St. Landry democrat., 1880-01-10
A Romance Of The Frontier.

| pOSiLlVcly atlIdCtiEc IL 1tlCC tidb Nuui
otherwise be passed i'll a crowd with
out a second glance, and a wreath q
coal black hair, neatly arranged, ex
own weight had escaped from it
fastenings. She seemed half brighten
ed at her position, and her dark check
and forehead flushed to the roots o
her hair as she stepped into the littl
| room where the Squire sat dispensin;
| Justice. She seemed not over sixteen
| and mOdesty was apparent i'll her yer.
! attitude, as she stood with folded hand
awaiting the commencement of fulthc
proceedings.
Her companion was q gliZZled, aWk
| ward-looking man, apparently fit,
years Of age, with ali ugly scar stretch
ing from the inner point OF his left ey'
across his check to nearly the point 0
his chin, describing an arc, which hat
left Il wide track bare of IN othcrwis,
luXriant growth Of gray Whiskers
Hair matted and growing low down OF
his forehead, together with the" distor
ton of his eye, occasloned by the scar
gave the COllntenanco u sinister leer
positively repulslvc.
The jll-asSOrtcd pair stood for Il mo
ment while his Honor disposed Of some
papers before him, the man fumnblins
woln-out felt hat, while the girl ncr
yously twisted her fingers. AS the jus
ticc turned toward them eXpectantly
the man stepped to the desk, and lean
ing tuwayd his Honor, said in confiden-
tial ans husky whisper:
"Sg'IIe, you marry people, | sup
pose 2
The official nodded
We'll, reckon can give you lit
tie job this morning.
"Who are the parties ~
"This little gal here an me-
His Honor pushed back his chair, pu
on his spcctaclcs, and deliberat...,,,., .ur
sssie'd !hI'e ian nph:, on mead to foot Hi
inspection finished, he returned to til,
girl, whose bushes, under his earnest
inquiring gaze, chased each other owe
neck, cheeks and forehead, until sl,
was one glow OF burning color.
See here, my man" said the Squire
come into my private room tor a mo
ment. Take seat, MISS
Leading the way to the inner room
his Honor closed the door and turnet
fierccly upon his companion. CAIN
you ashamed of yourself, You ole
scol,ndrcl, to come here expecting mt
to marry you to child like that ~
"Now don't get hot, Squire. | know
| amt much to look at. Eve been TOLD
that since was Il kid, and this beauty
SpOt,h touching the scar, "aln't an i'm
provement. An it's all along of this
'crc circumstance has come about
This was the way Of it: You see, what
with being SO ugly an awkward, and
all Of that, amt been the best man il
the world. | never harmed anybody
but | generally kept pretty full, and il
| got ahead any, why it all went in Z
few days for liquor, and SO | Travelled
round and was never anything but a
vagabond. Well, last spring | strucl,
the camp, an saw men making money
an after Il big drunk found myself
without cent. This amt no place fol
Il man when he's dead broke, an | tum-
bled to myself an chopped short.
worked a month i'll the Little Pitts
burg, an never got drunk once, an
then took my money and laid in Il two
months grub stake, an went up South
Evans an took q claim. There's where
| first met Kitty, out there. Her father
had the next claim to mine, an she
kept house for him, an we got kinder
neighborly like. When | got broke
was down forty feet, an the hole looked
good. | worked for the Little Chief q
month then, and then went at it again
All Of that time didn't drink drop
The second day after | went back to the
hole Kitty's father sickened, and in
three days he was dead. Me an two OF
three others did all we could for the
girl, but there wasn't many OF us up
there then, an we was all poor, an she
had no money to get away with. So
just moTed my grub over to her cabin,
an | told her that il ske'd do my
cookin', an | struck it, I'd share even
with her. She wouldn't do anything
else, poor thing, an so | went on work
ing, an in a month got it. Of course
| felt good, an if I'd been broke il
would have been all right. But | had a
couple of dollars, an l came to town
an when the money was all gone | was
too drunk to go to that little gal, and
because | knew she'd come over to my
cabin to call me to supper. | thought
I'd 90, down the shaft an sleep it off.
But IL drunken man can't calculate, you
an fastened it, went to slide down the
rope an touched the bucket, which was
on the edge of the hole, an it came
uoHu VII Iiy IHIC diI lCIU IIllS SCdI' 1
don't know how | got down the rope,
but | know that when | got down |
couldn't get up, an | laid there without
KNOWN nothin', an when / come to it
was mornin', an there was that little
girls face lookin' down the shaft. /
thought it was an angel, an kinder
sWooned off again, an the next thing |
knew some one was tyin' the rope
around under my arm, an blessed it it
want that little gal. When she got
through she just Skinned up the rope
and histed me up herself. | don't know
how she did it, but she got me out an
nussed me an Pm well. [ sold my
hole yesterday an got enough to keep
us both comfortable, an I've got used
to her, and don't know how to get
along without her, an so we want to
get married, an that's the long an
short of it,
"But there's such a difference in
your ages.n
mot so much, 'Squire,n said the
man, with movement of his eye that
would have been wink, had a wink
been possible. "She's 25 and I'm 81
,he same figures you know"
But is the girl entirely willing ~
You can ask her" and as the old
nan spoke the door opened and the
girl, who had become impatient at the
ong conference, walked in.
There's nothing wrong about this,
Judge" she broke out. "I'm turning
,wenty five, an my own mistress. an