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Page 12
"Yassir. Young Ananias Johnson, he's Sist' Amanda's boy, he done tole
his Unk Jeems 'bout dat war. And Jeems, he done tole me."
Lance regarded her. Was it possible that the ocean upheaval had stirred
even the quietest backwater so little? "Well, anyhow, it's the biggest
war that ever was on earth."
Aunt Basha shook her head. "You ain't never seed de War of de
Rebullium," she stated with superiority. "You's too young. Well, I
reckon dis yer war ain't much on to dat war. Naw, sir! Dat ar was a sure
'nough war--yas, sir!"
Lance considered. He decided not to contest the point. "Anyhow Aunt
Basha, this is an awfully big war. And if we don't win it the Germans
will come over here and murder the most of us, and make you and Uncle
Jeems work in the fields from daylight till dark."
"Dem low down white trash!" commented Aunt Basha.
"Yes, and worse. And Uncle Sam can't beat the Germans unless we all
help. He needs money to buy guns for the soldiers, and food and clothes.
So he's asking everybody--just everybody--to lend him money--every cent
they can raise to buy things to win the war. He gives each person who
lends him any, a piece of paper which is a promise to pay it back, and
that piece of paper is called a bond--Uncle Sam's promise to pay.
Everybody ought to help by giving up every cent they have. The soldiers
are giving their lives to save us from the horrible Germans. They're
going over there to live in mud and water and sleep in holes of the
earth, to be shot and wounded and tortured and killed. They're facing
that for our sakes, to save us from worse than death, for you and Uncle
Jeems and me, Aunt Basha. Now, oughtn't we to give all we've got to take
care of those boys--our soldiers?"
Lance had forgotten his audience, except that he was wording his speech
carefully in the simplest English. It went home.
"Oh, my Lawd!" moaned Aunt Basha, sitting down and rocking hard. "Does
dey sleep in de col' yeth? Oh, my Lawd have mercy!" It was the first
realization she had had of the details of the war. "You ain't gwine over
dar, is you young marse, honey?" she asked anxiously.
"I wish to God I was," spoke Lance through set teeth. "No, Aunt Basha,
they won't take me. Because I'm lame. I'd give my life to go. And
because I can't fight I _must_ buy bonds. Do you see? I must. I'd sell
my soul to get money for Liberty Bonds. Oh, God!" Lance was as if alone,
with only that anxious old black face gazing up at him. "Oh, God--it's
my country!"
Suddenly the rich flowing voice spoke. "Young marse, it's my country
too, sir," said Aunt Basha.
Lance turned and stared. How much did the words mean to the old woman?
In a moment he knew.
"Yas, my young marseter, dis yer America's de ole black 'oman's country,
thes like it's fine young white man's, like you, sir. I gwine give my
las' cent, like you say. Yas, I gwine do dat. I got two hun'erd dollars,
sir; I b'en a-savin' and a-savin' for Jeems 'n me 'ginst when we git
ole, but I gwine give dat to my country. I want Unc' Sam to buy good
food for dem boys in the muddy water. Bacon 'n hominy, sir--'n corn
bread, what's nourishin'. 'N I want you to git de--de Liberty
what-je-call-'ems. Yassir. 'Caze you ain't got no ma to he'ep you out,
'n de ole black 'oman's gwine to be de bes' ma she know how to her young
marse. I got de money tied up--" she leaned forward and whispered--"in a
stockin' in de bottom draw' ob de chist unner Jeem's good coat. Tomorrow
I gwine fetch it, 'n you go buy yo' what-je-calls-'ems."
Lance went across and knelt on the floor beside her and put his arms
around the stout figure. He had been brought up with a colored mammy and
this affection seemed natural and homelike. "Aunt Basha, you're one of
the saints," he said. "And I love you for it. But I wouldn't take your
blessed two hundred, not for anything on earth. I'd be a hound to take
it. If you want some bonds"--it flashed to him that the money would be
safer so than in the stocking under Jeem's coat--"why, I'll get them for
you. Come into the _Daybreak_ office and ask for me, say--Monday. And
I'll go with you to the bank and get bonds. Here's my card. Show anybody
that at the office." And he gave directions.
Five minutes later the old woman went off down the street talking half
aloud to herself in fragments of sentences about "Liberty
what-je-call-'ems" and "my country too." In the little shack uptown that
was home for her and her husband she began at once to set forth her new
light. Jeems, who added to the family income by taking care of furnaces
and doing odd jobs, was grizzled and hobbling of body, but argumentative
of soul.
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