Year: 1875

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calling her father home to Dime


the expression of his face won!
change at times, and one would a
most have said he was beginning [


think.


Not quite so much as that perhaps


at least not yet; 6nt pretty soon Cor


rads eyes took note of a CROWN


difference in the ways and seemin
of sid Gotlieb Midburger himseli
just what it was wonld have bee
harf to say; but by degrees, the oil,
maj came to neglect his pipe, thel


his glass of beer. and then he tool
to lis work, and finally, he took t,
his bed and died; and the neighbor
saiS almost with accord, that '.Fran:
Hofrdahl had broken his old friend.
heat by going away"


himself. 'Bpt he did not breal
miie, And | have a heart, too
canfeel it beat. l loved my father
very much, and ] feel as if should
cry all day if | were not so very big
q min."


The strongest evidence that Conrad
hada heart, however, was yet to come
As The days went by, after his faith
ers death, the shop, and everything
in itand aboutit became utterly dis
tasteful to him. Day after day he sal
down by the bench and tried to work
but the very ticking of the watches
was insufferably oppressive, while
again and again he gathered up and
dropped his file or his hammer in re
newed astonishment at the continued
absence of those two old men. al
only Christine would come" he said
to himself. "and call old Franz home
todinner."


But she did not come, and the 81
lenee and loneliness grew more and
more irksome, and so by and by, when
Il good customer made his appear
ance, Conrad Midburger almost glad
ly 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 his
father before him had won in the old
wars with the French Neither did
Conrad, any more than Franz Hofer-
dahl, tell any of his neighbors how
great or how small was the golden
store he found himself possessed of;
but the Midhurgers had been n care
full saving and close -mOuthed race for
generations.


And when the sales were all com
pleted, and the transfer duly made,
and Conrad stood in the moonlight,
one fine spring evening, and gazed at
the home that was no longer his, he
said to himself.


q" think l could almost break my
heart now after all, for | did love the
house, and | loved the shop; but !
could not stay there with the empty
place. There were too many voices
that did not speak. That was 1t.
But what shall | do now?"


Conrad's question was answered for
him by the great French Emperor
and by the King; for Napoleon had
determined 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
without the wisest man in the village
being able to give them a good rea-
son.


1t was a sad thing for many, but
Conrad Midburger felt that he was
almost glad to go. He 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, Conrad 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. 1 did not know my heart was
so big, for l am sure love about ev-
everything l can see"


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


"It is a very thoughtful face, and
there are lines of strength beginning
to show in it,


And then there followed swift
marching, comfortless camping, all
kinds of severe and trying soldier
work, and a good deal of very hard
fighting. Whatever the newspapers
and reports might say about it, Con-
rad Midburger and his comrades
learned that the Frenehmen were
brave fellows, and that the glory of
beating them was never very cheaply
won.


Being big and strong and brave, a
good swordsman, every day growing
more intelligent, Conrad himself won
glory-that IS, three or four slight
wounds, a medal, promotion from the
ranks, the compliments of his com
manding officer and the envy Of his
comrades.


Being man of property, of re-
spectacle parentage, of fair educa-
ton, Conrad might have looked for
ward to almost anything attainable in
the German army by a man of less
than noble blood if the war had not
been so very brief; and if the corps
to which he belonged had not been
among the first to be ordered home.
Before a great while he found him
self almost his own master again,
though still within the scope and con-
troll of army regulations for nc
German of Conrad's age is ever be-
yond them, and he said to himself;
ssWell, / loved the army; l almost
loved fighting. l know l could love
glory with all my heart. l know
am ten times as much of a soldier as
that little white-moustached ape of q
baron that commanded my company
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