“Minnie said, ‘Don’t you believe it. I can take care of myself,’ which I do believe she can. Anyway, I am glad Minnie is getting some acquaintanceship in Harlem and knows somebody else besides me, because when Minnie first come North she like to almost worried me to death coming around every other day or so to borrow a dollar, or borrow five, or something. Now that girl knows so many folks, she borrows from me less often. I am not afraid to answer the bell at my house no more as I used to be, for fear it might be Minnie. A begging relative can be a nuisance.

“I told Minnie once, ‘Girl, you got to learn to stand on your own two feet in Harlem, because up here in the free North it is every soul for himself. Even if you are too bowlegged to catch a shoat, you better catch a number or something and get yourself some money.’

“Minnie said, ‘I am going to catch a man. But until I do, Jess, I depends on you for help. You are my very first cousin.’

“‘As often as you run to me, your first cousin, for money,’ I said, ‘I must be your last cousin, too.’

“‘You know I ain’t got nary another relative in New York, Jess Semple, besides you. And if I had, I would be too proud to ask them for anything. I asks you because you be’s my favorite cousin, also you come North in search of freedom, too. You got brains.’

“‘Thank you for the compliments,’ I says. ‘But I really cannot afford to pay for none. Minnie, I cannot lend you even a dime tonight.’

“‘Then make it a quarter,’ says Minnie.”

“Has Minnie ever offered to pay you back any of the money you lent her when she first got up here from Virginia?” I asked.

“Minnie believes it is more blessed to give than to receive—providing the man is the giver. No, Minnie has not yet offered to pay me back anything, and I am too much of a gentleman to ask her. But some day I am liable to get high and say, ‘Minnie, I hate to insult your ladyhood, but I need my money which I have lent you in the past.’ Not that I will expect to get it, for I learned long ago never to put my trust in relatives.”

“Not all relatives are like your Cousin Minnie,” I said.

“Thank God for that!” cried Simple. “Minnie takes after me—she’s a lickertarian. But in drinking, I cannot keep up with her. Miss Minnie claims she is drowning her sorrows since she arrived in Harlem. Well, they sure ought to be well drowned by now! That woman can go, Joe!”

“You should be the last one to condemn her. I’ve known you to be quite intoxicated in your heyday.”