St Joseph Academy - Sajoscript Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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SANDALPHON The Old Stone Bench ALICE IIENRY First Rhetoric CC II DEAR, sighed Anne, I do wish something would happen. Here I am, supposed to be having a gay time in France, and in reality just sitting here moping around this old Chateau. France is stupid. It has nothing but memories, and everything is at a standstill. People say, 'Oui, oui, mam 'selle. Lafayette once stayed here a week'. And they expect a healthy American girl to be enraptured and excited for the rest of her life. Oh well, I hope we get started for America soon.-And to think, I teased to come here. Guess I'll wander around the grounds again and visit that queer old stone bench. With that, she strolled acress the park towards the bench she had mentioned. The gardens she passed were beautiful had she cnly paused to realize it. But her thoughts were gloomy ones and a diseontented lllllld does 11ot readily give admittance to the realization of beauty. Soon she reached the bench of which she had spoken. It was truly a strange ebject, .one to attract attention. The back and a small rim around the edge of the seat were curiously carved. Anne tried to pick out some sort of a design but she had not been able to do so. It was unusually high for a garden bench and Anne, who was rather small for sixteen, could not rest her feet upon the erth. True, it was not comfortable and Anne could not imagine why it should have been placed in the old French garden, but, as she had once said, That's the trouble with these old Frenchmen, they never change a thing! She ha.d asked the gardener, Pierre, why it remained there but he had only shaken his head and said, Non, non, mam'selle. So now Anne climbed upon it and swung her small, prettily-shod feet, back and forth, back and forth. But the bench was not comfortable and Anne soon jumped to the ground. In doing so, however, her ring, which contained a large diamond, set very high, caught in a crevice of the carved part of the bench. Ouch, that hurt. Her hand was twisted halfway around. Slipping her finger from the ring, she left it sticking in the bench. The gem refused to budge al- though she pulled and pulled. Oh well, she'd go and get Albert, that new Eng- lish gardener. lle looked as if he could get that ring out. Ten to one, if she got old Pierre he would just say, Non, non, mam 'selle, and go way stolidly. She found Albert and told him of her difficulty. Ile procured an ax and a big iron wedge, and Anne could not help but think how ridiculously they con- trasted with the beautiful gold ring. Albert was right, however, when he pro- posed to break away some of the weather-beaten stone from about the ring. He stuck the wedge into a crack just above it. With all his force he sent the ax against the wedge. It chipped off the part that had held the ring although the gold band was bent and scratched. Joyfully Anne stooped to pick it up, but. was startled by a low cry from Albert. Look 'ere, miss, this tl1ing's 'ollow. Another piece of granite had fallen, leaving a large hole through which Anne peered. 0-0-Oh see, get a flash-light. There may be steps or something in there. Albert produced a pocket flash-light and by its light Anne saw-a flight of stairs leading down, down. Get Pierre, she screamed, Hoh get him, hurry!! Ile'll know. And old Pierre did know. Ile told Anne that during the days of the French Revolution the members of the family had taken refuge from maddened mobs in that tunnel. The 011 page eighty-eight

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SANDALPHON bench had not been there but the opening was concealed by a large boulder. Only the head of the family knew of the garden entrance. But just before Anne 's grandfather was born, his father had had the old stone bench put there. The secret had passed from father to son until Anne's mother, Jeanne, was born. Being the last of the line, her father had hesitated to tell her, but told Pierre, his trusted servant. Ile instructed Pierre to tell no one but his daugh- ter. As Jeanne had married Anne's father and had gone to America to live, she had not been told. Old Pierre had only been waiting for this summer, the time when she would rejoin her daughter Anne, so that he coulfl impart the secret. Anne listened dazedly to all this-had she been calling France dull? Why, it was the Illl' st interesting place on the globe, truly it was. XVho could tellf she might discover some new secret passage or a hidden store of gold! When she went down to the queer little French station the following week, to meet her mother, she caught her gaily by the hand and said, Oh, mother, I have the most wonderful thing to tell you, and it's all about an old stone benchf, 7' of Q Q35 5 i,'f 'Ul Db or l W1 V., lf' X K ' x ,' iii, ,, dl WW V,Y, Arai 'Q' ll' A i V , it e M l lf QW' ,N 1 l ' w l t X, t N ,all , l . 'i 'ff ' ' 4 l ' I . I ' , .1 I. wy.4'2', e, ,--.,x,.-.-.,r..f , M -,,,,, t , M. 5'--L.'-I-I A el tw ff-----afN- -1 M I-.f 'i 'l ' l i N' A l int y F V 1 ..,,,,- ,IW Nl P - mtML,1:Qn1Hiwuoxr'ntmiw':tfu ' --unafq.: -' 145' mv GAME 'I Q53 ks J' lava , 'f rf? c 2' lg, A a t , e ae s ea ef! A Q ' ,c be QQXA , an x - 'If' Y 417 ':5aQfrm.., e tafimal 3 ..,.:,4g1i, gag., f'4ajsj,,g'::1,g. 53fTI'r- 'Lf-f'5:f ' ,r1:'3:'4 3-'-1131 ,, N F-1 ,1q'.1:g'r:flL-3:-, -.:E.'2:1i1ff:.T7:1'J--A 'i - l I -1fi11z4':? 5:4u? 'l page as li 'wav 5: ,,,ae:-wwf-1--ff---ni .wxfffe xg . , ,, Y AEA - -.:+2,::f-',-e,,.v- A' ' ,ii-li page eighty-nine