The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1885-01-15
fHon. Neal Doxl

(Hon. Neal Dow
DIR. Collennet is dead. He was an emf
nent physician of the Island Of Guernsey in
the British Channel, near the coast of Nor
mandy. His reputation In connection with
his profession was not confined to his native
island, but was widely known in Europe
Some years ago was his guest. He lived
in an ancient chateau named the "Pladoi-
rie," in the neighborhood of La Pierre, the
ancient capital Of the Island, which remains
almost exactly as it was in the time of Will
liam the Conqueror, to whom it belonged as
Duke of Normandy.
Soon after my arrival ct the house little
boy of six or seven years came into the
room and was introduced to me as "the lit
ly upon him, repeated, eyes, the little
drowned boy" of whom this is the story.
The doctor said:
"When he was about two years old bis
boune took him out one day. as usual in fine
weather, in the little carriage. She called at
her mothers house, not far away, and left
Pierre in the carriage. When she came out
the carriage was empty. She at once raised
hue and cry, and there was distracted run
ming about of many persons in search of the
missing child. There was in the garden an
abandoned well covered with old loose
boards. The boards were disturbed and
some of them gone. In looking down the
we'll the white skirts of the child were seen,
but the body was partly covered by some Of
the boards. The woman fasoinsut entendre
they speak sort of French in Guernsey
loud and continued screaming. In the ad-
joining house lived very old man, who,
alarmed at the cries, hobbled along and
climbed over the partition fence between the
two gardens. Going to the we'll, be saw the
situation at a glance. He was blacksmith.
The first thing he had made when out of bis
apprenticeship was graphing iron, which
tor many years had hung in its place in bis
cottage. He remembered this at the mo
meDt, and clambered back over the fence,
took the grapple, went to the well, uDbent
the line from the bucket attached it to the
iron, and hobbled back once more to the res
cue of the child. The first thing was to re-
move the board which lay over the body, and
then fortunately he hooked the iron into
strong part of the chiId's dress. The old
man had asthma badly, and by the excite
ment and unwonted exertion violent fit Of
painfully at the ropes when, just as the child
was at the top of the well, he could endure
no more, and was about to let go the line
when, arriving at the instant, caught it.
The body was brought home, when begun
the treatment of 1t constantly, without a
moments cessation, for Eve hours, before
there was any sign Of returning life. Nov
here he is, sound and hearty-a little
drowned boy"
'How long had he been in the water?"
II do not know. Nobody knows when he
fell in; but it seemed an age TO those women
who were first at the we'll. He must have
been in the water after he was discovered
fifteen Or twenty minutes. Since that day
our neighbor, the blacksmith, works no lon
ger at his trade. He ear ed enough then Of
gratitude and love from US to keep him in
comfort the rest of his days. Our little boy
is taught to regard him with love and vener-
alton, and goes often to sit with him in his
little home.
Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands,
so-called, which now belong to England, but
many of the old feudal Norman laws, writ
ten and unwritten, remain there TO this day.
II has a local government of its own, and in
all internal and local affairs it is iudepen-
dent of England.
The lingo spoken there by the habitants Is
old Norman French, 80 that it is very diff
cult, in fact impossible, for stranger to un-
derstand them, though they can generally
understand French when addressed in that
language. The people live by fishing and
agriculture, and visit on the market day 10
the market is very interesting, because the
peasant women from all the country around
are there. with the peasant costume and
with the peasant jargon almost exactly as
they were oD the day in 1865 whom William,
Duke of Normandy, set sail from the neigh
boring town OF Caen, on the Norman coast,
to assert his right to the Crown of Harold.''
These feudal laws yet existing in GuerE-
sey and Jersey are sufficient to show us what
the condition of the common people was in
those old times. As an example, eyery es-
tate in them, npon the death of the proprie-
tor, falls into the hands Of the feudal lord for
two years, to be managed by him for his own
benefit, 20 the exclusion of the heirs. In
Jersey one OF the laws l cannot speak Of
here. Compulsory labor, the coruse, no
longer exists, so that the peasants are not
now compelled to work without pay for the
feudal lord for specified days in each week
or each month, as in the old time. The
young people cannot marry without the con-
sent OF the lord, and then only on certain
conditions which / cannot mention here.
Horticulture occupies the peoule very
much. There are very large cold graperies
and many very large houses of similar con-
struetion devoted entirely to the raising of a
certain kind of pear, only grown there. It
Is large, and SO good that no other EQUALS IL;
they all go to the London market, and sell
there in any quantity at twelve shillings-
three dollars dozen. The trees in ali the
pear houses that saw were trained precise
y like the vine, aud received much care. All
the fruits raised there go to the London mar
keis. Guernsey is so much out of the world
away from all great lines of trayel-that
the primitive manners of the people now ex-
isting there will be likely TO continue for
many generations to come