“Remember that it was in a town in Connecticut,” said I, “that a colored man was ejected from a white man’s restaurant, and it is in New England that little colored children have a hard time at school, because they are black, and for no other reason. Being in New England, the country of liberty, you must give me the liberty of arranging my concert so that it shall be a success, and therefore (I smiled) there must be no mixture of races on the stage.”
We decided that the early part of September would be a good time to give it, as the haying would by that time have been done and we could count on a larger audience.
On the way home James told me that he had a brother and a little sister, who could be brought into the concert, and that with them he could furnish some very nice quartettes.
Ethel looked at me meaningly, and said,
“Minerva might go there and practise. Do they live at your mother’s?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I realized that it would be better for them to practise at his house than at ours, because, while the practice of music makes perfect, it sometimes also makes maniacs.
CHAPTER XI
THE HORSE IN THE KITCHEN.
“NOW, I’ll tell Mis. Vernon, if you do dem tricks. Stop.”