St. Landry democrat., 1886-10-16
A BIT OF DRIFT.
The Return Of Mr.. banks to His
Poor Home.

'Brutus Cassius banks! Are you
going after that water, or do you expect
the spring to come to you?'
The man thus pointedly addressed
slid slowly down from the fence where
he was sitting whiting, closed his huge
jackknife by pressing its point against
the rail, and shambled toward the house
The woman in the doorway watched his
leisurely approach with an expression
curiously mingled Of Indifference and
irritation.
A small, STOPPING figure, with weak
slope to the chin and shoulders; the
flaccid face with fringe of hay-colored
beard, and surmounted by sunburned
hat; the loose, unshapely clothes which
seemed to have adapted themselves to
the wearer's habit of mind-was this the
pink-cheeked, trim young fellow who
courted her fifteen years ago?
Il was a-thinkin', Malviny," he said,
taking the pail from her outstretched
hand, ''that ketch of fish would taste
kinder good. We've had mush pretty
stiddy lately"
1T ain my fault" said the woman,
shortly.
.sNo! Is'pose it amt" he reioined,
slowly, as though the fact occurred to
him for the first time
Just then little tow-headed girl ran
round the corner of the house.
Where are you goin', daddy?" she
called.
down to the spring. Want to 60,
Capitola?" he answered
She looked lovingly at him with her
china blue eyes, slipped her grimy little
hand into his, and trudged off beside
him.
The woman stood on the doorstone
looking after them. ''They are we'll
mated" she thought, bitterly. ''One
has as much idea of getting a living as
the other.''
She had not lacked warnings years
ago; for Malvina Frost, with her slim,
straight figure and swapping black eyes,
mothers of manageable sons did not
hesitate to enlarge in her hearing upon
the ''Danks shiftlessness, reinforcing
their own opinions by sundry old prov
erbs, such as s'What's bred in the bone
will come out in the fesh," and 'Like |
father, like son." But Malvina only
tossed her black curls, and went her
own way.
So one June they were married, and
went to housekeeping in a little house
on the banks Of the Ohio; and Malvina,
in the strength of her youth and love,
felt able to move mountains, but she
found the gravitation of inherited shift
lessness too much for her. He had done
we'll for a time. The little cottage was
neatly fixed up, and when, a year after,
the first baby came, the young father,
with his own hands, fashioned for it a
cradle that was the wonder and envy
of the neighborhood But heredity was
too strong for him, and, though the
cradle had six successive occupants, its
first coat OF paint was never renewed.
Mrs. banks had never heard of Sissy
phus. Ii she had she would have found
her task very much like his, with the
exception that hers was infinitely harder
and more hopeless.
What was it? Mental, or moral, or
physical weakness, or all three? Or an
evil fate, that whatever he turned his
hand to Immediately failed? Even his
name seemed an unkind fling of for
tune. His mother having attended,
shortly before his birth, the perform
ance of some strolling actors, was so
much impressed that the name Of
Brutus Cassius was waiting for him
when be arrived upon the stage where
he was to play so insignificant a part.
It was seldom, however, that he hadthe
benefit OF his full name, for the COM
munity in which he grew up delighted
ia authorizations. But even their rough
fam arity hesitated to call man
brute to his face; SO he was dubbed