Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/253

Rh draught in Lake Gennesaret, and the finger marks of the apostle are on its back. Nevertheless it is not a lucky fish, possibly because "their net brake" and they "filled both the ships so that they began to sink." The French-Canadian fisherman and the fisherman from old France work side by side on the Banks of Newfoundland. There is a marked difference in their accent and intonation as well as in their physical appearance, three hundred years of existence in the New World having made the French Canadian swarthier and leaner than the man from Saint Malo. On the rocks of Cap à l'Aigle at St. Pierre-Miquelon there is a white statue of the Virgin, and as his vessel passes it the French Canadian is careful to salute the "old mother," but the fisherman from France ignores her. While the latter sings modern songs from the cafés of Paris, the former sticks to the songs his ancestors brought from France—Malbrough, Dans les prisons de Nantes, Sur le pont d'Avignon, Par derrièr' chez ma tante. En roulant ma boule, etc. Both believe that a sorcier can find the best fishing ground on the Banks, that a dog on board brings good luck, that it is bad luck to whistle, and so on. At home the French-Canadian fisherman occasionally sees the Wandering Jew striding along the beach in the direction of Labrador, which, by the way, was the heritage of Cain. To meet him face to face brings good luck if you happen to be returning from vespers, but not otherwise. There is an old ballad about him in which, "near the town of Bruxell's in Brabant," he accompanies two honest fellows into a tavern and over a pot de bière fraîche describes the events at Jerusalem that led to his being banished "to everywhere and nowhere without end":

 Sur le mont du Calvaire Jésus portait sa croix; Il me dit, débonnaire, Passant devant chez moi: Veux-toi bien, mon ami, Que je repose ici?"

But the Wandering Jew—Isaac Laquedemme by name, and by trade a shoemaker—was in bad humor that day, and replied ans raison:

 Ôtes-toi, criminelle, De devant ma maison; Avance et marche done Car tu me fais affront!"

Then came the terrible sentence:

 Jésus, la bonté même, Me dit en soupirant: