Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-05-03

nv MI Ni hbN Nhf h"a ~ y f'o WIZ
came to the heart of the town, TO the place
Of fountains and palaces and gardens and
flowers. II was In the summer sunset. All
things were gilded by that western radiance.
Soldiers were marching along the Rue de
Riyoli, drums beating, trumpets blaring.
Lamps were lit in all the cafes, crowds OF
people were sitting about in the open
streets, the concerts in the Champs Elysees
were beginning their music and song, myr-
lad little lanpions shining and twiDkling
in the last rays Of the mn Cleopatra's
Needle, fountains, palace, soldiers, statues,
trees, flowers, all fused themselves into one
dazzling picture before the eyes OF the two
bewildered, wearled young travellers.
20 Rose, how beautiful! how beautifulT
gasped Kathleen, breathless with rapture.
"How happy we shall be herev'
But while they stood admiring the fOun-
tains, listening to the martial music, the
shades of evening were descending, and
they had still to find a shelter for the night.
Useless to look for such n shelter In this
region of palaces. Rose took her sister by
the hand and walked on, trusting to Fate to
carry them 10 some humble district, where
they might find friends and economical fare,
as they had lone everywhere OF the way,
thanks to Roses instinct for discovering the
fttest places, the right people.
Stars were beginning to fash and tremble
upon the blue river as the orphans went
over the bridge hey ond the Louvre into that
| poorer Paris on the left bank of the Seine.
| Here they roamed about In the twilight till
| they drifted somehow into tile Rue Git lie
| Cnuri and at the door OF one OF the shabby
old houses T. use saw a fat middle.aged mat
ron. with a good-natured face, Of whom she
asked for advice as to a lodging:
The matron heard her story, and at once
spread her motherly wing over both girls.
There was a gdr1ti, a furnished third floor
in the middle house In the yard. The rooms
were small Just two little rooms and a tiny
| closet for kitchen; quite big enough for two
girls. She led the way, introduced Rose to
the concierge-whose husband was a shoe
maker, occupying the basement Of the house
and who went painting up the narrow
stairs, key in hand, to show the lodging.
II was very small, very shabby and cheap
although II was, the rent seemed a great
deal TO Roe, after her experience Of village
lodgings on the way; but her new friend
told her she might walk miles and get moth
ing so cheap in all Paris so she took heart,
and hired the apartment for a month GER
tain, paying the fifth of her golden pieces,
OF which she had spent Just four upon the
road, as an instalment Of the rent. And
then. still directed by her stout friend, she
went 10 n cremerie round the corner, and
bought some milk and rolls and a little
cheese for suppe.. nnd the sister sat down
In their new home, 80 bare Of many things
essential for comfort, and laughed and cried
over their first meal in Paris. Kathleen was
almost hysterical with fatigue and excite
ment. All the way they had come, even in
the midst of her girlish gladness, she had
been haunted by fears Of pursuit. The
Reverend Mother would send the gardener
after her, and have her taken back and shut
up In the sun-baked room where the rats
lived.
"But now we are safe" she said, With her
head on her sisters shoulder, and Roses
arm round her, "we are safe in Pats; and
II Reverend Mother sends after US, we'll go
to the Emperor and ask him to take care OF
us. We are his subjects now" This was
In '62, when the Empire was in Its glory,
and there was a sense OF power and SPLEEN
dor in the third Napoleon's dominion over
this beautiful modern Babylon, such as
must have been felt in Rome under the pO-
little sway of Augustus. These girls felt as
II they were in a fortress, now they were
within the charmed circle Of imperial mag
n~iicence.
Years OF struggle and poverty and Indus
try and Self-denial came after that happy
evening when the girls sat in the twilight,
dreaming of a bright future; but though the
training was severe, II was perhaps, the best
and noblest school in which humanity can
be educated. The sisters were never I'M
happy, for they were together, and they
were free. Rose was sister, mother, guar
ilan. az the world of love and shelter fui
Kathleen, who bloOmed into exquisite love-
illness In that humble Partisan lodging, a
fair flower poisoning unseen, with, hap
PLY, few TO note her beauty.
Rose found only too soon that education
was a drug in the Partisan markets. After
heroic efforts to get employment as a morn
ing governess in a tradesman's family, she
fell back upon the only industry which of
fered itself, and, by the help Of her frss
Partisan friend, Madame Schubert the stout
matron who had found her a lodging, she
got employment as an artificial fiower-maker,
In which art she progressed rapidly, and, IN
O couple of years, attained a perfection
which insured her liberal wages-wages
which enabled her to maintain the little
lodging, and feed and clothe herself and
her sister. The fare was of the simplest,
and there was a good deal Of pinching need
ed to make both ends meet In that luxurious
expensive city Of Paris; especially in winter,
when fuel made such an inrOad pom the
slender purse; but somehow the girls never
knew actual privation. never went to bed
hungry, or were haunted in their slumber
BY the nightmare of debt. The little rooms
on the third story were the pink of neat.
ness. Kathleen was housekeeper, and her
busy hands swept and busted and polished,
and kent all .as:ags bright. The modes
gray or Drown merin0 gowns were never
shabby or dilapidated. Collars and cuffs
were always s~potless, and the little feet
neatly shod. There were always a few half
pence for the bag at Notre Dame, and there
was always a LOAF TO divide with q pool
neighbor, or cup of soup for a sick child
On the other hand, the pleasures Of the
sisters were Of the rarest, and, perhaps, tina
is why they were so sweet. A steamboat
excursion once or twice in long summe
! to some suburban village thai was almost
/ the country;a visit 10 q cheap boulevard
! theatre once or twice in the long winter
But o, how heavenly was the scent of lime
blossoms, how exquisite the yerdure OF sum
mer meadows, TO those who tasted the lux
ury so seldom! And how vivid and real wa.
/. that sham world Of the stage to those whe
so seldom saw the curtain rise upon tina
, paint and tinsel paradise!
} Rose and Kathleen lived as humbly o.
} grisettes live, and dressed as ~grisettes dress
but they preserved the secluded habits Of
D English ladies-knew no one, and spoke Il
, no one, outside the narrow enclosure Of tina
: little stone-paved yard in the Rue Git Il
Ceur, with Its three houses divided int
D twenty domiciles. Among these dwelling,
> the sisters had made u few respectable nc
{ auaintances, including Madame Schubert
the stout matron who grew more and more
/ obese as the years went by, who was de
scribed somewhat vaguely as a ps,it RENTER
D and whose only business In life was to know
/ the business of her neighbors, and to attend
0 upon an ancient coffee-colored pug almos
} as obese as herself.
! As she was their first 90 was Madam,
!. Schubert their BEST and most intimate friend
and, indeed, thenone only person whom tn,
] Demoiselles O'Hara visited and received II
this vast city Of Paris. She was alwayI
: their companion AMI prctecsress In thos
] happy excursions tothe country. those fairy
: like nights at the theatre. 1t vas she VIII
supplied the secluded damse's with news o