The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1898-04-23
satisfaction.

CilCh OuU ACl
satisfaction.
Mary Jane, who was picking the
damson plums, turned as pink as a
peony.
"La! What is it to you?' demanded
her mother, cycling her sharply, and
Mary Jane hung her head and pre-.
tended that q wasp had stung her
hand.
"He's gone of! been goae three
days and two nights-ana never told
anybody where he was going, not even
5eliny Hicks that's keeping house for
him. He went off wish the calico colt
hitched to his wagon, and Seliny
thought he was only going down 80
Junkins' Corner, twas R'yal JunAX
chat wanted to buy the colt. But
wouldn't stay three days down 70
Junkins' Corner"
'I shouldn suppose so, "murmured
Mary Jane meekly.
''Do you know where he has gomez
Mrs. Fling was large and stout, and
she had borne down upon her daugh-
ter like bristling man-of-war upon o
slender sloop.
ono, DON'T" said Mary Jane; and
Der gentle bosom was torn by conflict
ing emotions. 1t was well that she
could tell her mother that she did not
know of Lyman's whereabouts, but
there remained sting that he should
have gone away without telling her
where he was going.
Opportunities of speech with Lyman
were indeed but limited; the ancient
teud between the houses Of Fling and
Bee, began when Grandma Fling had
accused Grandma Bea OF snoring in
church, and Grandma Bee had re-
taliated by reporting that Grandma
Fling had carried q skimmilk cheese
TO the minister's donation party-was
bitterly sustained by Mary James
mother, the more bitterly that Lyman
Bee had wished to marry Mary Jane.
She had positively forbidden Mary
Jane to speak to Lyman, but, oyel
their mutual stone wall, screened by
scrub oak trees from Mrs. Fling
suspicious gaze, the lovers occasional.
" exchanged,'a few words. It was al
The extreme end Of the stone wall, be-
yond the filings butter-bean patch
and pumpkin field, that the scrub
oak grew, and there also grew some
poisonous ivy to which Mrs. Fling
was peculiarly susceptible. A dozen
times had she hired Jake Haffey tc
destroy that ivy, and as many times
had it reappeared, as if by magic.
Mrs. Fling dared not even look upon
it. So there was one place where
Mary Jane, although q timid soul who
feared her mothers frown, could
speak to Lyman Bee.
"Seliny Hicks says she shouldn't be q
mite surprised If he'd gone to be mar
ried," continued Mrs. Fling cruelty.
"She heard from Carmel that he'd
been making up to Charlissy Porter
when he was over there surveying
land. There's so many of those Porter
girls, and they're so kind Of slack,
they're glad to get anybody"
Mary James fair, freckled face was
undisturbed. She did not believe thai
Lyman was making up to Charlissy
Porter. And yet-what might not bt
expected of o man who for ten year!
had been openly scorned and foutet
by his sweetheart's mother, an(
spoken to by his sweetheart only il
the shelter OF the scrub oaks and tn
poison ivy?
Mrs. Fling, keenly searching he:
daughters face, saw q shadow o
trouble appear in the soft blue eyes
and heaved sigh Of content.
II Mary Jane would only believe
that report about Charlissy Porter, sh'
might.be induced to marry Silas Luf
kin, the storekeeper, who had begun t
call on her Sunday evenings.
The storekeeper did q fourishinl
business, he had branch store at tn
corner and was part owner of mil
besides;-a much better match than
iog-trotting farmer, contented if h
raised fairly good crops and could sci
his milk at the door.
"He wouldn't have been o Bee j
he'd had o mite of ambition" Mrs