Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-11-09
THE RED FLAG.
CONTINUED.
On the Ramparts.
CHAPTER vi.

those within the walls; though Their.
was plenty of hard fighting outside
and many wounded Moblot was car
r1ed to the ambulance on litter, never
to leave 1t alive; and many mother
heart was tortured with fear for he
sons; and many a Rachel wept fol
those that were not. But though the
roar of canon Numbered, or grumbleC
sullen and duly in the distance, the
National Guards within the walls had
what their American friends called
good time. The watch upon the ram
parts was the most onerouS duty, anC
1t was only the night Watch-the colo
shelter of Il tent, where the sentinel
returning from duty, generally found
an intruder snoring upon his own par
ticular knapSack, and under his OWL
particular rug-which the honest citizen
soldier found in somewiSe hardship
For CASTOR Mortemar, young, vigorous
full of enthusiasm, ready, like Flourens
to lead five battaliOns to- The fray, if
need were, the cold nights of October
and the canvas quarters were as moth
ing. His mind was charged with en-
thusiasm as with electricity That
bitter defeat, that day of humiIia tion
yOnder, on the Belgian frontier. seemed
to him the justice of the gods, the sal
walton of France. The Man of Decem-
Der and Sedan-it was thus BlanQuists
and Internationals spoke of the late
Emperor-was dethroned. That EN-
pire of chnquant and fiouerie had crum-
bled into dust, L Infame fut ecrase and
France was free to achieve her glorious
Destiny, as the fberatOr of the world,
and to establish the millennium of
Communism, the peaceful reign of
blouses, blue and white, the apotheosis
of Belleville and MenilmOntant
In many Il feryid speech CASTOR de
picted the glories of that coming age,
yonder at the club of the Folies Ber-
ceres, at two steps from the boulevard
MontmTte, where the talk ranged ever
from grave to gay, from the passion
ate OratOry of the fanatic to the low
est deep of plague and butfoonery
There, and in the Sale Fayre, and in
many other such places, CASTOR
preached his gospel of free labor, every
man his own master, every workman
his own capitalist, no con cenhation OF
profits, no man permitted to grow rich
by the sweat of another mans brow.
TThe civilized world has outlived
black slavery he cried, but so long
as we still have white slavery-the
slavery of the journeyman under the
heel of the capitalist-there is no mean
ing in the word ciyiliza ton; there is
no such thing on earth as Justice"
He paced the ramparts, chassepot i'll
hand, full Of such thoughts, ready tC
repulse the PrllsSianS, who had not
the least idea OF attacking bastion OF
curtain while the gradual work of eX
haustion was going on Within the
charmed circle; and it was only Il ques
tion of 50 many months, so many
weeks, 50 many days, when starving
Paris must surrender. Already there
had been talk of AN armiStice, and
already that heroic cry of Jules Favre
hurled like Il gauntlet in the teeth OF
the enemy, Not an inch Of cur terri
tory, not Il stone of our fortreSSes,'
sounded bittereSt mockery.
Gaston'S belief i'll the power OF
France against Germany was growing
feebler every day; but his faith in the
great French people, as represented
by the blouses of Paris, and in the
ment, grew day by day. Were no
the people showing every hour Of Wha
noble stuff they were made? See how
steadily they faced the terrors of {
beleaguered city, the deprivations Of I
state of siege. Behold their courage
their patience, their gay good temper
Drunk occasionally, perhaps; but wha
of that? Quarrelsome now and again
but in mere eXuberance of an enthusiasts
tic temperament. See how little thu
knife had been used in these occasion
al braWls-a coup de Savate, nos
tweaked here and there, sufficed. Th
people showed themselves a nation
of heroes.
1t did not occur to Castor Mortema-
that eBlleyille and NIenilmontant, Gig
nancourt and Montmarte, were gettin:
a good time; that it was as if Bel
mondsey and Bethnal Green, White
chapel and ClerkenWeu, We're hayin
a universal holiday, while every mai
got fifteen-pence Il day, and an allow
ance for his family, for doing nothing
At every street corner there was
cluster of the National Guard, drinking
laughing, Grating, playing the gam
OF bouchon, an innocent little gam
of chance with the corks of their wine
bottles; everywhere, even on the boule
wards, dim with the half-ight of alter
nate lamps, there were sounds o
laughter and gaiety; while day by da
come tidings of some skirmish outsid
the walls, which had ended disastrous
1y for those poor Moblots, who had
knack of running away helter-Skelte
when they found themselves the focu
of circle of artillery.
1t was early in October, and as ye
there was no actual scarcity of fOOt
Hardship and famine, the bitter col
of winter, We're yet in the future. Luz
urieS were things to be remembers
in the dreams of the epicure or tf
sensralist; but frugal Spartan far
was within reach of all who had
little money in the stocking, who ha
kept their poire pour la soft. The lit
children were not yet pining, Sicllel
ing, fading off the earth for lack I
a cup of milk, and the cremerie in tt
street round the corner was in fu
swing.
Suzon N1ichel's cremerie was som
thing more than a cremerie in the