Show seventeenth century meals ideals still fresh the customs folklore and even the native tongue of france still exists in in the little community of old mines mo where the inhabitants have persisted in in keeping their seventeenth entee nth century ideals fresh despite the hood flood tide of over energetic americans around them a score or more of families descendants ants of early settlers remain F rench french in religion and in in everyday every day life they speak a sort of old french pa toise as a priest terms it father van a belgian born in in st louis loui continues to make journeys to old mines to hear french confessions lie he encourages celebration of traditional feasts such as the Guigno lee ile he dons a biretta and for the occasion occasion the peasant women wear the blue kerchief of early france each week these peasants drive to nearby which they still insist on calling mine a breton for provisions herding their families into wagons for entertainment they meet in the evenings at homes of their neighbors for a singing party or a tale telling the stories are aie those passed down through the centuries the peasant cannot always tell the meaning of f the words he uses they have been dropped from his vocabulary lie he repeats them as a ritual as a child says fee fec fl fo turn fum many are altered versions of tales from bocaccio cio and la fontaine others are fairy tales with a few details changed to fit the local scene |