Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1884-08-28
the loud-schoing voice Of his anurv ,;,.
could still DO heard. angry wife

from o plate between them in ,b0 Au'ie'
die of the table. hiiu'
huoieres recommended his prom.
ositions, but this time more i%nsinnat;op.
~, with oratorical precautions. with as
tuteness. The two country naonio .,
hrst shook their heads in sign Of [rsinsoI'
but when told that they wopld racair
loo francs a month, they looked NJ nre
another; they began 10 consnIt ano on
DINERS eyes, with their resolution con.
siderably shaken. 'on
ihey Kept silence a long, long TINA
feeling tortured; h~esitating. <. Las,
the woman asked: last
here! man, what do you say about
nunciation: Pf''
say that it's worth thinking ,bout "
Then Madame d'Hubieres, o1iyer;no
with anxiety, began TO talk 10 tbo1
about the fortune OF the child abon,
the money he would be able to give them
some day.
The peasant asked:
And that allowance of 1000 francs
you talk about, will be pledged 10 ms
before the notary?"
Nj. d'Hubieres:
Why, ofcourse, Tomorrow O draw
it," "i""
The woman, who had been very
thoughtful, spoke again:
"a hundred francs a month ;sr,t
enough for giving up the child; mat
there child can work in a few wears: we
must git a hundred and twenty francs "
Stamping her little foot with imno.
tience, Madame a. Hubieres aoceded IN
the sum at once; and as she wanted IN
take the child away at once. she gave
them o 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 beaminq
with delight, carried off the screaming
child-just as a m~uch-longed for TOW il
triumphantly carried home from a toy
store.
Standing at their own door, the
Tuyaches watched them go; they said
nothing, looked notwithstanding
perhaps that they had refused:
Nothing more was heard Of little
Jean Yallin. Every month the parents
went TO draw their 100 francs from the
notary; and they fell out with their
neighbors because Mother Tuvache
"agonized them with ignOminies," in
cessantly going from door to door to
reiterate that one must be inhuman 10
sell ones chIld-that it was "a hor-
ror," "a dirty low thing,"a corrom.
perie." .r..
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, / didn't! I didn't
sell thee, my little SOUL / don't sell
my chill Sren, l don't. I'm not rich, but
/ don't sell my children"
And for two 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 Tuyache
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 perpetrallS dinned into his ears
got TO be Is, he also learned to believe
himself superior to all his comrades,
Just because he had not been sold"
The Vallins meanwhile lived very
comfortably, thanks to their monthly
pension. The indispensable fury of the
Tuvaches, who remained wretchediy
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 Fl years old, when one
morning a shining carriage drew up
before the two houses. A young gen
tieman, 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:
1T is there, my child, the second
house."
And the young gentleman entered
the yaliin residence as If he were enter
ing his own home.
The old mother was washing her
aprons; the father, now intirm, was
DOING beside the great hearth. Both
looked up and the young man said;
GOOD day, papal good day mammal
They rose TO their feet almost IN
alright. The old peasant woman, In her
sudden emotion, even let her soap iall
into the water, and stammered u
"C'est-te m'efant7 Il it thou my
child?? is il thou, my child"
He took her in his arms and kissed
her-repeating, "BoniOur, mamma
while the old father, though trembling
in every limb, exclaimed in that calm
accent which never deserted him: 80
thou art come back, Jean" As II he
had been gone only q month or less
And when they had got to know each
other a little better, then the parents
insisted on going out with their son, to
show him all the country-folk. They
took him 10 see The mayor, the deupty'
the priest, the schoolmaster- =.
And Chariot, standing at the thresh-
old of his fathers cabin, looked as ne
" emit by. -,
That evening, at supper time, he SAID
10 the old folks: a.
"What idiots you must have peeh "
let them take yallin's child"
His mother obstinately responded
II wouldn't sell our babyE
The father said not o word. Inc 0
went n -.,Lo %
"And you think it isn't miseraoio ="
DO sacrificed like that2"
Then Father Tuvache suffered ou'
in a voice Of wrath:
aArt thou going to reproach us ior
having kept thee?"
B%rntally the young man burst out;
s,yas I reproach ou-louts that you