Show LOYE LOVE AND STARS when lien I 1 watched the flock upon the lu ln beron I 1 renamed mined whole weeks wit without holit W u ing a it lining living soul alone in the pasturage pas tunge with my dog do 1 ibn bri and my sheep from rent tune to time the turm itaf of mont montae de lure palsied there to look tor for medical herbs berb or I 1 r fac of piedmont collier but they were cre souls silent by jn t ot f solitude having lost tile taste for talking and anti kno knowing ing nothing of what vat w as md said I 1 down in the and to duj as f licille every two weeks wL len on I 1 heard upon the lie ascending highway the bells of our farm mule brinzing ine tile iny illy krovious provis pro cor for the tile coining conling and saw glad gi id nally appeal appear from front below the lively conn cenance ol 01 the little farm boy or the ho red locks of old aunt corade I 1 was indeed delighted I 1 made the visitor tell me the news of the country at the foot of the n mountain the baptisms the tile marritt but I 1 tint that which intel interested asted me file mot most ot nil all was what lad bad happened to to my maters 41 daughter laughter our Demol demoiselle selle Step binette the prettiest girl for tui text leagues around without vit hout appearing to be too much bent upon acq aca tiring this knowledge I 1 gathered Inform in format atlon on as to whether she went a auit great deal to parties and ening evening assemblies it whether new admirer were still tl tb rong ing about her and should you a ak k me ine whit what gcoy those details could do me pie A a poor shepherd of the lie t mountain I 1 v ill re ply that I 1 wa was wai i twenty years old I 1 and ani that Steph arette wua wits it in my eyes the hind liand h ind creature on oil the taic face of gods earth now one sunday when I 1 was waiting for my illy provision it so chanced th t they did not lot rrb e butil cry very late in abu morning I 1 sad to it la Is the fault faull of till I 1 high mass maws s ihen toward noon a heavy storm came anand I 1 thought that thattie the mule had been unable to bet set out because of the bad condition of the road at last about 3 oclo k in ill the afternoon the sky having cle leand and the tile mountain being all ot of a glitter with water and sunlight I 1 heard amid tile he droppings from the leaves and the overflowing ovir flowing of the swollen brooks the bells f the mule it gay and brisk as grand i hurch chime on liv lidster ster day but atas it was neither the little farm boy nor old aunt corade who he was urging the animal alone along it was guess wh who or our demoiselle my fi lends mif felt stated r right t between the osier osler ba baskets all rosy with the mountain air and the coolness brought ou oil by the lite storm the little farm boy was ivas sick aunt no rade waa wag absent on oil a holiday visit to her children pretty Ste phanette told me all this its ae a sprang down from her mule and adjo UM that she was late in arriving b because cau geshe sho had boxt her way dut to see her so finely dreg dresse with her flowered ribbons ribbon her bi brilliant illiade skirts and her laca abe had rather the air of having lingered at u bome dance than of having fought for ler ruid read air among long the bushes ob ahe he delicious creat creatural crea tirel not grow weary of gazi ngat her jt ItI ia true that I 1 bad never seen a her so near some times during the winter when the flock hid had tone down into the plain and I 1 had returned in ill the evening to the farmhouse to sup bhe she passed briskly through the ball tall without talking much uch to the servants at ways bedecked and A trifle haughty now I 1 had her ber there before me for myself myse f alone was it not enough to turn my beahl when she lind bad taken the provi provisions from the basket baket Stephat lette began to look curiously around her lier raising a little ler sunday skirt that might otherwise have become talked i with mud site he entered the told fold she wished to eee see the comer where I 1 slept the pile of if straw that was wag oy uly bed my sheepskin covering my big cape hung against the wall my crook and my flintlock gun all this amused her so it I 1 Is here you live Is it my poor shepherd said ehe she with a keavenly beA hei venly emile smile How tired you must get of beine bein galone alone what do you dot what do you think about I 1 bad had a strong desire to reply about you mistress ini etress and I 1 should have told old the truth but my contusion confusion was wag so great that I 1 could coll id not lot flud a single word I 1 think she noticed this and that the mischievous creature took pleasure in redoubling my with her roguery and aur sweetheart shepherd continued sh she P does bhe climb up here to eee see you st surely she must be the golden goat or the fairy esterlle Es F who skips only oer over the summits of iho 60 tit mountains 0 and she herself ns as she epol e thus to me MO had the very air of the pairy fairy Es Rs terelle with hr her lovely bead head thrown back baek the tile pearly laughter rippling from her cherry lips UP and her haste to depart that made her ber visit seem liko like a dazzling v vision albu adl eu I 1 shep berdi A adieu dIcu mistress mill A and nd ehe r he was gone bearing away avray with her ier the empty aketa Lk eta when the descending a bending road hid bid her from sight it to me that the atones stones roll 1 ing beneath abe be shoes of the mule were falling one ly ty one I 1 upon pon my heart I 1 heard them a long long time tim e and until the close of the day I 1 was like one wrapped 1 in a sweet sweep slumber gl fearing to stir lest I 1 might drive away my illy dream toward evening as the depths of the a alley valley began to grow blue and as the sheep huddled r bleating to return to the told fold I 1 heard feme one call me 1110 down the tile road and saw reappear our demoiselle demola elle no 1 on fy 11 a as I 1 had been her a short jime beffre but trembling with cold far fl ar and wt tac pew bat nt tile bw 0 mountain hail bai fonua the 80 burgue i buu ter ably blo Wl ilea bythe by the recent rain and ft that bhe MI effort to cros cross e in n making a d operate ja had nearly been 1 ibe the most dreadful weful thing of a all 11 was wag tbt that ehe she 0 could not at it thi hour of the night think of attempting ing to return to tho tile fan for our domo lillo 1 by could never short hort cut z and fid I 1 could und ind if 0 way by the t c not ot kave leave MO cock coc k 1 I alle he ilea v of passing her 1 mountain to tormented er the abe upon account alet particularly on mo t to madness would tL of the unc in raj her family d 1 ier cr the tile best I 1 was ts for me I 1 re lu tallo in jirik nights ar 0 short mist mistress refis eaid 1 I it will hardly seem more than a wretched nio moment ment and n I 1 quickly y kindled a roaring ire tire lo 10 dry her feet and d her drees dress nil all soaked with the tile water of the forgue afterward placed before tier her dill milk and milk celces cheese but the poor demoiselle did rot think cither 0 herself or of eating and at the sight of tho the big tears that 9 gathered in her eyes I 1 felt like weeping ru ksel f meanwhile IV 1111 e the tb 0 night bad come on oil apace there remained upon the crests of tha the mountains only a sprinkle of BUD sun a vapory light toward the west I 1 invited bourd our dp mol moiselle selle to enter the fold and sleep hav ing in spread a handsome new sheepskin over the clean straw I 1 bade her good night mg and becore out 1 into 10 the open P air abated seated myself before t tho the door god ia Is my witness that despite the theu alre roof of love that was scorching my blood no evil thought abt came to mo me nothing S but an all overpowering pride at linking thinking that in P a comer conier of the fold close beside the curious fiock flock that stared at hei her as she lay asleep my masters daughter like a sheep precious rici ws and ad whiter than all al t the rest was reposing In trusted to my care never had bad the heavens appeared to possess such depths never had the stars icem seemed so brilliant suddenly the door ot of the tho fold opened and pretty phanette Ste made lier her appearance she could not sleep the animals rattled the straw aa as they moved about or bleated in their dreams sho she preferred to come to the III alic c seeing this I 1 cast my sheepskin shoulders I 1 stirred up the flames and we eat sat down side ride by side remaining thu thus without uttering a single word if it you have ever passed a night in the open air you know that at the hour when we sleep a mysterious world awakes amid the solitude iid and the silence then the brooks sing in their clearest tones and the ponds arc fire lighted up tip will with tiny flames all the spirits of the mountain freely come and go there is a rustling in the air there are almost imperceptible sounds as if we heard the tree branches growing and the brass grass springing up day is the life of 0 creatures but night is the life of things thing when hen one Is not accustomed to t this his it ills ono one with fear therefore our demoiselle was all of a quiver and aud clung citing to me closely at the tle Might slightest est noise at one time a it long melancholy cry arose from the pond that sparkled below us and anti came rolling roll ing upward to our cars at the same instant a beautiful shooting stai glided gilded over our heads in the same saine direction as if the lamentation we heard were bearing a hash flash of light with it what is that asked aked Ste phanette la in a whisper A 1 I soul entering parm paradise lise mistress ill answered I 1 making the sign of the cross sho she made the same sign and for a it moment gazed meditatively into the heavens then bhe said to me Is it true shepherd that you people are magicians not in fit the least our demol demoiselle selle bul but hero here we iivo much nearer the stars than the people of the tle pla plain inand and know what is taking place among the sparkling lights of bea heavens he aveni she was still gazing upward resting hei be head lead against ono one of her hands and wrapped in tho tile sheepskin like a little heavenly shepherd ah all how beautiful they arct arel cried she 11 1 1 I 1 never saw so many of them do Y you on know their names maines shepherd yes indeed mis nils tressi listen right above us is st jacques highway it ROCS goes from france straight into spain it was st jacques de galice who traced it to show his road to the brave charlemagne when he was making war upon the sara was cens further away you have the car of if souls soul with its four resplendent axle trees tho tile three stars in front are the aree bree horses and that tiny one almost against i the third Is the car driver do you yon see all 11 around that shower of falling stare they are the souls the good god does not want in heaven A little lower is the hayrack or the three Thre kings eKings the stare stars forming it serve as our clock I 1 have only to glance at them thern to know that it is now after midnight A little lower yet still looking toward the south shines beau de milan the torch of the stars regarding that star this is what the shepherds bep berds relate it appears that one night jean de milan with the three kines rings and the Pond Poncin fere wag war invited to the wedding of a star one ol 01 their friend friends the Poncin lere tere more in at hurry burry than the rest started they say the first of all and took t he lie high road look at her up there away la in tho the midst of the heavens the three kings went by a lower road and alid overtook her but lazy jean de milan I 1 w who he had slept too late was left behind and in order to stop them in his fury h threw his stick at them three king arc are also cal called led jean jande de ians stick dut but the most my st beautiful of all the stars mistress is ours the tho shepherds star that lights us nt at dawn when we drive forth our rockland flocke Rock sand aud also in the evening when wo we bring them back wo have given it another name namo the beautiful Mague lonno who rune runs after pierre de do provence and marries him every seven years what shepherd are there then mai mat biages among the stare stars yes indeed and aa as I 1 was striving to explain to her what these marriages were I 1 felt something cool and soft weigh lightly upon my illy shoulder bh it was her head heavy with sleep that was leaning against me with a pretty rustling of ribbons lace and wavy hair she remained thus without stirring until the moment when the stars of heaven paled effaced by the dawning day ae As for me I 1 beheld her sleeping somewhat troubled but fully protected by the bright night that has bits never given me other than puro pure thoughts around us the stars continued their silent march as its docile as a it vast flocko flock and at timea times I 1 imagined that ono one of those stars the prettiest and roost most brilliant of them thein all having lost its way had come to me and placed its head lead upon my shoulder that it might slumber la in peace new york journal |