The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1895-09-20

ord. "Sire, this man has belonged t0 the
Armies Of the North. of the Moselle He
fDusht ct Toulon. Afterward no joined
the troops Of Sambre and Meuse. He did
three years Of Italy and three years In the
Grand Army. He's veteran brave."
Napoleon paled. He already RECALLED
his injustice Of yesterday.
"And his woundsY"
IT can answer that, your majesty" said
the surgeon.
He seized the bedclothes and threw them
back. Watrin was lean man, with mus
cles strong ~ hawsers, and the scars which
scanned his hairy flesh proclaimed at once
his glory. Musket balls, lance thrusts
fragments of shells-he had made the ac-
quaintance Of all OF them. It seemed that
wounds had rained upon him like the
stings of angry hornets They were on
the head, on the neck, on tho thighs, In
the loins, on the hips. and the last, which
he had resolved that very day, splitting
his mouth In both directions, had enlarged
the diameter of his smile by foot.
"That will do, said the emperor.
At that moment Watrin awoke.
His eyes wandered to the ceiling, and,
as If he were continuing the dream from
which no had been aroused. he murmured:
''The cross The crossl''
Napoleon took one stop toward him and
darted upon him his eagle gaze.
II make you chevalier OF the en-
pire''- 49,
1.-THE Cross
81 add an endowment of 200 francs a
year
"The cross want only the cross!"
But you have it, since the cross, the
title and the endowment go together"
what have they against mes" muir
INJURED the grenadier. Il want only the
oross / ask for the cross.
He did not bulge from this idea. Doubt
lrss titles were meaningless to him. As
for the money, those who have never had
any despise it. Watrin could SEQ nothing,
knew nothing but the cross, the red rib
bon, the star.
1.-The cross, emperor. want the cross.
Give me the cross"
The emperor unfastened his own from
his breast.
''Here, stubborn fellow Are you sure
now that you have itp"
Watrin seized 1t with a grip that would
have crushed the pommel Of saber, and
Napoleon said to Claparede: ~ asked this
man yesterday what he had done to merit
UnlS reWaru, anu ne duSWer6u Jndt 10 Hdu
presented me with a watermelon at Yafa.
On my word, command an army Of chill
drenl''
"Ah," said the general, "a watermelon
when one is perhaps almost dying of thirst
has greater Importance in his eyes than
thousand wounds from which he will
recover. These men are but simple fell
lows. Often I hear my soldiers say: "A
wound, more or less, what matter? A
bagatelle pour PAutre. Watrin Judges
you somewhat after his own plan and
thinks himself more honored in having
saved your life, by relieving your thirst,
than in having been wounded in your
service. You are their emperor, but, first
of all, you are the head of the soldiers
family"
The emperor took a step toward the
door, but Claparede was right. Watrin,
terrible and appalling, his head smeared
with blood, reared himself in bed as If a
bomb had exploded under him, and, drunk
with pride, fiourishing the imperial cross
in the air, reopened his wound by the vio-
lent effort of his jaws as he shouted:
Long live the shorn one father and
mother of the soldier From the French
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