THE CONSCRIPT'S FATHER. 



AT the village of Ilaut Verolet, situated about two miles from St. 

 Ililaire du Ilarcourt, in the department of La Manche, lived a man 

 named Pierre Jaubin, whose youth had been passed in the early 

 conflicts of the Revolution. Having received a sabre wound at the 

 battle of Austerlitz, which had carried away part of his left cheek, 

 and obliterated his left eye, he easily obtained his discharge, and re- 

 turned home to assist his aged parents in the cultivation of a small 

 estate. This property, which consisted of only ten acres, was con- 

 sidered, in that country, as no mean possession, and entitled the heir 

 to the ready recognition of his rich neighbours, and to the becks, 

 winks, nods, and whispers of his co-equals. 



In a short time after his return he married a young girl named 

 Marie Raulin, and soon after that event his parents died, and he en- 

 tered into possession of the little paternal property. 



The fruit of his union was an only son, who, like all the children 

 of that district of France, was brought up by hand the women 

 having a mortal aversion to follow the dictates of nature, which 

 clearly enjoin every mother, unless she be incapacitated by some 

 bodily defect or weakness, to suckle her own child. In consequence 

 of this custom, Benoni, the son of Pierre, was fed on pap made of 

 buck- wheat flower, diluted with a little milk ; and this, with an oc- 

 casional spoonful of soup, made with fat pork and cabbage, on "jours 

 gran," formed his nourishment. Little Benoni, however, in spite of 

 buck-wheat pap, and soup made of pork and cabbage, became a 

 handsome youth, and at length arrived at the age of twenty, when it 

 was necessary he should draw for the conscription. The awful day 

 arrived, and hundreds of families were seen hastening in all directions 

 to St. Hilaire, it being usual on these occasions for the whole of 

 a youth's family to accompany him. Among the foremost marched 

 Pierre, flourishing his stick, and relating for the hundredth time in 

 what manner he had received his wound at the battle of Austerlitz ; 

 then followed Marie, exclaiming and weeping, sighing and laughing 

 by turns, crossing herself occasionally, when the thought of the pos- 

 sibility of her son's being drawn rushed into her mind ; and last of 

 all came Benoni, supported right and left by half a dozen sprightly 

 damsels. 



The sous-prefect, the mayor, the gens-d'armes, and all the civil and 

 military authorities were assembled in the town-hall, preparing for 

 the great ceremony, just as the party from Verolet approached. 

 At length it came to Benoni's turn to draw, and he took a doomed 

 number. Every countenance of the family instantly fell, except that 

 of his father, who, by a certain significant movement of the head, and 

 the words " ca n'ira pas" intimated to the by-standers that he had 

 somehow or other the means of preventing the enrolment of his son. 

 One of the surest grounds of exemption, on which the power of the 

 State never infringes, is being the only son of a widow ; for the 

 legislature has justly contemplated the inconvenience which the small 

 properties that abound in France would experience in having no 

 proper or trust-worthy person to superintend them. 



