The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-12-01
ON GUARD.
oh, how bored I was that dayl

Oh, how bored I was that dayl
1t was during the second siege of Paris,
snd had been placed with my squadron
IN guard at La Belle Epine, six miles from
| Notre Dame
Poor Belle Epine Such charming inn
rs it had been once upon time-gay,
| noisy, lively, full of travellers, positions
| and pretty 1haidservants.
! Louis XIV went there with Nine. de
Pompadour and planted the tree which
served as the inns sign. Since then many
other lovers had written their names on
its bark, while they drank the little wine
of the country in it's shade.
Then one day silence had suddenly
succeeded to noise, travellers and postilr'
ions had ceased coming, and the pretty
maidservants themselves had fled away,
leaving the inn empty and deserted
The Prussians were coming.
These latter had of course, burned up
the doors and the furniture, broken the
windows stolen the old kitchen clock ana
smashed in the roof, On the day on which
we encamped there, there remained OF La
Belle Epine only some, blackened walls,
behind which one could just find shelter
from the shells which the commune was
sending out from Villejuif and Hautes-
Bruyeres.
Before us the road to Italy stretched out
Indefinitely, white, dusty, flooded with
sunlight The orders were to let no one
from Paris pass and they were easy to
carry out. Not cart, not man, not
dog, broke the gloom of the Landscape.
Now and then little white cloud rose
above the paving stones. On looking clos
or you saw that it was another projectile
that had just burst. Only the day before
we had wonderful luck. A woman selling
potatoes had tried to pass with her cart.
As she appeared to be a suspicious charac-
ter, she was ordered to turn back. She re-
fused, and in short, was arrested and sent
to the general. This important event had
certainly occupied Is minutes, and it was
anyhow distraction, but today no wom-
an selling potatoes appeared on the hori-
zon
And my companions were in a dreadful
temper. The captain had just learned that
the trousers that had accompanied him
through the entire campaign of the army
of the Loire were not eternal and showed
their age by large opening in the portion
which touches the saddle. 1t was who
had timidly pointed this out to him, and
greatly feared the consequences Of my per-
spieuity The lieutenant who had ex-
,ected 70 be ,,arr;efi early in the surjne.
was wondering whether the powers that
he intended to keen bima bachelor much
1oroer ana a1so over1vbeln him with colds
in the head. due To sleepir1g in the open
air no amuse himself. he was whistling
q little air between his teeth. very much
out Of time. There was also a second lieu
tenant but he never said word. He con-
+a,,+oa bin,solf nth smoking and with
bTowino oreat clouds from his nine at even
intervals hid he think about ANYTHING?
+ don't knopv hnt this ,nnte smoking gave
hin, an annesrancn of great prof,ndity. If
Won smoke To him. he fixed YOU with a
ronnd iInnassive owe Won Thought he was
abont IN answer-two or three puffs of
smoke issued from his mouth. and that
was all-be aravelv continued to smoke,
These were the agreeable persons with
ubom the commune forced me to spend
INV existence. On nv way home from
Germany, where I had been prisoner for
five months. had all through the Journey
dreamed of Paris as one dreams of the
promised land, and I had barely arrived
when was obliged to fight against the
CITY which epitomized all the memories
and all the joys of my youth. My thoughts
were hecomine gloomy. reflected that
was ridiculous, and to cheer me up went
and tried to read the German verses writ
ten on the ombstone Of Prussian officer
killed at Cheyilly and buried behind the
inn. I had already deciphered the first
line uAdee. liebe bruder (''Farewell, be-
loved brother'O, when was interrupted
in my task by my three companions cries