Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-07-26

following translation of a private letter just
received from the Comtesse de Gasparin by a
friend in that city:
You want few words about the entrance OF
Bourbaki's army. You shall have them Just as
they occur to me. On the LIST Of February,
while driving in sleigh through the snow
field which made our canton a little Russia we
met, to our astonishment, two or three stray
Cling French Dragons, leading Arab horses by
the bride. | said to my companion: "Ahl that
looks like defeat" Near our village some
one called out to us: "The French are coming
in, disarmed. You are TO have fourteen soldiers
and five officers lodged with you tonight"
every wellp
Toward seven O'Clock came the first squad,
the overflow of the neighboring hamletS; at
eight O'Clock arrived the soldiers and officers of
whose coming we had been notified; at eleven
O'Clock twenty-five more soldiers; then the en-
tire staff of the fugitive corps which was pour
ing into the village. All these, Mobiles, having
nothing the matter with them but ferocious
appetite, came in good order. They all said:
"Caaos is behind usl you'll see"
We did see. Early on Thursday morning,
the I'd, we went through the snow to the town of
Orbe. Along the road we began to pass groups
in red trousers slowly moving. The poor crea-
lures had camped out all night with the Their
m0meter at ten degrees below zero.
They wandered along trying to find m0rsel
of bread shelter and relief. As we neared Orbe
I0e CLUSTERS LUlCkeUCu, uHlll at our JOuIUt1
end we were, in the twnkling of an eye, trans
ported into the heart of a retreat from Russia.
Three poparS here mark-Qut O sort OF open
square; then the highway widenS and turns
toward 0rbe, which it enters Imagine thrown
together at this spot regiments of cavalry
dragons in white cloaks, in red cloaks, SpahiS,
all in striking uniforms, the wild contrasting
shades of which seemed to set the very snow
aflame; crowd together pell-mell, mobiles in
blue, franc-tireurs in russell, zOuaves in Grim
son trousers, embroidered jacket and scarlet
fez; Turcos in deep blue capes, with tawny COM
plcXiOn and savage grin, confound the Ian
guages spoken as at the tower of Babel, mass
the lean horses with long necks and dropping
heads, pile up wagons and caisSonS-men,
animals and equipage-in indescribable disor-
der, all the various army corps intermingled,
disbanded, confused-yOu will have the swarm
ing mass roughly outlined, Respondent in con-
trast and color; but what you will not have is
the distress Of it, the desolation Weapons gone;
officers, even, without swords | shall never
forget those empty sword belts nor the abject-
ness Of such humiliation.
The knapsacks of such soldiers as had saved
them, and they were very few, lay scattered
about uniforms hung in tatters. A sort of
long, dull undulation without a single distinct
utterance rose and fell, and seemed to us like a
murmur Of discomfort and distress. The ship
wrecked multitude lay groaning under the
heavy burdens of hunger, fatigue, want prey
ing on wasted bodies, illness in various shapes,
black typhus, whose victims were already
marked out, dysentery, by which the whole
force was weakened, lameness by frost-bte
brought on by bivouacs in ice and snow.
Along the walls, huddled together in the
snow, crouching over blackened Goals, were
faces that haunt me still. Men tremulous with
fever, emaciated aud hollow-eyed, glared upon
us, eloquent with silence, filling us with de-
spair.
There was more than half league OF such
scenes, from the public square of Orbe to the
village of Montcherrand. On all sides measures
of soup and baskets of wine were coming in.
Every one gave what he had, but bread was very
scarce Thirty-twO thousand men were a seri-
GUS drain on the town and its neighborhood.
Bakeries which were kept going night and day
only succeeded in furnishing crumb of what
was necessary. The efforts of private charity
and of the town authorities, taken by surprise,
barely tempered distresses they could not cure.
Not man complained. This dumb misery was
heart-breaking. Money was given, but of what
use was money? Large numbers were taken
into citizens houses, fOolishly perhaps, when
every village was already overwhelmed. Come
home with us; we'll take care Of you and feed
you" Little parties would start off for the
points asSigned-but thirty-twO thousand menl
A body of our own Swiss cavalry, handsome
men, well mounted, dignifed in carriage, sober
and silent, happened to ride by in the midst of
all this squalid misery. They turned one after
another, and with conscious but meta churish
air, looked down on the disarmed French dra-
goons. l felt myself coloring. but the French
said never word, except one fellow who cried
out, Good for you'll we looked like that oncep
The Turcos alone, half child, half savage, chat
tered and played a'eless antics, except in the
case of a few of them who had a scratch or two,
and fancied themselves MORALLY wounded.
In the public square and streets of Orbe
swarmed the same medley, diSbanded, way
worn, dropping here and there-the very rags
anA 70 n fnfiar nj
troops, whose patrols had scarcely room to
make their rounds, showed in sharp contrast by
their compact steadiness and the pride of their
fine physical condition. The generals greatly
admired the discipline and dignity of our troops.
off we had had men like these" they growled
under their moustaches.
By noonday-down every mountain pass fill
ing every road and foot path, poured close
packed column. Do you remember lie Rappel de
Raffet? the pale cohorts that rise from the dead
at the tap of the ghostly drum? Can you call
up those spectral ranks before your eyes2 Well,
l have seen them; only they were alive. | have
seen such a funeral march; bodies dragging
along when the soul had gone out of them;
staggering uncertain in the drunkenness of ut
ter misery. / still feel their dull, wandering
glanceS. My very feet have stumbled against
them as they fell in numbers about me, mown
down and strewing my pathway.
And these death-Stricken wanderers are so
young! The full-grown men among them can
be counted on ones fingers; hurled agaist the
guns, benumbed in snow-drifts, wasted with
famine-desToyed as they have been-these
twenty-year old soldiers were the light and the
hope of France!
How can | tell the story? For two days we
housed and fed, wherever and in whatever way
we could, hundreds and hundreds of men, Two
days later we went out with a light wagon,
spread with straw and mattresses, to gather up
some few of the poor creatures cast away by
the roadside or lying in the village churches.
Our farmers were very charitable. The poorest
stripped themselves of everything, keeping back
nothing for themselves. The hungry horde
took their last grain of wheat Nobody grum-
bles. In such voluntary, spontaneous sscrifce
there is divine element which expands the
heart
The flood gradually took more orderly shape
and moved on, leaving us its dregs. What
dregs! Once deposited on hospital pallets these
men never moved. They could neither eat nor
speak. Thirst was their only positive sensa-
ton. They were racked by distressing cough,
were in the last stage of exhaustion.
By degrees, except in the worst cases, our
poor boys came back to life; then they began to
feel hungry; then they ate voraciously; then
they blessed God who had brought them to our
homes. Many had frozen feet; many were en-
tirey broken down; long priVationS had ruined
scores of young constitutions. There will be an
army of invalids crawling about in the villages
of France; boys of twenty suddenly turned into
old men.
These are not the heroes with whom it will do
to sing songs of victory; or to talk of begin
ming the war over again; or of anything on
earth but of getting each one home once more.
Gaseonade, prOcamati0ns, retaliation, they
know to their sorrow what these cost. They
are not likely to be entrapped again.
You will look in vain among them for any
hatred toward the German armies. Still less
can you make them talk about German atroci-
ties. They simply tell you: The Germans have
done to us just what we would have done to
them. The Germans have beaten u.s." There
is no more Chauvinism among them than that
Every soul declared that, roughly handled,
not on good terms with their officers, broken
down by marches and countermarches badly
commanded, ill-cothed and illfed, they were
defeated before they had ever fought a battle.
The generals complained of their officers, the
officers of their generals, the soldiers of both.
Each one spoke evil Of all the rest, and frankly,
| am afraid they were none of them altogether
in the wrong. We saw for ourselves the chiefs
and the rank and file; the leaders and ME led;
head and tail. Poor France
As for our hospitals they are getting on
nicely. know one of them, 'IAmbulance du
Chateau de Valleyres" 1.-THE Countess of Gas
parin's own house.-Trans.), where the sick are
only afraid of one thing, getting well too soon.
Our other hospital at Orbe, admirably superin-
tended and served by the private zeal and deyo-
q Na1s 4 IL.