St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-03-25

Il
Eguiltless. u These are not alaboring
lnen; = but they fesclothed and fed By
laboring men, whom turn are betraye ed
| ls their Injurious counsels. 3
Tic frank and file of thesnon Iunion
| prisoners were of the ordinary class Of
western miners who pack flieii' !
blankets from camp to camp, but
among the number were several men of
better condition, and Of more than
average ability and intelligence, who
had held responsible positions at the
mines; aud these, as If UNCONSCIOUS of
unfriendly observatti both aboard
of the train, where union men, armed
with Winciiesters, sat in the same
scar with them, and Rtg.ti1e Mission, after
Esthe guards had left them aud returned
kept apart by themselves, and were
quiet and wary. lis, ..sss.,f So
Michael Casson, ex-foreman of the
Caltrop, oneS of the upper-eoun try
mines, had his wife and children with
him on the train. The wife, comely,
high-spirited woman, with well-sea-
soned nerves, but a soft heart in
trouble, kept a motherly watch upon
Faith, coming down in the same car
with her from Wallace. Faith was
known to. be Manager Bingham's s
daughter, leaving the country under
the, special protection and guarantee
Of the union leaders; but the signs
of recent trouble in her tear-fushed
face aroused Mrs. aCasson's SYM
pathies, and that neighbor1y wom-
an soon discovered that the man
ayers daughter, Notwithstanding her
fashionable dress. prosperous connee-
tions, and look of delicate pride, was
very much alone, and very warmly dis
posed toward the ostracized portion Of
the laboring community to which Mrs
Casson and her 1tn1an" belonged. Hence
a sudden and, on Faith part, rather
hysterieal intimacy. The voice of the
kind woman, speaking with the rich,
sympathetic, Irish ntonation. touched
the chord that yibrates in sobs orlaugh-
ter. Sometimes Faiths eyes filed,
some times she laughed, at-Mrs. Casson's S
delicious, hearty talk. The train rum
bled on between the. river and the
mountains, laundering over It's bridges,
and the green, fair vista of the Mission
opened. The outbound passengers dis
embarked and gathered in groups, or
scattered till the moment tsof departure.
At the Mission Mrs. Casson's children
had to- be fed. Faith was not enticeal
by the sort Of meal 4 lint the Mission
set forth that day to its seventy Wis
itors; anything atsalb alta good round
price, was right for the scabs; the Mis-
sion did what it could to retain little
of that apostate money in the land of
the faithful. But Nature offered them
her own fefreshment flowers. and
deep, soft grass to lie upon-and shed.
the light of her jeeund sunshine upon
their recent troubles, and upon the
anxious future before them; and the.
habit of making the best of bad out
look was the habit Of them all
Faith had idly extended her acquaint-
'ance to chatty little lad, one of the
rising hopes Of the Mission who, fhav-.
ing his time much at his own disposal,
was pleased to bestow 1T largely upon
her. He was a wfse5ehild in the hap
piest sort of knowledge-th of the
t'footpath way" He took her across
the meadows. where the blue camass
flower was Just falling from over
bloom. They crept under the boughs
along the riyers and loaded themselves
with wild roses, pale and red, and every
shade of pink between He told her the
names of the new flowers, as he knew
them, and she iikened them to other
flowers at home. She noted thestrange
character Of the river, which. here at
the Mission is not like. a mountain
stream, but cuts into the rich 5ottom-
land, deep and still, like a southern
bayou. and has no beaches, but only
banks, which drop off suddenly into
thirty feet of water, orsput forth a toe
of tree-roots overlaid with dried mud
where driftwood gathers, or great
logs, travelling down stream, halt assat
a landing-place. Lovely reflections line
the shores, binding the land and water
together in an Inverted borderage of
green, with clear sky pattern down
the middle stream, dashed out of sight
by the breeze, or returning again like
a smile.
They crossed to the knoll, where
stands the old church of the Mission.
built in the days of intrepid zeal, where.
in the deep forest wilderness, want of
skill or want of tools was no detri
ment, and men wrought with faith and
hns, Is 4 he of (
wood and iimperishable stone. The
priests house adjoining the church,
and shabby modern foil to its ancient
dignity, was closed, and Faith was
forced to abandon her desire to enter
the church of the fathers; but they
sat upon the steps, the odd young pair,
and talked of the past. The little boy
was not much of a historian; Faith
did not put implicit confidence in his
tales of Father de .Smet, who was dead
that at least was true "a nd of Father
Josette, who was still of the living.
She knew, perhaps, quite as much about
the history of tiae old ehnrch'isa he
did. born inaits shadow. BHt there
were other subjects of contemporaries
Gus and imperative interest on which
he could elder her a few surprises. He
had gathered that he YEAS talking with
no less a parsonage than the young
lady Of the Big Horn, and, fol. rea-
sons which We know. the name of her
fathers mine inspired this wise child
of the anion with the fullest faith in.
her asa partisan, notwithstanding that