Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-04-28

SllIIIy do a NClCIdLA lAllS HI IIdNO uOACi
and said:
Gabriel Lenoir, my colonel, at
your service and that of France.
The colonel looked aghast.
Recruits were used to tremble be-
fore his frown; but this young man
seemed to be- perfectly cool, and not
only answered boldly, but used the
language of person of cultivation.
Moreover, he looked the colonel
straight in the eye, and had the
same name as his commanding Off
Ger.
LenOir looked at Lenoir; colonel
at recruit, for half minute; and
then the superior growled out:
"You're iIl-named. You should
be call Leblanc" white "not Le-
noir. I'd advise you to exchange
into another regiment as soon as
possrble. You'll nc be happy here.
You're out of uniform"
"On the contrary, my colonel" ="
replied the fair young man coolly,
81 intend, if you do not object posi-
lively, to remain in this regiment
til have become its colonel"
Gabriel Lenoir Sr., looked at his
young namesake and turned purple,
as he bIurted out:
"Impudent recruit! and where
do you suppose L shall be then ?''
"Holding the baton of marshal,
my colonel" promptly responded
the fair-haired recruit with a smile.
The purple faded out of the colo
nel's face; for it is not human to
resist artful fiattery, and he said in
a more modified way:
young man, you may make a
soldier some day, if you'll learn to
keep your tongue quiet. 1t IS not
the custom for recruit to speak to
his commanding officer with the
free dom OF an eGual.'
Then the colonel passed on.
When the inspection was over
and the recruits were assigned to
quarters, Gabriel LenOir found him.
self sent to the first squadron, and
reported to the sergeant in charge.
Sergeant CrOcasSe was tall raw
bOned GascOn, with face that
seemed made of leather, and mus
tache that nearly touched his breast.
He had an eye like a hawk, a voice
like a bull, and was familiarly
known in the regiment as "Old
Guard-house," from the frequen-
cy with which the words 1.-TWO days
in the guard house" were on his
lips, in dealing with recruits, who
were to him a sort of troublesome
beast, to be punished all the time.
He looked at our fair youth for
few moments with sour express
sion, and then observed:
The service is going to the
devil. A pretty Deaths Head you
will make, with your blue eyes and
white head. l wonder the colonel
didn't send you back to the depot.
What's your name, recruit ?"
Gabriel Lenoir," answered the
recruit.
"Old Guard-house" made a GRIM
ace.
"Lenoir, indeed The impudence
of having the same name as our col
Onel. Morbleu, young man, who
gave you that name?'
"My godfathers and godmOthers
in BAPTISM" was the composed an
sWer.
"Old Guard-house" grunted.
"The devil! What do you want
in this regiment ?"
"To do my duty till | become its
answered the recruit, al
most as he had answered his COM
If the colonel was astonished, the
was fairly flabbergasted.
He gasped and stared at the re-
cruit for moment and then burst
out:
"a colonel! You colonel! you
white-headed sheep of the country!
And where shall be then, pray ?"
He ended, trying to restrain his
passion to the limits of sarcasm, and
succeeded badly, for the froth flew
from his lips as he roared out:
"Where will l be when you are a
colonel ?''
General com handing the divis-
ion," was the mild reply, with
smile 80 innocent that CrOcasse was
at once, and grunted more
"Oh, that, indeed! That's differ
ent! But bark ye, young man,
you talk too much. The Deaths
Heads do their work silently. How
old are you?"
"Twenty-two, sergeant"
every good. Here is your num-
Der, 1913, and yonder is your bed.
You will get ready for guard at
once"
And so Gabriel Lenoir found him
self, at the mandate of "Old Guard
house," a part of the machine with
which the emperor of the French
was to overturn, in a few years, half
the thrones of Europe.
"And where did you serve,
Blancbec ?" white-nose] asked one
of Gabriel's new comrades, as they
turned into the guard-house an hour
after, to wait for their time of going
on guard in the second relief. The
speaker was a dark Gascon, with a
scar across one cheek that split his
in half, and his voice had
an unpleasant ring of contempt in
it. You don't look old enough to
have smelt powder"
All of the Guard were large, pow
erful men, and they looked askance
at the yaung recruit as if they dis
liked him.
Yet he was handsomer than any