be
needed, could hand it over without hesitation. Asbury seemed that man,
and they settled upon him. They gave him money, and they gave him power
and patronage. He took it all silently and he carried out his bargain
faithfully. His hands and his lips alike closed tightly when there was
anything within them. It was not long before he found himself the big
Negro of the district and, of necessity, of the town. The time came
when, at a critical moment, the managers saw that they had not reckoned
without their host in choosing this barber of the black district as the
leader of his people.

Now, so much success must have satisfied any other man. But in many
ways Mr. Asbury was unique. For a long time he himself had done very
little shaving--except of notes, to keep his hand in. His time had been
otherwise employed. In the evening hours he had been wooing the
coquettish Dame Law, and, wonderful to say, she had yielded easily to
his advances.

It was against the advice of his friends that he asked for admission to
the bar. They felt that he could do more good in the place where he was.

"You see, Robinson," said old Judge Davis, "it's just like this: If
you're not admitted, it'll hurt you with the people; if you are
admitted, you'll move uptown to an office and get out of touch with
them."

Asbury smiled an inscrutable smile. Then he whispered something into the
judge's ear that made the old man wrinkle from his neck up with
appreciative smiles.

"Asbury," he said, "you are--you are--well, you ought to be white,
that's all. When we find a black man like you we send him to State's
prison. If you were white, you'd go to the Senate."

The Negro laughed confidently.

He was admitted to the bar soon after, whether by merit or by connivance
is not to be told.

"Now he will move uptown," said the black community. "Well, that's the
way with a coloured man when he gets a start."

But they did not know Asbury Robinson yet. He was a man of surprises,
and they were destined to disappointment. He did not move uptown. He
built an office in a small open space next his shop, and there hung out
his shingle.

"I will never desert the people who have done so much to elevate me,"
said Mr. Asbury.

"I will live among them and I will die among them."

This was a strong card for the barber-lawyer. The people seized upon the
statement as expressing a nobility of an altogether unique brand.

They held a mass meeting and indorsed him.