Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-02-19
THE SIEGE OF BERLIN.
By Aphonse Daudet
Translates by Prof. George c. Rowland.
By Alphonse Daudet.

sitting up in bed, jubilant and proud.
Well he said, the siege is be
gun at last!'
L looked at him in bewilderment.
How, colonel, do you know
His granddaughter turned to me:
Why, yes, doctor. 1t is the great
news. The siege Of Berlin has be-
gun
"She said that, plying her needle
so calmly. so TRANQUILITY. How could
he have suspected anything? He
| could not hear the cannon of the
/ forts. He could not see that unhap-
by city, Paris, gloomy and distressed
What he saw from his bed was bit
! of the Arc de Triomphe, and in his
room about him relics of the first
I empire well adapted to maintain his
/ illusions. Portraits of marshaIs. Ell
/ cravings Of battles, the king of Rome
III his baby dress; then great stir
consoles, adorned with brass es-
cItcheons, loaded with imperial rel
ics, medals, Dronzes, a rock of St.
Helena under a globe, miniatures
representing the same lady with
ringlets, in ball costume, in a yel-
low dress with leg of mutton sleeves,
with bright eyes and all
this, the consoles, the king of Rome,
the marshals, the yellow ladies with
short waists, the awkward stiffness
which was considered graceful in
1906 it was all this, this al
mOsphere Of victories and conquests.
much more than all we could say to
him, which made him believe with
such simplicity in the siege of Berlin.
From that day on our military Op-
eratiOns were much simplifed. To
take Berlin was only a matter of pa
tience. Now and then, when the old
man found it too dull, we would read
him a letter from his son, an imagin-
airy letter, Of course, since nothing
entered Paris any more, and since
the battle of Sedan MacMahOn's aid
de camp had been confined to Ger
man fortress. You can imagine
that poor girls despair, without news
of her father, knowing him to be d
prisoner deprived of everything, and
perhaps sick, yet obliged, as she
was, to make him speak in gay let
tiers, rather short, as a soldier would
write on campaign, always adYanc-
ing into the conquered country
Sometimes she lacked the strength
ITO write; we were weeks without
news. But the old man would get
uneasy, would be unable to speak
Then quickly a letter would come
from Germany which she would
come and read to him gayIy nea
his bed, restraining her tears. The
colonel would listen solemnIy, smile
with knowing air, approve, crit1-
else, explain to us the more obscure
passages. But where he appeared
fine was in the answers
he used to send his son. Never for
get that you are a Frenchman,' he
would say to him. BE generous to-
wards these poor people. Do not
make invasion too heavy upon them
And there were endless injunctiOns,
delightful little sermons on the re
aspect for prophecies, the politeness
due the ladies, a regular code of mill
Itary honor for the use OF the conquer
,ors. Sometimes he would mix in a
few general considerations on policy,
on the conditions of peace to impose
on the conquered. In that matter,
fought to say, he was not exacting:
the war indemnity, nothing
more. What would be the
use Of taking provinces from them?
Can France be made out Of
Germany?
He stated that with a firm voice,
and there was so much candor in
his words, such a fine patriotic faith,
that it was impossible to hear him
without being affected
During that time the siege was
still progressing, but alas. not that
of the great cold, of the lombard
of Berlin. 1t was the time
ment, of epidemics, of famine. But,
thanks to our care, to our efforts, to
the tireless tenderness Iavished upon
him the serenity Of the old man was
not disturbed for a moment. To the
last | was able to have white bread
for him, fresh meat. There was
none except for him, of course, and
you can imagine nothing more touch
ing than those grandfather's break
fasts, SO innocently selfsh-the old
man in his bed, fresh and laughing,
his napkin tucked in at his chin, near
him his granddaughter somewhat
blanched by privations, guiding his
hands, helping to drink, to eat all
those good things forbidden to her.
Then, enIivened by the repast in the
comfort of his warm room, with the
winter wind outside and the snow
whirling about his windows, the vet
eran cuirassier would tell us for the
hundredth time of that gloomy re-
treat from Moscow, where there was
nothing to eat but frozen biscuit ana
horse meat.
"Do you realize that, dear? We
ate horse meat
q should say she did realize it.
For two months she had had no
other meat to eat From day
to day, however, as cOnvalescen
i approached, our task with the inval-
| id became more difficult. That numb
| of all his senses, of all his limbs,
| ing of all his senses, of all his limbs,
which had aided us so much UP to
then began to disappear. Two or
three times already the terrible fir
/ ing at the Maillot gate had made
! him start with ear on the alert like