Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-05-24
V.

THE COMING or THE sQUARE-HEADs.
No, there had been no victory, That out.
burst Of patriotic fervor had wasted Itself
upon an Idle dream. Paris awoke in q very
savage humor on Sunday momingt and
then came laughter and cynical jests.
Everybody accused his neighbor OF having
eagerly swallowed the lie. Everybody de-
clared that he, for his own part, had never
believed the news so greedily accepted by
the mob.
But In those two new homes in the Rue
Git lie Cour there was bliss, whether the
arms of France were victorious or otherwise
far away in those unknown lands, which
the Parisians were picking ont with pins
upon gaily-colored maps, sticking up tiny
flags here and there on the map TO show
where the French troops were, the very spot
where great battles might be expected mo
mently, great victories-a new Auerstadt, q
second Jena.
What do little birds, in their nests on St
Valentines Day care what battles the big
eagles, the hawks, and the v~ultures are
fighting far away among Scottish noun
tains, on Alpine SUBMITS? The birds have
their nests, and each to each is the world In
little.
A<C titC Win ciiut, VIZ ~ hC'th w
younger" said CASTOR, who knew Shaks-
peare, In the translation Of Charles Hugo.
He and his young wife were utterly hap
py. II there were dark clouds impending
they could not see them. Is not love blind
blind to all things except the beloved?
The faintest shadow on Gaston's brow
troubled Kathleen, but not those signs Of
tempest which were gathering round France.
The new home was full Of smiles. Kath-
leen and CASTOR had smartened the old
furniture by some modest additions bought
before their marriages. writing-table, a
cabinet q bookcase filed with Gaston's
books, the accumulation Of the last ten
years, a few old mezzo-tints picked up from
time to time at the print-shops on the quay.
Kathleen and Rose had toiled for months TO
make both homes complete and pretty.
Curtains and chair-covers were all the work
Of those two pairs Of industrious hands.
Durand, who was richer than Mortemar,
had taken the lower floor for his own mem
o In the Rue Git lie Ceur that second
floor ranked as a rather important suite OF
rooms.
The apartment consisted Of salon, fifteen
feet by twelve, with two easement windows
commanding the shabby little courtyard; a
bedroom somewhat smaller; q little room
which would serve as workshop for Durand,
-ho did . good deal Of artistic cabinet-w"-t
On MS own account after business hours;
and . tiny kitchen. Durand's skilful hands
had made all the best Of the furniture In the
dead watches of the night, when other men
were sleeping or d~issipating; so the home
of Rose and Philip was furnished In q style
worthy Of q man who stood high In the syn
Stcste Of cabinet-makers.
But while life was SO full Of happiness
for the ~newly-married, the sky was darken-
Ing outside. An army Of undeniable valor,
but In number terribly inferior to the foe,
and led by generals Of scandalous incapac-
ity. was brought face TO face with the whole
OF Germany, In arms rs one man. burning
70 svenge the agony, and shame OF sixty
wears ago. On the eth of August came the
aeieat Of General Uouay, beaten ana slain
Ct Wisscmbourg; and on the 9th the still
moro deplorable reverses Of MacAahon at
WUrth, ct Freischwillcr, and 1t sReichshof-
fen. BY the breach thus opened the enemy
poured into France like = torrent. They
came. the tctes c0rrccsl There was NO long
q room for self-crcepticn. This was In
vasion-
And now far Oh. dimly Is in adream. Paris
. beheld the pale spectre Of siege and famine.
The Parisians knew hardly anything Of the
truth, which came to them only In garbled
fragments. They knew not that upon the
nc6is or tneso three or four nunured tnou-
sand men let loose upon France would fol-
low hundreds Of thousands more; yes, near
~ al the male population OF the old Ger
man Empire.
Dark rumors OF evil without the walls
Onlv draw fhosa two households nearer 10