The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1885-08-29


bread for him and fresh meat. 1t was
only for him, indeed; and you cannot
imagine anything more touching than
those innocently selfish breakfasts of the
grandfather-the old man on his bed
fresh and smiling, the napkin tucked
under his chin; near him his grand
daughter, little pallid from privations,
guiding his hands, giving him drink,
helping him to eat all these forbidden
good things. TheH,, animated by the
4neal, in the comfort of his warm room,
the winter wind without, the snow tos-
sing about his windows, the old cuirassier
recalled his campaigns in the north, and
recounted to us for the hundredth time
that terrible retreat from Russia, when
there was nothing but frozen biscuit and
horsehesh to cat.
.." DO you understand that, little one2
we ate horsenesh.'
"Did she understand it For two
months she had eaten nothing else.
From day to day, however, in pro
portion as convalescence approached our
task with the sick man grew more diff
cult. That dulling of all his senses
which had served SO well Until then COM
menced to disappear. Two or three
times already the terrible broadsides of
the Porte Maillot had made him start
with ears erect like hunting dog. We
had to invent last victory of Bazaine
under the walls of Berlin, and salutes
fired in honor of it on the Hospital of
the Inyalides. Another day, when his
bed had been pushed near the window
it was, think, the Thursday of Buaen-
yal--he saw plainly the national guards
who formed in theavenue of the Grande
-armee.
What troops are these?' demanded
the old man, and we heard him grrlm-
bling between his teeth; Bad drill!
bad drillr
HE said nothing more about it, but
we saw that henccforth we would have
to take great precautions. Unfortunate
ly, there were not enough taken.
cone evening as came in the girl
came to mo very much troubled
d" Tomorrow they enter she said to
me.
"Was the door of the grandfathcr's
room open? The tact is on thinking of
it since | recall that he had that evening
an extraordinary expression. 1t is
probable that he had heard us. Only
we spoke of the Prussians. and he, good
man, was thinking of the French, for
whose triumphal entry he had waited SO
long, MacMahou coming down the
avenue amid flowers, the flourish of
trulnpets, his son by the side of the mar
cony in full dress uniform as at Lutzen,
saluting the torn flags and the eagles
black with powder.
Poor Father Jouvcl He doubtless
imagined that we wished TO prevent his
witnessing the parade of our troops in
order to guard him from too great emo
ton, so he carefully relrained from
speaking of it to any one, but on the
morrow, at the very hour that the PrUs-
sian battalions advanced cautiously on
the long road which led from the Porte
Maillot to the Tuilleries, an upper win
dow was gently raised, and the colonel
appeared on the balcony with his helmet
his great saber, his glorious old uniform
of the cuirassiers Milhaud complete. ]
still wonder what effort of will, what re-
bound of life, thus put HIM upon his
feet and into uniform. What is certain
is that he was there, erect behind the
railing, astonished at finding the avenue
so wide-so still-the blinds of the
houses closed, Paris desolate as a great
pest house, flags everywhere; but, SO
singular, all white with red crosses, and
no one to meet our soldiers.
For a moment he could believe him
self mistaken. But no! down there be-
hind the Arc de Triomphe there was q
confused noise, black line which ad.
yanced in ;he rising light Then little
by little the spikes of the helmets
flashed, the little drums of Jena began
to beat, and under the Arc de rEtoile,
its rythm marked by the heavy tramp OF
the sections and the clash Of sabers
burst forth the triumphal march OF
Schubert
"Thcn IN the gloomy silence of the
place, there was heard cry-a terrible
cry-'To arms! To arms! The Prus-
siansr And the four Uhlans of the adj
vance guard could see up there on tho
balcony tall old man stagger, and,
waving his arms, fall rigid
This time Colonel Jouvc was indeed