'oman's country,
thes like it's fine young white man's, like you, sir. I gwine give my
las' cent, like you say. Yas, I gwine do dat. I got two hun'erd dollars,
sir; I b'en a-savin' and a-savin' for Jeems 'n me 'ginst when we git
ole, but I gwine give dat to my country. I want Unc' Sam to buy good
food for dem boys in the muddy water. Bacon 'n hominy, sir--'n corn
bread, what's nourishin'. 'N I want you to git de--de Liberty
what-je-call-'ems. Yassir. 'Caze you ain't got no ma to he'ep you out,
'n de ole black 'oman's gwine to be de bes' ma she know how to her young
marse. I got de money tied up--" she leaned forward and whispered--"in a
stockin' in de bottom draw' ob de chist unner Jeem's good coat. Tomorrow
I gwine fetch it, 'n you go buy yo' what-je-calls-'ems."

Lance went across and knelt on the floor beside her and put his arms
around the stout figure. He had been brought up with a colored mammy and
this affection seemed natural and homelike. "Aunt Basha, you're one of
the saints," he said. "And I love you for it. But I wouldn't take your
blessed two hundred, not for anything on earth. I'd be a hound to take
it. If you want some bonds"--it flashed to him that the money would be
safer so than in the stocking under Jeem's coat--"why, I'll get them for
you. Come into the _Daybreak_ office and ask for me, say--Monday. And
I'll go with you to the bank and get bonds. Here's my card. Show anybody
that at the office." And he gave directions.

Five minutes later the old woman went off down the street talking half
aloud to herself in fragments of sentences about "Liberty
what-je-call-'ems" and "my country too." In the little shack uptown that
was home for her and her husband she began at once to set forth her new
light. Jeems, who added to the family income by taking care of furnaces
and doing odd jobs, was grizzled and hobbling of body, but argumentative
of soul.

"'Oman," he addressed Aunt Basha, "Unc' Sam got lots o' money. What use
he gwine have, great big rich man lak Unc' Sam, fo' yo' two hun'erd? But
we got mighty lot o' use fo' dat money, we'uns. An' you gwine gib dat
away? Thes lak a 'oman!" which, in other forms, is an argument used by
male people of many classes.

Aunt Basha suggested that Young Marse David said something about a piece
of paper and Uncle Sam paying back, but Jeems pooh-poohed that.

"Naw, sir. When big rich folks goes round collectin' po' folkses money,
is dey liable to pay back? What good p