The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-08-14
First installment from What Amer
lea Means To Me-" John Day
Company. New York 5000
BY PEARL 5. BUCK
Chapter

lea Means To Me-" John Day
Company. New York $1,000
BY PEARL 5. BUCK
Chapter
Come in. please" young girls
soft voice said, mother is expect
ing you"
The young girl was very pretty
! saw that at my first glance. She
vas dark. eyes black. and her black
hair smoothly curled and shining
II she had been born in Samoa o.
n the Philippines. she would have
been called an island beauty. But
she was born II the United States
Of America. N the city of Philadcl-
pria.
She wore a white dress. plain
and smar.. and as she LED the way
INTO the quiet house that stood on
a quiet street. l saw she had that
peculiar grace which one sees so
often in the South Seas. Bu: there
vas nothing foreign about her when
she talked. Her speech was pure
American.
VIII you please come upstairs"
,he said.
So followed her upstairs into
4 d gn.ied and even handsome
room. where we sa; down While
We waved for her mother
Mother is taking 20 my grand.
mother" she sad Grandmother
has just had a long distance call
t-om my ta,her-becaase il IS Moth
e.s day. you know. My father
5 major IN me army, a doctor
VIII tie new Tying corps o. Tus-
Ae.ee
She was proud OF her father. !
c9..d see ;hat. BIZ; could imagine
a.y father berg proud. too. - this
3auShter, so graceful. so tuN Of
ease and pose even With = S,rgn2er
"Th.s enid" ,hoIgh:. watch
- her and listening as she an
swe.ed my questions about her
school lie. IS happy child"
She told ne taat sac went 70 a
pubic school where colo-ed and
white girls mingled together with
out se,t-conSciousness. She liked
her friends. she said. and had good
sine and she was not often treated
differently because she was not
white. But as she said this saw
little shadow in the really beau
iiful eyes put question to
that shadow.
4 Don't your colo-ed schoolma.es
ever feel any disadvantage in no;
being whitea"
Yes. Il seemed they d.d. espc-
c!a,,y when they were seniors.
Taere had long been Pleasant
custom in the school that the sem
or class went before !: Was gradu-
1.ed on trip 10 Washington. the
cap.al o. their country. II was
meant as a sort OF climax 10 their
years OF education IN The eXcellen;
pubic school Actually il was
an.i-c,max ard contradiction 10
WA; they had been taught For
the co,ored girls could not co be-
cause they would not be admitted
- the hotels with their schoolma.es.
Taere ,was TO ho;el N Washington
which would take the girls II some
81 them were colored.
SO the wa!.e girls go and VIC
don't" THIS child sad quietly. She
taGded hastily. OF course We want
,hcm - go-wc wouldn't want them
- mss the tJn-JIst because We
must;
Il should Ike yoa % krow." I
said. that Il were white gil
n your schoo. wouldn't 80 Il YOU
could not. am ashamed OF those
wh.ie s.cls who s. without you 10
! vSt Washington II al places
she did not answer this, but she
smiled a painful l,;.e smile.
~. won't be a problem this year.
anyway" she said we can't any
d Us 20 because Of the war"
Her mother came in then. wom-
an graceful and pretty enough to
explain her dadgh;er. She was a
qu'e; woman, gentle with long
I breed rg.
How long have you been in
! Philadelphia" asked when We be-
gan 10 ak.
She had been born in Philadel-
! phia. and her family had been here
tor three generations. That Is. she
was Of an Old American family.
The generation earlier had been IL,
The South \ white ancestor had
brought ;hcm here.
suspected several white ances-
tors IN tbs beautiful woman. Her
skin was golden brown. and her
hair was. smooth and her features
iine.
Tell me" I said, you arc OF
very mixed blood
!, she tod ne frankly then o. The
fstorv Of those generations. Excep'
to- the m xed blood IL might have
been The story Of any Old and
honorable American family whose
I ancestors had come here early and
lad lived N dignity and even some
rl.xugy. Obviously tbs woman had
never known want or insecurity
! Her husband. too. had a mixture
I waite blood from lancaster counts
7 N Pennsylvania. where the Penn
( syiyaril Dutch have no race pre-
JUDGES.
Here is his picture" she sad
/ looked into the face OF a hand.
some and strong man. lie wore Z
uniform.
He fought in The las; war. TOO
she said proudly. "and nc didn'
feel he was doing his duty unit
ne volunteered aeain. But | hope
he'll "a: home before he has 10 z;
abroad"
The house was very quiet a.
she sad tbs. | fe., the qu.e.ueS
| be rau in her.