Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-07-19
THE HERMIT OF LIE cRorslc.
Translated nom the French.

translated from the French.
Some years ago a friend ~ ,n,,,, So,
a summer trip TO lie Croisic. a small so.,s,,-,
town in Southern brittany. si,posaa :. 80 ~.
es'rcne point OF q diminutiyc nepinsuia
winch luts out into the ocean lust abova ~.
spo' where the sand-stained waters ~ a.
majestic Loire minglc with those ~ Tia ,,,n,.
Atlantic One fine morning. temn,sd i, y
o,Jghe blue sky, we sailed forth ana wand.r.
cd along the beach In the dire,t;on ~ a.
oourg ue batz till we had left lie troisic sd
iar behind us that its roofs aud towersloolad
hNe q darN great cloud npon the dim hor;,o1
AZ the spot which We had now reached ,ha
roeS-bound coast presented a most srea, ,,,d
desoiate aspect. There was not n sin.ls H.,
man nc'ng insight, aud hc melancholv cr;ss, !,
. ,e seamews, eirciing high above OUR h,,o,,.
ulu ohi serve to Increase the senae 30 $50
sontnue inspired by the sdrroun,lins, ,,a,.,
euuuehly, on rounding a bold nromnntr -.
ol granite, which had efTectunllv shut o,,t
,ne view OF what lay before us. we descrihed :
,In hsure advancing towards us along
,he sand As he drew near We nerco;,,a5 IN.
ne was barefooted. aud thai rs mi, . aas
lnen's consisted of n beggarly mir NJ en-
sass irousers, all frayed and worn - ~.
oo,to,n ana fnli of clumsy darns andnatebes
. SURF Oh course sailcloth, and a Jacket which
Ms's SIMPLY oae mass of rags The f,yssh
s :, ioestsr and sea urchin dangling from
e.ftng which he carried in his ripbt ban,i
proved him TO bc fisherman Dee1,I,, n ns',i'
,hlserating his obvious penury nv srianJ
n.isu MN, with the intention Of mlrchnsint,
ma nsn, ond so sparing him the fatipue ~ ),
possibly fruitiess journey to lie crojsie :"
49,, t.,,r are you gong TO sell your fish, my
Gear fellow? said my friend.
In the town wonder r,nl.a ~, Al.
man, pointing in the direction of L. Cros S,.e'
them7'' '"1 sNPee' 70 GET Tor
"Eightpence for the lobster and tepnar.o
for the urchiu. sir. I" "ienoe
hat SAY you 10 five francs for the nairqi
inquired my friend
The poor man stared mn hin, i, -.
asaasement evidently half s,,spcciin,, that ~
was h,unlging IN n joke at his expense
svon dispelled his suspicious, however. by
rendering him new five-franc piece y
lie TOOK the coin. and, after eyeing il Cor u
ho,nent, spat upon it-for luck no doubt-
o'd siipped 1t u into his pocket. rhcn by
way of showing his gratitude for onr bheraI
", he volunteered 10 pilot MS es far ~ sha
bourg de Batz, and thence hack TO Is croi :
ny a short cut. of which we knew nosiing
we gladly accepted his offer. and a. we
uudged along together be gave US n short
ana simple mcord Of his life. We found h
deeply interesting. though extremely sad In
o,iei u was the story of a son who had fore
gone every solace OF the poor mans ,,xistenca
"a home OF hrs own, n vile and ch.Idren--fnr
the sake OF a blind aged father too feeble to
support himself "
Long ere we reached the Borug de Batz Tho
summer sun had attained it's meridian height
ana we began TO feel it's almost perpendicular
rays ihtoiernbls oppressive. Under these
81 "A Al
seek shelter from the noonday heat IN the
shadow of towering rock which rose a little
10 the left Of th, path We were pursuing and
10 which pointed as spoke.
Our guide glazed at the direction indi-
Gated ana family murmured: There is n
man there. Everybody as passes this way
goes hall mile around To shuu that rock .
But why should they shun it," INQUIRED
rs the man you speak of a brigand or a muir
derer?"
The fisherman's only answer TO this ques-
ton was shudder.
is the man likely to molest us If We 20
near him?s continued
''Oh, no, not he.
VIII you accompany us if We goe"
Not |, sir, begging your pardon
Well, then, We will go by ourselves, since
you assure us that we may DO SO in perfect
safety"
eoh, ldont say that, sir. | only say as
the man himself won't harm You. He'll
neither bulge an inch nor open his li{;s
BY this time we were within five and TWEEN
Is PAGES of the rock and our guide struck in
- a bypath, leaving us to pursue our course
IN the direction of a cave which he had
pointed ont to ms in the side of the rock. We
soon reached steep ascent leading up to n
small csplanade In front of the cave. which
was fully 100 feet above the level of the sea-
On gaining the esplanade we beheld a man
seated ON a block of detached granite-a man
of herulean build, with large hirsute hands,
and wild bloodshot eyes which elared at us
for a moment as We approached, and then
wandered baek to the surface of the ocean,
on which they continued TO gaze intently
during the remainder Of our brief stay To
judge solely from his stalwnrt and muscular
frame no one would have taken him to be
more than fifty; but his hair was white
ms the driven snow, and his faee-whieh
was the very picture of despair--was
deeply furrowed. Further description it
would be vain to attempt; for, feeling that
we were intruding upon some unspeakable
sorrow, We FASTENED 10 rtrace our steps,
leaving him. as we found him, seemingly
glued 10 the stone ON which he eat and OF
which he almost seemed to form part, and
gazing intently seaward. What was ii that
he saw there
well, did yon see him, gentleman?" asked
our guide, when we rejoined him some five
minutes afterward.
''Yee, but Who and What is hep ! replied.
They call him The Man with the Vow
The folks at LeCroisic and the Bourgde BATE
believe as he's committed some crime for
which he's doing penance. Others believe as
Bend-the-Sea-foF that's his right name--has
the EVIL eye and so they always give thot
rock a wide berth. Other folks have it that
Bend-the-sea has made a vow, and that's how
he came by his nickname And sure enough
be never stirs from that rock. day nor night,
nor speaks q word to anyone-not even to
the little lass, n niece Of his. as brings him his
bread and water every morning.
"But. my poor fellow" | interrupted.
cant you tell Us what it was that induced
him to isolate himself from his fellow-creat-
ures? Was il grief or madness, or remorse?
"Ah. SIR" that's question as nobody but
me and my father can answer. My mother,
God rest her soul, was servant TO the magis-
trate as Bend-the-Sea made a confession to,
by order of the priest; she, being In
the kitchen ndjoining her masters
dining-room, couldn't help ovcrhearing
what Bend-the-Sea said to him. Well,
she's dead and gone, and the magistrate, he 8
dead aud gone. But my poor mother, she
made me and father swear, before she'd tell
US what she'd overheard, as we'd never
breathe word about it to any soul
hereabout. But may tell you, gentlemen,
as comes from firrin parts. Well, you must
know rs Peter Rend-the-Sea-him as you
saw yonder-is the head of his family, as
have been seafaring men from father TO son
for generations past-tbere names enough
tc tell you that much. Aye, they sailed the
sea- and Peter he owned two or three tldy
smacks, and turned sardine fisher. He'd
have fitted up a vessel and gone cod fishing
ifhc hand't been so fond OF his wife, as was
an uncommon fine girl when he married her,
and had a kind heart into the bargain. Aye,
aud she was as fond Of him as he was OF her.
She could never bear him TO be out OF her
sight no longer than was absolutely hecdiui
for him to be AWAY after sar,ines. Ihey
lived in wonder Iittlc house as you can
see ON yonder island. Well, they had but
one child. a boy, aud needn't tel you tnat
tbey loved him They just worshipped him.
don't know what they wonicn have dohe
for him. They we're always a buying MN
something or other-toys, froeks-any .nins
won ike to name In fact. they completely
snoiled him And terrible Turk lie turned
ont always in some kind Of a scrapei But
his father he only laughed when neighoors
Sxould come and complain as how Jlm--that
was his name--had been up 10 TINS DIV .,
mischief or that. half numbering our molly
of giving our jack fearful palr OF p,ack
eyes.' And so things went on. Neither Peter
nor his wife could see any harIn IN I'm y,
Whatever he did was sure 10 be right wen
he Tho time he Yves IG the lad takes to whlsk-
~, off tn C;uernnde whenever he had mlnd,
n SQUIRTING the girls, and drinking ana pay
ing billiards. You want eash 10 carry on
that sort of game aud so jim taxes 10 peip
ing himself out Of the hoard IN his mother
old stocking. - ~
I, to her GOOD man, though she knew OF IL
,igl,t enough Why. bless your hear'l fe'er
PeI,J-t he-Sea WAS n man TO so hse anu t"eh
~ miles on foot to pay bses nrtnine hs
~ baa,, ovprnaid W6H when Master Jim
~. her nf