The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-10-21
LOUIS NAPOLEON.
zoia's Striking Picture of the Days
Before sedan.

Zoia's Striking Picture of the Days
Before sedan
A pitiful picture is given of Louis Ma
poleon, as of dreamer, forced into a
place for which he was unfit; and a man
stricken by mortal illuess, who YET
would endeavor TO be an emperor. What
a picture that is whic b Zola has drawn OF
him before Sed an.
II was indeed Napoleon ILL.,; he ap'
Peared larger, somehow, aud more iElpos-
lug on horseback, aud his mustache was
so sllffly waxed, there was sucn a bril-
liant cosor on his cheeks. that Delaherche
saw at once that he had been made up
and painted like an actor. He had had
recourse to cosmetics to conceal from the
army the rayages that anxiety anu illness
had wrought in his countenance, lhe
CHASTITY pallor of his face, his pinched
nose. his dull sunken eyes, and having
been Notified at five o'clock that there
was fighting at BaZeilles. aud had come
forth To see. sadly aud silently, like q
phantom with rouged cheeks.
There was brick kin near by, behind
which there was safety from the rain OF
bullets that Kept patterlng necessarily on
It's other front and the shells that burst
at every second on the road. The mount
ed geoup had halted.
sire" someone murmured, "you are
in danger"
But the Emperor turned and motioned
to his staff to take refuge in the narrow
road that skirtsd the kiln. where men and
horses would be sheltered from the fire.
Really, sire, this is madness. Sire,
we entreaI you"
His only answer was to repeat his ges-
ture; probably he thought that the ap-
pearance Of a group of brilliant uniforms
On that deserted road would draw the fire
OIL the batteries on the left bank. Entirety
unattended he rode forward into the
midst of the storm of shot and shell,
calmly, unhurriedly, with the unvarying
air of one who goes TO meet his appointed
fate. Could it be that he heard behind
him the implacable voice that was urging
him onward, that voice from Paris
"MarchI march, die the hero's death on
the piled corpses of thy countrymen, let
the whole world look on in aWe-struck
admiration, SO that thy son may reignl,'-
could that be what he heardf He rode
forward, controlling his charger to a slow
walk. For the space of hundred yards
he thus rode forward, then halted, wait
ing the death he had come there to seek.
The bullets sang in concert with a music
ike the fierce autumnal blast; shell
burst in front of him and covered him
with earth. He maintained his attitude
OF patient waiting. His steed with dis
tended eyes and qulvering frame, in
stinctlvely recoiled before the grim pres
ence VINO was so close at hand aud yet re-
fused TO smite horse or rider. At last the
Emperor, with his stole fatalism, under
standing tnat his time was not yet come,
tranquility retraced his steps, as If his only
Object had been to feconuoiter the posl-
tion OF the German batteries.
What courage, sfre We beseech you,
do not expose yourself further
But, unmindrul of their solicitations,
he beckoned to his staff to follow him.
not Offering at present to consult their
safety more than he did his own, and
turned his horses head toward la Mon-
celle. quitting the road and taking the
abandoned fields OF la Ripaille. A cap
tain was mortally wounded, two horses
were killed. AS he passed along the line
Of the Twelfth Corps, appearing and van
ishinR like a spectre, the men eyed him
with curiosity but did not cheer.