The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1874-09-04
THE WAR PIPE.
TRANSLATED BY G. G. c.
From tile German of Auerbach.

That is Il singular chronicle that chap.
ter of modern history, the times of Napo.
! leon. Those were extraordinary times
Every peasant from the royal box of his
| own private house could see upon the
| broad field-stage before him, the exhibit
zion, the reality, of sublime history. Kings
and omperors acted their parts, now APP
pearing, now withdrawing; but all this
| high-art exhibition cost the peasant often
nothing less than his home and possessions,
| and sometimes even his life But it went
not so hard with my neighbor Hansgeorge
yeti will tell the story from the be-
ginning.
1t was in the year 1876. We in our
mouse still times, we children of an unsat-
| isfying peace, can scarcely form a concep-
tion of the unrest of that period. 1t
was as if the race of man were never more
to remain at home; as if the whole human
race had gotten upon their feet to drive
one another hither and thither. Now
sweeping through the Black Forest come
| the Austrians with their white doublets,
| and now the French with their jolly faces,
and utter them the Russians with their
long boards, while among these, stuck here
and there, were Bavarians, Wurtcmbcrgers
and Hessians in all fashions and all guises.
The Black Forest has been, through all
time, the open door for the French, and it
is only just now that they have finally
| drawn a bar across.
| Masses of troo, 9 were continually march
ing, retiring and COMMUNICATING, volley-
ing and laundering, till one could scarcely
| tell where his head was; indeed it often
ceased to be anywhere in particular, and
in an unforeseen moment went hitting and
skipping Not far from Baisingen, in the
midst Of u level field, is Il knoll as high us
| house, and beneath lie dead soldiers and
only soldiers, Frenchmen and Germans pill
ed one on another.
My neighbor Hansgeorge was saved
from becoming Il soldier, although a finely
made and muscular youth, equal to any,
and now in his nineteenth year. This hap
pened in this wise. On the day before
Maurers Wendel's wedding day, who had
wooed and won bride at Empfngen,
Hansgeorge rode with the others behind
the wagon, within which, amid her furni-
turc, upon her newly painted blue chest,
close by her bright new cradle and her
distaff, sat the bride. Hansgeorge kept
firing his pistol, which he doubly loaded
every time, with kind of frenzy. AS
now the procession came near the lime
quarry, where on the right is the fish pond,
and on the left the brick makers cottage,
from the window of which watched the
maiden Katherlie, Hansgeorge shot again ;
but almost before the report, he was heard
to shrek piteously, and would have fallen
| from his horse if his friend Fideli had not
| caught him. 1t was now seen what had
| happened; Hansgeorge had shot off the
index finger of his right hand at the mid
die joint. All ran up pityingly, and also
| Katherle from her cottage came near, and
when she saw that Hansgeorge's finger
hung only by the skin, she nearly tainted.
| Hansgeorge grated his teeth with pain and
looked steadfastly at Katherlie. He was
now carried into her fathers house, that
being the nearest shelter, and old Yokel
from Schenburg, who had u reputation for
staunching blood, was sent for in all haste,
while another ran to the city for NJ Erath,
u much esteemed surgeon.
AS old Yokel came into the chamber, all
were silent, and yielding place for him
from either side, formed a lane down which
he approached the wounded man, who was
lying upon bench behind the table. Kath-
Grille alone stepping forward exclaimed, al
it be Gods will, Yokel, help Hansgcorgc."
He gestured an assent with eyes and head,
and now, as Yokel stood before him, and
low muttering, moved his wounded hand
the blood was heard to run. Now this
did not happen through symp THY with
Yokel, but through another sympathy
namely, that existing between Hansgeorge
and Katherlie; for as lie heard her words
to Yokel, all the blood in his veins seemed
to run back to his heart, and then was
heard the blood from his finger.
The surgeon came, and Hansgeorge's
finger was amputated almost at his hand
He bore the terrible pain like hero. As
he for few hours lay half conscious in the
fever of his wound, it seemed to him that M
angel was lowering over him and waiting
GOODNESS upon him. he knew not that
Katherlic was brushing away the flies, and
in this office her hand was often very neal
his face, and such approach of Il beloved
hand, even though there be no actual con.
tact, may, like magic wand, call forth
emotions in another, which, in our Hans.
georges soul, assumed the form of an an.
gelic presence, bestowing rest and ease
Gradually the dream changed, and there
appeared to Hansgeorge an indistinct fig
ure which he could not afterwards definite
ly recall, and so strange are dreams, the
presence had loose finger in its mouth
with which it smoked tobacco as lift were
pipe, so that the blue clouds broadened
out into billowy rings.