An over-
whelming sense of the sordidness and narrowness of it all
seized him; he looked in vain for his mother, kissed coldly
the tall, strange girl who called him brother, spoke a short,
dry word here and there; then, lingering neither for hand-
shaking nor gossip, started silently up the street, raising his
hat merely to the last eager old aunty, to her open-mouthed
astonishment. The people were distinctly bewildered. This
silent, cold man,--was this John? Where was his smile and
hearty hand-grasp? "'Peared kind o' down in the mouf,"
said the Methodist preacher thoughtfully. "Seemed monstus
stuck up," complained a Baptist sister. But the white post-
master from the edge of the crowd expressed the opinion of
his folks plainly. "That damn Nigger," said he, as he shoul-
dered the mail and arranged his tobacco, "has gone North
and got plum full o' fool notions; but they won't work in
Altamaha." And the crowd melted away.
The meeting of welcome at the Baptist Church was a
failure. Rain spoiled the barbecue, and thunder turned the
milk in the ice-cream. When the speaking came at night, the
house was crowded to overflowing.
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