Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-12-20

i III. lie
Seen by the light of the eternal no,g1
!, May not oil discortls to one concord lead
Whose every missing note would leave need
/, Deep, unimagined as world untrOd-
An inGnite harmony whose name is Gods
Spectator.
TIE CONDEMNED SEN
| TINEL.
BY HENRY CAvENDIsH.
| A cold, dreary night in March, 1907
Marshal Lcfebvre, with 27,OOO Frcncl
troops, had invested Dantzic. TIL,
city was garrisoned by seventeen
thousand Russian and Prussiah sol
diers, and these, together with twenty
or thirty thousand well-armed citi
zens, presented nearly double the
force which could be brought to tht
assault. So there was need of the ut
most vigilance on the part of the sen.
Itinels for q desperate sortie from tht
j garrison made unaware, might prove
calamitous.
| At midnight Jerome Dubois was
4 placed upon one of the most impOr.
tant posts in the advance line of pick.
cts, it being upon narrow strip OF
land raised above the marshy fiat
called the Peninsula of Nehrung. Fol-
more than an hour he had paced his
lonesome beat without hearing any.
thing more than the moaning of the
| wind and the driving rain. Atlength,
however. another sound broke upon
his ear. He stopped and listened,
and presently he called.
"Who's there 2"
The only answer was moaning
sound.
| He called again, and this time he
heard something like the cry of a
child and pretty soon an object came
towards him out of the darkness,
With quick, emphatic movement he
brought his musket TO the charge, ,and
ordered the intruder to halt.
"Mercyl' exclaimed the childish
voice. "Don't shoot me I! am Nata-
lie. Don't you know me ?"
"Heavens!" cried Jerome elevating
tho muzzle of his piece, "Is it you,
dear child?"
EYES; and you are good jerome.
Oh, you will come and help mamma
Come, she is dying I"
1t was certainly Natalie,a little girl
only eight years old, daughter of Lis
ette Failiiant. Lisette was the wife OF
Pierre Vailliant, sergeant in Jer-
ONES own regiment, and was with
the army in the capacity of a nurse.
"Why, how is this, my child 2" said
Jerome, taking the child by the arm.
t"What is that about your mother p
"Oh, good jerome, you can hear
her now. Hark p
"The sentinel bent his ear, but he
could only hear the wind and the
rain.
| "Mamma is in the dreadful mud" /"
said the child, "and is dying. She is
not far away. Oh, can hear her cry
ing.,'
By degrees Jerome gathered from
Natalie that her father had taken her
out with him in the morning, and that
in the evening when the storm came
on, her mother came after her. The
sergeant had offered to send man
back to the camp with his wife; but
she preferred to return alone, feeling
sure that she would meet with no
trouble. The way, however. had be-
come dark and uncertain, and she had
lost her path, and wandered off the
edge to the morass, where she had
sunk into the soft mud.
"Oh, good Jerome !" cried the little
| one, seizing the mans hand, ''can't
you hear her? She will die if you
don't help her."
At that moment Jerome fancied
L tot ho hn r,f hc f.>v
tunate woman. What should he do !?
Lissettc, the good, the beautiful. the
tendcr-hearted Lissette was in dan
ger, and it was in his power to save
her. 1t was not in his heart to with
stand the pleadings of the child. He
could go and rescue the nurse, and
return to his post without detection.
At all events he could not refuse the
childish pleader.
"Give me your hand, Natalie. I'll
go with you."
With cry Of joy the child sprang
to the soldiers side and when she se-
cured his hand she hurried him along
to the place where she left her moth
er. 1t seemed long distance to
Jerome, and once he stopped as tho
he would turn back. He did not fear
death. but he did fear dishonor.
clark I" uttered the child,
The soldier listened, and plainly
heard the voice Of the woman calling
for help. He hesitated no longer. On
he fastened through the storm, and
found Lisette sunk to her armpits in
the soft morass. Fortunately long
tuft of grass had been within her
reach, by which means she held her
head above the fatal mud. 1t was no
easy matter to extricate her from the
miry pit, as the workman himself had
to be very careful that he did not
lose his footing. Atlength, however,
she was drawn out, and Jerome led
her to his post.
"Who comes there" cried voice
from the gloom.
"Heavens y gasped Jerome, stop
ping and trembling from head to
foot.
"Who comes there" repeated the
voice.
jerome heard the click of a musket
lock and he knew that another sem
tinel had been stationed at the post
he had left The relief had come
while he was gone.
"Fricnds with the coRntcrsign !" he
answered to the last call Of the new
sentinel.
He was ordered to advance, and
when he had given the countersign
he found himself in the presence OF
the officer of the guard. In few
hurried words he told his story and
had the officer been alone he might
have allowed the matter to rest where
it was, but there were others present,
and when ordered to give up his
musket he did 50 without murmur,
and silently accompanied the officer
to camp, where he was put in irons.
On the following morning Jerome
Dubois was brought before a court
martial under the charge of having
deserted his post. He confessed that
he was guilty, and then he was per-
mitted to tell his own story.
This he did in few words but the
court could do nothing but pass the
sentence of death; but all the MEM
bers signed petition praying that
Jerome Dubois might be pardoned /;
and the petition was sent to the Gen.
eral of division, by whom it was en-
dorscd and sent up to the marshal.
Lcfcbvre was kind and generous to
his soldiers almost to fault, but he
could not overlook so grave an error
as that committed by Dubois. The
orders given to the sentinels had been
very simple, and foremost of every
necessity was the order forbidding
him to rcave his post until properly
relieved. To certain extent the
safety of tho entire army rested on
the shoulders of each individual sem
tinel, and especially upon those who
at night are posted nearest the lines
of the enemy.
sT am sorry said the gray-haircd
old warrior, as he folded up the petit
ton and handed it back to the officer
who presented it. II am sure the
man meant no wrong, and yet a great
wrong was done. lie knew what he
was doing-hc ran the risk-hc was
i HaAnrtaI h., hoe hnov, 4rsnI and ,nv