The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1904-01-22
Charcoal and 6upld
By EL LANCASTER.

BY II. LANCASTER. :
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .
a,e,yrighs, I'm. ~ Daily story PsA. o.
nut no: work had never seemed
Is shameful to Marie before. She had
always toiled willingly at her fathers
side at the kiln or in the field. HAD
driven the steers that drew the wood;
had dropped the corn and sacked the
coal. And her self-respect had never
suffered. Cest bon; neither had she
hacked the esteem Of her neighbors.
They counted her fine gal, vas.
Standing staunchly by q father not
over strong; by mother burdened
with many small children. Sewing.
scrubbing, cooking, doing whatever
her hand found to do and doing 1t glad
ly. Generally dirty, frequently tired.
but, ali oui. always bright and neat on
Saturday evening when the sun
dropped behind the pines and she sat
down on her steps to await Donician's
coming.
Tien. When she caught the fash OF
his red tie as he swung from saddle
and heard the creak of his patent
feathers as he strobe up the walk, hap
pier heart had no girl. For her love
AFFAIR was in that sweetest Of all sweet
stages-the certainty of her love for
him beginning to blend deliciously
with the certainty of his love for her.
And now she was ashamed of her
work. Of her clothes, Of her love. NAL
hereux. And it was q wee, winsome
woman who had brought all this shame
upon her.
Marie had welcomed the school
teacher without q misgiving. Had
taken up uncomplainingly the extra
load Of work and gone to sleep in the
shed that the teacher might have "a
rcom to herself" Perhaps in her heart
she had hoped to get some new ideas
from the teacher-how. to do her hair
more stylishly and tie her ribbons into
more fetching bows. VOLTA She did.
indeed, get some new ideas. The teach
er may have learned, mais certaipnent,
but she had no natural sense. School
had not been running week before
she showed that. It was the morning
that she met Marie coming out of the
cornneld. where the girl had been pull
Ing fodder since daylight Marie.
drenched with dew, her skirts tucked
mp to her knees. gave the teacher q
blithe good morning. The teacher re-
turned the greeting, stared at those
bare, wet legs, and the girl Juggling at
her skirts had run into the house hot
With shame. Sacre. 1t did hot occur
- her that any one 50 sweet and dain-
~ could be so i'll bred. She could only
feel wretchedly in the wrong and for
the first time In her fresh young life,
ashamed.
The next morning, 81 drole, yes. Ma
ne tried to pull fodder with her long
skirts wrapping about her ankles. She
tired herself terribly and came to the
house 50 dreadfully bedraggled that
her mother cried out In CONSERVATION;
hut she did not pull much fodder.
There was only needed what happened
. few days later to complete the girls
undoing. She had been helping her
father load his wagon with sacked
charcoal. He had started his slow
moving team down the road and Marie
bad dropped into the grass to rest a bit
when the teacher came by. Flushing
with her new-found shame the girl
started to her feet while the teachers
yes took in every deck Of coal dust
pon her.
Don't you hate to do such dirty
uoek?" she asked. compassionately.
Shades Of sanity! she meant to be
kind
Eh bien. The sirl bore up under the
0euse Of degradation as best she could.
O.. mats oui. But her shame was not
her most dreadful dose. A start,,ng
lear had thrown its grim shadow ath-
wart her hitherto fearless future. II
Doufctan should be made ashamed also
suppose the teacher should talk to him
and tell him that she did dirty" work
They had been keeping company
only nix months. but he never went
with any other girl and for 4 long
time none OF the boys had tried to
walk home from church with her. M
RE knew that behind her back her girl
friends. called her Madam Donician:
thnt everybody was watching slyly Tor
~ silver ring that would annount
har betrothAl. And-and-ah. Mere de
Dteu. the last dime he called Donician
AAd gone I'll red when he told her e
bad broken the blade Il his pocket
knife. When she asked how he had