The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1874-06-03


| should the baeV 20 homelsas q,
4 friepdless. Id
what he should do with the child than
if she had been an elephant But he
p omised, out Of the goCdness of bis
heart. After the funeral he paid an ell,
derly spinstCr stipulated sum for tax
ing care Of tie child, went to visit it
twice a week, and always ca ricd it a
doIl-baby and a package Of candy. This
was his idea Of infantile femininity.
msfOTtunca never come singlY. Nci-
ther do blessings. Nearly ut the same
time another piece of drift came float
ing across the wide sea of humanity into
the open arms Of Daddy DinkIe. The
piece of, drift was a boy. It was the
orphan child Of an old classmate Of
GustavUs Dinklebach, also a preacher,
who had died of consumption, and the
poor father went acrOss the river Of
death with his eyes looking backward
upon this world on account Of the littIe
boy he was leaving There wasn't a
/ soul on earth IT, stand between the boy
and the orphan asylum but Daddy
Dlnkle. Daddy Dinkle accepted fate
/ and the two young ones. He took the
children, Theodore and little Ned Wal,
lace, and set mp housekeeping, with the
elderly spinster for his household god
des8, her mother going along to save
propriety
These two children were Daddie
Dinkle's wards.
That's the bones Of my story. Now
its ready to be commenced. Let us
string the bones together
A warm bright room. A
young lady, with brilliant gray oyoa,
firm mouth, dTazling white teeth and
bright pink cheeks, sat on one side Of
the cheerful fire opposite her sat
slender, elegantly handsome young
man, graceful as a picture, with curling
black hair and eyes which young women
of sixteen adored because they were SO
naughty, rOviDg, brigandish-wickod
black eyes they we're. People still said
what a pity the boy wasn't the girl
Just opposite the bright fire. half woy
between these two, an oldish man re-
clined in easy chair. He had big,
bald head, and the expr ssion Of face of
baby. The young lady was Theodore,
the young man was Ned Wallace, and
the bald-headed man with they baby
face was Daddy Dinkle. It was Daddy
| Dinkle and his wards Daddy Dinkle
was lecturing them in his mild mono
tones.
my children, liberal learning will
revoIutionize the world"
"To this work, my dear children,
looking forward with Joy to the day
when your two bright young intellects
would take the grand task off my feeble
! old hands, [ have trained you. It has
been the hope and dream of my latter
years that you two children would one
day take my school and continue it,
training the future man, as have tried
to do. to read the classics and love God
and his neighbor.
"My more than children, my two
friends, who have made life less lonely
for me, if, besides continuing my
hearts to walk through life together-I
tell you, next to my hope and f5ith that
the promised time will come, it has
been my fondest earthly hope that be-
fore my eyes close on this world, they
will look npon you two as husband and
wife. Believe me, I know you better
than you know yourselves, and no other
man or woman can ever be to either OF
You what you can be to each other,
He spoke with more than his usual
mild energy as he concluded. The girl
blushed slightly, and cast down her
eyes. The youDg man looked mp al
first, with a fash of his brigandlshp
wicked eyes, at the placid face OF Daddy
Dinkle, aud then with another flash
into the fire, and then he made an i'm,
patient movement of his arm, happily
unnoticed by the peaceful old man, but
by no means lost on the sensitive girl.
Good night, my children" said the
gentle old man. "Think about what
said"
Then the old-fashioned Old gentleman
took his old-fashioned candlestick and
trudged off to bed. The moment that
the door was softly closed he
hind him Edward Wallace sprang to his
feet with a look OF extreme vexatiop.
Daddy Dinklo is doosid old Don
Ouixote," he said. What sort of 6
weapon is a Greek root to fight the
world with ? IneYer said the conjuga
tions in my life that I didn't get EN-
tangled, and I don't know what the 0p,
tative mode means to this day. And
even if had all the tarnation old rub
bieh at my finger. ends, what use would
it be to me? If the old gentleman haC
only seen fit to teach me botany anc
anatomy"
al like Daddy Dinkle's way best,
said Theo.
"Oh. yes, it's well enough for girls
/ . ! Y~,vl,pIgh Ihp1
take no part in the stirring, active ht'
of the world. For them there arc NJ
worlds to conquer and measure, &c
boundless acres of marsh and forest tt
wrest from the hand of nature ant
make habitations for man, no secrets o
the ages to drag into light and force
them to disclose the origin of the race
and of the world. It'll do for wOme1
TO sit by the fire and drOne over anti
duated lore; n more glorious caree
awaits mau--the immeasurable tieIC
o action"
Theo. tapped on the floor with he
toes. and looked into the fire, bnt sa'C
, nothing. The young mans eyes restet
on her for q moment, and look o
slight pain mingled with the look of an
noyance on his handsome face. Ii
paced the floor two or three minutes, a
IL he didn't know what to say next; am
p, then, as if he had made up his mind
he stopped short and began
l 81 know you like me. Theo.-hanl
it all the girls do, but / cant help it
g I wish they wouldn't. don't care 70
a Girls, mean to spend my days in max
0 ing explorations in unknown lands
/ That's the only life for me. Theo., In
ashamed as beast to mention it, bn
a Billy Pay is dying for you. BlIlys
= blessed sight better fellow than am
/. The foolish, handsome boy didn'
know what he wa saying, didn't kno'
much of the nature of girls, or he neve
a wonld have blurted ont that he kne1
Theo. had laid her silly, romantic girl
;, heart at his feet. and that he had no us
/ e a. -..~kIa sriFE IE uas a brutR