A WORTHY CAUSE 

                          by

                     Joe Whatever



"I don't know why you waste your time on such a worthless cause, 
Melody," the dapper man said as he thoughtfully stroked his beard.

"Since the War started it's been impossible to get people to focus 
on slavery," the young woman explained.  "My abolitionist group is 
starved for funds."

"The war is about saving the Union," he replied.

"That's the attitude we're fighting," she replied, with a sigh.  
"It's all so silly.  No one's paying any attention to ME!"

Although his 19-year-old ward's vanity amused him, Robert still 
had grave doubts.  "You and your friends will be punished as if 
you were slaves...and people will pay to watch?"

"The tickets are sold out," she said, brightly.  "We had to move 
it to a bigger venue!"

"And who is going to 'whup' you?" he asked.

"A slave who escaped through the Underground railroad volunteered.  
He has quite a bit of experience as an overseer, and he was so 
eager to help."

"I'm sure," he said, wryly.  "You realize you and your girlfriends 
are white, don't you my dear?"

"That's just the point," she said.  "In the South a girl with 1/32 
slave blood can still be treated as slave.  Girls like me are 
whipped every day.  In fact, the punishment will be a re-enactment 
of the punishment given to an octoroon slave girl who tried to pass 
for white -- 30 strokes of the razor strap, bare bottom."

Her guardian stopped stroking his beard.  "Did you say bare?"

Melody smiled and handed her guardian an engraved print of a naked 
young woman strung up by her wrists, looking nervously over her 
shoulder while a cruel master raised a wicked strap high in the air.

"You'll be NAKED?" Robert said.  "No, no, no.  I can't permit 
that."

"We HAVE to be realistic!" Melody exclaimed.  "All three of us 
-- Melissa, Jennifer, and me -- will be naked as the day we were 
born, with our toes just barely touching the ground."
   
"Melissa and Jennifer?" the old man gasped.  "Totally naked?  
They'll be absolutely naked?  With their hands tied up over 
their heads?"

"Yes, Uncle," Melody said.  The young woman dropped her voice into 
a whisper.  "You know, it's wicked of me to say this....  But I 
suspect some men (and even a few of the women) may attend for 
reasons wholly unrelated to their moral betterment."

"Melissa and Jennifer will be totally naked?" he repeated, as if 
still trying to grasp the idea.  "Birthday bare?"  

"And you'll have a front row seat," Melody said sweetly as she 
placed the ticket into his hand.

Melody's guardian considered the matter.  When her father had 
joined the militia, Melody had been left in his care.  The 
decision was his alone.  He looked at the picture and stroked 
his beard.  "Well...it is a worthy cause," he said, thoughtfully.



Edited by C. Lakewood