Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-02-24
HIS DECORATION.

sab! what a handsome mani" said the la
dies when he appeared on Tuesdays at the
hour of the promenade, while the band was
playing in the square before the sous pre-
lecture, and gazing upon his tall military
figure, always tightly buttoned in its frock
coat and then, with contemptuous glance
of pity upon their own husbands, more than
one of them strangled melancholy sigh.
1t was fact certainly that M. Montonnel
was handsome man. And, seeing his close
cropped hair, the upward curve of his mus
tache, his martial port and the red ribbon
conspicuous at his buttonhole, like full
blown poppy, no one would ever have
dreamed that the greater part of his exist
ence had been passed behind a dry goods
counter
A dry goods counter? Heavens, yes! For
twenty-five years, affable and smiling, he had
measured out without ceasing cloths, silks,
merinos, cashmeres, poplins, creotonnes, reps,
serges, piques, cambrics, velvets, every pos
sible fabric, i'll a word, even down to vulgar
calicoes. His nimble hand folded and I'M
folded goods, while his smile made havoc
with the hearts of his pretty customers 1t
appeared that he had inspired grand passions
Ghe chronique ga,ante went so far as to cite
some very aristocratic names. Be that as it
may, M Montonnel's business had prospered.
He had amassed quite a little fortune, to
which he never alluded.
Not probably through modesty. But he
was not fond of recalling his beginnings, and
he would have liked to say with M. Jourdain:
II a dry goods merchant! Pure calumny.
Being naturally obliging and a judge of good
materials, I used to gather a lot together
and give them to my friends for money.
That is all'
Every year since his retirement from bust
ness he had been in the habit of taking little
trip of two or three months with his wife,
who was languid, well preserved blonde,
somewhat addicted (f idle gossips were to be
credited, of course) to firtations here and
there.
lutely radiated Importance. He held him
self still straighter, his mustache was waxed
into points still more menacing, his red rib
bon spread itself upon his breast till it looked
like a nosegay. Not that the worthy draper
was especially fond of travelling. Glimpses
of beautiful sites, superb monuments, pal
aces, cathedrals, museums had but mediocre
attraction for him. His artistic tastes had
not been largely developed. But could he
not register at the hotels ''Isidore Montonnel,
ex-tield officer and chevalier of the Legion of
Honor9' And was not that true? Chevalier
of the Legion OF Honor he undoubtedly was.
Field officer be had been-for a week.
1t was in 1870. This was the way of it:
In one Of the northeastern departments of
France, its name matters not, there are two
towns-Siamese twins, Soldered together bya
bridge thrown across a field. Call them X
and Y, if you please. The former clean,
open, orderly-somewhat like Nancy. The
latter fortified, poorly built and located, its
narrow, tortuous streets encircled in ram
parts erected by Vauban.
Needless to say that the inhabitants of x
detest the inhabitants of Y. and that the in
habitants of Y have for those of x a most
inveterate hatred, which every day trans
lates itself in ferocious combats between the
small boys Of both towns.
At the approach of the Prussians there was
a general reconciliation. Hatred, discord,
enmity were put aside. Only few recalci-
trants among the civilian artillerymen of Y
took malicious pleasure in recalling the
siege of 1915, during which the unprotected
x, where Bluchers soldiers, had fortified
themselves, had been pitilessly bombarded by
the cannon of the citadel.
But suddenly x began to erect barricades,
as though in expectation of a desperate re-
sistance The national guard was rapidly
organized, and NJ. Montonnel, as the hand
some man that he was, was elected comman-
der unanimously.
Unfortunately, being without arms, the
new national guard remained perforce mac
tive, and heaven only knows the jokes that
were banded in the neighboring town.
Those civilian artillerymen who came be-
tween maneuvers to the ramparts to see
their colleagues defiling along the square be-
fore the mayoralty took their full content of
the situation.
This was humiliating. The state of affairs
was becoming intolerable Consequently NJ.
Montonnel, SO soon as his tailor had brought
him his uniform with its four chevrons,
called his captains together, and before the
assemblage had disbanded repaired process
sionally to the headquarters of the general
in-chief of Y. Once there, the new COM
mander, who had grown a foot taller with
those chevrons on his sleeve, those silver but
tons, that red collar, gave voice to the desire
with which his men were fired-the desire of
dying for their country
"All were ready" he said, 'anxious to
march against the Prussians at the first
alarm But what could they do without
arms! Could one ask those fine fellows to
few old guns, few rusty pistols, a few anti
quated swords? 1t would be piece of folly
"a needless sacrifice Therefore they begged
the military authorities to provide them with
arms and ammunition. Once equipped, no
soldiers would be found more devoted, more
courageous in the defense of the city.
NJ Montonnel was eloquent; his attendant
officers tacitly agreed; Lieut.. Gallibert, a
wholesale wine merchant, who stood there
with teeth clenched and savage eyes, even
cried ''Bravo!" Notwithstanding, the general
hesitated, was slow to give what was de-
manded of him, knowing probably how far
the national guard of x was to be depended
on. Those old troopers, they're all the same,
you understand, always seeking an opportu-
nity to snub civilians from the height of
their own grandeur.
Well after much parleying, during which
NJ. Montonnel made use of all those gifts of
persuasion which had subServed him in the
days when he extolled his dry goods, the
delegation crossed the bridge, with some hun
dred percussion guns and a couple of small
howitzers, drawn by some of the guards on q
handcart.
ssThose howitzers," said M. Montonnel that
same evening, haranguing the crowd from
the mayoralty balcony, ''those howitzers are
the emblem of our imperiled country. Like
Romans, we would shed for them the last
drop Of our bloodt'
The phrase obtained enormous success. The
tax collector, who was of a skeptical and
malevolent turn of mind, remarked with some
timidity that the connection between the
howitzers and the ancient Romans was per-
haps not very apparent But this observa-
ton evidently inspired by jealousy, was lost
in the universal enthusiasm. And all these
good people who at the bottom of their souls
cared only for one thing-to save their pos