The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-12-10
MADAME JAMBB.

it absurd, perhaps? Do not, how
ever, be in too great a hurry to turn
it into ridicule, for she who bore it
was brave woman, and worthy OF
all respect.
You must know that Mime. Jambe
Mother Jamie, the soldiers called
her-was for many years cantiniere
in a regiment of the line, and in
this capacity she was a sort of good
angel to the troops. Officers and
soldiers alike ell respected her.
She married, when about thirty
years of age, the quartermaster-
general of the regiment. His time
was nearly up, but he remained
with the colors in order to help his
wife to keep the canteen.
The little house was prosperous
one, for Nine. Jambe had more
than one string to her bow, and
we'll understood how to employ her
spare time proftably. She had
learned the art Tor science, perhaps
itshould be called } of hair-dressing,
and on the occasion of any fete
was in great request with the off,
GERS wives. The thrifty woman
was thus able to lay by very con-
siderable sum of money, which by
no means lessened her popularity
in the regiment.
After year of married life son
was born, and Nine. Jambe and
her husband agreed that as soon
as he should attain the proper age,
he, too, should be a soldier. At
the age of sixteen he passed into
the ranks, and, being smart and
intelligent, he seemed to have q
bright future before him.
But the husband and father died
suddenly in 1869. It was a terrible
shock to poor Nine. Jambe, and
che would hardly have survived it
were it not for the thought Of her
son, and the hope that he would be
a comfort to her in her declining
years. Sorrow aged her more than
her rough life had done, and she
left the service and settled in little
cottage left her by her parents in the
village of Clusy, near Pontarliers.
A year later war broke out, and
this was another sorrow for her to
bear. She was a patriot, was Nine.
Jambe, but she was a mother also.
During that terrible winter of
1901, she hardly slept for three
consecutive hours in the twenty
four. Always on the alert for news.
she chafed sorely at the snow, which
almost cut off her little village from
the outer world, and made commun-
ication a matter of great difficulty.
She passed whole weeks in ignor-
ance of the progress of the war, of
her sons whereabouts, and then,
little by little, she heard of the de-
feats, and at last learned that her
son, a sergeant now, had been at
tached to the army of the east,
which was then being formed under
the command of General Bourbaki.
From this time and in all weathers
she might be seen each day trudging
the weary, snow-covered miles which
lay between Clusy and Pontarliers,
or else climbing to Fort de Joux,
overlooking the Swiss frontier. She
sought news, but news, unhappily,
was scarce and contradictory.
Suddenly, toward the end of Jan
uary, the rumor spread that the
army of the east was approaching.
having failed to relieve Belfort. For
nearly week Nine. Jamie kept
strict watch day and night, scanning
eagerly the road by which she
hoped to see the French arrive.
They were signaled last, but
the Germans were signaled, too,
from the opposite direction, and it
seemed evident that the armies
would encounter one another in the
immediate neighborhood.
And now / will let Nine. Jambe
take up the story, for what followed
! had from her own lips q few
months after the events described
took place:
lone morning at dawn heard a
noise at the door of the cottage, and
then the sound of breaking glass.
/ rose hastily and went down to the
ontropno T novo n o.,, - - ho,v ~,,oa