The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-11-07

and felt that she had lost or was about
to lose every friend in the world, and
/ think it weighed more heavily on her
mind than Royals broken arm or the
hired mans burned face. But his arm
being set again, Royals blood was up;
fate itself now was not going to balk
him of that garden; if he couldn't see
to it, l must; and we went on blasting,
having great ox-team to haul out the
broken rock, till we, had taken out 80
tons of granite, and it wasn't ledge
either, going into central earth, but
just some drift and huge powders.
1--WE had better have turned it into a
quarry" growled Royal. We might
have made our fortune at that"
"You can't quarry drift and bowl
ders; they give out presently. And if
you could, it would have been fine
thing, quarry, with hammering and
yelling and oxen and derricks under our
eyes forever. Mr.. Weldon will buy the
rock of you, though; he wants it for his
new cellars.''
He can't have pebble of ii" cried
Royal. 81 shall want it for cellars of
my own, n-houses and rookeries and
things.'' +-fy
's' Ninety tons of rock! Nonsense!
He will pay you twenty dollars for it,
:" What's twenty dollars, if have to
buy stone myself?''
IS But there's plenty where that came
FROM" ts
"No there isn't. I've taken out the
last splinter; there were only some
enormous fragments, left by the glacier,
perhaps, that scratched those cliffs out
there-no permanent wealth of stone."
"But-''
"Now don't let us discuss that, Prim.
He can't have it."
| MY Christian name of Primrose had
become sort of measurer of moods,
for when Royal was vexed he always
said "Prim," and when he was
pleased he always called me 'Rose.''
( But the holes left by that ninety tons
of rock were something appalling. I" It's
the greatest undertaking that ever I un-
dertook," said Royal. "We've not on
ly to make the garden, but really to
make the earth first.''
But when it's done its done," said
/. "The first cost is all.''
"That's so," he answered me. "The
first cost is all.'
So we hauled the earth from distant
pasture, where it was black as prairie
with richness. They gave us the earth
and welcome, but it cost a dollar a
load to haul it, and we had two hundred
loads.
"Well, now, Rose," said Royal, as
we walked down the paths that had been
staked out about the beds, sswe have
really begun the garden,''
"And how lovely it will be to sit on
this stone wall ard look out across the
sea under the shadow of this gnarled
old russell tree, hidden from sight by the
corn, and all that, growing by day and
by night, and bringing US in money for
hardly turning our hands overt"
eyes," said Royal, 81 must say an
ticipate great deal of enjoyment in
seeing these things come forward:''
Let alone all that about benefactors
in making two blades of grass grow
where one grew before. Oh, Royal,
here's bean come up!"
"By George! so it isl And we stood
over that absurd little cotyledon with
our hands clasped, in an ecstacy, as if it
were the first thing that had ever come
out of the earth since creation.
"Oh, always was so fond of beans!"
l cried. "Don't you remember Al
phonse Karr's chapter about the delights
he could trace to the fact that the beans
were in blossOmp Oh, am so glad!
The armies of the Crimea got roast beef
and ice-cream and marmalade from
their beans by skillful manipulation.
Nobody needs to starve that has beans
and you know Pythagoras deified the
bean, Royal, and
"Yes, 1 know, Rose," said Royal,
laughing at me. "But it's pity there
isn't a pea too. suppose the birds ate
up the radish seeds, but thought per-
haps we should have some early cucum-
,bers. Don't you suppose that the po-
tatoes mean to come up at alp"
Perhaps the spell of wet weather had
spoiled the planting; perhaps the corn
and peas hadn't been soaked enough;
perhaps-but there, what use is it?
They didn't come up, and we planted
them over again. Then when the corn
did sprout we couldn't quite make out
whether it was grass or corn, and had
to let weeds and all grow together for a
while before we dared to hoe; and the
peas were so late that when they came
struggling along, the hot weather shriv-
eled them to nothing. But the beans
the beans were simply splendid. The
cabbage-plants, too, were quite thriv-
ing, and the tomatoes were wilderness
of green leaves and strong odors; the
squash vines were perfectly rampant,
and the potatoes really began to hill
up. was sorry about the peas; there
was a white mould all over them like a
bloom (and they never had anv other