The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-01-23
MY FRIEND MEURTRIER.

From the French: Translated for the New
 York Evening Post. by Walter LeArned.l
 was at one time employed in a gov ernmeat office. Every day from ten until four o'clock became q voluntary pris- oner in depressing office, adorned with yellow pasteboard boxes and filled with the musty odor of old papers. There l breakfasted on Italian cheese and apples which roasted at the grate; 1 read the morning papers even to the advertise ments; l rhymed verses, and attended to the affairs of state to the extent of drawing, at the end of each month, a sal. ary which barely kept me from starving recall to- day one of my companions in captivity at that epoch. He was called Achille Meurtrier, and certainly his fierce that name. He was a great big fellow, about forty years old, without too much chest or shoulders, but who wore felt hats with wide brims, short but ample coats, large plaid trousers and red neckties un- der rolling collars. He wore full beard, long hair, and was very proud of his hairy hands. The chief boast oi Meur- trier, otherwise the best and most amia- ble of companions, was to trife with an athletic constitution. to possess the biceps of prize fighter, and, as he said himself, not to know his own strength. He never made a gesture even in the exercise of his peaceful profession that did not have for its object to convince the spectators of his prodigious vigor. Did he have to take from Its case an empty pasteboard box, he advanced toward the shelf with the heavy step o( a street porter. grasped the box solidly with a tight hand, and carried 1t with a stiff arm as far as the next table with a struggling of shoulders and howning of brow worthy of Milo of Crotona. He carried this manner SO far that he never used less apparent effort even to lift the ightcst objects, and enc day when he held in his night hand a basket of old papers, 1 saw him extend his left arm horizontally as if to make a counterpoise to the tremendous weight. ought to say that this robust creature inspired me with a profound respect for l was then, even more than to-day, phys icaliy weak and delicate, and in conse. quence filled with admiration for that en- ergetic physique which lacked.
 The conversations of Meurtrier were not of nature to diminish the admiration with which he inspired me Above all, in the summer, on Monday mornings, when we had returned to the office after our Sunday holiday, he had an inex- haustible fund of stories concerning his adventures and fea.s of strength. Alter having taken cg ki: felt hat, his coat and his vest, and having wiped the perspira- ton from his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt to indicate his sanguine and ar dent temperament, he would thrsst his hands deep into the pockets of his trou- sers, and, standing near me in an attitude of perpendicular solidity, begin a mono logue something as follows:
 What Sunday, my boyl Positively no fatigue can lay me up. Think of it - yesterday was the regatta at Joinville-le- Popt-at six o'clock in the morning the rendezvous at Bercy for the crew of the Marsouin the sun is up-we jump into our rowing suits and seize the oar and give way-one-two, one-two-as far as Joinville then overheard for a swim be. tore breakfast strip to swimming draw CTS, jump overheard, and look out for squalls. Alter my bath have the appe- .tise of tiger. Good; seize the boat by one hand call out, Charpenter, pass me smal! ham. Three motions in one time and l nave finished to the bone Charpen,er, pass me the brandy flask. Three swallows and 1t is empty"
 So the description would continue darling, Homenc.
 "The hour for the regatta-noon, the sun just overhead. The boats draw up in line on the river, before a tert gasdy with streamers. On the bank the mayor, with his scarf of office, gendarmes in yel- low shoulder belts, and a swarm of sum- mer dresses, open parasols, and straw hats. Bangi The signal gun is fired the 'Marsouin shoot. forward of her competitors and gains the 6rst prize, and cool the evening iD the dssky ashcs pipes glow in the darkness, md moths singe their wings In the flame of the omeletfe au kirsch. At the end of dessert served on decorated plates, we hear from the ball room the call of the csrnet. Take places for the quadrille But already a rival crew, beaten that same morning, has monopolized the prestiess girls. A kght teeth broken, eyes biackened, ugly falls, and whscks below the belt in word, . poem of physical enthusiasm, of noisy hilArity, of animal spirits; without speak ing of the return at midnight on crowded platforms, with girls whom ve lifs tate the carr, friends separated, calling from one end of the train the ether, and fellows playing horn upon the root"
 And the evenings sf my astouishisg companion were not les fuil of advsntuse than his SandayA Collar-asd- elbow wrestling in tent, under the red light ol torches, between him, simple amatesr,