The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1889-03-07

ana At last tnOugnL ~ Dost 10 numOr
him and then he said to me:
Ned, you are my most intimate
friend among the boys here. l want
yon to do something for mo when /
have fallen in the snow. wear
around my neck a gold chain with q
portrait suspended to 1t, and little
golden image Of La Madonna The
portrait is that OF the daughter of old
Nicholas Sterelle, OF Douai. II ! had
not been here should have been mar
ried to her by now. When am dead
! want you to take this chain, this
locket, this image to her. and say that
Maxine died thinking only Of her,
praying with his last breath for her
in the hope OF seeing her hereafter.
Listen a moment; We parted terribly.
The war. as you know. broke out sud-
denly; and l was ordered by telegraph
to the front without having moment
in which to writc to Marie. It hap
pened thus: ! was at Arjenton when
l received the telegram and / rushed
the same evening to Douai to say good
bye to her. / arrived tired and i'll,
and before taking myself to see her !
entered the restaurant Of Pierre Lar
req, to take bite to eat. There met
Pierre Dufoure, who has for years
been endeavoring to supplant me in
the esteem of Marie. He asked me
how 1t was that was there and / told
him that had been ordered to the
war and that had come to say good
Bye to Marie. He would not believe
It and ! took out Of my pocket the tel
egram / had received from Paris to
show him. At the same time / acct
dentally took out her last letter to me;
as he saw it, . look OF jealousy came
over his face, but he said nothing, and
presently rose and went out Ny meal
at an end, I started for the home OF
my sweetheart, but just as / turned up
narrow street which l always used
as a short cut in going to her, felt a
violent blow upon the head and re-
membercd no more.
.When came to myself the little
money | had in my pocket, my watch
and all my papers. including the tel
egram and Marie's letter, had been
stolen - doubtless the thief, having
noticed that my clothes were Of the
latest Partisan cut, imagined that /
was worth robbing. l came to myself
seated in the corner OF smoking-car
in q train going in the direction Of !
knew not where. It was an hour or
more before the train stopped. Then,
feeling sick and giddy, asked how It
was came there and where / was GO
ing. The guard said that tall, fair
man had carried me in his arms into
the station, had taken for me ticket
to Paris. towards which the train was
now fastening, and put me under the
care Of the guard, saying that it was
important that / should be in Paris in
the morning, but that had been hurt
in some drunken brawl. / was too
stupefied to say any thing. arrived
at Paris and botook myself imme-
diately to the Office of La France, re-
ceived my instructions and my baggage
and half an hour later was on my way
to Nisch. Two hours after that you
met me and that is all.
Il have written to Marie since
have been in the field, but / can not
tell whether my letters have got
through the Servian lines. | could
not, as you American correspondents
do, send them to be posted by the edit
or Of my paper. Promise me that
you will carry my message, my friend,
and now let US 60 in and try to sleep"
Early next day they began to bonn.
bard US from Tirnova- A war CORE
spondent's first duty is to his paper.
he is its property, and therefore he
has no right to waste himself unneces.
sarily; discretion is, therefore, the
better part Of valor, and speaking for
myself, whenever the plan is feasible
get into tree and behind good
thick limb ! had done this to-day
and my horse stood underneath, his
long cavalry bride hitched over my
foot as it swung from my perch
Maxine Durand had followed my ex
ample and sat in the fork OF q ire.
about twenty yards away, chanting
some little French song or other as b.
made notes of the action that was go
ing on before our eyes. Presently !,
shell scared over my head at dis
tance Of about fifty yards and almos
Immediately afterwards three or fou
rifle bullets whistled through tn
branches of the tree in which wa
sitting. 1t occurred to me that thi
was unseemly, and. stopping only t,
light a cigar, l let myself drop int,
my saddle and prepared to seek som,
more sheltered spot, shouting as di.
SO my intention to Maxine. He pre-
pared to follow my example. and as b,
saw me light my cigar he shouted
.'Give me one; ! have been trying I,
light cigarette all the morning, bu
it is SO windy I can't do it. hav'
wasted all my matches"
gave him cigar and as / had Z
spring-hint- wheel and steel and use,
a scrap OF finder, I called him over {,
me and handed him the apparatus
As the dint-wheel revolved and pro
daced q light shower of sparks, m,
horse reared and danced away abou
halt dozen yards, and there / stage,
waiting until Maxine got light A
he did SO, the white cloud which &C
companies shell appeared over on
heads. ] shouted to him: "Shell!'
and ducked Immediately behind my
horse, but he did not. The repor
came, and as my horse turned shar]
and fled l saw poor Maxine strucl
fully in the chest by fragment of tn
shell. His horse fell ut the same time
and poor little Durand was dead.
thought Immediately Of our converse
ton of the 1eevious night, went bac
to the spot, and took from the poo
mangled body the chain, the locke
and the image for Marie The ghastl
horror Of the task battles description
| Int fOr safety I mt the chain rom