The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-04-01

Some are starving, some are filling
Some are lazy, and some are willing,
Some are frowsy, and others are curled-
1t takes all kinds, sir, to make world.
Z TTottery-tTottery--o of breath
/ I She trots the baby 'most to death
7 Sick or we'll, or cold on hot, lFa L F.
It's tfotterty, trotterty, trotteriy-trot!
The Bastile
+ If you have heard much about tn,
Bastile, dear children, YOU " ill be glat
that nowhere on the broad earth cal
the building be found to-day. Eighty
one years ago, it was destroyed by tn,
people of Paris, and its horrors lail
open to the sunlight. 1t had then beer
standing nearly four hundred Years
though it had been enlarged by fire
quent additions in the mean time.
| The Bastile was a citadel, or fortres;
erected to defend the principal gate o.
J Paris, and the palace of Charles tbs
! Fifth. 1t afterward became a prison
where criminals efrank were confined
as well as innocent persons who were
merely suspected of being enemies to
the State. Strange to say, the very ar
chitect who planned the building, and
who exerted all his powers to make il
the strongest fortress of his century,
was the first State prisoner received
into its vaults. For years be, lay in a
damp dungeon, where the daylight
never entered; but Le escaped at last
during a public insurreetion, when the
Bastile was forced open by the people.
There were eight towers to the build
ing. They were one hundred and
twenty-nine feet high, and had very
heavy double iron doors. The walls
were twelve feet thick at the top, and
nearly forty feet thick at the base. All
the towers contained cells, and the
windows of these were merely Sits near
the top, opening through the solid ma
sonry, and guarded by three heavy iron
gratings. There were five different
kinds of cells, but the dungeons in the
vaults under the towers were the most
dreadful of all. They were dark, and
swarmed with toads, spiders, and great
hungry rats. li = -agl) -9t i'-i
The floor, a mass of slime and mud,
sent up the most distressing OrdOrs !;
rough iron bed, fastened to the wall
and covered with q few planks, was
the only furniture and the entrance
was by two iron doors, each with three
heavy locks and three outside bolts
The other cells were not much better:
some were eight-sided or octagon. i'll
shape; some were small, and so arched
that the prisoner could stand only in
the middle; some had floors that were
rounded IN all directions toward the
centre; and all were wretched and
gloomy, suff6eating in summer and
cold i'm winter. o5 lass na r
The Governor of the Bastile had full
control over its management Under
him were-a major, an assistant major,
lieutenant, and two hundred soldiers,
whose muSkets were always kept load
ed. The jailors and turkeys, the
roughest and most barbarous men that
could be found, were tools in the hands
of their superiors. They cleaned the
rooms, brought the prisoners their
food, attended them in sickness, were
spies of the Governor, and carried out
his wishes. Each wore q huge bunch
of keys in his girdle. Each cell had
five keys. ~ a8l - o g-s sleI j
A prisoner would generally arrive at
the Bastile in coach, surrounded by
dragons. Then they would lead him
into a room to be searched, and take |
from him every loose article he carried |
rings, papers, knives, or whatever |
they might be-befoA conducting him
to his cell. Three or four heavy doors
shut behind him, and the prisoner is |
buried in his dungeon, perhaps forever. 7
If he should be tortured or put to death
there, no human being outside the pri-
son would ever know his fate.
At first the prisoners were suffered /
to have neither books or writing mate |
rials, but afterwards these were allow
ed them. There were two meals day |
Of the most wretched kind, yet even
for these the prisoners We're charged !
high prices. Woe to the poor wretch |
who made any complaint! He would
have to suffer heavy punishment for
the offence, and perhaps even be cut off
from his few minutes daily walk in /
the courts and passages of the Rastile.
These walks were always closely |
watched, and the guard had orders TO !
fire at once on any who Were making
the faintest attempt to escape.
One day mysterious prisoner ap.
peared whose name was kept pro- !
been found out who he was or why he /
was put there. No maif except. the
so far rs isknow1i, eyer saw i
his face or heard his voice. He always
wore amask of black velvet, fastened
at the back of his head with steel
springs. No one waited upon him but |
the Governor, who attended WHEN he
ate and when he dressed. When his
linen was changed it was destroyed by
the Governor as soon as it was taken
oil. He never removed his mask for
M instant, and when be went to hear
mass, which was held in the prisoB, (
armed men who were present were in
structed to kili'hhn instantly III case OF /
his speaking or showing his face For {
fo- years he seiIained in the BastiIe,
and always'gore the mask. He diesi n
IN the prison, and was buried al st. /
Paul's. Hewas evidently q person off
high rank, probably relative of the
royal family, but the mystery ha, I,ev-
er been solved. lie was always AZ
'efisled by the ,tsovefnor aad major
ilone, Was treated With preat consider
Atom died Very suddenly, and after
lis death all his furniture, papers, etc
we're burned, and his money and Jewels
we're melted down. r-t
When the Bastile was destroyed hy
.he Infatuated mob in the French Rev
,lution, il was hoped that something
would I've discovered in regard Ia this
Nan la the Iron Mask, as he. was call
'd.f iiut no. Not even the carefully !
Eept records Of the prison which We're
iis"oyered, threw any light upon the
He was merely Ment.onel
Is an unknown prisoner; hl,t the fact
5 set down that he was Obliged always
o wear q mask of black velvet. ts1s
When the Bastile was thrown open
md ransacked On that terrible June
Iay, only seven prisoners were found
n Its cells and dungeons. One, the
cunt de Solage, had been there close
aptive ever since be was a little boy of .
leyen- Another, named Tavesnier, |
nd passed thirty years in the Bastile' {
nd when he found the doors of the pri- I
lr open, and his fellow-creat,ires \
rowdlng In, eager to. welcome him, he {
'as like ole waking from n thirty a
ears sleep. His mind was dulled; Y
ne sunshine frightened and bewildered =
i'm; he scarcely knew what freedom Il
lpaDt. tS- r;