Short Stories, vol 10 | Page 4

SEA
MINUET THE SON THAT PIG OF A MORIN SAINT ANTHONY
LASTING LOVE PIERROT A NORMANDY JOKE FATHER
MATTHEW

THE CHRISTENING
"Well doctor, a little brandy?"
"With pleasure."
The old ship's surgeon, holding out his glass, watched it as it slowly
filled with the golden liquid. Then, holding it in front of his eyes, he let
the light from the lamp stream through it, smelled it, tasted a few drops
and smacked his lips with relish. Then he said:
"Ah! the charming poison! Or rather the seductive murderer, the
delightful destroyer of peoples!
"You people do not know it the way I do. You may have read that
admirable book entitled L'Assommoir, but you have not, as I have, seen
alcohol exterminate a whole tribe of savages, a little kingdom of
negroes--alcohol calmly unloaded by the barrel by red-bearded English
seamen.
"Right near here, in a little village in Brittany near Pont-l'Abbe, I once
witnessed a strange and terrible tragedy caused by alcohol. I was
spending my vacation in a little country house left me by my father.
You know this flat coast where the wind whistles day and night, where
one sees, standing or prone, these giant rocks which in the olden times
were regarded as guardians, and which still retain something majestic
and imposing about them. I always expect to see them come to life and
start to walk across the country with the slow and ponderous tread of
giants, or to unfold enormous granite wings and fly toward the paradise
of the Druids.
"Everywhere is the sea, always ready on the slightest provocation to
rise in its anger and shake its foamy mane at those bold enough to
brave its wrath.
"And the men who travel on this terrible sea, which, with one motion of
its green back, can overturn and swallow up their frail barks--they go
out in the little boats, day and night, hardy, weary and drunk. They are
often drunk. They have a saying which says: 'When the bottle is full
you see the reef, but when it is empty you see it no more.'
"Go into one of their huts; you will never find the father there. If you
ask the woman what has become of her husband, she will stretch her
arms out over the dark ocean which rumbles and roars along the coast.
He remained, there one night, when he had had too much to drink; so
did her oldest son. She has four more big, strong, fair-haired boys.

Soon it will be their time.
"As I said, I was living in a little house near Pont-l'Abbe. I was there
alone with my servant, an old sailor, and with a native family which
took care of the grounds in my absence. It consisted of three persons,
two sisters and a man, who had married one of them, and who attended
to the garden.
"A short time before Christmas my gardener's wife presented him with
a boy. The husband asked me to stand as god-father. I could hardly
deny the request, and so he borrowed ten francs from me for the cost of
the christening, as he said.
"The second day of January was chosen as the date of the ceremony.
For a week the earth had been covered by an enormous white carpet of
snow, which made this flat, low country seem vast and limitless. The
ocean appeared to be black in contrast with this white plain; one could
see it rolling, raging and tossing its waves as though wishing to
annihilate its pale neighbor, which appeared to be dead, it was so calm,
quiet and cold.
"At nine o'clock the father, Kerandec, came to my door with his sister-
in-law, the big Kermagan, and the nurse, who carried the infant
wrapped up in a blanket. We started for the church. The weather was so
cold that it seemed to dry up the skin and crack it open. I was thinking
of the poor little creature who was being carried on ahead of us, and I
said to myself that this Breton race must surely be of iron, if their
children were able, as soon as they were born, to stand such an outing.
"We came to the church, but the door was closed; the priest was late.
"Then the nurse sat down on one of the steps and began to undress the
child. At first I thought there must have been some slight accident, but I
saw that they were leaving the poor little fellow naked completely
naked, in the icy air. Furious at such imprudence, I protested:
"'Why, you are crazy! You will kill the child!'
"The woman answered quietly: 'Oh, no, sir; he must wait naked before
the Lord.'
"The father and the aunt looked on undisturbed. It was the