18581022 11:36:19

18581022 11:36:19

HD-S-1180

"So have you made any plans for the founding anniversary yet?"
"This year? Nah. Well, nothing like last year at least. Last year was twenty. Twenty one's just one more. If anything I'll just be up at a few churches or something and maybe the hall to say a few words, I mean it's been a pretty good year overall so it wouldn't hurt to do it." After saying this, Daron's mind raced back to the farm. A generation ago was a blink. A generation ago, he would have been standing in the ocean where he now sat in his house.
"Fair enough. All these years and you still haven't quite acquired the taste for pageantry.' Frederic said this with a smiles as he came to realize that there were few if any residents yet in the town who would have had a flair for it.
"Oh, Freddy, one thing I wanted to make sure to discuss with you right away - it's about swords. Some folks I know are probably going to start using them pretty regularly. Are there any kind of books that you can think of about sword fighting? Like, real books, not stories."
"Daron, you amuse me. You realize that you're asking a French man if he knows anything about swordsmanship, do you not?"
"Yes, I do." Daron's response was flat and blunt and preceded a sigh. The words of condescension usually came several minutes into the conversation with Frederic, not immediately on the outset. He braced for the lecture. "Why does that mat-"
"Fencing is a deeply rooted sport within our culture, and has been for centuries. I do have to agree that the chivalry and sportsmanship behind fencing perfectly supplants our nature. There is an expansive amount of French literature on the subject, and I believe many books are supplied with illustrations which would facilitate the process of learning without the need for translation. In fact, in speaking of it now, I'm aware of a man who is a fine fencing instructor and hails from a storied lineage in respect of the art. His family and I lived in the same town years ago. Perhaps I can extend an offer to have him come here to instruct your pupils in the future. Hm. Would you be able to facilitate his living necessities for the duration as well as supply quarters for his living and training? It would be good to make the offer enticing."
"Uh yeah. That should be easy to do. How soon? Within a month?"
"Yes, at least. I'll be sending this home and demand a reply, and I would anticipate at least one more exchange before any kind of arrangement is settled. Come, let's go to your desk so that I may start writing this immediately."
The two men left from the front hosting room and proceeded to sit at the writing desk in a small room at the back of the house. Daron scratched a match to light a small candle at the top of the desk and set it alight to illuminate the area below. Frederic took up the feathered quill and spent fifteen minutes to carefully write the following:

Monsieur Charles Heathcote Angelo -

I entreat this letter to you as a fellow brother of our countrymen and as a former neighbor to you. Perhaps you may recall my parents as acquaintances. An opportunity has arisen from where I currently reside where there is a need to have a fencing instructor physically present, and I could not think of a person better suited to the task than yourself. This city is situated on the North American coast, but is independent of the surrounding country's domain. It is a newly developing city which has just recently added several square miles of open land which has yet to be tamed with structures of any kind. This means that it would be possible for you to freely state your demands for living and training quarters and have them fulfilled. The men you would be training, though not quite as lithe and diminutive in physical quality as persons like ourselves, would none the less be fully unadulterated to the sport of fencing and would be free to succumb to your direction. If it may aid to persuade and appeal to you, I can assure you that your status as fellow Frenchman in this city would be well respected and honored. Please do not hesitate to respond with any inquiry which you may immediately have in mind. I can assure you that these men are in need of rigorous training and I would like to see it happen by the time the frost departs for the year.

Your obedient servant,
Frederic Allange.

(note; 7 Charles Heathcote ANGELO b. 27.10.1834   d. 22.7.1918)