Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1914-01-20
NUMBER 3

pal endea vor Of the naval academy is
to teach the midshipman he Is a per.
son of very small Importance, who is
% do what he is told, keep his mouth
shut and respect the flag. and Matt
had not wholly outliyed this youthful
training which had been put in his
bones to stay.
In contrast to Hunter Hoyt the rest
Of Mrs Sattane's boarders SCENE
commonplace indeed. One Of theI
was too humble creature to call him
self boarder at all. Matt lived
week at Mrs. Sattane's before he even
discovered the mans existence
grave, elderly mulatto Of kindly, open
lace and ingratiating manners, who
was something in the nature Of the
boarding house skeleton. His name
was Daggancourt, a possible corrup-
ton Of De Goncourt-Yictor Daggan.
court-who, although he paid 81
week, while the others paid only 50.
had what might be called furtive po-
,ition In the house. He would wait
unobtrusiyely about the porch until
the rest had finished their meal, when
q second tinkle Of the bell would sum-
mon him to the disordered table. Here
color prejudice forbade that he should
be served by Bridget, who placed the
dishes near his plate and left him TO
shift for himself. The sitting room
was, of course. forbidden to him,
though he might linger for moment
in the doorway without impropriety
and listen to the superior race. he
was the owner Of small garage and
machine shop-"Victors garage 1t was
called-and was a widower without
children.
..This is q hard world for colored
man, SIR" he said once to Matt. 'spe-
cially II he's better educated than the
most Of his race and is given to think
Ing q little, like | do. The majority
of them are no company for me, Win
their common ways and cheap ideas
and, Of course, l am personum non
grata to white folks. Here am. stuck
middlewlse between the two
Matt conceived a sincere regard Tor
the old fellow, whose lowly, etfacing
life was not without certain tragedy
There was fine strain In the mulatto
and an innate dignity and kindness
that commanded respect, not to speak
Of a whimsical humor that CLEANED
out even In his most earnest moments
you're q man." he once said to Matt,
while have the misfortune to be a
problem That's bigger difference
between us than color Itself. The
darky can't 20 anywhere and do any
thing. but right off. he's problem
When we eat. we're a problem: when
we 90 to hospital. we're n problem:
we can't hop on train. but there
again we're n problem; when we dle'
we're problem, for. Lord save u.s.
black bones mustn't lay next to white
Nothing could be got from the board
ers except warnings. Each one ran
down his own business. On MattS
appealing to Victor the latter foretoId
the swift finish OF the garage business.
Owners are getting to know too
much" he said. "You can't sell ten
dollar pair Of gas lights for sixty Ike
you did once. II was you. Marse
Broughton, I'd try mules. There new
er has been enough mules. and there
never will be!'
Matt accordingly. though rather
slackly, 1t must be confessed, began tn
look into mules; he accumulated stacks
of mule information; he wrote to
Washington and got for nothing the
concentrated wisdom OF whole mule
sub-bureau. All this was very encour-
aging, and was made more 80 by Vic
tors request to come in rs partner.
He thought he could sell out his ga
rage for $l.4O0 or $1,000. and volun-
teered to be Mats man Friday.
~ won't be any trouble to you," he
pleaded earnestly. 81 know my place.
and I'll keep 1t. no matter how close
we have to live; and I'll cook and
wash, and do everything till we're on
our feet"
Matt did not commit himself: IT was
80 much easier to dawdle along ana