The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1884-01-31
!. "SLEEP MY BABY!"
THE INVITATION 10 SLEEP.
rom Le Nsaro,s ssContes d. Etc"

"SLEEP MY BABY!"
= THE INVITATION I'd SLEEP.
From Le Ngaro,s "Contes d. ETC.,
EThe ample beauty OF the French phrase,
ssFAira dodo'-familiar to al French moth
ers, defes translation. We have no English
expressions capable Of rendering it. sFais
dodo, non bebep' (sGo to sleep, my baby,'')
liz more infantle, csressing phrase than
anything in our lullaby songs. The whole
story which follows is founded on this pref
~ idiom; aud tho translator has deemed 1t
best to leave the idiom itself in the origin.
ALL
When he was quite little boy-long,
long ago-at home with his good father
and mother, it used to be the happiest
hour of the whole live long day, just be-
fore bed time.
Dinner was over; mamma, after
wiping the oilcloth cover with a napkin,
brought in fathers cup of coffee, -
father was the only one in the family
who took coffee, not as luxury, nor fer
greediness, but because he had to sit up
very late writing. And while
the good man was sweetening his
Mocha, with single lump of sugar,
mindl while all the family were seated
ut the formidable, mamma Ia plump
little body of forty, still quite attractive,
continually casting upon her husband
quiet glances, but inte!ligently affection
ate, like those OF faithful dog, mamma
would bring the work basket. The three
sisters, born in three successive years,
much resembled each other-chastely
pretty. their dresses all cut from the
same piece of goods, their hair honestly
,moothed down in broad bands like
that of dowerless girls who can never
marry. They would commence to hem
handkerchiefs, while he, the urchin, the
youngest, the BENJAMIN of the family,
sat upon his high chair-1nade still high
or for him by a Royamount Quarto Bible
placed upon the seat, 50 that he could
build castle of cards upon the table.
In the long days of summer they used
to light the lamp as late IS possible; and
through the open window one could see
The stormy sky OF sultry evenings, with
wrathtul-looKing clouds, and, right
against the furnace of the sunset. the
dome of the Invalides, all sheathed with
gold.
As it is very bad for digestion to set to
work writing Immediately after dinner,
they used to make papa talk a little. so
as to delay the moment when he should
begin his evening labor; copies of notes,
accounts, etc., lat six sous the sheet, for
certain city contractor. The poor man,
naturally inclined to romantic revery
and possessing literary tastes, who in his
student days used to rhyme philhellenic
odes, had come to this pass at last, hav-
ing lost all hope of obtaining even good
position as clerk; and employed all his
evenings in copying such technical jar
gon -"Taking off and putting on lock-"
''givlng free play to the catch,"' etc:
But he would allow himself to forget
all this for moment, while gosslplng
with his wife and daughters.
They chatted pleasantly; for they
were all most perfectly happy in that
household. A dealerin pictures of saints
and angels, who kept a shop in the
Place Saint-Surplice, had offered the
eldest girl-tall Fanny-whose blonde
,urls were the admiration Of all the ra-
pins of the Salon Carre-fity francs for
her pastel copy of the Verge au Cousin
vert. The second daughter, Leontine.
had been drumming away all day at her
Menuet de Boccherini. AS for plump
Louise, the youngest, she was certainly
Inclined to be coQuettish. Why, she
was actually talking about making her.
self little cloak-(always providing her
father should get little extra allowance
upon the 15tb) Just like cloak she had
seen in a dressnaker's window in Rue
"Louise, my child" cried the father,
''you are building castles in Spain!"
And they laughed.
But mamma began to talk seriously. II
papa should get that little extra allow
ance, she had noticed at the Petit St.
Thomas establishment, a fine sample of
merino-''a nice color, and just the right
width for your winter dresses, Made
moiselles." And she added gravely;
1T is all wool" just as if cotton had
never existed and as if ever SO many
thousand negroes had not been kept in
slavery on account of it.
Suddenly-it was then almost dark in
the room-papa saw that bis little boy
had fallen sound asleep with his head
On his arm amid the fallen ruins of the
last castle of cards.
-''AL! ah! cried the good man mer-
rily-'so the Dustman has been here"
What an exquisite moment! He will
never forget it, never,-(though his hair
is now grayD His mother took him in
her arms; and he felt the rough beard OF
his father, and the cool lips Of his three
sisters pressed in turn upon his drowsy
forehead; then with delicious sensa-
ton as of fainting away, he let his little
head fall upon his mothers shoulder,
and vaguely heard a sweet voice-oh! so
sweet and so aressing!-murmur in his
"Maintenant il s'agil de faire
dodo!'
II.
Twenty years later he was an unpub-
lished poet. a rhyming student; and he
was on country pleasure trip with his
little Marla-wno resembled one of
Correggio's madonnas, and might have
been taken for an English girl.
On their arrival after leaving the
public conveyance and placing their
baggage in q chamber of the inn, they
had both laughed a good deal at the
framed brevet of the fencing master, the
bouquet of orange flowers undera glass
shade, the great big boat-shaped bed,
and the wallpaper on which was repro
duced ad minimum a nabob smoking
bis chebouk on the back of an elephant.
But when they had opened the window
looking out upon the country, the real
country, and had gazed at the road
winding through the forest, all humid
and green and vailed by chestnut trees.
they uttered a cry of joy-these young
Do ~ o;opo-opI in III oir enthusiasm thov