Year: 1874

was insufferably oppressive, while
again and again he started up and
dropped his file or his hammer in re-
newed establishment at the continued
absence of these two old men.


eff only Christine would come," he
said to himself, "and call old Franz
home to dinnerE"


But she did not come and the silence
and loneliness grew more and more
irksome; and SO when, by-and-
by, a good customer opportunely
made his appearance, Conrad Midbur-
ger almost gladly closed with his offer
to purchase the shop and the house.
He sold, too, everything else that his
father had left him, except the old
mans pipe and sword, and the medal
bis father before him had won in the
Iold wars with the French. Neither
did Conrad, any more than Franz Ho-
ferdahl, tell any of his neighbors how
lgreat or how small was the golden
|store he found himself possessed of;
but the Midburgers had been a care
full, saving and close-mouthed race for
generations.


| And when the sales were all COM
|pleted and the transfers duly made,
land Conrad stood in the moonlight, ,one
fine Spring evening, and gazed at the
home that was no longer his, he said
to himself:


81 think l could almost break my
heart now, after all, for did love that
house and loved the shop; but l could
not stay there with the empty places.
There were too many voices there that
did not speak. That was it. But what
shall / do now?"


Conrad's question was answered for
him by the great French emperor and
by the king; for Napoleon had de-
termined, in his old age, that he must
fight the Germans, and so a great
many quiet people had to march away
from their homes to be shot at, with
out the wisest man in the village being
able to give them a good reason.


1t was a sad thing for many, but
Conrad Mijburger felt as if he was al
most glad to go. lie was sure he loved
his "Vaterland" in every bone of his
body, and, if the king called for him,
he was ready. Still, as they marched
away from the sleepy old village, Con-
rad said to himself:


"There are the old house and the
shop, and the church steeple, and the
trees, and the graves in the church
yard. l did not know my heart was
SO big, for I'm sure love about every
thing can see."


He could not see any thing very
clearly just then, however, for his eyes
we're strangely dim. No doubt the
sun was in them and the CLINT and
glitter of the bayonets; but, if any one
had looked in the young mans face,
he might have said:


"It is very thoughtful face and


there are lines of strength beginning


to show in it, -r-.,..


And then there followed swift march


ing, comfortless camping, all kinds of
severe and trying soldier-work, and a


good deal of very hard fighting. What


ever the newspapers and reports might
say about it, Conrad Midburger and
his comrades learned that the French
, men were brave fellows and that the
, glory of beating them was never very
cheaply won.
Being big and strong and brave, a


good swordsman and every day grow


ing more and more intelligent, Con-
rad himself won glory-that is three
or four slight wounds, a medal, pro-
motion from the ranks, the compli-
ments of his commanding officer and
the envy of his comrades.


Being man of property, of respec-
table parentage, of fair education,
Conrad might have looked forward to


almost anything attainable in the Ger
, man army by man of less than no.
+ BILE blood, if the war had not been so
> very brief and if the crops to which
he belonged had not been among the
first to be ordered home. Before q
, great while he found himself almost
9 his own master again, although still


within the scope and control of army
S regulations, for no German of Conrad Z
D age is ever beyond them and he said
: to himself: "Well, loved the army
+ I almost loved fighting. l know
t could love glory with all my heart.
0 know l am ten times as much a, sol
n dier as that little white-mustached ape
$ of baron that commanded my com
!, pany. That is it. l think | coulC
!, love a country where there were nj
b baroas. Let me see. l think my
il heart must have been growing a gooC
y deai during this war. There is NOR


room in it than l knew of and yet /
o is always full. l think there are SOM
Il things in it that / never saw there II
it the old times. l will 60 aud take