New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-25
The Eyes of the
Soul


Translated from the French, Utth IN
troductory Comment, By William
L. Mcpherson.
II, the anonymous story achich follows there
is a vein OF heroic romance. To minds cGPoof
of noble pity the plight Of a vigorous soldier
condemned to blindness must make Very
touching appeal. A aoom0n 'ohose heart IS
1noved By that appeal wiH sacrifice much. 1T as
the more fortunate for her II, like the heroine
Of this tale, she can feel that her sacrifice IS
more than recompensed- she has acquired
near north and charm 1Ohen vie1ced no longer
NTH the critical eyes of the body, bat aoith the
more impartial and oppreciati0e eyes Of the
soul
A somewhat similar situation l0os dealt artA
DoeticaHy in an earlier story in this series 6y
Rene BENJAMIN, entitled an a ROadsteod Of
France"
TUMBLE and timid as beggar' Mile
IT villemOz possessed one of the great
est fortunes in Lons-le-Ssunier. She
lived alone, near the beautiful gardens OF the
Chevalerie. She was twenty-six years old and
had lost both parents. Her time, her money and
her life were devoted to charity. People spoke
of her as "the good Mademoiselle Villemoz."
But they also had another saying about her:
"As ugly as Madeleine Villemoz."
Small, thin, with a spotted complexion and
a color like parchment, she had lips which were
too heavy, a nose which was too short, hair
which was washed out, almost white, and that
half-affrighted look which albinos have, who
seem to shrink from the light. Submitting to
her destiny, she went about always dressed in
black. avoiding notice, preferring to walk in
the shadows of the walls and houses. Her only
visits we're among the poor. Nobody ever called
on her at her home.
The war came. The little city in the Juras
offered the wounded the limpidity of its skies,
swept by the winds of the nearby forests, and
the purity Of its atmosphere, made balmy by
woody odors. Mile. Villemoz succeeded in OBJ
tanning charge of hospital. She received the
grade of head nurse. And more self-effaced,
more humble, than ever, she passed her days
and nights at the bedsides of the wounded.
After the battles in Champagne Captain
Pierre Audrien became patient in her hos
pital Charging at the head of his men, he had
been stricken down. A bullet pierced his tenn
pie. The two optic nerves were severed and
the officer remained blind.
watch over him very carefully" said the
surgeon to Madeleine Vilemoz. ale is not re-
signed to being blind and I fear that he will
attempt suicide"
From that instant on new existence began
for the head nurse. She continued to lavish
her cares on the other wounded. But this one
she looked after with special tenderness.
For more than fifteen days Captain Audrien
remained plunged in an almost savage taciturn-
ity. He answered in monosyllables or curt
phrases the questions which they asked him.
eyes" "No." "Thank you" "No use"
When she entered his room Madeleine found
him seated in his chair, his dead eyes fixed on
emptiness in an attitude of death-like exhaus-
ton. Any one else would have been dis
couraged. But in her case the difficulty of
her task augmented her ardor. She said to
herself paSsionately:
81 want to give him back an interest in life.
/ shall give it back to him.
In order to distract him she repeated to him
the stories Of the other wounded she read to
him out of the newspapers, she asked him ques-
tons. Little by little she learned that he was
an orphan-that the army had been his only
family, and that there was not soul in the
world who thought Of him. And in a moment
Of expansion he murmured:
"You do not know what it is TO be so lonely!"
But she answered him, amazed at her own
audacity:
"Oh, yes, know. am also an orphan"
From that time on ne showed himself more
friendly, more sociable. He called after herwhen
he thought she was lingering too long with
the other wounded. And, in his turn, he asked