Orpheus and Eurydice before coming out to the light or else he would lose her forever. If Orpheus was patient enough he would have Eurydice as a normal woman again by his side. Thinking it a simple task for a patient man like himself, Orpheus was delighted; he thanked the gods and left to ascend back into the world. Unable to hear Eurydice’s footsteps, however, he began fearing the gods had fooled him. Eurydice was in fact behind him, but as a shade, having to come back into the light to become a full woman again. Only a few feet away from the
The Wife of His Youth "The Wife of His Youth" follows Mr. Ryder, a bi-racial man who was born and reared free before the Civil War. He heads the "Blue Veins Society", a social organization for colored people in a northern town; the membership consists of people with a high proportion of European ancestry, who look more white than black. The organization's name stemmed from the joke that one would have to be so white (to be a member) that veins could be seen through the skin. Ryder is sought after by the town's women but begins courting a very light mixed-race woman from Washington,