By RUTH McENERY STUART
A MONOLOGUE OF THE PLANTATION
Speaker: A Black Girl.
Time: Easter Morning.
“’Scuse me knockin’ at yo’ do’ so early, Miss Bettie, but I’se in trouble. Don’t set up in bed. Jes’ lay still an’ lemme talk to yer.
“I come to ax yer to please ma’am loand me a pair o’ wings, mistus. No’m, I ain’t crazy. I mean what I say.
“You see, to-day’s Easter Sunday, Miss Bettie, an’ we havin’ a high time in our chu’ch. An’ I’se gwine sing de special Easter carol, wid Freckled Frances an’ Lame Jane jinin’ in de chorus in our choir. Hit’s one o’ deze heah visible choirs sot up nex’ to de pulpit in front o’ de congergation.
“Of co’se, me singin’ de high solo makes me de principlest figgur, so we ‘ranged fur me to stan’ in de middle, wid Frances an’ Jake on my right an’ lef’ sides, an’ I got a bran new white tarlton frock wid spangles on it, an’ a Easter lily wreath all ready. Of co’se, me bein’ de fust singer, dat entitles me to wear de highest plumage, an’ Frances, she knows dat, an’ she ‘lowed to me she was gwine wear dat white nainsook lawn you gi’n ‘er, an’ des a plain secondary hat, an’ at de p’inted time we all three got to rise an’ courtesy to de congergation, an’ den bu’st into song. Lame Jake gwine wear dat white duck suit o’ Marse John’s an’ a Easter lily in his button-hole.
“Well, hit was all fixed dat-a-way, peaceable an’ proper, but you know de trouble is Freckled Frances is jealous-hearted, an’ she ain’t got no principle. I tell you, Miss Bettie, when niggers gits white enough to freckle, you look out for ‘em! Dey jes advanced fur enough along to show white ambition an’ nigger principle! An’ dat’s a dange’ous mixture!
“An’ Frances—? She ain’t got no mo’ principle ‘n a suck-aig dorg! Ever sence we ‘ranged dat Easter programme, she been studyin’ up some owdacious way to outdo me to-day in de face of eve’ybody.
“But I’m jes one too many fur any yaller freckled-faced nigger. I’m black—but dey’s a heap o’ trouble come out o’ ink bottles befo’ to-day!
“I done had my eye on Frances! An’ fur de las’ endurin’ week I taken notice ev’ry time we had a choir practisin’, Frances, she’d fetch in some talk about butterflies bein’ a Easter sign o’ de resurrection o’ de dead, an’ all sech as dat. Well, I know Frances don’t keer no mo’ ‘bout de resurrection o’ de dead ‘n nothin’. Frances is too tuck up wid dis life fur dat! So I watched her. An’ las’ night I ketched up wid ‘er.
“You know dat grea’ big silk paper butterfly dat you had on yo’ pianner lamp, Miss Bettie? She’s got it pyerched up on a wire on top o’ dat secondary hat, an’ she’s a-fixin’ it to wear it to church to-day. But she don’t know I know it. You see, she knows I kin sing all over her, an’ dat’s huccome she’s a-projectin’ to ketch de eyes o’ de congergation!
“But ef you’ll he’p me out, Miss Bettie, we’ll fix ‘er. You know dem yaller gauzy wings you wo’e in de tableaux? Ef you’ll loand ‘em to me an’ help me on wid ‘em terreckly when I’m dressed, I’ll be a whole live butterfly, an’ I bet yer when I flutters into dat choir, Freckled Frances’ll feel like snatchin’ dat lamp shade off her hat, sho’s you born! An’ fur once-t I’m proud I’m so black complected, caze black an’ yaller, dey goes together fur butterflies!
“Frances ‘lowed to kill me out to-day, but I lay when she sets eyes on de yaller-winged butterfly she’ll ‘preciate de resurrection o’ de dead ef she never done it befo’ in her life.”
