New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-10-31
FATHER PROU7 IN PARIS.
From The PaH MAI Ga-ctte.

From me ran >HdH bd5tN
Father Prout in Rome got into trouble with the Ec-
clesiastical Government. When he came TO live IN
Paris he hired dark ground floor IN Rou du Moulin,
street since demolished. He had three chambers
and kept no servant. Culinary utensils were lit
tered the floor of his sltingroom, which served
kitchen. Nothing seemed to have been ever
gave for the disorder in which plates dishes. knives
forks and sauccpans lay was that his tables were
occupied with his books and papers. And so
they were. The general aspect Of the place
was that Of an old iron and paper shop. PrOut was
not conscious of the unsChtly untdlness which
reigned about HIM. " hen he was IN the Rue dn
Moulin he fOrswOre at home the whskey bottle, and
drank in moderation when he went ont To dine with
c0nvivia friends. During this phase of his life
Prout was not Roman Catholic. but he had super
stitiOus hooks in his BRAN INTO which he was unable
to admit light. He was then rather venerable
looking with white face, and grave. sweet manners.
With strangers he was shy and did not come out,
hut when he took to anyone his conversation was
flowing and graceful. The wit was little sly Ii
did not dazzle. When be made joke or q puEgeDt
remark il for the of the person sitting next
him. ] have mentioned the superStitOus hooks III
his BRAIN lie would not, on any account. accept an
invitation to dinner on All Souls Day. II he met
a funeral he turned back few steps and would
stoop TO pick up rusty bit OF iron that he saw IN
the street and carry 1t home. lie was afraid To
begin work he had to get through on Friday.
wished TO beive in table-turning and spirit
rapping By habit and instinct he was supcrnat-
which were purely literary, did not change his
bcnt which was to banker after what Dir. Grove
termed the night side oil nature"
Father PrOut was drawn toward splrltualism by
lady of whom he had been sort of guardian. and
whose life was closely associated with his when he
was in the Rue du Moulin. She was the daughter
of a colonel manned at Waterloo had been a beauty
and TO the last had bcdug rcstes. Prout got her
married, and when she was widow with
second husband She lived in the Terncs,
and had house at Meudon. where she was in tho
habit of spending the summer months with him
Every evening, when she was at the lerues, he
used, unless particularly engaged to 90 and dine
and pass the evening with her. III the weather was
fine they both adjourned to summer house where
this lady mixed grOg for her venerable friend, and
then got before a little table which the spirits were
supposed 10 prefer to any other IN her dwelling She
WaSat thistmc veryhandsoe, and used 10 light PrUOt
" for bis good" She would have been as miserable
without his society as be would have been without
hers. lie was. as she said, one OF her oldest
habits" and really she stood 10 him the relation
of a sort of guardian angel About eighteen months
before he died he was ordered TO 20 To Vichy, The
doctor was pcremptory. Father Prout was very pen
urOus. and did not like to follow 50 costly pre-
scriplion. The fair friend Tried lighting, and heard
her relate what battles she had had with him to get
him of. He pleaded his hatred OF railway travelling
IL was finally arranged that ne ana shc were 10
go all the way in carriage. and she promised that
be should have some of his old culinary utensils
slowed in a basket in order that he should be able
in hotels to do III his own room little cooking on
the sly. One OF the dishes he was in the habit OF
preparing for himself was oatmeal porrldge. After
she had made arrangements for the journey to
VIchy Father PrOut told her that he had lost $40,
and could not afford to go. He was in the habit
OF hiding money IN DOOts anu OlncG pidcCs Niicrt
the concierge whom he suspected of entering his
rooms when he was ont, would not think OF looking
for il. In his latter days he used 10 forget the hid
ing places, and 10 be in great distress of minG.
thinking he must lave lost what he could not fine.
Relations from Ireland came over TO attend Father
Prout IN his last illness and heard that II was
they who sent tor the Able RogersOn; the lady of
whom ho had been the guardian was not then with
him.
Father Prout used to look up daily some CORE
spOndents of English journals introduced 10 him by
Thackeray in the cafes they frequented. He liked
their society and he wanted, by reading their pa
pers 10 spare himself the expense of buying jour
nails At the table Of one of them he sometimes
Igrote his Globe letter The hand was firm and
the memory of the eve If a word spelt IN his
hearing. me remembered the spelling but he did not
always distinctly recollect that OF words he had
only read. He used to console himself WIN the re-
rctjon that 10 was not his business, but the proof
readers, to spell well.