The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1903-10-31

statehood, PROBABLY as late ns
1928, there stood. in what is
now the beautiful little city
OF Vincennes on the Wabash. the de-
caying remnant of an old and curiously
Gnarled cherry tree known as the
Roussillon tree, lc cerlsier de Monsieur
Roussillon, as the French inhabitants
called IL, which as long as il lived bore
fruit remarkable for richness of flavor
and peculiar dark ruby depth of color.
The exact spot where this noble old
Seeding from In belle France fiourished,
neclined and died cannot be certainly
pointed out for In the rapid and happy
growth of Yincennes many landmarks
once notable, among Aem lie cerisier
De Monsieur Roussillon. have been de-
stroyed and the spots where they stood,
once familiar TO every eye in old Vim
cennes, are now lost in the pleasant
confusion of the new town.
The old, twisted. gum embossed
cherry tree survived every other dis
tinguishing feature OF what was once
the most picturesque and romantic
place in Vincennes. Just north OF 1t
stood, in the early French days, low,
rambling cabin surrounded by rude
verandas overgrown with grapevines.
This was the Roussillon place, the most
nretentious home i'm all the Wabash
country, Its owner was Gaspard Rous-
sillon. a successful trader with the In
dams. He was rich, for the time and
the place. influential to a degree, Il
II Nt..t. lao. hpN
brought with him to the wilderness a
bundle of books and taste for read
Ing.
1t Is not known just when Nincennes
was first founded, but most historians
make the probable date very early in
the eighteenth century, somewhere be-
tween 171O and 1880. In 1910 the
Roussilon cherry tree was thought by
distinguished botanical letter writer
to be ut least fifty years old, which
would make the date Of its planting
about 1900. Certainly, as shown by the
time stained family records upon which
this story of ours is based, IL was a
nourshing and wide topped tree in
the early summer of ITS, its branches
loaded to dropping with luscious fruit.
So low did the dark red clusters hang
ut one point that a tall young girl
etanding on the ground easily reached
the best ones and made her lips purple
with their juice while she ate them.
That was long aGo, measured by
what has come 10 pass on the gentle
swell of rich country from which Vim
.cennes overlooks the Wabash. The
new town nourishes notably and its
appearance marks the latest limit of
progress. Electric cars In its streets,
electric lights in its beautiful homes,
the roar OF railway trains coming and
going in all directions. bicycles whirl-
ing hither and thither. the most fash
ionable styles of equipages from
brougham TO pony phaeton, make the
days OF hintlock guns and buckskin
trousers seem ages down the past, ana
yet we are looking back over but
little more than 100 years to see Alice
Roussillon standing under cheery
tree and holding high a tempting clus-
ter OF fruit. while short humpbacked
youth looks up with longing eyes and
vainly reaches for IL. The tableau II
not merely rustic; Il is primitive.
Jump the girl ts saying In French.
"Jump, Jean; jump highg
Eyes, that was very long ago, In the
days when women lightly braved what
tbe strongest men would shrink from
now.
Alice ROussillOn was tall. 1.-THE,
strongly knit, with an almost perfect
figure. judging by what the master
sculptors carved for the form Of Venus,
and her face was couIely aud winning.
II not absolutely beautiful; hut the
time aud place were vigorously indl-
Gated by her dress, which was or
coarse stun and simply designed.
Plainly she was child OF the Amer
lean wilderness, daughter OF old Vim
cennes on the Wabash I'm the time that
tried mems souls
"Jump, Jeang' she cried. her face
laughing with a show OF cheek dim
Piles. an arching Of finely lketched
brOws and the twinkling Of large blue
gray eyes
"Jump high aud get them"
While she waved her sun Drowned
hand holding the cherries aloft, the
breeze blowing fresh from the south
west tossed her hair so that some loose
strands shOne like rimpled flames.
The sturdy little hunchback did leap
with surprising activity, but the
traacherous brown hand went higher.
90 high that the combined altitude OF
his jump and the reach OF his unnat-
urally long arms was overcome. Again
and again he sprang vainly into the
air comically. like long legged. squat
bodied frog.
"And you brag OF your agility and
strength. Jean" she laughingly re-
marked. "but you can't take cherries
when they are offered 10 you, What a
clumsy bungler you are"
II can climb and get some" he said.
with a hideously happy grin, and I'm
mediately embraced the bole OF the
tree. up which he began serambling al