Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1882-12-16


and nodded to us with smile.
"Mais, messieurs," he said, in his
gentle voice. "Que voulez-vous
L Now it was heartless in us to think
of playing the friendly old man cruel
trick. He had seen Ted making a kite
one day, and had given him an old
piece Of scarlet SILK and showed him
how to cover the frame with it. He had
Brought me some cough syrup for 4
sore throat the winter before. And
when we were rigging tiny schooner
he had volunteered TO dye the sails for
us-.a bright blue. Indeed, there was
not one of us to whom he had not
done some little kindness.
But the whole village had received
Moncheer. when he had come among
them year before, under protest st-not
because he was poor, Cor we were all
poor. But he was foreigner and a
Catholic, and following the fashion of
most of the world the people of Cedar
Haven looked with suspicion ON him
because he differed with them in
language and religion.
But the women were the first to be
won over by his gentle. kindly ways.
FThey were not used to such profound
bows and such Difference as they re-
ceived from him.
: The men soon began to tolerate him
as a quiet, harmless old body, and the
boys found him shrewd. merry COM
rade. They would have liked him
heartily but for his terror of the water.
They could not help despising him for
that. .-LIlN8 q u
A. Years afterWard l heard from DIR.
Qebrett, the physician of the village,
to whom the old Frenchman had'told
much of his stoiy, that this physical
terror was due to terrible experience
of his childhood. since which sudden
contact with water in motion had
always brought on a dangerous affec-
tion of the heart.
! Now the boys had never seen Mon
cheer actually in the water, RI.
"Let's heave him in" whispered
Ted, can see what he will DO"
But though Moncheer was lean and
old, he looked wiry, and the boys
were little unwilling to grapple with
him. And so, as we were really afraid
to touch the poor old man, we cast
about for safer method of accom-
plishing our mean design.
"Pull the scow down to the water"
suggested Harvey.
We were all leaning over it looking
at Moncheer, who was sitting in the
middle. From the place where the
boat lay the sandy beach sloped sud-
denly away to the brakers. To start
the scow was but the work Of a
moment, A pull. push, shout
and the rotten tub was rocking on
the surf. f..A Il.ii
The old Frenchman had started
wildly to his feet with a cry, but the
shove of the boat had thrown him
violently down. He rose to his knees
in the scow and stared out at the
heaving breakers about him. His
face was the color of lead. his teeth
chartered.
y Mes enfants : Boysl Ah-h, you
do not understand p and with shud-
der he sank down. We thought he
was dead.
"Now you've done it You've
killed him p shouted Harvey, who was
always first to get into a scrape and
first toget out oft. Il
Two or three of the larger boys
waded into the water and dragged the
scow up again on the beach. The old
man was unconscious when we lifted
him out and laid him on the sand.
But he soon staggered to his feet and
crept away to his cabin.
Il suspect that his trouble arose
largely from modification at the dis
closure of his weakness. Some of us
ran along by his side.
"I'm real sorry," whimpered Ted.
Eyes, yes" he murmured. quietly.
"But let the Did man alone now, mon
enfant." 4r-r,
He seemed to recover before long
from the effects Of his fright, except
that he looked still thinner and paler
than before, and he seemed to shun
the village people more than ever.
Among my boyish recoIlections l
find but few reInenbrances Of the poor
old foreigner for the two years that
followed. nt sdf M 1s
He dyed the old clothes of the fish
ermen and packed his little bundles Of
herbs for the city market. On sunny
days his thin. bent figure trotted to
and fro in the swamps or up through
the laurel thickets on the hills.
One day | ventured to peep INTO his
cabin. There was a little white cot in
the corner. a fire with pot Of soup