The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1874-01-07

spoke to him On 'SSecl tlpptgrc-
most in mind, almost tne momag that.
he was seated. She told him what had
been said, and done, quite as little as
myself expecting what was to follow.
'sI am ashamed that I have one of
YOU for a wife and the other for son !"
he exclaimed, Indignantly, when he
knew the whole. "AlIow an old man,
in poor clothes, to go away from the
door on such a night as this Why, I
have heard to-day of two men and
woman found frozen to death in differ
ent places lam ashamed of you both
Here, give me my hat again, and I will
freeze the remainder of me in looking
for him, before such a disgrace shall
fall on the house of Robert Mowry p
go Robert, I did not think" my
step-mother began, but cut her short
by taking the blame that belonged to
me, and springing from my seat. Ny
fathers words, heaven-directed, had
opened my eyes to the enormity of the
wrong and in one moment [ had begun
to fear the worst.
"No father" I said, "I see now how
cruel we have been. No, 7, for I did
the act. Sit where you are. I will
follow the poor old man all the way to
Holdane, and help him if anything has
happened"
"Well, 60 p answered my father, re-
suming his seat. "You are right now,
if YOU we're wrong before. Look for
him. Stop, take one of the men with
you and whatever you do, when you
find him, bring him back here-HERE,
eObere he belongs :"
I had scarcely ever before heard my
father speak so determinedly; and GER
tainly within fifteen minutes my ardent
temperament had leaped to as much
suffering Oh the poor old mans behalf
as had only ten minutes before en-
ioyed of prospective happiness. "Oh,
Father in Heaven" I almost moaned,
{" to think of my expecting to be SO
happy, in having all that love in the
world, and then turning poor old man
away from tie door to freeze and die on
ublic roadl" beagld searcs2K wait
ape of - air
purpose OF -e1os stion neither
F6f us cared to think.
It was at nine when we left the house,
and three in the morning when we re-
turned to it. Such intense cold I had
never before experienced, and have
scarcely ever since felt its equal. Iron
bands seemed drawn around our broWs;
the breath froze on our lips our hands
and feet grew Jumps of ice, as up and
down, first one road and then another,
we tramped and struggled, slipped and
slid .ur terrible way. All the way to
Holdane and back the other road,
nearly the whole distance; side-road af-
ter side-road, wherever travel was pos
sible or human track showed itself to
the light of the lantern. Not a clap-pit
that we did not explore, not a dark OBJ
iect that we did not visit with fear and
dawning horror.
I have said that hands and feet were
ice but nv brain was burning fire. I
can only remember a chaos of self-accu-
sation and abiect horror of myself, rath-
er diminished than increased by coming
upon the object of our search, at what
afterwards proved to have been past two
in the morning. We found him under
lee of the woods, in bit of side-road,
halfway up the hill toward Holdane,
seated at the foot of a tree, his thin rags
drawn close around his chest and throat,
where the hands had stiffened that held
them-dead stone dead and cold,
almost as cold as the night and our
pity
Heaven would have been very merci-
! full if that had been the worst-only a
man murdered! But we brought him
fhome in tbe gloomy winter morning,
after returning for the wagon for that
purpose-home, where entrance only q
/ few hours before, which I had denied
him. would have saved his life. was
half mad, and my stepmother little bet.
ter but some of them retained then
senses, and Justice was called to act
/ as coroner. When they stripped him,
/ / was called into the room, to have my
ewes blasted quite as fatally as ever the
head of Medusa produced the effect
On the withered old arm there was {