The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1888-06-09

courtin, hit sho'fy is. You bats yo'
hook en- filings hit in the water en- the
good Lawd only knows what you
gwiue to ketch. Some wimmen is
monstrous hard to ketch en- ticklish to
hop arfter you gifts EN-, en- dey's lax
Spanish mackerel; en- some pibbies
roun en- you think you'se got EN- a
dozen times fo' you lans EN-, dey's lax
de perch; Ell some of EN- is mighty
pretty TO look at but mighty pc eatin,
dey's lax the carancke; en- some makes
"a mighty big fuss bout being caught,
dey's lax the croakers; en- some's lax
the sheepshead, dey amt no bait
tempts EN- but de fidilers. but the bes
one of all is de one OATS laying quiet
~ Waitin for you to come EN- git her,
lax de founder on still night"
The old fellow laughed softly at bis
make fresh cast.
"Jim," said, "what sort Of bait ii"
you use when y6u 90 courting? ?"
"Hi, mistiss," hereplied with grin,
CANT you shamed to try to stump de
ole man lax dat? 1 uses far words
mostly, chile, but shoe, hit don't mex
no difference. Wimmen is mostly got
mighty big mouths en- dey'll rise to
emmy kind of bait when de right fisher
man comes along, en-, honey, dey'it
swallow ennylhing."
That was the beginning of my &C.
luaintance with jim. BY and by we
grew tired of waiting for the fish to
bite and Jack rowed up the bayou TO
our landing place, leaving Jim i'm
movable in his pirogue, Il scarcely dis
linguishable object on the still stream,
half hidden in the coarse, rank grass
that leaned over the waters edge.
Since then I have seen Jim often.
He brings me his Strings of trout for
purchase and fingers for little gossi p
about the bayou and himself, for the
poor old fellow is often sadly lonely in
spite Of his philosophy and his luck
which is proverbial. l hardly know
whether he first told me himself, or if
I heard il through another, but some
how l learned that Jim's life had had
its lille romance; its sad little story
of IA faithful love scorned, wifo who
slipped away from the lonely lutte
cabin on the bayou TO the big noisy
city, leaving be poor old man broken
|
OF his Wife's absence IS il il was any-
thing more shan temporary. No
knight could be more truly loyal to has
queen 'hnn he i5 TO the woman who
for5ooA i,i;n, ard I think that in all
10Y life ! never was SO hunbied as az
his roprnnf one day when, in trying .o
comfort hitp, I lightly toll him he
should marry again and quoted the
old proverb about there being 'just
as good Esh in the sea-" He stood for
a moment IT'S if trying TO realize my
meaning, add thea he threw out his
hands with a gesture that WIS ALMOST
q prayer Of en,reaty.
"Doni say dat, mistiss,' be said
humbly, "don't say dat. Dey cam
never be nobody to the lax Arjte, en- C
she is ief me maybe some time she'i
come back again. Ev'y day l leave
de cabin do on the latch en- say may
be she'll be at homo when l gifts dert
tonight. Oh, she needn't be no wise
afeared TO come, case hits hoWdy and
welcome too when she comes back"
A knocking bird in the fig tree that
overhung the back gallery where WI
stood burst into sudden song.
"Uit minds me of ADj;e," ne sale
apologetically, s'she WIZ always lax =
mockin bird. She talked with mcnpy
tongues"
l dropped silently into his horny
palm the twC-bit piece for the bunci
of fish, and he turned and went with.
out word down the path that led t
the silent bayou.
l often think Of him in that grea
wasts of solitude, shut in 10y forest an,
marsh, waiting faithfully as dos
might for the return of an untaithfu
love, aud / wonder if the winds o
heaven that blow over him and III
reeds that sing TO him have no
taught him larger philosophy,
broader trust and n trucr content wit
life than books and men can teach.-
E2icUdeM N. Giinacr in ". O. Picoy,u2,
Three Louisiana Boys.
: lot al az I'll, I,