St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1896-06-06
4 LITTLE HEATHEN.
BIZ MONTGOMERY NJ. FOLSOM.

/ II
Jack was heather. Oh, the little
Imp, how tough he was! I Twas model
boy. l was, for n fact, you may be-
lieve it or not; used to hold down my
head when grace was being said; /
knew the Ten commandments and the
Lords Prayer by heart, and | was a
child of many virtues.
Jack was as mean as the old scratch.
He would cut his eye around at me and
try to make me laugh while the blessing
was being asked; he would stick pins in
the little boys as they lSnelt at prayers;
he would rob birds nests, and when
demonstrated with would say:
'Why, my gracious, let the old fool
bird go lay some more aiggs, she's got
the whole summer and faint much
trouble to lay few little old aiggs like
| them"
We used to read tales in our reading
books about how bad boys came TO bad
ends, and Jack would laugh at them.
"Shuel1s!" he would say, ''them old
book men can't fool me. What makes
| gran ma kill chickens ON Sunday, if it's
L
thing: OIL brother Kicklighter al'us eats
mighty hearty, and if it wus a sin to kill
| em it'd be sin to eat 'em. They can't
scare nobody"
All, the dear little old frhcllled face!
Worlds would / give to have it come be-
tween me and the sun again ere I reach
the vale of shadows.
To yr.,,,Iyl 4l,a e
boy for my sake. l remember once
fellow called me "wormy." We were
coming home from Sunday-school, and
had resolved not to resent any insult
very convenient way of resolving, by
the way-and the big boy would have
gone unpunisbed but for Jack.
What did he de? He lit onto that fell
low, md he pelted him in the burr of
the ear and got him down and such a
thrashing that boy never toted before.
That was Jacks style. No foolish
ness about him. He was of that par
ticular type of ugliness that denotes
cussedness and original sin.
I used to pray for Jack when the
preacher would tell us to pray for all
those whom we thought needed our
prayers. Jack was cutting a jagged
81" on the back of the seat while was
praying for his conversion.
All, the days, the golden days, when
the summers seemed so long. Won
der ii the summers of paradise will not
possess that same sweet, delicious
!, lingering when the pathos and the pas
sion of mortal life are past?
Sometimes | dream of Jack, now.
The other night, ] don't know what got
into me, but dreamed that we were
rambling along the banks of one of
those winding southern rivers, whose
languid waters were murmuring, whis-
pering, lisping among the reeds and
rushes.
There was a fash of shining sand
around the bend, and we came to place
where there was thicllet of cypress
sapiings. i saw one that would make
the finest sort of a fishing pole, and
Jack went to cut it for me. 1t grew
right on the bank of a slough Of black
water, on whose sheeny bosom the
tupelo gum berries were afoat.
was timid-good boys are not al
ways brave boys-and Jack went to cut
the pole for me. I saw him open the
little old rusty barlow knife, and he
reached far over the treacherous bank.
He had cut it most in two, when,
there was crash.
Splash"
The spray few upward in a shower
and blinded my eyes, and when !
opened them-Jack was gonei
l was sitting up in bed gasping,
struggling, choking, in my efforts to
call help. Such dreams are our lives
made up. Sometimes as sit gazing up
at the summer heavens l am startled
by the illusion that i sec that boys
face through rift in the clouds.
Jack was a bad boy. Pepper Joe
used to shake his head and mutter:
4 tell you, dat boys sho' ter come ter
some bad end
Then he would point to me and re-
mark:
'sBut dar's chile w'at'll be somebody.
OATS er good chile, de Lawd knows he
is, an folk'll make much er him wen he
gifts ter be a growed up man."
l was so pitifully pious i'll those
days, The fact is, / think I was not
we'll The chariot wheels of time rolled
noiselessly on. and poor old blind Fate
sat in the doorway of the future,
with her palsied fingers untangling
the skein of destiny, her withered lips
oll the while grooming those weird
Gitties whose echoes now and then
thrill our souls, with the warning of
prophecy.
Jack was as tough as lightwood
knot, and nobody ever thought about !
him getting sick. He was too full Of
devilment to stay in bed, but they Were
very careful about me.
One winter we had an awful spell OF |
weather and the stock suffered severe
~, for we had no shelter for them in the |
country in the days when was a boy.
Jack had o faverite COW that had |
q little calf, and one cold drizzly after |
noon the COW and calf failed to come |
home. Jack went in search of them, |
aud it was late when he came back. He |
rad brought the little calf in his arms |
a good portion of the way, and he drove |
the cow into the lot and gave her=a big |
Basket of shucks ana nubbins. and put /
the little, weakly eai3 in warm place. |
It was dark when he came in, cold I
and tired, but he was as joyous ard I
as ever. He went over the
rignarole about