The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1866-10-31
MISCELLANY.
Prussians -Foraging in Bohemia.

we of the Reserve Artillery we're spec
tally fortunate in the matter of housing
during the recent war. To .ay the truth,
we saw nothing of the war; and on that
account may be made the snhjrct of bitter
Jokes when we finally return to Prussia /;
but il must he remembered that MS we
wentsouh we did not know that we should
wholly miss the Austrars, and had quite
a. much need of courage as those who
were more fortunate in having been order
ed south at an earlier date. it is not in
face of battle tha; man most needs
courage; it is when he is marching down
into an unknown country with a possibil-
ity of being attacked nawarcs at any
hour of the day or night. So, when |
say that we marched down unmocsted
from Saxony. through Bohemia, Or FRA
que, let nobody say the journey was a com
Portable one. But we had our little pleas
urcs and adventures on the way; and
it il one of these escapadcs | am going 10
relate
Our force was small, but 50 were the
villages, and the difficulty of discovering
food. even when armed with the written
acquisitions, was sometimes very great.
An order signed by King William himself
can't take COW from Il man who hasn't
one We of the artillery, howeScr, bad
the first choicef o pro,i-iu us well rs of
housing; AID even as during the whole
journey we had not to camp out single
nghl-hear it ye unwilling heroes Of the
rainy nights of iIurz IL SO we managed
somehow or other TO require, cxtort, or
steal at all times what was wanted. Yes.
we dill steal occasionally. An army must
live. and if the people hide their provis-
ions, the soldiers must break op9n the
store lucscs of such valuable and necces-
sary treasures. We did steal though
Mr.. Won Czelik, whom the Austrian
Government dcputed to inquire into our
conduct. SAYS we didn't. Perhaps if Mr..
Won Czcdik had been in our posii n,
he woul have stolen also, member of the
| Lower Austrian Diet as he IS.
We arrived in the little village of T.
]
nation ha> ing previously been sent to tho
] hurgoma-tcI to make preparations f r Us.
/ THESE were good 50 far ~ they went
/ We dragged our cannon into Il co. n field
I pnt up the horses in the shed and fed
/ them; th"n having left our helmets and
what not in the miserable little dwelling:
that were to he Jur hedruomS for the
night, we found ourselves without beer
! There WAS neither wine nor beer in tn,
place. Bread, rice, coffee and a smal
means If our rcquistion tickets; but bee'
wholly unattalnable. Then it was that
four of us arranged little scheme.
On our way to l. we had passed {
small church, with the priests house i'm
mediatcly outside the wall After mucl
deliberation We came to The conclusion
that THIS priest must Of necessity have
wine in the house
And it is mon-trous," said our Cor
pornl llriic, "that AN Austrian prizes
should have wine, when four Prus-iaI
soliirr> cannot get beer"
/" But the burgomnster won't give us
ticket T. require wine from the priest,
said Zucho.
Our brave corporal only smiled smll
Of contempt
"Who needs to study the caprice Of
Bohemian burgomastcr :" he said "le
us ourselves require the priests wine.
:" | shan't put my soul in peril by steal
ing from priest" said Schwnrizcnstcrn
who was always particular about thcs
things.
But it is from a Catholic priest,
sand the corporal
"Ah, that is another thing" sal
Schwarzenstcrn.
so it WIS settled that we should max
up little party in order at least to tc,
the capacity of the good priests cellar
You see, we could not 60 boldly up an
demand the wine, for even clergyma
would see the imposition; so we had I
lay our plans warily.
First, IIeiie, who i. an exce.ler
writer and keeps the books of our con
pany, wrote out an order authorizing III
bearer to receive 'tcn bottles of wr
for the officers of the 3rd Company, 2u
battalion of his Majesty the King
PrIssia's royal regiment called Prin,
Alexander's Regiment IA company III;
. might at moment have been buried {
| in Vienna for aught we knew
Secondly, Ileide dressed himself
4 parade dress; while. to make Il
, contrast more striking, we kept on OF
: caps, left our swords in our lodgings, an
9 turned mp the bottom of our trouser
d ileide looked quite field marshal con
; pared with us; and so it was we set ou
n 'Where are you goingi 7" asked OF
= companions as we passed.
a Going TO kiss the burgomastel
daughter said we, thar being cure
joke of the time
We soon perceived in a gathering du
that little white church, with the adj
I cent house.
''Suprose The priest had some of Il
wounded from Manchengraiz," sa
y SchwarIzen,lern, VIII" was alwaysSais
e these objections; ''could we take I
N wine then T.
Who has the most right to the wine