The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-05-11
Loyal to Country
A Short Story For Mirror
Readers.
Il * * * * ): y y 4 * 81
(By RENE MAIzERoY.)

(By RENE MAIZEROY.)
had been given permission to cross
the frontier to kiss for the last time
the lips of the woman who has been
a mother to me. my old Aunt Odile.
She was not one of the Alsatian wo-
men who have forgotten the past but
believed blindly, firmly i'm revenge
She would gladly have laid down
her life to bring about the realization
of the dream of her life. At the bot
tom of an old wardrobe, envcloped In
a sheet of fine linen she kept the old
"tricolore," which she hoped one day
to see once more waving In the breeze
from the balcony of her house to greet
the entrance OF Frances victorious
soldiers. She tried her utmost to over
come her accent that she might not
be taken for a German, and as she had
not had the courage to leave her ma
tive soil, to become an exile from the
village and the house where our fami-
ly had lived for generations, in order
10 get away from the odious rule of
the enemy, she had never failed every
week to walk five miles on her old feet
along the mountainous road through
vineyards and forests, i'm order to mall
her regular letter to me from a French
postoffi"e and stamp 1t with 9 French
stamp.
The DEAR loyal old soul! How ten
der and loving she always was To me,
and what noble lessons of energy and
self-sacrifice she had taught. How fun
of pain was my last farewell and how
my eyes streamed with tears as l kiss
ed her noble old forehead for the last
time!
The day after the funeral services
which had been so simple, so touching,
where so many callous hands had
shaken mine,I wanted to see once more
the old battlefield which came so near
lclaiming my young life, the school of
Froeschwiller into which l had been
carried at dusk an almost lifeless,
bleeding body, riddled with bullets
resting on a stretcher.
II was spring The hawthorns and
cherry trees along the road were full
of blossoms and the green fields were
bathed in the brilliant rays of the sun
| Countless larks were soaring above my
head warbling their notes of joy. The
air was fragrant land sweet, and
everywhere you felt the reawalSening
of life. Far away bell was Ginning
cows We're believing and a group oi
laughing girls were dancing on Il mea-
dow.
In vain / searched everywhere fol
crosses and tomhstones to mark Tho
old battlefield, and l failed to recogniz,
the places where we had fought Sc
desperately to be conquered by thu
overwhelming numbers of the enemy
Was IL possible / could have made {
mistake? | tried to recall the dread
lful day i'm my memory ! then remem
; bered an orchard in which thu
trees were laden with fruit wher
eight companies were waiting
impatiently to take part in tn
battle, where tho old Veterans wer
already fixing their bayonets Will
they listened to the roar of the caupol
with Jaws firmly set as IL ready L
bite, the eyes staring; then the flIri
ous charge, the whistling of the bul
let's, the rafting of the mitraileuses
1.-The shouts of fury and the clear note
: of the bugles, the sudden sensation
) had Of being hit time and again in tn
! right arm, in the shoulder, in the ches
4 as with a hammer the sudden dizz
: ness aud the darkness which envelor
!, ed my brain and soul,
Q perhaps there is someone in the v
4 lage who will serve as guide to me-
thought
: / saw the old workshop in the mes
d dow of the church, where an ambu