St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-05-26

this-this insult. I thought that at
least YOU respected me, and l thought
nv calling made me sacred from such
such attacks altogether"
ST am sorry that you should think 1t
an insult. can hardly see how man
could give you a better proof OF his re-
spect than to ask you to become his
wife. And as for your calling making
YOU sacred, we don't believe in the
celibacy of the clergy, you know. In
spite of his evident modification ana
| distress, there was a sly twinkle IN MI.
Ericson's eye as he said that.
s.But Ii am woman said Miss
Barton sitting down again, and cover
inc her face with her hands.
s'The more reason why you should De
4 married." said Mr.. Ericsson, calmly.
"You need a protector /"
u am perfectly sufficient for my
self. And shall never care for any
body-a anything but my work.
Mr.. Ericsson arose. II am sorry to
have troubled YOU" he said. gently. 81
| love you, and have never known what
it was to love woman before; that IS
my excuse. +"
Miss Barton watched him as he Went
down the road, with the yellow leaves
falling upon him. She observed, as she
had never done before, how finely his
1 head was set upon his broad shoulders,
what manly grace there was about his
strong, well-knit figure.
/ aBut he has no business to love me,
she said, drawing her brows into tight
frown.
4 Then suddenly she remembered Ly-
sanders stocking, and went down in the
grass to look for it. 1t had blown over
i. the fence into the field. She stretched
4 her arm between the Stats and drew it
back. As she did so she caught sight OF
Lysander He was gathering squashes
and pumpkins on the little south hill;
she saw his figure in silhouette against
J, the sky. He started to come toward the
house, and she waited for him-waited
until sudden thought sent flame OF
color over her face.
s.It can't be- she said, half aloud,
inauirlngly. Il ayill keep that out
of nv life. I won't be failure! l
J won't bel" And she rushed up to her
: room and locked herself in.
She came down as calm and grave as
j, ever when the tea-bell rang, and after
t tea she and Lysander read their daily
, quantity of Greek, for Lysander was
, pursuing his studies with renewed avid
/ itv since he had companion to help
} him, and had not yet given up his long
3 cherished hope Of studying for the min
| istry. though there seemed no prospect
of his being able to leave the farm.
/ After that Miss Barton devoted her.
4 self more zealo,,sly than ever to hel
Y work. She darned no more stockings
e When she was not writing her sermons
9 she was visiting the sick and the poor
and making, or suggesting and inducing
= others to make, Improvements, sanitary
+ and moral as well as religious.
n s.She was as practical and efficient a
0 if she was not woman many peopl'
: said; and old Jeremy Grimes, who hat
a ished to tell her when she came tina
: they didn't want woman preacher
said: ssThey couldn't have had sucl
= women in St. Paul's time, or he neve
i would have written what he did. =
II But Mrs. Hewitt had a grievance
L Miss Barton didn't seem to make her
+ self one of the family as she used to
8 She was shut up in her own room al
a most all the time now, and she and Ly
e sander didn't seem to get along togeth
, er as they used to. She never cam
y into the kitchen and wanted to hel
e make cake now, or sat with Their
IS around the fire in the evening Will
h Lysander read aloud. She s'didn'
E. seem to have anything against them, bu
it she wasn't free and sociable any more.
n Lvsander was teaching school thi
it winter, and attending to the farm Wor
n in his leisure time. His habit of study
r, ing with Miss Barton had gradually die
t, ont, To his mothers persistent que;
5. tionings Lysander replied that neithe
y of them had any time for it now.
+ Mrs. Hewitt could not make it on
+ .Pa. II who prided himself upon bein
lonp-headed, limited that he could, br
nt he would not say outright what b
!. thought. and his wife regarded his him
- with lofty scorn.
=. One afternoon, after school-hour
y, ~ Lysander went down to the woods BAG
- : Of the house to superintend the oper'
= tions of some men who were cuttin
u timber. Just at dusk Miss Barton, con
ne inc home from visit to a sick parisl
:, ioner. encountered four men carryin
- on an improvised stretcher Lysander
apparently lifeless body. He lyir
white and rigid, and then there we
~ fr scarlet spots upon the snow all the WIS
= that he had come. Down on her knees
4, the snow fell Miss Barton, and thre
- her arms around him.
II ID ooh, my love! my love! have "
a gone SO far away that you can not he
re me say I do love you?" she cried.
7 was cold and hard because / thought
in was my duty, but if you could on
oo,,,o no olr--51 -. 81