Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-05-18

Are the French PaIriOiics
A lively letter in the Pail Mall Gazette tells
these stories:
| am French woman living in one of the
central departments, and animated by rather
warmer feelings of patriotism than many OF my
more calmly constituted neighhors. The ladies
IN our commune met a few days since IN a
country house to settle how the money was to
be collected fOrthe delivery Of the territory still
in German occupation. and we divided the work
among us, according to a regular plan, so that
no house in the commune should be either omit
ted or disturbed by repeated VISITS. The ladies
were set about their work IN pairs for mutual
comfort and support, and they paired me Off
with a neiohbor of mine who had no more eX-
perience than had of the sort Of business we
were about to undertake However, on the ap-
pointed day we sailed forth in my pony car
rage, with a plentiful apparatus of printed
forms and register, pens, ink, scissors, &C.. in Il
basket. | asked Mdme. CABOT, my partner in
this patriotic work. whether she had provided
herself with leather money bag for our re-
ceipts, but she smiled quietly, and SAID she eX-
pected that her own portmOnnaie would be quite
large enough for the purpose. We bad TO 90
and beg among peasants and workmen;
the peasants are seldom generous, the work-peo-
pie have been impoverished by hard times
However we hoped for valuable signature at
least from wealthy old bachelor who lived in
lonely independence, surrounded by lands that
every year increase He received us rather 10.
litely at first, and made little fuss about his
fire, and asked some civil questions of my COM
panion, who knew him better than did At
last she explained the purpose of our visit on
which the mans manner underwent total
transformation, and he worked himself up Git
was partly Intentionally intOquite violent rage,
walking up and down his saloon as il exercise
was necessary to give vent to his feelings, and
reiterating the declaration thar he would not
grsrr l.
added, sit is not that | grudge the money, it is
because will do nothing TO help this beggary
republic; when my king shall come my purse
will be at his command, and promise you, for
him, subscription of ten thousand francs"
This rather nettled me, and asked whether it
would not be more patriotic to do something for
France while she neededit, rather than postpone
his gift till the restoration OF Henry ", which
might not happen very soon. On this our old
bachelor became so much excited that we
thought he would probably have fit, and we left
him with the promise that his answer should be
duly reported to the committee. In fact, we de.
termined 10 circulate il far and wide, and have
since done so to the best of our ability.
In the next house We found nobody but ser
wants. as the family were away in towns, but the
girls understood what we were collecting for,
and expressed much interest and sympathy
One of them had put aside three francs TO buy
new cap for Easter, but she said she would do
MllHOut lile cap anu gave us Tue tHTee lTuHcS.
This touched us, and encouraged some hopes;
but a little reflection showed us that the girl
had acquired patriotic ideas from the family she
lived with. My companion said we need not
expect so good a reception from the genuine
peasaDtTy in the farms. The first real farm
house we entered was for the moment inhabited
by nobody but a woman who was busy peeling
potatoes. She had suspicious eye, and our
reception was anything but cordial. AS we ex-
planned the purpose of our visit her face grew
more and more rigid, her lips contracted, her
little eyes seemed to look through us TO detect
fraud 81 give nothing" she said at last; ''as
for all such collections nobody knows what be-
comes of the money gave five francs to clothe
our prisoners in Prussia; well, my son was
prisoner there, and none OF it ever reached him.
Since that, Trust none of these collections, and
shall give nothing at ALL"
Going down little by-lane we came upon a
group of cottages occupied by working miners
We entered the first, and found ourselves in
mixed company of six or eight persons. Here
the faces, instead of wearing the expression of
deep malice which belongs TO the peasant, and
which in him is always mixed with something
or polite, were quite openly sarcastic.
' TO buy off the Prussiansp exclaimed a woman
who had been twice anurse at Paris, Ito put in
Theirs pocket, you mean to say" On this the
audience looked at us with an air of triumph
which said very plainly, "You came to take us
in, but you've got into the wrong place this
time" Eyes, yes, went on the speaker, with
her arms akimbo, "do you fancy that we don't
know why the taxes are all increased, why you
are begging, why the poor are squeezed and op-
pressed-its all to build up Ehiers' house again
At Paris. know well enough; Pee seen ap' In
vain did we attempt 10 prove that several mil
lizards could hardly be absorbed in rebuilding a
private house, however beautiful in vain did
we try to show that the sum had been fixed by
he vote OF the assembly, aud was relatively |
hn Fvnn xrTl,s I,.1
Nurse in Paris had the advantage of us, and her |
was not to be resisted before that |
knowing and sarcastic audience
Not TO weary our readers, have given only a |
lew specimens OF the people we had to see but |
these may represent the rest You have the rich |
legitlmist, who will not give at ALL or who more
frequently will not give in proportion to his
means, because the country is at present under
q republic; You have the farmer, who will not
give from mixture of parSmony aud pure ig-
norance; and you have the ouvrier, who thinks
himself so deep and clever that he knows exact
~ where all the money will go, aad is resolved
not to have 1t eXt0rted from him on false pre-
lenses. Our days receipts, with the exception
OF one rather important contribution from a
master miner, who is a really well informed
man, amounted TO twelve francs and half, ex-
actly. The great village influences were rather
against us, for although it is true that the prin-
cipal ladies went begging as we did sill the |
- 49, - ss5''i"i9i' ulu HOt CHCuuIiSe Tue |
subscription, while the marie, who is a Bona
parllSt set it out that the emperor would be |
back very soon, and that he was rich enough to
pay the Prussians without asking or taking
money from any one. The two political parties
who give pretty well are the Orieanists and the
republicans. The intellectual condition of our
peasantry is such that they have no patriotic
conceptions of any kind, nor can they have, so
long as they remain in entire ignorance of his
tory and geography. In very small countries
an ignorant man may be patriotic, because he
can see the territory in his ordinary JOURNEYS,
but country like France is much too large for
the idea Of it TO be received by man who never
saw map, and could not understand one if he
saw it, h-V Ia. .-....