The Opelousas courier., 1890-11-29
MY BODY-GUARD.
Some Rumiliating Incidents Of My
Boyhood Days.

Boyhood Days.
IT is because | am far removed from
those who knew me when / was q boy
that I have the moral courage to write
the following details Of something that
occurred in my youth. ] should not
care to meet the jeers and gibes OF my
old friends, who will recall as well as /
do the humiliating incidents | am about
to narrate.
The scene was a rural district in a
Western State, and the affair was the
result OF my first attempt to play the
beau. ] was sixteen years old at the
time, and the young lady whom | fa-
vored with my attentions was a year
younger.
There was to be a party at a farm
house in the neighborhood, to which
my brother Frank and / had been in
vited. | conceived the idea Of putting
behind me childish things, and of fig
uring as q young gentleman, by escort
ing Miss jamie Sharpe to the party at
Farmer Trufant's.
Miss jamie sat just across the aisle
from me at the little country school,
so that it was easy enough for me to
make known my desire to her, which l
did by wiping my slate very clean, and
drawing a wreath of q~ueer-looking
flowers around the edges, with a sup
| posed turtle-dove in each corner In
the center / wrote:
Miss JAM. Compliments of the season
from Mister Silas b.. Darby to Miss Jane
Sharpe, deziring the pleasure of her society to
the Party tonight. Let me know on the other
side of the slate, when the teeeher is not a-look
ing"
| never could spell well, but / did
think | knew how to write an invitation
according to the rules of polite society,
and fancied my note to be most elegant
in form.
When ! slyly slipped the note across
to Miss Jane, she glanced at it, read the
lines. and was at once seized with q
violent and prolonged fit of giggling.
Then she again read the note, peeped
shyly at me over the top OF the slate,
her bright blue eyes twinkling merrily,
ducked her head down under the desk,
and giggled again, after which she
leaned halfway across the aisle, ali,
whispered:
"Aint you ashamed of yourself. ST
Darbyf9
Nevertheless. when the slate came
back t me, there was scrawled on it
these words:
Miss Sharpe accepts Of the Company OF
Mister Silas Darby, with thanks for the same
Then Miss Sharpe turned her back
upon me, and again fell to giggling, and
did not glance toward me again that
day.
Now while / was not a coWardly boy,
there was one animal OF which I was
mortally afraid, and that was a dog. /
never could overcome my fear of a
savage dog; the bark of one mad9s my
blood run cold, and I could not be in
duced to go to a house where n was
kept. Tho ugliest little cur could
easily put me to flight, and / never
could be made to believe that there
wore dogs which would not bite.
Ten minutes after Miss Jane had sent
mo her note, accepting my company,
there flashed into my mind the sickeu-
ing recollection that Farmer Trufant
was the owner of an ugly, noisy, vic
ious-looking dog, of which | was very
much afraid. although | had repeatedly
been told that this dog was a living
verifcation of the old saying that
s.barking dogs never bite Old lobe
was such an evii-looking, sullen animal
that ] had no confidence that his ma
ture was peaceable. and ] could not
think of encountering him at night
without q feeling Of horror.
Now my brother Frank was not afraid
of dogs. He was fond of them, and
had a way of making friends at once
with even savage dogs. II they were
too sullen and vicious to succumb to a
s~oft-voiced, coaxing way he had. he
could glare at them, and ear out: Be
gonei" in a way that always put them
to flight / had always envied him his
power over dogs, but so much as
on the day / asked Miss jamie to ac-
company me to the party.
My anxiety grew greater as the day
wore on, and when evening came had
made up my mind to do a very humil-
iating thing. I would ask Frank to 60
with me ais Il sort Of body-guard, keep
ing at d respectful distance, al body
guards SHOULD do.
Frank was a ~good-natured, funloving
boy, and he mortified me very much by
bursting into a roar of laughter when 1
made my appeal to him on our way
home from school that night.
.Oh, he had to take the boys along
to keep the dogs away he shouted,
changing a line Of an old rhyme to suit
the occasion, and dancing up and down
before ND in the road.
Then, taking advantage Of my neces-
sity. he began making hard terms with
me, insisting on having my handsome
pair Of new skates la return for his old
ones -terins that ! agreed to On CON
dition that he kept absolutely silent re-
garding His part in the affair, and did
not desert me at the critical moment
The truth is, Frank was Unfortunately
fond of d joke, and ! was careful to
guard against his playing d on me
this time But he promised to settle
any dog that made Its appearance. and
sscrossed his heart in token of absolute