Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-07-31
A PEACEFUL VICTORY.

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loudest and its merriest. In full harmony
with the gay sights and sounds were the
hearts of the villagers. The war, which
had united Pavarians, Saxons and Prussians
in q great bond of brotherhood against q
common enemy had been brought to a
triumphant close. Sedan had crowned the
long series of Teutonic victories, and peace
was secured at last. Even little Weindori
had had its share in the struggle had given
its blood and its tears in the sacred cause
and had earned its right to share in the re-
joicng. which was the outcome OF sacrifice.
Only the day before my story opens, two
Weindorfers had returned from the war,
and one of them had made for himself a
name, in whose reflected glory his friends
and neighbors found no small cause for ex-
ultatiOn.
Within a low, dark fruit shop an old
dame in q short bue-stuff petticoat and a
loose dark Jacket, and with a gay colored
cotton handkerchief tied over her scanty
gray locks, sat briskly knitting. She had a
yellow, wrinkled face. and her round,
sharp, dark eyes looked keenly out over a
pair of broad brimmed spectacles.
In room opening out from the shop a
young Bavarian soldier lay on a rough
bench His head was supported by a pill
low; one arm hung useless by his side: a
look of utter sadness was in his blue eyes
Wilhelm Bauer was q grandson of the old
dame, who rented the Weindorf fruiterer's
shop. His father had died early; the
mother quickly followed her husband ;
Wilhelm at q tender age passed into his
grandmother's keeping. A quiet, good hui
10 la1 hzu TO n
himself useful in the shop and to gain the
favor alike of its proprietress and patrons.
At school he eyinced decided aptitude
for learning; he had q good voice, too
and presently became member of the
church choir Father Andreas took a
fancy to the boy, gave him lessons in organ
playing and in literature, his own favorite
pursuits, and spoke of him as a youth with
a perception and love of the harmonies of
music and poetry. As time went on, Viii
helm, grown into young man, took upon
himself the duties of saCristan. He rang
the church bell for early mass, for vespers
and benediction he swept and cleaned
the church and sacrIsty, at least once in
every week when no acolyte was present
he assisted the celebrant in the mass, his
responsive voice sounding out clear and
sweet in the incense-laden air. The quiet
knew every dim corner, every spot upon
the pavement which caught the morning
and evening sunlight, streaming through
the colored windows; all the pictures were
his familiar friends. Early in life VIII
helm met the fate inevitable to man of
his fervent poetical temperament he fell
in love. The object of his affection was
Gretchen Kellner, daughter of Hans Kell-
ner, who kept the Favorit Backerei.
Gretchen was the belle of Weindorf, q
charming madchen, with graceful, 1.-THE
figure, a bewitchingly bright face, and a
mass of gloriously, uncompromisingly red
hair. The English artist had not long es
tablished himself in the village before he
made acquaintance with Gretchen, and
conceived for her an impers0nal painter
passion His fingers itched to paint her,
and in due time he secured her services as
model at modest rate of remuneration.
She had figured in one or two of his
sketches of Weindorf corners, and the re-
port circulated among the neighbors that
in the great picture exhibition held yearly
in London q full-length portrait of the girl,
represented as presiding over flower stall,
would shortly appear Gretchen Kellner
had many admirers, consequently Wilhelm
had many rivals. Among those rival
claimants for her hand was a Franz Muller,
an unpublished, taciturn, butdecidedly good
looking and capable young farmer, who
rented few acres within a mile of Vein
dorf. Franz did not shine in mixed society,
but i'll his working-day clothes, and with
his working-da manners, he cut an adj
mirable figure, with his tall, active form,
his erect head, his handsome sunburnt face,
his toil-marked hands, and his maniiness OF
bearing. Then, too, he was well off, and
had an exceptionally comfortable home to
offer wife.
Gretchen was coquette. She shrank
from resiguing her freedom and curtailing
her train of adorers by definite acceptance
of any one among her numerous suitors.
First one admirer, then another. would be
singled ont for marks of favor, but when
the question of marriage was propounded,
the girl became obdurate. Upon that
subject" she said airily, " she had not made
up her mind
The suspense of his position was ali but
uncomfortable to Wilhelm. His love was an
overmastering passion. Gretchen - her
beauty and her tantalizing. enslaying CO.
duetrv-was never out of his mind.
At last came the war between France and
Germany. Wilhelm Bauer and Franz
Muller. who had both served in the army
the three years demanded by the State OF
every German, volunteered for active serv-
ice. Love for Gretchen, no less than love
for the national cause, was Nilhelm's ami
mating motive for action. He courted
danger gladly, for the sake of the distinc-
tons which he hoped to gain thereby, to
lay at his darlng's feet Gretchen was am
bilious. She would not. Wilhelm told him
self, refuse to share his name when he had
made II famous.
The young mans high hopes were
] :. IL
the day of his first engagement, before any
opportunity presented itself for proving the
yaior which was in him, young Bauer was
carried, insensible and severely wounded
from the field. Long weeks followed Of
fever in hospital-feger which, though q
fatal issue at one time seemed imminent
was at last subdUcd, but from which the
patient awoke weary and weakened, to the
drearv knowledge that one of his limbs-an
arm-had gone from him forever. He had
won no yestige Of the renown for which be
yearned II was as cripple, and not as a
hero, that he must return to Gretchen and
home He inquired concerning Franz A
storm of laudatiou answered him. Franz
had covered himself with glory. BY a deed
of grand courage he had saved the life OF
his commanding officer distinctions were
showered upon him he had received an
Queer SOiuiulSSloil dilt hai AlSea hO4I
the ranks.
AT first, while his thoughts dwelt on
Gretchen and her probable reception OF
the news of Franz's exploits and honors,
Wilhelm listened with pang of keen
jealousy; but when he had heard the
whole tale of his comrades valor, tears Of
generous admiration started to his eyes
Franz had richly deserved his rewards. As
for himself, his achievements. and there
fore his deservingS, were nil. He must
bear the disappointment and the obscurity
of his lot silently and patiently as he wa,
able.
But now, when WeindOrf was astir with
liday-makers-now, when he lay, I'M
sought and alone, in the deepening twi-
light, Wilhelm's heart was very sore. He
tried to look into the future with steady
ewes. but it lay very dark and desolate be-
fore him. That morning he had written,
with his one useful hand-happily his
right hand-a letter to Gretchen, in which
he renowned all hope to win her as his
wife. She must not link her bright life
with that of cripple.
One or two occasions on which he had seen
Gretchen she stood out more prominently
than Others in the young mans memory
He recalled one day-how long ago i
seemed-when he had discovered her stand
ing on the steps leading to the English
mans studio. and waving her hand IL
merry farewell to the artist within. The
sun had caught her red hair. which seemed