Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-09
FIDE EXCUSES

It's win not do to maintain constant
skeptNism with regard to the tales of ex-
cuse on our black helpers" said the man
who hveS in boarding house because he
Is too tired to get married and set up
nat If you do, you are liable at some
time or other to be made to feel as felt
on an occa sion last winter
When my weeks wash was two days
overdue in the returning I began to boil
with all of the hot effervescence of a male
person who has lived alone ever since he
left home. My washing was called for and
returned by the husband Of my washer
woman, and, somehow or other, although
ola not know anything about that black
man and brother i couldn't disassociate him
In my mind from crap shooting and gina
palpable injustice. as 1 frankly tell you.
because had never seen him toss a dice
nor absorb glass OF gin. He Just looked
that way to me. that's all. Well, held
MIN responsible for the overdue wash I
inquired him as having lost 1t on the way
70 my boarding house, or even as having
pawned 1t for juniper juice, or something
OF the sort. When the wash was three
Gays behind the schedule In coming back
broke out in tiny tongues of flame. as
L
dlont know my washerwoman's address
there was nothing for me to do but to make
prospective business for the dentist by
gritting my teeth.
MY washerwoman's husband brought
my wash back on the fourth evening
was rather astonished, and, in fact. put
out. that he didn't bear any marks Of re-
cent dissipation. On the contrary, he
looked very subdued and humble. OF course
! opened up the heavy battery on him He
took 1t all without a word of humble ex-
postulation until l had quite finished, and
then he said:
daid on de Av'noo day befo yistiddy, an
oats de reason. sub. NAH wife couldn't
git DC cfo'es done no soonuh. suh.'
greeted that statement with the derision
II seemed to deserve. took it out of hand
as another, and a rather unusual, yaria-
ton or the darkey excuse for dereliction
Heah's my wife's note bout it, suh,'
said the husband Of my washerwoman
handing me a grimy note.
Il took the note and read it. 1t was
quantity written and misspelt, and it told
me of the sudden death OF my washerwo-
man sister on Pennsylvania avenue, con-
Guiding with an appeal to me for a little
something to help bury the dead sister
You wrote this yourself, my man. said
TO the husband Of my washerwoman, and
this Is put-up job on your part to gouge
me for gin money
The man looked hurt, but that didn't
our colored friends sometimes are when
circumstances require.
Deed all didn't, sub, he replied, ap-
pealingly. All sut'nly didn't write dat,
suh-ah can't write nohow. Nah wife, she
done writ it
Well. I'd like to believe you, but
oont see my way clear to do It, 1 an
nounced to the man. Here's the money
ior the wash. You may tell your wife
by the way, what was the name of this
sister-in-law Of yours that dropped dead?'
My idea was to trip him suddenly. He
stammered and looked foolish.
All don't quite remembuh, suh-ah
think it was Lily somethin ah neyuh
seen much of nah wits sistuh, an
of course, that convinced me that the
man was lying and that the note had been
trumped up.
Very WELL I said to the man in a tone
don't even know the name of this dead
sister-in-law. l shall engage the services
OF another washerwoman, you may tell
your wife.
"'Ah'n tell huh, suh-good ev'n'n', suh,'
and the man skunk out of my door and
closed it softly after him.
Something of what you might call down
In his looks as he went out struck me and
hurt me a bit. 1t was a bitter cold evening
and the wind was bowling outside, and per-
hapS that had something to do with the
vague feeling of self-reproach that 1 ex-
perienced as soon as the man went away.
=" 1 wonder if it could be possible that the
fellow is telling the TRUTH i asked myself
Then it occurred to me that an account
of woman having died suddenly on Penn
sylvania avenue must surely have been
given in the newspapers 1 thrashed around
and found a newspaper of the day before
You can picture to yourself how felt when
l found a circumstantial account of how
young colored woman had suddenly fallen
to the pavement on a prominent Pennsyl-
vania avenue corner, how she had been
carried into drug store, ard how she died
there before the ambulance could arrive
upon the scene with medical assistance. 1
was glad that the account gave the address
of the shack in the alley to which the body
had been carried. 1 clapped on my hat and
coat and explored until I found the house
of my washerwoman in the alley. She and
other relatives were weeping by the body
of the dead woman, and the poverty of the
scene was pitiful indeed. 1 did what I
could-my conscience was pretty raw.
Il came near slipping again on Sunday
evening last but didn't, because remem-
bered the experience of last winter. I was
sitting on the steps of my boarding house
with the landlord. when waiter boy whom
he had employed only few days before,
and who had not shown up for duty on
Sunday morning, came through the front
gate. He looked downcast, and was almost
in tears.
",Ah didn't come dis mohnin'. subj he
said to the landlord, because my sistuh-
she was wukkin' out ovuh in Geo getown-
she done blow out de gas, and she is daid.'
Il could see the smile forming around the
corner Of the landlords mouth. but some
how the waiter boys yarn didn't strike me
as SO utterly incredible as 1t might have be-
fore that little affair of last winter.
An Aid lax tub have yo' all advance
me five dolluhs o. nah money. suh,' the
waiter went on to the landlord SOS All can
TEX huh back home in Vahginia-Ah'lI be
back wen she's buried, suh.'
1.-THE landlord was just going to say
something In ridicule of this suggestion and
of the whole business, when 1 gave him a
slight kick on the leg
q Tell the boy to come back in the morn
ing. l said to the landlord. There's a
chance he's not trying to fiim-nam YOU
THE landlord adopted my suggestion, al
though reiuctantly-he was positive that
the black boy was simply trying to swing
him for a five-dollar note. and then not
turn up for dining room duty any more.
THE boy wasn't lying. Last Monday
mornings paper gave an account of the
young colored woman's death from asphyx-
iatton in the house where she was EMPLOYED
in West Washington. She hadn't blown
out the gas, 1t seems, but the key was de-
fective. and had been left partially turned
on. When the waiter boy came around that
morning the landlord handsomely headed
the paper which was passed around among
the guests of the house to help bury the
dead woman. and I learned still another
lesson as to the occasional valuelessness of
an habitual incredulity.'