CHAPTER VII
Mammy Generalissimo
Half an hour later a short, stout colored woman in neat, print gown,immaculate white apron, gorgeous headkerchief and gray plaid shawl,entered the office of the Red Star Fire Insurance Company, at No. 60State street, and walking up to the little railing which divided fromthe vulgar herd the sacred precincts of Mr. Elijah Sniffins,representative, rested her hand upon the small swinging gate as shenodded her head slightly and asked:
"Is yo' Mister Sniffins, de locum agen' fer de Fire Insur'nceComp'ny?"
"I am," replied that gentleman,--without removing from between histeeth the huge cigar upon which he was puffing until he resembled asmall-sized locomotive, or changing his position--"Mr. Elijah Sniffins,representative of the Red Star Insurance Company. Are you thinkin' oftaking out a policy?" concluded that gentleman with a supercilioussmirk.
Mammy's eyes narrowed slightly and her lips were compressed for amoment.
"No, sir, I don' reckon I is studyin' 'bout takin' out no pol'cy. Ijist done come hyer on a little private bisness wid yo'."
Mammy paused, somewhat at a loss how to proceed, for business affairsseemed very complicated to her. Mr. Elijah Sniffins was greatly amusedand continued to eye her and smile. He was a dapper youth of probablytwenty summers, with scant blond hair, pale blue, shifty eyes, a weakmouth surmounted by a cherished mustache of numerable hairs and a chinwhich stamped him the toy of stronger wills. Mammy knew the type andloathed it. His smirk enraged her, and rage restored herself-possession. Raising her head with a little sidewise jerk asbefitted the assurance of a Blairsdale, she cried:
"Yas--sir, I done come to ax yo' a question 'bout de 'surance on aplace in Riveredge. I hears de time fer settlin' up gwine come dayatter to-morrer an' if 'taint settled up de 'surance boun' tercollapse. Is dat so?"
"Unless the policy is renewed it certainly _will_ 'collapse,'" repliedMr. Sniffins breaking into an amused laugh.
"Huh! 'Pears like yo' find it mighty 'musin'," was Mammy's next remarkand had Mr. Elijah Sniffins been a little better acquainted with hispatron he would have been wise enough to take warning from her tone.
"Well, you see I am not often favored with visits from ladies of yourcolor who carry fire insurance policies. A good many carry _life_insurance, but as a rule they don't insure their estates against_fire_, an' the situation was so novel that it amused me a little. Nooffense meant."
"An' none teken--from _your_ sort," retorted Mammy. "But how 'bout dishyer pol'cy? What I gotter do fer ter keep it f'om collapsin' ef itaint paid by day atter to-morrer?"
"Pay it _to-day, or_ to-morrow," was the suave reply accompanied by awave of the hand to indicate the ultimatum.
"'Spose dey ain't got de money fer ter pay right plank down, but kinpay de week atter? Could'n' de collapse be hild up twell den?"
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Mr. Elijah. "I'm 'fraid not; I've heard of those'next week' settlements before, and experience tells me that 'nextweek' aint never arrived yet. Ha! Ha!"
"Den yo' won't trus' de Ca-- de fambly?" Mammy had very nearly betrayedherself.
"Well, if it was the Rogers, or the Wellmans, or the Stuyvesants, orsome of them big bugs up yonder on the hill, that everybody knows hasgot piles of money, and that everybody knows might let the policylapse just because it had slipped their memory--why, that 'd be adifferent matter. We'd know down in this here office that it was justan oversight, yer see; not a busted bank account. So, of course, we'dmake concessions; just jog 'em up a little and a check 'd come 'longall O.K. and no fuss. But these small policies--why--well, I've got terbe more careful of the company's interests; I hold a responsibleposition here."
"De good Lawd, yo' don' sesso!" exclaimed Mammy, turning around andaround to scrutinize every corner of the tiny office, and then lettingher eyes rest upon the being whose sense of responsibility wasapparently crushing him down upon his chair, if one could judge fromhis semi-recumbent position. "Dat's shore 'nough a pity. Look lak itmought be mos' too much fer yo'. Don' seem right fer a comp'ny ter putsich a boy as yo' is in sich a 'sponsible 'sition, do it now?"
Mammy's expression was solicitude personified. Mr. Elijah Sniffins'face became a delicate rose color, and his feet landed upon the floorwith emphasis as he straightened in his chair, and dragged nervouslyat the infinitesimal mustache, meanwhile eying Mammy with somemisgivings.
Mammy continued to smile upon him benignly, and her smile proved asdisconcerting as she meant it should. She resolved to have her inningswith the smug youth who had begun by slighting her race and ended bydoing far worse; failing to class the Carruths among those whomeveryone trusted as a matter of course. The former slight might havebeen disregarded; the latter? _Never._ Consequently Mammy hadinstantly decided "ter mak' dat little no'count sumpin 'er ner'ersquirm jist fer ter te'ch him what's due de quality," and the processhad begun.
Poor Mammy! She would never learn that in the northern world where herlot was now cast the almighty dollar was king, queen and courtcombined. That its possession could carry into high places badmanners, low birth, aye actual rascality and hold them up to theshallow as enviable things when veneered with golden luster. That "dequality" without that dazzling reflector were very liable to be castaside as of no value, as the nugget of virgin gold might be trampedupon and its worth never suspected by the unenlightened in theireagerness to reach a shining bit of polished brass farther along thepath.
But Mammy's traditions were deeply rooted.
"I think I can take care of the position. What can I do for you? Mytime is valuable," snapped Mr. Elijah Sniffins, rising from his chairand coming close to the dividing railing, as a hint to Mammy toconclude her business.
"De Lawd er massy! Is dat so? Now I ain't never is 'spitioned dat f'omde looks ob t'ings. 'Pears lak yo' got a sight o' time on han'. Wal I'clar fo' it I do'n un'nerstan' dese hyer bisness places no how. Well!Well! So yo' want me fer ter state mine an' cl'ar long out, does yo'Mr. 'Lijah? 'Lijah; _'Lijah_. Was yo' ma a studyin' 'bout yo' doin'swhen she done giv' yo' dat name? Sort o' fits yo' pine blank, don' itnow? Like 'nuf de cha'iot 'll come kitin' 'long one o' dese hyer daysan' hike yo' inter de high places. Yah! Yah!" and Mammy's mellow laughfilled the office.
"See here, old woman, if you've got some little picayune payment tomake, _make_ it and clear out. I ain't got time ter stand here talkin'ter niggers," cried the agent, his temper taking final flight.
Mammy eyed him steadily as she said:
"Wall _dis yere_ time yo's gwine deal wid a nigger, an' yo's gwine dolak _she say_. Dis yere comp'ny 'sures de Carruth house an' eve'y lastt'ing what's inside it, an' de policy yo' say 's gotter be settled upwhen it's gotter be, or de hul t'ing 'll collapse? Now Miss Jinnyain't never _is_ had no dealin's wid _yo'_, case I don' _let_ her havedealin's wid no white trash--_I_ handles _dat_ sort when it has ter behandled--an' I keeps jist as far f'om it as ever I kin _while_ Ihandles it. But I'se gotter settle up dis policy fer de fambly so whatis it? How much is I gotter pay yo'?"
The varying expressions passing over Mr. Sniffins' countenance duringMammy's speech would have delighted an artist.
"What er? What er? What er you telling me?" he stammered.
"De ain't no 'watter' 'bout it; it's _fire_, an' I done come tersettle up," asserted Mammy.
"Have you brought the necessary papers with you? Have we a record inthis office?"
"Don' know nuffin' 'tall 'bout no papers nor no records. Jist knowsdat Miss Jinny's insured fer $15,000," said Mammy, causing the youthconfronting her to open his eyes. "Dis hyer letter what she done wrotedis mawn'in tells all 'bout it I 'spec'. She tol' me pos' it ter decomp'ny an' I reckons _yo'll_ do fer de comp'ny _dis_ time when detime's pressin' an' der ain't nuffin' _better_ ter han'."
The contempt in Mammy's tone was tangible, as she held the letter asfar from her as possible. Mr. Sniffins took it, noted the address andbroke the seal. When he had read the letter he said with no littletriumph in his voice:
"But in this letter Mrs. Carruth says d
istinctly that she is notprepared to pay the sum which falls due day after to-morrow, and asksfor an extension of time. I am not prepared to make this extension._That's_ up to the company," and he held the letter toward Mammy asthough he washed his hands of the whole affair.
Mammy did not take it. Instead she said very much as she would havespoken to a refractory child who was not quite sure of what he couldor could _not_ do: "La Honey, don' yo' 'spose I sensed _dat_ long go?Co'se I knows _yo'_ cyant do nuffin' much; yo's only a lil' boy, an'der cyant no boy do a man's wo'k. Yo's hyer fer ter tek in de _cash_,an' so _dat's_ what I done come ter pay. Miss Jinny she done mek upher mine dat she better pay dat policy dan use de money ferfrolic'in'. I reckons yo' can tek cyer of it an' sen' it long downyonder whar de big comp'ny 's at. Dat's all I want _yo'_ ter do, sonow go 'long an' git busy an' _do_ it. _Dere's_ thirty dollars; countit so's yo's suah. Den write it all out crost de back ob Miss Jinny'sletter so's I have sumpin fer ter show dat it's done paid."
"But I'll give you a regular receipt for the amount," said the clerk,now eager to serve a customer whose premium represented so large apolicy.
"Yo' kin give me dat too if yo' wantter, but I wants de sign on deletter too, an' yo' full name, Mr. Elijah Sniffins, ter boot, youknows what yo' jist done said 'bout trus'in' folks, an' _yo'_ don'berlong ter de Rogersers, ner de Wellmans, ner de Stuyvesants, but _I_berlongs ter de _Blairsdales_!"
Mammy grew nearly three inches taller as she made this statement,while her hearer seemed to grow visibly shorter. The receipt was dulyfilled out, likewise an acknowledgment written upon the blank side ofMrs. Carruth's letter and Elijah Sniffins' name signed thereto. Mammytook them scrutinized both with great care (she could not read oneword) nodded and said:
"Huh, Um. Yas, sir. I reckon _dat_ all squar'. If de house burn downter night _we_ all gwine git de 'surance sure 'nough. Yas--yas."
"You certainly could collect whatever was comin' to you," Mr. Sniffinsassured her, his late supercilious smile replaced by a most obsequiousone for this representative of the possessors of the dollars heworshiped. Mr. Sniffins meant to have a good many dollars himself someday and the luxuries which dollars stand for.
Mammy nodded, and placing the receipt and letter in her bag gave aslight nod and turned to leave the office. Mr. Sniffins hurried toopen the door for her. As she was about to cross the threshold shepaused, eyed him keenly from the crown of his smoothly brushed head tohis patent-leather-shod feet and then asked:
"Huccum yo' opens de do' fer niggers? Ef yo' b'longed ter de qualityyo'd let de niggers open de do's fer _yo_. Yo' better run 'long an'ten' yo' ma's sody foun'in 'twell yo' learns de quality manners."
An hour later Mammy was busy in her kitchen, the receipts safelypinned within her bodice and no one the wiser for the morning'sbusiness transaction.