Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-16

pota toes at her fire. He was very much at
home. in his shirt sleeves and stocking feet.
Who is hep? whispered Montegut
Really, / don't know" replied Louise,
candidly. ''he was outside in the cold
doubtless without a home; he saw my door
half open; he came in. And here he is
oh, he is not troublesome. He cooks his
soup and eats 1t, and goes to sleep in tho
corner without addressing word TO me-"
But / want to speak to you about a
matter of Importance. Send him out for
quarter of an hour"
Il wouldn't like to do that" hesitated
Louise. 1T might hurt his feelings. Let
us go out. ought not to derange him any
more than he deranges me-"
In the Commune.
When the war of 1870 came along It
found Louise at her already old work OF
feeding and teaching poor children. aiding
the pauper sick. and now and again break
ing out in divine indignation against the
general injustice of things. She could
never understand why every one should not
give away their new clothes and share
their rooms with those who had none Dur
ing the siege of Paris she devoted herself
with ferocious energy to the wounded AMI
starving. The commune found her right
where she lived Its prime pies were hers al
ready. Divide up, She helped to divide up;
and when the time of retribution came, sho
1puHu HERSELF on tfldl her lie Win
many another less wrong hea dedly honest
than herself. She has been called "Larme-
a-Foeil, Tear-in-the-E Eye" for her ready
sympathy for men and beasts. Once when
she started cooperative laundry, size
was accused of hanging the handkerchiefs
10 dry on the limbs of a little weeping WI
low tree by preference. But the day she
stood before her judges of the court-mar-
tial, charged with taking part in the COM
mune. there were no tears in her eyes.
II do not wish 10 be defended she cried.
What | ask of you is to take me to the
camp of Satory, where have fallen so many
of our brothers already Since IL seems
that every heart that beats for liberty has
the right only to little piece of lead, give
me my part! XIII me!'
To the Penal Colony.
Instead, they sent her to the transporta-
ton convict prison colony of New Gale
donia. along with Henri Rochefort and
many another.
When, after the bread riots of 1889,
Louise Michel was brought before the jury
of the Seine accused of "pillage at the
head of armed band" Rochefort was
called to testify in favor of her general
character
THE accusation surprises me-, said
Rochefort to the judge and jury AT New
Caledonia her hut was just in front of
mine. During the voyage over, al
ready, Louise never ceased to devote her
She gave them her clothes, her food. At
Ducos she continued. She went without
shoes, lived on nothing, and transformed
her hut into hospital for the miserable.
She gave away everything she had"
While Rochefort was testifying. Louise
interrupted him again and again, begging
him to stop. it was not worth while, she
was not here for that.
But when 1t came to testifying herself for
others she could be even more chivalrous
than Rochefort. One Lucas. an exalted
rondescript of the anarchist-assassin type,
had fired on her while she was going
through the streets of Havre to deliver
lecture. He hit her and came near killing
her, Well. her one great preoccupation
right away was to get Lucas acquitted. She
began with the reporters, as soon as her
head was tied up:
Defended Her Would-Be Slayer.
'You understand my dears.r she said
to the newspaper men, ''he has wife and
children that man Lucas. What will the
judge do with him if you fall on him? And
what will the mother and kids do, IL the
judges send him to jail?'
She ran from newspaper offices to tie
committing magistrate, from the commit
ting magistrate to the prefecture of police:
"Enfin quoir' she argued fevershly. ITS
me he wanted to kill, not you? It's my af-
fair. 1t concerns me and me only: Es-
pecially since he only winged me and I've
folks mix up in it?"
Her testimony before the jury was 4
speech to acquit her would-be assassin. In
the memory of the law ii was without
precedent, And she won her cause. The
judges, completely upset by the harangues
of this strange victim. condemned Lucas to
a few months imprisonment in a lunatfc
asylum. whence he was shortly released at
the repeated demands of Louise Michel
STERLING HERLIG.
PS.-For twenty years past Henri Roche
hos Michel a omfortai lA
yearly pension enough TO keep a modest
person like herself in ease Yet Louise
Michel has never been known TO live ia
decent comfort, buy herself a decent meal,
or walk with decent clothes on her back.