The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-12-28
brought upon him fresh trouble, He

lnterlarded with many things however
that never happened, but which he
thought would make him of importance
in their estimation. They learned all
about his former love affairs, what his
fears and troubles had been; and they
knew how to renew those fears and
troubles. They made him believe that
a new law had been enacted in this
State, by which n guilty of breach of
promise of marriage was liable to fine
and imprisonment at hard labor in the
penitentiary. For three months, afterhe
became involvedin his lastlovea affair and
saw no possibility of getting out of it, he
lived in mortal dread of the sherif7s
tapping him on the shoulder and tell
ing him he was his prisoner under a
criminal warrant for breach of promise.
This fear, or to get clear of it, must
have had something to do with driving
him to matrimony. But he finally got
relief by consulting a lawyer and pay
ing him ten dollars-he thought it was
very cheap, considering the amount of
relief. -...... -.. ...
His next trouble was q dilemma. He
was engaged to two; and the attitude
of the relative" in the latter case ex-
cited his apprehensions in regard to the
former. His former lady love had a
stern old "parient," who was not too old
to do like the relatives of the latter.
Thus arose the new trouble; and he
wanted sympathy and had to tell it, or
he could not hold it. The trouble that
was present however moved him to act,
and he married. But this did not re-
lieve him from the other, and the boys
took steps to intensity it. His former
lady love lived at A., and some of
the boys were always hearing from
there, and the cold Man." her aforesaid
PARENT" was coming to demand salts
faction OF take vengeance. For along
time the coming of that Old Man .
haunted him like a ghost might haunt
its murderer. In the shop where he
works, eve N the coolest days, if the
boat or stage is to arrive on those days,
he keeps the window by which he works
open, to the great discomfort of the
other inmates, in order that if the cold
Man should arrive by boat or stage,
and enter the door on him suddenly,
he can jump right out through that
window.
Thus matters stood, when one night
this week Il hero was at home. alone,
his wife being absent. 1t was about
ten o'clock and he had retired to bed,
not to sleep, but to read, with the a n
die on a table drawn near. About the
same time this reporter was at the post
office as the mail stage arrived from
the direction of A. where the cold
Man" lived. In that stage wasan elder
ly, grim looking gentleman. He asked
us where Mir lived, mentioning
the gentleman in whose house our hero
was boarding. Mr.. - was absent
at the time, and our hero was all alone,
with the only light visible burningi in his
room. The stage driver went as a
guide with the cold Man" to the house,
andwhathappenedthe there we got.from ou1
herO's confession next day. It is as fol
lows:
On arriving the driver called from
the gate, about tenpaces distant, "hal-
10! does MI. - live here 2" Ou1
hero: Yes.n Driver: "Is he athome 2"
Ourhero: "No." Driver: WHAT'S you1
name Z" Ourhero: "My names -
Driver" Well there's an old gentle
man out here from A., who wants
to see you.n
"Dunder and blitzen!" Our hero was
heard to exclaim: cob! Lord, he's come;
what shall I do9" and bang! went the
door. Creak! and it was locked. Puff,
and the light was ont. This door Wae
the only way out or in, and our hero says
he thought the "Old Man" had come
sure enough, andhadhim cOrnered. The
first thing he did was to jerk on his ban,
taloons-he had no time to attendto mi
nor articles of q gentleman's toilet-and
seize an old broad sword that happened
to be standing by the door. He then
peeped through O crack to reconnoitre,
HE did not want to kill the 'Old Man;
and still more he did not want the sOld
Man to kin him." "He shut the door
and blew out the light, because the Old
Man might have a pistol and plug him.
The sold Man" however did not seem
to follow up his advantage by breaking
the door down or by advancing to guard
it. The night was very cloudy and dark,
and our hero thought he would try to
escape, Opening the door cautiously
and slowly with one hand, and holding
the old broad sword in the other, with
no clothes on but his p~antaloons, he
stealthily crept out, turned the corner
at which the door opened, and broke
into a III in the direction opposite from
that in which the old Man" appeared.
He passed that night IN agony, in some
out-of-the-way place; and early next
morning, from a scout sent to find the
whereabouts of the "Old Man" he learn
ed to his joyful surprise that this old
man was not the "0d Man, but a rela-
tive of the gentleman in whose house he
boarded, come on q visit.
DANGER FROM EATING NUTs-As
this is the season for drinking cider and
eating nuts, it may not be out of place
to give q hint which may be useful.
Medical men advise that salt should be
\ taken with nufa n~s79nnia11y Whnn acton