Gilpin observer., 1900-04-19
After Sedan.

kline. with a rapidity and precision
which excited the admiration OF the
world. BY the end Of July all were in
position, ready and determined to re-
pei the invasion OF the French SOL
diers.
Then the bloody torrent Of war
deepened and broadened. and early in
August the people knew that France
was not gathering victories. 1t was
one defeat treading upon the heels OF
another. Then came the crowning
MISUNDERSTANDING was defeated!
At first the populace refused to be-
lieve it. What! lie Due de Magenta
defeated by those dogs of sausage
eating Germans? Sapris ii 'cest redi-
cule!" Between raging sobs Paris
shouted acclaim to the brave cavalry
men who had saved the generals re-
treat; then bowed in sack cloth and
ashes, she wept and raved when news
came from Mars-le-Tour and Lor-
raine.
Huddled together in excited groups,
Frenchmen were talking over the
news-just from the seat of war-and
gesticulating wildly. But who can ex-
plain their actions? Not in writing
by single exclamation point; that
gives no idea whatever of French
mans expression of surprise and dis
may. 1t needs to be seen with the
eye. The step backward, the shrug
Of the shoulders, the shake of the
head. the quick uplifting and spread
ing out of the hands, the rolling up OF
the eyes, and then the Mon Dieu!
Ma Fois!" spoken with such earnest
ness, and in drawing of the breath.
No country ever witnessed fiercer
fighting than that desperate charge
at Reichshofen, where the broken
| squadrons piled in great blood-clotted
mounds on the fair Alsatian fields.
The battle of Gravelotte was one of
the most gallantly contested fields in
all history. But for France it was de-
| feat again.
September came, and the sun set
behind the forests of Saint Cloud,
then the sad news was waited over
Paris that the French and German
armies had met each other face to
face at Sedan that day. We know the
result-defeat-the Second Empire
vanishing like bubble, and the gov
ernment of the 4th Of September in
stalled.
Paris, the pulse Of the nation, was
in the midst of siege and lombard
ment, and the country overrun by the
German armies. That was a memor-
able winter, a winter when great suf-
fering was experienced in all northern
France, and the nation plunged in
deepest gloom. The war had devas-
tated the rich gardens and vineyards,
and sickness walked hand in hand
with famine; and yet proud old
France was even then beautiful amid
her woes. Her faith in her prestige
was unshaken, her spirit bent but un-
broken, and all her brave sons suf-
fered silently, proud, yet humbled and
accomplishing. The peasants in their
blue blouses went shuffling along in
their clinking sabots, there was much
talking among them, but all looked
pinched and starved and cold; they
we're depressed in spirit because these
coquins de Prussians were eating up
all the substance of the land.
| w hSh Oil thC 'aiiSy III thC hOuoO
was tented field, and the brave sons
Of France marched to the frontier
with MacMahons forces to Join Ba-
zine at Metz, Maurice Ramet marched
with them, many remarking sadly,
With Maurice goes the heart of Rene
Dubos"
Cheering news came often. The di-
vision in which he served had passed
through many an engagement, but at
Sedan it was literally cut to pieces,
and the papers named Maurice Ramet
as among the missing" All the par
ticulars stated that he was seen by a
comrade to fall in steep, narrow
gorge. then the French had been driv-
en- back, and the wounded left on the
field. The region had been evacuated
soon after; and there was no doubt
that he was either dead or in the
hands of the enemy.
Yes, Maurice was missing. This
news was as sword thrust in the
heart of Rene. and she sank away in
unconsciousness. In her delrium she
saw the hot September battlefield.
where the corpses lay heaped in
masses of bloody mounds. mown down
by the deadly mitrailleuse. She saw
her brave lover mangled and bleeding,
crawling slowly away. his face black
ened by the powder and smoke: and
all the while the boom-boom- the
cannon and the b-r-r-r of the mus
ketry, telling the comrades who had
fought with the fierceness of wild
beasts on that far famed battlefield.
But Rene could not nurse her sor-
row; she was the stan of the family,
and the household was fast becoming
reduced by the ravages OF war. In
her home were four generations-her-
self. her mother. her grandmother.