The Van Buren press., 1897-11-06
DORCH.

DoOR DoroA. reos, pan, assae
poDoA,
She was NJ eeAuss. Aat Aew eoass =
ssvs Law ca&sm - ceeS asakS was I'D
sssSA an 0rcoVeTnAeae mass g elask
hair. SUcA peculiarly nseeesax gHSy exsS
ard SssoA vide naSsths
Ard she had nSs even the Eeseesasas
e@slisy u . Sne Ssure.
Fox noVoA Was 6ees6ei%y understood.
her shoulders were hsEA &ad square.
and her feet large.
A born heroine og romance o StezY
was this wSif of big city. The dwell
er in an oWt-of-she-wAy street q TIE
cid French part Of the town. = street
unpaved. wide and silent. for neither
cart nor wagon would pass there, and
the nearest electric car ran SIX blocks
away.
4 street which. starting out straight
from big, rambling woodward. took
sudden twist aud turned toward the
river, where il was ended abruptly in
tumble-down wharf. whose rafters
were said to be unsafe, and whose rot
ten flooring crumhled and slanted
more and more after each spring season
of high water.
"Schnider's wharf" had had its day of
prosperity and usefulness, when long
lines of coal barges from the river
would come and moor against and
around il, crowding out temporarily
the oyster goelettes and sand sehoon-
ers. whose favorite haunt il used to
be in days gone by.
For had not old Jacques Schnider. a
shrewd Alsatian, erected back of it,
across the levee, the best lodging house
for sailors and river men in all that
part of town, where fine meals and
good beds we're to be had for few
sous9
SO. Schnider. energetic, practical
and hard-working, leased his wharf
and rented his rooms, waNed rotund
and rich with years, and then-one
late autumn evening-suddenly disap-
peared.
Stories Of various kinds ran rife that
he had fallen into the river and been
been seen Jacques was standing out
on the edge of his wharf.
Then. again. IL was said he had been
murdered, for he had had great quar-
rel witA a big kentucky coalheaver the
day before his disappearance; OF that
he had committed suicide. But nobody
believed that. And some said. finally.
that he had run of to a distant city
10 be quits with his soolding, hard
drinking wife, and predictions were
made that he would soon turn up.
Bat Jacques Sehnider did not turn up.
nor WAS he seen again.
norch, then toddling mite scarce
one year old, grew steadily and slow
ly, under hard and adverse olrcum-
stances, from year 10 year developing
traits of shrew6neSs and intrepidity
inherited from her dead father, until
from the age Of - she occupied $ queer
and oommanding position among the
stnees arabs and poor trades folks in
that deserted quarter Of the city.
DOrck's moiher2 OF course, il was
gin and ahSinthe which made such a
wreck Of the once sturdy peasant vom-
an, whom few Of the older dwellers
among the shifting population Of the
''ea4EticT@ remembered as having been
large aud quite handsome.
Doubtless il was not - much tenn
Per as the fiery spirits Of alcohol cours-
ing through her veins and mingling
with her equally fiery meridinal
blood which made her rave and rant
and ill-trest Doroh, until some neigh
Oor would interfere with threats Of
the police, OF. better ssill. antil Pers
Dorian. VSle-Ssced. slender younC
pSrish priest, absorbed in the ereat
work Of Christianity, would come hur~
red up. and with vibrant voice and
looks q stern Indignation would SAY.
whils stTokiug the dark hair ot the
weeping cAlds
-KCus serez lamuee. Eloiss Schni der
Thou shalt fail inso TIE dzrR and
a,ostonless pit for Thy cruelty 70 thine
cu,u fu1ht-iess child Nsirher ul.t s.ou
have -hc atisirthe then p5li crave v su
truu heloV-"
>hieerinr uith fear and creuuiur en-
icr tsr-cr il means and lamentations.
ncrchs mother su1dsllr sct,s-e-5
raolid then crouch Cd a huldle6 u1ass
ou the foo-, and it vrzs the ehii7s uzi-i
fsieriuC hand and her eucourarsne-t
vhich uould 6naly hrirE haek her Re
softcd mother To- q maudlin rsgrst az.
terrified rtQsr-alce-
Fo- soue weeks Do-cs's life u1rzzz-5
el and ili-czred Tor. would 1sUsrthsl ssl
h briChf ty cnmparlsol-
But sSs dark DAYS uould cone agar
wlth q renewal ct horrible sct.fs All.
siasl sreslEezt, sri Dcr1b sEr= o-1s