Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-05-02
PEASANT LIEF IN PloARDY.
Poverty CheerfniaY Borne-Content Wsi!s
 Upon Foil and Temperance,

Poverty Cheerfniay Borne-Content Wsi.s
 Upon Toll and Temperance,
 The honest, kindly, toisome yet merry life of the French peasant. as seen in Picardy, is an existence of pa- 5iently-endured hardships and priva- Jions borne by q people thatare among the happiest of the happy.
 From generation of out-of-door work ers these people have derived grand physical inheritance that enables them to support lives of contented boiling on little bread and soup each day. The soil of the coast region of Picardy is exceedingly poor, but, as in Scotland and along the Atlantic sea board, this very want of fertility in the land has developed in the owners an industry and skill in farm management that yields astonishing returns. A single gooseberry and two currant bushes afforded thrifty Mme. Duval jelly and jam enough to last her summer board CTS through the season. The good lame spread basl1etfuls of dead fish, picked up from the sea hard by, over her little garden and, thus fertilized, the berry bushes bore plenteous crop.
 But the economy of the French peasant can not be called miserliness. There is notking churlish or mean iA their careful avoidance of waste their utilization of even unpromising mate rials of all sorts. One never sees them in fine clothes, nor on the other hand is squalor or misery ever part of their lot. Their poverty, so cheerfully and hopefully borne, has pathos in it, yet there is an amusing side to their thrifty merchandising in the exceedingly small value of the amounts which change hands.
 bring their produce, which looks so pathetically small, and the fsherwom- en bring their viands from the sea One woman has trudged six or seven miles before seven i'll the morning to sell behold the pathos of it-three snowy eggs placed temptingly upon large green leaf, six tiny balls of cottage cheese, laid upon beautifully-clean but coarse white cloth and about three
 
 to show to the best advantage in 8 shallow osier basket. Another brings little pat of butter lying upon cool green leaf, also few radishes and a little spinach. A third offers a quart of gooseberries and pair of bright eyed and very tame chickens of a broil- ing age, but the seller has tender heart and suggest that they will be found very gentle by and by if their lives shall be spared to lay eggs and raise other chickens. The fisher- women have larger baskets and fuller, but they represent less capital and consequently bring less return for their bulk; though probably the con tents of no single basket in the market would bring to it's owner more than seven or eight francs and few of them more than four or five francs. In their fish baskets bright-hued mullets or a tempting turbot occupy the post of honor, but in most cases the contents are clans, muscles, winkies, eels and the everlasting founder; the sellers all look trim and neat and knit with most zealoas industry while keeping q sharp eye out for any possible purchaser.
 These are the sound and able-bodied French peasants who. when led by genius, make the best soldiers in Eu. rope. Their intelligence is of the nerves and heart which has made tae people, though borne down by every conceivable ad' versity, the best artists and the best artisans in the world. They are temperate. though they enjoy life and as they are blessed by nature with a quielk-responding nervous system, they need neither beer nor whisky to stimu late them to mirth. A little fruit srup with a few Jumps of sugar, in q glass of water, is still enough to satisfy tht 1 convivial desires of the majority They laugh gayly at jokes whose points art generally lost on the foreigner, they dance good deal and compliment eacf other with an engaging mixture O candor and transparent insincerity and they are passionately fond of the theater. To permit of this last ex travagance they will economize in al directions for weeks. Worthington'l Magazine