The Forged Note Part 9

At this point, several men entered the room, most of whom were distinguished looking, compared with the average Negro. Wyeth was introduced to them, and learned that two were physicians, one a dentist, another a lawyer, and still another was a letter carrier. The stranger was soon the object of their many questions. They were answered deliberately, for Sidney Wyeth was well informed.

"What do you think of the colored people in the south, now that you see them yourself?" he was asked. He noted the pride and air of dignity along with the question.

"I am considerably impressed with what I have seen, I am sure," Wyeth began cautiously. "It is unnecessary to say that this is probably the most commodious structure owned and occupied by our people, in any city.

And, I have noted with a great deal of pride that you have in the building, also, some half a dozen large insurance companies, owned and conducted successfully by members of this race. All of this and other creditable things, too numerous to mention, count for much in the solution of the race problem. Much more could be said in praise, but I do not consider it necessary. And still, with so much to their credit, there is much also to their discredit--very much. I refer to this, since it is a thing that can be remedied, and positively should be. To begin with, the people as a whole, do not read nearly as much as in the north, and are poorly informed in matters of grave concern and of general interest." He paused, and saw that they were puzzled. They were, all of them, taken aback. They looked at each other, and then began to gather color and heat as well.

Sidney Wyeth had stirred, by his last words, his criticism, the hornet's nest.

"And what, may I ask," inquired one of the physicians icily, "has given you that impression?"

"Well, many things," Sidney resumed calmly. "For instance: I am in the habit of buying _The Climax_, which is, as you know, published in New York, and edited by a man who used to be professor of sociology in one of your colleges. Now, in all the places I have been" (he didn't refer to the north, realizing that it would cause more argument not bearing on the discussion), "I have found this magazine much in circulation among our people; but here, at only one place have I found it. You appreciate that the Negro population of this town is to exceed, without doubt, sixty thousand. It receives but fifty copies a month, and does not sell all of _them_--of course there are annual subscribers; but, so there are everywhere else as well."

"Now--" all began with upraised hand, but Sidney stopped them with:

"I've made this remark, so hear me out, that I may show that I am justified in making it."

They were quiet, but impatient.

"You have several large drug stores, doing a creditable business in the city. Omitting a few operated by white men in Negro neighborhoods, you will hardly find one that does not carry a goodly stock of magazines for his trade. Not a colored drug store carries one. Tompkins, other than _The Climax_, does not sell any. Now, gentlemen, with such a population as you have," (he was very serious now), "is it consistent to believe that these black people read in proportion to what they should, when there is so little current demand for literature?"

The outburst that followed this was too intense to describe. The composure that was in keeping with their appearance and training was, for the time, lost. Everybody had something to say to the contrary, and, at the same time.

"I have five hundred dollars worth of books in my house," cried d.i.c.kson.

"I take _The Climax_, and have since it began publication," cried still another.

"Derwin, its editor, is a traitor to his race, and I can prove it,"

persisted another.

"Theah ain' nothin' in it, nohow," yelled another whose English was not the best.

"It's the only magazine edited by, and in the interest of this race,"

retorted Wyeth; "and has a circulation more than double that of any other publication by Negroes since freedom."

"You northern Negroes think a whole lot of Derwin, and are imbued with his point of view," cried d.i.c.kson; "but we had him down here before he went north, and we know him for what he is," and he looked about him meaningly.

The others gave sanction.

"He's the author of the only book in sociology, that stands out as a mark of Negro literature. The book is a cla.s.sic, and is one of possibly two or three from the pen of a Negro since Dumas."

It is difficult to foretell where the argument may have ended, but Sidney slipped out. As the door closed behind him, a mighty roar of indignation came over the transom. "He's a liar." "He's crazy!" "Like all from that section!"

When these men met Wyeth afterward, and for some time, they did not recognize him. He was not surprised. They are, and the best of them, in a measure, still incapable of accepting criticism as it is meant. Our story will go to prove this more conclusively later on; but for the present, Sidney Wyeth had made friends....

CHAPTER EIGHT

_Henry Hugh Hodder_

Weeks had pa.s.sed, and a touch of spring time was in the Dixie air.

Sidney Wyeth's canva.s.s was now a.s.sisted by another, while from over the country he had secured, here and there, an agent to sell the book. He found desk s.p.a.ce in an office on the second floor, hired a stenographer, and filled the country with circular letters. Perhaps fifty or more replies were received, a few with a money order and requests for further information.

Although most of the letters were sent to preachers and teachers throughout the south, two-thirds of the replies came from the north.

From Boston, New York, Chicago, and centers where literature is obtainable from the libraries which are open to Negroes, more letters by far came, than from the south where such is not always available. And out of these, a few agents were secured. But it seemed almost an impossibility to interest those at the south in a subject of literature.

One day, there came a letter from a small town in Florida that amused Wyeth. It was from the secretary of the board of trade. In reply to the circular inquiry, requesting the names of the Negro preachers in that city, it ran thus:

MY DEAR SIR: Replying to your favor of recent date relative to the names of Negro preachers of this city. In regard to this, I am compelled to say, that I cannot fully enlighten you, for this reason: Everything with trousers appears to be a preacher, or, any one who can spell "ligon."

My gardener is a preacher, although he finds my work more remunerative, apparently; but you could, however, write to him, and he would, I feel sure, give you the desired information.

When Sidney appraised Tompkins of his failure to get the cooperation of southern preachers, in his exploit, he was advised that the preachers were working that "side of the street."

We cannot appreciatively continue this story, without including a character that is very conspicuous in Negro enterprise. That is the undertaker. He is always in evidence. Mortality among Negroes exceeds, by far, that among whites. This is due to conditions that we will not dwell upon, since they will develop during the course of the story; but in Attalia, there was one undertaker who was particularly successful. He had the reputation of burying more Negroes than any man in the world. He had a son, a ne'er-do-well, to say the least, and they called him "Spoon."

Sidney, who at this time shared a room with Thurman, became acquainted with "Spoon" one Sunday night. It was at a "tiger," of which, as we now know, there were plenty.

Spoon had a reputation in local colored circles, as well as his father; but Spoon's reputation was not enviable. He was booziogically inclined, and reputed by those who knew him, to be able to consume more liquor than any other ordinary society man. Moreover, Spoon was "some" sport, too; could play the piano, in ragtime tune, and could also "ball the jack." He would lean back upon the stool, play the latest rag, as no other could, and at the end, cry: "Give me some more of that 'Sparrow Gin!'"

Wyeth and Spoon became close friends following their first meeting, and Sunday nights, they would roam until one or two in the morning. Spoon knew where every "tiger" in town was; and, moreover, he proved it.

Thurman, although two and fifty, was no "poke;" but was a sport too. His began early Sunday morning. One Sunday morn, as they lay abed, after the light of the world had come back and claimed its own, Thurman called to Sidney where the other lay reposing in the pages of a "best seller."

"Say, kid! how 'bout a little toddy this mawnin'?"

"I'm there," came the reply.

"Good!" exclaimed Thurman. "Guess, tho' I'll haf to go after it, 's see you lost in a book all time. Gee! Looks lak you'd lose your mind a-readin' so much." No comment. "Guess that's why you got all these n.i.g.g.a's a-argun' 'roun' heah though; cause you read and they don't. M-m; yeh, yeh; that makes a diff'nce. M-m."

"Wull, reckon' ah'll haf t' git in muh breeches and crawl ou' and git dat stuff t' make it wid. M-m. Old Mis' 'roun' the conah 'll be glad t'

git dis twenty cents dis mawnin'. M-m. Wull, kid, be back t'rectly."

He was, sooner than expected. He didn't get outside. He peeped out. What met his gaze would send any southern rheumatic Negro back.

It was snow.

"Jesus Chr-i-s-t!" he exclaimed, returning hastily from the hallway.

"h.e.l.l has sho turned on dis' mawnin out dare. K-whew! 'f the's anything in this world I hates, it's snow."

Sidney stopped reading long enough for a good laugh, as Thurman skinned off his trousers and clambered back into bed.

"Aw, shucks, Thur, this is a morning for toddies."

"A mawnin' fo' h.e.l.l, yes, hu! hu! Wow!"