The New York herald., 1873-10-20

good-natured fellow, not indisposed for something
to drink, pointed out to me an alehouse which bore
the unusual sign Of
''rHE HApLEss woxAN,n
"La femme sans tete.n Inquired into the mean
ing OF 1t, and found out that woman who had
committed heartless murder nearly hundred
years ago had been executed there. Her very
name is forgotten and does not signify much, bus
all the details OF her crime are remembered, and
HER MEMORIAL STONE Is GIN SHOP.
The road is thronged with pilgrims In carts, IN
vans, in coaches and afoot, their conveyances
having often broken down within half mile OF the
gates OF Grenoble, with eighteen long leagues be-
fore them still to travel. Many OF the pilgrims are
peasants and have that wondering look ct all they
see which especially marks untaught country folk
away from home. So rejecting how much sin and
sorrow come OF ignorance and that the law was
always made for man, not man for the law, begin
to consider how pilgrimages were first insti-
tuted and encouraged by the wise old Roman Cath
oic Church as harmless means OF popular educa-
top, less hazardous and more complete than teach
ing by books. Much that a pilgrim who can
not read-and the Catholic Church. l think
wisely, sets its face against that dangerous
thing "a little knowledge"-wants TO know
and ought to know is to be learned on
pilgrimage. He discovers sometimes, greatly
to his relief and astonishment that the world is
not small country town under the supreme
guidance OF a mayor and three elderly ladies, as 1t
has hitherto appeared in his contracted range OF
vision. If he is prig he observes, not without
benefit, that although he indeed possesses
MONOPOLY OF VIRTUE
in his own neighborhood there are prigs else
where who have their monopolies also and who
will not concede one lot little OF their pre-
tensions so that for the first time perhaps in his
life ne is obliged to sing small. The rude pumpkin
or village shopkeeper and his wife, who travel for
days perhaps for weeks land many OF the pilgrims
OF La Salette come nom remote parts Of Brittany,
in the constant companionsnip OF learned priests,
whose business and delight it Is to answer ntell-
gent inquiries, return with an enlarged mind and
no contemplate quantity or instruction to their
home, and journey with far greater advantage than
commercial traveller, whose social intercourse is
confined to inn walters and cigar shop women.
AS roll along rapidly, too in my little carriage,
leaving that stream of wayworn and fo0tsore pill
grims behind me, and recollect that should have
had but q comfortesS trip Of 1t but for the kind
ness Of
LITTLE HUMP-BACKED WOMAN,
think of her. not without gratitude and compass
sion. She was quick, useful and eager to please,
in spite OF the poor, weak, crooked frame which
seemed to shut her In from all the joys Of life that
she might have well been out OF temper with the
world; yet she regarded 1t with an aspect cour-
teous and benevolent. At first view Of the sub
ject it seems Q sad lot for woman to be:de-
formed. but It is q sadder lot to be despised and
abandoned. If this woman. with her intelligent
head, had been pretty she might have become
duchess, and gone through, may be, q m0urnful,
desolate existence when her good looks were gone.
She would not certainly have been manageress at
an inn, it not being In the female heart to choose
the lowly walks OF life. Inns must, nevertheless,
be kept, and well kept; and owed three pleasant
days on bad road quite as much to little old
woman's hump back as to her good feel
ings. The thought like most other tho ughrs
may be put into an epigram:-A pretty
woman sometimes makes one man happy
by making many men miserable. deformed wo-
man often makes many men happy and nobody
The charm wrought on those around
her by clever woman who has honestly renounced
the vanities OF life and really never thinks OF
the figure she makes in looking glass can only be
felt; 1t cannot be described. Deformed persons,
however, have generally character for asperity,
and / once heard terrible answer given to
crooked fellow who had a sharp tongue. The
woman ut was French woman) whom he had
stung by his jibes looked at him curiously from
head to foot, and then observed with merry
smile, 'sYou would make passable hunchback II
you were only clever"
The road to
LA sALETTE IS EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL.
It winds through mountains and whey ards and
forests or nut trees, and oaks and flower gardens,
with here and there the ruins Of some old tower,
which once was stately, and the hold OF bygone
warriors at While is the magnificent castle OF N.
Casimir Perrier, one Of the leading French repub.
licans and an ex-Minister OF the Thiers Cabi-
net. 1t is one or the finest specimens OF
feudal architecture still outstanding in France.
1 doubt, however, whether many OF the pilgrims
could appreciate It's splendor the still oveliness
OF the scene around it. The morning had broken
dim and gray and chill with early showers but
towards noon the August sun shone out with in
toerable glory. and not breeze mitigated the In
tense heat OF the day. AS our light carriage swept
along with even ROLL drawn byi the Widows
brisk ponies at eight or nine miles an hour, we
overlook CARLOAD after CARLOAD OF pilgrims in
trouble. The carriers Of Grenoble, having once got
their money, did not take any further trouble
about them; and there they were, in the biaz-
ing sunshine and on the white baked
road, tying broken harness together with
nushed faces and parched lips, or looking dIscon-
solately at jibbing horse and fractured shafts;
or they toiled after o cat-hammed pony yoked to
large van, with thirty people IN u, or rather out
OF It, marching in o cluster behind with their
baskets on their arms. But they were French peo-
pie, and generally struck up hymn and laughed
gayly as we passed. 1t was nearly always the same
hymn had first heard at the shrine OF st. Martin,
at Tours.
God OF Clemency,
God OF Mercy,
Save Rome and France,
In the name OF the Sacred Heart
The music OF 1t is very pretty, and was quite
touched by the patient merrimenr OF this light
minded folk under difficulties which would have
made an Anglo-saxon feel wicked. The Cure
dear innocent mani who led each Of these parties
Of broken-down pilgrims always marched reso-
lutely at their head, comforting his weak -kneed
brethren both by example and precept. 1t was
easy to perceive that he seldom knew much Of
roads OF travel, what he had conscientiousy
read up in the railway guide; and that this pill
grmage the great event ofhis quiet life turning