The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-09-20

the lRur6 OF n6r Tall son, CUT LII tNoy dilA eAA
red just like the body of the still papitating
animal
She sat down to table with her Prussians;
but she could not eat-even so much as a
mouthful They finished the rabbit without
noticing her. Meanwhile she watched them
sideways, without speaking maturing a
singular purpose in her mind, and yet with
such an impassive face that none OF them
observed anything unusual.
All of sudden she asked: "Idon't so much
as know your names; and yet we've been
month together now!n
They were not able to understand what she
wanted without some difficulty; and then
they told her their names. That was not
enough She made them write the names
down on a piece of paper, together with
the addresses of their families; and, perch-
ing her spectacles upon her great nose,
she looked at the strange German writing.
Then she folded up the paper carefully, ana
put it into her pocket, next to the letter
which had told her about the death of her
| son.
When the meal was over she said ts. them,
"Now, I'm going TO do some work for you"
And she proceeded to carry hay up to the
| loft in which they slept.
| They thought this was very queer; but she
! explained to them that it would enable them
| to keep nice and warm so they all helped
| her. They piled up the hay to the straw
roof; and thus made themselves sort OF bed
room with four sloping walls of forage,
warm and fragrant, where they could sleep
/ delightfully."-.
| AT dinner-time one of them became quite
anxious at seeing that old Mother Salvage
| ate nothing She told them she had cramps.
| Then she lit good fire in order to warm
herself; and the four Germans assembled to
their loft by the ladder which led to it.
As soon as they had closed down the trap
door, she took away the ladder; and going
out noiSelessly, she began to collect straw and
| fill her kitchen with it. She walked barefoot
through they snow-so softly that no one
could hear her. From time to time she heard
the loud and irregular snoring of the four
sleeping soldiers.
When she judged her preparations COM
plete, she put bunch of straw in the fire,
then flung the burning heap upon the rest;
and she went out and looked!
A fierce glare lighted the interior of the
building in a few seconds; then the whole be-
came frightful furnace, a gigantic oven,
whose violent light blazed through the single
narrow window, and flung long bright band
across the snow.
Then great and terrible cry rang out
from the upper part of the house; succeeded
by a clamor of yells, human howlings,
hideous cries of agony and fear An then,
the floor umbling in, storm OF flames,
roared up into the loft, burst through the
roof of straw, rose to heaven like vast
torch-fire; and the whole structure 1ared
against the night.
NA%1 INo 01.1 fNyVf fho
cracking of the conf1agration, the cr11mb-
ling of the walls, the falling of the great
beams. The last fragments of the roof fell in,
and the red hot carcass of the dwelling flung
skyward great jet of sparks through cloud
of heavy smoke.
The snow-whitened country, Illuminated by
the fire, shone like sheet of silver, tinted
with crimson.
Afar off, great bell began to ring.
Old Mother Savage stood erect before the
red ruin of her home, armed with a rifle, her
dead sons rifle, fearing that one of the men
might escape.
When she saw it was all over, she flung the
weapon into the fire. A single sharp
, report rang out.
People came running to the scene-peasants
, and Pr1lssian soldiers.
They found the old woman sitting on the
, trunk of tree-calm and satisfied
, A German officer, who spoke French like q
r Frenchman, asked her:
''Where are your soldiersF'
She stretched out her long, lean arm TO
] ward the crimson mass of ruins, where the
fire was dying down at last an answered il
a strong and violent voice:
| 'INSIDEr'
r All gathered about her. The Prussiar
asked:-
a Glow did the fire starta'
She replied sonorously:
a 81 started it.
a They could not believe her; they though
. the disaster had rendered her insane Anc
r then, while all listened, and pressed closer
a about her to hear, she told the whole stol7
f from the beginning to the end-from the re
| ceipt of the letter even to the last cry of tn
f men burned up in her house. She did no
forget one single detail of what she had felt
a nor of what she had done.
: Then, when she had told all, she took from
: her pocket two pieces of paper, and in oIqle
It to distinguish them by the light of the fire
II she coolly put on her glasses. Then she said
J showing one paper: THAT is the letter abou
y Victor's death" And holding up the othe
she added, nodding her head toward tn
o ruddy ruins: "There! that's their names, S
you can write to their folks about them
She presented the paper to the officer VIII
held her by the shoulders, and she continued
u You can write to them how this thin
happened; and you can just tell their parent
that it was I who did it-I, Victoire Simor
called La Sauvage Don't you forget it,"
IA The officer roared out some orders in Gel
If man. They seized her and flung her bac
l. against the still glowing walls of her dwell
" ing. Quickly twelve men took their place
se in front of her, twenty yards away. She neve
r. winked She knew what was coming Sh
9. waited in perfect calm.
or An order rang out, followed by long d,
ne tonation. One shot was heard later than IL
r; rest-all by itself.
lie The old woman did not fall; she sank dow
Id perpendicularly, as though her legs had bee
he cut away from under her.
&, The Prussian officer approached to lool
" She had been almost severed in two by ii
he volley, and her stiTened fingers sti
clenched the letter, all spattered with bloo
er The Wifess Strategy.
1d New York Morning Journal
De "My DEAR" said a young wife to her hu
band, who had already fallen into the hab
It OF going to the lodge in the evening and wi
e. was just preparing to go out. Il am going l
-, ctroet t iuteryiayy the srIDeTinfey7fiauf IF n