Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-05-31
CHATTER VI.
oS TIE RAMPARTs.

every Nitlt.
CHATTER VI.
oN THE ~RAMPARTs,
Paris was n camp; but ~ fur 10 was but
playing nj soldiers, after all, for those with
Ia the walls; though there was plenty OF
hard fighting outside: and many q wounded
MOblot was carried to the ambulance on a
litter, never 10 leave IL alive; and many a
mothers heart was tortured with fear for
her sons; and many a Rachel wept for those
that were not. But though the roar Of can
non Numbered, or grumbled sullen and duly
in the distance, the National Guard within
the walls had, what their American friends
called, a good time. The watch upon the
Tamparts was the most oner0us duty, and II
was only the nightswatch-the cold shelter
of a tent. where the sentinel, returning from
duty, generally found an intruder snoring
upon his own particular knapsack, and UNI
der his own particular rug-which the hon
est citizen soldier found In somewlse hard
shin. For CASTOR Mortemar, young, vigor-
Gus. fall Of enthusiasm ready, like Flourens,
10 lead five battaliOns 10 the fray, il need
were. the cold nights OF October and the
canvas quarters were rs nothing. His mind
was charged with enthusiasm as with cleo
triclty. That bitter defeat, that day OF
humiliation yonder, OH the Belgian frontier,
seemed 10 him the justice Of the gods, the
salvation Of France. The Man of December
and Sedan-it was thus Blanquists and In
terna,lonais spoke Of the late Emperor-was
d~ethroned. That Empire of ciinqudnt and
fotcrie had crumb,ed into dust, I Infdme
fit ecrdse, and France was free 10 achieve
her glorious Destiny, as the liberator OF the
world. and to establish the millennium Of
Communism, tie peaceful reign of blouses,
blue and white, the apotheosis of Belleville
and Menilmontant.
In many a fervid speech CASTOR depicted
the glories of that coming age, yonder at the
club OF the Folies Bergeres, at two steps
from the Boulevard Montmartre, where the
talk ranged ever from grave 10 gay, from
the passionate oratory of the fanatic TO the
lowest deep Of plague and b~uffoonery.
There, and In the Sale Favre, and in many
other such places, CASTOR preached his gos-
Del Of free labor, every man his " master,
every workman his own capitalist, no COR
centration Of profits, no man permitted 10
grow rich by the sweat Of another mans
brow,
"The c~ivilised world has outlived black
slavery" he cried, but SO long rs we still
have white slavery-the slavery Of the
journeyman under the heel of the capitalist
there is no meaning in the word civilisa-
ton; there is no such thing on earth as
justice"
He paced the ramparts, chassepot in hand,
full OF such thoughts. ready TO repulSe the
RUSSIANS, VINO nad not the least idea OF at
lacking bastion or curtain while the gradual
work Of exhaustion was going on within the
charmed circle; and IL was only a question
OF so many months, so many weeks, SO
many days, when starving Paris must sur
render. Already there had been talk of al
armistice, and already that heroic cry OF
Jules Favre, hurled like a gauntlet in the
teeth Of the enemy, mot an incl Of our ter
ritory, not a stone of our fortresses," sound
ed bitterest mockery.
Gaston's belief in the power OF France
against Germany was growing feebler ever,
day; but his faith in the great French peo
PIE, as represented by the bl0uses of Paris
and In the Commune, as the perfection Of
government, grew day by day. Were 10
the people showing every hour Of wha
noble stuff they were made? See how
steadily they faced the terrors Of q belea
guered city, the deprivations Of q state Of
siege. Behold their courage, their patience
their gay good temper. Drunk occasionally
perhaps; but what Of that? Quarrelsom'
now and again, but In mere exuberance o
an enthusiastic temperament. See how lit
tie the knife had been used in these occa
s.onal brawls--a coup de sdpatc, a nos
tweaked here IN there, suficed. The PEG
pie showed themselves a nation Of heroes
I IL Atl MT onat,r 4a Iao@nn Nfnrfrar tho
Belleville and Menilmontant, Clignancour
and Montmartre, were getting a good time
that 1t wa as IL Bermondsey and Bethna
Green. Whitechapel and ~Clerkenwell, wer
having q universal holiday. while ever
man got nrteen-peDcc q ca-, ana All ai,ow
ance for his family, for doing nothing. A
every s~treet-corner there was a cluster o
the National Guard, drinking, laughing
Grating. playing the game of bouchon, al
innocent little game of chance with tn
corks Of their ~wine-bottles; everywhere
ever on the boulevards, dim with the half
light Of alternate lamps, there were sound
of laughter and gaiety; while day by da,
cam tidings Of some skirmish outside Oh,
walls, which had ended disastrously 70
those poor Moblots, who had q knack O
running away helter-skelter when the,
found themselves the focus of q circle o
artillery.
1t was early In October, and Is yet Their
Wa no actual scarcity Of food. HARDSHIP
and famine, the bitter cold of winter. wer
yet In the future. Luxuries were things h
be remembered In the dreams of the epicur
or the sensualist; but frugal Spartan fare
was within reach Of all who had q iit:i
money In the stocking, who had kept thei
potre pour Ia so1. The little children wer'
not yet pining, sickening, fading on tn
earth for lack of q cup OF milk, and tn
crenssrts In the street round the corner wa
In full swing.
Suxon Michel's cremerie was something
more than . cremerie in these days. 1t wa
almost . clab. Communists, international
lists, Collectivists, bad their rendezvous Il
the little shop where CASTOR Mortemar use
10 eat his breakfast In days gone by. Tn
more temperate and respectable OF the revt
~lutionasy party loved 70 assemble here. IN