The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-07-28

,acollsction Of the boy 10 impressed with
many others like to on the mind OF q
hIack-robed Sister in the great state
Saundling asyiums Of Paris. II was about
4 IA the morning when this good woman
nf,ed the weak and half-starved baby out
a. the crib that ever stands In the asy-
fum.s ante-room, ready TO welcome the
samsless offspring Of the vice OF Paris
perhaps, as this good woman went out 70
eake him. she saw q shawl-wrapped
vrstched figure stealing away again into
the darkness of the early morning and the
hsckness Of the city's wickedness. Per-
haps she did not. II does not matter. She
would not have stopped the miserable
mother II she had.
Gathering Pierre into her arms, she ear
led him into the warmth and bare COM
forts OF the asylum When she unwound
from his thin little limbs the scanty rags
that covered them she found bit of paper
tied by string TO his ankle On It was
scrawled:
.PIsase call him Pierre Pouiler''
That bit OF paper. with Its badly spelled
French words, was the one conscious in
huence which Pierre's mother had upon
his life. With that message only she
turned him over TO his new mother the
French republic, and his new nurse. the
Catholic church. They called him Pierre
pou,ier, and never took the trouble to
think again OF the woman who had pre-
senfed him--a miserable gift-to them.
The first remembrance he has Of him.
self Is Of the time when. In little brown
calico frock (precsseIy like q thousand
other little brown calico frocks in the asy-
Ium). he was whipped for having stolen q
treasured piece OF string from one OF his
companions. He remembered plainly how
he came to hate that other small boy moro
utterly with each blow that fell on him,
and how. when this punishment had fin
ished he brought new penalties upon him
self by quietly endeavoring TO strangls the
object OF his aversion. Thus his life In the
asylum was not a placid one. and II is
not probable that he was the only one TO
rejoice when at last he succeeded In evad-
ing the watchfui eyes OF the good Sisters
and escaped to the streets.
That night. for the first time In his reo-
election. he was hungry. but that night
hs was also really happy for tho first time
In his recollection. He found UNDECIDED
refuge In a lonely doorway on the Rue do
vsnice-not far from the Cathedral OF
Notre Dame-and was wholly free He had
achieved the home which perverted ma
ture had fitted him for-the streets OF
Paris. He had become gamin.
Next morning he stole a crust: next noon
ne 3IOie HIS uIiEDiNt0liplfdi QtJtuiieIs next
evening he stole his dinner. For a long
time be stole or went hungry. and was
very happy. The yearnings OF a part OF
the red blood corpuscles which were IN his
veins were being satisfied. The other and
more terrible yearning he'd not yet fully
developed. He was leading the life for
which he was fitted. He had only him.
elf and he was satisfied.
But the thieves quarter OF Paris Is on
the edge OF the so-called students quar-
ter. Far be IL from me to say that the
sordid life OF the one Is mob as admirable
as the feverishly gross and extravagantly
sensual life OF the other. The mere fact
that the students quarter is picturesque.
and that bright writers have thrown
glow OF romantic radiance on IL, does not
improve its morals or its influence. The
glow is like that or the ruby light In
theater. While the calcium is burning the
shabby canvas is glorifed. But when the
calcium is cold the shabby canvas shows
all its bare coarse threads; ali its rents:
ell its soiled spots. Thus also the students
quarter
But the students are sentimental. and
from them Pierre caught the disease that
he thought was love. Up from the mirs
OF the thieves quarter whore he lived had
sprung a beautiful girl, who had caught
the filth amid which she had been corn
and reared only on her soui, and her
smeared soul was not visible to superficial
eyes. Pierre, who had now successfully
eluded thu police until his twenty-first
birthday had passed. found this girl first
and kept her until short journey into the
students quarter discovered to her quail