"
We gave her the text, which happened to be one that fills every
negro's heart with undiluted joy: "O ye dry bones, hear the word of
the Lord." And we had the satisfaction of hearing her rolling out,
to the clatter of pans and pots:
"Dry bones in de valley,
Ma-a-ah, La-a-awd!
Whut yuh gwine do wid dem dry bones,
Ma-ah-ah La-a-a-w-wd"
while we went up-stairs to change our frocks. We were still sharing
one room then, finding it more convenient. And there, in front of
our door, in a nest of ferns and mosses, was a great cluster of wild
flowers, summer's last and autumn's first children. They had been
gathered in no ordered garden, but taken from the skirts of the
fields and the bosom of the woods; and Carolina the opulent, the
beautiful, the free-handed, does not deck herself niggardly.
Alicia's face that had been so wistful lighted with a sudden joy.
She gave a happy cry:
"Ariel!" she cried, "Ariel! Oh, what a heavenly thing, what a
_human_ thing to do! And to-day, too, just when we need a little bit
of friendliness!" She looked around with a queer, shy smile.
"Ariel!" she called, "Ariel, no matter who comes, or goes, or what
happens in Hynds House, _we_ believe in you.
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