Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1874-03-26
SELECT STORY.
THE BRAVE DAUGHTERS DEFENCE.


1t was sad day for the Neckers -
William Necker, the good, honest
man, who had risen up at his country's
need, and by his counsel saved France
from financial ruin, was to day humili.
ated by the bitter reproaches Of his SOW
ereign and the nobility.
/ His notable corn laws, which only a
great fnancier could have conceived
and executed, had lifted from the ma
ton an enormous debt and replerished
her treasury Louis XVI. rested on
Necker to support his lettering throne,
and the people looked up to him as
the only man who could save France
from bankruptcy. Some of his recent
acts, however, had excited clamor
among the royalists, who were at heart
his enemies, and with base iugratitude
they now overwhelmed him with un
just censure.
Louis German Necker, who sat in
her little boudoir above her fathers
library, listened with aching heart to
his slow, heavy step, as he paced his
room YEARLY to and fro, like one who
bends under . great burden. Although
only q girl Of fifteen, she understood
well the anguish Of his soul. Her love
for her father was one of her passions
of life, and all of his SORROWS were her
sorrows.
1t was a stormy day; the rain patter
ed in sorrowful monotone against the
quaint old mullioned windows; the
winds walled mournfuliy around the
turrets and gables of the old chateau,
and now tossed the branches of the
neighboring trees wildly against the
easements, which ratified and shuddered
as with pain.
Louise stood in an oriel window and
gazed out fearlesslY at the darkening
sky and raving storm. 1t suited her
fearless nature, and she loved to watch
it in its widest moods. Her ilnagina-
ton was so vivid that she could see in
the flying clouds the genii of the storm,
whose chariot wheels rolled the thun
der over the sky. She often fancied
that she heard the carven gargoles
under the caves shrek when the storm
was at the highest, and that the stony
lion below crouched lower az the
foaming rain dashed over their shaggy
u.anes.
At such times as these, beautiful
Thoughts would thrill her Boul like
strains of music, and she could dash off
whole strains of rhymes which in few
moments she would give to the flames.
Her fathers guests, who were attracted
to the bright young girl by her charm
ing ways and brilliant sallies of wit,
wondered me re at her brilliant talents
as an improvistore. At a moment 8
warning, she would improvise the most
charming little songs, accompanying
them with music of such beauty and
tenderness that her listeners were
always epraptured.
But there was no poetry in her soul
now. Her fathers sorrow seemed to
crush all joy out of her young life
Now and then, as the storm lulled, she
could hear her mother trying in vain to
comfort him. She threw herself on a
low couch and sobbed passionately.-
oh! if her father had some true, noble
friend, she thought, to stand up brave,
ly and tell the people what he had
done for them, what a preserver he
had been to France in her hour of
need! But who was brave enough to
face the strong tide CT the royalists'
reproaches? None! no, not one could
she think of in her sorrow.
She remembered the cruel words of
malice which her father had read to
them from the morning journals, and
they seemed to burn themselves into
her brain. She leaned her head on her
hands and tried to think of something
she could do to help her father If she
were a king she would have his
enemies banisked to the farthest corners
Of the earth. If she were general at
the head. Of an army, She would destroy
them. If she were only a soldier, she
would make them answe.. for those
bitter, unjust words at the point Of, 8
bayonet. Blu. she was neither a king
a general, or soldier; she was only i
little girl There was only one weapon
at her command. Would it ayail9
! Her whole fancy was illumiued with