Chapter 352 February 16, 11833

The night of February 16-17, 1833 was the night of blessing.Above its shadow, the gate of heaven opened.It was the wedding night of Marius and Cosette. It's a joyous day. It wasn't the magical holiday my grandfather dreamed of, a fairyland with cherubs and Venus appearing above the heads of the newlyweds, not one that could be decorated over the door like in a wedding painting, but it was a time. A sweet and joyous wedding. The wedding ceremony in 1833 was not the same as it is today.France has not yet adopted England's incomparably delicate wives-robbing, slipping out of church, shyly hiding happiness, combining the behavior of the bankrupt with the ecstasy of the Song of Songs.Let your paradise jolt in a stagecoach, let the rattling interrupt your mysterious moods; choose a small hotel bed for a new one, and stay a lifetime in a common nightly dormitory The holiest remembrances, plus the acquaintance with the coachman and the inn-maid, how chaste, beautiful, and decency it was all that no one knew.

In this second half of the nineteenth century in which we live, the mayor and his shoulder girdle, the priest and his waistcoat, the law and God are no longer enough, the coachman of the Langjumot station must be added; Blue jacket, metal armbands with bell buttons, green leather trousers, cursed pair of Normandy ponytails, fake epaulettes, waxed hat, coarse powdered hair, very long whip and heavy boots .France has not imitated the elegant practice of the British aristocrats: throwing slippers and old shoes with worn heels on the stagecoach of the newlyweds like a hailstone, learning Churchill's example, later called Marlboro or Marlborough Luke, on his wedding day, his aunt's anger brought him blessings.Broken shoes and old slippers have not yet joined our wedding, don't worry, good customs continue to expand and will come soon.

In 1833, a hundred years ago, people held weddings in a leisurely way. At that time, it was really strange. Everyone thought that wedding was a private event, but it was also a social etiquette. A patriarchal wedding banquet did not detract from the grand atmosphere of the family ceremony. Extreme joyful emotions were allowed. As long as it was decent, this There is no detriment to happiness, and it is admirable good that the union of these two fates begins at home, that this union will produce a family, and that the new house will henceforth prove that they were born there. People are not ashamed to marry at home.

The wedding was therefore held at M. Gillenormand's house in the now outdated fashion. Although holding a wedding seems to be an ordinary and natural thing, it is a bit complicated to publish a notice, apply for a marriage certificate, go to the city hall and church, and it will not be ready before February 16. As it happens that the 16th falls on Tuesday, the last day of Carnival, we mention this detail only because we like to be exact.Everyone hesitated and hesitated, especially Aunt Gillenormand, who could not make up her mind. "The last day of Carnival!" exclaimed my grandfather, "there's nothing better than that, as the saying goes:

do not care!Decide on the 16th!Would you like to postpone it, you, Marius? " "Of course not!" replied the lover. "Get married," said the grandfather. So the wedding took place on the sixteenth, in spite of all the jubilation of the festival.It was raining that day, but the lover can always see the blue sky that takes care of happiness in a corner of the sky, and the rest of the world is under the umbrella, so he doesn't care. The day before, Jean Valjean had handed over the five hundred and eighty-four thousand francs to Marius in the presence of M. Gillenormand.

Marriage adopts a joint property system, so the marriage certificate is very simple. From then on, Jean Valjean no longer needs Toussaint, and Cosette keeps her and promotes her as a personal maid. Regarding Jean Valjean, in Gillenormand's house, a beautiful bedroom has been specially arranged for him, and Cosette also said "Father, I beg you", which made it difficult for him to refuse, she almost got him. The promise came to live here. A few days before the wedding, something happened to Jean Valjean, who crushed his right thumb a little, but nothing serious, and he did not want anyone, including Cosette, to worry about it, he did not want People bandaged or looked at his wounds, but had to wrap his hands in cloth and hang his arms in bandages, which prevented him from signing.Monsieur Gillenormand, who was Cosette's surrogate, took his place.

We don't take our readers to the city hall and church, because very few people come to these places with a couple of lovers. Just turned around and didn't look at it.We just want to mention one small incident that happened on the road from Rue Passione to St. Paul's Church, which was not noticed by those who attended the wedding. At the time, the northern end of Rue Saint-Louis was being renovated.No traffic from Yuhuayuan Street.Wedding vehicles cannot go directly to St. Paul's Church.The route had to be changed and the closest route was to go around the boulevard.One of the guests reminded that it was Mardi Gras and there would be a lot of traffic."Why?" asked Monsieur Gillenormand. "Because there was a masquerade." "It's wonderful," said the grandfather, "that's where the two young people are going to live when they get married. Take a look at the carnival masquerade and get ready."

They walked along the boulevard.In the first wedding carriage were Cosette and Aunt Gillenormand, Monsieur Gillenormand and Jean Valjean.According to the usual practice, Marius still separated from his fiancée and only took the second car.The wedding procession, having started from the Rue Passione, joined the long procession in two endless chains, one from the Madeleine to the Bastille, and the other from the Bastille to the Madeleine. The boulevards are full of people in masks.Despite the occasional rain, the jesters, clowns and fools were still on the move.During the blissful winter of 1833, Paris disguised itself as Venice.Today we don't see this carnival anymore.Now all phenomena are extended carnivals, so there is no more carnivals.

The streets were crowded with passers-by, and the windows were crowded with curious people.On the large terraces around the theater's colonnade, crowds of spectators along the sides.In addition to watching people in masquerade and masks, we also have to look at the carnival-like convoys like Longsan. Small cars, single-horse covered two-wheeled carts, they advance in order, according to the strict requirements of the police regulations, one after the other, as if driving on railroad tracks.Anyone in this team, he is both the audience and the performer.The police controlled the two parallel and opposite streams of vehicles on both sides of the boulevard, preventing any breakdown of the two river-like traffic flows, one going downstream and the other upstream, One goes to the Avenue d'Antin, and the other goes to the suburb of Saint-Antoine.The vehicles of the French nobles and ministers with badges can freely come and go in the middle of the road.Some wonderful and jovial convoys, especially fat ox cars, have this privilege.In the carnival of Paris, the Englishman waved his whip too, and Lord Simmel paraded through the city in a coach, which was nicknamed a low-class man.

The security police ran back and forth along the two convoys like dogs watching sheep. In the convoy were well-behaved private carriages, crowded with aunts and old grandmothers, and standing at the door were radiant figures. Children in costume, clowns of seven years old, clown girls of six years, lovely little people, who felt themselves formally participating in the public merriment, who felt the dignity of their burlesque characters, dignified, like officials. From time to time the convoy would get stuck somewhere, and one of the two trains on the side of the road would have to stop until the knot unraveled; one car in the way was enough to paralyze the whole train, and then move on.

The wedding procession was in procession towards the Bastille, along the right side of the boulevard.When we got near Cabbage Bridge Street, we stopped for a while.Almost at the same time, on the opposite side, the train going to the Madeleine Church stopped, and there was a car carrying a masked figure. Such vehicles, or rather, these vans full of masked people, are familiar to Parisians.If they don't appear in the middle of a carnival or Lent, people will think that something is wrong, and they will say: "There must be something in it, maybe the cabinet is going to be changed!" A lot of Cassander, Ah Legan, Columbina, high above the heads of pedestrians, bouncing in the car, all kinds of grotesque characters, from Turks to wild men, the strong man supporting the Marchioness, the foul language that can make Rabelais stop his ears In the same way, swearing shrews will make Aristophanes look down, linen wigs, pink undershirts, well-dressed hats, grimacing glasses, Jarno's kind The three-cornered hat that attracts butterflies, screaming strangely at passers-by, with two fists on the big hips, bold and presumptuous posture, bare shoulders, wearing a mask, is really extremely shameless; A coachman wearing a flower crown leads the tour, and this car is such a collective. Greece needs the carts of Tersbes, and France needs the cabs of Vadai. Everything can be parodied, even the imitated must be parodied.The Saturnalia, an imitation of ancient beauty, was later developed into a carnival due to continuous exaggeration and expansion.Dionysus, formerly Bacchus with vines on his head, bathed in the sun, revealing a wonderful half-naked body and marble breasts, today haggard, wearing the ragged wet clothes of the north, and finally turned into a carnival mask people. The tradition of disguised vehicles originated in the oldest dynasty. Louis XI once allocated the expenses for the judge in the palace to "twenty sous cast by the city of Tours as three disguised horse-drawn carriages for the street activities". The boisterous crowd was generally carried in an old-fashioned hansom, crowded on the roof, or the lively crowd was drawn by an open government hansom.A six-seater carriage carried twenty people.Some sit on the seat, some sit on the foldable extra seat, and some sit on the side of the hood and the shaft.They even rode on carriage lanterns.There are standing, lying, sitting, squatting, hanging legs, and women sit on men's laps.Far above the wriggling heads, a pyramid-like mass of madmen can be seen.These fully loaded vehicles, like a jubilant mountain in the noisy crowd, appeared Collet, Baner and Biron, and the atmosphere was further enhanced by their swearing, and they spewed a stream of profane words at the crowd.Due to the large number of people in the carriage, it looked extremely large, and it had a victorious look.There was a lot of noise in front, and there was chaos behind.People roared, hooted, yelled, raged in their cars, and leaned forward with joy; joy roared, sarcasm burst into flames, and light-heartedness ruled like a king.Two shriveled women staged a burlesque at the height of its plot, a triumphant car of laughter. This impudent smile is not a hearty smile, indeed it is suspicious.This laughter has a task, it is responsible for confirming to the Parisians that Carnival is coming. These obscene vehicles, with their inexplicable darkness, would make a philosopher ponder.Among them is that which belongs to those in power, from which the mysterious resemblance of officialdom and public prostitution is approached. A jigsaw of meanness and ugliness is made to lure the masses with obscenity and shamelessness; pro-prostitution sleuths are confronting people, and it amuses people, who love to see wagons go by with this heap of live monsters, gold-leafed Garmented, half dirty and half bright, these people scream and sing; the people applaud the triumph of the congregation of shame; if the police don't let the joyous water snake with twenty heads prowl the crowd, they don't think During the holidays, these facts are sad.But what can be done?Decorated with ribbons and flowers, these two-wheeled garbage trucks were insulted and forgiven by the laughter of the crowd.The laughter of the masses is complicit in the general depravity.There are unwholesome festivals that corrupt the people, and reduce them to mobs; and mobs and tyrants alike need jesters to amuse.Kings have Rocklore, and ordinary people have Bayas.When Paris isn't a great city, it's a crazy city.Carnival is part politics.We should admit that Paris is willing to let Shameless put on airs there.It made only one request of its master, if it had one: "Powrify this filth for me." Rome had the same temperament, and she loved Nero, the giant shipper. . We have just mentioned a large buggy, with a group of deformed masked men and women, parked on the left side of the avenue, and it so happened that the wedding procession was also parked on the right side of the avenue.From the other side of the avenue to this side, the masked man's vehicle saw the bride's carriage on the opposite side. "Hey!" said a masked man, "the people who attended the wedding." "False," said another, "we are real." The distance was too far to greet the wedding procession, and they were afraid of police interference, so the two masked men looked away. After a while, the whole masked car bustled, and the crowd began to boo them, a gesture of affection for the procession of masked men; They took on everyone together, and it took all the invective that the wet market was used to, and it was with that weapon that they barely responded to the verbal attacks of the crowd, and some terrible metaphors were exchanged between the masked man and the crowd. At this time, two other masked people in the same car, a Spaniard with a big nose and a big black beard, who looked old, and a thin scolding woman, who was still very young and wore a mask, also noticed the wedding car , while their partners and passers-by scolded each other, they were talking in whispers. Their whispers were drowned out by the din of voices, and the open car was soaked by the showers, and the February wind was not warm. The cursing topless woman trembled and coughed as she answered the Spaniard. Laugh again. Here's their conversation: "Hey!" "What? Father." "Did you see the old man?" "Which old man?" "There, in the first carriage of the wedding, next to us." "The one with the black tie on the arm?" "good." "how?" "I must know him." "what!" "If I didn't know this Parisian, I'd have my head cut off and I'd never said 'you', 'you', 'I' in my life." "Today Paris is just a puppet." "Can you bend down and see the bride?" "I can't see it." "Where's the groom?" "There is no groom in this car." "what!" "Unless it's the other old man." "You try to bend down a little more, so you can see the bride clearly." "I can't do it." "Anyway, this old man with something on his paw, I definitely recognize him." "What's the use of knowing him?" "I don't know. It might work!" "I'm not interested in old men." "I recognize him!" "Get to know him as you please." "Why the hell is he in the wedding procession?" "Then it's the same for us." "Where did this wedding car come from?" "Do I know?" "listen." "what?" "You should do something." "What's up?" "You get out of our car and follow this wedding car." "What are you doing?" "To know where it's going, whose car it is? Get down, run, my daughter, you're young." "I can't leave the car." "Why not?" "I was hired." "Ah, bad!" "I was a scold for the city government all day." "good." "If I leave the car, the first police scout who sees me will arrest me. You know that." "Yes, I know." "Today I was bought by the government." "Anyway, the old man annoys me." "The old man troubles you, and you're not a young girl." "He's in the first car." "So what?" "In the bridal car." "so what?" "So he is the father." "What does this have to do with me?" "I told you he was the father." "It's not just this father." "listen to me." "what?" "Me, I can only come out with a mask on. Here I am hidden, people don't know I am here. But tomorrow there will be no mask. Today Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. I am in danger of being arrested. I gotta get into my hole. And you're free." "Not very free." "Better than me." "what do you mean?" "You're going to try to find out where this wedding car is going?" "Where to go?" "right." "I know." "Where are you going?" "To Blue Clock Face Street." "First of all, not in this direction." "That's going to Labai District." "Maybe go elsewhere." "It's free. Those who attend the wedding are free." "It's not just that, I tell you to try to understand for me what the wedding is about, with the old man in it, and where the newlyweds live?" "Never! That's what's interesting. Is it easy to find a family whose wedding car is passing through Paris at the Carnival eight days later? A needle in a haystack! How can that be done?" "Anyway, try hard. Do you hear that, Azma?" The two trains moved in opposite directions on both sides of the avenue, and the wedding car gradually disappeared from the masked car's view.