St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-01-19

l "1pCu bIIc1E SpGCGcCloS. Duuly 1OOhC
nervous Old Mr.. Toddlethwaite clutch
e. his Charter Oak cane and took
homeopathic pellet.
Bob began like q goo
fellow, and possible orator
simply. heartily, clearly; with the fin
ish of his best study, and with the fer
vorr of his eager feeling; Bob had both
He began magnifcently:
son the fifth day of last Decernbe
there came to this land a man of alie1
blood, of foreign and unfamiliar habit
costume and accent, yet the most elo
quent'"
Suddenly there came STIR Acros
the crowded house swept a sense tina
something was wrong. Wha
had happened? Gresham still ''spokt
straight on" What had happened
Could he be any whittier than he was be
fore? Did he tremble? Did he totter!
Was he faint? Did his fine, ringing
voice sink? What was that look of pair
and strangeness settling between hit
eyes?
Among the memories of Bunker
Hill-everywhere he has held all with
charm as absolute as that with which
the Ancient Mariner"
''There was pause! In the brave
young voice there was dreadful pause.
The audience turned sick at heart.
Poor Bob rallied, struggled, struck his
hand to his gray-white facet
"'Among the memories every
where he has held all with a charm" -
1t was gone. 1t was all gone; every
word; every thought; he looked pit
eously about; the great audience was a
blank before him, his exhausted brain
was blank to himself. Every thing
was gone. Not sentence answered to
his command. He had broken utterly,
before them all. He gazed all EN- one
moment with distssala bnfding
smile; then he bsnnnt' tottered
dropped. ~
The doctor was tEasre, lid picked him
up. The audience was well-nigh in an
uproar. Mr.. Toddlethwaite swallowed
his whole bottleful of pellets. The COM
mittee put on all their spectacles, and
Bunny called for order. In much agi-
tation, and deprecating the painful cir
cumstance in proper words that nobody
listened to, the committee awarded the
first prize to Arthur Jiggs Bones; and
Mr. Toddlethwaite gave Arthur Jiggs
Bones fifty dollars. It was a dreadful
Half the girls were crying
and she of the pink kids and bangs was
in Mysteries The academy boys looked
'ulky, and poor Bones retired from pub
ic gaze with his fifty dollars. 1t was
'ard on him, for he was good enough
elbow, and had worked like slave for
hat prize speaking.
Now in the midst of it all, something
happened. While they were
Ill in the state they were-confusion in
he audience, buzzing on the stage, and
the mischief to pay in that
hall-up through the crowded
lall an old woman forced her way stout
to the front. She was queer-look-
ng old lady. She had asdreadful black |
onnet, and a lank old threadbare dress. |
'he wore black barege shawl, |
Justly and ugly She looked very
DOR and out of date, and out of the
7orld, and timid and frightened. Yes, |
he looked frightened to death, but she
ushed on and on and straight up the
latform steps, and there she stood
rembling before them all.
Ladies' and gentlemen cried the
Id lady, in a shrill quaver, Il never
poke in meetin' in all my life. 1 don't
now how. But I'm going to tell you
if I die for it. I'd like to
how if this town don't give prizes to
1gels OF mercy, for if it don't, it
lghter-and that what he is-and you
now boys amt angels naterally-but
, isn't short of it, for / know it that
I've reason to, and when l heard / just
it my boy and run over, for I've got ;
speak my mind, though never, never
d speak in meetin' nor never shall {
dot again. It's on account of him,
dies and gentlemen, that I amt !,
for my dead son this minute {
re before your eyes. It's because of t
m that set up night after night and |
last night-instead of learnin' his /
ace. Ladies and gentlemen, he set a
side my dyin' boy, that is alive and \
yoin' to be, because of him. God
,ss him! IT'S him that did it, it's all ]
n, him, him, that's earned bigger e
lze than Toddlethwaite's, and some 2
dy'd ought to tell you-and nobody r
land SO land SO Lord have
'rcym said the old lady, suddenly, i.
m scared to death! Let me out Let
by. Let me 60 home. I'll go back r
my son. Let me go. I'm afraid t,
me go! And God bless Bobby a
esham if you don't!'' o
God bless him." said the committee. n
ping its glasses, as somebody helped n
old lady out of the way.
God bless him." murmured the audi h
q from end to end. 81
Bless him." said Bunny, winking p
d at the audience. 81
God bless him anyhow cried old o,
Toddlethwaite as loud as any well b,
n. And if he's anywhere round, lie
him show himself!'' a,
lob, pale and smiling, on somebody's ca
q, came out OF his faint from some
ere, and stood before the audience
Mt. white--with no prize speech up
his trembling lips-but with look il
t Bones or any fellow might have n,