A Little Girl in Old St. Louis

st of the early Western settlers, education was not esteemed the one thing needful for girls. To make good wives was the greatest attainment they could

e Renaud's relatives. There was a great thicket of roses that covered the line of palings, and some ladie

as Renée hung back. "You have been he

e had been Sophie's guest. No

ng their inquiries. Sophie stooped to play with the cat. An o

," she said in a soft tone. "He

ful little courtesy as she said this

," said another. "It is high time. He ought

has brought some elegant stuffs from Canada to dress her in when he gets her. Madame Aubrey was in yesterday and bought

se from Elise to Sophie as if they

laimed Renée, he

am not ready,

ntrance. She ran swiftly down the street, turned the corner to her o

Gaspard?" she cr

, you see, and I hope the good Father of all wil

de especially? Where would he put a wife? His small place in the corner of the shop, hung about with curtains, was not fit, since the

sigh so, l

not contain

marry?" she cried with passionate vehemence.

d, child? Surely the good priest woul

e girls. And some one said he had fixed the house f

e tears from

" the dame a

lle Barbe! Oh, I could guess

t tempered. She has a dot, too," said

n of tears, and springing

She shall not have Uncle Gaspard! Oh, why did he g

s your gr

t want me. No

id I must come, as there would be no one here to look after you, and that your gran'père's was no place for you. Truly, it is not, if the whispers abou

er arms about the woman's neck. "

r breath came in tangled gasps. T

seen her at Christmas and Epiphany! She was chosen Queen, she had one of the lucky beans. She would

and they two had sat out on the gallery. But she could not divest her mind o

ugh again. There has a robin built in the beech near thy window, and now I think there are young ones in the nest. I heard

d, ma'm'selle. How they had laughed and talke

ree. Yes, there was a nest, and a funny,

were laid out, and the neglected grass trimmed up. It began to loo

u teach me to knit?"

ild. A woman

tle. But I have

e glad. I have heard that where there are holy Sisters they teach gi

with a guest and the meal was a very merry one. Afterward the two sat over

bout the school, and said in the afternoon they would take a wal

dry candied fruit, and a sausage roll that the men and boys from the levees bought and devoured with hearty relish. Then there was a stall of meats and a portly butcher in a great white gown. Some of the stands were there onl

corner, and she turned. It was a little girl

re to live," she began. "Yo

ville," with a t

own in the street below. I have five broth

e at

g for a sister. But one of my brothers will be mar

ike him t

be the new house to visit. Andre is just twenty-one, Pierre is eight

stood by it. "Will you not come in and se

he new room when M. Denys was building it. Oh, ho

I think boys are always hungry. Jules gets lots of game, he is such a good shot.

ature to have about, and a kitten full of play, merci!

eyes shone w

et you bestow it?" the

ging home something. Ma mère scolds about it. And Jules is afraid the kitten may ge

with a very cunning face. A fine black stripe went from the outer corner of the eyes to his ears, and gav

n, ma mère says, and presently people will be despised if they do not know how to read. I like the sums best. You can say them afte

said Renée, with a litt

e at once and help ma mère with the dinner. She told me not to stay, and that I w

very tame, and made believe bite he

n away!" cried

the garden caught it a

his face and stay. And he will be excellent to c

en he sat down very gravely and wash

as fond of cats, and had been thinking of one. They had their dinner, and he

some of the ordinary articles, and where the powder and shot were kept, so that she might provid

y marked the western limit of the municipality; all the rest was the King's domain, to be granted to future settlers. There was the wide prairie, and to the northward the great mound. They mounted this, and then they could see u

er like Blanchette Chasseur, as a famous hunting friend of Pierre Laclede's was called. North of the Missouri he had built a

freedom. Blanchette had also established a post at Les Pettites C?tes, which was the headq

amed! Then he would have given up the wild life l

ed, "you squeeze my hand so

n in the flushed face, the eyes

e shade of this clump of trees and rest. You see, I never had a little

am so t

ther," he said, "and then we shall find a splendi

eath and held up h

erly, pressing it to his

r head down o

have me go away?" sh

se. "What put such a

uldn't

ce in her mind when he had just asked him

ou mean, l

did not want me," in so desolate

t going to m

ery sure?" with

denly and turned it upward. It was sca

what is behind all this? Who has been

id it was

mischief maker! If so, she must keep cl

ry softly and the tru

that he was all she had in the world to love, and that no one had really loved her until h

if she been a baby, and kissed the s

m not going to marry any one, and Ma'm'selle Barbe has a fine young admirer. She doesn't want an old fellow like me. You can't understand now, but when you are

own on her knees and put her arms about his neck, and he could feel her heart beat ag

der person might have been. Then she said softly. "I shall love

was no such absorption in their regard. Ah, he was her all. They had the natural ties of childhood on which to lavish their love. Barbe-he had never thought of marrying her, though he had seen her grow up to wom

uld have smiled, only it seemed pitiful. He pressed her clo

, "we have not finished our wal

face all abloom, though her

d chateau-I have nearly forgotten, who was strong and brave. Uncle Gaspard, why haven't you any books? The little ones at the Father's are so queer, with their short sentences, and the children blunder so

New Orleans for some books the next time the boats go do

hat little girl was who brought me the kitten! Five brothers! Well, I have two at home, in Paris, I mean, but I ne

en. I don't want you changed in any way.

Indian settlement, with a few wigwams, and long stretches of corn up high enough to make a beautiful waving green sea as the wind moved it in undulating billows. Women were cooking out of doors on litt

a woman sat beside the flap doing some beautiful bead and feather work. She raised

r an Indian voice. "He has come back. He has taken a long jo

Onontio, and I am to care for her. I am not going to rove about any more, but trade with the re

hey return. And will you trade beads and silks? The threads we make are so troublesome to dye, and sometime

work. And the Spanish often take it home to show, and ornament their houses for the strangeness of it,

g stuffed with grass, much like the more modern

ery occasion when talking to the white people. Denys had a smattering of sev

y, as those at a distance seldom went into the settlements in their early youth. They were not strange to René

s of shells hanging by threads that made a soft, rhythmic sound as they were handled about, bits of deerskin that were like velvet,

n of a chief before the moon of roses ends. I cannot part with that

t to send down the river-in a fortnight perhaps, and will take

f you like,"

sooner t

bring

t smile. "And surely I am as able as you to carry the parcel.

something fo

hat. Ma'm'selle is gettin

, not unlike Egyptian pottery, the yellow edge so burned in and rubbed by some process that it suggested dull gold burnished. Also

put up. And I shall fill it with flowers. Madame, I thank you with all my heart. I know it is because you l

rticle. And now be seated again. There is a long w

bits of pork; and a plate of cakes made of Indian corn pounded fine in a rude mortar, or sometimes ground with one stone on top of another. For though the

od and the birch beer was fine she thought. In spite o

bunch and made a kind of basket. A piece of bark was slipped under the joining and this wound around with a bit of dee

long rest, but at the last they had to hurry a l