The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-02-15
PART II.
P I.

| PAM 10
CHAPTER L.
IT was Sylvester-abend Of that ter
rible winter when the great German
army lay before Paris, and the ice
king SEM his binding snow and Grip
ling frost to besiegers and besieged
alike.
Away in North Germany the irresist-
IDLE monarch had spread his white
mantel over field and forest and noun
tain, and the snow lay deep in the mar
row, roughly paved streets of a small
country town on the frontier of Sax
ony, kindly softening the noise Of We
hicles and the tramp of horses to the
suffering patients Of the Lazaret,
which had, since the war, been estab-
lished in a large open space beyond
where the walls once stood, pure and
unauthorized, from the Riesenge-
birge. e..
Bernstadt had once been an import
ant border fortress, but its walls had
been long since leveled, and its pres
ent status, though not insignificant,
was now only due to its position as
the centre Of q rich agricultural dis
trict and a linen manufacturing popu-
lation.
The first consignment Of wounded,
after the earlier conflicts Of Weissen-
burg and Woerth, had nearly all re-
covered and dispersed-those fit for
active service to rejoin their respective
regiments.
Even of the second batch after Sedan
not many were left; and, of these, all
| sufficiently convalescent to be per-
mitted such dissipation were assembled
at the house of Herr Gerhardt Werner,
| the wealthy .B~urgomeister of Bern
| stadt, who on this New Years Eve held
high festivity in his fine old mansion
in the market place, which, with its
| wide staircase, all paneled and carved
| with wreaths of flowers, it's large, we'll
proportional rooms and wide landings,
was especially suited for entertain
| ments.
| From almost every house lights
| streamed out over the snow and
| sparkled on the frosted trees.
Music and song and laughter thrilled
through the keen air, while countless
blue stars looked down over all from a
deep steel-blue sky, intensified by
bright moonlight.
The country had begun to breathe
| after the tremendous strain. and tri-
umph of the last six months, and
though many a sad heart wept for
the loved and lost, the general tone
was joyous and eXulting.
Two officers, wrapped in their large
cloaks, walked briskly from the gates
of the Lazaret past the Lyceum and
! the line Of trees, where the ramparts
once stood, toward the winding, mar
row street which led to the market
place.
What a glorious night" exclaimed
| the taller Of the two.
The air, too, is life-giving. I feel
myself again tonight for the first
time since that Turco's cursed sabre
laid me- low.
Il may report myself fit for service
again III a week or two"
We'll, l feel rather shaky STILL" re-
piled the other, who was considerably
shorter and stouter.
"A fever such rs mine takes more
out of q fellow than the bullet that
caused it.
But l am wonderfully stronger since
I came up here, and all the better for
meeting my old comrade.
When you left us after our b.
hemian campaign, and retired to the
personal acres, l thought l had lost
sight Of you altogether.
But such a call to arms as ours
would have reused a German bear. if
there was one left, ever from his win.
ter Sleep
Yes" said his companion. II had
become almost broken in to the half
dead-and-alive life and the loneliness
OF 4 remote Scbloss like mine. when
the call I'm and set my blood adame.
MY only regret was that l could
not join my old regiment"
ut has been a fight of giants this
time,' resumed the second speaker,
after a short pause, rs they turned
into the shadow of a small street,
%crunching the crisp snow beneath their
even tread.
why, our Bohemian experience was
child's play to this; and yet"
How we'll those SaxonS fight" in
terrupted the other. speaking more to
himself that his companion.
Then and now. And their prince
he is 4 fine fellow"
He is. Ach, how it all comes back,
S~teinhausen.
Our hot. dusty march through the
Bohemian hills. and then our rest at
that delightful Saxon villa.
Il always remember il as the most
perfect house in the world. What was
the name Of the Eeor]e%