New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-05-14
IFor the New Orleans Republican,
SYLVESTER RUPERT
BY NJ. +. BIGNEY.

SYLVESTER RUPERT.
BY NJ. +. BIGNEY.
The instinct of paternal tenderness Is
more striking characteristic of woman than
of man, and providential indeed is this
provision in the economy Of nature. Were
it otherwise the toiling father, forced by
an memorable law to be absent from his
offspring much of his time, would have the
anxieties of his position materially in
creased. As it is, the child is left mainly
to the mothers care, and the joy Of watch
ing, cherishing and loving it is to her
perpetual reward. Its weakness is stimu-
liant to her tenderness; it's pain is her pain.
and its joy her joy. She feels that even ''the
childless cherubs'' might envy her ''the
pleasures of parent" for in her child she
renews her youth and develops an unselfiish
love which marks her kinship to her
Creator.
There are, however, some men IN whom
the maternal instinct is largely developed.
They are exceptionally gentle, tender and
sympathetic in their intercourse with chill
dren. and for their own offspring have
love which passeth the love of woman. Of
such was Sylvester Rupert. He was an
Englishman by birth and ship carpenter
by trade.
A few years before our story opens Rupert
and his young wife lett the fair island of
their nativity, and crossing the Atlantic,
took up their residence in New York. Ship
building was brisk at the time, and as en-
ployment was plentiful and wages high, the
two were soon comfortably housed, and the
highway to prosperity seemed fairly open
before them.
Mrs. Rupert, fsmiliarly called Mary by
her husband, was careful, industrious
woman, without particle of romance in
her composition. She looked upon all
things around her with an exceedingly
prosaic eye, and though in her rude way
she was fond of her husband and kind to
him, there was not that congeniality IN her
nature which makes of marriage oneness
IN flesh, IN heart and in sentiment. Even
when che became a mother she exhibited
but little of that demonstratiye fondness
which other mothers feel, and that little
was soon merged in the material attentions
she bestowed upon her infant as a nurse.
The father, on The contrary, manifested
passionate fond2ess for his boy baby, which
almost untitled him for his severe duties as
rather than his work, even during the hours
Of labor, and life seemed enjoyable to him
only when he was at home, with his little
Sylvester in his arms. The ordinary char
acteristics of father and mother had
apparently changed places in Rupert and
his wife. Her GOODNESS found its oppo-
site in his warmth-her prosaic kind
ness in his excess of tenderness. The
maternal love Of "they twain" had fallen to
his lot; the provident care which seeks to
felt by her. She was spur to his rather
negligent industry, and made complaint
when he gave himself an extra holiday.
But to his child these holidays were sea
sons of perpetual nerriment. The lives of
father and son were completely blended
VIII lie they were together, and when apart
there was an aching void in the heart of
each.
Eventually, when the gates OF heaven
stood ajar, another Young immortal was
added to the household, bringing with it
new joys for the fond father. new cares fer
the prudent, prosaic mother. This time the
infant was o girl. 1t was named Elizabeth,
after Rupert's mother, and became pet to
the father under the gentle Authorization of
Lizzie.
With his two children to fondle and play
with, the improvident father found it diff
cult to tear himself away to the severe toll
Of the shipyard, and but for the prudent
foresight of his wife, his toll would have
been exceedingly intermittent.
Under the circumstances it is scarcely to
be wondered at that Rupert did not increase
rapidly in this worlds wealth. When the
shipbuilding business grew slack and en-
ployment scarce he greatly enjoyed the sea-
son of enforced idleness which tho occasion
presented. His wants were few and his
children made up world quite large enough
lOI ulus oUt Wullo u0 WAS careless ana con.
tented as the lilies of the field, which neither
toll nor spin, his prudent wife, like one of
her namesakes of old, was careful and
troubled about many things" She kept the
purse strings closely drawn for fear that
she and hers would come to want, while his
counsel to have faith az grain of mustard
seed passed by her as the idle wind.
1t was autumn. The cold winter Of the
North was approaching. For months the
depressing financial crisis of 1857, had
rested like an incubus upon every indus
trial occupation along the Atlantic sea
board. Mrs. Rupert was distressed and
discouraged at the outlook, 60 she urged
her husband to seek the softer climate OF
the South, and with it, greater probabilities
OF remunerative employment. This advice
was well received, and early in October
the ship-carpenter and his little family took
passage on sailing ship ior New Orleans,
then one Of thu most prosperous sea ports
Of this country. ImmeoiA ely after bis
arrival Rupert obtained employment in ono