LIFE,
oa
© Life. how slighiy
A little aweet,
A brief delight,
And theon<we mee
O Lif, how walal
A liskle mplte,
A little pain,
And then—good night!
={Uharles G. D. Roberts, in Indupuaidont
A WHITE ONE.
‘The nir was thick with steam and im.
pregnated with the smell of soap,
the temperature was by no means low,
mare espocinlly as tho sun was stream.
ing in through the uncurtained windows,
But the laundry girls were used to these
inconveniencos aud thought nothing of
them, They chattere! continuously over
to say, but because they had no sone
tion of the dignity of silence. The em
versation was, perhaps, not of thy most
edifying description, and the language
employed was forcible, garnished by
slang, and not free from superfluous ox-
pletives, for these girls were not of the
highest type. There was a curious taw.
for the most part, ragged dresses: they
had big, heavy fringes, which the steam
had taken out of eurl, so that in nearly
every instance they straggled into the
not compulsory to put them in the water
in order to earn un livelihood: but they
were better in this respect than thev
would be nearer the ond of the week, for
to-day was only Tuesday.
The only exception to the universal
untidiness was manifested in the person
of one whom the girls called "Liza (the i
thong ai).
" of whose name was invariably
dropped by her acquaintainces, was a
hunchback, and her face. though it pos-
a
most repulsively ugly. The complexion
was sallow, the mouth badly shaped, the
eyebrows obtrusively dark and heavy ;
very sad were the eves beneath them.
had there been any ane to their
wistful look, but "Liza did not encourage
scrutiny, and, indeed, the brown oyes
were not remarkable in and
were moreos or half hidden by the droop.
lids, from which in a
sideways, haif-sinister manner ‘Lian
was not very popular among her compan-
ions, partly because she chose to be ex
. sive, and partly becanse she cond on
note
themselves,
ing she
e gliaoced
CCCAsIons say unpleasantiy sharp things.
But there was person
loved, and that was Miss Callender
By and by the ringing of a bell cre.
ated a diversion among the w
Almost simultaneously eight
red, soapy arms were drawn out of the
wash-tubs, eight pairs of r crinkled
hands were wiped on some portion of
convenient apparal,
ill-shod f
TOMI rn
Ionm
§
One whom she
i
OrRers.,
pairs of
{
0
pe irs of
vet tramped into au a joining
i i 1
and eight
At a table in this room stood a voung
lady, very sweet in appearance and pret
tly dressed. She nodded in a friendly
way to the girls, and shook hands with
cach one as they [ras sed. She had their
nterest at heart, and made it her duty to
come two or three times on week and pros
vide thom with dinner. This dinner con-
sistod usually, as on this occasion, of a
plate of soup tnd a large slice of pud.
ding, for which they paid a penny; a sec-
ond helping of either could be had for a
farthing, so the payment was mercly
nominal; butthe girls were exempt from
the feeling that they were the recipients
of charity.
The co spers were ‘dabbed” down on
the table wn a little pile, and Miss Callen-
and noisily consumed. The young lady
watched the other women, smiling. Per.
feotly dainty herself, their roughness did
not seom to repel her.
“Girls,” she said prosently, in her
quiet, clear toioe, “I am going tor giv on
party in the Mission Hall. Will
come?”
spoons on the almost empty plates.
“Lor, Miss; what sort a
might it be, now?”
“Oh, frimdly,”
“Music, gwd pleaty to oat, aud
may bring your sweethoarts.”
This caused a prolonged gigeling,
“Might ve bring more than ome?” in-
quired Poly Blanes, who enjoved the
distinction of being the prettiest of the
girls.
of party
you
provingly. :
“You or ghtn't to have more than one,”
she said, smiling.
“Oh! ns for that, Miss, I
any, I'm sare; but there, the more vou
draws off, the more they comes “on,
That's how it is with men. and that's why
uiont adm rors,”
And Polly, conscions af
in
her hoad in the air.
done, and by no weans reticent on the
subject of thir love affairs, fell to talk.
nently congenial, and treating it in n
was glad of anything which gave her an
insight ink their lives and characters,
Two there were who kept silence; one
a little newly married woman, to whom
fore was too sacred for commen spocch
and "Lim,
The pudding she had begun to attack
seemed to stick in ‘Liza's throat, and she
had great difficulty in gulping it down,
for the other hanger of which she was
often conscinas, the hunger of the heart,
livious of bodily needs.
was, too, of bitterness in her mind as sho
listened to the talk of those others. Per.
haps Polly's xoxds dd flare to Shue it
then anything olse; * as don't
want tu Sl iye has the nest admirers,”
up, *he suddenly met the eyes
Ty Yor waudid imauination
| they expressad pity, perhaps scorn. She
grimsoaed,
There was a momentary
tof
oulinrly load, harsh. defiant voice:
“Mine isu't Hviv'; mine isn't.”
‘Liza turned away quickly. *'I reckon
And at that minute the door was opon-
| ed, and the othors came trooping in. Miss
Callender exchanged on few words with
them and then went buck to get hor
gently. though there was the slightest
perceptible accent on the pronoun.
i voice was louder than before. It isn't
| only pretty girls a% hax people caring for
| om, There's other things
i looks.”
i “Of course there are, dear,” said Miss
i Callender, soothingly. for "Liza's eyes
| flushed ominously. ‘Goodness is worth
{ moch more to a man.”
“What wns his name, "Liza?"
Polly Blaines,
Polly was conceited, and "Liza, hy per.
sensitive, scented patronage.
“lL ain't going to tell ver,” sho said.
Then, with swift contradiction, “his first
name wns Charlie.”
“Was he handsome?” asked Polly,
pinching her neighbor under the table, so
that the latter, a high-colored, coarse.
looking girl, gave a little squeak.
asked
“I nover see anybody better looking.”
said ‘Liza, with promptitude. ‘He wasn't
any of your pink, dolly men.” (Polly's
favored suitor happened to fair,
He was dark and his nose was straight,
like a gentleman's, and his teeth was
white, and” ("Liza warmed to her sub.
jeer) he used to wear a red silk tie, with a
pin in it And,” she went on, “he always
gave me lots of presents
loved me so, ns he couldn't bear me oat
Oh,” she eried excitedly,
i “he did love me, and wo was so happy :
keepin’ company, and he was a-goin’ to
{ marry me She paused abruptly.
Indeed. her shrill voice had
boyond her control,
“What did he die of?”
the girls, with
: tones,
‘Liza looked at her ed hesitated
a moment then rose and pushed back
i her chair.
{ “That don't matter to ," she
! said, in a hard voice that yet had a eatch
in it. “He's dead, and that's onough;
i and you needn't any of yon ever talk to
me about him. So there! And
went back into the laundry.
There was a moment's silence
Callender sat looking thoughtful;
she rose and followed ‘Liza into the next
room, closing the door. The other girls
regarded one another with some SUTpPTise,
"Liza was usually silent and was eoasid-
ered morose, but her affliction had made
them kind to her in their rough
though she was certainly not a favorite
But that they real.
a romance in her If
Ae
every
be
{ of his sight.
got almost
1
naked one of
genuine compassion in her
ren Ry
ad |
no
one
she
Miss
then
waY,
among them HOW
wl that she |
i » of
raed
sontiment, which is in
woman, made them feel a symp thy for
her hitherto unknown
‘Liza was standing by her washtub,
plunged in her hands
and begun to vigorously soap one from
the heap of tow els she had to wash, Her
lips were set tight together, her bosom
was heaving, and a tear had rolled down
her check and dropped off it on her
coarse apron. She put up her arm, her
bands being soapy, and laid her elbow
across her eyes for a minute
“Fliza."
more tender than she was wont to hear,
so that her name
She looked up.
“Eliza,” said Miss Callend again,
and then she came close up to the girl,
aud drew Lior toward her.
rs
and she had already
said a soft voice, in accents
sounded quite musical.
From that dav began a new ern for
'Liza. Whother it was that Miss Callen
{ der sing’ed hor out for ipecinl attention,
| or because they were really eapable of a
lusting impression themselves, it is im-
possible fo say, but it Is certain thut she
was differsntly trotted by the other
women and equally certain that this
treatment ha la salutary effect upon her,
Repellant at first, she grew daily more
approachable, less suspicious, more gra.
cious, and her better quulities came into
play. Perhaps the influence Mis
i Callender had not a little to do with this,
for from the beginning "Liza had loved
her, und now her fecling was little loss
than worship. And to love another is so
good for a woman's soul that it works
itke magie on her whole being. It made
possible to "Liza the comprehension of u
love higher than Miss Callender’s; and
tho little Loudon lisathen, being taught
by her dear Indy coneorning those things
of which she had been ignorant hitherto
became what the girls called “religious,”
Foward the end oc the summer, she con-
sented to be confirmed, and went to
classes, and this seemed to the others to
make "Liza more important, especially
when she explained that ‘thers
Indies at the classes.”
‘Liza was nearer being happy now than
she had ever been in her life, and vet she
Often she heaved
great sizhs that made her neighbor turn
sud lovk at her, aud frequently there
were marks of tears oa her face; so that
sw evident to the others
of
was
seemed saddor ton,
gre
that there was something weighing upon
her.
As the time for her confirmation drow
near "Liza looked graver than ever, and
more worried At last it came to the
day itself. She had obtained a holiday
from the laundry, through the influence of
i Miss Callender. What was the surprise
of that lady and the others, therefore,
when, in the midst of the mid-day meal,
in rushed ‘Liza. She had on a clean
print dress, ma je for the occasion,
her hair was disordered, her face
from fatigue and eccitement, her
shone brightly.
“Hullo,” exclaimed the girls in a breatl
“Mv! ain't she Fhey thou
she had como hor dress
“Eliza,” exclaimed Miss Callen
“What do you want? You will be
for your confirmation
“ith. Miss.
as she
1 3 *
bye-and-bye it
y swell,
“
fo show of
gasped
hire nililoss
I've tried and
could; and at
But, lately
Ane
I
was
tried to say it
i i
first §
, and when
to me, it ha’ cat
oh, Miss, when
boon fallin’ down and
explaining to yor, bat somethin’ held
back Aud 1 told Ged, but he seemed to
say it wasa't any use my just teliin’, un
less 1 undid it. Oh, please,
I don’t care now what you think of me,
or you despise fe I can't go to
church until I've told ver Him as 1
talked of was only what | dream
when I was lonely, evenings amd times
nay
d t me li
And, youve wiv ken of
him, I've
6% near
ne
all of you
if
ii
about
and there wasn't no Charlie, really, and
novTer loved ine £]
wanted to marry me. t Lud gate Month
%
iv,
no ohne ain i or
stration. Perhaps that was why she
half-pulled herself away,
““* My dear,” said Miss Callender,
must be great friends. you and I, for we
have a in common. Nothing
binds pe ople sa close together as to be
linked by mutual trouble. Two voars
ago | was engaged to be married, and he
who was to have been ay husband was—
was shot, in Afghanistan.”
‘Oh, Miss!
if Rao you
we
ROTOWw
cried ‘Liza. ** Oh, Miss !”
gee,” said Miss Callender
eaci other.”
Liza did not gpeak. She began to
pull at her apron.strings, then getting
them into a knot, busied herself undoing
it.
she said presently. “You always seems
happy and bright-like. You're mostly
| smiling.
{ when any one as has cared for ver has
{ died.”
| “God helps me to bo happy, said Miss
‘ Callender simply. * Besides, 1 have
| many things to be grateful for.”
{ "Ah, there yer ars,”
most passionately;
lonely and hugly.
if yer wanted to; you don't go longin’
and lengin’, and a pain in your heart
mostwhiles. I woolda't tell any o
them, and you won't make a mock at me,
but thore's times, specially in the even.
ings, when I ache for some one to say
‘ quite gentle-like to me, *'l
to look at my a bit lovin’, Why shouldn't
I have what others do? Cause I ain't
pretty? Ain't my heart as good as
Polly's there? Wouldn't | be truer than
her?
LH] ain't so old now as all
And nature's natar, whether
tor poor girls. Ain't it nat'ral to
to be joved?’
that come
want
lendor to whom "Liza was just then a
revelation,
by the sympathy which was rather in
manner than words, “when folks are
{ Kind to mo it's mostly pity os makes ‘om;
(an hato to bo pitied. It ain't be.
{ 6nuso they wants me with ‘om; there's
| Oven some, | suppose, as wouldn't care
| to keop eompany with me in case folks
| should stare, And, ob, I'm proud, 1 am
| lm awlally proud. There's none so
woud us thom as is despised, you
ow”
[21 don't despise you, Eliza.” said Miss
| Caller, spontaneously. “Aud I'm
| sure thors dont.
nig 1 liked mo a bit, not
becanse you pitied me, I'd bo uncommon
glad,” wiiid "Liza, shyly. “I #'pose,” she
went on, half-antinmed nt her own confi.
| dences, “it wouldn't make no manner o'
“renee to you, moe likin’
* Indeed it would,” Miss
| ewerod, and she bent fo
‘Liza on the {wehioad,
i
¥
§
Earthquakes,
Several shocks
have recently
of earthquake which
felt in various
quarters of the globe at about the time
of the new moon recall the interesting
theory that the earth is more frequently
shaken near the periods of the new and
full moon than at any other times. Lists
| of earthquakes covering many years have
been prepared, which soem to favor this
theory,
The reason assigned is similar to that
i by which we are able to acoount for the
greater height or the tides at new and full
moon,
When the moon and the sun are on the
! same side of the earth, as is the case at
now moon, they unite the force of their
| attractions in heaping up the waters of
the sea. The same thing happens when
they are on opposite sides of the earth.as
| at full moon, for then each, by attracting
{ in an opposite direction, assists the other
{ in pulling out the ocean, so tu speak, as
one might pall out the sides of a rubber
{ ball.
According to the theory in question,
been
| the crust of the earth which, by causing
the strata of the rocks to slip and slide a
little, produces earthquakes,
| When the moon is ot its qaarters its
Il is at right angles to that of the sun,
snd then, as is well known, the tides are
{lowest. Then, too, it is argued, the
| strain upon the crust of the earth is least.
| If this theory is true. how wonderfully
sensitive the apparently solid globe must
| he to the impulses conveyed to it by the
{Chicago Herald,
Sm"
Memory Feats.
Louis XIII. after a year's time counld
draw from memory the plan of a cotntry,
When Mr. Blaine was in Congress Le
used frequently fo repeat bilis nnder
discussion, after having read then once.
Daniel Webster was able torepeat the
whole Constitution of the United States
word for word, including punctuation
stops,
Hortensios the famons orator.attendod
o public sale lasting a whole day and re-
enlled, in order, ali the objects sold aud
the names of the purchasers,
Scanger, an Italian, in twenty-one days
committed to memory the “liad,” which
comprises 15.210 verses, and the “Odys-
sey,’ which also comprises a lrrge
number,
Lipsius, n professor at the University
of Fier, offered lo Incite Tucitust
history in its entirety in the presence
a person armed with a
person who
should stab him with it at By ft ovr.
OF THE PRESS,
Needed Finishing
"Twas Ever Thus It Doesn't
Pay -At the Club, Ete.
LEFTY HIN
Bunk teller-—Wall, sir,
Tramp (at the window
ADDEERR,
Sany, I picked
Bugle to-day. Saw a queer thing in it,
Teller Perfectly,
Jimmy ! I'm glad that.
Say, thut paper says money is so easy
the Japs will moon socking
borrowers, and [ merely wish to remark
Tramp 0
y
He
No. 226
trood New 8.
Washington gare,
MEEDED VINISHING,
Caller — Your daughter is nt home now,
is she not? I heard she had graduated at
tho Artistic Literary and Scientific Uni-
versity . :
Hostess She is not at home
gone to o finishing school,
“Why, what for?”
“Oh, to learn how to enter a room, aud
pit down, and hold a fan. and blush,
kuow.’ New York Weekly
xhe has
sli Vrid
"TWAS EVER Tilt
Wien a maiden is vivacious
Men applaud and call it chick
1%, if i 2 3 ” o} }
put if she = an old back number,
hoy will whisper: “That's no
caiek
IT DOESS T PAY.
Little Daughter I'm awfal
had our old piano tuned
Mother Why sO, my dear?
Little daughter
now | blame the
piano. oil News
ROTTS
Cause when | play
enn’t discords on the
fag
tray | Do you think thee in
anything in the theory thal married men
live | fr than unmarried ones ?
Honped xed Friend ily fh I
lon't know MINS jonger.
: : pe
it helor
¥
fig gf
wear
i : 0 iis have a jovous sound
in peace
And
and good-will bring nz:
sicigh-bells, when the moon Is
round,
Have masie in their ringine:
3; fter all. I nn oy
sil, alter all, | must agree
That maideas are the belles for me
Judge,
HEMORY FOR LITTLE THINGS,
Blogzs (returning to his native town
Do you remember me, Juy?
Jay Well, no, I can’t reall
|
{
five dollars in 1840, which vou never
veturned. Do you happen to have that
amount with vou now?
HARD ON sornriv,
“I am very sorry for poor Mrs. Soph-
tie.”
“Why
“She has so little to live for.”
“How is that?"
“They say sho lives only
band.”
for
har hus.
A PHYSIODGSOMIAT,
“Oh,” esclaimed Miss Bondelipper,
“what a clever man that Mr. Gilhooley
is! He is really quite a physiognomist.
I was telling him last evening that [ hai
become quite proficient in painting, and
he said:
“I am sure of it, madame: vour face
shows it," " 4
Chorus
Indeed. [Texas Siftings,
REGRETS,
I've soribbled many a tender note,
In language woft and sweet:
"vu written many a loving verse,
In differant kinds of foot.
I've shaken tha girl 1 wrote them to,
Aud oh, it gives me pain
When I hear them in court again,
«New York Herald
DASIRES OF PROCRASTINATION,
Loandlady <1 #'pose you noticed that
long -whiskered old gentlemen who sat op.
posite you at dinner today? That is
rof. Driebones, and vou can have his
room, as he is going West on a scientific
exploration - strangest thing you ever
heard,
New Hoarder-- What js?
Landlady The object of histour.
has been told that a pre-historic cave has
been discovered out Wout. and in it sat
toa skeletons aroand a petrified table.
Now Boarder Well! well! Why
didn't the fools change their boarding
house sooner? [New York Weekly,
MAMMA'E DIARIES,
Little Girl--The teacher says I must
ot a dar and write in it all Ldo every
ny. Wi Inaba) ue ue, Suan Mama?
amma are | © up
stairs in the lower bureau wr fifteen
or twenty, | think,
! iste Girl But jan't those ones writ.
He
Tramp—Ploase mum, I'm nearly
starved mum. 1'm so week 1 can hardly
ernwl,
Housekeeper Tramps in that condi.
tion are not so dangerous as the other
sort. Goon with your starving, please,
{vod News,
A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW,
Bonttown
the best fellows that ever lived.
Downtown Lends vou money, eh?
New York Weekly,
A UREFUL PROVERR,
{
not murey again
and usked his
husband that she would
till she went to his grave
consent.”
“How foolish!
get any reply.”
“No, but she married again, neverthe.
less; she remembered the po sverh, 'Si-
Of course she couldn't
leno gives consent.
ONLY A HAL
Little Dick
boy?
. * .
rid vou ever see hall a
Little Dot No: did vou?
Little Dick— Not vet, but we both will
next week, A cousin of ours what we
never saw is comin here from the West,
an’ mamma says be's half orphan.’
INORANCE.
A LADY 1
Rind Lady If ot drink
liquor you would have more to eat,
Framp-—Oh, no, mum: no, indeed,
mun; its just the other way. If the
barkecper didn't seo us buyin’ a drink
New
yOu did i
once in a while we'd soon starve
WORSE
THAN AN IXQ
Young Wife don't
schoel teacher at all
wmtioncs nor consideration,
vy eruel,
" Husband —Great snakes!
really make you eat the things
New York Weekly,
like that cooking.
She has neither
] She actunl-
i
She doesn't
3
A of
Goes sae
BOME COXs
Isa't
aw fally cold these days?
Liner it
fully the chimney «
New York Herald,
Spacer our
sometimes
Maggi
thos
wander if Morrison
Dell]
brought home one of Eons
{ bBautnug in with her?
Bil (th, ves: | saw
inl mst night
1 walked
vin vou do that?
+
<0, Bot Yel
Oh. not a whole bird on my hat.”
eried: ‘1 conldn’t think of that
It's wrong to kill the daints
Just use the head
ba 114
things,
and pair of wings
f°
hicago limes,
A THREAT.
Digs
Snooper —I'm afraid we'll lose youna
Harris. He's a very capable mau, and
we are not paving himmuch, $'mafraid
Swayback —Just tell him that if he ne-
cepts another situation, we'll discharge
him on the instant. — Epoch.
THERE WERE EXCEPTIONS,
The Shopper {in ohina and queensware
to salesman) —You don't break
these sets, | presume ?
The Salesman—No'm; but our errand
boy does, sometimes.
A BAFE PURCHASE,
“I've just mortgaged my house for
2000,” said a New Yorker to his broker
friend. * Can you give me a pointer on
something that's a purchase ?
“I ean,” replied the broker; “buy that
= Harpers
Bazar.
CURIOUR siMinAaniry
“When we wore in the north seas’
A DIE
THY, YOUNG FOLKS,
FAIRY TALES,
The time 1 like for fairy tales.
Is when the day begins to die,
Just as the brillinnt sunset pales,
And twilight shadows guther nigh,
When I can lie before the fire
That blazes with a ruddy light,
And hear the tales that never tire
Of imp and fairy, gnome sud sprite,
And sometimes os the shadows fall
Across the floor from every wide,
A goblin dances on the wall,
And guomes within the corners hide.
Then ns the fire-light Linzes high
We see the shadows ran aw ny,
And silently sguin draw nich,
Like spirits of the wood ut play.
And when the embers fnintly glow,
Upon the smoke | soe ascend
The little folk 1 love to know,
Who vanish nt the store 5 cand,
3 vr 1 ople,
Harpe: * 3a
nULps.
fv
iF
I akda
benignant one’ is
re endly,
the of the
spricalture amd
domestic life with all its « ustomary du.
which me hi
hie
supposed patroness of
Fiuine
Meomretimes it is
seliod it is
cheerful
ties nnd teader offices
wire dle d Holda, but however
attend: d by
thought. In the long ago. In house.
mothers would savy whiten sheen Ty HL. Hulda
is makine her bed, iPdeuroit Veve Press,
always hinge ’
. i
WY
« Ki
DOMESTIC .
The Divka tribes of Africa reverence
win oes An officer nd to pay a
fine of four goats for killing one suske.
These tribes domesticate snakes and keep
Hie
traded blubber for sealekins.”
“* That's nothing,” said Boad: “ down
in the North River region my wife worked
the very same racket on me.” New
York World.
THOUGHT SOMETHING OF niNsgLy,
living.
He-~Then there is no hope for me. It
was because | thought you would that 1
provosed to you.
Rassian Servants,
We have a pleasant way of growling |
and grambling over the inefliciency of |
ten in :
our Macy Anns and Elizas, and consider
ourselves very badly used because they
do not eome nearer the pinuscle of per. |
faction, but the Russian servant doable |
disouunts ours in voxations incompoteney,
and the Russian mistress has trials beside
which our fade into insignificance. Every |
household has a host of retainers. They
off to sleep at any hour in the day,
trathds an unkown virture to them, A
Indy cannot help about hor house or she
loses all caste with and authority over
and
wait for the Smt of mentic to move
accomplishmen
her toward nent of her
vith butter
kes mav besesrn
(ber Afri.
nttachments
i® ua tribe
bathe with milk and anoint
In most of their hats sua)
crawling in search of mice
Cans have © ually pam Msiny
the the Nik
in partial fo Hons told in
s “In Darkest Africs of how a
ii pit preg for other
and how his wa
aid tl
east of
thnt
Stanley
ion n
prev. si cut poles
bottom and
the fallen ping of the
mul, the
1% rin
irda te : y=
cut slontwise
veil
ns this coward
somelimes
(ss that
Wher to
ren
the
differ-
the mu-
its on in-
{frequently
\zain
=n i%
houses
f5nai be
ws Tectiy.
§1AV
i 1h
PW ODNes, Baa Y
which h vel fi
ad the ne, and again
ret them,
templ the
! perching it-
of the care remained
and until the
Then,
through
bird proudly
BES AMING a
and fourth ut
tf inirars
Nn disprust,
an
ilams
1 : 4 i ¥ wid
Ms 60 lonrer reach
Macon Te
iad of
rolled tue
1411 AN igs T
W ben Boulot and
iIv-W
Boalotte, the little
had reacke] the digni.
it decided in
council that the time had come for
val twins
pin
fied age of twelve wns
family
them to put their little naked feet into
Fhey were two browvnskinoed,
black-« vod creole rolv-polies, who lived
with father and mother and = troop of
brothers and sisters half way up the hill,
in a neat log cabin that had uw sabstantial
mud chimney at one end They could
well afford for they had
saved many a picayune through their in-
dustry of selling wild grapes, black-
berrie, and socoes to Indies iu the village
whe “put up” such things. ;
Boulot and Boulotte were to buy the
shoes themselves, and they selected a
Saturday afternoon for the important
transactiofl, for that is the great shop-
ping time in Natchitoches Parish. So
upon a bright Saturday afterncon Boulet
and Boulotte, hand in hand. with their
quarters, their dimes, and their pios-
yunes tied carefully in a Sanday hand-
kerchief, descended the hill, and disap.
peared from the gaze of the eager group
that had assembled to see them po.
Long before it was time for their re.
tari, this same small band, with ten
year-old Seraphine at their head, holding
a tiny Seraphin in her arms, had stationed
themselves in a row before the oabin at a
convenient point from which to make
quick and careful observation.
Even before the two could be canght
sight of. their chattering voices were
heard down by the spring, where they
had doubtless stopped to drink. The
voices prew more and more audible.
Then, through the branches of the yo
pines, Boulotte’s bine sun bounet ap.
peared, and Boulot's straw hat. Finally
the twins, hand in hand, steppod into}
the clearing tn full view. :
Consternation seized the band,
“You bof ernzy done, Boulot an’ 1
lotte,” screamed Seraphine. “Yon g
buy shoos, an’ come home barefest like
you was gol”
Boulot flushed crimson. He silently
hung his head and looked sheepishly
down at his bare feet, thon st the fine
stout broguns that be carried iu his hand,
He had not thought of it. 3
Boulotte also carried shoes. but of the
lossiost, with the highest of hools and
irightest of buttons, But she war not
one to be disconcerted or to look sheep.
ish; far from it, ;
“You spoc Boulot an’ me we got
money fur was'e-us?’ she retorted,
with wi “You
think we in de
‘walked into the house
but Bounlotte, who was
ween =
shoes now,