In the pile of letters he came across one from Earl Bluefield which ran
as follows:
MY DEAR ENSAL:
There is great need of you in America at this hour, and a
golden opportunity for winning an enduring place in the history
of the world awaits you.
The repressionists of the South made their policy an issue in
the presidential campaign which has just come to a close, and
they have been most badly beaten.
As you know, statesmanship is a great passion with the South
and she is not going to remain contented in the position of
impotent isolation to which her repressionist element has
consigned her. A new order of leaders will now be put forward
as the spokesmen of the South and the fairness of their words
is going to be seized upon by the nation as offering hope for a
new order of things.
Since the liberal element among the whites of the South are to
be given a day in court, there is great need of that type of
Negroes that has standing with them. I, as you know, am
_persona non grata_. I have added to my unpopularity by the
manner in which I lambasted the repressionist element in the
campaign just closed.
Come to America and help the nation to reap the fruits of its
victory over repression.
Apart from my interest in the Negro race, which you of course
have never doubted, I have grave personal interests at stake,
and know not what I shall do if you fail the nation in this
hour of its need. A sorrow as great as the world has ever known
hangs over me and over the Negro race. Come and lift it.
EARL BLUEFIELD.
"No, I cannot go. I cannot be that near to Tiara. Heaven knows that I
would be driven mad to see, to be near that girl, and be conscious that
her love lies buried with another. No, I cannot go. America may need me,
but so does Africa, so does Africa." Such were Ensal's thoughts upon the
reading of Earl's letter.
Now all of you who believe in altruism; who believe in the giving of
one's self for others; who believe in fixedness of purpose; who have in
any wise pinned your faith to that man Ensal--let all such prepare
yourselves for evidence of the utter frailty of man. Bear in mind that
Ensal claims to seek the highest good of his race, that he has chosen
Africa as the field for the greatest service, and that he has just
rejected a proposition to return to America from an ultra-radical, who
of all men has come to regard him as the man of the hour.
Picking up a package of newspapers, he tore the wrappers off and noticed
that they were Almaville papers.
"I have seen that face before," said he, looking at the likeness of
Eunice Seabright Volrees-Bluefield reproduced in one of the papers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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