Litchfield enquirer., 1873-07-31

nI: the other cufylng to the right, an( following the windings of the Seine
 Madame Parcand began boldly to climl the sleeper path, but was soon obliged t. stop and pant for breath Having reach ed the summit of the ascent, they turned in at little gate which led into an apple orchard, bounded by hedge lined witl poplars. Through the orchard path le( to the garden and farmhouse; but ere tn, aunt and nephew reached the gardel gate, they were met by a little black-eyeG fellow, who rushed into his mothers arms and clamorously inquired what she hai brought him from Rouen. Madame Par cand gave him few sugar-plums of GU rious form, from one of the parcels in he pannlers, with which he walked off to wards the garden, stealing glances iron behind his mothers gown at his half-re membered cousin, when he thought ht was not observed.
 On entering the garden, they were me- by Jeans uncle, and by tall old man somewhat bowed with years, whom Jea1 at once recognized as the Monsieur Fer rand of whom he had so often heard. Af ter greetings were over, Madame Par cand said, Monsieur Ferrand, have of ten wished you to know my nephew. Un luckily, he can only spend part of the evening with us, as he must be at Cham bord early tomorrow morning." As the two men saluted each other with the ac- customed ceremony of the French, she continued, ''Now, let us have some din her, l am quite hungry, for a shopman kept me chaffering so long about the great milkpan, that I had but a very hurried meal before I left Rouen. Run to the kitchen fire, Jacques, and see whether the soup is yet ready"
 In very little while the party sat down to dinner in room overlooking the gar den and orchard, though the view from the window was somewhat checked by slle profuse foliage of the overhanging vine. They had thin soup to begin with, and the meat that had been boiled in it; followed by several dishes, the names of which l shall not presume to attempt. But know that there were beans. dress ed in some marvellous manner peculiar to the French. Curds there were, also, for those that liked them; and Madame Par cand piqued herself upon her dairy pro- duce, as we'll as on her cider, of which there was abundance, for everybody drinks cider in Normandy.
 After dinner, they all went out into the orchard, and sat under the great apple tree, while the children raced, shouting, over the grass, vainly chasing the gor- geous dragon-hies that futtered ill all di- rections. and skinned the surface of a dark pool under the hedge.
 Evening was now stealing on them, and hot, shimmering haze hung over the distance. while Q low murmur, like that in shell, reminded them of the unseen river, whenever there was & pause in the children's noisy glee. Presently out came the great turkey y-cock from the farmyard, making direct for little Jacques, swelling itself out, and gobbling in terrible way. Jacques retreated as it advanced, uncer- tain whether to laugh or to cry; but his brother Guillaume came craftily behind the turkey, and dealt him such a rap on the head with stick, that the turkey, evidently thinking two against one was not fair play, beat timely retreat.
 Monsieur FaFrald laughed, and said to Madame Parcand, ''What fine little tel lows those boys of yours are growing! l think Jacques must be about the age that Monsieur Eugene Deschamps was when he and first became acquainted"
 ''How did you aoae to meet him?" ask. ed Madame Parcand. s'I don't at all know how the friendship which nov ex- ists between you began"
 70, that's a long story" answered Mon sieur Ferrand, "I should hardly think you would care for so lengthy tale from an old soldier.''
 ''Indeed though, but I should, very much, returned Madame Parcand, "and so would you, Jean, would you not?"
 Jean replied that he shonld like it of all things; and Monsieur Ferrand at length said,-
 ''Well, I shall be very happy to tell you. It was during the last war which our Emperor waged against Russia. Per- haps you may know that after we had ta- ken and burnt Moscow, our army lernain- ed there some tiIae. in the hope that peace V91A be concluded. When it be- came evident that this would not be the case, We commenced our retreat. Sever al French families, till recently resident in Moscow, came away with us, because they feared that the Russians would take merciless vengance on them for the iniu- ries they had received from our soldiers.
 "For some ittls time the retreat was fairly prosperous; not altogether pleas ant, certainly, for food was scarce, and we were harrassed by swarms of Cossacks who cut off all stragglers. The heavy charge of our splendid cavalry regiments could not equal in speed the lightly equip ped ponies of the Cossaoks, so that the ar. my, and especially the baggage, was, in 6 sense, ,at the mercy of these pests. Never. theless, our hardships were as yet compar atively few, and the retreat went on for g time without any serious privations.
 ''But this only lasted few days. Then suddenly, without any warning, came or the Russian winter, So terrible in it's be- numbing frost Deaths messenger tc the sraHde armee. How we'll I remem Der the first frosty evening, though near ly thirty years have since passed Up tc that day the weather had been dull, and not very chilly; so that we hardy soldiers had not, till then, suffered much from the cold My section, too. was unlucky; fol that night Ye could not induce the bly, ouac fire to burn well. Indeed it is won derful we were not all frozen to death Only one of us felt any bad effects from it at the time. He had unluckily drench ed one of his feet, by putting it into { ditch in the course of our days march About midnight he reused me from SouEC sleep, and declared he could got ao rest owing to his foot, and he. WAS afraid some thing serious was the matter with 1t. IT fact the poor fellow was frost-bitten
 s'What became of him, you will ask In truth I cannot tell; for next day there came on such bitter wind and blindine snow-storn, that my regiment dispersed in it, and few, very few of my comrade: have I ever seen again.
 'sAh, how the snow fell Not in show CTS, as it does here. for a few days in win ter; but in storms, nL whirlwinds, of whicl you who have never been away from C belse FFGace can form no idea
 ''In the middle of the storm, I, Ik, many others. lost my way. As I stagger ed along. bewildered and blinded, cam. upon an overturned wagon. I thought would take shelter for while on the lee side of 1t, and get breath to go on again l therefore walked round to the furthe side, and there, to my astonishment, found a little boy, about the age of Jac ques, crouching under the high wagon tilt, yerY eed. and as white as sheet. gave the poor little fellow some brand,