The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1901-11-21
SALTWATER, MINNESOTA, THURSDAY NOVEMBER 21 1901

on their upturned faces. A moment
more and the conscript felt himself
being lifted over the crest of the hill.
The hot blast of musketry swept his
face, but he went on. He had blurred
vision of deep squares of red coated
men who fired at him and shouted
strange insults in their barbarious
tongue. His fighting blood was at
boiling point now-the same blood that
caused his forefathers to cut Caesars
legions to pieces two thousand years ago.
He spurred his horse into the British
ranks. "To hell with England" he
said scornfully. "Vioe J Emperor :"
He struck a man with his sabre and
sent him reeling and shrieking. Some
one ran bayonet in his horses side.
The horse reared screaming and
champed bloody foam.
Suddenly the conscript felt himself
being sucked backward into a vast,
seething maelstrom of frenzied men
and horses. For the first time in it's
history the Old Guard was falling back!
The officer in command, purple with
fury, tried to stem the tide. "Standw
he cried. "Standp' But nothing human
could stand before the deathly accuracy
of the English marksmen.
At the foot of the hill some semblance
of order was restored and they re-
formed to make last stand-that is,
all that was left of them. The twilight
shadows were slowly deepening, deep
ening, deepening into night. The
British flag on theheights still fluttered,
f1uttered,- ffuttefed- in the evening
breeze.
Out of the darkness around the
guard was blazing zone of musketry
fire and the shouting of many voices.
They reloaded their pistols coolIy. A
number picked up muskets and threw
away their sabres.
In twenty minutes more, by the
hands of watch, the dominion of the
Latin races, over the world, was to end
for ages to come. Well, they had had
a glorious career. Commencing with
the foundation of Rome by Romulus
and extending down through all the
centuries. no more splendid empire
will ever see the light. They had seen
Rome rise from puny Latin town
to the scepter of the world. For over
twenty centuries the whole earth shook
with the tread of her legions. She
thrust the sword Of invasion into every
corner of the globe from Africa to
Britain. All the world bowed the knee
to Rome. The death Of Caesar in the
senate house turned the tide, and in
the year 500 A. d., Rome was no more.
They had seen immortal Greece in all
her splendor, from the days of fair
Helen and Troy down to the desolate
end. They had seen the rise of i'm
perial Spain who once dictated terms
to the world. They had also seen her fall.
And now came France, with history
stretching far away into the mists of
antiquity, to see the finish. The French
revolution and the sullen roar of the
populace. They thought it was the
dawn but it was the sunset. The
Napoleonic era. A blaze of glory.
They thought it was the vesper song of
their fame. But it was the requiem of
their grandeur. Then comes Waterloo.
The last charge of the Old Guard was
the final hopeless grasp of hand that
had held the scepter of world power
for over three thousand years-the iron
hand of the Latin aces.
So the conscript ood with the others,
awaiting the end. addenly some one
shouted "Here the, Gomez He looked
up and saw dark mass of something
pouring over the crest of the hill. The
French fired last weak volley into the
oncoming resistless tide. The conscript
only spoke one word before the shock
came. 1t was to him sacred word,
the name of little dark eyed girl back
in La Vendee. The next instant he
was swept away with the others in a
swift rushing torrent of British and
Prussian horsemen. He went down
fighting like tiger to the end.
"ViOe i Empereatr." LEO.