St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-12-26

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corner farthest from the stove which
stood in the center at that end OF the
! room where single WiPaow OF six
small panes Of glass 1ookee. out upon
the mountain above them. At the other
end were two windows of twelve panes
each. through which could be seen the
hills stretching away towards the river.
There was also a similar window on
eachsside at the right Of the doors, SO
the room was not dark. however much
it might lack for convenences.
Everything not needed for daily use
was hacked in boxes and trunks and
stored away under the beds, but even
with this economy of space very little
room was left for moving about.
Each member of the family, however,
tried to be cheerful and SO cheer the
rest. Lucy even went so far IS to at
tempt a Witticism, and suggested that
there was no lack of room SO long as
none of them were obliged to leave the
house in order to get space to open the
stove door.
Strips of bright carpet were laid be-
tween the beds, about which were hung
curtains reaching from the ceiling to
the floor. The clock found resting
place upon shelf to the left of the
front door A bureau with mirror
occupied the space between the win
dows at the end where the beds stood.
The table, when not in use, was folded
up and allowed to stand In the center
of the floor ready to be opened at meal
time. Upon the walls were hung few
pictures The white curtains which
had once adorned the windows Of the
sitting-room of the old home were fitted
to those of the new; and when all was
done that could be done, the room
looked so bright and coy that the
hearts of the occupants lifted q little,
and but for the thought that one was so
soon to leave them, whom they knew
not when, if ever, they would meet
again, they might have been almost
happy. E
Jennie did not know what day to
look for her husbands coming, for he
could not tell, when they parted in San
Francisco, how long it would take him
to arrange his business, which consisted
in the collection Of several little sums
Of money owing to him, but she had
written from Phippsburg. telling him
where to 60 for directions how to find
her; and one day, about q week after
the family had taken possession of the
shanty ON the mountain side, he came,
having walked out from the landing.
Mrs. Parsons cried little when En-
sign kissed her and called her ''moth-
err" 1t reminded her so forcibly of the
separation which his coming presaged
that she could not help it. But she
welcomed him warmly and made him
feel that she loved him already for Jen-
nie's. sake.
From John Parsons he received a
hand-shake which, hardened as his own
aands were by work in the shop, came
near causing Ensign to finch. The
man whose daughter he had married
felt very warm friendship for him In
deed.
In comparing Ensign with Annelsey.
as he had naturally done at times,
when he expected both would become
his sons-in-law, he had somehow come
to regard him IS q kind of hero, con-
tending against odds, as he felt that all
men who labored were forced to do,
and that in choosing Jennie for wife
he had allied himself with those who,
although giving no outward sign. were
yet half unconsciously revolving in their
minds some plan by which to remove
the wrongs beneath which they suffered
and writhed.
1t was true that he had lost his pride
in possession and with it all confidence
In himself
Without much knowledge of books,
inclined by nature to think lightly of
\ his OWE abilities, and having failed to
successfully defend what he knew to be
his natural rights to the wealth which
he had himself created, he now felt that
he had no right to offer advice upon
needed reforms in society or tho laws.
But Ensign was young, he possessed
cool courage and a spirit that would
not allow him TO remain supinelY inact-
i've beneath great and continued
wrongs. Besides this, he had a fair
education, and, 80 the girls said, had
once or twice talked to his felloW-Work-
ingmen in public upon questions affect
ing their interests, and there had grad
ually grown up in the mind of John
Parsons a feeling that Ensign was to. be
instrumental in some way, perhaps as q
leader, in righting the wrongs of the
people.
So long as Lucy had been engaged to
marry Mr. Annelsey these feelings had
been suppressed, oVerlaid as it were by
fear that in encouraging them he was
choosing between his daughters, who
were equally dear TO him, but he had
not been able to prevent a feeling that
Annelsey, being in sympathy with the
cause of the Losses which he had suf-
fered, was In some way partially re-
sponsible for them, az be certainly was