The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1907-07-13
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In a quiet nook of the Rue de Seine
| the old woman stood. day after day,
along with the other cart vendors and
cried her wares. She was evidently
not a native of France, and with her
dark wistful eyes, snow white hair and
barbarous, though not inharmonious
colored clothing, she made q picture
that delighted the eyes of The artists OF
the Latin Quarter. But they had tried
in vain to get her to sit for them.
Each day she rolled her little cart
into it's accustomed place, and all day
long she would stand and patiently
attend to the few customers who pa
tronized her. Then, when dusk came
and business was over for the day
she would wheel the cart into a nearby
shop for the night Occasionally, she
would step over to a f1ower stand and
purchase a little bunch of flowers,
sometimes snowdrows in their virgin
purity, sometimes forget-me- -nOts, blue
as the vault of heaven. She made no
friends, and whence she came and
whittier she went, no one seemed to
know.
"Oh! Paul. what a quaint. lovely
old woman. Do let's stop and buy
something from her..
The speaker was a dainty girl of
about twenty years. With her rich
coloring, her glorious eyes and superb
figure, she was a pleasant sight to the
world in general and her companion
in particular. His clear-cut features
and military carriage made him fine
looking man, and both he and the girl
were filled with the pure JOY of liv-
ing, and seemed to carry with them
the very breath of coming spring
time.
In obedience to her command he
stopped to buy something from the
old woman, and while they waited
they were talking of the decision
which had just been rendered in the
case of Lorenzo Sarto. The story was
a strange and pathetic one and had
attracted a great deal of attention.
Sarto was young italian artist Of
great promise, and he had come to
Paris to study. He had been there
only a short time when he had met
and fallen in love with the only daugh-
ter of a wealthy American banker,
residing in Paris. The girl returned
his love and Sarto went to the girls
father and asked his permission to
marry her when circumstances would
permit But the old man was furious
and ordered him to leave and never
attempt to see the girl again.
The next morning the banker was
found dead in his bed, stabbed to
death. and Sarto was accused OF the
crime.
Ell was poor, without influential
friends, and in the course Of time was
tried and condemned to death, but he
had appealed to a higher court and
was granted a new trial. A second
time the case had come up and again
he was condemned to die. This was
the decision about which the young
man and the girl were talking. So
much absorbed were they in each other
that they failed to notice the death |
like pallor which spread over the old
Italian woman's face as she heard
their conversation, and so they passed
on, happy in their youth and love.
How could they know Of the three
long years the old woman had spent
toiling in Paris when her heart had
longed for the fields of her sunny
Italy? Day after day. winter and
summer alike. she had patiently piled |
her little trade, after denying herself |
the very necessities of life in order |
to save up money enough to employ |
the best legal counsel when her only /
boy should come to trial. Little by
little, she had seen her slender pile |
of savings increase, and in a few more 1
weeks she would have had the neces- /
sary sum.
And now the end had come, and he |
must die without any fight for his /
life.
For the remainder of the day she 1
stood by her little cart and when even |
ing came she rolled it into its accus-
toned place, and was soon lost to sight |
in the maze of Partisan streets.
The next morning her place was va
cant and she came no more.
For a few days her fellow-vendors l
then they ceased to remem-
Der, and another took her place.
MARY E. COOK.