The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-06-09
THE CONSCRLPT;
STORY OF THE FKEN( II WAX
From the French.
FURNISHED BY CHARLES scR1sxER CO.. NEW YORK.


andisia, can never conceive what pitch of
Whom he passed through Champagne OF Lor-
5hs everything to
see him /; women, children and old men wonid
come o distance Of eight or ten leagues to line
Tire rEmperear f' One would think that he
was god, that mankind owed its life to him,
and that if he died, the world would crumble
shake their heads and mutter over their wine
that the Emperor might yet fall, but they
passed for fools. Such an event appeared con-
trary to nature, and no one even gavo it a
Was in my apprenticeship since 1904, with
an old matchmaker. Melchior Goulden, at
Phalsbourg. AS l seemed weak and was q little
lame my mother wished me to learn an easier
trade than those of our village, for at Days
berg there were only wood-cutters and char
coal-burners. Monsieur Goulden liked me very
much. We lived in the first story of large
house opposite the cred Ok inn, and near the
French gate.
That was the place to see princes, ambassa-
doris and generals come and 60, some on horse
back and some in carriages drawn by two or
four horses; there they passed in embroidered
from every country under the sun. And in the
highway what couriers, what baggage-wagons,
what powder-trains, cannon, caisons, cavalry
and infantry did we see! Those were stirring
In Eve or six years the innkeeper. George,
had made fortune. He had fields, orchards,
people, coming from Germany, Switzerland,
Russia, Poland, or elsewhere, cared little for a
few handfulls of gold scattered upon their
road they were all mobiles, who took pride
in showing their prodi gality.
From morning until night, and l.. even n, during
readiness. Through the long windows on the
first story nothing was to he seen but great
white tablecloths, glittering with silver aud
covered with game, fish and other rare viands
around which the travellers sat side by side
In the yard behind, horses Weighed, position!
shouted, maid-servauts laughed, coaches rat
tied. All! the hotel of the "Red Ok" will
never see such prosperous times again.
Sometimes, too, people of the city stoppet
there. who in other tunes were known to gathe
sticks in the forest or to work on the highway
But now they were communicating, coioneit
generals, and had won their grades by fghtin
in every land on earth.
Old Melchior, with his black silk cap pulle
over his ears, his weak eyelids, his'n pinot
ed between great horn spectaces, and his liz
tightly pressed together, could not sometime
punch upon the workbench, and throwing
glance toward the inn, especially when IL
cracking of the whips Of the Positions, wit
their heavy boots, little jackets, and peruk'
of twisted hemp, awoke the echoes of IL
ramparts and announced new arrival. The
he became all attention, and from time to tin
would exclaim:
Hold! it is the son of Jacob the slater"
of "the old scold, Mary Ann" or of 1.-The coope
Frantz Sepel! He has made his way in tt
empire into the bargain. Why don't he ste
at the house of his father, who lives yonder
the Rue des CapucinsY"
But when he saw them shaking hands rgl
and left in the street with those who recogniz,
them, his tone changed; he wiped his ey
with his great spotted handkerchief, and mu
INJURED: w
allow pleased poor old Annette will b
Good good! He is not proud; he is ma
God preserve him from canuon-bals F"
Others passed if ashamed to recogni
their birthplace others went gaily to see tn
sisters or cousins, and everybody spoke of the
One would imagine that all Phalsbourg We
their crosses and their epaulettes; Whlte =
arrogant were despised even more than wh
they swept the roads.
Nearly every month Tic Deums were cnantt
and the cannon at the arsenal fired their salu'
of twenty-one rounds for some new victor
making ones heart autter. During the we
following every family was uneasy; poor n
theirs, especially, waited for letters, ana 7
first that came all the city knew of "such
one had received letter from Jacques
Claude" and all ran to see if it spoke of thu
Joseph or their Jean Baptiste. do not spe
of promotions or the official reports of dealt
as for the first, every one knew that the kill
must be replaced; and as for the reports
deaths, parents awaited them weeping for tn
did not come Immediately sometimes, in6et
they never came, and the poor friend and Il
ther hoped on, saying, Perhaps our boy il
nriaoper, When they make peace he will
turn, How many have returned whom
thought deadW
But they never made peace. When one y