Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-10-10
From Our Young Folks.
The Boy w ko was Himself.

When Captain Carew came home
from his long cruise, he went, as usual,
straight to his sisters house in Troy.
He had, indeed, nobody to care for but
her and her boy and girl
"You don't seem pleased with Agnes
and Joe 2" she said uneasily, that even
ing, observing the keen watch he kept
on the children. " They have altered
very much, / think, and improved p
&" Yes, they've altered" But he stop.
ped there,
Presently Agnes brought him her
photographs album. Here are my
heart treasures, she said, and turned
first to beautiful girl in cap and
plume. g That is Miss Lafon. So
picturesque looking and brilliant =
Why she talks IN epigrams. She spent
the winter with US, and mamma was as
fond of her as |.
eyes, she is a very clever, witty girl,
and her manner is peculiarly fascinat-
ing. A daughter of Colonel Lafon's,
Charles"
Il remember, said the captain
"There was boy, too, eh r.
80 yes, John Lafon ~ exclaimed
Joe. 90 I wish you could see him, uncle.
Such an exquisite gentleman. Dress,
manner, everything ~
He is cadet at West Point, inter-
posed their mother. "The training
there does give certain polish to a
boy that is very desirable, brother. -
She glanced furtively at Joe.
:" And these Lafons spent the winter
with you Ohio Now / understand,
muttered the captain. 6 remember
the Lafon Children he added, aloud.
" / liked their character and manner,
too Both were natural and unaffected,
i'm Men,"
The captain found the change deeper
in the children than he had expected.
Agnes, who had been a neat, Dutch.
built child, with a downright honesty
in her freckled iace that was very pleas
ant to see. had acquired habit of pip
ing when she talked, with falsetto
sweetness alarming to plain people, and
was subject to gushes of airy viyacity
and attempted witticisms that set the
captains teeth on edge. Joe, VITO was
a numbering fellow, intended for a mer
chants clerk, and who used to be noted
for his ready plodding habit of study,
aud success in mathematics. had taken
up the role of a genius he studied,
talked, worked, by jerks only accord
ing to his " mood y" he tipped in and
out of room with the graces of a bal
let-dancer had adopted light, court
eous tone of pcrsWage, which suits
him, grunted the captain, " about as
properly rs a cockatoo's feathers would
the hide OF walrus.
The next evening the children forget
ting for while to play their new parts,
snugglea, as they used to do, close to
his side on the big soda in front Of the
fire
Tell us a story, uncle Grid Agnes.
"About shipwreck,n added Joe.
4" story, hey 2" The captain con-
sidered a moment, and then bega9:-
One of the completest wrecks /
ever saw was that of the brig L'Etoile,
driven ashore on the coast below Cape
Henlopen. She struck on the bar, and
before morning she was beaten into
bits like hand rails. Well, that was a
break up There were but three of the
crew ed,-the black cook, and two
children, boy and girl. 1t might have
been you. Joe and Aggy; dashed to a
barrel, they were. When they we're
picked up, their clothes were torn to
rags by the breakers but there was
life in them yet. Old Darnell, a fisher
man at Rehoboth Bay, brought them
in, and the women of the village soon
had them in their hands Darnell
brought me up to his kitchen that even
ing, to see If / could make out who
and what they we.o.
60 They talk some lingo, he said,
that none Of us can understand,
found it was patols, half FRENCH
half German, not very clear but mad1
it out after a while. The girl was ex
hausted, and slept heavily. The boy
sat beside her. watching. His name
was Louis.
Louis, SAID [, where is your
father your familyl' He pointed to
the sea. There, he said.
What all 2
All | faucied, at the time, that
the boy was one who would grieve bit
terly, but that nobody would see him
she'd tear. He had an odd, yellow
skinned, high-featured face, with
steady, slow eyes not like any boy l
had ever seen. Though no boy ever
does look inst like another Ell, Joe 4
80 No, sir, said Joe, wondering how
sea captain could talk such plati-
tudes.
: The boys father, as it turned out,
had been in service in Algeria, and was
coming with his family to the country.
Whether he had kinstolk in France,
Louis did not know, Ire had been born
and reared ia the Algerian fort The
sea had swallowed up all record of him
bat -s ma, Two DIS a.teTTa7