The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1914-07-02

a
oclasm would be perpetrated. Push
ing my way through the crowd, en-
tered building, determined to reach
a window above from which l could
see what was going on. l succeeded.
and the whole of the open square,
filed with a bowling multitude, was
spread before me. Presently an open
ing was made. and a knot of men, pre-
ceded by woman who was egging
them on, approached the column In
the center of the square. She. q 1.-THE,
delicate figure. turned her face to-
ward me.
Horror of horrors. She was the girl
who had bent over me in the hospital.
A rope was produced and fixed
around the column. I saw an excited
crowd pulling on the rope, and among
the number was the girl of whom
had been dreaming.
And yet my reverence for her was
not changed to antagonism. Rather,
felt for her the sympathy she had
shown for me. | saw in her noble
soul. but one perverted That great
sympathy which was part Of her ma
ture for the worlds unfortunate. the
poor, those who toll, yet never reach
affiuence. had been turned awry. A
power for good. 1t had become a pow
er for evil
And were not these wretches. in
famed by hate, by despair, by fail
ure to reach that ignis fatuus they
had been following. to destroy what
they could not turn to their comfort,
also to be pitied?
The next time l saw this girl of the
commune it was night | was stand
ing before burning building. A red
flame shot out, throwing a bloodlike
glare over a sea of faces Turning my
head, / saw a slender feminine figure
standing on a box addressing those i'm
mediately about her. She was the girl
had seen in the hospital and at the
pulling down Of the Vendome column
l could not hear her words, but on her
face was the expression Of one work
ing in a holy cause. And yet there
was now more of the militant than Of
the angel. Under the strain the wild
beast that turks in our natures was
coming to the front.
Meanwhile | had become strong
enough to do my part in re-establishing
order. | took my place among the
regular troops who were fighting their
way through the streets of the capital
One day we were led up to barricade
behind which the communists were
! 20
stand. In the narrow street was not
room for us to deploy, though we scat
tered as much as possible, and we were
at a great disadvantage. presenting a
compact target for those who fought
behind heaped cobblestones. When we
came within range we received a
storm of bullets which laid many Of
us on the street.
But we pressed on and were about
to proceed to carry the barricade by
storm when the figure Of woman ap-
peared on its crest sword in one
hand, a pistol in the other. She was
half turned from us, urging those be-
meath her on the other side to come up
and meet our expected attack. Then
she turned and glared at us.
The figure was that of the girl of the
hospital; the face had become that of
the girl of the commune. She was the
impersonation of hate. Yet she was a
woman, and none of our men would
fire on her. My reverence for her was
gone, but in its place had come pro-
found regret. | seemed to see an angel
from heaven turned into a demon from
hell.
Despite her efforts-and for a time
they were successful in holding her
men to the defense Of the barricade-
we captured 1t, and she was among the
prisoners. There was none of that sub
missive spirit apparent in her pertain
ing to the Christian martyr; there were
rebellion. hate, the fierceness of IT,
gress who had been defending her cubs
and seen them slaughtered. She was
sent under guard to prison, and l. one
of her conquerors. was sent to take
her there.
Short work was made of the COM
munists once they were in the power
of the legitimate government. Those
who were captured with arms or
whose hands indicated that they had
been working on the barricades were
lined up against wall and shot down
without mercy. | was in the firing
squad that ended the career of the
girl of the commune. She would not
keep her face to the wall. but turned
toward us.
At the last the spirit of evil that had
grown up within her during the strug-
gle passed snd was replaced by an ex-
preston Gt one who was about to die
in noble work. She was again the
angel Of peace and good will. She had
become at the last the martyr.
When we marched away from that
scene. destined to remain stamped in
my mind during my life, the bullet
that l was ordered to send to the girl
of the commune was still in the bar
rel of my gun.
30 a,-ic