The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-09-02
rho origin ar tAs ssaasaeIIaisae RaF

t aNAAs
There wa at this time llT9G) 6 young
efieer of artillery in the garrison at Stras-
bourg. His name was Rouget de Llsle
He was born in Ions le-SoulDier, IN the
Jura, q country of reyeries and energy, Is
mountainous regions always are. This
young man loved war as a soldier; the rev.
olution as a thinker. By his verses anc
| his music he lightened the tediousness o.
the garrison. Generally soughto on acco unit
of his double talent IS a musician and
poet, he became a familiar visitor at the
house of an Asiatic patriot, Dietrich, May.
or of S~trasbourg. The wife and daughters
of Dietrich shared his enthusiasm for pa.
triotism end revolution. They loved the
Young officer. They inspired his heart,
his poetry, and his music; and, trusting to
the early lispings of his. genius, they were
the first to excite his scarcely expressed
thoughts.
It was in the winter of 1892 famine
reigned in ~S.rasbourg; the DIETRICH fam
ily were poor, and their table was frugal,
but it was always hospitable to Rouget.
One day when there was nothing IN the
board but some garrison bread, and q few
slices of ham, Dietrich looking at DeLisle
with melancholy calmness, said to him
Abundance is wanting at our banquet, but
what matters that when neither enthusiasm
is wanting at eur civic feasts, nor courage
in the hearts of our soldiers? l have still
a bottle of wine left in my cellar; let it be
brought up and let us drink to liberty and
our country. There will soon be a patriotic
celebration at Strasbourg; may these last
drops inspire DeLisle with one Of those
HYMNS which convey to the soul of the
people the intoxication from whence they
proceed.
The young girls a~pplauded, brought in
the wine, and filed the glasses of their
aged father and the young officer until the
liquor was exhausted. 1t was midnight
The night was cold. De Lisle was In o
dreamy state; his heart was touched; his
head was heated. The cold overpowered
him, and he tottered into his lonely room
slowly seeking inspiration now in his pat
riotic soul, now in his harpsichord; some
times composing the air before the words,
and sometimes the words before the air,
and so combining them in his thoughts
that he himself did not know whether the
notes or the verses came first, and that 1t
was impossible TO separate the poetry from
the music or the sentiment from the ex-
preston. He sang all and set down moth
ing.
FFOyerpowered with the sublime inspira-
ton, DeLisle went to sleep on the harpsi'
chord, and did not wake up until day. He
recollected the song of the previous even
ing withNa difficulty like that with which
We recall the impression of q dream. He
now set down the words and music, and
ran with them to Dietrich. whom he found
in the garden. The wife and daughters OF
the old patriot had not yet risen. Dietrich
awakened them, and invited some friends
who were as ~passionately fond of music as
himself, and were capable of executing De
Lisle's composition. His eldest daughter
played the accompaniment, while Rouget
sang.
At the first stanzas all faces turned pale;
at the second, tears ran down every cheek
and at the last all the madness of enthu-
siasm broke forth. Dietrich, his wife, his
daughters, and the young officer fell weep
ing iuto each others arms-the hymn Of
the country was found. 1t was destined,
alas to be also the hymn of terror. A few
months afterward the unfortunate Dietrich
went to the scGffold to the very notes
which had their origin on his w hearth,
in the heart of his friend, and in the voice
of his children.