DuBose Heyward

“ Presently a murmur arose among the watchers. Out at the harbor mouth, against the thin greenish-blue of the horizon, appeared the “Mosquito Fleet.” Driven by a steady breeze, the boats swept toward the city with astonishing rapidity.
Warm sunlight flooded out of the west, touched the old city with transient glory, then cascaded over the tossing surface of the bay to paint the taut, cupped sails salmon pink, as the fleet drove forward directly into the eye of the sun. ”

“ But Porgy and Bess sat and looked fixedly at the bay, where it lay beyond the gate.
Then the drays came, and the bay was blotted out by the procession.
The great mules, fat and strong from their summer in pasture, moved swiftly with a sharp click of shoes, and the drivers cracked their whips and laughed down at the crowd. The low platforms of the vehicles seemed almost to brush the ground; and, upon them, clear to the top of the entrance arch, the bales towered, with the fibre showing in dazzling white patches where the bagging was torn. Twenty or more in the train they passed. ”

“ The long, hot days, so conducive to indolence, brought a new phase of life to Catfish Row. The loud talk and noisy comings and goings diminished. Men came in earlier in the evenings, and spent more time with their women.
Porgy sat alone in his doorway. In a room overhead a man and his wife were engaged in a friendly quarrel that ended in laughter. From an open window nearby came the sound of drowsy child voices. In the crowded dark about him, Life, with cruel preoccupation, was engrossed with its eternal business. ”

“ Ladies on the deep piazzas would frequently send a servant running out to give him a coin and speed him on his way.
Before the houses and the rose-trellises stretched a broad drive, and beyond its dazzling belt of crushed shell the harbor lay between its tawny islands, like a sapphire upon a sailor’s weathered hand. Sometimes Porgy would steal an hour from the daily rounds, pause there, and watch a great, blunt-nosed steamer heave slowly out of the unknown, to come to rest with a sigh of spent steam, and a dusty thundering of released anchor chains.
“Gawd sho gots a long arm,” he would murmur ”

“ For, as the artist is born with the vision of beauty, and the tradesman with an eye for barter, so was Porgy equipped by a beneficent providence for a career of mendicancy. Instead of the sturdy legs that would have predestined him for the life of a stevedore on one of the great cotton wharves, he had, when he entered the world, totally inadequate nether extremities, quick to catch the eye, and touch the ready sympathy of the passer-by. ”

“ Moving from the negro district into the wide thoroughfare of Meeting House Road, with its high buildings and its white faces that massed and scattered on the pavements,{29} the cortége appeared almost grotesque, with the odd fusion of comedy and tragedy so inextricably a part of negro life in its deep moments.
The fat German who kept the shop on the corner of King Charles Street and Summer Road, called his clerk from the depths of the building, and their stomachs shook with laughter. ”

“ Now, as the final shovelful of earth was thrown upon the grave, he came running to Porgy, and lifted him quickly into the road. Behind them broke a sudden earth-shaking burst of sound, as of the stampeding of many cattle, and past them the mourners swept, stumbling, fighting for room; some assisting weaker friends, others fighting savagely to be free of the enclosure. ”

“ Only the bay remained unchanged. Beyond the litter of the wharf, it stretched to the horizon, taking its mood from the changing skies; always different—invariably the same.
Directly within the entrance of the Row, and having upon the street a single bleary window, wherein were displayed plates of fried fish, was the “cook-shop” which catered to the residents of the tenement.
Porgy’s room was opposite the shop and enjoyed the great advantage of having a front window that commanded the street and harbor, and an inner door where he could sit and enter into the life of the court. ”

“ For, after all, what could have been funnier than an entirely serious race between a negro in a dilapidated goat-cart, and the municipality’s shining new patrol wagon, fully officered and clanging its bell for the crowds to hear as it came.
The finish took place in the vicinity of the railway yards and factories, and the street was filled with workmen who smoked against the walls, or ate their lunch, sitting at the pavement’s edge—grand-stand seats, as they were quite accurately described in the telling.
The street cars ran seldom that far out ”

“ PORGY PART I PORGY lived in the Golden Age. Not the Golden Age of a remote and legendary past; nor yet the chimerical era treasured by every man past middle life, that never existed except in the heart of youth; but an age when men, not yet old, were boys in an ancient, beautiful city that time had forgotten before it destroyed. ”

“ Porgy drove with Peter, and four women, seated on straight chairs in the wagon behind them, completed their company. From time to time a long-drawn wail would rise from one of the conveyances, to be taken up and passed back from wagon to wagon like a dismal echo. ”

“ The negro known as Sportin’ Life had come in just as the game was commencing, and had sat in. That he was not altogether above suspicion was evidenced by the fact that the little circle of men refused to allow him to use his own dice, and told him so frankly. He scowled at them, dropped the dice back into his pocket, and started to leave. Then he seemed to think better of it, and joined the circle.
As the game proceeded it became evident that Porgy’s luck was with him; he was the most consistent winner, and Sportin’ Life was bearing most of the burden. ”

“ Where others bid eagerly for attention, and burst into voluble thanks and blessings, Porgy sat silent, rapt. There was something{13} Eastern and mystic about the intense introspection of his look. He never smiled, and he acknowledged gifts only by a slow lifting of the eyes that had odd shadows in them. He was black with the almost purple blackness of unadulterated Congo blood. His hands were very large and muscular, and, even when flexed idly in his lap, seemed shockingly formidable in contrast with his frail body. ”

“ Yet, when he looked up at the sky, a vague prescience of disaster darkened his spirit. He sat beside Bess in the doorway, with his eyes upon the{164} child in her lap. After a while he took the baby into his arms, and then the foreboding suddenly became pain.
He looked up and met the gaze of the woman. It was there in her eyes also, plain for him to see.
Out in the silence of the street a sound commenced to grow. Only a faint, far murmur at first, it gathered weight until it became a steady rumble, with a staccato clip, clip, clip running through it. ”

“ Clara, with the baby in her arms, accompanied Jake to the pier-head. She knew the futility of remonstrance; but her eyes were{137} fearful when the heavy, black clouds swept overhead. Once, when a wave slapped a pile, and threw a handful of spray in her face, she moaned and looked up at the big negro by her side. But Jake was full of the business in hand, and besides, he was growing a little impatient at his wife’s incessant plea that he sell his share of the “Seagull” and settle on land. ”

“ Scarcely had the rumble receded in the distance, than a burst of heavy laughter{165} sounded in the street, and two tall figures strode through the entrance and into the group of women and children. There was a bright flash from bandanas, and one of the men swung a child to his shoulder. Loud greetings followed, and another burst of laughter, heavy, deep-chested and glad. ”

“ Then his second alternative: the white man’s God, vague and abstract as the wind that moved among the lichens, with his Jesus, who could stir him suddenly to his most beautiful songs and make his heart expand until, for a moment, it embraced all mankind with compassionate love, but who passed, as the wind passes, leaving him cold and disillusioned. ”

“ Across the drive, Maria, vast and moist, hung over her stove in a far corner of her cook-shop. Several negroes sat at the little tables, eating their early suppers, laughing and chaffing.
“Yuh sho got good-lookin’ white gals in dis town,” drawled a slender young octoroon. He was attired in sky-blue, peg-top trousers, yellow spats, and in the center of a scarlet bow-tie gleamed an immense paste horseshoe.
“Do listen tuh Sportin’ Life!” said a black, loutish buck admiringly. “Ef he ain’t lookin’ at de rollin’ bones, he always gots he eye on de women.” ”

“ A fringe of shadowy watchers crept from cavernous doorways, sensed it, and commenced to wail eerily. Backward and forward, in a space no larger than a small room, the heaving, inseparable mass rocked and swayed. ”

“ Thrashing its way between far-sweeping marshes and wooded sea islands, the boat would burst suddenly into lagoon after lagoon, that lay strewn along the coast, that blazed in the noon like great fire-opals held in silver mesh. ”

“ Rolled loosely, it loomed to the second story windows, and flapped and tore at the buildings as it swept over the cobbles.
When a voice could be heard again, Porgy turned to his companion.
“You an’ me, Bess,” he said with conviction “We sho’ is a little somet’ing attuh all.”
After that, they sat long without exchanging a word. Then Porgy looked out of the window and noticed that the quality of the atmosphere was becoming denser. The spume lifted for a moment, and he could scarcely see the tormented bay. ”

“ Dese nigger knows folks, an’ dey knows nigger. Fer Gawd’ sake keep yuh mout’ off w’ite lady. Yuh gots plenty ob yuh own color fuh talk ’bout. Stick tuh dem, an’ yuh ain’t git inter no trouble.”
During Maria’s attack upon her guest, the court had been full of the many-colored sounds that accompanied its evening life. Now, gradually the noise shrunk, seeming to withdraw into itself. All knew what it meant. A white man had entered. The protective curtain of silence which the negro draws about his life when the Caucasian intrudes hung almost tangibly in the air. ”

“ His words were received with a surprise amounting to incredulity.
“Fuh Gawd sake, Daddy Peter!” an awed voice said at last. “Ain’t yuh knows dey lets nigger die dey, so dey kin gib um tuh de student?”
But the old negro stood his ground.
“De student ain’t gits um ’til he done dead. Ain’t dat so? Den he can’t hurt um none. Ain’t dat so, too? An’ I gots dis tuh say. One ob my w’ite folks is er nuss tuh de hospital; and dat lady is er pure angel wid de sick nigger. Ef I sick tuhmorruh I goin’ tuh she; an’ wut she say is good wid me. I wants dis carcase tek care ob w’ile he is alibe. ”

“ A man begged, presumably, because he was hungry, much as a man of more energetic temperament became a stevedore from the same cause. His plea for help produced the simple reactions of a generous impulse, a movement of the hand, and the gift of a coin, instead of the elaborate and terrifying{12} processes of organized philanthropy. ”

“ The game started late, and there were few players. Opposite Porgy, sitting upon his haunches, and casting his dice in moody silence, was a negro called Crown. He was a stevedore, had the body of a gladiator, and a bad name. His cotton-hook, hanging from{17} his belt by a thong, gleamed in the lamp-light, and rang a clear note on the flags when he leant forward to throw. Crown had been drinking with Robbins, who sat next to him, and the air was rank with the effluvium of vile corn whisky. ”

“ After a moment of silence he asked abruptly:
“Bess still libbin’ wid de cripple?”
“Yes; an’ she a happy, decent ’oman. Yuh bes’ leabe she alone.”
“Fer Gawd’ sake! Wut yuh tink I come tuh dis damn town fuh? I ain’t jus’ huntin’ fuh deat’! I atter my ’oman.{169}”
Maria placed her hands on the table opposite the man and bent over to look into his face.
“’Oman is all berry much de same,” she said in a low, persuasive voice. “Dey comes an’ dey goes. One sattify a man quick as annuduh. Dey is lots ob bettuh lookin’ gal dan Bess. She fix fuh life now wid dat boy. I ax yuh go an’ lef she. ”

“ And if they left showing that ash-pallor so unmistakable in a negro, it was as lamentable as it was unavoidable. But when all was said and done, what must one expect if one added to the handicap of a dark skin the indiscretion of swallowing cocaine and indulging in a crap game? ”

“ Don’t yuh try any Noo Yo’kin’ aroun’ dis town. Ef I had my way, I’d go down tuh dat Noo Yo’k boat, an’ take ebbery Gawd’s nigger what come up de gang plank wid er Joseph coat on he back an’ a glass headlight on he buzzom and drap um tuh de catfish befo’ he foot hit decent groun’! Yas; my belly fair ache wid dis Noo Yo’k talk. De fus t’ing dat dem nigger fuhgit is dat dem is nigger. ”

“ You might as well argue with a parrot-cage.”
“That woman is just as ill at this moment as you are,” he said to his unenthusiastic associate when they were again in the sunlight.{179} “Her little burlesque show proves that, if nothing else. But there is her case all prepared. I don’t believe she killed Crown; she doesn’t look like that kind. She is either just playing safe, or she has something entirely different on her chest. But there’s her story; and you’ll never break in without witnesses of your own; and you’ll never get ’em.”
The Coroner was not a highly sensitized individual ”

“ An’ ’side, ef a man is de kin’ wut needs er ’oman, he goin’ be happy regahdless. Him dress she up in he own eye till she look lak de Queen of Sheba tuh um. Porgy t’ink right now dat he gots a she-gawd in he room.”
“He sho’ gots de kin’ wut goin’ gib um hell,” Serena commented cynically. “Dat ’oman ain’t fit tuh ’sociate wid. Much as I like Porgy, I wouldn’t swap t’ree wo’d wid she.{64}”
“Dat’s all so, Sister,” conceded Peter. “But yuh keep yo’ eye on Porgy. He usen tuh hate all dese chillen. Ain’t he? Now watch um. Ebery day w’en he come home he gots candy-ball fuh de crowd. ”

“ But the players were oblivious of all except the splash of orange light that fell upon the flags, and the living little cubes that flashed or dawdled upon it, according to the mood of the hand that propelled them. Peter, the old wagoner, sat quietly smoking in Porgy’s doorway, and looked on with the indulgent smile of tolerant age. Once when Crown lost heavily, and turned snarling upon Robbins with, “T’row dem damn dice fair, nigger,” he cautioned mildly, “Frien’ an{19}’ licker an’ dice ain’t meant tuh ’sociate. Yo’ mens bes’ go slow.” ”

“ Clara, Jake’s wife, sought the head of the dock long before sundown, and sat upon the bulkhead with her baby asleep in her lap. Occasionally she would exchange a greeting{135} with an acquaintance; but for the most part she gazed toward the harbor mouth and said no word to any one.
“She always like dat,” a neighbor informed a little group. “A conjer ’oman once tell she Jake goin’ git drownded; an’ she ain’t hab no happiness since, ’cept when he feet is hittin’ de dirt.” ”

“ Now, each morning, the old wagon rattled out over the cobbles, with the usual number of small, ecstatic, black bodies pendant from its dilapidated superstructure.
“De buckra sho pots nigger figgered out tuh a cent!” said Peter philosophically, and even with a note of admiration in his voice. “Dem knows how much money wagon make{63} in er week; an’ de horse man, de furniture man, an’ de lan’lo’d mek dey ’rangement’ accordin’. ”

“ What I goin’ do now sence Peter gone, an’ I can’t git on de street?”
“Pray, Brudder, pray,” said the widow devoutly. “Ain’t yuh see Gawd done soffen de haht of dat yalluh buryin’ ondehtakuh attuh I done pray tuh him fuh a whole day an’ night? Gawd gots leg fuh de cripple.”
“Bless de Lord!” ejaculated the young woman.
“An’ he gots comfort fuh de widder.”
“Oh, my Jedus!” crooned Porgy, beginning to sway.
“An’ food fuh de fadderless.”
“Yes, Lord!”
“An’ he goin’ raise dis poor nigger out de dus’.” ”

“ Bess reached into her apron pocket, and drew out the evening’s winnings. The coins made quite a little weight in her hand. A late fragment of moon swung over the wall and poured its diminished light into her open palm. She commenced to count the money, Porgy left her, and drew himself into his room. She proceeded to count, absorbed in her task.
§
“Porgy lucky,” said a low voice beside her. “Mus’ be yer gots two dollar dere fer um.” Sportin’ Life lifted his elegant trousers, so that the knees would not bag, and squatted on the flags at her side. ”

“ But I done lib long ’nough now tuh beat ’em all, ’cause money ain’t no use tuh a man attuh he done pass he prime, nohow.”
When the old man had settled firmly back into his nook, and had an opportunity to look about him, he noticed a change in Porgy.
“I tell yuh dat nigger happy,” he said to Serena, one evening while they were smoking their pipes together on her washing bench.
“Go ’long wid yuh!” she retorted. “Dat ’oman ain’t de kin’ tuh mek man happy. It tek a killer like Crown tuh hol’ she down.” ”

“ He seem tuh work berry well, too, till dat sof’ mout’ gentleman come ’roun’ an’ onsettle all my client.”
A groan floated through the window to Porgy’s ears, causing him to indulge in a slow, malicious smile. Then in a pained voice the negro lawyer proceeded: “He been keepin’ me alibe, Boss. An’ wut mo’, he keep de nigger straight. Dis gentleman say dat dey gots tuh lib tuhgedduh anyhow till dey done dead. Dat’s de law, he say. But nigger ain’t mek dataway. I done get um all properly moralize, and dis same gentleman tell um dat my paper ain’t no mo’ dan a license tuh ’dulterate. ”

“ But I can’t make him come through. But it don’t matter. One’s enough to hang Crown, if we ever get him. Come, get the old man in the wagon.”
The policeman lifted the shaking old negro to his feet. “Come along, Uncle. It ain’t going to be as bad for you as Crown, anyway,” encouraged one of them. Then the little party passed out of the entrance, leaving Porgy alone.
From the street sounded the shrill gong of the patrol wagon, followed by the beat of swiftly receding hoofs upon the cobbles. ”

“ Immediately the light of victory, carefully veiled, but bright, shone in Porgy’s eyes. He reached behind him and tweaked the goat by the ear. The dejected animal mistook the signal, and started forward.
“No, no, bubber,” whispered Porgy. “Ain’t yuh hear de Boss laugh? When nigger mek de buckra laugh, den he know he done won. Dis wey we goin’ spen’ we libe. You watch.” ”

“ Then Porgy spoke.
“How long?” he called.
The incessant clamor of the gong commenced, and the hoofs beat their noisy tattoo upon the stones.
Bess raised both hands with fingers extended.
The wagon rounded a corner and disappeared.
§{92}
The jail in which Bess was incarcerated was no better, and no worse, than many others of its period, and the score of negro women with whom she found herself could not be said to suffer acutely under their imprisonment. When life reaches a certain level of misery, it envelops itself in a protective anesthesia which deadens the senses to extremes ”

“ She was looking down at the baby while she spoke, and when she raised her eyes and looked at Porgy, he saw that they were full of tears.
“But you, Bess; you is diff’rent f’om dat?” he said, with a gently interrogating note in his voice.
“Dat ’cause Gawd ain’t mek but one Porgy!” she told him. “Any ’oman gots tuh be decent wid you. But I gots fuh tell yuh de trut’, widout Porgy I is jus’ like de res’.” ”

“ Maria responded heartily. “Dat ’oman good as well now. You watch!”
All day, sitting by Archdale’s office, Porgy hummed his tune, and counted off the hours of the steamboat’s voyage. Now she would{104} be passing Kittiwar, and, in only a few hours more, she would be coming to rest for the night at Ediwander.
The counting off continued after he went to bed, and he was strangely undisturbed by Bess’s mutterings. Now the boat had arrived, he finally told himself. Maria had said that the cabin was near the landing. Surely it would not take the woman long to brew the spell. ”

“ He experienced no difficulty in finding his man. Mingo accepted the mission and the handful of pennies and nickels; and Porgy, having closed the bargain, returned at once to the court.
Maria was opening her shop as he entered, and paused with a shutter in her hands. She could scarcely believe her eyes. The beggar’s face was bright, and he was humming a tune.
“Wut de news?” she asked. “Bess done git well?”
“Not jus’ yit,” he replied. “But I done had me a dream las’ night; an’ de dream say tuh sen’ tuh de conjer ’oman; an’ Bess goin’ break she feber tuhnight.” ”