The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1897-09-25
HUMAN VAMPIRES.
A Conversati0n Mat Made the Old Doc
tor Knik Bitterly.

tor III Bitterly.
Once . year the old doctor spends two
days in Newport. 1t il his n frolic.
Last summer on his way to the noted
summer resort he met his old friend
Bent in New York and persuaded him
to join him.
This is the first holiday I have taken
in five years." said Mr.. Bent, as to-
ward evening they strolled along the
beach.
But don't all the men in the city
banks have vacationsa You are cashier?"
YES. but these jannts are somewhat
costly. so | fight out the heat in town.
| live very closely-very closely" pull
ing at his white beard with a thin.
shaking hand.
The doctor watched him thoughtful
". He had known Tom when he was d
stout, hearty young fellow, with a wife
and two babies. How eager he and his
wife had been to earn enough 70 buy a
little home. give the children schooling
and o chance to win their way in the
world! Jack. the boy, had great talent,
according to his mother. He would be,
she thought, a famous lawyer, and 60
out to earn fortune and fame, and Pol
", the daughter, would live at home
with her old father and mother, as
happy as the day was long. The doctor
reminded Bent of these old air castles.
"Oh, yes. | remember" said the
cashier. Some things one remembers
every day. My wife even had "a design
Of the house-a plain, comfortable lit
tie place. She insisted that it should be
near q river, where | could fish. ! was
very fond of fishing AZ a boy. She never
liked city life. poor girl. but she lived
and died in town."
He turned his face away. The doctor
was perplexed. Bent for 80 years had
been the well paid official Of a wealshy
corporation. He and his wife had sim
pie. rational habits He should have
saved enough from his large salary to
stop work, now that his children were
educated, and rest during the years
which were left him. They would not
be many. The physicians eye detected
certain signs in his old friend that in
dictated this.
II see no reason, Bent" be said.
why you should not make Mary's
plans real now. Your savings will en-.
able you to live without work. You
have done your duty to your children.
You have a right to live your own life
and indulge your own tastes in the
time tha ia left vau,-
Il understand you," said Bent.
"Other physicians have warned me. If
] stop work now. ! shall have, perhaps,
. dozen years of life before me. If I do
motifs q short road downward. Well,
! must tramp it. | haven't saved a dol
lar. The children have needed my sal
airy, and God knows ! am glad to have
given it to them and to give it still. I
can't stop work Don't speak of it
again. Come, look at this seine the
men are drawing"
They hurried to the seine as if there
were nothing as interesting as fish in
the world. A dog shark lay on the
sand. Clinging to it were two or three
OF the hideous eyeless parasites which
draw their life from that fish.
I'VE call them water vampires, . said
n of the fishermen. They re a mean,
unnatural kind of monster. Hain't no
food nor life but what they suck out Of
the old shark"
At the moment q four in hand, driv-
en- by a very wealthy and well known
leader of society, drew up near the
seine.
"Lookr' whispered Bent excitedly.
THAT il Jack on the top of the coach
the handsome man in English driving
clothes. That is Polly on the box seat.
She is visiting some of the biggest
swells here. She visits a good deal Of
the time. She is SO caressed in society!
! tell her she only ZONES home to her
old father when she wants a check
he added. laughing feebly, ''but Polly
is ambitious. She says she means to
marry a title"
The girl was beautiful and dressed
with costly elegance. She and her
brother recognized the old man with an
Indifferent nod of the head as the coach
drove by.
Wnat Is JACKS Duslness!' asked the
doctor.
Hes an artist. He does not paint
pictures to sell. He worships art and
does not care for its trading side, he
says. But somehow art and society re-
quire . good deal Of money, added the
old man a~nxiously. "Comel Let as look
al the fishes. What a hideons thing this
vampire isl"
"Oh, | don't know!' said the doctor
bitterly. There are plenty Of cold,
bloodless creatures sucking the lives ont