The Grit-advocate., 1906-06-29
WHY JACQUOIN
LAUGHED
By JOHN r, M.cDONAlD
Copyright. BY Joseph Il. Bowles-,


The bourgeois of Paris, like every
bourgeois, has his Sunday tie and his
Sunday coat: his wife has her Sunday
bonnet; his daughters have each a
dress of turquoise blue and heliotrope;
VIXEN they have donned their finery
the bourgeois and bOurgeoise are EN-
dimanches" Hence follows this ad-
vantage: No one. seeing them, can be
dn bious as to the day: the heliotrope
puts an end to all perplexity-instant-
!y you can safely wager. you may
swear. even if you have been an in
years. even If you have lost all count
OF time. that 1t is Sunday.
But in the village of Sannois, the
few hundred inhabitants are ..endi-
manches" three times week, on
Wednesdays and Saturdays as well as
Sundays. The "Wednesday and Satur-
day finery is the same as the Sunday
finery, not a trirket 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
"a petite bourgeoisie that has retired
and raised six-roomed villas after 80
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 melodrama
packs fresh eggs and honeysuckle; but
a stout basket, a vertable market bas-
ket. All foods are stored in it, enough
food to last from Saturday until
Wednesday.
AS Sannois holds its bi-weekly con
versazione''-for this it is-the basket
becames laden. heavy. The villagers,
at last dispensing. cheerfully bear on
their burdens; but the aristocrats seek
an idler, z neer- -do-well (Sannois has
many ne'er-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 II, the brain of child of seven.
eut 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 it, and when he rests
it on his shoulders. He laughs STU
he laughs
No one feared Jacquon le Fo!let
when we encountered him on the mar
kct place some months ago.
HE is insane" Sannois admitted.
but never harms anyone. He only
laughs-laughs continually"
And it was true-Jacquon laughed
continually; but his laughter was so
familiar that the villagers did not
even shudder when it 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 Ian
tern to the station: or to light them
home, as the way was rough and dark
They trusted Jacquon; 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,
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 SO
implicitly 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, farmed, grew vines; it crossed
them to see Jacquon incompetent and
half-witted. Constantly and altogeth-
er they toiled, father, mother and two
s.alwart sons. And they scarcely
spoke to Jacquon; while Jacquon never
spoke to them. He ate his meals in
silence, whereas they reviewed the la
Ioss of the day; and they never asked,
Where is Jacquon? Never inquired,
WHAT have you been doing, Jacquon? !?
Never gave him his beloved title,
Jacquon lie Follet. Consequently Jac-
Quon Stunned the farm; and, out OF
revenge, at no time brought home
mushrooms for the table, but present
ed them instead to the garde cham
petre for his, and to the villagers for
theirs.
The ne'er-do-wells (who hated Jac-
ouoD's DareDtS hacauSa cohar foJ,r