Contending Forces by Pauline E. Hopkins

Author:Pauline E. Hopkins [Hopkins, Pauline E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amazon Classics
Published: 2021-06-14T18:30:00+00:00

The fair had been very popular, and most successful from a business point of view. The week was now drawing to a close. The community was on the qui vive over the rivalry between Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Davis. Racy developments were looked for on the closing night. Every woman had ranged herself on one side or the other, and not a few of the men had been led by their vigorous wives to declare themselves for a chosen leader.

Friday night was to end the sale of votes on the prizes. Saturday was to be devoted to counting up the votes, so that at nine o’clock that night the successful winners could be announced. The pastor was asked to allow the fair to run another week, but he declined emphatically, saying that so many controversies had grown out of it that another week would seriously deplete his membership and bring disaster upon the cause of religion. So that idea was abandoned. Wednesday Mrs. Robinson was ahead on the piano but behind on the dining room receipts. Thursday night Mrs. Davis was ahead on the piano but behind on the receipts in the refreshment room. So luck fluctuated until the rivals found themselves neck and neck, so to speak, at eight o’clock on Friday night. Anyone who had watched Mrs. Robinson would have noticed that her face wore a satisfied smirk which told that she anticipated an easy victory, and the knowing ones of her satellites told each other that “Sis’ Robberson was all right.”

Mrs. Davis viewed the action of her rival with stolid countenance, from which the envoys of the other side, who stood about trying to catch a word to repeat to their champion, could gain no comfort. To her trusted henchmen she whispered: “Jes’ you watch me keep ’em guessin’. I’m a-goin’ to show ’em, shortly, that the ‘race am not to the swif’er nor the battle to the stron’er, but to her what enjureth untel the end.’”

As half-past seven approached various savory smells could be traced to the “old Southern dining room,” but above all the enticing scents which were ever introduced to aggravate the palate of the lover of good living, the knowing ones could trace the odor of a rare and tempting dainty—the opossum! Yes, Mrs. Robinson had conspired with her Southern friends and received a tempting animal direct from the “Old Dominion,” and on this eventful night she stood in the middle of the dining room triumphantly directing the placing of the dish upon the main table, which was carefully arranged with covers laid for twenty-five persons. The ordinary patrons of the room were turned from the door, and even the pastor was not allowed to enter, being told that the dining room had been engaged for an hour by a private party. At eight o’clock a message was brought to her by a lad stationed at the outside entrance to the vestry, and Mrs. Robinson immediately hurried to the door to receive a

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