The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-07-15
A GIRLS RANSOM.
TIE Terrible Price Jane Prescott
Paid for It.

No, renowned star about to dash in
in a large metropolis could have been
waited for with more breathless impa-
thence than was Edith Wayne by the
congregation assembled in the old vii
lage church hat bright September
morning. Her black cloth sack fitted
her trim little form to a nicely, and the
jaunty hat, curved up behind, with the
tall ribbon loops and feather sprays,
with bits of jet dancing on their tips,
surmounted a head of lightish, fluffy
brown hair and a fresh face of only
twenty summers and winters.
1t is true she had made the sack herself
and the hat also, with a little help from
her sister, when it was decided thatshe
was to have a church position, and
what does not always follow as a neces-
sary consequences generous salary.
But her dress, as a whole, had such an
indescribable air of style and finish that
only the keen eye of a fashionable
woman would have detected that she
was not straight from the hands of ex-
perts. The young girl had no pre-
vision of what was awaiting her, that
she was walking upon a thin crust.
which might n day crack and make
a assure wide enough for her to slip in
out of sight. Pagetown had received
a shock, and few things short of an
earthquake could have SO shaken up the
little community as the sudden deter
mination of Squire Page, for whose
ancestor the town had been named, to
make a change in the choir of the Con.
gregational church.
Matilda Prescott had been the head
soprano in the church for the past ff-
teen years, with a salary of seventy-five
dollars a year, which Squire Page paid
out of his own pocket, as he did all the
expenses connected with the singing.
Something in the nature of an electric
shock passed through her, therefore,
when he called n morning in the sum-
mer, and, asking to speak with her
alone, tried to explain in as few words
as possible his reasons for wishing to
make a change in the choir arrange
ments. 1t was awkward business and
he made an awkward job of it.
THE fact is, Matilda, the world
moves, you know, and we've all got to
move along with it. This young lady
has a big voice, l can tell you"
who is she?" asked Matilda, family.
'She is a Miss Wayne-her folks live
somewhere out west; she's studying at
the conservatory. Her teacher says
her voice is phenomenal, and 1 believe
he's right. 1t goes along up the scale,
you know, without any p~erceptible
break, from low A to E in alt, two
octaves and a half, don't you see?
she's a delicate, sensitive little
body, as shy as a partridge, but all full
of music. Don't give herself any airs,
but when she stands up to sing she's
all confidence, and isn't afraid of any.
body"
why don't they give her a position
in the city. if she can do so much??"
well, they will by and by, but she's
young yet and hasn't had experience in
church music. Eve made up my mind
to engage her for a year, and suppose
at the end of that time they'll want her
where they can pay more than we can
He did not say that he had promised tc
give her four hundred dollars. Tha,
was a secret between the young singer
and himself.
As the tears began to fill the eyes o.