Upon the major's first appearance at the office, which took place the second day after the child's birth, he opened a box of cigars in honor of the event. The word had been passed around by Ellis, and the whole office force, including reporters, compositors, and pressmen, came in to congratulate the major and smoke at his expense. Even Jerry, the colored porter,—Mammy Jane's grandson and therefore a protégé of the family,—presented himself among the rest, or rather, after the rest. The major shook hands with them all except Jerry, though he acknowledged the porter's congratulations with a kind nod and put a good cigar into his outstretched palm, for which Jerry thanked him without manifesting any consciousness of the omission8. He was quite aware that under ordinary circumstances the major would not have shaken hands with white workingmen, to say nothing of negroes; and he had merely hoped that in the pleasurable distraction9 of the moment the major might also overlook the distinction of color. Jerry's hope had been shattered, though not rudely; for the major had spoken pleasantly and the cigar was a good one. Mr. Ellis had once shaken hands with Jerry,—but Mr. Ellis was a young man, whose Quaker father had never owned any slaves, and he could not be expected to have as much pride as one of the best "quality," whose families had possessed11 land and negroes for time out of mind. On the whole, Jerry preferred the careless nod of the editor-in-chief to the more familiar greeting of the subaltern.
Having finished this pleasant ceremony, which left him with a comfortable sense of his new dignity, the major turned to his desk. It had been much neglected during the week, and more than one matter claimed his attention; but as typical of the new trend of his thoughts, the first subject he took up was one bearing upon the future of his son. Quite obviously the career of a Carteret must not be left to chance,—it must be planned and worked out with a due sense of the value of good blood.
There lay upon his desk a letter from a well-known promoter, offering the major an investment which promised large returns, though several years must elapse before the enterprise could be put upon a paying basis. The element of time, however, was not immediately important. The Morning Chronicle provided him an ample income. The money available for this investment was part of his wife's patrimony12. It was invested in a local cotton mill, which was paying ten per cent., but this was a beggarly return compared with the immense profits promised by the offered investment,—profits which would enable his son, upon reaching manhood, to take a place in the world commensurate with the dignity of his ancestors, one of whom, only a few generations removed, had owned an estate of ninety thousand acres of land and six thousand slaves.
This letter having been disposed of by an answer accepting the offer, the major took up his pen to write an editorial. Public affairs in the state were not going to his satisfaction. At the last state election his own party, after an almost unbroken rule of twenty years, had been defeated by the so-called "Fusion13" ticket, a combination of Republicans and Populists. A clean sweep had been made of the offices in the state, which were now filled by new men. Many of the smaller places had gone to colored men, their people having voted almost solidly for the Fusion ticket. In spite of the fact that the population of Wellington was two thirds colored, this state of things was gall14 and wormwood to the defeated party, of which the Morning Chronicle was the acknowledged organ. Major Carteret shared this feeling. Only this very morning, while passing the city hall, on his way to the office, he had seen the steps of that noble building disfigured by a fringe of job-hunting negroes, for all the world—to use a local simile—like a string of buzzards sitting on a rail, awaiting their opportunity to batten upon the helpless corpse15 of a moribund16 city.
Taking for his theme the unfitness of the negro to participate in government,—an unfitness due to his limited education, his lack of experience, his criminal tendencies, and more especially to his hopeless mental and physical inferiority to the white race,—the major had demonstrated, it seemed to him clearly enough, that the ballot17 in the hands of the negro was a menace to the commonwealth18. He had argued, with entire conviction, that the white and black races could never attain19 social and political harmony by commingling20 their blood; he had proved by several historical parallels that no two unassimilable races could ever live together except in the relation of superior and inferior; and he was just dipping his gold pen into the ink to indite21 his conclusions from the premises22 thus established, when Jerry, the porter, announced two visitors.
"Gin'l Belmont an' Cap'n McBane would like ter see you, suh."
"Show them in, Jerry."
The man who entered first upon this invitation was a dapper little gentleman with light-blue eyes and a Vandyke beard. He wore a frock coat, patent leather shoes, and a Panama hat. There were crow's-feet about his eyes, which twinkled with a hard and, at times, humorous shrewdness. He had sloping shoulders, small hands and feet, and walked with the leisurely24 step characteristic of those who have been reared under hot suns.
Carteret gave his hand cordially to the gentleman thus described.
"How do you do, Captain McBane," he said, turning to the second visitor.
The individual thus addressed was strikingly different in appearance from his companion. His broad shoulders, burly form, square jaw25, and heavy chin betokened26 strength, energy, and unscrupulousness. With the exception of a small, bristling27 mustache, his face was clean shaven, with here and there a speck28 of dried blood due to a carelessly or unskillfully handled razor. A single deep-set gray eye was shadowed by a beetling29 brow, over which a crop of coarse black hair, slightly streaked30 with gray, fell almost low enough to mingle31 with his black, bushy eyebrows32. His coat had not been brushed for several days, if one might judge from the accumulation of dandruff upon the collar, and his shirt-front, in the middle of which blazed a showy diamond, was plentifully33 stained with tobacco juice. He wore a large slouch hat, which, upon entering the office, he removed and held in his hand.
Having greeted this person with an unconscious but quite perceptible diminution34 of the warmth with which he had welcomed the other, the major looked around the room for seats for his visitors, and perceiving only one chair, piled with exchanges, and a broken stool propped35 against the wall, pushed a button, which rang a bell in the hall, summoning the colored porter to his presence.
"Jerry," said the editor when his servant appeared, "bring a couple of chairs for these gentlemen."
While they stood waiting, the visitors congratulated the major on the birth of his child, which had been announced in the Morning Chronicle, and which the prominence36 of the family made in some degree a matter of public interest.
"And now that you have a son, major," remarked the gentleman first described, as he lit one of the major's cigars, "you'll be all the more interested in doing something to make this town fit to live in, which is what we came up to talk about. Things are in an awful condition! A negro justice of the peace has opened an office on Market Street, and only yesterday summoned a white man to appear before him. Negro lawyers get most of the business in the criminal court. Last evening a group of young white ladies, going quietly along the street arm-in-arm, were forced off the sidewalk by a crowd of negro girls. Coming down the street just now, I saw a spectacle of social equality and negro domination that made my blood boil with indignation,—a white and a black convict, chained together, crossing the city in charge of a negro officer! We cannot stand that sort of thing, Carteret,—it is the last straw! Something must be done, and that quickly!"
The major thrilled with responsive emotion. There was something prophetic in this opportune37 visit. The matter was not only in his own thoughts, but in the air; it was the spontaneous revulsion of white men against the rule of an inferior race. These were the very men, above all others in the town, to join him in a movement to change these degrading conditions.
General Belmont, the smaller of the two, was a man of good family, a lawyer by profession, and took an active part in state and local politics. Aristocratic by birth and instinct, and a former owner of slaves, his conception of the obligations and rights of his caste was nevertheless somewhat lower than that of the narrower but more sincere Carteret. In serious affairs Carteret desired the approval of his conscience, even if he had to trick that docile38 organ into acquiescence39. This was not difficult to do in politics, for he believed in the divine right of white men and gentlemen, as his ancestors had believed in and died for the divine right of kings. General Belmont was not without a gentleman's distaste for meanness, but he permitted no fine scruples40 to stand in the way of success. He had once been minister, under a Democratic administration, to a small Central American state. Political rivals had characterized him as a tricky41 demagogue, which may of course have been a libel. He had an amiable42 disposition43, possessed the gift of eloquence44, and was a prime social favorite.
Captain George McBane had sprung from the poor-white class, to which, even more than to the slaves, the abolition45 of slavery had opened the door of opportunity. No longer overshadowed by a slaveholding caste, some of this class had rapidly pushed themselves forward. Some had made honorable records. Others, foremost in negro-baiting and election frauds, had done the dirty work of politics, as their fathers had done that of slavery, seeking their reward at first in minor46 offices,—for which men of gentler breeding did not care,—until their ambition began to reach out for higher honors.
Of this class McBane—whose captaincy, by the way, was merely a polite fiction—had been one of the most successful. He had held, until recently, as the reward of questionable47 political services, a contract with the State for its convict labor48, from which in a few years he had realized a fortune. But the methods which made his contract profitable had not commended themselves to humane49 people, and charges of cruelty and worse had been preferred against him. He was rich enough to escape serious consequences from the investigation50 which followed, but when the Fusion ticket carried the state he lost his contract, and the system of convict labor was abolished. Since then McBane had devoted51 himself to politics: he was ambitious for greater wealth, for office, and for social recognition. A man of few words and self-engrossed, he seldom spoke10 of his aspirations53 except where speech might favor them, preferring to seek his ends by secret "deals" and combinations rather than to challenge criticism and provoke rivalry54 by more open methods.
At sight, therefore, of these two men, with whose careers and characters he was entirely55 familiar, Carteret felt sweep over his mind the conviction that now was the time and these the instruments with which to undertake the redemption of the state from the evil fate which had befallen it.
Jerry, the porter, who had gone downstairs to the counting-room to find two whole chairs, now entered with one in each hand. He set a chair for the general, who gave him an amiable nod, to which Jerry responded with a bow and a scrape. Captain McBane made no acknowledgment, but fixed56 Jerry so fiercely with his single eye that upon placing the chair Jerry made his escape from the room as rapidly as possible.
"I don' like dat Cap'n McBane," he muttered, upon reaching the hall. "Dey says he got dat eye knock' out tryin' ter whip a cullud 'oman, when he wuz a boy, an' dat he ain' never had no use fer niggers sence,—'cep'n' fer what he could make outen 'em wid his convic' labor contrac's. His daddy wuz a' overseer befo' 'im, an' it come nachul fer him ter be a nigger-driver. I don' want dat one eye er his'n restin' on me no longer 'n I kin5 he'p, an' I don' know how I'm gwine ter like dis job ef he's gwine ter be comin' roun' here. He ain' nothin' but po' w'ite trash nohow; but Lawd! Lawd! look at de money he's got,—livin' at de hotel, wearin' di'mon's, an' colloguin' wid de bes' quality er dis town! 'Pears ter me de bottom rail is gittin' mighty57 close ter de top. Well, I s'pose it all comes f'm bein' w'ite. I wush ter Gawd I wuz w'ite!"
After this fervent58 aspiration52, having nothing else to do for the time being, except to remain within call, and having caught a few words of the conversation as he went in with the chairs, Jerry, who possessed a certain amount of curiosity, placed close to the wall the broken stool upon which he sat while waiting in the hall, and applied59 his ear to a hole in the plastering of the hallway. There was a similar defect in the inner wall, between the same two pieces of studding, and while this inner opening was not exactly opposite the outer, Jerry was enabled, through the two, to catch in a more or less fragmentary way what was going on within.
He could hear the major, now and then, use the word "negro," and McBane's deep voice was quite audible when he referred, it seemed to Jerry with alarming frequency, to "the damned niggers," while the general's suave60 tones now and then pronounced the word "niggro,"—a sort of compromise between ethnology and the vernacular61. That the gentlemen were talking politics seemed quite likely, for gentlemen generally talked politics when they met at the Chronicle office. Jerry could hear the words "vote," "franchise," "eliminate," "constitution," and other expressions which marked the general tenor62 of the talk, though he could not follow it all,—partly because he could not hear everything distinctly, and partly because of certain limitations which nature had placed in the way of Jerry's understanding anything very difficult or abstruse63.
He had gathered enough, however, to realize, in a vague way, that something serious was on foot, involving his own race, when a bell sounded over his head, at which he sprang up hastily and entered the room where the gentlemen were talking.
"Jerry," said the major, "wait on Captain McBane."
"Yas, suh," responded Jerry, turning toward the captain, whose eye he carefully avoided meeting directly.
"Take that half a dollar, boy," ordered McBane, "an' go 'cross the street to Mr. Sykes's, and tell him to send me three whiskies. Bring back the change, and make has'e."
The captain tossed the half dollar at Jerry, who, looking to one side, of course missed it. He picked the money up, however, and backed out of the room. Jerry did not like Captain McBane, to begin with, and it was clear that the captain was no gentleman, or he would not have thrown the money at him. Considering the source, Jerry might have overlooked this discourtesy had it not been coupled with the remark about the change, which seemed to him in very poor taste.
Returning in a few minutes with three glasses on a tray, he passed them round, handed Captain McBane his change, and retired64 to the hall.
"Gentlemen," exclaimed the captain, lifting his glass, "I propose a toast: 'No nigger domination.'"
"Amen!" said the others, and three glasses were solemnly drained.
"Major," observed the general, smacking65 his lips, "I should like to use Jerry for a moment, if you will permit me."
Jerry appeared promptly66 at the sound of the bell. He had remained conveniently near,—calls of this sort were apt to come in sequence.
"Jerry," said the general, handing Jerry half a dollar, "go over to Mr. Brown's,—I get my liquor there,—and tell them to send me three glasses of my special mixture. And, Jerry,—you may keep the change!"
"Thank y', gin'l, thank y', marster," replied Jerry, with unctuous67 gratitude68, bending almost double as he backed out of the room.
"Dat's a gent'eman, a rale ole-time gent'eman," he said to himself when he had closed the door. "But dere's somethin' gwine on in dere,—dere sho' is! 'No nigger damnation!' Dat soun's all right,—I'm sho' dere ain' no nigger I knows w'at wants damnation, do' dere's lots of 'em w'at deserves it; but ef dat one-eyed Cap'n McBane got anything ter do wid it, w'atever it is, it don' mean no good fer de niggers,—damnation'd be better fer 'em dan dat Cap'n McBane! He looks at a nigger lack he could jes' eat 'im alive."
"This mixture, gentlemen," observed the general when Jerry had returned with the glasses, "was originally compounded by no less a person than the great John C. Calhoun himself, who confided69 the recipe to my father over the convivial70 board. In this nectar of the gods, gentlemen, I drink with you to 'White Supremacy71!'"
"Now and forever!" concluded Carteret solemnly.
When the visitors, half an hour later, had taken their departure, Carteret, inspired by the theme, and in less degree by the famous mixture of the immortal73 Calhoun, turned to his desk and finished, at a white heat, his famous editorial in which he sounded the tocsin of a new crusade.
At noon, when the editor, having laid down his pen, was leaving the office, he passed Jerry in the hall without a word or a nod. The major wore a rapt look, which Jerry observed with a vague uneasiness.
"He looks jes' lack he wuz walkin' in his sleep," muttered Jerry uneasily. "Dere's somethin' up, sho 's you bawn! 'No nigger damnation!' Anybody'd 'low dey wuz all gwine ter heaven; but I knows better! W'en a passel er w'ite folks gits ter talkin' 'bout23 de niggers lack dem in yander, it's mo' lackly dey're gwine ter ketch somethin' e'se dan heaven! I got ter keep my eyes open an' keep up wid w'at's happenin'. Ef dere's gwine ter be anudder flood 'roun' here, I wants ter git in de ark wid de w'ite folks,—I may haf ter be anudder Ham, an' sta't de cullud race all over ag'in."
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1
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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maternity
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| n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的 | |
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3
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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4
dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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6
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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7
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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8
omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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10
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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11
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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12
patrimony
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| n.世袭财产，继承物 | |
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13
fusion
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| n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接 | |
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14
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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15
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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moribund
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| adj.即将结束的，垂死的 | |
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ballot
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| n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票 | |
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commonwealth
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| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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commingling
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| v.混合，掺和，合并( commingle的现在分词 ) | |
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21
indite
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| v.写（文章，信等）创作 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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betokened
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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28
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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29
beetling
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| adj.突出的，悬垂的v.快速移动( beetle的现在分词 ) | |
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30
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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31
mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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32
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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33
plentifully
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| adv. 许多地，丰饶地 | |
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diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prominence
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| n.突出；显著；杰出；重要 | |
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opportune
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| adj.合适的，适当的 | |
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docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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40
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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41
tricky
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| adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的 | |
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42
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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43
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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44
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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45
abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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46
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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47
questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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48
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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49
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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50
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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51
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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52
aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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53
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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54
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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55
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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56
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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57
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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58
fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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59
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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60
suave
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| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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61
vernacular
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| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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abstruse
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| adj.深奥的，难解的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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smacking
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| 活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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unctuous
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| adj.油腔滑调的，大胆的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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convivial
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| adj.狂欢的，欢乐的 | |
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supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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