The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1870-01-06

'as' HOUR, anu mlSnt nave Ro0o On
ch1a,teT;ng indedoitsly,. if the Enghsh-
man, .seeing~him involved With; his as1.
ffricnd, had not pulled out his watch
and escaped, saying he must 60 home.
The maire took q disconsolate leave.
Nemesis, in the shape Of Madame
Micnaud, With some wrongs aud great
deal to say about them, had over.aken
Monsieur le Maire and held him fast
prisoner, while Richa;l Butler march
ed off vlth that ODD sauutering walk of
bis, AMI made the best Of bis way to
the !:Ea chateau. ~. d,.;ysr
He tsamped along the foot Of the
seif, .erunehins over sea-veed, and
stones, and mussel-s shells. he passed
old Nauette Lefebyre trimming her
ncts, sitting in heap 90 the sand, With
her bare legs in huge wooden sabcts,
and her petticoats tucked up. Though
it Was fete-day, the old fsh-wife
could not afford to miss her chance of
bonne auLaine. "J'sllons metre mes
filbets Il basse maree," said N.uos,
quite contented. "Je vous souhaite le
bonsoir, mon petit monsieur" Mr..
Hook might have made pretty sketch
Of the old brown face with the shrewd
black eyes, and the. white Golf, of the
crisp, rocks the blue sea, and the latter
ed striped petticoat. 4 peculiar
brightness and clearuess of atmosphere
is like varnish to the live pictures
one meets with at every turn on the
shores yonde1. The colors are fainter
and brighter than in England, the
backgrounds lie fat, undiversi6ed,
scantly broken BY trees, but the figures
stand out in pale relief; nth grace, an
sncenscious pastoral sentiment which is
almost unlkunoxn * among Us. Have We
not outegyown the charm Of i. tradition,
on. songs and saws, and. was and appli-
ances, national dress, and simple eoun-
try life? Faded, battered wire bonnets;
vulgarity, millinery, affectatiou, para
soils, crinolines-it seems strange that
such things should SO surely supersede
in time all the dear and touching relics :
Of the by-going still lte Of our .nces-
tors. Perhaps. day will come when
the old charm will exercise the land
again, bringing back its songs and ru-
raj poetry, its grace aud vanishing SEN
etiment.
1t almost appears as if consciousness
destroyed and blighted whatever it laid
its fatal hand upon We have all
learned to love and admire art in our
daily life, and to look for it here and
there -; but as We look, somehow, and as
We cxclaim, Here or there behind it
the fairies vanish, the birds fly away,
the tranquil silence is broken, the sim
pie unconsciousnes is gone forever, and
you suddenly awake from your pleasant
dream. A ruin iuclosed by wall anl
viewed with ticket; a model old wo-
man in sham rustic cottage at the
park gate; even the red cloaks of the
village children which the lady at the
hall brought down from Marshall aud
1'hellsrove's, when she was in town last
Tuesday-alf these only become scenes
in pantominc' somehow. In these
days, one is so used to sham and imi-
tation, and Brummagem, that when BY
chance one comes to the real thing, it
is hard to believe in it. At least SO
Butler thought as he trudged along.
Presently he began to climb the cliff,
and he reached the top at last with the
great fields and the sea on either side,
and the fresh brcez=s blowing, He I'D
not go into the village, but turned
straight off aud strode-up the hill. lie
passed groups all alongthe rad, resting
or plodding through the dust. The
west was all aslow With sunset, great
ranges of cloud-mountains were coming
from distance and hanging overhead
10 the sky. He beheld fiery lakes,
calm seas, wonderful countries. He
could see laud, and sky, and see glowing
for miles and miles ln wreathirg yapors
Of loveliest, tint, and golden sunaoods.
Butler trudged along, admiring, Won
rderlng, and at the same time with his
head full Of one thing and another.
/ He was 10th enough to. go, bat there
was no help for it. He: had been in
scrapes and troubles at homo, and had
come ava! for q change, and now, he
'felthe should get into a scnpe if .he
staid, and they had, sent for HIM homo
again, His uncle, Chares Butler, had
paid his debts once more, and his uncle
Hervey had written him a lofty and
discursive epist]e conveying his for
gi7eness, desiring him to come back to
his work and his studio. His aunt,
Madame De Tracy, announced that she
would i accompany him to England,
spend short time Nth her two broth
ems, aud make the ssy smooth .foe her
nephew. 4Msdsne; de Tracy had but
ten fingers,but if she had possessed
twenty she would haveswished to make
| use of cachsene Of them sins that culinary
process to which The old eproverb al
lades, e Her efforts bad never bcen sue
ecssful as tar az, Butler VAS concerned.
! Dick, as his friends call him, had
been cursed with e facility for getting