Born to Be Story Teller
Short summary
Jean Francois takes the blame for a crime he did not commit after a change in his life has made him a respected tradesman. He has done this to save a naïve rustic from his own fate as an habitual criminal prior to his reformation. He willingly substitutes for the real thief because he can survive a life in jail and his young rustic friend would be spared a life of in-jail and out. Jean Francois has saved his young friend from a life like his. Shows how once labeled a criminal in the eyes of the law; one remains a criminal in the eyes of the law, for the rest of one’s life.
MAIN STORY
HE was scarcely ten years old when he was arrested for the first time for vagabondage. This is what he said to the judges:
“My name is Jean François Leturc, and for the last six months I’ve been with the man who sings between two lanterns on the Place de la Bastille, scraping on a bit of catgut. I say the chorus with him, and then I cry out, ‘Ask for the new song book, ten centimes, two sous!’ He was always drunk, and he beat me. That’s how the police found me the other night, in these ruined houses. Before that, I used to be with the man who sells brushes.
My mother was a washerwoman; her name is Adele. A gentleman had set her up on a ground floor, at Montmartre, long ago. She was a good worker and very fond of me. She made money because she had the custom of the café waiters, and they need lots of linen. Sundays, she put me to bed early to go to the ball; but weekdays, she sent me to the Brothers’ school, where I learned to read.
Well, at last the policeman whose beat was up our street used to stop before her window to talk to her, a big man, with the Crimean medal. They got married, and all went wrong. He took a dislike to me, and set mamma against me. Everybody had a slap for me; and it was then that to get away I spent my days on the Place Clichy,
Jean Francois takes the blame for a crime he did not commit after a change in his life has made him a respected tradesman. He has done this to save a naïve rustic from his own fate as an habitual criminal prior to his reformation. He willingly substitutes for the real thief because he can survive a life in jail and his young rustic friend would be spared a life of in-jail and out. Jean Francois has saved his young friend from a life like his. Shows how once labeled a criminal in the eyes of the law; one remains a criminal in the eyes of the law, for the rest of one’s life.
MAIN STORY
HE was scarcely ten years old when he was arrested for the first time for vagabondage. This is what he said to the judges:
“My name is Jean François Leturc, and for the last six months I’ve been with the man who sings between two lanterns on the Place de la Bastille, scraping on a bit of catgut. I say the chorus with him, and then I cry out, ‘Ask for the new song book, ten centimes, two sous!’ He was always drunk, and he beat me. That’s how the police found me the other night, in these ruined houses. Before that, I used to be with the man who sells brushes.
My mother was a washerwoman; her name is Adele. A gentleman had set her up on a ground floor, at Montmartre, long ago. She was a good worker and very fond of me. She made money because she had the custom of the café waiters, and they need lots of linen. Sundays, she put me to bed early to go to the ball; but weekdays, she sent me to the Brothers’ school, where I learned to read.
Well, at last the policeman whose beat was up our street used to stop before her window to talk to her, a big man, with the Crimean medal. They got married, and all went wrong. He took a dislike to me, and set mamma against me. Everybody had a slap for me; and it was then that to get away I spent my days on the Place Clichy,