The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1905-03-03
Aurore haC spent very busy day

Aurore haC spent very busy day
which she had ended by preparing thu
particularly good battercakes Allen
was just then enjoying.
Allen smiled fondly and commended
Aurore's industry, then fell into a
brown study and dissatisfied longing
hardened the lines of his face
Amy reading, sis?" he asked, get
ting up and coming towards the fire.
Reading? No, indeed, no time for
reading, Al. Too busy. You suppose
I'm going to sit down at home reading
books, while you are blowing and Ia
boring? Not much!'
Nine. FRANCHISE, who was periodical
ly afflicted with rheumatism, came in
grumbling to clear away the supper
things, and Aurore fell into a lively
discussion while helping her, using
Acadian patois with much fluency, GER
tain intonations and infections discov-
cred with the mellow richness OF her
voice.
How old are you. sis?' Allen asked
suddenly, question evolved by his
gloomy reflections, evidently.
why, don't you know, AL? I'll be
Is next June Do I look it? I'll be
quite grown up soon, won't I?'
Allen suppressed a sigh as he got up
and reached for an iron key hanging
behind the door, the key of the mule
stable. Taking the lantern from a
closet set in the wall, he lit it and,
he went out to stable the mules and
lock up the feedhouse, duties which
devolved upon him nightly.
The daily grind of routine and man
ual work was absorbing, and the years
were slipping by and Allen was
startled to realize that AurOrc, with
all her sweet, fresh beauty, her en-
crgy and generous impulses, was
growing up to lack an indefnable
something he remembered his mother
mad possessed, as he recalled her in
those early years of his childhood in
their far-away beautiful home, now in
other hands.
Allen attended mechanically to the
feeding Of the stock, saw that the door
was secure and the cattle housed, and
all the while he was approaching him.
self llccnly that he could do so little
for Alrorc, that he could not give her
advantages she ought to have and op-
portunities of education, and contact
with other girls of her age and class
in some big city.
Allen recalled with a pang, Aurore's
French, and her absorbed interests in
the daily cares of her life and her in
difference to books and reading, and
Allen foresaW how with all her beauty
she would narrow down into peasant
ways and peasant interests, and would
drift away from all things intellectual
What was he to do? Send her away
to some big college, before a distaste
for mental effort dulled her young
mind? Allen knew by experience how
arduOus task it was to plod over
studies, when the mind and body were
alike jaded by hard days labor
How could he expect Aurore, sweet,
bright, little Aurore, to have the stern
energy of a man, and take up study and
book learning as pastime? No, AL
len very plainly saw that unless he
could find the means to send Aurore
away from the restricted country life
she was leading, one filled with sweet
and pleasant busy hours but
devoid Of all ambitions, she would not
be for all her beauty, what her mother
had been, woman of fastidious re-
fncment, high education and polish.
How distinctly he remembered her
He himself was an uncouth fellow
Allen thought. From the age of II
he had done hard manual work. Had
driven cattle, MIXED COWS, hoed in
the garden, chopped wood, done car
penter's work, plowed and worked in
the blacksmith's shop shoeing horses
and mcnding broken implements. AS
carpenter how many wagons had he
repaired.
And during the grinding season he
was cane weigher, or timekeeper for
the plantation.
That he had studied hard, at nigh.
with scholarly Father Perrier's help.
and had acquired certain amount of
knowledge, a good deal of late and an
Gent literature. and had read the great
authors of modern times, was good at
mathematics, and was French
scholar. were not sufficient reasons,
Allen said to himself. for him to have
the air and polish his father had
No, both he and Aurore would be at
disadvantage among college-bred
men and women, and while Allen cared
tor knowledge for himself only in the
hope of being able to utilize it some
day to emerge from the slough of pov-
erty into which cruel circumstances
had plunged them, his heart burned
within him at the thought of Aurore's
growing up to womaohood shy, beauti-
ful and unlettereu, ike Heloise, old
Nine. Franchises daughter.
Allen came back, Aurore was in the
kitchen preparing the bread for the
next day. Then she and FRANCHISE dis
appeared.