Two Pictures of Life in France before 1848 [pp. 411-418]

Two Pictures of Life in France before 1848.
[ORIGINAL.]
TWO PICTURES OF LIFE IN FRANCE BEFORE 1848.
I.
THE HOME OP THE GIUERINS.
THOSE who are familiar with the
journal of Eugdnie de Guarin, know
that in Languedoc, near the towns or
villages of Andillac and Gaillac, and
not far from Toulouse, there is an
,ancient estate called Le Cayla; but
they know little more than this of the
place where Maurice and Eugdnie de
Gudrin passed their youth in the quaint
and beautiful simplicity that stamped
their genius with so marked an individuality.
The peasantry of that region are
wedded to old habits and traditions,
and the ancient families are imbedded
like rocks in thie land, says Lamartine,
(from whose "Entretiens" many of
these local details are taken), and are
nobles by common consent, because
the chateau is merely the largest ruin
in the village, and every one goes
there as to a homle to get whatever he
needs in the way of advice, agricultural tools, medicine or food.
Let us in imagination visit the Chateau of Le Cayla, as it was in the
year 1837, for we must make our first
acquaintance with it when it is graced
by the exquisite presence of those two,
whose names are fast becoming household words on both sides of the Atlantic —Maurice and Eugenie de Gudrin.
It is not like one's dream of an
ancient castel, this spreading, rectangtular house, built of brick and stone after
a fashion of Henry the Fourith's time,
and perched on the summlit of a sharp
declivity. There is little to distinguish
it from the great farms of the country
round, but a half-ruined portico, projecting over the flight of stone steps, a
pointed turret, and the grooves of a
drawbridge, over which the ruthless
hand of 1793 has effaced the ancient
arms of the Gu6rins. The great flagstones of the court-yard were loosened
and uprooted long ago by the drainage
from the stables, and in the angles of
the wall grow holly and elder bushes,
not too aristocratic to take root in
suchn a soil. These gates stand open
always, admitting wayfarers who may
wish for a cup of water from the
bucket hanging behind the door, or
for a plate of soup to eat, sitting in
the sunshine on the broad steps that
lead down into the court-yard from the
kitchen, an important department in
this venerable homestead.
Within doors blazes a goodly fire
on the hearth, a whole tree, standing
on end, sending its smoke up a great
chimney through which daylight is
visible, and ready to give a comfortable greeting to Jean, or Gilles, or
Romignieres, when they come to talk
of corn or sheep with the master, they
sitting on the stone settles, built into
the wall, he on one of those walnut
arm-chairs standing between the kitchen table and the fireplace. See the great
copper boilers standing round the wall,
and those immense soup-tureens, ornamented with coarse painting, and the
big dishes for the fish that they catch
in the mill-pond once in three years.
There - we have looked long
enough; pass through this long smokedried corridor to the dining-room,
where masters and servants takle their
meals togethler, excepting on state occasions, the menials standing or sitting at the lower end of the unbleached
cloth.
Now down this little flight of steps
to the salon, which is all white, with a
large sofa, some straw chairs, and a
table with books upon it. Yes-here
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