The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-09-14
HOW PERE PERRAULT SPENT HIS
LEGACY.

HOW PERE PERRAULT SPENT HIS
LEGACY.
At a flag end of the city, on the southern
side, where the gay heart of Paris subsidies
into sch larry and meditative quarters,
stretches a street to which certain details give
q grotesque individuality. Viewed at midday,
under the most favorable aspect of sunlight,
1t cannot be said to be a cheerful street. 1t
is preternatually still; o number of shabby
dog doze under its doorways; glimpses into
back yards reveal piled up fragments of bones,
accumulations of rags and paper, and the gen
eral atmosphere is permeated with the smell
OF decaying vegetables. Should the visitor
come upon some of the Inhabitants loiter ng
i'm the sunlight, men and women would appear
to belong to a race bowed of back, clad in
garments of ragged and patched antiquity, 10
assign probable original date to which would
puzzle the ingenious inquirer. He would dis
cover, also, certain attributes common to the
p~hysiognomy of both sexes; thus when the
eyes usually fixed on the ground are raised,
they reveal the same expression of balanced
scrutiny: an expression that may be also de-
tected in those of The dogs, and would seem to
indicate in all alike a mind open to the
chances of life, but not expecting much from
these chances. This spiritless, yet inquiring,
attitude is doubtless a result of the occupa-
ton OF the tribe. The aspect of the COM
munity, canine and human, shows that we
have REACHED that last rung of the big social
AaQ4Cl MLClC cbdlIu tuDS6 WIN ullulSbcE LII Vic
lowliest form to the imperious demands civili-
zation makes upon human nature.
1t Is the chiffoniers' quarter, and this long
street is the Rue Mouffetard.
The toll of the Mouffetardians is during
the night. Their sleep is during the day. 1t
is by no means always the sleep of the just;
oftener the slumbers proceed from the brandy
bottle.
One forenoon a commotion arose in the
Rue Northumberland by the unprecedented
Nidfn re 4haf fha @atr-o. 1Ioffat,- - H.
street was inquiring for one of its inhabitants,
"Pere Perrault." "There was a letter for
Pere Perraultr A host of ragged children
ran out of the cutters proffering guidance to
the official. They trotted by his side, pointing
with extended forefnger, while another de-
tachment set of at a run to wake up Pere
Perrault.
AS the postman was turning into q grubby
yard, there came out of it toward him q bent
figure, led by clamorous urchlns. 1t was a
iarge-boued man clad in a gray blouse; his
neither garments, a mosaic of stained patches,
showed that damp bagginess at the knees
which Is the low-spirited protest of old gar
ments against rough usage. He stood in
mouldy old shoes. The gaunt face, surround
ed by hanks of gray hair, was blank in the be-
wilderment of an unprecedented experience.
Behind this central group hustled up a little
woman, with broad brow eyes, shrewd aud
bright, her tanned features softened with a
network of wrinkles. is your name Per-
VIZ ROobAAnh1 SJOAAS u I1uu
with businesslike disirust.
"But-yes-it is Pere' Perrault-and lam
his wife," exclaimed the woman with great
v~olubility and gesture, her hands going up at
black box suspended across his chest by a
strap. Registered letter. Can you write 7"
he asked.
"a letter for me p' muttered the chiffonier.
He can't cried Mere Perrault, with yivac-
ity; the excitement that cast her husbands
Wis n6rfft Gharnouinr hare q Ha ~ ~
echoed all around the yard, filing with spec
tators.
1t is to be doubted If any member of the
Quarter Mouffetard could have deciphered
the signs the learned of their species had de-
cided upon as a vehicle of communication for
thought. This Ignorance added to the sense
of something extraordinary having happened
IN the arrival of a letter among them-a letter
that was not to be delivered in an irresponsi-
bic fashion, but required, before being given
cf, the attes'at;on of the recipient.
The postman opened a book. Put q sign
"a ~cross-here,i' he said with the laconic
brevity becoming the man in office.
Fere Perrault laboriously affixed a cross
where the postman's finger kept pointing, and
It was evident as he did so tina his hand
trembled. When the oblong parcel was de-
lvered over to him, "a letter for me,n he
muttered again, as he turned 1t round aud
round, and his face wore a dazed expression,
ash he were looking at a ghost.
forty years the world outside the Rue
Mouffetard had resolved itself to him into a
number ofrefuse heaps placed before its doors,
out OF which he and his wife, baskets on back,
lantern and hook in hand, and a dog at theil
heels, had nightly picked odds and ends, the
sale of which formed their means of livelihood
No link connected him with the outside world
but the rubbish 1t flung into its streets. Pari,
had gone through its agonies of revolution,
government came and went, The reign Of
frtvolity and fashion eddied in the streets
where blood had lately flowed, and in all ihest
transformations Pere Perrault had trudget
through the darkness, bending over the refuse
heaps, unaffected by the life beyond. Now
from this outside world amessage came 10 him
and he rembled before the mysterious ~visitant
"l'Ecriyain public,' exclaimed Mere Per
Fauit, giving an animated tug to the handker
chief wound turban-like around her head.
"L'Ecriyain public" echoed children ant
chiffoniers as Pere Perrault stood turning the
letter, his mind not having vet formulized thu
necessity of taking a step toward the unrayeI
inR OF the secret it held. Ills wife seized hin
by the sleeve, and as she dragged him along
ne tnstinctfvely clutehed the missive and helC
1t against his chest. The old couple walked
rapidly, ollowed by a procession of small
open-mouthed ragamuffins, and those of tn,
chiffoniers who had sufficiently reused them
selves from their slumbers.
The made their way to a wooden she(
placed up against a wall, over the door o
which an inscription announced that the Ecri
vafs public dwelt within. His charge TO
reading letters was from ten to twenty cen
times; and for writing, fifty centimes, seventy
five confines and one franc. All the neigh
borho d knew the tariff by heart, and under
stood that the scale of prices varied, accordin,
to the length, character, and amount O
passion infused into the compositions. TIL
role played by the Ecrivain public may be de
scribed as a cut between that of the barber O
tfe Middle Ages and of the confessor. H
knew the affairs of he QUARTER, and was &C
quainted with its most intimate secrets. Fo
over quarter of a century he had made gu
its bills, he had written its letters of love. O
sorrow, and of appeal. Pere and Mere Pei
rault knew the important man by sight, but /
was the first time they had crossed the thres
hold of his sanctum. The procession that ha
followed at their heels waited outside as the
passed within.
Behind a table Uttered with some thumbe
volumes and writing materials sat the learne
man. L'Ecrivain public was fabby and roun
of limb, his scarce locks issued from a fade
green cap, his beard was abundant, and hi
round spectacles impressive. L'Ecrivain pull
lie had q wide experience Of letters, and h
seemed to recognize at a glance that this wa
an important communication Pere Perraul
grudgingly handed to him, while his wife pu
. two-sous piece on the table. He looked owe
his spectacles from the neat and formal supe
scription toward the two old people, aud the
deliberately broke the seal.
The fnely-balanced voice of the Ecrivai
public shook a little as he read aloud that tn
Sous-Prefect of Sceaux, having communicate
with the Marie of the XIIIth ACCOMPLISHMENT
of Paris, and ascertained that Jean Desir
Perrault was still alive, pursuing the calm
of %chifonier. He nov announced to him tina
by the death, a few weeks previous, of hi
brother Armand Leon he inherited the sum
5000 francs. "Voila, my friend, allow me t
offer you my best congratulations" said tn
Ecrivaiu, who possessed a hne tact and powe
Of oppression.