The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1897-01-23
~p,booaux 5cntinel.
A SOLDIERS STORY.

And you wish me to tell you,' said
the old Commandment b. a shade Of
sorrow crossing his worn visage-"you
wish me to tell yen Of my entree at
Saint Cyr il 1912? All, well, I will do
it, though it is a story and a memory
SO painful that it clings to me yet"
Now, judge for yourselves, my dear
readers, the emotion with which I heard
it that stormy evening, seated beneath
the arbor Of the pretty garden that sur
rounded the dwelling of the old veteran
of Choisy -le-Roi.
Il was but 16 years of age when I
departed from C~harlemagnc. As Won
have heard before the story of those
brilliant days. it is only necessary to
recall to mind the state Of feeling be-
tween the scholars Of the Prytaneum,
all sons and 'randsons Of the officers.
and the scholars of the Lyceum, and
sons and grandsons Of the bourgeois.
Add to this that the moment of NV ar
rival was Immediately following a de-
cree of tho emperor's which had called
TO the grand army, as candidates for
sous lleutenancies, every scholar who
had completed a six months course at
the school, and that all the Charlie
magnes Of the previous promotion had
already been dispatched toward Moscow.
L was, therefore, alone, without "a sin
gle comrade 10 protect me against the
Prytaneums or to serve as a guide fer
me across the unknown breakers of q
new life.
LAS i'll all the training schools of that
epoch, where it was necessary to turn
out soldiers as fast as possible, the days
were entirely consumed in studying and
putting into practice the tactics that we
were there to learn. And truly it would
be hard to depict to you the determine
ton. the ambition to excel, if possible.
those captains of 90, returned from Be-
hemia or Spain, whom daily we elbow
ed in the streets of Paris, with clutches
under their shoulders and the star of
gallantry upon their breasts.
"A portion of the evening, however,
was given us as our own and spent, as
a rule, in the depths of the Cafe Turc-
that is to say, the special nook most
frequented by the school cadets-its NAL
odorous atmosphere operating as a check
upon the interference or appearance of
L'Ecole surveillants. Lounging there
as usual Il evening, among the rest
OF them, | suddenly remembered that I
had entirely forgotten a commission
that / had promised myself to attend to,
and that, close upon the hour at which
we must be in quarters, there was but
a little time in which to do it. Neces-
slty driving me, / forgot to be prudent
and failed to see, as I scurried through
the doorway, that I had knocked against
a corporal of the Prytaneum at that
moment coming into the cafe, and that
his pipe had fallen to the ground.
What do you mean, blockhead?'
with a formidable oath. What do you
mean,' he cried, 'upsetting me in that
way?'
"But I hurried on. In fact, I scarcely
heard him in the haste I was in to fin
ish my errand.
"'Didn't YOU hear me, he shonted,
you miserable little poltroon-you,
who pretend to be q Partisan? Stop, I
say stop! And he darted after me, call
ing at the top of his lungs.
"How I found myself before him,
how he parted the blow that I gave
him full in the face. is more than | can
tell you. l foamed with rage and recall
nothing q V that they ran from the
cafe at the noise, and that ten vigorous
arms held me at a respectful distance
from the corporal.
$50, my little one, he said to me
when he could speak again, SO that is
your humor, is it? But you are not at
the Lyoeum now. At L'Ecole it is not
with blows of the fist that one regulates
these little affairs Go, you others; seek
instruments. The "blue, " since he wish
es it, shall have a lesson to remember.
"Two of the seniors ran at his bid
ding, while a third, almost as much of
a child as myself, approached and ques-
toned mi in a low voice.
"'You are here without friends, said
he, and fencing. Do you understand
it?'
"'Fencing: Of course. I was three
years at the iron
$50 much the better. he replied,
addressing the corporal. Then I will be
his second
"At this moment the seniors return
ed, bringing with them a couple of bay
onets, upon the ends Of each was tied
with stout wrappings Of cord an open
compass. It was q weapon hard to ham
die. but supple, light and dangerous.
"'And now, my brave one, said the
corporal, throwing himself into posi-
tion, look to your skull, if you know