New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-15
By GUY DE MAUPASSANT

xrHEN war was declared, the son, Saw
w AGE. who was then thirty-three
W wears old. enlisted. leaving MS
mother alone in the house.
She remained entirely alone in the isolated
dwelling so far from the village, on the cage
~ the wood She was not afraid, however
be;ne Of the same strain as her meniolK'
hardy old woman, tall and thin, VINO
1augbed seldom. and with whom one never
;ss.ed The women of the fields laugh but
little in any case; that is mems business
Rrt thew themselves have sad and narrowed
hearts. leading a melancholy, gloomy me-
The peasants imbibe little noisy merrimeh'
Of the tavern. but their helpmates have grave
and severe countenances always. The mus
cles of their faces have never learned the
movements Of miri
Mother Savage cJntinued her ordinary ex-
istence in her cottage, which was soon COW
cred by the SHOWS. She came to the village
once a week. to get bread and little meat;
then she returned to her house. AS there
was talk of wolves, she went out with gun
unon her shoulder-her sons gun, rusty
and with the butt worn by the rubbing OIL
the hand; and she was strange to see, the
tall Savage, little bent, going with sio"
strides over the snow, the muzzle OF the
niece extending beyond the black head-dress'
which pressed close to her head and impris-
oned her white hair that no one had ever
seen.
ONE day a Prussian force arrived 1t was
~ biIeted upon the inhabitants, accord
ing to the property and resources Of each
Four were allotted to the old woman, who
was known to be we'll to do
They were four big boys Of fair com
plexion. with blond boards and blue eyes, who
had kept fat notwithstanding the fatigues
which they had endured already, and who,
also. though in a conquered country, had re-
manned kind and gentle Alone with TINS
aged woman, they showed themselves full OF
consideration, sparing her, as much as they
could. all expenses and fatigue. They could
be seen of morning, all four of them max
ing their toilet around the well, in their,
shirtsleeves, splashing with great swlshes
of water. under the crude daylight OF the
snowy weather, their pink-white Northman $
flesh. Mother Savage went and came, pre-
pairing the soup. Then they would be seen
cleaning the kitchen, rubbing the tiles, split
ting wood, peeling potatoes, doing all the
homework. like four good sons about their
mother.
But the old woman thought always Of her
own son, so tall and thin. with his hooked
nose and his brown eyes and his heavy mus
tache. which made roll of black hairs upon
his lip. She asked every day of each Of the
soldiers who were installed beside her
hearth
"Do YOU know where the French marching
regiment No. % was sent? My boy is in it,
They invariably answered. "No, we don't
know; we don't know thing at all" And not
withstanding her pain and uneasiness (they
who had mothers, too, at home) they rem
dered her a thousand little services. She
loved them we'll moreover, her four enemies,
since the peasantry feel no patriotic hatred;
that belongs to the upper class alone. Inc
humble, those who pay the most, because
they are poor, and because every new burden
brushes them down; those who are killed IN
masses, who make the true lannon's prey, be-
cause they are so many; those, IN hne, VINO
suffer most cruelty the atrocious miseres OF
war. because they are the feeblest and offer
least resistance-they hardly understand al
all those bellicose srdors, that excitable
sense of honor, or those pretended political
combinations which in six months exhaust
two nations, the conqueror as well as the
conquered
They said in the countryside in speaking
CT Mother Savage:
There are four fellows who have found a
soft berth"
NOV one morning when the old woman
y was alone in the house she saw fst
of on the plain man coming toward hel
dwelling. Soon she recognized him; it was
the postman 70 distribute the letters. He
gave her folded paper, and she drew ou'
Of her case the spectacles which she used fol-
sewing; then she read
Madame Savage: The present letter is &c
tell you sad news. Your boy Victor was
killed yesterday by she'll which nearly GU
him in two. was near by, as we stood next
each other in the company. and he told me
about you and 70 let you know on the same
day If anything happened TO him.
81 took his watch, which was in his pocket
10 bring it back 20 you when the war is done
salute you very kindly,
"CESAIRE RIVOT.
Soldier OF the I'd class, March. Reg 23."
The letter was dated three weeks before.
She did not cry at all. She remained mo
tionless, so overcome and stupefed that she
did not even suffer as yet. She thought;