"Then, Margaret," said I at last, "is there no place where you can go to hear about the things in the Bible?"
"No, missis; I never goes."
"And does not anybody, except Darry when he goes with the carriage?"
"Can't, Miss Daisy; it's miles and miles; and no place for niggers neither."
"Can you read the Bible, Margaret?"
"Guess not, missis; we's too stupid; ain't good for coloured folks to read."
"Does nobody, among all the people, read the Bible?" said I, once more stopping Margaret in my dismay.
"Uncle Darry—he does," said the girl; "and he do 'spoun some; but I don't make no count of his 'spoundations."
I did not know quite what she meant; but I had no time for anything more. I let her go, locked my door and kneeled down; with the burden on my heart of this new revelation; that there were hundreds of people under the care of my father and mother who were living without church and without Bible, in desperate ignorance of everything worth knowing. If papa had only been at Magnolia with me! I thought I could have persuaded him to build a church and let somebody come and teach the people. But now—what could I do? And I asked the Lord, what could I do? but I did not see the answer.