The grandmother was frail in health, but a great favorite among the
children, for whom she had an endless fund of stories, songs, and
hymns. Aunt Lisette, an unmarried daughter, who long lived to
maintain the hospitality of the old Cudrefin house and to be
beloved as the kindest of maiden aunts by two or three generations
of nephews and nieces, was the domestic providence of these family
gatherings, where the praises of her excellent dishes were annually
sung. The roof was elastic; there was no question about numbers,
for all came who could; the more, the merrier, with no diminution
of good cheer.

The Sunday after Easter was the great popular fete. Then every
house was busy coloring Easter eggs and making fritters. The young
girls and the lads of the village, the former in their prettiest
dresses and the latter with enormous bouquets of artificial flowers
in their hats, went together to church in the morning. In the
afternoon the traditional match between two runners, chosen from
the village youths, took place. They were dressed in white, and
adorned with bright ribbons. With music before them, and followed
by all the young people, they went in procession to the place where
a quantity of Easter eggs had been distributed upon the ground. At
a signal the runners separated, the one to pick up the eggs
according to a prescribed course, the other to run to the next
village and back again. The victory was to the one who accomplished
his task first, and he was proclaimed king of the feast. Hand in
hand the runners, followed as before by all their companions,
returned to join in the dance now to take place before the house of
Dr. Mayor. After a time the festivities were interrupted by a
little address in patois from the first musician, who concluded by
announcing from his platform a special dance in honor of the family