The Starkville news. (Starkville, Miss.) 1902-1960, 1904-02-12
"Tout de Suite -
lCopyright. 1908, by Daily Story Pub. Coz
BY
+. H. LANCASTER

n INC SIeeu Hills uIppCu ~
wv the bayou and where the sunset
thickened in the woods "Tout-deSuite"
had builded cabin Of clean. new
boards, cut from the very heart of the
pines Had rooted it snug and fiOored
it close and done one other thing no.
body knew but him. Working eagerly
by early stars and late in fine frenzy
of love; dreaming by day and by night
strange, sweet dreams; laboring low
ingly, until it stood in all its sweet
scented completeness where the pines
had lately stood and sung. One even
ing he had walked around it scarcely
whistling for happiness; the next, he
had locked the door, barred the win
dows and gone away.
'Pourquoi? All, mon ami, il ny
personne sans defaut." And him they
call 'Tout-de-Suite," he had his fault
as his nickname showed. Ee was i'm
patient? Hen. He was as impatient
as fire with wind behind it.
You see, mon ami, it used to be bit
of Eden ''out yondah." They had rat
tlesnakes in the woods and alligators
in the bayou, but it was a bit of Eden
for all that-no newspapers, no auto
mobiles, no appendicitis. Love for the
young, liberty for the middle-aged,
peace for the old, and plenty of hard
work for everybody. That was the way
it was until the railroad came like q
serpent into paradise, filling foolish
heads with the notion that money
could be had without working. "A
baS,' you say, "a railroad to bring
such a notion" Mais arretez mon ami
Down at the tie camp did they not Of
fer 80 cents a head for cabbages? And
was not Madam Aloysuis' garden full
of cabbages that she had been wont to
give to the neighbors for nothing-or,
next to nothing? Now, every day she
and Cherie filled their little cart,
leisurely into camp, there to sell doz-
ems of cabbages for 80 cents apiece.
Think of it, they had hitherto had to
depend for spending money on figs at
three cents a pound. "Ah sacre,. it
takes so many figs to make a pound"
Cherie had sometimes sighed, softly.
to "Tout-de-Suite," when he came in
his Sunday clothes to smoke his Gig
arettes on Nine. Aloysuis front gal
lery. Such a shabby little gallery
with rickety steps that the four
oclocks couldn't hide, though they
crowded ever so close. "Tout-de-Suite"
longed for the right to repair that
rotten roof, put new blocks under
those sagging corners and replace the
hinges on the gate tied up with cow
hide thongs. But while he waited
fmpatiently for the time when all
these and dearer-far dearer rights
should come to pass, the railroad came
and prosperity breathed it's reviving
breath upon madam's tumbled- down
establishment. The house squared it
self with the world, new boards
cleaned from the roof, and new steps
turned snowy under Cherries energetic
scrubbing "Tout-de-Suite" was up
the river hauling logs when things
began to happen and his first call set
him agape.
Mamma have a man come UP fOm
de camp and fix heem," Cherie ex-
planned, with modest assumption of
carelessness, when she saw him star
ing at the new boards. "Says she
t'ink mebbe she have heem come mex
new fence some day. But me, 6on'
know / t'ink best finish de house
first Man say de glass window don
cost more'n two dollars, mebbe. What
you tink?"
"Tout- Suite thought dreadful
things He had not heard about the
boom in cabbages.
what man is das?" he asked,
harshly.
Cherie was delightfully."- innocent. 'I
dom know, me. 1t was mamma talk
to heem."
Another thought only slightly less
dreadful than the first came to Tout
de-Suite," but before he could word
it Cherie was telling him of their sud-
den rise in riches He began to un-
derstand that this pretty new dress
was not her very best, put on for his
especial benefit She spoke sighting
ly of it. Good enough, yas, fo' de
house every day" and limited darkly
of things done In the way of hats.
Tn sudden anguish the boy understood
that he was no longer the brightest
light in her girlhood heaven, and
perfect frenzy of fear and impatience
seized him.
Could not Cherie be ready by spring?
He had his ground most ready to plOw,
he could work on the house wet days
and evenings. Couldn't she be ready