The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1892-06-09

MY udFlluS, uOn I! PLEADED the
mother, in whose heart every spark
ling drop was like the acute prick of a
dagger. Don't break my heart, Sara!
| should like to see you as elegantly
dressed as any girl in the school, but
you know how poor we are"
And then, with her tear-wet face hid
den on her mothers shoulder, Sara
sobbed out:
Couldn't l have it, mamma? Oh,
darling mamma, couldn't p"
Il will do up your old muslin, dear, -
sobbed the mother. "And l think we
can afford some fresh blonde and the
| new ribbon sash and"
''Oh, mamma interrupted poor
Sara, must wear that old, tattered,
shrunken thing, when all the other
girls are in merino and white shirred
silk?"
Dearest, what else can we do?"
Mrs. Aubrey could almost have cried
with Sara had she dared to give way to
her feelings.
'How wretched it is to be poor!''
soobed Sara, sitting down on the
hearth rug, with her face in her moth
ers lap. Mamma, what have we
done that we should be so cramped and
| ground down, so fettered with pow
erty?"
1T will not be so always, DEAR" en-
couraged her mother.
| No" said Sara, sadly; II shall be a
teacher soon. And then, mamma, you
shall have wine-colored cashmere
dress and a set of furs, and will wear
what l please. But, mamma, if l could
only have the white merino dress this
Once!'
MY daughter! my daughter!'
Sara could feel the warm drops
from her mothers eyes upon her cheek.
| 'Mammar' she cried out, caressing-
ly, don't cry, that's darling; III
wear the old white muslin! I'll wear
anything! You have been heroine,
quietly and patiently, all these years,
and here am | that can't endure a sin
| gle privation! Mamma, I'll be her
! oine, too"
And the pale mother and blooming
daughter clasped each other tenderly
in long, silent embrace.
"But it's a shame, isn't it," resumed
Sara, after a brief silence, that
wealth should be so unevenly divided
in this world? Look at Helen Hazel
ton, at the court, with her green
houses full of flowers, and her pony
phaeton, and the diamonds she is to
have when she leaves school. It's a
surprise for her, mamma, quite sur
| I, Oh Il
them to me-a cross and pair of soli-
taire eardrops like sparkles of white
fire."
Showed them to you, dear?"
| "Yes, mamma" answered The girl.
but how came he to do that?"
| 'Oh, he often talks to me when l am
| at the court" said unconscious Sara.
"a bout wh at, Sara?"
''Oh, about Helen, and about the
ferns and orchids in the conservatories
and the new birds in the aviary-and
about the foreign countries he has
travelled in. Oh, | wish you could hear
him, mamma" cried the girl, enthu-
siastically.
"What sort of a man is he, Sara?'
asked the mother, becoming vaguely
conscious, at this late day, that hel
pretty treasure was no longer a child
but budding maiden, with all q
maiden's sweet possibilities before her.
"He's very handsome, mamma Dark
and tall, with straight, military way
of carrying himself, and the pleasantest
voice you ever heard" F" .-
t'Does he talk to you much?"
''Oh, often, mamma" declared Sara
Mrs Aubrey was silent for few
/ minutes. A vague fear was entering
into her heart.
Sara" said she, at last, II do not
think that it is best for YOU to be toe
much at Hazelton court"
"Why not, mammal" Sara opened
her big blue eyes in innocent surprise
cts so pleasant there, and | like then
all so much.''
Mrs. Aubrey hesitated. She could not
answer: "Because Col Hazelton is {
widower, and people will talk anc
gossip" So she equivocated q little
and made reply:
They live so differently from what
we do, darling. 1t is scarcely gooc
or wise preparation for your new life.
Sara pondered the matter over.
Il don't see what difference it makes
mamma" said she; 'but, of course
when get a situation | shall have NJ
time for visiting; and Helen is going tt
Paris with her father in the spring, 81
there will be an end of all my intimacy
| there"
Brave little Sara! She gcas hero
inc, for she wore the old washed-ovel
muslin dress, standing among the fan
young girls in soft merino and lustrou
dead-white silk.
Mamma can't afford it," she an
swered, quietly, to all the criticism
that was uttered.
Helen Hazelton brought her hom'
that evening in the sleigh, with a boz
of cut rosebuds and East India ferns
and left her with her mother.
Mrs. Aubrey looked up from her sew
ing.
''My darling" said she, ''your cheek
are like carnations!'
''Its the winter air, I suppose" salt
Sara, fiinging down her bonnet Mann
ma, put aside that hateful needle! Yo'
are never to sew any more! I've mad'