_Dear Sister:_--
Your letter (received within a few hours) gave us all great pleasure,
and we are rejoiced to learn that _folks_ and _things_ are going on so
well at the Lodge. What a fine time you and Albert have for
_sentimentalizing_! Make the best of it; for you know October is only a
few months off, and when it comes you'll perhaps find me at your elbow
oftener than you anticipate. I shall have so much to talk about; for
believe me, altho' my communications are so long and frequent, a great
deal will remain to be told when we reach "sweet home."
Now, let me inform you of the strange sight we have just been
witnessing in the Church of St. Roch; a funeral and two weddings
solemnizing in the same place and at the same moment! To us it was
shocking, and _certes_ if _I_ had been one of the votaries of hymen on
the occasion, I should have experienced sad forebodings of evil in the
connubial state. Really, it was sometimes difficult to hear the priests
who were performing the marriage rites, their voices being drowned in
the loud requiem chanted over the dead. The coffin was strewed with
white flowers, emblematical of the youth and maidenhood of the
deceased.
We have visited Pére la Chaise, and spent nearly a whole day in reading
the inscriptions on its numerous and varied monuments,--many of them so
magnificent! many so neat and simple! The inscriptions are generally
beautiful and touching--they speak to the hearts of all; and the lovely
and odoriferous flowers that decorate the tombs, seem to rob the grave
of its sadness, and shed their balmy influence o'er the mind of the
beholder. Several tombs are also adorned with miniatures inserted in
the stone, and portraying the once animated countenances of those who
rest beneath them. This romantic burying ground spreads itself over the
side of a hill, and from the upper part you have a noble prospect of
the city and its environs. In the fourteenth century it was the site of
a splendid mansion, built by a wealthy grocer, whose name was Regnaud.
Its magnificence being incompatible with his rank, it was soon entitled
"Regnaud's Folly." The Jesuits afterwards obtained possession of it,
and gave it the name of "Mont Louis," because Louis the Fourteenth when
a boy, witnessed from its summit the battle in the Faubourg St.
Antoine, between the Frondeurs,[2] commanded by the Prince of Condé,
and the Court Party, under Marshal Turenne. I recollect reading in
Voltaire's history of that monarch's reign, that during this bloody
skirmish, Mademoiselle d'Orleans (Louis's cousin) sided with the Prince
of Condé, and had the cannons of the Bastile pointed against the royal
troops. This ruined her forever in the opinion of the king; and
Cardinal Mazarin remarked, knowing her desire to marry a crowned head,
"_ce canon la, vient de tuer son mari_"--"that cannon has killed her
husband." But I've digressed from my original theme, and hasten to
resume it. Pére la Chaise, one of the Jesuits, became confessor to
Louis, and had entire control of ecclesiastical affairs. The king was
very fond of him, and as a mark of his esteem, presented him with the
estate of "Mont Louis," having considerably enlarged and embellished it
for his use. On the death of the holy father, it reverted to his
brethren, and was called after him. These wily priests projected there
the Revocation of the edict of Nantes, and issued thence many a lettre
de cachet, decreeing imprisonment to their enemies. They retained
possession of the place until the abolishment of their order in 1763,
when it was sold for the benefit of their creditors, and had divers
owners, until purchased by the Prefect of the Seine, and appropriated
to its present purpose in 1804. There are three kinds of graves: first,
those termed _public_, in which the poor are gratuitously buried; but
each body can remain only five years, the time supposed to be
sufficient for its decomposition. These graves resemble immense
ditches, and the coffins are deposited one upon another, and side by
side, as close as they can lay. They are wretchedly made, and soon drop
to pieces; and therefore it is not uncommon, in burying a corpse, to
see the exposed head and limbs of another! Is'nt this horrible? Second,
_temporary_ graves, wherein the dead remain undisturbed during ten
years, for the sum of fifty francs. At the close of that period, unless
the grave be rendered of the third kind, _perpetual_, by the payment of
a larger portion of money, its ghastly tenant is removed. The oldest
and most interesting sepulchre is that of Abelard and Héloise; it is
formed of the ruins of the paraclete, and covered with antique
sculpture and ornaments. It represents a gothic chapel, in the centre
of which the bodies of the lovers are represented extended on a bier;
the whole is of gray stone. The monument of the Countess Demidoff, a
Russian lady, we considered the richest and handsomest in the
collection. It is composed of pure white marble highly polished. A part
of the cemetery is appropriated to the use of strangers, and a
considerable space allowed to the Jews. The gate is always thronged
with carriages that have brought either visiters or mourners. On each
side of the entrance are stalls, where wreaths and bunches of flowers
may be purchased. I must now conclude, and am sure you will dream of
church yards and hobgoblins, after reading this letter, from your
attached