ple than I am doing. I taught
in the South till failing health compelled me to change my employment.
But, now that I am well and strong, I would like to do something of
lasting service for the race."

"Why not," asked Dr. Latimer, "write a good, strong book which would be
helpful to them? I think there is an amount of dormant talent among us,
and a large field from which to gather materials for such a book."

"I would do it, willingly, if I could; but one needs both leisure and
money to make a successful book. There is material among us for the
broadest comedies and the deepest tragedies, but, besides money and
leisure, it needs patience, perseverance, courage, and the hand of an
artist to weave it into the literature of the country."

"Miss Leroy, you have a large and rich experience; you possess a vivid
imagination and glowing fancy. Write, out of the fullness of your heart,
a book to inspire men and women with a deeper sense of justice and
humanity."

"Doctor," replied Iola, "I would do it if I could, not for the money it
might bring, but for the good it might do. But who believes any good can
come out of the black Nazareth?"

"Miss Leroy, out of the race must come its own thinkers and writers.
Authors belonging to the white race have written good racial books, for
which I am deeply grateful, but it seems to be almost impossible for a
white man to put himself completely in our place. No man can feel the
iron which enters another man's soul."

"Well, Doctor, when I write a book I shall take you for the hero of my
story."

"Why, what have I done," asked Dr. Latimer, in a surprised tone, "that
you should impale me on your pen?"

"You have done nobly," answered Iola, "in refusing your grandmother's
offer."

"I only did my duty," he modestly replied.

"But," said Iola, "when others are trying to slip out from the race and
pass into the white basis, I cannot help admiring one who acts as if he
felt that the weaker the race is the closer he would cling to it."

"My mother," replied Dr. Latimer, "faithful and true, belongs to that
race. Where else should I be? But I know a young lady who could have
cast her lot with the favored race, yet chose to take her place with the
freed people, as their teacher, friend, and adviser. This young lady was
alone in the world. She had been fearfully wronged, and to her stricken
heart came a brilliant offer of love, home, and social position. But she
bound her heart to the mast