The Butte inter mountain., 1903-12-31

gars, and | paid no attention TO the men
themselves, except for the fact that both
had but one eye.
| will not seek to explain why, there
fore, one fine day, | suddenly noticed
that the beggar OF the rue des Martyrs
was blind in his left eye and the beggar
of the rue St. Jacques was blind in his
right eye. All | can say is, that after
seeing them every day for several years,
the fact suddenly struck my own eyes, if
] may venture 10 express myself thus.
From that day the two beggars interested
me and as | stopped to toss them their
daily sou. | began to examine them curl
ously. Imagine my surprise when finally
realized that the two men were strangely
alike and yet unlike. The gentleman of
the rue des Martyrs was, as | have said,
blind in his left eye, and wore heavy
black overcoat OF rough cloth and cap
that drew down over his ears, while he of
the rue 81. Jacques. who was blind in his
right eye. was dressed in lighter coat
and bell shaped straw hat But both had
exactly the same countenance, SO that you
would have called them brothers and even
twins.
| concluded at first that they must
indeed be twins. and | reflected that fate
had played a merry joke when she caused
one to be blind in the right eye and the
other in the left.
But a more careful scrutiny led me to
believe that this apparent mystery was
in reality but one and the same man,
who took his place in the morning in the
rue des Martyrs and in the afternoon in
the rue Saint jacques merely changing
his costume and shifting his blindness
to the other eye. | was convinced | was
not mistaken; the attitude, the gestures,
the voice, and especially the appearance
of the good eye, were, with both beggars,
identically the same.
The one good eye had most cxtraor-
dnary look. Whether it was the left or
the right the expression remained the
same. at once crafty and mocking. Evil
IDENTIFY the eye of the rue des Martyrs
and that of the rue Saint Jacques con-
sttuted pair of eyes inhabited by
single soul.
There was no doubt that this pretended
blind man was clear case OF makeup.
clever scoundrel. | did not bear him
.any il-will however, for his clcverness;
| even thought he was so ingenious that
gave him two SOUS instead of one, deem
ing that he had earned them well.
But what was his reason, wondered,
for changing his blind eye? The prob
lem bothered me, for | could not see any
plausible explanation. Doubtless you
wonder why | did not go and ask him
directly. But why should | give pain to
a miserable wretch by telling him that
| had discovered the fraud by which he
made his money? And | must confess
that felt a secret JOY in saying to my
self when | gave him the two sous:
II suppose he takes me for fool!
Well, he is one, not /, since have found
out all about it,
One day, however, could not restrain
myself and felt | must tell the old beg
gar that | had learned his secret. Let me
add, however, that | robbed the act of
its brutality by giving him at the same
time gift of 100 sous and wishing him
friendly good-morning.
"Well," | said to the beggar, "give me
the key to this riddle that has been tor
menting me for three weeks, Why the
dickens are you blind first in one eye and
then in the other?'
"Sir," he answered, you seem to be a
very good sort of fellow and not the
kind to spoil my industry. Consequently
| will be perfectly frank with you. This
is the whole root Of the matter. Our
business you see, is just like any other /;
the more you practice, the more expert
ence you gain and you learn by obscrv-
ing. Now, | have found out in the first
place, that the blind mans business is
not so good as that of the one-eyed man.
Why? | don't know, but that is the way
it is. In the second place | have oh
served that there are people who are more
charitable to those who are blind in the
right eye and others who are equally more
charitable to the left eye. Why' | don't
know that either, but it's just the way it
is. Finally, and this is where | have been
the slyest; have discovered, and ! don t
! know the reason any more than for the
| other things, that man blind in his right
! eye does better work on the left bank of
| the Seine and man blind in his left eye
succeeds better on the right bank. You
can find out the reason why If you have
| time and think you can do it. As for me,
| | have given it up. | am satisfied to
| profit by my discovery and play the right
eyed man on the rue Saint Jacques and The
| left-eyed man on the rue des Martyrs"
He looked at me, with glance that
was more crafty and more knocking than
| ever, and then added:
"The joke of it is you know, that I'm
not one-eyed in either my right or my
| left eye."
i,rL, J.,1,a,c ,.;oJ H... 4