The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-01-16
THE POOR HUNCHBACK,
A Pitiful Story Of French Peasant
Life.

The poor Hunchback" was what
they called her. although she had a
family name and three or four Chris
tan names besides, selected some fifty
years before from the almanac, or given
at the time of her christening.
She had received all the sacraments
except one--that Of marriage; for the
simple reason that during her youth
she had not been able to find hus-
band to her liking. Still, it is true, she
was quite hard to please in this respect,
although one who is deformed can not
generally afford to be so fastidious.
She was not born a hunchback. Her
misfortune was the result of an acct
dent which occurred when she was
scarcely ten years old. One day when
she was about to get whipping she
tried to escape by going under the bed.
Her grandmother had tried to pull her
out by the arm, and her shoulder, strik-
ing against q sharp angle Of the heavy
bed post, was fractured.
They took her to the village bone
setter-a woman-who. after having
felt the hurt place. pulled the joint un-
til it cracked, ordered a six-to-the-
pound candle to be melted over glass
of water, gave the parent package of
dry herbs to make a Hsane with, and
for all her trouble asked only a remun-
Grafton of forty cents and two pounds
of butter.
From that time the little girl found
that it hurt her great deal when she
stopped to pluck up weeds, or when
she bent down over her washing. As
she grew older it was noticed that one
of her shoulders grew round, and re-
NAMED much lower than the other one
At last this condition became so marked
that folks declared her hunchbacked.
And she was so. in fact.
The first time they told her she got
angry and began to cry. She would
not believe it, and tried to see herself
in broken looking glass nailed to the
wall near window. She asked, under
promise of secrecy. all the young girls
Of her age whom she did not believe to
be malicious or likely to break prom
Use, to tell her if what had been said
about her having q hump was true.
Finally she found herself compelled to
believe in the fact of her deformity.
But even then she tried to train herself
never to think about it; and she disliked
to have it spoken of.
Quite young as she was, she said to
herself that her life was ruined; that
she was already just like any of those
very old women that nobody would
ever think Of loving; and with this gen.
eral crumbling down of all her future
plans. and the vanishing of all her
hungry hope for happiness. she ceased
to consider life except as what it really
is-a painful duty one must accomplish
in order to reach better condition.
1t seemed to her unjust that ones
whole life should be spoiled like that
all at once-without some hope of COM
mencing another and happier exist
ence; and this idea, combined with the
little of what she could vaguely UNDER
stand of the sermons preached at the
town church, on high mass days.
brought her to believe that if she would
but courageously endure this life she
would come back straight and
handsome" in another life.
She became very pious. She jealous
ly began trying to wearing out her life
by hard work-like certain needy folk.
who believe that in abridging each
weeks task by extra labor, they hasten
the coming of their day of rest. To the
hunchback it seemed that the day OF
her death would be q fair Sunday in
deed.
And every time that she met the par
ish priest, or another monsieur pretrie,
she talked with them in the most art
less fashion about the new life in which
she would not be humpbacked any
more.
She remained long time in the en-
ploy of farmer as servant
Toward her twenty-fifth year she
found herself alone in the world-all
her family having died. There re-
manned to her. by way of inheritance,
only dwelling place followed out in
the rock. with brick oven in which to
bake bread and strip of vineyard Just
enough for one person to cultiy ate.
She left her situation in order to live
in her chGmbron. where her sole pos
session in the way Of furniture con-
sisted of the bed against which her
shoulder had been dislocated, an old
clothes-pres kneading trough. a
comtoise clock in its wooden case, and
. chair as low . psje-dien.
By day she used TO visit the village
folk. They often gave her sewing to
do. Sometimes they employed her for
> little while to do odd Jobs about the