White boy

“ The Negro boy has obstacles, discouragements, and temptations to battle with that are little known to those not situated as he is. When a white boy undertakes a task, it is taken for granted that he will succeed. On the other hand, people are usually surprised if the Negro boy does not fail. In a word, the Negro youth starts out with the presumption against him.
The influence of ancestry, however, is important in helping forward any individual or race, if too much reliance is not placed upon it. ”

“ The slaveholder, having nothing to fear from impotent childhood, easily affords to refrain from cruel inflictions; and if cold and hunger do not pierce the tender frame, the first seven or eight years of the slave-boy’s life are about as full of sweet content as those of the most favored and petted white children of the slaveholder. The slave-boy escapes many troubles which befall and vex his white brother. He seldom has to listen to lectures on propriety of behavior, or on anything else. He is never chided for handling his little knife and fork improperly or awkwardly, for he uses none. ”

“ All colored men are called "boys," even if their heads are white; this boy was five-and-twenty at least, strong-limbed and manly, and had the look of one who never had been cowed by abuse or worn with oppressive labor. ”

“ Sunny Boy worked at them till his poor little fingers were blue, but he could not unfasten them. So Sunny Boy was ready to cry with cold and disappointment and loneliness when a man spoke to him. It is not strange that a little boy should feel like crying when he has lost his grandpa and his feet are wet and his hands are so cold they ache. ”

“ And let me tell ye right yere, you Kid. Yore a white man, you are, and yore jest about the only white man in the place." He cast his eyes about him in the buckboard at his feet. "Yere ye be," he said, tugging at a pair of huge silver-ornamented Mexican spurs and leaning over to give them to the boy; "jest remember me by them thar; they has my name in 'em; and, look yere," he went on with a sudden inspiration, "you-all gets up gulch to my camp and takes what grub you finds and lies low until yo' paw an' th' rest gits over bein' mad. ”

“ But we of the race of grown-ups are a purblind people. Otherwise, when we acknowledge what a stronghold this Boyville is, we the banished would not seek to steal away the merry townsmen, and bruise our hearts and theirs at our hopeless task. We have learned many things in our schools, and of the making of books there has been no end; so it is odd that we have not learned to let a boy be a boy. ”

“ Every boy’s like that, but I trusted him enough not to want to know, and he often told me just because I didn’t ask. Then he cared for all the right things and always ran straight; he never bent his brain to proving that black’s white and indeed rather whiter than most whites are, as so many people do. ”

“ But what seems to escape attention is the fact that the Negro boy and girl, getting the same (though worse) instruction, also get from it the same notion of the Negro’s place and part in life which the white children get. Is it any wonder, then, that they so readily accept the status of inferiors; that they tend to disparage themselves, and think themselves worth while only to the extent to which they look and act and think like the whites? ”

“ A boy's troubles are always the fault of the other boy. The North End boy's responsibility in the matter was so clear—to Bud—that, when he went to justify himself to Miss Morgan, he was surprised and hurt at what he considered her feminine blindness to the fact. ”

“ She had her own sled, a little one.
"Hello, Sunny Boy," she said, smiling. "Santa Claus brought me a sled, too."
"What do you want to go coasting for?" asked Nelson, not waiting for Sunny Boy to answer. "Your feet will get cold."
"They won't, either!" cried Ruth. "Anyway, I'm going with you—Mother said I could. So there!" and she stamped her foot in its shiny new rubber.
"All right, come on then," said Nelson crossly. "What are you waiting so long for? Sunny Boy and I could have a lot more fun if you stayed at home." ”

“ He was growing tall, strong, big-voiced, with hands, broad and muscular, that made him a baseball catcher of a reputation wider than the school-grounds, yet he had a child’s quick wit and merry heart. Such a boy dominated the school as a matter of course, yet so completely had his parents daubed their eyes with pride that they could not see that his leadership in school came from the fact that a man was rising in him–the far-casting shadow of a virility deep and significant as destiny itself. They could not see the man’s body ”

“ Snow White came to life again, and the big curtain came down and the lights flared up to show a houseful of happy, smiling children being buttoned into coats and gloves, and having their caps and hats and bonnets put on for them by mothers and [130] grandmothers and aunts and big sisters.
Sunny Boy walked soberly up the aisle beside his mother, thinking about a great many things. He thought about the dwarfs, and how he would like to know some to play with. He thought about the big theater, and wondered if it was fun to be an actor. ”

“ No more do we hear nice-looking colored boys bragging that such and such a white woman is quite crazy for him, for we have shown him that her affection for him is likely to lead him into trouble, so, having quite a variety of colors to choose from in the women of his own race (thanks to the white man for that) , the Negro boy runs along with the kind of girl who pleases him, and keeps out of trouble. Very often, though, the White does not let him stay out of trouble—there are so many ways devised by these nice white people to hurt the Negro who is peaceably bent. ”

“ There are few men in the world who have pictured that strange creation, the Boy, as he actually is. One of these men is Mr. White. His Kansas boys are a delight, and the recollections they will awaken in the mind of any man will cause him to congratulate himself for having read the book. ”

“ When you grow up, try to be more careful than your grandfather.”
Sunny Boy slipped a warm little hand into Grandpa’s.
“I made a kite—with papers,” he confessed bravely. “Not Lib’ty Bonds, Grandpa, just papers on top of your desk. I was ’musing myself, and I had to have a kite.”
“I see,” said Grandpa slowly, and not a bit crossly. “What color paper, dear? White?”
“No, brown,” replied Sunny Boy eagerly, sure now that he had not taken the missing bonds. “Just brown, Grandpa, and two old letters.” ”

“ Sunny Boy dabbled his feet in a little hole made by a stone he had pushed away.
“Sunny Boy!” called Mr. Horton once again.
Still Sunny Boy continued to play in the water. To tell the truth every one had been so anxious to make him happy at Brookside that he was the least little bit in the world spoiled. The more you have your own way, you know, the harder it is to do other people’s way, and if you can do as you please day after day, by and by you want to do as you please all the time. Sunny Boy felt like that now. 142
“Sunny!” said Daddy a third time, very quietly. ”

“ My son brought him to me from France. Is he very tiny, with a sharp little black nose and slim feet? I thought so! Why you don’t know how glad I am! And to think you’ve been taking such wonderful care of him all this time!” The white-haired lady threw her arms around Sunny Boy and hugged him tightly.
“There he is now,” said the chauffeur, stopping the car before the Horton bungalow.
Curly, or Bon-Bon as the lady called him, sat on the top step of the porch, watching them. ”

“ Meantime, the soldiers had been searching, and had found an old half imbecile negro in a little cabin half a mile back from the river, whom they brought into camp, shaking with fear.
“Old man,” one of the soldiers said, “do you know this boy?”
“Yas, honey. I knows him well. I'se old Marsa Thomas' boy. I bin on his old plantation since he was a baby. ”

“ Upstairs Sunny Boy looked a long time at his toys before he could decide what to do about them. He couldn’t leave his kiddie-car, that was certain. And there was the woolly black dog he took to bed with him at night, and a Teddy Bear that he was almost too old to play with, but not quite, and the wooden blocks. Then he would be sure to need his fire-engine and the roller skates. He must take all those with him. ”

“ If you say your name is Sunny Boy, all right, it is. And I'll even have it you live at the Macnapin Hotel, though where that is is more than I know. Quit crying, I tell you; you're going home along with me."
Sunny Boy continued to stare at him, the tears slowly chasing down his cheeks.
"I want my mother!" he sobbed forlornly.
"All right, all right, I'll get her for you," promised the distracted older boy. "You leave it to Tim Harrity, and there won't nothing happen to you. Only quit crying, [170] because folks are beginning to look at you. Come on. I'm through for the night." ”

“ Daddy bent down and kissed Sunny Boy. “If you wake up first, come in and call me.”
When Sunny Boy opened his eyes it was to find the sun streaming in the windows and to hear the locusts singing away for dear life. He got softly out of bed, tucked the woolly dog under his arm, and paddled into Daddy and Mother’s room. It was empty.
“Well, well, here he is!” There stood Daddy in the doorway behind him. “Breakfast’s almost ready, and we need a certain young man to help us with the sliced peaches and cream, to say nothing of the brown toast Mother’s made for us. ”

“ Sunny Boy was hungry, but he was so eager to begin to build his snow man that he would have hurried through his lunch and skipped the bread and butter entirely if Harriet had not said that he could not go out to play at all unless he ate the things she gave him. ”

“ When they reached Sunny's house, a familiar touring car was drawn up at the curb.
"Daddy's home!" cried Sunny Boy. "P'haps he'll give us a ride. Where's Bobbie?"
Bobbie was not in sight, but his shells lay scattered on the top step where he had left them.
"Well, well, who wants a little ride?" Mr. Horton came smiling down the steps. [21] "Sunny Boy, Mother wants you to pick up this stuff and put it in the hall. Any one's likely to fall over it out here. And then I'll take you round the park and back."
"All of us?" asked Sunny Boy, beginning to pick up the shells and sea-weed. ”

“ Sunny Boy and his mother sat facing Daddy.
"Now we're off," announced Mr. Horton, smiling at Sunny Boy, who was watching everything.
A few more people came into the car, but not many, and after what seemed a long wait to Sunny, they heard the conductor's long-drawn-out "All a-bo-ard!"
The train groaned and started slowly.
"And now we're going!" declared Sunny Boy, with satisfaction.
"Now we're going," echoed Mother. "Don't put your head out, Sunny. If the wind blows too strongly we'll have to put the window down." ”

“ Sunny Boy introduced his new friends politely, though they had to tell him their last names.
“Ellen and Ralph Gray,” repeated Mrs. Horton. “Then I think you must be the little folk who live in the white house on the street next but one to ours. I met your mother in the embroidery store this morning when I was matching some wool. It is nice you live so near Sunny Boy.”
“Is the water cold? Aren’t you lazy people going in?” asked Aunt Betty, dancing [Pg 101] before them in her pretty black and white bathing suit. ”

“ There, I hear the clock striking three. I must go to the [Pg 178] station to meet Aunt Bessie and Miss Martinson.”
“I s’pect they’ll wonder where I am,” said Sunny Boy sadly.
“They probably will,” sighed Mother. “Never mind, Son, just remember you are never going to run away again.”
And Sunny Boy did remember.
“Why did Mrs. Raymond cry when she found Curly?” he asked, as Mrs. Horton turned to leave the room. “Did her little boy die in the war?”
“No, dear,” answered Mrs. Horton. “He came home from France and brought his mother the dog you call Curly and she calls Bon-Bon. ”

“ The honor of being admitted to the confidence and fellowship of boys is not permitted to all men—only to those who have retained or who are able to acquire the boy’s viewpoint. “There is a wall around the town of Boyville,” says William Allen White, “which is impenetrable when its gates have once shut upon youth. An adult may peer over the wall and try to ape the games inside, but finds it all a mockery and himself banished among purblind grown-ups. ”

“ And after lunch they put on their mufflers and overcoats and caps and Sunny Boy hung his skates on his arm and they set out for Wilkins Park and the skating pond.
But first Mother had to kiss Sunny Boy and Harriet had to kiss him and they all waved their hands to him till he and Grandpa turned the corner and could not be seen from the house any more.
"We have to find the big boy, don't we?" said Sunny Boy, trying not to gasp as the wind blew down the avenue and almost took his breath away. ”

“ Grandpa Horton and the policeman shook hands and Grandpa asked him if he thought the ice was safe.
"Oh, it's safe enough, sir," answered the policeman.
"Sunny Boy is so anxious to learn to skate," explained Grandpa Horton, while Sunny Boy stood up, his new skates on his feet by this time, "that I promised him his first lesson today."
"He'll be all right if he stays near the edge and you keep an eye on him," said the policeman. "Sometimes the little fellows get knocked down, if they go out in the center alone. If you tumble, Sunny Boy, don't bump your nose, will you? You might sneeze." ”

“ He knew Sunny Boy and Harriet because he often came to their house to bring good things to eat. “I’ll tell you, Sunny Boy—you wait till you come back from this visit, and then I’ll take you. Or perhaps after you’ve eaten the millions and dozens of apples you won’t have to hang on to any one—you’ll be big and strong and able to skate by yourself.” ”

“ The tall man gave Sunny Boy back his drum with a flourish. “Just as good as new, except for a little hole that I’m willing to bet a cookie your mother can mend for you. Isn’t she waving for you to come in? ”