Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1905-12-21
TRUCE OF CHRISTMAS DAY
Song of Israel Causes Suspension OF
Hostilities Which Neither Army
Could Resist.

"On the night preceding the 2oth
of December, 1870" began captain,
according to the Methodist Recorder,
II was in command of company OF
volunteers engaged in the defense OF
Paris. The siege had already lasted
three months, and in the trenches my
brave comrades were enduring martyr
dom of suffering and privation. the
cold was biting bitterly; the stars were
shivering in a cloudless sky; the moon
shone brightly on the snow-clad plain
between us and the enemy; the Ger
man trenches were so close to us that
we could hear the passwords of their
sentinels as, hour by hour, they were
relieved and passed into their camp.
"As | was walking about to keep my
feet from freezing, one of my men
came up to me, and, saluting, said:
Captain | have a strange request 10
make; l want you to permit me for a
little while to leave the trenches
Leave the trenches? | replied.
But why? Because it is so cold? 1t
will be warm enough when we begin
to fight
"It is not that. l ask you, as a
favor, to allow me for little while
to leave my post. l cannot tell you
why; but, if you grant me leave, |
promise you you won't regret it.
Impossible. You want to go to
Paris. If 1 give you leave, | cannot
! well deny it to the rest
Ono, not to Paris said he, smil
ing. but in that direction pointing
toward the German lines. I shan't be
| long
"He had aroused my curiosity.
granted him permission, but warned
him that he would most probably gel
killed.
No fear he said, and, leaping over
the ramparts, he walked into the mid
die of the plain.
1--WE followed him with our eyes
| listening for the sharp crack of th
enemy's rifles, and expecting at ever,
step to see him fall Not a sound
save the crunching of the frozen snov
beneath his feet! AS soon as he hat
come within hearing of the German
sentries he paused, saluted, and begal
to sing a well-known Christmas hymn
with the refrain:
Noel! Noel! Christ is King o. Israel!
1T was so unexpected and so simpl
done, the strain took from the night
| the scene, the circumstances, such
beauty and subimity that the leas
| ra1iUinnc ~ II hDnu his line
and the hardest hearted in our trenc
were moved. The Germans neithe
spoke nor stirred. 1t seemed as if
| spell mad bound them all in silence an
in immobility The simple strain ha
doubtless made them think of HON
and of the happy groups around tn
glittering Christmas trees beyond tn
Rhine. They were evidently listening
for no other sound was audible-nc
a step, not movement of arms. A
soon as X had done his hym
he gave another military salute, turne
on his heel as on pivot, and delil
erately walked back to our line.
"'Well, captain said he, are yo
sorry that you gave me leave?'
btlOIt Coulu reply a SOlulCl ia
begun to move across the snow frol
the opposite camp. He, like x
saluted. and, between the companie
of armed men, he sang a German We
sion of the Noel, Noel that tn
French recruit had sung. / had give
orders, though they were superfluou
not to fire on him. He sang the hym
through, verse by verse, and when h
came to the refrain, the soldiers
both camps joined in the chorus:
Noel! Noel! Christ hath ransome
Israeli"
"The same emotion filled all heart
All diversities and enmities had bee
forgotten in the presence of IL
Prince of Peace. The soldier then d
parted to the German lines and di
appeared. A few hours later we b
gan to fire again"