The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1903-03-13
On the Batture.

BY s. Rhett Roman.

I
~ up and driftwood and great
tree trunks from the caving banks
or the hill region along the upper
river, torn up and borne away by
the rushing waters of the Atchafai.
fya and the Red, went by, Delphinc
always grew anxious.
She would stop singing those sweet
plaintive fishermen songs, brought
over long ago from the Normandy
coast of France by her grandfather
who told strange and fascinating
Tales of the ''peches a grands cours''
lie went on when young
He loved to describe the fishing
neet of the small village, perched
Ugh among the cliffs, as 1t fitted
opt of the narrow mouth Of the har-
b3r steering for the mackerel banks
ON the North sea to come back six,
perhaps eight, months later.
Dclphine and the old man were the
'onsy occupants of the little dwelling
quilt outside the levee on high stills,
hkf many Others lining the river
1rpt along the outskirts of the city.
hat of the old Norman fisherman
wab the largest and most prcten-
tiots of those occupied by the queer
cosmopolitan population scattered
along the batture, and old Jean
Pierre Durant. stern-looking. pow
erfnl and taciturn. much liked and
somewhat feared, was considered the
most prosperous of all the jewellers
OF the river settlement.
Delphine had no recollection Of
any parent but old Pierre.
1t was he who had watched over
her and taken care of her, and had
brought her. when she was old
enough. to the Convent of the Sacred
Heart to be there educated.
Delphine had wept disconsolate
tears when he left her in charge Of
the pale, sweet-faced mother supe-
Tior. But how happy those years
had been. How she had romped and
played in the big shady garden Of
the old convent, and how pleasant it
was in the high-ceiled, quiet class
rooms.
How she had loved to sing in the
choir Of the chapel while the set
ting sun, through the stained glass |
windows cast violet and golden and |
crimson patches on the spotless white
floor.
Delphine had to admit TO herself,
although never to Jean-Pierre, that |
she greatly missed her light-heartcd
companions of the convent and the
care Of the gentle nuns.
Her studies. at first irksome. how
absorbingly delighted they became.
1t had been no effort, Delphine re-
membered, to win prizes and keep at
the head Of her classes.
She had more than once wondered
why intellectual and wise Mother Ag-
mes woull watch her with troubled
gaze and sigh. anxiously. when Civ
ing her first honors.
Then she came back to live in the
little house on the batture, among
The shrimpers and fishermen, the ST.
rilians and Italians and the shifting,
changing population. leading their
strange lives along the bend Of the
river, where a small ferry boat went
back and forth and tied up at night
II its wharf, when its restless DAYS
work was over.
Two rcoNrs had been added by Jean ,
Pierre and bright colored awnings
shaded tn small porch. The boat,
noored I'd stake when the river I
vas low q u to the front step when
he tide wht gurgling around the pill !
ng and aipong the thick swaying I
willows around behind, had been re-
'ainted whom Delphine came back. q
There wcfc days when Delphine. in I
pitc Of hdr bright spirit and de- Z
crmina ton to be CHEEKY for Jean s
ierrc's sake, felt a strange fear come
YER her, and an unconquerable dread {
Z the GREAT rolling yellow tide {
weeping down 10 the gulf and rush v
'g in foarhing. murmurine counter '
nrrents AROUND the little home, now Il
pretty, with its boxes pf flowers, Il