By her will, dated 6th of December, 1870, a lady of Puteaux, Madame Jeanne Cartault, bequeathed to that parish the sum of fifteen thousand francs, the interest of which was to be employed every year in providing a marriage portion for the most deserving among the poor working girls, and was to be called the Cartault foundation. The gift only to be made over to the recipient on her marriage, and the administrator to pay the amount only on the wedding-day, and in presence of the registrar. The marriage to take place on or about the 17th of January, being the wedding-day of Madame Cartault.
A clause in the will provides that the firstborn of this marriage shall, if a boy, take the name of Edmond—that of M. Cartault, and, if a girl, that of Jeanne—being the name of the testatrix.
According to these directions, on the 29th of January, 1874, took place the crowning of the first Rosière of Puteaux, in conformity with the prescriptions of the will, and with it the donation of the amount of one year’s interest on the sum bequeathed—seven hundred and fifty francs.
The choice had fallen on a young woman of twenty-four, Mademoiselle Eugénie Bouillaud. Her qualifications justified the selection. She was an orphan, and from the time she was ten years of age had worked for the support of her grandparents, who lived in extreme poverty. Her mother died when she was born, and her father was killed in trying to rescue a fellow-workman from a well into which he had fallen.
The ceremony was rendered picturesque by the arrangements made to honor the occasion, but for some reason every demonstration of a religious nature was excluded. An immense tent had been erected near the mayor’s house, decorated with flags and banners. The proceedings were opened with a piece of orchestral music, admirably executed by the Orpheonic band of the town. The mayor made a neat and appropriate speech, after which M. Laboulaye addressed the Rosière and the assembled spectators.
The concluding incident of the ceremony was the crowning of the young girl, whose quiet, modest demeanor well became her pale but interesting face. Her name was then inscribed on the virgin page of the Livre d’or des Rosières de Puteaux, and her autograph signature was written beneath it with a somewhat trembling hand.
To Promote Brotherly Love
Robert Halliday, of Eastcheap, London, by his will, dated 6th of May, 1491, gave estates in the parish of St. Leonard, Eastcheap, the rents to be applied to various purposes, and, amongst others, 5s. to the churchwardens yearly, either to make an entertainment among such persons of his home parish of St. Clement, who should be at variance with each other, in the week preceding Easter, to induce such persons to better neighborhood, and to beget brotherly love amongst them; or if none should be found in the said parish, then to make an entertainment with the said 5s. at the tavern amongst the honest parishioners of the said parish on the day of our Lord’s Supper, commonly called Shere Thursday, that they may pray more fervently for the souls of certain persons named in his will.
Drinking
Edward Cooper, of Slinfold, Sussex, England, by his will, dated 10th of February, 1621, gave 20s. a year out of lands called Whitbers, in Slinfold, 15s. thereof to be bestowed by the churchwardens and overseers upon a drinking, for the use of the poor of the parish yearly, at the feast day of the Purification of the Virgin, in as good sort as they could, and the other 5s. to drink withal themselves, for their labor and pains therein.