The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-02-08
TIE EVENING STOR Y
The Baptism.
IBy Rene Bazin. ]

by Rene Bazin.1
DO you want me to go out in such
wild weather, wife? It is showing
hard!"
Was that enough to keep you at
( home when you were counting me?" re-
piled the soft voice persuasively-
1t must have drifted pretty thick in
the ravines Of the mountains, where
/ the wind could get hold of it
If the brigadier Gottfried Barth.
I should hear you now, Louis, he would
say the Alsatians were afraid Of the
/ snow
The young man shrugged his shout
ders obstinately.
Besides" she continued. "it is neces-
sary; you are a Christian Louis, and
you know that the little one ought not
| 10 wait longer without baptism; he is
! eight days old already. Carry him down
1 into the valley, find a godmother and
godfather for him, and have the church
/ bells ring for our little one. All, 1 wish
1 we lived lower on the mountain side
| that might hear the bells ring for the
/ baptism Of my sOn!"
She ceased YEARLY, and lay quiet in
! the old-fashioned Alsatian bed, her eyes
half closed to keep out the bright light
l of the day Her loosened hair framed
! the round face of a peasant girl of the
| Vosges, whose only beauty was her
youth, the soft color in her cheeks, and
the gentle light of her brown eyes, which
/ was always the same. She knew that
| she was loved. She was accustomed to
/ the affection that had been hers for as
long as she could remember. Among
many suitors for her hand, she had
/ chosen the gamekeeper of a rich iron
merchant at Strasbourg, one of the rare,
| pure blooded Alsatians, authorized by
the administration for the guardianship
Of private properties situated on the
! border line and infested with all the
! fra117Des and r10a cheers Of the north of the
i empire
1t required much courage for the
/ young woman to accept the long Win
/ ter spent on the summit of the noun
tain, high above the pines and the
! beech trees, and with no neighboTs
but the clouds. the snow and the wind
I More than one peasants daughter, IN
! her place, would have regretted the
/ valley and been at times ill-tempered.
/ But she had never complained OF any
thing. And this had given her sim
gular authority over her husband.
Against his wish, the latter, how
/ ever, hesitated to obey her wish.
| Seated at the foot of the bed, in a low
chair, he looked now at his wife and
now through the window out across
( the clearing white and drifted with
| snow to where the dark line OF the
| pine trees distinguished the heavens
from the earth. Supple and broad
shouldered. his skin deeply tanned,
and his blue eyes set deeply in his
head, there was no look of youth
! about the gamekeeper's face, save its
/ strong endurance.
"If we were not so poor" he said,
ct would have a little sled
What for?"
ITO carry the little one in, Ro-
/ sale; how do you think can carry
/ him2 do not know how as you do,
to hold him on one arm, and besides
/ the snow is so deep now that
Such big man tc be worried for
/ SO little"' laughed the wife. Put him
in your game basket, Louis Schmidt,
it is plenty deep; he will sleep there
as soundly as if he were in his cradle
and the cold Will never touch him.
If he wakes up and cries, give him the
! bottle Of milk which I will put in the
! bottom of the basket"
The guard consented, and took
! down the heavy bag of deer skin
hanging on the wall. in which he used
to carry the provisions of bread and
1 dried vegetables from the valley to
! the cabin on the mountain top
A quarter of an hour later he closed
the door Of the lonely house and took
| the first step in the clearing The
snow was soft and fine and covered
/ the whole landscape, even to the other
mountains across the Rhine, which
Louis could family distinguish in the
| distance.
He tested the trail with his iron sbod
staff; on his right shoulder was strap
ped the bulky, warm bag which was
sometimes moved with a motion all
its own.
Pushing his way through the border
] OF pines, the mountaineer had first to
get over a declivity of sharp. brittle,
! treacherous stones where fhe nath
wound like fine toothed saw. The
/ guard knew the multiple dangers of
this passage where the night wind
! had piled and drifted the snow But
/ he started resoIutely thinking onIv of
I the return when 1,e g-FsI
| difficult. He had not gone thirty steps
| when both feet flew from under him.
/ He uttered an appealing cry which
! echoed heavily against the snow cover
ed rocks. Instinctively he reached up
/ and drew the game basket down upon
/ his breast, and, folding both arms
across it, he felt himself suddenly
plunged into an icy, moving darkness.
] precipitated with it, heaved I'D and
stified with it, helpless to fight it away,
1 while his ears filled with the uproar
and hurt him cruelty, as if he had been
the clapper of an engulfed bell and
/ was continuing to toll throughout its
course into the deep abyss.
His clearness of mind and quick wit
/ were marvellous in these duels of
| death. Not only did he understand
! the peril and analyze it in its three ele-
( ments of cold darkness, and furious
! speed, but he further saw, with all the
! details of the low, warm room. the
| image of Resale, lying pale in bed and
( waiting AOE the return OF ner son from
I his baptism; he could see all the
! houses of the village in the valley. the
/ faces of his mother and his father. the
/ companions of his boyhood and even a
/ red cock which he had once longed to
I possess and whose clarion cry he could
| hear in the midst of his anguish. Then,
/ suddenly he was out in the blessed air
again, bruised and aching. his legs
/ torn in ten places by the sharp stones.
Happily. the leather bag, which he had
protected with his arms, was safe and
its treasure also; only the bottle of
milk had escaped from its moorings
| and went rolling down the mountain
side. followed by a cloud of snow.
''Well, little one, that was not bad
a beginning" said the father Don't
cry; it was only a white blanket that
fell on our backi"
He picked himself up. painfully. and
started through the beech forest. carry