The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-02-12
An Unborn Boy.
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What shall we do with our boys? is q
problem as perplexing for French as
| for English parents. A case has just
been before the Paris correctional
tribunal which will show what great
Importance some French parents at
tach to the future trade or profession
of their offspring. NJ. and Me. Pane
ton, during the fifteen years they have
been married, have had but one quar-
rel, or rather the same quarrel, for the
motive of it is always the same. Here
is how it usually begins: Paneton, a
journeyman mason, comes home at
for dinner, as they say here; in England
we should say supper. Paneton's brow
is clouded. He throws himself into
chair and says: What a dirty trade!
How can parents be so stupid as to
make masons of their sonsP My son
shall not be mason. o, no, not if |
know it " 30. you're right there" re-
piled Nine. Paneton, while cutting
bread into the soup. ''He shall be
cabinet-maker, continues Paneton.
''Never while live," replies madame,
''he shall be wood-turner!' "a wood
turner!' retorts monsieur; ''catch me
making a wood-turner of my boy! 1
know ten of my chums who made
wood-turners of their sons, and every
one of those lads turned bad charac-
ters." .'Rubbish! Our boy shall be
wood-turner. Il tell you he shall be
a cabinet-maker. my son a paste
pot! l would rather strangle him with
these hands, "You are not a mother
to the boy; you are a step-mother. y 1T
is you, rather, who are step-father."
At that Paneton seiZes the first thing
that comes to hand and hurls it at
madame's head. She returns the fire,
and the row is renewed regularly every
night.
The circumstances in the case are
that they have no children, though they
have been fifteen years married. To be
brief, cries of murder" are heard.
The neighbors rush in, restore peace
and go away, knowing they will keep
quiet for the next twenty-four hours.
The nuisance, however, has become so
intolerable that we find them at length
| summoned before the correctional tri-
bunal. The first witness, M. Blanchard,
deposeth: '.Paneton and his missus are
the incest people you can wish to see
but they are always going on with the
| same quarrel, and sometimes they
spend the whole night fighting. just
imagine, your worship, they are not
very young, and they can have no fam
lily, which embitters their moral quail
tiles; but that is not the fault of the
neigh borhood, which has often said to
them: If you keep on this racket we
will 60 and complain to the police COM
missary, all the more, your worship,
because the older they get the less hope
| they have of a posterity." To that
Nine. Paneton replied: 1T is you who
make mist axe, NJ Blanchard; YOU
must not talk of what you don't under
stand"
Here the Judge interfered and said.
''You disturb the tranquility of your
neighbors by daily scandal, and that
apropos of the trade to which you will
put a son who is not yet born" He
then SsentfaaRGed c sach 5spopSSs SET to fins
ances. 'Tll pay it when you like"
cried Paneton; ''but he shall be cab
| inet-maker." HE shall be a wood
turner, l tell you," retorted Mime P.
Turn them out, usher. Are they 60
ing to begin again here?" exclaimed
| the judge in amazement. 1t is evident
| that the future child will be either
| cabinet-maker or a wood-turner, if it is
a boy; but supposing it is a girl!-Lon-
| don Ne,Us.