The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-05-01


III ShOn em!" he said. again and again
They shan't always cali me their town
looi' II l do wear their old duds now
and work for my keep. earn all 1 get,
and they know it. I'll shoso emr'
The next day at school he was the
same smiling, good-natured boy he had
always been; but his lessons were un-
usually we'll learned and he was less
mischievous in school,
He had never been known to ha
rude or saucy to his teachers, and some
OF them, believing what they had
nearo about him, accepted his good be-
haV1or and unusual courtesy as evidence
OF the fact that he had not wit enough
to be as bad as some of the seemingly
brighter boys.
They never saw beneath the surface
OF his nature, and, like some other
boys, Hiram hid his strong points and
revealed the weak ones
When school closed that spring. Hi
ram surprised Farmer Gerrish by de-
manding wages for his work in the fu-
| ture,
''I'll be fifteen years old in a month, i"
he said, ''and I'm too old to work for
just my keep, 'speshly when 1 do the
same work you pay man twenty dol
lars month for doing. / want ten doll
lars month this summer, and if 1 amt
worth it to you, I'll make myself worth
it to some other farmer
Mr.. Gerrish considered the matter for
a day or two, and came to the conclusion
that he couldn't get along without
| Hiram.
"But it'n seem queer to pay han
wages" he said to his wife. ST don't
believe he'll know how to use money
when he gets it,
So Hiram received seventy dollars
for his work that summer, and in the
fall he went to live with Miss Fanny
Gregg, maiden lady of sixty, agreeing
to work for his board if allowed to at
tend school.
Miss Gregg was a somewhat eccentric
person herself, and the villagers said
that 1.-TWO queer ones had met. when
Hiram went to live with her; but her
| eccentricity was valuable to Hiram, for
she gave him sympathy and encourage
ment in his fixed determination to 'sbe
somebody"
He spent twenty of his hard-earned
dollars for the first whole suit of new
and he felt his self-respect rise good
many degrees when he arrayed himself
in his purchase and started off to school
with sachel Miss Fanny had made for
him, filled with the first new books he
had ever had.
The remainder of his money had been
given into Miss Gregg's keeping, but
Hiram had well-defined idea of what
he intended doing with it and the
savings he intended adding to it.
Decently dressed, he did not look nox
act like the Hiram the villagers had
always known, but he still had an
original way of speaking and acting
that distinguished him from other boys,
and the villagers still thought him
''queer."
Some of his teachers began to see in
him degree of shrewdness and keen
ness of perception unnoticed by others.
The second summer he demanded and
received fifteen dollars per month of
Farmer Gerrish, and the second winter
he staid with Miss Gregg and attended
school.
In the spring the ''town fool" an
nounced his intention of going West to
seek his fortune, and the villagers shook
their heads and prophesied all sorts of
disaster as the result of such venture.
"You'd better stay here, Hi, and try
to get you little piece of ground and
settle down to farming" counseled Mr..
Gerrish. But to his wife he said: 1.-THE
boy hasn't wit enough to go off among
strangers that way. He'd better stay
here among his friends"
But Hiram put his few belongings into
satchel and departed-''to come to no
good end, as his acquaintances predict
ed; and it was not long before he was
forgotten, or, if his name was mentioned
it was in tone of commiseration.
s'Poor Hi Curry!' some one said, occa-
sionally. 81 wonder what ever became
of him? He went to the bad, reckon"
Meanwhile, the boys who had gone to
school with Hiram, and who had laughed
at what they were pleased to call his
''greenness these boys, most of them,
grew to be men, and left the school to
engage in various occupations.
The most successful one of them all
became clerk, and then part owner of
a small dry goods store in the town.
About this time the first railroad it
had ever had ran into Wendom, and the
town began to have what would be called
"boom" in the West.
Soon after the arrival of the railroad,
there came into the town number of
capitalists, who had heard of the SUI
perior advantages the town offered for
the establishment of large manufac-
tory, now that it had railroad facilities,
and the result of their visit was that
within ten days more than a hundred
men were atlwork on the river bank,
excavating for an immense mandatory,
that would give employment to hum
dreds of families, and add greatly to the
Importance and population of the town.
A house, handsomer than any in the
village, was erected for the superintend-
ent of the works, who, it was said, would
arrive some weeks before the manufac-
tory was completed. and all applications
for situations must he made tn hiva