The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1879-05-10

rags. Have mercy on me, anu VIII
pray for you"
alOut of here! Get outp screamed
the angry miller, falling into frightful
passion; "away, you dcgl How dared
you, miserable vagabondl enter my
grounds without permission? Col Had
You behaved yourself you would not
have had to beg and sponge on others
Otto the devil with you"
1 And as the old man still begged bit
of bread the miller called his men to
drive him out.
But they had not laid hands on him,
when tremendous gust ofwind smote the
country and laid everything level with
the ground-.miIl, trees, dwellings, barns
The earth trembled, the skies were black
as ink; the roaring waves ran up ana
swallowed the ruins.
The old fisherman was none other than
the great Saint Martin. The white horse
on which he now appeared cast lurid
light, and the riders cuirass glowed like
lightning in the pitcfy darkness.
William Coquin," said the saint,
sternly, "you have proved false to the
faith and promise of your fathers. or
the fortune and wealth God gave you
you have made an evil uge;; you have
neither been liberal nor just towards the
poor and unhappy, who are the friends
of God Therefore you shall become
poor and more wretched than tine meanest
of them, and your name even, hitherto
blessed and honored, become the designas
sion of all thai are wicked and all that
are vile.
He said this and disappeared at q
gallon, in the midst of great sheet of
lightning that cast baletul glare over
the wrecked and ruined countryside.
On the morrow no trace could be seen
of mill, stones, or creek; nay, there was
net even the original rivulet lie t.
History records that the wicked miller
was reduced tosuch frightful deatitution
that ne was forced to dispute with the
swine the rotten apples that the farmers
cast aside as worthless; at last ne vans
ished from the Norman country-.no one
cared to ask whittier.
AS the great saint had predicted, the
name of Cosliin assumed new and
disgraceful meaning, and when nova
days it is said of q man that he is CO.
quin i there needs not be said much
more about him. Nevertheless, there
still live at EtIetat q familyof excellent,
honest folk, descendants of OIotiida,
who have nothing in common with the
unworthy miller except the name.
AS Tor the river, if you ever go to
Esretat you can see for yourself that no
trace of 1t remains, neither lis there q
mill, nor yet any source of prosperity
save the tide of strangers that once g
year breaks upon the lonely and rugged
shore.
at low tide, however, Saint Martin,
having pity upon the poor women that
needed soft water for their washing, has
permitted thelozt creek to Ieappear here
and there in little pools among the
bouiders of its old bed, go that Tor a
little while tally Or nightly they can
bsesle their linen. When the tide comes
in, however, You see no more of the
stream than if there never had been such
G thing.
Finally, 81 Tor the great Saint Martin,
it is many q long day since ms appari-
tion in Normandy has been Ccsedibly re-
corded, possibly because of HE indifler-
.ent success ON q previous occasion. 1t
is, however, known that at the begin
ming of the last century a family tracing
its descent from MIN, lived and fonrishet
in Normandy, and it is altogether proba-
bile that its representatives survive to
this day. Indeed, less than forty years
ago snch representatives aiwelt in the
,chateaux OF 1,ions-la- Eored and Neuf-
Cchatel, to whom their great progenitor
had bequeathed the power of ccnring the
earrseu by the imposition of hands; so
that annually, in the month of Septem-
Der, the sailors and peasants brought
their children from all lparta,o the conn
try TO invoke theproteetion of the saint,
through the fundamentally of his de-
sc-nhanis.
Such IS 1T lis, this is the legend of the
Mill of E,sretat and the Great Saint
Mastin.