The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1889-12-21
dirty cap. The sig boy leaped into a

"Inis Is my brother" said he, indi-
eating his companion.
Steen was so little that the Prussiar
began to laugh at sight Of him, and
was obliged TO take him in his arms tc
lift him up to the breach.
On the other side OF the wall there
were great mounds OF earth. felled
trees, black holes in the snow, and in
each hole the same dirty cap. the same
yellow mnstaches, which laughed al
the children passed. In one corner
was gardeners house, casemated with
tree trunks. The lower story was full
OF soldiers, playing cars and making
soup over a great, clear fire. 1t ex.
hailed a good odor Of cabbage and
pork. How different from the
bivouac of the sharpshooters. Up.
stairs were the officers. You could
hear them playing the piano and un-
corking bottles OF champagne. When
the little Parisians entered they were
welcomed with a joyful hurrah.
They delivered their newspapers and
then the soldiers poured drinks for
them and talked to them. The officers
all had a naughty and cruel look, but
the big boy amused them with his low
humor and his vocabulary OF black
guard talk. They laughed and repeat
al 10 off unfit
delight in the Partisan mud thus
brought to them.
Little Stenne would have been glad
to talk too, to prove that he was no
fool; but something oppressed him.
Opposite him, apart from the others,
stood Prussian, older, more serious
than his comrades. who was reading,
or rather pretending to read, for he
did not take his eyes off the boy. In
his look were both tenderness and re-
proof, as il he had had in his own coun-
try child of Stenne's age and had
said to himself:
II had rather die than see my
plying such trade"
From the moment his eyes fell on
this man Stenne felt as if there were a
hand grasping his heart and hindering
its pulsation.
To escape from this anguish he be-
gan to drink. Soon everything was
whirling about him. He heard MS
comrade vaguely in the midst OF narsn
laughter, making sport Of the natlonai
guards and of their manner Of drill.
initiating capture Of arms at the
Morals, night alarm on the ramparts.
Then the boy lowered his voice. the
officers gathered about him, and their
faces GREW sober. The wretch was
warning them of the sharpshooters'
prospective attack.
Instantly little Stenne arose, furious.
brought back to his senses.
"Not that! / will not"
But the other only laughed and went
OH. Before he had ended all the officers
were on their feet One of them opened
the door for the boys.
"Fly the camp" said he.
And they began to talk together very
rapidly in German. The big boy went
out, proud as a king, clinking his
Stenne followed, hanging his
head; and when he passed the Prussian
whose look had so panied him, he heard
a sad voice say.
mot pretty thing, that-nos a
pretty thing"
The tears came to his eyes.
When they were once more on the
plain, the children began to run, and
returned rapidly. Their bags were
full of potatoes which the Prussians
had given them. With these they
passed the trench of the sharpshooters
freely. They were making prepare
lions for the nights attack. Troops
we're assembling silently. The old
was there, busy placing his
men, looking SO happy! When the
boys passed he remembered them, and
gave them kind smile.
Oh, how that smile hurt poor little
Stenne! For a moment he had mind
10 exclaim:
"Do not go! We have betrayed
you"
And the other had told him that
Il he spoke they would be shot, and
lear restrained him.
At Courneieve they entered an aban-
1oned house to divide their money.
Truth obliges me to say that the divi-
sion was made honestly, and by dint OF
hearing the sound OF the bright crowns
under his jacket and of thinking of
the games OF galoche that lay before
him in the future little Stenne no long
Or thought his crime so fearful.
But when he was alone-unhappy
child! When the big boy had lefs him
inside the city gates his pockets began
% grow very heavy, and the hand that
yrasped his heart confined it more
strongly than ever. Paris no longer
,eemed to him the same. The passers
~ reg .s1aed him severely, as If thu;
snew where he had been| The word
,py-he could hear 1t IN the rafting
If wheels, in the beating OF drums
,long the canals. At last he came
nome, and. delighted to find that his
ather had not yet come in, he went up
quickly to their chamber to hide under
his pillow the crowns that so weight
ID him down.
Father Stenne had never been so
Kind, so gay. as when he came in that
evening. News had just come from the
the country's affairs were
yoing on better. While he ate his
supper the old soldier looked at his
run, hanging on the wall, and said to
his SON, with his kind smile:
"Oh, my boy? how you would go
against the Prussians if you were
yrown!"
Towards o'clock cannon was heard.
at is Aubervilliers. They are fight
ng ut Bourget" said the good man,
Who knew all the forts.