He had left an aged mother behind him, who had long
been dependent on his exertions for support, and they had endeavoured
to express their feeling of his services, by offering to place her
beyond the reach of poverty; but, unaccountably enough, she was the only
person in St. Florent, who was dissatisfied with her son's career, and
angry with the town which had induced him to adopt it.
She still lived in a small cottage near the extremity of St. Florent,
which had been the residence of Cathelineau as long as he supported
himself by his humble calling. It was now wrecked and shattered, and
showed those certain signs of ruin which quickly fall on the dwellings
of the aged poor, who have no young relatives round them. Here she would
sit and spin, seldom now interrupted by any; though at first her
neighbours used to flock thither to celebrate the praises of her son.
She had loved her son, as warmly as other mothers love their children;
but she had loved him as a hard-working labourer, earning for herself
and for him their daily pittance; not as a mighty General, courted and
complimented by the rich and great of the land.
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