St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1893-11-18
JERu De TH0uQEBaY.

JERu De THOJnnERaY.
| 1t was in the country, near the forest
not far from the Seine, in the modest
villa where I hoped to spend my old
age, that l saw Jean de Thommcray fol
the first time. He was scarcely twenty,
two. Some pages signed with my name
had won his heart to me, and he pre-
sented himself with TO other recon-
mendation than his good appearance and
his desire to know me. Tie sympathy
OF the young has an irresistible attrac-
ton. 1t is very sweet to be able to
draw them when one is approaching the
autumn of life. [ was the more wiliur
to give him welcome that could do SO
without any effort, for he was really
charming. | see him now as he stood at
my gate, slender, noble looking fellow.
his face Swallowed with the down of
youth; straight nose, blue ewes. fair
forehead; his hair, fine and of an ashv
blonde, waved above the temples. His
ease of manner and language, the Gle
giant simplicity that showed in his dress,
everything, reflected credit on the fire.
side by which he had grown up.
1t was clear April day: we walked
together in the woods of Meudon
Though many years divided US, we con-
versed like two friends. He had gene
rous impulses, holy illusions, ali the
happy and ardent feelings of his age. lie
believed in the good. he admired the
beautiful. he dreamed of love and glory.
Where did he come from? In what lati
tude was he born? What star had shone
over his cradle? Who and what was this
Jean de TEo'nmeray, who at the end Of
an hours talk had spoken neither of wo-
men, nor horses, nor yet of his friends
incomes?
Thanks to the condolences he gave me
without my asking, | soon found out
all about him. His father who came of
good old Breton family, had studied
In Paris in the days when patriotism and
liberty ranked as high as letters and arts
among the young men of modern ideas
The Breton gentleman felt the influences
of this awakening in the flood of
thought, and: without giving up the
traditions of honor in his family, he set
sail with the current He loved. with a
pure, delicate, romantic love, q poor,
young girl Of good family, of Irish de- |
scent, and married her. VIII his studies
ended, he went back to Brittany. The
hereditary domain that sheltered their
tenderness was in one of the wild and
quie, valleys of Old America. 1t con-
sisted of a farm and manor. of a castle,
which was protected by an old grove
from the winds that swept across the
valley from the mountains. Here Mon
sieur de Thommeray lived, like his fore
Fathers, the life of a country gentle
man, hunting, riding horseback, visiting
nelghbors, improving his land; while
his wife ''la belle lrlandaisc, !" as they
called her. gave herself up to domestic
affairs and governed her household with
grace and authority. Though he had ,
aiken root in this primitive life, he was
aIthful to the tastes and inclnations Of ,
lis youthful days. lie never went bevond
ne circle OF his remcmbranccs, and for
lim nothing beyond them seemed to ,
Aist. Time, which never stops, seemed !
o have forgotten him on the way. 1t .
vas a happy fami:y--he, his wife, and J
hree sons. The elder and the second q
on showed no taste for study or litera- i
ure, but Jean, the little one, more deli
ate than his brothers, grew up under {
is mothers gentle wing with strong q
ense of the beauties and harmonics of
reation and a love Of books. While his n
rothers walked and rode over the farm q
nd led hardy and rustic life, Jean, +
cad, dreamed, or composed little Breton
oems that his mother proudly compared a
Moore's Irish Melodies" and that I
scited the admiration of his father. His h
rothers, too, were proud of his gifts and n
is charming ways, and even Of his weak e
ess when little fellow, for that seemed q,
claim their protection But one morn q,
g, not long before the time l first met h
IN. Jean embraced them all and set out r
# Paris, filed with the same illusions "
at his father mad had before him. "
Two or three years passed. did not fl
low what had become of Jean. SUP Y.
'sed that he must have left Paris, and m
at he was living peacefully in his T.
theirs home: He had evidently for OF
ttcn me. I was not surprised at that. to
for me, l thought of him from time to or
ne. A journey made into Brittany n
7ivcd in my heart the memory of nv W
ung friend, when learned one dav ia
at | was only few leagues from the m
NOR of Thommeray. l arrived at
,htfall at the house loved to think of lie
the asylum of happiness. I found
family assembled, and, not seeing ar
an, naturally asked for him. M. de =,
lommeray answered me briefly. mon us
ur, u he said, 1--WE have only two sons ru
w-these whom you see. We never is
eak of the one we have lost" M
Was Jean dead9 No; the attitude of sh
de Thommeray, his voice, his tn
'guage and his gesture were not those of
father who has buried his son. Dur. I've
my visit his mother found an oppor sol
atty OF speaking to me alone. She told Nc
her son and of the sorrow he had la IA,
ought upon them-how he had com.
'mised himself, falling lower and tn
yer from day to day, in the wicked sta
rid OF Paris, and how his family no sal
ger looked upon him as their own. N,
made me promise to 90 to sea him an
write to her and TO let her know how -
lived, to hide nothing FROM her ~ ~
nid this be the same Jean de Thorn. of
ray whom had knowna How could ~,
have fallen SO low from the heights Oh
era had left him2 -" *