The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-01-04


Society swung open its doors, anC
calls and invitations came upon them
More dress was needed, taxes and insur
ance Were high, Interest to be paid. anC
business everywhere depressed, and fol
two years the debt lay unchanged.
| Ihere had been no loss as men couni
loss, and yet there had been great loss
that debt. which at first lay s6 heavy or
Mr. Brooks, and which he intended tc
lift as soon as possible, he had growr, used
to, and did not longer feel tob be burden,
And the debt to society troubled Mrs
Brooks and the other parlors must be
furnished. and royalty, to match the II.
brary, and then a grand reception wa,
| given
For these money had to be hired.
benevolent balls and quasi-literary so
cleties, fashions caprice mingled with
ing dancing parties, and Mrs. Brooks wa:
worn and weary with the manifold
duties of her position, and must be re-
lieved Of some household duties, and
another. servant was Indispensable. i.
MIR. Brooks confinement to his busi-
ness wore upon him, and he must have
recreation, which means fine horse
and buggy. But it was so selfish for him
and his wife to drive off every, evening
and leave those dear girls at home after
they had been shut up all day in school,
So two horses and carriage and hostler
were needed.
Thus little by little expenses increased,
and his business, like all mems of the
time, was dull, but his was on sound
basis; he was yet young and full of en-
ergy, and no one feared the result, nor
had he one thought of danger
A party was made up for the sea
shore. They joined it; it was their first
indulgence of the'kind, and sniff of the
salt sea is luxury that strengthens.
One morning the bathers were very
gay, and Mr.. Brooks passed the safety
line, and the sea never gave him back.
The estate paid twenty cents on the
dollar.
THE OTHER.
It was 8 town of hills and rocks, un-
disturbed by railroad or telegraph wires.
There was a bit of a village in it, and a
white skY-pointing spire,'' of course,
for it was in New England. and equally,
OF course, and for the very same reason
there must bes economy in all things, and
the first floor of the spire crowned
building was the Town Hall, wherein
politicians fought and wandering min
strels amused, and stray lecturers edited.
But between the hall and spire lay the
church, clean and bright, where the
farmers mapped, and their wives chewed
caraway seed, while warned OF sin and
judgment in words as eloquent as could
be hired for $400a a year and the parson-
age-a clean little white cottage.
In that same parsonage q lad, bright
and rgetic--boys are like the moth
ers, biologists tells us-was fitting for
college, under his learned and lazy
father. But
$ We are not wholly brain ..f
t8s Magnetic moekeres."
I, At least so Tennyson says. And Ed
ward had an eye for rosy cheeks and
bright eyes, as well as for Greek roots.
And the particular pair that sparkled
back to his on Sunday, on week days
helped her busy mother look well to the
ways of the household, in white cot
age that crowned a hilltop, the sides
of which hih were intermixed with sheep
and stones in such dire confusion that 8
little. way off one conld not tell the one
from the other. e g. -4ssss. T
One bright June morning Harriet had
SKINNED the milk, washed the bright
pans, and made a pyramid in the sun
that sparkled Ike stars. And humming
a good old hymn, Of Watt s. her def
hand was now smoothing and trying to
polish the family linen for the coming
Sunday, that dress-day of country towns.
when bodies as well as souls put on their
best 8 .Hanriet sung slower and slower;
as she thought faster and faster, and she
stopped carolling, to say;
''Mother! when the summer work is
over, eouldn'tyou get along without my
help?' -
'tWhy, Harriet! what do you want to
Harriet hesitated; it was great thing
she longed for, but at last she said:
! ''You know most ofthe girls around
here have been to Dick Academy and
boarded themselves; why can't I for a
term or two?'' .A : = y
''Your father and / have been talkin',
that John hadn' t ought to come of age till
he'd been to the Academy"
20. mother. let us both go! tits only
four miles and a half, you know. from
here, and father or Jesse can come after
US every Friday night. and Saturdays I
viii cook up enough to last over theweek,
exceptmeat and potatoes, and those lean
cook there. soIc can board him and my-s
sell, ! and We can both go as cheap as he
could go alone "
I'm talk with your father about it,
And theylWent. The one term ran into
Two years. Then Jesse, the bashful book
worm, was to go, and he wished sister
Harriet to stay with him; and she did
wish she could finish the full course, and
had been a good scholar. and. good girl,
had worked early and late and willingly
through the summer vacations, so that it
vas not easy to refuse her.
And, too, perchance her future happi-'
less was more or less bound up in her
books. For Edward, ,,inthis college vaca-
ion, had told his love, and the shrewd |
'ommon sense of the sturdy farmer knew |
his daughter must be fitted for the edu-
'ated life she was to share, or Edward /