The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1848-05-06
Miscellaneous.
From Chambers Journal.
THE ONE-EYED WIDOW,
And the Schoolmaster.

"She's an old one eyed vixen, that Madame
Marengo; nothing makes her so happy as 10
find means of annoying me. / know she
wishes TO put me in my grave; but scorn and
pity her."
Such was the nature ofthe criminatives
daily uttered by two parties in regard TO each
other--the one an aged schoolnaster, and
the other the widow of sergeant, both of
whom lived in the same tenement ia one of
the back streets of Paris. Let us intro
,duce them TO the reader. Madame Marengo
was tall masculine sort of woman who
had seen service. She had for years follow
ed the Grand .4,my during Napoleon's wars,
in which she had first lost an eye, then lost
> her husband, gallant sergeant, who had as
suned the name ofMarengo, in honor of the
battle IN which he had been promoted from
the ranks. For her long aud faithful services
in attending on the wounded at the different
engagements, as well as the deprivation of
her husband, Bonaparte had presented her
with cross of the legion of honor, which
she greatly priced, and constantly wore sus-
pended from her neck. Now somewhat bro
ken down, but still animated with much of
the old fire, she subsisted by carding and rem
ovating wool mattresses great trade among
the humber classes in Paris, She did not
derive much from her occupation ofcardense,
as it called; but this little oned to the trifiing
pension which accompanied her "cross,"
was enough for all her wants in her lofty and
solitary attic.
M. Pascal Camus who lived on the ground
floor where he conducted small school,
was equally curiosity in his way. While
the cardeuse was tall and bony, and little
rough in manner,the schoolmaster was short,
dumpy 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 ofthe Bour6ons, de-
tested Napoleon, and called him a usurper
and tyrant. There were here sufficient ell
ements of discord; but more were not wan
ting Nj. Camus hated the cardeuse, because
she wore n cross of the legion of honor. The
.carduese hated nj. Camus because he perss-
ted 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 a very
great notion oftheir own importance. Mad
anne M. could not forget what she had seen
and gone through. M. Pascal Camus secret
by believed himselfto be genius. 1t is true
that his genius had not been acknowledged
by the world, but he rather liked that; great
geuiuses had all been unknown ut some time
or other; and even should his genius never
be acknowledged during his lifetime, there
was no small pleasure in rejecting how soce
" would afterwards lament for not having
encouraged and rewarded his merits. 1t was
quite n feast TO think how mankind would
some day be sorry for having neglected him,
wish 10 do him honor when it was too late
perhaps" thought he--for the poor man
was a widower-"my little daughter Annette
may one day come in for share ofwhat can
no longer benefit me-"
Every one who thought anything of the
subject, observed that no two persons could
be more opposite in their notions than the
cardeuse and the schoolmaster; but nobody
could understand why they should live OIL
such terms of hostility. They did not nee
essarily require TO interfere with each other;
though dwelling under the same roof six
floors separated them, and they did not even
need to know each other. Why, then, did
they quarrel so frequently? Why utter such
terrible things of each other to their neigh
bors? The truth is, the good people who
lived in the vicinity of the belligerents did
not exactly comprehend their character.
Both were, in reality, not i'll disposed; under
any external eceentricity, each had kindly
heart. They, however, equally required
certain homage, which, if granted, all we'll
and good bat ifdenied, then there was noih-
ing but mischief With two such persons
collision was inevitable. 1t is impossible to
say On what occasion n mutual huff was Gre
place, the brstles of both were up; and soon
was proclaimed an everlasting and mutual
war. HenesfoSth they exchanged scowliDg
glances when they met on the staircase, and
the mutual hatred was intense.
Did this blow up render the two unhappy?
No such thing. They were ofcourse kept on
the fret; but somehow this was what they
liked. 1t WINS meat and drink to them to
have somebody to be at war with-somebod
,bo .batt i'm, farfr To 1.-Two in
oftwo conditions of feeling; that is either to
feel that they were worshipped or hated.
All who paid them any sort of respect, were
the most amiable people possible: all who
gave them any real or imaginary cause of Of
fence, were demons. Having settled down
in this voluntarily embraced enmty towards
each other, their tongues, on oil suitable &C.
,casions, told of sufferings. Madame March,
go averred that M.Camus, whom she called
an sold savage" an 'old Cossack," and fifty
other bad names, had no other earthly pur-
pose in living but that of tormenting her.
Some charitable persons wanted to persuade
her that the good man might wish to live for
his own sake, or perhaps for that of his little
daughter Annette; but Madame Marengo only
smiled incredulously: she knew better than
that. 1t was a remarkable proof ofthe SYM
pathy which will sometimes exist even be-
tween inveterate foes, that Nj. Camus was
precisely of a similar opinion. He affected,
however,to look upon Madame Marengo with
calm contempt. and a certain degree of the
heroic resignation which is generally found
TO characterize lofty spirits. II was not the
the cardeuse, he declared, who acted, but
hidden, mysterious power within her, de
forgave her, for he knew she was not free
'agentbu merely the instrument ofthat fatal
lty which delights in prosecuting genius.
hon Cd h fr,I onu