The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-03-27
THE MILL OF ETRETAT.

Etretat was not always the pretty anC
coquettish little nook it is now, where
folk battle and dance, the piano tinkle'
and voices sing day and night. There
was tine when bathers cid not prone,
made the beach in 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 air and
coarsely clad.
before that-so long ago that the
memory of that time survives but az a
faint tradition-Etretat had no need o.
city snd fashionsbles, the strangers who
yearly 90 there to barter their money
for 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, SO scarce
is water there that q majority of the
country folk have entirely renowned It's
use, and instead slake their thirst with
particularly fine cider, or 8 particularly
vigorous brandy.
Once upon time there were no scarci.
ty of water st Etretst.
Then in the midst of the Iowland.
between poplsrs, willows and fair apple
trees, ran a charming brook that baYled
and murmured over its pebbles and
among its crosses, and st last sought the
sea nesr the spot where Mother HatyiIle
now serves up very excellent dish OF
fresh fish with cream sauce which is
marvellous.
There was then at Etretat a poor wos
man, Coquin by name, a widow, with
two children. Her hundand. Ludwig
man-at>arms in the service of the LORD
of Criquetot, was 80 handsome, SO re-
splendent, so proud in casque end cui.
rsss, that his companions called him
Ludwig le Cog, name changed to Lud-
wig COquin, and of which the wesrer
WAS deservedly proud.
But Ludwig Coquin, who hsd followed
his lord to the second crusade, after yer.
forming prodigies of valor and sending
scores Of infdels down to the shades, had
st 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, Clotilds, lived
with her two little ones in extreme
poverty, awaiting the return of him who
wss never t. come back.
Upon the brink of the brooklet, hard
by the cot she owed to the generosity or
the Lord of Criquetot, wss mean shed
in which wss 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
spplied to the fishers capstan on the
beach. This was of little consequence
when the stout Ludwig was there to ap>
ply his broad breast to the bar, but since
his departure and since the boat of
ClotildA's father had gone down at sea
with sll 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,
snce the strength of his small arms. Only
with the utmost difficulty could she OBJ
tsin By her labor enough to satisfy her
daily wants; nevertheless she endured
her hardships with patience, awaiting
hopefully the return Of her husband and
the growing in strength OF her boys.
But sll her troubles had not been told.
for her younger son, child of four,
wss stricken with one of the cruel com.
plants that are so often found in Nor.
mandy, q mslsdy which wastes their
flesh, saps their forces and at last kills
them, the local name of which is car
esu.
Ore evening, as little Jehan, pale,
weak, his visa e shrunken with psin, lay
mosning in the cradle, while Clotilda
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 st
The door. he wss sheltered but indifer-
entity from the sharp breeze of evening
in the folds of the remnant of torn
cloak, and his bare feet were dusty snd
bleeding. He did not speak, but his as
pect spoke for him.
Clotilds ceased her labor at the mill,
and approaching him said: " My faith
er, you are tired and doubtless hungry;
Gcd knows there is little enough for the