Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-03-04
A TALE OF PONTIAC.

sional raconteur and where every man Is
an amateur. But you will hear 1t told
with most fitting sympathy and imagina-
ton, at the beating Of the flax, in the lit
tic valley beside Dalgrothe mountain.
That is perhaps because of the woman
who tells 1t. And when Antoinette Mar
motto, who has a voice like bird, sings
verse or two of the song they call Mathu-
rim, the Master Of the School," to the heat
Of the hammers upon the flax, the women
pause in their work and weep in a silly
sort of way, without shame.
The tale was told to me in the little val
ley one September morning. Far and near
one could see the swinging of the fail and
the laughter of ripe summer was upon
the land. There was little Calvary down
by the riverside where the flax heaters
used to say their prayers in the intervals
Of their work, and it was just at the foot
of this that Angelo Rouvier, having fin
ished her prayer, put her rosary in her
pocket, wiped her eyes with the hem Of her
petticoat and said to me:
"Ah, that poor Mathurinv'
l could not guess at first why she spoke
so at the moment, but presently it dawned
upon me that she had been praying for the
repose of Mathurin's soul, though he had
been at least 100 years dead and she had
never known him. But tradition and
memory are sweet to her race and perhaps
something in her own life that day had
recalled to her the apocryphal Scripture
according to Mathurin, for some of these
stories and legends lie as near to the heart
of the race Of Angelo as Job or Isaiah lies
to your lives and mine; perhaps nearer
because Angelo and her race are closer to
the honest earth, from which good stories
spring.
'Ah, that poor Mathurinl 1 wipe my
eyes for him, she said to me again.
"Tell me all about him, won't you,
Nine. Angeles l want to hear you tell
about it, added hastily, for saw that
she would despise me If showed igno-
rance of Mathurin's story. Her sympathy
with Mathurin's memory was real, but
her pleasure at the compliment conveyed
in my request was also real.
"Ahl 1t was YER long time ago--yes
My gran 'mudder she remember dat Ma
thurin YER we'll. He is not ver' big man,
not so bigger as yourself. He has face
oh, not YER handsome, not so more hand
some as yours-non! His clothes they hang
on him all loose, his hair it Is all some
gray, and it blows about his head. He is
clean Of the face, no beard, no nosing like
dat But his eye, OH Ill sieu, his eye! 1t
is like coal which you blow in your hand,
whewl All bright My gran mudder she
say: 'Voilal You can light your pipe with
the eyes of dat III sieu' She knows. She
say dat M'sieu' Mathurin's eyes they
shine in the dark. My gran ladder he says
he not need any lights on his carriole when
Mathurin ride with him in the dark.
"Vraiment, 1t is all YER true what tell
you all the time If you cut off Mathurin
at the chin all the way up, you would say
the top Of him 1t ia a priest. All the way
down from his neck, If you let it stan, oh,
he is just no better as yourse # or my Jean,
non. He Is yer good man. Only one bad
ting he do. Dat Is why I pray for him;
dat is why everybody pray for him-only
one bad ting Saprie! II have only one
ting to say God have mercy for, t'ink
dat YER good do my penance happy.
Well, dat Mathurin him use to teach the
school. The cure he is ver' fond of him.
All the leetla Children, boys and girls,
they all say 'C'est bon Mathurin.' He is
not YER cross, non He have no wife-no
child; just like by himself, all alone. But
he is YER good friends with every body in
Pontiac When he 60 long the street, ev-
erybody say, 'Ah, there go the good Ma
thurin. He laugh, he tell story, he smoke
a leetla, he take leetla white wine benin
the door--dat is nosing, non.
He have in the parish 5, 10, 20 chill
dern all call Mathurin. He is godfadder
xr7ith tho,yN- ca ho a
plenty of sugar and sticks of candy In his
pocket He never forget once the age Of
every leetla child which call him godfad-
der. He have brain dat work like q
clock. My gran 'fadder he say dat Mathu-
rim have machine in his head 1t make
the words, make the thoughts, make the
fine speech, like the cure make the gran
poetry-oh, yes.
"When the king Of Englan' go to sit OH
the throne, Mathurin write YER nice verse
to him. And by and by there come to Ma
thurin letter voila dat is a letter! 1t
has l, 2, 8, 20 seals, and the king he say
to Mathurin, Merci mile fois m'sieu. ;
You are YER polite. thank you. will
keep your verses to tell me dat my French
subjects are all loyal like M. Mathurin. ;
Dat Is YER nice; but he Is not proud-nonl
He write six verses for my gran 'mudder-
helm! Dat Is something. He write two
verses for the king Of Englan' and he write
six verses for my gran 'mudder, you see.
He 60 on so, dis week, dat week, dis year,
dat year-all the time.
swell, by and by there IL trouble in
Pontiac. 1t Is YER great trouble. You see
there is fight against the king of Eng
lam, and dat is too bad. tits not his fault
He is YER nice man. 1t Is the bad men
who make the laws for the king in Quebec
Well, one day, all over the country every
and say, / will fight the soldier of the
king of Englan' like dat. Ver we'll,
there were 20 men In Pontiac, YER nice
men--you will find their names cut in q
stone on the church, and then, three times
as big, you will find Mathurin's name
All, dat Is the ting. You see, dat rebellion
you English call tive call the war Of the
patriot-well, you call 1T what you like,
quelle difference. The king Of Englan'
smash him patriot war all to pieces, Then
there are 10 men Of the 20 come back to
Pontiac YER sorry. They are not happy
nobody 10 happy, All their wives cry, all
their children they are afraid. Some PEG.
pie say, what fools you are; others cay you
are no good, but everybody in his heart Is
YER sorry al the time.
"Ver' well, by and by there come to
Pontiac what you call colonel, with a
dozen men--what for, you t'inkp To try
the patriots. They will stan them against
the wall and shoot them to death-kill
them dead. When they come, the cure he
II not in Pontiac, non, not dat day. He
10 gone to another village. The English
soldier he has the ten men drew up before
the church All the Children and all the