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Article THIS TAPESTRY-WEAVER OF BEAUVAIS. Page 1 of 6 →
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This Tapestry-Weaver Of Beauvais.
THIS TAPESTRY-WEAVER OF BEAUVAIS .
-V MYSTERY . BY DOUGLAS JERR 0 W 1 . THE oldest people of Beauvais remembered Schatten . Some vowed he was threescore , some a hundred years old ; and ever as the subject was touched upon , Schatten would widen his huge mouth , and cry with
a low chuckle , " Ay , ay , a thousand—more or less . I shall live to see wrinkles in the sun . " None knew from what stock he sprang—from what land he came . Such questions he would ever parry with some extravagance . " I was born of felspar and quartz , and ray home was the Hartz Mountains when they were no bigger than mole-hills . " And thus Schatten lived on . He saw the child rise into
manhood—wedbecome a parent—a gray-headed man—a corpse ; and so with the child ' s child , ancl yet no change came upon Schatten . He stood , a flinty image gazing on dying generations . A low hovel in an obscure part of Beauvais was the dwelling of the weaver . There was his loom ; and there day after clay , and night after night would he work , at times droning a song to cheer what seemed the monotony of an eternal business . Notwithstanding the
inexplicable mystery about the man , he was , on the whole , a favourite with his fellow-townsmen . There was something so meek in his demeanour , so placid , so unassuming , and his speech was so soft and gentle , that although his name had been mingled in strange recitals , he had never been molbsted , but , on the contrary , was considered a harmless , wellmeaning man ; one , who far from sneering at the pleasures of youth ,
looked upon them with seeming satisfaction . No one more frequently witnessed the bacchanal revelries of the topers of Beauvais ; for , though Schatten was no drinker himself , he witnessed with unaffected pleasure the loose joviality of others . The like at feasts ; although he was temperate as a camelion , he would most readily carve huge collops for others . He seemed to hold in peculiar admiration a purple , bloated
face and swagging paunch , though his own sharp visage was as yellow as saffron , and his figure lank as a thread-paper . This urbanity towards the failings of others was , it will be conceded , the secret of his popularity . Though he himself abstained from all animal indulgence , he not only did not gloomily lecture on the lawlessness of appetite , but , on the con _ trary , smiled on its achievements . ' This charity hath served many besides old Schatten . vol ., i . u u
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
This Tapestry-Weaver Of Beauvais.
THIS TAPESTRY-WEAVER OF BEAUVAIS .
-V MYSTERY . BY DOUGLAS JERR 0 W 1 . THE oldest people of Beauvais remembered Schatten . Some vowed he was threescore , some a hundred years old ; and ever as the subject was touched upon , Schatten would widen his huge mouth , and cry with
a low chuckle , " Ay , ay , a thousand—more or less . I shall live to see wrinkles in the sun . " None knew from what stock he sprang—from what land he came . Such questions he would ever parry with some extravagance . " I was born of felspar and quartz , and ray home was the Hartz Mountains when they were no bigger than mole-hills . " And thus Schatten lived on . He saw the child rise into
manhood—wedbecome a parent—a gray-headed man—a corpse ; and so with the child ' s child , ancl yet no change came upon Schatten . He stood , a flinty image gazing on dying generations . A low hovel in an obscure part of Beauvais was the dwelling of the weaver . There was his loom ; and there day after clay , and night after night would he work , at times droning a song to cheer what seemed the monotony of an eternal business . Notwithstanding the
inexplicable mystery about the man , he was , on the whole , a favourite with his fellow-townsmen . There was something so meek in his demeanour , so placid , so unassuming , and his speech was so soft and gentle , that although his name had been mingled in strange recitals , he had never been molbsted , but , on the contrary , was considered a harmless , wellmeaning man ; one , who far from sneering at the pleasures of youth ,
looked upon them with seeming satisfaction . No one more frequently witnessed the bacchanal revelries of the topers of Beauvais ; for , though Schatten was no drinker himself , he witnessed with unaffected pleasure the loose joviality of others . The like at feasts ; although he was temperate as a camelion , he would most readily carve huge collops for others . He seemed to hold in peculiar admiration a purple , bloated
face and swagging paunch , though his own sharp visage was as yellow as saffron , and his figure lank as a thread-paper . This urbanity towards the failings of others was , it will be conceded , the secret of his popularity . Though he himself abstained from all animal indulgence , he not only did not gloomily lecture on the lawlessness of appetite , but , on the con _ trary , smiled on its achievements . ' This charity hath served many besides old Schatten . vol ., i . u u