The record-union., 1897-09-24


in the young girls life. The woman
was a philanthropist- She had broad
sympatfies and keen observation She
met Anita at Trinity Church, Boston.
where the girl had been a communicate
since childhood The clear headed and
sympathetic woman of the world be-
came deeply interested in the beautiful
colored girl who was making such
steady, brave, uphill fight against
environment and tradition She sug-
gested college, and in the contemplation
of this vista OF delight Anita almost
forgot her peculiar relations to the
world of ideas, achievements, and
white skins. She entered MoOdy's pre-
paratoTy school at Northfield, and it is
at this point that her career may be
said TO have really begun She was
at this time a girl of twenty, with
beautiful face, a splendid intellect and
a habit of retrospection. Her parents
mingled wholly with their colored
friends, and her home life had brought
her into contact with the people of her
own race. The line between her and
the lite she wished to lead seemed very
sharply drawn. There was nothing
about her, however, to suggest her
negro blood. Her skin was a clear
olive, her eyes soft and dark, and her
hair straight as an Indians, her figure
and carriage perfect She looked like
a Spanish or Italian girl
At Mortified Miss Hemming first
had the experience of associating inti-
mately with girls not of her own race.
Her roommate there, however, was a
Miss Bessie Baker, a mulattO like her
self. Miss Baker has since become the
wife cf w. II. Lewis, a well known
negro citizen of Boston, who was
known in his college days as Harvard's
great center rush. Miss Hemming was
bridesmaid at the wedding, which oc-
Cured last autumn. She is now the
guest of Mrs. Lewis in the latter's
home on Columbus avenue, Boston.
During the year at Mortified the
two colored girls were closely asso-
ciated with the social as well as the
educational life at Mr.. Moody's school.
Strangers looking at either of them had
no suspicion of the presence of a strain
of negro blood. Their classmates
seemed to have forgotten it. The happy
life there and the temporary absence of
the cloud that had hung over her may
have aided Miss Hemming in her re-
solve TO enter VaSSar without the great
handicap which she had carried so
long. She determined to conceal the
fact Of her negro origin. This implied
no false statements. She had merely
to let it be assumed that she was as
the others were.
Miss Hemming entered Vassar. No
one asked her whether she was negro
or New Englander, Indian or Spanish.
She was young, brilliant and beauti-
full. That was enough. She had passed
an excellent entrance examination She
had met the necessary requirements as
to good moral character" She
promptly and quietly took her place at
the head of her classes, friends f1ocked
around her, professors praised her, she
was initiated into the mysteries of Sc
cret societies and midnight fudge"
parties. Her college career had begun.
For almost a year she kept her secret
well. Thsn she suddenly disclosed it.
Perhaps it weighed upon her mind, and
she told it to obtain relief. Perhaps the
disclosure was accidental. No one
knows. But the girl chose her conf
dant wisely. She told her story to a
member of the faculty-one of the most
popular professors in the college. This
womans attitude toward her brilliant
pupil may be assumed from the fact
that she subsequently visited Anita at
her Boston home during the holidays.
The Hcmmings We're humble people.
and they made no effort to conceal the
fact from the college professor who
was their guest Their friends and as
sociates were colOred people There
was 10 pretense of being white.
With the exception of this friend Miss
Hemming entertained no guests from
Vassar in her Boston home The pro-
fessor, like Anita, kept the secret well.
Anita's roommate was a beautiful and
popular student, whose family held a
high social position. Not even this girl
suspected the truth for years. When
she did Anita's first great trouble came.
Miss Hemming's progress through
Vassar was a triumphal one. She had
a beautiful voice, hence she joined the
glee club. She was also taken into the
choir and became a leader in the mu-
sical set of the college. She Joined the
choral club. AS the months passed she
was made a member of other college
associations. Among these were the
Contemporary Club, the '97 Federal
CCOdtlHS 0O[lclyy d dIGck cluD. ana
the Marshall Club. But these were not
all her triumphs.
There are dances and festival days at
Vassar, in which Harvard, Yale and
Princeton men are allowed to partici-
pate In large numbers these young
men bowed at Anita's shrine It was a
ther blows with an angonized fear. She
sobriquet by which she became re-
nowned-'the beautiful brunette"
1t was her roommate who finally
caused the temporary downfall of this
striking figure from its fine college en-
inence. In some manner this girl had
discovered that Anita was of negro
parentage. She Immediately changed
her room and discontinued the ac-
quaintanceship. 1t was the first blow in
the colored girls college course-and it
was a bitter one. Anita awaited fur
ther blows with an agonized fear. She
knew that the story would spread like
wildfire through the college, and she
felt that the upbuilding of the structure
she had raised was but a waste of time.
To what end was all her work and
study, If the friends she loved turned
from her and the college she loved
closed its doors to her No one knows
what the girl suffered, for she never
told. She kept to herself, withdrew
from her associates, and became alb
| sorbed in her work But they would
| not have it so. For some reason the
| roommate, too, kept the secret A few
rumors started, but We're Immediately
scOffed down. AS the weeks passed,
| and her friends still rallied around her,
Anita breathed again. She had had a
| md most