Read Online Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers - Free Book Online
Authors: Suzanne Desrochers
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deciphering the handwriting and can’t understand all the words the writers use. Most of them are about the prices of supplies for the workshop. But there was one letter written by a man named Jean-Baptiste Colbert, one of the King’s ministers, that complained to the Superior about the quality of the girls’ needlework.
Laure was angry when she first read the words of this man. But now she will use his very complaints to address her concerns to the King. Laure will explain why the embroidery and lace of the hospital basement cannot compete with the work of other women in the kingdom. Madame du Clos has told Laure that there are thousands of women living in the Salpêtrière,and more entering each day. Maybe the King doesn’t realize how thinly the food and water rations are stretched across the population. Laure knows there is no use complaining to the Superior. She will only talk about the girls’ moral character and say that they should pray more.
Laure works on the letter to the King for two weeks. When the bells signalling the end of the workday ring throughout the hospital, she hurries to the back room of the workshop and writes one or two careful sentences that she has been rehearsing in her head all day. Then she makes her way back alone through the dark basement hallway, feeling the cold wall as she goes and listening for the sound of the other girls up ahead. She hurries up the two long flights of stairs, past the babies of the crèche , to the Sainte-Claire dormitory in time to catch up with the others for the evening meal.
When the letter is finished, Madame du Clos promises to seal it with her red wax and stamp. But Laure first wants to read what she has written to Madeleine. Laure hasn’t told Madeleine about the letter. She wants to surprise her now that it is finished. Madeleine is kneeling at her cot when Laure rushes into the dormitory with the completed letter tucked under her sleeve. Since Mireille’s death, Madeleine has been receiving special privileges of her own from Madame Gage. The governess has granted her permission to pray in the quiet of the dormitory while the other girls wait in the adjoining room for the arrival of the dinner cauldron.
“I’ve written a letter. To the King,” Laure whispers. “I’ll read it to you.”
Madeleine turns to Laure, her eyes glazed. “To the King?”
“I think once he reads it, once he realizes our state, we will start eating food like the dinners I saw at Madame d’Aulnay’s place. Pheasants and partridges, candied fruits, wine.” Laure can still smell these dishes three years later as if she had just taken them heavy from the oven.
Madeleine crosses herself and kisses her fingers. She gets up from her knees and turns to sit on the floor beside Laure with her back against the cot. She listens as Laure reads the letter in a whisper, after first showing her the look of the black lines on the thick paper of Madame du Clos’ account book.
March 1669, from the Salpêtrière, the Women’s
Division of the Hôpital Général de Paris
Mes salutations le Grand Roi ,
This humble letter comes to Your Majesty from a girl enclosed in the Salpêtrière, the women’s division of the General Hospital. I am living here, with all sorts of cripples, sick, and madwomen, some of whom are violent and disorderly as well. I thought it was my duty to inform you of the true conditions of the hospital. I hope you will accept what I have to say despite my lowly birth and humble stature .
I should first tell you how, at seventeen years old, I still find myself here. I lived for several years with Madame d’Aulnay of rue de la Chapelle. There I was taught to prepare lavish dinners, to sew, and to read. My former mistress was a widow and childless and very kind. In her home, I was treated almost like a daughter. This was after first having spent several years in the Petit Enfant-Jésus dormitory of the Salpêtrière. But Madame d’Aulnay, who was an old woman,
Laure was angry when she first read the words of this man. But now she will use his very complaints to address her concerns to the King. Laure will explain why the embroidery and lace of the hospital basement cannot compete with the work of other women in the kingdom. Madame du Clos has told Laure that there are thousands of women living in the Salpêtrière,and more entering each day. Maybe the King doesn’t realize how thinly the food and water rations are stretched across the population. Laure knows there is no use complaining to the Superior. She will only talk about the girls’ moral character and say that they should pray more.
Laure works on the letter to the King for two weeks. When the bells signalling the end of the workday ring throughout the hospital, she hurries to the back room of the workshop and writes one or two careful sentences that she has been rehearsing in her head all day. Then she makes her way back alone through the dark basement hallway, feeling the cold wall as she goes and listening for the sound of the other girls up ahead. She hurries up the two long flights of stairs, past the babies of the crèche , to the Sainte-Claire dormitory in time to catch up with the others for the evening meal.
When the letter is finished, Madame du Clos promises to seal it with her red wax and stamp. But Laure first wants to read what she has written to Madeleine. Laure hasn’t told Madeleine about the letter. She wants to surprise her now that it is finished. Madeleine is kneeling at her cot when Laure rushes into the dormitory with the completed letter tucked under her sleeve. Since Mireille’s death, Madeleine has been receiving special privileges of her own from Madame Gage. The governess has granted her permission to pray in the quiet of the dormitory while the other girls wait in the adjoining room for the arrival of the dinner cauldron.
“I’ve written a letter. To the King,” Laure whispers. “I’ll read it to you.”
Madeleine turns to Laure, her eyes glazed. “To the King?”
“I think once he reads it, once he realizes our state, we will start eating food like the dinners I saw at Madame d’Aulnay’s place. Pheasants and partridges, candied fruits, wine.” Laure can still smell these dishes three years later as if she had just taken them heavy from the oven.
Madeleine crosses herself and kisses her fingers. She gets up from her knees and turns to sit on the floor beside Laure with her back against the cot. She listens as Laure reads the letter in a whisper, after first showing her the look of the black lines on the thick paper of Madame du Clos’ account book.
March 1669, from the Salpêtrière, the Women’s
Division of the Hôpital Général de Paris
Mes salutations le Grand Roi ,
This humble letter comes to Your Majesty from a girl enclosed in the Salpêtrière, the women’s division of the General Hospital. I am living here, with all sorts of cripples, sick, and madwomen, some of whom are violent and disorderly as well. I thought it was my duty to inform you of the true conditions of the hospital. I hope you will accept what I have to say despite my lowly birth and humble stature .
I should first tell you how, at seventeen years old, I still find myself here. I lived for several years with Madame d’Aulnay of rue de la Chapelle. There I was taught to prepare lavish dinners, to sew, and to read. My former mistress was a widow and childless and very kind. In her home, I was treated almost like a daughter. This was after first having spent several years in the Petit Enfant-Jésus dormitory of the Salpêtrière. But Madame d’Aulnay, who was an old woman,
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