The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1892-07-08

wifeheloves may not pc written 10 the dead.
for 1t Is months since he has had tldlngs Of
wife OF child; and who can tell where the
aagel Of death may have vlsitedP A change
had come over the great city and the spirits
of the people-brave stu, bearing their bur.
den calamity, still crying their cry OF mo
surrenderr butgay and light of heart no
longer, bowed down by the weight OF ever
increasing wretchednesS pInched by the
sharp pans Of hunger, enfeebled By
disease, tortured by the bitter cold of .
severe winter, which just now is the hardest
trial OF ALL And now, in these dark days
after Christmas, the Ice Is broken, the siege,
for which Paris has been waiting patiently
three months, begins in bitter earnest, and
tho thunder OF the guns shakes earth and
sky. The Line, the Mobile, the National
Guard, oil do their duty; but at best they
can only die bravely for cause that has
long been lost The bombardnent ceases
not day or night-now on this side, now on
that. In tho trenches the men suffer hor-
rihly. The snow falls on the living and the
dead, Every sortle results In heavy loss.
The Nmbulances are all full to OVERLOOKING.
Trochu, the irresolute, the man OF proelama-
tionI and manifestoes, has given place TO
Vmoy; but what generalshlp can hold
b'caguered city against those grim captains
Famine and Death?
Tne women bear their burden with Aquiet
resi- ,nntion which Is among the NEST heroic
things In history. Day after day. in the
early winter dawn, they stand In the dismal
train OF householders waiting for the all0t-
| tod VNnptinn ~ n NnrNfnn ~
that 1t seems bitterest irony TO carry 1t home
to a hungry family. There they stand-
ladies, servants, workwomen, from the high
est to the lowest-buiieted by the savage
northeastern showed upon, hailed upon,
shlvering, pale, exhausted but dlylnely pa
tIent, each feeling that In this silent suffer-
ing she contributes her infnltesmal share
of herosm to the defense Of her country.
SO long rs her rulers will hold out, so long
as her soldiers will fight and die, so long
will the women Of France submit and suffer.
Their voices will never be Joined In the cry,
Surrender for our sakes."
The little children IRE fading Off the face
OF this troubled scene. That Is the worst
martydom OF all the mothers. The little
faces are growing plnched and haggard, the
fragile forms are dropping, dropping, day
by day. The mother and fathers hope
against hope. In day or two the siege will
te raised; milk and bread fuel, comfort
t0th0se desolate households ;andthe dropping
children will revive and grow strong again.
And, while the mothers hope, the little ones
are dying, and the little collins are seen, in
mournful PROFESSIONS, day by day and hour
by hour, In the cold cherries street.
AT the butchers'-shops, at the bakeries,
there the same dismal train waits day after
day Everything Is scarce. Butter Is forty.
Ave francs pound; the coarsest grease,
rank fat which the servants would throw
into the grease-tub In times OF plenty, 10
sold for eighteen francs pound. Gruyere
cheese Is thing beyond all price, and 10
only bought by the rich, who wish to Offer
costly present. like a basket Of strawber
rles In February or peaches In March. PotR
toes are twenty-five francs u bushel; cab.
bage six francs; and garden-stuff which
last year one would have hardly offered to
the rabbits, Is now the luxurious accompanl'
ment Of the pOt-du,feu dc cIl0pGl, There 10
no more gas for the streat-lamps, and the
once brilliant Lutctla Is q city Of Zimmerman
darkness. Bltterest scarcity OF all, fuel has
become prOdlgiously dear; and the poor are
, shiverlng, dying In their desOlate garretS
! pnched and blue with the cold Of a hard
+ winter.
l Even among the well-to-dO classes fund.-
5 are running low. Provisions at siege prices
; have exhausted the purses Of mIdde-clasi
| citizens Stocks have been sold at terrible
? loss, capital has been exhausted. Ruin ant
: hunger stare in at The windows, and haun
$ the snowy night-like spectres.
, For the poor the struggle Is still sharper
but the poor are familiar with the pinch o.
poverty with the pangs Of self-denal. AND
then, perhaps, there is more done for tn,
INDECENT In this day OF national calamity
, than was done for them in the golden year
! OF prosperity; albeit the Empire, whatever
Its shortcomings, was not neglectful 10 thu
houseless and the hungry.
TO BE CONTINUED
|