ed-side. M.
Gasc explained the object of the visit, and read to

Jasmin the gracious letter of the Mayor of Toulouse, concluding as
follows:--

"I thank you, in the name of the city of Toulouse, for the fine poem
which you have dedicated to us. This branch of laurel will remind you
of the youthful and beautiful Muse which has inspired you with such
charming verses."

The Mayor of Agen here introduced Mademoiselle Gasc, who, in her turn,
said:--

"And I also, sir, am most happy and proud of the mission which has been
entrusted to me."

Then she presented him with the casket which contained the golden
laurel. Jasmin responded in the lines entitled 'Yesterday and To-day,'
from which the following words may be quoted:--

"Yesterday! Thanks, Toulouse, for our old language and for my poetry.
Your beautiful golden branch ennobles both. And you who offer it to me,
gracious messenger--queen of song and queen of hearts--tell your city of
my perfect happiness, and that I never anticipated such an honour even
in my most golden dreams.

"To-day! Fascinated by the laurel which Toulouse has sent me, and which
fills my heart with joy, I cannot forget, my dear young lady, the sorrow
which overwhelms me--the fatal illness of my mother--which makes me fear
that the most joyful day of my life will also be the most sorrowful."

Jasmin's alarms were justified. His prayers were of no avail. His mother
died with her hand in his shortly after the deputation had departed. Her
husband had preceded her to the tomb a few years before. He always had
a firm presentiment that he should be carried in the arm-chair to the
hospital, "where all the Jasmins die." But Jasmin did his best to save
his father from that indignity. He had already broken the arm-chair, and
the old tailor died peacefully in the arms of his son.

Some four months after the recitation of Franconnette at Toulouse,
Jasmin resumed his readings in the cause of charity. In October 1840 he
visited Oleron, and was received with the usual enthusiasm; and on his
return to Pau, he passed the obelisk erected to Despourrins, the Burns
of the Pyrenees. At Pau he recited his Franconnette to an immense
audience amidst frenzies of applause. It was alleged that the people
of the Pyrenean country were prosaic and indifferent to art. But M.
Dugenne, in the 'Memorial des Pyrenees,' said that it only wanted such
a bewitching poet as Jasmin--with his vibrating and magical voice--to
rouse them