The Democratic press. (Eaton, Preble County, Ohio) 1860-1865, 1862-09-04
,eg [FrPm Harper's Moathk.l., I,s,
GlotII0t altN t6e GGutrubaae.
o' A Tall Of the Present War

'~'''"' WV ~ n Ns1s WA ssssss'sNt
% A Tai: Of the Present War
CLoTMbk at the piano played
lingering chords slow strains of
Oratorios, or convent chorals and
chants, humming softly meanwhile
accompanying words in purely-ut-
tered French. Without the night
was dark and gloomy. Rain pat
tered, thunder muttered, and light
ming flashed its fiery lances athwart
the dense sky. Within all was
radiance. Splendors of silk and
damask, treasures of art and taste,
illumined by the rosy flames which
streamed abroad from the tinted
shades Of the chandelier. A scene
of luxury, and Clotilde playing at
the piano--Clotilde, young girl
of French birth and parentage,
whose face brings to mind the por.
traits Of the lovely but ill-fated
Madame Roland, and a lineage that
claims the blood of Dessaix and
the Viosmenel. But Clotilde has
republican heritage as well. Her
father, who died only last year,
adopted America into his heart
many years before, when he fed
from France in consequence of a
duel with one nearly allied to the
throne. In time he thought to
return. He never returned. In
America he found free scope to
express his republican ideas and
freedom to live them out. Settling
in New Orleans, not even the royal
pardon of Louis Philippe, and al.
most q hint that his return would
be welcome, had power to move
him. lam tired ofkings, he said
and tU-siIe day of his death he oc
cupied himself in writing and some
times publishing, sharp satires up
on their form Of government.
With such a precedent it is moi
strange that the daughter should
go further still. Young, ardent
enthusiastic, and moreover French
the name of freedom became tc
her in time fraught with wide
meaning. AT twenty, then, We
find her an orphan, and sole pos.
SCISSOR of an ample fortune-a dan.
gerous position, truly, but there
were events closing about her path
more dangerous than these.
Yet on this night of May she sits
there playing in a dream of other
days--her childhood's days; and
her thoughts are as unconscious OF
peril as in those early years when
her father gave her her first ideas
of republicanism and her mother
related to her fascinating tales OF
the past, and inspired her with an
enthusiasm almost equal to her own
for the hero of Elba and st. Hele-
na, under whom her ancestor, Des-
saix, had won honor, and renown.
All the late traditions Of her
mothers family turned upon SIMON
Empereur;" and the "conqueror''
was never more fondly eulogized,
nor his c,uellc capticite more indig-
nantly deplored, than in those sto-
ries which theyoung French moth
er told her child. Clearly had
Clotilde treasured them in her
memory-splendid stories of daring
and yalor, that lit the flame of pa
triotic ardor to burn on unquench-
ed through a lifetime. But sitting
at the piano there, playing that
old music of her dead mothers,
YOU see nothing of this. Only a
| fair girl, with o calm face yelled
with pensiveness, which accords
well with the Church eanticles and
convent ehorals. r,l,. .,
Suddenly new sound breaks in
upon the evening murmurs of the
street. Tramp, tramp, tramp!
heavily they file by on the pave
ment below, a body of men newly
organized to protect Southern
rights" ........,.,......
Tramp, tramp, tramp! The face
at the piano drops its cloistered
veil, and there dawns upon it the
blending of heroism and resolve
that marks the face of Madame
Roland.
She starts from her seat. She
goes to the window and leans out,