The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-08-06

built forts of the bits of wood thrown
aside as useless. Notwithstanding his
disobedience, he had never been so hap.
py in his life.
Then Guillaume found him, and in
sisted on taking him to the other mill,
to see the huge round logs sawed into
planks. The dim light, the roar of the
machinery, and the novelty of every
thing made one place as fascinating as
another to Jacques. So he willingly
followed Guillaume. They entered a
long, low building, full of saws banded
in groups of four or five. These groups
were placed all along at irregular inter
walls, and were all saving logs into
planks with fearful, steady swiftness.
Guillaume was so used to it that he had
no thought of fear, and Jacques was
too ignorant to have a tremor.
They stood and watched the men roll
new logs on to the tramways, with long
crowbars, and push the planks already
made into deep black holes in the
floor, where raceway of the stream
took them and carried them to the low
er mill, to be sawed into shingles and
clapboards. 1t required great care to
walk about; for the floor was full of
these pitfalls. All of sudden Jacques
disappeared. In the dim light, think
ing a mass of planks jammed into one
of these holes was the real floor, he
stepped on it. His weight started it.
Above the thud of the machinery,
Guillaume heard faint scream, and
turned just in time to seeJacques' head
disappearing in the pitchy blackness.
Guillaume knew all about the mill,
and quick as thought he sprang down
fight of stairs at the side, just in
season to catch back Frenchman' s
hand as he was going to turn torrent
of water into the raceway. 1t took
but an instant to explain. The next
second the Frenchman had waded into
the dark water,in search of Jacques.
At last he found him, crushed among
the heavy planks, and brought him out
in his arms. The rough workmen
wrapped the dripping, insensible boy
tenderly in their coats, and bore him
carefully home. The doctor came and
examined him. He said that there
we're no bones broken, and that in
few days he would be as supple and
active as ever. But days passed on,
and he woke from his insensibility only
enough to have a fearful dread of water,
to jabber a senseless gibberish, and to
fail to recognize his dearest friends,
Little by little his mother and father
were forced to admit that their only
child was hopeless idiot.
Two years dragged slowly by, when
one day Jacques looked up all of a
sudden and said, in his old natural
voice, though very slowly, as if he
could hardly remember the words:
''Thinkest thou-that my father-will
beat me!''
Tears came into the mother s eyes to
hear sensible words from her boys lips
once more. "Beat thee! Why q she
asked in tone as calm and quiet as she
could make it in her sudden joy, for
she did not dare to show her surprise,
for fear of frightening away Jacques
returning wits.
With great difficulty Jacques got out
the one word mill, and a violent
shudder shook him. His mother as
sured him by word and tone and caress
that he had nothing to fear.
The whole two years were a total
blank to him. He took up the thread
Of his life just where he dropped it
when he fell. But as his mind grew
strong and his power Of speech came
back he gradually learned what had
happened, and now you will not find a
more obedient boy in all Chicoutimi.