The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-12-12
selected story.
THE ASHES OF LIFE.
THE STORY OLA LoRETTE.

the beautiful but immortal pagans of the
seventeenth century," given up TO irivoiIty,
sensuaty and gain; but in neglectin9 10
quality their characters he GROSSLY wrongs
them. The attributes OF MIMI flns tCi Weie
not wholly pagan: the daughter oil Inenar-
der gave evidence OF character admit70le as
iItenroachable: and NJ rie's history shall
show Won that even the lite OF a loretta is not
vain.
Ten years ago this woman dritted up to Par
IS from Dion. No matter VINO her parents
were. nor whether they still live in the good
little city; am rehearsng story from real
lie. and must not wrong the secrets OF the
past. leu years ago. Since then Paris has
taken on a totally different air. Haussmann
has torn down many street IN which she
walked, and Napoleon has telt the shock of
war. Twenty-slx is her age; lorette was her
profession; to-day she is insuuctless in a lit
lie pension in the outskirts OF Pars. She has
known her sorrow, scaled the heights OF love;
descended TO the depths of bitterness, ana
now her duty lies before her!
she never knew her mother she only re-
membered that when five years ola her iath-
er, . ste" n, grayhaired man, TOOK hef upon
his knee, and told her thaL Der mOther had
died IN oiyi.c her birth, and that she looked
like ber so much with q kiss there, ana an
emnhaiic fear which even he co I'D not con-
ceai.
they lived then in little Swiss village
Adam .VerSel,-aud her father titled the
land, a portion OF winch belonged to her, ac-
cruing from her mother. When she was SIX
years old a new wife came to the tam, and
Marie went to the pension. This life was so
peaceful, perfect; and no trouble save WHEN
Sister Angelique now and then repioved her,
She was so pure at seven years! Then she
was growing apace ia beauty and culture and
was put in the choir at chapel to sing. Some
times the good Catholic sisters world start
back in admiration, and cal 10 her, "VienS!
ma pet te dage, que JIG te1nbr0cerdi!' Abound
her jolly visage. fresh and glowing with ar
dent beauty OF the brunette, flowed her long
and lustrous hair, ripping to her waist; in
her tiny hands she held The book from which
she cbanted, hall hiding passioniul eyes; ana
her voice was like the nehtingale's who
waibled outside the pension window in The
long summer nights. Sister Angeligue loved
her, and year by year she became more at
tached to heI. They called her the little or
phan, because she had 10 mother, and her
father never cared to visit her.
Budded, biOssomed, and was sixteen; the
very enrolment OF purity, The cloister had
no mole OF the odor of sanctity about it han
had the pension. She hardly knew breath OF
evil. So now she was tree to enter the great
world. Graduated with highest honors, she
TUNED to The stern father whom she had not
seen ior so long. and found the new mother,
and old times forgotten, at Adam-les-V erset.
C1oleric, impatient, and jealous was the 9th
err mother; and IL was not long before Marie
was quietly told that she was to live hereafter
with her aunt in Paris.
The very nam. OF the great city opened
joyous Visions to the young girl. Eager to es-
cape rom the step-mothers tyranny, she re-
ceiyed her portion from her rather, a sum
which seemed enormous, and was soon in The
heart OF the Latin Quarter, in quaint, mar
,snx .N!1 cfr in, n x,ln 4
to hrd that her aunt was mistress OF a lauI,-
dry, prosperous, busting, real paysanue
come to the city 10 succeed.
Here begins the history. Marie daZzled bv
the splendors around her, inspired by her
studies OF tne pension. applied herself yioor-
ously to study. How brayely she wrote home
to sister An9elique 81 shall cultivate my
vo ce, and one day shall do you nonor."-
ok came sweet encouragement, iced With
the names OF saints; and, under able teach
ers, the young girls voice and soul ripened
well. Her art, to which she was now passion
ately devoted, kept her pure. One, two wears
passed; and, she gradually became accustom-
ed 10 Paris and its vanites. She did not ION |
In them; she worked, she sang!
At last she entered the Conservatory. and |
fought faithfully tor the first rank. Here her |
money began to fail, her aunt to srumbc and |
her prospects to darken.
" hat knew she OF the worlds WAYS? life |
had seemed TO her but one great blossominn |
shrub, to be plucked whence was to die. She |
did not know that now and then a blossom |
withers, drooi,s its petals, loses its beauties |
and becomes forever sere upon the stem. But
her aunt Chartered at her ear, and moi med
her that money was the necessity, and that
II she could not curb her studies. and earn |
her dab bread, now that her resources were
gone. she must leave Paris. Alb, the bitter
ness OF it! So suddenly to stop, to leave be- |
hind the dear familiar school, ard enter the |
laundry! Athanase at the Conseryatoue |
whispered TO the young girl OF lose, and all |
the delicate wtchery Of the Partisan error;
she would he his mist. ess, and together :hey |
would win the worlds prise in their art
But no! Indignantly she refused, and went to |
her auh''s iaindry-Went 10 wOrs. And
Athanase, with true French malice, sent her
his liner weekly, which she never tailed to
perfect with scrum lous CO G, and return, with
The dainty note, ID ut, etc., etc, by so many
SHIRTS, and such an endless array q waist
coatsl
vi course it was hard and bitter to bear:
more, she was now twenty, and temptations
was around her in iul ioIce Once She say
ed money enou ii to 60 back to Adan-les-
Versel, 10 visit tler mothers grave and The
farmers Buys locked at her with slcl great
eyes! A Iew more months and her aunt
died.
father, in cruel note, in9idly announced
that she might come nome, but that now
other children claimed his care, and she must |
try to earn her living. Where was that talent |
OF embroidery sister An geiigue had taught
her? Truly whe. e was il? She managed to |
earn something by her needle; and at last |
two ladies who kept a cafe en- the Boulevard |
Sevastopol gave her place as dame an comp |
tor. She It behind the cleaning counter. |
ard gave change to the trequenters. mean. |
time working her music into embroidery.
but the wages were but sixty franks per |
month, and the dresses which she must wear
there would cost double that sum-
Again she fed from temptation. And
this time she resolved to live by her needle
alone. 80 she hired little room in the Rue
Coz Theron, and there began her labors
against the weight OF sin. For six months |
she worked all day fora sender sum, which |
actually lave her not enough to eat lSut |
she bore il brdvey. One day she broke down; |
bread and olives were not food proper Tor a |
young girl, and This certificate tells the story: |
This is to certi that Marie. hngere (laun-
dress) having given sufficient proof Of her |
honesty aud vIrlue, and that she is in actual |
want, has this day applied to me, Commission
er OF Police, at The Bureau of Charity, and
has received the sum OF twenty francs.
(Sgned) -
Like Famine, but purer and as brave, she
Sou al QUO uetu III ltI iltlle cualuDef 10 NAM
tain life. Sewing AM hoping, she labored on.
But one day she became Ill, ''her system was
ruined" said some one, "by privaton," aud
she was taken to the hospital
In after years that dull old SQUARE on the
island OF Lutatia, with Notle Dame tower
Ing black on one side and the ancient Hotel
Uieu iroWnin2 en- another became accursed
to her. For there and then began her first
real misery.
She remembered so distinctly the long
clean Ward of the hospital where she was
placed; how sometimes sunbeam smote
her with misery; how once God sister |
of charity, whose ways were so like those of |
the sisters at the pension, hung bird in the |
alcove near her bed, and let it tril JOYOUS
lay. Then she. too, felt like singing; and
remembering that it was no more possible,
she wept Tor the first time Her ills became
too great to be calmly borne. In the long
night watches, when nothing was heard save
sometimes the slippeled foot of an attend
ant, she learned deep lessons in suffering.
aud gradually the marvellous beauty given
her at birth became tinoed by sadness. While
she could work she had courage; but now all |
seemed to have lett her.
- Very i'll. and such long blanks in hnr life,
now and then regret, time, patience, suffer
ing, all vanished, ald she seemed only a dis
tnioooled fragment OF the infinite conscious
neso, " wait on the lmmeasurable sea OF lite.
sometimes her soul seemed to 90 ont With
H Il oiea'li' and only painful effort recalled If.
oucn slup'I9 1 salo the young ply sician who
came TO see her, We're dang, ro,Is 10 nar,nn ~
difficult n r |