Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-07-02
WHY JACQUOIN
 LAUGHED
By JOHN F. M.eD oNALD
Copyright. by Joseph B. Bowles.) )

The bourgeois of Paris, like every bourgeois, has his Sunday tie and hi
 Sunday coat; his wife has her Sunday
 bonnet; bis daughters have each {
 dress of turquoise blue and heliotrope; when they have donned their finery
 the bourgeois and bourgeoise are zen.
 dimanches" Hence follows this ad-
 vantage: No one. seeing them, can be
 dubious as to the day: the heliotrope | puts an end to all perplexity-instant. ly you can safely wager, you may
 swear, even if you have been an in | valid for months or traveller foI
 years, even if you have lost all count i of time, that it Is Sunday.
 But in the village of Sannois, the few hundred inhabitants are "endi-
 manches" three times a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays as we'll as Sundays. The Wednesday and Satur- day finery is the same as the Sunday finery, not trinket has been held over: and if the church bells do not summon the villagers to High Mass on those common days, other bells from
 the cobbled square call them merrily to the market
 Moreover, the aristocracy of Sannois Ca petite bourgeoisie that has retired and raised six-roomed villas after 30 years economies) has also dressed.
 Still. one incongruity is noticeable:
 Each person carries a basket; not a fancy thing, not the little pannier into
 which the heroine of a melodrama packs fresh eggs and honeysuckle: but a stout basket, veritable market bas- ket All foods are stored in it, enough food to last from Saturday until Wednesday.
 As Sannois holds it's bi-weekly "con- versazione"-for this 1t is--the basket becomes laden, heavy. The villagers. at last dispersing, cheerfully bear on their burdens: but the aristocrats seek an idler, ne'er-do-well (Sannois has many ne'cr-do-wells) to carry the bas- kets to the six-roomed villas in ex- change for sous. A dozen idlers pre- sent themselves and are engaged. Most of them are scrubby, clumsy; but the readiest, the most agile of them all, is Jacquon-"le Follet," as they call him, as he likes to be called; shock-headed, with tow-colored hair, light. restless eyes, loose mouth, a lean face; the lank figure of a boy of IT, the brain of a child of seven, but in reality-so the villagers affirm 80 years of age or more. He is hailed as Jacquon, and he laughs. He laughs again as he takes the basket, and as he raises 1t, and when he rests 1t on his shoulders. He laughs stu pidly. and his mouth witches when he laughs.
 No one feared Jacquon le Follet when we encountered him on the mar ket place some months ago.
 He is insane" Sannois admitted, but never harms anyone. He only laughs-laughs continually"
 And 1t was true-Jacquon laughed continually: but his laughter was so familiar that the villagers did not even shudder when 1t rang out sud- denly. eerily. at night.
 "Jacquon is returning from the sta- tion." was all they said; for Jacquon was hired sometimes by the Sannois aristocrats to light them with his lan- tern to the station: or to light them home. as the way was rough and dark.
 They trusted Jaequon: and yet he was an uncanny spectacle in the moon light, with his lantern and his laugh. Often he wandered abroad all night: and the garde champetre described how he. on more than one occasion, had come suddenly upon Jacquon, laughing at the windmill-"but laugh ing. mon cher!"-in spite of the mud and the mist The "garde champetre" also trusted Jacquon; trusted him 30 that he allowed him to carry a knife-a long, sharp knife-with which he dug out mushrooms and fashioned sticks.
 Sannois. In fact. was kind to Jac- quon: but his parents rarely humored him. They. the hardest workers in the village. the healthiest and the strong est. fsrmed. grew vines: 1t crossed them to see Jacquon incompetent and Constantly and sltogeth- CT they toiled. father. mother and two stalwart sons. And they scarcely spoke to Jacquon: while Jaequon never spoke to them. He ate his meals In silence. whereas they reviewed the la- bors of the day; and they never asked.