The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-08

/ me In q certain sense mem Der or your family,
beg of you to accept my proposition"
The Professor strongly opposed this scheme.
He brought forward the most plausible argu-
| menrs to induce Casimir to remain his guest.
but the old soldier was stubborn and finally the
/ Professor gave in.
But the discussion did not end there. Coste
wished to pay too much and Tisson demanded
too little. Finally they agreed that Pascal. who
| had been member of the Professors household
| for thirty years, should decide the matter Aft
a short consultation with her it was concluded
| that NJ. Tisson would suffer no loss and would
| make no profit If the Colonel paid one hundred
and twenty francs month as his contribution
toward the expenses of the table.
| From that day these old lonely men began
new and happy life, that made them young
again and caused them to forget the burden of
age The Professor had little and the Colonel
nothing. whatever to DO. The two spent
daily hours together. They took long
walks, or sat in the library of the Professor.
the old soldiers lodging They passed
their evenings at the club. where they regularly
played at whist They adapted themselves to
each other as only old people can, from whom
life is receding further and further away. whose
friends few and whose interests bounded
by a circle. They were wholly in
dispepsabie to each other. Tisson grew nervous
if Coste was five minutes late to dinner, and the
old Colonel every morning held a long and conf
Dental conservation with Pascal in order to
learn whether her master had slept well the
previous night, and whether he had exhibited q
good appetite for his breakfast. He regularly
attended the lectures of his friend; his gray head
and serious attentive face known
TO all the university. The students took q
liking to the old man and respectfully made
way for him when he came into the lecture
room After the lecture the Colonel talked
with the Professor about what he had heard,
and asked him to explain difficult points, which
the Professor cid with a touch OF happy pride.
Occasionally the old soldier would let drop
Latin phrase. Alea jacta est. or in vino veritas,
or something of that sort, just TO show that he.
too. knew = bit of Latin. Then he learned Pro-
fessor would smile good humoredly, though
with q little embarrassment, and give the con-
versation another turn But II the old soldier
spoke of his campaigns. then he could talk for
hours without being interrupted, except by the
eager and interested questions Of the Professor
The friendship OF the two men became pro-
verbal
To be sure the Professor was far from opprov-
ing of all the views and habits of life of his
friend. Iisson was strong Catholic and, like
most respectable members of society in southern
France, a legitimitist. Coste, on the other hand,
seldom went to church and had a large fund OF
rather coarse stories in which monks nuns and
priests not treated with that respect with
which they were regarded by Tisson, and as far
as his political opinions went the old soldier was
a liberal who inclined to repu blicanism. The
discussions between the two were not seldom,
and sometimes were very heated. They usually
ended by one or the other suddenly remem bering
ahat they had promised to take hand in q game
of whist Then the excited face of the other
Immediately grew calm. and Selling hat and cane
they would start off to the club chatting pleas
antly, If there had never been break 10
their harmonious good fellowship.
The terrible year 1901 Tame terrible, made
QlSaSr6eMeDUS
the Professor and the Colonel. They were both
warm hearted patriots and forgot in their COM
mon sorrow for their endangered fatherland all
individual differences of opinion that had for
merly separated them. They blamed with unani-
nous bitterness the Emperor, the Empress. the
Ministers and the generals. They were united In
believing all the absurd stories in the newspa-
pers about the heroic courage OF the French and
the barbarity of the Germans They were ami
mated by the Same disgust at the open sympathy
shown by Russia for Germany, and by the same
contempt for the false and ungrateful Italians,
who deserted their old allies in their need, and
they wept together when the news came from
Sedan
A feverish excitement took possess ion of
France at that time. The two friends fell under
its SPELL They longer played whist at the
club, took quiet walks together in the country.
They studied the lpapers with feverish curiosity
and tireless persistency. They made strategic
plans and discussed them with as much zeal and
eartnestness if they had been at the head OF
the armies of France. They hoped against hope
that there would be some change in the fortunes
of war. They could not believe that their beau
tiful fatherland could ever bow her head. They
broken in spirit when the awful truth was
at last forced upon them. For days they went
about together silent and gloomy but they had,
in spite of their age, the mental elasticity OF
their southern compatriots and finally came
out of their dull. silent melancholy. great
NAMED. which showed itself in frequent out
bursts of anger towards the agents OF their
misfortune.
Then came the news that a revolution had
broken out 10 Paris, and that the Commune had
seized the reins of government The two
friends first received it with indifference.
The wounds, which foreign enemy caused,
were too fresh. But after few weeks their at
tention was brought more and more to the civil
conflict 1t now formed the chief topic of con-
versation.
1t was the Sd of June. 1871 at 6 o'clock in the
evening. The day had been very warm. Dark
storm-clouds covered the heavens and threat |
ened every moment to let loose their torrents. |
The air close, almost suffocaring
The Professor walked restlessly up and down |
the dining and waited for the old Colonel |
At last he made his appearance, carrying a bun |
die of newspapers in his hand which he threw |
on the table. He was pale and disturbed.
II waited for the arrival of the Paris paper"
he said at last Read it, L is terrible"
Tisson soon took the papers and hastily ran |
I'll trough one or two of them.
Pascal brought on the soup, and the plates
stood ste aiming before the old men, But neither |
of them thought of touching it.
The newspapers contained enorts OF outrages
of the communists, of thu tsstruction of the
raging street fights and, at the time of the
terrible hloodshed which the Versailles troops
had caused among the enemies OF society"
Tson looked up with cleaning eyes.
God be praised, the good cause has con-
quered !"
."They might have conquered with less cruel
ty." answered Coste, gloomily.
do you make yourself an advocate of the
communists; that blood-thir band of robbers
and murderers 2" cried Tisson.
mo- do not" replied Coste pale and trem-
bling, ''but they should have been treated with
more humanity. Fifty thousand-Tisson think
of fifty thousand unfortunates-it is In the
thousand human lives were
thousand! Oh! it is terrible They
did not spare WON children They stran-
cled and murdered if they fought with wild
beasts and not with men,"
..And they did right" cried Tisson. They
were dealing with wild beasts, with the scum OF
humanity, with robbers, with murderers, ban
dts, incendiaries Not one Of the useless rab-
BILE should be allowed to escaped"
''Tsson! Tisson! think what you are saving!
we are talking of Frenchmen of children of our
own race, of brothers,
Your brothers, III you will! not mine by God!
have nothing in common with rogues and
snieyes!"
''Nor j."
eyes, if you dare to defend them"
"Dare, Tissona-Tisson you are out of your
senses to speak to me-"
7 IF ND ali in |