St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-10-03

| own heaQ, Whlch, Ii pc Juat as the hearG
directs 'em, reckon. An wouldn't
want 'em to do no other way, for unless
the heart goes with the hand it amt no
use for to try to pull together. Well,
now, here's q youngster that amt
bothering his head about the girls, any
way, nor won't be for some years yet,
will you, johnny He'll be bossin' the
hull ranch, though, if his mother and /
don't look out. afore he's big enough to
hunt hens eggs or tie up grapevine. "
And reaching down he drew upon his
knee and gave great hug to sun
tanned, toW-headed boy that had just
entered; the child of their old age, born
the year the shanty had been put up
and the first grape.vines planted.
II is bid 'nough to hunt edds now"
retorted the little fellow, squirming to
release himself from his fathers arms.
Il did found a whole mes full out I'M
der, the roses bush, and you've broke
'em;. see"
And he ran his hand into his pocket
and withdrawing it covered with the
yolk of the eggs stood holding it up,
while the liquid dripped down over his
clothes.
''You should Mt have put the eggs in
your pocket" said his father, laughing
at the spectacle which he presented.
"You might have known they would
have got broken and spoil Your new
pants.
whats e use of pantses if 'ou tan't
put edds IN e pottits, I'd lite to know, "
replied the youngster as he waddled off
to his mother to be cleaned up and fit
ted for some new adventure. '.Des I
tan put edds in my own potts if 'ants
to, " he added, by way of clincher, as
| his father playfully stopped to chuck
him with his finger as he passed out to
his work.
When the seasons fruit had all been
| gathered it was fouhd that the last half
of the crop had ''panned out all right
as compared with that marketed earlier,
and it was decided to send the girls
away to school for the winter instead
Eof waiting until spring, when a new
house was to be begun, and when their
services would be much more needed
by their mother. But instead of going
to San Francisco they would only go to
Sacramento, where there was very
| good school under the charge of Prof.
/ Cook, and being nearer they could be
the sooner reached in case they should
be taken sick.
| Letting the girls go from her side was
the hardest thing Martha Parsons had
been called upon to do since she let
John take her arms from around his
neck and start on his long journey
twelve years before, when they lived in
the log house back in the States; but
like other mothers she loved her chill
dren and was unwilling that her girls
should grow up without every advan-
tage possible to give them. Their OPP
portunities for attending school had
never been very good, and for time
after they had settled in their present
home they were without any instruction
except such as she could herself find
time to give; and it was she, and
not their father, who had suggested
sending them away to school.
In fact he had at first opposed it; not
because of the expense, but because he
thought their mother needed their help,
and because he did not like to be sepa-
rated from them.
His own education was not so good
as that of his wife, and he did not look
as far into the future in planning for
their welfare; or if so, he did not under
stand as well as she how completely an
uneducated woman, married to man
who follows some kind of manual labor
for q living, is cut off from all social
and intellectual intercourse with her
kind, and how barren Of all that is
beautiful and ennobling her life be-
comes.
1t is bad enough to be tied to an end
/ less round of household duties, even
when the mind can take occasional rest
and recreation in the perusal of book
or paper; when sufficient taste has been
developed to induce the taking OF some
interest in passing events outside d
ones own school district; but when, as
is the case with thousands of women, no
such taste has been cultivated in girl
hood, and the seeming duties OF wife
and motherhood leave no time to ac-
. duire or devote to it at a later period,
| life becomes no more than an animal
existence a stagnant pool,
across whose waters no fresh breezes
blow: on whose margin no fair flowers
bloom; in whose depths is mirrored nc
silyery moon, no star of hope; and the
spirit which should be prepared at the
death of the body to mount to higher
planes of thought and action, finds
itself bound by chains forged on earth
chains which are not broken by the
death of the body, but must still weigh
down the soul in its efforts to mount
upward into a higher and better and
holier atmosphere.
81 This Mrs. Parsons not only knew but
felt. and she was determined that nc