The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-12-18

tops; ana now the Dutler, VINO knew
his habits, would put the wine, bottle
of fine old Leoville, on the table, lying
in basket, and how carefully he would
draw the cork. Ah!Those were good old
times. He should never be able to get
used to this bread of poverty.
| And in his impatience the young man
threw the rest of his bread into the
mud.
At that moment a soldier came out
of the inn; he stopped and picked up
the crust; then, moving few steps oil,
no wiped it on his sleeve and began to
devour it eagerly. Henri de Hardimont
had already begun to feel ashamed of
his action, and he looked with pity at
the poor wretch who seemed SO raven
ously hungry. He was big, tall, i'll
built man, with feverish eyes and an
untrimmed beard; so thin that his
shoulder-blades stuck out under the
cloth of his wornout cloak.
you must be very hungry, my
friendP' said he, going up to the sold
Ter.
GAS you see," replied the other with
his mouth full.
81 beg your pardon. If Ihad known
it might be of any use to you, should
not have thrown my bread away"
"Never mind" said the soldier, 81
am not so particular as all that"
"All the same" continued the gen.
| tleman, ait was wrong, and am sorry
l did it. cannot let you 60 with such
bad opinion of me as you must have
now; we mus. have a drink together.
have some old brandy in my flask"
The man had finished eating. The
Duke and he drank mouthful of
brandy; and their introduction was
complete.
What is your namep" asked the
soldier.
"Hardimont, replied the Duke, sup
pressing his title. 'And yoursP"
Jean Victor I have only just join
ed the company. have come from the
ambulance. was wounded at Cha
tillon. All, was well of in the ambu-
lance; the nurse used to make such
good horse-soup. But | only had q
scratch, and the Major signed the or
der for me to come out And now,
worse luck, have only to begin starv-
ing again. For you may believe me or
not, mate, but as true as | stand here
before you, ! have been hungry all my
life"
1t was a terrible sentence to be spok-
en- to voluptuary who had just caught
himself regretting the cuisine of the
Cafe Anglais; and the Due de Hardi-
mont looked at his companion with a
sort of Mortified surprise. The soldier
gave sad smile, showing set of VOL
fish-looking teeth-famished teeth, that
flashed white against the wan face
and, then, as if he saw that some ex-
PLANTATION was expected of him.
Monsieur" said he, suddenly drop
ping his familiar style of address, as
though it dawned on him that here was
one of the rich and happy of this earth,
"let US walk up and down the road
here, and | will tell you few things
that don't suppose you have ever
heard before. My name is Jean Vic
tor, only Jean Victor, because ] am a
founding, and my only pleasant recol-
lection is of my early childhood at the
Founding Hospital. The sheets were
clean in our little beds in the dormi-
tory; we used to play in the garden un-
der the big trees, and | remember my
sister-she was quite young and pale
lily-she was dying of consumption. l
was her favorite, and | used to like to
walk by her side better than to play
with the other children, because she
would draw me close to her and lay her
thin, hot hand on my forehead But
from the time was twelve years old |
knew nothingof her poverty! The board
bound me apprentice to chair-mender
in the Faubourg Saint Jacques. 1t is
bad trade, you know; you cant make a
living out of it, and the proof was that
generally the master could get no APP
| prentices but the poor children from the
Blind Hospital. And that was where |
began to suffer from hunger. Themas-
ter and mistress-two old Limousins,
who ended by being murdered
terrible misers. They kept the bread
locked up, and only cut us little bit at
each meal. And in the evening, at sup
per, you should have seen the mistress,
in her black cap, ladling out the soup
and giving a sigh at each ladleful. The
other two apprentices, the "jeunes
aveugles, " were less to be pitied, for If
they did not get any more than | did
at any rate they did not see the angry
look OF that hard woman when she
handed our plate. And, unfortunately,
had good appetite even then. Could
help thatP | was three years appren-
tlced there, and always ravenous.
Three years! And you can learn the
trade in one month, But the board
cant know everything, and never sus-
pcct how the children are cheated. All!
you were surprised to see me pick up
the bread out of the mud. am pretty
well used to it; have picked up crusts
enough on the dust heap; and when
they were too dry left them to soak
all night. There were good windialls
sometimes | confess-bts of bread lust
nibbled, that the youngsters used to
pull out OF their baskets and throw on
the pavement as they came out Of
school. l used to loiter about round
there when ! went on errands. And
then when the apprenticeship was fin
ished, l could not make a living by the
| tra1p 40 | told vnn M lo,,a -.