The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-02-18
ONLY HOPE"
Why the Blue-Eyed LitSNALady
Was Christened I" Our Hops."

When Hope Harris was born, they
said she was poor little thing and
could never amount to .much. AS to
whether they meant ''mucho in regard
70 flesh and blood, or the size and
amount of brains, was not explained:
but they said it with plying faces and
low voices, and mourned with the moth.
er tkat the child was so insignificant.
Why they named her Hope, is quite
as hard to tell, unless in the small en-
deayor to make her hopeful in some
way.
She was little, and weak, and gentle;
no one asked for her opinion in regard
to anything; no one took it if it was
given. She was just ..little Hope to
her mother and father and half dozen
brothers and sisters--sweetly pretty,
with eyes like bits OF the skies-deep.
unfathomable-hair like the soft. vel
low silk of the corn swaying down in
the meadows, clear, delicate COM
plexion, and a gentle smile that suited
well her wee round figure and tiny
hands
Her big, broad-shouldered brothers
laughed at and teased her; her tall,
graceful sisters snubbed her unceas.
ingly.
She was '.only Hope" to them all.
FROM childhood she grew to girIhood.
"Standng with reluctant feet
Where the brook and river meet,
Womanhood and childhood sweet"
At home they gave her up as incor-
figible, and left her to her own devices.
All those small, apparently useless
things that slip into the days occupa-
ton OF large household fell to Hope.
UP and down stairs went her tireless
feet, performing those duties which
rome OF the others would do, as being
TOO mean and trivial for their notice.
vet without which the household wheel
GOULD not have gone round. II there
was catch in fhe wheel, or the hubs
were loose, it was Hope alone who
could mend and oil. the machinery.
her flngers were the ones that caught
up the dropped stitches in her mothers
Knitting; her quaint little ballads were
the music which soothed her fathers
heart; her soft words healed many a
quarrel between her brothers, even as
hes needle mended the rents in their
clothes. Still, to herself, as well as to
them. she was ''only Hope,n of little
account, and less use in the big, wide
world.
Her brothers and sisters married. one
after the other; the oldest sister with
her husband and children came to I've
a the old homestead, and Hope lived
on there, too, without any desire to
marry or change her lot. She was
quite contented; of little use, perhaps.
out then it was home they all knew
nef, she did not have to explain that
sue knew almost nothing, was not wise
u any way. Yet her brothers and
s'sters children seemed to find no one
U Wnom they confided as in her, even
walle they, too, fell in with the general
gunstom, and called her. .'onlY Aunt
lime passed on, swinging his scythe
and. 10, in his path rose war. looseninp
.he iasn from his hounds! In place of
.ne ehurch-bells Numbered the cannon,
shie dense smoke hung, fog-like, over
sse NILS that echoed back the ringing
J. " steel on steel. the snorts of the horses.
we shouting of men!
Hopes brothers went out from the
y ..sorn-neids and laid down the plow for
Ms sword. There were wet eyes and
ssa hearts at the homestead, but the
.gsantry called out for her sons. and
mese broad-shouldered laddies must 90.
sau me wives and daughters, the moth
sn.s N ana sisters, smiled bravely through
tanope grew daily silent and thouoht-
-.,,1er ..u,, blue eyes wide and wistful.
no.s nnat ails you, child?" asked her
a. ts'nsr ~ one day, as they all sat ont on
snady piazza, busily plying the
hung lnaa needles through the bands of
r. ~ 'aat We're to go as bandaces to
s ..Nal Wounded soldiers far away.
.n;,,s .n;,S,oshing. mother answered Hone
waa. hs as she turned down a hem and
IT.. aI something does all you.n said
eays.,n a,arrls, IT her aged eyes searching
as,sssY Y the fair young face. ..You are
eoaig is $ auiet, Hope, but lately, a stone
's hardly be duller than you.''
! 'ssIss es;, sitAer, Aunt Hope. cl,imed in
vent 's,sn = voice at her knee, ..an'
= sour room last night cause /