Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-12-08
THE O0YCASTS TEMPTATION.
Translated from the French, for the SUNDAY
UNION, by Mrs. n. Z. White.

cence of the country that gorgeous summer
morning. He was one of the legion of
rovers that are SO frequently seen at hsr-
vest time, and was of soforbidding an aspect
that he must have been repulsed at all the
fsrm-houses where he stopped to ask for
work. The ash stick on which he leaned
was more like a murderer's cudgel than
travellers cane; and on the wrong side Of
his coarse canvas vest, soiled with dust and
perspiratlon, there must have been an ig-
noble number, imprinted in thick ink and
coarse figures, the certificate of matricula-
ton Of the galleys or the prison.
What was his age? Misfortune has
none. Tall and lean of figure, with the
swinging gait of youth, he was no longer
young, for the rough, yellow moustache
which crossed his weather-besten face was
plentifully sprinkled with gray.
He seemed to be in no wise ashamed of
his poverty, for he had set his old and
faded felt hat jauntily on the back of his
head, and from out his leather-colored
visage his steely-blue eyes sparkled with
audacity. He walked bare-footed, no doubt
In order to save the pair of coarse, hob
nailed shoes which were strapped to his
soldiers knapsack. With firm step and
head upright, betraying in every move
ment an inexpressible air of effrontery
and military training, the man followed a
narrow path between two vast fields of
wheat, the high stalks reaching almost to
his shoulders
He knew not whittier the road led him.
All around, as far as the eye could reach,
extended the plain, deserted and motion
less beneath the scorching sky of June.
| On the right, wheat, rye, oats; on the left,
oats, wheat, rye. In the distance, how
ever, rose long line of poplars, toward
which crow was lazily sailing and still
farther, at the extreme edge of the plain,
could be family distinguished the soft blue
Of the wooded hills in the grayish haze of
the horizon.
The man steadily followed the monoto-
nous path. Here the fields were thick
with azure-hued corn-fowers; there, brill
liant with wild peoples. Close to his feet
cricket chirped more shrilly than its
and the chirping instantly ceased. There
was not cloud in the sky to dim the pit
iless glory of the white afternoon sun.
Then the vagabond wiped his reeking
brow with his sleeve, and lifting his head
with a sudden gesture, cast wrathful
glance at the pure sky overhead.
The night before he had knocked a! all
the doors of the little village which he
had reached toward evening, and, with his
hat politely raised, had asked in low,
humble voice:
''Have you any work for me here ?"
On all sides, after being subjected to a
scrutinizing glance, which plainly ex-
pressed the mistIust of the peasant or the
alarm of the housewife, he received the
curt reply:
'No. We do not need anyone"
He had only three cents left He
bought piece of bread and continued his
journey, eating as ne went along.
A brook of fresh water flowed along the
edge of the road He knelt down by the
stream and drank greedily. Then, when
the night had come-a June night, gleam-
ing with large, yellow stars-he leaped !
over hedge, installed himself in a field, |
with his knapsack for pillow, and, as he
was worn out with fatigne, slept till sun
rise
What he missed the most during the
three days in which he had been reduced |
to such dire want was his tobacco. He |
awoke GA the wet grass, his body be-
numbed with the chill night air, and arose
painfully, shivering beneath his scanty
rags. Then he resumed his Journey on |
the main road formerly the "King's
Highway, which led through forest
II. c,l A IL
freshness came forth from all the verdant
hollows. On the borders of the road the
grass of the meadows, pale in its mantle of
dew, was dotted with the dainty little
flowers of the woods, some milky white,
others grayish pink or light lilac, and all
so sweet and purel Overhead, through
the tops of the large trees, the sun was
darting among the leaves the first CLEANS
of golden light. Twenty steps ahead of
the traveller two happy little rabbits, with
tails erect, bounded across the path and
disappeared in the thicket The birds
were singing their mathis, and all nature
was bright and gay.
But the vagabond was thinking of his
dark and horrible past.
An almshouse foundling, brought up by
hand by an old peasant, he remembered
little of his early childhood save his trenl-
bling fear Of the old crone whose hand was
always lifted for blow Nevertheless, he
had grown into robust, sturdy lad, while
cleaning and gathering dead-wood with
his strange foster-mother. She was an
object of dread and aversion to all the
country round was considered witch, and,
in fact, imagined herself to be one, being
given to many queer, superstitious prac-
tices. When she found in the nest an egg
with darker shade than the others she
crushed it under her wooden shoe, believ-
ing that it contained serpent. She al
lowed the child to 20 to school, where he
his classmates-little red-cheeked peasants,
well-fed and malicious-called him an out
cast and the son of witch. Contempt
uously treated by them, he in turn heart
lily detested them, and the consequence of
this mutual hatred was many conflict, in
which, fortunately for him, he was usu-
ally victorious.
When he was fourteen years of age his
old nurse died, and he would certainly
have found no refuge in the village, had
not the cartman just received the contract
Of making the connection with the rail-
road, and therefore required boy to work
in the stable He received for his rude
labor three francs a month, dogs fare,
and bed in the straw. Disliked by the
lads, ridiculed by the maidens, regarded
as an idiot because he was unsocial-never
having visited the busy city only three
leagues away-he had, nevertheless, be-
come tall, vigorous youth when the con-
scription had taken him and sent him to
the Seventy fifth Regiment of the line.
His first years in the army were his
only happy memories. There, for the first
time, this scerned and buffeted pariah ex-
perienced the blessed feelings of equality
and justice. True, the uniform was
too heavy in summer and toe thin in win
ter, but all the soldiers wore ii; therations
often nauseated him, but the Others par
took of the same poor fare. In the COM
mon sleeping room, in Get next his own.
lay Viscount who had enlisted after some
wild youthful folly. His comrades treated
him with friendly familiarity, addressing |
him by the significant "thee" and thou"
of their language Here, at last, what a |
iOyfnl st1rnrisei One man wac the eoual