90
A VOICE FROM
tended. She thinks she is quiet and unobtru¬
sive in her maimer, simple and inconspicuous
in her dress, and can see no reason why in any
chance assemblage of ladies, or even a promis¬
cuous gathering of ordinarily wTell-bred and
dignified individuals, she should be signaled
out for any marked consideration. And yet
she has seen these same "gentlemanly and effi¬
cient" railroad conductors, when their cars
had stopped at stations having no raised plat¬
forms, making it necessary for passengers to
take the long and trying leap from the car
step to the ground or step on the narrow lit¬
tle stool placed under by the conductor, after
standing at their posts and handing woman
after woman from the steps to the stool, thence
to the ground, or else relieving her of satchels
and bags and enabling her to make the
descent easily, deliberately fold their arms and
turn round when the Black Woman's turn
came to alight—bearing her satchel, and bear¬
ing besides another unnamable burden inside
the heaving bosom and tightly compressed
lips. The feeling of slighted womanhood is
unlike every other emotion of the soul. Hap¬
pily for the human family, it is unknown
to many and indescribable to all. Its poign¬
ancy, compared with which even Juno's
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