ing upstairs, she came all smiles to meet be robbed, for there was nothing in it. us, holding the candle, and saying: "Oh, My cousin, seeing that all was right, had you have had a great deal to tell each just written to his wife that she might other this evening! You must have had bring their goods and chattels with her. enough. Come, cousin, let me take you to your room; there it is. From your window you may see the woods in the moonlight; and here is your bed, the best in the house. You will find your cotton nightcap under the pillow." 66 Very nice, Catherine, thank you," said George. "And I hope you will sleep comfortably," said she, returning to me. This wise woman, full of excellent good sense, then said to me, while I was undressing: Christian, what were you thinking of, to contradict your cousin? Such a rich man, and who can do us so much good by and by! What does the plébiscite signify? What can that bring us in? Whatever your cousin says to you say Amen' after it. Remember that his wife has relations, that she will want to get everything on her side. Mind you don't quarrel with George. A fine meadow below the mill, and an orchard on the hill-side, are not found every day in the way of a cow." I saw at once that she was right, and I inwardly resolved never to contradict George again, who might himself alone be worth to us far more than the Emperor, the ministers, the senators, and all the establishment together; for every one of those people thought of his own interests alone, without even casting away a thought upon us and of course we ought to do the same as they did, since they had succeeded so well in sewing gold lace upon all their seams, fattening and living in abundance in this world, without mentioning the promises that the bishops made to them for the next. Thinking upon these things, I lay calmly down, and soon fell asleep. II. THE next day early, cousin George, my son Jacob, and myself, after having eaten a crust of bread and taken a glass of wine standing, harnessed our horses, and put them into our two carts to go and fetch my cousin's wife and furniture at the Lützelbourg station. So we started about six in the morning; upon the road the people of Hangeviller, of Metting, and Vechem, and those who were going to market in the town were singing and shouting Vive l'Empereur!" Everywhere they had voted "Yes" for peace. It was the greatest fraud that had ever been perpetrated; by the way in which the ministers, the prefects, and the Government newspapers had explained the Plébiscite, everybody had imagined that he had really voted peace. Cousin George hearing this, said, “Oh, you poor country folks, how I pity you for being such imbeciles! How I pity you for believing what these pickpockets tell you!' That was' how he styled the Emperor's government, and naturally I felt my indignation rise; but Catherine's sound advice came back into my mind, and I thought, Hold your tongue, Christian; don't say a word that's your best plan." All along the road we saw the same spectacle; the soldiers of the 81th, garrisoned at Phalsbourg, looked as pleased as men who have won the first prize in a lottery; the colonel declared that the men who did not vote "Yes" would be unworthy of being called Frenchmen. Every man had voted " Yes;" for a good soldier knows nothing but his orders. So having passed before the gate of France, we came down to the Baraques and then reached Lützelbourg. The train from Paris had passed a few minutes before; the whistle could yet be heard under the Saverne tunnel. My cousin's wife, with whom I was not yet acquainted, was standing by her luggage on the platform; and seeing George coming up, she cried, full of joy, “Ah! is that you? and here is cousin." She kissed us both heartily, gazing at us, however, with some surprise, perhaps on account of our blouses and our great wide-brimmed black hats. But no! it could not be that; for Marie Anne Finck was a native of Wasselonne, in Alsace, and the Alsacians have always worn the blouse Before coming into our country, George and wide-brimmed hat as long as I can had ordered his house to be whitewashed remember. But this tall, thin woman, and painted from top to bottom; he had with her large brown eyes, as bustling, laid new floors, and replaced the old quick, and active as gunpowder, after havshingle roof with tiles. Now the paint ing passed thirty years at Paris, having was dry, the doors and windows stood first been cook at Krantheimer's, at a place open day and night; the house could not called the Barrière de Montmartre, and "The carts are there, wife," cried George, in high spirits. "We will load the biggest with as much furniture as we can, and the rest upon the smaller one. You will sit in front. There-look up there- that's the castle of Lützelbourg, and that pretty little wooden house close by, covered all over with vine, that is a châlet, Father Hoffmann-Forty's châlet, the distiller of cordials; you know the cordial of Phalsbourg." He showed her everything. Then we began to load; that big Yéri, who takes the tickets at the gate, and who carries the parcels to Monsieur André's omnibus, comes to lend us a hand. And the two carts being loaded about twelve o'clock, my cousin's wife seated in front of the foremost one upon a truss of straw, we started at a quiet pace for the village, where we arrived about three o'clock. But I remember one thing, which I will not omit to mention. As we were coming out of Lützelbourg, a heavy waggon-load of coal was coming down the hill, a lad of sixteen or seventeen leading the horse by the bridle; at the door of the last house, a little child of five years old, sitting on the ground, was looking at our carts passing by; he was out of the road, he could not be in any one's way, and was sitting there perfectly quiet, when the boy, without any reason, gave him a lash with his whip, which made the child cry aloud. My cousin's wife saw that. Why did that boy strike the child?" she inquired. a "That's a coalheaver," George answered "He comes from Sarrebruck. He is Prussian. He struck the child because he is a French child." Then my cousin's wife wanted to get down to fall upon the Prussian; she cried to him." You great coward, you lazy dog, you wicked wretch, come and hit me.' And the boy would have come to settle her, if we had not been there to receive him; but he would not trust himself to us and lashed his horses to get out of our reach, making all haste to pass the bridge, and turning his head round towards us, for fear of being followed. I thought at the time that cousin George was wrong in saying that this boy had a spite against the French because he was a Prussian; but I learned afterwards that he was right, and that the Germans have borne ill-will against us for years without showing it to us — - like a set of sulky fellows waiting for a good opportunity to make us feel it. "It is our good man that we have to thank for this," said George: "the Germans fancy that we have named him Emperor to begin his uncle's tricks again; and now they look upon our Plébiscite as a declaration of war. The joy of our souspréfets, our mayors, and our curés, and of all those excellent people who only prosper upon the miseries of mankind, proves that they are not very far out." "Yes, indeed," cried his wife; "but to beat a child, that is cowardly." "Bah! don't let us think about it," said George. "We shall see much worse things than this; and that we shall have deserved it through our own folly. God grant that I may be mistaken!" Talking so, we arrived home. My wife had prepared dinner; there was kissing all round, the acquaintance was made; we all sat round the table, and dined with excellent appetites. Marie Anne was gay; she had already seen their house on her way, and the garden behind it with its rows of gooseberry-bushes and the plum-trees full of blossom. The two carts, the horses having been taken out, were standing before their door; and from our windows might be seen the village people examining them attentively, going round gazing with curiosity upon the great heavy boxes, feeling the bedding, and talking together about this great quantity of furniture and goods, just as if it was their own business. They said no doubt that our cousin George Weber and his wife were rich people, who deserved the respectful consideration of the whole country round; and I myself, before seeing these great chests, should never have dreamed that they could have so much belonging entirely to themselves. This proved to me that my wife was perfectly right in continuing to pay every respect to my cousin; she had also cautioned our daughter Grédel; and as for Jacob, he is a most sensible lad, who thinks of everything and needs not to be told what to do. But what astonished us a great deal more was to see arriving about half-past three two other large waggons from the direction of Wechem, and hearing my cousin cry "Here comes my wine from Barr!" Before coming to Rothalp he had himself gone to Barr, in Alsace, in order to taste the wine and to make his own bar-, cousin had bought up all the manure at gains. "Come, Christian," said he, rising, "we have no time to lose if we mean to unload before nightfall. Take your pincers and your mallet; you will also fetch ropeз and a ladder to let the casks down into the cellar." Jacob ran to fetch what was wanted, and we all came out together - my wife, my daughter, cousin, and everybody. My man Frantz remained alone at the mill, and immediately they began to undo the boxes, to carry the furniture into the house: chests of drawers, wardrobes, bedsteads, and quantities of plates, dishes, soup-tureens, &c., which were carried straight into the kitchen. My cousin gave hi orders: "Put that down in a corner; set that in another corner." The neighbours helped us too, out of curiosity. Everything went on admirably. And upon this arrived the waggons from Barr; they were obliged to be kept waiting till seven o'clock. Our wives had already set up the beds and put away the linen in the wardrobes. About seven o'clock everything was in order in the house. We now thought of resting till to-morrow, when Joseph said to us, turning up his sleeves, "Now, my friend, here comes the biggest part of the work. I always strike the iron while it's hot. Let all the men who are willing help me to unload the casks, for the drivers want to get back to town, and I think they are right." Immediately the cellar was opened, the ladder laid against the first waggon, the lanterns lighted, the planks set leaning in their places, and until eleven o'clock we did nothing but unload wine, roll down casks, let them down with my ropes, and put them in their places. Never had I worked as I did on that day! Not before eleven o'clock did cousin George, seeing everything settled to his satisfaction, seem pleased; he tapped the first cask, filled a jug with wine, and said, Working men, come up, we will have a good draught, and then we will go to bed." 66 The cellar was shut up, we drank in the large parlour, and then all, one after another, went home to bed, upon the stroke of midnight. the gendarmerie; ther how he had made a contract to have all his land drained in the autumn; and then how he was going to build a stable and a laundry at the back of his house, a distillery at the end of his yard; he was enlarging his cellars, already the finest in the country. What a quantity of money he must have! If he had not paid his architect, the carpenters, and the masons cash down, it would have been declared that he was ruining himself. But he never wanted a penny; and his solicitor always addressed him with a smiling face, raising his hat from afar off, and calling him "my dear Monsieur Weber." One single thing vexed George: he had requested of the prefecture as soon as he arrived a licence to open his public-house at the sign of "The Pineapple." He had even written three letters to Sarrebourg, and had received no answer. Morning and evening, seeing me pass by with my carts of grain and flour, he called to me through the window, Hallo, Christian, this way just a minute!" 66 He never talked of anything else; he even came to tease me at the mayoraltyhouse to endorse and seal his letters with attestations as to his good life and character; and yet no answer came. One evening, as I was busy signing the registration of the reports drawn up in the week by the schoolmaster, he came in and said, "Nothing yet?" "Very well," said he, sitting before my desk. "Give me some paper. Let me write for once, and then we will see.” He was pale with excitement, and began to write, reading it as he went on : "MONSIEUR LE SOUS-PREFET,- I have requested from you a licence to open a publichouse at Rothalp. I have even had the honour of writing you three letters upon the subject, Answer me and you have given me no answer. paid, they ought to fulfil their duty. - yes or no! When people are paid, and well "Monsieur le Sous-Préfet, I have the honour to salute you. "GEORGE WEBER, "Late Sergeant of Marines." Hearing this letter, my hair positively stood on end. "Cousin, don't send that," said L; "the Sous-Préfet would very likely put you under arrest." All the villagers were astonished to see how these Parisians worked. They were "Pooh!" said he, "you country peoall the talk. At one time it was how' ple, you seem to look upon these folks as if they were demigods, yet they live upon | said, "That's the truth! that's the opinion our money. It is we who pay them; they of Monsieur le Maire!" are for our service, and nothing more. Here, Christian, will you put your seal to that?" Then, in spite of all my wife might say, I replied, "George, for the love of Heaven, don't ask me that. I should most assuredly lose my place." 66 What place? Your place as mayor," said he, "in which you receive the commands of the Sous-Préfet who receives the commands of the Préfet, who receives the orders of a Minister, who does everything that our honest man bids him. I had rather be a ragman than fill such a place." The schoolmaster, who happened to be there, suddenly dropped from the clouds; his arms hung down the sides of his chair, and he gazed at my cousin with staring eyes, just as a man fearfully examines a dangerous lunatic. I, too, was sitting upon thorns on hearing such words as these in the mayoraltyhouse; but at last I told him I had rather go myself to Sarrebourg and ask for the permission than seal that letter. Then we will go together," said he. But I felt sure that if he spoke after this fashion to Monsieur le Sous-Préfet, he would lay hands upon both of us; and I said that I should go alone, because his presence would put a constraint upon me. Very well," he said; "but you will tell me everything that the Sous-Préfet has been saying to you." He tore up his letter, and we went out together. I don't remember that I ever passed a worse night than that. My wife kept repeating to me that our cousin George had the precedence over the Sous-Préfet, who only laughed at us; that the Emperor, too, had cousins, who wanted to inherit everything from him, and that everybody ought to stick to their own belongings. Yes, all these things and many more passed through my mind, and I should have liked to see cousin George at Jericho. This is just how we were in our village, and I don't know even yet by what means other people had made such fools of us. In the end we have had to pay dearly for it; and our children ought to learn wisdom by it. From The Contemporary Magazine. DAGONET, the fool, whom Gawain in his moods As Camelot, high above the yellowing woods, And from the crown, thereof a carcanet of ruby swaying to and fro, the prize Fool?" For Arthur and Sir Lancelot riding once From roots like some black coil of craven snakes Clutch'd at the crag, and started thro' mid air Next day, when I left for Sarrebourg, my head was in a whirl of confusion, and I thought that my cousin and his wife would have done well to have stayed in Paris rather than come and trouble us when we were at peace, when every man paid his own rates and taxes, when everybody voted as they liked at the prefecture. I could say that never was a loud word spoken at the public-house; that people attended with regularity both mass and vespers; that the gendarmes never visited our village more than once a week to preserve order; and that I myself was treat* This poem forms one of the "Idylls of the ed with consideration and respect; that King." Its place is between "l'elleas" and "Guin when I spoke but a word, honest menevere." To whom the King, "Peace to thine eagle- Dead nestling, and this honour after death, tower Some hold he was a table-knight of thine-- Save that he sware me to a message, saying- Then Arthur turn'd to Kay the seneschal, -now Make their last head like Satan in the North. Waits to be solid fruit of golden deeds, The loneliest ways are safe from shore to shore. For wherefore shouldst thou care to mingle with Only to yield my Queen her owh again? Thereto Sir Lancelot answer'd, "It is well : Then Arthur rose and Lancelot follow'd him, From flat confusion and brute violences, He spoke, and taking all his younger knights, Working a tapestry, lifted up her head, Then ran across her memory the strange rhyme |