Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-01-06
LOST HIS BEARD.

E. ID. Pier5on i'll New York Sun.
LOST HIS BEARD.
"Rezonville! Gravelotte! Montre.
toutl What a long time ago it all seems
half a lifetime, monsieur p said my
old friend PHILIPPE ALBERT, the ex-dra-
COON, as we stood before Brisset's pic
ture in the salon of 1894. Eyes, that is
Gravelotte-I was there. Is the picture
like it? Oh, nodoubt The artist knows
II cannot tell. I had to fight, not look
about.
"You want an anecdote Of our troop,
monsieur? Well, you shall have one.
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 hada
caustio tongue, and nothing pleased him
better than to use it Oh us, his comrades,
in such a manner that we feared him
and left him to himself. How it was we
could not tell, but Leon st. Paul carried
everything before him. Did one of us
offer attention to a pretty grisette mere
ly pour passer lie temps, Leon would cut
him out and cover 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 a man was in earnest, as
poor Cambert was with Mam'selle Ma
RE Emmanuel, the vivandiere.
ga good creature, that Marie. We
were devoted to her to a man, but she
reserved her smiles for Leon, and, il l
must say what I think, the inmost re-
cesses of her heart for monsieur le doc
teur.
"Poor Marie! M. 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, Il SER
geant would reply. Let us carve them,
my friend, before we practice on each
other. Who knows?' he added thought
fully on one occasion. The time may
come when we shall none of us have
the heart for growing.
"Ah, we'll, the campaign was in it's
infancy then, and France, like a bride
who decks herself for her n~uptials, 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. It was the eve of
Gravelotte, and Cambert, 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-for monsieur
will understand that he had no great
command of language except for ours
ing-he said to her, Nam selle Marie
Emmanuel, if you would have us con-
tinue to be your slaves, at least give us
a man for a rival.
"Leon's face turned scarlet. Man or
boy he answered, Il will wager my
silver rosary, blessed by the holy ia
Their himself, against that beard Of
yours, of which you think so much,
that I ride before you into the fight
when next we charge the Prussians.
Agreed replied Cambert lightly.
Have the goodness to accept my assur-
ance mademoiselle, that l shall present
you with a silver rosary in a little
time.
".Marie shall have the rosary, but
she shall also have your beard to stuff
a pillow for her favorite poodle an
swered Leon, and then, looking daggers
at each other, they parted.
"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.
"sAh, this is work for men, grunted
Cambert, as he looked to the left, on
which side rode Leon, with myself next
in line.
"'Look to your beard, Cambert, an
swered Leon, laughing s%cornfully. You
will never carry it into another fight.
"The word was given, and off we
went. Tell you about 1t? What shall !
say? Only that the air was thick with
a mist which smelled Of sulphur and
that a swarm Of bees from hell itself |
seemed buzzing 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 n masking a blue
coated Prussian, when l got it! My
right arm was stung by n Of those
bees and the bone shattered. / transfer
red my saber to my left hand and let
my reins fall on the neck of my gray
mare. On she went, her head down, her
neck stretched out, her nose to the
ground.
"tGod of war; I said to myself. Had
it only been my left arm some Prussian
should pay for this!' I was thinking Of
myself, Of course, for it is not good or
agreeable to charge Prussians with one
arm useless, but ! saw what passed near
mel saw very well, though the gray
mist seemed turning red.
Young Leon was the next. A bullet
struck him below the breast just above
the belt, a little to the side-a disa-
greeable spot that Strike yourself with
your fist, monsieur, No. Just there, and
you will know what ! mean. / heard