Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/191

 was simply to watch him working in the fields. It made me feel good. Then the War came and he went away. He was all I had. But I wanted him to go the same as all the white boys were going. War doesn't care what color a man is. As long as he can be killed. A black man dies like as if he was white an' he suffers as much. And that's the end of everything. Enoch didn't come back. They know he was killed. Somebody saw him die. But there was a terrific battle and afterward his body was never found, at least never identified. It was like as if they couldn't kill him enough, over and over he was hit, even after he was dead. Seems strange they could waste so much ammunition on one boy that was black. In death he got more attention than he ever did in life. An' now I'm all alone."

As she spoke Linda slipped into the old broken chair and covered her face with her hands. Samuel Gage blew his nose rather guiltily and walked away toward the back of the house. He thought he'd leave the two alone. Jethro slipped to the steps at the foot of