Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1891-08-13
HOW A WOMAN LOVED.

"Isn't that nicer cried she '9How
delicious to be loved SO, What happi.
ness to live fifty five years enveloped by
such afrsctionl How happy he should
be, and how he ought to bless life. the
man who is adored in that fashionp
The doctor resumed with smile:
'sIndeed, madam, you are not deceived
upon the point that the beloved being
was man. You know him-he is M.
Chouquet, the apothecary Of the town.
As to the woman, you knew her also
she was the old chair mender, who came
every year to the chateau But / will
make myself better understood
The enthusiasm of the ladies had
cooled and their countenances expressed
disgust, as if love had no business save
with elegant and highboru people.
The doctor continued;
''Three months ago was summoned
to that old woman's deathbed. She had
arrived the day before in the wagon that
served her for dwelling, drawn by the
sorry horse you have seen and accom-
panied by her two huge black dogs, her
friends and guardians The cure was
already there. She made us her tesla
mentary executors, and, to explain to us
the meaning of her last wishes, related
to us the history of her whole life. !
know OF nothing more touching.
"Her father and mother both were
chair members. She had never lived in
a house built upon the ground. When
young she bad wandered about, ragged
and dirty They stopped just outside of
the villages, along the bitches; they un-
harnessed; the horse cropped the grass;
the dog dozed, his muzzle upon his paws,
and the child rolled amid the verdure,
while her parents mended, in the shade
of the roadside clins, all The old chairs
of the commune They spoke but little.
After the few words necessary to decide
who should go around among the houses
qttering the well known cry, The chair
mender is herer they began to twist the
straw, sitting opposite to each other or
side by side. When the child strayed
too far or endeavored to make the ac-
qnaintance of some village urchin, her
fathers angry voice recalled her with,
viii you come here, you little wretch?
These were the kindest words she ever
heard.
when she grew larger they sent her
to gather up the broken chairs While
thus engaged she became acquainted
with several lads here and there, but it
was then the parents of her new friends
who roughly recalled their children,
shouting: "Will you come here, you
slovenly boy? I'll teach you better than
to chatter with barefooted vagrantsl'
Often the little lads threw stones at her.
Some ladies having given her few
sous, she kept them carefully. One day
she was then twelve years old-as she
was passing through this district, she
met back of the cemetery little Chou
quet, who was weeping because com
rade had stolen two sous from him.
Those tears Of little bourgeois, Of one
Of those lads whom she imagined in her
weak yagrants head to be always con-
tented and joyous. upset her. She APP
preached, and when she knew she rea-
son of his trouble she poured into his
hands all her savings, seven sous. He
naturally took them and wiped away his
tears. Then. wild with JOY, she had the
audacity to kiss him AS he was atten-
lively gazing at the money he let her go
ahead. Seeing that she was neither re-
pulsed nor beaten she began again; she
hugged him with all her might, with all
her heart. Then she ran off.
"What was passing in her miserable
head? Had she attached herself to this
boy because she had sacrificed her vaga-
bonds fortune for him, or because she
had given him her first tender kiss2 The
mystery is the same for children as for
grown up people. For months she
dreamed of that corner Of the cemetery
and of the boy; in the hope of seeing
him again she robbed her parents, pock-
citing sou here and another there from
the money she collected for chair mend
ing, or the sums with which she was
sent to buy provisions
"When she returned to the district she
had two francs in her pocket, but she
could only catch glimpse of the little
apothecary, looking very neat, through
the window of the paternal shop, be-
tween bottle filed with red liquid and
a shelf well stocked with drugs. She
only loved him the more, fascinated,
agitated, rendered ecstatic by this glory
of colored water this apotheosis of
sparkling glass.
"She kept In her memory the inefface-
able recollection Of him, and when she
met him the following year, back Of the
school house. playing marbles with his
comrades, she hugged and kissed him
with such violence that he howled with
fear. Then, to quiet him, she gave him
her money-three francs twenty GEN.
times-a genuine treasure that he stared
at with wide open eyes. He took it,
and let her caress him as long as she
wanted to-
"Fcr four years more she poured into
his hands all the money she could get,
which he pocketed conscientiously in ex-
change for willing kisses 1t was one
time thirty sous once or twice two
frWzca, cHce Twelve SOUS only (sss wep
with pain and humiliation on account
OF the smallness of the sum, but the year
had been bad. and the last time FIVE
francs. a huge coin that made him laugh
contentedly
She had no thought but Of him. He
awaited her return with a certain i'm
patience, and ran to meet her as soon as
he saw her, which made the young girls
heart leap
Then be disappeared. He had been
sent to college She found this out by
shrewd questioning. Then she used in.
finite diplomacy to change the route Of
her parents. 50 that she could pass
through here at holiday time She sue.
ceeded, but only after year spent il
stratagems; she had thus been two years
without seeing him, and she hardly rec
ognized him, so greatly had he changed
--he was 50 tall, so much improved and
SO imposing in his jacket with gilt but
tons. He feigned not to see her, and
passed proudly by her This made her
weep for two days, and from that time