The San Francisco call., 1908-05-24

inclosed a letter from a brother lieu
Pierre had shrieked - .Iuguenot!
LHuguenot. Vs. his last breath.
Now the family began to realize the
deadly import of their st. Bartholomew
tragedy Masses were generously said
for the repose of Caspars soul. but
Casper. having repudiated the author
ity of the holy church. was beyond
its pale
Year after year, and from generation
to generation the record of the Hugue-
not's head went on, appearing in the
luxurious home. upon hovel wallis, on
the field OF honor. the trail of the ex-
plorer. The good aud the bad alike of
the blood of lie Brun have seen ...e
head of the Huguenot when. their eyes
blind to this world, have opened upon
the next. There have been those who
dying suddenly, or being unconscious
at the last, have left no record Of hav-
ing been met by the Huguenot, but
every generation has left some in
stances of the Huguenot's head appear
ing above the horizon OF the next
world
The family OF lie Brun is now widely
scattered during these intervening
years My great-grandfather went to
Holland, where he spent the remainder
of his life and married Dutch woman.
My grandfather. having squandered his
patrimony. came to America, where fol-
lowed by poverty and misfortune we
have cut ourselves off from our kins-
men in the old world
The American lie Bruins. now being
nobody in particular. have been lost
at sea or killed in battle with nobody
to hang upon their last words or watch
for the traditional apparition. Conse-
quently in our line the Huguenots head
has become picturesque story saved
from the wreck of our former prosper
ity along with few other relics, useful
to scare naughty little lie Bruins into
submission or discourage wakefulness
al night; but beyond that nothing more
than superstition of the dark days OF
bigotry and persecution.
1t is in this attitude of mind l. in this
skeptical twentieth century, have seen
the Huguenots head. Again / aver
that / do not, on principle. believe in
ghosts; but believing in "the resur.
rection of the body and the life ever
lasting" can but believe the testimony
OF my eyes. And this time the import
of the apparition of the Huguenot, you,
as well as 1, will have the chance to
judge.
My father. having come to California
and to some extent restored the fam
ily's fortunes before his death. left my
mother a comfortable legacy. Ny
mother married again within few
years. being still young and attractive,
but after my stepfather had squandered
az much OF her money as he could get
hold Of he deserted her, heartbroken
and humiliated. About this time the
great disaster occurred to San Francisco,
when the shock and exposure of living
in the park left my poor mother a help
less invalid greatly reduced In fortune.
So here we live in third story modern
fat OF the regulation Ave rooms and
bath sort. Japanese student our
only servant. in the atmosphere of
whizzing trolleys and the chug-chug
of automobiles in the most western
city of the new world. Could anything
be farther removed from the romantic
days of France when sabers dripped in
the wake of dancing footsteps and a
man said his prayers after a certain
fashion or was stabbed through the
heart?
So in my twentieth century Isolation
from the tradition and tragedy of the
lie Bruins. sitting one day at the bedside
Of my mother raised my eyes as she
slept, when across the wall flashed a
face. bold in outline, of fantastic en-
bellishment. The next instant it was
gone.
l do not know whether this was the
regulation Huguenot OF the lie Brun
family, because. cut off from communi-
cation with them. do not know wheth-
er he has been appearing straight away