The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-07-13
CHAPTER I.
11nder the Cherry Tree.

TO the days of Indiana's
early statehood. probably as
late as 1925. there stood, in
~ what is now the beautiful
little city of Nincennes on
-. Wabash. the decaying remnant Of
old and curiously gnarled cherry
= known as the ROussillOn tree. le
.-iaiar dc Monsieur ROussillOn. as the
r-arcb .1ha bitants called IL. which as
,,,r as il lived. bore fruit remarkable
richness Of flavor and peculiar dark
nv depth OF color. The exact spot
zero this noble old seeding from la
10 France fiOurished. declined and
Fs5 cannot be certainly pointed out;
i,- I'm tine rapid and happy growth Of
vireerues many landma rks once not
.Ea among them le cerisier de Mon
-sgr RoussillOn. have been destroyed.
.r5 the spots where they stood once
Imiiiar to- every eve in old Vincennes.
80 now lost in the pleasant confusion
n the new town.
The security of certain land titles
nav have largely depended upon the
temperance of old. fixed objects here
md there. Early records were loosely
fegt. indeed. scarcely kept at ALL many
rsre destroyed by designing land spec
yl7tors. while those most carefully pre-
served often failed to give even a shad-
uFv trace OF the actual boundaries of
the estates held thereby; so that the
position Of a house or tree not infre-
ouently settled an important question
of property rights left open by a print
live deed. At all events, the RoussiIIon
cherry tree disappeared long ago. no
body living knows how, and with it
also vanished, quite as mysteriously,
al traces of the once important Rous-
sillon estate. Not d record of the name
even can be- found il is said, in church
or county books.
The old, twisted, gum-embossed
cherry tree survived every other dis
unguishing feature of what was once
the most picturesque and romantic
place in EinCennes. Just north Of il
Stood in the early French days. a low,
rambling cabin surrounded by rude
rerandas Overgrown with grapevines.
This was the RoussillOn place, the most
pretentious home In all the Wabash
country. Its owner was GaSpard Rous-
siIlon, a successful trader with the In
dams. He was rich, for the time and
The place. influential to a degree, a man
Of some education, who had brought
with him TO the wilderness a bundle of
books and a taste for reading.
From faded letters and dimly re-
membered talk Of those who once cluno
i0ndly to the legends and traditions of
Old NincenneS, II is drawn that the
R0ussillOn cherry tree stood not very
far away from the present site of the
Catholic church. on a slight swell of
ground overlooking a wide marshy fiat
and the silver current of the Wabash.
L the tree grew there. then there. too.
stood the ROussillon house, with its
cosy log rooms. its clay daubed Chin
neys and IT'S grapevine mantled veran-
daS. while some distance away and
nearer the river the rude fort with IRIS
huddled officers quarters seemed to
ling out over the wild landscaDe
through its squirting and lopsided port
a9ies' gaze Of stubborn defiance.
Not far Of was the little log church.
where one good Father Beret. or as
named by the Indians. who all loved
nm, Father Blackrobn. performed the !
services Of his sacred calling; and scat
lefed all around were the cabins -
Traders soldiers and woOdsmen form |
ing a queer little town. the like of
Wnlca cannot now be seen anywhere on
the earth.
II is not known Just when Vincennes !
was first founded but most historians I
MAKE the probable date very early in |
.le eighteenth century. somewhere be- !
tween 1910 and 1870. In 1910 the Rous- /
sl'oh Cherry tree was thought by a /
e'sthguShed botanical letter writer to |
De az least fifty years old. which would 1
MAKE the date of its planting about 4
LOU certainly as shown by the time I
stdlhed family records upon which this !
stoly or ours Is based, it was a flour 1
.shing and wide-topped tree in early +
summer Of 111S its branches loaded to |
CIgoping with luscious fruit. So low !
la me dark red clusters hang at one /
loint That a tall young girl standing 4
"a me ground easily reached the best /
lsS and made her lips purple with /
'-e.r Juice while she ate them.
, mat vas long ago, measured by what 4
-aS come TO pass on the gentle swell /
" Fch country from which Vincennes
wy looks the Wabash. The new town
, 'lIlsheS notably and its appearance
, ,ll As the latest limit TO progress.
- 'II, cars IN its streets, electric /
sH's IN It's beautiful homes, the roar
u railway trains coming and going in
L ulfey lions. bicycles whiTIing hither
ana tnither. the most fashionable STYLES
u e4lipageS. from brOugham to pony
l-ae'on. make the days Of ffint-lock
s- -S ana nucRSkin trousers seem ages
IN me past: and yet we are looking
80 over but a little more than I2O
.-o'S To see Alice ROussillOn standing
% ~. me cherry tree and holding high
IN pung cluster of fruit. while a
~ snort, hump-backed youth looks
- win longing eyes and vainly !
=. -' ...-ss Tor H. The tableau is not mere
4! fustc ii is primitive.