The Opelousas courier., 1891-06-27
RAISING THE MONEY.
BY MILTON T. ADKINS.

'EoW $ 1ne ColoneI SebG1n9 alongs'
"The Colonel's a fool"
"And how is Elinor b~ehaving2"
"She's a pinny; she's an unmitigated
noodle; they both are; they won't either
of them do what they ought to do, nor
say what they ought to say"
"It's too bad"
~ think I'll kill him in a duel, give
her a dose of poison, let the villain Jerry
Smith marry the cousin and then wash
my hands of the whole business"
The foregoing rather startling CONVEX
sation took place between two lady-like,
pleasant-faced young women, who occu-
pied a suite of rooms in the fourth story
of a certain establishment in Washington,
which said establishment was much at.
fected by people given over to that
doubtful mode of life known as eight
housekeeping"
They were sisters, and enough alike in
face, form, manner and voice to be
twins; IN fact, they were twins.
They had come to Washington three
years before from one of the Southern
States, hoping to obtain Government
employment in one of the departments,
but all efforts in that direction had been
fruitless. The family had been very
wealthy before the war, but that terrible
struggle had swept away their fortune.
The brothers had fallen in battle, and
the father, after struggling along for a
few years under the unaccustomed load
of poverty and adversely, had sunk be-
meath the burden. The gentle lady
mother had soon followed, and the twins,
mere babes when peace came, had spent
some years of their childhood with a
maiden aunt, their only living relative.
She, in turn, had gone the way of all
the earth, leaving the girls, to whom she
had been a second mother, her dying
blessing, but nothing in the way Of
worldly gear beyond some old-fashioned
furniture and a tract of wild mountain
land upon which she had paid taxes for
forty years without receiving a ceft OF
income therefor.
The homestead in the village was
swept away, by a mortgage, long over
due, and so the girls, after disposing OF
the heavier personal effects, had gath
cred their remaining goods and chattels
and sought a home and a means of i've
lihood in the capital city.
But it had been q Wearisome quest.
Clerkships and other minor places in the
departments were no longer to be had at
the request of members and Senators,
even if they could have brought such in-
fiuences to bear. The new Civil Service
law had superseded all that. They had
taken the examinations and passed high
up on the list, but somehow the quota
from their State seemed always to be
full, and they were never certified.
Katie, the elder, had a sweet sym5a-
thetic voice, and earned something by
giving music lessons, and by occasional
employment as a substitute in some one
OF the church choirs. Annie gave paint
ing lessons when so fortunate as to have
any pupils, and latterly had discovered
that she could write little sketches and
stories, which upon being committed to
the editors of the story papers, by mail,
now and then bore most astonishing
fruit, in the shape of very modest, but
most welcome checks.
1t was in regard to the characters in
n OF these sketches, that the converse
ton we have detailed, took place. The
young authoress had experienced a diff
Guilty said to be quite common, even to
the veterans in the field of letters-her
characters had taken the bit and had
broken away from all control.
LET them have a rest, TWinnie Sissy.
and come look out the window with me-"
said Katie.
The other puekered her lips and
creased her pretty forehead over the per-
verse Colonel" A blare of music came
up from the street.
.Come quick and see the procession go
by
The scratching of the pen was the
only $
The speaker drummed idly on the
pane till the sounds died away in the
street below, then stealing on tip-toe to
the writer's side, placed one arm around
her waist, and drew her gently away
from the desk.
aTwinnie Sister mine, come away this
instant. Let the Colonel cut I'D all the
high jinks he can think of, while you
come here and let me give you an old
fashioned talking to-
Il wa just getting them untangled."
moaned Annie.
nonly listen TO the child. What's
the good of it all, when you get them
untangled2 One chance in about ten
that it ever brings you anything. tell
you, Annie, | am tired of the whole
business, the music, the painting, the
scribb.ng, and all of it. The trouble
with us is, that while we may be counted
clever in whatever we have tried to do.
We are nothing more; and it is getting
to be SO IN this hard world that there is