Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/176

172 of her teacher, a young woman who was living at The Hedges at the time; or it may have been that the wild African strain was too strong in her veins for anything quite so civilized as the alphabet. At any rate, she could not learn, and conceit, which was one of her strongest characteristics, made her determine against education. If she, the all-powerful sorceress, could not learn to read and write, then reading and writing was foolishness and the persons who pretended to make head or tail of the alphabet were foolish.

Showing off was something Aunt Peachy scorned above everything. She declared that Philip was showing off in this business of sending all the colored children to school. For once she and Elizabeth were of one mind; that was concerning the education of the black race; but Elizabeth held her peace, loath to disagree in the slightest particular with her son. Aunt Peachy, however, loudly declaimed against the measure. She even gave out that she would work an evil spell against any child who attended school. Philip offered prizes to the children on the Bolling place for attendance and scholarship. His reward was more alluring than Aunt Peachy's threat, certain benefit pitted against vague disaster. The colored school was filled to overflowing.