Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1900-08-21

mund Dantes ana Able Faria. a. III vi
us It true" I asked Of NJ. Chanot, the
president of the general council OF Mar
settles, that they actually show the
| cells Of Dantes and the Able Faria at
the Chateau d'IfT' says Marseilles COR
, respondent Of the Paris Temps. I,&t&# Z
Certainly, no doubt Of it." replied NJ.
Chanot, and everything that he added
was enough to send a fellow into pro-
found reverie. The next day took tho
steamboat which goes three times day
to the Chateau DIFF. What an immense
big boat was crowded. In the throng
there were three priests, one military
man. a number of Englishmen, knights
Of the Legion Of Honor, workmen and
business men. The trip lasted about half
an hour. Everybody was serious, and
very properly when on a pilgrimage.
Soon the Chateau DIFF appeared. Upon
an island Of about 500 meters In circum-
ference, entirely surrounded by walls,
stands the heavy building with its great
towers and square dungeon. There ia
something imposing in the thing, which
comes from the somewhat golden color
Of the stones, the very heaviness of the
mass and the abundance Of the solids
! over the voids, as an architect might say.
1t was never anything but state prison.
| the bastile of the south, and Francis l
himself in 1924 laid the first stone Of it.
| Through personal experience he was we'll
up in prisons.
| The cells open upon sort Of interior
| courtyard. narrow and somber. Many
are without windows, and some are veri-
table dungeons below the surface Of the
! exterior soil. Three of the largest and
most striking are on the first floor. They
| are the cells Of the famous prisoners-the
Iron Mask, who in 1856 was taken thence
to the island of Ste. Marguerite; Phi
lippe Egalite, the father of Louis Phi
! lppe. who was decapitated on Nov. 6,
1913, and Mirabeau. who was sent there
by virtue Of a lettre de cachet demanded
by his father after his separation from
| Mile. de Marignane, a sensitive woman
and about as inconstant as her inconstant
husband.
But my companions paid little atten-
ton to these cells. They made rush
for a cell on the ground floor, perfectly
terrible in its aspect, with door framed
in iron, n bolt TINT weighed at least IL
! pounds and with little barred window.
After passing through that door we en-
tered Il dry cave lighted solely by a little
lamp. There is q notice outside which
reads us follows: "Cell of Able
Faria. expelled from Rome in 1871; i'm
prisoncd in the Chateau DIFF rs a con-
spirator: died in 1920"
Nevertheless this is only an antecham-
her. The cell of Faria is sort Of tomb
in the farthest corner and in which one
can hardly stand upright. In one Of the
| walls is the hole made by the able to
communicate with Dantcs. Sure enough,
there is the hole! What son Of the south
ever made it? Nobody knows. But there
it is, irrcfutable proof Of the power for
| realization that popular work possesses.
And the cell of Dantes can be vaguely
seen through that hole. 1t Is seen In
the military engineers walled up the door
so that it is impossible to enter.
| "Dantes. Dantesw cried one Of the pill
grims who wanted to play the practical
! joker. But he did not do it well. His
voice was almost trembling, and IL Dan
ties really did reply the joker would not
have been at all astonished. How admi-
rablc and touching is the creative power
| of imagination!
According to the serious psychologists,
among whom Is NJ. Espearandieu. the ia
| nous architect, there were really prison
| ers in that horrible cave. One was man,
ed Bernardot. rich merchant Of Mar
! settles. who was arrested on the charge of
having spoken disrespectfully of Cardinal
Richelieu. He died there of starvation,
| and Jean Paul. sailor who struck his
commander, died there in 1779, after 81
years captivity.
1t is doubtless the story Of these two
men, literally buried alive, that inspired
Dumas. Today for everybody it is the
prison Of Faria, and the inscriptions are
| there to certify the existence Of the I'M
fortunate able. Is it not true that cpl
graphic monuments constitute the most
authentic source of history2 Well, the
cpieraph of the Chateau DIFF afIlrms that
Dantes and Faria really lived. Can pos
terity ask for anything more? The old
guide, Grosson, who was probably the
author of this mise en- scene, gave details
still more precise, "Here is the hole"
said he, "made by Mgr. Faria with fish
bone"
And SO ut the present time Faria and
Dantes really live. A few years ago IN
Italian kissed the stones of these cells
! and wept. Doubtless it was while read
ing Monte Christie" that this son of the
peninsula Ind his first dreams of the
freedom of his country; for the Able Fa-
ria was sent to the Chateau DIFF, accord
Ing to the fancy of the romancer, for hav.
ing taken up again the plan Of Borgia.
The man who could create such legend
was certainly no ordinary person. There
Is only one writer perhaps who shares
his glory, Rabelais. The peasants Of
Touraine will show today in all serious
ness the localities which Gargantua loved
to haunt.
In thinking all these things returned
with the crowd bnck to the steamer. The
captain showed me a little island in the
sea, mass Of rugged and tragic looking
| rocks. THAT is Tiboulen." said he.
| "where Dantes landed after his escape"
must confess that. HI I write, really
believe that the story Of "Monte-Christo"
Is all perfectly true.
Male and Female Queernesses.
Call a girl chick and she smiles: call a
1