Luzerne's failure to marry Annette and re-instatement of his wife was
the sensation of the season. Some pitied Annette; others blamed Luzerne,
but Annette found, as a teacher, opportunity among the freedmen to be a
friend and sister to those whose advantages had been less than hers.
Life had once opened before her like a fair vision enchanted with
delight, but her beautiful dream had faded like sun rays mingling with
the shadows of night. It was the great disappointment of her life, but
she roused up her soul to bear suffering and to be true to duty, and
into her soul came a joy which was her strength. Little children learned
to love her, the street gamins knew her as their friend, aged women
blessed the dear child as they called her, who planned for their comfort
when the blasts of winter were raging around their homes. Before her
great trial she had found her enjoyment more in her intellectual than
spiritual life, but when every earthly prop was torn away, she learned
to lean her fainting head on Christ the corner-stone and the language of
her heart was "Nearer to thee, e'en though it be a cross that raiseth
me." In surrendering her life she found a new life and more abundant
life in every power and faculty of her soul.
Luzerne went South and found Marie's mother who had mourned her child as
dead. Tenderly they watched over her, but the seeds of death were sown
too deeply in her wasted frame for recovery, and she wasted away and
sank into a premature grave, leaving Luzerne the peaceful satisfaction
of having smoothed her passage to the grave, and lengthened with his
care, her declining days. Turning from her grave he plunged into active
life. It was during the days of reconstruction when tricksters and
demagogues were taking advantage of the ignorance and inexperience of
the newly enfranchised citizens. Honorable and upright, Luzerne
preserved his integrity among the corruptions of political life. Men
respected him too much to attempt to swerve him from duty for personal
advantage. No bribes ever polluted his hands, nor fraud, nor political
chicanery ever stained his record.
He was the friend and benefactor of his race, giving them what gold is
ever too poor to buy--the benefit of a good example and a noble life,
and earned for himself the sobriquet by which he was called, "honest
Luzerne." And yet at times he would turn wistfully to Annette and the
memory of those glad, bright days when he expected to clasp hands with
her for life. At length his yearning had become insatiable and he
returned to A. P.
Laura Lasette had married Charley Cooper who by patience and industry
had obtained a good position in the store of a merchant who was manly
enough to let it be known that he had Negro blood in his veins, but that
he intended to give him a desk and place in his establishment and he
told his employees that he intended to employ him, and if they were not
willing to work with him they could leave. Charley was promoted just the
same as others according to his merits. Time had dealt kindly with Mrs.
Lasette, as he scattered his silvery crystals amid her hair, and of her
it might be said,
Each silver hair, each wrinkle there
Records some good deed done,
Some flower she scattered by the way
Some spark from love's bright sun.
Mrs. Larkins had grown kinder and more considerate as the years passed
by. Mr. Thomas had been happily married for several years. Annette was
still in her Southern home doing what she could to teach, help and
befriend those on whose chains the rust of ages had gathered. Mr.
Luzerne found out Annette's location and started Southward with a fresh
hope springing up in his heart.
It was a balmy day in the early spring when he reached the city where
Annette was teaching. Her home was a beautiful place of fragrance and
flowers. Groups of young people were gathered around their teacher
listening eagerly to a beautiful story she was telling them. Elderly
women were scattered in little companies listening to or relating some
story of Annette's kindness to them and their children.
"I told her," said one, "that I had a vision that some one who was fair,
was coming to help us. She smiled and said she was not fair. I told her
she was fair to me."
"I wish she had been here fifteen years ago," said another one. "Before
she came my boy was just as wild as a colt, but now he is jist as stiddy
as a judge."
"I just think," said another one, "that she has been the making of my
Lucy. She's just wrapped up in Miss Annette, thinks the sun rises and
sets in her." Old mothers whose wants had been relieved, came with the
children and younger men too, to celebrate Annette's 31st birthday.
Happy and smiling, like one who had passed through suffering into peace
she stood, the beloved friend of old and young, when suddenly she heard
a footstep on the veranda which sent the blood bounding in swift
currents back to her heart and left her cheek very pale. It was years
since she had heard the welcome rebound of that step, but it seemed as
familiar to her as the voice of a loved and long lost friend, or a
precious household word, and before her stood, with slightly bowed form
and hair tinged with gray, Luzerne. Purified through suffering, which to
him had been an evangel of good, he had come to claim the love of his
spirit. He had come not to separate her from her cherished life work,
but to help her in uplifting and helping those among whom her lot was
cast as a holy benediction, and so after years of trial and pain, their
souls had met at last, strengthened by duty, purified by that faith
which works by love, and fitted for life's highest and holiest truths.
And now, in conclusion, permit me to say under the guise of fiction, I
have essayed to weave a story which I hope will subserve a deeper
purpose than the mere amusement of the hour, that it will quicken and
invigorate human hearts and not fail to impart a lesson of usefulness
and value.
Notes
1. In the original, this sentence reads: "After she became a wife and
mother, instead of becoming entirely absorbed in a round of household
cares and duties, and she often said, that the moment the crown of
motherhood fell upon her how that she had poured a new interest in the
welfare of her race."
2. The original reads "But Mr. Thompson."
3. The original reads "but during her short sojourn in the South."
4. In the original this sentence reads: "Young men anxious for places in
the gift of government found that by winking at Frank Miller's vices and
conforming to the demoralizing customs of his place, were the passports
to political favors, and lacking moral stamina, hushed their consciences
and became partakers of his sins."
5. The original reads "Mrs. Larking."
6. The original reads "said Mrs. Larkins, seating herself beside Mrs.
Larking."
7. The original reads "continued Mr. Slocum."
8. The original reads "'Isn't your name Benny?'"
9. The original reads "said Charley Hastings."
10. The original reads "scarcely on intellect."
11. The original reads "expensive views."
12. The original reads "Mrs. Harcourt."
13. The original reads "Mrs. Hanson."
14. The original reads "Mr. Thomas."
15. The original reads "Tom Hanson."
End of Project Gutenberg's Trial and Triumph, by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper