Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-11-13
THE LITTLE SPY.

Il n
not tell the age of such midgets.
His mother was dead; his father,
an old soldier, Of the marine corps,
had charge Of a square in the Quar-
ter du Temple. Babies, mothers,
nurses and old women-everybody
who freQuented the square-knew
Pere Stenne and loved him. They
knew that under that grim nous
tache, the terror of dogs and
tramps, there lurked a goodhu-
mored smile, and that to see it one
had only to ask:
'How is your little bOyr
Pere Stenne loved his boy so
much. He was so happy when in
the afternoon, after his school, the
boy came for him, and together
they made a tour of the square,
stopping at each bench to speak
to the occupants and reply to their
salutations.
With the terrible siege every
thing was changed. Pere Stenne's
square was closed. 1t was placed
under patrol, and the poor man,
forced to keep up an unremlttlng
watch, passed his days among de-
serted and ruined walls, alone, and
without his pipe, only seeing his
bov when he came home late at
night. You should have seen his
moustache when he spoke of the
/ Prussians.
AS for little Stenne, he did not
complain ofthe new order of things.
A siege 1t was an amusement to
children. No more school Naca-
tion all the time, and the streets
like a fair ground. The boy was
running ont of doors all day until
evening. He followed the battal-
ions of the quarter OH their way to
their ramparts, choosing from pref
erence those which had the best
bands, and about that little Stenne
was we'll informed. He could have
told you that the band of the Nine
ty.sixth wasn't worth much, but the
band of the Fifty-fifth was excel
lent. Sometimes he watched the
Mobiles at their drill; what files
of them there were His basket
under his arm, he stood with the
long rows of people that formed
the shadows of the dark winter
morning at the grating of the
butcher or baker. There, standing
with ones feet in the water, one
made acquaintances and talked
politics, and, as the SOD of NJ.
Stenne, everybody asked his opin-
ion. But even more amusing than
all were the parties du bOuchon,
that famous play Of galoche which
the Beton Mobiles had introduced
during the siege. When little
Stenne was not at the ramparts or
the bakers, you might be sure to
find him at the Palace du Chateau
d'Eau, where they played galoche.
He didn't play, Of course, that cost
too much money. He cOntented
himself with watching the players.
One of them, a large boy in a
blue coat, who never staked less
than one hundred sous, excited his
admiration. When he ran one
could hear the coin clicking in the
pockets of his coat. One day in
picking up a piece which had rolled
almost under the feet of little
Stenne the large boy said to him in
low voice
That makes you squint, eh !
| Well, if you want, I'll take you
where you can find 'em.'
The playing finished, he took
him into a corner, and proposed
that he should 90 with him to sell
newspapers to the Prussiano; there
were thirty francs a "trip to be
made. At first Stenne refused very
Indignantly. He waited three days
without going to see the players.
Three terrible days. He neither
ate nor slept. At night he saw
a set of galoche placed at the foot
of his bed, and pieces of one hun
dred sous each lay glittering all
around him. The fourth day he
returned to the Chateau dEau,
saw the boys and pielded.
they set out one morning with
sacks over their shoulders and the
papers hidden under their blOuses.
When they reached the Porte de
Flandres, day was just breaking
The large boy took Stenne by the
hand, and approaching the senti-
nel-a good old fellow with a red
nose and kindly air-he said to
him in a supplicatory voice: Let us
pass, bon monsieurs. Our mother
is sick and father is dead. We are
going, my little brother and ], to
pick up potatoes in the fields lie
began to cry. Stenne, filled with
shame, hung his head. The senti
nel looked at them moment and
then looked out over the road
white and deserted.
'Go on, quick he said to them
slipping aside, and they were on
their way to Aubervilliers. The
\ large boy laughed.
Confused as in a dream, little
Stenne saw factories transformed
into barracks, barricades with wet