M. CAU

It appears as though the man who supervises our work at the archives, Mister Christian Cau, who is the Head Conservator of The Departmental Archives of Gironde (the French equivalent of the state of Gironde) and is also the President of the Military Academy of Toulouse, is an author of several books and is well known as a historian in France and as an expert on many subjects including the history of Toulouse, medieval times, and Napoleon.

Two weeks ago we happened to mention during a discussion with some people with whom we work at the archives that the head of our mission is in Toulouse. Earlier in that same discussion, Arnold had expressed an interest in French history, given the fact that we have French ancestry from the middle ages. The guys we work with said that Mr. Cau, their boss, had written books on the history of Toulouse. As a young man his father owned a book store in Toulouse where young Christian Cau loved to sit for hours on end and read these very old books, even some which one would consider antiques. So Arnold muttered in a low voice that he would love to read his writings.

Because it was a bit late in the afternoon the folks with whom we work asked how much longer we expected to work there that day. We answered probably another hour. Then they all disappeared from the room.

Half an hour later they all re-entered the room where we work with Mr. Cau carrying two large books under his arm. He approached us and held out these two beautiful books. Without realizing that they were gifts from him, Arnold thumbed through them admiring their quality.

He asked M. Cau how much we owed him. He gave us such a look we will never forget. Then Arnold opened them to their title pages and found where he had written dedications to us.
On the title page of the book, Les Capitouls de Toulouse he had written the following:
Pour Madame et Monsieur Miller, avec mes remerciements pour le travaille effectué… et la bonne humeur manifesté.
Christian Cau

(Translation)
For Mrs. and Mr. Miller, with my gratitude for the work accomplished… and the good humor they have manifested.
Christian Cau
On the other book with the title page as follows:
Christian Cau
Petite
Histoire
de
Toulouse

Mr. Cau had inserted the following:
Evidemment ce n’est pas Las Vegas, mais
Christian Cau est heureux de dédier
cette Petite
Histoire
de
Toulouse à Madame et Monsieur Miller
Christian Cau

(translation)
Obviously this is not Las Vegas but
Christian Cau is happy to dedicate
this Little
History
of
Toulouse to Mrs. and Mr. Miller
Christian Cau

These two books were in French. He later presented us with this book that was written in English.

The title page contains this dedication:
Avec l’espoir que ce livre fera oublier à Mme et M. Miller les conditions de travail aux Archives de la Gironde.
Bien cordialement
Christian Cau

Translation :
With the hope that this book will make Mrs. and Mr. Miller forget the conditions under which they had to work at the Archives de la Gironde.
Very cordially
Christian Cau

We completed almost all that they had intended for us to do at the archives in the first four and one half months but fortunately there is much more work to be done. We expect to be going to Paris for two or three months beginning around the 15th of September while they tear down one of the archive buildings. It isn't that old but when it was built back in the ‘80s they didn't realize that the ground was soft where it was built and it is SINKING into the ground. It separated itself from the adjacent newer building where we work, which shares a common wall, and began to tilt away from it. We'll be temporarily assigned to the France Paris Mission from the France Toulouse Mission and will work on all of the French Protestant Church parish records. Then we'll return to our nice little apartment here in Bordeaux.

Life is good here in Bordeaux and the church is wonderful. The ward where we live is small but the members all seem to love each other immensely. We've seen 4 convert baptisms since we've been here and expect more in the near future. The Elders and Sisters work so hard and conscientiously and are so well prepared. We have a marvelous Mission President who obviously cares about each one of us and knows the gospel extremely well. He's a doctor as well, which is a big plus where us old fogey senior missionaries are concerned.