Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1861-09-12
THE LEGION OF HONOR.
And you are willing he shculd 90 2
BY JAMES II. DANA.

And you are willing he should go?'
Why not g answered the young wife. enthu-
siastcaily. 4 should despise myself, Adele, if
was not willing to give my husband to my
country. France needs all her sons in this ex
tremity. thank God l have Henri to offer on
her altar
Her sister shrugged her shoulders You al.
ways were romantic. my DEAR she said. For
my part, if had handsome 'sband splen-
did estate in Normandy, a hotel in Paris, dia'
moudS cushmercs, rquipuges. servants, as yon
have, should no, he willing to risk them so
lightly. Suppose Henri is killed. You will be
widow. aud. for time at least. can enjoy
none OF these things
oh! Adele, how can you talk SO? Has not
the good father I.acore been telling us, ever
since we were children, that the curse Of mod
crn times was it, maerialistic view Of life 3
That to eat. drink. and he merry seemed to be
the whole purpo c Of existence ? That luxury
had corIoded national virtue? That the days
Of bcr o>m had passed How often has my
heart sweIled against these ,mpu,aions, for |
will not believe that human nature has sunk so
low No, have often tnld him the dvuer parts
Of our race have not all died out. We are still
capable, we woman Of making sacrifices for our
country; and our husbands, fathers, bro hers,
sons, are still capable of dying Cor it. could,
myself it the occasion allied for it. he. hope n
serond JOAN of Arc. | never loved Henri half
so well as since he came home, the other day,
and lold me. that in this crisis OF Frances late.
he bad determined to offer her his sword. and.
if necessary, his ifr We can die but once
What more gIorions than to die in holy causen
Aud The young wife looked sublime us she spoke
II.
Natalie bad been married but year or two
Her beauty, accomplishments, and amiabiliy
had won for her, NJ eighteen, the heart of the
young Count de Tankerve the greatest match
Of the season. Passionately attached to each
other they spent the hours continually together !;
they read, they rode, they drd everything in
onpany. The life they led was more like an
ideal than like lite in modern society and in
Paris In the midst ue this dream Of bliss came
the newsp Of the retreat from Moscow All Europe
rose against France. The E,"reror, beaten
lack from Dresden to Leipsic, and from Lei psi;
to the Rhine, was making last desperate effort
to retrieve the fortunes Of the nation 1t was
in this extremity that the young count stepped
forward. His father had been a constitutional
royast in the las, days of Louis XVI, and
though the family had never emigraed, it had
never, on the other hand attached itself to the
fortunes of Napoleon. So long as the great
Emperor pursued his career OF conquest, so long
the Taukervlcs held aloof from him. But now.
when the question was not Napoleon. but the
nation the young count felt that the time had
come when his country demanded his services.
In view Of The dismemberment Of France, what
we're lands, houses, life itself? Save the Da,ion!'
was the cry that rose 10 every patriotic lip
Women brought their jewels, men brought their
lives. Foremost among these we're Henri and
his wife.
We'll, said Adele. who had one Of those cold
selfish natures, that could not understand how
anybody could do anything noblc or heroic, i
THU you and your husband are mad. But 60
your own ways
i wish you were mad in the same way. We
are mad as Leonidas was mad. as Tell was mad,
ae Bruce Nos mad, as every othor hero Tas ms I'd