Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1892-03-24
THE OLD PEOPLE.
From the French of Alphonse Daudet.


H quite elated that it came from
III Paris. Not so 1; something told
me that this Partisan of Jean
hcques street, falling on my table so
hexpectedly and SO early in the morn
bg, would make me lose the whole day.
was not mistaken, as you will see for
Yourself.
"You must do me a favor, my friend.
ou must shut your mill for day and
Jet out at once for Eygnieres; Egg
heroes is a big village three or four
leagues from your home-an easy walk.
On your arrival you must ask for the
Orphan asylum; the first building be-
Iyond the asylum is low house with
lgray shutters and a small garden behind
lit; you must go in without knocking
the door is always open-and as you en-
ter you must cry very loudly, Good
morning, my good people! I am Maui
rice's TREND Then you will see two
little old people-oh, so old so old so
infinitely old hold out their arms to
you from their great arm-chairs, and
you must embrace them for me with all
your heart, just as if they belonged to
you. After that you will chat together;
they viii talk to you of me, nothing
but me; they will tell you thousand
foolish things, that you must listen to
without laughipg-indeed you will not
dare to laugh, will you? They are my
grandparents, two beings to whom I am
life itself, and yet who have not seen me
for ten years. Ten years is long time !!
But what can you expect? AS far as
am concerned, business keeps me in
Paris; with them, there is their great
age. They are so old that if they came
to see me they would die on the way.
Fortunately you are near by, my dear
miller, and in embracing you the poor
souls will think their arms about me. l
have SO often spoken of you, and of that
firm friendship which,
Confound friendship
1t happened that that morning was
lovely, but still the weather was not
favorable for tramping on the road
there was too much wind and sun-a real
Provence day. When that COMPOUNDED
letter arrived | had already chosen a
comfortable retreat between two rocks,
and was dreaming of lying there all day
light and listening to the singing of the
pine trees. But now,-what could do
Turning, l shut the mill and put the kew
under the mat, seized my stick and my
pipe, and off l went. | reached Egg
nieres at about two O'Clock. The village
was deserted, for everybody was in the
fields; in the gardens the elm trees were
white with dust, the grasshoppers were
chirping as they do in the heart of Gran
in the grounds of the mayoralty-house
donkey was summing himself; and there
was flock of doves on the fountain OF
the church; but nobody to tell where the
Orphan asylum was. Luckily, an ole
fairy suddenly appeared, covering ovel
her spinning-wheel in the corner of hel
doorway; told her what l was hunting
for, and, as though she were all-power
full, she only raised her distaff, and the
Orphan asylum stood before me as if by
magic. 1t was a large house, sombe
and black, but proudly bearing aloft owe
it's pointed portal an old cross of rec
sandstone. with little Latin on it
Next this house | saw smaller one will
gray shutters and garden behind.
knew it at once, and went in withou
knocking. As long as l live l will never
forget that long hall, fresh and still; a
the end the little garden that tremblet
through the transparent curtain; th,
walls painted pink, and on all the panel
faded flowers. 1t seemed as though
had dropped into the home of some ole
bailiff of Sedaine's time.
At the end of the passage, from hal
open door at the left, l heard the tick
tack of big clock, and the voice of !,
child reading aloud, hating at each syl
liable like child at school: sThen-
Saint-Irene-excla Il -am- tn,
-wheat-of the Lord must b,
-ground-by- the-teeth-o Of these
beasts
/ approached the door softly ant
looked in. In the calm twilight of
small room a red-cheeked old man
wrinkled even to his finger tips, slept il
the depths of his armchair, his mouth
open. his hands on his knees; at his fee
little girl dressed in blue, with Ions
cane and little cap-the costume of TIN
orphaps-was reading the life of st
Irene from book larger than herself
This miraculous reading had cast spell
over all the house; the old man slept il
his chair. the flies slept on the ceiling
the canaries slept in their cage in tn
window: the big clock was snoring
ssTick-tack, tick-tack." The oDl.
thing awake in the room was great bal
of light that fell straight and white be
tween the closed shutters, full of tiny
sparks whirling in mad waltz. In tn
midst of the universal slumber, the child
continued her reading solemnly: sim
me-di-ate-ly-two-li lions pre-cip-!-ta