New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-03-14

i AAoW0S cAdCtIy WudG money IUcy mAU0.
| but at the end of the first half of this cen.
fury their business had utterly declined.
There was little dusty ivory work still in
the window, but no one went in to buy it,
and if any one had, old Jerome Coulter
| would have asked him six times it's price,
and then have made faces at him. Jerome
Coulter was supposed to be the last of the
whole family. He was very old and mOrose.
He lived wholly alone in his house, doing
even his own house work. He was deeply
piiied by his neighbors, for the story of his
life was too well known by repute about
| there, and had been more than once con-
| firmed from his own mouth. In an evil
hour, when pressed for money, he had, for
the sake Of ten years more life, sold his
| soul to the devil in consideration of ten
| silver forks and fish slice, which he after.
| ward discovered to be plated.
The nelghbOrs were very sorry when the
| devil took him off one windy night, because
| th4 peviIs money is better than n0body's
money; and in spite Of his bad bargain
about the silver forks and the fsh-slice, he
had money out at interest somewhere, and
| instead of keeping it to himself, he used to
give it to his neighbors when they had need
OF it. Mrs. Nym said that that was to try
| and save his soul from his most unfortunate
bargain. Mrs. Brough would never believe
| word of the whole story. but insisted that
| If old jerome had sold himself to any one,
| it was to God, and not to the devil. Neigh
| bors, however, like to talk about neighbOrs,
| and as what they say is never true, it all
comes to the same thing in the end.
| verome died, and the next day young
| gentleman from Albert Gate appeared. The
solicitor of the French embassy accompa.
| MED him. Then the old man was buried,
but the cid house was only shut up for
few days; its new occupant was coming.
He was fully indicted and put in posses
| sion. No alteration was made in the shop,
except that ever the window the name
Jerome Coulter was rudely painted out and
I the name j. Escriot painted in its place.
OF this legend one of the wags Of the
neighbOrhOOd at once made Judas 1scariOt,
the more so as the newcomer was dark
man with large nose; consequently he was
voted Jew, though, if his neighbors had
looked little more closely at his facial
angle and his splendid gray eyes, they
might have seen that he was no Jew. He
was the nephew of Jerome Coulter by q
sister; he was the last of q Huguenot family
OF Lorraine, in . part where there was not
another Protestant family of his way of
thinking. He was SO poor and so lonely
that he was at once glad to receive his
uncle's money and to get some chance of
attending the worship of his forefathers
held in his native tongue. His uncle's
money was all invested in London house.
hold property in the East End; it would |
have suited him to sell it, had he been
allowed by the will, but he was debarred !
from doing SO. He came and lived on it for |
the purpose of seeing after it.
He was over fifty years of age when he |
moved into the little ivory shop with his |
granddaughter Ninette, his last surviving
relation, then about ten years of age; and
the two had that strange and overwhelming
and love tor one another which
one seldom sees save between the very
young and the very old. Neither of them
could speak word of English when they
took possession of their wealth, with all its
squalid surroundings, but before long their
poorer neighbOrs found that they had not
made bad exchange between the eccentric
Jerome Coulter and the apparently equally
eccentric Judas IscariOt. And the French |
,hild, too, was such source of wonder
and admiration among them also clean,
10 bright, SO intrepid, go graceful! She
,oald not understand word of their Ian
,uage, which was fortunate for her. They
NEW this perfectly WE'LL yet the worst Of
hem would cease cursing when the inno-
ent, smiling, dauntless little face passed
.mong them. Conscience made towards of
hem all.
Time has been when Mr.. EscriOt was a |
mall farmer, with large education, bent |
n raising the condition of the prOletariat; |
'ut the Catholics disliked him because he .
vas Calvinist the Calvinists because he
eclined to believe in the infallibility of | ,
,alvinism on eternal punishment, and the
republicans of those parts because he was
Christian. He had never had a single
troke OF good luck since he was born, until
9 came into this property, and had had but
ew opportunities of helping his neighbors.
Lis theories had died out long ago. He had
food in need Of assistance himself on more
nan one occasion, and friends had violated q
very law of political economy by helping s
i'm. Now, therefore, that he was rich, he c
IT to work to see what he could do for the /
wages, by whom he was surrounded. To @
arm their language was the first thing, and l
at; but before they could make them. g
Ives clearly understood they had be- il
me sacred persons in those parts, in con- p
quence of their active though discrimin- b
ing charity. We have nothing more to Y
, about that just now. We proceed with D
II story. q
A sailor had been away for over two I
ars, leaving his wife and little boy be-
nd him. When he came back he found o
at his house was shut up, his wife in G
isOn and his boy on the streets. He had Il
on a good husband, had RENTED money al
;ularly and had always believed his wife 10
w " AhVuOA Vi lSEPOCu0OAUys SUOu dlU0T | VI
departure she had started lodging CT
use, which. whether through her ignor- fo
ce, her folly or her culpability, was
med into a receptacle for stolen goods to ga
very large amount. When the police
,ke up the establishment, her previous
Dd character was of less than no use to "
:, she was looked on as very artful and W
ngerous person, and sentenced to very IN
& term, and her boy was left to take
e of himself. hi
low half of these children live without hi
me is wonder, This boy Ostensibly FL
I'd by sweeping crossing. When his | ma
her came home and realized the disaster
ich had befallen him, he found the boy WI
this employment. He was too young to bu
g to sea just then, SO he clothed him and tn
k him to Gravesend, to the hOrfee of a an
FRIED sister. She and her husband took sa
money for the boys keep, but they hated Z
task and were cruel to him. No sooner Es
his father safe at sea than the boy ran
~ and came back to his old haunts, free q
/. Escriot had now been year in his -!
' home. Among all the thousands of COZ
IS which he saw every day, one of all we
ers began to attract his attention. 1t i'm
the face of our boy. He got into CON chi
satlon with him, and helped him. At CRY
he took him one night, set him before
fire, and made him tell his story. wO
he boys story was straightforward, and An
It absolutely true. He had seldom seen We;
father; he was always at sea; but his FIR,
er was a very good man. His mother pie
a very good woman, no better woman fat
he world, but she had been imprisoned els
alse evidence; it was very much as we
g previously told it. NJ. Escriot asked hat
his name. The boy refused to tell it. ant
was no credit, he SAID, either to his ma
er or mother and was not in any way one
ly to be, and so he would keep his name the
lnself. He said that NJ. Escriot might the