Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1899 — KINGDOM of BEGGARS. [ARTICLE]

KINGDOM of BEGGARS.

Unique Mendicant Mon ircby Omrr Eetobliabed in France. In France a veritable beggar kingdom sprang into existence. It elective monarchy, and it* rogue of a king swelled his exchequer by levying taxes on his disreputable subjects. His able lieutenants, known as cagoax, collected revenues in distant parts of the domain, and enforced the penalties for non-payment of tribute, adding to these duties the task of instructing youthful mendicants on all tbe subtleties of their art. Directly beneath rhe cagoux ia rank was another class of officials, composed of decayed priests and students, whose smattering of learning save them some standing even among beggars. These were the archisuppots, tbe mendicants’ counselors-at-law, who taught recruits the beggar tongue. Argot. The rank and file of tbe beggars were divided into distinct classes, each following some particular form of mendicity. to which strict attention was demanded. One had to be a specialist, and stick to his own line of business; the general practitioner was accorded no recognition. The subjects of tbe King of Argot kept no chronicles; consequently our knowledge of the beggar dynasty is somewhat limited. Three kings, however, managed to make names for themselves in history—RagoL a Solon in rags, who founded the monarchy and drew up a system of laws for its government; Anacreon, who. wrapped In a mantle of a thousand pieces, collected alms while riding an ass through the streets of Paris, and a monarch who is known to us as the King of Tunis. The latter reigned for three years only, and was broken on the wheel at Bordeaux because his ideas of personal liberty differed from those of the French Government, whose millions happened to be stronger than his own. At stated periods the French beggars held a general parliament at Sainte Anne d'Auray, in Brittany, where means were discussed for the advancement of mendicity in all its branches. What a gathering it must have been! What a fantastic, nightmare-like assemblage of rags and tatters!—Lippincott’s.