Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-01-03

Is always sure TO bless.
Boston Transcript.
HOW PEBE PERRAULT SPENT HIS
LEGACY.
At fag end of the city, on the southern
side, where the gay heart of Paris subside:
into scholarly and meditative quarters
stretches street to which certain details give
grotesque individuality. Viewed at midday
under the most favorable aspect Of sunlight
IL cannot be said to be a cheerful street. II
Is preternatually still; number of shabby
! dogs doze under its doorways; glimpses into
back yards reveal piled up fragments of bones,
denominations OF rags and paper, and the gen.
eral atmosphere is permeated with the smell
OF decaying vegetables. Should the visitor
como upon some of the inhabitants lettering
In the sunlight, men and women would appear
| TO belong to race bowed of back, clad In
garments of ragged and patched antiquity, to
assign aprobabe original date-to which would
puzzle the ingenious inquirer. He would dis
| cover, also, certain attributes common to the
physiognomy 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 mind open to the
chances OF life, but not expecting much from
these chances. This spiritless, yet inquiring,
attitude is doubtless 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
ladder where stand those who minister In the
fowliest form to the imperlous demands civili-
cation makes upon human nature.
II 10 the chiffoniers' quarter, and this long
street is the Rue Mouffetard.
The toll OF the MoufIetardians is during
the night. Their sleep is during the day. II
Is by no means always the sleep Of the just
oftener the slumbers proceed from the brandy
bottle.
One forenoon a commoton arose In the
Rue northumberland by the unprecedented
tidings that the postman Gathering up the
street was inquirlng for one Of its inhabitants,
Pere Perrault.n "There was q letter for
Pere Perrault" A host OF ragged children
ran out Of the cutters proffcring guidance to
the official They trotted by his side, pointing
with extended forefinger while another de.
tachment set off at run to wake up Pere
| Perrault
AS the postman was turning into a grubby
yard, there came out OF 1t toward him bent
agure, led by camorous urchins. IL was a
lsrge-bonsd man clad In gray blouse; his
neither garments, mosaic OF stained patches,
showed that damp bagginess at the knees
which IL the low-sprited protest OF old gar
ments against rough usage. lie stood In
mouldy old shoes. The gaunt face, surround
Cd by hanks Of gray hair, was blank in the be-
Behind this central group hustled up little
woman, with broad brown eyes, shrewd and
bright, her tanned features softened with a
network Of wrinkles. :" Is your name Per-
rault" inquired the postman, cycling the man
with business-like dsrust.
But-yes-it is Pere Perrault-and lam
bis wife," exclaimed the woman with great
volubility and gesture, her hands going up al
every assertion. The postman fumbled in the
black box suspended across his chest by a
strap. Registered letter. Can you write ~
he asked.
"a letter for me ~ muttered the chffonier.
" He can't cried Mere Perrault, with vivac-
ity; the excitement that cast her husbands
wits adrift sharpening hers. He can't"
echoed all around the yard, filing with spec
tators.
It lie TO be doubted II any member of the
Quarter Mouffetard could have deciphered
the signs the learned of their species had de-
oided upon as vehicle OF communication for
thought. This ignorance added to the sense
OF something extraordinary having happened
In the arrival OF letter among thcm-a letter
that was not to be delivered In an irresponsi-
BILE fashion, but required, before being given
up, the attestation of the recipient.
The postman opened book. I" Put sign
"a cross-here,n he said with the laconic
brevity becoming the man in office.
Pere Perrault laboriously affixed cross
where the postman's finger kept pointing, and
It was evident as he did so that his hand
trembled. When the oblong parcel was de-
livered over to him, "a letter for me-" he
muttered again, as he turned 1t round and
round, and his face wore dazed expression,
as IL he were looking at a ghost
For forty years the world outside the Rue
Mouffetard had resolved itself to him into q
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 their
heels, had nightly picked odds and ends, the
n which formed thpir u1p nf nn1
No link connected him with the outside world,
but the rubbish 1t flung into its streets. Paris
had gone through its agonies of revolution,
Governments came and went, the reign OF
frivolity and fashion eddied in the streets
where blood had lately flowed, and in all these
transformations Perc Pcrrault had trudged
through the darkness, bending over the refuse
heaps, unaffected by the life beyond. Now
from this outside world amessage came TO him,
and he trembled before the mysterious visitant.
"L'Ecrivain public,n exclaimed Mere Per-
rault, giving an animated tug to the handker-
chief wound turbanlike around her head.
"L'Ecrivain public,n echoed children and
chiffoniers as Pere Perraut stood turning the
letter, his mind not having yet formulized the
necessity OF taking step toward the unravel-
Ing OF the secret 1t held. His wife seized him
by the sleeve, and as she dragged him along
he tnstinctvely clutched the missiye and held
It against his chest The old couple walked
rapidly, followed by procession OF small
open-mouthed ragamulns, and those OF the
chiftoniers who had sufficiently reused them.
selves from their slumbers.
They made their way to wooden shed
placed up against wall, over the door of
which an inscription announced that the Ecri-
vain public dwelt within His charge for
r9ading letters was from ten to twenty CEN
times; and Tor writing, fifty confines seventy
five confines and one franc All the neigh
borhood knew the tariff by heart, and under.
stood that the scale ofprices varied, according
TO the length, character, and amount OF
passion infused into the compositions. The
role played by the Ecrlvain public may be de-
scribed as cut between that of the barber OF
the Middle Ages and OF the confessor He
knew the affairs OF The QUARTER, aud was &C
quainted with its most intimate secrets For
over quarter OF a century he had made out
It's bills, he had written its letters of love, of
sorrow, and of appeal. Pcre and Mere Per.
rault knew the important man by sight, but It
was the first time they had crossed the thres-
hold Of his sanctum. The procession that had
followed at their hoels waited outside as they
passed within.
Behind table Uttered with some thumbed
volumes and writing materials sat the learned
man. L'Ecrivain public was habby and round
OF limb, his scarce locks issued from faded
green cap, his beard was abundant, and his
round spectacles impressive. L'Ecrivain pub
lie had q wide experience OF letters and he
seemed TO recognize at glance that this was
an important communication Perc Perrauit
grudgingly handed to him, while his wife put
two-sous piece on the table. He looked over
his spcctacles from the neat and formal super
soriptlon toward the two old people, and then
deliberately broke the seal.
The fnely-balanced voice OF the Ecrlvain
public shook little as he read aloud that the
Sous-Prefect OF Soeaux, having communicated
with the Marie OF the XIIIth ACCOMPLISHMENT
Of Paris, and aecertalned that Jean Desire
Perrault was still alive, pursuing the calling
OF chihonier. He now announced TO him that
BY the death, few weeks previous, OF his
brother Armand Leon he inherited the sum of
5000 francs. "Voia, my friend, allow me TO
Ecfiysin, who possessed Cos tact and powsr