The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-10-05
THE SIEGE OF BERLIN.

|
We were riding up the Avenue des
Champs Elysees with DR.. N-,read-
| ing, in the houses riddled with bullets,
| the paVements demolished by the shells,
the history of the siege OF Paris, when,
! lust before arriving at tue R0nd Point de
| PEtolle, the Doctor stopped and pointed
| out to me one of the large corner houses
| that form such an imposing group
| around the Arch of Triumph.
! "Do you see those four closed Win
| dows wonder on that balcOnyW he said.
| "Iu the beginning of August, that terri
! Bile mouth oil August, so pregnant with
| storms aud disasters for us, was called
! in to attenl case OF apopleXy in that
! house. The paHeut was Col. J0uYe,
euirassler of the first Empire. hfm be-
| Iiever in the glory of his country. VINO,
| when war was frst declared, look up ms
residence on the Champs Elysees ia an
Apartment with a balcony. Guess why?
| In order 70 witness the triumphant en-
| try of our troops. Poor old maui The
news of Wissembourg reached MIN as he
was rising from dinner. While reading
| the name of Napoleon, written at the
| foot of this bulletin OF defeat, he fell in
| sensible.
II found the old cuirassier extended
| on the floor of his room, his face flushed,
aud as unconscious as If he had been
| felled by the blow Of u club. Standing,
be must have been very large man;
| lying there, he looked Immense.
| Regular features, superb teeth, mass
! of White CURING hair, eighty years old,
| but looking sixty. Beside him knelt his
granddaughter, weeping bitterly. She
was very like him. Seeing them side Oy
81, reminded one of TWO beautiful Greek
! meuals struck from the same stamp,
! only one antique tarnis1ed, rather Worn
| in the outline, VIII lie the other was clear
! and distinct in all the freshness and
brilliabcy of n new stamp.
'.rhe griet OF the young girl touched
me. The daughter and granddaughter
| Of soldiers, her father was on MCAla-
| hons staff, ana the sight Of the old man
! living il s1usible before her called up t.
| her mind another sigut not less terrible.
| | did my best 70 reassur her, but to tell
| the truth l had myself very little hope.
| The Old man had been struck down by
| an upopIecue lit, and at elguty years of
| age one seldom RECEIVERS from that.
| For three days, in TACT, the invalid re-
! NAMED in the same condition, notion
! less ana insensibe. Just at this time
! the news Of Reicns often reached Paris.
| You remember IN what strange fashion.
Until evening we believed IN great
victory, twenty thousand Prussians
slain, the Prince Royal captive. L do
| not know by what miracle, or what mag
netic current, an ech0 oil the national re-
joicing reached our poor invalid in the
depths of his paralysis, but that evening
| on apprO& ching his bed found him an
otner man. His eyes were almost
| bright, has tongue less heavy. lie was
strong enough Cosmile, and he stammer-
out twice:
| "EVic-to-ryP"
eyes, Colonel, q great vctoryr"
Sand while i related the detail OF Nc
Mahon's success. | saw his countenance
brighten, his features relax.
'When left the room the young girl
was. waiting Tor me at The door; she was
We ping bitterly.
lie is sayedp said l, taking her
hands in mine.
''The poor girl had scarcely courage to
.Eeply. The real news VI Reichsh fen
had just been publis hed-M cMahon tiy
Ing, the army routed! We looked at
each other. in cons formation. She was
thinking of her father. L
trembled, remembering the old man, He
surely could newer stand this new and
terrible shock. What was to be done?
snould we leave him TO his joy and to
the illusions that had revived hm Then
"sW ell, l VIII lie to him. said the he.
rOic girl, dashing away her tears, and
with a radiant e0untenance SHE returned
to her grandiathers room.
sit was a terribly hard task that she
had undertaken. AT frat it was com
paratiyely easy. The old mans brain |
was feeble, and he believed blindly. like
a child, Whatever Was told him. But |
with returning health his IDEAS became |
clearer. We were obliged to keep hlm |
informed respecting the movements OF |
the army, anu to invent military bulle. |
tins. IL was pitiiul to see tnat fair
young girl, studying day and night over
ner map ol Germany, pricking it with liz
tie flags, attempting 70 arrange glori-
Gus campaign; Bazaine advancing upon
Berlin, Trolssart i'll Bavaria, McMahon
OH the Baltic. She asked my advice
could, butthe old man was our principal
assistant III this imaginary vision. He
had conquered Germany SO often under
the first Napoleonl Now they will 90
here; that is what they will dop and his
were always realized, which
made him very proud.
"But, unfortunately, no matter how
mlny battles we won, how many cities we
tooR, we never went fast enough for the
old man-he was Unsuitable. Every day
On my arrival learned oil anew victory.
"'DoctOr, We hape taken Mayence,' -
said the young girl, coming TO meet me
with a SAD smile; and l heard from the
room ajoyous voice that cried:
''We are making great progress. In u
week we shall enter BerJnW
''At that moment the Prussians were
within o weeks march Of Paris. Our
first idea was TO transport our invalid
to the provinces; but as soon as he leit
Paris, the state of the country would
have told him all, and L feared that he
was as yet too feeble, too much stunned
by his great shock, to be able to bear the
truth. So we decided that he should
stay.
''rbe first day Of the sie0a entered