The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-07-15

make room for the young Try, whether
we want TO or not. OF course | don't
mean that you are old, but you nave a
good home and enough to live on be-
sides, and this girl is poor and l want
to give her a start. she and her sister
are boarding in town, and she tells me
their father has all he can do to pay
their expenses while they are getting
their musical education"
Having delivered his message the
squire left the house as soon as he
| could. His departure was % delayed,
as Door Matilda was so taken aback
by the news she had heard that she
had no word at hand with which to
make any fitting reply. She lost no
time, however. in going into the kitch-
en-. where her sister was at the wash
tub giving vigorous rubs to the weeks
washing.
Jane Prescott was twenty years the
senior of the two, and they had long
kept house together, in a u thrifty
way. Jane was the manager and this
master spirit, and at sixty-three years
of age retained the vigor of body and
mind she had possessed at thirty.
She had assumed the entire charge
of her sister after the death of their
parents, just thirty-one years ago this
summer; and Matilda seemed to her
now almost as much a child as when
she used to harness up the old white
mare, and take her to the little red
brick schoolhouse, two miles from their
home.
Sister said Matilda, in a voice
broken by c%onvulsive sobs, Pm turned
out of the singing seats"
"What?' snapped out Jane. in a tone
that went singing through the room
like a rifle shot.
Yes; that's what Squire Page came
for just now. He says the folks want
young voices in churches, and he's got
a girl about twenty, who's coming in a
month or So"
Two fierce, red spots appeared On
Jane Prescott's thin cheeks on hearing
this concise statement, and her pale,
gray eyes looked out with a menacing
glare, as she took off her glasses and
stood staring at her sister.
Don't look like that, Jane, for good
ness sake: it isn't worth it. OF course
/ feel badly and shall for some time;
but | suppose it's all right, after all.
You know l am getting old, compare
lively speaking"
Getting old. Matilda Prescott.
You're a young woman yet"
mo, forty-three can't be called young.
My voice isn't as strong as it was before
the fever. If1rly tremble when we have
a tune with a highG in it. ! can't hold
it steadily. You know my voice never
was cultivated, and they say that makes
all the difference in the ability t o man
age it."
well, you can stand there and run
yourself down if you want to, but l say
it's a wicked shame-the whole thing.
That girl won't stay long in the choir,
let me tell you, if she comes-Tu fixit."
"Why, Jane, what do you mean?"
Just let me alone now, and don't
you say a word to anybody. I've got
to think it all over. l shall have some
thing to say about this thing"
James face looked wicked as she sat
musing, and she felt wicked. The
longer she unused the hotter burned
GilC L III llCI uCdIl. DIX WdS dSGOn-
ished at herself, 1t this rush of bitter
ness which was sweeping over her, for
she had a soft. warm side to her n
ture; but now she felt as much of an
ger and hate toward the girl who was
to take her sisters place as ever filled
the adamantine organ of Mary OF
England when planning the fate OF
her Protestant subjects; and her
thought progressed like a virulent
acid, eating it's rapid way through all
the tissues of sentiment. 1t is proba-
BILE that she had never heard of the
Greek proverb which teaches: "ln the
morning of life, work; in the midday,
give counsel; in the evening, pray"
and if she had she would have felt that
she had not yet reached that helpless
evening. She must work now for an
object; and when, after 1--WE hours OF
solitary communion, she came out into
the kitchen where her sister was sit
ting by the window trying to crochet.
in spite of red, smarting eyelids, he1
mouth was set hard and firm. She
seldom referred to the contemplated
change in the choir, to the surprise Of
everyone; for what had been dreaded
above everything else by Squire Pages
immediate supporters was the tongue
of Jane Prescott. You might as well
try to race with a locomotive" sale
one of the d~eacons. ''as to attempt to
reason with her or explain anything"
Edith Wayne, as l have said, had nc
conception of the feeling against her
She knew nothing of the choir's history
and regarded the matter of her engage
ment in the light only of a business
transaction. 1t had been arranged thai
she should come to Pagetown each Sat