The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-02-01
DE ouEsNOY,s LAST BANQUET.
From Chambers Journal ]

ma fod but, for my part, | like not to
look at it,
I started, and looked round. I had
seated myself on a huge mOss-grOwn
boulder, upon gentle slope overlook
ing the broad smooth stream of the
DOubs. To my left extended wide
stretch OF cultivated land, parceled off
of the first things that strike one on en-
tering France. To my right, against
background of encircling woodland,
stood out the low thatched houses, and
broad, white, dusty street of the little
village of St. Pierre, halfway up which
the painted sign-bOard of the POmme
FOr glittered like shield i'll the sun
shine. just below me, the river curved
itself in one great sweep round the base
of steep hill, that rose on the OppO-
site side, on the brow of which stood
the ruins of an old seignoral chateau.
Such relies are not uncommon in France;
but this ruin differed from those which
| had yet seen, as the corpse of man
cruelty murdered differs from that of
one who has died in his sleep. The
ground riven as if by all earthquake
the black charred stones scattered far
and wide around-the yawning riffs in
the masonry, which still remained erect
~~AlA HpOASy AOU VI S4ACANNGOA nAV vi
sudden and terrible destruction. The
gloom of o great crime and fearful
| tragedy seemed to brood over that
gaunt, CHASTITY ruin, looming grimly
against the glory of the clear summer
sky, like the shadow of one great sin
| upon stainless life.
| / turned round (as have said) to see
who had spoken, and saw beside me in
old man in the dress of Il well-tO-dO
peasant of the country. [ had just been
reading Erckmann- Chatlian's glorious
Historic dun Pays0m: and had we been
in the neighborhOOd of PhalsbOurg, in
stead of in that of BesansOn, / should
have said that Michel Bastien now
stood before me. The long white hair
and beard, enclosing the bronzed face
| in a kind of frame--the large bright
eye~-the bold erect bearing-above all,
| the deep earnest look, as one who had
done and suffered above the measure of
his kind-Were all suggestive of the
Alsatian Old Mortality. saw at once
that had fallen in with character y
!" You say you don't like to look at
that ruin yonder?" said l. " "Well, it
certainly is not a pleasant sight; but
what do you know about it70
ErerythiRg," answered the old pea
SAINT emphatically. 81 saw it in all it's
splendOr, and saw it in the hour of its
destruction, seventy years ago. If you
care to hear the story, Ill tell it you.n
The offer was not to be sighted; fol
such q tale as this promised to be, re-
lated by an eyewitness on the very
scene of the catastrophe, was an unex-
pected prize. I mOtiOned my com
Danio1n to a seat on the stone beside me
and disposed myself to listen to him.
GO remember the DAYS before the
Revolution" he began, although was
then only child but remember then
just as one might recollect a hOrriC
nightmare. I seem to have dreamed ot
being hungry, and cold, and ragged, anC
Helpless, for ever so long-and theI
suddenly to have walked up free anC
well off. After all, it wasn't oar fault i
the -gaiIlOtiRades and n0uQdeS befell
theg were the work of the Terrorists O
the Assemble, and of the cGnQiLleo of thu
great towns. All that we peasants wan
: ted was to have enough to live upon
instead of being Aayed alive by the no
bles; and the revolution did that for us
at least. Look at me! In my child
hood, I ran barefoot along the high
road, begging of the passers-by, witt
no hope OF even being any better OF
than my father a poor labOrer, VIII
lived upon black bread and onions, ant
never knew what it was to be warm o
] well clothed from one years. end +
{ another. / remember that in thOs
: days used always to think of heavel
as a place where one would be all0we
to sit close to big fire, and eat one
fill of the white bread and; dainty roas
] meat which my cousin, Pierre, the sol
dier (WhO was on guard at the Ghatea
de Quesnoy when his colonel dine
b there1, had told me about. Well, Mon
t sieur, have R010 sheep and cattle of m
own, and a good bit of cortland int
the bargain; my son Gaspard is a
Eau0ett at Lyon /; and my grandson, Bar
e tiste, is q lieutenant in the 8-me-it
:. qere. Show me the peasant before tn
Revolution whose son or grandson coul
have become an officer! Bah! -@
"Those were. the days when tn
mobiles did what they liked; and prei
! ty life they led us, ma fol! NOaC than
God, the grGmds seSgneurs can't cut yoU
throat Or carry OFT your wife withoU
any one daring to say word; but bt
fore a89 9itWas another matter I0nneT'rt
: it was no joke then to fall in the way
q party of young ehevaliers, hot wit
Is wine and mischief, and ready for an
7 DEVILS prank that came into their head
: Every man that came in their road WI
e sure to be beaten or run through, and {
:, for the WOmen---But the less sal
about that the better. / can remembt
: even now tth0ugh I was quite a. chi
a- when it happened) the night that OF
IS voung lord, Henri de Quesnoy, an
{. three or four of his wild companion
:. secured the streets:O of Besang0n wit
% their riding whips, and made every OF
they met go down on their knees in Il
mad and cry Vive lie roi Then, as
: that was not enough for themy tht
broke ever 50 many windows, rang Il
great alarm bell till they reused up Il
s., dead dog at tha door of Nj. le MAR
Witha bit of paper in its mouth, {
which was written: " A ton tour, mt
y freref f'H Tits your turn, brother
Little did they dream, then, that Il
: day was to come when they shou
themselves be hung like dogs to eve
lampsiF0n, and when their blood shou
run in the streets of their own towns,
the cry, not of sVive lie roi Z but
te YiVe la nation p But all this dOes1
to belong to my story.
Our old seigneur, Maurice de Que
noy, who lived at the chateau yonde
in the year So, was sueh4a man as T.
heard AE. le Cure read about in Il
gospei-0ne who feared not God, n
regarded man. Nothing could fright
him, nothing could melt him; he "
es Just q man of marb1e-po1ished, 81
hard, and cold as death. In one of t
great battles of the Seven Years WI
= he had flung his pumped hat into
English battery, and leaped after
without man at his back; and VIII
lie came back alive, his soldiers mi
l.tarad fff each nfhar that hia hn11r n