New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-09-13

pendent on US. We were TO teAcn her, ana
she was to work for US. 1t was the fairest
kind Of bargain. That girls mother died
| when she was born. Not a single relative
turned up, though we advertised for them.
Fortunately. the butcher did not own any.
thing. and the sale of the lease of his shop
I paid for his funeral and some mourning for
tina. girl. Wilkins butcher shop. was
] taken by another butcher, Bladders by
name. and a more impertinent, vindic-
! tive and defiant creature I do not think
could be found in the whole city Of New
York. 1t seems he knew the departed Will
| kins, and why, We never could ind out,
took themost unheard of and savage dis.
like to mother. When my mother went to
the butchers shop, when he opened fen
Wilkins! establishment, and priced pair
| OF fowls, expressing some natural hesNancy
1 az paying their cOsf, and an elegantly
| worded suspicion as to their tenderness,
the mans manners were abrupt and brutal
| 10 a degree. II can remember rightly, be
| said: 'They was good enough ami ten
der enough for schoOlmissus who
had Aalianated THAT was his expires.
| sion. for he was an Englishman like
! Wllkins). haliauated daughters feelings
! from her father. and had 'elped to kill the
! man. and that as long as his name was
l Aaron Bladders he would never forget how
poor Tobias Wilkins had been treated; and
that if she tmother) didn't like the chickens
l she might leave um, and that he had son
and a daughter, and his gal. thank God,
| was going to public school, and that he
didn't intend swapping of their affections
! for pOrter-hOuse steaks, and not wanting ia
1 be imperlite. hadn't she (mOtherl better not
J by blocking up his shop, mother is tall aud
thin. and stopping trade and abusing o:
| Lim!"
Such was the first humiliation we received
/ l-~,n ,,fHI Nnkb -;t1 t>nv
interiors. is always calm and placid. and
I could do nothing more than msjestical ally
| sweep out of the shambles. She complained
1 to the policeman at the time. believe, but
! without redress.
OF course we had no idea of changing
! Winnifreds name. only she was called Win.
1 nifred Anna. 1t struck my mother. and
l quite rightly. that Winnitred was prepOs.
! ferrous name for girl in her situation. and
I condition. We all made the kindest efforts,
! sublime ones, ingenious ones, in fact. to
| effect the substitution. We wrote in her
| books and marked on her clothes w. Anna
! Wilkins. but just then the peculiarly obsti.
| nate character Of that girl showed itself.
When we called her Anna she would no
more bulge than had We apostrophized
] not defeat for. mother, We were
] forced to compromise matters by either
! calling her nothing at all, OF Miss wilkins
! Our pnpils-girls are always wayward-
though against our express wishes, would
! call that girl Winnifred. In time our school
increased wonderfully. Mothers admins
trative powers are immense, and under her
generalship am no inefficient lieutenant.
When il was as much as the French, or
German. or Italian masters could do to at.
tend to their classes, to the pay pupils, if
that girl did not keep up with her oppor.
tunities. it was not, of course. any fault of
ours She had no aptitude for languages.
She had no imaginative powers. If mother
is practical, am only so to degree. l love
to wander in the wild woods of poesy and
tilt down the violet cups and drink from
then-thao is, within reason-Only when !
do tread the dew-bedecked fields in the
season of flowers, like to go with good,
thick-sOled shoes on. Our master Of bellies
letters always said my compositions
were quite good enough for the Atlantic.
and, indeed. tells me that really ought to
take my position. That girl, ] must say,
had two or three fair qualities: they were
not talents; no, not by any means. She
had plain voice. no compass no technique
or power Of vocaiization, but sang ballads
fairly well. At least our former piano
teacher. German. said 80. We were
forced to discharge him ten years ago be.
cause he quarreled with the French singing
master, poor NJ. Maui, striking him fear.
fIl blow across the nose, and making his
poor head bang in the most heartrending
way on the sounding board Of our CHECKER.
ing grand because NJ. Maui had called
Wagner "a.n seHnopin meiodique." must
give them all they are worth. She
was a good housekeeper. How could
she be otherwise, when mother, with
the utmost confidence. placed everything in
her charge! ] never had any talent that
way. Oh yes-something else, che was
capital nurse, and at times that girl had her
hands full attending the i'll ones. The girls
all loved her, they admired me. but, to be
truthful, they adOred that girl. Of course,
ton nm their part. am sure my devotion
in reading excellent books to the girls,
when they were suffering, is duty never
neglect. After the first headache reading
may give, l have known it frequently to
send the most refractory cases to sleep.
That girl had large hands, though she could
use them softly. and girls would sometimes
complain that my rings scratched their
foreheads when 1 bathed their brows for
headaches, while that girls hands l"awsI
ought to call the1D), had a SCOT hing fec
1t could not be helped. Do what we
would. that girls past career and parentage
would come to the surface every now and
then. do mot mean to say that mother
did it with the positive intention of hurting
the girls feelings, but mother would very
naturally shy. ''Miss Wilkins. in your
fathers time it strikes me that meat was
tar better and much cheaper than it is now
less bones in the piece and better weight.
As you are judge Of such things, don't you
think you might give us the benefit of your
experienced A little more attention to such
details of beef as you are familiar with,
might better, not only the alimentary con-
ditions, but decrease tho expenses" Then
the eyes Of that girl would stare, but she
would neither blush nor become confused.
1 can not tax that. girl with ingrati-
tude precisely. but" somehow or other (
Mother has lofty way Of
looking at things. 1t is in our blood If |
had only been as they should |
have been, and dear father had not died in |
D most inOppOrtune way, and grandfather |
had not lost law suit, oil New York, from
Fifty third street up to Harlem, wo,ild have |
been ours. Mother never forgets this. go if
you are not her equal in a worldly sense,
you never can be her companion; of course,
teel SO every day. and try and teach it and
live up to it.
As for myself, for the last three or four
years, that girl never was much in my way;
our spheres were too wide apart. My COM
was limited to directing her how
my dresses were to be made, and she was
an adept with the sewing machine; yes,
am always truthful, and give every one
their full guerdon Of praise, and am ready
to declare, that with the least bit of driving,
at the sewing machine, could get more |
work out OF that girl than from any two
paid sewing women.
AS member of the family, that girl was
amenable to all the rules of the school, and |
her acquaintance and associates were I'M