Page 45 of The Giver of Stars
‘I’d put a dollar to a dime the great scholars were not readingThe Amorous Sheik of Araby, or whatever it was my daughter was wasting her time with the other day. Do we really want their minds polluted with this stuff? I don’t want my daughter thinking she can run off with someEgyptian.’
‘Your daughter has about as much chance of having her head turned by a Sheik of Araby as I do of becoming Cleopatra.’
‘But you can’t besure.’
‘You want me to go through every book in this library to check for things that you might find fanciful, HenryPorteous? There are more challenging stories in the Bible than there are in thePictorial Reviewand you know it.’
‘Well, now you sound as sacrilegious as they do.’
Mrs Beidecker stood. ‘May I speak? I would like to thank the book ladies. Our pupils have very much enjoyed the new books and learning materials, and the textbooks have proven very useful in helping them progress. I go through all the comic books before we hand them out, just to check what is inside, and I have found absolutely nothing to concern even the most sensitive of minds.’
‘But you’re foreign!’ Mr Porteous interjected.
‘Mrs Beidecker came to our school with the highest of credentials,’ Mrs Brady exclaimed. ‘And you know it, Henry Porteous. Why, doesn’t your own niece attend her classes?’
‘Well, maybe she shouldn’t.’
‘Settle down! Settle down!’ Pastor McIntosh climbed to his feet. ‘Now I understand feelings are running high. And yes, Mrs Brady, there are some of us who do have reservations about the impact of this library on formative minds but –’
‘But what?’
‘There is clearly another issue here … the employment of a coloured.’
‘What issue would that be, Pastor?’
‘You may favour the progressive ways, Mrs Brady, but many in this town do not believe that coloured folks should be in our libraries.’
‘That’s right,’ said Mr Van Cleve. He stood, and surveyed the sea of white faces. ‘The 1933 Public Accommodations Law authorizes – and I quote here – “the establishment ofsegregated librariesfor different races”. The coloured girl should not be in our library. You believe you’re above the law now, Margery O’Hare?’
Alice’s heart had lodged somewhere in her throat, butMargery, stepping forward, appeared supremely untroubled. ‘Nope.’
‘Nope?’
‘No. Because Miss Sophia isn’tusingthe library. She’s just working there.’ She smiled at him sweetly. ‘We’ve told herveryfirmly she is under no circumstances to open any of our books and read them.’
There was a low ripple of laughter.
Mr Van Cleve’s face darkened. ‘You can’t employ a coloured in a white library. It’s against the law, and the laws of nature.’
‘You don’t believe in employing them, huh?’
‘It’s not about me. It’s about thelaw.’
‘I’m most surprised to hear you complaining, Mr Van Cleve,’ she said.
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Well, given the number of coloured folk you got over there at your mine …’
There was an intake of breath.
‘I do not.’
‘I know most of them by person, as do half the good people here. You listing them as mulatto on your books doesn’t change the facts.’
‘Oh, boy,’ said Fred, under his breath. ‘She went there.’
Margery leaned back against the table. ‘Times are changing and coloured folk are being employed in all sorts of ways. Now, Miss Sophia is fully trained and is keeping published material in commission that wouldn’t otherwise be able to stay on the shelves. ThoseBaileyville Bonusmagazines? You all enjoy them, right? With the recipes and the stories and all?’
