Trial and Triumph | Page 9

children to such places were training their boys to be drunkards and
their girls to be street-walkers. "I am poor," she said, "but I mean to
keep my credit up and if you and I live in this neighborhood a hundred
years you must never do that thing again."
Her neighbor looked dazed and tried to stammer out an apology, but
she never sent Annette to a beer saloon again, and in course of time she
became a good temperance woman herself, influenced by the
faithfulness of grandmother Harcourt.
The court in which Mrs. Harcourt lived was not a very desirable place,
but, on account of her color, eligible houses could not always be
obtained, and however decent, quiet or respectable she might appear on
applying for a house, she was often met with the rebuff, "We don't rent
to colored people," and men who virtually assigned her race the lowest
place and humblest positions could talk so glibly of the degradation of
the Negro while by their Christless and inhuman prejudice they were
helping add to their low social condition. In the midst of her
unfavorable environments Mrs. Harcourt kept her home neat and tidy;
sent Annette to school constantly and tried to keep her out of mischief,
but there was moral contagion in the social atmosphere of Tennis Court
and Annette too often succumbed to its influence; but Annette was
young and liked the company of young girls and it seemed cruel to

confine the child's whole life to the home and schoolhouse and give her
no chance to be merry and playful with girls of her own age. So now
and then grandmother Harcourt would let her spend a little time with
some of the neighbors' girls but from the questions that Annette often
asked her grandmother and the conversations she sometimes repeated
Mrs. Harcourt feared that she was learning things which should only be
taught by faithful mothers in hours of sacred and tender confidence,
and she determined, even if it gave offence to her neighbors, that she
would choose among her own friends, companions for her
granddaughter and not leave all her social future to chance. In this she
was heartily aided by Mrs. Lasette, who made it a point to hold in that
neighborhood, mothers' meetings and try to teach mothers, who in the
dark days of slavery had no bolts nor bars strong enough to keep out
the invader from scattering their children like leaves in wintry weather,
how to build up light and happy homes under the new dispensation of
freedom. To her it was a labor of love and she found her reward in the
peace and love which flowed into the soul and the improved condition
of society. In lowly homes where she visited, her presence was a
benediction and an inspiration. Women careless in their household and
slatternly in their dress grew more careful in the keeping of their homes
and the arrangement of their attire. Women of the better class of their
own race, coming among them awakened their self-respect. Prejudice
and pride of race had separated them from their white neighbors and
the more cultured of their race had shrunk from them in their ignorance,
poverty and low social condition and they were left, in a great measure,
to themselves--ostracised by the whites on the one side and socially
isolated from the more cultured of their race on the other hand. The law
took little or no cognizance of them unless they were presented at its
bar as criminals; but if they were neither criminals nor paupers they
might fester in their vices and perpetuate their social condition. Who
understood or cared to minister to their deepest needs or greatest wants?
It was just here where the tender, thoughtful love of a warm-hearted
and intelligent woman was needed. To her it was a labor of love, but it
was not all fair sailing. She sometimes met with coldness and distrust
where she had expected kindness and confidence; lack of sympathy
where she had hoped to find ready and willing cooperation; but she
knew that if her life was in harmony with God and Christly sympathy

with man; for such a life there was no such word as fail.

Chapter V
By dint of energy and perseverance grandmother Harcourt had
succeeded in getting everything in order when her guests began to
arrive. She had just put the finishing touches upon her well-spread table
and was reviewing it with an expression of pleasure and satisfaction.
And now while the guests are quietly taking their seats let me introduce
you to them.
Mr. Thomas came bringing with him the young minister, Rev. Mr.
Lomax, whose sermon had so interested and edified Mrs. Harcourt the
previous Sunday. Mrs. Lasette, looking bright and