St. Landry democrat., 1879-04-26
THE MILL OF ETRETAT,

THE MILL OF ETRETAT.
Etretat was not always the pretty and
coquettish little nook it is now, where
folk battle and dance, the piano tinkles
and voices sing day and night. There
was time when bathers did not prome>
made the beachsin oilskin caps and harle-
quin suits. Indeed, it is barely thirty
years since the shore knew no other fire.
quenters than stout, hoarse sailors, fish.
ermen and their wives and little ones,
tanned by the sun and salty sir and
coarsely clad. .-...-
elore that-so long ago that the
memory of that time survives but as a
faint tradition-Etretat had no need OF
city and fashionables, the strangers who
yearly 60 there to barter their money
Tor fresh air. "They bring water to the
MILL" the local proverb hath it, and
water is precisely what Etretat stands
sorely in need of. There folk must
drink the water precisely as they find it,
sometimes turbid, sometimes brackish.
and put their dependence mainly in the
rains, when with infinite trouble the far
mers fill their cisterns. Indeed, 30 scarce
is water there that majority of the
country folk have entirely renounced its
use, and instead slake their thirst with q
particularly fine cider, or particularly
vigorous brandy.
Once upon time there were no gcarci.
ty of water at Etretat.
Then in The nlidst of the lowland,
between poplars, willows and fair apple
trees, ran charming brook that bawled
and murmured over its pebbles and
among its crosses, and at last sought the
sea near the spot where Mother Hatville
now serves up very excellent dish of
fresh fish with a cream sauce which is
marvellous. .n
There was then at Etretat poor wos
man, Coquin by name, widow, with
two children. Her hundand. Ludwig
man-at>arms in the service OF the Lord
Of Criquetot, was 50 handsome, SO re-
sIlendent, so proud in casque and cui-
rass, that bis companions called him
Ludwig 10 Cog, q name changed to Lud-
wig Coquin, and of which the wearer
was deservedly proud.
But Ludwig Coquin, who had followed
his lord to the second crusade, after per.
forming prodigies of valor and sending
scores of infidels down to the shades, had
at last fallen in the Holy Land upon the
body of his master, the Lord of Cirque
tot, and nothing had ever been heard
him, and his poor wife, Clotilda, lived
with her two little ones il extreme
poverty. awaiting the return of him who
was never t. come back. 40 ~~ztss8
Upon the brink Of the brooklet, hard,
by the cot she owed to the generosity Of
the Lord OF Criquetot, was near shed
in which was heavy milestone to crush
the corn from which the peasants made
their black bread, but the stone had to
be turned with the same painful labor
applied to the fishers capstau on the /
beach. This was OF little consequence
when the stout Ludwig was there to ap>
ply his broad breast to the bar, but aimee
h q departure and since the boat of
Clotilda's father had gone down at sea
with all its crew, the task had been
found well nigh too srduons for the poor
woman, although her eldest son, young |
Ludwig, brought willingly to her assist. |
ancs thestrength Of his small arms. Only |
with the utmost difficulty could she OBJ
tain by her labor enough to satisfy her
daily wants; nevertheless she endured
her hardships with patience, awaiting
the return of her husband and
the growing in strength of her boys.
But all her troubles had not been told,
for her younger son, child of four,
was stricken with one of the cruel com.
plants that are 80 often found in Nor
mandy, malady which wastes their
haEh, saps their forces and at last kills
them, the local pane OF which id car.
raau. As ~
One evening, as little Jehan, pale,
weak, his visage shrunken with pain, lay
in the cradle, while Clotildaa
and little Ludwig wers straining at the
bar that turned the milestone, an old
man approached, walking with difficulty,
and seated himself at the stone bench at
she door. He was sheltered but indiffer.
'ntly from the sharp breeze of evening
N the folds of the remnant of a torn
Hoax, and his bare feet were dusty and
bleeding. He did not .speak, but his as {
'ect spoke for him. !