The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-12

thorough-going atheists as you or can possibly be-" Then out came a perfect shower of epigrsms aimed at certain pol iticians of the period, the most notorious of whom may be regarded as a nine teenth-century edition of Moliere's " Tar tuffe"
 "Ohl know all about that" replied Bianchon "but what want to know is why you come hither to worship on the sly, and what induced you to found this mass2"
 "Well. we'll" cried Desplein, q am now upon the brink of the grave, and [ haven't the slightest objection to en- tighten you as to the earliest part of my career"
 It so happened that at the moment the eminent surgeon uttered these words the two companions were threading the Rue des Qdatre-Vents -one of the mos, horrible streets in the Paris of Louis Pailipp.. As Desplein ended he ener- 0eticaliy raised his hand and pointed to the sixth story of one of a row of houses they looked more like obelisks-on the opposite side of the street. These houses
 are approached by a long and narros passage terminating in a winding stair case dimly lighted by windows of the kind termed-and very appropriately termed ,uIs de soufffance. The house
 10 which Desplain pointed was a jauu- diced. looking tenement, the ground floor of which was secondhand furniture shop, and eech successive story of which seemed to harbor each its special indus
 try. whose only connecting link with the remainder was the poverty of him who piled it.
 For two years lived up there," cried Desplein,
 "l know the place well," replied his companion. ID Arthez used to live there in his time, and went there nearly every day when was a mere lad. In those days it rej ,iced iu the nickname of
 Great Mans Nest But what were you going to say 7"
 The mass which have just heard is intimately connected with certain events which occurred when that gaTet-which you say was once the home of D'Arthur sheltered me l mean that one wonder, with the dower-pot on the windo sill and the clothes-hne stretched across the window. At starting, had to rough 1t 30 severely, my dear Bianchon, that gravely doubt whether 1 should not carry oil the palm of PArisian suffeungs from all possible competitors. Every thing that is to be endured have endured- hunger, thirst, want of money, want of clothes, even to boots and shrs-the very hardest straits of abj.ct penury. In that Great Mads Nest ot yourS-I should like to go with you and have an. other look at it some day-l b ave known what 1t Is to be obliged to try to blow a little lite into my psor fingers benumoe with cold. There, throughout one whole winter, did l toil away, with my head visioly steaming, and the breath which exhated as oalpable as that ot the horses ID the streets on frosty day. am ut- terly at loss to tell how and where one can fad fulcrum to enable one to beer up against such a lite as tnis. 1 was alone. without a soul to help me, without d sixpeuce wherewlth to buy the books ] needed and to pay medical. school fees Fnend.ess as was, my irritable, touchy. restless disposition stood n the way of m aking any triends Every one with whom l came ln con act tailed to interpret my ir- inability aright; no one treated 1t as the natural outcome of the feverish impa. tience of one who is suug sllng to force his way upward from the lowest rung of the social ladder. To you. however you who know me so we'll that have no need to pose before you - may venture to say that l possessed that fund of good feeling and lively sensibiity which Is the birthright of every man who Is strong enough to climb to the top of plung,ng and laundering year after ye-r, tor m any year, in the deepest slou shs of DO, erty. B,yond my inadequate al lowance, there was absolutely nothing to be extracted either from my friends or re la ions in the country. How dld live at this timer l breakfasted on a basin of bread and milk-the bread taken from a loaf which the baker in the Rue du Petit Lion let me have cheap on account of it's staleness it was always day, and two days old. Thus the COS, of my morning meal did not exceed oue penny AS for dinnsr-l dined only every other day; and that at an eating house where the charge was limited to eight pence. That makes fivepeuce a day for food. Clothes You know as we'll as how careful had to be of coats and boots. doubt whether the treac hery of a colleague, in after life. affects one SO as the sight of a grinnipg hole ln ones shoe or the sound of tear in the lining of ones coat did in those carly l days. Water was then my only drink; a | cate was a place winch inspired me with | the profoundest respect. Z,ppis seemed a kind of Promised Lsnd' in which none but the young Luculli of the Q lar, 'ier Latin had any right to set foot. In passing by, would sometimes ask my 'e whether 1t would be my lot to drink \ cup of coffee and cream there, or to play a game of dominoes. Meanwhile, I imported into my studies all the rage with which my poverty imoued me. timed at acquiring store of useful such as would give me an immense personal value, which wouli