The Washington times., 1901-09-29
VTh8 Bayou SUgarh0U88

unless she addressed some crows perch.
I'd in three big pecan trees in the centre
of the pasture a short distance away.
One of them seemed to appreciate the
feelings which made her bright grey eyes
dim and long lashes wet for he answer
ed back. Cav! Cawi Cawi" unheedint
the ripe pecans which dropped with a
thud in the short grass below.
Nancy stood in the open doorway of the
erstwhie majestic srgarhouse in Iberia
parish on which her grandfather had Law
lshed very many thousands of dollars, in
fir;ite care, and much pride.
Those open kettles! Nancy could still
feel the triil of pleasurable excitement OF
her childhood days. when Pnrosine he'd
her hand, while she watched the bub-
bling. boiling cane juice. How she loved
to see the men at the kettles skim il
with their long-handled swimmers pass il
on from ia grande." where the first raw
juice seethed. TO IA rloyenne," and sc
on, until the smallest was reached.
How she loved the vapcrous fumes
which filled the air with a delightful
smell of boiling candy. perceptible miles
away from the sugarhouse when the wind
blew in your direction.
Phrosine always wore stiff -starched blue
ulNsStS, anu
tlgnons.
Poor old Phrosine! Nancy still missed
her.
How she would scold and threaten Ned
that he should never come TO the sugar
house, he was SO bad. so wicked!
But Ned had always slipped away from
her, would turn his irnpudent laughing
face and shake his short yellow curis de-
family while he climbed the steep steps
which led up to the serpentine pan, stand
ing in the centre yonder.
The old pan. so rusty and black, once
the pride Of the sUgarhouse, because the
monster vacuum pans of today were just
beginning to assert their superiority when
Nancy was little girl.
Nancy sighed.
chill, frosty breeze from the bayou,
hlaE-rg in through the broken panes of
the window in the small room where her
father used to sit at his desk, close to
the long range of boiling kettles. made
the shutter creak on its rusty hinges as
If in sympathy.
Nancy gazed long into the recesses of
the vast old sugar house.
The big fywheel she so dreaded as IT
revolved silent, rapid, and relentless was
motionless. and spiders hung their fantas-
tic webs between its spokes
The great rollers from which the grey
cane juice poured. while the bagasse
crushed out of all semblance of its for
mer state. threaded its mangled way
down yonder. looked grim and foTbidding
in their sulien repose.
The empty carrier. no longer strainiug
to bring up its heavy load, stretched
down 70 the cane shed, where the wind
blew the dry dust in whirling eddies
around the wide empty space.
Nancy glanced up and wondered that
the old clock, with its big swinging PEN
dulum was still riveted to the wall.
She did not know that superstition had
kept all marauding hands away. because
the hour marked by its motionless nee
dies was the fatal hour at whose stroke
Colonel Strathmore, her father, fell in the
dust of the road with an assassin's bull
let through his heart
Now that Nancy had reached the re-
spectacle age Of twenty. with all t1e ex-
perience her motheriy care of Ned and
her struggle with ruin and poverty had
brought to her vigorous young mind. she
understood the difficulties which had be-
set Justin Strathmore In his vigorous
efforts TO build up anew and redeem the
fine old place and bring back the pros
porous days of yore-
.All he needed was a few more years.
Then how happy We three would have
been in our beautiful old home," Nancy
thought as she sat down on the steps,
and taking letter from her pocket began
to read Ned's description of his recent
examination at college and his hopeful
enthusiasm over his studies of engineer
ing.
"If I can only keep on for two more
years and graduate with first honors, sis,
dear, as intend to do. I'll get E fine posi-
ton. You won't have any more bother
and hard work. I'll take care of you.
You'll see. Nan. dear
Nancy put the letter back in her pock-
ct and leaning against the Intel began
10 exert her utmost ingenuity to plan
ways and means by which to keep Ned
that clever, bright. ambitious lad. her
pride and delight at his engineering stud
les, so that be might be equipped for the
stern struggle before him
The Old sugarhouse, with all its once
fnagnifice Mt, now useless. rotting machin-
cry. for whose purchase Justin Strath-
more had put the mortgage on the place,
which had finally delivered 1t over into
alien hands. gazed at her through its
open doorway with melancholy per
sistence which seemed TO predict failure
and despair.
But westward, where the sun was slow
ly sinking the gorgeous crimson Of the
late October afternoon greeted her like
q radiant smile of hope and courage.
Poor darling old dad! He did for the
best Had he lived it would have been ali
80 dinerentw Nancy murmured, and
again the crow sent her a cheering note
from his high perch in the pecan tree
out in the pasture, where the cows were
being driven homeward for the night.
Nancy was schoolmistress for a lot OF
rough. Good-natured, noisy children. They
were Dunois', the overseer.
1t had been through compassion for the
forlorn young daughter Of his former en-
p;oyer, ard because Nancy was so cour-
ageous and energetic and handsome tha,
Pierre Dunois had asked her 20 come and
teach his children, with halting excuses
for the smallness OF the price he could
pay her.
II was an offer Nancy gladly accepted
for were they not both houseless and
homeless the day after the sale of the old
place by the sheriff.
So Nancy went to live In small white
washed cottage, taught his uncouth. good
hearted Acs,iian children. tried to get on
amicably with his ill-tempered wife. and
sent Ned TO a distant school. where this
boy grew big and tall and stroYe hard to
reach the goal Of his ambition. a home for
the brave and beautiful girl. so patiently
teaching her duh. shy, simple-he arted
scholars.
The difficulty TO isS met seemed indeed
ins1rmountable.
Nancy's earnings were small: not YES
tige remained of the profuse and glitter
ing wealth which had been theirs. and