Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-08
wives soon Become widows.

wives Soon BecOme widows.
When the men do return they find that
the town has been managed so we'll in their
absence and the thrift of the women has
been so we'll exercised that they are con-
tent not to NEEDLE and TO let things go on
as they have been going. There are pro-
portionately more widows, and young wild
ows, too, in Cancale than in any other
town in France. A fisherman's bride waits
for four years after she has heard that the
boat her husband sailed away upon has
not been reported, and then she puts on
her mourning. 1t is this uncertainty as to
the fate OF the men, the fear that at any
time they may be thrown helpless and
homeless upon their own resources, that
makes the women OF Cancale relf-reliant
and that leads them early to seek some
means OF their own for an honest livelihood.
For the men that remain in the town
the women do not seem to entertain the
greatest respect. Most of them have be-
come incapacitated for work or are shift
less and idle. So the women run matters
themselves.
Cancale's little stone houses, gray with
age and the fog and mists of the sea, face
the harbor like the back drop of an opera
setting, and at night the broad roadway
and the stone embankment, early deserted
by it's tired and hard working population,
takes on the appearance of a stage. one
of the left behind men OF the town had this
whole elaborate scene to himself last night
He walked back and forth wringing his
hands and crying with all the pathos OF a
tragedian:
IT will kill him! I will kill him.
After he had been ranting thus for some
"a 49, u,IpAoua at the hotel went
up and an artist, who was a guest, called
down:
well, why don't you kill him and let the
rest Of us go TO sleep?"
IT can't" walled back the tragedian. H
is dead. been dead for two years"
woman Policeman Busy.
Soon afterward, out OF the sturdy shadow
OF one OF the buildings, came a sturdy fe-
male form and the weeping belligerent was
taken away. The town, the hotel prophet
ress said the next morning, was quite will
ing to indulge the drunken man, who, when
in his cups, was always seeking the life
of a rival in an early love affair, but 1t
would not permit him to disturb any OF the
visitors. for visitors were a source OF rev.
enue TO the municipality. The disturber was
taken away by the woman policeman to
have a reckoning with the French justice
OF the peace.
The rule Of the women police apparently
is not severe. The most important rules
OF the community appear to be those estab-
lished by custom. One Of thes is that once
a week. during the summer. everybody
takes a dip in the ocean.
Certain days are set apart by different
sets and they never fail to take advantage
OF the opportunity. Cancale itself has no
beach. and so you will see every afternoon
the women in groups, arm in arm, going
along the shore to the foot of a cliff, where
great boulders form a sort of natural shell
ter from curious eyes and where the pebbly
beach slopes gradually out to sea. two
American women who were walking along
the sands yesterday at this point heard g
great splashing and chattering and saw
most OF the girls OF the town leaping like
sprites from the rocks or swimming and
playing in the surf. The artists, even If
their vigilant search for subjects, never
dare 10 venture here, while no native borr
man would risk his reputation or the ire
of the women that patrol the top OF this
cliff by peeping.
what a Rain Drop Did.
A few drops Of rain fell on this particu
lar day, and the scurrying and hurryinI
for the clothes piled on the sand THAI fol
lowed it would be difficult to describe
There was a great nuttering OF garment
along the beach, and as the rain drop
continued the haste increased. a white arr
and a red pettioost, a blue skirt or a strea
81 white linen arose in a cloud above III
tops Of the rocks,
Finally from out among the shelterin
rocks poured a stream of laughing, chat
ting girls, fastening buttons and hooks a
they ran. Jeanette, my stocking" "Mari'
you have my sabot" And dropping her
and there on the sand they finished thei
dressing. At last with a little flip Of thei