Evening star., 1898-05-14

l
them nothing but national guards and
| Mobiles. They made great deal of noise" !"
| Was 1t impressive?' asked Hardwood.
| They made great deal of noise,'' re-
| peated Bourke.
| "Ohl'
They are not regulars, of course. don't
| know what they can do. 1t was queer not
to see the uniforms everybody expects to
| see In review in Paris-the curassiers,
you know-and the rest. The people are
| acting foolishly, anyway, 1 think. They're
stark mad over the new republic. They re
changing the names of the streets, too.
The Rue Bonaparte is now the Rue de
Peuple, the Place Royale is the Place de
Nosges-O, the whole business is too child
ish-too grotesque. Think of wasting time
ana energy in such foolish occupations
! with a couple of hundred thousand German
soldiers-heaven knows how close to the
| gates! Why, Jim. they have even scratch
| ed the imperial N from the bridges and
| the public buildings, and have painted,
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity over every
thlng Victor Hugo and Edgar Quintet
are dancing cancans on the ramparts, hurl-
ing odes and lyrics at the Prussians! Think
now Moltke must grin But their crown
ing madness has just been accomplished.
In spite of the governor of Paris and the
| minister of war, they have decreed that
| all officers of Mobiles shall be elected by
| their own soldiers! What frightful stu
| pidity,'
What became of the Mobiles and ma
! tlonal guard? Gone to the forts?'
"Some-the Mobiles. The others are scat
| tered. They are to police the city and
ramparts l fancy we'll have few here
soon. Today the sixty-nine gates of the
! city and all the railroad tunnels have been
closed until the siege ends. They're es-
| tablishing drawbridges over the moats |
me tried TO- to cable that: but the censor cut it
tuesday dispatches were cut out, too.
Don't swear. jim
Harewood began to qualify the censor
with such energy that Bourke, unable to
,v,f. hi
| room and shut the door.
Freoestlned idiot! muttered Hardwood
scoWlng at his manuscript. Now l sup
p pose ne also cut this to suit his own
degraded intelligence!' He showed back
MS chair and looked out of the window.
Sulky, impatient, a little wrathful at
6ourkes amusement. For he cared great
teal t ABOUT mis- work He labored faithfully
10 ACQUIRE literary style. His style, at
ltS pest, was simple and honestly direct
olten torceful, and sometimes clear To
rave a French censor butcher and garble
II alWaHs made him furious, but he was
always able TO enjoy the 6ood-natured
banter OF his comrades when he had cool
ed down 1t was his first service as cor
respondent in the field, and he learned
mat there was little romance in it. He
learned other things, too. He found that
electricity had nothing to do with the
speed of kilograms, but that their celerity
was regulated entirely by the diplomacy
ana generosity of the sender. He learned
use wires and when to use the mails
when to see, when to be blind-when TO
speak-when to remain silent He found
mat there were four things which army
oihcers dreaded-bad roads, the War De
partment, typhus, and war correspondents
They could become habituated to the first
three plaques, but it needed the diplomacy
OF Disrae!i to reconcile a general to the
lnillctlon u news Nspaper men. However,
when this was once accomplished, half of
the battle might be considered won. The
other half of the battle was in reality a
duel-a perpetual assault upon a cool po-
lite, often playful, often sympathizng Of
icial, who apparently possessed an insati-
able thirst for literature. and who took
the closest personal interest in the pc
rusal of manuscripts. This official was the
dreaded censor. Hardwood had easily won
half the battle-but what man can affirm
that anybody except the censor ever won
the other half? OF course, it was not diff
cult to evade censorship for while, but
lndlscretion meant not only personal in
convenience, but also ultimate expulsion
Hardwood sat moodily by the window,
biting the amber pipe stem, staring alb
sently across the fortiiications opposite,
where, beyond, wrapped in a sapphire
haze, the valley OF the Bievre lay, green
and brilliant, under the showered sunshine
To the east a dun-colored vapor hung
over Meudon woods, to the south the sun
gl1ttered on distant window panes, dottiifg
the valley with tiny points of fire. Every
where lay patches of green woods check
cred expanses of yellow grain stubble and
pioughed ground, squares of paler green
where cabbageS grew, or blotS of Somber
verdure, marking potato fields. White
spires rose beyond rHay; greenhouses,
roofs sparkling clustered along the route
to Fontenay, and all the great warders of
the valley doomed purple through the mist
majestic, mysterious-F'ort Ivry, Fort BIZ
Cetre, Fort Montrouge and Fort Nanves.
Bourke sauntered in presently, notebook
open, pipe lighted Forgot to tell you
hi, t,a lafr HI;
found out that Jules Favre contemplates
making overtures 10 Bismarck. What do
you think of that? Rather a tumble after
his diplomatic twaddle-eh, JIM He took
his pipe out of his mouth with a gesture
of disgust.
How did you hear about it?" asked
HarewCod, intensely Interested.
Now, my son, that's my business, and
you needn't ask"
Harewood laughed and nodded.
My conclusions are" continued Bourke,
waving his pipe, that if he tries to iiX
up things he will fail; first, because the
Parisans will surely repudiate any agree
ment; second, because he can't swallow his
own words, and Bismarck won't let him off
without the ccsSion of Lorraine, at least:
third, because I'm convinced that this war
is not, Bismarck says 1t is, war
against Napoleon. but a war against
France and the French, and / tell you,
Jim, Germany means to crush France
for years to come. Why he continued
i
stroy Napoleon and his dynasty, they have
done it already. The emperor is a pris-
oner in Germany, the Parlsians have
chased the poor empress and the prince
imperial across the channel. France is a
republic now. Then, why don't King Will
helm and Bismarck ask for an indemnity
and go home to their cabbage gardens?"
Hardwood listened attentively, but Of
fered no comment.
Bourke continued: "Oh, no, that isn't
what the Germans want. They mean to
dominate the continent and occupy the
place that France held three months ago.
There is but way to do it-crush
France. They're coming here to try it,
too. If they succeed it may mean a per-
manent German neutrality-suspicious. an
empire-a Teutcnic empire dominating all
eastern Europe. 1 tell you, Jim, it makes
me sick. France, with all her faults, has
done more for human progress, human lib
erty-for everything that makes life worth
while-than all the other European ma
tions put together. Today, aye, tomorrow,
too, Germany might drop out of the world
and the world would never be the worse
But blot out France or England or our
own blessed country, and it would mean
something very different. 1 shall now go
1,fe hob fr,x-, n