#1118 – Dick Bernard: A Thought at Easter. Le Don du Sourire (The Gift of a Smile)

Recently I have been reviewing the index of 22 years, 1980-2002, of the newsletters Chez Nous and Nouvelles Villes Jumelles. These 145 “kitchen table” publications were for those of French-Canadian and French heritage, and affection, primarily in the upper midwest of the United States.
In the midst of the project, at page 651, I found the below, submitted by Stephanie Wolkin in summer, 1996, and reprinted in the Septembre-Octobre, 1996, issue of Chez Nous:
(click on image to enlarge)

from Chez Nous, Septembre-Octobre, 1996, page two.

from Chez Nous, Septembre-Octobre, 1996, page two.


(Here is the same thought in printable pdf form: The Gift of a Smile002)
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(For those curious about the other near-1000 pages of Chez Nous and Nouvelles Villes Jumelles: go here, click Library tab, click Chez Nous, click second link and note first paragraph.)
These were, remember, “kitchen table” newsletters, put together by a succession of volunteers over 22 years. For the last 16 years, I edited or co-edited Chez Nous.
These modest publication were, in aggregate, a chronicle of hundreds of years of relationships between the French and North America, as conveyed by ordinary people through their own stories….
Have a very good Easter, wherever you may be.