e, I hear the boys saying it in the street, and the
girls in Tennis Court all say it, too. Is there any harm in it?"

"It is slang, my child, and a young lady should never use slang. Don't
use it in private and you will not be apt to use it in public. However
humble or poor a person may be, there is no use in being coarse and
unrefined."

"But what harm is there in it?"

"I don't say that there is any, but I don't think it nice for young
ladies to pick up all sorts of phrases in the street and bring them into
the home. The words may be innocent in themselves, but they may not have
the best associations, and it is safer not to use them. But let us
return to Miss Joseph. You do not think that she can see or hear any
better than you can, learn her lessons any quicker than you can, and
when it comes to a trial of strength that she is stronger than you are,
now let me ask you one more question. Who made Miss Joseph?"

"Why, the Lord, of course."

"And who made you?"

"He made me, too."

"Are you sure that you did not make yourself?"

"Why, of course not," said Annette with an accent of wonder in her
voice.

"Does God ever make any mistakes?"

"Why, no!"

"Then if any one calls you black, why should you get angry? You say it
would not make Miss Joseph angry to say she looked white, or red and
rosy."

"I don't know; I know I don't like it and it makes me mad."

"Now, let me explain the reason why it makes you angry to be called
black. Suppose I were to burn my hand in that stove, what would I have
on my hand?"

"A sore place."

"If it were your hand, what would you do?"

"I would put something on it, wrap it up to keep from getting cold into
it and try to get it well as soon as I could."

"Well, that would be a very sensible way of dealing with it. In this
country, Annette, color has been made a sore place; it has been
associated with slavery, poverty and ignorance. You cannot change your
color, but you can try to change the association connected with our
complexions. Did slavery force a man to be servile and submissive? Learn
to hold up your head and respect yourself. Don't notice Mary Joseph's
taunts; if she says things to tease you don't you let her see that she
has succeeded. Learn to act as if you realized that you were born into
this world the child of the Ruler of the universe, that this is his
world and that you have as much right in it as she has. I think it was
Gilbert Haven, a Bishop of the M