The Opelousas courier., 1900-06-16
BY A HAIRS
An Old Maids Romance.

f#t'TEtT @E q
Miss Selma sat knitting and hum
ming softly to herself in the tiny
porch in front of the house where she
dwelt supreme mistress. The golden
sunshine darted through the rustling
vines and flashed upon the swiftly
moving needles, sending dazzling rays
in every direction.
"Oh, Miss Selma" cried a high,
clear voice, "do stop knitting for q
minute. r am nearly blinded" Down
dropped the work, as Miss Selma hast
lily spraug forward to meet this most
welcome visitor.
"Come in, dear; come in" she cried.
'sIt's nice and cool here on the porch,
and I have been baking those nice
seed cakes you like so much"
you're an angel" responded the
girl, as she kissed the cheek where
time had furrowed a few wrinkles as
year posts for nearly half a century.
'teBut even seed cakes won't console
me, for we are going home tomorrow"
"For the lands sake, child" ex-
claimed her hostess, genuinely grieved;
'.you don't say sc. / thought that
you would be here another month, at
least. is anything the matter?"
'Oh, nothing in particular; only
mamma has q touch of rheumatism
and is afraid to have any more east
winds. Oh, dear, how o I go and
leave all this behind?" and as she
spoke the girl gazed over the cliff
whore the little house stood like q sig
nal tower, across the smiling ocean,
where the dancing raves we're crested
with foam as they frolicked with the
refreshing wind.
sSuch q perfect blue and gold day
as il is. 1t seems TO me it grows hard
or each year TO go back to the prim,
sedate, old city. What shall do
when there is no more fishing OF row.
ing or bathing or anything?" and the
girl leaned back, with a slight cloud
on the usually sunshiny face. ssWhere
are you going, Miss Se?"
"After the cakes, DEAR" and Miss
Selma vanished, with q step as light
as o girls.
But sven the cakes failed to Danish
the girls unwonted mood. and Miss
Selma felt at her wits end.
tSee here, dearie," she said at
last, ST know it is hard to leave now,
when it is all so lovely, but you
wouldn't like TO stay here all winter"
"Wouldn't ], though" put in the
girl.
.eThat is easy to say, but sometimes
when I look out of the windows I
really wish / lived somewhere else. It
is gray and white and angry, and the
clouds hang SO heavy i've it. Then
the surf comes to the shore, as though
it wanted to tear it away and drown
everybody it hadn't got already" Miss
Selma shivered, and the girlimpulsive-
III turned toward her friend.
Don't, Miss Sc, please. It is aw-
fully mean of me to make you think
OF these things. I wonder that You
don't hate the sea, after all the harm
it has done you."
"Hate it? No, child; even though
it has my father and brothers in its
keeping, and somehow it makes me
feel as though I were doing something
for the daughters and sisters who are
watching and waiting everywhere, by
putting my lamp where it will show
ST night. They call it the Selma
light, you know. But come, we won't
be solemn any longer. Tell me what
you are going to do this winter, now
that you are q young lady"
II don't know am snre. / wanted
TO go to colleges, but NJ says she
cannot spare her only girl, SO I will
have to content myself at home. How,
/ am not sure, unless I become a pro-
fessi NAL hairdresser, which is really
the only thing for which I seem to
have shy talent. Oh, Miss Sc, won't
you plaase lot me do your hair up for
You. You have such pretty pink
cheeks and nice hair that you will be
q beauty when have finished it,"
"For lands sake, child, what put
that ridiculous idea into your head?
Why, I have done my hair this way
for years, and it wouldn't seem natu-
raj III any other fashion"
'sThen it is high time you changed,
Miss Sc. You want q pompadonr in
stead Of drawing it straight back.
Come and let me try. I won't touch
the scissors or curling longs
Miss Selma never could refuse the
girl anything, and obediently went in,
with many inward misgivings ss to
the result. S
stSit down here. num-" cried the
girl, dragging D low seat before the
~old-fashiened mirror and seating her
victim thereon. In q minute Miss
Selina's severely smooth plaits were
down and the girl brushing the satiny
locks with many an exclamation 81
their length and beauty.
In q quarter Of an hour Miss Selma
was transformed.
why, You naughty woman" en-
claimed the girl, as she stepped for
ward for . final inspection. NO one
would take you for d day over 80.
Now that yon know how to do il prop-
erly. don't let me see you with It any
other way. IT'S like tie poem that
remarked. They made believe til fancv
dress by the way they did their hair.
Now 1 have got to go and helm pack.