Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1848-04-27
nlistellanenlls.
From Chambers Journal
THE ONE-EYED WIDOW,
AND THE SCIIO0LMASTER.

"HE's an old savage, that vile Monsieur Pas
cal Camus; he would do anything to destroy my
peace"
"She's an old one eyed vixen, that Madame
Marengo nothing makes her SO happy as to find
means of annoying me. know she wishes to
put me in my graves but scorn and pity her.
Such was the nature Of the criminatives daily
uttered by two parties in regard to each other
the one an aged schoolmaster and the other the
widow of sergeant, both of whom lived in the
same tenement in one of the back streets of Par
Is Let us introduce them to the reader Mad
anne Marengo tall, masculine sort of a wo-
man who had seen service. She had for years
followed the Grand .4rmy during Napuleon's
wars in which she had first lost an eye, then lost
her husband, gallant sergeant who had assum
ed the name of Marengo, in honor Of the battle
in which he had been promoted from the ranks
For her long and faithful services IN attending
on the wounded at the different engagements, as
well as the deprivation of her husband Bona.
parte had presented her with cross of the lie
gion Of honor, which she greatly priced and
constantly wore suspended from her neck. Now
somewhat broken down, but still animated with
much of the old fire, she subsised by cardnp
and renovating wool mattresses "a great trade
among the humber classes In Paris. She did
not derive much from her occupation of cardeuse,
as 1t is called; but this little, joined to the trfng
enough for all her wants in her lofty and solitary
attic.
M. Pascal Camus who lived on the ground
floor, where he conducted a small school, was
equally curiosity in his way. While the car
deuse was tall and bony, and u little rough in
manner, the schoomaster was short, duInpy, and
pompous; while she was all for the empire, and
considered Napoleon to have been the greatest
OF earthly beings, he was fixed in his admiration
of the Bourbons, detested Napoleon, and called
him usurper and a tyrant. There were here
sufficient elements of discord; but more were
not wanting. Nj. Camus hated the cardeuse, be-
cause she wore cross of the legion of honor.
The carduese hated nj. Camus, because he per.
sisted IN wearing queue and shoe buckles -un-
deniable tokens of regard for the old regime
Differing In sentiment on so many things these
two personages had at least one point in common
they had respectively very great notion of
their own Importance. Madame Marengo could
never forget what she had seen and gone through.
NJ Pascal Camus secretly believed himself to be
genius 1t is true that his genius had lot been
acknowledged by the world but he rather liked
that; great genluses had all been unknown at
some time or other; and even should his genius
never be acknowledged during his lifetime, there
was no small pleasure in rejecting how society
would Afterwards lament Tor not having encour-
aged and rewarded his merits. 1t was quite q
feast to think how mankind would some day be
sorry for having neg him, and wish to do
him honor when it was too late. "Perhaps, f"
thought he-tor the poor man was Il wdower--
"my little daughter Annette may one day come
IN Tor share OF what can no longer benefit me-"
Every one who thought anything of the subject,
observed that no two persons could be more OPP
poslle IN their notions than the cardeuse and the
schoolmasler but nobody could understand why
they should live on such terms of hostility. They
did not necessarily require to interfere with each
other; though dwelling under the same root, SIX
floors separated them, and they did not even need
to know each other. Why, then, did they quar-
rel so frequently Why utter such terrible
things OF each other 10 their neighbors? The
truth is, the good people who lived III the yicni-
ty OF the bengerents did not exactly comprehend
their Character Both were, IN reality, not i'll dis
posed under an external eccenTiclly, each had
kindly heart They, however, equally required
certain homage, which, if granted, all we'll and
good but II denied, then there wag nothing but
mischief. With two such persons a collision
was inevitable. Ii is impossible to say ON what
occasion mutual huff was created; but dis
agreement once having taken place, the bristles
OF both were up; and soon was proclaimed an
everlasting ant mutual war Hencefurth they
exchanged scowllng glances when they met on
the staircase, and the mutual hatred was intense,
Dld TINS blow-up render the Two unhappy p
NO such thing They were of course kept on
the fret; but somehow this was what they liked.
IL was meat and drink to them to have somebody
to be at war with somebody who, they mag.
med, was constantly prosecuting them. They,
IN fact, required TO live in one OF two conditions
oil feeling that Is, either TO feel that they were
worshlppcd or hated. All who paid them any
sort OF respect were the most amiabe people
possible; all who gave them any real or lnlagin
airy cause Of offence, were demons. Having
settled down in this voluntarily embraced onm,