The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1854-10-18

oselady was the god mother of Ivan Flecher,
no one could look at any one else when these
young ladies came down on their white ponies
to the pardon of Pontaven, clattering along the
stony street, and dressed in green silks, with
chains round their necks. They were all hand
some, but the youngest Genevieve, was far be-
yond the others, and every body at Pontaven
said she was in love with tho handsomest
young man of the village, and he was Ivan
Flecher, who was now clerc, studying for the
! priesthood.
cit wasat the pardon of Pontaven that Gene
We've and Ivan met, only for a moment, after
his absence at the schoolof Quimper 'Ivan,'
said the young girl to him, I have had four
lovers who were clercs. and each of them has
become priest, the last Of them is named Ivan
Flecher, and he intends to break my heart
The young lady rode on, and Ivan did not
dare to reply, for it had been arranged, with
out his consent being asked, that he was to
take holy orders On the day he was to 60
through the ceremony of being received in the
church, he passed the village castle, and there
was the beautiful Genevieve sitting at the gate
embroidering a chalice cloth in gold thread.
She looked up as he passed. and said, 'lvan
Flecher, if you will be advised by me, you will
not receive orders, because Of all that you have
said to me in former days,
Il can not withdraw now, replied he, turning
as pale as death, for should be perjured.'
You have then forgotten, said Genevieve, all
lost the ring | gave you the last time we danced
together?'
:'No,' replied he, trembling, but God has
taken it from me-
Ivan FlecherH cried the young girl in ac-
cents of despair, s'hear me! Return! All pos
sess is yours. I will follow you to any fate. I
will become peasant like you and work like
you. If you will not listen to me, all that re-
mains is to bring me the sacrament, for my life
is ended
Alas! alasn sobbed Ivan have no power
to follow you, am in the fetters of heaven, I
am held by the hand Of heaven, and must be-
come priestn
1T was not likely that the father of the beau
tiful Genevieve should favor their loves. He
was therefore extremely glad when he found
that the handsome young clerc had taken Or
ders, and received him in the most friendly man
ner when he came to the castle to beg that he
should assist at his first rnass. The favor was
Immediately granted with aapromise that his
godmother, the lady Naour, should be the first
Ito put an offering into the plate.
+ But on the day when Ivan was to say his first
mass, there was a sad confusion in the church,
he began it we'll enough, but faltered in the
middle of it, and burst into violent flood OF
tears, SO that his book was as if water had
flowed over it, A sudden cry was heard in the
church, and girl with her hair disheveled and
with frantic gestures, rushed up the aisle, in
sight of every one, and throwing herself on hel
knees at the feet Of the young priest cried out
In the name of heaven, stop! You haze
killed men When they lifted her from the pave
ment, where Ivan Flecher had fallen in fit, the
beautiful Genevieve was dead,
Ivan who has sacrificed his love to the pray
ers of his mother, recovered after a time, and
rose in the church, but he never smiled again
and the only recreation he ever allowed himsel
: was to, wander about the7gardsns of the castle
where, unknown to her parents, be had beer
; formerly, before he went to Quimper to study
in the habt5f seeing the young lady of Naour
He passed most u his time when disengagec
from his duties, in praying on her tomb. Some
years afterward, he Vas found one morning
lying there, dead embracing the stone which
covered her remains. -
A ballad relating the history of these unfor.
tunate lovers was composed in Breton, and is
still popular, both in Treguier and in Cornwall
and those who have heard it, DO not doubt thai
the spectres occasionally seen among the ruins
of the castle Of Rustefan, areshose of Ivan and
Genevieve:
I passed some hours of beautiful moonlight
night after listening to thislegend, in the scene
of the tragedy; but, except the eyes of large
grey owl, nothing startled me in the deep shad
ows of the towers, and, except the sigh of the
breeze, no sound disturbed the solitude. ~
RA1S-To understand the philosophy of this
beautiful and oftene sublime phenomenon, sc
often witnessed since the creation Of the world
and so essential to the very existence of plants
. and animals, a few facts derived from obser.
vaeion and long train of experiments must
be remembered.
/. Were the atmosphere every where at all
times of a uniform temperature, we should
never have rain, or hail, or snow. The water
absorbed by Y in evaporation from the sea and
the earth's surface would descend in an i'm
perceptible vapor, or cease to be absorbed by
the air when it was once fully saturated.
i T. inc dUsOlDllS power ot tne atmosphere,
and consequently its capacity to retain humid
ity, is proportionately y greater in warm than
in eeold air. ~
J. The air near the surface of the earth is
warmer than it is in the regien Of ths clouds
The higher we ascend from the earth the cold
er do we find the atmosphere. Hence the per
petual snow on very high mountains in thd
hottest climate. q
Now, when, from continued evaporation, the
air is highly saturated with vapor, though it be
invisible and the sky cIoudless, if its temper
ature is suddenly reduced, by cold currents
descending from above, or rushing from a
higher to a low latitude, or by the motion of a
saturated air to colder latitude, its capacity
to retain moisture is diminished, clouds are
formed, and the result is rain. 1t condenses
as it cools, and Ike sponge filed with water
which it's diminished capacity cannot hold
How singular, yet how simple the philosophy
of rain! What but Omniscience could have
devised such an admirable arrangement fol
watering the earth!
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