The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-07-27
HOW A WOMAN LOVED.

aFI
..s.As the marquise has ,said,'' began, the
old doctor, .1ove Is an affair of teinpera-
,ment; for my part, a. passion came un-
der my observation that lasted ifty-five
ysars, without a day Of respite. and was
terminated only by death. =
The tharqnise clapped her hands.
"Lsn,tl that nicei'S cried she.5 How
aelicions to be loved sol What happi-
ness TO live fifty-five years enveloped by
such affectionl How happy he should
De, and how he ought to bless life, the
man who is adored in that fashion"
The doctor resumed with.a smile: a., Il
Indeed madam, you ara not deceired
npon the point that the beloved being
was a man. You, know him-he is NJ.
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 ] viii
make myself better understood"
The enthusiasm of z the, ladies, had
disgust, as if dove had no business save
with elegant and highborn people.
The doctor continued: .y...s..-,.,, =,
Three months ago I was Summoned
70 that old wcman's deathbed. : She had
arrived the day before in the wagdn that
served her for a 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
20 us the history of her whole life. I
know of nothing more touching. -
"Her father and mother both were
chair members. She had never lived in
. house built upon the ground. When
young she had wandered about, ragged
and dirty, They stopped just outside of
the villages, along the bitches; they un-
har-nessed: 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 eltns, 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
atterihg the we'll 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 endeayored to make the ac-
quaintance of some village urchin, her
fathers angry voice recalled her with,
Will you come here, you little wretchg'
These. were the hndest words she ever
heard
when she grew larger they sent her
10 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.
ahnr1fin0. ssvVin
elovenly boy? III teach you better than
TO chatter with barefooted vagrantse,
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 a COM
rade had stolen two sous from him
Those tears of d, little bourgeois, of one
of those lads. whom she imagined in her
weak vagrants head to be always con-
tented and Joyous, upset her. She APP
preached, and when she knew the reas
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
@-AoASAAJ " hAco i11l1 stAS IlG was adCIcIl-
lively gazing at the money he let her &c
ahead Seeing that she was neither re-
pulsed nor beaten she began again; she
hugged him with all her might. with ali
her heart Then she ran off i,
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 kiss? The
mystery is the same for children as fol
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 wa.
sent to buy provisions.
When she returned tothe district sh.
had two francs in her pocket, but she
could only catch a glimpse of the little
apothecary. looking very neat, through
the window of the paternal shop, be
tween a bottle filed with red liquid and
= shelf well stocked with drugs. Sh,
only loved him the more, fascinated
agitated, rendered ecstatic by this GLORY
of colored water. this apotheosis o.
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 hin
with such.yiolence that he howled with
fear. Then, TO quiet him, she gave him
her money-three francs twenty cen.
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.