Zigzag Journeys in Europe Part 39

"In the name of the Lord, get into my sack."

In a moment the Evil One was in the sack, and St. Christopher tied the string, and took him to a blacksmith, and requested the use of a hammer.

Then St. Christopher and the smith hammered the Evil One as thin as a penny.

"I own I am _beaten_," said a voice from the sack. "Now let me out."

"On one condition," said the saint.

"Name it."

"That you will never trouble me again."

"I promise."

The ferry-man now began to lead a life of charity. He never thought of himself, but lived wholly for others; and every one loved him, and all that were in distress came to him for comfort.

One day he died, full of years, and, taking with him his wonderful sack, he started for the gates of Paradise.

St. Peter opened the gate. But when he saw that the new-comer was St.

Christopher, who had slighted his counsel, he refused to admit him.

The Celestial City, blazing in splendor, stood on the top of a high mountain; the sound of music and the odors of flowers came through the gate as it was opened, and the saint with a heavy heart turned away from all the ravis.h.i.+ng beauty, and, hardly knowing what he did, went down the mountain, until he came to the gate of the region where bad souls dwell.

A youth at the gate said to him,--

"Come in."

The gate opened, and the Evil One saw him.

"Shut the gate! shut the gate!" said the Evil One to the youth.

Far, far away the Holy City beamed with ineffable brightness, and up the hill again with a still heavy heart went St. Christopher.

"If I could only get my sack inside the gate, I could wish myself into it; and once inside the gate I could never be turned out."

He came up to the gate again, and called for St. Peter.

The saint opened the gate a little.

"I pray you in charity," said St. Christopher, "let me listen to the music."

[Ill.u.s.tration: REVOKING THE EDICT OF NANTES.]

The gate was set a little more ajar. Immediately St. Christopher threw into the celestial place the wonderful sack; he wished, and in a moment he was in the sack himself,--and he has remained in the region of light, music, flowers, and happiness ever since.

The Cla.s.s went by rail to Rennes, one of the old capitals of Brittany.

It was hardly interesting to them, but a pleasant ride took them to Vitre, where the boys visited the residence of Madame de Sevigne.

Nantes, the ancient residence of the Dukes of Brittany, is situated on the river Loire, about forty miles from the sea. It is one of the largest and most beautiful of the provincial towns of France. In the old castle Henry IV. signed the Edict of Nantes, giving freedom of wors.h.i.+p to the Protestants in France.

This famous Edict was published April 13, 1598. The Reformers, or Huguenots, had at this time seven hundred and sixty churches. It was revoked by Louis XIV. in 1685, under the influence of his prelates, who persuaded him thus to seek expiation for his sins. The result of the act was that four hundred thousand Protestants, who were among the most industrious, intelligent, and useful people of France, left the country rather than to give up their religion. They took refuge in Great Britain, Holland, Prussia, Switzerland, and America. From them these countries learned some of the finest French arts.

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes was one of the many acts of injustice that opened the way for the French Revolution, by destroying public virtue.

Some of the most terrible scenes of the Revolution were enacted at Nantes.

One of the first visits made by the Cla.s.s at Nantes was to the old warehouse, called the Salorges, built as an entrepot for colonial merchandize, which is a.s.sociated with the inhuman murders of the Revolution. Here the monster Carrier caused men and women to be tied together and hurled into the Loire, making an exhibition of the cruelty which was known as Republican Marriages. It was in front of the Salorges that executions by water, called Noyades, were performed. Boats loaded with from twenty to forty victims were towed into the middle of the river, and were sunk by means of trap-doors in their sides, which were opened by cords communicating with the sh.o.r.e.

If any of these wretched people attempted to escape by swimming, they were shot. As many as six hundred human beings perished in this way in a single day. The whole number of persons thus destroyed reached many thousands. Women and children were drowned as well as men. The river became so full of bodies that the air was made pestilent.

This was during the dark days of the Reign of Terror, when Marat and Robespierre ruled France. Besides the victims of the Noyades were those who perished in other merciless ways. Five hundred children were shot in a single day, and were buried in trenches that had been prepared for the purpose.

"I do not wonder that Charlotte Corday, who killed Marat, should have been regarded as a heroine," said Frank Gray. "I cannot understand how Frenchmen, who seem to be the most polite, obliging, kind-hearted, people in the world, could have been led to do the b.l.o.o.d.y deeds of the Reign of Terror."

"That is because you have read history too much without thought. In reading history always go back to the causes of things. Read backward as well as forward. All the great palaces in France you have seen were built by the money of an overtaxed people who had no political rights.

They were the glittering abodes of immorality. Again and again France was governed by wicked women who became favorites of the king. The Huguenots, who were the sincerely religious people of France, were compelled to leave the nation. Think of it,--four hundred thousand people going away from their native country at the unrestrained edict of one bad man. Do you wonder the people of France desired a Const.i.tution for their protection? The n.o.bler orders of the Catholic Church, the Jansenists and Port Royalists as they were called, were also suppressed. The Church became immoral, tyrannical, and almost wholly corrupt, an enemy to the rights of the people. The reaction against such a church, which violated all the precepts of the Gospel, was infidelity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FeNELON AND THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY.]

"During the whole of the reign of Louis XV. the cloud of Revolution was gathering. Louis saw it, but he was so given over to sensuality that it little troubled him. 'These things will last as long as I shall,' he said. '_Apres nous le deluge_' (after us the deluge). He was wholly governed, and the nation ruled, by Madame de Pompadour, a corrupt and worthless woman, who made and dismissed ministers of State and cardinals, declared war and dictated terms of peace. She declared that even her lap-dog was weary of the fawnings of n.o.bles. Are you surprised that Frenchmen should rise against such a state of things as this?"

"Was not Louis XV. educated by Fenelon, who wrote _Telemaque_, the French text-book we have been studying?" asked Frank.

"Yes, the most corrupt king of France was educated by the purest and most lovable man of genius that the times produced. The king was a wilful child, but it was thought that Fenelon had quite changed his character by his religious influence. He was subject to what were called 'mad fits.' I might tell you some pleasant stories of this period of his life. One day, when Fenelon had reproved him for some grave fault, he said,--

"'I know what I am, and I know also what you are.'

"Fenelon's prudent conduct quite won back the affection of the child.

"'I will leave the Duke of Burgundy [his t.i.tle] behind the door when I am with you,' he used to say, 'and I will be only little Louis.'

"Fenelon turned the boy's mind to piety, and for a time influenced him by it. 'All his mad fits and spites,' he said of his pupil, 'yielded to the name of G.o.d.'

"But Fenelon, like all good and pure men of the time, was condemned by the court and the Church. _Telemaque_, written to train the mind of the young prince in the principles of virtue, caused him to lose favor with the court, and he spent the last years of his life in virtual exile.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CATHEDRAL AT NANTES.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: LOUIS XV.]

"Aside from Fenelon's influence the prince had much to make him vain. He was once ill, and on his recovery all Paris was filled with rejoicing. An immense crowd gathered around the palace on the eve of St. Louis's Day in honor of the convalescence. As the boy-king stood on the balcony of the palace on the occasion, Marshal Villeroy said to him,--

"'Look at all this company of people: all are yours; they all belong to you; you are their master.'

"Think of a boy's being told that the people of Paris belonged to him!

"I can wonder at the Reign of Terror, but I cannot be surprised at the Revolution when I view the history of France for the century that preceded it. It is rather a matter of surprise that an enlightened people should have submitted to tyranny so long."