St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-07-17

| ways 81 SSSotihS Things tiiO iCsb VI us
never would have thought of. This
time he appalled, us all by saying:
You don't suppose grandmother has
gone and had grandfather crenlated
on the sly, and has him in this jar?'
JEFF Barker!'' cried sister Kate, as
she took her nose away from the top Of
the jar.
don't you ever say such awful
things again. cried sister Mary; sit
makes me sick to think of it!''
such things have been DONE" said
JEFF, stontly, land | wouldn't be bit
surprised if
But Mary and Kate had fed from the
room, and JEFF threw himself down on
the feather-bed and laughed.
One of our cousins in Minnesota
wrote to me and asked:
do you know what grandm other has in
that black jar? Ma says she has no idea
what is in it, and the cousins in New Jersey
wrote and asked US if grandma had brought
the jar here"
JEFF and l and our two older sisters
were along in our teens now, but our
interest in that jar did not abate in the
least.
Its just one of grandma S whins, y
said mother one evening. You know
grandma is old and childish. as most
people of her age are apt to be. am
sure | don't care how many old jars
she has For five years we discussed
the probable contents of that jar. which
came and went with grandmother in
all her iourneyings to and fro. She
had eight children, all married. and
living in different States, and she Wis
tied all of her children in those five
years. and the jar went with her.
Her box was delayed for two months
once On Western railroad line, and
she wrote to my mother:
MY box is not here yet, and am having
to sleep on one of them nasty hair-mat
tresses. which | do despise, and / feel lost
without that jar | do hope nothing will
happen to it. -
After that we felt more confident than
ever that the jar contained hidden
teasures, aud most of our thirty-fve
cousins were also of this opinion. They
had all seen the iar-the outside of it
only. Some of us. great boys and girls
in our teens, had lain awake nights
wondering what contd be in that jar.
but / am glad to remember, now that
we are all men and women, that we
had too much veneration for grand
mother, and too much respect for our
selves, to pry into her secret. if secret
it was, by opening the jar. Even the
Murray cousin who s'nearly broke his
head falling from grandma closet
shelf, Indignantly denied that he had
any idea of opening the jar. He said
he simply intended to "shake 1T and
smell of it, and he felt that his tum-
BILE was just punishment for even this
lack Of respect to grandmother. At
the end OF the five years, grandmother
was visiting in Kansas. Ny brothers
and sisters and were sitting around
the fire one evening in November,
talking about the jar and wishing it
and grandma were both in our home
again. We were now all firm in the
conviction that the jar contained vail
tables that might be ours some day if
we were good enough to deserve them |
Our cousins all shared this belief We |
had heard of stranger things. and |
grandfather and grandmother had both |
been noted for their eccentricities.
While we were sitting around the fire,
sather came home from town with a
. letter for me. 1t was from one of nv
Kansas cousins. The letter was long
md ..newsy,n and added to it was this
'ggrayating and exciting postscript:
sGrandmothers black jar fell down and
'roke al to pieces to-day. We cousins are
bought am writing in a big hurry, so
rOOd-bye."
We were so excited that we could not
leep that night, and were fairly fu-
ious with Cousin Ben for ending his
etter so abruptly. Even father and
mother were interested now, and | sat
own and wrote to Ben to write ..inl-
lediately at once and tell us what the
ar contained. JEFF and / feared that
herewas conspiracy on foot to rob
$ Of our rightfnl share of the jar con-
ents, and there were other cousins who
W awake that night thinking the same
hing, for Ben had sent postals or let
BIS with postscrips to all the other
ousins. telling them what he had told
5, and no more. A whole week
ragged away, and then jeff and /
'rote saucy letter to Ben. JEFF
lought had better intimate that it
fould be impossible to defraud us. and
1ggested that say something about
securing legal advice if Ben did not
rite at once, and tell us what that jar
1ntained.
Ben wrote. A postal came tire days
ter had mailed the second letter.
yer the postal was scrawled in blue
TX:
There wasn't solitary thing in that jar
was her old herb jar for her camomile,
everlasting and such. Poor
'ul. Howdo you wish yours sents''
The stately household legend was