St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-11-14
CHAPTER XIV.
DEEPENING SHADOWS.

| CHAPTER XIV.
DEEPENING SHADOWS.
So that he gathered the red ore and precious
stones, 1E
What has man ever cared for hearts thai
| bled?
What has he rocked of affairs oyerthroWn;
OF brave men dead; of hearthstone8
OyergroWn with weeds?
Louder speak than words and deeds
i Of man in all the past proclaim
| He only cared for gold-gold and name:
| For that his name might live,
/ He oft has carved it deep in living,
| Quivering human flesh;
| Just as he mar'd the beauty of the hills,
/ And bard the streams from out their places,
And scar'd the face of nature
! With deep seams cut in her face
In his mad search for gold.
| A very foolish thought it Was-that
of John Parsons that rich company
which had expended more than one
hundred thousand dollars in erecting
water fumes and sluices for washing
down the hills and gathering gold,
would cease operations just because a
few thousand acres of vineyard and
grain lands would be destroyed, and
the homes of a hundred poor men
made desolate.
And yet John Parsons saw nothing
foolish in the thought. On the contrary
he felt momentarily certain that when
he should show Mr.. Jobbers how the
stones and earth washed down would
be carried through the sluice into the
gorge, and from there into the creek,
filling up it's bed and causing it to seek
new channels; that with the first great
flood the sand and gravel would be
carried over the whole valley, and set
Ting as the water receded, render abso-
lutely Valueless thousands and thou
sands of acres of fine agricultural lands
worth more to future generations than
all the gold in the mountains; land now
covered with vineyards and orchards
and the cottages of honest people, who
had made every dollar they possessed
by hard work-surely, he thought,
when they know this, these men will
not refuse to cease their work of
destruction and leave the settlers in
peace Surely, these men who are al
ready rich and can provide their fami-
lies with every luxury, will not deprive
others of their homes in order to pile
up heaps of gold that can add nothing
to their own comfort.
No, no." he said to himself, sit is
not possible that they can be so heart
less as that They have not considered
the damage it will do to the ranchmen
and their families or they would never
have gone on with the work, and he
began to blame himself that he had
not sooner called their attention to the
fact, and so have saved these generous
men who were to suffer the loss of so
much wealth rather than wrong others,
and to devise means for raising at least
portion of it among his neighbors,
who would thus have escaped the
threatened destruction.
It could be arranged, he thought,
and no one suffer very greatly. He
would give five hundred or even a
thousand dollars himself. It was only
just that he should, since he had al
lowed the company to go TO such heavy
expenditures without calling their at
tention to the damage that would be
done, and doubtless many others would
do as much. Yes, it could all be ar
ranged easily, and his home would be
save after all.
All this passed through John Par.
sons brain in a moment as he turned
to follow Mr.. Jobbers.
He did not reason it out. It came as
an inspiration. In an instant the
whole situation, the degree of response
bility of each interested party, and the
requirements Of justice, stood out as
clearly as the clouds, when illumined
by the lightnings. stand out against
the blackness of earth and sky at mid
night.
Yet when he found himself in the
Office of the company, and had been
introduced to the representative of the
New York stockholders, he did not feel
quite so certain that they would see it
in the same light in which he saw it; or
that the inspiration which had come to
him had reached their minds also.
Somehow that look Of self-suhiciency
and air Of assured prosperity brought
back the clouds and made all dark
again.