THE BEST POLICY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2589, 5 June 1923, Page 4

THE BEST POLICY.

RAGPICKER’S BAD LUCK

This is a moral story of the retribution awaiting departures from the path of honesty. Some months ago, a woman rag-picker, Mine Berard, while pursuing her unsavoury task of sifting the contents of a garbage box in the Avenue des Ternes (says a Paris correspondent to a London paper) found a bundle of banknotes, representing so large a sum that she could not resign herself to taking the fortune, as in dutybound, to the nearest police station. Instead, she went home with the; notes and lay low. As nobody appeared to miss them, she and her partner, Louis Illinois, invested 5,000 francs in furniture. So far all was- 1 well,--but the fates had the weather eye, so to speak, on Mine Berard. The secret of her sudden prosperity was. known to her family and one fine day, her daughter, Andree, aged Id, left home to live her own life, taking 900 francs of the, treasure trove. She bought herself new clothes, silk stockings, and perfumery, and had a glorious time

for about four weeks. When funds ran out, she went to the police station and told the whole story. Questioned, the mother admitted finding the notes, and beeping them. As she has four children, without counting the promising Andree, she has been left at liberty for the time being, but Minois'is in custody. It is not yet known how the notes found their way into the garbage box.