Year: 1870

occurred at Strasbourg, during tn


siege, and the hero of it was a wealth,
merchant there. This gentleman, Ol
the approach OF the enemy, sent awal
his wife and children, but could no
himself be prevailed to abandon hi
property. Of this he possessed


great deal. He had been tOiling fo


many years to gain the money whicl
had bought his warehouses and shop
and several Of these on the breakin.
out of the war were full of valuable


GOODS. The most bulky articles ht
secured as we'll as he was able, anC


s2l1inS his plate and Jewels to the eel


lar of one of his houses, he prepared


that place as his stronghold. Remote


as he considered it, from the line d


fire. and well concealed from pillage


he thought here to weather the COM


ing storm i'll safety. To this end he


laid in a stock of provisions, and


with one or two trusty dependents,


prepared to endure the Interruption


Of his business and the misfortune O1


his country with what patience he


could. For the first eight days, o1


the bombardment all went we'll. No


shot or other missile disturbed that


immediate neighborhood, and al


though the Babel of noise and de-
struction elsewhere was Undesirable
no harm came to the citizen S sanctua-
ry. On the ninth day there came a
change. a shell droppedin the street
before the dwelling, and broke all
the windows on the first floor. The
merchant now thought it time to re-
treat to the cellar. Hence, on the
tenth day taking all his supplies OF
food and all the books he could find
he bade farewell to daylight and de-
sCended to the vaults below his house
and here, while the din of battle went
on ceaselessly above his head, the
worthy merchant passed his days
and evenings in reading by the light
Of petroleum lamp.


A few days passed i'll safety and
comparative quiet. But on Sunday,
about noon, WhiiC the rcclusC was
taking his dinner, there came sud-
denly an appalling crash overhead.
The walls above were tumbling into
ruin part even of the cellar walls
tOpplcd in; there was hOrrid cry,
then checking dust, silence and utter
darkness. A tremendous shell had
failed through the roof of the house
above and exploding, had scattered
devastation around. The merchant
ran as best he could to the stairway.
II was completely blocked and filled
by parts of the fallen walls. Terri
fed, he sought everywhere for a crc-
vice of light; but III vain. The cap
tive shouted aloud for cXtrication.
His voice came back TO him mutfied
and dull, with no answering sound to
give hope Of its penetrating the mass
Of rdasonat.y bv which he was sur
rounded. The merchant now real
lied that he was buried alive. lie
felt that for him there was less hope
than there sometimes Is III such cases.
For, III the endless roar of strife above
with dozens of unfOrtUnates killed
and manned every hour, who would
think of, or take the trouble to search
for any single man? Yet before the
he had companions and the
means of making light. He groped
swiftly to a spot where he remem-
bered placing some additional lamps.
With trembling hands he succeeded
iii lighting one, and looked about
him. OF his three companions two
were missing-buricd, perhaps in the
debris. The other lay PROSTATE near
a wall close by, quite lifeless. He
had been struck on the temple by a
falling stone and killed instantly.
The situation was even more awful
than it seemed before. To be buried
alive was dreadful; but it was horri-
bic, almost beyond endurance, to be
buried alive with the dead.


4 faf4
The hopless prisoner had fits of ter
ror, of strange fury, and of eXhaus-
ton. Then he began to work with
all the energy of despair. His only
hope, he thought, was to clear the rub
bish from the staircase. If he failed
to do tLis, the cellar would be his
tomb. He toiled frantically to escape
from so miserable a fate; but the
walls crumbled continually, and each
brick he took away made others fall.
Every now and then he was threaten
ed with instant destruction by the
ruins. Finally his lamp went out for
want ofoil, and was left i'll total and
darkness. For time
after this he abandoned all hope.
But the instinct of self-prCserVatiOn
again asserted ITSELF and again he
tore desperately at the stone and NOR
tar. He had been working, as he eS-
timated more than two days, when
the ceiling fell in. A brick struck
him OH the head and he tainted.
For long time he remained insensi-
bic, how long he could not tell. At
last he opened his eyes, and above
him he saw the stars. Ii was night,
and he was alive, although hemmed
in by rubbish, and dared not stir, for
fear of producing fresh fall of ma
sonary. In lingering agony he wait
ed until daylight. The dawn came
at last, tinting the surrounding desc
lation with streams of rosy light.
With infinite caution and pain the
merchant succeeded in drawing HIM
self up to q beam of the ceiling, and
thence, after some time, i'll making
his escape. Once free, he crOuched,
as he says, by the ruins of his house
and wept for moro than two hours.
lie had spent nearly 4 week in the
cellar. Like the Prisoner of Chillon,
his head, which had not single gray
hair before, became during that week
completely white; and he declares
himself to have aged more III those
few days than in the previous twenty
years.


There may have been events morc
painful and disastrous than this dur
ing the war and especially as regards
their ultimate catastrophcs. But it is
difficult to conceive Of human suffer
ing more agonizing than his must


have been, thus closed in as he was
from the world by an impossible wall


with dai kness and a corpse for COM


papy and having only Il lingering


death to look forward TO infinitely


moro terrible than any conceivable


swift destruction. 1t is consolatOry


to reflect that, at all events, the. un-


lucky hero Of so romantic an episoQe


-.,,,rrs.lnl L. nII IL, tia nlfhnnrrn lie