The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-25


 St. Louis to sell the superfiuous pro-
 ouce Of the plantations. which was not
 however very considerable If you add to the personages already mentioned two goats which were brought up with the children and great dog which kept watcn at night you have a conn pIete 'tea of the household as well as of the production of these two little farms
 Mme de la Tour and her friend were constantly engaged in spinning cotton Tor the use of the families. and as they scnooled themselves to depend on nothing that could not be produced af home, they generally went barefooted. reserving their shoes for Sunday. when they went to early mass in the little | church Of the Shaddock Grove. This l church stood at a considerable distance from the valley, further of, in fact. than Port St Louis: but they prefer red to worship there than in the city. | where there coarc> dresses might be subject of remarks, and where they would be brought into contact with the world which they had forsaken. . It was amid such surroundings as these. under such conditions as these. nursed by two such mothers as these. that Paul and Virginia grew up side side in innocence and health. While they were yet in their cradles the mothers talked of their marriage and smoothed their own cares by looking | forward to the happiness Of their chil- | dren. Remembering their own misfor- tunes they found consolation In reflect ing that their more fortunate children, l far from the cruel perjudices of Eu- rope, would enjoy at once the pleas ures of love and the blessings of | equality.
 Their tears had never been called | forth by tedious application to useless | sciences. Their minds had never been wearied by lessons of morality super | fiuous to bosonls unconscious of III | They had never been taught not to steal, because everything with them was in common; or not to be intem- perate. because their simple food was | left to their own discretion; or not to | lie, because they had nothing to con- | ceal. All their early childhood passed thus like a beautiful dawn, the pre- l Jude to a bright day.
 Rarely had there been such an at- tachment as the two children manifest ed for each other from the first, and their affection appeared to strengthen as they grew older, until they seemed to have but one heart and one soul. But Mime. de la Tour had a keen ap- preciation of the uncertainties of this mortal existance and would some | times say to herself: If I were to die, what would become of Virginia, thrown on the world without rortune?' She had an auLt in France, woman of quality. rich and unmarried. In spite of the fact that this aunt had behaved cruelty to her, Mime. de Ia Tour, soon after her daughter was l born, resolved to write to the proud relative. hoping to enlist her sympa- thies and engage her interest for Vir- ginia. For twelve years she wrote regularly, but not an answer did the aunt vouchsafe to her niece At last, however, when Virginia was 12 years old, a messenger from the Governor at Port St. Louis appeared in the happy valley and announced to Mme de la Tour that His Excellency had letter for her from her aunt. The good wo- man flew to the city, her maternal joy raising her above all the trif1ing con alterations which had caused her heretofore to shun the place.
 An said M de la Bourdonnais, the Governor, coldly, your aunt has written me concerning you and recom- mending you to my consideration. We will see what can be done--there are so many to relieve-all in good time. Why did you displease your aunt? You have been much to blame"
 The letter from which Mime de la Tour had hoped so much proved to be merely an ill-natured lecture, filled by the writer with praise of herself and condemnation of her niece. There" exclaimed Mime. de la Tour to Marea.- ret when she arrived home and threw the letter on the table. '1s the result of twelve years of patient expecta- ton" Sae could contain herself no longer and burst into tears.
 Margaret and the children sought to comfort her, and at last she dried her eyes, declaring that, after all. perhaps 1t was better as 1t was. You are the cause of my affliction, my children" said she, but you are also the only source of my delight. Affliction has reached me, but only from a distance; here I am surrounded by happiness and will never again look to the world beyond this valley"
 Having made this resolve. every day to these two families became one of happiness and tranquility Neither ambition nor envy disturbed their re- pose. They did not seek to obtain useless reputation by artifice and lost by calumny. but were contented to be the sole witness and judges of their own actions Passers-by on the road to the Shaddock Grove would some times ask of the inhabitants of the plain who lived in those cottages up there, and were always told, even by those who did not know them. They are good people"
 Paul at 1S was stronger and more intelligent than most European youths of 16 and the plantations which Do mingo cultivated were embellished by him. He Est out groves of the lemon, orange and tamarind trees, together with the date palm. the agathis. with its long cluster of white flowers, which hang from it like the pendants of chan delier: the Persian lilac. which lifts high in air It's gay. fiax-colored bran ches; the pawFpaw, the branchlAss trunk of which forms column stud ded with green melons surmounted by a capital or broad green leaves. The seeds and kernels of the gum tree, the terminalia, mango. alligator pear. trees were also planted by Paul. who arranged charming retreats amid his groves and flowers.
 In these retreats the two families often sat at evening while Paul and songs which Madam de la Tour taught tales of shipwreck and of travellers be- set by wolves at night in the parts of Europe which were yet wildernesses. Below the cliff they could hear that ocean of which she spoke; and beyond it, they knew, lay the Europe where the wolves lived. and their own happy state and beautiful valley seemed all the more an earthly paradise by com trast with a stormy sea that they had no desire to cross and land that they shipwrecks and wolves were all out side their lives.
 Perhaps the most delightful retreat
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