The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-03-01
SOCIAL WIRE WORMS.

Among your flowers, says the Queen, you
have one or two that droop and divine. You
do not know what ails them. They receive
the same care O. the rest. but they do moi
profit by what they receive, and the more you
Ssnd them the more they seem to fade. At
Last In despair. you dig down to their roots,
where you find Q wire-worm coiled in and
out and through and round; and you know
then 10 what unseen agency of destruction i
owing the dvindied growth. the fading bloom,
the dropping stem, the SCARED and scared
leaves and petals Of your plants. For flowers
read children. Child for child is equally
loved and carefully nurtured in the dear
home; but while some flourish and are glad,
others are discontented and unsatisfed.
Why? You do not know. Nothing explains
itself on the surface, and you are ct loss to
understand results for which there seem to be
no adequate causes. Dig down, and you will
find . wireworm of some sort busy at the
roots Of those young hearts, turning that
which should be their nourishment into poi
son, and making Of no avail the parents low
Ing cares Of husbandIy. Sometimes it is i'm
patience Of control, the wild desire for I'M
checked liberty and to try the alluring dangers
Of selEmade experience, which are the thoughts
that infest young minds like SO many poison
Gus reptiles. Sometimes it is ambition and Q
growing hatred for the quiet life of home, with
. consuming longing to become rich and pow
srful-A name" notoriety, parsonage
one TO whom all eyes turn, and for whom all
sonsslnss i: is love which brings no Joy.
ever poor Hinda's, and that preys like the
worm il IL in very truth at the root Of peace
and happiness. And sometimes It is evil
oompanionship and bad influence out Of
doors that destroy the good sought to be
worked within; and perhaps these are the
worst Of the tribe in their action on the young
The wireworms to be most carefully guarded
against from the beginning, to be most dill
gently sought for when suspected to exist
and to be most thoroughly rooted out when
found.
Beside these there is another kind Of wire
worm to which society is subject-the secret
slanderers who worm their way in and out.
unseen and undetected, gnawing at the roots
Of the innocent, poisoning the air Of the
noblest names, bringing to ruin the stateliest
lived. No one is safe from them. A smile,
IN information
The shrug, the hum, or ha these petty brands
That calumny doth use,
are mot subjects of action for libel but they |
do al and more than the grosscst accusations |
would do, and with more deadly certainty, |
because Offering no solid point Of resistance |
and being, therefore, as impossible to seize as |
TO disprove. When one of these secretly SLAM |
derous creatures has left you, you can not |
say precisely what he has said.
Thinking 1t over, 1t is all shadowy and |
vague; but you know well enough what i'm. |
do not know much of her, but what you do |
know You are disposed to like. and from what
you have heard more than disposed to pity. |
You think Der an interesting little woman
and though she is separated from her hus-
band-a fact which every one must deplore-
you have always understood and believed that |
she had right on her side, and that he was
the cause Of the mischief and is q villain nm
redeemed The wire-worm does not combat |
your opinion openly. He only lifts his ey
brows and says dryly, with due emphasis,
q Do you indeed think that it was Mrs. A.
Who separated herself from her husband,
SONS 2" perhaps adding innocently, "By-
the-by, did you ever hear that young Mr.. B.
had anything to do with the matter?" or,
a. They do say that Mr.. A. and the wine mer-
chant could tell o different tale if they had q
mind" Whatever he says. the result is the
same; he leaves you with an unfavorable i'm
preston Of Mrs. A., either of her discretion
or her sobriety, while she is, in fact, one of
the most blameless if one of the most unfor-
tunate, of women, and one who stands in dire
full need of friends, poor soul, to help her in
her difficult pass 1t may be that she has in
some way unwittingly offended the wire
worm, and this is the revenge which be takes
% her.
TINS WEEK ONLY.-With every dollars worth
81 tee bought ct the great tea depot. Camp
street, you will receive handsome tea canister.
Wants and To Rentinsertedin the BULLETIN for
6ftv oanta 1