The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1906-12-21
w HEN Pierre Nadeau brought
NV his blooming bride to the River

strong, fresh from the lumber
camps Of Lake st. John. He had been
appointed wharf foreman in his new
home, and had grown old and gray as
time Went on, until a small farm and
dwelling, bought with the fruits of his
toll, provided a shelter for his declining
years.
Two sons had been born to the Ma
deaus, who, as they grew to manhood,
vent naturally to the lumber camps. At
ter a time, however, attracted by promises
Of higher wages and cash payment, in lieu
Of store trade, they sought the growing
West. When they left their home they
were clad in provincial fashion; when
they returned, on a visit only. they We're
clad In store clothes and radiant neck
wear, n they used strange English, such
as made the Pere Nadeau sick at heart.
Finally, after unbridled depreciation of
The surroundings in which they were born
and bred, they departed by schooner and
melting finally into the Orient were seen
DO more.
But their daughter Angelina remained
to them, brown of hair and eyes, the trim
hess Of her supple form manifest despite
the fashion of dress considered at that
early period becoming to the daughters Of
old France. The long, loose blouse, and
short. homespun flannel kirtle, relics of a
Norman peasantry, which on other women
made them to appear squat, failed to hide
her we'll rounded proportions and maiden
ty grace.
She had a sharp tongue, had this daugh-
ter Of the Nadeaus, and when she was
merry her laughter rang out like sleigh
hoIA in riptorsc froct SnrIoy oftor-
noon, when vespers were over, was the
time when she would exercise her sharp
wit: when, with the other maids of the
hamlet she sought the lumber wharf to
swap words Of badinagc with the lighter
men, deal handlers and trimmers gathered
there.
There were no frivolities on week days.
however, when Angeline MIXED the cows,
and made tasty butter for the Nadeau
table. This done she would seat herself
at the loom, which would ring out it's
rapid click-clack to the push Of her Wig
orous foot, as it turned out it's webs of
linen, flannel or catelonne, for village con-
sumption. She was as quick with her
little hands and feet as with that biting,
scornful tongue of hers.
Every year, as the big ship Margaret
Pollock anchored off the shore for cargo,
Captain Locke would pay her a visit the
moment he set foot on land. Clean
shaven, but for a fringe of fierce red whis-
kers, his face was vast and lurid as the
setting sun. He wore broadcloth on such
occasions, with a beaver hat as high as an
ordinary chimney; his shirt-front ~rivaling
In expansc his main t'gallant sail.
He always brought her a present, some
triae picked up in a foreign port, which
he would donate in an offhand manner.
Sometimes the girl would kiss his gnarled
cheek, and he would clap her on the shout
der softly with a hand which, clenched,
could fell an OK.
One day the schooner Notre Dame DIES
Anges came in, to load farmers stuff, hav-
ing been chartered for this purpose by a
black-browed man of thirty-fve about,
who gave his name as Boisvert. He
staggered to a certain extent, and was
clad in garments supposed to be of fash
ionable cut and texture. The women
thought him handsome. but his eyes were
set rather close together for beauty, and
his nose, bent, and with a scar in the
concave section. gave to his face a sinister
expression. During the intervals of load
ing he sat much in the house of lie pere
Nadeau, depreciating their surroundings.
His constant disparagements at length
took root in the girls mind, and her en-
virsnment grew narrow and bald the more
he talked. He assaulted the feminine fash
ions of the port, too; so that when a
modiste drifted to the village from st.
Michel, with steel engraved fashion plates
not three years of age, Angeline became
her first customer. One Sunday she went
to church in a new gown, Of bright color,
with a hat decked with red paper flowers,
and a ribbon at her neck of poppy hue.
NJ. Bsisvert was filed with admiration.
"How the boys would cast soft eyes at
you in st. Roch,'' he assured her with a
melting look.
"Ge away, NJ. Boisvert,' was her re-
tort, but it was accompanied with an af-
fected toss of her pretty head, which the
old Nadeau and his wife disliked, though
they could not just say why. So did
Olapha Ouellet. He had been a log job
Der, and having been successful in his
contracts, he had invested his capital in
a snug farm in st. Angelo, where his old
mother kept his house clean until such
time as Angelina would consent to be-
come the mistress. Alas for his hopes !;
the girl had of late become contemptuous
of the prospect.
Its bad enough here by the sea. but
I st. Angelo, with nothing but the big
i woods to see-bah."
y Its all that Boisvert,' said Claphas
angrily. Octave Lavoie, the navigator,
says he has a wife and five children in
Lorette."
"1t's false" snapped Anseline with
flashing eyes.
The Notre Dame sailed at length for
Quebec; but the supreme content of Cla-
phas and the old Nadeaus was but short
lived. But a few weeks had passed when
she returned to her old mornings, laden
with wind-blown apples for sale or ex-
change, with Boisvert, debonaire and Gym
deal as before, at his former post. Cap
tain Locke was in port at the time. and
took an instant and unconcealed dislike
DO him.
One dark fall night, while the hum of
. coming e~asterly wind was heard in the
trees which overhung the river, the Notre