Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1885-01-15
CRUST OF BREAD.
An Adaptation FROM the french OF Fran.
sots Coppes.

Inc ouke was hnishing his breakfast one
morning, and glancing absently over hia news
paper, when he read ths news Of the disaster At
Retehshoren He emptied has glass q chlr.
trouse, lsid-his newspaper down on .he res
taursnt table, ordered his vale. to pacI his
trunks, and 1.-Two hours later took the express for
Paris, and hurried to the recruiting Office to en-
list in q foot regiment
A man may have led the eIervating life Of a
petit ereye tas they called them then. srcth 10
25-he may have done his best TO dull his
brains in racing stables andin the bSudoirs OF
opera singers. In spite OF it all, there are
moments when he esnno forget that In.
gnerrand de Hardimont died OF the plague al
Tunis the same day as Saint Louis; that Jean
de Hardimont Commanded the Grand Com
panies with Du dueselin, and that Francois
Henri de Hsrdimont was killed with Malson-
Rouge in the charge at Fontenoi. Degraded
as he might be by his foolish and soandalous
passion for Lucy Violet tho prin,a donna OF
The Nudites Parisiepnes, when. the young
man learned that i battle mad beer lost BIZ
/ frenchman on French ground,a the blood rush
ed to his face, and he had the horrible sensa-
ton of a.blow. -
So il came about in the early days Of Ncveni-
! ber, fo70, henri de HsrdimDnt, Of the Third
Fusiliers, apd member OF the Jockey Club,
Inv AAh ' W - VIII ANS VI AAAB
which formed part Of yinoy's Corps, was on
guard with his company before tho redoubt Of
Hautes- Bruyeressa position which had been
hastily fortified and protected by ths cannons
| OF the Fort Of Bieetra
II wasa dresry place q road planted on
either side with rows ~ sfiintfdl leefe4s trees,
Ind plo&ed up with deep cart-ruts. stretched
across the waste fields OF the suburb. On one
side of the road was a deserted inn, a road
side inn with arbors in its garden. whore the
! - ill.,. 1al 49,. So Nt.gf. $50 nH.-..
had been fighting there a few days before.
The shots from the mitraillpuses had shat
tered some OF the trees along the road, and, all
bore on their bark the white etsrs Of tlfs bul-
lets, G9Is hSisc was simply appalling; the
roof had been smashed by a bomb, and the
walls with their dull, red paint looked as il
they had been despatched with blood There
was a grim irony in the dismantled arbors with
the black trellis works in che swings that
creaked upon the wet ropes in the damp wind,
and in the shot r.ddled sign-post-s dead rab-
bit surrounded hvo two billiard cues, tied 70
gether by o ribbon, and framed around with
The inscriptions 1!Uabinets dc Societe--Ab-
inths-Yermouth-Wire twelve . ssrs The
a''srt1@al lScallinB toe popular Sunday rev
els of former times. Overhead was q sad,
gray, winter sky, with great leaden clouds-a
lowering, gloomy, cruel, angry sky. -
The young man STOOD at the, door. OF the inn,
with his rifle slung behind him bis CAP over
his eyes, his hands in the pockets Of his red
trousers, shivering with cold under his
sheepskin He sank into q sadreyerie, this sol
der Of a defeated army, as, with monrnful eyes,
he watched the line OF mist-eoyered hills from
which, every moment, thefs ross a PUT OF
white smoke, followed'by the roar ofs krupp
cannon.
All at once he began 70, feel hungry. He
keelt down on one knee and drew a large piece
Of bread out OF his knapsaok, cleaning against
the wall near him; then, IS he had lost his
knife, he begrn to bitetne bread with his teeth,
eating slowly.
However, he had enough Of that after q few
mouthfuls; the bread Was hard and had a
bitter taste. And to think thatshe could not
get any more till the rations we're served
but next day, and even then only if the COM
missafiat chose TO give it Fighting was a
hard trade sometimes; and he must choose
such = moment As this to remember his form
or ''diet luncheons, az housed 70 call them,
after 3 TOO copious banquet over night He
rerhemberedbow he used to sit by one Of thu
ndows down stairs in the Cafe Anglais, and
call for--the$ merest trifie-a outlet, eggs,
b~rouillos with asparagus tops; and how the
butler, who knew his habits, would put the
wine, a bottle Of fine old Leoyille, on the TIA
bic, lying in a basket; and how carefully he
would draw the cork All! Those were good
old times. He should never be able to get
used to this bread poverty.
And in his impatienoe the young man threw
the rest b his bread into themud err.
Atthat moment q soldier came out Of the
inn; he stopped and picked up the crust; then,
moving a few steps of, he wiped it on his
sleeve and began 70 deyour it eagerly. Henri
de Hardimont had already begun 10 feel
ashamed of his action, and he looked with pity at
the poor wretch who seemed so ravenously
hungry. He was a big, tall, illbuIlt man, with
teyerish eyes an untrimmed beard; SO thin
| that his shoulder blades stuck out under the
cloth OF his vermont cloak.
"You must be hungry, my friend?" said he,
going up to,the soldier. ~
"As you see" replied the other with his
mouth fun.
81 beg your pardon. II / had known it
might be Of any use to you, / should not have
thrown my bread away" A @
"Novor mind" said the soldier, 81 an not
so particular as all that"
"All the same" continued the gentleman,
ait was wrong and I am sorry 1 did IT. ! can
not let you 60 with such a bad opinion Of me
as you must have now We must have . drink
together. I have some old brandy in my
hAsk"
The man had finished eating. The duke
and he drank q rnoathfca OF brandy and their
Introduction was complete.
"What is your Names asked the soldier.
"Hardimont," replied the Duke, sappressing
his title. "And yoursspr "a :,
''Jean Victor. / have only just j5ined the
company. I have come from the ambulance.
was wounded at Chatillon. All, / was well
NASA 6cNA Astb "a ~ N
scratch and the Major signed the order for
me to come out And now, worse luck, / have
only to begin starving again For you may
believe me or not, mate, but as true as stand
here before you, l have been hungry all my
life"
It was a terrible sentence to be spoken to a
voluptuary who had Just caught himself re-
GREETING the cuisine Of the Cafe knglRis; and
the Due de HArdimont looked at his eompan-
ion with a sort of Fortified surprise. The
anllfnr a aaA EFatla ahnuInn a ant -
wolish- looking teeth@famished beth, that
flashed white against the wan face-and,
then, as IL he saw that some explanation was
expected Of him:
Monsieur said he, suddenly dropping his
familiar style of address, as though itdawned
on him that here was one Of the rich and
happy OF this earth, "let us walk mp and
down the road here, and l will tell you a few
things that / don't suppose you have ever
heard before MY name - Jean Victor only
jean Victor, because I am . Founding, and
my only pleasant recollection ia Of my early
childhood at the Founding Hospital The
sheets were clean in our little beds in the dorm
ltory; we used To play IN the garden under the
big trees and 4 remember my sisterz-she WAS
quite young, and a pale liy-she wac dy ing OF
consumption. l was her f~svorite, and I used 10
like 10 walk by her side better than to play With,
the other children, because she would draw me
close 70 her and lay her thin, hot hand on my
forehead But from the time 1 was ~ years
bhi II hutW upNninB Dut pONOftys nv Ubafu
bound me apprentice to a chair -mender in the
Faubourg sasntJscques IL is Q bad trade,
You know. yon can't make . living out Of IT,
and the proof was that generally the master
could get no apprentices but the poor children
from the Blind Hospital And that was whereI
be2anto suffer from hunger. The master and
mdstress-two old Limousins, who ended by
being muriiered-were terrible misers. They
kei tine bread locked up, and only cut us q lit
tie bit at each meal And IN the evening,
at p you should have seen the ms
truss, in her biGek cap. ladling ont the
soup and giving a sigh at each ladieful. The
other two apprentices, The ~'jeunes aseugles, |"
were less to he pitied, for II they did not &c.
any S,ors than / did, at any rate they did not
zoo TUE xngry look Of that hard when
she handed our PLAZA And, unfortunately, l
hAd q good appetite even then, Could l
help thaty / was three years apprenticed
there, and always rsyenousL Three years,
And You can learn the trade in one month.
Bat the board can't know everything and new
ef suspect how The children are cheated All
you were surprised 10 nse ne pick up the
bread out OF the mud lam pretty well used
20 il; have picked up crsssfs enough on the
dust heap; and when they were TOO dry 7 left
them TO soak all night They were good wind
islls sometimes, L confoss bits Of bread inst
nibbled, that the youngsters used TO pull out Of
- "