The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1876-10-05

nor inclination to give thought to me!
Call it what you like, the name matters
little" eAY
"You were about to tell me of her
mother"
.sAnd naturally you are interested in
the parentage Of the girl you propose
to marry. Proper solicitude for the
unblemished Dalton name lis not, OF
course, unbecoming in the last cion of
that noble races
6 Have done, with. sneers, Hastings.
Tell your story or not, as you please.
| defy You to keep me from my wife if
[ can win her"
"Then have your tale, and if you do
not yield to pity, perhaps you will to
shame. First of all, there is half an
ounce of lead in the region of my lungs
that year by year makes long continued
talking more painful. VIII you grudge
the service done an invalid by bringing
me glass of wine? After that shall
offer you chair"
at seems an impertinence, my
friend," began the elder, when they
were both seated, ITO ask man so
young-looking as yourself to go back
into the past for such a distance as
twenty years. However, it must be
done, and out of the mists and obscuri-
ty make no doubt you will remember
Harry Hastings as he was"
81 do remember him-a handsome
youth, proud, talented, and the fayorite
of the whole village where he ived.''
"Yes; and just in the same ratio that
the whole village was fond of me, 1
hated the village s#}e 3st.
"But not the village lasses.'' 81
"No. Dalton, there are men in the
world to whom the influence of women
matters little. They have little taste
for or interest in any thing feminine.
When they love and marry, they man.
age the business in commonplace
manner. If their wives are congenial,
very well; if not, they have. other inter-
ests and occupations. And, should
| their whole maenoge be overturned by
infdelity and crime, they look upon the
business as spilled milk The esclaas-
DIRE annoys them, but they go on. They
succeed in their profession, reach the
top of the ladder, write their names on
the roll of fame. They decline to be
victimized by circumstances, and hold
their lives out Of reach of the disturb.
ances caused by domestic infelicities
There are other men-a weaker class
whom women have it in their power te
/ ruin. lam one. o0ss fss
s'You say most truly" he continued
after a moments pause, ''that | was
/ not Indifferent to the girls of our vii
lage, and yet do not think YOU car
accuse me of having made low to any
of them. never did it.. Only II coarse
nature, I think, ever counter ieits ar
emotion upon which the happiness of &
whole life may depend. The fair Yam
kee girls of our native town did no
suit me. objected to their peremp
tory manners, the strength of their re
ligious prejudices, and the awful pro
fundity of their learning. Pleasant al
a companion, any one of them woule
have been intolerable as sweetheart
In vain I looked among them for th'
sweet young life that, absorbed into m,
1own, should give it a purpose and al
inspiration, and lift me above the ener
4 waiting influence of thefortune l hae
CHANGED to inherit. Finally, absolut,
WEAKNESS drove me abroad. /
is considered a proper thins
for jeunesse dore to travel, ant
cordially as / detested the business .
rushing over the face of the earth in
rail-car. and steamboat, I did make M
} way to England. But no further. Tha
agitated mass of liquid iniquity know
| as the English Channel was too mucl
for me. Ideclined to cross it. Not Il
behold the land of Claude Lorrain
would / again trust my stomach to tn
J, mercy of the waves. But I had not toll
you that it was my intention to becom
an artist. Nevertheless, such was th
case. The fancy, so natural to .
dreamy youth with delicate constitu
ton, had full possession of me. love,
fair Mother Nature, and I longed to re
produce something of her beauty upo
, canvas. So I sketched many a beauti
Iful spot on the shores of sperfidious Al
!, bion,' determined not to leave her unit
bridge should be built to somewher
to protect me from the 'perils of tn
, sea- Occasionally went into society
but the prim English maidens Ilfonn
J, on acquaintance even more intolerabl
THAN the Yankee girls. ss
"One morning wandered through
j Esmall forest and ensconsed myself unde
J q glorious old oak tree, bent upo
y laketching one of; those strange relics Z
!, q. lost faith, a heap of rocks, suppose
/ to have been, in times past, a Druid a
!, tar. The Druids did not inspire mt
however, for went to sleep, leavin
!, my canvas to retain its pristine purft,
I Suddenly was awakened by violen
!, alteration just behind my sluxurio.
! leafy couch. The contestants migf
have been Jews, Turks, heretics, {