Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-04-19
SHOT as A ROBBER.
An Incident of the French Revolution
Of l848.

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1t is bad enough to have one tyran
meal master, but it is doubly as ba.
to have two, and a huRdred time
worse to possess five score men order
ing you from post to pillar.
What happened in France was this
At the end Of the last century French
men were starving (what there wer
left of them) over all the land. A
that time the lords and the army werl
the only rulers, and the only person
for whom any consideration was ex
pected.
Everybody knows what happened
The s~taryelings rose up, took ven
geance upon their oppressOrs, and
finally, maddened by the march of al
Europe upon their devoted country
became as cruel as had been theil
aristocratic enemies, and guillotined
drowned and shot without mercy.
No wonder they came to adore Ma
poleon /, for this man, as a general
beat back from France the English
the Prussians, the Austrians, hosts OF
other Germans and the Spanish.
Had Napoleon been contcnted to
remain one of the people all would
have been we'll; he strove to be an
emperor with the rest, and to conquer
Europe exactly as Europe had at
tempted to vanquish France.
Thereupon he fell, and king of the
old Bourbon lot was bolstered up on
the throne of France, with the help Of
England, Prussia and Russia. That
business lasted for about fifteen years,
when the Bourbon king was tOppled
over, and the citizen king, Louis Phil
lippe, set up in his placed
He went on very well for some years
half a score and more Of them
and then this wretched man began
despite all the warnings offered by
the lives of all his predecessors TO
play the people false, and endeayor to
rule at his own viii aud discretion.
Meanwhile, a very singular social
change had taken place. Up to the
time of the first French Revolution
only the mobiles had dreamed Of power.
During NapOleon's reign only soldiers
lorded it over France, and when the
Bourbon was fOisted on to the throne,
priests, and priests alone, ruled the
land.
But when the Bourbon, Charles X,
was driven out of France, the richer
of the middle classes began to fancy
themselves the cream of society and
to a certain extent succeeded in OBJ.
tanning the creation Of an ~aristocracy
entirely formed by Louis Philippe out
of the middle classes, and then soon
began to fancy they were the heirs of
the old noblesse who had existed be-
fore the time of the first French
Revolution.
Among other things it is very clear
that they supposed the daughters of
mere working people made for them,
and looked down on these classes in a
modified manner, much after the style
Of rich and noble young F~renchmen
Of the last century.
Therefore, the workmen, as a rule,
made the discovery that while they
had gained a certain amount of in
creased liberty and prosperity by the
acts of their fathers, they were sad
died by vastly increased numbers of
masters, who, though laying no claim
to power over the life and property of
workmen, still looked upon the indus
trial classes as vastly their interiors
as men and women who we're to be
considered quite at their service.
This state of things led to the Revo-
luton Of 1913, which was essentially
an upheaval of the working classes
against the middle, and therefore dis
tinct from hat of last century, which
was a movement of both working and
middle classes against the mobiles.
Our tale opens in February of 1913,
just four months before the outbreak
Of the Revolution.
In a bit of q soora on the fifth or
sixth floor Of a humble house in one
of the common parts of Paris, and at
about six in the morning (for your
true Frenchman is an early riser), a
young man of about twenty-six might
have been seen that summer morning
busy over a glowing fire.
He was casting bullets. His face
was firm, and even noble, with a GER
tain gentle kindness, however, recon-
mending it to most who looked at him.
After a time he discontinued his
work, which was done very quietly.
and the bullets he had made, together
with a shining gun, were hidden be-
hind a loose portion Of the wainscOt-
ing.
Then, taking a little earthenware
pipkin he set to work and made a
capital mess of bread and milk, which
he turned into a white basin. Next
he carried it to an inner room, when he
called "Granddad r
In a moment an old man started
from a light sleep, and turned smiling
ly toward the new conner.
Here is thy breakfast
Heaven bless thee, George Thou
art the light of my eyes And what
fine bread and milk it seems All
hast thou had thy own breakfast 2"
No, not yet. But why dost sigh
granddad?"
ITO think / cannot earn my OWL
living. Ha! twas pity | served my
time at a trade to which my constitu.
ton was not fitted Here | am, with
fingers scarcely strong and Timber
enough to hold this basin of bread and
milk I"
Bah, granddadl Thou didst work
when thou vast able and now |, THY
only descendant, work as we'll as | car
for thee. | only do my duty"
Thou dost, indeed, do thy duty
When thy father, who married m,