The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-09-15

"There will be a beautiful headstonc with
our names written on 1t quite pam; CI q
sent lean Desire Perrault Ell Odette Celestine,
son spouse Chilli Dniers, and then our age,
continued Perrault, who, now that his tongue
was loosened, spoke uuhestatingly
Are You gone mad, Perrault!" asked MS
wife. bending her shaggy eyebrows
sit will be beautiful, like corner OF one OF
the gardens in he Luxembourg ana II VIII
belong to us q peT,pefuits-d t1srlpet,fste DO you
understand, perpetuttef-for ever; for hun
dreds of years--always-and all the time
people will know US and speak OF US, con
tinued Pere Perrault,o without needing nls
wife, chuckling to himself and rubbing his
hands up aud down over his knees.
But have you gone made she cried cried again,
shaking her hand up in the air. '.What does
1t signify after death to lie in a fine place II
you must labor and weary in lifese
''What does it signifyr cried the old man,
turning upon her with gesture OF frighttul
4 energy. "Ill tell YOU what: Doyou remember
Totnl | saw him dead. went TO his fu-
neral. did not care for Totin living, but
when | saw him lying there on pIitasse mo-
t.Oniess, then sewn up In dirty shees, nailed
down in a deal box-well, [ tell you | felt
something here',-and he struck his chest. 1T
seemed nothing to me that TOtin should grub
in the dirt while he lived; but he lay there
dead before me felt somehow as il l had
loved him. That was wis | went to S fu-
neral Then, when | saw him put down into
the .fosse e,aDs,uis / thought, There he Isl no
! one knew him alive-no one VIII know nm
dead; not his name, or any hing about him.
then ] said to myseif: 'Perrault Perrault the
degradation is the tosSe commune
- The foSSe GO 7lnlttae or another grave, IL IS
the same To me- said Mere Perrault, with Bit
ter empha is :. What | want is a little com
fort in llle-that bit OF garlea with the cab
bages.n
pletives no known In polite society. \
| cabbage garden - don't want your cabbage
garden. dig in the sunshine NO 1T is not
| II viii do il. still prefer my trade; know l.
AMI / knows me. Here come 10 heap of
rubbish look al I; guess what shall nnd;
itnever disapsoints me, sometimes 1t gives me
! morep-
SIT is a rough trade" feebly put in Mere
Perraur. oyerborne by her husbands vehe-
IL is rough trade; all she more reason TO
/ take my ease alter death | male friends with
( one of the gardeners IN Pere Ia Chaise lie
showed me the tombs. There is fne one TO
| two people; he told me their story. Irenem-
btr their names, for | said them 10 myself
| over and over again-Madame Louise ct Mon
seur Abelsrts. They lived hundreds and
/ hundreds OF years ago; they loved each other;
/ they could not marrs, so she became nun. he
| became monk; but after their death there
| they came together. There hey lie like bride
| and bridegroom and every one knows their
/ story, every one ellis it. Bah! In the nosse
| commune YOU would lie there, would lie here
( making a gesture OF Ills hand in opposite
! directions; but in our bi, OF ground we'd be
| together, and every one would always know
! as we We G husband aud wife
" That woud be gst'g, certainly y said Mere
lfPerrault, softly, thrill OF smazement passing
Through her frame az these extraordinary
words.
- shall have picture OF our basket and
hooks carvel upoa the tombstone" sal Pere
| Perfault
= We might have Medors picture put there
too, remarked Mere Perrault.
81 believe it--inleed-the rogue Lord
he rofs by orr side If IA were himself
ehiffonier,f said Pere Perrault, giving a
| genial kick to the doing quadrupel, who sat
I III Stv al m eye at
( ter, and shook his rag OF tail
The old couple chatted till deep into the
night; for the first time, they forgot TO go
I rass-pleSing. Pere Perrauit had won his wiCe's
complete adhesion 10 the scheme OF this wish
| TO be known TO The world and posterity as her
| spouse Her Imagination once kindled, tray
/ eled rs fast rs her husAaud's in picturing the
mauSoleufn, erected to their united memory
/ The note hal been struck that SET these two
/ old hearts beating in unison They grew
garrllous with each other these two whose
/ married life had been mOvOse. They con
hded to each other the faneies that crowded
| into their brains They vaguely felt drawn To
| each Other rs in the olten days whea they hal
walked as sweethearts in the woods of sceaax.
aud the irelight Slaneing upon their wrinsed
/ faces seemed to to1ch them with something of
a uniting radiance
The husband AMI wife paid mysterious
! visit to Pere la Chaise next day. They kept
! their project close. AT the promised treat to
! his mates, Pere Perrault was silent the
/ grave about ii. After while the scheme
| oozed ont, however, and the Moufetardians
received the inform ition first with ineredalous
| laughter, then with boisterous derision. The
unconcern of the couple at the sallies they
provoked hal a dlnpening effect upon their
/ brilliancy. and brought to the perpetrators
| thereof hupaiadng sense of wasted powder
/ and shot.
After a while it became apparent that the
community was growing accustomed to the
! idea, that some its members even dis
| cussing it with something like interest. Pere
I hatOre a
| but at any manifestation of sympathy his
| tongue was unloosed. Pero Blot, who hai
been the first TO approach the theme in spirit
OF friendly inquiry, was taken into his conf
1 dence. He came back one day and explained
10 his comrades assembled ut lere MichePs
4 grryots that he had been to Pere Ia Chaise,
Il thar he had seen the site OF the tomb. that the
ground was actually bought. IL was in the
| second row of graves, the place the first
| row having proved too expensive. Pere Blot
here explained with lucid gesticulations that
| the tomb " uld be easily seen. from the path
way il being placed between aa obelisk aud
pyramid in the foreground. lie 'urtlier told
| that the renla nder OF The 5000 francs had been
divided iato portions TO p1r for the headstones
| and expenses of the two funerals, aud that
Monsieur lie Cure had the charge of it. 81
find, concluded Pere Blot, bringing his hand
down on the table, 'sthat Perrault has had
! good thought IN buying this grave; it is not
| he only who will profit by il; for II fine tomb
| is put over chiffonier's body, in place where
| everybody shall see 1t and talk about It, | say
all of'his trade gains respect by it,
In n smill community decided attitude OF
| mind is catching; Pere Blot made converts
there and then. a certain citation might be
noticeable In the der)ors men. and glance Of the
| Mouffetardans who adopted this doctrine. and
| acknowledged the scheme worthy one. 1t
seemed as If these despised waits and pariahs
felt vaguely the cheer of theredeenIng sacred
ness of the body
b he time the tombstone was to be designed
the Quarter Mouffetard had taken the matter
in hand is one of personal interest. For the
! better display of the inscriptions il was deci-
ded that there should be two headstones. The
| character of the letters question OF much
noisy discussion. The majority, headed BIZ
| Mere Perrault, considered that an amount of
flourishes gave dignity TO the signs. Pere
| Perrault inclined TO plain and honest lie tiers.
| A compromise at lass effected The names
OF the two occupants would be recorded with
due ornanentation. burt the word "chiffonier,''
| the word that, placed there, was TO be glorii-
cation, an apotheosis OF the craft-was to be
carved in characters that Pere Perrault said
| would skip to the eyes at n distance of any
| one who could read The epitaph was recog-
/ nized TO be second only in Importance TO that
/ word Mere Perrault, aud nat few with her
! were swayed by The stonecutterss offer TO put
/ good effect, little air-cossu. But Pere Per-
| rault, ambitious of a wider immortality than
that which he could share With he. learned
| only, ruled tina. every word should be !" all
Frenchs' After this decision the company
I proceeded TO the composition of the epitaph
/ The following may pass as specimen OF some
i submitted ~
ICY git Jean Desire Perrault Chiffonier
who for forty years W rked in dirt, and who
now rests in humble hope of country where
| no refuse exists.''
After some discussion, such inscrip ions
| felt 70 be derogatory to the trade-were put
] aside, and two not strikingly original phrases
were subs tituted. Over Mere Perrault's grave,
| as belonging to the sentimental sex il was
decided TO exhort the passer-by to drop tear;
on Pcre Perrault's to ask the passer-by 10 offer
up prayer
s~yAfier all, remarked Pere Perraul,, COM
placentlv, pulling away at his stump of pipe
. q prayer, some tears, are all one can give to
the dead; those fine ladies and gentlemen In
their coach can't have more"
Space will not allow to dwell upon the de-
lighted appreciation by the chiffoners OF the
stonecutters representation of the two bat
tered baskets and the Medor's portrait. On
his masters tomb he was shown trotting in
an Of