AN AWFUL RESOLVE.
Erma is reinstated at Mrs. Turner's. That lady's heart is now drawn to
Erma with peculiar warmth, as if in atonement for her previous harsh
judgment and maltreatment. Mrs. Turner is a firm believer in the
transcendant greatness of the aristocratic blood of the South, and the
presence of Ex-Governor Lawson's blood in Erma's veins doubly endeared
Erma to her. Thus it came about that Erma was treated more on the order
of one under Mrs. Turner's special care than as a servant. Very
frequently the white citizens of Richmond called at Mrs. Turner's in
order to see the beautiful Negro girl that was said to be the daughter
of Ex-Governor Lawson. Erma was so clever in conversation that all went
away admiring her, but ascribing her cleverness to her white parentage,
an appropriation that is often made whenever a notable performance comes
from a person of mixed blood. But amid all this, Erma Wysong was by no
means a happy girl. Her brother had at last confessed to her his awful
crime and had thus rolled that crushing stone upon her heart. In
addition to her sorrow over the fact that John, _her_ John, was a
murderer, he had left it with her to tell him what steps to take.
After his confession to Erma, John's weight on his own heart materially
lessened. He had put the matter into the hands of Erma and he felt that
Erma's love for him and her love for God would effect such a compromise
as to bring him back to favor with God. While naturally deeply concerned
as to what Erma was to have him do, yet he felt that somehow all would
be well, because ERMA had the matter in charge. Two or three times a
week he would visit her, saying nothing of his crime, but hoping that
she was ready with her decision. Her loving heart was touched with this
childlike trust on the part of her brother. Erma also felt that the eyes
of her mother were looking down upon her from the skies watching every
step that she was taking concerning John, whom her mother had commended
to her care with her latest breath. "Be faithful to John's soul, Erma,"
were the last words that escaped the lips of the dying mother. Then,
too, Erma felt that the eyes of God were upon her. And yet again she
remembered that she was a member of organized society; was in possession
of the knowledge of an awful crime against society and therefore owed
something to society. How much? was the great question. Thus, in
settling this terrible matter she had to deal with her own heart full of
love for John; had to deal with John's simple, trusting soul; with the
sacred memory of her mother; with the will of God; with the demands of
organized society calling loudly for her guilty brother.
Sleepless nights, weary tossings, the all-night prayers, the tear-bathed
pillows were testimonials to the terrific conflict raging within Erma's
bosom. At one time she had about argued her brother innocent to her
satisfaction. She reasoned thus: The Labor Union drove her brother from
employment at the Bilgal works, debarred him from leaving the city to
find other work of the kind, drove him to the seat on the carriage where
he overheard the Labor Union argument which corrupted his soul. Then she
argued that the policy of the Union was nothing more nor less than a
cold-blooded attempt at murder by starvation, as its principles
universally applied would result in the starvation of all Negroes. Her
brother's blow, then, was a blow in self-defense, a blow to strike down
that being that was driving him to the water's edge and threatening to
overwhelm him therein. But these arguments were destined to be soon
overthrown in her mind.
Announcement was made that Booker T. Washington, her former teacher at
Tuskegee, would lecture in Richmond on the "Race Problem." Erma went to
this lecture. Mr. Washington delivered a strong address showing how the
situation of the Negro was not altogether a hopeless one, and showing
the audience how the Negro could, if he would, pull up with all the odds
against him; how that there was no need for moping and despondent
brooding. This Erma felt was a home thrust for John, for it was just
this that had made his soul ripe for his crime. As Mr. Washington drew
to the close of his remarks, his voice began to change from the earnest
to the passionate. In tones full of the passionate fire of the orator,
coupled with the pathos welling up out of a grieved soul, he said by way
of peroration,
"After all, after all, it may be that the Negro has chosen the best
weapon for the attainment of his rights and privileges. The Nihilist of
Russia appeals to his bomb of dynamite; the American Indian to his
tomahawk; but the American Negro has dropped upon his knees in his one
room cabin and has sent up a prayer to God. After all, may it not be
that his anguish torn face and sorrow-laden prayer of faith are better
weapons than the bomb of the Russian Nihilist and the tomahawk of the
Indian?"
This one remark determined Erma. As she now saw it, John's error was in
adopting the motto of that Anglo-Saxon Master Workman, "If a foe stands
in our way and nothing will dislodge him but death, then he must die."
Then the thought flashed over her mind that the Anglo-Saxon race, whose
every advancing footstep had been planted in a pool of blood, was about
to impart its mercilessness to the Negro, a being of another mould. And
John was the first victim over whom the bloody shadow had cast itself.
She was determined to return John into the ways of his fathers. He was
to renounce the pathway of blood and have recourse to God. Erma
determined to have John Wysong confess his crime and take his chances
before a court of justice, trusting to God to befriend her and him.