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

humanity trending towards the Champs
Elysees and the Bots. But today the
note is changed. 1t is no longer the
bolah. The Empire has fallen, has fall
en- Long live the Republic! Let them
harsh minor of Rachels wall for her
lost sons, but the glad psalm of De
come, the tetes carreeS, We are more
than match for them now. JOY
beams one very face The crowd wears
its holiday clothes, its holiday aspect
Every now and then Il battalion Of
the National Guard tGamps singing
along the roadway. They stop their
song to cry, Long live the Republic"'
and thunderouS acclamations reply,
Long live the Republic
And now came a time of preparation,
expectation, anticipation. The days of
uncertainty were over, and William
and his conquering hosts were pouring
steadily on towards this beautiful city
of Paris. Bismarck had avOwed that
he bore no grudge against France; he
made war only on the Empire. And
10, the Empire was ended like a morn
ing dream, the eagles We're dragged
in the blOCd-Stained dust of disastrous
battlefields; and still Germany pressed
onward, laughing with a SardOnic laugh
ter ut the impedimentS that France set
In her way. Here Il bridge blown to
the four winds. there Il viaduct shat
tered rlilway-lines cut, destruction
everywhere; and yet the barbarOus
hordeS tramped on over the ruins that
streWed the way, pouring, pouring
pouring onward like the army of To-
Gusts in Holy Writ.
The pariSianS expected an assault, Il
great battle, victory or speedy DOOM
They waited boldly, strong in their
faith that BellOna was ON their side.
The goddess of battle had hidden her
face from them hitherto, but it must
be that she loved her France. laurel
crowned VictriX of so many glorious
fields, mother Of heroes
Yet, although eXpeCtant of short and
sharp strife Paris prlIdently prepared
against the hazard Of Il blockade. She
gathered in her t1OCkS and herds, she
heapeu UP corn and coal. The Grand
Opera, that p3latial pile which was to
have been browning glory of the
Empire was converted into Il store
house, half reservoir, half granary.
She set to work to complete her I'M
finished Notifications, but passing
slowly. She armed all her citizens
ChaSSepotS and RemingtOnS were your
only Wear. And honest ShOpkeeperS,
who had never pulled Il trigger, sWag-
gered and Strutted in Warlike gear.
Every head wore the KEPT; every man
told himself that come what might,
let trade or family perish he must be
there, on the walls, ready to receive
William and his PandOurs. With some
there was an idea that those advancing
hordeS were fresh from their native
pineforeStS, half-naked SayageS, with
long hair and wolf-skins Slung across
their brawny shoulders-Such men as
destroyed VaruS and his legiOns-Such
men as fought and died for Vercinge-
toriX.
LET them come" said the sleek
grocerS and bakers of Paris. I'VE are
getting ready for them"
She cut down her wood, her beauti-
full Bots de Boulogne, the happy holiday
ground of high and low. Those leafy
arcadeS were given over to the wood
mans axe, those trees were mutilated
or hewn down. The swans upon the
silvery lake, the fauna of those Sha-
dowy groves, were abandoned to the
guns of the Moblots. Everywhere the
creak and crash of falling timber, the
scream of dying beast or bird. There,
where the gay procession of carriages
used to circulate in the afternoon sun
light, were now loneliness and ruin;
here and there a few scattered plumes,
white on the greenSward, showed
where death had been; here and there
the thick black smoke, and titful flame,
marked a newly fired thicket.
Paris was a camp, and every citizen
soldier. But the soldiers duty was
neither onerous nor varied at this
period. There was the morning rem
devious from seven to eight, the day
and night watch on the ramparts, short
SAUNDERS under canvas, for the case
ments which were to shelter these
heroes later on We're not yet built
Among those soldiers of the National
Guard Philip Durand and CASTOR Nor
temar were both numbered. The
charmed life of the newly welded was
over. The domestic hearth was lonely.
The husband could only return to his
home in the intervals of his service
as a defender of his city. And the
wife was full of fear in her lonely
home, or prowling in the neighboring
streets on some small household errand
lettering with other wives on doorsteps
or at street corners, devouring the last
news from the ramparts.
Trade was at a standsti1. Each Ma
tional Guard had his allowance of a
franc and half day, with a small
sum for wife or family; but it was al
most impossible for him to carry on
any handicraft during this reign OF
chassepot and Remington. Some there
were-the few, the elect among work
ers-who contrived to accomplish some
thing in their brief respite from soldier
ing: and among these was Durand
His employer had shut up his factory
What good was there in creating ar
ticles of luXury-artistic cabinets Ia
Renaissance, writing tables a Ia Du
barry, commodes 4 la Maintenon, What
use in initiating the finest works o.
Bull and Reisnier, when the city was
girt with iron, and might ere Ions
be grit with fire? when at any evi
hour. as yet unmarked upon the calen