ve -had five that I can remember, but they’re<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> -prettiest when you’re seventy. I wanted you -so to have a birthday that I chose one for -you; and April is a nice time, don’t you think? -You do like it, don’t you, Granny?” and Hazel -ran to her grandmother’s side.</p> - -<p>“Baby,” Granny said holding her tight. -“It’s the most beautiful thing as ever was. -It’s the prettiest sight these eyes has ever -seen. Scip,” she called suddenly, “don’t you -let those candles burn down. Everybody’s -got to see my cake.”</p> - -<p>“And now, Granny,” Hazel said when the -candles were blown out, “you must cut the -cake for the children.”</p> - -<p>“Cut the cake for them tricks,” Granny -cried excitedly. “No, indeed. The children -can have corn-pone. Everybody has got to -see my birthday cake. Where did you buy -it, honey?”</p> - -<p>“I made it,” Hazel answered, and that completed -Granny’s amazement and Hazel’s happiness.</p> - -<p>The children had their corn-pone, with -jelly on it, and the cake was left on the table.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> -News of this wonder soon reached the community, -and the first visitors came that evening. -For one week the sight lasted. Twelve -times did the candles, for a brief space, shine -out on the white icing and brighten the flowers. -The cake was not moved from the table, but -remained there day and night, and the kitten -was kept rigidly indoors to frighten away any -possible mouse. At length, when the candles -had burned to their sockets, Granny cut through -the icing and gave a slice to Hazel and one to -herself.</p> - -<p>Hazel ate and said nothing, but she was -glad it had not been cut before. Staleness -might seem to account in part for the very -heavy character of the half-cooked dough.</p> - -<p>But Granny ate her piece as if it had been -ambrosia, the food of the gods.</p> - -<p>“That are splendid cake,” she exclaimed. -“That icing are as sweet as you are, sugar, -and I can’t say more.”</p> - -<p>And she took another slice.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XII<br /> - - -<small>GOOD-BYE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Granny</span>, please help me to weave once -more,” said Hazel, “and I’ll have a good big -piece of cotton cloth.”</p> - -<p>Ever since Hazel had spun the cotton she -had wanted to weave it, but her grandmother’s -loom was too large for her to handle. Granny -had solved the difficulty by saying they could -do it together, Hazel throwing the shuttle -while she pushed the frame. In this fashion -they had woven their cloth. “It’s your work, -honey,” Granny had insisted. “You’re doing -the weaving, not me.”</p> - -<p>“Isn’t it hot!” Hazel said, after they had -worked for an hour. “April in the South is -as warm as June at home. Is it hotter than -this in the summer?”</p> - -<p>“I expect it is,” said Granny, looking at the -child’s moist curls. “Don’t do any more now.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>They went out on the porch to get cool.</p> - -<p>“I’ve thought a great deal about my weaving,” -said Hazel, very seriously, “and, Granny, -I’ve decided to cut some of the cloth into wash-rags -so that I can make presents to a number of -my friends. I can hem them, can’t I?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, dearie.”</p> - -<p>“And then I shall make ten pieces at least. -Granny, who is that coming down the road?”</p> - -<p>Granny stood up and saw a young white -lady coming toward them on horseback, who -pulled up her horse as she reached the porch.</p> - -<p>“Does Hazel Tyler live here?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Hazel replied, going out to her, “I -am Hazel Tyler.”</p> - -<p>“I know your minister,” said the young -lady, smiling, “and he asked me to come to -see you.”</p> - -<p>Hazel’s heart swelled with pride. The young -lady dismounted, tied her horse, and then, -declining to go indoors, sat on the steps with -them.</p> - -<p>“I am afraid you won’t like my errand, -Mrs. Tyler,” the new-comer said, “but I have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> -come to ask Hazel if she wishes to go home -with me.”</p> - -<p>“You couldn’t have come on a less welcome -errand to me,” said Granny sadly, “but -the hot days is coming, and I suppose the -child must go North again.”</p> - -<p>The young lady, whose name was Miss -Davis, then explained that she came from Boston, -that she taught in the Jonesville school, -and that she should return to her home the -middle of May. “And if that will be convenient -for Hazel,” she concluded, “she can -go by rail all the way with me.”</p> - -<p>“If my mother tells me it is what she wants -me to do,” Hazel said, “of course I would love -to travel with you.”</p> - -<p>“I think from your minister’s letter, that you -will hear shortly from your mother,” answered -Miss Davis, and went into the details of the -journey.</p> - -<p>Hazel learned that if she were in company -with a white person she might ride in the -Pullman car and sleep in the fascinating bed -that pulled down from the top. She would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> -only be traveling two days, and her mother -would be at the end of the journey. But -Granny! She did not want to look in her -direction as she talked with Miss Davis.</p> - -<p>“Wasn’t she pretty?” she asked the old -woman as their visitor trotted down the road.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t see as she was well-favored,” -Granny answered.</p> - -<p>Hazel put her arms about her grandmother’s -neck. “I don’t leave for three weeks,” she -said, “and I’m coming back again. Why, -Granny, I truly do love the South. At least, -the part where you are.”</p> - -<p>“You dear baby,” was Granny’s only answer.</p> - -<p>When Scip heard the news among the pines -that afternoon, he started as though Hazel -had struck him.</p> - -<p>“Who going to take you?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Hazel explained about Miss Davis, and the -comfort of the train. Scipio could find no -fault, but remained silent watching a redbird -that hopped fearlessly about among their books -on the ground. They had made a pet of this -cardinal, scattering food for him, and making<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> -bird sounds in conversation which Hazel insisted -he could understand. When she had -finished talking, the bird flew to a bough near -them and began his clear, sweet song.</p> - -<p>“He is asking you to stay,” Scip said.</p> - -<p>He felt like crying.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to my mother, Scip,” Hazel -said softly.</p> - -<p>After a little pause she went on: “I’ll write -letters to you. See, I’ll make you a plain -copy of written letters. I’ll make it very plain. -You’ve only learned to print, Scip, but these -next three weeks you must learn about writing.” -And glad to have something definite to do, -the little teacher turned to her task with earnest -persistence and the matter of departure -was not spoken of again.</p> - -<p>But it hung over the three weeks. The -mocking bird’s morning song now had a note -of sadness. “You’re going away,” he said. -The hen was reproachful as she showed her -chickens. “You won’t see them grow up,” -she clucked. Pussy Lucy purred, “You can’t -play with me when I get to be a cat.” And<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> -even the pigs grunted, “Why do you leave -our babies now that they are so cunning?” -for spring had glorified the pigs that fathered -and mothered dear little offspring.</p> - -<p>“There are so many things to say good-bye -to,” Hazel said to Granny one night.</p> - -<p>As for Granny, she was openly heart-broken. -“You’s been the light of this house,” she said, -“and the sun done drop out of my sky when -you leave me. But I don’t blame your mother -for calling you, not one speck.”</p> - -<p>The first of May, Hazel began to pack her -trunk. But there were certain possessions that -went in and out with her changing mood. -What books should she leave for Scip?</p> - -<p>Scip had nothing to read. That she knew, -and meant to leave him some of her little -library, but how much?</p> - -<p>She had six books which she kept on a shelf -in her room. The first was a New Testament -given her by her father. Of that there was -no question; it was hers for ever and ever. -The second was a simple reader that she fortunately -had brought and had used in her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> -lessons. Of course, that would go to Scip. -The third was the dictionary. Scip should -have that, for Mother would be glad to give -it to him. The fourth was “What Katy did,” -a girl’s book, that she knew Scip wouldn’t -care for; it could go in the trunk. The fifth -and sixth were the Jungle Book, and Child -Life, the Christmas gift of her minister.</p> - -<p>When the first week of May came to an end, -it seemed probable that the Jungle Book would -remain on the shelf. Scipio did not fully appreciate -it—it was evident he thought some of -the conversation silly—but he liked the pictures, -especially the one of the tiger. Hazel -adored the Jungle Book, but, though she knew -she should not count on this, she guessed -shrewdly that when Mr. Perkins learned of -her generosity he would give her another -copy. But Child Life was different. And for -many days it seemed that Child Life would -remain in the trunk.</p> - -<p>Hazel was an only child, and she had had few -serious calls upon her generosity. Pretty things -had been given her, and she had been genuinely<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> -grateful, but she had come imperceptibly -to regard them as her right. Never in -her life had she given away anything for which -she deeply cared. And she cared deeply for -this book of poems. But Scip cared for them, -too, and knew some of them almost by heart. -Such a book would help him in his reading -very much.</p> - -<p>She had told Granny about the Boston -library, where you could get any book in the -world. Of course, it would have Child Life. -But it was one thing to get a book for two weeks -from a library, and another to have it on your -book shelf every month of the year for your -very own. And then, this book had her name -in it, written by her minister. She hugged it -close. It would not be right to give away the -minister’s present. And feeling a little like -a hypocrite she put it back in the trunk.</p> - -<p>That afternoon she impressed upon Scipio -that he must write to her. She had spoken -of it before, but he had said nothing. “You -really must write, Scip. You can print now -quite nicely, you know. It will be good practice<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span> -for you, and I shall want to hear. You -will, won’t you?”</p> - -<p>Scipio shook his head.</p> - -<p>Hazel felt disappointed and angry. “You -must, Scip. Why won’t you?”</p> - -<p>He gave his reason. “I ain’t got no money, -and they won’t give stamps at the store.”</p> - -<p>When she went home Hazel took Child -Life out of the trunk and put it, almost -savagely, on her table. “It’s a wicked shame,” -she said to herself. “He works and works -and he can’t have one single thing.” She -took her pen, dipped it in the ink, and turning -to the title page wrote under her own -name, “To Scipio Lee.”</p> - -<p>When she was done she looked at it hard -and winked the tears from her eyes. Then -she placed it on the shelf with the primer -and the dictionary and the Jungle Book.</p> - -<p>“Granny, will you write to me when I leave -here?” she asked that night as they sat on the -porch.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sugar; but you mustn’t be surprised -at my kind of writing. Colored children<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> -weren’t taught to read and write in slavery -days, but your father he learned me. When -he were about twelve he began. ‘It may be -I done leave home and mammy by and by,’ -he said, ‘and I wants to get letters from my -mother.’ So he worked with me every day -like you work with Scip.”</p> - -<p>“I remember the letters you wrote. Father -loved them. I would understand what they -were about now. So you’ll surely write me,” -she went on persistently.</p> - -<p>“Yes, honey.”</p> - -<p>“Then, Granny, will you let Scip put his -letters inside of yours, because he hasn’t money -to buy stamps?”</p> - -<p>“I sure will, you dear child.”</p> - -<p>It had been arranged that Miss Davis should -call for Hazel the Monday morning after her -school closed and should take her to the station. -She was to come at ten o’clock. The -day before, Sunday, Scipio, on Granny’s and -Hazel’s urgent invitation, took supper with -them. The boy felt more conscious of his -ill-kept clothes within doors than when with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> -Hazel in the woods, but she had been persistent -and he had come. She took him into -her room and showed him the shelf with its -four books.</p> - -<p>“I give them to you,” she said solemnly, -and put them in his arms.</p> - -<p>He looked bewildered. “You ain’t leaving -all these for me?” he asked.</p> - -<p>She nodded, “Yes, they’ve got your name -in them.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t have ’em,” he said, almost crying. -“I ain’t any place to keep ’em. The boys -is worse than ever now you don’t let me lick -’em.”</p> - -<p>Hazel was dumb for a moment. Then she -called Granny to her.</p> - -<p>The old woman appeared in the doorway -and the situation was explained to her.</p> - -<p>“Could Scip keep the books here on this -shelf?” Hazel asked. “Then they would be -quite safe.”</p> - -<p>“Why, in course,” Granny replied heartily. -“And maybe he’ll read aloud sometimes to -me. We could make them out together.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span>“I’m going to know how to read,” Scip said -resolutely. “I never had nothing to read -before, but now I’ve got books and a dictionary.”</p> - -<p>Hazel read to them for a long time that evening; -it was easier than to talk. She read -the favorite poem of each; for Granny, “The -Hen with One Chicken,” who thought she -was so much busier than the ducks and turkeys -with their broods; for Scip, “The Night -with a Wolf,” “The Captain’s Daughter,” -and the one she, too, liked so much, of the -little girl in the woods.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="first">“Are you not often, little maid,</div> -<div class="verse">Beneath the sighing trees afraid?”</div> -</div></div> - -<p>And the little girl’s answer:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="first">“Afraid, beneath the tall, strong trees,</div> -<div class="verse">That bend their arms to shelter me?”</div> -</div></div> - -<p>“Do you know,” Hazel said confidentially, -“I used to be a little frightened in the woods, -but I never am now. I think of the poem -and I have Scip’s stick!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span>“I’m coming again,” she said to Scip as he -went down the porch to his home. “I’m coming -again,” and she repeated it often to Granny -before she went to bed.</p> - -<p>Miss Davis arrived in a carriage the next -morning on the front seat with the driver, -her trunk behind. Hazel’s was placed beside -it, and then the child turned to say good-bye.</p> - -<p>Scipio was there with Theora and Tom hanging -shyly to their big brother. He was very -gentle with them. Hazel kissed both the -children good-bye, and put out her hand to -Scip.</p> - -<p>He took it and said softly, “Good-bye, -Sister.”</p> - -<p>Granny held her close and could not let -her go. “You’s been the light of my house,” -she said. “Tell your mother I bless her for -letting me have you. And I send you -back to her sound and well, honey. She’ll be -full of happiness. But we-all ’ll miss you -sorely.”</p> - -<p>Hazel could only give her one more hug.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> -Then she scrambled to the seat between the -driver and Miss Davis, and the horse started -off.</p> - -<p>When she looked back she saw Granny standing -in the road, her hand on Scipio’s shoulder.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIII<br /> - - -<small>HOME</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was necessary to stay in Montgomery -over night in order to make railroad connections; -so Hazel was able to visit Mr. and Mrs. -Jenks again, while Miss Davis went to a hotel. -Mrs. Jenks and her husband were delighted -at the change in Hazel’s appearance. The -thin, shy child had grown almost plump and -was full of spirits. She talked gaily at dinner, -she romped with the children, and she gave -her host such a generous good-night hug that -he was breathless and disheveled when it was -over.</p> - -<p>“Excuse me,” Hazel called as she ran upstairs, -“but that is the way Mr. Perkins likes -me to say good-night to him. And, oh,” -ecstatically, “I shall see him next Sunday!”</p> - -<p>The following morning Mrs. Jenks put up -an enormous box of luncheons and breakfasts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> -and suppers for Hazel. Such a quantity of -bread and butter sandwiches, such a lot of -sliced chicken and hard-boiled eggs, and a jar -of guava jelly with a spoon that didn’t have to -be returned.</p> - -<p>“It will be less expensive for you than to -get your meals on the train,” Mrs. Jenks began -hesitatingly.</p> - -<p>Hazel broke in impetuously, “I know all -about it, Mrs. Jenks. I’m not wanted in the -dining car because I’m colored. I’m traveling -North as Miss Davis’s maid, and I’m to do little -things for her and to play I really am a maid. -She says her traveling dress hooks up the -back and around the side with about a hundred -hooks, and that she could never wear it except -for me. And I must keep her hair smooth for -her because her mother says it is always untidy—it -isn’t, it’s beautiful. And I’m to fan -the flies away from her when she takes a nap. -As if I thought flies were on trains! But -we are going to play that I am her maid, to -make a game of it, because it is better to do -that than to keep feeling angry. How many<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span> -meals do I eat? One, two, three, four, five? -This is plenty, for I can get milk and cocoa. -I’m going to sleep in an upper berth, think, -and climb up on a ladder! It will be great -fun.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Jenks smiled and sighed and put some -cakes in the box.</p> - -<p>Miss Davis called for Hazel in a carriage, -and the little girl felt very proud as she drove -away with her new friend. The station was -an exciting place. Hazel saw a check marked -“Boston” put on her trunk and knew that -home was near. She entered the Pullman -car with Miss Davis and held her hand tightly -as the porter showed them their seats. All -her safety from insult, she knew, lay in the -presence of her white companion. They sat -down together and at length the train drew -out of the station, headed for the North and -home.</p> - -<p>The little girl looked up at her friend. “I’m -trying to think all the time of Mother,” she -said, “but I can’t forget Granny and Scip.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll visit them again,” Miss Davis said<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span> -consolingly. “When people once begin to travel -they never stop.”</p> - -<p>The journey was full of interest to Hazel, -and not an unkind word was said to her during -the trip. Indeed, an old lady in the seat across -the aisle took a fancy to her, and sent her a -big plate of ice-cream from the dining car. -“Two portions, I’m sure,” Miss Davis said -when she heard about it. New York was -reached, a din of trolleys and elevateds and -a big, beautiful station with a restaurant -where everyone could sit and eat, and then -Boston and home.</p> - -<p>It was night when they got off the train at -the South Station, and Hazel trembled as she -walked by Miss Davis’s side. If Mother should -miss her! Then she saw a big black man and -she rushed toward and past him and into her -mother’s arms.</p> - -<p>“I waited a long time for my greeting,” said -Mr. Perkins, smoothing his coat collar, “but -it was satisfactory when I got it.”</p> - -<p>“Where is Miss Davis?” asked Hazel when -she could look about her again.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span>“She left her good-bye,” said Mr. Perkins; -“she was hurrying to meet someone, too; -perhaps it was her brother, and perhaps it -wasn’t. Come, Little Frog, give me your -check. I’ll look after your trunk when I’ve -put you and your mother on the car. You’re -coming to dine with us Sunday.”</p> - -<p>How beautiful home looked with its three -dear little rooms! The table was set for supper. -There was a big dish of strawberries, white -bread and butter, and a spider on the fire with -a lamb chop in it ready to cook! In a moment -Charity came in.</p> - -<p>The two little girls flew into one another’s -arms.</p> - -<p>“My, ain’t you fat, Hazel!” said Charity.</p> - -<p>Hazel laughed delightedly. “I like to be -fat,” she said.</p> - -<p>“I am going to cook your chop,” said Charity, -and Mrs. Tyler let her.</p> - -<p>“Mother,” said Hazel as she ate her supper, -“you don’t know, for you haven’t been South, -how good this chop tastes. There are two -things I don’t want to see again for a long<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span> -time; one is bacon and the other is corn bread.” -Then, feeling that this might seem ungrateful -to Granny, “they are both good, but I’ve had -enough of them.”</p> - -<p>“There’s a moving-picture show around the -corner,” said Charity, when Hazel had finished -her supper, “want to go? I’ve got two dimes.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, not to-night, Charity.”</p> - -<p>“Well, whenever you want, the price is on -me.”</p> - -<p>Hazel was not allowed to help with the dishes, -for she was a visitor this evening. To-morrow -she would slip back into the routine of home. -She and her mother talked and talked far into -the night, there was so much to tell about, -and both were so happy. At length Hazel -dropped off to sleep, but her mother lay awake -until the dawn showed her her child’s face -again. “How well she looks,” Mrs. Tyler -said again and again to herself. “I did right -to send her away.”</p> - -<p>“Here is a wash-cloth that I spun and wove -for you, Charity,” Hazel said the next morning -and handed it triumphantly to her friend.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>Charity looked it over carefully. “I can -buy ’em like that for five cents at Jordan, -Marsh’s.”</p> - -<p>“Can you?” answered Hazel, trying not to -be hurt. “And it took me days and days to -make it.”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said Charity loftily, “didn’t I tell -you it was slow down South?”</p> - -<p>When Hazel took the same gift to her school-teacher, -however, she heard a very different -comment.</p> - -<p>“You’ve done a wonderful thing, Hazel,” -Miss Grey said. “You’ve followed an industry -from its beginning to the finished product. -Next year, if it is possible, we will get a spinning-wheel -and loom and you can demonstrate the -spinning and weaving to the school.”</p> - -<p>Hazel repeated this to Charity.</p> - -<p>“Bet you’d break your thread,” Charity -declared, “when you had to spin before all -the boys and girls.”</p> - -<p>The homecoming was very exciting. There -was the first Sunday at church, and the Sunday -school service, when they wanted to hear<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> -about their song-books down in Alabama, -and the good time at the Perkins’s and the -trolley rides with Charity. Mr. Perkins gave -Hazel a dollar for trolley rides, telling her -that she must not forget the city and its -delights.</p> - -<p>June came, and one late afternoon Mrs. -Tyler returned from her work looking so -happy that Hazel accused her of having a -secret.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Tyler nodded assent. “You shall hear -it after supper,” she said.</p> - -<p>So when the dishes were washed they sat -down together, and Hazel heard the secret.</p> - -<p>“We are going away for the summer,” said -her mother. “I find I can make more money -at my shampooing in the country than here. -Some of my customers go to a beautiful place -by the sea and they promise me plenty of business -there.”</p> - -<p>“Is it at Revere Beach?” asked Hazel.</p> - -<p>“No indeed, goosey, much further than that, -’way down in Maine.”</p> - -<p>“More traveling?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span>“Yes, more traveling, but not so far as -Alabama.”</p> - -<p>“I shall miss Charity,” mused Hazel, “but -I believe wherever you go you have to miss -somebody. Are there pines in Maine?”</p> - -<p>“Pines?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, pine trees. Do they grow there?”</p> - -<p>“I think so, dear.”</p> - -<p>“Then, if there are pine trees, I shall like -it very much!”</p> - -<p>Just before they left town letters came from -Granny and Scip.</p> - -<p>“Mother,” said Hazel after reading them, -“my heart is content. Scipio is living with -Granny; at least, he is staying there at night. -She never did like living alone, the least bit, -and so she got Scip’s father to let the boy stay -with her. She gives him supper and breakfast -and Granny says he was half starved -before, and at night they both read out of -the books I left. Granny says they think of -me.”</p> - -<p>Scipio’s letter was plainly printed and showed -constant consultation with the dictionary.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>Dear Sister:</p> - -<p>Aunt Ellen has took me in.</p> - -<p>I am going to help her pick cotton when it ripes.</p> - -<p>The cat is playing by the fire.</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Scipio Lee.</span></p> -</div> - -<p>“I’m so glad you trimmed my summer hat -with the feathers Scip gave me, Mother,” -Hazel said, “I shall tell him about it the next -time I write.”</p> - - -<p class="center">THE END.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="ph1">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> - - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> - -<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> - -<p>Archaic or variant spelling has been retained from the original.</p> - -</div></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAZEL ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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