Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-11-02

you think it was cruel Of the husbands
to send them away, Gaston?"
| No. dearest; unselfiSh rather than
cruel. The women and children have
been sent away from scarcity and dan
ger from trouble and fear. I wish you
had let me send you TO your old friends
at the convent near Bruges, whose
charity would have forgiven your flight,
and who might have sheltered you in
peace and security till this tempest
should be overpast."
peace and security away from you p:
[ should have broken my heart in a
week. You could never have been cruel
enough to send me away
DO you suppose I would not rather
have you here, pet?" he asked. looking
up at her, drawing down the pale fair
face to meet his own, and covering
it with kisses; the light of my home,
| the guardian angel of my life. The
| brief half hours that we can spend
! together thus and thus and thus" with
kiss after each word, "are better
than a year of commonplace comfort;
our meal of bread and harricotS is bet
ter than Il dinner at Bignon's in the
golden days of the Empire that is dead,
when dining ranked among the fine
arts. Did you read my last article in
| the Drapeau, Kathleen?' he asked in
conclusion, with a little look which
betrayed the vanity of the successful
Hummelshine, man who believes that
he mOulds and makes public opinion.
Did I read it," cried Kathleen; why
[ read every word you write, There
is no one so eloquent, no one else whose
haps, Victor Hugo-but l like your
style better than his" she added quick
ly, lest he should be offended: only,
CASTOR, sometimes as [ read I fear
that you are not wise, that those grand
glowing words of yOurS-WOrdS that
burn like vitriOl SOmetimes-may fire
a train which will lead to an explosion,
an explosion in which we all may per-
ISL. Think Of all those people at Belle
vile and MenilmOntant, and Mont
marie and Cignancourt-many and
many of them honest Industrious souls,
desiring only right and justice, but
others stepped in crime, misery, hatred
"a seething mass, fermenting in the
corruption of idleneSS and Sin-ready
to arise like a poison cloud, and spread
death and ruin over the city. Do you
remember last Sunday, when we went
for Il long walk beyond the Boulevard
Richard Len0ir? There were faces in
the crowd, Castor, that made me shud-
der. that made me cold with horror;
faces of women as well as Of men
yes, / think the women are worst
faces which haunted me afterwards"
There are blOuses and blOuseS, Kath-
leen," said Castor at her earneStneSs.
You cannot expect that men and WO-
men who have toiled and grOyelled
for two thirds of a lifetime in semi
starvatiOn-WhO have seen all the Splen-
doris, and pleasures, and comforts OF
this world pass by, afar in the distance,
no more to them than pictures in a
magic-lantern-you can hardly expect
that kind of clay to dress itself up in
smiles ON Sunday afternoon, and to
sing hymns of thankfulness to the Gre
atOr."
Il should not have been surprised
that they looked discontented,' said
Kathleen, 'but they all looked so
wicked"
''Discontent and wiclledness are very
near akin" answered her husband.
when there is work for all, and food
for all, you will see very few of those
wicked faces. l am one of the Apostles
of the Religion Of COllectiviSm, and
when that is the creed of France there
shall be no more Starya ton, no more
discomfort, no great masses of wealth
locked up in foreign loans and dis
tant railways; no milEonaires' palaces,
with a million or SO sunk in pictures
and brio a brac; but the money won
by the laborer shall be i'll the pocket
of the laborer, and there shall be no
such thing as stagnant capital. We
have seen enough of Dives, in his pun
pie and fine linen, Kathleen; it is time
that Lazarus should have his turn.
Dives means the individuals; Lazarus
means the nation
But if, when the Prussians have
gone, you are going to do away with
millionaires, who is to buy Philips
sideboard?" demanded Kathleen, per-
ceiving that this paradise of Collectiv-
ism was not without it's Inconvenience.
Not one" answered Castor lightly.
'Philip is a fool to create such a white
elephant. The age Of personal luxury,
pomp, and show, and wild expenditure
was an outcome of the Empire; it
meant rottenness and corruption, bri-
/ berry, falsehood, debauchery, an age of
coIrtiers and cocodettes, stock-j obbers
and card-sharpers. In the age that is
coming there will be no carved oak
sideboards worth twenty thousand
| francs, no Gobelin tapestries, no Sevres
porcelain. There will be a bit of beef
/ in every mans pot-au-feu, a roof over
every mans head, food and shelter,
! light and air, and cleanliness and com
fort. and a free education for ALL
"And it is towards this all your az
tieles in the Drapeau tend?" asked
Kathleen naively.
ITO this, and to this only"
81 am so glad I was afraid some
times that you were urging the people
to act as they acted in '93, when King
and Queen, patriots and priests, and
helpless innocent people weltered In
their blood, Wonder, on the Place de la
| ConcOrde."
my dearest, I preach Communism,
not Revolution" answered Castor, in
all good faith. 1--WE have no princes
to slay. We have got rid Of Badinguet