Evening star., 1928-11-20

Ball. The Coward" etc.
The only deep, unfailing example of
lasting love that have ever known in
my whole existence as a doctor-meet-
ing people everywhere-was the love OF
an old chair-mender for NJ. ChonQuet,
the druggist. How I happen to know
it is that three months ago l was called
to the death bed of the old chair
mender. The priest was there. She
wanted us to be the executors Of her
will. and that We might understand 1t
she told us her life story.
AS a child this woman had Door
enough life. Her parents were members
of chairs. Poverty was with them every
where. The little girl never knew a
word of affection. Her only friends
were street urchins. Often the boys
teased her. Parents did not like to
have their children play with the bare
footed girl in such a diSreputable trade
as chair-mending.
Once a kind woman gave her a few
pennies. She saved them most care
fully-until one day she met the boy,
Chonquet, weeping bitterly because one
of his playmates had stolen two precious
pennies from him. His tears touched
her. She approached him, bowing, ask
ing the cause of his brief. Learning,
she gave him all her savings.
The boy accepted the sacrifice with
out hesitation and dried his eyes. Wild
with joy, the girl impulsivel" kissed
him. She was not repulSed. so she
kissed him again and again. Then she
ran away.
The girl became madly fond of this
boy she had befriended. Was it be-
cause her first kiss had been given to
| him? Or was 1t because she had sacri-
| feed her savings for his happiness?
| Whatever the explanation. for months
she could dream of nothing but those
| few moments with Chonquet when she
! made him happy with her pennies and
kissed him.
/ She sought continually to find him
| to be with him or just to look at him
When she saw him again she could not
resist almost smothering him with
kisses. He cried aloud in protest this
time, and to pacify him she gave him
all her money. It was francs! A
real gold mine, indeed, at which he
stared incredulously
Following this he let her caress him
as much as she wished. During the
next four years she placed in his hands
every penny she could save, which he
pocketed in exchange for kisses. II
varied from dozen pennies to francs
When it was so little as IL pennies she
apologized. saying it had been a poor
| year. Next year she was lucky enough
| to have francs, all in one coin, and
she joyously offered it to make up for
| the poor offering before.
| Her only thought now was for this
| boy. She lived only to present him
with her savings Then he went away
| kn rd fNiyn
she did not see him. When she did
see him again she hardly recognized
J him--he was so changed, so tall and SO
: handsome in his uniform with its brass
buttons He pretended not to know her
and passed her without a glance. S e
Wept for two days, and ever after that
suffered and loved until the end.
Whenever he returned she W. I'D pass
him, not daring to lift her eyes to his
face. He never condeScended to ac-
knowledge her presence or to admit that
he had ever known her. Yet she loved
him madly-hopeleSslv
She said to me: THAT is the only
man I ever saw, really. I don't even
know that other men exist"
Her parents died. She went on with
the lowly work of mending chairs for a
living, ALWAYS saving as much as she
recognize her again.
One day she saw Chonquet cominJ ;
out Of his drug store with lady on his
arm That lady was Chonquets wife.
So overcome with grief was the chair
mender that she jumped in the river
that night. But drlnkard, passing by,
happened to see her, and pulled her
out. He took her to the pharmacy to
be revived. and Chonquet was called to
restore her.
But he did not recognize her-he did
not seem to. at any rate. He re-
preached her for her foolish act. Hear
ing his voice made her happy, however.
She insisted on paying him for his
trouble.
All her life passed much like this:
She worked, thinking always of Chon-
quet She began to buy drugs from
him. just so that she could be adding
to his profits, though she had no need