Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-09-14

i not stay there with the empty places.
i There were too many voices there that
! did not speak. That was BIT. But what
1 shall do noW??' h Ss5 55
Conrad s question was answered for
him by the great French Emperor and
/ by the king; for Napoleon had deter
mined in his old age that be must fight
the Germans; and SO great many quiet
people had to march away from their
homes to be shot at. without the Wisest
man IN the village being able to give
/ them good reason. q 5>z$Ss &&g> ..z$z & Z
It was sad thing for many, but Con-
aad Midburger felt as if be was almost
glad to 60. He was sure he loved his
"vaterland, in every bone Of his body;
and, if the king called for him, he was
ready. Still, as they marched away
from the sleepy old village, Conrad said
! to himself: %,s.1H r.
There are the old house, AMI the
shop. and the church steeple, and the
trees, and the graves in this church yard.
/ did not know my heart was SO big, for
| He could not see any thing very clear
! ly just then, however, for his eyes were
strangely dim. No doubt the sun was
in them, and the CLINT and glitter of the
bayonets; but, If any one had looked in
the Young mans face, he might have
! said:
| ''t is a. very thoughtful face, and
there are lines Of strength beginning to
| show in it."
And then there followed swift march
ing, comtortless camping, all kinds Of
| severe and trying soldier work, and q
good deal of very hard fighting. What
ever the newspapers and reports might
! say about it, Conrad Nidbu rger and his
comrades learned that the Frenchmen
| were brave fellows, and that the glory
! OF beating them was never very cheap
| ly won.
Being big and strong and brave, a
| good swordsman, and every day grow
ing more and more intelligent, Conrad
| himself won glory-that is. three or four
! the ranks, the compliments of his COM
| manding officer, and the envy of his
| comrades.
Being man of property, of respecta-
| bic parentage, of fair education, Conrad
| might have looked forward to almost
| anything attainable in the German army
by man of less than noble blood,
| il the war had not been 50 very brief.
| and If the corps to which he belonged
| had not been among the first to he or
dered, home. Before a great while he
| found himself almost his own master
again, though still within the scope and
control of army regulations, for no Ger
| man OF COnrad's age is ever beyond
! them, and he said to himself, "Well, I
love the army, l almost loved fighting. I
knew / could love glory with all my
| heart. | know | am ten times as much
| a soldier as that little white mustached
ape of baron that commanded my COM
| n,rv &c If thir)r + no,,lIj lava
| a country where there were no barons.
Let me see. think my heart must
have been growing good deal during
| this war. There is more room in it than
| [ know of, and yet it is always full. I
! think there are some things IN it that I
! never saw there in the old times. 1
| will 60 and take look at the village
first, and the house and the shop, and /
will listen again to see if can hear
| Christine cali her father home 10 dim
! ner. Then, if don't hear her, What
then? Well, 1 will just ask my heart
Now all this time, old Franz Hofer-
dahl and his daughter had known very
little OF hat had taken place in the viii
lage they left behind them. They found
their pilgrimage long and weary enough,
| anu they bad reached resting place at
last, and they had written home to their
| Old neighbors, as all Germans do, but
| very little information had come back to
! them. They knew that old Gottlieb
Midburger was dead, and that Conrad
had gwen up the home and the shop.
and that he had gone to the great war
| with the French, and that was nearly
all.
! Franz Hoferdahl had not landed on
| the shores of the new world pauper in
! any. thing but youth and strength, and
he found friends readily enough to take
! the place Of the old ones as far as might
| be, and, after he had got over, his first
daze and bewilderment, and become
! somewhat accustomed to the racking
| changes in all his habits and ways of lifo
| he tried to settle down as man of prop
erty and substance, and be happy.
| eff only old Gottlieb Midburger were
with me-" he said to Christine, 81 think
I could do it, would give good deal
| just to see the Old fellow lay down his
pipe and look into dirty watch"
Christine said very little, but her
! bright American home became dreary
! enough at times, when she shut her
eyes and let her thoughts 60 back to the
old sleepy German village. She read
all the accounts of the great war, too,
l ""oAAtC1 IA any VI lACI Olu 1lClSuOOTS
! mad been in this battle or that, and she
listened very silently when her father
said:
! eff Conrad Midburger was in any of
that fighting, I'll be bound he behaved
himself we'll. There's good blood in tho
Midburger's and Conrad is fine boy"
! HE must be a man by this time"
| said Christine.
| And then she thought what a very
tall tine looking man he must be, and
how we'll he would appear in his uni
! form. s:> .%. ~
But when after awhile, there was
news of peace, and they heard that the
| army was going home to be disbanded.
/ old Franz Hoferdahl grew strangely
thoughtful, and Christine tried ali in
I VAIN to arouse him, or. amuse him. I'M
til, one autumn morning, he said to her:
! All the other old soldiers are going
home, I think it is pretty near time tor
me to go, too" %r
ITO Germany, father?" exclaimed
Christine, with q sudden light in her
eyes. ooh father!'' =. !. n.
"No, Christinen'' solennly replied the
old man; Germany is not the only
| fatherland. I am avery old soldier and
think thisgis my last campaign es
| Christine understood him then. but
all in a dreamy and unreal sort ofa way,
until, a few weeks later, she found her
| self sitting alone In the house, while. the
chilling wind that Whistled by the win
dows was freighted with the first white
harbingers of the winter 1t seemed a
cold, forlorn. and empty sort OF a world
to Christine, and when she tried to
think Of the village where she was born,
that, too, seemed empty and deserted,
and she imagined the old shop shut up
and the snoWfakes beating against the
webbed windows. s.. ,. /. s s5. ,55,
The door bell rang, but Christine did
Il .nnt fngr IL nor Al she l,naxr fIn se,,.