St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-09-19
CHAPTER III.
THE REUNION.

It was true that the girls who were
.ssuch little bits of tots when he left
them did not know how their father
looked, and would not have known it
was he but for the greeting he gave to
their mother and themselves.
It is doubtful, on the other hand, if
John Parsons would have known his
girls had he met them unexpectedly.
They had grown wonderfully, he
thought; so much more than he had
imagined.
True, he had counted the years that
had flown, and had said: Jennie is al
most eleven now, and Lucy past nine,
but what did the passage of years sig
Nifty when memory had all the time
pictured them babies, just as he had
seen them before the years had come
and gone.
Erastus, he thought, had not changed
so much. He was quite lad when he
saw him last, and he was not fully
man now. He had grown, of course,
and had manly air and look, but he
was not yet sixteen, and then we always
expect boys to grow. He had seen
boys on the streets of Sacramento and
elsewhere of all ages and sizes, and
their forms and faces had somehow
mingled with the form and face of
Ezastus and had helped to obliterate the
picture of the lad as he saw him last
and form new and much truer one
of the real Erastus whose hand he now
took and held with a grasp that warmed
the boys heart toward him anew.
Leave the horses stand a bit and
come into the house with mother and
the girls he said; 1--WE will care for
them by and by. !"
But the boy replied that he would
rather care for them at once and could
easily do it without help, as he was ac-
customed to do They were tired, he
said, with the long drive, as they had
all been determined to get through that
night, and had broken camp early and
driven hard.
Yes. John, interrupted Mrs. Par
sons, 1T has been q long drive and a
hard one; not to-day only, but so many
days; and I'm so glad to think that we
are not going to have to hitch up again
in the morning; but that our journey is
ended at last, and that we are all to-
gether again.
II didn't expect so nice home, she
added, coming close to him and look
ing up in his face while her eyes filled
with tears. 'sAnd oh! am SO glad we
have home of our own once more. /
am sure we shall be very, very happy
here. And she felt hurt when her hus-
band roughly turned away and began
helping Erastus with the animals.
She supposed, however, that he was
ashamed to let her see how deeply he
was affected at the thought of their all
being together. and of the happiness
which was sure TO be theirs, now that it
was so; and she felt very certain that
this was the case when minute later he
came back, and putting his arms around
her shoulders, said:
.'Come Martha, come babies, let's go
in and see the new home from the IN
side, and led her up the steps to the
porch, and then into the main room of
the cottage.
How'll she do?'' he said. motioning
with his hand about the room.
His wife noticed that his voice was
broken as he said it, but she did not
wonder at it. for her own voice was not
to be found at AL iast then, and sinking
into chair she put both hands to her
face and gave way to tears that would
come in spite of her
When she could control her voice she
said: