The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-09-22
THE HERMIT OF LIE CROISIC.
Translated from the French

summer tf'p to lie Croisic, a small seaport
town in Southern Brittany; situated at the
extreme point of diminutive peninsula
which ints int into the ocean Just above the
spot where the sand-staihes waters Of the
majestic Loire mingle with those of the Slss
Atlantic. One fine morning, tempted by a
bright blue sky; We sailed forth and wander
ed along the Beach in the direction Of the
Bourg de Batz, till We had left LIE Croisic So
far behind us that IT'S roofs and tSwers looked
like dark great cloud upon the dim horizts.
At the spot which we had now reached, the
rock-bound coast presented most drear and
desolate aspect. There was not single hui
man being in sight, and the melancholy crieso
the seain&&s, sireling high above our heads,
did but serve to incredss the sense Of utter
solitude inspired by the surrounding scene.
Suddenly, on rounding q bold proinODtory
Of granite, which had effsctually shut out
the view of what lay before lis, &c described a
human figure advancing towards us along
The sand AZ he drew near we perceived that
he was barefooted, and that his only gar
ments consisted of a beggarly pair of can
yass trousers, MI frayed and worn Mt the
bottom and full Of clumsy darns and patches,
q shirt of coz rse sailcioth, and a jacket which
was simply one niass Of rags. The fresh
caught lobster and sea urchhh dsngling from
d string which he carried in his right hand
proved him to he fisherman. Deeply COM
miserating his obvious penury my friend
hailed him, with the Intention of purchasing
his fish, and so sparing him the fatigue Of a
possibly fruitless journey to LIE Croisic..
Where are you going to sell your fish, my
dear fellow" said my friend.
''In the town yonder,' replied the fisher
man. pointing in the direction Of lie Crosic.
And how much do you expect to get for
them?'
"Eightpence for the lobster and tenpence
for the urchin, sir.
What say you to five francs for the psir2"
inquired my friend.
The poor nan stared at him in mute
amazement. evidetitls half smspecting that he
was indulging in joke. at his expense. l
soon 3ispelled his suspicious; however, By
rendering him q new five-franc piece
He took the coin, and, after cycling it for a
moment, spat upon it-tor luck, no doubt
and slipped it it into his pocket. Then by
way of showing his gratitude for our liberali-
ty, he volunteered to pilot us as far az the
Bourg de BATE, and thence back to LIE Croix
by short cut of which We knew nothing
We gladly accepted his Offer, And as We
trudged along together he gave us a short
and simple record of his life. We found it
deeply Interesting though extremely sad. In
brief it was the story'of Il son who had fore
gone every solace of the poor mans existence
"a home OF his own, wife and ehildren-fof
the sake of blind aged father too feeble to
support himself
Long ere we reached the Borug de Batz the
summer sun had attained it's meridian height
and we began to feel it's almost perpendicular
rays intolerably oppressive, Under these
circumstances | suggested that we should
seek shelter frtm the MONDAY heat III the
shadow of a towering rock which rose little
to the left of the path we were pursuing and
to which pointed as spoke.
Our guide glanced at the direction indi-
Gated and faintly murmured: There is q
man there. Everybody as passes this way
goes half mile around to shun that rock"
But why should they shun 1t, inquired.
ais the man you speak of brigand or MUIR
derer?"
The fsherman's only answer to this ques-
ton was a shudder
SIS the man likely to MODEST us If we go
near him?" continued.
ooh, no, not he"
evil you accompany us If we go?"
'Not |, sir, begging your pardon"
"Well, then, we will go by ourselves, since
you assure us that we may do SO in perfect
safety"
ooh, / don't say that, sir. / only say as
the man himself won't harm you, He'll
neither bulge an inch nor open his lips"
BY this time we were within five and twGEi-
ty PAGES of the rock aiid our Guide struck lii-
to bypath, leaving us to pursue our course
in the direction of a cave which he had
pointed out to us In the side Of the rock. We
soon reached steep ascent Leading up to u
small esplanade in front of the cave, which
was fully 100 feet above the level of the sea.
On gaining the esplanade we beheld q man
seated on a block of detached granite--a man
of herculean build, with large hirsute hands,
and wild bloodshot eyes which glared at us
for a moment as we approached, and then
wandered back 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 stalwart and muscular
frame no one would have taken him to be
more than fifty; but his hair was white
as the driven snow, and his face-which
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 unspeakabe
sorrow, we hastened to retrace our steps,
leaving him, as we found him, seemingly
glued to the stone on which he sat, and OF
which he almost seemed to form a part, and
gazing intently seaward. What was it that
he saw there?"
"Well, did you see him, gentleman?" asked
our guide, when we rejoined him some five
minutes afterward.
eyes, but Who and What is he?" replied.
"They call him The Man with the Vow
The folks>at LIE Croisic and the Bourg de Bate
believe as committed some crime for
which he's doing penance. Others believe as
Bend -the-Sea-for that's his right name-has
the EVIL eye and SO they always give that
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
he never stirs from that rock, day nor night,
nor speaks word to anyone-not even to
the little lass a niece of his, us brings him his
bread and water every morning"
"But, my poor fellow" | interrupted.
'can't you tell us what it was that induced
him to isolate himself from his fellow-creat-
urcs? Was it grief, or madness, or remorser'
"Ah, SIR" that's a question as nobody but
me and my father can answer. My mother,
God rest her soul, was servant to the magls-
trate as Bend.the-Sea made confession to,
by order of the priest; she, being In
the kitchen adjoining her masters
couldn't help overhearing
what Bend-the-Sea said to him. Well,
she's dead and gone and the magistrate, he's
dead and 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 a word about it to any soul
hereabout. But may tell you, gentlemen,
as comes from furrin parts. Well, you must
know as Peter e-Sea-him as you
saw yonder--is the head of his family, as
have been seafaring men from father to SON
for generations past-there names enough
to tell you that much. Aye, they sailed the
sea, and Peter, he owned two or three tidy
smacks and turned sardine fisher. He'd
have fitted up vessel and gone cod fishing
If he hand't been SO fond of his wife, as was
an uncommon fine girl when he married her,
and had kind heart into the bargain. Aye,
and 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 needful
for him to be away after sardines. They
lived in yonder little house as you can
see on yonder island: Well, they had but
one child, boy, and needn't tell you that
they loved him. They just worshipped him.
| don't know what they wouldn't have done
for him. They were always buying him
or other-toys, frocks-anything
you like to name. In fact. they completely
spoiled him. And a terrible Turk he turned
out, always in some kind of scrape! But
his father, he only laughed when neighbors
would come and complain as how Jim-that
was his name-had been up to this bit of
mischief or that, half numbering our Molly
of giving our Jack fearful pair of black
eyes, And so things went on. Neither Peter
nor his wife could see any harm in Jim.
Whatever he did was sure to be right. Well,
by the time he was Is the lad takes to whisk-
ng off to Guerande whenever he had q mind,
securing the girls, and drinking and play