Smyrna times., 1886-01-06
The Little Spy.

The Little Spy.
He was called Stenne-little Stenne.
He was a child of Paris, thin and pale,
who was perhaps ten years old, perhaps
fifteen one can not tell the age of such
mldgets. His mother was dead; his
father, an old soldier, of the marine
corps, had charge of Il square in the
Quarter du Temple Babies. mothers
nurses and old women-everybodv
who frequented the square-knew Pere
Stenne and loved him. They knew that
under that grim moustache, the terror of
dogs and tramps, there lurked a good
humored smile, and that to see it one
had only to ask:
g. How is your little boy ?"
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 tour of the
square. stopping at each bench to speak
to the occupants and reply to their salu-
tations.
With the terrible siege everything
was changed Pere Stenne's square
was closed. 1t was placed under patrol
and the poor man, forced to keep up an
unremitting watch, passed his days
among deserted and ruined walls, alone.
and without his pipe, only seeing his
boy 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 COM
plain of the new order of things. 4
siege! 1t was an amusement to chill
dren. No more school! Vacation all
the time, and the streets like a fair
ground. The boy was running out of
doors all day until evening. He followed
the battaliOns of the quarter on their
way to their ramparts, choosing from
preference those which had the best
bands, and about that little Stenne was
well informed He could have told Won
that the band of the Ninety-sixth wasn't
worth much, but the band of the Fiftv-
fifth was excellent. Sometimes he
watched the Mobiles at their drill;
what files of them there werel His
basket under his arm, he stood with the
long rows of people that formed the
shadows of the dark winter morning ot
the grating of the butcher or baker.
There, standing with ones feet in the
water, one made acquaintances and |
talked politics, and, as the son of NJ
Stenne, everybody asked his opinion.
But even more amusing than all were
the parties du JoUcbOn, that famous plav
OF gdIoehe 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 DIAN
where they played galocIe. He didn't
play, of course, that cost too mucb
money. He contented himself with
watching the players.
One OF them, a large hoy in 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 f
little Stenne the large boy said to him
in low voice:
THAT makes you squint. ell Well
II you want, I'll take you where you can
find en-"
The playing finished, he took him
INTO corner, and proposed that he
should go with him to sell NEWSPAPERS )
to the Prussians; there were thirty !
francs 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
D set OF gdIoche placed at the foot of his }
oed' sud pieces of one hundred sous
each lay glittering all around him.
The fourth day he returned to the
Chateau d'Eau, saw the boy and yielded i,
They set out one morning with socLs
over their shoulders and the papers =
hidden under their blouses. When thev :
reached the Porte de Flandres dav was
ust breaking. Tho large boy took !,
5tenne by the hand and approaching !
'he sentinel-a good old fellow with Z
ed nose and a kindly air-he said to
nm IN supplicatory voice: LET us :, !
PASS bon mOnsleurs. Our mother is y
nck and father is dead. We are GOING u
ny little brother and /, to pick mn u
potatoes in the fields" He began to "
ny. Stennc, filed with shame, hung II
us head. The sentinel looked at them a.
moment and then looked out over the G
Dad, white and deserted. n
Go on, quick, he said to them. u
Tipping aside, and they were on tbei, 81
way to Aubervilliers. The large bow NJ
aughed. W
Confused as in dream little Stenne %
aw factories transformed into ba,raol,s I'll
,airicades with wet rags clinging 10
hem' long chimneys which pierced the 70
Og and mounted toward heaven en,,,tv IN
nd broken. From time to time thew re
nssed a sentinel or officers with their W,
eads mnffied up, who looked out across so
le fields through their lorgnottes or til
tile tents that were soaked in the snow
lat was melting before the dying fires. Pl
he large boy knew the way and went
ross the fields to avoid the outposts. nc
resently before they could escape
lem, they came upon a guard of francs in
reurs. The francs tireGrs with their wi
nts We're encnAnped in fosse by a gr
ream Of water along railroad to Sois. Tin