River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1899-01-05

various IOfmS OF 1righttul aLlmaIs,
yet at last, conquered 10y the constancy
| and perseverance of these unrepentani
Christians, the tormentors afflicted or
disquieted them no more, save that
often in the night they heard cries so
loud that it seemed as if more than
5000 men were assembled together"
| c'pIus de cent mil homes qui fussent
ensemble").
So passed many months of desoiation.
and. alas! the husband was the first to
yield. Daily he climbed the rocks to
look for vessels; each night he de-
| scended sadder and sadder; he walked
While the others slept. Feeling that Il
was he who had brought distress upon
tie rest, he concealed his depression.
but 1t soon was past concealing; he
only redoubled his care and watching
as his wife grew the stronger of the
two; and he faded slowly away and
died His wife had nothing to sustain
her spirits except the approach of ma
ternity-she would live for her child.
When the child was born and baptized
in the name of the holy church. though
without the church's full ceremonies,
Marguerite felt the strength of moth.
erhood; became a better huntress. a
better provider A new sorrow came;
in the sixteenth or seventeenth month
of her stay the old nurse died also, and
not long after the baby followed Mar
guerite now seemed to herself deserted.
even by Heaven itself; she was alone in
that northern island without comrade-
shin. hnv h,reh apI
gone; dependent for very food on the
rapidly diminishing supply of ammuni-
ton. Her head swan. For months she
saw visions constantly, which only
strenuous prayer banished, and only
the acquired habit of the chase en-
abled her, almost mechanically, TO Sc
cure meat TO support life. Fortunate
ly. those especial sights and sounds of
demons which had haunted her mag
ination during the first days and nights
on the island did not recur; but the
wild beasts gathered round her the
more when there was only one gun TO
alarm them; and she once shot three
bears in day-one a white bear, OF
which she secured the skin.
For two years and five months in all
she dwelt upon the Isle of Demons. the
last year wholly alone. Then, as she
! stood upon the shore, some Breton
fishing smacks, seeking Goldfish, came in
sight. Making signals with fire and
calling for aid, she drew them nearer;
but she was now dressed in furs only.
| and seemed to them but one of the
fancied demons of the island Beating
mp slowly and watchfully toward the
shore, they came within hearing of her
voice, and she told her dreary tale. At
last they took her in charge, and bore
her back TO France with the bearskins
she had prepared; and taking refuge in
the village of Nautron, in n remote
province (Perigord), where she could
escape the wrath of Roberval she told
her story TO Thevet, the explorer, to
Princess Marguerite of Navarro (sister
Of Francis H., and to others. Thevet
tells it in his Cosmographie, and Mar
guerite of Navarro in her Gent Nouvel-
les Nouvelles."
She told Thevet that after the first
two months the demons came to her
10 more, until she was left wholly
alone; then they renewed their visits.
hut not continuously, and she felt less
fear. Thevet also records of her this
touching confession. that when the
time came for her to embark, in the
Breton ship for home, there came over
her a strong impulse to refuse the en-
| barkation, but rather TO die in that
solitary place, as her husband. her
child, and her servant had already died
This profound touch of human nature
does more than anything else to con
| firm the tale as substantially true. Ger
tain it is that the lonely island which
appeared so long on the old maps as the
Isle of Demons ('.rIsola de Demoni')
appears differently in later ones as the
Lady's Island CI'Isle de la Demoi-
selle').
Princess Marguerite of Navarro who
died in 1919, seems also to have known
her namesake at her retreat in Peri
CORD, gives some variations from
Thevet's story, and describes her as
having been put on shore with her hus-
band because of frauds which he had
practiced on Roberval; nor does she
speak of the nurse or of the child. But
guerite's stay on the island after his
death, and says, that although she
lived what might seem a bestial life as
Il her body, it was a life wholly angelic
as regarded her soul ('ainsi vivant,
quaint au corps, de vie bestiale, ct quaint
o l'esprit, de vie angelicque'). She had,
the princess also says, mind cheerful
and content, in body emaciated and
Ealf dead. She was afterward received
with great honor in France, according
TO the princess, and was encouraged to
establish a school for little children.
where she taught reading and writing
to the daughters of high born families.
And by this honest industry" says the
princess, ''she supported herself during
the remainer of her life, having no
other wish than to eXhort every one to
love and confidence toward God, offer
ing them as an example, the great pity
which He had shown for her. "A con-
densed selection from the Tales of the
Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic. the
Macmillan Co.