Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-02-28
NINE. JAMIE.

Jambe, the soldiers called her-was for
many years oantiniere in a regiment of
the line, and in this capacity she was a
sort of good angel to the troops. Officers
and soldiers alike all respected her.
She married when about 80 years Of
age the quartermaster general of the
regiment. His time was nearly up, but
he remained with the oolors in order to
help his wife keep the canteen.
After a year of married life a 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 16 he
passed into the ranks, and, being smart
and intelligent, he seemed to have a
bright future before him.
But the husband and father died sud-
denly in 1859. 1t was a terrible shock
to poor Nine. Jambe, and she 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 q lit
tie cottage left her by her parents in
the village of Clusy, near P%ontarliers.
A year later war broke out, and this
was another sorrow for her to bear.
She was a patriot, was Mime. Jambe,
but she was a mother also.
During that terrible winter Of 1901
she hardly slept for three consecutive
hours in the "a. 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 oom-
munication a matter Of great difficulty.
Suddenly, toward the end of January,
the rumor spread that the army Of the
east was approaching, having failed to
relieve Belfort. For nearly a week Mere
Jambe kept a strict watch day and
night, scanning eagerly the road by
which she hoped to see the French ar
rive.
They were signaled at last, but the
Germans were signaled, too, from the
opposite direction, and it seemed evil
dent that the armies would encounter
one another in the immediate neighbor.
hood.
And now I will let Nine. Jambe take
up the story, for what follows I had
from her own lips a few months after
the events described took place:
Zone morning at dawn I heard a
noise at the door Of the cottage and
then the sound Of breaking glass. rose
hastily and ran down to the entrance.
I gave a cry; my boy was there, and
behind him stood three of his comrades,
but in what a state-haggard, hollow
checked, their uniforms in rags, their
boots almost in pieces, blue and SILVER
ing with cold!-
"'Mother, you must hide US, he said.
The general has intrusted me with a
message to the commandant Of the fort,
but the Prussians have seen us and are
in pursuit. They must not find u.s.
"'Give me your ORDER / cried. I
will take 1t while you hide here. No
one will suspect a woman
II had no time to finish. We heard a
discharge Of musketry, and a neighbor
rushed in crying:
The Prussiansi The Prussians are
herer
II pushed my son and his friends in
to q storeroom at the farther end Of
which, under some hay, was the door
leading into the cellar, where l kept
my little stock Of wine and cider.
"The Prussians entered in through
the open door. I saw others in the road.
There must have been about 100 Of
them altogether. Ayoung officer was in
command.
HE came up to me and said brutal.
~:
is II you who are Mime. Jambe?'
Yes, ! am she,' I answered him.
Your son has juit entered this
house.
my son! He 10 far away from here,
always aupposing that be lie still alive
"'He 10 here; I am sure Of 1t. Come.
now, where IL hep
'You must seek him, them
"He made q sign, and / was sur.
rounded and prevented from moving my
position. The soldiers ransacked the
house, I asking myself meanwhile who
could be the coward who had betrayed
my son.
Eat last the brutes found him-him
and his friends, and ! saw them dragged
out covered with the hay in which they
had attempted to conceal themselves.
And my soni How brave and handsome
be looked, with bis flashing eyesl Yesi
He was my own flesh and blood, and l
felt proud Of him. They were rigorous
~ searched for the message they were
supposed to bear, but AZ it was a verbal
one they could find nothing.
1.-THE officer stamped about the little