St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1892-03-12
A ll0CC2Si1 Among The Ho1bys.
BY RICHARD NJ. JOHNSTON.

l1oDpF, VINO, Wnen L was child, wa
one Of my fathers near neighbors AM
t friends He was not SO very, very little
, They called him so in distinction from
big cousin of the same name Every
body liked him. Even Maggy Tile
over and over again said that she though
a great deal of Joe. Yet she gave he1
hand i'll preference to the big cousin, ant
, so Little Joe, sorrowful as it all was, haC
; to bear it as well as he could. Maggy
noticing at her very last refusal how
hardly he took it, offered the consolation
which at such time, if girl would
only reflect for moment. is the very
poorest to be thought Of She told him
to never mind, for that it wouldn't be so
very long before he would find girl to
suit him to t, and then he would be Just
running over with joy that he hadn t
married Maggy Iiller Indeed, Maggy
was very sorry for his distress, so she
must say something, and she ddn t
know of anything better. Then he rose,
and, after shaking good-by, said:
Ono, Maggy, | can't got you; but I'll
never marry anybody else
lie went to the wedding, and with the
other guests extended congratulations,
and partook with reasonable zest of the
good things. Afterwards he was as good
a neighbor as BEFORE and good cousin
to both. My father said, out Of course
only in the family, that if he had been
in Maggy Tiller's place he would have
taken Little Joe, and let Big Joe go
somewhere else; for in his opinion Little
Joe was more Of man; and so, he sus-
pected, thought Maggy's mother. How
ever, he added, nobody can ever foresec
what girls will do in such cases.
Joe-Little Joe, mean-tried to 90
along about as he had been doing before
| his bad luck, as he called it; for he
never denied a single thing. But he was
as healthy in mind as in body, and he
felt that if Maggy and the other Joe
could do we'll, so far as he was con-
cerncd, they were welcome to do so. In
deed, he was better friend to them than
Jim Hobby, Big Joe's older brother,
whom Maggy had cast aside also, and
who IN pet went Oft and married Mandy
Brake, who wasn't as pretty as Magey
and had rather poor health besides.
And they did do well, that is moder-
ately well. If Big Joe's industry, man.
agoment and prudence had corresponded
with his physical proportions, they
would have done spendidly. AS it was,
out OF the good piece of ground which
they owned, they made quite enough to
live on, and perhaps q trife over; but
not nigh what Little Joe, who continued
to live with his mother, contrived to put |
aside yearly for rainy days.
The two families lived only a mile |
apart, AMI visiting continued to be kept !
up The same as il nothing had happened. !
IN decent time after the birth of their
baby, Little Joe went over there and
handed around his congratulations again.
When the baby was named 10, he |
had to congratulate again; and he did so,
like the man he was. 1t may have seemed
TO him somewhat monotonous whenever
he was there that the father was ever
laSi!ng'y saying that in some points, in /
deed IN almost every single blessed point,
he had not u doubt that that baby was
ahead Of anything of its age that could
be found in the whole State, let alone the
county
Why, Joe, he said, more times than
his nearer could recall, "Maggv'll tell
you herself that sometimes i have to
loose my mule from the plough half an
hour before the dinncr-horn blows. |
want to see him so bad.-Look' &c here
joe" he said nigh as many times to the
baby, you know who that is sitting in
that chair? You don't? Why, that's
your cousin Joe, same name as YOU. Not
named after him exactly, but all the same.
Ask Cousin Joe if he don't wish he had 2
Joe like you"
At such times Maggy smiled little
sco1d; but it did no good He would 90
on about it, and keep at it, not even
stopping at the dinner-tabIe, occasionally
getting up and making Little Joe get
repair to the bed or the cradle wherein
that baby was lying, and note how, when !
ne was not growing, he would be trying,
ust Tor the tun OF it, to ram his fists or
he coverlet into his eyer-open mouth. {
And then sometimes he would crown oil t
~ crying to the youngster about thus: {
''Going to be big man some dav. '
trent you?-a heap bigger than Cousin t
Joe" {
Such things he did often, not from anv s
hought OF malice towards his cousin, but |
'ut OF mere exuberance Of the conscious t
Tess OF his superiority to him. Little
'oe endured it all, and did what he could S
n simple ways to help them along. Once. t
When the baby was thought to be danger v
usiy SICK, he went there at nights, and, a
While the father slept, watched with the W
mother during the silent hours. Before il
Sig Joe was awake next morning he Fl
you'd be gone to his work. During that b
ime Jim Hobby never once came there. h
lis wife did, and wanted to help: but W
laggy, knowing that she was not strong Il
nough to do any good, thanked her and "
ent her home. 81
One would think that such as that o
ught always to come to an end Some O.
mes it does, as in this case it did. Early 81
l August, when the baby was only a I
ew weeks old, Big Joe got sick himself IN
eople said it was from having had too g
luch Fourth of July. Whatever was E
re cause, no sort Of medicine, old d.
omen.s nor doctors, could cure him; W
nd SO he died, leaving Maggy poor, tt
widow. With her baby she 81
loved back to her mothers, and it was ic
OF SO very long before she began to til
'ok as bright as ever, and perhaps some Of
rettier. Dc
could not undertake to say exactly to
DIV Little Joe felt on the occasion Of "
Is cousins death; but he said enT !la +
q what vas becoming, ne more, IL
less. He helped TO pat bin ava. hs
gently. and Their, helped Masgv to do ia
hat was to be Gone before sh eoal.i &c, th
ack TO her native place. AS for the he
aby, while he did not-because he could W,
the pride which his father in Nj