St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-11-14

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he done, and ask for justice.
And SO, slowly and brokenly at first
and then rapidly, and with native elo'
quence that his ungrammatical words
could not hide, he poured out the story
of his hopes and fears, mingled with q
bit of his past history; the wrongs he
had suffered, he and his, and of his
willingness to give largely to help re,
imburse the company for their expendi.
lures, if they would stop the supply OF
water and so remove the danger which
threatened his home.
When he began speaking. Mr.. Job
bers turned towards him with look OF
surprise upon his red face that speedily
turned to one of incredulity, and both
gave place to contempt, and when John
Parsons ceased speaking the English
man turned to his partner.
"Well, Hi never he said, speaking
each word separately and with empha-
sis. "Hif e isn't a-haskin' of us to
give up our henterprise and let the gold
remain in the ills, where it is no use to
hanybody, just because the earth that
composes 'em may be washed down
upon is blarsted DIT of ranch"
Mr.. Jobbers' partner smiled At
least the muscles of his face drew back
from the mouth slightly. He evidently
pitied the ignorance of a man who
gould make such request, and who
now sat with his arm thrown about his
boy, Johnny having crept to his side
while he had been speaking.
''You evidently fail to comprehend
the situation, Mr.. Parsons" he said.
''What would your ranch be worth il
you could not sell its products?
"Gold," he continued, sis the world S
medium of exchange, and gold must be
had in order to carry on business, All
trade and commerce would cease if the
supply of gold did not keep pace with
the increased power of the production
of the people. You yourself could not
exchange your grapes and other fruits
for wearing apparel-the comforts and
necessities of life-if it were not for the
gold which is coined into money.
ave do not know he went on,
''why the gold was placed in such fine
particles as to require that the hills be
washed down in order to obtain it, but
undoubtedly it was for some wise pur-
pose; and in bringing it forth we are
doing a great thing for civilization, and
for the common people as well as the
rich; SO you see you are acting very
selfshly as well as foolishly in suggest
ing such thing as stopping work on
the mines.'
And to all this John Parsons could
answer not word.
He felt that his opponents reasoning
was fallacious, even blasphemous. That
it certainly could not be necessary; that
God could not have intended it to be
necessary, that the very means of exist
ence, the soil, which is the origin of all
wealth, should be rendered barren and
valueless in order to obtain that with
which to exchange wealth; and that
there was no justice in robbing him and
his that others might possess more of
that of which they already had enough
for all their needs.
But he was not accustomed to argu-
ment. He had just made the longest
speech of his life, and these men judged
it foolish and him insane. He could say
no more, and he arose without word
further, and carrying his boy in his
arms, passed out of the building and
turned towards the place where he had
left his horses.
He had but one thought now-to got
back home.
His wife, he dim1y felt, would SYM
pathize with him and comfort him; that
is, such comfort as she could give, which
oil +1n onTnfn1aE +ho& h rTyor,1I
know. He should never be anybody
again. never hold up his head again
among men. Powerless to protect
those he loved, there was but one com
fort left him-to hide in the bosom of
his family, the members of whom would
pity him although they might not be
able to have much respect for one who
was man, yet could not protect them
from poverty and suffering and hunger.
In his oYer-wrought state of mind it
seemed to him that his home was al
ready gone, and he would not have
been surprised, could he have been sud-
denly transported to his cottage, to have
found it a mass of ruins, with the rose
vine dead above the porch, and his vine
yard, and orchard, and fields covered
with mass of debris from the mines.
He paid his bill at the boarding house
without seeing the party to whom he
paid it, watered his horses and hitched
them to the blackboard mechanically,
and turned their heads homeward with
a look Of such absolute hopelessnezs
that even Johnny was silent, his young
spirits overborne by the weight of his
fathers woe.
Several times during the first half of
the homeward journey the boy tried. to
arouse his father by pointing to some
bird, or flower, by the roadside, but if
he heard at all John Parsons replied to
the lad only in monosyllables, or at
and again relapsed into the