Middletown transcript., 1892-03-03

. +
enjoyment of his pipe yet was there
look in his eyes that showed how
strong was the desire within him--the
desire that is natural to every brave
and simple-minded old soldier-to tell
the story of bis honorable scars.
Even had I felt no desire to hear this
story, not to have pressed him would
have been cruel But little pressing
was required.
"Since Monsieur is good enough to
desire to hear what little there is to,
tell" he said, "and to show him how
foolish is this old woman of mine, |
will tell him the whole affair. It is q
stupid nothing; but Monsieur may be
amused by the trick that was put up
on me by those great generals--yes,
that certainly was droll.
"Our regiment, Monsieur, was the
Twenty-seventh of the Line. 1t was
drawn almost wholly from the towns
and villages in these parts: Aries and
Tarascon and Saint.Remy and Salon
and Maillane and Chateau Renard-
there is the old chateau, over on the
hill yonder, beside the Durance-and
Barbentane, that we shall see present.
ly around the corner of the hill. We
all were prouenceaatr together, and
the men Of the other regiments of our
division gave US the name of the Pro-
vence cats-though why they gave US
that foolish name am sure they never
knew any more than we did ourselves.
It was not because we were towards,
that I will swear ; our regiment did
some very pretty fighting in its time.
as any one may know by reading the
reports which were published in the
gazettes of those days
"Our division held Mont Sapoune-
the French right, you know-faciDg
the Little Redan across the Carenage
Ravine 1t was early in the seige,
and we had only drawn our first par
allel: close against the Selinghinsk
and Vallyrie redoubts, and partly GOV.
ering the ground where we dug our
rife pits later on. But we we're 60
ing ahead with our work fast, and al
ready We had thrown up the little re.
doubts known as No. II and No. 15,
that covered the advancing earthwork
leading to where our second parallel
was to begiu. Redoubt No. II was a
good hundred yards, and Redoubt No.
Is was more than three times that
distance outside of our lines and
everybody knew that these two advanc-
ed posts would be in great danger un
til our second parallel was well under
way. So very possible was it that
they might be surprised, and the guns
turned on our own lines in support Of
a general attack, that in each Of then
spikes and hammers were kept il
readiness against the need for spikins
the guns before they fell into the en-
emy's hands. Our regiment lay jus
behind these redoubts, in the rear Of
the artillerymen who manned ou
trenches; and as the gunners hae
plenty to do all day long, and through
the night too, sometimes, the work o
keeping up the night pickets fell tt
our share.
eft was while things were this way
that | was on picket early one morn
ing on our extreme left, close over th
edge Of the Carenage..Ravine. I ha'
come on with the midnight relief, anG
by five o'clock in the morning, wher
day was just breaking, my teeth were
chattering and was stiff with cold
Name Of a name, but 1t was cold thos
winter mornings! We have nothing
like it, even when the worst mistral il
blowing, in our winters here in Pro-
vence. Down in the ravine there wa:
thick mist, into which could no
see at all. But every now and ther
Whit of wind would come in iron
the seaward and thin it little !; ant
then would give good look below
me-for it was along the ravine thai
any party sent out to surprise US al,
most certainly would come.
"It was while the light still wa;
faint that I thought l heard, coming
through the mist, little rafting
sound, such as might be made by
man stumbling and dropping his mus
ket among TIE broken rocks. Just the
he mist was too thick for me to see
twenty feet below me. l was sur
that something bad was going OIL
down there, but I did not want tt
make fool of myself by giving
false alarm. All that could do wa
J to cock my musket and to hold i
pointed toward where the sound seem
: ed to come from, all rea iJ-should
there be need for ito give tht
alarm and get in a shot at the enemy
! at the same time. Truly, Monsieur
it seemed to me that | stood tina
way, while my heart went poundin,
against my ribs, for whole year 7
was no longer cold {; the blood wa
' racing through my veins, aud l wa
]. everywhere in a glow. Suddenl
: there came puff Of wind, and as th