OCR Text |
Show Old French Bonfire. Probably tho strongest derail record cd of tho old midsummer ovo bonfires Is ono In connection with thoso thnt used to bo lighted In tho Placo da drove In Paris. Tho main constituent of tho bonflro was a trco, which the king was accustomed to flro with his own hands, tho nshes being afterwards after-wards carried homo by tho peoplo foi good luck. Louln XIV. was the Inst king who did his part. A mysterious Item of earlier times wns tho burning In tho bonflro of n barrel, bag or basket bas-ket full of cats. The registers of Paris show that a. hundred sous wero paid to nn official for having provided dur Ing threo years (1671-3) "all tho cats required, ns usual, for tho fire," and nlso In ono yenr, when tho king wnH present, "a fox, to glvo pleasuro to hi mnjesty, and for having provided n great bag of lluon In which tho said cats wero." |