St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-03-10
LUKE - COLORADO PARK. 1873.

Wots that you're readin' p 81 novel? A move
well, darn my skin!
LOU man grown and bearded, and hfsten
su stuif eL that in
stun about gals AMI their sweethearts! no
wonder you're thin as knife.
LOOK at me!-clar two hundred-and never
read one in my life!
That's my opinion O novels And ez to their
lyin round here,
They belonged to the Jedge's daughter-the
Jedge who c me up last year
+On account of lis lungs and the mountains,
A., a, and the balsam O. pine and fir;
AND MS daughter--well, she read novels, and
that's whats the matter with her.
Yet she Wi sweet on the ledge, and stuck by
him day and night Il
Alone in the cabin up yer-till she grew like
ghost all white;
She was only slip of thing, ez light and ez
up ard away
Ez rifle smoke blown through the woods but
she WASH my kind-no wayl
sspeakin, 9, galss;n,d'ye mind that house ez you
"A mile and half from Whites, and list above
MatIingbys mill?
You do2 Well now thars gal! What, you
saw her? Q. come now, thar quit
she was only bed.v'lin you boys, for to me she
don't cotton one bit.
But what was talkin' of? OF the ledge and
his daughter--she read
Novels the whole day long, and reckon she
And sometimes she read them out loud to the
ledge on the porch where he sat,
And 'twas how g Lord Augustus said this, and
how Lady blanche" she said that.
But the sickest of all that heerd, was yarn
...r - that that they read bout chap,
1eat dsaa,t s, by name, and hunter
And they asked me to hear; but I says: Miss
w, Mabel. not any for me;
When / likes kin sling my own lies, and tibet
chap and Ishouldnt agree"
Yet somehow or other she always was sayin'
brought her to mind
'of folks about whom she had read, or suthn'
And thar warnt no end o. the names thet she
,..n gave me tibet summer UP here.
Robin Hood. Misunderstanding" Rob Roy
%, tell you, the critter was queer.
And yet eff she hadn't been spilled, she was
harmless enough in her way;
She could jabber in French to her dad, and
they said thet she knew how to play,
And she worked me that shot pouch up thar
which the man doesn't liv el kin use,
And slippers you see 'em down yer-ez would
cradle an lnjin's pappoose.
Yet along o them novels. you see, she was
~ wastfn and mopin' away.
And then she got shy with her tongue, and at
last had nothing to say:
And whenever happened around, her face it
And it warn't until she left that she gave me
ez much ez q look.
And this was the way it was: 1t was night
when KEN up hire
10 say to ,em all good-by, for reckoned to go
for deer
AT sun-up the day they left SO shook 'em all
BY the hand,
'CeptM bel, and she was sick, ez they gave
me to understand.
But just ez passed the house the next morn
ing at dawn, some one,
Like little waver O. mist got up on the hill
Miss Mabel it was, alone-au wrapped t1p in a
And she stood there straight in the road, with
touch o the sun In her face.
And she looked at me right in the eye-Td
seen suthin' like 1t before
H me y, hunted wounded doe to the edge O
And had my knee on its neck, and list was |
raisin' my knife
When i gave me 9 look like that-weI, it got
ssWe are going today she said, ..and I |
thought would say good-by
To you in your own house, Luke-these woods |
and the bright blue sky.
You've always been kind to us, Luke. and |
papa has found you still
AS good as the air he breathes, and wholesome |
as Laurel Tree Hill.
sand Wen always think of you, Luke. as the |
thing we could not take away
The balsam that dwells in the woods, the rain
bow that lives in the sprav. t
And you'll sometimes tn nix of me. Luke. as
you know you once used to say.
AS riff e-smoke blown through the woods, a.
moment, but never to stay ~
And then we shook hands. She turned. but a
student she tottercd and fell,
And caught her sharp by the waist, and held l
her a. minit-well-7 lS 7Ff4EF
1t was only mint, you know that ez cold and |.
ez white she lay. A.@
Ez a snowflake here on my breast, ana then
well, she melted away
And was gone +, And thar are her
DO ks; but say not any for me,
Good enough may be for some, but them and
j Tlnightn't agree. n 133E GA rs q
They spilled decent girl ez might have made
some chap q wife,
And look at me!-clar two hundred-and never
readcne in my lifel
s Bret Harts.
A CHANGE IN FORTUNE.