Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1882-09-28
THE BLUE ROSE.

the fauOOurg OF BreSslgny, al Anglers,
the horticultural city above all others,
an cid retired custom house officer who
was greatly interested in the cultivation
of roses. Jules Ailain had not married
until after he left the service. His wife
presented him with daughter, and
two years later she died, leaving him
alone with the child The task was a
heavy one, but the father had for the
fruit of the love of his old age such an
alteration that he showed himself equal
to the maternal role which this death
imposed on him. He got up earlier in
the morning and went to bed later at
night, so that his garden might not suf-
fer from the constant care that the lit
lie Jeanne required at almost every
moment in the day. When she was
old enough he made her his constant
companion IN all his movem gents. Che
used to accompany him to the mark let
place where he carried his vegetables,
flowers and fruit, and while he was
working i'll his garden she occupied a
place on his heavy coat close at hand.
The people of the neighborhood were
so accustomed TO seeing them together
that he had received the nickname OF
4 Papa la Nourrice.
We have said that he took his fruits
and his vegetables to market; in fact
it was at a later period that he devoted
himself to horticulture. His fathers
large garden had originally resembled
one Of these old-time places with mar
row paths, wide beds, boxed off and
latticed, and filled with a strange ming
ling of vegetables, fruit trees and goose
berry bushes A somewhat curious
circumstance had aroused the fancy of
Papa la Nourrice, and brought about a
revolution in the old garden. The old
fellow had found some seeds in little
clump of rosebushes of different sorts
that grew in front of their little home.
He had planted these in hower-pots,
and when the little shoots appeared
transferred them to the sunny side of
the garden. The third year some buds
appeared, and when these unfolded
among the numerous single and double
flowers was rose perfect IN form,
very full, and Of dark purple shade,
and which at certain points Of the petal
became black.
After the first emotion of surprise,
Father A lain thought of the PLEASURE
he was going to give his young Jeanne,
nova young girl of fifteen. He care
fully transplanted it, and triumphantly
presented it to the one person in the
world that he loved, and who wa, truly
delighted over its many beauties. This
rose was greatly talked OF in horticul-
tHral societies of the country. All the
amateurs called TO see the curious flow
or of Jeanne's papa, and a great nurs-
eryman offered him 10000 francs for
it, which was accepted. The unexpect.
cd windfall inspired NJ. Allan with
ideas which had never occurred to him
He had reserved the right to name his
rose, and had called 1t lie Deuil de
Simphce (tbe mourning for simplice),
less on account of It's somber hues than
as memorial of his still regretted
wife. Some one expressed surprise
because he did not give 1t the name Of
his daughter, whereupon he answered:
"Oh, she will have htr turn. The
flower that is to be named after her
shall be so handsome and so rare that
it will speak of my Jeanne to those
who live hundred years from now"
And from that day the poor fellow
devoted himself day and night, body
and soul, to the great work. The fruit.
bearing trees fell ore after the other
under the pick, the flowers and vegota-
bles were uprooted, and soon only rose
bushes were to be seen in the garden
beds. Poor Jeanne witnessed, with
heavy heart and damp eyes, those daily
disasters. She was still too young to
think about the material consequences
of the hecatomb. she regretted the
victims because they were old friends,
whose rich crops she admired, and
whose delicate perfumes she had en-
loved from her earliest childhood.
Several times she had attempted to in
tercede for some fruit trees with
twisted branches and loaded with
blossoms, but great as was his love for
her, the old man showed himself with
out pity. He shook his head, and, az
he went on destroying, his child heard
HIM saying:
"Your dowry, mIgnonne-yOu must
let me earn yeur dowry, my darling
Jeanne. It is not in these pear trees,
however fine hey may be, that you
will find the 10000 francs which have
dreamed of for you; | must find the
blue Iose"
When all was RACED to the ground,
{ Papa La Nourrice had no longer fruit,
vegetables or flowers to take to the
market place, and with them had dis
appeared the comfort Of his little
home. The construction of a green
house $50 necessary for his young
shoots) ana the purchase Of needed ar
ticles absorbed his savings, and he ran
into debt The little house and con
tents we're buried under mortgages, and
the blue rose still refused to bloom.
He came across some new varieties in
the thousand Of young plants that bios
somed every year, but none were as
strange AZ the first one. He was offer
ed ridicul0usly low prices for them, but
he disdained all such offers, following
ing his chimera with the tepacity that
charactelizes the concentration of all
the powers Of the brain on q single