The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1875-10-13
s NO. TO-.


more. shnn these worldly things
when | an, gone. The ring that they
find on my finger with my coral I
request them to give to you, that you
may have something to remember
me. It was my fathers gift to me,
| and is my gift to you. Take it, and
wear it, and think OF nc that loved
you. Goodbye till / meet you il,
the other world.
NETTiE +. BARRETT.
! inclose your letters and this ring
for the fear that they will not letyou
have it. Nprr1r.
/ give my Bible To Jon, and please
read It, and think that this is the
one that I have read ] appoint M
as ore Of my bearers. Goodbye,
and God bless you and keep you till
We meet in Heaven. Please keen nv
k 49,.
letters. NErrrE Barrrrr
Then the bearers took up their
burden and carried the child suicide
to the place that she had selected by
her fathers side, leaving her in a
grave close by his, under the shade
of q neighboring orchard, the low
sweeping branches of.whose apple
trees overgroW the fence which
marks the graveyard's limits. To
another Of her friends, Wilbur Mich
| OILS, Nettie wrote:
| Friend WiHie-I will write q few
words toyou before it is too late
Keep my letters that | have written
to you to remember ME by. Good.
bye till re meet in Heaven around
the throne. Think of me often. and
request you to BE one Of the
bearers; and please tell George, and
Harry, and Kirk. You four shall
be my bearers, Goodbye; goodbye.
NETTIE BARRETT.
| 1t is hard to say what led the girls
/ to attempt to take their own lives,
but it is plain they did not realize
the sinfulness Of the act. Both the
/ girls had recently been attracted to
the service of the Methodist Church,
though their previous associates had
been with other sects. When Mr..
and Mrs. Bridgman left home for
Biddeford Pool, on the coast of the
State OF Maine, IN July, they told
Frances that she must not go to the
Methodist services, nor see Mr..
Best, the Methodist minister, but
she disobeyed them, and went to a
meeting in a private house, where
she listened to the praying band
from Natick. Much impressed by
the earnestness of the prayers which
she heard, she wrote to lerpalents,
begging that she might be allowed
to become a irregular attendant at the
church. They denied her request,
and peremptorily forbade her doing
anything Of the kind. She contin-
ned, though, to attend the prayer
meetings and the Sunday School, but
never formally asked to be admitted
to the church.
at the last meeting that she atten-
sIded she leaned over to Mrs. Best the
minister's wife and asked whether
SHE might not stand up and ask. to
4 be baptized.
is as you feel, Frances was
1.-THE quiet response. "Yon have been
to q dance, they tell me, this week,
and that is wrong. But if your con-
science tells you that yon are hon
testify striving to live sober Chris.
titan life, then stand up and be not
afraid"
Frances, however, did not take any
part in that meeting, though Ncttic,
a few evenings before, had made /
public request to be received into
the church. This awakening OF re-
Iligion caused them perhaps, to dread
i death less, and the novels and stories
which they assiduously read threw a
romantic halo around the dramatic
deaths which they sought. They
had fed upon romances, and had lik-
ened their lives to those OF the un-
fortunate loYe.thWarted heroines Of
!, whom they read. They were in
clined to magnify the prudent re-
!, strictions which their friends put
upon them into heartless imposition.
Frances had no burden to bear heag
Ter than the refusal Of her parents TO
allow her to bea Methodist, and Net
tic hadno troubles other tllan the
) mild reproof which her uncle admin
!, istered to her for taking evening
! walks with her young friends
!. Frances and she both had been unu.