The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-10-28
. head. She pulled Il out. s~xclaiming -
aha d{A m "WeedRiS

taey been seasenable gifts from Father
Time. But 20 is not old.
The following day Caroline penned q
letter to a distant a~pothecary.
II have q friend whose hair Is becom-
ing gray" she wrote. please send me"
the pen tilted a moment. She was
writing for what in her younger days
she had called that horrid stuff" And
yet 1t was only a dye, and for a friend.
She finished the epistle and posted it
herself.
A few days later a small parcel came
through the mail addressed to Ciro1ue.
She took it to her room, and, although
there was no in the house but her
self, locked the door. She pondered. #
she should use the dye, would she I've the
only deceived? Would the rest OF
the world pierce the deception at once?
She sat there awhile pensively ~listless in
her manner of thought, examining the
label. Then a sudden reyulsion against
the deceit of the world overmastered her.
She arose from her chair and drew in a
long breath. She applied the spark of
self condemnation and shook at the ex-
plOsion.
Never"
There was no danger 10Y hat she
would v use the dye. She perused
the list Of testimonials. "Mrs." was the
Authorization hat preixed each sigma
ture. It would be no disgrace to grow
gray IL she were married now. Surely
not. Not so much of a disgrace if she
were q widow now. So she thought.
But All unmarried woman! A spinster!
She drew the cork from the bottle and
poured tSe contents out of the window.
With a p~enknife she scraped off the la
bel. She put these scrapings. the testi-
moniais. the wrappers and inner wrap
pers into her pocket. She would burn
them la:er.
Five years ago an oculist examined
Carollne's eyes and told her she was near
sighted--a fact she had known for the
previous decade. He prescribed glasses,
and she purchased them. She concealed
them in that drawer Of the bureau that
was always kept locked. except when it
was necessary to take out or put away
certain valusbles and keepsakea When
nobody was about. she would wear them.
She Was reluctant to do 80, but they add
ed 70 her comfort. And the newspapers
and T~hackersy and Hawthorne and Bal
zee must be read, even at the expense Of
personal vanity.
An unmarried woman, with no father,
no mother, an income Of q pittance. q
single servant, was excusable for doing
almost anything. So she wore them.
She did not dare to look at herself closely
in the mirror when she first put them on.
hne stood about 10 feet back, at which
distance she noticed that her hair had
al iron gray appearance. She gained
courage awhile later, and examined her
self III the hand glass. That iron gray
shade was her optical illusion. There
were black hairs and white hairs-a
Sight pcedoninance of white. Rarely
thereafter did she wear them when gaz-
ing INTO the mirror. She turned her
head away when walking past it. Every
l;ne she put them on she did it with a
wrv face. Once she cried and was about
=, throw them away, but restrained her
y L.
=. few weeks ago Caroline plucked the
Last black hair from her snow white
ba:.. She did it with the same petu-
lance with which 10 years before she
h;ui ,iTawn out the first thread of white,
the exc ray Of light in the black dark
hess. She took from the bureaus secret
drawer a small envelope, and from this
distracted that original curiosity. She
placed it by the side of this latter day
c!!rio. the black hair, the last remnant
of the cascade that had been the admira-
tion Of her school friends. She wound
them about her fingers and tied them.
hen placed them in the envelope.
1t was the spirit of the gambler in his
moment of desperation with which she
had done this. The world should know
now that caroline could grow old un-
tiinchingly. She pick ed up a volume of
The Scarlet Letter." that was near at
hand, to steady the envelope while she
wrote simply:
- am a spinster. John loved me
and would have continued to love me.
Now he is the statesman upon whose
words depends the welfare Of nations. [
have discovered that l loved him, but /
was prejudiced. He wore glasses"-
She locked it in the bureau and tried
the drawer to make sure.-Irving S. I'm
in Buffalo Illustrated.