The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1920-06-05

ones. was repeating a name over and
over. "Say 1t again, chlld~ she was
whispering.
She reiterated this demand over and
over again.
"Say it," she muttered. "Say it, and
never forget. And carry it with thee
through life, saying it in moments of
temptation, that thou mayest remem-
Der thy mother and understand. Now
swear by the Virgin to say it morning
and night, and never forget!"
The frightened girl had sworn,
catching the words from her mothers
lips. She had said the name morn and
night until it had become engraved
upon her memory forever. But it was
long before she understood its mean
ing.
Then she remembered her father
shaking her by the arms. 1.-THE name
thy mother told thee-Speak 1t. Ma
riew
mo" answered the little girl OBJ
stinately.
He threatened her, but the child OF
FIVE years pressed her lips together
and would not utter word.
"Listen, Marie! If you tell me thou
shalt have everything in the world. A
new dress, and thou shalt sail with me
upon my ship, and will buy thee the
big doll that opens and shuts her eyes.
The name, Marie!'
Marie remained perfectly silent.
And for years she resisted her fathers
threats and promises and pleadings,
not understanding that It was a mental
inhibition which she could not break.
The sight of her dying mother had
| inflicted a wound In the child's soul
that never healed. And every week at
first, every month later, the scene with
her father was renewed.
She never pretended to have forgot
ten, as she might well have done. AS
she grew older her fathers outbursts
became less frequent. But the insane
rage which agitated him grew rather
than lessened as the years went BY
Sixteen had passed; she was now
twenty-one, and she looked back on q
childhood that had been torture.
Her estrangement from her father
was as complete as from the village
life. At first the scandal had beer
against her, and later her aloOfnesE
had set the tongues of the st. Bonifact
women to wagging. Like mother, like
daughter"-sO runs the hard proVert
in every country. Marie Dupont grew
up friendless and utterly alone. Tit
girl had never had friend. nor haC
she ever even had a sweetheart unit
six months before.
Pierre, in the course of his peregri
nations along the coast, at that TIM
as assistant on smuggling craft, hat
come to know the solitary figure tina
paced the beach. In those days thu
girls heart, cut off from natural com
munlcatiOn with the young people o
st. Boniface, had turned, with tn
vague yearning of youth, to dreams o
the world outside. The represse'
spirit seeks it's adventures in deViou
ways; If not in action then In imagina
ton. Marie Dupont longed for releas
from her Imprisonment, and dreame'
of the prince who was some day t
come and take her away.
When Baptiste began to show an in
terest in her, she hated him. She ha
never thought of him as lover, an
hardly as q man; he was part OF 81
Boniface, of the hateful life that en-
. compassed her, clutched at her an
would not let her go free. She cam
, to invest Baptiste with the qualities Q
all that she loathed.
Pierre seraped acquaintance wit
her. He had the intuition of the bas
,, man who must perforce win his VII
! tins by guile. He listened to her cor
fidences, shyly given to one who, b
his wandering life and through tn
tales that he told, seemed the exac
opposite of all those whom she ha
known. He sent Nanette to see Marie
choosing the time when Dupont wa
away.
Nanette was not bad; like most
her kind che was below normal mel
tally. When her lover, who ha
brought her to Ste. Marie, abandone
her, she worked in large and chea
!. flumbermen's summer boardinghous
: Pierre promised her that the ma
: would return to her IL she obeyed hin
She met Marie upon the beach, an
insinuated herself into her confdenc
AT last she took her to Simeon's dane
hall.
The lights, the dancing and II
music were revelation TO her. Q
!, the first night she cried from happ
= ness. Wholly ignorant Of life, her Il
: nocence protected her and sealed HI
= consciousness. And SimeOn's plaC
: was better In the early summit
of that year than afterward, and son
of the lumbermen would bring the
: sweethearts there.
!. The girls innocence found an al
: In the lumbermen, who protected he
: and she was, In fact. as safe there
in her home. Pierre was angry
:. first, but afterward he was glad, Il
he saw her dancing in Simeon's pla'
: and began to conceive an infatuatit
!. for her. He renewed his advance
= telling her of Quebec, of the free Ii
: of the world beyond. When her ina
: nation was enkindled and her cheel