, 1889-11-07
A TALE OF THE FRENCH
A Tragic Incident Of the
Franoo-P -Prussian War.
MOTHER SAVAGE AND HER SON.
The Prussians Killed Her Boy
and She Gloried in a
Terrible Revenge.

| Serval told TINS story;
When war was declared, the son, ther
80 years old, enlisted, leaving the
mother alone in the house. Tho old
woman did not receive too much sym
pathy, because she was known to have
money.
SO she stayed all alone in this isolated
house, far from the village, on the out
skirts of the wood. But she was moi
afraid, for she belonged 10 the same race
1 as her husband and son---a rough OLD
/ woman, tall and thin, who did not Otter
/ laugh, and with whom no one ever joked
/ Women who work In the fields seldom
/ laugh, for that matter. Laughter is fol
/ the men. The women have dreary and
restricted souls, living dull and gloomy
/ lives. The man learns to indulge in O
| little noisy gaiety at the wineshop, but
his companion remains serious, with Il
cOuntenanCe constantly severe. III,
muscles of her face have not learned
how to laugh.
Mother Savage continued her every
day liio in her cottage, which was soon
covered with snow. She visited the viii
lage once u week to get some bread and
! II little meat then she returned TO her
hut As there were rumors of wolves,
/ she carried gun on her back, her sons
! gum 1t was rusty and the stock worn
from constant handling. She was q
curious sight, this tall Mother Savage, a
! little bent, going with slow strides
through the snow, the gun barrel pro
| jecting above the black cap which 50
/ ctiectually imprisoned her white hairs
/ that no one had ever seen them.
One day the Prussans came. They
were distributed among the inhabitants,
according to the fortune and resources
of each. With the old woman, who was
known to be rich, they placed four.
They were four big light-haired, blue
eyed fellows, who had kept their flesh in
spite Of the fatigue, which they had al
ready endured and their good nature,
although in a conquered country. Alone
at this aged woman's house they were
very thoughtful of her saving
her all the fatigue and expense
that they could. All four were
around the well, in the morning in THEN
shirt sleeves, wetting their .pink-white
| flesh, characteristic of men ofthc North
with an abundance OF water, In the raw,
snowy air, while Mother Savage came
and went, preparing the soup. Then
they were seen cleaning the kitchen
securing the floors, chopping wood,
| ing all the household duties like foui
sons around their mother.
But the old woman thought continu'
! ally of her own boy, with his tall, thin
| figure, hooked nose, brown eyes and big
/ niousiachc. Every day she asked oacll
of the soldiers installed at her iircsidc
DO you know which way the Twenty
| third French regiment went2 My boy
belongs to it,"
| They answered: "No, not at ALL"
And, ndcrstanding her pain and anx-
/ icty, because they had mothers of their
own, they bestowed upon her thousand
/ little cares. Besides she was very fond
of her four enemies, for peasants seldom
| feel the patriotic hatred that is monop-
/ olzed by the upper classes. The hum
bic, those whopay the most because they
are poorest and whom every new burden
overwhelms; those who are killed In
masses, forming because of their num-
| hers real food for the cannon; those, in
short, who suffer most cruelty from the
/ atrocious miseries of war, because they
are the weakest and least able to resist
[ seldom understand the bcllicose ardor,
| tile cxCitable feeling of honor, and the
pretended political combinations which
. In six months exhaust two nations, the
/ victors as well as the vanquished.
/ The ncighbors said, speaking of Moth.
er Savage Germans;
There are four who have found a
\ home"
But one morning, while the old woman
was alone in her cottage, she saw at q
distance over the plain man coming
toward her dwelling. Soon she rocog-
nized him as the letter-carrier. He
| handed her folded paper, and she
drew from their case the spectaclcs
which she used in sewing then She read
| MADAME SAVAGE: This brings you sad
news. Your boy Victor was killed yes
tcrday by cannon ball that cut him in
] | STANDING
marched side by side in the company,
and lie had asked me to notify you in
case any misfortune should befall him.
| have taken possession of his watch,
In order to restore it to you at the end oil
the war.
salute you as friend.
CESAR RIvor,
Soldier of the I'd class in the 23d of the
! line.
Tho letter bore date of three weeks be-
| fore.
She did not weep. She remained
motionless so struck and stupetied that
as yet she did not even suffer. She
/ thought: There's Victor killed now"
Then gradually the tears rose to her
/ eyes, and grief invaded her heart. One
by one ideas came to her, frightening
and torturing her. Never more would
she embrace her big child, her big boy
never more The gendarmes had killed
W." IL h,d b hoar zee, ~ ,wn % nu cann, ,ms
h,li rI i !, scemod ~ ~ hr bwo ~ hn JunnU, na
~ m' mi ~ a.He w hnad ''i rat,; ;'o 'um
oxc. xo ona, hiin il. III, ,Sa cornar tns his
big moustache, as he had been wont tc
py nv, mton Snsrf, ,hov dana ,., III,
hoSv9 TTdho,%,%ad % nniy vos,nr.G I'LL hnr ha, ,a,
uS uVuuS ~ .nuy ,Idu oniy ass,oieu neI ne'
Snmd i,h "n ~ I hni,a, y; ,b ddie ei ~ rhi' i.
sorehsad & ma1i' ''e o"'ie' III 'i' ''''''e Vi HE
'oiSh. mn, H. hrd ,h ,,a 90 ,o,o.. i,
,vas " ,ha sn1 pr"ss;a ,ne o,urni u 'S e ~