The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-08-21
From Peterson's Magazine.
The Legion Of Honor.
By JAMES n. DANA.

''And are you willing he should go!"
"Why not ?" answered the young wife,
enthusiastically. II should despise myself,
Adele, if I was not willing to give my hus-
band to my country. France needs all her
sons in this extremity. thank God have
Henri to offer on her altar"
Her sister shrugged her shoulders. "You
always were romantic. my DEAR" she said
"For my part, if had handsome husband,
q splendid estate in Normandy, hotel in
Paris, diamonds, cashmeres. servants. as you
have. should not be willing to risk them
80 lightly. Suppose Henri is killed. You
will be widow. and, for time at least, can
enjoy none of these things"
"Oh Adele, how can you talk sos Has
not the good father Lacoire been telling us,
ever since we were children, that the curse
Of modern times was its materialistic view OF
life . That to eat, drink, and be merry SEEM
ed to be the whole purpose of existence p
That luxury had corroded national virtue
That the days Of heroi<m had passed How
often has my heart swelled against these i'm
pntations, for will not believe that human
nature has sunk so lowl No, have often
told him, the d:viner parts of our race have
not all died out We are still capable, we
women. Of making sacrifices for our country:
and our husbands. fathers, brothers, sons,
still capable of dying fori it. I.could, myself,
If the occasion called for it. be, I hope, a
second Joan of Arc. l never loved Henri
half so well as since he came home, the other
day, and told me, that. in this crisis of fFran's
fate, he had determined to offer her his
sword, and, if necessary, his life. We can
die but once. What more glorious than to
die in a'hoIy er' And the young wife
looked sublime as she spoke it.
Natalie had been married but year or
two, Her beauty. accomplishments, and ami.
ability had won for her, at eighteen, the heart
Of the young Count de Tankerville, the great
est match of the season.. Passionately at
tached to each other, they spent the hours
continually together they read, they rode,
they did everything in company. The life
they led vas more like an idyl than like .
life in modern society and in Paris. In the
midst of this dream Of bliss came the news
Of the retreat from Moscow. All Europe
rose against France. The Emperor, beaten
back from Dresden to Leipsic, and from
Leipsic to the Rhine, was making last des.
psnte eH6ft 10 retrieve the fortunes of the
nation. 1t Was in this extremity that the
young count stepped forward. His father
had been constitutional royalist IN the last
days Of Loais XVI, and though the family
had never emigrated, it had never, on the
other hand, attached itselfto the fortunes ol
Napoleon. So long IS the great Emperor
pursued his career Of conquests, SO long the
Tankervilles held alooffrom him. But now,
when the question was not Napoleon, but
the nation. tho young count felt that the tune
had come when bis country demanded his
services. In view Of the Acknowledgement ol
France. what were lands, houses, life itself
"Save the nation r. was the cry that rose
to every patriotic lip. Wdmen brought their
JEWELS men bro, ght their lives. Foremost
amonx these were Henri and his wife.
%sWell," said Adele, Who had one efthose