{"id":75,"date":"2021-10-29T11:15:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T15:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/chapter\/the-distributed-proofreaders-canada-ebook-of-their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston-4\/"},"modified":"2022-01-28T11:02:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T16:02:41","slug":"5","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/chapter\/5\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 5","rendered":"Chapter 5"},"content":{"raw":"
<\/div>\r\n

On<\/span> the train the next day, Joe didn\u2019t make many speeches with rhymes to her, but he bought her the best things the butcher had, like apples and a glass lantern full of candies. Mostly he talked about plans for the town when he got there. They were bound to need somebody like him. Janie took a lot of looks at him and she was proud of what she saw. Kind of portly like rich white folks. Strange trains, and people and places didn\u2019t scare him neither. Where they got off the train at Maitland he found a buggy to carry them over to the colored town right away.<\/p>\r\n

It was early in the afternoon when they got there, so Joe said they must walk over the place and look around. They locked arms and strolled from end to end of the town. Joe noted the scant dozen of shame-faced houses scattered in the sand and palmetto roots and said, \u201cGod, they call this a town? Why, \u2019tain\u2019t nothing but a raw place in de woods.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt is a whole heap littler than Ah thought.\u201d Janie admitted her disappointment.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cJust like Ah thought,\u201d Joe said. \u201cA whole heap uh talk and nobody doin\u2019 nothin\u2019. I god, where\u2019s de Mayor?\u201d he asked somebody. \u201cAh want tuh speak wid de Mayor.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Two men who were sitting on their shoulderblades under a huge live oak tree almost sat upright at the tone of his voice. They stared at Joe\u2019s face, his clothes and his wife.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhere y\u2019all come from in sich uh big haste?\u201d Lee Coker asked.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMiddle Georgy,\u201d Starks answered briskly. \u201cJoe Starks is mah name, from in and through Georgy.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou and yo\u2019 daughter goin\u2019 tuh join wid us in fellowship?\u201d the other reclining figure asked. \u201cMighty glad tuh have yuh. Hicks is the name. Guv\u2019nor Amos Hicks from Buford, South Carolina. Free, single, disengaged.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI god, Ah ain\u2019t nowhere near old enough to have no grown daughter. This here is mah wife.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Hicks sank back and lost interest at once.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhere is de Mayor?\u201d Starks persisted. \u201cAh wants tuh talk wid him<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYouse uh mite too previous for dat,\u201d Coker told him. \u201cUs ain\u2019t got none yit.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAin\u2019t got no Mayor! Well, who tells y\u2019all what to do?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNobody. Everybody\u2019s grown. And then agin, Ah reckon us just ain\u2019t thought about it. Ah know Ah ain\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh did think about it one day,\u201d Hicks said dreamily, \u201cbut then Ah forgot it and ain\u2019t thought about it since then.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNo wonder things ain\u2019t no better,\u201d Joe commented. \u201cAh\u2019m buyin\u2019 in here, and buyin\u2019 in big. Soon\u2019s we find some place to sleep tonight us menfolks got to call people together and form a committee. Then we can get things movin\u2019 round here.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh kin point yuh where yuh kin sleep,\u201d Hicks offered. \u201cMan got his house done built and his wife ain\u2019t come yet.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Starks and Janie moved on off in the direction indicated with Hicks and Coker boring into their backs with looks.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat man talks like a section foreman,\u201d Coker commented. \u201cHe\u2019s mighty compellment.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cShucks!\u201d said Hicks. \u201cMah britches is just as long as his. But dat wife uh hisn! Ah\u2019m uh son of uh Combunction if Ah don\u2019t go tuh Georgy and git me one just like her.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhut wid?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWid mah talk, man.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt takes money tuh feed pretty women. Dey gits uh lavish uh talk.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNot lak mine. Dey loves to hear me talk because dey can\u2019t understand it. Mah co-talkin\u2019 is too deep. Too much co to it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t believe me, do yuh? You don\u2019t know de women Ah kin git to mah command.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou ain\u2019t never seen me when Ah\u2019m out pleasurin\u2019 and givin\u2019 pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s uh good thing he married her befo\u2019 she seen me. Ah kin be some trouble when Ah take uh notion.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh\u2019m uh bitch\u2019s baby round lady people.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh\u2019s much ruther see all dat than to hear \u2019bout it. Come on less go see whut he gointuh do \u2019bout dis town.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

They got up and sauntered over to where Starks was living for the present. Already the town had found the strangers. Joe was on the porch talking to a small group of men. Janie could be seen through the bedroom window getting settled. Joe had rented the house for a month. The men were all around him, and he was talking to them by asking questions.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhut is de real name of de place?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSome say West Maitland and some say Eatonville. Dat\u2019s \u2019cause Cap\u2019n Eaton give us some land along wid Mr. Laurence. But Cap\u2019n Eaton give de first piece.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHow much did they give?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOh \u2019bout fifty acres.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHow much is y\u2019all got now?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOh \u2019bout de same.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat ain\u2019t near enough. Who owns de land joining on to whut yuh got?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cCap\u2019n Eaton.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhere is<\/span> dis Cap\u2019n Eaton?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOver dere in Maitland, \u2019ceptin\u2019 when he go visitin\u2019 or somethin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLemme speak to mah wife a minute and Ah\u2019m goin\u2019 see de man. You cannot have no town without some land to build it on. Y\u2019all ain\u2019t got enough here to cuss a cat on without gittin\u2019 yo\u2019 mouf full of hair.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHe ain\u2019t got no mo\u2019 land tuh give away. Yuh needs plenty money if yuh wants any mo\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh specks to pay him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The idea was funny to them and they wanted to laugh. They tried hard to hold it in, but enough incredulous laughter burst out of their eyes and leaked from the corners of their mouths to inform anyone of their thoughts. So Joe walked off abruptly. Most of them went along to show him the way and to be there when his bluff was called.<\/p>\r\n

Hicks didn\u2019t go far. He turned back to the house as soon as he felt he wouldn\u2019t be missed from the crowd and mounted the porch.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cEvenin\u2019, Miz Starks.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cGood evenin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou reckon you gointuh like round here?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh reckon so.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAnything Ah<\/span> kin do tuh help out, why you kin call on me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMuch obliged.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

There was a long dead pause. Janie was not jumping at her chance like she ought to. Look like she didn\u2019t hardly know he was there. She needed waking up.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cFolks must be mighty close-mouthed where you come from.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat\u2019s right. But it must be different at yo\u2019 home.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

He was a long time thinking but finally he saw and stumbled down the steps with a surly \u201c\u202f\u2019Bye.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cGood bye.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

That night Coker asked him about it.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh saw yuh when yuh ducked back tuh Starks\u2019 house. Well, how didja make out?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWho, me? Ah ain\u2019t been near de place, man. Ah been down tuh de lake tryin\u2019 tuh ketch me uh fish.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat \u2019oman ain\u2019t so awfully pretty no how when yuh take de second look at her. Ah had to sorta pass by de house on de way back and seen her good. \u2019Tain\u2019t nothin\u2019 to her \u2019ceptin\u2019 dat long hair.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAnd anyhow, Ah done took uhlikin\u2019 tuh de man. Ah wouldn\u2019t harm him at all. She ain\u2019t half ez pretty ez uh gal Ah run off and left up in South Cal\u2019lina.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHicks, Ah\u2019d git mad and say you wuz lyin\u2019 if Ah didn\u2019t know yuh so good. You just talkin\u2019 to consolate yo\u2019self by word of mouth. You got uh willin\u2019 mind, but youse too light behind. A whole heap uh men seen de same thing you seen but they got better sense than you. You oughta know you can\u2019t take no \u2019oman lak dat from no man lak him. A man dat ups and buys two hundred acres uh land at one whack and pays cash for it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw! He didn\u2019t buy it sho nuff?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHe sho did. Come off wid de papers in his pocket. He done called a meetin\u2019 on his porch tomorrow. Ain\u2019t never seen no sich uh colored man befo\u2019 in all mah bawn days. He\u2019s gointuh put up uh store and git uh post office from de Goven\u2019ment.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

That irritated Hicks and he didn\u2019t know why. He was the average mortal. It troubled him to get used to the world one way and then suddenly have it turn different. He wasn\u2019t ready to think of colored people in post offices yet. He laughed boisterously.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cY\u2019all let dat stray darky tell y\u2019all any ole lie! Uh colored man sittin\u2019 up in uh post office!\u201d He made an obscene sound.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHe\u2019s liable tuh do it too, Hicks. Ah hope so anyhow. Us colored folks is too envious of one \u2019nother. Dat\u2019s how come us don\u2019t git no further than us do. Us talks about de white man keepin\u2019 us down! Shucks! He don\u2019t have tuh. Us keeps our own selves down.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNow who said Ah didn\u2019t want de man tuh git us uh post office? He kin be de king uh Jerusalem fuh all Ah keer. Still and all, \u2019tain\u2019t no use in telling lies just \u2019cause uh heap uh folks don\u2019t know no better. Yo\u2019 common sense oughta tell yuh de white folks ain\u2019t goin\u2019 tuh \u2019low him tuh run no post office.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat we don\u2019t know, Hicks. He say he kin and Ah b\u2019lieve he know whut he\u2019s talkin\u2019 \u2019bout. Ah reckon if colored folks got they own town they kin have post offices and whatsoever they please, regardless. And then agin, Ah don\u2019t speck de white folks way off yonder give uh damn. Less us wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOh, Ah\u2019m waitin\u2019 all right. Specks tuh keep on waitin\u2019 till hell freeze over.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAw, git reconciled! Dat woman don\u2019t want you. You got tuh learn dat all de women in de world ain\u2019t been brought up on no teppentine still, and no saw-mill camp. There\u2019s some women dat jus\u2019 ain\u2019t for you tuh broach. You can\u2019t git her<\/span> wid no fish sandwich.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

They argued a bit more then went on to the house where Joe was and found him in his shirt-sleeves, standing with his legs wide apart, asking questions and smoking a cigar.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s de closest saw-mill?\u201d He was asking Tony Taylor.<\/p>\r\n

\u201c\u202f\u2019Bout seben miles goin\u2019 t\u2019wards Apopka,\u201d Tony told him. \u201cThinkin\u2019 \u2019bout buildin\u2019 right away?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI god, yeah. But not de house Ah specks tuh live in. Dat kin wait till Ah make up mah mind where Ah wants it located. Ah figgers we all needs uh store in uh big hurry.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUh store?\u201d Tony shouted in surprise.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYeah, uh store right heah in town wid everything in it you needs. \u2019Tain\u2019t uh bit uh use in everybody proagin\u2019 way over tuh Maitland tuh buy uh little meal and flour when they could git it right heah.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat would be kinda nice, Brother Starks, since you mention it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI god, course it would! And then agin uh store is good in other ways. Ah got tuh have a place tuh be at when folks comes tuh buy land. And furthermo\u2019 everything is got tuh have uh center and uh heart tuh it, and uh town ain\u2019t no different from nowhere else. It would be natural fuh de store tuh be meetin\u2019 place fuh de town.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat sho is de truth, now.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOh, we\u2019ll have dis town all fixed up tereckly. Don\u2019t miss bein\u2019 at de meetin\u2019 tuhmorrow.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Just about time for the committee meeting called to meet on his porch next day, the first wagon load of lumber drove up and Jody went to show them where to put it. Told Janie to hold the committee there until he got back, he didn\u2019t want to miss them, but he meant to count every foot of that lumber before it touched the ground. He could have saved his breath and Janie could have kept right on with what she was doing. In the first place everybody was late in coming; then the next thing as soon as they heard where Jody was, they kept right on up there where the new lumber was rattling off the wagon and being piled under the big live oak tree. So that\u2019s where the meeting was held with Tony Taylor acting as chairman and Jody doing all the talking. A day was named for roads and they all agreed to bring axes and things like that and chop out two roads running each way. That applied to everybody except Tony and Coker. They could carpenter, so Jody hired them to go to work on his store bright and soon the next morning. Jody himself would be busy driving around from town to town telling people about Eatonville and drumming up citizens to move there.<\/p>\r\n

Janie was astonished to see the money Jody had spent for the land come back to him so fast. Ten new families bought lots and moved to town in six weeks. It all looked too big and rushing for her to keep track of. Before the store had a complete roof, Jody had canned goods piled on the floor and was selling so much he didn\u2019t have time to go off on his talking tours. She had her first taste of presiding over it the day it was complete and finished. Jody told her to dress up and stand in the store all that evening. Everybody was coming sort of fixed up, and he didn\u2019t mean for nobody else\u2019s wife to rank with her. She must look on herself as the bell-cow, the other women were the gang. So she put on one of her bought dresses and went up the new-cut road all dressed in wine-colored red. Her silken ruffles rustled and muttered about her. The other women had on percale and calico with here and there a headrag among the older ones.<\/p>\r\n

Nobody was buying anything that night. They didn\u2019t come there for that. They had come to make a welcome. So Joe knocked in the head of a barrel of soda crackers and cut some cheese.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cEverybody come right forward and make merry. I god, it\u2019s mah treat.\u201d Jody gave one of his big heh heh laughs and stood back. Janie dipped up the lemonade like he told her. A big tin cup full for everybody. Tony Taylor felt so good when it was all gone that he felt to make a speech.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLadies and gent\u2019men, we\u2019se come tuhgether and gethered heah tuh welcome tuh our midst one who has seen fit tuh cast in his lot amongst us. He didn\u2019t just come hisself neither. He have seen fit tuh bring his, er, er, de light uh his home, dat is his wife amongst us also. She couldn\u2019t look no mo\u2019 better and no nobler if she wuz de queen uh England. It\u2019s uh pledger fuh her tuh be heah amongst us. Brother Starks, we welcomes you and all dat you have seen fit tuh bring amongst us\u2014yo\u2019 beloved wife, yo\u2019 store, yo\u2019 land\u2014\u201d<\/p>\r\n

A big-mouthed burst of laughter cut him short.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDat\u2019ll do, Tony,\u201d Lige Moss yelled out. \u201cMist\u2019 Starks is uh smart man, we\u2019se all willin\u2019 tuh acknowledge tuh dat, but de day he comes waggin\u2019 down de road wid two hund\u2019ed acres uf land over his shoulder, Ah wants tuh be dere tuh see it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Another big blow-out of a laugh. Tony was a little peeved at having the one speech of his lifetime ruined like that.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAll y\u2019all know whut wuz meant. Ah don\u2019t see how come\u2014\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201c\u202f\u2019Cause you jump up tuh make speeches and don\u2019t know how,\u201d Lige said.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh wuz speakin\u2019 jus\u2019 all right befo\u2019 you stuck yo\u2019 bill in.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, you wuzn\u2019t, Tony. Youse way outa jurisdiction. You can\u2019t welcome uh man and his wife \u2019thout you make comparison about Isaac and Rebecca at de well, else it don\u2019t show de love between \u2019em if you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Everybody agreed that that was right. It was sort of pitiful for Tony not to know he couldn\u2019t make a speech without saying that. Some tittered at his ignorance. So Tony said testily, \u201cIf all them dat\u2019s gointuh cut de monkey is done cut it and through wid, we\u2019ll thank Brother Starks fuh a respond.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

So Joe Starks and his cigar took the center of the floor.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh thanks you all for yo\u2019 kind welcome and for extendin\u2019 tuh me de right hand uh fellowship. Ah kin see dat dis town is full uh union and love. Ah means tuh put mah hands tuh de plow heah, and strain every nerve tuh make dis our town de metropolis uh de state. So maybe Ah better tell yuh in case you don\u2019t know dat if we expect tuh move on, us got tuh incorporate lak every other town. Us got tuh incorporate, and us got tuh have uh mayor, if things is tuh be done and done right. Ah welcome you all on behalf uh me and mah wife tuh dis store and tuh de other things tuh come. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Tony led the loud hand-clapping and was out in the center of the floor when it stopped.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cBrothers and sisters, since us can\u2019t never expect tuh better our choice, Ah move dat we make Brother Starks our Mayor until we kin see further.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSecond dat motion!!!\u201d It was everybody talking at once, so it was no need of putting it to a vote.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAnd now we\u2019ll listen tuh uh few words uh encouragement from Mrs. Mayor Starks.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The burst of applause was cut short by Joe taking the floor himself.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThank yuh fuh yo\u2019 compliments, but mah wife don\u2019t know nothin\u2019 \u2019bout no speech-makin\u2019. Ah never married her for nothin\u2019 lak dat. She\u2019s uh woman and her place is in de home.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn\u2019t too easy. She had never thought of making a speech, and didn\u2019t know if she cared to make one at all. It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off of things. But anyway, she went down the road behind him that night feeling cold. He strode along invested with his new dignity, thought and planned out loud, unconscious of her thoughts.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cDe mayor of uh town lak dis can\u2019t lay round home too much. De place needs buildin\u2019 up. Janie, Ah\u2019ll git hold uh somebody tuh help out in de store and you kin look after things whilst Ah drum up things otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOh Jody, Ah can\u2019t do nothin\u2019 wid no store lessen youse there. Ah could maybe come in and help you when things git rushed, but\u2014\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI god, Ah don\u2019t see how come yuh can\u2019t. \u2019Tain\u2019t nothin\u2019 atall tuh hinder yuh if yuh got uh thimble full uh sense. You got tuh. Ah got too much else on mah hands as Mayor. Dis town needs some light right now.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cUnhhunh, it is<\/span> uh little dark right long heah.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201c\u202f\u2019Course it is. \u2019Tain\u2019t no use in scufflin\u2019 over all dese stumps and roots in de dark. Ah\u2019ll call uh meetin\u2019 bout de dark and de roots right away. Ah\u2019ll sit on dis case first thing.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The very next day with money out of his own pocket he sent off to Sears, Roebuck and Company for the street lamp and told the town to meet the following Thursday night to vote on it. Nobody had ever thought of street lamps and some of them said it was a useless notion. They went so far as to vote against it, but the majority ruled.<\/p>\r\n

But the whole town got vain over it after it came. That was because the Mayor didn\u2019t just take it out of the crate and stick it up on a post. He unwrapped it and had it wiped off carefully and put it up on a showcase for a week for everybody to see. Then he set a time for the lighting and sent word all around Orange County for one and all to come to the lamplighting. He sent men out to the swamp to cut the finest and the straightest cypress post they could find, and kept on sending them back to hunt another one until they found one that pleased him. He had talked to the people already about the hospitality of the occasion.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cY\u2019all know we can\u2019t invite people to our town just dry long so. I god, naw. We got tuh feed \u2019em something, and \u2019tain\u2019t nothin\u2019 people laks better\u2019n barbecue. Ah\u2019ll give one whole hawg mah ownself. Seem lak all de rest uh y\u2019all put tuhgether oughta be able tuh scrape up two mo\u2019. Tell yo\u2019 womenfolks tuh do \u2019round \u2019bout some pies and cakes and sweet p\u2019tater pone.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

That\u2019s the way it went, too. The women got together the sweets and the men looked after the meats. The day before the lighting, they dug a big hole in back of the store and filled it full of oak wood and burned it down to a glowing bed of coals. It took them the whole night to barbecue the three hogs. Hambo and Pearson had full charge while the others helped out with turning the meat now and then while Hambo swabbed it all over with the sauce. In between times they told stories, laughed and told more stories and sung songs. They cut all sorts of capers and whiffed the meat as it slowly came to perfection with the seasoning penetrating to the bone. The younger boys had to rig up the saw-horses with boards for the women to use as tables. Then it was after sun-up and everybody not needed went home to rest up for the feast.<\/p>\r\n

By five o\u2019clock the town was full of every kind of a vehicle and swarming with people. They wanted to see that lamp lit at dusk. Near the time, Joe assembled everybody in the street before the store and made a speech.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cFolkses, de sun is goin\u2019 down. De Sun-maker brings it up in de mornin\u2019, and de Sun-maker sends it tuh bed at night. Us poor weak humans can\u2019t do nothin\u2019 tuh hurry it up nor to slow it down. All we can do, if we want any light after de settin\u2019 or befo\u2019 de risin\u2019, is tuh make some light ourselves. So dat\u2019s how come lamps was made. Dis evenin\u2019 we\u2019se all assembled heah tuh light uh lamp. Dis occasion is something for us all tuh remember tuh our dyin\u2019 day. De first street lamp in uh colored town. Lift yo\u2019 eyes and gaze on it. And when Ah touch de match tuh dat lampwick let de light penetrate inside of yuh, and let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Brother Davis, lead us in a word uh prayer. Ask uh blessin\u2019 on dis town in uh most particular manner.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

While Davis chanted a traditional prayer-poem with his own variations, Joe mounted the box that had been placed for the purpose and opened the brazen door of the lamp. As the word Amen was said, he touched the lighted match to the wick, and Mrs. Bogle\u2019s alto burst out in:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n
\r\n\r\n<!-- rend=';' -->\r\n
\r\n

We\u2019ll walk in de light, de beautiful light<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Come where the dew drops of mercy shine bright<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Shine all around us by day and by night<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jesus, the light of the world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->\r\n

They, all of them, all of the people took it up and sung it over and over until it was wrung dry, and no further innovations of tone and tempo were conceivable. Then they hushed and ate barbecue.<\/p>\r\n

When it was all over that night in bed Jody asked Janie, \u201cWell, honey, how yuh lak bein\u2019 Mrs. Mayor?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right Ah reckon, but don\u2019t yuh think it keeps us in uh kinda strain?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cStrain? You mean de cookin\u2019 and waitin\u2019 on folks?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cNaw, Jody, it jus\u2019 looks lak it keeps us in some way we ain\u2019t natural wid one \u2019nother. You\u2019se always off talkin\u2019 and fixin\u2019 things, and Ah feels lak Ah\u2019m jus\u2019 markin\u2019 time. Hope it soon gits over.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOver, Janie? I god, Ah ain\u2019t even started good. Ah told you in de very first beginnin\u2019 dat Ah aimed tuh be uh big voice. You oughta be glad, \u2019cause dat makes uh big woman outa you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

A feeling of coldness and fear took hold of her. She felt far away from things and lonely.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n

Janie soon began to feel the impact of awe and envy against her sensibilities. The wife of the Mayor was not just another woman as she had supposed. She slept with authority and so she was part of it in the town mind. She couldn\u2019t get but so close to most of them in spirit. It was especially noticeable after Joe had forced through a town ditch to drain the street in front of the store. They had murmured hotly about slavery being over, but every man filled his assignment.<\/p>\r\n

There was something about Joe Starks that cowed the town. It was not because of physical fear. He was no fist fighter. His bulk was not even imposing as men go. Neither was it because he was more literate than the rest. Something else made men give way before him. He had a bow-down command in his face, and every step he took made the thing more tangible.<\/p>\r\n

Take for instance that new house of his. It had two stories with porches, with bannisters and such things. The rest of the town looked like servants\u2019 quarters surrounding the \u201cbig house.\u201d And different from everybody else in the town he put off moving in until it had been painted, in and out. And look at the way he painted it\u2014a gloaty, sparkly white. The kind of promenading white that the houses of Bishop Whipple, W. B. Jackson and the Vanderpool\u2019s wore. It made the village feel funny talking to him\u2014just like he was anybody else. Then there was the matter of the spittoons. No sooner was he all set as the Mayor\u2014post master\u2014landlord\u2014storekeeper, than he bought a desk like Mr. Hill or Mr. Galloway over in Maitland with one of those swing-around chairs to it. What with him biting down on cigars and saving his breath on talk and swinging round in that chair, it weakened people. And then he spit in that gold-looking vase that anybody else would have been glad to put on their front-room table. Said it was a spittoon just like his used-to-be bossman used to have in his bank up there in Atlanta. Didn\u2019t have to get up and go to the door every time he had to spit. Didn\u2019t spit on his floor neither. Had that golded-up spitting pot right handy. But he went further than that. He bought a little lady-size spitting pot for Janie to spit in. Had it right in the parlor with little sprigs of flowers painted all around the sides. It took people by surprise because most of the women dipped snuff and of course had a spit-cup in the house. But how could they know up-to-date folks was spitting in flowery little things like that? It sort of made the rest of them feel that they had been taken advantage of. Like things had been kept from them. Maybe more things in the world besides spitting pots had been hid from them, when they wasn\u2019t told no better than to spit in tomato cans. It was bad enough for white people, but when one of your own color could be so different it put you on a wonder. It was like seeing your sister turn into a \u2019gator. A familiar strangeness. You keep seeing your sister in the \u2019gator and the \u2019gator in your sister, and you\u2019d rather not. There was no doubt that the town respected him and even admired him in a way. But any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate. So when speakers stood up when the occasion demanded and said \u201cOur beloved Mayor,\u201d it was one of those statements that everybody says but nobody actually believes like \u201cGod is everywhere.\u201d It was just a handle to wind up the tongue with. As time went on and the benefits he had conferred upon the town receded in time they sat on his store porch while he was busy inside and discussed him. Like one day after he caught Henry Pitts with a wagon load of his ribbon cane and took the cane away from Pitts and made him leave town. Some of them thought Starks ought not to have done that. He had so much cane and everything else. But they didn\u2019t say that while Joe Starks was on the porch. When the mail came from Maitland and he went inside to sort it out everybody had their say.<\/p>\r\n

Sim Jones started off as soon as he was sure that Starks couldn\u2019t hear him.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s uh sin and uh shame runnin\u2019 dat po\u2019 man way from here lak dat. Colored folks oughtn\u2019t tuh be so hard on one \u2019nother.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh don\u2019t see it dat way atall,\u201d Sam Watson said shortly. \u201cLet colored folks learn to work for what dey git lak everybody else. Nobody ain\u2019t stopped Pitts from plantin\u2019 de cane he wanted tuh. Starks give him uh job, what mo\u2019 do he want?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh know dat too,\u201d Jones said, \u201cbut, Sam, Joe Starks is too exact wid folks. All he got he done made it offa de rest of us. He didn\u2019t have all dat when he come here.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYeah, but none uh all dis you see and you\u2019se settin\u2019 on wasn\u2019t here neither, when he come. Give de devil his due.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cBut now, Sam, you know dat all he do is big-belly round and tell other folks what tuh do. He loves obedience out of everybody under de sound of his voice.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou kin feel a switch in his hand when he\u2019s talkin\u2019 to yuh,\u201d Oscar Scott complained. \u201cDat chastisin\u2019 feelin\u2019 he totes sorter gives yuh de protolapsis uh de cutinary linin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHe\u2019s uh whirlwind among breezes,\u201d Jeff Bruce threw in.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSpeakin\u2019 of winds, he\u2019s de wind and we\u2019se de grass. We bend which ever way he blows,\u201d Sam Watson agreed, \u201cbut at dat us needs him. De town wouldn\u2019t be nothin\u2019 if it wasn\u2019t for him. He can\u2019t help bein\u2019 sorta bossy. Some folks needs thrones, and ruling-chairs and crowns tuh make they influence felt. He don\u2019t. He\u2019s got uh throne in de seat of his pants.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhut Ah don\u2019t lak \u2019bout de man is, he talks tuh unlettered folks wid books in his jaws,\u201d Hicks complained. \u201cShowin\u2019 off his learnin\u2019. To look at me you wouldn\u2019t think it, but Ah got uh brother pastorin\u2019 up round Ocala dat got good learnin\u2019. If he wuz here, Joe Starks wouldn\u2019t make no fool outa him lak he do de rest uh y\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAh often wonder how dat lil wife uh hisn makes out wid him, \u2019cause he\u2019s uh man dat changes everything, but nothin\u2019 don\u2019t change him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou know many\u2019s de time Ah done thought about dat mahself. He gits on her ever now and then when she make little mistakes round de store.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhut make her keep her head tied up lak some ole \u2019oman round de store? Nobody couldn\u2019t git<\/span> me tuh tie no rag on mah head if Ah had hair lak dat.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMaybe he make her do it. Maybe he skeered some de rest of us mens might touch it round dat store. It sho is uh hidden mystery tuh me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cShe sho don\u2019t talk much. De way he rears and pitches in de store sometimes when she make uh mistake is sort of ungodly, but she don\u2019t seem to mind at all. Reckon dey understand one \u2019nother.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The town had a basketful of feelings good and bad about Joe\u2019s positions and possessions, but none had the temerity to challenge him. They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down.<\/p>","rendered":"

<\/div>\n

On<\/span> the train the next day, Joe didn\u2019t make many speeches with rhymes to her, but he bought her the best things the butcher had, like apples and a glass lantern full of candies. Mostly he talked about plans for the town when he got there. They were bound to need somebody like him. Janie took a lot of looks at him and she was proud of what she saw. Kind of portly like rich white folks. Strange trains, and people and places didn\u2019t scare him neither. Where they got off the train at Maitland he found a buggy to carry them over to the colored town right away.<\/p>\n

It was early in the afternoon when they got there, so Joe said they must walk over the place and look around. They locked arms and strolled from end to end of the town. Joe noted the scant dozen of shame-faced houses scattered in the sand and palmetto roots and said, \u201cGod, they call this a town? Why, \u2019tain\u2019t nothing but a raw place in de woods.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a whole heap littler than Ah thought.\u201d Janie admitted her disappointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like Ah thought,\u201d Joe said. \u201cA whole heap uh talk and nobody doin\u2019 nothin\u2019. I god, where\u2019s de Mayor?\u201d he asked somebody. \u201cAh want tuh speak wid de Mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two men who were sitting on their shoulderblades under a huge live oak tree almost sat upright at the tone of his voice. They stared at Joe\u2019s face, his clothes and his wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere y\u2019all come from in sich uh big haste?\u201d Lee Coker asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiddle Georgy,\u201d Starks answered briskly. \u201cJoe Starks is mah name, from in and through Georgy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou and yo\u2019 daughter goin\u2019 tuh join wid us in fellowship?\u201d the other reclining figure asked. \u201cMighty glad tuh have yuh. Hicks is the name. Guv\u2019nor Amos Hicks from Buford, South Carolina. Free, single, disengaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI god, Ah ain\u2019t nowhere near old enough to have no grown daughter. This here is mah wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks sank back and lost interest at once.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is de Mayor?\u201d Starks persisted. \u201cAh wants tuh talk wid him<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYouse uh mite too previous for dat,\u201d Coker told him. \u201cUs ain\u2019t got none yit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAin\u2019t got no Mayor! Well, who tells y\u2019all what to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody. Everybody\u2019s grown. And then agin, Ah reckon us just ain\u2019t thought about it. Ah know Ah ain\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh did think about it one day,\u201d Hicks said dreamily, \u201cbut then Ah forgot it and ain\u2019t thought about it since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo wonder things ain\u2019t no better,\u201d Joe commented. \u201cAh\u2019m buyin\u2019 in here, and buyin\u2019 in big. Soon\u2019s we find some place to sleep tonight us menfolks got to call people together and form a committee. Then we can get things movin\u2019 round here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh kin point yuh where yuh kin sleep,\u201d Hicks offered. \u201cMan got his house done built and his wife ain\u2019t come yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starks and Janie moved on off in the direction indicated with Hicks and Coker boring into their backs with looks.<\/p>\n

\u201cDat man talks like a section foreman,\u201d Coker commented. \u201cHe\u2019s mighty compellment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShucks!\u201d said Hicks. \u201cMah britches is just as long as his. But dat wife uh hisn! Ah\u2019m uh son of uh Combunction if Ah don\u2019t go tuh Georgy and git me one just like her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhut wid?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWid mah talk, man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes money tuh feed pretty women. Dey gits uh lavish uh talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot lak mine. Dey loves to hear me talk because dey can\u2019t understand it. Mah co-talkin\u2019 is too deep. Too much co to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t believe me, do yuh? You don\u2019t know de women Ah kin git to mah command.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou ain\u2019t never seen me when Ah\u2019m out pleasurin\u2019 and givin\u2019 pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s uh good thing he married her befo\u2019 she seen me. Ah kin be some trouble when Ah take uh notion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh\u2019m uh bitch\u2019s baby round lady people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh\u2019s much ruther see all dat than to hear \u2019bout it. Come on less go see whut he gointuh do \u2019bout dis town.\u201d<\/p>\n

They got up and sauntered over to where Starks was living for the present. Already the town had found the strangers. Joe was on the porch talking to a small group of men. Janie could be seen through the bedroom window getting settled. Joe had rented the house for a month. The men were all around him, and he was talking to them by asking questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhut is de real name of de place?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome say West Maitland and some say Eatonville. Dat\u2019s \u2019cause Cap\u2019n Eaton give us some land along wid Mr. Laurence. But Cap\u2019n Eaton give de first piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much did they give?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh \u2019bout fifty acres.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much is y\u2019all got now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh \u2019bout de same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat ain\u2019t near enough. Who owns de land joining on to whut yuh got?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCap\u2019n Eaton.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is<\/span> dis Cap\u2019n Eaton?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOver dere in Maitland, \u2019ceptin\u2019 when he go visitin\u2019 or somethin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLemme speak to mah wife a minute and Ah\u2019m goin\u2019 see de man. You cannot have no town without some land to build it on. Y\u2019all ain\u2019t got enough here to cuss a cat on without gittin\u2019 yo\u2019 mouf full of hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe ain\u2019t got no mo\u2019 land tuh give away. Yuh needs plenty money if yuh wants any mo\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh specks to pay him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea was funny to them and they wanted to laugh. They tried hard to hold it in, but enough incredulous laughter burst out of their eyes and leaked from the corners of their mouths to inform anyone of their thoughts. So Joe walked off abruptly. Most of them went along to show him the way and to be there when his bluff was called.<\/p>\n

Hicks didn\u2019t go far. He turned back to the house as soon as he felt he wouldn\u2019t be missed from the crowd and mounted the porch.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvenin\u2019, Miz Starks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood evenin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou reckon you gointuh like round here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh reckon so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything Ah<\/span> kin do tuh help out, why you kin call on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch obliged.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a long dead pause. Janie was not jumping at her chance like she ought to. Look like she didn\u2019t hardly know he was there. She needed waking up.<\/p>\n

\u201cFolks must be mighty close-mouthed where you come from.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat\u2019s right. But it must be different at yo\u2019 home.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was a long time thinking but finally he saw and stumbled down the steps with a surly \u201c\u202f\u2019Bye.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood bye.\u201d<\/p>\n

That night Coker asked him about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh saw yuh when yuh ducked back tuh Starks\u2019 house. Well, how didja make out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho, me? Ah ain\u2019t been near de place, man. Ah been down tuh de lake tryin\u2019 tuh ketch me uh fish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat \u2019oman ain\u2019t so awfully pretty no how when yuh take de second look at her. Ah had to sorta pass by de house on de way back and seen her good. \u2019Tain\u2019t nothin\u2019 to her \u2019ceptin\u2019 dat long hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUmph!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd anyhow, Ah done took uhlikin\u2019 tuh de man. Ah wouldn\u2019t harm him at all. She ain\u2019t half ez pretty ez uh gal Ah run off and left up in South Cal\u2019lina.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHicks, Ah\u2019d git mad and say you wuz lyin\u2019 if Ah didn\u2019t know yuh so good. You just talkin\u2019 to consolate yo\u2019self by word of mouth. You got uh willin\u2019 mind, but youse too light behind. A whole heap uh men seen de same thing you seen but they got better sense than you. You oughta know you can\u2019t take no \u2019oman lak dat from no man lak him. A man dat ups and buys two hundred acres uh land at one whack and pays cash for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw! He didn\u2019t buy it sho nuff?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe sho did. Come off wid de papers in his pocket. He done called a meetin\u2019 on his porch tomorrow. Ain\u2019t never seen no sich uh colored man befo\u2019 in all mah bawn days. He\u2019s gointuh put up uh store and git uh post office from de Goven\u2019ment.\u201d<\/p>\n

That irritated Hicks and he didn\u2019t know why. He was the average mortal. It troubled him to get used to the world one way and then suddenly have it turn different. He wasn\u2019t ready to think of colored people in post offices yet. He laughed boisterously.<\/p>\n

\u201cY\u2019all let dat stray darky tell y\u2019all any ole lie! Uh colored man sittin\u2019 up in uh post office!\u201d He made an obscene sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s liable tuh do it too, Hicks. Ah hope so anyhow. Us colored folks is too envious of one \u2019nother. Dat\u2019s how come us don\u2019t git no further than us do. Us talks about de white man keepin\u2019 us down! Shucks! He don\u2019t have tuh. Us keeps our own selves down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow who said Ah didn\u2019t want de man tuh git us uh post office? He kin be de king uh Jerusalem fuh all Ah keer. Still and all, \u2019tain\u2019t no use in telling lies just \u2019cause uh heap uh folks don\u2019t know no better. Yo\u2019 common sense oughta tell yuh de white folks ain\u2019t goin\u2019 tuh \u2019low him tuh run no post office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat we don\u2019t know, Hicks. He say he kin and Ah b\u2019lieve he know whut he\u2019s talkin\u2019 \u2019bout. Ah reckon if colored folks got they own town they kin have post offices and whatsoever they please, regardless. And then agin, Ah don\u2019t speck de white folks way off yonder give uh damn. Less us wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, Ah\u2019m waitin\u2019 all right. Specks tuh keep on waitin\u2019 till hell freeze over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAw, git reconciled! Dat woman don\u2019t want you. You got tuh learn dat all de women in de world ain\u2019t been brought up on no teppentine still, and no saw-mill camp. There\u2019s some women dat jus\u2019 ain\u2019t for you tuh broach. You can\u2019t git her<\/span> wid no fish sandwich.\u201d<\/p>\n

They argued a bit more then went on to the house where Joe was and found him in his shirt-sleeves, standing with his legs wide apart, asking questions and smoking a cigar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s de closest saw-mill?\u201d He was asking Tony Taylor.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u202f\u2019Bout seben miles goin\u2019 t\u2019wards Apopka,\u201d Tony told him. \u201cThinkin\u2019 \u2019bout buildin\u2019 right away?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI god, yeah. But not de house Ah specks tuh live in. Dat kin wait till Ah make up mah mind where Ah wants it located. Ah figgers we all needs uh store in uh big hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUh store?\u201d Tony shouted in surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, uh store right heah in town wid everything in it you needs. \u2019Tain\u2019t uh bit uh use in everybody proagin\u2019 way over tuh Maitland tuh buy uh little meal and flour when they could git it right heah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat would be kinda nice, Brother Starks, since you mention it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI god, course it would! And then agin uh store is good in other ways. Ah got tuh have a place tuh be at when folks comes tuh buy land. And furthermo\u2019 everything is got tuh have uh center and uh heart tuh it, and uh town ain\u2019t no different from nowhere else. It would be natural fuh de store tuh be meetin\u2019 place fuh de town.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDat sho is de truth, now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, we\u2019ll have dis town all fixed up tereckly. Don\u2019t miss bein\u2019 at de meetin\u2019 tuhmorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just about time for the committee meeting called to meet on his porch next day, the first wagon load of lumber drove up and Jody went to show them where to put it. Told Janie to hold the committee there until he got back, he didn\u2019t want to miss them, but he meant to count every foot of that lumber before it touched the ground. He could have saved his breath and Janie could have kept right on with what she was doing. In the first place everybody was late in coming; then the next thing as soon as they heard where Jody was, they kept right on up there where the new lumber was rattling off the wagon and being piled under the big live oak tree. So that\u2019s where the meeting was held with Tony Taylor acting as chairman and Jody doing all the talking. A day was named for roads and they all agreed to bring axes and things like that and chop out two roads running each way. That applied to everybody except Tony and Coker. They could carpenter, so Jody hired them to go to work on his store bright and soon the next morning. Jody himself would be busy driving around from town to town telling people about Eatonville and drumming up citizens to move there.<\/p>\n

Janie was astonished to see the money Jody had spent for the land come back to him so fast. Ten new families bought lots and moved to town in six weeks. It all looked too big and rushing for her to keep track of. Before the store had a complete roof, Jody had canned goods piled on the floor and was selling so much he didn\u2019t have time to go off on his talking tours. She had her first taste of presiding over it the day it was complete and finished. Jody told her to dress up and stand in the store all that evening. Everybody was coming sort of fixed up, and he didn\u2019t mean for nobody else\u2019s wife to rank with her. She must look on herself as the bell-cow, the other women were the gang. So she put on one of her bought dresses and went up the new-cut road all dressed in wine-colored red. Her silken ruffles rustled and muttered about her. The other women had on percale and calico with here and there a headrag among the older ones.<\/p>\n

Nobody was buying anything that night. They didn\u2019t come there for that. They had come to make a welcome. So Joe knocked in the head of a barrel of soda crackers and cut some cheese.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody come right forward and make merry. I god, it\u2019s mah treat.\u201d Jody gave one of his big heh heh laughs and stood back. Janie dipped up the lemonade like he told her. A big tin cup full for everybody. Tony Taylor felt so good when it was all gone that he felt to make a speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cLadies and gent\u2019men, we\u2019se come tuhgether and gethered heah tuh welcome tuh our midst one who has seen fit tuh cast in his lot amongst us. He didn\u2019t just come hisself neither. He have seen fit tuh bring his, er, er, de light uh his home, dat is his wife amongst us also. She couldn\u2019t look no mo\u2019 better and no nobler if she wuz de queen uh England. It\u2019s uh pledger fuh her tuh be heah amongst us. Brother Starks, we welcomes you and all dat you have seen fit tuh bring amongst us\u2014yo\u2019 beloved wife, yo\u2019 store, yo\u2019 land\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

A big-mouthed burst of laughter cut him short.<\/p>\n

\u201cDat\u2019ll do, Tony,\u201d Lige Moss yelled out. \u201cMist\u2019 Starks is uh smart man, we\u2019se all willin\u2019 tuh acknowledge tuh dat, but de day he comes waggin\u2019 down de road wid two hund\u2019ed acres uf land over his shoulder, Ah wants tuh be dere tuh see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another big blow-out of a laugh. Tony was a little peeved at having the one speech of his lifetime ruined like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll y\u2019all know whut wuz meant. Ah don\u2019t see how come\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u202f\u2019Cause you jump up tuh make speeches and don\u2019t know how,\u201d Lige said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh wuz speakin\u2019 jus\u2019 all right befo\u2019 you stuck yo\u2019 bill in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, you wuzn\u2019t, Tony. Youse way outa jurisdiction. You can\u2019t welcome uh man and his wife \u2019thout you make comparison about Isaac and Rebecca at de well, else it don\u2019t show de love between \u2019em if you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everybody agreed that that was right. It was sort of pitiful for Tony not to know he couldn\u2019t make a speech without saying that. Some tittered at his ignorance. So Tony said testily, \u201cIf all them dat\u2019s gointuh cut de monkey is done cut it and through wid, we\u2019ll thank Brother Starks fuh a respond.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Joe Starks and his cigar took the center of the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh thanks you all for yo\u2019 kind welcome and for extendin\u2019 tuh me de right hand uh fellowship. Ah kin see dat dis town is full uh union and love. Ah means tuh put mah hands tuh de plow heah, and strain every nerve tuh make dis our town de metropolis uh de state. So maybe Ah better tell yuh in case you don\u2019t know dat if we expect tuh move on, us got tuh incorporate lak every other town. Us got tuh incorporate, and us got tuh have uh mayor, if things is tuh be done and done right. Ah welcome you all on behalf uh me and mah wife tuh dis store and tuh de other things tuh come. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony led the loud hand-clapping and was out in the center of the floor when it stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrothers and sisters, since us can\u2019t never expect tuh better our choice, Ah move dat we make Brother Starks our Mayor until we kin see further.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond dat motion!!!\u201d It was everybody talking at once, so it was no need of putting it to a vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now we\u2019ll listen tuh uh few words uh encouragement from Mrs. Mayor Starks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The burst of applause was cut short by Joe taking the floor himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank yuh fuh yo\u2019 compliments, but mah wife don\u2019t know nothin\u2019 \u2019bout no speech-makin\u2019. Ah never married her for nothin\u2019 lak dat. She\u2019s uh woman and her place is in de home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn\u2019t too easy. She had never thought of making a speech, and didn\u2019t know if she cared to make one at all. It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off of things. But anyway, she went down the road behind him that night feeling cold. He strode along invested with his new dignity, thought and planned out loud, unconscious of her thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cDe mayor of uh town lak dis can\u2019t lay round home too much. De place needs buildin\u2019 up. Janie, Ah\u2019ll git hold uh somebody tuh help out in de store and you kin look after things whilst Ah drum up things otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh Jody, Ah can\u2019t do nothin\u2019 wid no store lessen youse there. Ah could maybe come in and help you when things git rushed, but\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI god, Ah don\u2019t see how come yuh can\u2019t. \u2019Tain\u2019t nothin\u2019 atall tuh hinder yuh if yuh got uh thimble full uh sense. You got tuh. Ah got too much else on mah hands as Mayor. Dis town needs some light right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnhhunh, it is<\/span> uh little dark right long heah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u202f\u2019Course it is. \u2019Tain\u2019t no use in scufflin\u2019 over all dese stumps and roots in de dark. Ah\u2019ll call uh meetin\u2019 bout de dark and de roots right away. Ah\u2019ll sit on dis case first thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The very next day with money out of his own pocket he sent off to Sears, Roebuck and Company for the street lamp and told the town to meet the following Thursday night to vote on it. Nobody had ever thought of street lamps and some of them said it was a useless notion. They went so far as to vote against it, but the majority ruled.<\/p>\n

But the whole town got vain over it after it came. That was because the Mayor didn\u2019t just take it out of the crate and stick it up on a post. He unwrapped it and had it wiped off carefully and put it up on a showcase for a week for everybody to see. Then he set a time for the lighting and sent word all around Orange County for one and all to come to the lamplighting. He sent men out to the swamp to cut the finest and the straightest cypress post they could find, and kept on sending them back to hunt another one until they found one that pleased him. He had talked to the people already about the hospitality of the occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cY\u2019all know we can\u2019t invite people to our town just dry long so. I god, naw. We got tuh feed \u2019em something, and \u2019tain\u2019t nothin\u2019 people laks better\u2019n barbecue. Ah\u2019ll give one whole hawg mah ownself. Seem lak all de rest uh y\u2019all put tuhgether oughta be able tuh scrape up two mo\u2019. Tell yo\u2019 womenfolks tuh do \u2019round \u2019bout some pies and cakes and sweet p\u2019tater pone.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the way it went, too. The women got together the sweets and the men looked after the meats. The day before the lighting, they dug a big hole in back of the store and filled it full of oak wood and burned it down to a glowing bed of coals. It took them the whole night to barbecue the three hogs. Hambo and Pearson had full charge while the others helped out with turning the meat now and then while Hambo swabbed it all over with the sauce. In between times they told stories, laughed and told more stories and sung songs. They cut all sorts of capers and whiffed the meat as it slowly came to perfection with the seasoning penetrating to the bone. The younger boys had to rig up the saw-horses with boards for the women to use as tables. Then it was after sun-up and everybody not needed went home to rest up for the feast.<\/p>\n

By five o\u2019clock the town was full of every kind of a vehicle and swarming with people. They wanted to see that lamp lit at dusk. Near the time, Joe assembled everybody in the street before the store and made a speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cFolkses, de sun is goin\u2019 down. De Sun-maker brings it up in de mornin\u2019, and de Sun-maker sends it tuh bed at night. Us poor weak humans can\u2019t do nothin\u2019 tuh hurry it up nor to slow it down. All we can do, if we want any light after de settin\u2019 or befo\u2019 de risin\u2019, is tuh make some light ourselves. So dat\u2019s how come lamps was made. Dis evenin\u2019 we\u2019se all assembled heah tuh light uh lamp. Dis occasion is something for us all tuh remember tuh our dyin\u2019 day. De first street lamp in uh colored town. Lift yo\u2019 eyes and gaze on it. And when Ah touch de match tuh dat lampwick let de light penetrate inside of yuh, and let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Brother Davis, lead us in a word uh prayer. Ask uh blessin\u2019 on dis town in uh most particular manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Davis chanted a traditional prayer-poem with his own variations, Joe mounted the box that had been placed for the purpose and opened the brazen door of the lamp. As the word Amen was said, he touched the lighted match to the wick, and Mrs. Bogle\u2019s alto burst out in:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

<!– rend=’;’ –><\/p>\n

\n

We\u2019ll walk in de light, de beautiful light<\/span><\/p>\n

Come where the dew drops of mercy shine bright<\/span><\/p>\n

Shine all around us by day and by night<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus, the light of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<!– end poetry block –><!– end rend –><\/p>\n

They, all of them, all of the people took it up and sung it over and over until it was wrung dry, and no further innovations of tone and tempo were conceivable. Then they hushed and ate barbecue.<\/p>\n

When it was all over that night in bed Jody asked Janie, \u201cWell, honey, how yuh lak bein\u2019 Mrs. Mayor?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right Ah reckon, but don\u2019t yuh think it keeps us in uh kinda strain?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStrain? You mean de cookin\u2019 and waitin\u2019 on folks?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNaw, Jody, it jus\u2019 looks lak it keeps us in some way we ain\u2019t natural wid one \u2019nother. You\u2019se always off talkin\u2019 and fixin\u2019 things, and Ah feels lak Ah\u2019m jus\u2019 markin\u2019 time. Hope it soon gits over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOver, Janie? I god, Ah ain\u2019t even started good. Ah told you in de very first beginnin\u2019 dat Ah aimed tuh be uh big voice. You oughta be glad, \u2019cause dat makes uh big woman outa you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A feeling of coldness and fear took hold of her. She felt far away from things and lonely.<\/p>\n

\n

Janie soon began to feel the impact of awe and envy against her sensibilities. The wife of the Mayor was not just another woman as she had supposed. She slept with authority and so she was part of it in the town mind. She couldn\u2019t get but so close to most of them in spirit. It was especially noticeable after Joe had forced through a town ditch to drain the street in front of the store. They had murmured hotly about slavery being over, but every man filled his assignment.<\/p>\n

There was something about Joe Starks that cowed the town. It was not because of physical fear. He was no fist fighter. His bulk was not even imposing as men go. Neither was it because he was more literate than the rest. Something else made men give way before him. He had a bow-down command in his face, and every step he took made the thing more tangible.<\/p>\n

Take for instance that new house of his. It had two stories with porches, with bannisters and such things. The rest of the town looked like servants\u2019 quarters surrounding the \u201cbig house.\u201d And different from everybody else in the town he put off moving in until it had been painted, in and out. And look at the way he painted it\u2014a gloaty, sparkly white. The kind of promenading white that the houses of Bishop Whipple, W. B. Jackson and the Vanderpool\u2019s wore. It made the village feel funny talking to him\u2014just like he was anybody else. Then there was the matter of the spittoons. No sooner was he all set as the Mayor\u2014post master\u2014landlord\u2014storekeeper, than he bought a desk like Mr. Hill or Mr. Galloway over in Maitland with one of those swing-around chairs to it. What with him biting down on cigars and saving his breath on talk and swinging round in that chair, it weakened people. And then he spit in that gold-looking vase that anybody else would have been glad to put on their front-room table. Said it was a spittoon just like his used-to-be bossman used to have in his bank up there in Atlanta. Didn\u2019t have to get up and go to the door every time he had to spit. Didn\u2019t spit on his floor neither. Had that golded-up spitting pot right handy. But he went further than that. He bought a little lady-size spitting pot for Janie to spit in. Had it right in the parlor with little sprigs of flowers painted all around the sides. It took people by surprise because most of the women dipped snuff and of course had a spit-cup in the house. But how could they know up-to-date folks was spitting in flowery little things like that? It sort of made the rest of them feel that they had been taken advantage of. Like things had been kept from them. Maybe more things in the world besides spitting pots had been hid from them, when they wasn\u2019t told no better than to spit in tomato cans. It was bad enough for white people, but when one of your own color could be so different it put you on a wonder. It was like seeing your sister turn into a \u2019gator. A familiar strangeness. You keep seeing your sister in the \u2019gator and the \u2019gator in your sister, and you\u2019d rather not. There was no doubt that the town respected him and even admired him in a way. But any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate. So when speakers stood up when the occasion demanded and said \u201cOur beloved Mayor,\u201d it was one of those statements that everybody says but nobody actually believes like \u201cGod is everywhere.\u201d It was just a handle to wind up the tongue with. As time went on and the benefits he had conferred upon the town receded in time they sat on his store porch while he was busy inside and discussed him. Like one day after he caught Henry Pitts with a wagon load of his ribbon cane and took the cane away from Pitts and made him leave town. Some of them thought Starks ought not to have done that. He had so much cane and everything else. But they didn\u2019t say that while Joe Starks was on the porch. When the mail came from Maitland and he went inside to sort it out everybody had their say.<\/p>\n

Sim Jones started off as soon as he was sure that Starks couldn\u2019t hear him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s uh sin and uh shame runnin\u2019 dat po\u2019 man way from here lak dat. Colored folks oughtn\u2019t tuh be so hard on one \u2019nother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh don\u2019t see it dat way atall,\u201d Sam Watson said shortly. \u201cLet colored folks learn to work for what dey git lak everybody else. Nobody ain\u2019t stopped Pitts from plantin\u2019 de cane he wanted tuh. Starks give him uh job, what mo\u2019 do he want?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh know dat too,\u201d Jones said, \u201cbut, Sam, Joe Starks is too exact wid folks. All he got he done made it offa de rest of us. He didn\u2019t have all dat when he come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but none uh all dis you see and you\u2019se settin\u2019 on wasn\u2019t here neither, when he come. Give de devil his due.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, Sam, you know dat all he do is big-belly round and tell other folks what tuh do. He loves obedience out of everybody under de sound of his voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kin feel a switch in his hand when he\u2019s talkin\u2019 to yuh,\u201d Oscar Scott complained. \u201cDat chastisin\u2019 feelin\u2019 he totes sorter gives yuh de protolapsis uh de cutinary linin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s uh whirlwind among breezes,\u201d Jeff Bruce threw in.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeakin\u2019 of winds, he\u2019s de wind and we\u2019se de grass. We bend which ever way he blows,\u201d Sam Watson agreed, \u201cbut at dat us needs him. De town wouldn\u2019t be nothin\u2019 if it wasn\u2019t for him. He can\u2019t help bein\u2019 sorta bossy. Some folks needs thrones, and ruling-chairs and crowns tuh make they influence felt. He don\u2019t. He\u2019s got uh throne in de seat of his pants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhut Ah don\u2019t lak \u2019bout de man is, he talks tuh unlettered folks wid books in his jaws,\u201d Hicks complained. \u201cShowin\u2019 off his learnin\u2019. To look at me you wouldn\u2019t think it, but Ah got uh brother pastorin\u2019 up round Ocala dat got good learnin\u2019. If he wuz here, Joe Starks wouldn\u2019t make no fool outa him lak he do de rest uh y\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh often wonder how dat lil wife uh hisn makes out wid him, \u2019cause he\u2019s uh man dat changes everything, but nothin\u2019 don\u2019t change him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know many\u2019s de time Ah done thought about dat mahself. He gits on her ever now and then when she make little mistakes round de store.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhut make her keep her head tied up lak some ole \u2019oman round de store? Nobody couldn\u2019t git<\/span> me tuh tie no rag on mah head if Ah had hair lak dat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he make her do it. Maybe he skeered some de rest of us mens might touch it round dat store. It sho is uh hidden mystery tuh me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe sho don\u2019t talk much. De way he rears and pitches in de store sometimes when she make uh mistake is sort of ungodly, but she don\u2019t seem to mind at all. Reckon dey understand one \u2019nother.\u201d<\/p>\n

The town had a basketful of feelings good and bad about Joe\u2019s positions and possessions, but none had the temerity to challenge him. They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[49],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-75","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/75\/revisions\/134"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/75\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/theireyeswerewatchinggod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}