Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-04-06
THE OLD UNIFORM.
A Story of the Zouaves.

One of my desk-mates in the office
at the ministry of war was an ex-non-
commissioned officer, Henri Vidal. He
had lost left arm in the Italian cam
paign, but with his remaining hand he
executed marvels of caligraphy--down
to drawing with one pen stroke bird
in the flourish of his signature.
A good fellow, Vidal; the type of
the upright old soldier, hardly 40, with
sprinkling of gray in his blonde i'm
perial- he had been in the Zouaves.
We all called him Pere Vidal, more
respectfully than familiarly, for we all
in cheap little lodging at Grenelle,
where on the money of his cross, his
pension and his salary-he managed
to support his widowed sister and
her three children.
AS at that time l, too, was living in
| the southern suburb Of Paris, often
walked home with Pere Vidal, and /
used to make him tell of his campaigns
as we passed near the military school,
meeting at every step it was at the
close of the empire-the splendid uni
forms of the Imperial Guard, green
chasseurs, white lancers and the dark
and magnificent artillery officers, black
and gold, costume worth while get
ting killed in.
AS we walked along the hideous
Boulevard de Grenelle he stopped sud-
denly before military oldclothes
shop-there are many like it in that
quarter-a dirty, sinister den, showing
in it's window rusted pistols, bowls
full of buttons and tarnished epaulets /;
in front were hung, amid sordid rags,
q few d officers uniforms, rain-rotted
and sunburned; with the slope-in at
the waist and the padded shoulders
they had an almost human aspect.
Vidal, seizing my arm with his right
hand and turning his gaze on me,
raised his stump to point out one of the
uniforms, an African officers tunic,
with the killed skirt and the three
gold braids making figure eight on
the sleeve.
'Look!' he said; ''that's the uni
form of my old corps, captains
tunic.'
Drawing nearer, he made out tho
number engraved on the buttons and
went on with enthusiasm:
"My regiment The First Zouaves"
Suddenly his hand shook, his face
darkened; dropping his eyes, he muir
INJURED, in a horror-stricken voice:
''What if it were his!'
Then brusquely turning the coat
about he showed me IN the middle of
the back little round hole, bordered
by black rim blood, of course-it
made one shudder, like the sight of a
wound.
ga nasty scar," I said to Pere
Vidal, who had dropped the garment
and was fastening away And fore
seeing tale, l added to spur him on:
"It's not usually in the back that bull
lets strike captains of the Zouaves. -
He apparently did not hear me; he
mumbled to himself "How could it
get there? It's long way from the
battlefield of Melegnano to the Boule-
! ward of Grenelle! Oh, yes, 1 know
the carrion crows that follow the army;
| the strippers of the dead But why
| just there, two steps from the military
school where the other fellows regi-
ment is stationed? He must have
passed.; he must have recognized it.
What ghost"
''See here, Pere Vidal," said I, vic.
lently interested, "stop your mutter-
ing, and tell me what the riddled tunie
recalls to YOU
J He looked at me timldly, almost sus-
piciously. Suddenly, with great eff
fort, he began:
''Well, then, here goes for the story;
can trust you; you will tell me frank
ly, on your honor, if you think my
conduct excusable. Where shall l
begin? Ah, can't give you the other
mans surname, for he is still living,
but will call him by the name he
went under in the regiment-Dry-Jean
and he deserved it, with his 12
drinks at the stroke of noon.
"He was sergeant in the Fourth OF
the Second, my regiment, good
| fighter, but fond of quarrel and drink
all the bad habits of the African
soldier; brave as bayonet, with cold,
steel-blue eyes and a rough red beard
on his tanned cheeks. When / en-
| VoiCu thO iCSiAhCho Ii y-ocdu udi JtSl
re-enlisted. He drew his pay aud
went on three days spree. He and
two companions of the same kidney
rolled through the low quarters of AL.
giers in a cab, flying tri-color bear
ing the words, ''It won't last forever. .
1t did wind up with a knock down
fight. Dry-Jean got cut en- the
head from tringlo that nearly fin.
ished him, fortnight in the guard.
room and the loss of his stripes-tht
second time he had lost them.
"Of well-to-do parents and will
some education, he would have riser
to be an officer long before if it hat
not been for his conduct. Eighteer
months later he got his stripes bacl
! again, thanks to the indulgence of til,
old African captain who had seen hin
! Ander fire in Kabylie. Hereupon oul
old captain is promoted chief of bat