The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1908-12-24

OF the bunglers adopting the cure alls
Of the sayybones and Juggling with their
empty heads while dreaming the
J dreams OF a Hamlet.
Carabet du Squelettel
The announcement of the droli prom
ises--apparitions, visions, phantoms-
had often made him smile when he had
passed near there 90 60 TO the prefec-
ture-this wineshop, the front OF which
was bordered with black, like q letter
Announcing a death, and which bore.
grating as II swung at the end OF an
iron rod, a red lantern for a sign.
His little girls, when he ~laughingly
spoke of the cabaret where the walters
were dressed like undertakers' assist
ants, turned pale, and plump little Nine.
B~ernardet. ordinarily smiling, would
say, with a sigh, rs 1t possible that
such sacrilegious things are permitted
In the quarter"
Bernardet good naturally replied,
"Ah, my dear. where is the harm?"
II know what / am talking about"
his good wife said. "They are the pleas
ure OF the unhealthy minded. They
mock at death as they mock at every
thing else. Where will 1t all end? We
shall see IT,
"or we shall no see IT," interrupted
her husband laughingly.
He went in there one evening, having
Q little time to himself. as he would
tNfS SUM- inlO a lnGflSE.a Tie KNEW
something about this Cabaret du Sque-
lette (meaning the wineshop Of tho
skeleton). He found the place very
droll.
A small hall which had a few nlonths
before been q common wineshop had
been transformed into a lugubrious
place. The walls were painted a dead
black and were hung with a large num-
Der OF pairtings-scenes from masked
balls. gondolas, parades, serenades with
q balcony scene, some of the lovers
rendezvous of Venice and an ideal view
or Granada, with couples gazing at
each other and signing IN the gondolas
on the lagoons or in the Andalusian
courts, and In this strange place with
Its romantic pictures, souvenirs OF
Musset or OF Carlo Gozzi. the tables
were made In the form or collins with
lighted candles standing upon them,
and the walters were dressed as un-
dertakers' assistants, with shiny black
hats trimmed with crepe on their
heads.
What poison will you drink before
you die 2" asked n Ut the creatures
of Bernardet.
Bernardet sat and gazed about him.
A few high Hers" from the other side
OF Paris We're there. Here and there
s thief from thar auarIer sat alone at
q table. Some elegants in white crayats.
who had come here In correct evening
dress, were going later. after the opera,
70 sup With some premiere, The police
oficer understood very well why the
blsse came here. They wished TO jog
their faded appctites; they sought TO
find some piment, a curry, spice 10 sea-
son the tameness of their daily exist
ence. The coffin shaped tables upon
which they leaned their elbows amused
them. Several OF them had asked for a
t~avaroise, as they were on milk diet.
They pointed u to each other the
gas flaming from the jets, fashioned In
the form of a broken shin bone.
"a little patience, my friends, said
9 sort or manager, VINO a dressed
In deep mourning. Before long we will
adjourn to the "a of death"
The drinkers in white cravats shout
ed. Bernardet experienced. on the con-
srary, what Nine. Bcrnardet would
have called a creepy sensation.
Seasoned as I-e was to- the bloody and
villainous aspect of crime, he felt the
instructive shrinking of a healthy and
level headed bourgeois against these
drolleries OF the brain diseased upper
class n thep leasantries of the blase
decadents.
AT a certain moment and after an
explanation given by the manager the
gas was turned OF. and the lovers in
the gondoias, the guitar players, the
singing OF Spanish songs, the dancers
infatuated with the Moulin Rouge,
Changed suddenly In sinister fashion.
In place of the blonde heads and rosy
cheeks, skulls suddenly appeared. The
smiles became grins which showed the
teeth in their ieshless gums. The bod
les, clothed in doublets, In velvets and
satins, a moment & were made by
some interior illumination to change
into hideous skeletons. In his knocking
tones the manager explained and corn
1 manfada nnHfhnH mat m OrfNhnof0 lo1dSp0
TO the funeral spectacle the pleasantly
OF q bueeoon.
"See, diseased Parisians, what you
will be on Sunday!''
The light went out suddenly; the
skeletons disappeared; the signing low
ers in the gondolas on the lagoons OF
Venice appeared; the Andalusian
s-weethearts agaf-. gazed into each 9TH
er's eyes and sang their love songs.
Some of the women laughed, but the
laughs sounded constrained.
"Droli, this city OF Paris" Bernardet
thought. He sat there, leaning back
against the wall, where verses about
death were printed among the white
tears--as in those lodges OF Free Ma
sons where an outsider is shut up in
order to give him time to make his
will-when the door opened and Ber-
nardet saw a tall young man OF stall
wart and resolute mien enter. A black,
curly pedFu SuTTOuHueu his pdle lace.
AS he entered ne cast q quick glance
around the Lall, the air of which was
rather thick with cigar smoke. He
seemed to be about 30 years OF age,
and had the air OF an artist, a sculptor,
or a painter, together with something
military In his carriage. But what sud
denly struck Bernardet was his hat, q
large, gray. felt hat, with a very wide
brim. like the sombreros which the bull
fighters wear.
Possibly. a few people passing
through Paris might be found wearing
such hats. But they would probably
be rare, and in order to find the seller
OF Jacques Dantin's portrait Ber-
nardet had only this one clew.
"Oh, such a mean, little, weak clewi
But one must use Ii, Just the same!n
Bernardet had said.
What IL this young man with the
strange hat was, by chance, the UNI
known for whom he was searching?
1t was not at all probable. No. when
one thought of it--not at all probable.
But truth is sometimes made up Of
improbabilities and Bernardet again
experienced the same shock, the In
Il a1A