Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-09-01
The Origin of the "MarseIIlaise" War
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There was at tits time (1792) o young
officer of artillery in the garrison at Stras-
bourg. His name was Rouget de Lisle.
He was born in Ions le-Soulnier, in the
Jura, a country of reveries ard energy, as
mountainous regions always are. This
young man loved war as a soldier; the rev.
oiution as a thinker. BY his verses and
his music he lightened the tediousness OF
the garrison. Generally sought on acco unit
of his double talent as musician and q
poet, he became familiar visitor at the
house of an Asiatic patriot, Dietrich, May
or of Strasbourg. The wife and daughters
of Dietrich shared his enthusiasm for pa
triotism and 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 Strasbourg; the Dietrich fam
lily were poor, and their table was frugal,
but it was always hospitsble to Rouget.
One day when there was nothing on the
board bat some garrison bread, and few
slices of ham. Dietrich looking t.t DeLlsle
with melancholy calmness, said to him:
Abundance is wanting at our banquet, but
what matters that when neither enthusiasm
is wanting at our civic feasts, nor courage
in the hearts of our soldiers? 1 have still
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 patriotic
celebration at Strasbourg; may these last
drops inspire DsLisle with one of those
HYMNS which convey to the soul of the
people the intoxication from whence they
proceed.
The young girls applauded, brought IN
the wine, and filled the glasses of their
aged father and the young officer until the
iIouor was exhausted. 1t was midnight
The night was cold. De Lisle was in a
dreamy state; his heart was touched; his
head was heated. The cold oyerpowered
him, and he tottered into his lonely room
slowly seeking inspiration now In his pat
riotic SOUL now in his hsrpsicherd; some
times composing the cir before the words
aud sometimes the words before the air
and SO combining them In his Thoughts
that he himself did not know whether th'
notes or the verses came first. and that i
was impossible to separate hepoetry from
the music or the sentiment from the ex
| preston. He sang all and set down moth
ing.
J ssOverpowered with the sublime inspira
ton, DeLlsle went 10 sleep on the harpsi
} chord, and did not wake mp until day. ID
! recollected the song of the previous even
ing with difficulty like that with whicl
We recall the impression of dream. III
5 now set down the words and music, ant
ran with them to Dietrich. whom he foun'
in the garden. The wife and daughters
t the old patriot had not yet risen. Dietricl
. awakened them, and invited some friend
S who were as passiopately fond of music a
0 himself. and were capable of executing ID
, Lisle's composition. His eldest daughte
played the accompaniment, while Rouge
sang.
o at the first stanzas all faces turned pe't
9 at the second, tears ran down every cheef
D and at the last all the madness OF enthr
s siasm broke forth. Dietrich. his wife, hl
: daughters, and the young officer fell weeI
4 ing iuto each others arms-the Lynn
the country was found. 1t was destined
: alas to be also the hymn os terror. A fe
t months afterward the unfortunate Dietric
went to the scaffold to the very mote
d which had their origin on his own hearth
e in the heart OF his friend, and in the voie
q of his children.