The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1912-01-04


DERBY 10 ask where had procured the
eggs. / told of the girl who had sold
them to me, and the general sent his
aids, his orderlies and his escort fly
ing all over the limited region we &C.
cupied with orders to find the farm
and the girl Each and every one re
turned with the information that
there was no dairy farm within the
picket lines and the girl could not be
found
person at headquarters, and the gen.
eral questioned me and cross Ques-
toned me, making me very uncom-
Portable. He even got out Of me the
fact that had tried to look through
one Of the eggs and found only dark
ness
WAS it the same weight as the
othersr asked the general.
II could detect no difference
Are you sure the girl was not
nan in girls clothesY
Il remembered her walk and hest
rated.
"'Come, out with it. You suspect
that she wasY
'.She had mans stride
"'That will do. By your stupidity
you have permitted a spy to pass
through our lines and become &C.
quainted with our weakness. Besides.
there are small bodies of Prussians
on every side Of us. If we had not
them SO separated that they can't
communicate, by concerted move
ment they could crush u.s.
"'But, general / protested, the
people hereabout are oil French and
loyal. This girl spoke excellent
French
Peasants do not speak excellent
French he replied impatiently. That
will do; you may CO.
II had hardly left his headquarters
before flag of truce was announced
waiting without the picket line for
admission Its commandant was
taken to the general and presented a
demand for our capitulation. He told
our general just what forces were in
our vicinity and that they had every
road by which we might escape oc-
cupied. BY concerted action, which
had been agreed upon, they, could
capture us.
sour general declined to surrender,
and at midnight we made a dash for
escape Nearly half of our number
were killed or wounded. / tried my
best to get shot, for felt sure had
by my stupidity permitted spy TO
walk from one Prussian force straight
through our lines to another bearing a
communication and the news of our
weakness. But though 1 exposed my
self while the fighting was most des-
perate / was not even scratched.
"The remnant of our force surren-
dered, and the next morning, having
stacked our arms, we were marched
before the Prussian generals who had
combined for our destruction. An aid
on the staff of one of them, coming
up to me with leer on his face, said
in the same excellent French the peas
ant girl had used:
"'Hello, comrade. What's. the price
of eggs todayT
"'Ah,' l replied, you are the peas
ant girl who sold me those eggs. Was
there message in the one tried to
look through
Indeed there was, and your get
ting hold Of it, feared, would undo
me. Had you held on to that egg
you would not now have been here
and i would have swung at the end
Of a rope
cit weighed the same as the Others
sand did that
"'Where did you learn FrenchY
SAT Partisan school,
I'VE were marching during this brief
dialogue, and at this point the man
dropped away from me.
ITO make matters worse received
an offer from the Prussians of an
immediate exchange as a recognition
of the service / had done them. / re-
piled that the only exchange would
accept would be from earth to para
disc"
The colonel paused, and his chin
sank on his breast Presently he con-
cluded:
From that day, general, / have
been a snubbed man in the army.
Whenever a time for my promotion
came round some excuse was found
for putting another In my place. IN
fortunately, since then, France has
been at peace, and have had no op-
portunity to redeem my stupidity or
get myself killed"
Rather call it misfortune" inter
rupted the general.
"No; it was stupidity. At any rate,
1 shall never forgive myself any more
than france will forgive me for fail
ing to see light through an egg with
out cracking it. My failure in the
army was my own fault.
"Since that episode / have always
had repulsion for an egg. / have
never eaten one from that day to this,
and the sight Of eggs is painful to me.
have disliked to give you the reasop
why / will not eat them at your table
but have done so that you may excuse
my impoliteness in not partaking OF
what you have provided for me-"
Colonel" said the general after
passing some moments in thought,
''what you call stupidity is fate. I, a
much younger man than you, was the
the butt Of my class at st. Cyr. Now
I am general officer, while you, an
honor man, are still colonel And
why? Fate threw an obstacle in your
way; fate gave me push. When
was a iautonant Nine la MareSchal