The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-07-25
ASHLAND, ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. WEDNESDAY, NOR

that it was not worth forty frances or. forty
sous, or forty centimes to any one, that he Bill
boquet, would do much better to invest his
money in horse-hair, if he really wanted any
thing of the kind, that he, the Jew would
gladly undertake such Commission, and so
on. ~
I IS But it was all in vain. Bilboquet was de-
termined to have his forty francs worth of
black beard. Some French soldiers had been
attracted to the Jews shop, by the high
words that had passed between the latter and
Bilboquet, and having ascertained what the
quarrel was about came to the conclusion that
the drummer-boy' notion was both humorous
and original, and called upon this Hebrew. to
surrender his chin at discretion.
Fortunately for xfhe szlsT, enc of the soleidrs
who were present,S happened - be the barber
of the rcgiraentZWe say, fortunately, because
in the absence of razor, there can be NO
doubt whatever, but that he would have been
shaved with a sabre However, the beard was
taken of; more or less according to art, and
given to Bilboquet, who folded it up carefully
in piece of paper, and slowed it away in his
pocket.
When Bilboquet's regained his quarters he
got the regiment tailor to sew the Jews beard,
or Bilboquet's beard, as it cow had become, to
a strip of parchment out from an old drum, ,
and then, without giving any explanation of
his design, put it at the very bottom of his
knapsack. His comrades bothered him about
the matter for few days, but then the regi-
ment started eastward, and after the battle of
Borodino, and the taking of Moscow, such in
cidents as Biiboquet's adventures with the
Jew of Smolensk, natralfy escaped recollection.
Then came the horrors Of the retreat-cold,
Cossacks, and famine. Napoleon's army was
decimated in the worst sense; that is to say,
every tenth man was spared, while the nine
others fell victims to the Cossack's lances,
hunger, or to the Russian snow. The ninth
regiment formed part of the rear guard, which
fought so magnifcently under the leadership
and auspices of Ney. Little Bilboquet was
among the most fortunate, for he was neither
wounded nor frostbitten.
A few days after the terrible passage of the
Beresine, the troops had to cross small river,
over which the engineers had already thrown
bridge. Bilboquet's brigade, which formed
the extreme rear, had passed over in safety,
and the great point now was, to prevent the
Russians from following. The general order
ed the sappers to blow up the bridge, but the
explosion was attended with only partial sue:
cess. One half of the bridge was connected
with the other by means of single BEAM II
this beam could be cut in two, the whole
structure would fall into the water Otherwise
the enemy would have no difficulty in repair.
ing the bridge, and their pursuit would not be
delayed for more than an hour at most. Some
sappers were directed to get on raft, and en-.
deavor to destroy the bridge altogether, but
| the Russians arrived on the opposite bank Of
the river before the order could be obeyed, and
opened murderous fire which seemed to rem.
der its execution quite impossible. The French
returned the fire and the army was about tc
move on, when suddenly, a soldier with q
hatchet on his shoulder, plunged into the river
dived and come up half minute afterwards
at a short distance from the beam, which il
was desired to sever. By his long beard, ii
was easy to see that this was sapper who was
so nobly sacrificing himself for the sake of hi.
comrades. The brave man swan vigorously
| towards the important point, and continued
his course through shower of bullets, which
| caused the water to boil all around him, unit
at last he reached the center pile, and climb
ing up to it, got on the bridge. The bean
1 was not so large as it appeared from the shore
and it was already half divided. With one
blow the soldier cut it in two, when the bridge
and himself with it, fell into the water with
tremendous crash.
The Russians, in their astonishment, ceased
firing for a moment, but the Frenchman soor
rose to the surface and was then again saluted
with storm of shot. Now, hundred poles
| Herc 6AeSuucO W Tic udTluS Sdpper, anu GHt
general himself, among the most enthusi
astic applauders of his gallant exploit.
Suddenly the general gave start.
"What is that?' he exclaimed
| He might well be astonished, for the sup
posed snpper who had destroyed the bridge
was no other than young Bilboquet, the drum
mer, with his celebrated black beard tied un
der his chin.
"What in the name of heaven does thi,
mean ?" inquired the general scarcely credit
ing his eyes.
'"It is only me, said Bilboquet, the drum
mer boy, that you said you'd give the cross to
when he had hair on his chin. I've beard
now, general, and capital one, tool gave
your forty francs for it, and 1 think it ough
to be good" ~ = hs
The general was fairly stupifed by the
youngsters courage, and scarcely less so by
his originality and humor. He took Bilbo
quet by the hand, and without a moments de
lay, gave him the cross he had been wearing
on his own breast.
From this moment, even the veterans Of
the regiment treated Bilboquet with respect
and, the drum major never struck him any
more with his long cane. as,<
! 4,aar s.r-