St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-12-20
THEDA GREY, M. c.
How a Young Girl Turned a Seem
ing Defeat into Victory.

Elf began Theda, wistfully, as she
dried the last cup and dung the towel
in its appointed place in the low, dark
ceiled Kitchen. If only
There 5 no if about it, !" interrupted
old Hepsey, brusquely, but not unkind-
ly. ..You might as well wish you could
fly to the moon. =
Il did try to fly once, when I was a
little tot said Theda, family smiling,
'.and | sprained my ankle in the at
tempt But then I was never sure that
] couldn't fly, you see, until did try. !
"There'll be sprains and bruises
enough if you try any high flying with
your Aunt Priscilla y insisted Hepsey,
beating the mullins with unusual en-
phasls, eve been here long enough
to know what I'm talking about. You'd
best let well enough alone. y
But it isn't well enough, and it
soughtn't to be let alone,n mused Theda,
as she assembled to her own little room
at the top of the house, clean, bare,
narrow room, whose window looked
away over brick walls, slate roofs and
smoky chimneys until it caught dis
tant glimpse of the lake and patch of
gray sky above it. That room was like
all the life in this old house, Theda
thought narrow and with scanty
outlook. Aunt Priscilla did not see
that ANYTHING more was needed. She
was satisfied with the dull, monotonous
days, the somber, empty rooms, and the
conpanionship of old Solomon and
Hepsey, who had served her for years,
and who walked in all her old-fashioned,
frugal ways, economizing and saving
without asking why or for whom. 1t
all suited her; and as for this young
orphan to whom her doors had opened,
she would have considered it presump-
ton, for the girl even to wish to be
suited Was not the fact that she had
been received as niece, and accorded
q home, sufficient cause for gratitude?
But unreasonable Theda was not sat
isfied That her great aunt, OF whom
through all her childhood she had only
heard vague mention as ''Well off, but
queer, and who probably had never
heard of her at all, should have given her
q home in her need, was something to
he thankful for, surely; but the position
was not one that she could accept as
s'well enough and to be '.let alone, "
as Hepsey had counseled. All her
eager Young heart and hungry, active
brain protested against becoming a
mere dependent, petrifying in the mar
row ways of the household, doing
nothing but assisting Hepsey in the
daily routine in which she needed no
aid, and waiting" in homely country
phrase, to ''step into Aunt Pr1sclllass
Shoes - those queer old shoes that
seemed as if they had stepped out OF
the world hundred years ago, and did
not know that it had been moving ever
since.
If only Aunt Priscilla would help her
help herself; to fit herself for some
rood. useful work in the world No
one could convince Theda that she
ought to abandon such hope without
an effort; and she could not convince
herself that the effort should be post
poned. So, that very evening, stand
ING in the freight of the old sitting
room, she managed to say, with toler-
dpiy sGeiQy WIZ, IiioItS = 49,
fast:
..Aunt Priscilla, wish you would
send me to school.
"You = Wish-I would send you to
SCHOOL, repeated Aunt Priscilla,
slowly, as if to comprehend the enor-
mity of the proposal. ''Wish l would
send you 10 schools"
Eyes m; to some good school-Jlen-
dale, or somewhere!n exclaimed Iheda,
feeling that, since she had taken her
life in her hands, she might as well be
explicit. -,
stocking she was knitting-what did
The do with that interminable series OF
blue stockings? and looked at Iheda
through her speetacles, over her spec
.ecles and under her spectacles.
d