St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1881-11-19
$ SHE. !"

written was invariably used to desig-
nate woman of such fine persomette
was one of the unsolved mysteries to
the good people of B.
But though mystery, it was never
theless a fact; for while Mr.. Hazlett
had been wont to speak of his first wife
Familiarity as : Bess,'' he always re-
ferred to his second choice as 'she.. -
When farmer Hazlett brou ght home
his second wife there was much shak-
ing Of wise heads, and gloomy signs for
the memory of the gentle wife so
speedily forgotten, many wise fore
holdings and prophecies about the uiti-
mate fate of the poor children, now
under the proverbial iron of step
mother.
These children, be it remembered,
were examples of infantile ignorance
and childish worthlessness, held up by
pious parents after much the same
fashion of the mythical Ounce in a
backwoods school: to be pitied,
laughed at, and held aloof from; to be
talked of in whispers as disgrace to
the neighborhood, that such ignorance
and rudeness could exist in its charmed
precincts. Ss.. ). III.
Their ignorance was deplorable. And
though the children were miracles of
rudeness, it was alone from neglect that
they were so.
They had been allowed to run loose,
and grew up wild as savages, as mat
ter Of course. For the farmer was in
terested in no earthly pursuit of pleas
L,,% WIT mt
of his South Downs, his Suffolk pigs
and Attorney COWS, and his trained
horses and dogs. Too indolent, when
he came into the house TO rest, to utter
a word of expostulation to his noisy
children, they went u1fchided for their
rudeness, and were untaught in the
simplest things.
And his poor over-worked wife,
whose fingers were so busy, and body
SO tired, she had not the spirit to teach
them, the strength to correct, but
worked her way through the turmoil
laboriously; for the neighbors had been
wont to observe that she had no knack
of arranging her work, though she did
it well. And so it happened, her rest
never came, till thes pulseless hands
cOulu no longer WORK.
To be sure, the children went to the
district school when they pleased, and
stayed at home when they willed. But
the little they learned there was forgot
ten during the long vacations.
Besides, they did not like the school,
and the scholars shrank away from
them. This avoidance was due, in
part, to their savage way of pl8ing;
but more from an aversion, which
sprang up from this occurrence. Mike
came to school one morning during his
first term, .unaccompanied by Jim. The
teacher who had not learned the pecu-
liarities OF the family, thinking, per-
haps, the boy was sick, asked kindly:
Where is your brother, Michael?'
"Heyp"
"Where is your brother?" more dis.
Nnctly: Vi tNs .&9 lis sEs#
what dye sayF'
'Where is your brother?"
sis it my pap you want?"
And after, with childish arrogance
and hauteur, the other scholars held
themselves aloof as much as possible.
There must be something uncanny
about boy who did not know what the
word s.brother'' meant
And the poor little waits grew te
hate the school. and shrink from the
teachers. But of the many evidences
of their ignorance, none was more wide
ly known through the Mortified neigh
borhood than the incident I am about
to relate.
Of all things, to be forever treasured
in their stunted minds, was the memor,
OF a party given by their parents one
winter. The Terpsichorean artsneve1
won Drawer plaudits nor awakened more
sincere admiration than that felt By
these poor little savages
But that the memory Of these festivi
ties should crop out so unexpectedly
on the solemn occasion OF q funeral
was horrifying in its absurdity. A baby
brother OF the elves died. The church