The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-02-03
THE INTERCEPTED LETTER.
An Episode OF the Siege OF Paris.
BY CLARENCE F. BUTLER.

credulous readers, and perhaps there
are some "bage creeturs,n as Mrs.
Camp called them, who will be wicked
enough to insinuate that mine should
be taken with grain of salt.
But to begin. Louis Napoleon inau-
gurated the Franco Prussian war under
the impression that a German was only
intrepid in eating cheese whose odor
alone would kill any one at sixty PAGES.
But when the powerful Landwehr of
King William dubbed their needle
guns and knocked the Frenchman's kepi
into cooked hat, Mr.. Napoleon ascer-
tained to his cost that German could
stand the smell of powder as well as
that of Limb9rg cheese. A Gordon of
Prussian steel was soon drawn around
Paris, and carrier pigeons and balloons
were-its only means Of communication
with the outside world. And even
these means had their drawbacks. for
the bAloons Ssre frequently captured
by Uhlans, and the pigeons were no
less frequently captured by hawks that,
being kept for that purpose by the
Prussians, were called &c Uhlans of the
air. The letters, which were written
in cipher and conld only be read with
a microscope, were always rolled up
and put inside of quill plucked from
the pigeons tail and afterwards rein
serted
Every one knows to what extremities
the Parisians were reduced through
scarcity of food, and how the prorerb
that "eyery dog has his day" was ex-
emphfed when that animal became an
article of luxury IN the starving city.
Nay, every cat then had its day; and,
We may add with perfect truth, every
rat. During that crisis. an army cor
respondent of an American paper was
quartered for the night in an old mill
in the immediate vicinity Of Paris. He
was accompanied by several Prussian
officers, who used the sashes Of the up
per windows for fuel, and made
themselves quite at home
over their rations of black bread,
sausage, and pea-soup. By midnight
all were fast asleep on the floor.
with the exception of the correspond
ent, who sat by the fire preparing dis
patches to be forwarded on the ensuing
day. While thus engaged, he heard a
scratching and futtering sound in the
room above, and thoughts of French
gnerrillas known as Francs-tireurs in
stantly rushed through his mind. But
he resolved to reconnoiter before giving
an alarm; and divesting himself of his
boots he cautiously assembled the stairs
The room was illuminated by the moon
that shone on the ebon front of night
like marigold in darkey's button
hole. The first thing seen by the cor
respondent was the tail of pigeon
sticking through the bannisters at the
head of the stairs and he advanced
SO noiselessly In his stocking feet
that he succeeded In grasping it.
Then came the tug of war.
A hawk had captured the pigeon,
and entered the room through one of
the windows from which the sashes had
been torn, as aforesaid, In order to de-
vour the prey at his leisure The
Uhlan of the cir, !" no sooner saw the
man than he struck he talons still
deeper into the pigeon, tapped his
huge vans and disappeared through
the window with its victim, leaving its
tail IN the hands of the correspondent.
Judge of the surprise at finding that
several of the quilts contained small
rolls of paper covered with shorthand
writing of the minutest description.
Supposing them to be important mill
tary dispatches, he took them at once
to headquarters, where stenographer
examined them through a microscope
and pronounced them to be a letter
from lady in Paris to friend at
Tours. SURPRISING the signature and
everything of private nature, ap-
pend the remainder of the letter:
"PKRIs, Dec, 1870.
Ny DARLING In spite of the
Chasseport rife and the mitrailleuse /
am in durance vile In the starving
capital of the French Republic. T.
italicise the word because the Empire
is an opposum that only pretended to
be dead In order to rid itself of the
Prussian dog. And although Victor
Hugo says the Republic is 'awake!' I
fear it VIII soon be ready to take an
other Nap. But nv main
object In writing is to tell you about
the most remarkable feature of the
present siege: You know 1 have five
children-Sammy, George, Oscar. Jen-
ME and Grace; and often shuddered
as remembered that He who hears the
cry of the hungry raven had not always
heard the cry that went up from fam
ished city. There is but one thing
worse than living on horse-meat, and
that is to have no meat at all; and if
half the strategy used to obtain food
had been employed in outgeneraling
Won Moltke and the Crown Prince
they would have been in hot water con-
stantly. Gen. Trochu keeps the Par |
isians In ignorance of the actual state
of affairs, and as "It is a wiee child
that knows its own father" so it re-
quires a very wise adult to know what
he or she is eating in the shape of
meat
"0ne day Immediately after dinner,
my Oldest boy, Sammy, was affected IN
singular manner. He had always
walked in a solemn and deliberate way,
as if keeping step to the Dead March.
But on this occasion he left the table
with series of jumps, and / supposed
him to be In fun until 1 found It was
impossible for him to use any other
means of locomotion-
"The next day, after dinner, ] no.
ticed a phenomenal change in my son
George. Ee went about splitting on
the carpets, and when demonstrated
he got his back up In a strange manner,
which was all the more unaccountable,
because he had always been a pattern
boy. would have been less astonish-
ed if it had been the mischieYous Os-
car; but, 10, and behold after that 1t
tie rogue had eaten on the succeeding |
day, he suddenly threw his toys into !
the stove and became very grave in his
demeanor. And when 1 found him
looking very wise over book that he
was pretending to read through my
spectacles, / determined to be surprised
at nothing after that
1t was well I did so /; for the next
day when I wanted my obedient little
Jennie to go in particular direstion
she made point to go in an oPpo
site one; and on the ensuing day
Grace suddenly acquired mania for
swallowing everything that came In her
way. And when I discovered rusty
mil in her mouth / thought it time to
have these phenomena explained So
I detailed the various symptoms In the