The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-02-08

Ln6 CnlluT0u Vi Guo COuuJly, Piohio
ing him he should be their leader
and prophet.
Stephen Immediately left Cloyes
and went to st. Denys, city five
miles north of Paris. Dressed in his
shepherd attire, his crook in his hand,
a little wallet by his side, in May 1912,
he began his journey, preaching as he
went. st. Denys was the burial place
of the martyr, Dionysius, and the
resort of thousands who came there
every year to pray, to bring votive
gifts or to fulfil their vows. Gifted
with wonderful powers of speech,
Stephen stood beside the tomb of the
martyrs, in the midst of the worship
ers, contrasting that with the tomb
of the Saviour trodden by infidel feet,
and urging a crusade for its rescue.
AS the pilgrims returned to their
homes they carried the news of the
preaching of this new apostle. The
children heard the news, listening at
every freside to the tales of the her
oes who had carried the cross, and
midst battle, and hardship, and
prowess of arms, had planted it
finally on the walls of Jerusalem.
The matter spread like contagion.
The children of the whole country
became victims of uncomfortable ex-
element.
From every part of France they
came pouring into st. Denys. How
the infdel was to be driven away from
those sacred spots they did not know.
They had been commissioned by the
Lord Jesus; he would provide the
way; when they came to the sea it
would open, like the Red Sea before
the Israelites, and they should pass
safely through.
They spoke such differing dialects
that hardly one band could under
stand another; they wore such differ
ing costumes that they were sources
of fun and laughter, one to the other;
at home they dwelt under differing
social customs and natural surround
ings, but they were all one in their
purpose, one in their ambition. AS
fast as they gathered they were
formed into regular and formal pro-
cessions, marched through towns and
villages with great display in order
to attract recruits. At last the most
tardy band was on the ground. When
they were ready to start they num-
bered about thirty-thousand. Thirty
thousand children out of the homes
of France, many, if not most of them,
under twelve years of age. 1t would
make this paper too long if we were
to follow too closely their weary jour
ney from Paris to the sea. The route
they chose was by Blois, ,on the Loire,
in southeasterly direction to the
river Rhone, thence south to Mar
seilles, a port on the Mediterranean
sea.
A frequent source of trouble was a
scarcity of food. They lived mainly
on what they could beg. The coun-
try was not inhabited then as now;
there were quite large districts unin-
habited, in passing through which
they suffered from hunger and con-
sequent disease. The summer was
an exceptional one for its intense heat
and drought; many of the children
were prostrated and their dead bodies
left scattered along the roadside, a
prey to prowling animals. They
crossed the Rhone at Lyons and en-
tered the Duchy of Burgundy, the
garden spot of ALI Europe. Finally
they reached the last range of hills
they had to climb.
AS they reached the summit they
looked off upon the cool, blue sea
and down upon the beautiful city of
Marseilles. They hurried to its walls,
waving their banners and singing
their songs of pious defiance to the
infdel. 1t was well perhaps that
they did not know that their sorrows
had but Just begun.
They were young and thoughtless,
but had they listened we'll they might
have heard in the dash of the waves
ON the shore, or in the winds that
blew over treacherous water, Natures
requiem over their unhappy fate.
1t is estimated that twenty thous-
and out of the thirty thousand who
started from Paris reached and en-
camped at Marseilles. Some had
deserted and returned to their homes;
some had succumbed to fatigue and
hunger, and finally found homes
among the people living along the
way. Thousands had died of hunger
and exposure to the dreadful heat.
Tattered, dirty and shoeless, tired
and sick. twenty thousand of them