Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/162

158 "What could a crazy old negress do to me?" he asked. "She is so feeble she can hardly get out of her chair."

"She is not so feeble as she pretends, and she can make Old Abe and his kind do her bidding."

"Well, so can I," said Philip quietly. "How many children are there over in the quarters?"

"Goodness only knows! It looks like an ant hill."

"Well, every child there is going to school next term if I have to haul them myself."

"School! Why, Philip, they are bad enough as it is, and school would make them unbearable," cried Elizabeth. "Are you in earnest?"

"Dead earnest, Mother dear! You felt an education was important for me, and I feel it is even more important for the colored people. Look at them on the other side of the river, all of Uncle Si's kin and Aunt Testy's children, all of the people connected with Mill House and the ones who work in the hub factory. They are a fine lot, good workmen and good citizens. Major Taylor has seen to it that they were taught something at school. His father and mother before him gave some education to their slaves. Look at the contrast between our colored people and his!"

Philip might have added a comparison