St. Landry democrat., 1882-01-07
ESTHER'S BRAVERY,

IL IS OF no use TO 1eel sorry about 1t now,
but | can't help plying that poor little
Esther, just as if it had been YOU, Dora,
and | cried when Aunt Margaret told
me about it.
1t was when Grandmamma Ellis was
little girl-just think of it, Dora, a
real little girl, and used to wear aprons
-pinafores they called them-and
sometimes was scolded for tearing her
clothes.
She was a regular romp, so Aunt Mar
garet said, though l don't see how she
knows, and almost could not believe
it, and this little Esther was her cousin.
Grandmamma-she wasn't called grand
mamma then, of course, because no.
body had even thought about her get
ting old and having spectacles, but they
just called her Delight, and sometimes
only billy, and I'm going to say billy in
this story, just for fun, though it most
scares me to say it.
Well billy and Esther had perfectly
lovely times together, hunting for flow
ers and berries, and making play
house in the woods with great rocks, all
covered with moss, for houses, and
real cave that you could 90 into. Some
times they used to cake their dinners
and stay all day in the woods; and they
went barefooted too, Dora, and had all
sorts of fun. The part I'm going to
tell you wasn't fun, though, and l guess
you'll think SO, too.
Dilly's father had to 60 to court to be
witness or something. 1t wasn't any,
thing bad about him, because he wasn't
the one that did it; but, anyhow, he
had to 60, and Dilly's mother said she
would go, too, and buy some shoes for
Oily. They went on horseback, and
only had one horse. The father rode
on the saddle and the mother rode be-
bind him on a kind of cushion they
called a pillion. billy was in school at
a little log school-house, and they rode
to the door and called her out. Her
mother said:
Delight, am going to town with
your father, and shall stay until to-
morrow with your Aunt Eunice. You
may go home with your cousin Esther
and stay over night -
Then her father said: 'sBe a good
child, my daughter, and make no
trouble" and then they rode away.
Dilly was so tickled she was ready to
jump out of her skin; at least. 1 should
have been, and guess little girls were
just the same inside in those days. But
she thought she'd have it for a secret,
and SO she only laughed and shook her
head, and pretended to be studying
when Esther made signs to tell her what
it was.
Of course she couldn't tell until re-
cess, and then Esther pretended she
didn't want to hear, and said: "Oh!
never mind. miss; l guess I've got a
secret myself and so they kept on
pretending till they both got mad.
Getting mad does seem the silliest
when other people do it, and suppose
they thought so. too, when they came
to think about it, for when school was
dismissed Esther ran up to Oily, and
said: "pll tell you my secret, billy. Our
folks have all gone to town, and I'm
going home to stay all night with you"
"Why!" said billy, "that's my Sc
cret, too. Our folks have gone to
town, and I'm going to stay all night
with you."
Then they both said: "OhH' and
looked at each other, and didn't know
what to do; but at last they concluded
to 60 to Esther's house, because Es-
theirs cat had some new kittens, and
they wanted to name them. They
stopped awhile at the playhouse in the
woods, and then they went home, and
went to see the kittens. The kittens
were up on the hay-mow, and were just
perfectly lovely, and they named them
two or three different times. Then
there were ever so many things to talk
about-the school, and the girls, and
the holidays. By and by they heard
some one down in the barn.
"What's that?" said Oily.
"That's Jonas feeding the cattle"
whispered Esther. 81 wouldn't have
him know about these kittens for any
thing in the world.'
So they kept very still, and presently
Jonas went out and shut the door. He
locked it, too, but they didn't know it,
not till it grew so dark they couldn't
tell which kitten was Rosabel and which
was Annabel. Then they concluded to
60 into the house, and, oh dear me!
Dora, how do you suppose they felt
when they found they were locked in
with just old Prince and the oxen?
They pounded on the door rand screamed.
but it didn't do any good, because Jonas
had gone home when he had locked the
barn. Aunt Margaret says they didn't
cry a bit, but just looked at each other,
and Esther, who was pale little thing,
said:
Wen have to stay till Jonas comes
back in the morning; are you gerry
hungry, Dilly?'
And billy said, 81 tell you what Wen
do; go up on the hay-mow, and open
the window and jump out on to the
4 raW-stack 1t isn't very far To i11mp. ~