The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1857-04-08
me so much, and I love her SO dearly in


return I'
"She love you? You love her? 8.
Oh then I will tell you as my
heart is full and must be unburdoned,
and, however strange the sentiments
which animates me may appear to' you,
you will not ridiculc them, am sure.
Listen, then, for what you said just now
is very true; happy is he who, dying,
finds heart in which he can confde
Will you nesrs .ea to
me? You will not laugh AZ ules!!'s.=77'-z--
"I hear thee Pierre :.
The man who is about to die can only
excite commisseratiOn and sympathy.
"You must know then, that since l
can remember, there is only one person
whom I ever loved-my mother
But her have loved-with all
my energy, with all my soul. When a
child I read in her eyes the affection
which fondly reflected; I OWNED her
thoughts, she knew nine We we're all
in all to one another. have never had
either sweetheart or mistress; l have
never had any friends. Therefore
when I was called to serve my country,
L was seized with frantic despair, and de-
clared that even if violence we're restored
to they should not tear me alive from
her side. With one word, the holy and
courageous woman changed my resolves :;
Pierre, said she, you must depart; I
command you I knelt down and said
to her, Mother 1 will GO Pierre
she continued, thou hast been q good
sou, and I thank God for it but there
are other duties than those of sor.
which man has to fulfill Every .citi-
zen owes himself to his country; she
calls upon thee,--obey! Thou art go
ing to be a soldier from that moment
thy life is no longer thine own, is thy
country's. I her interests demand it,
do not hesitate to expose it. If it
should be Gods will that thou shouldst
die before me, l should mourn thee with
the bitterest anguish of my soul but I
should say-"Thc Lord gave and the
Lord hath taken away, blessed be the
name of the Lord.n OF have treas
ured up the words of this holy woman.
DO thy duty she said; "a soldiers du-
ty is to obey always and everey here ;
always and everywhere I have cbcyed.
Furthermore, it consists in encountering
peril, without hesitation, without refec-
ton > this also 1 have done. Those
who saw me thus needless of the ene-
my's fire said: There is brave fellow
With more reason might they have ex-
claimed, There is mar, who loves his
mother ~
"One day letter reached me, inform
ing me that the poor dear weman was
i'll. I wished to go to see her; I asked
for leave, it was refused remembered
her last words-'if thou lowest me, do
thy dutyp 1 did not murmur, Short
ly after, heard that she was dead :.
Oh then lost all command
over myself At all hazards, regardless
of all consequences, wished to return
home. Whence came this lively and
irresistible desire once again to behold
the spot where my mother had just
breathed her last? 1 will confess it to
you, and as you have a mother, as you
love her, as she loves you, you will un-
derstand me.
ave peasants of Morvan are simple
and credulous people; we have neither
the instruction nor the enlightenment
which they have in towns, but we have
our beliefs which the townpeople call
our superstitions. What signifies the
term? Be they superstitions or beliefs,
we have them and able, indeed, would
be he who could eradicate them from
our minds. You must know that one
of the beliefs which has the greatest
hold on US, is that which attributes to
the first flower which blows on grave.
virtue which bestows on him who
plucks it the certainty Of never forget
ting the dead, and of never being for
gotten by them. With such dear and
delightful belief, death bereft of its ter
rors; for death, without oblivion, is but
calm sleep, it is only repose after long
fatigue.
81 longed to see this flower spring
up, l longed to pluck it. l started off |
After ten days long and
painful march, 1 arrived at my mothers
grave. The earth seemed to have been
recently turned-no flower had sprung
up. waited six weeks, when, at the
dawn of beautiful day, little foweret
of an azure-blue expanded to my long
ing eyes. It was one of those flowers
to which townspeople give the name of
myosotis; and which we, in the country,
call Forget-me-net. In plucking it, |
shed tears of joy, for I believed it to be
the soul of my mother, who, feeling that
I was beside her grave, returned to me
in the form of this foweret.
"No ties retained me at home, for my
father had soon followed my mother to
the grave; and having plucked my pre-
cious flower, what could I want? re-
membered my mothers couusel-tDo
thy dutYl' I sought out the gendarmes,
and said-'I am deserter, arrest me J!