She nodded.
"It would be no trick at all for any of a dozen churches in the town to raise four thousand dollars in sixty days in a rally." She remained silent but listened, and knew that he spoke the truth.
"They have hundreds of churches all over the south, that have cost, in actual money, one hundred thousand dollars, and they have paid the amount without assistance from other sources; whereas, the white people are offering sixty thousand dollars of this amount."
"And, I gather," said she, in a voice that was listless, "that Grantville, with its many schools and much more intelligent colored people, is far more likely to succeed in such an effort than this town."
He nodded.
"But this place needs it, it needs it badly. It needs a Y.M.C.A. worse than any town in the south—"
"In the world," he insisted.
"And you do not think it would be worth while to inaugurate a campaign for that purpose here, before long?"
He sighed sadly, and then grew thoughtful.
"Last week, the number of murders exceeded any previous week for two years...."