The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-07-30

of them receiving . box on the cara
Baron de c., who had suffered this in
explicable insult, forthwith gummed on
his cheek piece of taffeta, the exact size
Of the palm of his hand He then polite
ly invited his adversary, the Chevalier de
r, to accompany him to the back oi
the Hotel des 1nvalides In consequence
of that meeting, the Chevalier was CON
fined to his bed for two months. The
Baron, on the other hand. before leaving
the ground, drew pair of scissors out Of
his pocket, and cut off q narrow strip all
around the piece Of taffeta. The Chcva-
lier had hardly recovered Of his wounds,
when Q valet came to him one morning
and said that 9 gentleman with q piece OF
tsffeta on his cheek was at the door, and
had declared that the Chevalier expected
him. "fes," replied Monsieur de T.,
"tell him will be with him in an in
stant." Again the two disappeared be-
hlnd the 1nva1ides, again the Chevalier
took to his bed, again the taffeta wa trim
med all round. This was repeated time
after time, until the taffeta was reduced to
small black speck. 81 have come to my
last scrap" said the Baron to the 0heva-
lier, "and you to tie end Of your troti-
bles." So saying. he ran him through
and killed him on the spot
The Regiment du Rni, in garrison at
Nancy, had acquired pre-eminently bad
reputation for dueling practices; and so
much had discipline suffered. that the Due
de Brissae wae commissioned 30 restore
order at any Cost. The day after assum
ing command of the regiment, the Duke
invited the officers to a grand dinner, and
when the servants had retired he address
ed them In courteous tone, With q pleas
ant smile upon his lips, and told them be
had no intention of interfering in their
meetings. He was one of those, he said,
who disliked the idea of rust collecting on
q sword. He, begged, therefore, they
wotild 10 on and amtise themselves as they
pleased; "only." continued he, "before
going out you will come to me and relate
what has passed, and l will tell you what
l think of It. After that you will be at
perfect liberty to lunge away at each
other, if such be your pleasure. Do you
agree to this, gentlemen"
"Yee, Colonel" exclaimed his guests
with one voice.
The Duke was the first to quit the table,
and hardly set foot in his own apartment
when he was informed that two young
captains wished 70 speak to him-the Wis
count Richard de r., and the Chevalier
Armand de T..
"What do you want with me, gentle
men?" inquired the Colonel
"Monsieur lie Due, we came simply to
inform you that We are going to fight one
another tomorrow morning"
"Indeed? Why I fancied you were
friends of very old date"
"You are quite right, Colonel; we are,
and always will be, united in the bonds Of
the closest affection"
"And yet you mean to fight one an
others"
Certainly, and with good cause, as you
shall judge for yourself" said the Cheva-
lier. II maintain that at Versailles one
may go to the court in roquelaure and
without powder, while Richard asserts
the contrary. We have agreed, therefore,
to settle the point elsewhere"
"The subject of dispute is a very serious
one, undoubtedly" the Duke gravely re-
marked.
The two young men exchanged glances.
at is evident" continued the Colonel,
that the Tofuelaufs is only worn in the
But when does the morning
end? Viscount R--maintains that the
cannot be worn without
breach of etiquette in the early part OF
the day. The Chevslier T. Gays that
It can. The insult is emphatic. Fight by
al means, but fight in earnest. A duel is
3 contemplate affair if nobody is killed.
And he dismissed them with q slight
movement of his hand.
On the morrow the Duke, perceivipg
the two captains at the head of their res
pective companies on parade, remarked
in an angry tone, "The affair did not come
of then, gentler1en?"
81 beg your pardon, Colonel" replied
the Chevalier "and the proof of it is the
superb thrust which received" pointing
to his arm in sling
"Hem! q scratchi and you stopped
there! You forgot that the point at issue
was most serious matter-a question of
etiquettei Come, gentlemen, you must set
to again, till one or two of you is left on
the ground"
The two captains fought second time,
and the Viscount received wound which
In the meanwhile several officers had de-
luouuSu pei uiSotOu W uSut, Uut WCIC uC
sired to wait until the two friends had
settled their little differences. One day the
Duke met the Viscount taking the air,
leaning on the Chevalier's arm.
"Ah, hal" he exclaimed. $50 you are
once more about sgaini That's right
Without further delay you will have the
goodness to begin agsin to morrow. And
this time let there be an end to it; I don't
like quarrels that drag on for such length
of time"
The poor young men concluded the af
fair very completely this time. They ran
each other through, and both fell dead
upon the spot The Due de Brissac then
called together the officers who had ap-
piled for permission to fight, and said to
them: "Now, gentlemen, you are at liber-
ty to bring your disputes to an issue; but
as cannot allow the service to be preju.
diced by these affairs, they must come off
one at time. And it must be understood
that each quarrel is carried out to con-
clusion similar to the one that has just
The officers withdrew without q word,
but they did not fight Dueling ceased,
and the regiment became one of the most
orderly and disciplined in the whole
French army