, 1897-12-17
LOST HIS BEARD.

half a lifetime, monsieur - said my
old friend PHILIPPE ALBERT, the ex-dra.
COON, as we stood before Brisset's pic.
ture in the salon Of 1894. "Yes, that is
Gravelotte-I was there. Is the picture
like it? Oh, nodoubt! The artist knows
Il cannot tell. l had t o fight, no look
about.
lyon want an anecdote of our troop,
monsieur? Well. you shall have n
You may take it that we were picked
men. There was but one youngster
among US, and to us old mustaches his
beardless face seemed strange. All, he
was handsome, with the beauty du di.
able, fairly tall and very slim. He had a
caustic tongue, and nothing pleased him
better than to use it on us, his comrades,
in such a manner that we feared him
and left him t. himself. How it was we
could not tell. but Leon St. Paul carried
everything before him. Did one Of us
offer attention to n pretty grisette mere,
ly pour passer lie temps, Leon would cut
him out and over him in his retreat
with confusion This. in truth, was bad
enough when the intent was merely to
amuse oneself, but, sacre, it is hard to
bear when n man was in earnest, as
poor Camberr was with Nam 'selle Ma.
rie Emmanuel, the vivandiere.
"A good creature. that Marie. We
were devoted to her to q man, but she
reserved her smiles for Leon, and. if !
must say what | think, the inmost re.
cesses of her heart for monsieur le doc
teur.
Poor Mariei NJ. Vendome thought
nothing of her.
"Cambert hated Leon and would Of
ten say while stroking his thick, black
beard: This young cockerel crows too
loud. messieurs, We must cut his comb
for him.
"'There are plenty Of Prussian combs
for cutting, Corporal Cambert,' our ser
geant would reply. Let us carve them,
my friend, before we practice on each
other. Who knows:' he added thought
fully OF one occasion. The time may
come when we shall none Of us have
the heart for growing
"Ah. well, the campaign was in its
infancy then, and France, like a bride
who decks herself for her %nuptials. had
gone out to espouse the god of war, lit
tie dreaming what the children of her
marriage bed would be. But to my
story, monsieur. 1t was the eve Of
Gravelotte, and Calnbert, moody as
usual, came across Leon trifing with
Marie, the vivandiere. He found her
smiling into the youths handsome,
beardless face. and in a burst of sar-
casm unusual with him-fnr monsieur
will understand that he had no great
command of language except for ours
ing-he said to her, 'Mam'selle Marie
Emmanuel. if you would have us con-
tinue to be your slaves, ut least give us
. man for q rival
.Leon's face turned scarlet. Man or
boy he answered, 4 will wager my
silver rosary. blessed by the holy ia
Their himself, against that beard of
yours, of which you think so much,
that l ride before you into the fight
when lex we charge the Prussians-'
"'Agreed!' replied Cambert lightly.
Have the goodness to accept my asspr-
ance mademoiselle, that l shall present
you with q silver rosary in q little
time
marie shall have the rosary, but
she shall also have your beard to stuff
q pillow for her ~favorite poodle, an
swered Leon. and then, looking daggers
at each other, they parted.
1.-THE morrow was the day of Grave
lotte, and We heard that we were to
charge the blue tunics and drive them
out Of the plantation of hop vines be-
hind which they lay concealed.
"'Ah, this is work for men, granted
Cambert, az he looked to the left, on
which side rode Leon, with myself next
in line.
look to your beard, Cambert,' an
swered Leon, laughing scornfully. 'You
will never carry it into another fight
1.-THE word war given. and off we
went Tell you about it? What shall
say? Only that the air wa thick with
a mist which smelled Of sulphur and
that q swarm Of bees from hell itself
seemed buzxing round our ears.
ping! We were not half way across
the space which interviewed between
our starting point and those green rows
Of hop vines, each one masking q blue
coated Prussian. when l got it! My
right arm was stung by n of those
bees and the bone shattered. l transfer
red my saber to my left hand and let
reins fall on the neck Of my gray
mare. On she went, her head down. her
neck stretched out, her nose to the
ground.
".9od of war; l said to myself. Had
It only been my left arm some Prussian
should pay for thisi' l was thinking Of
myself, of course, for it is not good or
agreeable to charge Prussians with ons
arm useless, but l saw what passed near
mel aw very we'll. though the gray
mist seemed turning red.
"Young Leon was the next A bullet
struck him below - breast just above
the belt, . little to m sidey-a disa-
greeable sp6t that Strike yesfself with
youY ID monsieur, 70 just tbdre, and
!. IN will know what l mean. Ihsasd
him sroaa o Jesuf and saw hfn
throw out both his hands into the air
Then I knew what had happened
"In another instant he would faI
backward over his horse's haunchd
and liz On the ground with Prussas'
ballet in his Intervals and his CON
sades' horses trampling the beauty u
his young face. On l went the baoos
tRickiing down on to my @ddle, N
1seth erittins together and . pssee!
seruna resolve in my sorl TO - -
pxnn11kn fluid. very soon