The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-09-06
BOARDING SCHOOL.

very curious thing. one eVOkeS theIl.
They rise ND under the form Of very
small person, whom one succeeds IN de
tachiup from ones self, but who never
+beless continues to make one body with |
what one has become. The impression |
is singular; it is multiform. The image |
Of the vision of the myself is clear, |
we'll defined AS soon as one says to |
oneself, when ] was child, one |
can see oneself as one was at certain !
hours, but as soon as one wishes 10 re-
member an event or question OF fact one
cannot escape from ones actual person
ality. and it is impossible to rid that
fact or that event of its connections, OF
all its future consequences. One would
like to describe childhood with CHILDISH
words One cannot do 1T.
Is it interesting for another mldd
than ones own to rehearse what one d1d
at the age OF years? [ fear not, yet
nevertheless ] Will try. Since L run
this risk, desire to run it absolutely,
and to describe III the most natural way
possible what cppears to me from out
the past.
One day--it was not Sunday-my
grandmother put on me q pretty white
dress which she had embroidered her
salf, and she said to me: ''This is your
birthday You are years old on this
4th day of October. 3"
'oThree yearsr' These two words re-
heated themselves III my head. They
had in them something grave and
cav at the same time. To grow
is the perpetual dream OF childhood,
which entertains some very surprising
illusions upon this subject. They SAD
increasingly around me, ''She IS tai Tor
her age. - I looked at myself. Thought
of the children who We're smaller than
], and I found myself tall a pride
came over me, which was increased by
q word uttered by my nurse, Arthemlse.
For the first time she called me made
moiselle.
On that day all the persons who saw
me kissed me. l returned the kisses OF
nv grandfather and of my grandmother,
suspending myself by my arms on then
necks, but l remember that many peo-
ple displeased me by kissing me too hard.
l made an exception for my nurse,
Arthemise, whom | adOred, and for my
big friend, Charles, who had promised
to marry me, and who called me his lit
tie wife l thought, not without pride,
that now, when L was 5 years old, he
would call me "his big wife, =" thing
which he did with much respect on OF
fering me drum.
NV grandfather and my grandmother
expected for breakfast my father anc
nv mother who lived three league:
from Chauny, at Blerancourt. Every
time they came they were late, because
the route across the prairie of Mani
camp was so bad, so bad that people
told the children the following story: :
COW had fallen in one of the ruts, ant
the herder, who was always searching
for her with his whip handle, coul(
never find her again.
/ was hungry, and at each moment
ran TO the front door. | held onto tn
doorpost and leaned outside l was
little afraid The front stairs seemed t
me so high with their four steps, bu
then I Thought 1 would be very usefu
to the kitchen if 1 could cry out at tn
first glimpse of them, ''There they are !!
was extremely restless [ even Tel
once, to the great fright of Arthem1se
who feared for my pretty dress. Finall
my parents arrived.
They told q great story which L q
not now remember. The carriage an
the horses were covered with mud NJ
papa and my mamma said that the r0a
was bad, q thing which impressed he
Nv mother wore Il six dress, very niue
Iooped up and very much hidden unde
her shawls l can yet see her unfold he
jupe and shake it. help her by beatin
the silk, and repeat with admiration
Mamma is prettyl"
Fofl, tolyac mn and nntS
head upon his shoulder. He has tears i
his eyes. My mother takes me i'll he
turn, and she cries also.
1T is long time since we have see
vou," says my father, "a very Ion
time. "
''Oh, yes, long time'' repeats n
mother.
1 am looking for that long time, and
do not find it. My grandmother a
swers:
''Oh, no, not very long time, tv
months.
And am more cOntented.
We are sitting down to breakfas
Ny grandfather tells some things
which everybody laughs but am thin
ing already that the gayety will
last, that my mother will begin aga
to cry in q moment, and that the da
when my parents from BlerancOurt a
present are always sad on account
me. L we'll know why. have a stor
and 1 tell it when am asked for 1t:
MY grandmother took me from n
mother when was months old. )
sto1e me. Then I made 80 leagues
the stagecoach. twas when I was We
little, and that is all" All Chauny b
made me tell that story. All Chaul
likes to question me because began
sneak very early and without the PIC;
DIV accent. They think that am lit
Partisan, and this title of PaI1Si
which they give me runs through