The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-08-29

eAASAS NASA4 y IN IL
see you here again. To think peoples
allowed to want to take q child from
folks like that?
Then Nine. d. Hubieres, as she was
going, remembered there were two lit
tie ones; aud with the tenacity of a self
wllled and petted darling who never
can endure refusal, she asked through
her tears:
But the other little one-it doesn't
belong to you?" Father Tuvache re-
piled:
mo; it belongs to the neighbors.
You can go and ask them if you like"
And he returned into the house, where
the loud-echoing voice of his angry wife
could still be heard.
The vallin family were sitting at the
~table-eating very leisurly some big
crusts OF bread, which they rubbed par
simoniously with q little butter, each
taking an almost inperceptible bit of
butter at a time on the end of a knife,
from a plate between them in the mid
die of the table. +
M. d'Hubieres recommended his prop
ositions, but this time more insinuating-
ly, with oratorical precautions, with as
t%uteness. The two country people at
first shook their heads in sign O frefusal;
but when told that they would receive
100 francs a month, they looked at one
another; they began to consult IL an
others eyes, with their resolution con-
siderably shaken.
They kept silence q long, long time,
faa1s.,1r ~ =, ,al, l1c:lAsz. g." -
the woman asked: .
Here! man, what do you say about
ftp"
He answered with %sententious pro-
nunclation:.
so say thatsit's worth thinking about
Then Madame d'Hubieres, quivering
with anxiety, began to talk to them
about the fortune of the child, about
the money he would be able to give them
some day.
The peasant asked:
"And that allowance of 1 200 francs
you talk about, will be pledged to us
before the notary?"
NJ. d'Rubieres:
why, ofcourse, tomorrow you draw
The woman, who had been very
thoughtful, spoke again:
"A hundred francs a month isn't
enough for giving up the child; that
there child can work in a few years; we
must git a hundred and twenty francs"
Stamping her little foot with impa-
thence, Madame a Hubieres acceded to
the sum at once; and as she wanted to
take the child away at once, she gave
them a present of 100 francs, while her
husband commenced to draw up the
necessary papers. The Mayor and one
of the neighbors being sent for, gladly
gave their service as witnesses.
And the young woman all beaming
with delight, carried off the screaming
child-just as a much-longed for toy is
triumphantly carried home from a toy
store.
Standing at their W door, the
Tuvaches watched them go; they said
nothing, looked serious-regretting
perhaps, that they had refused.
Nothing more was heard of little
Jean Vallin. Every month the parents
went to draw their 100 francs from the
notary; and they fell out with their
n%eighbors because Mother Tuvache
| "agonized them with ignominies," in
cessantly going from door to door to
reiterate that one must be inhuman to
sell ones chlld-that it was "a hor-
ror, "a dirty low thing corrom
perie."
And occasionally she would take up
her Chariot in her arms, ostentatiously,
and scream out to him as if he was
able to understand.
II didn't sell thee, I didn't! | didn't
sell thee, my little soul! l don't sell
my children, I don't. I'm not rich, but
I don't sell my children"
And for tive years and more it was
the same thing every day--every day
coarse illusions vociferated before the
doorway, so that the neighbors could
not help hearing them, Mother Tuvache
at last really came to think herself the
finest woman in the whole country, Just
because she had not sold Chariot. And
people would say, when speaking of
her:
"Of course, we know the offer was
tempting; but anyhow she acted like a
good mother.
They held her up as an example, and
when Charlot-brought up with these
ideas perpetually dinned into his ears
got to be 1S, he also learned to believe
himself superior to all his comrades,
just because he had not been sold"
- X
The Vallins meanwhile lived very
comfortably, thanks to their monthly
pension. The indispensable fury of the
Tuvaches. who renamed Wretchedly
poor and miserable, was chiefly due to
that.
The eldest son joined the army.
The second son died. Chariot alone
remained to help the old father to
work, and to support his mother and
his two younger sisters.
He was just 81 years old, when one
morning q shining carriage drew up
before the two houses. "A young gen
tleman, wearing a gold watch chain,
descended from the vehicle, giving his
arm to an old lady with white hair.
The old lady said to him
ut is there, my child, the second
house."
And the young gentleman entered
the Vallin residence as if he were enter
ing his own home.
The old mother was washing her
aprons; the father. now infirm, was
doing beside the great hearth. Both
looked up and the young man said:
GOOD day, papa! good day mammal"
They rose to their feet almost in
alright. The old peasant woman, in her
sudden emotion, eyen let her soap fall