The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1884-10-23
An Everyday Heroine.

patriotism of his countrymen as they
laid down their lives in battle. 1t was
| the enthusiastic estimate of man who
saw the extremity of devotion in men
who never had thought that they
| would be heralded or even known, but
who, with sublime self-sacriice, did
their duty only.
| There are unnamed heroes every
where. They need not be looked for
on battlefelds; they can easily be found
in obscure places, where few eyes see
them, and no one thinks of celebrating
or heralding them. More often they
| are heroines, gentle women who meet
:. bravely and with smiles.
In a country place, removed from the
noise of the city, we have been obsery-
ing one of those unnamed heroines.
The old house in which she has her
home has stood for more than eighty
years where it is. Once large family
filled it. It was the home of plenty,
and its mistress was Lady Bountiful,
and its master one whom men praised
and children clung to. But times have
changed and have dispeopled it, and
now many of it's rooms are vacant.
Fathers and brothers have gone, the
one to heaven, the others to make
homes elsewhere on earth. Only the
daughter is left with the widowed
mother. There is still the place, not
now prosperous as in the olden time
it is gone much to- decay-to be cared
for: the garden, the cow, the home;
and some one must give the care.
1t would be easy for this girl to de-
spond and to have started back from
responsibility and the work; to have
said, 81 cannot do it; it Is not q
iwoman's task" But so she has not
done. She has taken up the burden
and she bears it cheerily from day
to day. She evidently does not think
it q burden. Her face is bright
and I hear her quiet singing as she
goes on her way round the house. She
directs everything, provides for every
thing, but with sunshine of good ma
ture. l hear no fretful word when an
noyances press upon her-and that is
almost every day; / hear no whisper
OF complaint, nor the semblance of an
expression OF WEAKNESS or dissatisfae-
ton. She does not seem to think that
she is doing anything out of the usual
line of things. She is not old; she is
young enough to enjoy the pleasant
things of life, and she does enjoy them.
She does not seem to feel cut off by
the multiplicity of her cares from COM
pany or amusements. Somehow she
contrives to mingle them in with the
routine of her life, and to get more out
of them than others without tithe of
her occupations.
Now, there is nothing extraordinary
in all this. There are all over the land
thousands of just such girls. They are
found in every city and hamlet, and
this girl is in no way superior to any one
of them. They have widowed mothers
to care for, little brothers and sisters to
look after, scanty income to make up
by skillful contrivances, they have 9
hundred worries and heavy responsible
tiles; but they 90 singing on their way,
bravely and sweetly doing all that the
hours are demanding, all that the days
are bringing. No murmur escapes hheiI
lips and no murmur seems to to be in
their hearts. They are simply true
hearted women.
Yet they are heroines, more of hero.
Lines, when one comes to measure it all
than if on some battlefield they helped
the wounded, or by some river risked
life to save drowning child. Battle
fields are not found every day nor ever
every year These great occasions
come only once in great while, ant
to the most of people never. They car
never display courage or unseltish de
votion if these are the only fields fol
them. But the ordinary days, as they
come and go, make opportunities fol
almost every one to display these higf
, qualities. Life is made up of small
. moments and small things, but grea
. qualities can be shown in them. Tht
steady pressure Of care, the everlasting
round of humdrum duties, the small
J worries and frets of life, make them
, In these few the most of us fail. w
do not see just where the great oppor
tunities open. We do not see then
! great, or our opportunities at all.
: But what is more noble than to NEE
+ them eourageously and cheerfully, Il
take up their burden with song and
smile? The CHEEKY silence or the qtlie
song of this girl, the patience and tn
, steady endeavor, that make up the his
: tory Of every day, seem in this ligh
! heroic.
: Perhaps these lines may fall unde
the eye of some one more than hal
weary with the cares that do not ceas
a to come with every day, with work an
duty whose tread is perpetual round
Q till you are tempted to grow sad and t
n feel that life has but small meaning i
e it. Do yield to the thought. Ther
is heroism in your daily bearing an
4 doing, there is nobility in your lii
9 when with smiles and ripping song
r you do the work that lies Just in fror
O. Of you. There are unseen eyes tbs
!, watch, angelic presences that help, an
. more than all One whose tenderne:
: wearies not, and who will by and b
a say: ''Well doner 1t was said to on
{ who had been faithful in a very Ii
tie "--Rev. WiR. Ai5n1GB, D. d.,
Christian Union.
Q An apple tree on J. Wesley S
n monds' farm in Franklin, N. q
: planted in 1910, has borne fruit
it abuadance over ninety years. It meai