Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-08-18


For the first time my grandmothef
remains insensible to my grief. She re-
pulses me. She, who 90 far has consist
emily spoiled me, thinks that the mo-
ment has como to be severe
Be obodient," she says to me, ''W
you shall never come back to the house
again"
Il shall keep her for dinner to get her
used to it," says Nine. Dufey to my
| grandmother "Do not send for her un-
til this evening"
No misfortune in my life has appear
ed to nae greater than this abandonment.
No anxiety has more broken me. I am
leaning On the wall Of the classroom
under the bell which they are ringing.
This noise, from which / have not the
strength to run away, breaks my head.
Pushed On by my new comrades,
enter dark, sad room. They oblige me
to seat myself alone at the end of q
bench.s have a fit Of despair. cry
| with all my strength. I call Arthemise,
my grandfather!
An assistant teacher tells me to keep
still She shakes me am not still. /
defend myself. They carry me to q gar
ret and leave me there, do not know
how long Even to this day it seems to
me that that day lasted several months
1t occupies as much space among my
souvenirs as whole years Of other times.
The assistant teacher comes back ut din
ner time. have not stopped crying II
| | had known what it was to die, should
have wished for death.
! will you keep still?" says the assist
ant teacher to me. Twill You be good:"
l execrate this wicked woman, the
first enemy that have ever met. /
threaten her. She places piece of dry
bread at my side and leaves me, saying:
lyon will give up"
| Nine. Dufey has forgotten me. NV
grandmother knows it later. / have
| nev0 had q more violent anger than my
| anger against the door which is closed.
| have never found these who are called
the others" more cruel than ON that
day. After perfect tornado Of weep
ing. knocking, crying, fell ON the floor
exhausted, ard / slept
l awoke in the arms Of Arthemise,
|
pale, and with my face all shriveled.
She rocked me to lull me to sleep while
she told me some gay stories Ct eau
manchon. She repeated, 'They do not
love you, they do not love your'
Now, as had Arthemise again, did
not cry any moro. I felt a strong will
In me. l said 10 my nurse:
"Arthemise, you love me, dom { you?'
my dear little one, Of course love
you, " answered she.
| well, Juliette wants to go to eau
manchon. You will obey her."
She resisted.
They will say that have stolen you.
No, no, Int shall not fail to tell her
all the harm she has done you-your
| grandmother-be sure Of it."
| ''Juliette wants to 60 right away"
said L Arthemise gave mp to my pray
ers.
! And as We went out Of the boarding
school I hurried mp the stairs Of the
rampant and began to run az fast rs l
could.
Arthemise caught me, took me in her
arms and pressed me against her. She
ran without stopping in the direction
of her village.
When she was too tired to carry me
| any longer, Arthemise put me down,
and ran on, holding her by the hand.
1t seemed to me that l was doing a
great thing, and that l was in the right,
while my grandmother was wrong.
While running or in the arms Of Arthe-
mise repeated the word which had
struck me SO much:
1T is y murderp'
Eyes, it is q murder" said Arthe-
mise. ''but we shall see what we shall
see.''
We walked ON in the mud. Il was
dark, and if had not been with Arthe-
mise I should have been very much
| frightened at the ruts where the cows
were lost. 1 was hungry, very hungry,
and Thought was very unhappy lit
tie girl
We arrived at the house of my nurse.
The door stood open. A great clear fire
burned in the large chimney. The fa-
ther and the mother of Arthemise ap-
peared to me to be older than my grand.
father and my grandmother. They were
eating soup and rose up in alarm when
they saw me.
why do you bring mann 'selle heres'
exclaimed they.
because they want to do her harmr'
| "Who?" said the father
1.-The master and the mistress"
You are crazy! Il is none of your
business cried the mother.
II am hungry. Will you give me
some soup?" asked /.
The good people helped me. both Of
them at the same time. That soup 3D.
peared to me better than all the soups
Of my grandmother.
| When was warmed, Arthemise put
me tn bed. undressing me only partial
". She left . candle upon . shelf The
sheets were very coaxse. There were
some spider webs On the walls and
hanging to tho ceiling, and In the room
itsek some wooden boxes, between the
Stats Of which came out the little heads