Connecticut western news., 1884-06-04
A LIFELONG LOVE.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.

''As the marquis has said, began the old doctor, Hove is an affair of tempera- ment; for my part passion came under my observation that lasted tifty-fve years, without day of respite, and was terminated only by death"
 The marquise clapped her hands.
 ssIsn't that nice l" cried she. ''How delicious to be loved SO What happ;- ness to live fifty-fve years enveloped by such affection! How happy he should be, and how he ought to bless life, the man who is adored in that fashion p
 The doctor resumed with smile:
 ''Indeed, madame, you are not de- ceived upon the point that the be- loved being was D man. You know him he is M. Chouquet, the apothecary of the town. As to the woman, you knew her also-she was the old chair mender, who came every year to the chateau. But I will make myself better under stood.
 The enthusiasm of the ladies had cooled, and their countenances expressed disgust, as if lovo had no business save with elegant and high-born people.
 The doctor continued
 "Three months ago I was summoned to that old woman's death-bed. She had arrived the day before in the wagon that served her for dwelling, drawn by the sorry horse you have seen. and ac- companied by her two huge black dogs, her friends and guardians. The cure was already there. She made us her testamentary executors, and, to explain to us the meaning of her last wishes, re- lated to us the history of her whole life. I know of nothing more touching,
 "Her father and mother both were chair-menders. She had never lived in 8 house built upon the ground.
 "When young she had wandered about, ragged and dirty. They stopped just outside of the villages, along the ditches; they unharnessed; the horse cropped the grass; the dog dozed, his muzzle upon his paws, and the child rolled amid the verdure, while her par ents mended, in the shade of the roadside elms. all the old chairs of the commune They spoke but little in that travelling dwelling. After the few words necessary to decide who should go around among the houses uttering the well known cry, ''The chair -mender is here p they be- gan to twist the straw, sitting opposite to each other or side by side. When the child strayed too far or endeavored tc make the acquaintance of some village urchin, her fathers angry voice recalled her with, "Will you come here, you lit tie wretch ?" These were the kindest words she ever heard.
 >"When she grew larger they sent he1 to gather up the broken chairs. While thus engaged she became acquainted with several lads here and there, but il was then the parents of her new friends who roughly recalled their children, shouting, Will you come here, you slovenly boy? I'll teach you better thar to chatter with bare-f footed vagrants !!
 "Often the little lads threw stones a h1E.
 ''Some ladies having given her fey sous, she kept them carefully.
 "One day-she was then twelve year old--as she was passing through thi district, she met back of the cemeter, little Chouquet, who was weeping be cause comrade had stolen two sou from hm. Those tears of little bour geois, of one of those lads whom sh Imagined in her weak vagrant's head to b always contented and joyous, upset her She approached, and when she knew tn reason of his trouble poured into hi hands all her savings, seven sous, tha he naturally took, wiping away hi tears. Then, wild with joy, she had tn audacity to kiss him. As he was atten lively gazing at the money, he let he go ahead Seeing that she was neithe repulsed nor beaten, she began again she hugged him with all her might, witt all her heart. Then she ran off,
 "What was passing in her miserabl head? Had she attached herself to thi boy because she had sacrificed her vaga bonds fortune for him, or because sh had given him her first tender kiss? Tn mystery is the same for children as fc grown-up people.
 'For months she dreamed of that CO ner of the cemetery and of that boy; the hopeof seeing him again, she robbe her parents, pocketing sou here, an and another there, from the money st collected for chair-mending, or the sun with which she was sent to buy pr visions.
 "When she returned to the distri she had two francs in her pocket, b1 she could only catch glimpse of Il little apothecary, looking very nea through the window of the pattern shop, between a bottle filled with r,