Ht tliat lb faitliful in that wlu<?li i 



faitliftil il in II iRli LlKt IG 10. 



MYSELF AND MY NEIGHBORS. 

 She hath done what she could. -Ma ijk 1-1 : S. 



OPE>J-f:iJ my eyes, and saw daylight just 

 tiiif^ing the landscape. Ernest was 

 still sleev)in<^ soundly, but sve were in 

 New Orleans, and lime was precious. 

 Yes. the tew liotirs we had spent there 

 had cost us ki cash. ixMhajis several dollars 

 an hour, and these hours nnist not l)e wasted. 

 AVe were up and dressed while it was yet 

 quite early, and I told him we woidd uo and 

 hud a hooUilack. and endeavor in oilier ways 

 to make ouiselves i)resentahie before our 

 Southern friends. In front of a barber-shop 

 near by, a pleasant-looking colored boy had 

 established business. I lis stock in trade 

 wasacomfortalileeasy-cliair, with a footstool 

 for his customers wlule lie ••made "em shine. "' 

 On a peg, at the l)ack of the ciiair, liiuig a 

 brush-broom and a good hair clothes-brush. 

 He also had the daily papers for his patrons 

 to read. I did not care to read the papers— 

 I was more anxious to read the boy. lie 

 looked thriving and prosperous: and when 

 I complimeitted him a little, he replied that 

 he had another stand besides this one; and 

 down the street ajiiece. across the way, was 

 another colored boy presiding over a similar 

 institution. Before we gt)t through, an old 

 gent came along and proposed to patronize 

 the ''branch" shop; but the boy who was 

 hired to take care of it was off looking, or 

 listening to idle gossip. My young friend 

 kept an eye on his apprentice', while he care- 

 fully got every Int of the mud out of even 

 the seams of my boots ; and when he saw 



that he was likely to lose a job by the boy's 

 neglect, he called Inin to a sense of duty by 

 a peculiar shrill whistle. These two boys, 

 almost of an age. in their conduct plainly 

 showed why one was proprietor and the 

 other simply hired help. 

 I Off at one side was a triangular piece of 

 ground, left by a meeting of two streets, one 

 conung into 'the other diagonally. This 

 ])h\{ had been made into a small park. The 

 park occupied the piece between tlie two 

 streets, something like the central i)art of a 

 , big letter A. Where the cross-piece is put 

 on the letter A. was a pretty fair-sized two- 

 story brick building, evidently built to give 

 as niuch room as possible, without much ex- 

 pense. The i)ark contained a fountain, 

 some small tropical trees and flowers, and in 

 the center of il all a piece of statuary in 

 white marble. \\'lu)m do you suppose 'the 

 I statuary represented, boys and girls? Some 

 ' great man, think yon? No, it was simply 

 the representation of a pleasant-looking el- 

 derly lady sitting iii an arm-chair, with her 

 hand laid lovingly- on the shoulder of a little 

 girl. I asked my neighbor who was black- 

 ing my boots, who the old lady was. By the 

 way, this colored boy was my neighbor, was 

 I he not? I do not know why he was not, for 

 1 he was smart, and diligent in business; in 

 I fact, that boy was a model servant to the 

 ( people. But, more of this further on. 

 I " NVhy, sir,'' said he, '• that was built aft- 

 er Margaret died. The people of New Or- 

 i leans raised money and had it made because 

 1 they loved her. The reason they loved her 

 I was because she always loved children so 



