Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-03-17
Translated from the French of Alphonse Daudet
THE SIEGE OF BERLIN.

Some months after the siege of Paris,
was passing along the avenue to the
Camps Elysees with my friend, DR.. v,
when short time before reaching the
point where the several streets meet at
the place dc I Etoile the doctor paused
and directed my attention to one of the
great corner houses SO prominently
grouped about the Arch of Triumph.
800 yousee those four closed windows
upon the high balcony?'' he inquired.
g In the first days of, the month of Au-
gust, the terrible month of August of
last year, so thick with fearful dis
aster, was called there for a very sad
case eff apoplexy. It was the house of
Colonel Jouye, a cuirassier of the First
Empire, an old man possessed with the
glory Of Bonapartism, who since the
beginning of the war had come to live
in the Camps Elysees, in an apartment
on that balcony. Can you imagine
why? To assist at the triumphal entry
OF our troops. Poor old man The
news of Wissenburg reached him as he
rose from the table. Reading the name
Of Napoleon at the bottom Of the bulle-
tin of defeat he fell thunderstruck.
[ found the old man stretched at full
length on the carpet of his room, his
face CHASTITY and dull as ifhe had received
a blow upon the face from a club
Standing erect he must have been very
large; lying PROSTATE he had an i'm
mense appearance. The fine features,
superb teeth; suit of curly ha I, and
with so years that seemed no more than
60. Near him knelt his grand daughter,
all in tears. She remembered him.
To see them side by side they were like
two beautiful Grecian medals struck
from the same stamp, only the one
was antique, earthly, and little effaced
in it's outlines, while the other was
respondent and pure, in all the velvety
luster of the original impression.
The grief of the child touched me.
Daughter and grand daughter of soldiers,
her father was a staff officer of Mac
Mahon, and the image of the old man
stretched before her conjured up in her
mind an image no less terrible. [ did
my utmost to reassure her, but Id my
heart [ had but little hope. Il was a
case of complete hemiplegie, and at 80
years of age one has but little recupera-
i've power. For three days the sick
man remained Id the same condition of
lmmovable stupor. In the meanwhile
the news of Keischaffen reached Paris.
You will remember in what an unusual
manner. Until evening we all believed
me sof|
and tie Prince Royal prisoner
know not by what miracle, what mag
netic current, all echo of the national
JOY reached our poor deaf mute; even
III the limbo of his parl ysis, hitherto the
same, on approaching his bedth even
ing found him no more the same man.
The eye was almost clear, the tongue
less heavy. He had power to smile at
me, and to stammer twice, "Vic-to-ry |"
Eyes, Colonel" l said, "a grand vic
Cory and, gradually, as [ gave him the
details OF the great success OF Mac
Mahon, saw his features brighten, his
form unbend.
When went out the grand daughter
followed me, and she was pale as she
stood sobbing before the door.
But he is saved" said, taking her
hands.
The unhappy child had been full of |
courage, but she responded:
"They will come and placard the |
truth about Observation-Disclosures in |
flight, and all his army crushed to
pieces. I"
We looked at each other in alarm.
She was III despair at the thought of her
father For my part trembled at the
bought of the old man. Very surely