Year: 1865

l. muSt tell you lnat In tnat part c


France are vast forests, in which O
that period land, for aught 1 know


stilD wero living hundreds repor


says thousands-of men employed il


charcoal burning, who appeared I


have very little that was human abou


them, save the form. They led TIN


most lawless, desperate lives, robbing


plundering, maltreating, and evel


numbering, any traveller they can fal


in with, setting at defiance all law an6


authority, for their dense forests ar,


more impregnable strongholds thar


tho stoutest castle. But of this W.


then knew nothing, and journoyed OF


in the highest possible spirits, at tn,


idea of spending few days together


About three hours after leaving Ions


le-Saulnier, the road entered one o


those interminable woods; and W,


could not have proceeded over half {


league before one Of the sudden storm,


common to the mountains Of the Jura


obscured the lingering remains o.


daylight. The darkness soon became


appalling; you could feel it, and as


we We're not able to SEQ an inch in
advance oi us, we thought ii better to
trust to the intelligence of our horses
than our own blinded vision, and
Stacking the reins, we let them 20 as
they would. in spite of the obscurity,
the animals went at tolerable pace.
They were old travellers, and not to be
daunted by little but we seemed to
get no nearer the end of the wood,
which, revealed to our eyes now and
then by the lightning, looked denser
and denser, and we began to fear that,
in the darkness, the horses had turned
into one Of the byroads leading from
the main one, when, after having been,
as near as we could guess, from two
to three hours in the forest, we saw q
light in front of us, and in few
seconds drew up before white house,
in clearing on the left side of the
road. My brother being in advance
of us, jumped down, and knocking at
the door, which was opened by
wrinkled old woman, inquired if we
were in the right road to Bletteria (;
and on being answered in the affirma-
tive, with the additional information
that it would take some four or five
hours more to reach the place, he
thought it best to ascertain if we and
our horses could have food and lodg-
ing there for the night. Finding that
we could, we at once decided to re.
main, as the animals were getting
tired, and none of us relished the idea
of two more hours journey in the
woods, the house, the old woman told
us, being stationed about half way
At one sue OF the hOuse
was a long high wall with door large
enough to admit carriages, and having
followed the old hag, who preceded as
with lantern and opened the gate,
we asked her if there was no one to
rub down our horses and give them
their food; upon which we learned to
our surprise, that III that lonely place
thore were but two women, herself
and servant girl, and that our horses
would stand good chance OF getting
nothing 10 eat If we did not attend to
them ourselves. She said we would
find plenty of hay and straw in the
loft she pointed out to us, and then,
giving us the lantern, walked of to
prepare our supper.


Before proceeding further, | must
endeavur TO give you some idea OF the
construction of the building in which
we were destined to spend SO eventiul
a night-a night that, so long as we
live, will be freshest of all we have
ever passed, in the memory OF every
one of us. 1t had two stories, the
lower one consisting OF large kitchen
with two entrances, one nom the road,
and the other from the stable yard,
and small room leading from it at
the back, used as a bed-cham Der by
the women; opposite the front door
was flight of stairs, having the wall
on one side and boxed off by wood on
the other, leading to bedroom ex-
tending over the small room below
and the stable, which filled up the
square of the building, and was en-
tered from the yard; and over the
kitchen was place for drying and
storing linen, etc, reached by some
steps over the front entrance. On
entering the kitchen we found the old
woman busy cooking an omelette,
which she told us politely enough,
was all save bread and cheese and
wine, that the house afforded for our
suppers; and, while eating it, she let
us know that she had husband, who
was often from home and was then
gone to some fair, good distance Oft,
and would be absent three days.


Erz-


Supper over, my brothers went to
water their horses, and give them
feed Of the oats they always took with
them on such journeys; and while
they were gone, the old woman having
mounted the stairs, j opened the front
door and walked out into the road to
see if the storm had passed over, when
to my surprise, was joined by tho
servant, rather good looking girl,
with whom VIC had been joking about
the impossibility of finding a husband
in hole like that. On attempting
the renewal Of the plaisanterie, l saw
she hardly seemed to notice what L
said, and not caring to have all the
conversation on one side, was moving
away toward the entrance to tho yard,
when she touched my arm, and said
in whisper, "mind you shut your
door TO night" Then as if fearful
she had said too much, exchanged a
few jesting words, and disappeared
quickly into the house. Whom /
Joined my brothers in the stable L re-
peated to them what the girl had said,
at the same time giving my brother a
caution about the carless habit he had
of wearing his leather belt in which
n . A. =. IL al. NJ