The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1893-06-15
SALTWATER, MINNESOTA JUNE Is,

invade the other, reaching Moscow.
Here the elements joined hands with
man to overthrow him. He could not
advance; he could not stay to starve-
he must retreat-and did. COSSack and
Russ first, the Pole and Prussian after,
followed him as hungry wolves do a
wounded though still mighty buffalo.
Soon the whole of rejoicing Europe was
on his track. His magnificent army OF
veterans had melted away-the heroes
of hundred victories were food for
the wolves, as they dropped by the way
side; yet, with hastily raised raw re-
cruits and old cripples, he fought three
of his most mastery battles against
overwhelming odds. But the tolls
closed, and at Fontainbleau he abdi-
Gated the crown in 1914, and was sent to
exile in Elba. small island in the Med
iterranean. Here he was too close to
his friends, and early in 1915 escaped,
arriving in France in June, and was re-
ceived with the widest enthusiasm by
the majority of the French nation, who
had no fancy for their Bourbon king.
Collecting all the troops he could, some
hundred thousand or more. he marched
nOrthward, fell like a thunderbolt on
the Prussian army at Ligny. and thor
oughly defeated them. Leaving thirty
thousand men under GrOuchy to keep
the Prussians on the run, and away
from the British and Belgians, in and
about Brussels, he turned with great
rapidity toward that city. and well nigh
caught the Iron Duke (of WellingtOn)
mapping. AT Waterloo, some distance
from Brussels, Napoleon found his foe
strongly posted. All day he cannonad-
ed, charged, fought, cannOnaded and
charged again BY all the rules of. war
he ought to have won; but he had to
deal with man who, like our own
Grant, did not count the word defeat in
his vocabulary. How it might have
ended there is no telling: but Grouchy
let the PruSsians slip, and they arrived
in time to turn drawn battle into an
irretrievable rout. Napoleon fed; the
great rocket had burnt out, and there
came down stick; that stick was cap
tured, and, in the fall of 1875 was sent
to St. Helena by his persistent enemies,
the English. Imprisonment for life
was the doom of the most commanding
military genius of modern days. I'M
prisOnment where hope was left behind
there could be no escape save by such
combination of treachery as would be
impossible.
On thoughts pinions we are back
again to that sitting-room at Long
wood. We see him who played with
armies, now solacing that martial spirit
with the mimic battle of chess. We
look upon him who had no patience
when in power, now playing solitaire
with cards to while away the slow
crawling hours. These he casts aside
with the petulance of tired child, and
sits in that deep armchair, with chin on
chest and moody brow thinking, think
ing if-aye if, that dismal bar-sinister
across many shield of promise. Mos
cow, Leipsic, Waterloo, GrOuchy, Wei
lingtOn were all terrible ifs, and their
parade is too appalling. He starts up
and PAGES the room with hands clasped
behind him, dwelling upon some posi-
BILE if which never materialized. There
was no parole, no pardon for him. Death
alone could loose the bonds and give
enfranchisement. Six years thus, then
the candle flickered and went out.
Standing beside that rallied enclosure
in the pleasant vale where, for a while,
was laid the mortal of such vivid i'm
mortality, we hear the sea breezes whis-
per through the willow weeping over
the erstwhile grave, and gently stirring
it's fiickering leaves. What do they
murmur to us? The value of content
ment? OF a surety. To each mortal
is assigned sphere more or less con-
tracted by omnipotent power, and he
who will ever grasp at one more plum
will assuredly fall out of the tree sooner
or later. The shores of time are scat
tered with the innumerable wreckage
of those who knew not when to stop.
st. Helena now only boasts the mem
ory of Napoleon, for his bones rest in
the Hotel des Invalides, Paris. To a
great nation have justly been restored
the bones of her greatest citizen.
. r. F.