The Opelousas courier., 1889-06-08

w 11o "ouAN OSSL SS AAt1hy oA4aSS
could be collected in SO small q space!
and what a pity it is to spoil the incest
corner of the yard in that way! y
Lynn" she interrupted herself, GIVE
got an ideal"
The boy looked up roguishly, a
saucy answer on the tip of his tongue.
'.No, it isn't lonesome! There are
plenty more of them, you will find.
But, seriously, do you remember that
article ON Japanese homes which |
read to you a few weeks ago and which
pleased you so much? Do you sup
pose such a plot of ground as this
would 90 to waste among that thrifty
people? Lynn, let as have a garden.
I'll ask Aunt Euphemia's CONSENT"
and she was off like a fash.
Permission was readily given,
though Aunt Marcia did suggest that
Lou would look better working away
at the crochet she detested than max
ing a tofhboy of herself out-of-doors.
IA girl sixteen years DID," she began,
but Lou saw consent in Aunt
Euphemia's eyes and rushed off before
further remonstrance was prepared.
How they worked for the next hour!
The brush was carried to a bare place
in the garden, where it could be
burned. Some twisted poles selected
from the rest were cut by Louis orders
into four-feet lengths and laid away.
The barrels were rolled to n side, the
cans and cracked kettle put by them
selves with the rusty pans and a leaky
tin pail which they found slowed under
the rub0lsh. The great stump was
immovable. "But it's just as WE'LL"
said Lou, consolingly, ''for | think we
can mako it ornamental" Then the
two went to work with their garden
rakes till every stick, stone and straw
was removed. and a clean, grassy plot
of ground rewarded their exertions.
Lou looked over the field of opera
tions with exultant eyes. "Do you
think you can saw these barrels in
two?" she asked, a little a~nxiously.
There vas a tired look on Lynn's face;
the May day was soft and warm, and
the unusual exercise told on his relaxed
muscles. Lou vas quick to read the
signs Of rebellion. II mustn't dis
courage him at first" she thought,
land really I ARE more about amusing
him than l do about the work. I think
done enough 3r n day." she
said, hanging up her rake, ''but Unjust
have some paint. Will you go to the
shop for me, Lynn, and get ten cents
worth of red Vad? We have oil,
varnish and brushes here;" and when
the boy asked, curiously: "What are
you going to do with it?" she smiled.
provokingly, and answered: 'You Will
see tomorrow"
The next morning she took him to
the wood-shed. where lay the cans
whose tops she had neatly removed at
the kitchen fire during his absence.
On the workbench stood the pail of
red paint which she had prepared, and
she patiently taught him to paint the
cans neatly and smoothly. 1t was like
q new play; and Lynn became SO inter-
ested that it was with difficulty she re-
strained him frGn ornamenting the
wood-shed ceiling and the barn and
fences when his task was done. She
gave him permission to bring in the
cracked kettle, the pail and pans and
exhaust his ingenuity upon them; and
as. when this was done, he still longed
like Alexander for more worlds to CON
quer, she sent him to transplant some
bitter-sweet vines on the orchard bor-
ders, and set them along the fences
which bounded two sides of their gar
den, intermixing them with a wild
grapevine and Virginia creeper from
the woods.
Two busy weeks followed. Lynn
became so enthusiastic over his work
1that he fairly grudgA the hours which
his father insisted ppon his d~evoting
to his other duties; while the boy in
turn stoutly insisted that his father
should not go near the Eel of his la
boIy till permission was given him-a
command easily obeyed, IS Mr.. But
ler's business kept him busily engaged
from early morning till twilight
Lynn was growing quiet, industrious
and less aggressive. His aunts and
grandmother looked on approvingly
as he bent over old magazines, vol.
umes of landscape gardening and 9TH
er miscellanies. searching for plans
and IDEAS. There were deep consulta-
tionA and mysterious whisperings,
days OF fruitless toll, nights of discour.
agement. and, at Taste triumph
One afternoon, in the early June,
Mr.. Butler. who had given himself 8
half holiday, was invited to accom-
pany his mother and sisters to a tea
drinking to be held in the
"Addition!" prompted Lynn, as Lot
hesitatede flor a name. s'That's the
way it is in the papers always, Sim
mons addition!' Jones addition!' an6
IL this isn't an addition to the Butler
plantation, then I'd like to know wha
it isl
The guests stopped on the borders o
the enchanted land in surprise. Where
once had lain a pile of refuse, giving
birth and sustenance through previous
summers to a colony of giant weeds
was a wide stretching space of velvet.
grass, freed from every intrusive plant
ain, burdock or nettle. The vine'
along the fences were putting fortl
tender leaves; at their intersection
L ). 49,. - -. .--1-l .A.....lAl