Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-28

lie looked up and fastened his ewes on
gerry aud then struggled to his feet Din,
e.Vi'cCtions OF some bygone white mas
tpr prought CLEAN into his blearv eyes
ne raised his hand in the national gesture
oi cnlid TO parent, slave to master.
blesslng. Master, blessing" Gerry had
! learned the meaning of the oualnt cus-
tom. God bless thee" he answered T.,
badly jumbled Portuguese. The rirI and
| the Wflhkled little woman looked at hin,
: surprised and then smiled at each other
| as women smile at the first steps of n
| child. p' Vi
They made him sit down at the Ia
| Die ana placed before him crisn rusks NJ
| rhahuloc Hour and steaming coffee whose
| sP,ehuid aroma triumphed over the sor-
dldness OF the scene and Through tho
nostrils reached the palate with antici-
patory touch. 1t was sweetened with
dark pungcnt syrup and was served black
III u capaclous bowl as though one could
not drink too deeply OF the elixir of life
Terry ale ravenously and sipped the
Coice, at hrst sparingly. then greediIv
iHe oIu hegfeSs iluttered nervously about
the stove, nursing its Inadequate fire of
charcoal. Her eyes were big with wonder
at the capacity of the white master. The
olu negro had sunk back to his seat on
the moor, The two white women stood
and watched Gerry. The more he ate the
more they urged.
Gerry set down the empty bowl with n
sigh. The rusks had been delicious RE-
tore the coffee the name of nectar dyin-
uicuNto linpotency. It's elixir rioted in his
veins. AT the sigh the girl had deftlv
rolled a cigarette in a bit of corn biisk
scfaped thin as paper. Now she slipped
u INTO MS hngers The old negress picked
up Il i've coal and, passing IL from shaky
mana TO shaky hand, deposited it on his
Plate. Gerry lit the cigarette. with the
lrst long contented Whit he smiled The
smile brought singing recollection. with
Il irown he threw away the cigarette and
rose from the table. "The brute is fod
and laughs" he said aloud and strode
from the room. The girl and the little
wrinkled woman looked at each other in
diSmay They seemed to sense the lIn-
ihteliigible words. The old darlky crawled
across the floor and possessed himself of
the cigarette.
Gerry went to seat himself on the stems
of the veranda. Before him stretched the
allow valley, beyond it CLEANED the
black line of the rushing river. To the
right were the ruins of a sugar mill and
stables. To the left the debris that once
mad been slaves quarters. The fields still
bore the hummocks, in rough alignment,
mat told the story Of past years fruitful
IN cane. All was waste, all was ruin
The girl slipped to n seat beside him.
She rolled fresh cigarette and then shyly
laid small brown hand on his arm Ger
ry looked at her Her big brown eyes
were sorrowful and pleading. She held
out the cigarette with Il little shrug that |
deprecated the smallness of the offering.
Gerry felt Il twinEe of remorse. He |
patted the hand that lay on his arm, |
smiled, Dnd took the cigarette. The girls |
face lit up. She called and again the !
nGgress brought fire. This time Gerry !
smoked gravely. The girl sat on beside ,
him. Her hand lay in his !
SO they sat until the sun passed the I
zenith 9nd, slipping over the caves, fell
like fire Oh their bare feet Gerry stood .
up, pointed to himself and then down the .
river to the town. The girl shook her
head. She made him understand that he
was cut off from the town by an i'm
passabe tributary 10 the great river-that
he would have 10 make a long detour in
land. Then she swept her hand from the
sun to the horizon to show him that the
day was too far gone for the journey.
lie was not much concerned. An apathy
seized him at the thought of going back,
lie felt as though shame had left some
visible scar on his CountcnanCe that men
must see and read. As he stood. thought