Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-05-31
THE REID FLAG.
M. r. BRADDON.
Author OF "Lady Audley's Secret"
etc. etc. etc.

a man of good birth and refined surround
ings. This man Of the people never ignored
that fact when he thought OF his wife, He
wanted 10 atone TO her for the sacrifice she
had made; he never thought OF her as the
~erisette, earning her living by the labor of
her hands; but as Captain U'Hara's daugh-
ter, born and bred as a lady, STOPPING from
her high estate 10 become a mechanics
wife.
How happy were those brief glimpses Of
home, those brief hours with gouge and
chisel, beside the hearth, while Rose stood
by and watched the slow careful work-the
chiselling OF q feather, the rounding Of a
peach, the minute touches that marked the
scales Of a fish!
Yes, even while fear and uncertainty
ruled without, while earnings were nil, and
the strictest economy was needed least
these days of scarcity should exhaust the
little capital amassed with such miracles Of
prudence and self-denlal; even now, with
the enemy within sight of the walls, with
the future Of France wrapped In gloom,
there was gladness in this humble home OH
the second floor hi tho Rue Git 10 Cnur, and
the little dinner or supper Of bread and
salad, the morsel Of Lyons sausage, or the
wlne-soup was as a feast at this board,
where Love ever sat as the chief guest,
smiling, blind TO misfortune, careless of
days to come
Above-stairs, In the journalists home,
Love also %reigned, aud here, too, was the
deep happiness Of perfect union; but with
CASTOR ard Kathleen life was less calm
than in the Durand household. CASTOR was
stepped to the lips In the fever Of politics,
was blown hither and thither, his soul toss
ed and ag;t1ted by every breath of the pub
lie whirlwind. lie had friends here there,
and everywhere among the extreme Repub-
lican rarty; he believed In Rochefort, he
worshipped Flourens, that hot headed en-.
thusiast who Just at this time was In com.
lmand of five tattalions 81 The National
Guard, the beloved Of Belleville and Menil-
montant, a leader ut who's beat Of drum
that SETTLING populace were ready 70 rise as
one man.
The Red Flag was loud in its reproaches
against existing authorities. The Red Flag
lauded Blanqui and the Blanqu,stS and was
just now at the height Of popularity, rival
ling Felix Pyat's paper, lie Combat, and
B~lanqui's Pdtric en- Danger; and yet the
day was to come when the Putric en- Danger
would cease 10 charm, and the Red Flag
MUM hN W " lth NilNhIh- "a -
ish as an efIete rag, too tame, too soft for
the age of anarchy and death. The day was
10 come when every color would be too pale
for Paris, save the deep dark hue OF blood.
But at this time Paris had not yet begun
TO suppress Its newspapers. The Red Flag
was popular, and Gastcn NJ, rtcmar was the
most popular among its con,ribu ors. lie
was paid literally for his work for in this
lau 80 1npht and upnartnintu tho nnnraGt
could spare a couple Of sous for q paper that
told how France was being misgoyerned,
and called upon the supreme sovereign peo-
ple-the MIIabeaus and Robespierres, and
Dantons and Marats OF Menilmontant, 10
arise in their might, and steer the tempest
driven ship TO a safe harbor-the smooth
yoadstead Of Communism, Collectivism,
Karl Msrxism, what you will; every man
his own master, no hereditary nobility, no
landowners, no m~illlonalres, a universal
level of blue b!ouses and cheap wines.
Ard es weeks and months wore on, and
autumn began to have a wintTy aspect, and
party rose against party, faction against fac.
don, and agitation and fever were in the
very air men breathed, Kathleen's breast
was futtered by many fCsrs. In Gaston's
absence she was never free rom nervous
apprehensiu sion from morbid imaginings. IL
was only In those brief Intervals when he
was at home, sitting at ais desk, whiting
passionate vehement protests against this
or that, prophecies OF evil, wild suggestions
for wilder action, bending over his paper
with pale nervous face and flashing eyes,
dipping his pen into the ink as II II were a
stiletto stuck In the heart Of The foe, writ
Ing as ii Satan himself guided his pen, OF
---A.ls. Aa.n IT.rrfa1 un xuhfla Nhs
printers devil ran of with the copy, TO re.
turn an hour after with the proof-it wa:
only then, when he was there, and she could
stand beside him as he wrote, and twine hel
arms round his neck, or smooth his disorder
ed hair, STOPPING now and then to kiss the
troubled brow, that Kathleen felt her hus-
band was safe. At all other times she
thor ght Of him as a mark for Prussian bull
lets or for private vengeance. She had
visions of every kind Of catastrophe that
might befall him.
20, how / pity the poor rich wives, the
great ladies of PARISH she said 10 CASTOR
n day as she sat on his knee, after ther
scanty meal, brushing back the rumpled
hair from his forehead with two loving
hands, looking down into the dark eyes
which gave back her look of love: how ]
pity them, poor things, sent away u Dieppe
or to Etretat 10 Arcachon or Tronville-
parted from their husbands, languishing
yonder In fear and trembling! Don't you
think II was cruel of the husbands TO send
them away. G~aston?'
"No, dearest; unselfsh rather than cruel
The women and children have been sent
away from scarcity and danger. from trouo'
lie and fear. / wish you had let me send
you 10 your old friends at the convent
near Brugee, whose charity would have for
given your flight, and who might have shell
tered you In peace and security till thistem
pest should be overpast."
Peace and security away from you?
should have broken my heart In a week
You could never have been cruel enough u
send me awayr
"Do you suppose / would not rather have
you here, pet?' he asked, looking up at her
drawing down the pale fair face 10 meet hi
own, and covering 1t with kisses; 'the ligh
Of my home, the guardian angel of my life
The brief half-hours that we can spend to
gether thus and thus and thus" with a kis'
after each word, ARE better than a year o
commonplace comfort; our msa! Of bread
and haricots is better than a dinner at Big
mons In the golden days Of the Empire tina
IL dead, when dining ranked among the flint
arts. Did you read my last article In thu
Drdpedta Kathleen" he asked In conclu
sion, with Q little look which betrayed thu
vanity of the successful journalist-the maj
who believes that he moulds and makes
public opinion.
did I read it?" cried Kathleen; ''why,
read every word you write! THERE'S NJ
q 80 eloquent, no n else whose prose ]
20 full Of p0etry-except perhaps, Veto
Hugo-but / like your style better than bis,
she added quickly, lest he should be offend
Cd; "only, CASTOR, sometimes as ] read
fear that you are not wise, that those CRANE
slowing words of y~ours-words that bur-
like vitriol s0metimes-may fre . trail
which will lead TO an explosion, IN explo
sion in which we al may perish. Think o
oil those people at Belleville and Menil
montana and Nominate and Clignancour
many and many Of them honest industri
Gus SOULS desiring only right and Justice
but others stepped In crime, misery, hstre'
"a ssething mass, fermcnting In the corrur
tion Of idleness and sin-ready 10 arise lik'
3 poison cloud, and spread death and ruiz
over tho city. Do you remember last Sun
day, when We went for 3 long walk In thos
streets beyond the Boulevard Richard LIE
noirf There were faces In the crowd, Gas
ton. that made me shudder, that made m
~>yl -skh k~~~c~. <a~aa ~ womau "a wall n