The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-12-02

'"istihS ms mustache fiercelv as II |
worrying over something.
Whats wrong, Sam? Patient deadp"
some one asked.
No." said Sam, "but he's q lawn, M
there wishin' he was. tell Won n,rd
ners, he continued, turning to the
crowd, I've been in hard luck myself
SOY all of us, guess-an' seen 9TH
ers In hard luck, but that poor cuss m
there's in the hardest streak of Incl,
| ever see. He's plum down to bedrock
an nary color"
That's nothin', Sam; we've oil hee,
'here many time. What's the matter,
out of grub?"
Nav, he amt out of grub, an won't
be as longs Sans got any; but it's
somebody else. | got letter for him
to-day on the stage an took it down
to him. After he read it he Jest turned
over with his back 10 me an laid ouia1
but purity soon l shifted to where I
could see his face, an I'll be derned if
he wasn't cryin, yes, sir, cryin' like
baby, he's that weak, you know. Isays
to him easy like: What's the matter
pard?'
"'Nothin',' he says, only more hard
luck
Girl gone back on youY l said,
thinkin' to be cheerful an maxim up
my mind to josh him.
No. he says; it 'ud a-been better
for her if she had long go. Read that
he says, an handed me this" concluded
| Sam, and he drew letter from his
pocket. 1t was dated from an Ohio vii
lage and read as follows:
My Own Dear Husband: Your loving
letter received yesterday, but it found us.
| oh, SO downhearted and wishing for papa
| Dear husband, it seems that our troubles
will never end. Mr.. Rhoades has changed
| his mind and will foreclose the mortgage
You know he said before you went away
that if we paid the interest up he would let
it stand awhile longer. Well, when the
| mortgage was due l sold the COW and took
| some Of the money you left me to live on
| and paid the six months back interest.
| Now, he says, as the mortgage Is due he
must have his money and will toreclose. ]
| tried all the companies and banks to bor-
row the money to pay him, but they all
say that $1,000 is too big loan on the place:
| they won't loan over $3.50, and he won't
| take a second mortgage to secure the
| other $500. Yet it does seem hard, when the
| place ought to be worth three times 81, 500
I've tried every way to sell it, but l can't
| get no one 10 give anything above the
| mortgage. Everybody knows it is mort
gagged and are waiting to buy it at sheriff S
| sale. Rhoades knows this, too, and now
he says it will save us lots of trouble and
| costs if we will give him quitclaim deed
| and surrender peaceable possession l
| begged him to wait awhile, but after he had
taor raI ha1 ont m hp no
said he would not wait a day; that you
were on a wild goose chase, and, dear hus-
band. he even intimated that he believed
you were never coming back to US. That
made me angry and I may have said things
| to him that / should not, but 1 could not
help it. Now, dear husband, l cannot
stay here after having sold the COW; there
is nothing to do here, you know, except
| washing and ironing and house cleaning,
and am not strong enough for that. Mrs.
| Simmons will take Bessie and let her help
with the housework and go to school, and
| will sell the chickens, pigs and furniture
and take little Charlie and go to Cleveland
to try to get sewing or something. 1t will
be, oh, so hard, but it cannot be helped
Now, dear husband, do not worry; we will
get along some way. Remember the words
of the prophet: Once l was young, but
now | am old, but never have l seen the
righteous forsaken or their seed begging
bread Now dear husband, take care OF
your health, and II you do not find anything
out there soon, come back to us, we miss
you, oh, SO much. Every night Bessie
prays for her papa, way out in the mines,
and that he may find something rich. You
may be sure that l echo her prayers Write
as soon as you get this, dear husband, fol
l cannot stay here long.
Your loving wife,
''MAGGIE.'
This letter was passed around; tw.
or three started to read it aloud, bu
they broke down, and it was silentI,
passed from one to another. 1t wa:
well for Mr.. Rhoades that he was no
in camp.
He told NE all about it," said Sam
F They was five acres in the home plac
that he got from his fathers estat
+ close to town, an he bought five NOR
: jonin', mortgagin' the ten to make VI
the balance of the money. He'd a-mad
, it all right, but times got hard, an frs
one, then another of them got sick an
he had to keep on a-mortgagin'. ii
r see he could never pay out, so he com
n out here to see if he couldn't strik
p it, leavin' nearly all the money the.
. had with his wife, an this cuss Rhoade
, sayin' that he'd let the mortgage star
r anuther year, now-dern him. See tha
+ stain there? That's from a bunch O
I arple blossoms that was in the letter
/ he lowed they4must a-been from tn
+ yellow harvest trees back of the gan
, den. poor cuss. Take keer of ye
health. dear husban',' an him a-layiI
: fiat on his back up there in his ten
/ without money enough for month
: grub. Come back soon to us'-hum-n
q Look here, pardners, let's answer Be-:
n sizes prayer, an show this felle
Il Ehoades whether minin' is chasin' will
geese ur not. Mebbe Sans dern foo
an | know he amt got much none.
J. but he can rustic. I'll go purity nigh IN
J. yile on it-there's 50; who's all in o
&C il? 2" and he slammed two 2Os and
, on the bar. 1t was just like Sam, an
q whoever heard an appeal like that go I'll
Il answered in a mining camp: Thel
# we're 50 men in the room, and ever
: man saw Sans ante, and those thu
r did not have that amount borrowed