Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1865-03-11
MISCELLANEOUS.
C77AnsNACE AN. VEEE rAEB.om.

| SEA1RhN.N4ntE <A.SI' hb "a hhnISEs.
The Paris correspondent of the London
! Times tell the following story os the times
! of Louis XIV:
Charnace had been one of the Kings's
pages and an officer in his body-guard.-
In carly life he had played some very strange
! pranks, but hau always met with favor and
protection from the King, lie did many
clever things but one in particular in which
he was engaged made everybody laugh. He
had long and handsome avenue to his
chateau in Anjou, in which peasant had
| little house and garden which had stood in
| the same spot long before the avenue was
planted, and which neither CharnIce nor
/ his father could ever persuade the rustic to
sell on any terms. This, observes Saint
Simon, with proper disdain for so low a
person, is species of obstinacy which petty
proprietors often show expressly to annoy
people of condition. Charnace pretended
to let the matter drop, and tor long time
said no more about it.
At last, dlsgusted that a paltry cottage
| should intercept the sweep of his fine avenue,
! he conceived "A scheme to get rid of 1t. 1t
| Glanced that the owner of the cottage was
! tailor, and worked at his trade whenever
an opportunity offered. He lived alone,
! having neither wife nor children. Ore fine
]
| he was suddenly ordered up to court to fill
an office Of great importance, that he was
anxious to get there as soon ms possible, and
Us he had no liveres for his servants, he
wished them to be made forthwith The
tailor agreed and the bargain was struck on
the spot. Charnace stipulated, however, to
avoid unnecessary delay, he should do the
work at the chateau, and that !! he promised
not to quit it until it was finished he would
| pay him something over and above, besides
boarding and lodging him. The tailor set
to work on the spot. In the meantime
Charnace got an architect to make an exact
! plan of the house and garden, the rooms,
the furniture, and even the kitchen utensils
He then sent workman to pull down the
house, take away everything that was in it,
and reconstruct it exactly us it had been,
internally and externally, at some distance
from the avenue, with every article in its
place, and the garden exactly rs 1t had
been.
| They then cleared away all traces of it
! from the ground it originally stood upon,
so that nobody could guess that it had been
| there at all. This was completed before
| the tailor, who was carefully watched, had
/ finished his liveries. When the liverics.
were completed, Charnacc paid his man
well, kept him to supper, and then dis
missed him. The tailor set out for his home
at nighttall lie found the avenue un-
usually long, thought he had gone too far,
retraccd his Steps and looked about for the
we'll known trees near which his house
stood. The night was dark and he CROPPED
his way through them as well as he could,
but was astoniShed to find his house no.
where. He passed the whole night in this
way. When day broke he saw that he had
not gone astray; but that house and garden
had all disappeared, and he came TO the
conclusion that he was the sport of some
evil spirit. After wandering about IA good
deal he thought he perceived at con-
siderable distance from the avenue a cottage
which greatly resembled his own, though he
knew that there never had been one in the
same place.
He approached it, examined it closer,
and the more he did so the more he was
struck with the exact resemblance. lie was
curious enough to try whether the key he
had in his pocket would fit the lock. Ii did
lit the lock- lie opened the door, walked
in, and was thunderstruck on finding not
only that the rooms were the same, but that
every single article of furniture was the same,
and precisely in the same spot where he had
left them. lie was near fuinting with
fright he fell on his kness and prayed, for
he relgiously believed that the demon had
played him this trick. The following day,
however, he learned the truth from the
mocking and laughing of the villagers to
whom hetold his story. He got furious,
went with his complaint to the intendent of
the province, and insisted upon getting
satisfaction; but he only got laughed at.
The King heard the story, and laughed more
than anybody, and Charnace had his avenue
as he wished 1T.