The Penn's Grove record., 1889-08-24
A HAIR BREADTH ESCAPE.

A HAIR BREADTH ESCAPE.
In 1870, a month OF two before the
outbreak of the Franco-German war,
one of the most promising cadets, or, as
they are commonly styled, pupils" of
the military college Of st. Cyr was Gas
ton de Langeals. He was the last rep
resentative of an ancient family in Brit
tany, whose traditional obstlnacy and
impotence OF control he had inherited
to an extent which rendered him more
popular with his comrades than with
the presiding authorities.
Not that he was especially remark
able for turbulence or INSTRUMENTATION,
or that his ~infractlons of rules were
more frequent than those of the major
ity of his fellows. On one point alone
he was intractable, and exercised all
his ingenuity In repeated attempts to
escape a regulation which was mex
pressibly repugnant to him. Gifted by
nature with an abundance of luxu-
rian,ly curling hair, of which he was
Unfortunately vain, the prescribed neces-
sity of having it cropped short was a
perpetual grievance to him; and he
looked anxiously forward to his second
year at st. Cyr, and to his consequent
emancipation from the too close scru-
tiny to which he had hitherto been
periodical ly subjected.
SIN two months" he said exultlngly
to n of his %intiinates, ''my time here
| will be up, and once named officer l
shall be free as air, and no longer
ashamed 10 show myself to my cousin
Louise. For you see" lie added, lift
ing his cap, and displaying a thick
| growth of short curls carefully flattened
down, II still have some hair left"
Castles in the air, however, are apt
to collapse; and Gaston's visionary pro-
Jects were, to say the least, premature.
A few mornings later, at the usual
hour of parade, the corps of youngsters
were Unexpectedly summoned to under
60 the inspection of the infantry leu
tenant, Bouchard, alynX-eyed martinez,
by no means favorably disposed toward
pupils destined for cavalry regiments,
whom he contemptuously designated as
"coxcombs." DE Langeais, as the
recognized leader of the band, was par
tIcularly obnoxious to him; and his keen
eyes twinkled mallciously as lie stopped
short before the young man, and ex-
amined him curiously.
Take off your cap" he said.
Castor obeyed with al inward SILVER
of apprehension.
Il thought as much" growled the
lieutenant. "If that superfuous hair
has not disappeared by this time to-
morrow you will pass the next four
days in the sale de police"
"You are in for it now," whispered
his symathizing comrade when the ter
rible Bouchard had passed on.
mot a bit of it." replied De Ian
geais, Struggling his shoulders uncon-
cernedly.
"Why, what on earth can you do?"
81 don't exactly know; but | intend
TO put off the evil day as long as | pos
sibly can"
Next morning, with the aid of a o III
pie of brushes, well soaked in water, he
succeeded in leveling the rebellious
eye, and appeared On parade with his
wonted jaunty air, although not a little
nervous as to the result of the coming
ordeal. Presently the lieutenant arrived
with an ominously slow step. and paus-
ing as before exactly in front of Gastsn,
repeated the order of the previous day.
Take off your cap"
For q moment Bouchard appeared
puzzled by the apparently smooth sur
face of the '.pupil's'' head, but, bent on
ascertaining the real state of the case,
he unceremoniously lifted a portion of
the flattened hair with his forefnger,
thereby disclosing a substratum of tiny
curls. Then, turning to the adjutant
who accompanied him, he briefly con-
signed the offender for four days to the
''salle de police" and continued his
round of inspection with a self satisfied
grin.
During the last day of his seclusion
Gasron practically employed his leisure
in decorating his knee, by a judicious
mixture of blue and green paint, with a
tolerably exact imitation of a bruise,
which he showed to the regimental
doctor, pretending that the confusion
had been caused by his coming in con-
tact with a post in the riding school.
Whether he implicitly believed the
statement or not, the good natured
medico put him on the sick list, and
thus t~wenty-four hours were gained.
His reappearance on parade, however.
became at length a matter Of necessity,
and this time his continued disobe-
dience entaiied on him a weeks further
confinement, at the expiration of which
he was again consigned to durance vile
for an entire fortnight.
This will never do" thought DE
Langeais. ''The e~arthenware pot must,
in the long run, be smashed by the iron
one, and / shall have to give in at last.
L had better try old Griscom once
more"
Whereupon, having previously by
way of precaution added a few touches
to the pictorial embellishments Of his
knee, he limped into the consulting
room of DIR. Grison, who was fortu-
nately too much engaged with other
patients to bestow more than a very
cursory glance at the bruise, and not
knowing precisely what to make OF the
case, gave the newcomer an order of
admission to the infirmary, then under
the charge of half a dozen Sisters of
Charity presided over by a lady supe-
rior.
CASTOR had hardly changed his ordi-
nary attire for the regulation loose gray