Read Online The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen - Free Book Online Page B

day’s labor at the smithy.
    I couldn’t bear to watch Papa disappear down Grace Street, so I turned to the mansion. Josiah was holding the door as Miss Bet emerged to stride down the curving stairway. She wore her slate gray traveling suit, and the gray hat sitting atop her golden ringlets brought out the icy blue of her eyes.
    “Hardly appropriate garments for a servant traveling two days by train,” she said when she saw me. “But I suppose there is nothing to be done for it now.” The feather in her hat wagged as she spoke, reminding me of how Mama shook her finger at me whenever I did wrong. We took our places inside the Van Lew carriage, Mama and me riding backward as we faced our former owner. I spent all of my first-ever carriage ride fretting about how I’d fare traveling alone with Miss Bet.
    Once we arrived at the train depot, Josiah handed us down from the carriage, directed a porter to unload the trunks, and secured our tickets. Miss Bet nodded to Mama. “Mary will be fine with me, Aunt Minnie. Don’t worry about a thing, and do look after Mother while I’m away.” She turned to me. “Shall we go?”
    Mama answered before I could. “Please, Miss Bet, can Mary El and I have a minute to ourselves?”
    Her subdued tone seemed to catch Miss Bet off guard. “Yes, of course. I shall wait on the train. But mind the time. You’ve got only a few moments.”
    As Miss Bet walked off, Mama took me in her arms, holding me so close our hearts pounded one against the other. “I’ve been hoping and praying for this day all your life, longer even. Was enough to imagine you free some day, but off to get some fancy private academy education? Your life gonna be different, special, not just from mine but from most colored folks’. You got to learn enough up there for all of us, hear?”
    The truth of leaving home caught me quick, rendering me as immobile as one of Papa’s wrought iron creations. “Mama, I can’t leave you and Papa. Don’t make me go.”
    “Make you go? What are you talking like that for? This is a dream coming true for you, not some punishment. If you ain’t smart enough to see that, well, that’s just one more thing they’re gonna have to teach you in that Northern school.” She softened a bit and pulled back from me. “Let me take one last look at you, my beautiful girl.”
    But the train whistle blew, so loud my head echoed with the vibration. “All aboard,” called the conductor.
    “I love you, Mama,” I said as I turned away. “I love you, too,” I heard from behind me as I rushed to the car Miss Bet had entered.
    Just as I got there, a sallow-looking white man stepped in front of the entry. “Where you think you’re going, gal?”
    I fumbled for my ticket. “Here you are sir, I’m going to Washington.”
    “Not in this car, you ain’t.” He nodded toward the fore part of the train. “Niggers ride in the baggage car, just behind the locomotive. You best run down there quick, train’s about to start moving.”
    “But, sir, I’m supposed to—”
    Before I could finish, Miss Bet appeared behind him. “Surely my servant can ride here, to attend me.”
    He turned and took in the quality of her suit, lifting his cap to her. “Pardon me, ma’am. She never said nothing about attending a lady. Thought she was one of them free niggers, putting on airs.”
    He stepped aside, and Miss Bet yanked me up, deriding me loudly enough for half the compartment to hear. “You impudent pup, what did I tell you about minding the time? Need I remind you it is your duty to obey me? Come along.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” I muttered, trying to keep steady as the train bucked forward beneath my feet. I knew Miss Bet was playing a necessary part in front of our fellow passengers, that she was reminding me of the need for me to play my part as well. But her words stung me hard. As we took our seats, my head hung heavy with loneliness.
    By the time I remembered to look out the train window for