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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31289-8.txt b/31289-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b82b04 --- /dev/null +++ b/31289-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8761 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Waterloo, by Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Waterloo + A sequel to The Conscript of 1813 + +Author: Émile Erckmann + Alexandre Chatrian + +Release Date: February 15, 2010 [EBook #31289] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WATERLOO *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The Emperor had left for Paris.] + + + + + +HISTORICAL ROMANCES OF FRANCE + + +WATERLOO + +A SEQUEL TO THE CONSCRIPT OF 1813 + + + +TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF + +ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN + + + + +ILLUSTRATED + + + + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +NEW YORK :::::::::::::::::::::: 1911 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +_The Emperor had left for Paris_ . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +_People were heard shouting, "There it is! there it is!"_ + +_A mounted hussar was looking out into the night_ + +_The Emperor, his hands behind his back and his head bent forward_ + +_He had had the courage to pull up the bucket_ + +_Combat of Hougoumont Farm_ + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + +Often as the campaign of Waterloo has been described by historians and +frequently as it has been celebrated in fiction it has rarely been +narrated from the stand-point of a private soldier participating in it +and telling only what he saw. That this limitation, however, does not +exclude events of the greatest importance and incidents of the most +intensely dramatic interest is abundantly proved by the narrative of +the Conscript who makes another campaign in this volume and describes +it with his customary painstaking fulness and fidelity. But what +renders "Waterloo" still more interesting is the picture it presents of +the state of affairs after the first Bourbon restoration, and its +description of how gradually but surely the way was prepared by the +stupidity of the new _régime_ for that return to power of Napoleon +which seems so dramatically sudden and unexpected to a superficial view +of the events of the time. In this respect "Waterloo" deserves to rank +very high as a chapter of familiar history, or at least of historical +commentary. + + + + +WATERLOO: + +A SEQUEL TO + +THE CONSCRIPT OF 1813 + + +I + +The joy of the people on the return of Louis XVIII., in 1814, was +unbounded. It was in the spring, and the hedges, gardens, and orchards +were in full bloom. The people had for years suffered so much misery, +and had so many times feared being carried off by the conscription +never to return, they were so weary of battles, of the captured cannon, +of all the glory and the Te Deums, that they wished for nothing but to +live in peace and quiet and to rear their families by honest labor. + +Indeed, everybody was content except the old soldiers and the +fencing-masters. + +I well remember how, when on the 3d of May the order came to raise the +white flag on the church, the whole town trembled for fear of the +soldiers of the garrison, and Nicholas Passauf, the slater, demanded +six louis for the bold feat. He was plainly to be seen from every +street with the white silk flag with its "fleur-de-lis," and the +soldiers were shooting at him from every window of the two barracks, +but Passauf raised his flag in spite of them and came down and hid +himself in the barn of the "Trois Maisons," while the marines were +searching the town for him to kill him. + +That was their feeling, but the laborers and the peasants and the +tradespeople with one voice hailed the return of peace and cried, "Down +with the conscription and the right of union." Everybody was tired of +living like a bird on branch and of risking their lives for matters +which did not concern them. + +In the midst of all this joy nobody was so happy as I; the others had +not had the good luck to escape unharmed from the terrible battles of +Weissenfels and Lutzen and Leipzig, and from the horrible typhus. I +had made the acquaintance of glory and that gave me a still greater +love for peace and horror of conscription. + +I had come back to Father Goulden's, and I shall never in my life +forget his hearty welcome, or his exclamation as he took me in his +arms: "It is Joseph! Ah! my dear child, I thought you were lost!" and +we mingled our tears and our embraces together. And then we lived +together again like two friends. He would make me go over our battles +again and again, and laughingly call me "the old soldier." Then he +would tell me of the siege of Pfalzbourg, how the enemy arrived before +the town, in January, and how the old republicans with a few hundred +gunners were sent to mount our cannon on the ramparts, how they were +obliged to eat horseflesh on account of the famine, and to break up the +iron utensils of the citizens to make case-shot and canister. + +Father Goulden, in spite of his threescore years, had aimed the pieces +on the Magazine bastion on the Bichelberg side, and I often imagined I +could see him with his black silk cap and spectacles on, in the act of +aiming a twenty-four pounder. Then this would make us both laugh and +helped to pass away the time. + +We had resumed all our old habits. I laid the table and made the soup. +I was occupying my little chamber again and dreamed of Catherine day +and night. But now, instead of being afraid of the conscription as I +was in 1813, I had something else to trouble me. Man is never quite +happy, some petty misery or other assails him. How often do we see +this in life? My peace was disturbed by this. + +You know I was to marry Catherine; we were agreed, and Aunt Grédel +desired nothing better. Unhappily, however, the conscripts of 1815 +were disbanded, while those of 1813 still remained soldiers. It was no +longer so dangerous to be a soldier as it was under the Empire, and +many of these had returned to their homes and were living quietly, but +that did not prevent the necessity of my having a permit in order to be +married. Mr. Jourdan, the new mayor, would never allow me to register +without this permission, and this made me anxious. + +Father Goulden, as soon as the city gates were opened, had written to +the minister of war, Dupont, that I was at Pfalzbourg and still unwell, +that I had limped from my birth, and that I had in spite of this been +pressed into the service, that I was a poor soldier, but that I could +make a good father of a family, that it would be a real crime to +prevent me from marrying, that I was ill-formed and weak and should be +obliged to go into the hospital, etc. + +It was a beautiful letter, and it told the truth too. The very idea of +going away again made me ill. So we waited from day to day--Aunt +Grédel, Father Goulden, Catherine, and I, for the answer from the +minister. + +I cannot describe the impatience I felt when the postman Brainstein, +the son of the bell-ringer, came into the street. I could hear him +half a mile away, and then I could not go on with my work, but must +lean out of the window and watch him as he went from house to house. +When he would stay a little too long, I would say to myself, "What can +he have to talk about so long? why don't he leave his letters and come +away? he is a regular tattler, that Brainstein!" I was ready to pounce +upon him. Sometimes I ran down to meet him, and would ask, "Have you +nothing for me?" "No, Mr. Joseph," he would reply as he looked over +his letters. Then I would go sadly back, and Father Goulden, who had +been looking on, would say: + +"Have a little patience, child! have patience, it will come. It is not +war time now." + +"But he has had time to answer a dozen times, Mr. Goulden." + +"Do you think he has nobody's affairs to attend to but yours? He +receives hundreds of such letters every day--and each one receives his +answer in his turn. And then everything is in confusion from top to +bottom. Come, come! we are not alone in the world--many other brave +fellows are waiting for their permits to be married." + +I knew he was right, but I said to myself, "If that minister only knew +how happy he would make us by just writing ten words, I am sure he +would do it at once. How we would bless him, Catherine and I, Aunt +Grédel and all of us." But wait we must. + +Of course I had resumed my old habit of going to Quatre Vents on +Sundays. On these mornings I was always awake early--I do not know +what roused me. At first I thought I was a soldier again; this made me +shiver. Then I would open my eyes, look at the ceiling, and think, +"Why you are at home with Father Goulden, at Pfalzbourg, in your own +little room. To-day is Sunday, and you are going to see Catherine." +By this time I was wide awake, and could see Catherine with her +blooming cheeks and blue eyes. I wanted to get up at once and dress +myself and set off. But the clocks had just struck four, and the city +gates were still shut. I was obliged to wait, and this annoyed me very +much. In order to keep patience I began to recall our courtship, +remembering the first days, how we feared the conscription and the +drawing of the unlucky number, with its "fit for service;" the old +guard Werner, at the mayor's, the leave-taking, the journey to Mayence, +and the broad Capougnerstrasse where the good woman gave me a +foot-bath, Frankfort and Erfurth farther on, where I received my first +letter, two days before the battle, the Russians, the +Prussians--everything in fact--and then I would weep, but the thought +of Catherine was always uppermost. + +When the clock struck five I jumped from my bed, washed and shaved and +dressed myself, then Father Goulden, still behind his big curtains, +would put out his nose and say: + +"I hear you! I hear you! You have been rolling and tumbling for the +last half hour. Ha! ha! it is Sunday to-day." + +He would laugh at his own wit, and I laughed with him, and would then +bid him good-morning and be down the stairs at a bound. + +Very few people were stirring, but Sepel the butcher would always call +out: "Come here, Joseph, I have something to tell you." But I only +just turned my head, and ten minutes after was on the high-road to +Quatre Vents, outside the city walls. Oh! how fine the weather was +that beautiful year! How green and flourishing everything looked, and +how busy the people were, trying to make up for lost time, planting and +watering their cabbages and turnips, and digging over the ground +trodden down by the cavalry; how confident everybody was too of the +goodness of God, who, they hoped, would send the sun and the rain which +they so much needed. All along the road, in the little gardens, women +and old men, everybody, were at work, digging, planting, and watering. + +"Work away, Father Thiébeau, and you too, Mother Furst. Courage!" +cried I. + +"Yes, yes, Mr. Joseph, there is need enough for that; this blockade has +put everything back, there is no time to lose." + +The roads were filled with carts and wagons, laden with brick and +lumber and materials for repairing the houses and roofs which had been +destroyed by the howitzers. How the whips cracked and the hammers rang +in all the country round! On every side carpenters and masons were +seen busily at work on the summer houses. Father Ulrich and his three +boys were already on the roof of the "Flower Basket," which had been +broken to pieces by the balls, strengthening the new timbers, whistling +and hammering in concert. What a busy time it was, indeed, when peace +returned! They wanted no more war then. They knew the worth of +tranquillity, and only asked to repair their losses as far as possible. +They knew that a stroke of a saw or a plane was of more value than a +cannon-shot, and how many tears and how much fatigue it would cost to +rebuild even in ten years, that which the bombs had destroyed in ten +minutes. Oh! how happy I was as I went along. No more marches and +counter-marches; I did not need the countersign from Sergeant Pinto +where I was going! And how sweetly the lark sang as it soared +tremblingly upward, and the quails whistled and linnets twittered. The +sweet freshness of the morning, the fragrant eglantine in the hedges, +urged me on till I caught sight of the gable of the old roof of Quatre +Vents, and the little chimney with its wreath of smoke. "'Tis +Catherine who made the fire," I thought, "and she is preparing our +coffee." Then I would moderate my steps in order to get my breath a +little, while I scanned the little windows and laughed with anticipated +pleasure. The door opens, and Mother Grédel, with her woollen +petticoat and a big broom in her hand, turns round and exclaims: "Here +he is! here he is!" Then Catherine runs up, always more and more +beautiful, with her little blue cap, and says: "Ah! that is good; I was +expecting thee!" How happy she is, and how I embrace her! Ah! to be +young! I see it all again! + +I go into the old room with Catherine, and Aunt Grédel flourishes her +broom and exclaims energetically: "No more conscription--that is done +with!" We laugh heartily and sit down, and while Catherine looks at +me, aunt commences again: + +"That beggar of a minister, has he not written yet? Will he never +write, I wonder? Does he take us for brutes? It is very disagreeable +always to be ordered about. Thou art no longer a soldier, since they +left thee for dead. We saved thy life, and thou art nothing to them +now." + +"Certainly, you are right, Aunt Grédel," I would say; "but for all that +we cannot be married without going to the mayor--without a permit--and +if we do not go to the mayor, the priest will not dare to marry us at +the church." + +Then aunt would be very grave, and always ended by saying: "You see, +Joseph, that all those people from first to last have fixed everything +to suit themselves. Who pays the guards, and the judges, and the +priests, and who is it that pays everybody? It is we! and yet they +dare not marry us. It is shameful; and if it goes on, we will go to +Switzerland and be married." This would calm us, and we would spend +the rest of the day in singing and laughing. + + + + +II + +In spite of my great impatience every day brought something new, and it +comes back to me now like the comedies that are played at the fairs. +The mayors and their assistants, the municipal counsellors, the grain +and wood merchants, the foresters and field-guards, and all those +people who had been for ten years regarded as the best friends of the +Emperor, and had been very severe if any one said a word against his +majesty, turned round and denounced him as a tyrant and usurper, and +called him "the ogre of Corsica." You would have thought that Napoleon +had done them some great injury, when the fact was that they and their +families had always had the best offices. + +I have often thought since, that this is the way the good places are +obtained under all governments, and still I should be ashamed to abuse +those who could not defend themselves, and whom I had a thousand times +flattered. I should prefer to remain poor and work for a living rather +than to gain riches and consideration by such means. But such are men! +And I ought to remember too, that our old mayor and three or four of +the counsellors did not follow this example, and Mr. Goulden said that +at least they respected themselves, and that the brawlers had no honor. + +I remember how, one day, the Mayor of Hacmatt had come to have his +watch put in order at our shop, when he commenced to talk against the +Emperor in such a way that Father Goulden, rising suddenly, said to him: + +"Here, take your watch, Mr. Michael, I will not work for you. What! +only last year you called him constantly 'the great man.' And you +never could call him Emperor simply, but must add, Emperor and King, +protector of the Helvetic Confederation, etc., while your mouth was +full of beef; now you say he is an ogre, and you call Louis XVIII., +'Louis the well-beloved!' You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Do you +take people for brutes? and do you think they have no memories?" + +Then the mayor replied, "It is plain to be seen that you are an old +Jacobin." + +"What I am is nobody's business," replied Father Goulden, "but in any +case I am not a slanderer." He was pale as death, and ended by saying, +"Go, Mr. Michael, go! beggars are beggars under all governments." + +He was so indignant that day he could hardly work, and would jump up +every minute and exclaim: + +"Joseph, I did like those Bourbons, but this crowd of beggars has +disgusted me with them already. They are the kind of people who spoil +everything, for they declare everything perfect, beautiful, and +magnificent; they see no defect in anything, they raise their hands to +heaven in admiration if the king but coughs. They want their part of +the cake. And then, seeing their delight, kings and emperors end by +believing themselves gods, and when revolutions come, these rascals +abandon them, and begin to play the same rôle under some one else. In +this way they are always at the top, while honest people are always in +trouble." + +This was about the beginning of May, and it had been announced that the +King had just made his solemn entry into Paris, attended by the +marshals of the Empire, that nearly all the population had come out to +meet him, and that old men and women and little children had climbed +upon the balconies to catch a glimpse of him, and that he had at first +entered the church of Notre Dame to give thanks to God, and immediately +after retired to the Tuileries. + +It was announced also that the Senate had pronounced a high-sounding +address, assuring him there need be no alarm on account of all the +disturbances, urging him to take courage and promising the support of +the senators in case of any difficulties. + +Everybody approved this address. But we were soon to have a new sight, +we were to witness the return of the _émigrés_ from the heart of +Germany and from Russia. Some returned by the government vessels, and +some in simple "salad baskets," a kind of wicker carriage, on two and +four wheels. The ladies wore dresses with immense flower patterns, and +the men wore the old French coats and short breeches, and waistcoats +hanging down to the thighs, as they are represented in the fashions of +the time of the Republic. + +All these people were apparently proud and happy to see their country +once more. In spite of the miserable beasts which dragged their +wretched wagons filled with straw, and the peasants who served as +postilions--in spite of all this, I was moved with compassion as I +recalled the joy I felt five months before on seeing France again, and +I said to myself: + +"Poor people! they will weep on beholding Paris again, they are going +to be happy!" + +They all stopped at the "Red Ox," the hotel of the old ambassadors and +marshals and princes and dukes and rich people, who no longer +patronized it, and we could see them in the rooms brushing their own +hair, dressing and shaving themselves. + +About noon they all came down, shouting and calling "John!" "Claude!" +"Germain!" with great impatience, and ordering them about like +important personages, and seating themselves around the great tables, +with their old servants all patched up and standing behind them with +their napkins under their arms. These people with their old-fashioned +clothes, and their fine manners and happy air, made a very good +appearance, and we said to ourselves: "There are the Frenchmen +returning from exile; they did wrong to go, and to excite all Europe +against us, but there is mercy for every sin; may they be well and +happy! That is the worst we wish them." + +Some of these _émigrés_ returned by post, and then our new mayor, Mr. +Jourdan, chevalier de St. Louis, the vicar, Mr. Loth, and the new +commandant, Mr. Robert de la Faisanderie, in his embroidered uniform, +would wait for them at the gate, and when they heard the postilion's +whip crack they would go forward, smiling as if some great good fortune +had arrived, and the moment the coach stopped, the commandant would run +and open it, shouting most enthusiastically. + +At other times they would stand quite still to show their respect; I +have seen these people salute each other three times in succession, +slowly and gravely, each time approaching a little nearer to each other. + +Father Goulden would laugh and say: "Do you see, Joseph, that is the +grand style--the style of the nobles of the _ancien régime_; by just +looking out of the window we can learn fine manners which may serve us +when we get to be dukes and princes." Again it would be: "Those old +fellows, there, Joseph, fired away at us from the lines at Wissembourg, +they were good riders and they fought well, as all Frenchmen do, but we +routed them after all." + +Then he would wink and go back laughing to his work. But the rumor +spread among the servants of the "Red Ox," that these people did not +hesitate to say that they had conquered _us_, and that they were our +masters; that King Louis XVIII. had always reigned since Louis XVII., +son of Louis XVI.; that we were rebels, and that they had come to +restore us to order. + +Father Goulden did not relish this, and said to me in an ill-humored +way: "Do you know, Joseph, what these people are going to do in Paris? +they are going to demand the restoration of their ponds and their +forests, their parks and their chateaux, and their pensions, not to +speak of the fat offices and honors and favors of every kind. You +think their coats and perukes very old-fashioned, but their notions are +still older than their coats and perukes. They are more dangerous for +us than the Russians or the Austrians, because they are going away, but +these people are going to remain. They would like to destroy all we +have done for the last twenty-five years. You see how proud they are; +though many of them lived in the greatest misery on the other side of +the Rhine, yet they think they are of a different race from ours--a +superior race; they believe the people are always ready to let +themselves be fleeced as they were before '89. They say Louis XVIII. +has good sense; so much the better for him, for if he is unfortunate +enough to listen to these people, if they imagine even that he can act +upon their advice, all is lost. There will be civil war. The people +have _thought_, during the last twenty-five years. They know their +rights, and they know that one man is as good as another, and that all +their 'noble races' are nonsense. Each one will keep his property, +each one will have equal rights and will defend himself to the death." +That is what Father Goulden said to me, and as my permit never came, I +thought the minister had no time to answer our demands with all these +counts and viscounts, these dukes and marquises at his back, who were +clamoring for their woods and their ponds and their fat offices. I was +indignant. + +"Great God," I cried, "what misery! as soon as one misfortune is over +another begins! and it is always the innocent who suffer for the faults +of the others! O God! deliver us from the _nobles_, old and new! +Crown them with blessings, but let them leave us in peace!" + +One morning Aunt Grédel came in to see us; it was on Friday and +market-day. She brought her basket on her arm and seemed very happy. +I looked toward the door, thinking that Catherine was coming too, and I +said: "Good-morning, Aunt Grédel; Catherine is in town, she is coming +too?" + +"No! Joseph, no; she is at Quatre Vents. We are over our ears in work +on account of the planting." + +I was disappointed and vexed too, for I had anticipated seeing her. +But Aunt Grédel put her basket on the table, and said as she lifted up +the cover: + +"Look! here is something for you, Joseph, something from Catherine." + +There was a great bouquet of May roses, violets, and three beautiful +lilacs with their green leaves around the edge. The sight of this made +me happy, and I laughed and said: "How sweetly it smells." And Father +Goulden turned round and laughed too, saying: + +"You see, Joseph, they are always thinking of you!" + +And we all laughed together. My good-humor had returned, and I kissed +Aunt Grédel and told her to take it to Catherine from me. + +Then I put my bouquet in a vase on the window-sill by my bedside, and +thought of Catherine going out in the early morning to gather the +violets and the fresh roses and adding one after the other in the dew, +putting in the lilacs last, and the odor seemed still more delightful. +I could not look at them enough. I left them on the window-sill, +thinking: + +"I shall enjoy them through the night, and shall give them fresh water +in the morning, and the next day after will be Sunday and I shall see +Catherine and thank her with a kiss." + +I went back into the room, where Aunt Grédel was talking to Father +Goulden about the markets and the price of grain, etc., both in the +best of humor. Aunt put her basket on the ground and said: + +"Well, Joseph, your permit has not come yet?" + +"No! not yet, and it is terrible!" + +"Yes," she replied, "the ministers are all alike, one is no better than +another; they take the worst and laziest to fill that place." + +Then she went on: "Make yourself easy, I have a plan which will change +all that." She laughed, and as Father Goulden and I listened to hear +her plan, she continued: + +"Just now while I was at the town-hall, Sergeant Harmantier announced +that we were to have a grand mass for the repose of the souls of Louis +XVI., Pichegru, Moreau, and--another one." + +"Yes," interrupted Father Goulden, "for George Cadoudal,--I read it +last evening in the gazette." + +"That is it, of Cadoudal," said Aunt Grédel. "You see, Joseph, hearing +that, I thought at once, 'now we will have the permit.' We are going +to have processions and atonements, and we will all go together, +Joseph, Catherine, and I. We shall be the first, and everybody will +say, 'They are good royalists, they are well disposed.' The priest +will hear of it. Now the priests have long arms, as in the time of the +generals and colonels,--we will go and see him, he will receive us +favorably, and will even make a petition for us. And I tell you this +will succeed, we shall not fail this time." + +She spoke quite low as she explained all this, and seemed well +satisfied with her ingenuity. I felt happy too, and thought, "That is +what we must do, Aunt Grédel is right." But on looking at Father +Goulden, I saw he was very grave, and that he had turned away and was +looking at a watch through his glass, and knitting his big white +eyebrows. So, knowing he was not pleased, I said: + +"I think myself, that would succeed, but before we do anything I would +like to have Father Goulden's opinion." + +Then he turned round and said: + +"Every one is free, Joseph, to follow his own conscience. To make an +expiation for the death of Louis XVI. is all very well; honest people +of all parties will have nothing to say, if they are royalists, of +course; but if you kneel from self-interest, you had better stay at +home. As for Louis XVI., I will let him pass, but for Pichegru, +Moreau, and Cadoudal,--that is altogether another thing. Pichegru +surrendered his troops to the enemy, Moreau fought against France, and +George Cadoudal was an assassin,--three kinds of ambitious men, who +asked for nothing but to oppress us, and all three deserved their fate. +_That_ is what I think." + +"But what has all that to do with us, pray?" exclaimed Aunt Grédel. +"We will not go for them, we will go to get our permit. I despise all +the rest, and so does Joseph, do you not?" + +I was greatly embarrassed, for what Father Goulden said seemed to me to +be right, and he, seeing this, said: + +"I understand the love of young people, Mother Grédel, but we must not +use such means to induce a young man to sacrifice what he thinks is +right. If Joseph does not hold the same opinion as I do of Pichegru +and Moreau and Cadoudal, very well, let him go to the procession. I +shall not reproach him for it, but as for me, I shall not go." + +"I shall not go either. Mr. Goulden is right," I replied. + +I saw Aunt Grédel was displeased, she turned quite red, but was calm +again in a moment, and added: + +"Very well! Catherine and I will go, because we mock at all those old +notions." + +Father Goulden could not help smiling as he saw her anger. + +"Yes, everybody is free," said he, "to do as he pleases, so do as you +like." + +Aunt Grédel took up her basket and went away, and he laughed and made a +sign to me to go with her. I very quickly had my coat on and overtook +her at the corner of the street. + +"Listen, Joseph," said she, as she went toward the square, "Father +Goulden is an excellent man, but he is an old fool! He has never since +I knew him been satisfied with anything. He does not say so, but the +Republic is always in his head. He thinks of nothing but his old +Republic, when everybody was a sovereign--beggars, tinkers, +soap-boilers, Jews, and Christians. There is no sense in it. But what +are we to do? If he were not such an excellent man I would not care +for him, but we must remember he has taught you a good trade, and done +us all many favors, and we owe him great respect, that is why I hurried +away, for I was inclined to be angry." + +"You did right," I said, "I love Father Goulden like my father, and you +like my mother, and nothing could give me so much pain as to see you +angry with one another." + +"I quarrel with a man like him!" said Aunt Grédel. "I would rather +jump out of the window. No, no, but we need not listen to all he says, +for I insist that this procession is a good thing for us, that the +priest will get the permit for us, and that is the principal thing. +Catherine and I will go, and as Mr. Goulden will stay at home, you had +best stay too. But I am certain that three-fourths of the town and +country round will go, and whether it be for Moreau or Pichegru or +Cadoudal it is of no consequence. It will be very fine. You will see!" + +"I believe you," I answered. + +We had reached the German gate; I kissed her again, and went back quite +happy to my work. + + + + +III + +I recollect this visit of Aunt Grédel because eight days after the +processions and atonements and sermons commenced, and did not end till +the return of the Emperor in 1815, and then they commenced again and +continued till the fall of Charles X. in 1830. Everybody who was then +alive knows there was no end to them. So when I think of Napoleon, I +hear the cannon of the arsenal thunder and the panes of our windows +rattle, and Father Goulden cries out from his bed: "Another victory, +Joseph! Ha! ha! ha! Always victories." And when I think of Louis +XVIII., I hear the bells ring and I imagine Father Brainstein and his +two big boys hanging to the ropes, and I hear Father Goulden laugh and +say: "That, Joseph, is for Saint Magloire or Saint Polycarp." + +I cannot think of those days in any other way. + +Under the Empire I see too at nightfall, Father Coiffé, Nicholas Rolfo, +and five or six other veterans, loading their cannon for the evening +salute of twenty-one guns, while half of Pfalzbourg stand on the +opposite bastion looking at the red light, and smoke, and watching the +wads as they fall into the moat; then the illuminations at night and +the crackers and rockets, I hear the children cry _Vive l'Empereur_, +and then some days after, the death notices and the conscription. +Under Louis XVIII. I see the altars and the peasants with their carts +full of moss and broom and young pines; the ladies coming out of their +houses with great vases of flowers; people carrying their chandeliers +and crucifixes, and then the processions--the priest and his vicars, +the choir boys and Jacob Cloutier, Purrhus, and Tribou, the singers; +the beadle Koekli, with his red robe and his banner which swept the +skies, the bells ringing their full peals; Mr. Jourdan, the new mayor, +with his great red face, his beautiful uniform with his cross of St. +Louis, and the commandant with his three-cornered hat under his arm, +his great peruke frosted with powder, and his uniform glittering in the +sunshine, and behind them the town council, and the innumerable +torches, which they lighted for each other as the wind blew them out; +the Swiss, Jean-Peter Siroti, with his blue beard closely shaven and +his splendid hat pointing across his shoulders, his broad white silk +shoulder-belt sprinkled with fleur-de-lis across his breast, his +halberd erect, glistening like a plate of silver; the young girls, +ladies, and thousands of country people in their Sunday clothes, +praying in concert with the old people at their head, from each +village, who kept repeating incessantly, "pray for us, pray for us." +With the streets full of leaves and garlands and the white flags in the +windows, the Jews and the Lutherans looking out from their closed +blinds and the sun lighting up the grand sight below. This continued +from 1814 to 1830, except during the hundred days, not to speak of the +missions, the bishop's visits, and other extraordinary ceremonies. I +like best to tell you all this at once, for if I should undertake to +describe one procession after another the story would be too long. + +Well! this commenced the 19th of May, and the same day that Harmentier +announced the grand atonement, there arrived five preachers from Nancy, +young men, who preached during the whole week, from morning until +midnight. This was to prepare for the atonement; nothing else was +talked about in the town, the people were converted, and all the women +and girls went to confession. It was rumored also that the national +property was to be restored, and that the poor men would be separated +from the respectable people by the procession, because the beggars +would not dare to show themselves. You may imagine my chagrin at being +obliged, in spite of myself, to remain among the poor people; but, +thank God! I had nothing to reproach myself with in regard to the +death of Louis XVI., and I had none of the national property, and all I +wanted was permission to marry Catherine. I thought with Aunt Grédel +that Father Goulden was very obstinate, but I never dared to say a word +to him about that. I was very unhappy, the more so, because the people +who came to us to have their watches repaired, respectable citizens, +mayors, foresters, etc., approved of all these sermons, and said that +the like had never been heard. Mr. Goulden always kept on his work +while listening to them, and when it was done he would turn to them and +say, "Here is your watch, Mr. Christopher or Mr. Nicholas; it is so and +so much." He did not seem to be interested in these matters, and it +was only when one and another would speak of the national property, of +the rebellion of twenty-five years, and of expiating past crimes, that +he would take off his spectacles and raise his head to listen, and +would say with an air of surprise, "Pshaw! well! well! that is fine! +that is, Mr. Claude! indeed you astonish me. These young men preach so +well then? Well, if the work were not so pressing, I would go and hear +them. I need instruction also." + +I always kept thinking that he would change his mind, and the next +evening as we were finishing our supper I was happy enough to hear him +say good-humoredly: + +"Joseph, are you not curious to hear these preachers? They tell so +many fine things of them, that I want to hear how it is for myself." + +"Oh! Mr. Goulden, I should like nothing better! but we must lose no +time, for the church is always full by the second stroke of the bell." + +"Very well! let us go," said he, rising and taking down his hat. "I am +curious to see how it is. Those people astonish me. Come!" + +We went out; the moon was shining so brightly that we could recognize +people as easily as in broad daylight. At the corner of the rue +Fouquet we saw that even the steps of the church were already covered +with people. Two or three old women, Annette Petit, Mother Balaie, and +Jeannette Baltzer, with their big shawls wrapped closely round them, +and the long fringes of their bonnets over their eyes, hurried past us, +when Father Goulden exclaimed, "Here are the old women! Ha! ha! ha! +always the same!" + +He laughed, and as he went on said, that since Father Colin's time +there had never been so many people seen at the evening service. I +could not believe that he was speaking of the old landlord of the +"Three Roses," opposite the infantry barracks, so I said: + +"He was a priest, Mr. Goulden?" + +"No, no," he answered smiling, "I mean old Colin. In 1792, when we had +a club in the church, everybody could preach; but Colin spoke best of +all. He had a magnificent voice, and said many forcible and true +things, and the people came from far and near, from Saverne and +Saarburg, and even still farther away to hear him; women and girls, +'citoyennes' as they called them then, filled the choir galleries and +the pews. They wore little cockades in their bonnets, and sang the +'Marseillaise' to arouse the young men. You never saw anything like +it! Annette Petit, Mother Baltzer, and all those whom you see running +before us, with their prayer-books under their arms, were among the +foremost. But they had white teeth and beautiful hair then, and loved +'Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.' Ha! ha! poor Bevel! poor Annette! +Now they are going to repent, though they were good patriots then; I +believe God will pardon them." He laughed as he recalled these old +stories, but when we had reached the steps of the church he grew sober, +and said: + +"Yes--yes--everything changes, everything! I remember the day in '93, +when old Colin spoke of the country being in danger, when three hundred +young men left the country to join the army of Hoche; Colin followed +them, and became their commander. He was a terrible fellow among his +grenadiers. He would not sign the proposition to make Napoleon +emperor,--now he sells over the counter by the glass!" + +Then looking at me as if he were astonished at his own thoughts, he +said, "Let us go in, Joseph." + +We entered under the great pillars of the organ; the crowd was very +great, and he did not say a word more. There were lights burning in +the choir over the heads of the people. The only sound which broke the +silence was the opening and shutting of the doors of the pews. At last +we heard Sirou's halberd on the floor, and Mr. Goulden said, "There he +is!" + +A light near the vessel for the holy water enabled us to see a little. +A shadow mounted to the pulpit at the left, while Koekli lighted two or +three candles with his stick. The preacher might have been twenty-five +or thirty years old, he had a pleasant, rosy face and heavy blonde hair +below his tonsure, that fell in curls over his neck. They commenced by +singing a psalm, the young girls of the village sang in the choir "What +joy to be a Christian." After that the preacher from the desk said, +that he had come to defend the faith, the law, and the "right divine" +of Louis XVIII., and demanded if any one had the audacity to take the +other side. As nobody wished to be stoned, there was a dead silence. +Then a brown, thin man, six feet high with a black cloak on, rose in +one of the pews opposite, and exclaimed: + +"I have! I maintain that faith, religion, and the right of kings, and +all the rest, are nothing but superstitions. I maintain that the +republic is just, and that the worship of reason is worth them all!" +and so on. + +The people were indignant. There never was anything like it! When he +had finished speaking, I looked at Mr. Goulden, who laughed softly, and +said: "Listen! listen!" + +Of course I listened; the young preacher prayed to God for this +infidel, and then he spoke so beautifully that the crowd was entranced. +The big thin man replied, saying, "They had done right to guillotine +Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, and all the family." The indignation +increased, and the men from Bois-de-Chênes, and especially their wives, +wanted to get into the pew to knock him down, but just then Sirou came +up, crying "Room! room!" and old Koekli in his red gown threw himself +before the man, who escaped into the sacristy, raising his hands to +heaven and declaring that he was converted, and that he renounced the +devil and all his works. Then the preacher made a prayer for the soul +of the sinner. It was a real triumph for religion. + +Everybody left about eleven o'clock, and it was announced that there +would be a procession the next day, which was Sunday. + +In consequence of the great crowd, which had pushed us into the corner, +Mr. Goulden and I were among the last to get out, and by the time we +reached the street, the people from Quatre Vents and the other villages +were already beyond the German gate, and nothing was heard in the +streets but the closing of the shutters by the townspeople, and a few +old women talking about the wonderful things they had heard, as they +went home by the rue de l'Arsenal. + +Father Goulden and I walked along in the silence, he with his head bent +down and smiling, though without speaking a word. When we reached home +I lighted the candle, and while he was undressing asked: + +"Well! Father Goulden, did they preach well?" + +"Yes," he replied smiling, "yes, for young men who have seen nothing, +it was not bad." Then he laughed aloud and said, "But if old Colin had +been in the Jacobin's place, he would have puzzled the young man +terribly." I was greatly surprised at that, and as I still waited to +hear what more he had to say, he slowly pulled his black silk cap over +his ears and added thoughtfully, "but it's all the same; all the same. +These people go too fast, much too fast. They will never make me +believe that Louis XVIII. knows about all this. No, he has seen too +much in his life not to know men better than that. But, good-night, +Joseph, good-night. Let us hope that an order will soon arrive from +Paris sending these young men back to their seminary." + +I went to bed and dreamed of Catherine, the Jacobin, and of the +procession we were going to see. + + + + +IV + +Next morning the bells began to ring as soon as it was light. I rose +and opened my shutters and saw the red sun rising from behind the +Magazine, and over the forest of Bonne-Fontaine. It might have been +five o'clock, and you could feel beforehand how hot it was going to be, +and the air was laden with the odor of the oak and beech and holly +leaves which were strewn in the streets. The peasants began to arrive +in companies, talking in the still morning. You could recognize the +villagers from Wechem, from Metting, from the Graufthal and Dasenheim, +by their three-cornered hats turned down in front and their square +coats, and the women with their long black dresses and big bonnets +quilted like a mattress hanging on their necks; and those from +Dagsberg, Hildehouse, Harberg, and Houpe with their large round felt +hats, and the women without bonnets and with short skirts, small, +brown, dry, and quick as powder, with the children behind with their +shoes in their hands, but when they reached Luterspech they sat down in +a row and put them on to be ready for the procession. + +Some priests from the different villages, also came by twos and threes, +laughing and talking among themselves in the best of humor. + +And I thought, as I rested my elbows on the window-sill, that these +people must have risen before midnight to reach here so early in the +morning, and that they must have come over the mountains walking for +hours under the trees, crossing the little bridges in the moonlight; as +I thought this I reflected that religion is a beautiful thing, that the +people in towns do not know what it is, and that for thousands upon +thousands of field laborers and wood-choppers, uncultivated and rude +beings, who at the same time were good and loved their wives and +children and honored their aged parents, supporting them and closing +their eyes in the hope of a better world; this was the only +consolation. And in looking at the crowd, I imagined that Aunt Grédel +and Catherine had the same thoughts, and I was happy to know that they +prayed for me. It grew lighter and lighter, and the bells rang while I +continued to look on. I heard Father Goulden rise and dress himself, +and a few minutes after he came into my chamber in his shirt-sleeves, +and seeing me so thoughtful, he exclaimed: + +"Joseph, the most beautiful thing in the world is the religion of the +people." + +I was quite astonished to hear him express precisely my own thoughts. + +"Yes," he added, "the love of God, the love of country and of family, +are one and the same thing; but it is sad to see the love of country +perverted to satisfy the ambition of a man, and the love of God to +exalt the pride and the desire to rule in a few." + +These words impressed me deeply, and I have often thought since that +they expressed the sad truth. Well! to return to those days, you know +that after the siege we were obliged to work on Sundays, because Mr. +Goulden while serving as a gunner on the ramparts had neglected his +work and we were behindhand. So that on that morning as on the others +I lighted the fire in our little stove and prepared the breakfast; the +windows were open and we could hear the noise from the streets. + +Mr. Goulden leaned out of the window and said: "Look! all the shops +except the inns and the beer-houses are closed!" + +He laughed, and I asked, "Shall we open our shutters, Mr. Goulden?" + +He turned round as if surprised: "Look here, Joseph, I never knew a +better boy than you, but you lack sense. Why should we close our +shutters? Because God created the world in six days and rested the +seventh? But we did not create it ourselves, and we need to work to +live. If we shut our shop from interest and pretend to be saints and +so gain new customers, that will be hypocrisy. You speak sometimes +without thinking." + +I saw at once that I was wrong, and I replied: "Mr. Goulden, we will +leave our windows open and it will be seen that we have watches to +sell, and that will do no harm to any one." + +We were no sooner at table than Aunt Grédel and Catherine came. +Catherine was dressed entirely in black, on account of the service for +Louis XVI. She had a pretty little bonnet of black tulle, and her +dress was very nicely made, and this set off her delicate red and white +complexion and made her look so beautiful that I could hardly believe +that she was Joseph Bertha's beloved; her neck was white as snow, and +had it not been for her lips and her rosy little chin, her blue eyes +and golden hair, I should have thought that it was some one who +resembled her, but who was more beautiful. She laughed when she saw +how much I admired her, and at last I said: "Catherine, you are _too_ +beautiful now; I dare not kiss you." + +"Oh! you need not trouble yourself," said she. + +As she leaned upon my shoulder I gave her a long kiss, so that Aunt +Grédel and Mr. Goulden looked on and laughed, and I wished them far +enough away, that I might tell Catherine that I loved her more and +more, and that I would give my life a thousand times for her; but as I +could not do that before them, I only thought of these things and was +sad. + +Aunt had a black dress on also, and her prayer-book was under her arm. + +"Come, kiss me too, Joseph; you see I too have a black dress, like +Catherine's." + +I embraced her, and Mr. Goulden said, "You will come and dine with +us--that is understood; but, meanwhile you will take something, will +you not?" + +"We have breakfasted," replied Aunt Grédel. + +"That is nothing; God knows when this procession will end, you will be +all the time on your feet, and will need something to sustain you." + +Then they sat down, Aunt Grédel on my right, and Catherine on my left, +and Father Goulden opposite. They drank a good glass of wine, and aunt +said the procession would be very fine, and that there were at least +twenty-five priests from the neighborhood round; that Mr. Hubert, the +pastor of Quatre Vents, had come, and that the grand altar in the +cavalry quarter was higher than the houses; that the pine-trees and +poplars around had crape on them, and that the altar was covered with a +black cloth. She talked of everything under the sun, while I looked at +Catherine, and we thought, without saying anything, "Oh! when will that +beggarly minister write and say, 'Get married and leave me alone?'" + +At last, toward nine o'clock, and when the second bell had rung, Aunt +Grédel said, "That is the second ringing; we will come to dinner as +soon as possible." + +"Yes, yes, Mother Grédel," replied Mr. Goulden, "we will wait for you." + +They rose, and I went down to the foot of the stairs with Catherine in +order to embrace her once again, when Aunt Grédel cried, "Let us hurry, +let us hurry!" + +They went away, and I went back to my work; but from that moment till +about eleven o'clock I could do nothing at all. The crowd was so very +great that you could hear nothing outside but a ceaseless murmur; the +leaves rustled under foot, and when the procession left the church the +effect was so impressive that even Mr. Goulden himself stopped his work +to listen to the prayers and hymns. I thought of Catherine in the +crowd more beautiful than any of the others, with Aunt Grédel near her, +repeating "Pray for us, pray for us," in their clear voices. I thought +they must be very much fatigued, and all these voices and chants made +me dream, and though I held a watch in my hand and tried to work, my +mind was not on it. The higher the sun rose the more uneasy I became, +till at last Mr. Goulden said, laughing, "Ah! Joseph, it does not go +to-day!" and as I blushed rosy red, he continued, "Yes, when I was +dreaming of Louisa Bénédum I looked in vain for springs and wheels. I +could see nothing but her blue eyes." + +He sighed, and I too, thinking, "you are quite right, Mr. Goulden." + +"That is enough," he added a moment after, taking the watch from my +hands. "Go, child, and find Catherine. You cannot conquer your love, +it Is stronger than you." + +On hearing this, I wanted to exclaim "Oh, good, excellent man! you can +never know how much I love you," but he rose to wipe his hands on a +towel behind the door, and I said, "If you _really_ wish it, Mr. +Goulden." + +"Yes, yes; certainly!" + +I did not wait for another word. My heart bounded with joy, I put on +my hat and went down the stairs at a leap, exclaiming, "I will be back +in an hour, Mr. Goulden." + +I was out of doors in a moment, but what a crowd, what a crowd! they +swarmed! military hats, felt hats, bonnets, and over all the noise and +confusion, the church bell tolled slowly. + +For a minute I stood on our own steps, not knowing which way to turn, +and seeing at last that it was impossible to take a step in that crowd +I turned into the little lane called the Lanche, in order to reach the +ramparts and run and wait for the procession at the slope by the German +gate, as then it would turn up the rue de Collége. It might have been +eleven o'clock. I saw many things that day which have suggested many +reflections since; they were the signs of great trouble but nobody +noticed them, nobody had the good sense to comprehend their +significance. It was only later, when everybody was up to their necks +in trouble, when we were obliged to take our knapsacks and guns, again +to be cut in pieces; then they said, "if we had only had good sense and +justice and prudence we should have been so much better off, we should +have been quiet at home instead of this breaking up, which is coming; +we can do nothing but be quiet and submit; what a misfortune!" + +I went along the Lanche, where they shot the deserters under the +Empire. The noise grew fainter in the distance, and the chanting and +prayers and the sound of the bells as well. All the doors and windows +were closed, everybody had followed the procession. I stopped in the +silent street to take breath, a slight breeze came from the fields +beyond the ramparts, and I listened to the tumult in the distance and +wiped the sweat from my face and thought, "how am I to find Catherine?" + +I was climbing the steps at the postern gate when I heard some one say: +"Mark the points, Margarot." + +I then saw that Father Colin's windows on the first floor were open, +and that some men in their shirt-sleeves were playing billiards. They +were old soldiers with short hair, and mustaches like a brush. They +went back and forth, without troubling themselves about the mayor, or +the commandant, or Louis XVI., or the bourgeoisie. One of them, short, +thick, with his whiskers cut as was the fashion of the hussars in those +days, and his cravat untied, leaned out of the window, resting his cue +on the sill, and, looking toward the square, said: + +"We will put the game at fifty." + +I thought at once that they were half-pay officers, who were spending +their last sous, and who would soon be troubled to live. I continued +on my way, and hurried along under the vault of the powder magazine +behind the college, thinking of all these things, but when I reached +the German gate I forgot everything. The procession was just turning +the corner at Bockholtz, the chants broke forth opposite the altar like +trumpets, and the young priests from Nancy were running among the crowd +with their crucifixes raised to keep order, and the Swiss Sirou carried +himself majestically under his banner; at the head of the procession +were the priests and the choir singing, while the prayers rose to +heaven, and behind, the crowd responded: and all this took form, in a +low fearful murmur. + +I stood on my tiptoes, half hidden by the shed, trying to discover +Catherine in all that multitude and thinking only of her, but what a +crowd of hats and bonnets and flags I saw defiling down the rue Ulrich. +You would never have imagined that there were so many people in the +country; there could not have been a soul left in the villages, except +a few little children and old people who stayed to take care of them. + +I waited about twenty minutes, and gave up hoping to find Catherine, +when suddenly I saw her with Aunt Grédel. Aunt was praying in such a +loud clear voice, that you could hear her above all the others. +Catherine said nothing, but walked slowly along with her eyes cast +down. If I could only have called to her she might perhaps have heard +me, but it was bad enough not to join the procession without causing +further scandal. All I can say is,--and there is not an old man in +Pfalzbourg who will assert the contrary,--that Catherine was not the +least beautiful girl in the country, and that Joseph Bertha was not to +be pitied. + +She had passed, and the procession halted on the "Place d'armes," +before the high altar at the right of the church. The priest +officiated, and silence spread all over the city. In the little +streets at the right and the left, it was as quiet as if they could +have seen the priest at the altar, great numbers kneeled, and others +sat down on the steps of the houses, for the heat was excessive, and +many of them had come to town before daylight. This grand sight +impressed me very much, and I prayed for my country and for peace, for +I felt it all in my heart, and I remember that just then I heard under +the shed at the German gate, voices which said very good-humoredly, +"Come, come, give us a little room, my friends." + +The procession blocked the way, everybody was stopped, and these voices +disturbed the kneeling multitude. Several persons near the door made +way. The Swiss and the beadle looked on from a distance, and my +curiosity induced me to get a little nearer the steps, when I saw five +or six old soldiers white with dust, bent down and apparently exhausted +with fatigue, making their way along the slope in order to gain the +little rue d'Arsenal, through which they no doubt thought to find the +way clear, it seems as if I could see them now, with their worn-out +shoes and their white gaiters, and their old patched uniforms and +shakos battered by the sun and rain and the hardships of the campaign. +They advanced in file, a little on the grass of the slope in order to +disturb the people who were below as little as possible. One old +fellow with three chevrons, who marched ahead and resembled poor +Sergeant Pinto who was killed near the Hinterthor at Leipzig, made me +feel very sad. He had the same long, gray mustaches, the same wrinkled +cheeks, and the same contented air in spite of all his misfortunes and +sufferings. He had his little bundle on the end of his stick, and +smiling and speaking quite low he said, "Excuse us, gentlemen and +ladies, excuse us," while the others followed step by step. + +They were the first prisoners released by the convention of the 23d of +April, and we saw these men pass afterward every day until July. They +had no doubt avoided the magazines, in order the sooner to reach France. + +On reaching the little street they found the crowd extended beyond the +arsenal; and then in order not to disturb the people, they went under +the postern and sat down on the damp steps, with their little bundles +on the ground beside them, and waited for the procession to pass. They +had come from a great distance, and hardly knew what was going on with +us. + +Unhappily the wretches from Bois-de-Chênes, the big Horni, Zaphéri +Roller, Nicholas Cochart, the carder, Pinacle, whom they had made mayor +to pay him for having shown the way to Falberg and Graufthal to the +allies during the siege, all these rascals and others who were with +them, who wanted the fleur-de-lis--as if the fleur-de-lis could make +them any better--unhappily, I say, all that bad set who lived by +stealing fagots from the forest, had discovered the old tri-colored +cockade in the tops of their shakos, and "now," they thought, "is the +time to prove ourselves the real supporters of the throne and the +altar." + +They came on disturbing everybody, Pinacle had a big black cravat on +his neck and a crape, an ell wide, on his hat, with his shirt collar +above his ears, and as grave as a bandit who wants to make himself look +like an honest man; he came up the first one. The old soldier with the +three chevrons had discovered that these men were threatening them at a +distance and had risen to see what it meant. + +"Come, come! don't crowd so!" said he. "We are not much in the habit +of running, what do you want?" + +But Pinacle, who was afraid of losing so good an occasion to show his +zeal for Louis XVIII., instead of replying to him, smashed his shako at +a blow, shouting, "Down with the cockade!" + +Naturally the old veteran was indignant and was about to defend +himself, when these wretches, both men and women, fell upon the +soldiers, knocking them down, pulling off their cockades and epaulets, +and trampling them under foot without shame or pity. + +The poor old fellow got up several times, exclaiming, in a voice which +went to one's heart, "Pack of cowards, are you Frenchmen, assassins, +etc., etc." + +Every time he rose they beat him down again, and at last left him with +his clothes torn, and covered with blood in a corner, and the +commandant, de la Faisanderie, having arrived, ordered them to be +escorted to the "Violin." If I had been able to get down, I should +have run to the rescue, without thinking of Catherine or Aunt Grédel or +Mr. Goulden, and they might have killed me too. When I think of it now +even, I tremble, but fortunately the wall of the postern was twenty +feet thick, and when I saw them carried away covered with blood, and +comprehended the whole horrible affair, I ran home by way of the +arsenal, where I arrived so pale that Father Goulden exclaimed: + +"Why, Joseph! have you been hurt?" + +"No, no," I replied, "but I have seen a frightful thing." And I +commenced to cry as I told him of the affair. He walked up and down +with his hands behind his back, stopping from time to time to listen to +me, while his lips contracted and his eyes sparkled. + +"Joseph," said he, "these men provoked them?" + +"No, Mr. Goulden." + +"It is impossible, they must have invited it. The devil! we are not +savages! The rascals must have had some other reason than the cockades +for attacking them!" + +He could not believe me, and it was only after telling him all the +details twice over that he said at last: + +"Well! since you saw it with your own eyes I must believe you. But it +is a greater misfortune than you think, Joseph. If this goes on, if +they do not put a strong check on these good-for-nothings, if the +Pinacles are to have the upper hand, honest people will open their +eyes." + +He said no more, for the procession was finished and Aunt Grédel and +Catherine had come. + +We dined together, aunt was happy and Catherine too, but even the +pleasure it gave me to see them, could not make me forget what I had +witnessed, and Mr. Goulden was very grave too. + +At night, I went with them to the "Roulette," and then I embraced them +and bade them good-night. It might have been eight o'clock, and I went +home immediately. Mr. Goulden had gone to the "Homme Sauvage" brewery, +as was his habit on Sunday, to read the gazette, and I went to bed. He +came in about ten, and seeing my candle burning on the table, he pushed +open the door and said: + +"It seems that they are having processions everywhere. You see nothing +else in the gazette." And he added that twenty thousand prisoners had +returned, and that it was a happy thing for the country. + + + + +V + +The next morning all the clocks in the village were to be wound up, and +as Mr. Goulden was growing old he had intrusted that to me, and I went +out very early. The wind had blown the leaves in heaps against the +walls during the night, and the people were coming to take their +torches and vases of flowers from the altars. All this made me sad, +and I thought, "Now that they have performed their service for the +dead, I hope they are satisfied. If the permit would come, it would be +all very well, but if these people think they are going to amuse us +with psalms they are mistaken. In the time of the Emperor we had to go +to Russia and Spain it is true, but the ministers did not leave the +young people to pine away. I would like to know what peace is for if +it is not to get married!" + +I denounced Louis XVIII., the Comte d'Artois, the _émigrés_, and +everybody else, and declared that the nobles mocked the people. + +On going home I found that Mr. Goulden had set the table, and while we +were eating breakfast, I told him what I thought. He listened to my +complaint and laughed, saying, "Take care, Joseph, take care; you seem +to me as if you were becoming a Jacobin." + +He got up and opened the closet, and I thought he was going to take out +a bottle, but, instead, he handed me a thick square envelope with a big +red seal. + +"Here, Joseph," said he, "is something that Brigadier Werner charged me +to give you." + +I felt my heart jump and I could not see clearly. + +"Why don't you open it?" said Father Goulden. + +I opened it and tried to read, but had to take a little time. At last +I cried out, "It is the permit." + +"Do you believe it?" said he. + +"Yes, it is the permit," I said, holding it at arm's length. + +"Ah! that rascal of a minister, he has sent no others," said Father +Goulden. + +"But," I said, "I know nothing of politics, since the permit has come, +the rest does not concern me." + +He laughed aloud, saying, "Good, Joseph, good!" + +I saw that he was laughing at me, but I did not care. + +"We must let Catherine and Aunt Grédel know immediately," I cried in +the joy of my heart; "we must send Chaudron's boy right away." + +"Ha! go yourself, that will be better," said the good man. + +"But the work, Mr. Goulden?" + +"Pshaw! pshaw! at a time like this one forgets work! Go! child, stir +yourself, how could you work now? You cannot see clearly." + +It was true I could do nothing. I was so happy that I cried, I +embraced Mr. Goulden, and then without taking time to change my coat I +set off, and was so absorbed by my happiness, that I had gone far +beyond the German gate, the bridge and the outworks and the post +station, and it was only when I was within a hundred yards of the +village and saw the chimney and the little windows that I recalled it +all like a dream, and commenced to read the permit again, repeating, +"It is true, yes, it is true; what happiness! what will they say!" + +I reached the house and pushed open the door exclaiming, "The permit!" + +Aunt Grédel in her sabots was just sweeping the kitchen, and Catherine +was coming downstairs with her arms bare, and her blue kerchief crossed +over her breast; she had been to the garret for chips, and both of them +on seeing me and hearing me cry, "the permit!" stood stock still. But +I repeated, "the permit!" and Aunt Grédel threw up her hands as I had +done, exclaiming, "Long live the King!" + +Catherine, quite pale, was leaning against the side of the staircase; I +was at her side in an instant and embraced her so heartily that she +leaned on my shoulder and cried, and I carried her down, so to speak, +while aunt danced round us, exclaiming, "Long live the King! long live +the Minister!" + +There was never anything like it. The old blacksmith, Ruppert, with +his leather apron on and his shirt open at the throat, came in to ask +what had happened. + +"What is it, neighbor?" said he, as he held his big tongs in his hands +and opened his little eyes as wide as possible. + +This calmed us a little, and I answered, "We have received our permit +to marry." + +"Ah, that is it? is it? now I understand, I understand." + +He had left the door open and five or six other neighbors came in--Anna +Schmoutz, the spinner, Christopher Wagner, the field-guard, Zaphéri +Gross, and several others, till the room was full. I read the permit +aloud; everybody listened, and when it was finished Catherine began to +cry again, and Aunt Grédel said: + +"Joseph, that minister is the best of men. If he were here, I would +embrace him and invite him to the wedding; he should have the place of +honor next Mr. Goulden." + +Then the women went off to spread the news, and I commenced my +declarations anew to Catherine, as if the old ones went for nothing; +and I made her repeat a thousand times that she had never loved any one +but me, till we cried and laughed, and laughed and cried, one after the +other, till night. We heard Aunt Grédel, as she attended to the +cooking, talking to herself and saying, "That is what I call a good +king;" or, "If my good Franz could come back to the earth he would be +happy to-day, but one cannot have everything." She said, also, that +the procession had done us good; but Catherine and I were too happy to +answer a word. We dined, and lunched, and took supper without seeing +or hearing anything, and it was nine o'clock when I suddenly perceived +it was time to go home. Catherine and Aunt Grédel and I went out +together, the moon was shining brightly, and they went with me to the +"Roulette," and while on the way we agreed that the marriage should +take place in fifteen days. At the farm-house, under the poplars, aunt +kissed me, and I kissed Catherine, and then watched them as they went +back to the village. When they reached home they turned and kissed +their hands to me, and then I came back to town, crossed the great +square, and got home about ten o'clock. Mr. Goulden was awake though +in bed, and he heard me open the door softly. I had lighted my lamp +and was going to my chamber, when he called, "Joseph!" + +I went to him, and he took me in his arms and we kissed each other, and +he said: + +"It is well, my child; you are happy, and you deserve to be. Now go to +bed, and to-morrow we will talk about it." + +I went to bed, but it was long before I could sleep soundly. I wakened +every moment, thinking, "Is it really true that the permit has come?" +Then I would say to myself, "Yes; it is true." But toward morning I +slept. When I wakened it was broad day, and I jumped out of bed to +dress myself, when Father Goulden called out, as happy as possible, +"Come, Joseph, come to breakfast." + +"Forgive me, Mr. Goulden," I replied; "I was so happy I could hardly +sleep." + +"Yes, yes, I heard you," he answered and we went into the workshop, +where the table was already laid. + + + + +VI + +After the joy of marrying Catherine, my greatest delight was in +thinking I should be a tradesman, for there was a great difference +between fighting for the King of Prussia and doing business on one's +own account. Mr. Goulden had told me he would take me into partnership +with him, and I imagined myself taking my little wife to mass and then +going for a walk to the Roche-plate or to Bonne-Fontaine. This gave me +great pleasure. In the meantime I went every day to see Catherine; she +would wait for me in the orchard, while Aunt Grédel prepared the little +cakes and the bride's loaf for the wedding. We did nothing but look at +each other for hours together; she was so fresh and joyous and grew +prettier every day. + +Mr. Goulden would say on seeing me come home happier every night, +"Well! Joseph, matters seem to be better than when we were at Leipzig!" + +Sometimes I wanted to go to work again, but he always stopped me by +saying, "Oh! pshaw! happy days in life are so few. Go and see +Catherine, go! If I should take a fancy to be married by and by, you +can work for us both." And then he would laugh. Such men as he ought +to live a hundred years, such a good heart! so true and honest! He was +a real father to us. And even now, after so many years, when I think +of him with his black silk cap drawn over his ears, and his gray beard +eight days old, and the little wrinkles about his eyes showing so much +good-humor, it seems to me that I still hear his voice and the tears +will come in spite of me. But I must tell you here of something which +happened before the wedding and which I shall never forget. It was the +6th of July and we were to be married on the 8th. I had dreamed of it +all night. I rose between six and seven. Father Goulden was already +at work, with the windows open. I was washing my face and thinking I +would run over to Quatre Vents, when all at once a bugle and two taps +of a drum were heard at the gate of France, just as when a regiment +arrives, they try their mouthpieces, and tap their drums just to get +the sticks well in hand. When I heard that my hair stood on end, and I +exclaimed, "Mr. Goulden, it is the Sixth!" + +"Yes, indeed, for eight days everybody has been talking about it, but +you hear nothing in these days. It is the wedding bouquet, Joseph, and +I wanted to surprise you." + +I listened no longer, but went downstairs at a jump. Our old drummer +Padoue had already lifted his stick under the dark arch, and the +drummers came up behind balancing their drums on their hips; in the +distance was Gémeau, the commandant, on horseback, the red plumes of +the grenadiers and the bayonets came up slowly; it was the Third +battalion. The march commenced, and my blood bounded. I recognized at +the first glance the long gray cloaks which we had received on the 22d +of October, on the glacis at Erfurth; they had become quite green from +the snow and wind and rain. It was worse than after the battle of +Leipzig. The old shakos were full of ball holes, only the flag was +new, in its beautiful case of oil-cloth, with the fleur-de-lis at the +end. + +Ah! only those who have made a campaign can realize what it is to see +your regiment and to hear the same roll of the drum as when it is in +front of the enemy, and to say to yourself, "There are your comrades, +who return beaten, humiliated, and crushed, bowing their heads under +another cockade." No! I never felt anything like it. Later many of +the men of the Sixth came and settled down at Pfalzbourg, they were my +old officers, old sergeants, and were always welcome, there was +Laflèche, Carabin, Lavergne, Monyot, Padoue, Chazi, and many others. +Those who commanded me during the war sawed wood for me, put on tiles, +were my carpenters and masons. After giving me orders they obeyed me, +for I was independent, and had business, while they were simply +laborers. But that was nothing, and I always treated my old chiefs +with respect, I always thought, "at Weissenfels, at Lutzen, and at +Leipzig, these men who now are forced to labor so hard to support +themselves and their families, represented at the front the honor and +the courage of France." These changes came after Waterloo! and our old +Ensign Faizart, swept the bridge at the gate of France for fifteen +years! That is not right, the country ought to be more grateful. + +It was the Third battalion that returned, in so wretched a state that +it made the hearts of good men bleed. Zébédé told me that they left +Versailles on the 31st of March, after the capitulation of Paris, and +marched to Chartres, to Chateaudun, to Blois, Orleans and so on like +real Bohemians, for six weeks without pay or equipments, until at last +at Rouen, they received orders to cross France and return to +Pfalzbourg, and everywhere the processions and funeral services for the +King, Louis XVI., had excited the people against them. They were +obliged to bear it all, and even were compelled to bivouac in the +fields while the Russians, Austrians, and Prussians, and other beggars, +lived quietly in our towns. + +Zébédé wept with rage as he recounted their sufferings afterward. + +"Is France no longer France?" he asked. "Have we not fought for her +honor?" + +But it gives me pleasure now in my old age, to remember how we received +the Sixth at Pfalzbourg. You know that the First battalion had already +arrived from Spain, and that the remnant of this regiment and of the +24th infantry of the line formed the 6th regiment of Berry, so that all +the village was rejoicing that instead of the few old veterans, we were +to have two thousand men in garrison. There was great rejoicing, and +everybody shouted, "Long live the Sixth;" the children ran out to St. +Jean to meet them, and the battalion had nowhere been better received +than here. Several old fellows wept and shouted, "Long live France." +But in spite of all that, the officers were dejected and only made +signs with their hands as if to thank the people for their kind +reception. + +I stood on our door-steps while three or four hundred men filed past, +so ragged that I could not distinguish our number, but suddenly I saw +Zébédé, who was marching in the rear, so thin that his long crooked +nose stood out from his face like a beak, his old cloak hanging like +fringe down his back, but he had his sergeant's stripes, and his large +bony shoulders gave him the appearance of strength. On seeing him, I +cried out so loud that it could be heard above the drums, "Zébédé!" + +He turned round and I sprang into his arms and he put down his gun at +the corner of the rue Fouquet. I cried like a child and he said, "Ah! +it is you, Joseph! there are two of us left then, at least." + +"Yes, it is I," said I, "and I am going to marry Catherine, and you +shall be my best man." + +We marched along together to the corner of the rue Houte, where old +Furst was waiting with tears in his eyes. The poor old man thought, +"Perhaps my son will come too." Seeing Zébédé coming with me, he +turned suddenly into the little dark entrance to his house. On the +square, Father Klipfel and five or six others were looking at the +battalion in line. It is true they had received the notices of the +deaths, but still they thought there might be mistakes, and that their +sons did not like to write. They looked amongst them, and then went +away while the drums were beating. + +They called the roll, and just at that moment the old grave-digger came +up with his little yellow velvet vest and his gray cotton cap. He +looked behind the ranks where I was talking with Zébédé, who turned +round and saw him and grew quite pale, they looked at each other for an +instant, then I took his gun and the old man embraced his son. They +did not say a word, but remained in each other's arms for a long while. +Then when the battalion filed off to the right to go to the barracks, +Zébédé asked permission of Captain Vidal to go home with his father, +and gave his gun to his nearest comrade. We went together to the rue +de Capucins. The old man said: "You know that grandmother is so old +that she can no longer get out of bed, or she would have come to meet +you too." + +I went to the door, and then said to them, "You will come and dine with +us, both of you." + +"I will with pleasure," said the father. "Yes, Joseph, we will come." + +I went home to tell Father Goulden of my invitation, and he was all the +more pleased as Catherine and her aunt were to be there also. + +I never had been more happy than when thinking of having my beloved, my +best friend, and all those whom I loved the most, together at our house. + +That day at eleven o'clock our large room on the first floor was a +pretty sight to see. The floor had been well scrubbed, the round table +in the middle of the room was covered with a beautiful cloth with red +stripes and six large silver covers upon it, the napkins folded like a +boat in the shining plates, the salt-cellar and the sealed bottles, and +the large cut glasses sparkling in the sun which came over the groups +of lilac ranged along the windows. + +Mr. Goulden wished to have everything in abundance, grand and +magnificent, as he would for princes and embassadors, and he had taken +his silver from the basket, a most unusual thing; I had made the soup +myself. In it there were three pounds of good meat, a head of cabbage, +carrots in abundance, indeed everything necessary; except that,--which +you can never have so good at an hotel,--everything had been ordered by +Mr. Goulden himself from the "Ville de Metz." + +About noon we looked at each other, smiling and rubbing our hands, he +in his beautiful nut-brown coat, well shaved, and with his great peruke +a little rusty, in place of his old black silk cap, his maroon breeches +neatly turned over his thick woollen stockings, and shoes with great +buckles on his feet; while I had on my sky-blue coat of the latest +fashion, my shirt finely plaited in front, and happiness in my heart. + +All that was lacking now was our guests--Catherine, Aunt Grédel, the +grave-digger, and Zébédé. We walked up and down laughing and saying, +"Everything is in its place and we had best get out the soup-tureen." +And I looked out now and then to see if they were coming. + +At last Aunt Grédel and Catherine turned the corner of the rue Foquet; +they came from mass and had their prayer-books under their arms, and +farther on I saw the old grave-digger in his fine coat with wide +sleeves, and his old three-cornered hat, and Zébédé, who had put on a +clean shirt and shaved himself. They came from the side next the +ramparts arm in arm, gravely, like men who are sober because they are +perfectly happy. + +"Here they are," I said to Father Goulden. + +We just had time to pour out the soup and put the big tureen, smoking +hot in the middle of the table. This was happily accomplished just as +Aunt Grédel and Catherine came in. You can judge of their surprise on +seeing the beautiful table. We had hardly kissed each other when aunt +exclaimed: + +"It is the wedding-day then, Mr. Goulden." + +"Yes, Madame Grédel," the good man answered smiling,--on days of +ceremony he always called her Madame instead of Mother Grédel, "yes, +the wedding of good friends. You know that Zébédé has just returned, +and he will dine with us to-day with the old grave-digger." + +"Ah!" said aunt, "that will give me great pleasure." + +Catherine blushed deeply, and said to me in a low voice: + +"Now everything is as it should be, that was what we wanted to make us +perfectly happy." + +She looked tenderly at me as she held my hand. Just then some one +opened the door, and old Laurent from the "Ville de Metz," with two +high baskets in which dishes were ranged in beautiful order one above +the other, cried out, "Mr. Goulden, here is the dinner!" + +"Very well!" said Mr. Goulden, "now arrange it on the table yourself." + +And Laurent put on the radishes first, the fricasseed chicken and +beautiful fat goose at the right, and on the left the beef which we had +ourselves arranged with parsley in the plate. He put on also a nice +plate of sauerkraut with little sausages, near the soup. Such a dinner +had never been seen in our house before. + +Just at that moment we heard Zébédé and his father coming up the +stairs, and Father Goulden and I ran to meet them. Mr. Goulden +embraced Zébédé and said: + +"How happy I am to see you, I know you showed yourself a good comrade +for Joseph in the midst of the greatest danger." + +Then he shook the old grave-digger's hand, saying, "I am proud of you +for having such a son." + +Then Catherine, who had come behind us, said to Zébédé: + +"I could not please Joseph more than to embrace you, you would have +carried him to Hanau only your strength failed. I look upon you as a +brother." + +Then Zébédé, who was very pale, kissed her without saying a word, and +we all went into the room in silence, Catherine, Zébédé, and I first, +Mr. Goulden and the old grave-digger came afterward. Aunt Grédel +arranged the dishes a little and then said: + +"You are welcome, you are welcome! you who met in sorrow, have rejoined +each other in joy. May God send his grace on us all." + +Zébédé kissed Aunt Grédel and said, "Always fresh and in good health, +it is a pleasure to see you." + +"Come, Father Zébédé, sit at the head of the table, and you there, +Zébédé, that I may have you on my right and my left, Joseph will sit +farther down, opposite Catherine, and Madame Grédel at the other end to +watch over all." + +Each one was satisfied with his place, and Zébédé smiled and looked at +me as if he would say: "If we had had the quarter of such a dinner as +this at Hanau, we should never have fallen by the roadside." Joy and a +good appetite shone on every face. Father Goulden dipped the great +silver ladle into the soup as we all looked on, and served first the +old grave-digger, who said nothing and seemed touched by this honor, +then his son, and then Catherine, Aunt Grédel, himself, and me. And +the dinner was begun quietly. + +Zébédé winked and looked at me from time to time with great +satisfaction. We uncorked the first bottle and filled the glasses. +This was very good wine, but there was better coming, so we did not +drink each other's health yet, we each ate a good slice of beef, and +Father Goulden said: + +"Here is something _good_, this beef is excellent." He found the +fricassee very good also, and then I saw that Catherine was a woman of +spirit, for she said: + +"You know, Mr. Zébédé, that we should have invited your grandmother +Margaret, whom I go to see from time to time, only she is too old to go +out, but if you wish, she shall at least eat a morsel with us, and +drink her grandson's health in a glass of wine. What do you say, +Father Zébédé?" + +"I was just thinking of that," said the old man. + +Father Goulden looked at Catherine with tears in his eyes, and as she +rose to select a suitable piece for the old woman, he kissed her, and I +heard him call her his daughter. + +She went out with a bottle and a plate; and while she was gone Zébédé +said to me: + +"Joseph, she who is soon to be your wife deserves to be perfectly +happy, for she is not only a good girl, not only a woman who ought to +be loved, but she deserves respect also, for she has a good and feeling +heart. She saw what my father and I thought of this excellent dinner, +and she knew it would give us a thousand times more pleasure if +grandmother could share it. I shall love her for it, as if she were my +sister." Then he added in a low voice: "It is when we are happy that +we feel the bitterness of poverty. It is not enough to give our blood +to our country, but there is suffering at home in consequence, and when +we return we must have misery before our eyes." + +I saw that he was growing sad, so I filled his glass and we drank, and +his melancholy vanished. Catherine came back and said, "the +grandmother was very happy, and that she thanked Mr. Goulden, and said +it had been a beautiful day for her." And this roused everybody. As +the dinner continued, Aunt Grédel heard the bells for vespers, and she +went out to church, but Catherine remained, and the animation which +good wine inspires had come, and we began to speak of the last +campaign; of the retreat from the Rhine to Paris, of the fighting of +the battalion at Bibelskirchen and at Saarbruck, where Lieutenant +Baubin swam the Saar when it was freezing as hard as stone, to destroy +some boats which were still in the hands of the enemy; of the passage +at Narbefontaine, at Courcelles, at Metz, at Enzelvin, and at Champion +and Verdun, and, still retreating, the battle of Brienne. The men were +nearly all destroyed, but on the 4th of February the battalion was +re-formed from the remnant of the 5th light infantry, and from that +moment they were every day under fire; on the 5th, 6th, and 7th at +Méry-sur-Seine; on the 8th at Sézanne, where the soldiers died in the +mud, not having strength enough to get out; the 9th and 10th at Mürs, +where Zébédé was buried at night in the dung-heap of a farmhouse in +order to get warm, and the terrible battle of Marché on the 11th, in +which the Commandant Philippe was wounded by a bayonet-thrust; the +encounter on the 12th and 13th at Montmirail, the battle of Beauchamp +on the 14th, the retreat on Montmirail on the 15th and 16th, when the +Prussians returned: the combats at the Ferté-Gauché, at Jouarre, at +Gué-à-Train, at Neufchettes, and so on. When the Prussians were +beaten, then came the Russians, after them the Austrians, the +Bavarians, the Wurtemburgers, the Hessians, the Saxons, and the Badois. + +I have often heard that campaign described, but never as it was done by +Zébédé. As he talked his great thin face quivered and his long nose +turned down over the four hairs of his yellow mustache, and his eyes +would flash and he would stretch out his hand from his old sleeve and +you could see what he was describing. The great plains of Champagne +with the smoking villages to the right and to the left, where the +women, children, and old men were wandering about in groups, half +naked, one carrying a miserable old mattress, another with a few pieces +of furniture on his cart, while the snow was falling from the sky, and +the cannon roared in the distance, and the Cossacks were flying about +like the wind with kitchen utensils and even old clocks hanging to +their saddles, shouting hurrah! + +Furious battles were raging, singly, or one against ten, in which the +desperate peasants joined also with their scythes. At night the +Emperor might be seen sitting astride his chair, with his chin resting +in his folded hands on the back, before a little fire with his generals +around him. This was the way he slept and dreamed. He must have had +terrible reflections after the days of Marengo, Austerlitz, and Wagram. + +To fight the enemy, to suffer hunger and cold and fatigue, to march and +countermarch, Zébédé said, were nothing, but to hear the women and +children weeping and groaning in French in the midst of their ruined +homes, to know you could not help them, and that the more enemies you +killed, the more would you have; that you must retreat, always retreat, +in spite of victories, in spite of courage, in spite of everything! +"that is what breaks your heart, Mr. Goulden." + +In listening and looking at him we had lost all inclination to drink, +and Father Goulden, with his great head bent down as if thinking, said +in a low voice: + +"Yes, that is what glory costs, it is not enough to lose our liberty, +not enough to lose the rights gained at such a cost, we must be +pillaged, sacked, burned, cut to pieces by Cossacks, we must see what +has not been seen for centuries, a horde of brigands making law for +us--but go on, we are listening, tell us all." + +Catherine, seeing how sad we were, filled the glasses. + +"Come," said she, "to the health of Mr. Goulden and Father Zébédé. All +these misfortunes are past and will never return." + +We drank, and Zébédé related how it had been necessary to fill up the +battalion again, on the route to Soissons, with the soldiers of the +16th light infantry, and how they arrived at Meaux where the plague was +raging, although it was winter, in the hospital of Piété, in +consequence of the great numbers of wounded who could not be cared for. + +That was horrible, but the worst of all was when he described their +arrival at Paris, at the Barrière de Charenton: the Empress, King +Joseph, the King of Rome, the ministers, the new princes and dukes, and +all the great world, were running away toward Blois, and abandoning the +capital to the enemy, while the workingmen in blouses, who gained +nothing from the Empire, but to be forced to give their children to +defend it, were gathered around the town-house by thousands, begging +for arms to defend the honor of France; and the Old Guard repulsed them +with the bayonet! + +At this Father Goulden exclaimed: + +"That is enough, Zébédé, hold! stop there, and let us talk of something +else." + +He had suddenly grown very pale; at this moment Mother Grédel returned +from vespers, and seeing us all so quiet, and Mr. Goulden so disturbed, +asked: + +"What has happened?" + +"We were speaking of the Empress and of the ministers of the Emperor," +replied Father Goulden, forcing a laugh. + +Said she, "I am not astonished that the wine turns against you. Every +time I think of them, if by accident I look in the glass, I see that it +turns me quite livid. The beggars! fortunately, they are gone." + +Zébédé did not like this. Mr. Goulden observed it and said, "Well! +France is a great and glorious country all the same. If the new nobles +are worth no more than the old ones, the people are firm. They work in +vain against them. The bourgeois, the artisan, and the peasant are +united, they have the same interests and will not give up what they +have gained, nor let them again put their feet on their necks. Now, +friends, let us go and take the air, it is late, and Madame Grédel and +Catherine have a long way to go to Quatre Vents. Joseph will go with +them." + +"No," said Catherine, "Joseph must stay with his friend to-day, and we +will go home alone." + +"Very well! so be it! on a day like this friends should be together," +said Mr. Goulden. + +We went out arm in arm, it was dark, and after embracing Catherine +again at the Place d'Armes she and her aunt took their way home, and +after having taken a few turns under the great lindens we went to the +"Wild Man" and refreshed ourselves with some glasses of foaming beer. +Mr. Goulden described the siege, the attack at Pernette, the sorties at +Bigelberg, at the barracks above, and the bombardment. It was then +that I learned for the first time that he had been captain of a gun, +and that it was he who had first thought of breaking up the +melting-pots in the foundry to make shot. These stories occupied us +till after ten o'clock. At last Zébédé left us to go to the barracks, +the old grave-digger went to the rue Capucin, and we to our beds, where +we slept till eight o'clock the next morning. + + + + +VII + +Two days afterward I was married to Catherine at Aunt Grédel's at +Quatre Vents. Mr. Goulden represented my father. Zébédé was my best +man, and some old comrades remaining from the battalion were also at +the wedding. The next day we were installed in our two little rooms +over the workshop at Father Goulden's, Catherine and I. Many years +have rolled away since then! Mr. Goulden, Aunt Grédel, and the old +comrades have all passed away, and Catherine's hair is as white as +snow! Yet often, even now, when I look at her, those times come back +again, and I see her as she was at twenty, fresh and rosy, I see her +arrange the flower-pots in the chamber-window, I hear her singing to +herself, I see the sun opposite, and then we descend the steep little +staircase and say together, as we go into the workshop: "Good-morning, +Mr. Goulden;" he turns, smiles, and answers, "Good-morning, my +children, good-morning!" Then he kisses Catherine and she commences to +sweep and rub the furniture and prepare the soup, while we examine the +work we have to do during the day. + +Ah, those beautiful days, that charming life. What joy in being young +and in having a simple, good, and industrious wife! How our hearts +rejoice, and the future spreads out so far--so far--before us! We +shall never be old; we shall always love each other, and always keep +those we love! We shall always be of good heart; we shall always take +our Sunday walk arm in arm to Bonne-Fontaine; we shall always sit on +the moss in the woods, and hear the bees and May bugs buzzing in the +great trees filled with light; we shall always smile! What a life! +what a life! + +And at night we shall go softly home to the nest, as we silently look +at the golden trains which spread over the sky from Wecham to the +forests of Mittelbronn, we shall press each other's hand when we hear +the little clock at Pfalzbourg ring out the "Angelus," and those of all +the villages will respond through the twilight. Oh, youth! oh, life! + +All is before me just as it was fifty years ago; but other sparrows and +larks sing and build in the spring, other blossoms whiten the great +apple-trees. And have we changed too, and grown old like the old +people of those days? That alone makes me believe that we shall become +young again, that we shall renew our loves and rejoin Father Goulden +and Aunt Grédel and all our dear friends. Otherwise we should be too +unhappy in growing old. God would not send us pain without hope. And +Catherine believes it too. Well! at that time we were perfectly happy, +everything was beautiful to us, nothing troubled our joy. + +It was when the allies were passing through our city by hundreds of +thousands on their way home. Cavalry, artillery, infantry, foot and +horse, with oak leaves in their shakos, on their caps, and on the ends +of their muskets and lances. They shouted so that you could hear them +a league away. Just as you hear the chaffinches, thrushes, and +blackbirds, and thousands of other birds in the autumn. At any other +time this would have made me sad, because it was the sign of our +defeat, but I consoled myself by thinking that they were going away, +never to return. And when Zébédé came to tell me that every day the +Russian, Austrian, Prussian, and Bavarian officers crossed the city to +visit our new commandant, Mons. de la Faisanderie, who was an old +émigré, and who covered them with honors--that such an officer of the +battalion had provoked one of these strangers, and that such another +half-pay officer had killed two or three in duels at the "Roulette," or +the "Green Tree," or the "Flower Basket," for they were everywhere--our +soldiers could not bear the sight of the foreigners, there were fights +everywhere, and the litters of the hospital were constantly going and +coming--when Zébédé told me all these things, and when he said that so +many officers had been put upon half-pay in order to replace them by +officers from Coblentz, and that the soldiers were to be compelled to +go to mass in full uniform, that the priests were everything and +epaulettes nothing any more; instead of being vexed, I only said, "Bah! +all these things will get settled by and by. So long as we can have +quiet, and can live and labor in peace, we will be satisfied." + +I did not think that it is not enough that one is satisfied; to +preserve peace and tranquillity, all must be so likewise. I was like +Aunt Grédel, who found everything right now that we were married. She +came very often to see us, with her basket full of fresh eggs, fruits, +vegetables, and cakes for our housekeeping, and she would say: + +"Oh! Mr. Goulden, there is no need to ask if the children are well, +you have only to look at their faces." + +And to me she would say: "There is some difference, Joseph, between +being married, and trudging along under a knapsack and musket at +Lutzen!" + +"I believe you, Mamma Grédel," I would answer. + +Then she would sit down, with her hands on her knees, and say: "All +this comes from peace; peace makes everybody happy, and to think of +that mob of barefoot beggars who shout against the King!" + +At first Mr. Goulden, who was at work, would say nothing, but when she +kept on he would say, "Come, Mother Grédel, a little moderation, you +know that opinion is free now, we have two chambers and constitution, +and each one has a voice." + +"But it is also true," said aunt looking at me maliciously, "that one +must hold his tongue from time to time, and that shows a difference +too." + +Mr. Goulden never went farther than this, for he looked upon aunt as a +good woman, but who was not worth the trouble of converting. He would +only laugh when she went too far, and matters went on without jarring +until something new happened. At first there was an order from Nancy +to compel the people to close all their shutters during service on +Sunday--Jews, Lutherans, and all. There was no more noise in the inns +and wine-shops, it was still as death in the city during mass and +vespers. The people said nothing, but looked at each other as if they +were afraid. + +The first Sunday that our shutters were closed, Mr. Goulden seemed very +sad, and said, as we were dining in the dark, "I had hoped, my +children, that all this was over, and that people would have +common-sense, and that we should be tranquil for years, but unhappily I +see that these Bourbons are of the same race as Dagobert. Affairs are +growing serious." + +He did not say anything else on this Sunday, and went out in the +afternoon to read the papers. Everybody who could read went, while the +peasants were at mass, to read the papers after shutting their shops. +The citizens and master-workmen then got in the habit of reading the +papers, and a little later they wanted a Casino. I remember that +everybody talked of Benjamin Constant and placed great confidence in +him. Mr. Goulden liked him very much, and as he was accustomed to go +every evening to Father Colin's, to read of what had taken place, we +also heard the news. He told us that the Duke d'Angoulême was at +Bordeaux, the Count d'Artois at Marseilles, they had promised this, and +they had said that. + +Catherine was more curious than I, she liked to hear all the news there +was in the country, and when Mr. Goulden said anything, I could see in +her eyes that she thought he was right. One evening he said, "The Duke +de Berry is coming here." + +We were greatly astonished. "What is he going to do here, Mr. +Goulden?" asked Catherine. + +"He is coming to review the regiment," he answered, "I have a great +curiosity to see him. The papers say that he looks like Bonaparte, but +that he has a great deal more mind. It is not astonishing for if a +legitimate prince had no more sense than the son of a peasant it would +be a great pity. But you have seen Bonaparte, Joseph, and you can +judge of the matter." + +You can imagine how this news excited the country. From that day +nothing was thought of but erecting triumphal arches, and making white +flags, and the people from all the villages kept coming with their +carts covered with garlands. They raised a triumphal arch at +Pfalzbourg and another near Saverne. Every evening after supper +Catherine and I went out to see how the work progressed. It was +between the hotel "de la Ville de Metz" and the shop of the +confectioner Dürr, right across the street. The old carpenter Ulrich +and his boys built it. It was like a great gate covered with garlands +of oak leaves, and over the front were displayed magnificent white +flags. + +While they were doing this, Zébédé came to see us several times. The +prince was to come from Metz, the regiment had received letters, which +represented him as being as severe as if he had gained fifty battles. +But what vexed Zébédé most was, that the prince called our old +officers, "Soldiers of fortune." + +He arrived the 1st of October, at six in the evening, we heard the +cannon when he was at Gerberhoff. He alighted at the "Ville de Metz," +without going under the arch. The square was crowded with officers in +full uniform, and from all the windows the people shouted, "Long live +the King, Long live the Duke de Berry," just as they cried in the time +of Napoleon, "Long live the Emperor." + +Mr. Goulden and Catherine and I could not get near because of the +crowd, and we only saw the carriages and the hussars file past. A +picket near our house cut off all communication. That same evening he +received the corps of officers and condescended to accept a dinner +offered to him by the Sixth, but he only invited Colonel Zaepfel. +After the dinner, from which they did not rise till ten o'clock, the +principal citizens gave a ball at the college. All the officers and +all the friends of the Bourbons were present in black coats, and +breeches and stockings of white silk, to meet the prince, and the young +girls of good families were there in crowds, dressed in white. I still +seem to hear the horses of the escort as they passed in the middle of +the night amid the thousands shouting "Vive le Roi! Vive le Duc de +Berry!" + +All the windows were illuminated, and before those of the commandant +there was a great shield of sky blue, and the crown and the three +fleur-de-lis in gold, sparkled in the centre. The great hall of the +college echoed with the music of the regimental band. + +Mademoiselle Bremer, who had a very fine voice, was to sing the air of +"Vive Henri IV." before the prince. But all the village knew the next +day, that she had been so confused by the sight of the prince, that she +could not utter a word, and everybody said, "Poor Mademoiselle +Félicité, poor Mademoiselle Félicité." + +The ball lasted all night. We--Mr. Goulden, Catherine, and I--were +asleep, when about three in the morning we were wakened by the hussars +going by and the shouts of "Vive le Duc de Berry." These princes must +have excellent health to be able to go to all the balls and dinners +which are offered to them on their journeys. And it must become very +tiresome at last to be called "Your Majesty," "Your Excellence," "Your +Goodness," and "Your Justice," and everything else that can be thought +of, that is new and extraordinary, in order to make them believe that +the people adore them and look upon them as gods. If they do despise +the men at last it is not astonishing. If the same thing were done to +us we might think ourselves eagles too. + +What I have told you is exactly the truth. I have exaggerated nothing. + +The next day they began again with new enthusiasm. The weather was +very fine, but as the prince had slept badly, and the children who +wished to imitate the court without succeeding, annoyed him, and he +thought perhaps, that they had not done him sufficient honor and had +not shouted "Vive le Roi, Vive le Duc de Berry" loud and long +enough--for all the _soldiers_ kept silent--he was in a very bad humor. + +I saw him very well that day, while the review was taking place--the +soldiers occupied the sides of the square, we were at Wittman's, the +leather merchant, on the first floor--and also during the consecration +of the flag and the Te Deum at the church, for we had the fourth pew in +front of the choir. They said he looked like Napoleon, but it was not +true; he was a good-looking fat fellow, short and thick, and pale with +fatigue, and not at all lively, quite the contrary. During the service +he did nothing but yawn and rock back and forth like a pendulum. I am +telling you what I saw myself, and that shows how blind people are, +they want to find resemblances everywhere. + +During the review, too, I remembered that the Emperor always came on +horseback, and so would discover at a glance if everything was in +order; instead of this, the duke came along the ranks on foot, and two +or three times he found fault with old soldiers, examining them from +head to foot. That was the worst. Zébédé was one of these men, and he +never could forgive him. + +That was well enough for the review, but a more serious thing was the +distribution of the crosses and the fleur-de-lis. When I tell you that +all the mayors and their assistants, the councillors from the +Baraques-d'en-Haut and the Baraques-du-bois-de-Chênes, from Holderloch +and Hirschland, received the fleur-de-lis because they headed their +village deputations with a white flag, and that Pinacle received the +cross of honor, for having arrived first with the band of the Bohemian, +Waldteufel, who played "Vive Henri IV.," and had five or six white +flags larger than the others; when I tell you that, you will understand +what reasonable people thought. It was a real scandal! + +In the afternoon about four o'clock, the prince left for Strasbourg, +accompanied by all the royalists in the country on horseback, some on +good mounts, and others, like Pinacle, on old hacks. + +One event the Pfalzbourgers of that day remember until this, and that +is, that after the prince was seated in his carriage and was driving +slowly away, one of the émigré officers with his head uncovered and in +uniform, ran after him, crying in a pitiful voice, "Bread, my prince, +bread for my children!" That made the people blush, and they ran away +for shame. + +We went home in silence, Father Goulden was lost in thought, when Aunt +Grédel arrived. + +"Well! Mother Grédel, you ought to be satisfied," said he. + +"And why?" + +"Because Pinacle has been decorated." + +She turned quite livid, and said after a minute: + +"That is the greatest trumpery that ever was seen. If the prince had +known what he is, he would have hung him rather than decorate him with +the cross of honor." + +"That is just the trouble," said Mr. Goulden, "those people do many +such things without knowing it, and when they do know, it is too late." + + + + +VIII + +So it was that Monseigneur the Duke de Berry, visited the departments +of the East. Every word he uttered was taken up and repeated again and +again. Some praised his exceeding graciousness, and others kept +silence. From that time I suspected that all these émigrés and +officers on half-pay, these preachers with their processions and their +expiations, would overturn everything again, and about the beginning of +winter we heard that not only with us, but all over Alsace affairs were +growing worse and worse in just the same way. + +One morning between eleven and twelve Father Goulden and I were both at +work, each one thinking after his own fashion, and Catherine was laying +the cloth. I started to go out to wash my hands at the pump, as I +always did before dinner, when I saw an old woman wiping her feet on +the straw mat at the foot of the stairs and shaking her skirts which +were covered with mud. She had a stout staff, and a large rosary hung +from her neck. As I looked at her from the top of the stairs, she +began to come up and I recognized her immediately by the folds about +her eyes and the innumerable wrinkles round her little mouth, as +Anna-Marie, the pilgrim of St. Witt. The poor old woman often brought +us watches to mend, from pious people who had confidence in her, and +Mr. Goulden was always delighted to see her. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, "it is Anne-Marie! now we shall have the news. And +how is Mr. Such-an-one, the priest? How is the Vicar So-and-So? Does +he still look as well as ever? and Mr. Jacob, of such a place. And the +old sexton, Niclausse, does he still ring the bells at Dann, and at +Hirschland, and Saint Jean? He must begin to look old?" + +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, thanks for Mr. Jacob, you know that he lost +Mademoiselle Christine last week." + +"What! Mademoiselle Christine?" + +"Yes, indeed?" + +"What a misfortune! but we must remember that we are all mortal!" + +"Yes, Mr. Goulden, and when one is so fortunate as to receive the holy +consolations of the Church." + +"Certainly--certainly, that is the principal thing." + +So they talked on, Father Goulden laughing in his sleeve. She knew +everything that happened within six leagues round the city. He looked +mischievously at me from time to time. This same thing had happened a +hundred times during my apprenticeship, but you will understand how +much more curious he was now to learn all that was going on in the +country. + +"Ah! it is really Anna-Marie!" said he rising, "it is a long time since +we have seen you." + +"Three months, Mr. Goulden, three long months. I have made pilgrimages +to Saint Witt, to Saint Odille, to Marienthal, to Hazlach, and I have +vows for all the saints in Alsace, in Lorraine, and in the Vosges. But +now I have nearly finished, only Saint Quirin remains." + +"Ah! so much the better, your affairs go on well, and that gives me +pleasure. Sit down, Anna-Marie, sit down and rest yourself." + +I saw in his eyes how happy he was to have her unroll her budget of +news. But it appeared she had other matters to attend to. + +"Oh! Mr. Goulden," said she. "I cannot today. Others are before me, +Mother Evig, Gaspard Rosenkranz, and Jacob Heilig. I must go to Saint +Quirin, to-night. I only just came in to tell you that the clock at +Dosenheim is out of order, and that they are expecting you to repair +it." + +"Pshaw! pshaw! stay a moment." + +"No, I cannot, I am very sorry, Mr. Goulden, but I must finish my +round." + +She had already taken up her bundle, and Mr. Goulden seemed greatly +disappointed; when Catherine put a great dish of cabbage on the table, +and said, "What! are you going, Anna-Marie? you cannot think of it! +here is your plate!" + +She turned her head and saw the smoking soup and the cabbage, which +exhaled a most delicious odor. + +"I am in a great hurry," said she. + +"Oh! pshaw! you have very good legs," said Catherine, glancing at Mr. +Goulden. + +"Yes, thank God, they are very good still." + +"Well, sit down then and refresh yourself. It is hard work to be +always walking." + +"Yes, indeed, Madame Bertha, one earns the thirty sous that one gets." + +I placed the chairs. + +"Sit down, Anna-Marie, and give me your stick." + +"Well, I must listen to you, I suppose, but I cannot stay long, I will +only take a mouthful and then go." + +"Yes, yes, that is settled, Anna-Marie," said Mr. Goulden; "we will not +hinder you long." + +We sat down, and Mr. Goulden served us at once. Catherine looked at me +and smiled, and I said to myself, "Women are more ingenious than we," +and I was very happy. What more could a man wish for than to have a +wife with sense and spirit? It is a real treasure, and I have often +seen that men are happy when they allow themselves to be guided by such +a woman. You can easily believe that when once seated at the table +near the fire, instead of being out in the mud, with the sharp November +wind whistling in her thin skirts, she no longer thought of her +journey. She was a good creature sixty years old, who still supported +two children of her son who died some years before. To travel round +the country at that age, with the sun and rain and snow on your back, +to sleep in barns and stables on straw, and three-quarters of the time +have only potatoes to eat and not enough of them, does not make one +despise a plate of good hot soup, a piece of smoked bacon and cabbage, +with two or three glasses of wine to warm the heart. No, you must look +at things as they are, the life of these poor people is very hard, +every one would do well to try a pilgrimage on his own account. + +Anna-Marie understood the difference between being at table and on the +road, she ate with a good appetite, and she took real pleasure in +telling us what she had seen during her last round. + +"Yes," said she, "everything is going on well now. All the processions +and expiations which you have seen are nothing, they will grow larger +and more imposing from day to day. And you know there are missionaries +coming among us, as they used to do among the savages, to convert us. +They are coming from Mr. de Forbin-Janson and Mr. de Ranzan, because +the corruption of the times is so great. And the convents are to be +rebuilt, and the gates along the roads restored, as they were before +the twenty-five years' rebellion. And when the pilgrims arrive at the +convents, they will only have to ring and they will be admitted at +once, when the brothers who serve, will bring them porringers of rich +soup with meat on ordinary days, and vegetable soup with fish on +Fridays and Saturdays and during Lent. In that way piety will +increase, and everybody will make pilgrimages. But the pious women of +Bischoffsheim say, that only those who have been pilgrims from father +to son, like us, ought to go; that each one ought to attend to his +work, that the peasants should belong to the soil, and that the lords +should have their chateaux again, and govern them. I heard this with +my own ears from these pious women, who are to have their properties +again because they have returned from exile, and that they must have +their estates in order to build their chapels is very certain. Oh! if +that were only done now, so I could profit by it in my old age! I have +fasted long enough, and my little grandchildren also. I would take +them with me, and the priests would teach them, and when I die I should +have the consolation of seeing them in a good way." + +On hearing her recount all these things so contrary to reason we were +much moved, for she wept as she imagined her little girls begging at +the door of the convent and the brother bringing them soup. + +"And you know, too, that Mr. de Ranzan and the Reverend Father Tarin +want the chateaux rebuilt, and the woods and meadows and fields given +up to the nobles, and in the meantime that the ponds are to be put in +good condition, because they belong to the reverend fathers, who have +no time to plough or sow or reap. Everything must come to them of +itself." + +"But tell us, Anna-Marie, is all this quite certain? I can hardly +believe that such great happiness is in store for us." + +"It is quite certain, Mr. Goulden. The Count d'Artois wishes to secure +his salvation, and in order to do that everything must be set in order. +Mons. le Vicar Antoine of Marienthal said the same things last week. +They come from above,--these things,--and the hearts of the people must +be accustomed to them by the sermons and expiations. Those who will +not submit, like the Jews and Lutherans, will be forced to do so, and +the Jacobins"--in speaking of the Jacobins Anna-Marie looked suddenly +at Mr. Goulden and blushed up to her ears, for he was smiling. + +But she recovered herself, and went on: + +"Among the Jacobins there are some very good people, but the poor must +live. The Jacobins have taken the property of the poor and that is not +right." + +"When and where have they taken the property of the poor?" + +"Listen, Mr. Goulden, the monks and the Capuchins had the estates of +the poor, and the Jacobins have divided them amongst themselves." + +"Ah! I understand, I understand, the monks and Capuchins had your +property, Anna-Marie; I never should have guessed that." + +Mr. Goulden was all the time in good-humor, and Anna-Marie said: + +"We shall be in accord at last." + +"Oh! yes, we are, we are," said he pleasantly. + +I listened without saying anything, as I was naturally curious to hear +what was coming. It was easy to see that this was what she had heard +on her last journey. + +She said also that miracles were coming again and that Saint Quirin, +Saint Odille, and the others would not work miracles under the usurper, +but that they had commenced already; that the little black St. John at +Kortzeroth, on seeing the ancient prior return had shed tears. + +"Yes, yes, I understand," said Mr. Goulden, "that does not astonish me +in the least, after all these processions and atonements the saints +must work miracles; and it is natural, Anna-Marie, quite natural." + +"Without doubt, Mr. Goulden, and when we see miracles, faith will +return. That is clear, that is certain." + +The dinner was finished, and Anna-Marie seeing that nothing more was +coming, remembered that she was late, and exclaimed: + +"Oh! Lord, that is one o'clock striking. The others must be near +Ercheviller; now I must leave you." + +She rose and took her stick with a very important air. + +"Well! _bon voyage_, Anna-Marie, don't make us wait so long next time." + +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, if I do not sit every day at your table it is not my +fault." + +She laughed, and as she took up her bundle she said: + +"Well, good-by, and for the kindness you have shown me I will pray the +blessed Saint Quirin to send you a fine fat boy as fresh and rosy as a +lady-apple. That is the best thing, Madame Bertha, that an old woman +like me can do for you." + +On hearing these good wishes, I said, "That old woman is a good soul. +There is nothing I so much wish for in the world. May God hear her +prayer!" I was touched by that good wish. + +She went downstairs, and as she shut the door, Catherine began to +laugh, and said: + +"She emptied her budget this time." + +"Yes, my children," replied Mr. Goulden, who was quite grave, "that is +what we may call human ignorance. You would believe that poor creature +had invented all that, but she has picked it up right and left, it is +word for word what those émigrés think, and what they repeat every day +in their journals, and what the preachers say every day openly in all +the churches. Louis XVIII. troubles them, he has too much good sense +for them, but the real king is Monseigneur the Duke d'Artois, who wants +to secure his salvation, and in order that this may be done everything +must be put back where it was before the 'rebellion of twenty-five +years,' and all the national property must be given up to its ancient +owners, and the nobles must have their rights and privileges as in +1788; they must occupy all the grades of the army, and the Catholic +religion must be the only religion in the state. The Sabbath and fête +days must be observed, and heretics driven from all the offices, and +the priests alone have the right to instruct the children of the +people, and this great and terrible country, which carried its ideas of +Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity everywhere by means of its good sense +and its victories, and which never would have been vanquished if the +Emperor had not made an alliance with the kings at Tilsit, this nation, +which in a few years produced so many more great captains and orators, +learned men and geniuses of all kinds, than the noble races produced in +a thousand years, must surrender everything and go back to tilling the +earth, while the others, who are not one in a thousand, will go on from +father to son, taking everything and gladdening their hearts at the +expense of the people! Oh! no doubt the fields and meadows and ponds +will be given up as Anna-Marie said, and that the convents will be +rebuilt in order to please Mons. le Comte d'Artois and help him to gain +his salvation--that is the least the country could do for so great a +prince!" + +Then Father Goulden, joining his hands, looked upward saying: + +"Lord God, Lord God, who hast wrought so many miracles by the little +black St. John of Kortzeroth, if thou wouldst permit even a single ray +of reason to enter the heads of Monseigneur and his friends, I believe +it would be more beautiful than the tears of the little saint! And +that other one on his island, with his clear eyes like the sparrow-hawk +who pretends to sleep as he watches the unconscious geese in a pool,--O +Lord, a few strokes of his wing and he is upon them, the birds may +escape, while we shall have all Europe at our heels again!" + +He said all this very gravely, and I looked at Catherine to know +whether I should laugh or cry. + +Suddenly he sat down, saying: + +"Come! Joseph, this is not at all cheerful, but what can we do? It is +time to be at work. Look, and see what is the matter with Mr. Jacob's +watch." + +Catherine took off the cloth, and each one went to his work. + + + + +IX + +It was winter. Rain fell constantly, mingled with snow. There were no +gutters, and the wind blew the rain as it fell from the tiles quite +into the middle of the street. We could hear it pattering all day +while Catherine was running about, watching the fire, and lifting the +covers of the saucepans, and sometimes singing quietly to herself as +she sat down to her spinning. Father Goulden and I were so accustomed +to this kind of life that we worked on without thinking. We troubled +ourselves about nothing, the table was laid and the dinner served +exactly on the stroke of noon. At night Mr. Goulden went out after +supper to read the gazette at Hoffman's, with his old cloak wrapped +closely round his shoulders and his big fox-skin cap pulled down over +his neck. + +But in spite of that, often when he came in at ten o'clock, after we +had gone to bed, we heard him cough; he had dampened his feet. Then +Catherine would say, "He is coughing again, he thinks he is as young as +he was at twenty," and in the morning she did not hesitate to reproach +him. + +"Monsieur Goulden," she would say, "you are not reasonable; you have an +ugly cold, and yet you go out every evening." + +"Ah! my child, what would you have? I have got the habit of reading +the gazette, and it is stronger than I. I want to know what Benjamin +Constant and the rest of them say, it is like a second life to me and I +often think 'they ought to have spoken further of such or such a thing. +If Melchior Goulden had been there he would have opposed this or that, +and it would not have failed to produce a great effect.'" + +Then he would laugh and shake his head and say: + +"Every one thinks he has more wit and good sense than the others, but +Benjamin Constant always pleases me." + +We could say nothing more, his desire to read the gazette was so great. +One day Catherine said to him: + +"If you wish to hear the news, that is no reason why you should make +yourself sick, you have only to do as the old carpenter Carabin does, +he arranged last week with Father Hoffman, and he sends him the journal +every night at seven o'clock, after the others have read it, for which +he pays him three francs a month. In this way, without any trouble to +himself, Carabin knows everything that goes on, and his wife, old +Bevel, also; they sit by the fire and talk about all these things and +discuss them together, and that is what you should do." + +"Ah! Catherine, that is an excellent idea, but--the three francs?" + +"The three francs are nothing," said I, "the principal thing is not to +be sick, you cough very badly and that cannot go on." + +These words, far from offending, pleased him, as they proved our +affection for him and that he ought to listen to us. + +"Very well! we will try to arrange it as you wish, and the rather as +the café is filled with half-pay officers from morning till night, and +they pass the journals from one to the other so that sometimes we must +wait two hours before we can catch one. Yes, Catherine is right." + +He went that very day to see Father Hoffman, so that after that, +Michel, one of the waiters at the café brought us the gazette every +night at seven o'clock, just as we rose from the table. We were happy +always when we heard him coming up the stairs, and we would say, "There +comes the gazette." + +Catherine would hurry off the cloth and I would put a big bullet of +wood in the stove, and Mr. Goulden would draw his spectacles from their +case, and while Catherine spun and I smoked my pipe like an old +soldier, and watched the blaze as it danced in the stove, he would read +us the news from Paris. + +You cannot imagine the happiness and satisfaction we had in hearing +Benjamin Constant and two or three others maintain the same opinions +which we held ourselves. Sometimes Mr. Goulden was forced to stop to +wipe his spectacles, and then Catherine would exclaim: + +"How well these people talk. They are men of good sense. Yes, what +they say is right--it is the simple truth." + +And we all approved it. Sometimes Father Goulden thought that they +ought to have spoken of this or that a little more, but that the rest +was all very well. Then he would go on with his reading, which lasted +till ten o'clock, and then we all went to bed, reflecting on what we +had just heard. Outside the wind blew, as it only can blow at +Pfalzbourg, and vanes creaked as they turned, and the rain beat against +the walls, while we enjoyed the warmth and comfort, and thanked God +till sleep came, and we forgot everything. Ah! how happily we sleep +with peace in our souls, and when we have strength and health, and the +love and respect of those whom we love. + +Days, weeks, and months went by, and we became, after a manner, +politicians, and when the ministers were going to speak, we thought: + +"Now the beggars want to deceive us! the miserable race! they ought to +be driven out, every one of them!" + +Catherine above all could not endure them, and when Mother Grédel came +and talked as before about our good King, Louis XVIII., we allowed her +to talk out of respect, but we pitied her for being so blind to the +real interests of the country. + +It must be remembered, too, that these émigrés, ministers, and princes, +conducted themselves in the most insolent manner possible toward us. +If the Count d'Artois and his sons had put themselves at the head of +the Vendéeans and Bretons, and marched on Paris and had been +victorious, they would have had reason to say, "We are masters, and +will make laws for you." But to be driven out at first, and to be +brought back by the Prussians and the Russians, and then to come and +humiliate us, that was contemptible, and the older I grow the more I am +confirmed in that idea--it was shameful! + +Zébédé came to see us from time to time, and he knew all that was in +the gazette. It was from us that he first learned that the young +émigrés had driven General Vandamme from the presence of the King. +This old soldier, who had just returned from a Russian prison, and whom +all the army respected in spite of his misfortune at Kulm, they +conducted from the royal presence, and told him that was not his place. +Vandamme had been colonel of a regiment at Pfalzbourg, and you cannot +imagine the indignation of the people at this news. + +And it was Zébédé who told us, that processes had been made out against +the generals on half-pay, and that their letters were opened at the +post, that they might appear like traitors. He told us a little +afterward that they were going to send away the daughters of the old +officers who were at the school of St. Denis and give them a pension of +two hundred francs; and later still, that the émigrés alone would have +the right to put their sons in the schools at "St. Cyr" and "la Flèche" +to be educated as officers, while the people's sons would remain +soldiers at five centimes (one cent) a day for centuries to come. + +The gazettes told the same stories, but Zébédé knew a great many other +details--the soldiers knew everything. + +I could not describe Zébédé's face to you as he sat behind the stove, +with the end of his black pipe between his teeth, recounting all these +misfortunes. His great nose would turn pale, and the muscles would +twitch around the corners of his light gray eyes, and he would pretend +to laugh from time to time, and murmur, "It moves, it moves." + +"And what do the other soldiers think of all this?" said Father Goulden. + +"Ha! they think it is pretty well when they have given their blood to +France for twenty years, when they have made ten, fifteen, and twenty +campaigns, and wear three chevrons, and are riddled with wounds, to +hear that their old chiefs are driven from their posts, their daughters +turned out of the schools, and that the sons of those people are to be +their officers forever--that delights them, Father Goulden!" and his +face quivered even to his ears as he said this. + +"That is terrible, certainly," said Father Goulden, "but discipline is +always discipline there. The marshals obey the ministers, and the +officers the marshals, and the soldiers the officers." + +"You are right," said Zébédé, "but there, they are beating the +assembly." + +And he shook hands and hurried off to the barracks. + +The winter passed in this way, while the indignation increased every +day. The city was full of officers on half-pay, who dared not remain +in Paris,--lieutenants, captains, commandants, and colonels of infantry +and cavalry,--men who lived on a crust of bread and a glass of wine a +day, and who were the more miserable because they were forced to keep +up an appearance--think of such men with their hollow cheeks and their +hair closely cropped, with sparkling eyes and their big mustaches and +their old uniform cloaks, of which they had been forced to change the +buttons, see them promenading by threes and sixes and tens on the +square, with their sword-canes at their button-holes, and their +three-cornered hats so old and worn, though still well brushed; you +could not help thinking that they had not one quarter enough to eat. + +And yet we were compelled to say to ourselves, these are the victors of +Jemmapes, of Fleurus, of Zurich, of Hohenlinden, of Marengo, of +Austerlitz, and of Friedland and Wagram. If we are proud of being +Frenchmen, neither the Comte d'Artois nor the Duke de Berry can boast +of being the cause; on the contrary, it is these men, and now they +leave them to perish, they even refuse them bread and put the émigrés +in their place. It does not need any extraordinary amount of +common-sense, or heart, or of justice to discover that this is contrary +to nature. + +I never could look at these unhappy men; it made me miserable. If you +have been a soldier for only six months, your respect for your old +chiefs, for those whom you have seen in the very front under fire, +always remains. I was ashamed of my country for permitting such +indignities. + +One circumstance I shall never forget: it was the last of January, +1815, when two of these half-pay officers--one was a large, austere, +gray-haired man, known as Colonel Falconette, who appeared to have +served in the infantry, the other was short and thick and they called +him Commandant Margarot, and he still wore his hussar whiskers--came to +us and proposed to sell a splendid watch. It might have been ten +o'clock in the morning. I can see them now as they came gravely in, +the colonel with his high collar, and the other one with his head down +between his shoulders. + +The watch was a gold one, with double case; a repeater which marked the +seconds, and was wound up only once in eight days. I had never seen +such a fine one. + +While Mr. Goulden examined it I turned round on my chair and looked at +the men, who seemed to be in great need of money, especially the +hussar. His brown, bony face, his big red mustaches, and his little +brown eyes, his broad shoulders and long arms, which hung down to his +knees, inspired me with great respect. I thought that when he took his +sabre his long arm would reach a good way, that his eyes would burn +under his heavy brows, and that the parry and thrust would come like +lightning. I imagined him in a charge, half hidden behind his horse's +head, with the point advanced, and my admiration was greater still. I +suddenly remembered that Colonel Falconette and Commandant Margarot had +killed some Russian and Austrian officers in a duel in the rear of the +"Green Tree," when the allies were passing through the town six months +ago. + +The large man too, without any shirt-collar, although he was thin, +wrinkled, and pale, and his temples were gray and his manner cold, +seemed respectable too. + +I waited to hear what Father Goulden would say about the watch. He did +not raise his eyes, but looked at it with profound admiration, while +the men waited quietly like those who suffer from not being able to +conceal their pain. At last he said: + +"This, gentlemen, is a beautiful watch, fit for a prince?" + +"Indeed it is," said the hussar, "and it was from a prince I received +it after the battle of Rabbe," and he glanced at his companion, who +said nothing. + +Mr. Goulden saw that they were in great need. He took off his black +silk bonnet, and said, as he rose slowly from his seat: + +"Gentlemen, do not take offence at what I am going to say. I am like +you an old soldier, I served France under the Republic, and I am sure +it must be heart-breaking to be forced to sell such a thing as that, an +object which recalls some noble action, the souvenir of a chief whom we +revere." + +I had never heard Father Goulden speak with such emotion, his bald head +was bowed sadly, and his eyes were on the ground, so that he might not +see the pain of those to whom he was speaking. + +The commandant grew quite red, his eyes were dim, his great fingers +worked, and the colonel was pale as death. I wished myself away. + +Mr. Goulden went on, "This watch is worth more than a thousand francs, +I have not so much money in hand, and besides you would doubtless +regret to part with such a souvenir. I will make you this offer, leave +the watch with me, I will hang it in my window--it shall always be +yours--and I will advance you two hundred francs, which you shall repay +me when you take it away." + +On hearing this, the hussar extended his two great hairy hands, as if +to embrace Father Goulden. + +"You are a good patriot," he exclaimed, "Colin told us so. Ah! sir, I +shall never forget the service you have rendered me. This watch I +received from Prince Eugène for bravery in action, it is dear to me as +my own blood, but poverty----" + +"Commandant!" exclaimed the other, turning pale. + +"Colonel, permit me! we are old comrades together. They are starving +us, they treat us like Cossacks. They are too cowardly to shoot us +outright." + +He could be heard all over the house. Catherine and I ran into the +kitchen in order not to see the sad spectacle. Mr. Goulden soothed +him, and we heard him say: + +"Yes, yes, gentlemen, I know all that, and I put myself in your place." + +"Come! Margarot, be quiet," said the colonel. And this went on for a +quarter of an hour. + +At last we heard Mr. Goulden count out the money, and the hussar said: + +"Thank you, sir, thank you! If ever you have occasion, remember the +Commandant Margarot." + +We were glad to hear the door open, and to hear them go downstairs, for +Catherine and I were much pained by what we had heard and seen. We +went back to the room, and Mr. Goulden, who had been to show the +officers out, came back with his head bare. He was very much disturbed. + +"These unhappy men are right," said he, "the conduct of the government +toward them is horrible, but it will have to pay for it sooner or +later." + +We were sad all day, but Mr. Goulden showed me the watch and explained +its beauties, and told me, we ought always to have such models before +us, and then we hung it in our window. + +From that moment the idea never left me that matters would end badly, +and that even if the émigrés stopped here, they had done too much +mischief already. I could still hear the commandant exclaiming, that +they treated the army like Cossacks. All those processions and +expiations and sermons about the rebellion of twenty-five years, seemed +to me to be a terrible confusion, and I felt that the restoration of +the national property and the rebuilding of the convents would be +productive of no good. + + + + +X + +It was about the beginning of March, when a rumor began to circulate +that the Emperor had just landed at Cannes. This rumor was like the +wind, nobody ever could tell where it came from. Pfalzbourg is two +hundred leagues from the sea, and many a mountain and valley lies +between them. An extraordinary circumstance, I remember, happened on +the 6th of March. When I rose in the morning, I pushed open the window +of our little chamber which was just under the eaves, and looked across +the street at the old black chimneys of Spitz the baker, and saw that a +little snow still remained behind them. The cold was sharp, though the +sun was shining, and I thought, "What fine weather for a march!" Then +I remembered how happy we used to be in Germany, as we put out our +campfires and set off on such fine mornings as this, with our guns on +our shoulders, listening to the footfalls of the battalion echoing from +the hard frozen ground. I do not know how it was, but suddenly the +Emperor came into my mind, and I saw him with his gray coat and round +shoulders, with his hat drawn over his eyes, marching along with the +Old Guard behind him. + +Catherine was sweeping our little room, and I was almost dreaming as I +leaned out into the dry, clear air, when we heard some one coming up +the stairs. Catherine stopped her sweeping and said: + +"It is Mr. Goulden." + +I also recognized his step, and was surprised, as he seldom came into +our chamber. He opened the door and said in a low voice: + +"My children, the Emperor landed on the 1st of March at Cannes, near +Toulon, and is marching upon Paris." + +He said no more, but sat down to take breath. We looked at each other +in astonishment, but a moment after Catherine asked: + +"Is it in the gazette, Mr. Goulden?" + +"No," he replied, "either they know nothing of it over there, or else +they conceal it from us. But, in Heaven's name, not a word of all +this, or we shall be arrested. This morning, about five o'clock, +Zébédé, who mounted guard at the French gate, came to let me know of +it; he knocked downstairs, did you hear him?" + +"No! we were asleep, Mr. Goulden." + +"Well! I opened the window to see what was the matter, and then I went +down and unlocked the door. Zébédé told it to me as a fact, and says +the soldiers are to be confined to the barracks till further orders. +It seems they are afraid of the soldiers, but how can they stop +Bonaparte without them? They cannot send the peasants, whom they have +stripped of everything, against him, nor the bourgeoisie, whom they +have treated like Jacobins. Now is a good time for the émigrés to show +themselves. But silence, above all things, the most profound silence!" + +He rose, and we all went down to the workshop. Catherine made a good +fire, and everyone went about his work as usual. + +That day everything was quiet, and the next day also. Some neighbors, +Father Riboc and Offran, came in to see us, under pretence of having +their watches cleaned. + +"Anything new, neighbor?" they inquired. + +"No, indeed!" replied Mr. Goulden. "Everything is quiet. Do you hear +anything?" + +"No." + +But you could see by their eyes, that they had heard the news. Zébédé +stayed at the barracks. The half-pay officers filled the café from +morning till night, but not a word transpired, the affair was too +serious. On the third day these officers, who were boiling over with +impatience, were seen running back and forth, their very faces showing +their terrible anxiety. If they had had horses or even arms, I am sure +they would have attempted something. But the guards went and came +also, with old Chancel at their head, and a courier was sent off hourly +to Saarbourg. The excitement increased, nobody felt any interest in +his work. We soon learned through the commercial travellers, who +arrived at the "City of Basle," that the upper Rhine provinces and the +Jura had risen, and that regiments of cavalry and infantry were +following each other from Besançon, and that heavy forces had been sent +against the usurper. + +One of these travellers having spoken rather too freely, was ordered to +quit the town at once, the brigadier in command having examined his +passport and, fortunately for him, found it properly made out. + +I have seen other revolutions since then, but never such excitement as +reigned on the 8th of March between four and five in the evening, when +the order arrived for the departure of the first and second battalions +fully equipped for service for Lons-le-Saulnier. It was only then that +the danger was fully realized, and every one thought, "It is not the +Duke d'Angoulême nor the Duke de Berry that we need to arrest the +progress of Bonaparte, but the whole of Europe." + +The faces of the officers on half-pay lighted up as with a burst of +sunshine, and they breathed freely again. About five o'clock the first +roll of the drum was heard on the square, when suddenly Zébédé rushed +in. + +"Well!" said Father Goulden to him. + +"The first two battalions are going away," he replied. He was very +pale. + +"They are sent to stop him," said Mr. Goulden. + +"Yes," said Zébédé, winking, "they are going to stop him." + +The drums still rolled. He went downstairs, four at a time. I +followed him. At the foot of the stairs, and while he was on the first +step, he seized me by the arm, and raising his shako, whispered in my +ear: + +"Look, Joseph, do you recognize that?" + +I saw the old tri-colored cockade in the lining. + +"That is ours," he said, "all the soldiers have it." + +I hardly had time to glance at it when he shook my hand and, turning +away, hurried to Fouquet's corner. I went upstairs, saying to myself, +"Now for another breaking up, in which Europe will be involved; now for +the conscription, Joseph, the abolition of all permits and all the +other things that we read of in the gazettes. In the place of quiet, +we must be plunged in confusion; instead of listening to the ticking of +clocks, we must hear the thunder of cannon; instead of talking of +convents, we must talk of arsenals; instead of smelling flowers and +incense, we must smell powder. Great God! will this never come to an +end? Everything would go prosperously without missionaries and +émigrés. What a calamity! What a calamity! We who work and ask for +nothing are always the ones who have to pay. All these crimes are +committed for our happiness, while they mock us and treat us like +brutes." A great many other ideas passed through my head, but what +good did they do me? I was not the Comte d'Artois, nor was I the Duke +de Berry; and one must be a prince in order that his ideas may be of +consequence, and that every word he speaks may pass for a miracle. + +Father Goulden could not keep still a moment that afternoon. He was +just as impatient as I was when I was expecting my permit to marry. He +would look out of the window every moment and say, "There will be great +news to-day; the orders have been given, and there is no need of hiding +anything from us any longer." And from time to time he would exclaim, +"Hush! here is the mail coach!" We would listen, but it was Lanche's +cart with his old horses, or Baptiste's boat at the bridge. It was +quite dark and Catherine had laid the cloth, when for the twentieth +time Mr. Goulden exclaimed, "Listen!" + +This time we heard a distant rumbling, which came nearer every moment. +Without waiting an instant, he ran to the alcove and slipped on his big +waistcoat, crying: + +"Joseph, it has come." + +He rolled down the stairs, as it were, and from seeing him in such a +hurry the desire to hear the news seized me, and I followed him. We +had hardly reached the street when the coach came through the dark +gateway, with its two red lanterns, and rushed past us like a +thunder-bolt. We ran after it, but we were not alone; from all sides +we heard the people running and shouting, "There it is, there it is!" +The post-office was in the rue des Foins, near the German gate, and the +coach went straight down to the college and turned there to the right. +The farther we went the greater was the crowd; it poured from every +door. + +[Illustration: People were heard shouting, "There it is, there it is!"] + +The old mayor, Mr. Parmentier, his secretary, Eschbach, and Cauchois, +the tax-gatherer, and many other notables were in the crowd, talking +together and saying: + +"The decisive moment has come." + +When we turned into the Place d'Armes, we saw the crowd already +gathered in front of the postoffice; innumerable faces were leaning +over the iron balustrade, one trying to get before the other, and +interrogating the courier, who did not answer a word. + +The postmaster, Mr. Pernette, opened the window, which was lighted up +from the inside, and the package of letters and papers flew from the +coach through this window into the room; the window closed, and the +crack of the postilion's whip warned the crowd to get out of the way. + +"The papers, the papers!" shouted the crowd from every side. The coach +set off again and disappeared through the German gate. + +"Let us go to Hoffman's café," said Mr. Goulden. "Hurry! the papers +will go there, and if we wait we shall not be able to get in." + +As we crossed the square we heard some one running behind us, and the +clear, strong voice of Margarot, saying: + +"They have come, I have them." + +All the half-pay officers were following him, and as the moon was +shining we could see they were coming at a great pace. We rushed into +the café and were hardly seated near the great stove of Delft ware, +when the crowd at once poured in through both doors. You should have +seen the faces of the half-pay officers at that moment. Their great +three-cornered hats, defiling under the lamps, their thin faces with +their long mustaches hanging down, their sparkling eyes peering into +the darkness, made them look like savages in pursuit of something. +Some of them squinted in their impatience and anxiety, and I think that +they did not see anything at all, and that their thoughts were +elsewhere with Bonaparte;--that was fearful. + +The people kept coming and coming, till we were suffocating, and were +obliged to open the windows. Outside in the street, where the cavalry +barracks were, and on the Fountain Square, there was a great tumult. + +"We did well to come at once," said Mr. Goulden, springing on a chair +and steadying himself with his hand on the stove. Others were doing +the same thing, and I followed his example. Nothing could be seen but +the eager faces and the big hats of the officers, and the great crowd +on the square outside in the moonlight. The tumult increased and a +voice cried, "Silence." It was the Commandant Margarot, who had +mounted upon a table. Behind him the gendarmes Keltz and Werner looked +on, and at all the open windows people were leaning in to hear. On the +square at the same instant somebody repeated, "Silence, silence." And +it was at once so still that you would have said, there was not a soul +there. + +The commandant read the gazette, his clear voice pronouncing every word +with a sort of quaver in it, resembling the tic-tac of our clock in the +middle of the night, and it could be distinctly heard in the square. +The reading lasted a long time, for the commandant omitted nothing. I +remember it commenced by declaring that the one called Bonaparte, a +public enemy, who for fifteen years had held France in despotic +slavery, had escaped from his island, and had had the audacity to set +his foot on the soil deluged with blood through his own crimes, but +that the troops--faithful to the King and to the nation--were on the +march to stop him, and that in view of the general horror, Bonaparte, +with the handful of beggars that accompanied him, had fled into the +mountains, but that he was surrounded on all sides and could not escape. + +I remember too, according to that gazette all the marshals had hastened +to place their glorious swords at the service of the King, the father +of the people and of the nation, and that the illustrious Marshal Ney, +Prince of Moscowa, had kissed the King's hand and promised to bring +Bonaparte to Paris dead or alive. After that there were some Latin +words which no doubt had been put there for the priests. + +From time to time I heard some one behind me laughing and jeering at +the journal. On turning round, I saw that it was Professor Burguet and +two or three other noted men who had been taken after the "Hundred +days," and had been forced to remain at Bourges because, as Father +Goulden said, they had too much spirit. That shows plainly that it is +better to keep still at such times, if one does not wish to fight on +either side; for words are of no use, but to get us into difficulty. + +But there was something worse still toward the end, when the commandant +commenced to read the decrees. + +The first indicated the movement of the troops, and the second, +commanded all Frenchmen to fall upon Bonaparte, to arrest and deliver +him dead or alive, because he had put himself out of the pale of law. + +At that moment the commandant, who had until then only laughed when he +read the name of Bonaparte, and whose bony face had only trembled a +little as it was lighted up by the lamp--at that moment his aspect +changed completely, I never saw anything more terrible; his face +contracted, fold upon fold, his little eyes blazed like those of a cat, +and his mustaches and whiskers stood on end; he seized the gazette and +tore it into a thousand pieces, and then pale as death he raised +himself to his full height, extended his long arms, and shouted in a +voice so loud that it made our flesh creep, _Vive l'Empereur!_ +Immediately all the half-pay officers raised their three-cornered hats, +some in their hands and some on the end of their sword-canes, and +repeated with one voice, _Vive l'Empereur!_ + +You would have thought the roof was coming down. I felt just as if +some one had thrown cold water down my back. I said to myself, "It is +all over now. What is the use in preaching peace to such people?" + +Outside among the groups of citizens, the soldiers of the post repeated +the cry, _Vive l'Empereur_. And as I looked in great anxiety to see +what the gendarmes would do, they retired without saying a word, being +old soldiers also. + +But it was not yet over. As the commandant was getting down from the +table, an officer suggested that they should carry him in triumph. +They seized him by the legs, and forcing the crowd aside, carried him +around the room, screaming like madmen, _Vive l'Empereur_. He was so +affected by the honor shown him by his comrades and by hearing them +shout what he so much loved to hear, that he sat there with his long +hairy hands on their shoulders, and his head above their great hats, +and wept. No one would have believed that such a face could weep; that +alone was sufficient to upset you and make you tremble. He said not a +word; his eyes were closed and the tears ran down his nose and his long +mustaches. I was looking on with all my eyes, as you can imagine, when +Father Goulden got down from his chair and pulled me by the arm, +saying: "Joseph, let us go, it is time." + +Behind us the hall was already empty. Everybody had hurried out by the +brewer Klein's alley for fear of being mixed up in a disagreeable +affair, and we went that way also. + +As we crossed the square, Father Goulden said, "There is danger that +matters will take a bad turn. To-morrow the gendarmerie may commence +to act, the Commandant Margarot and the others have not the air of men +who will allow themselves to be arrested. The soldiers of the third +battalion will take their part, if they have not already. The city is +in their power." + +He was talking to himself, and I thought as he did. + +When we reached home, Catherine was waiting anxiously for us in the +workshop. We told her all that had happened. The table was set, but +nobody was inclined to eat. Mr. Goulden drank a glass of wine, and +then as he took off his shoes he said to us: + +"My children, after what we have just heard we may be sure that the +Emperor will reach Paris; the soldiers wish it, and the peasants desire +it, and if he has considered well since he has been on his island and +will give up his ideas about war, and will respect the treaties, the +bourgeoise will ask nothing better, especially if we have a good +Constitution that will guarantee to everyone his liberty, which is the +best of all good things. Let us wish it for ourselves and for him. +Good-night." + + + + +XI + +The next day was Friday and market day, and there was nothing talked of +in the whole town but the great news. Great numbers of peasants from +Alsace and Lorraine came filing into town on their carts, some in +blouses, some in their waistcoats, some in three-cornered hats, and +some in their cotton caps, under pretence of selling their grain, their +barley and oats, but in reality to find out what was going on. + +You could hear nothing but "Get up, Fox! gee ho, Gray!" and the rolling +of the wheels and the cracking of the whips. And the women were not +behindhand, they arrived from the Houpe, from Dagsberg, Ercheviller, +and Baraques, with their scanty skirts and with great baskets on their +heads, striding and hurrying along. Everybody passed under our +windows, and Mr. Goulden said, "What an excitement there is, what a +rush! It is easy to see that there is another spirit in the land. +Nobody is marching now with candles in his hand and a surplice on his +back." + +He seemed to be satisfied, and that proved how much all these +ceremonies had annoyed him. At last about eight o'clock it was +necessary to set about our work again, and Catherine went out as usual +to buy our butter and eggs and vegetables for the week. At ten o'clock +she came back again. + +"Oh! Heavens!" said she, "everything is topsy-turvy." And then she +related how the half-pay officers were promenading with their +sword-canes, with the Commandant Margarot in their midst, that on the +square, in the market, in the church, and around the stands, everywhere +the peasants and citizens were shaking hands and taking snuff together, +and saying, "Ah! now trade is brisk again." + +And she told us also that during the night proclamations had been +posted up at the town-house and on the three doors of the church, and +even against the pillars of the market, but that the gendarmes had torn +them down early in the morning, in fact, that everything was in +commotion. Father Goulden had risen from the counter in order to +listen to her, and I turned round on my chair and thought: + +"All that is good, very good, but at this rate your leave of absence +will soon be recalled. Everything is moving and you must also move, +Joseph! Instead of remaining here quietly with your wife, you will +have to take your cartridge-box and knapsack and musket and two +packages of cartridges on your back." + +As I looked at Catherine, who did not think of the bad side of affairs, +Weissenfels, Lutzen, and Leipzig passed through my mind, and I was +quite melancholy. While we were all so sober, the door opened and Aunt +Grédel walked in. At first you would have thought she was quite +composed. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Goulden; good-morning, my children," said she, +putting down her basket behind the stove. + +"Are you well too, Mother Grédel?" asked Mr. Goulden. + +"Ah! well! well!" said she. + +I saw that she had set her teeth, and that two red spots burned on her +cheeks. She crammed her hair which was hanging down over her ears, +with a single thrust into her cap, and looked at us one after the other +with her gray eyes to see what we thought, and then she commenced. + +"It seems that the rascal has escaped from his island." + +"Of what rascal do you speak?" asked Mr. Goulden calmly. + +"Oh! you know very well of whom I speak, I speak of your Bonaparte." + +Mr. Goulden, seeing her anger, turned round to his counter to avoid a +dispute. He seemed to be examining a watch, and I followed his example. + +"Yes," said she, speaking still louder, "his evil deeds are commencing +again; just as we thought all was finished! and he comes back again +worse than ever! What a pest!" + +I could hear her voice tremble. Mr. Goulden kept on with his work, and +asked, without turning round, "Whose fault is it, Mother Grédel? Do +you think that those processions, atonements, and the sermons in regard +to the national domains and the 'rebellion of twenty-five years,' these +continual menaces of establishing the old order of things, the order to +close the shops during the service, do you think all that could +continue? Did any one, let me ask, ever see since the world began, +anything more calculated to rouse a nation against those who attempt to +degrade it! You would have said that Bonaparte himself had whispered +in the ears of those Bourbons, all the stupidities which would be +likely to disgust the people. Tell me, might we not expect just what +has come to pass?" + +He kept on looking at the watch through his glass in order to keep +calm. While he was speaking I had looked at Aunt Grédel out of the +corner of my eye. She had changed color two or three times, and +Catherine, who was behind us near the stove, made signs to her not to +make trouble in our house, but the wilful woman disregarded all signs. + +"You, too, are satisfied then, are you? you change from one day to +another like the rest of them, you always bring out your republic when +it suits you." + +On hearing this, Mr. Goulden coughed softly, as if he had something in +his throat, and for half a minute he seemed to be considering, while +aunt looked on. He recovered himself at last and said slowly: "You are +wrong, Madame Grédel, to reproach me, for if I had wished to change I +should have begun sooner. Instead of being a clock-maker in Pfalzbourg +I should have been a colonel or a general, like the others, but I +always have been, I am now, and shall remain till I die, for the +Republic and the Rights of Man." + +Then he turned suddenly round, and looking at aunt from head to foot, +and raising his voice; he went on: "And that is the reason why I like +Bonaparte better than the Comte d'Artois, the émigrés, the +missionaries, and the workers of miracles; at least he is forced to +keep something of the Revolution, he is forced to respect the national +domain, to guarantee to every one his property, his rank, and +everything he has acquired under the new laws. Without that, what +right would he have to be Emperor? If he had not maintained equality +why should the nation wish to have him? The others, on the contrary, +have attacked everything; they want to destroy everything that we have +done. Now you understand why I like him better than the others. + +"Ah!" said Mother Grédel, "that is new!" and she laughed +contemptuously. I would have given anything if she had been at Quatre +Vents. + +"There was a time when you talked otherwise, when he re-established the +bishops and the archbishops and the cardinals, when he had himself +crowned by the Pope, and consecrated with oil from the holy ampoule,[1] +when he recalled the émigrés, when he gave up the chateaux and forests +to the great families, when he made princes and dukes and barons by the +dozen; how many times have I heard you say that all that was atrocious, +that he had betrayed the Revolution, that you would have preferred the +Bourbons, because they did not know any other way, that they were like +blackbirds, who only whistle one tune because they know no other, and +because they think it the most beautiful air in the world. While he, +the result of the Revolution, whose father had only a few dozens of +goats on the mountains of Corsica, should have known that all men are +equal, that courage and genius alone elevate them above their +fellows,--that he should have despised all those old notions, and that +he should have made war only to defend the new rights, the new ideas, +which are just and which nothing can arrest: did you not say that, when +you were talking with old Colin in the rear of our garden, for fear of +being arrested--did you not say that between yourselves and before me?" + + +[1] Vial which contains the oil for anointing the kings of France. + + +Father Goulden had grown quite pale. He looked down at his feet and +turned his snuff-box round and round in his fingers as if he were +thinking, and I saw his emotion in his face. + +"Yes, I said it," he replied, "and I think so still--you have a good +memory, Mother Grédel. It is true that for ten years Colin and I have +been obliged to hide ourselves if we spoke of events that will +certainly be accomplished, and it is the despotism of one man born +among us, whom we have sustained with our own blood, which compelled us +to do that. But to-day everything is changed. The man, to whom you +cannot deny genius, has seen his sycophants abandon and betray him; he +has seen that his strength lies in the people, and that those alliances +of which he had the weakness to be so proud, were the cause of his +ruin. He has come now to rid us of the others, and I am glad." + +"Then you have no faith in yourself, eh? Have you any need of him?" +exclaimed Aunt Grédel. "If the processions annoyed you, and if you +were, as you say, 'the people,' why do you need him?" + +Father Goulden smiled, and said, "If everybody had the courage to +follow his own conscience, and if so many persons who joined the +processions had not done so from vanity or to show their fine clothes, +and if others had not joined from interest, from the hope of getting a +good office, or to obtain permits, then Madame Grédel you would be +right, and we should not have needed Bonaparte to overturn all that, +and you would have seen that three-quarters of the people had +common-sense, and perhaps even the Comte d'Artois himself would have +cried, Hold! But as hypocrisy and interest hide and obscure everything +and make night out of the broad day, unhappily we must have +thunder-bolts to make us see clearly. It is you, and those who are +like you, who have caused those who have never changed their opinions, +to rejoice when fever takes the place of colic." + +Father Goulden rose and walked up and down in great agitation, and as +Aunt Grédel was going on again, he took his cap and went out, saying: + +"I have given you my opinions. Now talk to Joseph; he thinks you are +always right." + +As soon as he had gone, Mother Grédel cried out: + +"He is an old fool, and he has been, always! Now, as for you, if you +do not go to Switzerland, I warn you, you will be obliged to go, God +knows where. But we will talk about that another time, the principal +thing is to warn you. We will wait and see what happens; perhaps +Bonaparte will be arrested, but if he reaches Paris, we will go +somewhere else." + +She embraced us and took her basket and went away. A few minutes +afterward, Father Goulden came in and we sat down to our work and said +no more about these things. We were very sober, and at night I was +more than ever surprised, when Catherine said: + +"We will always listen to Mr. Goulden, he is right and will give us +good counsel." + +On hearing that, I thought that she agreed with Father Goulden because +they read the gazette together. That gazette always says what just +pleases them, but that does not prevent it being very terrible if we +are obliged to take our guns and knapsacks again, and it would be +better to be in Switzerland, either at Geneva, or at Father Rulle's +manufactory or at Chaux-de-Fonds, than at Leipzig, and those other +places. I did not wish to contradict Catherine, but her remarks +annoyed me greatly. + + + + +XII + +From that moment there was confusion everywhere, the half-pay officers +shouted, "_Vive l'Empereur_." The commandant gave orders to arrest +them, but the battalion did the same thing, and the gendarmes seemed to +be deaf. Nobody was at work; the tax-gatherers and overseers, the +mayor and his counsellors, grew gray with uncertainty, not knowing on +which foot they should dance. Nobody dared to come out for Bonaparte, +or for Louis XVIII., except the slaters and masons and knife-grinders, +who could not lose their offices and who wished for nothing better than +to see others in their places. With their hatchets stuck in their +leather belts and a bag of chips on their shoulders, they did not +hesitate to shout, "Down with the émigrés," they laughed at the +troubles, which increased visibly. + +One day the gazette said, the usurper is at Grenoble, the next he is at +Lyons, the next at Mâcon, and the next at Auxerre, and so on. Father +Goulden was in good-humor as he read the news at night, and he would +say: + +"They can see now that the Frenchmen are for the Revolution, and that +the others cannot hold out. Everybody says, 'Down with the _émigrés_.' +What a lesson for those who can see clearly! Those Bourbons wanted to +make us all Vendéeans, they ought to rejoice that they have succeeded +so well." + +But one thing troubled him still, that was the great battle which was +announced between Ney and Napoleon. + +"Although Ney has kissed the hand of the King, yet he is an old +soldier, and I will never believe that he will fight against the will +of the people. No, it is not possible, he will remember the old cooper +of Saar-Louis, who would break his head with his hammer, if he were +still living, on learning that Michel had betrayed the country in order +to please the King." + +That was what Mr. Goulden said, but that did not prevent people from +being uneasy, when suddenly the news arrived that he had followed the +example of the army and the bourgeoisie and all those who wished to be +rid of the atonements, and that he had rallied with them. Then there +was greater confidence, but still prudent men were silent in view of +what might happen. + +On the 21st of March, between five and six in the evening, Mr. Goulden +and I were at work; it had begun to grow dark, and Catherine was +lighting the lamp, a gentle rain was falling on the panes, when +Theodore Roeber, who had charge of the telegraph, passed under our +windows, riding a big dapple-gray horse at the top of his speed, his +blouse filled out by the air, he went so fast, and he was holding his +great felt hat on with one hand, while he kept striking his horse with +a whip which he held in the other, though he was galloping like the +wind. Father Goulden wiped the glass and leaned over to see better, +and said: + +"That is Roeber, who is coming from the telegraph, some great news has +arrived." His pale cheeks reddened, and I felt my heart beat +violently. Catherine came and placed the lamp near us, and I opened +the window to close the shutter. That took me some moments, as I was +obliged to disarrange the glasses on the work-table, and take down the +watches before I could do it. Mr. Goulden seemed lost in thought. +Just as I had fastened the window, we heard the assembly beat from both +sides of the city at once, from the bastion of the Mittelbronn and from +Bigelberg, the echoes from the ramparts and from the target valley +responded, and a dull rumbling filled the air, Mr. Goulden rose, saying: + +"The matter is decided at last," in a tone which made me shudder. +"Either they are fighting near Paris, or the Emperor is in his old +palace as he was in 1809." + +Catherine ran for his cloak, for she saw plainly he was going out in +spite of the rain. He was speaking with his great gray eyes wide open, +and took no notice as she slipped on the sleeves, and as he went out +Catherine touched me on the shoulder--I was still sitting--and said: + +"Go, Joseph, follow him." + +We reached the square just as the battalion filed out of the broad +street at the corner by the mayor's, behind the drummers, who had their +drums over their shoulders. A great crowd followed them. When they +reached the great lindens, the drums recommenced, and the soldiers +hurriedly got into their ranks, and almost immediately the Commandant +Gémeau, who was suffering from his wounds and had not been out for two +months appeared on the steps of the "Minque." A sapper held his horse +by the bridle, and gave him his shoulder to mount. Everybody was +looking on, and the roll commenced. The commandant crossed the square, +and the captains went quickly up to meet him; he said a few words to +them, and then passed in front of the battalion, followed by a sergeant +with three chevrons, who carried a flag in its oil-cloth case. The +crowd increased every moment. Mr. Goulden had mounted on the stone +posts in front of the arch of the guard-house. After the roll was +called, the commandant waited a moment and then drew his sword and gave +the order to form a square. I tell you these things in a simple way, +because they were simple and terrible. + +The commandant was very pale, and we could see, though it was almost +night, that he had fever. The gray lines of soldiers in the square, +the commandant on horseback, the officers around him in the rain, the +listening citizens, the profound silence, the opening of the windows in +the vicinity, all are present to my mind though fifty years have passed +since then. Not a word was said, for we all felt that we were going to +learn the fate of France. + +"Carry arms! shoulder arms!" + +After this nothing was heard but the voice of the commandant, that +voice which I had heard on the other side of the Rhine at Lutzen and +Leipzig, saying: + +"Close the ranks." + +The words went through my very marrow. + +"Soldiers!" said he, "Louis XVIII. left Paris on the 20th of March, and +the Emperor Napoleon made his entry into the capital the same day." + +A sort of shiver went through the crowd, but it lasted for a moment +only, and the commandant continued: + +"Soldiers, the flag of France is the flag of Arcola, of Rivoli, of +Alexandria, of Chébreisse, of the Pyramids, of Aboukir, of Marengo, of +Austerlitz, and of Jena, of Eylau, of Friedland, of Sommo-Sierra, of +Madrid, of Abensberg, of Eckmül, of Essling, of Wagram, of Smolensk, of +Moscowa, of Weissenfels, of Lutzen, of Bautzen, of Wurtschen, of +Dresden, of Bischofswarda, of Hanau, of Brienne, of Saint Dizier, of +Champaubert, of Chateau-Thierry, of Joinvilliers, of Méry-sur-Seine, of +Montereau, and of Montmirail. It is the flag which we have dyed with +our blood, and it is that which makes it our glory." + +The old sergeant had drawn the torn flag from its case, and the +commandant continued: + +"Here is the flag! you recognize it; it is the flag of the nation, it +is that flag which the Russians and Austrians and Prussians took from +us on the day of their first victory, because they feared it." + +A great number of the old soldiers, on hearing these words, turned away +their heads to hide their tears; while others, deathly pale, looked and +listened with flashing eyes. + +"I," said the commandant, raising his sword, "know no other. _Vive la +France! Vive l'Empereur!_" + +The words had hardly left his mouth when from every window, from the +square, from the streets, rose the shouts, "_Vive la France! Vive +l'Empereur!_" like the blast of a trumpet. The people and the soldiers +embraced each other, you would have thought that everything was safe, +that we had found all that France lost in 1814. It was almost dark, +and the people went away in companies of threes, sixes, and twenties, +shouting, "_Vive l'Empereur!_" When near the hospital a red flash +lighted up the sky, the cannon thundered, another responded from the +rear of the arsenal, and so they continued to roar from second to +second. + +Mr. Goulden and I left the square arm in arm, crying, "_Vive +l'Empereur!_" also, and as at each discharge of cannon the flash +lighted up the square, in one of them we saw Catherine, who was coming +to meet us with old Madelon Schouler. She had put on her little cloak +and hood, protecting her rosy little nose from the mist, and she +exclaimed, on seeing us: + +"There they are, Madelon! The Emperor is master, is he not, Mr. +Goulden?" + +"Yes, my child," he replied, "it is decided." + +Catherine took my arm, and I kissed her two or three times as we were +going home. Perhaps I felt that we should soon be forced to part, and +that then, it would be long before I should kiss her again. Father +Goulden and Madelon were before us, and he said: + +"Come up, Madelon; I want to drink a good glass of wine with you." But +she declined, and left us at the door. I can only say that the joy of +the people was as great as on the return of Louis XVIII., and perhaps +still greater. + +Father Goulden took off his cloak and sat down in his place at table, +as supper was waiting. Catherine ran down to the cellar and brought up +a bottle of good wine, we laughed and drank while the cannon made our +windows rattle. Sometimes people's heads are turned, even those who +love nothing but peace. So the sound of the cannon made us happy, and +we went back in a measure to our old habits. + +"The commandant," said Mr. Goulden, "spoke well, but he might have kept +on till to-morrow with his victories, commencing with Valmy, +Hundschott, Wattignies, Fleurus, Neuwied, Ukerath, Fröeschwiller, +Geisberg, to Zurich and Hohenlinden. These were also great victories, +and even the most splendid of all, for they preserved liberty. He only +spoke of the last ones, that was enough for the moment. Let those +people come! let them dare to move! The nation wants peace, but if the +allies commence war woe be unto them. Now we shall again talk of +liberty, equality, and fraternity. All France will be roused by it, I +warn you beforehand. There will be a national guard, and the old men +like me and the married men will defend the towns, while the younger +ones will march, but no one will cross the frontiers. The Emperor, +taught by experience, will arm the artisans, the peasants, and the +bourgeoisie, and when we are attacked, even if they are a million, not +one shall escape. The day for soldiers is past, regular armies are for +conquest, but a people who can defend themselves do not fear the best +armies in the world. We proved that to the Prussians and Austrians, to +the English and the Russians from 1792 to 1800, and since then the +Spaniards have shown us the same thing, and even before that, the +Americans demonstrated it to the English. The Emperor will speak to us +of liberty, be sure of that; and if he will send his proclamations into +Germany, many Germans will be with us; they were promised liberty in +order to make them rise against France, and now the sovereigns in +conference at Vienna mock at their own promises. Their plan is fixed. +They divide the people among themselves as they would a flock of sheep. +Those who have good sense will unite, and in that way peace will be +established by force. The kings alone have any interest in war, the +people do not need to conquer themselves, provided that they arrange +for the freedom of commerce, that is the principal thing." + +In his excitement everything looked bright to him. And all that he +said seemed to me so natural, that I was sure that the Emperor would +direct matters as we had supposed. Catherine believed it too. We +thanked God for what had come, and about eleven o'clock, after having +laughed and drank and shouted, we went to bed with the brightest hopes. +All the city was illuminated, and we had put lamps in our windows also. +Every moment we heard the crackers in the street and the children were +shouting, "Vive l'Empereur!" and the soldiers were coming out of the +inns, singing, "Down with the émigrés." This lasted till very late, +and it was one o'clock before we slept. + + + + +XIII + +This general satisfaction continued for five or six days. The old +mayors and their assistants were replaced as well as the field-guards, +and all those who had been displaced a few months before. The whole +city, even the women, wore little tri-colored cockades, and all the +seamstresses were busily at work making them, of red, white, and blue +ribbon; and those who railed so bitterly against the "ogre of Corsica," +never spoke of Louis XVIII. except as the "Panada King." On the 25th +of March a Te Deum was sung, the garrison and all the civil authorities +joining in the service with great ceremony. After the Te Deum, the +authorities gave a grand dinner to the officers of the garrison at the +"Ville de Metz." The weather was fine and the windows were open, and +the hall was lighted by clusters of lamps hanging from the ceiling. +Catherine and I went out in the evening to enjoy the spectacle. We +could see the uniforms and the black coats sitting side by side around +the long tables, and first the mayor would rise, and then his +assistants, or the new commandant of the post, Mr. Brandon, to drink to +the health of the Emperor or of his ministers, of France, to peace or +to victory, etc., etc., and this they kept up till midnight. + +Inside the glasses jingled, and outside the children fired crackers. +They had erected a climbing pole before the church, and wooden horses +and organ-grinders had come from Saverne, and there was a holiday at +the college. In Klein's Court, at the "Ox," there was a fight between +dogs and donkeys; in short, it was just as it was in 1830 and in 1848, +and afterward. The people never invent anything new to glorify those +who rise, or to express their contempt for those who fall. + +But they soon found out that the Emperor had no time to lose in +rejoicings. The gazette said that "his Majesty wished for peace, that +he made no demands, that he was on good terms with his father-in-law +the Emperor Francis, that Marie Louise and the King of Rome were to +return, they were daily expected," etc. + +But meanwhile the order arrived to arm the place. Two years before +Pfalzbourg was a hundred leagues from the frontier. The ramparts were +in ruins, the ditches filled up, and there was nothing in the arsenal +but miserable old muskets of the time of Louis XIV., which were +discharged with matches; and the guns were so unwieldy on their heavy +carriages, that horses were required to move them. The arsenals were +really at Dresden and Hamburg and Erfurt; but though we had not +stirred, we were ten leagues from Rhenish Bavaria, and it was upon us +that the first shower of bombs and bullets would fall. So, day after +day, we received orders to restore the earthworks and to clear out the +ditches and to put the old ordnance in good condition. At the +beginning of April a great workshop was established at the arsenal for +repairing the arms, and skilful engineers and artillerists arrived from +Metz to repair the earthworks of the bastions and make terraces around +the embrasures. The activity was very great--greater than in 1805 and +in 1813, and I thought more than once that these extensive frontiers +had their good side, because we might in the interior live in peace, +while they took the blows and bombardments. + +But we had great anxiety, for naturally when the palisades were newly +planted on the glacis, and the half-moons filled with fascines, when +cannon were placed in every nook and corner, we knew that there must be +soldiers to guard and serve them. + +Often as we heard these decrees read at night, Catherine and I looked +at each other in mute apprehension. I felt beforehand that instead of +remaining quietly at home, cleaning and mending clocks, I would be +obliged to be again on the march, and that always made me sad; and this +melancholy increased from day to day. Sometimes Father Goulden, seeing +this, would say cheerfully: + +"Come! Joseph, courage! all will come right at last." + +He wished to raise my spirits, but I thought: "Yes, he says that to +encourage me, but any one who is not blind can see what turn affairs +will take." + +Events followed each other so rapidly, that the decrees came like hail, +always with sounding phrases and grand words to embellish them. + +And we learned too that the regiments were to take their old numbers, +"illustrious in so many glorious campaigns." Without being very +malicious, we could understand that the old numbers which had no +regiments would soon find them again. And not only that, but we +learned that the skeletons of the third, fourth, and fifth battalions +of infantry, the fourth and fifth squadrons of cavalry, and thirty +battalions of artillery trains were to be filled up, and twenty +regiments of the Young Guard, ten battalions of military equipages, and +twenty regiments of marines were to be formed, ostensibly to give +employment to all the half-pay officers of both arms of the service, +land and naval. That was very well to say; but when they are created +they are to be filled up, and when they are full the soldiers must go. +When I saw that, my confidence vanished, but yet everybody cried, +"Peace, peace, peace! We accept the treaty of Paris. The kings and +emperors convened at Vienna are our friends. Marie Louise and the King +of Rome are coming." + +The more I heard of these things, the more my distrust increased. In +vain Mr. Goulden would say, "He has taken Carnot into his counsels. +Carnot is a good patriot; Carnot will prevent him from going to war, or +if we are forced to go to war, he will show him that the enemy must +come here to find us, the nation must be roused, declare the country in +danger, etc." + +In vain did he tell me these things, I always said to myself, "all +these new regiments are to be filled; that is certain." We heard also +that ten thousand picked men were to be added to the Old Guard, and +that the light artillery was to be reorganized. Everybody knows that +light artillery follows the army. To remain behind the ramparts or for +defence at home, it is useless. + +I came to this conclusion at once, and though I was generally careful +to conceal my anxiety from Catherine, yet this night I could not help +telling her so. She said nothing, which shows plainly that she had +good sense and that she thought so too. + +All these things diminished my enthusiasm for the Emperor very much +indeed, and I sometimes said to myself as I was at work, "I would +rather see processions going past my windows, than to go and fight +against people whom I never saw." At least the sight would cost me +neither leg nor arm, and if it annoyed me too much I could make an +excursion to Quatre Vents. My vexation increased the more, as since +the dispute with Mr. Goulden, Aunt Grédel did not come to see us. She +was a very wilful woman and would not listen to reason, and would hold +resentment against a person for years and years. But she was our +mother, and it was our duty to yield something to her as she wished us +only good. But how could we be reconciled to her ideas and those of +Mr. Goulden? + +This was what embarrassed us, for if we were bound to love Aunt Grédel, +we owed also the most profound respect to him, who looked upon us as +his own children, and who loaded us every day with his benefits. + +These thoughts made us sad, and I had resolved to tell Mr. Goulden, +that Catherine and I were Jacobins like himself, but without doing +injustice to Jacobin ideas, or abandoning them, we ought to honor our +mother, and go and inquire after her health. + +I did not know how he would receive this declaration, when one Sunday +morning, as we went down about eight o'clock, we found him dressed, and +in excellent humor. He said to us, "Children, here it is more than a +month since Aunt Grédel has been to see us. She is obstinate. I wish +to show her that I can yield. Between friends like us, there should +not be even a shadow of difference. After breakfast we will go to +Quatre Vents, and tell her that she is prejudiced, and that we love her +in spite of her faults. You will see how ashamed she will be." He +laughed, but we were quite touched by his generosity. + +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, how good and kind you are," said Catherine, "they +who do not love you, must have very bad hearts." + +"Ha!" he exclaimed, "is not what I have done quite natural? must we let +a few words separate us? Thank God! age teaches us to be more +reasonable and to be willing to take the first step,--that you know is +one of the principles of the Rights of Man,--in order to maintain +concord between reasonable persons." + +Everything was summed up, when he had quoted the "Rights of Man." You +can hardly imagine our satisfaction. Catherine could hardly wait till +breakfast was over, she was here and there and everywhere, to bring his +hat and cane and his shoes and the box which held his beautiful peruke. +She helped him on with his brown coat, while he laughed as he watched +her, and at last he kissed her saying, "I knew this would make you +happy, so do not let us lose a minute, let us go." + +We all set off together, Father Goulden gravely giving his arm to +Catherine, as he always did in the street, and I marched on behind as +happy as possible. Those I loved best in the world were here before my +eyes, and as I went on I thought of what I should say to Aunt Grédel. + +The weather was splendid, and on we went beyond the wall and the +glacis, and in twenty minutes, without hurrying, we stood before Aunt +Grédel's door. It might have been ten o'clock, and as I had gained a +little on them at the "Roulette" I went in by the alley of elders that +ran along the side of the house, and looked into the little window to +see what aunt was doing. She was seated right opposite me near the +fireplace, in which a little fire was smouldering, she had on her short +skirt, striped with blue, with great pockets on the outside, and her +linen corsage with shoulder-straps, and her old shoes. She was +spinning away, with her eyes cast down, looking very sober, her great +thin arms naked to the elbow, and her gray hair twisted up in her neck +without any cap. "Poor Aunt Grédel," thought I, "she is thinking of us +no doubt--and she is so obstinate in her vexation. It is sad though, +all the same, to live alone and never see her children." It made me +sad to see her. + +At that moment the door opened on the side next the street, and Father +Goulden walked in with Catherine, as happy as possible, exclaiming: + +"Ha! Mother Grédel, you do not come to see us any more, therefore I +have brought your children to see you, and have come myself to embrace +you. You will have to get us a good dinner, do you hear? and that +will teach you a lesson." He seemed a little grave with all his joy. + +On seeing them, aunt sprang up and embraced Catherine, and then she +fell into Mr. Goulden's arms and hung on his neck: + +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, how happy I am to see you. You are a good man; you +are worth a thousand of me." + +Seeing that matters had taken a pleasant turn, I ran round to the door +and found them both with their eyes full of tears. Father Goulden said: + +"We will talk no more politics!" + +"No! but whether one is Jacobin or anything else you will, the +principal thing is to keep in good temper." + +She then came and embraced me, and said: + +"My poor Joseph! I have been thinking of you from morning till night. +But all is well now and I am satisfied." + +She ran into the kitchen and commenced bustling among the kettles to +prepare something to regale us with, while Mr. Goulden placed his cane +in a corner and hung his great hat upon it, and sat down with an air of +contentment near the hearth. + +"What fine weather!" he exclaimed, "how green and flourishing +everything is! How happy I should be to live in the fields, to see the +hedges and apple-trees and plum-trees from my windows, covered with +their red and white blossoms!" + +He was gay as a lark, and we all should have been except for the +thoughts of the war which were constantly coming into our heads. + +"Leave all that, mother," said Catherine, "I will get the dinner to-day +as I used to do; go and sit down quietly with Mr. Goulden." + +"But you do not know where anything is, I have disarranged everything," +said aunt. + +"Sit down, I beg you," said Catherine, "I shall find the butter and the +eggs and the flour and everything that is necessary." + +"Well, well! I am going to obey you," said she, as she went down to +the cellar. + +Catherine took off her pretty shawl and hung it on the back of my +chair, then she put some wood on the fire and some butter in a saucepan +and looked into the kettles to see that everything was in order. Aunt +came in at that moment with a bottle of white wine. + +"You will first refresh yourselves a little before dinner, and while +Catherine looks after the kitchen I will go and put on my sacque and +give my hair a touch with the comb, for certainly it needs it, and +you--go into the orchard;--here, Joseph, take these glasses and the +bottle and go and sit in the bee-house, the weather is fine, in an hour +all will be in order and I will come and drink with you." + +Father Goulden and I went out through the tall grass and the yellow +dandelions which came up to our knees. It was very warm and the air +was full of soft murmurs. We sat down in the shade and looked at the +glorious sunshine. + +Mr. Goulden took off his peruke in order to be more at his ease and +hung it up behind him, and I opened the bottle and we drank some of the +good white wine. + +"Well! all goes on even though man does commit follies; the Lord God +watches over all his works. Look at the grain, Joseph, how it grows! +What a harvest there will be in three or four months. And those +turnips and cabbages, and the shrubs, and the bees, how busy everything +is, how they live and grow! what a pity it is that men do not follow so +good an example! what a pity that some must labor to support the others +in idleness. What a pity that there must be always idlers of every +kind, who treat us like Jacobins because we wish for order and peace +and justice!" + +There was nothing he liked so much to see as industry, not only that of +man but even of the smallest insect that runs about in the grass, as in +an endless forest, which builds and pairs and covers its eggs, heaps +them up in its places of deposit, exposes them to the sunshine, +protects them from the chills of night, and defends them from its +enemies; in short, all that great universe of life where everything +sings, everything is in its place; from the lark which fills the air +with his joyous music to the ant which goes and comes and runs and mows +and saws and pulls and is master of all trades. + +This was what pleased Mr. Goulden, but he never spoke of it except in +the fields, when this grand spectacle was right under his eyes, and +naturally he then spoke of God, whom he called the "Supreme Being," as +in the time of the Republic, and he said, He was reason and wisdom and +goodness and love; justice, order, and life. The ideas of the +almanac-makers came back to him also, and it was splendid to hear him +talk of the "Pluviose" the season of rains, of "Nivose" the season of +snows, of "Ventose" season of winds, and "Floreal, Prairial, and +Fructidor." He said the ideas of men in those times were more closely +allied to God's, while July, September, and October meant nothing, and +were only invented to confuse and obscure everything. Once on this +subject it was plain that he could not exhaust it. Unfortunately I +have not the learning that that good man had, otherwise it would give +me real pleasure to recount his sayings to you. We were just here when +Mother Grédel, well washed and combed and in her Sunday dress, came +round the corner of the house toward us. He stopped instantly that she +might not be disturbed. + +"Here I am," she said, "all in order." + +"Sit down," said Father Goulden, making a place for her beside him on +the bench. + +"Do you know what time it is?" said she. "Does it not seem long to +you? Listen!" and we heard the city clock slowly strike twelve. + +"What! is it noon already! I would not have believed that we had been +here more than ten minutes." + +"Yes, it is noon, and dinner is waiting." + +"So much the better," said Mr. Goulden, offering his arm to her, "since +you have told me the hour I find I have a good appetite." + +They went along the alley arm in arm, and when we were at the door a +most charming sight met our eyes, the great tureen with its red flowers +was smoking on the table, a breast of stuffed veal filled the room with +a delicious odor. A great plate of cinnamon cakes stood on the edge of +the old oak buffet, two bottles of wine, and glasses clear as crystal, +shone on the white cloth beside the plates. The very sight of it made +you feel that it is the joy of the Lord to shower blessings on His +children. + +Catherine, with her rosy cheeks and white teeth, laughed to see our +satisfaction, and during the whole dinner our anxiety for the future +was forgotten. We laughed and were as happy as if the world were in +the best condition possible. But as we were taking coffee our sadness +returned, and without knowing why, we were all very grave. Nobody +wished to speak of politics, when suddenly Aunt Grédel herself asked if +there was anything new. Mr. Goulden then said that the Emperor desired +peace, and that he wished to put himself in a condition of defence, in +order to warn our enemies that we were not afraid. He said that in any +case, in spite of the ill-feeling of the allies they would not dare to +attack us, that the Emperor Francis, though he had not much heart, +would not wish to overthrow his son-in-law and his own daughter and +grandson a second time, that it would be contrary to nature, and +besides that, the nation would rise _en masse_, that they would declare +the country to be in danger, and that it would not be a war of soldiers +alone, but of all Frenchmen against those who wished to oppress them, +that this would make the allied sovereigns reflect, etc., etc. + +He said many other things which I do not recall. Aunt Grédel listened +without saying a word. She rose at last, and went to a closet and took +a piece of paper from a porringer, and, giving it to Mr. Goulden, said, +"Read this; such papers are all around the country; this came to me +from the Vicar Diemer. You will see whether peace is so certain." + +As Mr. Goulden had left his spectacles at home, I read the paper. I +put all those old papers aside years and years ago, they have grown +yellow and no one thinks of them or speaks of them, and still it is +well to read them. How do we know what will happen? Those old kings +and emperors died after doing us all the harm possible, but their sons +and grandsons still live, and do not wish us overmuch good, and that +which they said then they may say again now, and those who lent their +aid to the fathers might incline to help their sons. Here is the paper. + + +"The Allied Powers which signed the treaty of Paris, assembled in +Congress at Vienna, having been informed of the escape of Napoleon +Bonaparte, and of his entrance into France with arms in his hands, owe +it to their dignity and to the interest of social order to make a +solemn declaration of the sentiments which this event has excited. In +violating the terms of the convention which placed him at Elba, +Bonaparte destroyed his only legal title to life; and in reappearing in +France with projects for disturbing the public peace, he has deprived +himself of the protection of the laws, and made it manifest to the +universe that there can be neither truce nor peace with him." + + +And so they continued through two long pages, and those people who had +nothing in common with us, who had no concern with our affairs, and who +gave themselves the title of Defenders of the Peace, finished by +declaring that they united themselves to maintain the treaty of Paris +and replace Louis XVIII. on the throne. + +When I had finished, aunt turned to Mr. Goulden and asked: + +"What do you think of all that?" + +"I think," said he, "that those sovereigns despise the people, and that +they would exterminate the human race without shame or pity in order to +maintain fifteen or twenty families in luxury. They look upon +themselves as gods, and upon us as brutes." + +"Doubtless," replied Aunt Grédel. "I do not deny it, but all that will +not prevent Joseph from being compelled to go away." + +I turned quite pale, for I saw that she was right. + +"Yes," said Mr. Goulden, "I knew that some days ago, and this is what I +have done. You have heard, no doubt, Mother Grédel, that great +workshops have been built for repairing arms. There is an arsenal at +Pfalzbourg, but they are in want of skilful workmen. Of course the +good laborers render as much service to the state in repairing arms as +those who go to battle; they have more to do, but they do not risk +their lives, and they remain at home. Well! I went at once to the +commandant of artillery, and asked him to accept Joseph as a workman. +It is nothing for a good clock-maker to repair a gun-lock, and Mr. +Montravel accepted him at once. Here is his order," said he, showing +us a paper which he took from his pocket. + +I felt as if I had returned to life, and I exclaimed, "Oh! Mr. +Goulden, you are more than a father; you have saved my life." + +Catherine, who had been overwhelmed with anxiety, got up and went out, +and Aunt Grédel kissed Mr. Goulden twice over, and said, "Yes, you are +the best of men, a man of sense and of a great spirit. If all Jacobins +were like you, women would wish only for Jacobins." + +"But it was the most simple thing in the world to do!" + +"No, no; it is your good heart which gives you good thoughts." + +Words failed me in my joy and astonishment, and while aunt was speaking +I went out into the orchard to take the air. Catherine was there in a +corner of the bake-house, weeping hot tears. + +"Ah! now I can breathe again," she said, "now I can live." + +I embraced her with deep emotion. I saw what she had suffered during +the last month, but she was a brave woman, and had concealed her +anxiety from me, knowing that I had enough on my own account. We +stayed for ten minutes in the orchard to wipe away our tears, and then +went in. Mr. Goulden said: + +"Well, Joseph! you go to-morrow; you must set off early, and you will +not lack work." + +Oh! what joy to think I should not be compelled to go away, and then +too I had other reasons for wishing to remain at home, for Catherine +and I already had our hopes. Ah! those who have not suffered cannot +realize our feelings, nor understand what a weight this good news +lifted from our hearts. We stayed an hour longer at Quatre Vents, and +as the people were coming from vespers, at nightfall, we set off for +the town. Aunt Grédel went with us to where the post changes horses, +and at seven o'clock we were at home again. + +It was thus that peace was established between Aunt Grédel and Mr. +Goulden, and now she came to see us as often as before. I went every +day to the arsenal and worked at repairing the guns. When the clock +struck twelve I went home to dinner, and at one returned to my work and +stayed until seven o'clock. I was at once soldier and workman, excused +from roll-call but overwhelmed with work. We hoped that I could remain +in that position till the war was over, if unfortunately it commenced +again, but we were sure of nothing. + + + + +XIV + +Our confidence returned a little after I worked at the arsenal, but +still we were anxious, for hundreds of men on furloughs for six months, +conscripts, and old soldiers enlisted for one campaign, passed through +the town in citizens' clothes but with knapsacks on their backs. They +all shouted "_Vive l'Empereur!_" and seemed to be furious. In the +great hall of the town-house they received one a cloak, another a +shako, and others epaulettes and gaiters and shoes, at the expense of +the department, and off they went, and I wished them a pleasant +journey. All the tailors in town were making uniforms by contract, the +gendarmes gave up their horses to mount the cavalry, and the mayor, +Baron Parmentier, urged the young men of sixteen and seventeen to join +the partisans of Colonel Bruce, who defended the defiles of the Zorne, +the Zinselle, and the Saar. + +The baron was going to the "Champ de Mai," and his enthusiasm +redoubled. "Go!" cried he, "courage!" as he spoke to them of the +Romans who fought for their country. I thought to myself as I listened +to him, "If you think all that so beautiful why do you not go yourself." + +You can imagine with what courage I worked at the arsenal; nothing was +too much for me. I would have passed night and day in mending the guns +and adjusting the bayonets and tightening the screws. When the +commandant, Mr. Montravel, came to see us, he praised me. + +"Excellent!" said he, "that is good! I am pleased with you, Bertha." + +These words filled me with satisfaction, and I did not fail to report +them to Catherine, in order to raise her spirits. We were almost +certain that Mr. Montravel would keep me at Pfalzbourg. + +The gazettes were full of the new constitution, which they called the +"Additional Act," and the act of the "Champ de Mai." Mr. Goulden +always had something to say, sometimes about one article and sometimes +another, but I mixed no more in these affairs, and repented of having +complained of the processions and expiations; I had had enough of +politics. + +This lasted till the 23d of May. That morning about ten o'clock I was +in the great hall of the arsenal, filling the boxes with guns. The +great door was wide open, and the men were waiting with their wagons +before the bullet park, to load up the boxes. I had nailed the last +one, when Robert, the guard, touched me on the shoulder and said in my +ear: + +"Bertha, the Commandant Montravel wishes to see you. He is in the +pavilion." + +"What does he want of me?" + +"I do not know." + +I was afraid directly, but I went at once. I crossed the grand court, +near the sheds for the gun-carriages, mounted the stairs, and knocked +softly at the door. + +"Come in," said the commandant. + +I opened the door all in a tremble, and stood with my cap in my hand. +Mr. Montravel was a tall, brown, thin man, with a little stoop in his +shoulders. He was walking hastily up and down his room, in the midst +of his books and maps, and arms hung on the wall. + +"Ah! Bertha, it is you, is it? I have disagreeable news to tell you, +the third battalion to which you belong leaves for Metz." + +On hearing this my heart sank, and I could not say a word. He looked +at me, and after a moment he added: + +"Do not be troubled, you have been married for several months, and you +are a good workman, and that deserves consideration. You will give +this letter to Colonel Desmichels at the arsenal at Metz; he is one of +my friends, and will find employment in some of his workshops for you, +you may be certain." + +I took the letter which he handed me, thanked him, and went home filled +with alarm. Zébédé, Mr. Goulden, and Catherine were talking together +in the shop, distress was written on every face. They knew everything. +"The third battalion is going," I said as I entered, "but Mr. Montravel +has just given me a letter to the director of the arsenal at Metz. Do +not be anxious, I shall not make the campaign." + +I was almost choking. Mr. Goulden took the letter and said, "It is +open; we can read it." + +Then he read the letter, in which Mr. Montravel recommended me to his +friend, saying that I was married, a good workman, industrious, and +that I could render real service at the arsenal. He could have said +nothing better. + +"Now the matter is certain," said Zébédé. + +"Yes, you will be retained in the arsenal at Metz," said Father Goulden. + +Catherine was very pale, she kissed me and said, "What happiness, +Joseph!" + +They all pretended to believe that I should remain at Metz, and I tried +to hide my fears from them. But the effort almost suffocated me, and I +could hardly avoid sobbing, when happily I thought I would go and +announce the news to Aunt Grédel. So I said, "Although it will not be +very long, and I shall stay in Metz, yet I must go and tell the good +news to Aunt Grédel. I will be back between five and six, and +Catherine will have time to prepare my haversack, and we will have +supper." + +"Yes, Joseph, go!" said Father Goulden. Catherine said not a word, for +she could hardly restrain her tears. I set off like a madman. Zébédé, +who was returning to the barracks, told me at the door, that the +officer in charge at the town-house would give me my uniform, and that +I must be there about five o'clock. I listened, as if in a dream, to +his words, and ran till I was outside of the city. Once on the glacis +I ran on without knowing where, in the trenches, and by the +Trois-Châteaux and the Baraques-à-en-haut, and along the forest to +Quatre Vents. + +I cannot describe to you the thoughts that ran through my brain. I was +bewildered, and wanted to run away to Switzerland. But the worst of +all was when I approached Quatre Vents by the path along the Daun. It +was about three o'clock. Aunt Grédel was putting up some poles for her +beans, in the rear of the garden, and she saw me in the distance, and +said to herself: + +"Why it is Joseph! what is he doing in the grain?" + +But when I got into the road, which was full of ruts and sand and which +the sun made as hot as a furnace, I went on more slowly with my head +bent down, thinking I should never dare to go in, when, suddenly aunt +exclaimed from behind the hedge, "Is it you, Joseph?" + +Then I shivered. "Yes, it is I." + +She ran out into the little elder alley, and seeing me so pale she +said, "I know why you have come, you are going away!" + +"Yes," I replied, "the others are going, but I am to stay in Metz; it +is very fortunate." + +She said nothing, and we went into the kitchen, which was very cool +compared with the heat outside. She sat down, and I read her the +commandant's letter. She listened to it, and repeated, "Yes, it is +very fortunate." + +And we sat and looked at each other without speaking a word, and then +she took my head between her hands and kissed me, and embraced me for a +long time, and I could see she was crying, though she did not say a +word. + +"You weep," said I, "but since I am to stay in Metz!" + +Still she did not speak, but went and brought some wine. I took a +glass, and she asked, "What does Catherine say?" + +"She is glad that I am to remain at the arsenal; and Mr. Goulden also." + +"That is well; and are they preparing what you need?" + +"Yes, Aunt Grédel, and I must be at the city hall before five o'clock +to receive my uniform." + +"Well! then you must go; kiss me, Joseph. I will not go with you. I +do not wish to see the battalion leave--I will stay here. I must live +a long while yet--Catherine has need of me--" here her restraint gave +way. + +Suddenly she checked herself, and said, "At what time do you leave?" + +"To-morrow, at seven o'clock, Mamma Grédel." + +"Well! at eight o'clock I will be there. You will be far away, but you +will know that the mother of your wife is there, that she will take +care of her daughter, that she loves you, that she has only you in the +whole world." + +The courageous woman sobbed aloud; she accompanied me to the door, and +I left her. It seemed as if I had not a drop of blood left in my +veins. Just as the clock struck five I reached the town-house. I went +up and saw that hall again where I had lost, that cursed hall where +everybody drew unlucky numbers. I received a cloak and coat, +pantaloons, gaiters, and shoes. Zébédé, who was waiting for me, told +one of the musketeers to take them to the mess-room. + +"You will come early and put them on," said he; "your musket and +knapsack have been in the rack since morning." + +"Come with me," said I. + +"No, I cannot, the sight of Catherine breaks my heart; and besides I +must stay with my father. Who knows whether I shall find the old man +alive at the end of a year? I promised to take supper with you, but I +shall not go." + +I was obliged to go home alone. My haversack was all ready; my old +haversack, the only thing I had saved from Hanau, as my head rested on +it in the wagon. Mr. Goulden was at work. He turned round without +speaking, and I asked, "Where is Catherine?" + +"She is upstairs." + +I knew she was crying, and I wanted to go up, but my legs and my +courage both failed me. + +I told Mr. Goulden of my visit to Quatre-Vents, and then we sat and +waited, thinking, without daring to look each other in the face. It +was already dark when Catherine came down. She laid the table in the +twilight, and then I took her hand, and made her sit down on my knee, +and we remained so for half an hour. + +Then Mr. Goulden asked: + +"Is not Zébédé coming?" + +"No, he cannot come." + +"Well! let us take our supper then." + +But no one was hungry. Catherine removed the table about nine o'clock, +and we all retired. It was the most terrible night I ever passed in my +life. Catherine was in a deathly swoon. I called her, but she did not +answer. At midnight I wakened Mr. Goulden, and he dressed himself and +came up to our chamber. We gave her some sugar-water, when she revived +and got up. I cannot tell you everything; I only know that she sank at +my feet and begged me not to abandon her, as if I did it voluntarily! +but she was crazed. Mr. Goulden wanted to call a doctor, but I +prevented him. Toward morning she recovered entirely, and after a long +fit of weeping, she fell asleep in my arms. I did not even dare to +embrace her, and we went out softly and left her. + +When we feel all the miseries of life, we exclaim: "Why are we in the +world? Why did we not sleep through the eternal ages? What have we +done, that we must see those we love suffer, when we are not in fault? +It is not God, but man, who breaks our hearts." + +After we went downstairs Mr. Goulden said to me, "She is asleep, she +knows nothing of it all, and that is a blessing; you will go before she +wakes." I thanked God for His goodness, and we sat waiting for the +least sound, till at last the drums beat the assembly. Then Mr. +Goulden looked at me very gravely, we rose, and he buckled my knapsack +on my shoulders in silence. + +At last he said: "Joseph, go and see the commandant in Metz, but count +upon nothing; the danger is so great that France has need of all her +children for her defence, and this time it is not a question of +acquiring from others, but of saving our own country. Remember that it +is yourself and your wife and all that is dearest to you in the world +that is at stake." We went down to the street in silence, embraced +each other, and then I went to the barracks. Zébédé took me to the +mess-room and I put on my uniform. All that I remember after so many +years is, that Zébédé's father, who was there, took my clothes and made +them into a bundle and said he would take them home after our +departure; and the battalion filed out by the little rue de Lanche +through the French gate. A few children ran after us, and the soldiers +on guard presented arms; we were _en route_ for _Waterloo_. + + + + +XV + +At Sarrebourg we received tickets for lodgings. Mine was for the old +printer Jârcisse, who knew Mr. Goulden and Aunt Grédel, and who made me +dine at his table with my new comrade and bedfellow, Jean Buche, the +son of a wood-cutter of Harberg, who had never eaten anything but +potatoes before he was conscripted. He devoured everything, even to +the bones that they set before us. But I was so melancholy, that to +hear him crunch the bones made me nervous. Father Jârcisse tried to +console me, but every word he said only increased my pain. We passed +the remainder of that day and the following night at Sarrebourg. The +next day we kept on our route to the village of Mézières, the next to +the Vic, and on to Soigne, till on the fifth day we came to Metz. I do +not need to tell you of our march, of the soldiers white with dust, how +we passed one magazine after another, with our knapsacks on our backs, +and our guns carried at will, talking, laughing, looking at the young +girls as we passed through the villages, at the carts, the manure +heaps, the sheds, the hills, and the valleys, without troubling +ourselves about anything. And when one is sad and has left his wife at +home, and dear friends too, whom he may never see again, all these pass +before his eyes like shadows, and a hundred steps more and they too are +unthought of. But yet the view of Metz, with its tall cathedral and +its ancient dwellings, and its frowning ramparts awakened me. Two +hours before we arrived, we kept thinking we should soon reach the +earthworks, and hastened our steps in order the sooner to get into the +shade. I thought of Colonel Desmichels, and had a little--very little, +hope. "If fate wills!" I thought, and I felt for my letter. + +Zébédé did not talk to me now, but from time to time he turned his head +and looked back at me. It was not exactly as it was in the old +campaign, he was sergeant, and I only a common soldier; we loved each +other always, but that made a difference of course. Jean Buche marched +along beside me, with his round shoulders and his feet turned in like a +wolf. The only thing he said from time to time was, that his shoes +hurt him on the march, and that they should only be worn on parade. +During two months the drill-sergeant had not been able to make him turn +out his toes, or to raise his shoulders, but for all that he could +march terribly well in his own fashion, and without being fatigued. At +last about five in the afternoon, we reached the outposts. They soon +recognized us, and the captain of the guard himself exclaimed, "Pass!" +The drums rolled, and we entered the oldest town I had ever seen. + +Metz is at the confluence of the Seille and the Moselle. The houses +are four or five stories high; their old walls are full of beams as at +Saverne and Bouxviller, the windows round and square, great and small, +on the same line, with shutters and without, some with glass and some +without any. It is as old as the mountains and rivers. The roofs +project about six feet, spreading their shadows over the black water, +in which old shoes, rags, and dead dogs are floating. If you look +upward you will be sure to see the face of some old Jew at the windows +in the roof, with his gray beard and crooked nose, or a child who is +risking his neck. Properly speaking, it is a city of Jews and +soldiers. Poor people are not wanting either. It is much worse in +this respect than at Mayence, or at Strasbourg, or even at Frankfort. +If they have not changed since then, they love their ease now. In +spite of my sadness I could not help looking at these lanes and alleys. +The town swarmed with national guards; they were arriving from Longwy, +from Sarrelouis and other places; the soldiers left and were replaced +by these guards. + +We came upon a square encumbered with beds and mattresses, bedding, +etc., which the citizens had furnished for the troops. We stacked arms +in front of the barracks, every window of which was open from top to +bottom. We waited, thinking we should be lodged there, but at the end +of twenty minutes the distribution commenced, and each man received +twenty-five sous and a ticket for lodging. We broke rank, each one +going his own way. Jean Buche, who had never seen any other town than +Pfalzbourg, did not leave me for a moment. Our ticket was for Elias +Meyer, butcher, in the rue St. Valery. When we reached the house the +butcher was cutting meat in the arched and grated window, and was +anything but pleased to see us, and received us very ungraciously. He +was a fat, red, round-faced Jew, with silver rings on his fingers and +in his ears. His thin, yellow-skinned wife came down exclaiming that +they had "had lodgers for two nights before, that the mayor's secretary +did it on purpose, that he sent soldiers every day, and that the +neighbors did not have them," and so on. + +But they allowed us to enter after all. The daughter came and stared +at us, and behind her was a fat servant-woman, frizzled and very dirty. +I seem to see those people before me still, in that old room with its +oak wainscoting, and the great copper lamp hanging from the ceiling, +and the grated window looking into the little court. The daughter, who +was very pale and had very black eyes, said something to her mother and +then the servant was ordered to show us to the garret, to the beggars' +chamber, for all the Jews feed and shelter beggars on Friday. My +comrade from Harberg did not complain, but I was indignant. We +followed the servant up a winding stair slippery with filth, to the +room. It was separated from the rest of the garret by slats, through +which we could see the dirty linen. It was lighted by a little window +like a lozenge in the roof. Even if I had not been so miserable I +should have thought it abominable. There was only one chair and a +straw mattress on the floor and one single coverlet for us both. The +servant stood staring at us at the door, as if she expected thanks or +compliments. I took off my knapsack, sad enough as you can imagine, +and Jean Buche did the same. The servant turned to go downstairs when +I cried out: "Wait a minute, we will go down too, we do not want to +break our necks on those stairs." We changed our shoes and stockings +and fastened the door and went down to the shop to buy some meat. Jean +went to the baker opposite for some bread, and as our ticket gave us a +place at the fire we went to the kitchen to make our soup. The butcher +came to see us just as we were finishing our supper. He was smoking a +big Ulm pipe. He asked where we were from. I was so indignant I would +not answer him, but Jean Buche told him that I was a watch-maker from +Pfalzbourg, upon which he treated me with more consideration. He said +that his brother travelled in Alsace and Lorraine, with watches, rings, +watch-chains, and other articles of silver and gold, and jewelry, and +that his name was Samuel Meyer, and perhaps we had had business with +him. I replied that I had seen his brother two or three times at Mr. +Goulden's, which was true. Thereupon he ordered the servant to bring +us a pillow, but he did nothing more for us and we went to bed. + +We were very weary and were soon sound asleep. I thought to get up +very early and go to the arsenal, but I was still asleep when my +comrade shook me and said: "The assembly!" + +I listened--it was the assembly! We only had time to dress, buckle on +our knapsacks, take our guns, and run down. When we reached the +barracks the roll-call had begun. When it was finished two wagons came +up, and we received fifty ball-cartridges each. The Commandant Gémeau, +the captains, and all the officers were there. I saw that all was +over, that I had nothing to count on longer, and that my letter to +Colonel Desmichels might be good after the campaign was over, if I +escaped and should be obliged to serve out my seven years. Zébédé +looked at me from a distance--I turned away my head. The order came: + +"Carry arms! arms at will! by file! left! forward! march!" + +The drums rolled, we marked step, and the roofs, the houses, the +windows, the lanes, and the people seemed to glide past us. We crossed +over the first bridge and the drawbridge. The drums ceased to beat and +we went on toward Thionville. The other troops followed the same +route, cavalry and infantry. + +That night we reached the village of Beauregard, the next night we were +at Vitry, near Thionville, where we were stationed till the 8th of +June. Buche and I were lodged with a fat landlord named Pochon. He +was a very good man and gave us excellent white wine to drink, and +liked to talk politics like Mr. Goulden. During our stay in this +village General Schoeffer came from Thionville, and we went to be +reviewed with our arms at a large farm called "Silvange." + +It is a woody country, and we often went, several of us together, to +make excursions in the vicinity. One day Zébédé came and took me to +see the great foundry at Moyeuvre where we saw then run bullets and +bombs. We talked about Catherine and Mr. Goulden, and he told me to +write to them, but somehow I was afraid to hear from home, and I turned +my thoughts away from Pfalzbourg. + +On the 8th of June we left this village very early in the morning, +returning near to Metz but without entering the city. The city gates +were shut and the cannon frowned on the walls as in time of war. We +slept at Chatel, and the next day we were at Etain, the day following +at Dannevoux, where I was lodged with a good patriot named Sebastian +Perrin. He was a rich man, and wanted to know the details of +everything. + +As a great number of battalions had followed the same route before us, +he said, "In a month perhaps we shall see great things, all the troops +are marching into Belgium. The Emperor is going to fall upon the +English and Prussians." + +This was the last place where we had good supplies. The next day we +arrived at Yong, which is in a miserable country. We slept on the 12th +of June at Vivier, and the 13th at Cul-de-Sard. The farther we +advanced the more troops we encountered, and as I had seen these things +in Germany, I said to Jean Buche: + +"Now we shall have hot work." + +On all sides and in every direction, files of infantry, cavalry, and +artillery, were seen as far as the eye could reach. The weather was as +delightful as possible, and nothing could be more promising than the +ripening grain. But it was very hot. What astonished me was, that +neither before nor behind, on the right hand nor on the left could we +discover any enemies. Nobody knew anything about them. The rumor +circulated amongst us that we were to attack the English. I had seen +the Russians, Prussians, Austrians, Bavarians and Wurtemburgers and the +Swedes. I knew the people of all the countries in the world, and now I +was going to make the acquaintance of the English also. If we must be +exterminated, I thought, it might as well be done by them as by the +Germans. We could not avoid our fate--if I was to escape, I should +escape, but if I were doomed to leave my bones here, all I could do +would avail nothing--but the more we destroyed of them the greater +would be the chances for us. This was the way I reasoned with myself, +and if it did me no good it caused me at least no harm. + + + + +XVI + +We passed the Meuse on the 12th, and during the 13th and 14th we +marched along the wretched roads, bordered with grain fields, barley, +oats, and hemp, without end. The heat was extraordinary, the sweat ran +down to our hips from under our knapsacks and cartridge-boxes. What a +misfortune to be poor, and unable to buy a man to march and take the +musket-shots in our place! After having gone through the rain, wind, +and snow, and mud, in Germany, the turn of the sun and dust had come. +And I saw too, that the destruction was approaching, you could hear the +sound of the drum and the bugle in every direction, and whenever the +battalion passed over an elevation long lines of helmets and lances and +bayonets were seen as far as the eye could reach. + +Zébédé, with his musket on his shoulder, would exclaim cheerfully, +"Well, Joseph! we are going to see the whites of the Prussians' eyes +again;" and I would force myself to reply, "Oh! yes, the weddings will +soon begin again." As if I wanted to risk my life and leave Catherine +a young widow for the sake of something which did not in the least +concern me. + +That same day at seven o'clock we reached Roly. The hussars occupied +the town already, and we were obliged to bivouac in a deep road along +the side of the hill. We had hardly stacked our arms when several +general officers arrived. The Commandant Gémeau, who had just +dismounted, sprang upon his horse and hurried to meet them. They +conversed a moment together and came down into our road. Everybody +looked on and said, "Something has happened." One of the officers, +General Pechaux, whom we knew afterward, ordered the drums to beat, and +shouted, "Form a circle." The road was too narrow, and some of the +soldiers went up on the slope each side of the road, while the others +remained on the road. All the battalion looked on while the general +unrolled a paper, and said, "Proclamation from the Emperor." + +When he had said that, the silence was so profound that you would have +thought yourself alone in the midst of these great fields. Every one, +from the last conscript to the Commandant Gémeau, listened, and, even +to-day, when I think of it, after fifty years, it moves my heart; it +was grand and terrible. This is what the general read: + + +"Soldiers! To-day is the anniversary of Marengo and of Friedland, +which twice decided the fate of Europe! Then, as after Austerlitz and +after Wagram, we were too generous, we believed the protestations and +the oaths of princes, whom we left on their thrones. They have +combined to attack the independence and even the most sacred rights of +France. They have commenced the most unjust aggressions, let us meet +them! They and we,--are we no longer of the same race?" + + +The whole battalion shouted, "_Vive l'Empereur_." The general raised +his hand, and all were silent. + + +"Soldiers! at Jena, we were as one to three against these Prussians who +are so arrogant to-day; at Montmirail we were as one against six! Let +those among you who have been prisoners of the English tell the tale of +their frightful sufferings in their prison ships. The Saxons, the +Belgians, the Hanoverians, the soldiers of the Confederation of the +Rhine, complain that they are compelled to lend their arms to princes +who are enemies of justice and of the rights of all nations. They know +that this coalition is insatiable. After having devoured twelve +millions of Poles, twelve millions of Italians, one million of Saxons, +six millions of Belgians, it will devour all the states of the second +order in Germany. Madmen! a moment of prosperity has blinded them; the +oppression and humiliation of the French people is beyond their power. +If they enter France they will find their graves there. Soldiers, we +have forced marches to make, battles to wage, and perils to encounter, +but, if we are constant, victory will be ours. The rights of man and +the happiness of our country will be reconquered. For all Frenchmen, +who have hearts, the time has come to conquer or to perish.--NAPOLEON." + + +The shouts which arose were like thunder, it was as if the Emperor had +breathed his war spirit into our hearts, and moved us as one man to +destroy our enemies. The shouts continued long after the general had +gone, and even I was satisfied. I saw that it was the truth, that the +Prussians, Austrians, and Russians, who had talked so much of the +deliverance of the people, had profited by the first opportunity to +grasp everything, that those grand words about liberty, which had +served to excite their young men against us in 1813, and all the +promises of constitutions which they had made, had been set aside and +broken. I looked upon them as beggars, as men who had not kept their +word, who despised the people, and whose ideas were very narrow and +limited, and consisted in always keeping the best place for themselves +and their children and descendants whether they were good or bad, just +or unjust, without any reference to God's law. That was the way I +looked at it; the proclamation seemed to me very beautiful. I thought +too, that Father Goulden would be pleased with it, because the Emperor +had not forgotten the rights of man, which are liberty, equality, and +justice, and all those grand ideas which distinguish men from brutes, +causing them to respect themselves and the rights of their neighbors +also. Our courage was greatly strengthened by these strong and just +words. The old soldiers laughed and said, "We shall not be kept +waiting this time. On the first march we shall fall upon the +Prussians." + +But the conscripts, who had never yet heard the bullets whistle, were +the most excited of all. Buche's eyes sparkled like those of a cat, as +he sat on the road-side, with his knapsack opened on the slope, slowly +sharpening his sabre, and trying the edge on the toe of his shoe. +Others were setting their bayonets and adjusting their flints, as they +always do when on the eve of a battle. At those times their heads are +full of thought, which makes them knit their brows, and compress their +lips; giving them anything but pleasant faces. + +The sun sank lower and lower behind the grain fields, several +detachments of men went to the village for wood, and they brought back +onions and leeks and salt, and even several quarters of beef were hung +on long sticks over their shoulders. But it was when the men were +around the fires, watching their kettles as they commenced to boil, and +the smoke went curling up into the air, that their faces were happiest, +one would talk of Lutzen, another of Wagram, of Austerlitz, of Jena, of +Friedland, of Spain, of Portugal, and of all the countries in the +world. They all talked at once, but only the old soldiers whose arms +were covered with chevrons, were listened to. They were most +interesting, as they marked the positions on the ground with their +fingers, and explained them by a line on the right, and a line on the +left. You seemed to see it all while listening to them. Each one had +his pewter spoon at his button-hole, and kept thinking, "The soup will +be capital, the meat is good and fat." + +When we were stationed for the night, the order was given to extinguish +the fires and not to beat the retreat, which indicated that the enemy +was near, and that they feared to alarm them. + +The moon was shining, and Buche and I were eating at the same mess; +when we had finished, he talked to me more than two hours about his +life at Harberg, how they were obliged to drag two or three cords of +wood on great sleds at the risk of being run over and crushed, +especially when the snow was melting. Compared with that, the life of +a soldier, with his pleasant mess and good bread, regular rations, the +neat warm uniform, the stout linen shirts, seemed to him delightful. +He had never dreamed that he could be so comfortable, and his strongest +desire was to let his two younger brothers, Gaspard and Jacob, know how +delighted he was, in order that they might enlist as soon as they were +old enough. + +"Yes," said I, "that is all very well,--but the English and +Prussians,--you do not think of that." + +"I despise them," said he, "my sabre cuts like a butcher's knife, and +my bayonet is sharp as a needle. It is they who should be afraid to +encounter me." + +We were the best friends in the world, and I liked him almost as well +as my old comrades Klipfel, Furst, and Zébédé. And he liked me too. I +believe he would have let himself be cut to pieces to save me from +danger. Old comrades and bed-fellows never forget each other. In my +time, old Harwig whom I knew in Pfalzbourg, always received a pension +from his old comrade Bernadotte, King of Sweden. If I had been a king, +Jean Buche should have had a pension, for if he had not a great mind he +had a good heart, which is better still. + +While we were talking, Zébédé came and tapped me on the shoulder. + +"You do not smoke, Joseph?" + +"I have no tobacco." + +Then he gave me half of a package which he had and I saw that he loved +me still, in spite of the difference in our rank, and that touched me. +He was beside himself with delight at the thought of attacking the +Prussians. + +"We'll be revenged!" he cried. "No quarter! they shall pay for all, +from Katzbach even to Soissons." + +You would have thought that those English and Prussians were not going +to defend themselves, and that we ran no risk of catching bullets and +canister as at Lutzen and at Gross-Beren, at Leipzig and everywhere +else. But what could you say to a man who remembered nothing and who +always looked on the bright side? + +I smoked my pipe quietly and replied, "Yes! yes! we'll settle the +rascals, we'll push them! They'll see enough of us!" + +I left Jean Buche with his pipe, and as we were on guard, Zébédé went +about nine o'clock to relieve the sentinels at the head of the picket. +I stepped a little out of the circle and stretched myself in a furrow a +few steps in the rear with my knapsack under my head. The weather was +warm, and we heard the crickets long after the sun went down. A few +stars shone in the heavens. There was not a breath of air stirring +over the plain, the ears of grain stood erect and motionless, and in +the distance the village clocks struck nine, ten, and eleven, but at +last I dropped asleep. This was the night of the 14th and 15th of +June, 1815. Between two and three in the morning Zébédé came and shook +me. "Up!" said he, "come!" Buche had stretched himself beside me +also, and we rose at once. It was our turn to relieve the guard. It +was still dark, but there was a line of light along the horizon at the +edge of the grain fields. Thirty paces farther on, Lieutenant +Bretonville was waiting for us, surrounded by the picket. It is hard +to get up out of a sound sleep after a march of ten hours. But we +buckled on our knapsacks as we went, and I relieved the sentinel behind +the hedge opposite Roly. The countersign was "Jemmapes and Fleurus," +this struck me at once, I had not heard this countersign since 1813. +How memory sleeps sometimes for years! I seem to see the picket now as +they turn into the road, while I renew the priming of my gun by the +light of the stars, and I hear the other sentinels marching slowly back +and forth, while the footsteps of the picket grew faint and fainter in +the distance. I marched up and down the hedge with my gun on my arm. +There was nothing to be seen but the village with its thatched roofs +and the slated church spire a little farther on; and a mounted sentinel +stationed in the road with his blunderbuss resting on his thigh looking +out into the night. I walked up and down thinking and listening. +Everything slept. The white line along the horizon grew broader. +Another half hour and the distant country began to appear in the gray +light of morning. Two or three quails called and answered each other +across the plain. As I heard these sounds I stopped and thought sadly +of Quatre Vents, Danne, the Baraques-du-bois-de-chênes, and of our +grain fields, where the quails were calling from the edge of the forest +of Bonne Fontaine. "Is Catherine asleep? and Aunt Grédel and Father +Goulden and all the town? The national guard from Nancy has taken our +place." I saw the sentinels of the two magazines and the guard at the +two gates; in short, thoughts without number came and went, when I +heard a horse galloping in the distance, but I could see nothing. + +[Illustration: A mounted hussar was looking out into the night.] + +In a few minutes he entered the village, and all was still except a +sort of confused tumult. In an instant after, the horseman came from +Roly into our road at full gallop. I advanced to the edge of the hedge +and presented my musket, and cried, "Who goes there?" "France!" "What +regiment?" "Twelfth chasseurs! Staff." "Pass on!" He went on his +way faster than before. I heard him stop in the midst of our +encampment, and call "Commandant." I advanced to the top of the hill +to see what was going on. There was a great excitement; the officers +came running up, and the soldiers gathered round. The chasseur was +speaking to Gémeau, I listened, but was too far away to hear. The +courier went on again up the hill, and everything was in an uproar. +They shouted and gesticulated. Suddenly the drums beat to mount guard, +and the relief turned a corner in the road. I saw Zébédé in the +distance looking pale as death; as he passed me he said, "Come!" the +two other sentinels were in their places a little to the left. Talking +is not allowed when under arms, but, notwithstanding, Zébédé said, +"Joseph, we are betrayed. Bourmont, general of the division in +advance, and five other brigands of the same sort, have just gone over +to the enemy." His voice trembled. + +My blood boiled, and looking at the other men on the picket, two old +soldiers with chevrons, I saw their lips quiver under their gray +mustaches, their eyes rolled fiercely as if they were meditating +vengeance, but they said nothing. We hurried on to relieve the other +two sentinels. Some minutes afterward, on returning to our bivouac, we +found the battalion already under arms and ready to move. Fury and +indignation were stamped on every face, the drums beat and we formed +ranks, the commandant and the adjutant waited on horseback at the head +of the battalion, pale as ashes. + +I remember that the commandant suddenly drew his sword as a signal to +stop the drums, and tried to speak, but the words would not come, and +he began to shout like a madman: "Ah! the wretches! miserable villains! +_Vive l'Empereur_! No quarter!" He stammered and did not know what he +said, but the battalion thought he was eloquent, and began to shout as +one man, "Forward! forward! to the enemy! no quarter!" We went through +the village at quick step, and the meanest soldier was furious at not +finding the Prussians. + +It was an hour after, when having reflected a little, the men commenced +swearing and threatening, secretly at first, but soon openly, and at +last the battalion was almost in revolt. Some said that all the +officers under Louis XVIII. must be exterminated, and others, that we +were given up _en masse_, and several declared that the marshals were +traitors, and ought to be court-martialed and shot. + +At last the commandant ordered a halt, and riding down the line he told +the men, that the traitors had left too late to do mischief, that we +would make the attack that very day, and that the enemy would not have +time to profit by the treason, and that he would be surprised and +overwhelmed. This calmed the fury of a great proportion of the men, +and we resumed our march, and all along the route, we heard repeatedly +that the exposure of our plans had been made too late. + +But our anger gave place to joy, when about ten o'clock we heard the +thunder of cannon five or six leagues to the left, on the other side of +the Sambre. The men raised their shakos on their bayonets and shouted: +"Forward! Vive l'Empereur!" + +Many of the old soldiers wept, and over all that great plain there was +one immense shout; when one regiment had ceased another took it up. +The cannon thundered incessantly. We quickened our steps. We had been +marching on Charleroi since seven o'clock, when an order reached us by +an orderly to support the right. I remember that in all the villages +through which we passed, the doors and windows were full of eager +friendly faces, waving their hands and shouting, "The French, the +French!" We could see that they were friendly to us, and that they +were of the same blood as ourselves; and in the two halts that we made, +they came out with their loaves of excellent home-made bread, with a +knife stuck in the crust, and great jugs of black beer, and offered +them to us without asking any return. We had come to deliver them +without knowing it, and nobody in their country knew it either, which +shows the sagacity of the Emperor, for there were already in that +corner of the Sambre et Meuse, more than one hundred thousand men, and +not the slightest hint of it had reached the enemy. + +The treason of Bourmont had prevented our surprising them as they were +scattered about in their separate camps. We could then have +annihilated them at a blow, but now it would be much more difficult. + +We continued our march till after noon, in the intense heat and choking +dust. The farther we advanced the greater the number of troops we saw, +infantry and cavalry. They massed themselves more and more, so to +speak, and behind us there were still other regiments. + +Toward five o'clock we reached a village where the battalions and +squadrons filed over a bridge built of brick. This village had been +taken by our vanguard, and in going through it, we saw some of the +Prussians stretched out in the little streets on the right and left, +and I said to Jean Buche: "Those are Prussians, I saw them at Lutzen +and Leipzig, and you are going to see them too, Jean." + +"So much the better," he replied, "that is what I want." + +This village was called Chatelet. It is on the river Sambre, the water +is very deep, yellow, and clayey, and those who are so unfortunate as +to fall into it, find it very difficult to get out of, for the banks +are perpendicular, as we found out afterward. On the other side of the +bridge we bivouacked along the river; we were not in the advance, as +the hussars had passed over before us, but we were the first infantry +of the corps of Gérard. All the rest of that day the Fourth corps were +filing over the bridge, and we learned at night, that the whole army +had passed the Sambre, and that there had been fighting near Charleroi, +at Marchiennes, and Jumet. + + + + +XVII + +On reaching the other bank of the river, we stacked our arms in an +orchard, and lighted our pipes and took breath as we watched the +hussars, the chasseurs, the artillery, and the infantry, file over the +bridge hour after hour, and take their positions on the plain. In our +front was a beech forest, about three leagues in length, which extended +toward Fleurus. We could see great yellow spots, here and there in +this wood; these were stubble, and great patches of grain, instead of +being covered with bramble or heath and furze as in our country. About +twenty old decrepit houses were on that side the bridge. Chatelet is a +very large village, larger than the city of Saverne. + +Between the battalions and squadrons, which were constantly moving +onward, the men, women, and children would come out with jugs of sour +beer, bread, and strong white brandy which they sold to the soldiers +for a few sous. Buche and I broke a crust as we looked on and laughed +with the girls, who are blonde and very pretty in that country. + +Very near us was the little village Catelineau, and in the distance on +our left, between the wood and the river, lay the village of Gilly. +The sound of musketry, cannon, and platoon firing, was heard constantly +in that direction. The news soon came that the Emperor had driven the +Prussians out of Charleroi, and that they had re-formed in squares at +the corner of the wood. + +We expected every moment to be ordered to cut off their retreat, but +between seven and eight o'clock, the sound of musketry ceased, the +Prussians retired to Fleurus, after having lost one of their squares; +and the others escaped into the wood. We saw two regiments of dragoons +arrive and take up their position at our right, along the bank of the +Sambre. There was a rumor a few minutes afterward that General Le Tort +had been killed by a ball in the abdomen, very near the place where in +his youth he had watched and tended the cattle of a farmer. What +strange things happen in life! The general had fought all over Europe, +since he was twenty years old, but death waited for him here! + +It was about eight o'clock in the evening, and we were expecting to +remain at Chatelet until our three divisions had crossed. An old bald +peasant, in a blue blouse and a cotton cap and as lean as a goat, came +into camp and told Captain Grégoire that on the side of the beech wood +in a hollow, lay the village of Fleurus, and to the right of this, the +little village of Lambusart; that the Prussians had been stationed in +these towns more than three weeks, and that more of them had arrived +the night before, and the night before that. He told us also that +there was a broad road, bordered with trees, running two good leagues +along our left; that the Belgians and Hanoverians had posts at +Gosselies and at Quatre-Bras; that it was the high-road to Brussels, +where the English and Hanoverians and Belgians had all their forces; +while the Prussians, four or five leagues at our right, occupied the +route to Namur, and that between them and the English, there was a good +road running from the plateau of Quatre-Bras to the plateau of Ligny in +the rear of Fleurus, over which their couriers went and came from +morning till night, so that the Prussians and English were in perfect +communication, and could support each other with men, guns, and +supplies when necessary. + +Naturally enough I thought at once, that the first thing to be done was +to get possession of this road and so cut off their communication; and +I was not the only one who thought so; but we said nothing for fear of +interrupting the old man. In five minutes half the battalion had +gathered round him in a circle. He was smoking a clay pipe and +pointing out all the positions with the stem. He was a sort of +commissioner between Chatelet, Fleurus, and Namur and knew every foot +of the country and all that happened every day. + +He complained greatly of the Prussians, said they were proud and +insolent, that they corrupted the women and were never satisfied, and +that the officers boasted of having driven us from Dresden to Paris, +that they had made us run like hares. + +I was indignant at that, for I knew they were two to one at Leipzig, +and that the Russians, Austrians, Saxons, Bavarians, Wurtemburgers, +Swedes, in fact all Europe had overwhelmed us, while three-quarters of +our army were sick with typhus, cold, and famine, marching and +countermarching; but that even all this had not prevented us from +beating them at Hanau, and fifty other times when they were three to +one, in Champagne, Alsace, in the Vosges, and everywhere. + +Their boasting disgusted me, I had a horror of the whole race, and I +thought, "those are the rascals who sour your blood." The old man said +too, that the Prussians constantly declared that they would soon be +enjoying themselves in Paris, drinking good French wines; and that the +French army was only a band of brigands. When I heard that, I said to +myself, "Joseph, that is too much! now you will show no more mercy, +there is nothing but extermination." + +The clocks of Chatelet struck nine and a half, and the hussars sounded +the retreat, and each one was about to dispose himself behind a hedge +or a bee-house or in a furrow for the night, when the general of the +brigade, Schoeffer, ordered the battalion to take up their position on +the other side of the wood, as the vanguard. I saw at once that our +unlucky battalion was always to be in the van, just as it was in 1813. + +It is a sad thing for a regiment to have a reputation; the men change, +but the number remains the same. The Sixth light infantry had always +been a distinguished number, and I knew what it cost. Those of us who +were inclined to sleep, were wide awake now, for when you know that the +enemy is at hand, and you say to yourself, "The Prussians are in +ambush, perhaps in that wood, waiting for you," it makes you open your +eyes. + +Several hussars deployed as scouts on our right and left, in front of +the column. We marched at the route step, with the captains between +the companies, and the Commandant Gémeau, on his little gray mare, in +the middle of the battalion. Before starting each man had received +three pounds of bread and two pounds of rice, and this was the way in +which the campaign opened for us. + +The sky was without a cloud, and all the country and even the forest, +which lay three-quarters of a league before us, shone in the moonlight +like silver. I thought involuntarily of the wood at Leipzig, where I +had slipped into a clay-pit with two Prussian hussars, when poor +Klipfel was cut into a thousand pieces at a little distance from me. +All this made me very watchful. No one spoke, even Buche raised his +head and shut his teeth, and Zébédé, who was at the left of the +company, did not look toward me, but right ahead into the shadow of the +trees, like everybody else. + +It took us nearly an hour to reach the forest, and when within two +hundred paces the order came to "halt." + +The hussars fell back on the flanks of the battalion, and one company +deployed as scouts. We waited about five minutes, and as not the +slightest noise or sound of any kind reached our ears, we resumed our +march. The road which we followed through the wood was quite a wide +cart-path. The column marked step in the shadows. At every moment +great openings in the forest gave us light and air, and we could see +the white piles of newly cut wood between their stakes, shining in the +distance from time to time. + +Besides this, nothing could be heard or seen. Buche said to me in a +low voice, "I like the smell of the wood, it is like Harberg." + +"I despise the smell of the wood," I thought; "and if we do not get a +musket-shot, I shall be satisfied." + +At the end of two hours the light appeared again through the underwood, +and we reached the other side, fortunately without encountering either +enemy or obstacle. The hussars who had accompanied us returned +immediately, and the battalion stacked arms. + +We were in a grain country, the like of which I had never seen. Some +of the grain was in flower, a little green still, though the barley was +almost ripe. The fields extended as far as the eye could reach. We +looked around in perfect silence, and I saw that the old man had not +deceived us. Two thousand paces in front of us, in a hollow, we saw +the top of an old church spire and some slated gables, lighted up by +the moon. That was Fleurus. Nearer to us on our right were some +thatched cottages, and a few houses; this was without doubt Lambusart. +At the end of the plain, more than a league distant and in the rear of +Fleurus, the surface of the country was broken into little hills, and +on these hills innumerable fires were burning. Three large villages +were easily recognized extending over the heights from left to right. +The one nearest to us, we afterward found, was St. Amand, Ligny in the +middle, and two leagues beyond, was Sombref. We could see them more +distinctly, even, than in the day-time, on account of the fires of the +enemy. The Prussians were in the houses and the orchards and the +fields; and beyond these three villages in a line, was another, lying +still higher and farther away, where fires were burning also. This was +Bry, where the rascals had their reserves. + +As we looked at this grand spectacle, I understood the disposition and +the plan, and saw too that it would be very difficult to take the +position. On the plain at our left there were fires also, but it was +the camp of the Third corps, which had turned the corner of the forest +after having repulsed the Prussians, and had halted in some village +this side of Fleurus. There were a few fires along the edge of the +forest, on a line with us; these were the fires of our own soldiers. I +believe there were some on both sides of us, but the great mass were at +the left. + +We posted our sentinels immediately, and without lighting our fires +laid down at the border of the wood to wait for further orders. +General Schoeffer came again during the night with several hussar +officers, and talked a long time with our commandant, Gémeau, who was +watching under arms. Their conversation was quite distinct at twenty +paces from us. The general said that our army corps continued to +arrive, but that they were very late, and would not all reach here the +next day. I saw at once that he was right; for our fourth battalion, +which should have joined us at Chatelet, did not come till the day +after the battle, when we were almost exterminated by those rascals at +Ligny, having only four hundred men left. If they had been there they +would have had their share of the combat and of the glory. + +As I had been on guard the night before, I quietly stretched myself at +the foot of a tree by the side of Buche, with my comrades. It was +about one o'clock in the morning of the day of the terrible battle of +Ligny. Nearly half of those men who were sleeping around me left their +bodies on the plain and in the villages which we saw, to be food for +the grain, such as was growing so beautifully around us, for the oats +and the barley for ages to come. If they had known that, there was +more than one of them who would not have slept so well, for men cling +to life, and it is a sad thing to think, "to-day I draw my last breath!" + + + + +XVIII + +During the night the air was heavy, and I wakened every hour in spite +of my great fatigue, but my comrades slept on, some talking in their +sleep. Buche did not stir. + +Close at hand, on the edge of the forest, our stacked muskets sparkled +in the moonlight. In the distance on the left I could hear the "Qui +vive,"[1] and on our front the "Wer da."[2] Nearer to us, our +sentinels stood motionless, up to their waists in the standing grain. + + +[1] Who goes there!--French. + +[2] Who goes there!--German. + + +I rose up softly and looked about me. In the vicinity of Sombref, two +leagues to our right, I could hear a great tumult from time to time, +which would increase and then cease entirely. It might have been +little gusts of wind among the leaves, but there was not a breath of +air and not a drop of dew fell, and I thought, "Those are the cannon +and wagons of the Prussians, galloping over the Namur road; their +battalions and squadrons, which are coming continually. What a +position we shall be in to-morrow with that mass of men already before +us, and re-enforcements arriving every moment." + +They had extinguished their fires at St. Amand and at Ligny, but they +burned brighter than ever at Sombref. The Prussians who had just +arrived after forced marches were no doubt making their soup. + +A thousand thoughts ran through my brain, and I said to myself from +time to time, "You escaped from Lutzen and Leipzig and Hanau, why not +escape this time also?" + +But the hopes which I cherished did not prevent me from realizing that +the battle would be a terrible one. I lay down, however, and slept +soundly for half an hour, when the drum-major, Padoue himself, +commenced to beat the reveille. He promenaded up and down the edge of +the wood and turned off his rolls and double rolls with great +satisfaction. The officers were standing in the grain on the hill-side +in a group, looking toward Fleurus, and talking among themselves. Our +reveille always commenced before that of the Austrians or Prussians or +any of our enemies. It is like the song of the lark at dawn. They +commence theirs on their big drums with a dismal roll which gives you +the idea of a funeral. But, on the contrary, their buglers have pretty +airs for sounding the reveille, while ours only give two or three +blasts, as much as to say: "Come, let us be going! there is no time to +lose." Everybody rose and the sun came up splendidly over the grain +fields, and we could feel beforehand how hot it would be at noon. + +Buche and all the detailed men set off with their canteens for water, +while others were lighting handfuls of straw with tinder for their +fires. There was no lack of wood, as each one took an armful from the +piles that were already cut. Corporal Duhem and Sergeant Rabot and +Zébédé came to have a talk with me. We were together in 1813, and they +had been at my wedding, and in spite of the difference in our rank they +had always continued their friendship for me. + +"Well! Joseph," said Zébédé, "the dance is going to commence." + +"Yes," I replied, and recalling the words of poor Sergeant Pinto the +morning before Lutzen, I added with a wink, "this, Zébédé, will be a +battle, as Sergeant Pinto said, where you will gain the cross between +the thrusts of ramrod and bayonet, and if you do not have a chance now +you need never expect it." + +They all began to laugh, and Zébédé said: + +"Yes, indeed, the poor old fellow richly deserved it, but it is harder +to catch than the bouquet at the top of a climbing pole." + +We all laughed, and as they had a flask of brandy, we took a crust of +bread together as we watched the movements of the enemy which began to +be perceptible. Buche had returned among the first with his canteen +and now stood behind us with his ears wide open like a fox on the alert. + +Files of cavalry came out of the woods and crossed the grain fields in +the direction of St. Amand, the large village at the left of Fleurus. + +"Those," said Zébédé, "are the light horse of Pajol who will deploy as +scouts. These are Exelman's dragoons. When the others have +ascertained the positions they will advance in line, that is the way +they always do, and the cannon will come with the infantry. The +cavalry will form on the right or the left and support the flanks, and +the infantry will take the front rank. They will form their attacking +columns on the good roads and in the fields, and the affair will begin +with a cannonade for twenty minutes or half an hour, more or less, and +when half the batteries are disabled, the Emperor will choose a +favorable moment to put us in, but it is we who will catch the bullets +and canister because we are nearest. We advance, carry arms, in +readiness for a charge, at a quick step and in good order, but it +always ends in a double quick, because the shot makes you impatient. I +warn you, conscripts, beforehand, so that you may not be surprised." +More than twenty conscripts had ranged themselves behind us to listen. +The cavalry continued to pour out of the wood. + +"I will bet," said Corporal Duhem, "that the Fourth cavalry has been on +the march in our rear since daybreak." + +And Rabot said they would have to take time to get into line, as it was +so bad traversing the wood. We were discussing the matter like +generals, and we scanned the position of the Prussians around the +villages, in the orchards, and behind the hedges, which are six feet +high in that country. A great number of their guns were grouped in +batteries between Ligny and St. Amand, and we could plainly see the +bronze shining in the sun, which inspired all sorts of reflections. + +"I am sure," said Zébédé, "that they are all barricaded, and they have +dug ditches and pierced the walls; we should have done well to push on +yesterday, when their squares retreated to the first village on the +heights. If we were on a level with them it would be very well, but to +climb up across those hedges under the enemy's fire will cost a trifle, +unless something should happen in the rear as is sometimes the case +with the Emperor." + +The old soldiers were talking in this fashion on all sides, and the +conscripts were listening with open ears. + +Meanwhile the camp-kettles were suspended over the fire, but they were +expressly forbidden to use their bayonets for this purpose as it +destroyed their temper. It was about seven o'clock, and we all thought +that the battle would be at St. Amand. The village was surrounded by +hedges and shrubbery, with a great tower in the centre, and higher up +in the rear there were more houses and a winding road bordered with a +stone wail. All the officers said: "That is where the struggle will +be." As our troops came from Charleroi they spread over the plain +below us, infantry and cavalry side by side; all the corps of Vandamme +and Gérard's division. Thousands and thousands of helmets glittered in +the sun, and Buche who stood beside me, exclaimed: + +"Oh! oh! oh! look, Joseph, look! they come continually!" + +And we could see innumerable bayonets in the same direction as far as +the eye could reach. + +The Prussians were spreading more and more over the hill-side near the +windmills. This movement continued till eight o'clock. Nobody was +hungry, but we ate all the same, so as not to reproach ourselves; for +the battle, once begun, might last two days without giving us a chance +to eat again. + +Between eight and nine o'clock the first battalions of our division +left the wood. The officers came to shake hands with their comrades, +but the staff remained in the rear. Suddenly the hussars and chasseurs +passed us, extending our line of battle toward the right. They were +Morin's cavalry. Our idea was that when the Prussians should have +become engaged in the attack on St. Amand, we would fall on their flank +at Ligny. But the Prussians were on their guard, and from that moment +they stopped at Ligny, instead of going on to St. Amand. They even +came lower down, and we could see the officers posting the men among +the hedges and in the gardens and behind the low walls and barracks. +We thought their position very strong. They continued to come lower +down in a sort of fold of the hill-side between Ligny and Fleurus, and +that astonished us, for we did not yet know that a little brook divided +the village into two parts, and that they were filling the houses on +our side, and we did not know that if they were repulsed they could +retreat up the hill and still hold us always under their fire. + +If we knew everything about such affairs beforehand, we should never +dare to commence such a dangerous enterprise, but the difficulties are +discovered step by step. We were destined that day to find a great +many things which we did not expect. + +About half-past eight several of our regiments had left the wood, and +very soon the drums beat the assembly and all the battalions took their +arms. The general, Count Gérard, arrived with his staff, and passing +us at a gallop, without any notice, went on to the hill below Fleurus. +Almost immediately the firing commenced; the scouts of Vandamme +approached the village on the left, and two pieces of cannon were sent +off, with the artillerymen on horseback. After five or six discharges +of cannon from the top of the hill the musketry ceased and our scouts +were in Fleurus, and we saw three or four hundred Prussians mounting +the hill in the distance, toward Ligny. General Gérard, after looking +at this little engagement, came back with his staff and passed slowly +down our front, inspecting us carefully, as if he wished to ascertain +what sort of humor we were in. He was about forty-five years old, +brown, with a large head, a round face, the lower part heavy, with a +pointed chin. A great many peasants in our country resemble him, and +they are not the most stupid. He said not a word to us, and when he +had passed the whole length of our line, all the generals and colonels +were grouped together. The command was given to order arms. The +orderlies then set off like the wind; this engrossed the attention of +all, but not a man stirred. The rumor spread that Grouchy was to be +commander-in-chief, and that the Emperor had attacked the English four +leagues away, on the route to Brussels. + +This news put us in anything but a pleasant humor, and more than one +said, "It is no wonder that we are here doing nothing since morning; if +the Emperor was with us, we should have given battle long ago, and the +Prussians would not have had time to know where they were." + +This was the talk we indulged in, and it shows the injustice of men; +for three hours afterward, in the midst of shouts of "_Vive +l'Empereur_," Napoleon arrived. These shouts swept along the line like +a tempest, and were continued even opposite Sombref. Now everything +was right. That for which we had reproached Marshal Grouchy, was +perfectly proper when done by the Emperor, since it was he. + +Very soon the order reached us to advance our line five hundred paces +to the right, and off we started through the rye, oats, and barley, +which were swept down before us, but the principal line of battle on +the left was not changed. + +As we reached a broad road which we had not before seen and came in +sight of Fleurus, with its little brook bordered with willows, the +order was given to halt! A murmur ran through the whole +division--"There he is!" + +He was on horseback, and only accompanied by a few of the officers of +his staff. + +We could only recognize him in the distance by has gray coat and his +hat; his carriage with its escort of lancers was in the rear. He +entered Fleurus by the high road, and remained in the village more than +an hour, while we were roasting in the grain fields. + + + + +At the end of this hour, which we thought interminable, files of staff +officers set off, at a gallop, bent over their saddle-bows till their +noses were between their horse's ears. Two of them stopped near +General Gérard, one remained with him, and the other went on again. +Still we waited, until suddenly the bands of all the regiments began to +play; drums and trumpets all together; and that immense line which +extended from the rear of St. Amand to the forest, swung round, with +the right wing in the advance. As it reached beyond our division in +the rear, we advanced our line still more obliquely, and again the +order came, Halt! The road running out of Fleurus was opposite us, a +blank wall on the left; behind which were trees and a large house, and +in front a windmill of red brick, like a tower. + +We had hardly halted, when the Emperor came out of this mill with three +or four generals and two old peasants in blouses, holding their cotton +caps in their hands. The whole division commenced to shout, "Vive +l'Empereur!" + +I saw him plainly as he came along a path in front of the battalion, +with his head bent down and his hands behind his back listening to the +old bald peasant. He took no notice of the shouts, but turned round +twice and pointed toward Ligny. I saw him as plainly as I could see +Father Goulden when we sat opposite each other at table. He had grown +much stouter than when he was at Leipzig, and looked yellow. If it had +not been for his gray coat and his hat, I should hardly have recognized +him. His cheeks were sunken and he looked much older. All this came, +I presume, from his troubles at Elba, and in thinking of the mistakes +he had made; for he was a wise man, and could see his own faults. He +had destroyed the revolution which had sustained him, he had recalled +the émigrés who despised him, he had married an archduchess who +preferred Vienna to Paris, and he had chosen his bitterest enemies for +his counsellors. + +[Illustration: The Emperor, his hands behind his back, and his head +bent forward.] + +In short he had put everything back where it was before the revolution, +nothing was wanting but Louis XVIII., and then the kings had put Louis +XVIII. on his throne again. Now he had come to overthrow the +legitimate sovereign, and some called him a despot, and some a Jacobin. +It was unfortunate for him that he had done everything possible to +facilitate the return of the Bourbons. Nothing remained to him but his +army, if he lost that, he lost everything, for many of the people +wanted liberty like Father Goulden, others wanted tranquillity and +peace like Mother Grédel, and like me and all those who were forced +into the war. + +These things made him terribly anxious, he had lost the confidence of +the whole world. The old soldiers alone preserved their attachment to +him, and asked only to conquer or die. With such notions you cannot +fail of one or the other, all is plain and clear; but a great many +people do not have these ideas, and for my part I loved Catherine a +thousand times more than the Emperor. + +On reaching a turn in the wall, where the hussars were waiting for him, +he mounted his horse, and General Gérard who had recognized him came up +at a gallop. He turned round for two seconds to listen to him, and +then both went into Fleurus. + +Still we waited! About two o'clock General Gérard returned, and our +line was obliqued a third time more to the right, and then the whole +division broke into columns, and we followed the road to Fleurus with +the cannon and caissons at intervals between the brigades. The dust +enveloped us completely. + +Buche said to me: + +"Cost what it may, I must drink at the first puddle we come to." + +But we did not find any water. The music did not cease, and masses of +cavalry kept coming up behind us, principally dragoons. We were still +on the march when suddenly the roar of musketry and cannon broke on our +ears as when water breaking over its barriers sweeps all before it. + +I knew what it was, but Buche turned pale and looked at me in mute +astonishment. + +"Yes, indeed, Jean," said I, "those over there are attacking St. Amand, +but our turn will come presently." + +The music had ceased but the thunder of the guns had redoubled, and we +heard the order on all sides, "Halt!" + +The division stopped on the road and the gunners ran out at intervals +and put their pieces in line fifty paces in front, with their caissons +in the rear. + +We were opposite Ligny. We could only see a white line of houses half +hidden in the orchards, with a church spire above them--slopes of +yellow earth, trees, hedges, and palisades. There we were, twelve or +fifteen thousand men without the cavalry, waiting the order to attack. + +The battle raged fiercely about St. Amand, and great masses of smoke +rose over the combatants toward the sky. + +While waiting for our turn, my thoughts turned to Catherine with more +tenderness than ever, the idea that she would soon be a mother crossed +my mind, and then I besought God to spare my life, but with this, came +the comfort of feeling that our child would be there if I should die to +console them all, Catherine, Aunt Grédel, and Father Goulden. If it +should be a boy they would call it Joseph, and caress it, and Father +Goulden would dandle it on his knee, Aunt Grédel would love it, and +Catherine would think of me as she embraced it, and I should not be +altogether dead to them. But I clung to life while I saw how terrible +was the conflict before us. + +Buche said to me, "Joseph, will you promise me something?--I have a +cross--if I am killed." + +He shook my hand, and I said: "I promise." + +"Well!" he added, "it is here on my breast. You must carry it to +Harberg and hang it up in the chapel in remembrance of Jean Buche, dead +in the faith of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." + +He spoke very earnestly, and I thought his wish very natural. Some die +for the rights of Humanity; with some, the last thought is for their +mother, others are influenced by the example of just men who have +sacrificed themselves for the race, but the feeling is the same in +every case, though each one expresses it according to his own manner of +thinking. + +I gave him the desired promise and we waited for nearly half an hour +longer. All the troops as they left the wood came and formed near us, +and the cavalry were mustering on our right as if to attack Sombref. + +Up to half-past two o'clock not a gun had been fired, when an +aid-de-camp of the Emperor arrived on the road to Fleurus, at full +speed, and I thought immediately, "Our turn has come now. May God +watch over us, for, miserable wretches that we are, we cannot save +ourselves in such a slaughter as is threatening." + +I had scarcely made these reflections when two battalions on the right +set off on the road, with the artillery, toward Sombref, where the +Uhlans and Prussian cavalry were deploying in front of our dragoons. +It was the fortune of these two battalions to remain in position on the +route all that day to observe the cavalry of the enemy, while we went +to take the village where the Prussians were in force. + +The attacking columns were formed just as the clock struck three; I was +in the one on the left which moved first at a quick step along a +winding road. + +On the hill where Ligny was situated, was an immense ruin. It had been +built of brick and was pierced with holes and overlooked us as we +mounted the hill. We watched it sharply too, through the grain as we +went. The second column left immediately after us and passed by a +shorter route directly up the hill, we were to meet them at the +entrance to the village. I do not know when the third column left, as +we did not meet again till later. + +All went smoothly until we reached a point where the road was cut +through a little elevation and then ran down to the village. As we +passed through between these little hills covered with grain, and +caught sight of the nearest house, a veritable hail of balls fell on +the head of the column with a frightful noise. From every hole in the +old ruin, from all the windows and loop-holes in the houses, from the +hedges and orchards and from above the stone walls the muskets showered +their deadly fire upon us like lightning. + +At the same time a battery of fifteen pieces which had been for that +very purpose placed in a field in the rear of the great tower at the +left of, and higher tip than Ligny, near the windmill, opened upon us +with a roar, compared with which that of the musketry was nothing. +Those who had unfortunately passed the cut in the road fell over each +other in heaps in the smoke. At that moment we heard the fire of the +other column which had engaged the enemy at our right, and the roar of +other cannon, though we could not tell whether they were ours or those +of the Prussians. + +Fortunately the whole battalion had not passed the little knoll, and +the balls whistled through the grain above us, and tore up the ground +without doing us the least injury. Every time this whizzing was heard, +I observed that the conscripts near me ducked their heads, and Jean +Buche, I remember, was staring at me with open eyes. The old soldiers +marched with tightly compressed lips. + +The column stopped. For an instant each man thought whether it would +not be better to turn back, but it was only for a second, the enemy's +fire seemed to slacken, the officers all drew their sabres and shouted, +"Forward!" + +The column set off again at a run and threw itself into the road that +led down the hill across the hedges. From the palisades and the walls +behind which the Prussians were in ambush, they continued to pour their +musketry fire upon us. But woe to every one we encountered! they +defended themselves with the desperation of wolves, but a few blows +from a musket, or a bayonet thrust, soon stretched them out in some +corner. A great number of old soldiers with gray mustaches had secured +their retreat, and retired in good order, turning to fire a last shot, +and then slipped through a breach or shut a door. We followed them +without hesitation, we had neither prudence nor mercy. + +At last, quite scattered and in the greatest confusion, we reached the +first houses, when the fusillade commenced again from the windows, the +corners of the streets, and from everywhere. There were the orchards +and the gardens and the stone walls which ran along the hill-side, but +they were thrown down and demolished, the palisades torn up, and could +no longer serve as a shelter or a defence. From the well-barricaded +cottages, they still poured their fire upon us. In ten minutes more, +we should have been exterminated to the last man; seeing this, the +column turned down the hill again, drummers and sappers, officers and +soldiers pell-mell, all went without once turning their heads to look +back. I jumped over the palisades where I never should have thought it +possible at any other time, with my knapsack and cartridge-box at my +back; the others followed my example, and we all tumbled in a heap like +a falling wall. + +Once in the road again between the hills, we stopped to breathe. Some +stretched themselves on the ground, and others sat down with their +backs against the slope. The officers were furious; as if they too had +not followed the movement to retreat, and some shouted to bring up the +cannon, and others wanted to re-form the troops, though they could +scarcely make themselves heard in the midst of the thunder of the +artillery which shook the air like a tempest. + +I saw Jean Buche hurrying back with his bayonet red with blood. He +took his place beside me without saying a word, and commenced to reload. + +Captain Grégoire, Lieutenant Certain, and several sergeants and +corporals, and more than a hundred men were left behind in the +orchards; and the first two battalions of the column had suffered as +much as we. + +Zébédé, with his great crooked nose, white as snow, seeing me at some +distance, shouted, "Joseph--no quarter!" + +Great masses of white smoke rose over the sides of the road. The whole +hill-side from Ligny to St. Amand was on fire behind the willows and +aspens and poplars. + +As I crept up on my hands and knees, and looked over the surface of the +grain and saw this terrible spectacle, and saw the long black lines of +infantry on the top of the hill and near the windmills, and the +innumerable cavalry on their flanks ready to fall upon us, I went back +thinking: + +"We shall never rout that army. It fills the villages, and guards the +roads, and covers the hill as far as the eye can reach, there are guns +everywhere, and it is contrary to reason to persist in such an +enterprise." + +I was indignant and even disgusted with the generals. + +All this did not take ten minutes. God only knew what had become of +our other two columns. The terrible musketry fire on the left, and the +volleys of grape and canister which we heard rushing through the air, +were no doubt intended for them. + +I thought we had had our full share of troubles, when Generals Gérard, +Vichery, and Schoeffer came riding up at full speed on the road below +us, shouting like madmen, "Forward! Forward!" + +They drew their swords, and there was nothing to do but go. + +At this moment our batteries on the road below opened their fire on +Ligny, the roofs in the village tumbled, and the walls sank, and we +rushed forward with the generals at our head with their swords drawn, +the drums beating the charge. We shouted, "_Vive l'Empereur_." The +Prussian bullets swept us away by dozens, and shot fell like hail, and +the drums kept up their "pan-pan-pan." We saw nothing, heard nothing, +as we crossed the orchards, nobody paid any attention to those who +fell, and in two minutes after, we entered the village, broke in the +doors with the butts of our muskets, while the Prussians fired upon us +from the windows. + +It was a thousand times worse in-doors, because yells of rage mingled +in the uproar; we rushed into the houses with fixed bayonets and +massacred each other without mercy. On every side the cry rose, "No +quarter!" + +The Prussians who were surprised in the first houses we entered, were +old soldiers and asked for nothing better. They perfectly understood +what "No quarter" meant, and made a most desperate defence. + +As we reached the third or fourth house on a tolerably wide street on +which was a church, and a little bridge farther on, the air was full of +smoke from the fires caused by our bombs; great broken tiles and slate +were raining down upon us, and everything roared and whistled and +cracked, when Zébédé, with a terrible look in his eyes, seized me by +the arm, shouting, "Come!" + +We rushed into a large room already filled with soldiers, on the first +floor of a house; it was dark, as they had covered the windows with +sacks of earth, but we could see a steep wooden stairway at one end, +down which the blood was running. We heard musket-shots from above and +the flashes each moment showed us five or six of our men sunk in a heap +against the balustrade with their arms hanging down, and the others +running over their bodies with their bayonets fixed, trying to force +their way into the loft. + +It was horrible to see those men with their bristling mustaches, and +brown cheeks, every wrinkle expressing the fury which possessed them, +determined to force a passage at any cost. The sight made me furious, +and I shouted, "Forward! No quarter!" + +If I had been near the stairway, I might have been cut to pieces in +mounting, but fortunately for me, others were ahead and not one would +give up his place. + +An old fellow, covered with wounds, succeeded in reaching the top of +the stairs under the bayonets. As he gained the loft he let go his +musket, and seized the balustrade with both hands. Two balls from +muskets touching his breast did not make him let go his hold. Three or +four others rushed up behind him striving each to be first, and leaped +over the top stairs into the loft above. + +Then followed such an uproar as is impossible to describe, shots +followed each other in quick succession, and the shouts and trampling +of feet made us think the house was coming down over our heads. Others +followed, and when I reached the scene behind Zébédé, the room was full +of dead and wounded men, the windows were blown out, the walls splashed +with blood, and not a Prussian was left on his feet. Five or six of +our men were supporting themselves against the different pieces of +furniture, smiling ferociously. Nearly all of them had balls or +bayonet thrusts in their bodies, but the pleasure of revenge was +greater than the pain of their wounds. My hair stands on end when I +recall that scene. + +As soon as Zébédé saw that the Prussians were all dead, he went down +again, saying to me, "Come, there is nothing more to do here." + +We went out and found that our column had already passed the church, +and thousands of musket-shots crackled against the bridge like the fire +breaking out from a coal-pit. + +The second column had come down the broad street on our right and +joined ours, and in the meantime, one of those Prussian columns which +we had seen on the hill in the rear of Ligny, came down to drive us out +of the village. + +Here it was that we had the first encounter in force. Two staff +officers rode down the street by which we had come. + +"Those men," said Zébédé, "are going to order up the guns. When they +arrive, Joseph, you will see whether they can rout us." + +He ran and I followed him. The fight at the bridge continued. The old +church clock struck five. We had destroyed all the Prussians on this +side the stream except those who were in ambush in the great old ruin +at the left, which was full of holes. It had been set on fire at the +top by our howitzers, but the fire continued from the lower stories, +and we were obliged to avoid it. + +In front of the church we were in force. We found the little square +filled with troops ready to march, and others were coming by the broad +street, which traversed the whole length of Ligny. Only the head of +the column was engaged at the little bridge. The Prussians tried hard +to repulse them. The discharges in file followed each other like +running water. The square was so filled with smoke that we could see +nothing but the bayonets, the front of the church, and the officers on +the steps giving their orders. Now and then a staff officer would set +off at a gallop, and the air round the old slated spire was full of +rooks whirling about affrighted with the noise. The cannon at St. +Amand roared incessantly. + +Between the gables on the left, we could see on the hill, the long blue +lines of infantry and masses of cavalry coming from Sombref to turn our +columns. It was there in our rear that the desperate combats took +place between the Uhlans and our hussars. How many of these Uhlans we +saw next morning stretched dead on the plain! + +Our battalion having suffered the most, we fell back to the second +rank. We soon found our own company commanded by Captain Florentin. +The guns were arriving by the same street on which we were; the horses +at full gallop foaming and shaking their heads furiously, while the +wheels crushed everything before them. All this produced a tremendous +uproar, but the thunder of cannon and the crash of musketry was all +that could be distinguished. The soldiers were all shouting and +singing, with their guns on their shoulders, but we knew this only by +seeing their open mouths. + +I had just taken my place by the side of Buche and had begun to +breathe, when a forward movement began. + +This time the plan was to cross the little stream, push the Prussians +out of Ligny, mount the hill behind and cut their line in two, and the +battle would be gained. Each one of us understood that, but with such +masses of troops as they held in reserve, it was no small affair. + +Everything moved toward the bridge, but we could see nothing but the +five or six men before us, and I was well satisfied to know that the +head of the column was far in front. + +But I was most delighted when Captain Florentin halted our company in +front of an old barn with the door broken down, and posted the remnant +of the battalion behind the ruins in order to sustain the attacking +columns by firing from the windows. + +There were fifteen of us in that barn and I can see it now, with the +door hanging by one hinge, and battered with the balls, and the ladder +running up through a square hole, three or four dead Prussians leaning +against the walls, and a window at the other end looking into the +street in the rear. + +Zébédé commanded our post, Lieutenant Bretonville occupied the house +opposite with another squad, and Captain Florentin went somewhere else. +The street was filled with troops quite up to the two corners near the +brook. + +The first thing we tried to do was to put up the door and fasten it, +but we had hardly commenced when we heard a terrible crash in the +street, and walls, shutters, tiles, and everything were swept away at a +stroke. Two of our men who were outside holding up the door, fell as +if cut down with a scythe. + +At the same moment we could hear the steps of the retreating column +rolling over the bridge, while a dozen more such explosions made us +draw back in spite of ourselves. It was a battery of six pieces +charged with canister which Blücher had masked at the end of the +street, and which now opened upon us. + +The whole column--drummers, soldiers, officers, mounted and foot, were +in retreat, pushing and jostling each other, swept along as by a +hurricane. Nobody looked back, those who fell were lost. The last +ones had hardly passed our door when Zébédé, who looked out to see what +had happened, shouted in a voice of thunder, "The Prussians!" + +He fired, and several of us rushed for the ladder, but before we could +think of climbing they were upon us. Zébédé, Buche, and all who had +not had time to get up the ladder drove them back with their bayonets. +It seems to me as if I could see those Prussians still, with their big +mustaches, their red faces and flat shakos, furious at being checked. + +I never had such a shock as that. Zébédé shouted, "No quarter," just +as if we had been the stronger. But immediately he received a blow on +the head from the butt of a musket and fell. + +I saw that he was going to be murdered and I burned for revenge. I +shouted, "To the bayonet," and we all fell upon the rascals, while our +comrades fired at them from above, and a fusillade commenced from the +houses opposite. + +The Prussians fell back, but a little distance away there was a whole +battalion. Buche took Zébédé on his shoulders and started up the +ladder. We followed him, shouting "Hurry!" while we aided him with all +our strength to climb the ladder with his burden. I was next to the +last, and I thought we should never get up. We heard the shots already +in the barn, but we were up at last, and all inspired with the same +idea, we tried to draw the ladder up after us. To our horror we found, +as we endeavored to pull it through the opening between the shots, one +of which took off the head of a comrade, that it was so large we could +not get it into the loft. We hesitated for a moment, when Zébédé, +recovering himself, exclaimed, "Shoot through the rounds!" This seemed +to us an inspiration from heaven. + +Below us the uproar was terrible. The whole street, as well as our +barn, was full of Prussians. + +They were mad with rage, and worse than we; repeating incessantly, "No +prisoners!" + +They were enraged by the musket-shots from the houses; they broke down +the doors, and then we could hear the struggles, the falls, curses in +French and German, the orders of Lieutenant Bretonville opposite, and +the Prussian officers commanding their men to go and bring straw to +fire the houses. Fortunately the harvest was not yet secured, or we +should all have been burned. + +They fired into the floor under our feet, but it was made of thick oak +plank and the balls tapped on it like the strokes of a hammer. We +stood one behind the other and continued our fire into the street, and +every shot told. + +It appeared as if they had retaken the church square, for we only heard +our fire very far away. We were alone, two or three hundred men in the +midst of three or four thousand. Then I said to myself, "Joseph! you +will never escape from this danger. It is impossible! your end has +come!" I dared not think of Catherine, my heart quaked. Our retreat +was cut off, the Prussians held both ends of the street and the lanes +in the rear, and they had already retaken several houses. + +Suddenly the hubbub ceased; they were making some preparation we +thought; they have gone for straw or fagots or they are going to bring +up their guns to demolish us. + +Our gunners looked out of the window, but they saw nothing, the barn +was empty. This dead silence was more terrible than the tumult had +been a few minutes before. + +Zébédé had just raised himself up, and the blood was running from his +mouth and nose. + +"Attention! we are going to have another attack. The rascals are +getting ready. Charge!" + +He hardly finished speaking when the whole building, from the gables to +the foundation, swayed as if the earth had opened beneath it, and beams +and lath and slate came down with the shock, while a red flame burst +out under our feet and mounted above the roof. We all fell in a heap. + +A lighted bomb which the Prussians had rolled into the barn had just +exploded. On getting up I heard a whizzing in my ears, but that did +not prevent me from seeing a ladder placed at the window of the barn. +Buche was using his bayonet with great effect on the invaders. + +The Prussians thought to profit by our surprise to mount the ladder and +butcher us; this made me shudder, but I ran to the assistance of my +comrade. Two others who had escaped, ran up shouting, "_Vive +l'Empereur!_" + +I heard nothing more, the noise was frightful. The flashes of the +muskets below and from the windows lighted up the street like a moving +flame. We had thrown down the ladder, and there were six of us still +remaining, two in front who fired the muskets, and four behind who +loaded and passed the guns to them. + +In this extremity I had become calm. I resigned myself to my fate, +thinking I would try to sell my own life as dearly as possible. The +others no doubt had the same thoughts, and we made great havoc. + +This lasted about a quarter of an hour, when the cannon began to +thunder again, and some seconds after our comrades in front looked out +the window and ceased firing. My cartridge-box was nearly empty, and I +went to replenish it from those of my dead comrades. + +The cries of "_Vive l'Empereur!_" came nearer and nearer, when suddenly +the head of our column with its flag all blackened and torn, filed into +the little square through our street. + +The Prussians beat a retreat. We all wanted to go down, but two or +three times the column recoiled before the grape and canister. The +shouts and the thunder of the cannon mingled afresh. Zébédé, who was +looking out, ran to the ladder. Our column had passed the barn and we +all went down in file without regarding our comrades who were wounded +by the bursting of the bomb, some of whom begged us piteously not to +leave them behind. + +Such are men! the fear of being taken prisoners, made us barbarians. + +When we recalled these terrible scenes afterward, we would have given +anything if we had had the least heart, but then it was too late. + + + + +XIX + +An hour before, fifteen of us had entered that old barn, now there were +but six to come out. + +Buche and Zébédé were among the living; the Pfalzbourgers had been +fortunate. + +Once outside it was necessary to follow the attacking column. + +We advanced over the heaps of dead. Our feet encountered this yielding +mass, but we did not look to see if we stepped on the face of a wounded +man, on his breast, or on his limbs; we marched straight on. We found +out next morning, that this mass of men had been cut down by the +battery in front of the church; their obstinacy had proved their ruin. +Blücher was only waiting to serve us in the same manner, but instead of +going over the bridge we turned off to the right and occupied the +houses along the brook. The Prussians fired at us from every window +opposite, but as soon as we were ambushed we opened our fire on their +guns and they were obliged to fall back. + +They had already begun to talk of attacking the other part of the +village, when the rumor was heard that a column of Prussians forty +thousand strong had come up behind us from Charleroi. We could not +understand it, as we had swept everything before us to the banks of the +Sambre. This column which had fallen on our rear, must have been +hidden in the forest. + +It was about half-past six and the combat at St. Amand seemed to grow +fiercer than ever. Blücher had moved his forces to that side, and it +was a favorable moment to carry the other part of the village, but this +column forced us to wait. + +The houses on either side of the brook were filled with troops, the +French on the right and the Prussians on the left. The firing had +ceased, a few shots were still heard from time to time, but they were +evidently by design. We looked at each other as if to say, "Let us +breathe awhile now, and we will commence again presently." + +The Prussians in the house opposite us, in their blue coats and leather +shakos, with their mustaches turned up, were all strongly built men, +old soldiers with square chins and their ears standing out from their +heads. They looked as if they might overthrow us at a blow. The +officers, too, were looking on. + +Along the two streets which were parallel with the brook and in the +brook itself, the dead were lying in long rows. + +Many of them were seated with their backs against the walls. They had +been dangerously wounded in the battle but had had sufficient strength +to retire from the strife, and had sunk down against the wall and died +from loss of blood. + +Some were still standing upright in the brook, their hands clutching +the bank as if to climb out, rigid in death. And in obscure corners of +the ruined houses, when they were lighted up with the sun's rays, we +could see the miserable wretches crushed under the rubbish, with stones +and beams lying across their bodies. + +The struggle at St. Amand became still more terrible, the discharges of +cannon seemed to rise one above the other, and if we had not all been +looking death in the face, nothing could have prevented us from +admiring this grand music. + +At every discharge hundreds of men perished, but there was no +interruption, the solid earth trembled under our feet. We could +breathe again now, and very soon we began to feel a most intolerable +thirst. During the fight nobody had thought of it, but now everybody +wanted to drink. + +Our house formed the corner at the left of the bridge, but the little +water that was running over the muddy bottom of the brook was red with +blood. Between our house and the next there was a little garden, where +there was a well from which to water it. We all looked at this well +with its curb and its wooden posts; the bucket was still hanging to the +chain in spite of the showers of shot, but three men were already lying +face downward in the path leading to it. The Prussians had shot them +as they were trying to reach it. + +As we stood there with our loaded muskets, one said, "I would give half +my blood for one glass of that water;" another, "Yes, but the Prussians +are on the watch." + +This was true, there they were, a hundred paces from us, perhaps they +were as thirsty as we, and were guessing our thoughts. + +The shots that were still fired came from these houses, and no one +could go along the street, they would shoot him at once, so we were all +suffering horribly. + +This lasted for another half hour, when the cannonade extended from St. +Amand to Ligny, and we could see that our batteries had opened with +grape and canister on the Prussians by the great gaps made in their +columns at every discharge. + +This new attack produced a great excitement. Buche, who had not +stirred till that moment, ran down through the path leading to the well +in the garden and sheltered himself behind the curb. From the two +houses opposite a volley was fired, and the stones and the posts were +soon riddled with balls. + +But we opened our fire on their windows and in an instant it began +again from one end of the village to the other, and everything was +enveloped in smoke. + +At that moment I heard some one shout from below, "Joseph, Joseph!" + +It was Buche; he had had the courage after he had drank himself, to +fill the bucket, unfasten it, and bring it back with him. + +[Illustration: He had had the courage to pull up the bucket.] + +Several old soldiers wanted to take it from him, but he shouted, "My +comrade first! let go, or I'll pour it all out!" + +They were compelled to wait till I had drank, then they took their +turn, and afterward the others who were upstairs drained the rest. + +We all went up together greatly refreshed. + +It was about seven o'clock and near sunset, the shadows of the houses +on our side reached quite to the brook--while those occupied by the +Prussians were still in the sunlight, as well as the hill-side of Bry, +down which we could see the fresh troops coming on the run. The +cannonade had never been so fierce as at this moment from our side. + +Every one now knows, that at nightfall between seven and eight o'clock +the Emperor, having discovered that the column which had been signalled +in our rear was the corps of General d'Erlon, which had missed its +route between the battle of Ney with the English at Quatre-Bras and +ours here at Ligny, had ordered the Old Guard to support us at once. + +The lieutenant who was with us said, "This is the grand attack. +Attention!" + +The whole of the Prussian cavalry was swarming between the two +villages. We felt that there was a grand movement behind us, though we +did not see it. The lieutenant repeated, "Attention to orders! Let no +one stay behind after the order to march! Here is the attack!" + +We all opened our eyes. The farther the night advanced the redder the +sky grew over St. Amand. We were so absorbed in listening to the +cannonade that, we no longer thought of anything else. At each +discharge you would have said the heavens were on fire. The tumult +behind us was increasing. + +Suddenly the broad street running along the brook was full of troops, +from the bridge quite to the end of Ligny. On the left in the distance +the Prussians were shooting from the windows again, while we did not +reply. The shout rose--"The Guard! the Guard!" I do not know how that +mass of men passed the muddy ditch, probably by means of plank thrown +across, but in a moment they were on the left bank in force. + +The batteries of the Prussians at the top of the ravine between the two +villages, cut gaps through our columns, but they closed up immediately, +and moved steadily up the hill. What remained of our division ran +across the bridge, followed by the artillerymen and their pieces with +the horses at a gallop. + +Then we went down to the street, but we had not reached the bridge when +the cuirassiers began to file over it, followed by the dragoons and the +mounted grenadiers of the guard. They were passing everywhere, across +and around the village. It was like a new and innumerable army. + +The slaughter began again on the hill, this time the battle was in the +open fields, and we could trace the outlines of the Prussian squares on +the hill-side at every discharge of musketry. + +We rushed on over the dead and wounded, and when we were clear of the +village we could see that there was an engagement between the cavalry, +though we could only distinguish the white cuirasses as they pierced +the lines of the Uhlans; then they would be indiscriminately mingled +and the cuirassiers would re-form and set off again like a solid wall. + +It was dark already, and the dense masses of smoke made it impossible +to see fifty paces ahead. Everything was moving toward the windmills, +the clatter of the cavalry, the shouts, the orders of the officers and +the file-firing in the distance, all were confounded. Several of the +squares were broken. From time to time a flash would reveal a lancer +bent to his horse's neck, or a cuirassier, with his broad white back +and his helmet with its floating plume, shooting off like a bullet, two +or three foot soldiers running about in the midst of the fray,--all +would come and go like lightning. The trampled grain, the rain +streaking the heavens, the wounded under the feet of the horses, all +came out of the black night--through the storm which had just broken +out--for a quarter of a second. + +Every flash of musket or pistol showed us inexplicable things by +thousands. But everything moved up the hill and away from Ligny; we +were masters. + +We had pierced the enemy's centre, the Prussians no longer made any +defence, except at the top of the hill near the mills and in the +direction of Sombref, at our right. St. Amand and Ligny were both in +our hands. + +As for us, a dozen or so of our company there alone among the ruins of +the cottages, with our cartridge-boxes almost empty;--we did not know +which way to turn. + +Zébédé, Lieutenant Bretonville, and Captain Florentin had disappeared, +and Sergeant Rabot was in command. He was a little old fellow, thin +and deformed, but as tough as steel; he squinted and seemed to have had +red hair when young. Now, as I speak of him, I seem to hear him say +quietly to us, "The battle is won! by file right! forward, march!" + +Several wanted to stop and make some soup, for we had eaten nothing +since noon and began to be hungry. The sergeant marched down the lane +with his musket on his shoulder, laughing quietly, and saying in an +ironical tone: + +"Oh! soup, soup! wait a little, the commissary is coming!" + +We followed him down the dark lane; about midway we saw a cuirassier on +horseback with his back toward us. He had a sabre cut in the abdomen +and had retired into this lane, the horse leaned against the wall to +prevent him from falling off. + +As we filed past he called out, "Comrades!" But nobody even turned his +head. + +Twenty paces farther on we found the ruins of a cottage completely +riddled with balls, but half the thatched roof was still there, and +this was why Sergeant Rabot had selected it; and we filed into it for +shelter. + +We could see no more than if we had been in an oven; the sergeant +exploded the priming of his musket, and we saw that it was the kitchen, +that the fireplace was at the right, and the stairway on the left. +Five or six Prussians and Frenchmen were stretched on the floor, white +as wax, and with their eyes wide open. + +"Here is the mess-room," said the sergeant, "let every one make himself +comfortable. Our bedfellows will not kick us." + +As we saw plainly that there were to be no rations, each one took off +his knapsack and placed it by the wall on the floor for a pillow. We +could still hear the firing, but it was far in the distance on the hill. + +The rain fell in torrents. The sergeant shut the door, which creaked +on its hinges, and then quietly lighted his pipe. Some of the men were +already snoring when I looked up, and he was standing at the little +window, in which not a pane of glass remained, smoking. + +He was a firm, just man, he could read and write, had been wounded and +had his three chevrons, and ought to have been an officer, only he was +not well formed. + +He soon laid his head on his knapsack, and shortly after all were +asleep. It was long after this when I was suddenly awakened by +footsteps and fumbling about the house outside. + +I raised up on my elbow to listen, when somebody tried to open the +door. I could not help screaming out. "What's the matter?" said the +sergeant. + +We could hear them running away, and Rabot turned on his knapsack +saying: + +"Night birds,--rascals,--clear out, or I'll send a ball after you!" He +said no more and I got up and looked out of the window, and saw the +wretches in the act of robbing the dead and wounded. They were going +softly from one to another, while the rain was falling in torrents. It +was something horrible. + +I lay down again and fell asleep overcome by fatigue. + +At daybreak the sergeant was up and crying, "En route!" + +We left the cottage and went back through the lane. The cuirassier was +on the ground, but his horse still stood beside him. The sergeant took +him by the bridle and led him out into the orchard, pulled the bits +from his mouth and said: + +"Go, and eat, they will find you again by and by." + +And the poor beast walked quietly away. We hurried along the path +which runs by Ligny. The furrows stopped here and some plats of garden +ground lay along by the road. The sergeant looked about him as he +went, and stooped down to dig up some carrots and turnips which were +left. I quickly followed his example, while our comrades hastened on +without looking round. + +I saw that it was a good thing to know the fruits of the earth. I +found two beautiful turnips and some carrots, which are very good raw, +but I followed the example of the sergeant and put them in my shako. + +I ran on to overtake the squad, which was directing its steps toward +the fires at Sombref. As for the rest, I will not attempt to describe +to you the appearance of the plateau in the rear of Ligny where our +cuirassiers and dragoons had slaughtered all before them. The men and +horses were lying in heaps. The horses with their long necks stretched +out on the ground and the dead and wounded lying under them. + +Sometimes the wounded men would raise their hands to make signs when +the horses would attempt to get up and fall back, crushing them still +more fearfully. + +Blood! blood! everywhere. The directions of the balls and shot was +marked on the slope by the red lines, just as we see in our country the +lines in the sand formed by the water from the melting snow. But will +you believe it? These horrors scarcely made any impression upon me. +Before I went to Lutzen such a sight would have knocked me down. I +should have thought then, "Do our masters look upon us as brutes? Will +the good God give us up to be eaten by wolves? Have we mothers and +sisters and friends, beings who are dear to us, and will they not cry +out for vengeance?" + +I should have thought of a thousand other things, but now I did not +think at all. From having seen such a mass of slaughter and wrong +every day and in every fashion, I began to say to myself: + +"The strongest are always right. The Emperor is the strongest, and he +has called us, and we must come in spite of everything, from +Pfalzbourg, from Saverne, or other cities, and take our places in the +ranks and march. The one who would show the least sign of resistance +ought to be shot at once. The marshals, the generals, the officers, +down to the last man, follow their instructions, they dare not make a +move without orders, and everybody obeys the army. It is the Emperor +who wills, who has the power and who does everything. And would not +Joseph Bertha be a fool to believe that the Emperor ever committed a +single fault in his life? Would it not be contrary to reason?" + +That was what we all thought, and if the Emperor had remained here, all +France would have had the same opinion. + +My only satisfaction was in thinking that I had some carrots and +turnips, for in passing in the rear of the pickets to find our place in +the battalion, we learned that no rations had been distributed except +brandy and cartridges. + +The veterans were filling their kettles; but the conscripts, who had +not yet learned the art of living while on a campaign, and who had +unfortunately already eaten all their bread, as will happen when one is +twenty years old, and is on the march with a good appetite, they had +not a spoonful of anything. At last about seven o'clock we reached the +camp. Zébédé came to meet me and was delighted to see me, and said, +"What have you brought, Joseph? We have found a fat kid and we have +some salt, but not a mouthful of bread." + +I showed him the rice which I had left, and my turnips and carrots. + +"That's good," said he, "we shall have the best soup in the battalion." + +I wanted Buche to eat with us too, and the six men belonging to our +mess, who had all escaped with only bruises and scratches, consented. +Padoue, the drum-major, said, laughing, "Veterans are always veterans, +they never come empty-handed." + +We looked into the kettles of the five conscripts, and winked, for they +had nothing but rice and water in them, while we had a good rich soup, +the odor of which filled the air around us. + +At eight we took our breakfast with an appetite, as you can imagine. + +Not even on my wedding-day did I eat a better meal, and it is a +pleasure even now to think of it. When we are old we are not so +enthusiastic about such things as when we are young, but still we +always recall them with satisfaction. + +This breakfast sustained us a long time, but the poor conscripts with +only a few crumbs as it were soaked in rain water, had a hard time next +day--the 18th. We were to have a short but terrible campaign. + +Though all is over now, yet I cannot think of those terrible sufferings +without emotion, or without thanking God that we escaped them. The sun +shone again and the weather was fine,--we had hardly finished our +breakfast when the drums began to beat the assembly along the whole +line. + +The Prussian rear-guard had just left Sombref, and it was a question +whether we should pursue them. Some said we ought to send out the +light-horse, to pick up the prisoners. But no one paid any attention +to them,--the Emperor knew what he was doing. + +But I remember that everybody was astonished notwithstanding, because +it is the custom to profit by victories. The veterans had never seen +anything like it. They thought that the Emperor was preparing some +grand stroke; that Ney had turned the enemy's line, and so forth. + +Meanwhile the roll commenced and General Gérard reviewed the Fourth +corps. Our battalion had suffered most, because in the three attacks +we had always been in the front. + +The Commandant Gémeau and Captain Vidal were wounded, and Captains +Grégoire and Vignot killed, seven lieutenants and second lieutenants, +and three hundred and sixty men _hors de combat_. + +Zébédé said that it was worse than at Montmirail, and that they would +finish us up completely before we got through. + +Fortunately the fourth battalion arrived from Metz under Commandant +Délong and took our place in the line. + +Captain Florentin ordered us to file off to the left, and we went back +to the village near the church, where a quantity of carts were +stationed. + +We were then distributed in squads to superintend the removal of the +wounded. Several detachments of chasseurs were ordered to escort the +convoys to Fleurus as there was no room for them at Ligny; the church +was already filled with the poor fellows. We did not select those to +be removed, the surgeons did that, as we could hardly distinguish in +numbers of cases, between the living and the dead. We only laid them +on the straw in the carts. + +I knew how all this was, for I was at Lutzen, and I understand what a +man suffers in recovering from a ball, or a musket-shot, or such a cut +as our cuirassiers made. + +Every time I saw one of these men taken up, I thanked God that I was +not reduced to that condition, and, thinking that the same thing might +befall me, I said to myself: "You do not know how many balls and slugs +have been near you, or you would be horrified." I was astonished that +so many of us had escaped in the carnage, which had been far greater +than at Lutzen or even at Leipzig. The battle had only lasted five +hours, and the dead in many places were piled two or three feet deep. +The blood flowed from under them in streams. Through the principal +street where the artillery went, the mud was red with blood, and the +mud itself was crushed flesh and bones. + +It is necessary to tell you this, in order that the young men may +understand. I shall fight no more, thank God, I am too old, but all +these young men who think of nothing but war, instead of being +industrious and helping their aged parents, should know how the +soldiers are treated. Let them imagine what the poor fellows who have +done their duty think, as they lie in the street, wanting an arm or a +leg, and hear the cannon, weighing twelve or fifteen thousand pounds, +coming with their big well-shod horses, plunging and neighing. + +Then it is that they will recall their old parents who embraced them in +their own village, while they went off saying: + +"I am going, but I shall return with the cross of honor, and with my +epaulettes." + +Yes, indeed! if they could weep and ask God's pardon, we should hear +their cries and complaints, but there is no time for that; the cannon +and the caissons with their freight of bombs and bullets arrive--and +they can hear their own bones crack beforehand--and all pass right over +their bodies, just as they do through the mud. + +When we are old, and think that such horrible things may happen to the +children we love, we feel as if we would part with the last sou before +we would allow them to go. + +But all this does no good, bad men cannot be changed, while good ones +must do their duty, and if misfortune comes, their confidence in the +justice of God remains. Such men do not destroy their fellows from the +love of glory, they are forced to do so, they have nothing with which +to reproach themselves, they defend their own lives and the blood which +is shed is not on their hands. + +But I must finish my story of the battle and the removal of the wounded. + +I saw sights there which are incredible; men killed in a moment of +fury, whose faces had not lost their horrible expression, still held +their muskets in their hands and stood upright against the walls, and +you could almost hear them cry, as they stared with glazed eyes, "To +the bayonet! No quarter!" + +It was with this thought and this cry that they appeared before God. +He was awaiting them, and He may have said to them, "Here am I. Thou +killest thy brethren--thou givest no quarter? None shall be given +thee!" + +I have seen others mortally wounded strangling each other. At Fleurus +we were obliged to separate the French and the Prussians, because they +would rise from their beds, or their bundles of straw, to tear each +other to pieces. Ah! war! those who wish for it, and those who make +men like ferocious beasts, will have a terrible account to settle above. + + + + +XX + +The removal of the wounded continued until night. About noon shouts of +_Vive l'Empereur_ extended along the whole line of our bivouac from the +village of Bry to Sombref. Napoleon had left Fleurus with his staff +and had passed in review the whole army on the plateau. These shouts +continued for an hour, and then all was quiet and the army took up its +march. + +We waited a long time for the orders to follow, but as they did not +come, Captain Florentin went to see what was the matter, and came back +at full speed shouting, "Beat the assembly!" The detachments of the +battalion joined each other and we passed through the village at a +quick step. + +All had left, many other squads had received no orders, and in the +vicinity of St. Amand the streets were full of soldiers. + +Several companies remained behind, and reached the road by crossing the +fields on the left, where we could see the rear of the column as far as +the eye could reach--caissons, wagons, and baggage of every sort. + +I have often thought that we might have been left behind, as Gérard's +division was at St. Amand, and nobody could have blamed us, as we +followed our orders to pick up the wounded, but Captain Florentin would +have thought himself dishonored. + +We hurried forward as fast as possible. It had commenced to rain again +and we slipped in the mud and darkness. I never saw worse weather, not +even at the retreat from Leipzig when we were in Germany. The rain +came down as if from a watering pot, and we tramped on with our guns +under our arms with the cape of our cloaks over the locks, so wet that +if we had been through a river it could not have been worse; and such +mud! With all this we began to feel the want of food. Buche kept +saying: + +"Well! a dozen big potatoes roasted in the ashes as we do at Harberg +would rejoice my eyes. We don't eat meat every day at home, but we +always have potatoes." + +I thought of our warm little room at Pfalzbourg, the table with its +white cloth, Father Goulden with his plate before him, while Catherine +served the rich hot soup and the smoked cutlets on the gridiron. My +present sufferings and troubles overwhelmed me, and if wishing for +death only had been necessary to rid me of them, I should have long ago +been out of this world. + +The night was dark, and if it had not been for the ruts, into which we +plunged to our knees at every step, we should have found it difficult +to keep the road; as it was, we had only to march in the mud to be sure +we were right. + +Between seven and eight o'clock we heard in the distance something like +thunder. Some said: "It is a thunder-storm!" others, "It is cannon!" + +Great numbers of disbanded soldiers were following us. + +At eight o'clock we reached Quatre-Bras. There are two houses opposite +each other at the intersection of the road from Nivelles to Namur with +that from Brussels to Charleroi. They were both full of wounded men. +It was here that Marshal Ney had given battle to the English, to +prevent them from going to the support of the Prussians along the road +by which we had just come. He had but twenty thousand men against +forty thousand, and yet Nicholas Cloutier, the tanner, maintains to-day +even, that he ought to have sent half his troops to attack the Prussian +rear, as if it were not enough to stop the English. + +To such people everything is easy, but if they were in command, it +would be easy to rout them with four men and a corporal. + +Below us the barley and oat fields were full of dead men. It was then +that I saw the first red-coats stretched out in the road. + +The captain ordered us to halt, and he went into the house at the +right. We waited for some time in the rain, when he came out with +Dauzelot, general of the division, who was laughing, because we had not +followed Grouchy toward Namur; the want of orders had compelled us to +turn off to Quatre-Bras. Notwithstanding, we received orders to +continue our march without stopping. + +I thought I should drop every moment from weakness, but it was worse +still when we overtook the baggage, for then we were obliged to march +on the sides of the road, and the farther from it we went the more +deeply we sank in the soft soil. + +About eleven o'clock we reached a large village called Genappe, which +lies on both sides of the route. + +The crowd of wagons, cannon, and baggage was so great that we were +forced to turn to the right and cross the Thy by a bridge, and from +this point we continued to march through the fields of grain and hemp, +like savages who respect nothing. The night was so dark that the +mounted dragoons, who were placed at intervals of two hundred paces +like guide-posts, kept shouting, "This way, this way!" + +About midnight we reached a sort of farm-house thatched with straw, +which was filled with superior officers. It was not far from the main +road, as we could hear the cavalry and artillery and baggage wagons +rushing by like a torrent. + +The captain had hardly got into the house, when we jumped over the +hedge into the garden. I did like the rest, and snatched what I could. +Nearly the whole battalion followed this example in spite of the shouts +of the officers, and each one began digging up what he could find with +his bayonet. In two minutes there was nothing left. The sergeants and +corporals were with us, but when the captain returned we had all +regained our ranks. + +Those who pillage and steal on a campaign ought to be shot; but what +could you do? There was not a quarter enough food in the towns through +which we passed to supply such numbers. The English had already taken +nearly everything. We had a little rice left, but rice without meat is +not very strengthening. + +The English troops received sheep and beeves from Brussels, they were +well fed and glowing with health. We had come too late, the convoys of +supplies were belated, and the next day when the terrible battle of +Waterloo was fought the only ration we received was brandy. + +We left the village, and on mounting a little elevation we perceived +the English pickets through the rain. We were ordered to take a +position in the grain fields with several regiments which we could not +see, and not to light our fires for fear of alarming the English, if +they should discover us in line, and so induce them to continue their +retreat. + +Now just imagine us lying in the grain under a pouring rain like +regular gypsies, shivering with cold and bent on destroying our +fellows, and happy in having a turnip or a radish to keep up our +strength and tell me if that is the kind of life for honest people. Is +it for that, that God has created us and put us in the world? Is it +not abominable that a king or an emperor, instead of watching over the +affairs of the state, encouraging commerce, and instructing the people +in the principles of liberty and giving good examples, should reduce us +to such a condition as that by hundreds of thousands. I know very well +that this is called glory, but the people are very stupid to glorify +such men as those. Yes, indeed, they must have first lost all sense of +right, all heart, and all religion! + +But all this did not prevent my teeth from chattering, or from seeing +the English in our front warming and enjoying themselves around their +good fires, after receiving their rations of beef, brandy, and tobacco. +And I thought, "It is we poor devils, drenched to our very marrow, who +are to be compelled to attack these fellows who are full of confidence, +and want neither cannon nor supplies, who sleep with their feet to the +fire, with their stomachs well lined, while we must lie here in the +mud." I was indignant the whole night. Buche would say: + +"I do not care for the rain, I have been through many a worse one when +on the watch; but then I had at least a crust of bread and some onions +and salt." + +I was quite absorbed with my own troubles and said nothing, but he was +angry. + +The rain ceased between two and three in the morning. Buche and I were +lying back to back in a furrow, in order to keep warm, and at last +overcome by fatigue I fell asleep. + +When I woke about five in the morning, the church bells were ringing +matins over all that vast plain. + +I shall never forget the scene; and as I looked at the gray sky, the +trampled grain, and my sleeping comrades on the right and left, my +heart sunk under the sense of desolation. The sound of the bells as +they responded to each other from Planchenois to Genappe, from +Frichemont to Waterloo, reminded me of Pfalzbourg, and I thought: + +"To-day is Sunday, the day of rest and peace. Mr. Goulden has hung his +best coat, with a white shirt, on the back of his chair. He is getting +up now and he is thinking of me; Catherine has risen too and is sitting +crying on the bed, and Aunt Grédel at Quatre Vents is pushing open the +shutters and she has taken her prayer-book from the shelf and is going +to mass." I could hear the bells of Dann and Mittelbronn and Bigelberg +ring out in the silence. I thought of that peaceful quiet life and was +ready to burst into tears. + +The roll of the drums was heard through the damp air, and there was +something inauspicious and portentous in the sound. + +Near the main road, on the left, they were beating the assembly, and +the bugles of the cavalry sounded the reveille. The men rose and +looked over the grain. Those three days of marching and fighting in +the bad weather without rations made them sober; there was no talking +as at Ligny, every one looked in silence and kept his thoughts to +himself. + +We could see too, that the battle was to be a much more important +affair, for instead of having villages already occupied, which caused +so many separate battles, on our front, there was an immense elevated +naked plain on which the English were encamped. + +Behind their lines at the top of the hill was the village of +Mont-St.-Jean, and a league and a half still farther away, was a forest +which bounded the horizon. + +Between us and the English, the ground descended gently and rose again +nearest us, forming a little valley, but one must have been accustomed +to the country to perceive this; it was deepest on the right and +contracted like a ravine. On the slope of this ravine on our side, +behind the hedges and poplars and other trees, some thatched roofs +indicated a hamlet; this was Planchenois. In the same direction but +much higher, and in the rear of the enemy's left, the plain extended as +far as the eye could reach, and was scattered over with little villages. + +The clear atmosphere after the storm enabled us to distinguish all this +very plainly. + +We could even see the little village of Saint-Lambert three leagues +distant on our right. + +At our left in the rear of the English right, there were other little +villages to be seen, of which I never knew the names. + +We took in all this grand region covered with a magnificent crop just +in flower, at a glance; and we asked ourselves why the English were +there, and what advantage they had in guarding that position. But when +we observed their line a little more closely--it was from fifteen +hundred to two thousand yards from us--we could see the broad, +well-paved road, which we had followed from Quatre-Bras and which led +to Brussels, dividing their position nearly in the centre. It was +straight, and we could follow it with the eye to the village of +Mont-St.-Jean and beyond quite to the entrance of the forest of +Soignes. This we saw the English intended to hold to prevent us from +going to Brussels. + +On looking carefully we could see that their line of battle was curved +a little toward us at the wings, and that it followed a road which cut +the route to Brussels like a cross. On the left it was a deep cut, and +on the right of the road it was bordered with thick hedges of holly and +dwarf beech which are common in that country. Behind these were posted +mass of red-coats who watched us from their trenches. In the front, +the slope was like a glacis. This was very dangerous. + +Immense bodies of cavalry were stationed on the flanks, which extended +nearly three-quarters of a league. + +We saw that the cavalry on the plateau in the vicinity of the main road +after having passed the hill, descended before going to Mont-St.-Jean, +and we understood that there was a hollow between the position of the +English and that village; not very deep, as we could see the plumes of +the soldiers as they passed through, but still deep enough to shelter +heavy reserves from our bullets. + +I had already seen Weissenfels, Lutzen, Leipzig, and Ligny, and I began +to understand what these things meant, and why they arranged themselves +in one way rather than another, and I thought that the manner in which +these English had laid their plans and stationed their forces on this +cross-road to defend the road to Brussels, and to shelter their +reserves, showed a vast deal of good sense. + +But in spite of all that, three things seemed to me to be in our favor. +The position of the enemy with its covered ways and hidden reserves was +like a great fort. Every one knows that in time of war everything is +demolished that can furnish a shelter to the enemy. + +Well! just in their centre, on the high-road and on the slope of their +glacis, was a farm-house like the "Roulette" at Quatre Vents, but five +or six times larger. + +I could see it plainly from where we stood. It was a great square, the +offices, the house, the stables and barns formed a triangle on the side +toward the English, and on our side the other half was formed by a wall +and sheds, with a court in the centre. The wall running along the +field side, had a small door, the other on the road had an entrance for +carriages and wagons. + +It was built of brick and was very solid. Of course the English had +filled it with troops like a sort of demilune, but if we could take it +we should be close to their centre and could throw our attacking +columns upon them, without remaining long under their fire. + +Nothing could be better for us. This place was called Haie-Sainte, as +we found out afterward. + +A little farther on, in front of their right wing was another little +farmstead and grove, which we could also try to take. I could not see +it from where I stood, but it was a stronger position than Haie-Sainte +as it was covered by an orchard, surrounded with walls, and farther on +was the wood. The fire from the windows swept the garden, and that +from the garden covered the wood, and that from the wood the side-hill, +and the enemy could beat a retreat from one to the other. + +I did not see this with my own eyes, but some veterans gave me an +account of the attack on this farm; it was called Hougoumont. + +One must be exact in speaking of such a battle, the things seen with +one's own eyes are the principal, and we can say: + +"I saw them, but the other accounts I had from men incapable of +falsehood or deception." + +And lastly in front of their left wing on the road leading to Wavre, +about a hundred paces from the hill on our side, were the farms of +Papelotte and La Haye, occupied by the Germans, and the little hamlets +of Smohain, Cheval-de-Bois, and Jean-Loo, which I informed myself about +afterward in order to understand all that took place. I could see +these hamlets plainly enough then, but I did not pay much attention to +them as they were beyond our line of battle on the right, and we did +not see any troops there. + +Now you can all see the position of the English on our front, the road +to Brussels which traversed it, the cross-road which covered it, the +plateau in the rear where the reserves were, and the three farms, +Hougoumont, Haie-Sainte, and Papelotte in front, well garrisoned. You +can all see that it would be very difficult to force. + +I looked at it about six o'clock that morning very attentively, as a +man will do who is to run the risk of breaking his bones and losing his +life in some enterprise, and who at least likes to know if he has any +chance of escape. + +Zébédé, Sergeant Rabot, and Captain Florentin, Buche, and indeed every +one as he rose cast a glance at that hill-side without saying a word. +Then they looked around them at the great squares of infantry, the +squadrons of cuirassiers, of dragoons, chasseurs, lancers, etc., +encamped amid the growing grain. + +Nobody had any fears now that the English would beat a retreat, we +lighted as many fires as we pleased, and the smoke from the damp straw +filled the air. Those who had a little rice left, put on their +camp-kettles, while those who had none looked on thinking: + +"Each has his turn; yesterday we had meat, and we despised the rice, +now we should be very grateful for even that." + +About eight o'clock the wagons arrived with cartridges and hogsheads of +brandy; each soldier received a double ration: with a crust of bread we +might have done very well, but the bread was not there. You can +imagine what sort of humor we were in. + +This was all we had that day: immediately after, the grand movements +commenced. Regiments joined their brigades, brigades their divisions, +and the divisions re-formed their corps. Officers on horseback carried +orders back and forth, everything was in motion. + +Our battalion joined Donzelot's division; the others had only eight +battalions, but his had nine. + +I have often heard the veterans repeat the order of battle given by +Napoleon. The corps of Reille was on the left of the road opposite +Hougoumont, that of d'Erlon, at the right, opposite Haie-Sainte; Ney on +horseback on the highway, and Napoleon in the rear with the Old Guard, +the special detachments, the lancers and chasseurs, etc. That was all +that I understood, for when they began to talk of the movements of +eleven columns, of the distance which they deployed, and when they +named the generals one after another, it seemed to me as if they were +talking of something which I had never seen. + +I like better therefore to tell you simply what I saw and remember +myself. + +The first movement was at half-past eight, when our four divisions +received the order to take the advance to the right of the highway. +There were about fifteen or twenty thousand men marching in two +columns, with arms at will, sinking to our knees at every step in the +soft ground. Nobody spoke a word. + +Several persons have related that we were jubilant and were all +singing; but it is false. Marching all night without rations, sleeping +in the water, forbidden to light a fire, when preparing for showers of +grape and canister, all this took away any inclination to sing, we were +glad to pull our shoes out of the holes in which they were buried at +every step, and chilled and drenched to our waists by the wet grain, +the hardiest and most courageous among us wore a discontented air. It +is true that the bands played marches for their regiments, that the +trumpets of the cavalry, the drums of the infantry, and the trombones +mingled their tones and produced a terrible effect, as they do always. + +It is also true that these thousands of men marched briskly and in good +order, with their knapsacks at their backs, and their muskets on their +shoulders, the white lines of the cuirassiers followed the red, brown, +and green of the dragoons, hussars, and lancers, with their little +swallow-tailed pennons filling the air; the artillerymen in the +intervals between the brigades, on horseback around their guns, which +cut through the ground to their axles,--all these moved straight +through the grain, not a head of which remained standing behind them, +and truly there could not be a sight more dreadful. + +The English drawn up in perfect order in front, their gunners ready +with their lighted matches in their hands, made us think, but did not +delight us quite so much as some have pretended, and men who like to +receive cannon-balls are still rather rare. + +Father Goulden told me that the soldiers sang in his time, but then +they went voluntarily and not from force. They fought in defence of +their homes and for human rights, which they loved better than their +own eyes, and it was not at all like risking our lives to find out +whether we were to have an old or a new nobility. As for me, I never +heard any one sing either at Leipzig or Waterloo. + +On we went, the bands still playing by order from head-quarters. + +The music ceased, and the silence which followed was profound. Then we +were at the edge of the little valley, and about twelve hundred paces +from the English left. We were in the centre of our army, with the +chasseurs and lancers on our right flank. + +We took our distances and closed up the intervals. The first brigade +of the first division turned to the left and formed on the highway. +Our battalion formed a part of the second division, and we were in the +first line, with a single brigade of the first division before us. The +artillery was passed up to the front, and that of the English was +directly opposite and on the same level. And for a long time the other +divisions were moving up to support us. It seemed as if the earth +itself was in motion. The veterans would say: "There are Milhaud's +cuirassiers! Here are the chasseurs of Lefebvre-Desnoëttes! Yonder is +Lobau's corps!" + +On every side, as far as the eye could reach, there was nothing to be +seen but cuirasses, helmets, colbacks,[1] sabres, lances, and files of +bayonets. + + +[1] Military caps of bear-skin. + + +"What a battle," exclaimed Buche. "Woe to the English!" + +I had the same thought; I did not believe a single Englishman would +escape. But it was we who were unfortunate that day, though had it not +been for the Prussians I still believe we should have exterminated them. + +During the two hours we stood there, we did not see the half of our +regiments and squadrons, and new ones were continually coming. About +an hour after we took our position we heard suddenly on the left, +shouts of "Vive l'Empereur," they increased as they approached us like +a tempest; we all stood on our tiptoes and stretched our necks to see; +they spread through all the ranks, and even the horses in the rear +neighed as if they would shout too. At that moment a troop of general +officers whirled along our front like the wind. Napoleon was among +them, and I thought I saw him, though I was not certain, he went so +swiftly, and so many men raised their shakos on the points of their +bayonets that I hardly had time to distinguish his round shoulders and +gray coat in the midst of the laced uniforms. When the captain had +shouted, "Carry arms! present arms!" it was over. + +We saw him in this way every day, at least when we were on guard. + +After he had passed, the shouts continued along our right farther and +farther away, and we all thought the battle would begin in twenty +minutes. + +But we were obliged to wait a long time and we grew impatient. The +conscripts in d'Erlon's corps, who were not in battle the day before, +began to shout "Forward!" At last, about noon, the cannon thundered on +the left and were followed by the fire from the battalion and then the +file. We could see nothing, for it was on the other side of the road. +The attack had commenced on Hougoumont. Immediately shouts of "Vive +l'Empereur!" broke out. The cannoneers of our four divisions were +standing the whole length of the hill-side, at twenty paces from each +other. At the discharge of the first gun, they all commenced to load +at once. I see them still, as they put in the charge, ram it home, +raise up, and shake out their matches as by a single movement. This +made us shiver. The captains of the guns, nearly all old officers, +stood behind their pieces and gave orders as if on parade; and when the +whole twenty-four guns went off together, the report was deafening, and +the whole valley was covered with smoke. + +At the end of a second, we heard the calm voices of these veterans +above the whistling in our ears saying "Load! take aim! fire!" And +that continued without interruption for half an hour. We could see +nothing at all, but the English had opened their fire, and we heard +their bullets scream in the air and strike with a dull sound in the +mud; and then we could hear another sound too, that of the muskets +striking against each other, and the sound of the bodies of wounded men +as they were thrown like boneless sacks twenty paces in the rear, or +sank in a heap with a leg or an arm wanting. All this mingled with the +dull rumbling; the destruction had commenced. + +The groans of the wounded mingled also with these sounds, and with the +fierce terrible neighing of the horses, which are naturally ferocious, +and delight in slaughter. We could hear this tumult half a league in +the rear; and it was with great difficulty the animals could be +restrained from setting off to join in the battle. + +For a long time we had been able to see nothing but the shadows of the +gunners as they manoeuvred in the smoke, on the border of the ravine, +when we heard the order, "Cease firing!" At the same moment we heard +the piercing voices of the colonels of our four divisions shout, "Close +up the ranks for battle!" All the lines approached each other. + +"Now it is our turn," said I to Buche. + +"Yes," he replied, "let us keep together." + +The smoke from our guns rose up into the air, and then we could see the +batteries of the English, who still continued their fire all along the +hedges which bordered the road. + +The first brigade of Alix's division advanced at a quick step along the +road leading to Haie-Sainte. In the rear I recognized Marshal Ney with +several of the officers of his staff. + +From every window of the farm-house, and from the garden, and walls +which had been pierced with holes, came fiery showers, and at every +step men were left stretched on the road. General Ney on horseback +with the corners of his great hat pointing over his shoulders, watched +the action from the middle of the road. I said to Buche: + +"That is Marshal Ney, the second brigade will go to support the first, +and we shall come next." + +But I mistook; at that very moment the first battalion of the second +brigade received orders to march in line on the right of the highway, +the second in the rear of the first, the third behind the second, and +the fourth following in file. + +We had not time to form in column, but we were solidly arrayed after +all, one behind the other, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred +men in line in front, the captains between the companies, and the +commandants between the battalions. But the balls instead of carrying +off two men at a time would now take eight. Those in the rear could +not fire because those in front were in the way and we found too that +we could not form in squares. That should have been thought of +beforehand, but was overlooked in the desire to break the enemy's line +and gain all at a blow. + +Our division marched in the same order: as the first battalion +advanced, the second followed immediately in their steps, and so on +with all the rest. I was pleased to see, that, commencing on the left, +we should be in the twenty-fifth rank, and that there must be terrible +slaughter before we should be reached. + +The two divisions on our right were also formed in close column, at +three hundred paces from each other. + +Thus we descended into the little valley, in the face of the English +fire. We were somewhat delayed by the soft ground, but we all shouted, +"To the bayonet!" + +As we mounted on the other side, we were met by a hail of balls from +above the road at the left. If we had not been so crowded together, +this terrible volley would have checked us. The charge sounded and the +officers shouted, "Steady on the left!" + +But this terrible fire made us lengthen our right step more than our +left, in spite of ourselves, so that when we neared the road bordered +by the hedges, we had lost our distances and our division formed a +square, so to speak, with the third. + +Two batteries now swept our ranks, and the shot from the hedges a +hundred feet distant pierced us through and through; a cry of horror +burst forth and we rushed on the batteries, overpowering the redcoats +who vainly endeavored to stop us. + +It was then that I first saw the English close at hand. They were +strong, fair, and closely shaved, like well-to-do bourgeois. They +defended themselves bravely, but we were as good as they. It was not +our fault--the common soldiers--if they did defeat us at last, all the +world knows that we showed as much and more courage than they did. + +It has been said that we were not the soldiers of Austerlitz and Jena, +of Friedland and of Moskowa. It was because they were so good, +perhaps, that they were spared. We would have asked nothing better, +than to have seen them in our place. + +Every shot of the English told, and we were forced to break our ranks. +Men are not palisades, and must defend themselves when attacked. + +Great numbers were detached from their companies, when thousands of +Englishmen rose up from among the barley and fired, their muskets +almost touching our men, which caused a terrible slaughter. The other +ranks rushed to the support of their comrades, and we should all have +been dispersed over the hill-side like a swarm of ants, if we had not +heard the shout, "Attention, the cavalry!" + +Almost at the same instant, a crowd of red dragoons mounted on gray +horses, swept down upon us like the wind, and those who had straggled +were cut to pieces without mercy. + +They did not fall upon our columns in order to break them, they were +too deep and massive for that; but they came down between the +divisions, slashing right and left with their sabres, and spurring +their horses into the flanks of the columns to cut them in two, and +though they could not succeed in this, they killed great numbers and +threw us into confusion. + +It was one of the most terrible moments of my life. As an old soldier +I was at the right of the battalion, and saw what they were intending +to do. They leaned over as far as possible when they passed, in order +to cut into our ranks; their strokes followed each other like +lightning, and more than twenty times I thought my head was off my +shoulders, but Sergeant Rabot closed the file fortunately for me; it +was he who received this terrible shower of blows, and he defended +himself to the last breath. At every stroke he shouted, "Cowards, +Cowards!" + +His blood sprinkled me like rain, and at last he fell. My musket was +still loaded, and seeing one of the dragoons coming with his eye fixed +on me and bending over to give me a thrust, I let him have it full in +the breast. This was the only man I ever saw fall under my fire. + +The worst was, that at that moment their foot-soldiers rallied and +recommenced their fire, and they even were so bold as to attack us with +the bayonet. Only the first two ranks made a stand. It was shameful +to form our men in that manner. + +Then the red dragoons and our columns rushed pell-mell down the hill +together. + +And still our division made the best defence, for we brought off our +colors, while the two others had lost two eagles. + +We rushed down in this fashion through the mud and over the cannon, +which had been brought down to support us, and had been cut loose from +the horses by the sabres of the dragoons. + +We scattered in every direction, Buche and I always keeping together, +and it was ten minutes before we could be rallied again near the road +in squads from all the regiments. + +Those who have the direction of affairs in war should keep such +examples as these before their eyes, and reflect that new plans cost +those dear who are forced to try them. + +We looked over our shoulders as we took breath, and saw the red +dragoons rushing up the hill to capture our principal battery of +twenty-four guns, when, thank God! their turn came to be massacred. + +The Emperor had observed our retreat from a distance, and as the +dragoons mounted the hill, two regiments of cuirassiers on the right, +and a regiment of lancers on the left fell on their flanks like +lightning, and before they had time to look, they were upon them. We +could hear the blows slide over their cuirasses, hear their horses +puff, and a hundred paces away we could see the lances rise and fall, +the long sabres stretch out, and the men bend down to thrust under; the +furious horses, rearing, biting, and neighing frightfully, and then men +under the horses' feet were trying to get up, and sheltering themselves +with their hands. + +What horrible things are battles! Buche shouted, "Strike hard!" + +I felt the sweat run down my forehead, and others with great gashes, +and their eyes full of blood, were wiping their faces and laughing +ferociously. + +In ten minutes, seven hundred dragoons were _hors-de-combat_; their +gray horses were running wildly about on all sides, with their bits in +their teeth. Some hundreds of them had retired behind their batteries, +but more than one was reeling in his saddle and clutching at his +horse's mane. + +They had found out that to attack was not all the battle, and that very +often circumstances arise which are quite unexpected. + +In all that frightful spectacle, what impressed me most deeply, was +seeing our cuirassiers returning with their sabres red to the hilt, +laughing among themselves; and a fat captain with immense brown +mustaches, winked good-humoredly as he passed by us, as much as to say, +"You see we sent them back in a hurry, eh!" + +Yes, but three thousand of our men were left in that little hollow. +And it was not yet finished: the companies and battalions and brigades +were being re-formed, the musketry rattled in the vicinity of +Haie-Sainte, and the cannon thundered near Hougoumont. "It was only +just a beginning," the officers said. You would have thought that +men's lives were of no value! + +But it was necessary to get possession of Haie-Sainte, and to force a +passage from the highway to the enemy's centre just as an entrance must +be effected into a fortification through the fire of the outworks and +the demilunes. We had been repulsed the first time, but the battle was +begun, and we could not go back. After the charge of the cuirassiers, +it took a little time for us to re-form: the battle continued at +Hougoumont, and the cannonade re-opened on our right, and two batteries +had been brought up to sweep the highway in the rear of Haie-Sainte, +where the road begins to mount the hill. We all saw that that was to +be the point of attack. + +We stood waiting with shouldered arms, when about three o'clock Buche +looked behind him on the road and said, "The Emperor is coming!" + +And others in the ranks repeated, "Here is the Emperor." + +The smoke was so thick that we could barely see the bear-skin caps of +the Old Guard on the little hill of Rossomme. I turned round also to +see the Emperor, and immediately recognized Marshal Ney, with five or +six of his staff officers. He was coming from head-quarters and pushed +straight down upon us across the fields. We stood with our backs to +him; our officers hurried to meet him, and they conversed together, but +we could not hear a word in consequence of the noise which filled our +ears. + +The marshal then rode along the front of our two battalions, with his +sword drawn. I had never seen him so near since the grand review at +Aschaffenbourg; he seemed older, thinner, and more bony, but still the +same man; he looked at us with his sharp gray eyes, as if he took us +all in at a glance, and each one felt, as if he were looking directly +at him. + +At the end of a second he pointed toward Haie-Sainte with his sword, +and exclaimed: + +"We are going to take _that_, you will have the whole at once, it is +the turning-point of the battle. I am going to lead you myself. +Battalions by file to the left!" + +We started at a quick step on the road, marching by companies in three +ranks. I was in the second. Marshal Ney was in front, on horseback, +with the two colonels and Captain Florentin: he had returned his sword +to the scabbard. The balls whistled round our ears by hundreds, and +the roar of cannon from Hougoumont and on our left and right in the +rear was so incessant, that it was like the ringing of an immense bell, +when you no longer hear the strokes, but only the booming. One and +another sank down from among us, but we passed right on over them. + +Two or three times the marshal turned round to see if we were marching +in good order; he looked so calm, that it seemed to me quite natural +not to be afraid, his face inspired us all with confidence, and each +one thought, "Ney is with us, the others are lost!" which only shows +the stupidity of the human race, since so many others besides us +escaped. + +As we approached the buildings the report of the musketry became more +distinct from the roar of cannon, and we could better see the flash of +the guns from the windows, and the great black roof above in the smoke, +and the road blocked up with stones. + +We went along by a hedge, behind which crackled the fire of our +skirmishers, for the first brigade of Alix's division had not quitted +the orchards; and on seeing us filing along the road, they commenced to +shout, "Vive l'Empereur." + +The whole fire of the German musketry was then turned on us, when +Marshal Ney drew his sword and shouted in a voice which reached every +ear, "Forward!" + +He disappeared in the smoke with two or three officers, and we all +started on a run, our cartridge-boxes dangling about our hips, and our +muskets at the "ready." + +Far to the rear they were beating the charge; we did not see the +marshal again till we reached a shed which separated the garden from +the road, when we discovered him on horseback before the main entrance. + +It appeared that they had already tried to force the door, as there was +a heap of dead men, timbers, paving stones, and rubbish piled up before +it, reaching to the middle of the road. The shot poured from every +opening in the building, and the air was heavy with the smell of the +powder. + +"Break that in," shouted the marshal. Fifteen or twenty of us dropped +our muskets, and seizing beams we drove them against the door with such +force, that it cracked and echoed back the blows like thunder. You +would have thought it would drop at every stroke; we could see through +the planks the paving stones heaped as high as the top inside. It was +full of holes, and when it fell it might have crushed us, but fury had +rendered us blind to danger. We no longer had any resemblance to men, +some had lost their shakos, others had their clothes nearly torn off; +the blood ran from their fingers and down their sides, and at every +discharge of musketry the shot from the hill struck the paving stones, +pounding them to dust around us. + +I looked about me, but I could not see either Buche or Zébédé or any +others of our company, the marshal had disappeared also. Our rage +redoubled; and as the timbers went back and forth, we grew furious to +find that the door would not come down, when suddenly we heard shouts +of "Vive l'Empereur" from the court, accompanied with a most horrible +uproar. Every one knew that our troops had gained an entrance into the +enclosure. We dropped the timbers, and seizing our guns we sprang +through the breaches into the garden to find where the others had +entered. It was in the rear of the house through a door opening into +the barn. We rushed through one after the other like a pack of wolves. + +The interior of this old structure, with its lofts full of hay and +straw, and its stables covered with thatch, looked like a bloody nest +which had been attacked by a sparrow-hawk. + +On a great dung-heap in the middle of the court, our men were +bayoneting the Germans who were yelling and swearing savagely. + +I was running hap-hazard through this butchery, when I heard some one +call, "Joseph, Joseph!" I looked round, thinking, "That is Buche +calling me." In a moment I saw him at the door of a woodshed, crossing +bayonets with five or six of our men. + +I caught sight of Zébédé at that same instant, as our company was in +that corner, and rushing to Buche's assistance, I shouted, "Zébédé!" +Parting the combatants, I asked Buche what was the matter. + +"They want to murder my prisoners!" said he. I joined him, and the +others began to load their muskets to shoot us. They were voltigeurs +from another battalion. + +At that moment Zébédé came up with several men from our company, and +without knowing how the matter stood, he seized the most brutal one by +the throat and exclaimed, "My name is Zébédé, sergeant of the Sixth +light infantry. When this affair is settled, we will have a mutual +explanation." + +Then they went away, and Zébédé asked: + +"What is all this, Joseph?" + +I told him we had some prisoners. He turned pale with anger against +us, but when he went into the wood-shed he saw an old major, who +presented him the guard of his sabre in silence, and another soldier, +who said in German, "Spare my life, Frenchman; don't take my life." + +The cries of the dying still filled the court, and his heart relenting, +Zébédé said, "Very well, I take you prisoners." + +He went out and shut the door. We did not quit the place again until +the assembly began to beat. + +Then, when the men were in their ranks, Zébédé notified Captain +Florentin that we had taken a major and a soldier prisoners. + +They were brought out and marched across the court without arms, and +put in a room with three or four others. These were all that remained +of the two battalions of Nassau troops which were intrusted with the +defence of Haie-Sainte. + +While this had been going on, two other battalions from Nassau, who +were coming to the assistance of their comrades, had been massacred +outside by our cuirassiers, so that for the moment we were victorious: +we were masters of the principal outpost of the English and could begin +our attack on their centre, cut their communication by the highway with +Brussels, and throw them into the miserable roads of the forest of +Soignes. We had had a hard struggle, but the principal part of the +battle had been fought. We were two hundred paces from the English +lines, well sheltered from their fire; and I believe, without boasting, +that with the bayonet and well supported by the cavalry, we could have +fallen upon them, and pierced their line. An hour of good work would +have finished the affair. + +But while we were all rejoicing over our success, and the officers, +soldiers, drummers, and trumpeters were all in confusion, amongst the +ruins, thinking of nothing but stretching our legs and getting breath, +the rumor suddenly reached us that the Prussians were coming, that they +were going to fall on our flank, and that we were about to have two +battles, one in front and the other on our right, and that we ran the +risk of being surrounded by a force double our own. + +This was terrible news, but several hot-headed fellows exclaimed: + +"So much the better, let the Prussians come! we will crush them all at +once." + +Those who were cool saw at once what a mistake we had made by not +making the most of our victory at Ligny, and in allowing the Prussians +quietly to leave in the night without being pursued by our cavalry, as +is always done. + +We may boldly say that this great fault was the cause of our defeat at +Waterloo. It is true, the Emperor sent Marshal Grouchy the next day at +noon, with thirty-two thousand men to look after the enemy, but then it +was quite too late. In those fifteen hours they had time to re-form, +to communicate with the English, and to act on the defensive. + +The next day after Ligny, the Prussians still had ninety thousand men, +of whom thirty thousand were fresh troops, and two hundred and +seventy-five cannon. With such an army they could do what they +pleased; they could have even fought a second battle with the Emperor, +but they preferred falling on our flank, while we were engaged with the +English in front. That is so plain and clear, that I cannot imagine +how any one can think the movement of the Prussians surprising. + +Blücher had already played us the same trick at Leipzig--and he +repeated it now in drawing Grouchy on to pursue him so far. Grouchy +could not force him to return, and he could not prevent him from +leaving thirty or forty thousand men to stop his pursuers, while he +pushed on to the relief of Wellington. + +Our only hope was that Grouchy had been ordered to return and join us, +and that he would come up in the rear of the Prussians; but the Emperor +sent no such order. + +It was not we, the common soldiers, as you may well think, who had +these ideas; it was the officers and generals; we knew nothing of it; +we were like children, utterly unconscious that their hour is near. + +But now having told you what I think, I will give you the history of +the rest of the battle just as I saw it myself, so that each one of you +will know as much about it as I do. + + + + +XXI + +Almost immediately after the news of the arrival of the Prussians, the +assembly began to beat, the soldiers of the different battalions formed +their ranks, and ours, with another from Quiot's brigade, was left to +guard Haie-Sainte, and all the others went on to join General d'Erlon's +corps, which had advanced again into the valley, and was endeavoring to +flank the enemy on the left. + +The two battalions went to work at once to barricade the doors and the +breaches in the walls with timbers and paving stones, and men were +stationed in ambush at all the holes which the enemy had made in the +wall on the side toward the orchard and on that next the highway. + +Buche and I, with the remainder of our company, were posted over a +stable in a corner of the barn, about ten or twelve hundred paces from +Hougoumont. I can still see the row of holes which the Germans had +knocked in the wall, about as high as a man's head, in order to defend +the orchard. As we went up into this stable, we looked through these +holes, and we could see our line of battle, the high-road to Brussels +and Charleroi, the little farms of Belle-Alliance, Rossomme, and +Gros-Caillou, which lie along this road at little distances from each +other; the Old Guard which was stationed across it, with their +shouldered arms, and the staff on a little eminence at the left, and +farther away in the same direction, in the rear of the ravine of +Planchenois, we could see the white smoke rising continually above the +trees. This was the attack of the first Prussian corps. + +We heard afterward that the Emperor had sent Lobau with ten thousand +men to turn them back. The battle had begun, but the Old and the Young +Guard, the cuirassiers of Milhaud and of Kellerman, and the chasseurs +of Lefebvre-Desnoëttes; in fact the whole of our magnificent cavalry +remained in position. The great, the real battle was with the English. + +What a crowd of thoughts must have been suggested, by that grand +spectacle and that immense plain, to the Emperor, who could see it all +mentally better than we could with our own eyes. + +We might have stayed there for hours, if Captain Florentin had not come +up suddenly, and exclaimed, "What are you doing here? Are we going to +dispute the passage with the Guard? Come! hurry! Knock a hole in that +wall on the side toward the enemy!" + +We picked up the sledges and pickaxes which the Germans had dropped on +the floor, and made holes through the wall of the gable. + +This did not take fifteen minutes, and then we could see the fight at +Hougoumont; the blazing buildings, the bursting of the bombs from +second to second among the ruins, and the Scotch chasseurs in ambuscade +in the road in the rear of the place, and on our right about two +gunshots distant, the first line of the English artillery, falling back +on their centre, and stationing their cannon, which our gunners had +begun to dismount, higher up the hill. But the remainder of their line +did not change; they had squares of red and squares of black touching +each other at the corners like the squares of a chess-board, in the +rear of the deep road; and in attacking them we would come under their +crossfire. Their artillery was in position on the brow of the hill, +and in the hollow on the hill-side toward Mont-St.-Jean their cavalry +was waiting. + +The position of the English seemed to me still stronger than it was in +the morning; and as we had already failed in our attack on their left +wing, and the Prussians had fallen on our flank, the idea occurred to +me, for the first time, that we were not sure of gaining the battle. + +I imagined the horrible rout that would follow in case we lost the +battle--shut in between two armies, one in front and the other on our +flank, and then the invasion which would follow; the forced +contributions, the towns besieged, the return of the émigrés, and the +reign of vengeance. + +I felt that my apprehension had made me grow pale. + +At that moment the shouts of "_Vive l'Empereur_" broke from thousands +of throats behind us. Buche, who stood near me in a corner of the +loft, shouted with all the rest of his comrades, "_Vive l'Empereur!_" + +I leaned over his shoulder and saw all the cavalry of our right wing; +the cuirassiers of Milhaud, the lancers and the chasseurs of the Guard, +more than five thousand men--advancing at a trot. They crossed the +road obliquely and went down into the valley between Hougoumont and +Haie-Sainte. I saw that they were going to attack the squares of the +English, and that our fate was to be decided. + +We could hear the voices of the English artillery officers, giving +their orders, above the tumult and the innumerable shouts of "_Vive +l'Empereur_." + +It was a terrible moment when our cuirassiers crossed the valley; it +made me think of a torrent formed by the melting snows, when millions +of flakes of snow and ice sparkle in the sunshine. The horses, with +the great blue portmanteaux fastened to their croups, stretched their +haunches like deer and tore up the earth with their feet, the trumpets +blew their savage blasts amidst the dull roar as they passed into the +valley, and the first discharge of grape and canister made even our old +shed tremble. The wind blew from the direction of Hougoumont, and +drove the smoke through all the openings; we leaned out to breathe, and +the second and third discharges followed each other instantly. + +I could see through the smoke that the English, gunners had abandoned +their cannon and were running away with their horses, and that our +cuirassiers had immediately fallen upon the squares, which were marked +out on the hill-side by the zig-zag line of their fire. + +Nothing could be heard but a grand uproar of cries, incessant clashing +of arms and neighing of horses, varied with the discharge from time to +time, and then new shouts, new tumult and fresh groans. A score of +horses with their manes erect, rushed through the thick smoke which +settled around us, like shadows; some of them dragging their riders +with one foot caught in the stirrup. + +And this lasted more than an hour. + +After Milhaud's cuirassiers, came the lancers of Lefebvre-Desnoëttes, +after them the cuirassiers of Kellerman, followed by the grenadiers of +the Guard, and after the grenadiers came the dragoons. They all +mounted the hill at a trot, and rushed upon the squares with drawn +sabres, shouting, "_Vive l'Empereur!_" in tones which reached the +clouds. At each new charge it seemed as if the squares must be +overthrown; but when the trumpets sounded the signal for rallying and +the squadrons rushed pell-mell back to the edge of the plateau to +re-form, pursued by the showers of shot, there were the great red +lines, steadfast as walls, in the smoke. + +Those Englishmen are good soldiers, but then they knew that Blücher was +coming to their assistance with sixty thousand men, and no doubt this +inspired them with great courage. + +In spite of everything, at six o'clock we had destroyed half their +squares, but the horses of our cuirassiers were exhausted by twenty +charges over the ground soaked with rain. They could no longer advance +over the heaps of dead. + +As night approached, the great battle-field in our rear began to be +deserted; at last the great plain where we had encamped the night +before was tenantless, only the Old Guard remained across the road with +shouldered arms, all had gone--on the right against the Prussians, on +the left against the English. We looked at each other in terror. + +It was already growing dark, when Captain Florentin appeared at the top +of the ladder, and placing both hands on the floor, he said in a grave +voice, "Men, the time has come to conquer or die!" + +I remembered that these words were in the proclamation of the Emperor, +and we all filed down the ladder. It was still twilight, but all was +gray in the devastated court; the dead were lying stiff on the +dung-heap and along the walls. + +The captain formed our men on the right side of the court, and the +commandant of the other battalion ranged his on the left; our drums +resounded through the old building for the last time, and we filed out +of the little rear door into the garden, stooping one after the other +as we went through. + +The walls of the garden outside had been knocked down, and all along +the rubbish, men were binding up their wounds--one his head, another +his arm or his leg. A cantinière with her donkey and cart, and with a +great straw hat flattened on her back--was there too in a corner. I do +not know what had brought the wretched creature there. Several +sorry-looking horses were standing there, exhausted with fatigue, with +their heads hanging down, and covered with blood and mud. + +What a difference between them now, and in the morning. Then the +companies were half destroyed, but still they were companies. +Confusion was coming. It had taken only three hours to reduce us to +the same condition we were in at Leipzig at the end of a year. The +remains of the two battalions still formed only one line, in good +order, and I must admit that we began to be anxious. + +When men have tasted nothing for twenty-four hours, and have exhausted +all their strength by fighting all day, the pangs of hunger seize them +at night, fear comes also, and the most courageous lose hope. All our +great retreats, with their horrors, are traceable to the want of food. + +For in spite of everything we were not conquered; the cuirassiers still +held their position on the plateau, and from all sides over the thunder +of cannon, over all the tumult, the cry was heard, "The Guard is +coming!" Yes, the Guard was coming at last! We could see them in the +distance on the highway, with their high bear-skin caps, advancing in +good order. + +Those who have never witnessed the arrival of the Guard on the +battle-field, can never know the confidence which is inspired by a body +of tried soldiers; the kind of respect paid to courage and force. + +The soldiers of the Old Guard were nearly all old peasants, born before +the Republic; men five feet and six inches in height, thin and well +built, who had held the plough for convent and chateau; afterward they +were levied with all the rest of the people, and went to Germany, +Holland, Italy, Egypt, Poland, Spain, and Russia, under Kleber, Hoche, +and Marceau first, and under Napoleon afterward. He took special care +of them and paid them liberally. They regarded themselves as the +proprietors of an immense farm, which they must defend and enlarge more +and more. This gained them consideration; they were defending their +own property. They no longer knew parents, relatives, or compatriots; +they only knew the Emperor; he was their God. And lastly they had +adopted the King of Rome, who was to inherit all with them, and to +support and honor them in their old age. Nothing like them was ever +seen, they were so accustomed to march, to dress their lines, to load, +and fire, and cross bayonets, that it was done mechanically in a +measure, whenever there was a necessity. When they advanced, carrying +arms, with their great caps, their white waistcoats and gaiters, they +all looked just alike; you could plainly see that it was the right arm +of the Emperor which was coming. When it was said in the ranks, "The +Guard is going to move," it was as if they had said, "The battle is +gained." + +But now, after this terrible massacre, after the repulse of these +furious attacks, on seeing the Prussians fall on our flank, we said, +"This is the decisive blow." + +And we thought, "If it fails, all is lost." + +This was why we all looked at the Guard as they marched steadily up on +the road. + +It was Ney who commanded them, as he had commanded the cuirassiers. +The Emperor knew that nobody could lead them like Ney, only he should +have ordered them up an hour sooner, when our cuirassiers were in the +squares; then we should have gained all. + +But the Emperor looked upon his Guard as upon his own flesh and blood; +if he had had them at Paris five days later, Lafayette and the rest of +them would not have remained long in their chamber to depose him, but +he had them no longer. + +This was why he waited so long before sending them; he hoped that Ney +would succeed in overwhelming the enemy with the cavalry, or that the +thirty-two thousand men under Grouchy would return, attracted by the +sound of the cannon, and then he could send them in place of his Guard; +because he could always replace thirty or forty thousand by +conscription; but to have another such Guard, he must commence at +twenty-five, and gain fifty victories, and what remained of the best, +most solid, and the toughest would be _the Guard_. + +It came, and we could see it. Ney, old Friant, and several other +generals, marched in front. We could see nothing but _the Guard_--the +roaring cannon, the musketry, the cries of the wounded, all were +forgotten. + +But the lull did not last long; the English perceived as well as we, +that this was to be the decisive blow, and hastened to rally all their +forces to receive it. + +That part of our field at our left was nearly deserted; there was no +more firing, either because their ammunition was exhausted, or the +enemy were forming in a new order. + +On the right, on the contrary, the cannonade was redoubled; the +struggle seemed to have been transferred to that side, but nobody dared +to say, "The Prussians are attacking us; another army has come to crush +us." + +No! the very idea was too horrible; when suddenly a staff officer +rushed past like lightning, shouting: + +"Grouchy, Marshal Grouchy is coming!" + +This was just at the moment when the four battalions of the Guard took +the left of the highway in order to go up in the rear of the orchard, +and commence the attack. + +How many times during the last fifty years I have seen it over again at +night, and how many times I have heard the story related by others. In +listening to these accounts you would think that only the Guard took +part in the attack, that it moved forward like ranks of palisades; and +that it was the Guard alone which received the showers of shot. + +But in truth this terrible attack took place in the greatest confusion; +our whole army joined in it; all the remnant of the left wing and +centre, all that was left of the cavalry exhausted by six hours of +fighting; every one who could stand or lift an arm. The infantry of +Reille which concentrated on the left, we who remained at Haie-Sainte, +_all_ who were alive and did not wish to be massacred. + +And when they say we were in a panic of terror and tried to run away +like cowards, it is not true. When the news arrived that Grouchy was +coming, even the wounded rose up and took their places in the ranks; it +seemed as if a breath had raised the dead; and all those poor fellows +in the rear of Haie-Sainte with their bandaged heads and arms and legs, +with their clothes in tatters and soaked with blood, every one who +could put one foot before the other, joined the Guard when it passed +before the breaches in the wall of the garden, and every one tore open +his last cartridge. + +The attack sounded, and our cannon began again to thunder. All was +quiet on the hill-side, the rows of English cannon were deserted, and +we might have thought they were all gone, only as the bear-skin caps of +the Guard rose above the plateau, five or six volleys of shot warned us +that they were waiting for us. + +Then we knew that all those Englishmen, Germans, Belgians, and +Hanoverians, whom we had been sabring and shooting since morning, had +reformed in the rear, and that we must encounter them. Many of the +wounded retired at this moment, and the Guard, upon which the heaviest +part of the enemy's fire had fallen, advanced through the showers of +shot almost alone, sweeping everything before it, but it closed up more +and more, and diminished every moment. In twenty minutes every officer +was dismounted, and the Guard halted before such a terrible fire of +musketry, that even we, two hundred paces in the rear, could not hear +our own guns; we seemed to be only exploding our priming. At last the +whole army, in front, on the right and on the left, with the cavalry on +the flanks, fell upon us. + +The four battalions of the Guard, reduced from three thousand to twelve +hundred men, could not withstand the charge, they fell back slowly, and +we fell back also, defending ourselves with musket and bayonet. + +We had seen other battles more terrible, but this was the last. + +When we reached the edge of the plateau, all the plain below was +enveloped in darkness and in the confusion of the defeat. The +disbanded troops were flying, some on foot and some on horseback. + +A single battalion of the Guard in a square near the farm-house, and +three other battalions farther on, with another square of the Guard at +the junction of the route at Planchenois, stood motionless as some firm +structure in the midst of an inundation which sweeps away everything +else. + +They all went--hussars, chasseurs, cuirassiers, artillery, and +infantry--pell-mell along the road, across the fields, like an army of +savages. + +Along the ravine of Planchenois the dark sky was lighted up by the +discharges of musketry; the one square of the Guard still held out +against Bulow, and prevented him from cutting off our retreat, but +nearer us the Prussian cavalry poured down into the valley like a flood +breaking over its barriers. Old Blücher had just arrived with forty +thousand men: he doubled our right wing and dispersed it. + +What can I say more! It was dissolution--we were surrounded. The +English pushed us into the valley, and it was through this valley that +Blücher was coming. The generals and officers and even the Emperor +himself were compelled to take refuge in a square, and they say that we +poor wretches were panic-stricken! Such an injustice was never seen. + +[Illustration: Combat of Hougoumont Farm.] + +Buche and I with five or six of our comrades ran toward the +farm-house--the bombs were bursting all around us, we reached the road +in our wild flight just as the English cavalry passed at full gallop, +shouting, "No quarter! no quarter!" + +At this moment the square of the Guard began to retreat, firing from +all sides in order to keep off the wretches who sought safety within +it. Only the officers and generals might save themselves. + +I shall never forget, even if I should live a thousand years, the +immeasurable, unceasing cries which filled the valley for more than a +league; and in the distance the _grenadière_ was sounding like an +alarm-bell in the midst of a conflagration. But this was much more +terrible; it was the last appeal of France, of a proud and courageous +nation; it was the voice of the country saying, "Help, my children! I +perish!" + +This rolling of the drums of the Old Guard in the midst of disaster, +had in it something touching and horrible. I sobbed like a +child;--Buche hurried me along, but I cried, "Jean, leave me--we are +lost, everything is lost!" + +The thought of Catherine, and Mr. Goulden, and Pfalzbourg, did not +enter my mind. What astonishes me to-day is, that we were not +massacred a hundred times on the road, where files of English and +Prussians were passing. But perhaps they mistook us for Germans, or +they were running after the Emperor, for they were all hoping to see +him. + +Opposite the little farm of Rossomme, we were obliged to turn off the +road to the right, into the field; it was here that the last square of +the Guard still held out against the attack of the Prussians; they soon +gave way, for twenty minutes afterward the enemy poured over the road, +and the Prussian chasseurs separated into bands to arrest all those who +straggled or remained behind. This road was like a bridge; all who did +not keep on it fell into the abyss. + +At the slope of the ravine in the rear of the inn "Passe-Avant," some +Prussian hussars rushed upon us: there were not more than five or six +of them, and they called out to us to surrender; but if we had raised +the butts of our muskets, they would have sabred us. We aimed at them, +and seeing that we were not wounded, they passed on. + +This forced us to return to the road, where the uproar could be heard +for at least two leagues; cavalry, infantry, artillery, ambulances, and +baggage-wagons, were creeping along the road pell-mell, howling, +beating, neighing, and weeping. The retreat at Leipzig furnished no +such spectacle as this. + +The moon rose above the wood behind Planchenois, and lighted up this +crowd of shapskas,[1] bear-skin caps, helmets, sabres, bayonets, broken +caissons, and abandoned cannon; the crowd and confusion increased every +moment, plaintive howls were heard from one end of the line to the +other, rolling up and down the hill-side and dying away in the distance +like a sigh. + + +[1] Polish military cap. + + +But the saddest of all, were the cries of the women, those unhappy +creatures who follow armies. When they were knocked down or crowded +out on to the slope with their carts, their screams could be heard +above all the uproar, but no one turned his head, not a man stretched +out a hand to help them: "Every one for himself!--I shall crush +you,--so much the worse for you,--I am the stronger--you scream, but it +is all the same to me!--take care,--take care--I am on horseback--I +shall hit you!--room--let me get away--the others do just the +same--room for the Emperor! room for the marshal!" The strong crush +the weak--the only thing in the world is strength! On! on! Let the +cannons crush everything, if we can only save them! + +But the cannon can move no farther,--unhitch them, cut the traces, and +the horses will carry us off. Make them go as fast as possible, and if +they break down--then let them go? If we were not the stronger our +turn would come to be crushed--we should cry out and everybody would +mock at our complaints. Save himself who can--and "_Vive l'Empereur!_" + +"But the Emperor is dead!" + +Everybody thought the Emperor had died with, the Old Guard; that seemed +perfectly natural. + +The Prussian cavalry passed us in files with drawn sabres, shouting, +"Hurrah!" They seemed to be escorting us, but they sabred every one +who straggled from the road, and took no prisoners, neither did they +attack the column; a few musket-shots passed over us from the right and +left. + +Far in the rear we could see a red light: this was the farm-house at +Caillou. + +We hastened onward, borne down with fatigue, hunger, and despair; we +were ready to die, but still the hope of escape sustained us. Buche +said to me as we went along, "Joseph, let us help each other." + +"I will never abandon you," I replied. "We will die together. I can +hold out no longer, it is too terrible,--we might better lie down at +once." + +"No, let us keep on," said he. "The Prussians make no prisoners. +Look! they kill without mercy, just as we did at Ligny." + +We kept on in the same direction with thousands of others, sullen and +discouraged, and yet we would turn round all at once and close our +ranks and fire, when a squadron of Prussians came too near. We were +still firm, still the stronger from time to time; we found abandoned +gun-carriages, caissons, and cannons, and the ditches on either side +were full of knapsacks, cartridge-boxes, guns, and sabres, which had +been thrown away by the men to facilitate their flight. + +But the most terrible thing of all was the great ambulances in the +middle of the road filled with the wounded. The drivers had cut the +traces and fled with the horses for fear of being taken prisoners. The +poor half-dead wretches, with their arms hanging down, looked at us as +we passed with despairing eyes. + +When I think of all this now, it reminds me of the tufts of straw and +hay which lodge among the bushes after an inundation. We say "That is +our harvest, this is our crop, that is what the tempest has left us." + +Ah! I have had many such reflections during fifty years! + +What grieved me most and made my heart bleed in the midst of this rout +was that I could not discover a single man of our battalion besides +ourselves. I said to myself, "They cannot all be dead;" and I said to +Buche: + +"If I could only find Zébédé it would give me back my courage." + +But he replied: "Let us try to save ourselves, Joseph. As for me, if I +ever see Harberg again, I will not complain because I have to eat +potatoes. No, no. God has punished me. I shall be contented to work +and go into the woods with my axe on my shoulder. If only I do not go +home maimed, and if I am not compelled to hold out my hand at the +roadside in order to live, like so many others. Let us try to get home +safe and sound." + +I thought he showed great good sense. + +At about half-past ten, as we reached the environs of Genappe, terrible +cries were heard in the distance. Fires of straw had been lighted in +the middle of the principal street to give light to the multitude, and +we could see from where we were, that the houses were full of people +and the streets so full of horses and baggage that they could not move +a step. We knew that the Prussians might come at any moment, and that +they would have cannon; and that it would be better for us if we went +round the village than to be taken prisoners altogether. This was why +we turned to the left across the grain fields with a great many others. +We crossed the Thy in water up to our waists, and toward midnight we +reached Quatre-Bras. + +We had done well not to stop at Genappe, for we already heard the roar +of the Prussian cannon and musketry near the village. Great numbers of +fugitives came along the road, cuirassiers, lancers, and chasseurs. +Not one of them stopped. + +We began to be terribly hungry. We knew very well that everything in +these houses must have been eaten long ago, but still we went into the +one on the left. The floor was covered with straw, on which the +wounded were lying. We had hardly opened the door when they all began +to cry out at once; to tell the truth, the stench was so horrible that +we left immediately and took the road to Charleroi. The moon shone +beautifully, and we could see on the right amongst the grain a quantity +of dead men, who had not yet been buried. + +Buche followed a furrow about twenty-five paces, to where three or four +Englishmen were lying one on the top of the other. I asked him what he +was going to do amongst the dead. + +He came back with a tin bottle, and shaking it at his ear, he said, +"Joseph, it is full." + +He dipped it in the water of the ditch before opening it, and then took +out the cork and drank, saying, "It is brandy!" + +He passed it to me, and I drank also. I felt my life returning, and I +gave him back the bottle half full, thanking God for the good idea that +he had given us. + +We looked on all sides to see if we could not find some bread in the +haversacks of the dead, but the uproar increased, and as we could not +resist the Prussians if they should surround us, we set off again full +of strength and courage. The brandy made us look at everything on the +bright side already, and I said to Buche: + +"Jean, now the worst is over and we shall see Pfalzbourg and Harberg +again. We are on a good road which will take us back to France. If we +had gained the battle, we should have been forced to go still farther +into Germany, and we should have been obliged to fight the Austrians +and the Russians, and if we had had the good fortune to escape with our +lives, we should have returned old gray-haired veterans, and should +have been compelled to keep garrison at 'Petite Pierre,' or somewhere +else." + +These miserable thoughts ran through my head, but I marched on with +more courage, and Buche said: + +"The English are right in having their bottles made of tin, for if I +had not seen this shining in the moonlight, I should never have thought +of going to look for it." + +Every moment while we were talking in this way men were riding by, +their horses almost ready to drop, but by beating and spurring, they +kept them trotting just the same. + +The noise of the retreating army began to reach our ears again in the +distance, but fortunately we had the advance. + +It might have been about one o'clock in the morning, and we thought +ourselves safe, when suddenly Buche said to me: + +"Joseph, here are the Prussians!" + +And looking behind us, I saw in the moonlight five bronzed hussars from +the same regiment as those who, the year before, had cut poor Klipfel +to pieces. I thought this was a bad sign. + +"Is your gun loaded?" I asked Buche. + +"Yes." + +"Well! let us wait, we must defend ourselves, I will not surrender." + +"Nor I either," said he, "I had rather die than to be taken prisoner." + +At the same moment the Prussian officer shouted arrogantly, "Lay down +your arms." + +Instead of waiting, as I did, Buche discharged the contents of his +musket full in the officer's breast. Then the other four fell upon us. +Buche received a blow from a sabre which cut his shako down to the +visor, but with one thrust with his bayonet he killed his antagonist. +Three of them still remained. My musket was loaded. Buche planted +himself with his back against a nut-tree, and every time the Prussians, +who had fallen back, approached us, I took aim. Neither of them wanted +to be the first to die! As we waited, Buche with his bayonet fixed and +I with my musket at my shoulder, we heard a galloping on the road. +This frightened us, for we thought more Prussians were coming, but they +were our lancers. The hussars then turned off into the grain, and +Buche hastened to re-load his gun. + +Our lancers passed and we followed them on the run. + +An officer who joined us, said that the Emperor had set out for Paris, +and that King Jerome had just taken command of the army. + +Buche's scalp was laid completely open, but the bone was not injured, +and the blood ran down his cheeks. He bound up his head with his +handkerchief. + +After that we saw no more Prussians. + +About two o'clock in the morning, we were so weary we could hardly take +another step. About two hundred paces to the left of the road there +was a little beech grove. Buche said: "Look, Joseph, let us go in +there and lie down and sleep." + +It was just what I wanted. + +We went down across the oat-field to the wood, and entered a close +thicket of young trees. + +We had both kept our guns and knapsacks and cartridge-boxes. We laid +our knapsacks on the ground for a pillow, and it had long been broad +daylight, and the retreating crowd had been passing for hours, when we +awoke and quietly pursued our journey. + + + + +XXII + +Numbers of our comrades and of the wounded remained behind at +Gosselies, but the larger part of the army kept on their way, and about +nine o'clock we began to see the spires of Charleroi in the distance, +when suddenly we heard shouts, cries, complaints, and shots +intermingled, half a league before us. + +The whole immense column of miserable wretches halted, shouting: "The +city closes its doors against us! we are stopped here!" + +Consternation and despair were stamped on every face. + +But a moment after, the news came that the convoys of provisions were +coming and that they would not distribute them. + +"Let us fall upon them! Kill the rascals who are starving us! We are +betrayed!" + +The most fearful and the most exhausted quickened their pace, and drew +their sabres or loaded their muskets. + +It was plain that there would be a veritable butchery if the guards did +not give way. Buche himself shouted: + +"They ought all to be murdered, we are betrayed. Come, Joseph, let us +be revenged." + +But I held him back by the collar and exclaimed: + +"No, Jean, no! We have had murders enough already, and we have escaped +all, and we do not want to be killed here by Frenchmen. Come!" + +He struggled still, but at last I showed him a village on the left of +the road and said: + +"Look! there is the road to Harberg, and there are houses like those at +Quatre Vents; let us go there and ask for bread; I have money, and we +shall certainly find some. That will be better than to attack the +convoys like a pack of wolves." + +He allowed himself to be persuaded at last, and we set off once more +through the grain. If hunger had not urged us on, we should have sat +down on the side of the path at every step. But at the end of half an +hour, thanks to God, we reached a sort of farm-house; it was abandoned, +with the windows broken out, and the door wide open, and great heaps of +black earth lying about. We went in and shouted, "Is there no one +here?" + +We knocked against the furniture with the butts of our muskets, but not +a soul answered. Our fury increased, because we saw several wretches, +following the route by which we had come, and we thought, "They are +coming to eat up our bread." + +Ah! those who have never suffered these privations cannot comprehend +the fury which possessed us. It was horrible--horrible! + +We had already broken open the door of a cupboard filled with linen, +and were turning over everything with our bayonets, when an old woman +came out from behind a table, which hid the passage to the cellar. She +sobbed and exclaimed: + +"My God, my God! have mercy upon us." + +The house had been pillaged early in the morning; they had taken away +the horses, the master had disappeared and the servants had fled. + +In spite of our fury the sight of the poor old woman made us ashamed of +ourselves, and I said to her: + +"Do not be afraid, we are not monsters, only give us some bread, we are +starving." + +She was sitting on an old chair with her withered hands crossed over +her knee, and she said: + +"I no longer have any, they have taken all. My God! all! all!" + +Her gray hair was hanging down over her face, and I felt like weeping +for her and for ourselves. "Well!" I said, "we must look for +ourselves, Buche." We went into all the rooms and the stables, there +was nothing to be seen, everything had been stolen and broken. + +I was going out, when in the shadow behind the old door, I saw +something whitish against the wall. I stopped, and stretched out my +hand. It was a linen bag with a strap, I took it down, trembling in my +hurry. Buche looked at me--the bag was heavy--I opened it, there were +two great black radishes, half of a small loaf of bread, dry and hard +as stone, a large pair of shears for trimming hedges, and quite in the +bottom some onions and some gray salt in a paper. + +On seeing these we made an exclamation of joy, but the fear of seeing +the others come in, made us run out in the rear, far into the +rye-field, skulking and hiding like thieves. + +We had regained all our strength, and we went and sat down on the edge +of a little brook. Buche said: + +"Look here! I must have my part." + +"Yes,--half of all," I replied. "You let me drink from your bottle, I +will divide with you." + +Then he was calm again. I cut the bread in two with my sabre and said: +"Choose, Jean; that is your radish, and there are half the onions, and +we will share the salt between us." We ate the bread without soaking +it in the water, we ate our radishes, our onions and the salt. We +should have kept on eating still, if we had had more to eat, but yet we +were satisfied. + +We knelt down with our hands in the water and we drank. + +"Now let us go," said Buche, "and leave the bag." + +In spite of our weary legs, which were ready to give out, we went on +again toward the left; while on the right behind us, toward Charleroi, +the shouts and shots redoubled, and all along the road we could see +nothing but the men fighting, but they were already far away. + +We looked back from time to time, and Buche said: + +"Joseph, you did well to bring me away, had it not been for you, I +might have been stretched out over there by the road-side, killed by a +Frenchman. I was too hungry. But where shall we go now?" + +I answered, "Follow me!" + +We passed through a large and beautiful village, pillaged and abandoned +also. + +Farther on we met some peasants, who scowled at us from the road-side. +We must have had ill-looking faces, especially Buche with his head +bound up, and his beard eight days old, thick and hard as the bristles +of a boar. + +About one o'clock in the afternoon we re-crossed the Sambre, by the +bridge of Chatelet, but as the Prussians were still in pursuit we did +not halt there. I was quite at ease, thinking: + +"If they are still pursuing us, they will follow the bulk of the army, +in order to take more prisoners and pick up the cannon, caissons, and +baggage." + +This was the manner in which we were compelled to reason, we, who three +days before had made the world tremble. + +I recollect that when we reached a small village about three o'clock in +the afternoon, we stopped at a blacksmith's shop to ask for water. The +country people immediately began to gather round, and the smith, a +large, dark man, asked us to go to the little inn, opposite, saying he +would join us and take a glass of beer with us. + +Naturally enough this pleased us, for we were afraid of being arrested, +and we saw that these people were on our side. + +I remembered that I had some money in my knapsack, and that now it +would be useful. + +We went into the inn, which was only a little shop, with two small +windows on the street, and a round door opening in the middle, as is +common in our country villages. + +When we were seated the room was so full of men and women, who had come +to hear the news, that we could hardly breathe. + +The smith came. He had taken off his leather apron and put on a little +blue blouse, and we saw at once that he had five or six men with him. +They were the mayor and his assistant, and the municipal councillors of +the place. + +They sat down on the benches opposite, and ordered the favorite sour +beer of the country for us to drink. Buche asked for some bread; the +innkeeper's wife brought us a whole loaf and a large piece of beef in a +porringer. + +All urged us to "Eat, eat!" When one or another would ask us a +question about the battle, the smith or the mayor would say: + +"Let the men finish, you can see plainly that they have come a long +way." + +And it was only when we had finished eating, that they questioned us, +asking if it was true that the French had lost a great battle. The +first report was that we were the victors, but afterward they heard a +rumor that we were defeated. + +We understood that they were speaking of Ligny, and that their ideas +were confused. I was ashamed to tell that we were overthrown; I looked +at Buche, and he said: + +"We have been betrayed. The traitors revealed our plans. The army was +full of traitors, who cried, 'Sauve qui peut!' How was it possible for +us not to lose, under such circumstances?" + +It was the first time I had heard treason spoken of; some of the +wounded, it is true, had said, "We are betrayed," but I had paid no +attention to their words, and when Buche relieved us from our +embarrassment by this means, I was glad of it, though I was astonished. + +The people sympathized with us in our indignation against the traitors. + +Then we were obliged to explain the battle and the treason. Buche said +the Prussians had fallen upon us through the treason of Marshal Grouchy. + +This seemed to me to be going too far, but the peasants in their pity +for us had made us drink again and again, and had given us pipes and +tobacco, and at last I said the same as Buche. It was not till after +we had left the place that the recollection of our shameful falsehoods +made me ashamed of myself, and I said to Buche: + +"Do you know, Jean, that our lies about the traitors were not right? +If every one tells as many, we shall all be traitors, and the Emperor +will be the only true man amongst us. It is a disgrace to the country +to say that we have so many traitors; it is not true." + +"Bah! bah!" said he. "We have been betrayed; if we had not, the +English and Prussians could never have forced us to retreat." + +We did nothing but dispute this point till eight o'clock in the +evening. By this time we had reached a village called Bouvigny. + +We were so tired that our legs were as stiff as stakes, and for a long +while we had needed a great deal of courage to take a single step. + +We were certain that the Prussians were no longer near, and as I had +money we went into an inn and asked for a bed. + +I took out a six-franc piece in order to let them see that we could +pay. I had resolved to change my uniform the next day, to leave my gun +and knapsack and cartridge-box here and to go home, for I believed that +the war was over, and I rejoiced in the midst of my misfortunes that I +had escaped with my arms and legs. + +Buche and I slept that night in a little room, with a Holy Virgin and +infant Jesus in a niche between the curtains over our heads, and we +rested like the blessed in heaven. + +The next morning, instead of keeping on our way, we were so glad to sit +on a comfortable chair in the kitchen, to stretch our legs and smoke +our pipes as we watched the kettles boiling, that we said, "Let us stay +quietly here. To-morrow we shall be well rested, and we will buy two +pairs of linen pantaloons, and two blouses, we will cut two good sticks +from a hedge, and go home by easy stages." + +The thought of these pleasant plans touched us. And it was from this +inn that I wrote to Catherine and Aunt Grédel and Mr. Goulden. I wrote +only a word: + + +"I have escaped, let us thank God, I am coming, I embrace you a +thousand times with all my heart. + +"JOSEPH BERTHA." + + +I thanked God as I wrote, but a great many things were to happen before +I should mount our staircase at the corner of the rue Fouquet opposite +the "Red Ox." When one has been taken by conscription he must not be +in a hurry to write that he is released. That happiness does not +depend upon us, and the best will in the world helps nothing. + +I sent off my letter by the post, and we stayed all that day at the inn +of the "Golden Sheep." + +After we had eaten a good supper, we went up to our beds, and I said to +Buche, "Ha! Jean, to do what you please is quite a different thing +from being forced to respond to the roll-call." + +We both laughed in spite of the misfortunes of the country, of course +without thinking, otherwise we should have been veritable rascals. + +For the second time we went to sleep in our good bed, when about one +o'clock in the morning we were wakened in a most extraordinary manner: +the drums were beating and we heard men marching all over the village. + +I pushed Jean, and he said, "I hear it, the Prussians are outside." + +You cannot imagine our terror, but it was much worse a moment after; +some one knocked at the door of the inn, and it opened; in a moment the +great hall was full of people. Some one came up the stairs. We had +both got up, and Buche said, "I shall defend myself if they try to take +me." + +I dared not think what I was going to do. + +We were almost dressed, and I was hoping to escape in the darkness +without being recognized, when suddenly there was a knock at the door +and a shout, "Open." + +We were obliged to open it. + +An infantry officer, wet through by the rain, with his great blue cloak +thrown over his epaulettes, followed by an old sergeant with a lantern, +came in. + +We recognized them as Frenchmen, and the officer asked brusquely, +"Where do you come from?" + +"From Mont-St.-Jean, lieutenant," I replied. + +"From what regiment are you?" + +"From the Sixth light infantry," I answered. + +He looked at the number on my shako, which was lying on the table, and +at the same time I saw that his number was also the Sixth. + +"From which battalion are you?" said he, knitting his brows. + +"The third." + +Buche, pale as ashes, did not say a word. The officer looked at our +guns and knapsacks and cartridge-boxes behind the bed in the corner. + +"You have deserted," said he. + +"No, lieutenant, we left, the last ones, at eight o'clock, from +Mont-St.-Jean." + +"Go downstairs, we will see if that is true." + +We went downstairs. The officer followed us, and the sergeant went +before with his lantern. + +The great hall below was full of officers of the 12th mounted +chasseurs, and of the 6th light infantry. The commandant of the 4th +battalion of the 6th was promenading up and down, smoking a little +wooden pipe. They were all of them wet through and covered with mud. + +The officers said a few words to the commandant, who stopped, and fixed +his black eyes upon us, while his crooked nose turned down into his +gray mustache. + +His manner was not very gentle as he asked us half a dozen questions +about our departure from Ligny, the road to Quatre-Bras, and the +battle. He winked and compressed his lips. The others walked up and +down dragging their sabres without listening to us. At last the +commandant said, "Sergeant, these men will join the second company; go!" + +He took his pipe again from the edge of the mantel, and we went out +with the sergeant, happy enough to get off so easily, for they might +have shot us as deserters before the enemy. + +We followed the sergeant for two hundred paces to the other end of the +village to a shed. Fires had been lighted farther on in the fields; +men were sleeping under the shed, leaning against the doors of the +stables, and the posts. + +A fine rain was falling and the puddles quivered in the gray uncertain +moonlight. We stood up under a part of the roof at the corner of the +old house thinking of our troubles. + +At the end of an hour, the drums began to beat with a dull sound; the +men shook the straw from their clothes and we resumed our march. It +was still dark--but we could hear the chasseurs sounding their signal +to mount, behind us. + +Between three and four in the morning, at dawn, we saw a great many +other regiments, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, on the march like +ourselves by different roads, all the corps of Marshal Grouchy in +retreat! The wet weather, the leaden sky, the long files of weary men, +the disappointment of being retaken, and the thought that so many +efforts and so much bloodshed had only terminated a second time in an +invasion, all this made us hang down our heads. Nothing was heard but +the sound of our own footsteps in the mud. + +I could not shake off my sadness for a long time, when a voice near me +said: + +"Good-morning, Joseph." + +I was awakened, and looking at the man who spoke to me, I recognized +the son of Martin the tanner, our neighbor at Pfalzbourg; he was +corporal of the Sixth, and the file-closer, marching with arms at will. +We shook hands. It was a real consolation for me to see some one from +our own place. + +In spite of the rain which continued to fall and our great fatigue, we +could talk of nothing but this terrible campaign. + +I related the story of the battle of Waterloo, and he told me that the +4th battalion on leaving Fleurus had taken the route toward Wavre with +the whole of Grouchy's corps, and that in the afternoon of the next +day, the 18th, they heard the cannon on their left and that they all +wanted to go in that direction, even the generals, but the marshal +having received positive orders, had continued on the route to Wavre. +It was between six and seven o'clock, before they were convinced that +the Prussians had escaped; then they changed their course to the left +in order to rejoin the Emperor, but unfortunately, it was too late, and +toward midnight they were obliged to take a position in the fields. + +Each battalion formed in a square. At three o'clock in the morning the +cannon of the Prussians had awakened the bivouacs, and they had +skirmished until two o'clock in the afternoon, when the order to +retreat reached them. + +Again, Martin said they were too late, for a part of the enemy's force +which had been engaged with that of the Emperor, was in their rear, and +they were obliged to march all the rest of that day and the night +following in order to escape from their pursuers. + +At six o'clock the battalion had taken a position near the village of +Temploux, and at ten the Prussians came up in superior force. They +opposed them in the most vigorous manner in order to give the baggage +and artillery time to get over the bridge at Namur. + +Fortunately the whole army corps had escaped from the village except +the 4th battalion which, through a mistake of the commandant, had +turned off the road at the left, and was obliged to throw itself into +the Sambre in order to escape being cut off. Some of the men were +taken prisoners and some were drowned in trying to swim across the +river. + +This was all that Martin told me; he had no news from home. + +That same day we passed through Givet; the battalion bivouacked near +the village of Hierches half a league farther on. The next day we +passed through Fumay and Rocroy, and slept at Bourg-Fidèles, the 23d of +June at Blombay, the 24th at Saulsse-Lenoy--where we heard of the +abdication of the Emperor--and the days following at Vitry, near +Rheims, at Jonchery, and at Soissons. From there the battalion took +the route toward Ville-Cotterets, but the enemy was already before us, +and we changed our course to Ferté-Milon, and bivouacked at Neuchelles, +a village destroyed by the invasion of 1814, and which had not yet been +rebuilt. We left that place on the 29th, about one o'clock in the +morning, passing through Meaux. + +Here we were obliged to take the road to Laguy, because the Prussians +occupied that which led to Claye. We marched all that day and the +night following. + +On the 30th, at five in the morning, we were at the bridge of +Saint-Maur. + +The same day we passed outside of Paris and bivouacked in a place rich +in everything, called Vaugirard. + +The 1st of July we reached Meudon, a superb place. We could see by the +walled gardens and orchards, and by the size and good condition of the +houses, that we were in the suburbs of the most beautiful city in the +world, and yet we were in the midst of the greatest danger and +suffering, and our hearts bled in consequence. + +The people were kind and friendly to the soldiers, and called us the +defenders of the country, and even the poorest were willing to go to +battle with us. + +We left our position at eleven o'clock in the evening of the 1st of +July, and went to St. Cloud, which is nothing but palace upon palace, +and garden upon garden, with great trees, and magnificent alleys, and +everything that is beautiful. At six o'clock we quitted St. Cloud to +go back to our position at Vaugirard. + +The most startling rumors filled the city. The Emperor had gone to +Rochefort--they said; the King was coming back--Louis the XVIII. was +_en route_--and so forth. + +They knew nothing certain in the city, where they should soonest know +everything. + +The enemy attacked us in the suburbs of Issy about one o'clock in the +afternoon, and we fought till midnight for our capital. + +The people aided as much as possible; they carried off the wounded from +under the enemy's fire; even the women took pity on us. + +What we suffered from being driven to this, I cannot describe. I have +seen Buche himself cry because we were in one sense dishonored. I +wished I had never seen that time. Twelve days before I did not know +that France was so beautiful. But on seeing Paris with its towers and +its innumerable palaces extending as far as the horizon, I thought, +"This is France, these are the treasures that our fathers have amassed +during century after century. What a misfortune that the English and +Prussians should ever come here." + +At four in the morning we attacked the Prussians with new fury, and +retook the positions we had lost the day before. Then it was that some +generals came and announced a suspension of hostilities. This took +place on the 3d of July, 1815. + +We thought that this suspension was to give notice to the enemy, that +if he did not quit our country, France would rise as one man, and crush +them all as she did in '92. These were our opinions, and seeing that +the people were on our side, I remembered the general levies which Mr. +Goulden was always talking about. + +But unhappily a great many were so tired of Napoleon and his soldiers, +that they sacrificed the country itself, in order to be rid of him. +They laid all the blame on the Emperor, and said, if it had not been +for him, our enemies would never have had the force or the courage to +attack us, that he had exhausted our resources, and that the Prussians +themselves would give us more liberty than he had done. + +The people talked like Mr. Goulden, but they had neither guns nor +cartridges, their only weapons were pikes. + +On the 4th, while we were thinking of these things, they announced to +us the armistice, by which the Prussians and English were to occupy the +barriers of Paris, and the French army was to retire beyond the Loire. + +When we heard this, our indignation was so great that we were furious. +Some of the soldiers broke their guns, and others tore off their +uniforms, and everybody exclaimed, "We are betrayed, we are given up." +The old officers were quiet, but they were pale as death, and the tears +ran down their cheeks. + +Nobody could pacify us, we had fallen below contempt, we were a +conquered people. + +For thousands of years it would be said, that Paris had been taken by +the Prussians and the English. It was an everlasting disgrace, but the +shame did not rest on us. + +The battalion left Vaugirard at five o'clock in the afternoon to go to +Montrouge. When we saw that the movement toward the Loire had +commenced, each one said, "What are we then? Are we subjects to the +Prussians? because they want to see us on the other side of the Loire, +are we forced to gratify them? No, no! that cannot be. Since they +have betrayed us, let us go! All this is none of our concern any +longer. We have done our duty, but we will not obey Blücher!" + +The desertion commenced that very night; all the soldiers went, some to +the right and some to the left; men in blouses and poor old women tried +to take us with them through the wilderness of streets, and endeavored +to console us, but we did not need consolation. I said to Buche: "Let +us leave the whole thing, and return to Pfalzbourg and Harberg, let us +go back to our trades and live like honest people. If the Austrians +and Russians come there, the mountaineers and villagers will know how +to defend themselves. We shall need no great battles to destroy +thousands of them, let us go!" + +There were fifteen of us from Lorraine in the battalion, and we all +left Montrouge, where the headquarters were, together; we passed +through Ivry and Bercy, both places of great beauty, but our trouble +prevented us from seeing a quarter of what we should have done. Some +kept their uniforms, while others had only their cloaks, and the rest +had bought blouses. + +We found the road to Strasbourg at last, in the rear of St. Mandé, near +a wood to the left of which we could see some high towers, which they +told us was the fortress of Vincennes. + +From this place, we regularly made our twelve leagues a day. + +On the 8th of July we learned that Louis XVIII. was to be restored, and +that Monseigneur le Comte d'Artois would secure his salvation. All the +wagons and boats and diligences already carried the white flag, and +they were singing "Te Deums" in all the villages through which we +passed; the mayors and their assistants and the councillors all praised +and glorified God for the return of "Louis the well-beloved." + +The scoundrels called us "Bonapartists," as they saw us pass, and even +set their dogs on us. + +But I do not like to speak of them; such people are the disgrace of the +human race. + +We replied only by contemptuous glances, which made them still more +insolent and furious. + +Some of them flourished their sticks, as much as to say,--"If we had +you in a corner, you would be as meek as lambs." + +The gendarmes upheld these _Pinacles_ and we were arrested in three or +four places. They demanded our papers and took us before the mayor, +and the rascals forced us to shout "_Vive le Roi!_" + +It was shameful, and the old soldiers rather than do it allowed +themselves to be taken to prison. Buche wanted to follow their +example, but I said to him, "What harm will it do us to shout Vive Jean +Claude, or Vive Jean Nicholas? All these kings and emperors, old and +new, would not give a hair of their heads to save our lives, and shall +we go and break our necks in order to shout one thing rather than +another? No, it does not concern us, and if people will be so stupid, +as long as we are not the strongest, we must satisfy them. By and by, +they will shout something else, and afterward still something else. +Everything changes--nothing but good sense and good will remain." + +Buche did not want to understand this reasoning, but when the gendarmes +came, he submitted notwithstanding. + +As we went along, one after another of our little party would drop off +in his own village, till at last no one was left but Toul, Buche, and I. + +We saw the saddest sight of all, and this was the crowds of Germans and +Russians in Lorraine and Alsace. They were drilling at Luneville, at +Blamont, and at Sarrebourg, with oak branches in their wretched shakos. +What vexation to see such savages living in luxury at the expense of +our peasants. + +Father Goulden was right when he said that military glory costs very +dear. I only hope the Lord will save us from it for ages to come! + +At last, on the 16th July, 1815, about eleven o'clock in the morning, +we reached Mittelbronn, the last village on that side, before reaching +Pfalzbourg. The siege was raised after the armistice, and the whole +country was full of Cossacks, Landwehr,[1] and Kaiserlichs.[2] Their +batteries were still in position around the town, though they no longer +discharged them; the gates were open, and the people went out and in to +secure their crops. + + +[1] German militiamen. + +[2] German imperial troops. + + +There was great need of the wheat and rye, and you can imagine the +suffering it caused us, to feed so many thousands of useless beings, +who denied themselves nothing, and who wanted bacon and schnapps every +day. + +Before every door and at every window there was nothing to be seen but +their flat noses, their long filthy yellow beards, their white coats +filled with vermin, and their low shakos, looking out at you, as they +smoked their pipes in idleness and drunkenness. We were obliged to +work for them, and at last honest people were compelled to give them +two thousand millions of francs more to induce them to go away. + +How many things I might say against these lazybones from Russia and +Germany, if we had not done ten times worse in their country. You can +each one make reflections for yourself, and imagine the rest. + +At Heitz's inn I said to Buche, "Let's stop here. My legs are giving +out." + +Mother Heitz, who was then still a young woman, threw up her hands and +exclaimed, "My God! there is Joseph Bertha! God in heaven! what a +surprise for the town!" + +I went in, sat down and leaned my head on a table and wept without +restraint. + +Mother Heitz ran down to the cellar to bring a bottle of wine, and I +heard Buche sobbing in the corner. Neither of us could speak for +thinking of the joy of our friends. The sight of our own country had +upset us, and we rejoiced to think that our bones would one day rest +peacefully in the village cemetery. Meanwhile we were going to embrace +those we loved best in the world. + +When we had recovered a little, I said to Buche: + +"Jean, you must go on before me, so that my wife and Mr. Goulden may +not be too much surprised. You will tell them that you saw me the day +after the battle, and that I was not wounded, and then you must say, +you met me again in the suburbs of Paris, and even on the way home, and +at last, that you think I am not far behind, that I am coming--you +understand." + +"Yes, I understand," said he, getting up after having emptied his +glass, "and I will do the same thing for grandmother, who loves me more +than she does the other boys; I will send some one on before me." + +He went out at once, and I waited a few minutes; Mother Heitz talked to +me but I did not listen; I was thinking how far Buche had gone; I saw +him near the ford, at the outworks, and at the gate. Suddenly I went +out, saying to Mother Heitz, "I will pay you another time." + +I began to run; I partly remember having met three or four persons, who +said, "Ah! that is Joseph Bertha!" But I am not sure of that. + +All at once, without knowing how, I sprang up the stairs, and then I +heard a great cry--Catherine was in my arms. + +My head swam--in a minute after I seemed to come out of a dream; I saw +the room, Mr. Goulden, Jean Buche, and Catherine; and I began to sob so +violently, that you would have thought some great misfortune had +happened. I held Catherine on my knee and kissed her, and she cried +too. After a long while I exclaimed: + +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, pardon me! I ought to have embraced you, my father! +whom I love as I do myself!" + +"I know it, Joseph," said he with emotion, "I know it, I am not +jealous." And he wiped his eyes. "Yes--yes--love--and family and then +friends. It is quite natural, my child, do not trouble yourself about +that." + +I got up and pressed him to my heart. + +The first word Catherine said to me was, "Joseph, I knew you would come +back, I had put my trust in God! Now our worst troubles are over, and +we shall always remain together." + +She was still sitting on my knee with her arm on my shoulder, I looked +at her, she dropped her eyes and was very pale. That which we had +hoped for before my departure had come. + +We were happy. + +Mr. Goulden smiled as he sat at his workbench--Jean stood up near the +door and said: + +"Now I am going, Joseph, to Harberg. Father and grandmother are +waiting for me." + +"Stay, Jean, you will dine with us." Mr. Goulden and Catherine urged +him also, but he would not wait. I embraced him on the stairs and felt +that I loved him like a brother. + +He came often after that, but never once for thirty years without +stopping with me. Now he lies behind the church at Hommert. He was a +brave man and had a good heart. + +But what am I thinking of? I must finish my story, and I have not said +a word of Aunt Grédel, who came an hour afterward. Ah! she threw up +her hands, and she embraced me, exclaiming: + +"Joseph! Joseph! you have then escaped everything! let them come now +to take you again! let them come! oh! how I repented of letting you go +away! how I cursed the conscription and all the rest! but here you are! +how good it is! the Lord has had mercy upon us!" + +Yes, all these old stories bring the tears to my eyes, when I think of +them; it is like a long forgotten dream, and yet it is real. These +joys and sorrows that we recall, attach us to earth, and though we are +old and our strength is gone and our sight is dim, and we are only the +shadows of ourselves; yet we are never ready to go, we never say, "It +is enough!" + +These old memories are always fresh; when we speak of past dangers we +seem to be in the midst of them again; when we recall our old friends, +we again press their hands in imagination, and our beloved is again +seated on our knee, and we look in her face, thinking, "She is +beautiful!" and that which seemed to us just and wise and right in +those old days, seems right and wise and just still. + +I remember--and I must here finish my long story--that for many months +and even years there was great sorrow in many families, and nobody +dared to speak openly, or wish for the glory of the country. + +Zébédé came back with those who had been disbanded on the other side of +the Loire, but even he had lost his courage. This came from the +vengeance and the condemnations and shootings, massacres and revenge of +every kind which followed our humiliation; from the hundred and fifty +thousand Germans, English, and Russians, who garrisoned our fortresses, +from the indemnities of war, from the thousands of émigrés, from the +forced contributions, and especially from the laws against suspects, +and against sacrilege, and the rights of primogeniture which they +wished to be re-established. + +All these things so contrary to reason and to the honor of the nation, +together with the denunciations of the Pinacles and the outrages that +the old revolutionists were made to suffer--altogether these things +have made us melancholy, so that often when we were alone with +Catherine and the little Joseph, whom God had sent to console us for so +many misfortunes, Mr. Goulden would say, pensively: + +"Joseph, our unhappy country has fallen very low. When Napoleon took +France she was the greatest, the freest, and most powerful of nations, +all the world admired and envied us, but to-day we are conquered, +ruined, our fortresses are filled with our enemies, who have their feet +on our necks; and what was never before seen since France existed, +strangers are masters of our capital--twice we have seen this in two +years. See what it costs to put liberty, fortune, and honor in the +hands of an ambitious man. We are in a very sad condition, the great +Revolution is believed to be dead, and the Rights of Man are +annihilated. But we must not be discouraged, all this will pass away, +those who oppose liberty and justice will be driven away, and those who +wish to re-establish privileges and titles will be regarded as fools. +The great nation is reposing, is reflecting upon her faults, is +observing those who are leading her contrary to her own interests: she +reads their hearts, and in spite of the Swiss, in spite of the royal +guard, in spite of the Holy Alliance, when once she is weary of her +sufferings she will cast them out some day or other. Then it will be +finished, for France wants liberty, equality, and justice. + +"The one thing which we lack is instruction, though the people are +instructing themselves every day, they profit by our experiences, by +our misfortunes. + +"I shall not have the happiness, perhaps, of seeing the awakening of +the country, I am too old to hope for it, but you will see it, and the +sight will console you for all your sufferings; you will be proud to +belong to that generous nation which has outstripped all others since +'89; these slight checks are only moments of repose on a long journey." + +This excellent man preserved to his last hour his calm confidence. + +I have lived to see the accomplishment of his predictions, I have seen +the return of the banner of liberty, I have seen the nation grow in +wealth, in prosperity, and in education. I have seen those who +obstructed justice and who wished to establish the old regime, +compelled to leave. I have seen that mind always progresses, and that +even the peasants are willing to part with their last sou for the good +of their children. + +Unfortunately we have not enough schoolmasters. If we had fewer +soldiers and more teachers the work would go on much faster. +But--patience--that will come. + +The people begin to understand their rights, they know that war brings +them nothing but increased contributions, and when _they_ shall say, +"Instead of sending our sons to perish by thousands under the sabre and +cannon, we prefer that they should be taught to be men;" who will dare +to oppose them? To-day the people are sovereign! + +In this hope, my friends, I embrace you with my whole heart, and bid +you, Adieu! + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Waterloo, by Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WATERLOO *** + +***** This file should be named 31289-8.txt or 31289-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/8/31289/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Waterloo + A sequel to The Conscript of 1813 + +Author: Émile Erckmann + Alexandre Chatrian + +Release Date: February 15, 2010 [EBook #31289] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WATERLOO *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="The Emperor had left for Paris." BORDER="2" WIDTH="471" HEIGHT="690"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 471px"> +The Emperor had left for Paris. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HISTORICAL ROMANCES OF FRANCE +</H4> + +<BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +WATERLOO +</H1> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A SEQUEL TO THE CONSCRIPT OF 1813 +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATED +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK :::::::::::::::::::::: 1911 +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +<I>The Emperor had left for Paris</I> . . . . . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-118"> +<I>People were heard shouting, "There it is! there it is!"</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-190"> +<I>A mounted hussar was looking out into the night</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-214"> +<I>The Emperor, his hands behind his back and his head bent forward</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-240"> +<I>He had had the courage to pull up the bucket</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-302"> +<I>Combat of Hougoumont Farm</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INTRODUCTORY NOTE +</H3> + +<P> +Often as the campaign of Waterloo has been described by historians and +frequently as it has been celebrated in fiction it has rarely been +narrated from the stand-point of a private soldier participating in it +and telling only what he saw. That this limitation, however, does not +exclude events of the greatest importance and incidents of the most +intensely dramatic interest is abundantly proved by the narrative of +the Conscript who makes another campaign in this volume and describes +it with his customary painstaking fulness and fidelity. But what +renders "Waterloo" still more interesting is the picture it presents of +the state of affairs after the first Bourbon restoration, and its +description of how gradually but surely the way was prepared by the +stupidity of the new <I>régime</I> for that return to power of Napoleon +which seems so dramatically sudden and unexpected to a superficial view +of the events of the time. In this respect "Waterloo" deserves to rank +very high as a chapter of familiar history, or at least of historical +commentary. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +WATERLOO: +</H2> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A SEQUEL TO +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CONSCRIPT OF 1813 +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<P> +The joy of the people on the return of Louis XVIII., in 1814, was +unbounded. It was in the spring, and the hedges, gardens, and orchards +were in full bloom. The people had for years suffered so much misery, +and had so many times feared being carried off by the conscription +never to return, they were so weary of battles, of the captured cannon, +of all the glory and the Te Deums, that they wished for nothing but to +live in peace and quiet and to rear their families by honest labor. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, everybody was content except the old soldiers and the +fencing-masters. +</P> + +<P> +I well remember how, when on the 3d of May the order came to raise the +white flag on the church, the whole town trembled for fear of the +soldiers of the garrison, and Nicholas Passauf, the slater, demanded +six louis for the bold feat. He was plainly to be seen from every +street with the white silk flag with its "fleur-de-lis," and the +soldiers were shooting at him from every window of the two barracks, +but Passauf raised his flag in spite of them and came down and hid +himself in the barn of the "Trois Maisons," while the marines were +searching the town for him to kill him. +</P> + +<P> +That was their feeling, but the laborers and the peasants and the +tradespeople with one voice hailed the return of peace and cried, "Down +with the conscription and the right of union." Everybody was tired of +living like a bird on branch and of risking their lives for matters +which did not concern them. +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of all this joy nobody was so happy as I; the others had +not had the good luck to escape unharmed from the terrible battles of +Weissenfels and Lutzen and Leipzig, and from the horrible typhus. I +had made the acquaintance of glory and that gave me a still greater +love for peace and horror of conscription. +</P> + +<P> +I had come back to Father Goulden's, and I shall never in my life +forget his hearty welcome, or his exclamation as he took me in his +arms: "It is Joseph! Ah! my dear child, I thought you were lost!" and +we mingled our tears and our embraces together. And then we lived +together again like two friends. He would make me go over our battles +again and again, and laughingly call me "the old soldier." Then he +would tell me of the siege of Pfalzbourg, how the enemy arrived before +the town, in January, and how the old republicans with a few hundred +gunners were sent to mount our cannon on the ramparts, how they were +obliged to eat horseflesh on account of the famine, and to break up the +iron utensils of the citizens to make case-shot and canister. +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden, in spite of his threescore years, had aimed the pieces +on the Magazine bastion on the Bichelberg side, and I often imagined I +could see him with his black silk cap and spectacles on, in the act of +aiming a twenty-four pounder. Then this would make us both laugh and +helped to pass away the time. +</P> + +<P> +We had resumed all our old habits. I laid the table and made the soup. +I was occupying my little chamber again and dreamed of Catherine day +and night. But now, instead of being afraid of the conscription as I +was in 1813, I had something else to trouble me. Man is never quite +happy, some petty misery or other assails him. How often do we see +this in life? My peace was disturbed by this. +</P> + +<P> +You know I was to marry Catherine; we were agreed, and Aunt Grédel +desired nothing better. Unhappily, however, the conscripts of 1815 +were disbanded, while those of 1813 still remained soldiers. It was no +longer so dangerous to be a soldier as it was under the Empire, and +many of these had returned to their homes and were living quietly, but +that did not prevent the necessity of my having a permit in order to be +married. Mr. Jourdan, the new mayor, would never allow me to register +without this permission, and this made me anxious. +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden, as soon as the city gates were opened, had written to +the minister of war, Dupont, that I was at Pfalzbourg and still unwell, +that I had limped from my birth, and that I had in spite of this been +pressed into the service, that I was a poor soldier, but that I could +make a good father of a family, that it would be a real crime to +prevent me from marrying, that I was ill-formed and weak and should be +obliged to go into the hospital, etc. +</P> + +<P> +It was a beautiful letter, and it told the truth too. The very idea of +going away again made me ill. So we waited from day to day—Aunt +Grédel, Father Goulden, Catherine, and I, for the answer from the +minister. +</P> + +<P> +I cannot describe the impatience I felt when the postman Brainstein, +the son of the bell-ringer, came into the street. I could hear him +half a mile away, and then I could not go on with my work, but must +lean out of the window and watch him as he went from house to house. +When he would stay a little too long, I would say to myself, "What can +he have to talk about so long? why don't he leave his letters and come +away? he is a regular tattler, that Brainstein!" I was ready to pounce +upon him. Sometimes I ran down to meet him, and would ask, "Have you +nothing for me?" "No, Mr. Joseph," he would reply as he looked over +his letters. Then I would go sadly back, and Father Goulden, who had +been looking on, would say: +</P> + +<P> +"Have a little patience, child! have patience, it will come. It is not +war time now." +</P> + +<P> +"But he has had time to answer a dozen times, Mr. Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think he has nobody's affairs to attend to but yours? He +receives hundreds of such letters every day—and each one receives his +answer in his turn. And then everything is in confusion from top to +bottom. Come, come! we are not alone in the world—many other brave +fellows are waiting for their permits to be married." +</P> + +<P> +I knew he was right, but I said to myself, "If that minister only knew +how happy he would make us by just writing ten words, I am sure he +would do it at once. How we would bless him, Catherine and I, Aunt +Grédel and all of us." But wait we must. +</P> + +<P> +Of course I had resumed my old habit of going to Quatre Vents on +Sundays. On these mornings I was always awake early—I do not know +what roused me. At first I thought I was a soldier again; this made me +shiver. Then I would open my eyes, look at the ceiling, and think, +"Why you are at home with Father Goulden, at Pfalzbourg, in your own +little room. To-day is Sunday, and you are going to see Catherine." +By this time I was wide awake, and could see Catherine with her +blooming cheeks and blue eyes. I wanted to get up at once and dress +myself and set off. But the clocks had just struck four, and the city +gates were still shut. I was obliged to wait, and this annoyed me very +much. In order to keep patience I began to recall our courtship, +remembering the first days, how we feared the conscription and the +drawing of the unlucky number, with its "fit for service;" the old +guard Werner, at the mayor's, the leave-taking, the journey to Mayence, +and the broad Capougnerstrasse where the good woman gave me a +foot-bath, Frankfort and Erfurth farther on, where I received my first +letter, two days before the battle, the Russians, the +Prussians—everything in fact—and then I would weep, but the thought +of Catherine was always uppermost. +</P> + +<P> +When the clock struck five I jumped from my bed, washed and shaved and +dressed myself, then Father Goulden, still behind his big curtains, +would put out his nose and say: +</P> + +<P> +"I hear you! I hear you! You have been rolling and tumbling for the +last half hour. Ha! ha! it is Sunday to-day." +</P> + +<P> +He would laugh at his own wit, and I laughed with him, and would then +bid him good-morning and be down the stairs at a bound. +</P> + +<P> +Very few people were stirring, but Sepel the butcher would always call +out: "Come here, Joseph, I have something to tell you." But I only +just turned my head, and ten minutes after was on the high-road to +Quatre Vents, outside the city walls. Oh! how fine the weather was +that beautiful year! How green and flourishing everything looked, and +how busy the people were, trying to make up for lost time, planting and +watering their cabbages and turnips, and digging over the ground +trodden down by the cavalry; how confident everybody was too of the +goodness of God, who, they hoped, would send the sun and the rain which +they so much needed. All along the road, in the little gardens, women +and old men, everybody, were at work, digging, planting, and watering. +</P> + +<P> +"Work away, Father Thiébeau, and you too, Mother Furst. Courage!" +cried I. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, Mr. Joseph, there is need enough for that; this blockade has +put everything back, there is no time to lose." +</P> + +<P> +The roads were filled with carts and wagons, laden with brick and +lumber and materials for repairing the houses and roofs which had been +destroyed by the howitzers. How the whips cracked and the hammers rang +in all the country round! On every side carpenters and masons were +seen busily at work on the summer houses. Father Ulrich and his three +boys were already on the roof of the "Flower Basket," which had been +broken to pieces by the balls, strengthening the new timbers, whistling +and hammering in concert. What a busy time it was, indeed, when peace +returned! They wanted no more war then. They knew the worth of +tranquillity, and only asked to repair their losses as far as possible. +They knew that a stroke of a saw or a plane was of more value than a +cannon-shot, and how many tears and how much fatigue it would cost to +rebuild even in ten years, that which the bombs had destroyed in ten +minutes. Oh! how happy I was as I went along. No more marches and +counter-marches; I did not need the countersign from Sergeant Pinto +where I was going! And how sweetly the lark sang as it soared +tremblingly upward, and the quails whistled and linnets twittered. The +sweet freshness of the morning, the fragrant eglantine in the hedges, +urged me on till I caught sight of the gable of the old roof of Quatre +Vents, and the little chimney with its wreath of smoke. "'Tis +Catherine who made the fire," I thought, "and she is preparing our +coffee." Then I would moderate my steps in order to get my breath a +little, while I scanned the little windows and laughed with anticipated +pleasure. The door opens, and Mother Grédel, with her woollen +petticoat and a big broom in her hand, turns round and exclaims: "Here +he is! here he is!" Then Catherine runs up, always more and more +beautiful, with her little blue cap, and says: "Ah! that is good; I was +expecting thee!" How happy she is, and how I embrace her! Ah! to be +young! I see it all again! +</P> + +<P> +I go into the old room with Catherine, and Aunt Grédel flourishes her +broom and exclaims energetically: "No more conscription—that is done +with!" We laugh heartily and sit down, and while Catherine looks at +me, aunt commences again: +</P> + +<P> +"That beggar of a minister, has he not written yet? Will he never +write, I wonder? Does he take us for brutes? It is very disagreeable +always to be ordered about. Thou art no longer a soldier, since they +left thee for dead. We saved thy life, and thou art nothing to them +now." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, you are right, Aunt Grédel," I would say; "but for all that +we cannot be married without going to the mayor—without a permit—and +if we do not go to the mayor, the priest will not dare to marry us at +the church." +</P> + +<P> +Then aunt would be very grave, and always ended by saying: "You see, +Joseph, that all those people from first to last have fixed everything +to suit themselves. Who pays the guards, and the judges, and the +priests, and who is it that pays everybody? It is we! and yet they +dare not marry us. It is shameful; and if it goes on, we will go to +Switzerland and be married." This would calm us, and we would spend +the rest of the day in singing and laughing. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<P> +In spite of my great impatience every day brought something new, and it +comes back to me now like the comedies that are played at the fairs. +The mayors and their assistants, the municipal counsellors, the grain +and wood merchants, the foresters and field-guards, and all those +people who had been for ten years regarded as the best friends of the +Emperor, and had been very severe if any one said a word against his +majesty, turned round and denounced him as a tyrant and usurper, and +called him "the ogre of Corsica." You would have thought that Napoleon +had done them some great injury, when the fact was that they and their +families had always had the best offices. +</P> + +<P> +I have often thought since, that this is the way the good places are +obtained under all governments, and still I should be ashamed to abuse +those who could not defend themselves, and whom I had a thousand times +flattered. I should prefer to remain poor and work for a living rather +than to gain riches and consideration by such means. But such are men! +And I ought to remember too, that our old mayor and three or four of +the counsellors did not follow this example, and Mr. Goulden said that +at least they respected themselves, and that the brawlers had no honor. +</P> + +<P> +I remember how, one day, the Mayor of Hacmatt had come to have his +watch put in order at our shop, when he commenced to talk against the +Emperor in such a way that Father Goulden, rising suddenly, said to him: +</P> + +<P> +"Here, take your watch, Mr. Michael, I will not work for you. What! +only last year you called him constantly 'the great man.' And you +never could call him Emperor simply, but must add, Emperor and King, +protector of the Helvetic Confederation, etc., while your mouth was +full of beef; now you say he is an ogre, and you call Louis XVIII., +'Louis the well-beloved!' You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Do you +take people for brutes? and do you think they have no memories?" +</P> + +<P> +Then the mayor replied, "It is plain to be seen that you are an old +Jacobin." +</P> + +<P> +"What I am is nobody's business," replied Father Goulden, "but in any +case I am not a slanderer." He was pale as death, and ended by saying, +"Go, Mr. Michael, go! beggars are beggars under all governments." +</P> + +<P> +He was so indignant that day he could hardly work, and would jump up +every minute and exclaim: +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph, I did like those Bourbons, but this crowd of beggars has +disgusted me with them already. They are the kind of people who spoil +everything, for they declare everything perfect, beautiful, and +magnificent; they see no defect in anything, they raise their hands to +heaven in admiration if the king but coughs. They want their part of +the cake. And then, seeing their delight, kings and emperors end by +believing themselves gods, and when revolutions come, these rascals +abandon them, and begin to play the same rôle under some one else. In +this way they are always at the top, while honest people are always in +trouble." +</P> + +<P> +This was about the beginning of May, and it had been announced that the +King had just made his solemn entry into Paris, attended by the +marshals of the Empire, that nearly all the population had come out to +meet him, and that old men and women and little children had climbed +upon the balconies to catch a glimpse of him, and that he had at first +entered the church of Notre Dame to give thanks to God, and immediately +after retired to the Tuileries. +</P> + +<P> +It was announced also that the Senate had pronounced a high-sounding +address, assuring him there need be no alarm on account of all the +disturbances, urging him to take courage and promising the support of +the senators in case of any difficulties. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody approved this address. But we were soon to have a new sight, +we were to witness the return of the <I>émigrés</I> from the heart of +Germany and from Russia. Some returned by the government vessels, and +some in simple "salad baskets," a kind of wicker carriage, on two and +four wheels. The ladies wore dresses with immense flower patterns, and +the men wore the old French coats and short breeches, and waistcoats +hanging down to the thighs, as they are represented in the fashions of +the time of the Republic. +</P> + +<P> +All these people were apparently proud and happy to see their country +once more. In spite of the miserable beasts which dragged their +wretched wagons filled with straw, and the peasants who served as +postilions—in spite of all this, I was moved with compassion as I +recalled the joy I felt five months before on seeing France again, and +I said to myself: +</P> + +<P> +"Poor people! they will weep on beholding Paris again, they are going +to be happy!" +</P> + +<P> +They all stopped at the "Red Ox," the hotel of the old ambassadors and +marshals and princes and dukes and rich people, who no longer +patronized it, and we could see them in the rooms brushing their own +hair, dressing and shaving themselves. +</P> + +<P> +About noon they all came down, shouting and calling "John!" "Claude!" +"Germain!" with great impatience, and ordering them about like +important personages, and seating themselves around the great tables, +with their old servants all patched up and standing behind them with +their napkins under their arms. These people with their old-fashioned +clothes, and their fine manners and happy air, made a very good +appearance, and we said to ourselves: "There are the Frenchmen +returning from exile; they did wrong to go, and to excite all Europe +against us, but there is mercy for every sin; may they be well and +happy! That is the worst we wish them." +</P> + +<P> +Some of these <I>émigrés</I> returned by post, and then our new mayor, Mr. +Jourdan, chevalier de St. Louis, the vicar, Mr. Loth, and the new +commandant, Mr. Robert de la Faisanderie, in his embroidered uniform, +would wait for them at the gate, and when they heard the postilion's +whip crack they would go forward, smiling as if some great good fortune +had arrived, and the moment the coach stopped, the commandant would run +and open it, shouting most enthusiastically. +</P> + +<P> +At other times they would stand quite still to show their respect; I +have seen these people salute each other three times in succession, +slowly and gravely, each time approaching a little nearer to each other. +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden would laugh and say: "Do you see, Joseph, that is the +grand style—the style of the nobles of the <I>ancien régime</I>; by just +looking out of the window we can learn fine manners which may serve us +when we get to be dukes and princes." Again it would be: "Those old +fellows, there, Joseph, fired away at us from the lines at Wissembourg, +they were good riders and they fought well, as all Frenchmen do, but we +routed them after all." +</P> + +<P> +Then he would wink and go back laughing to his work. But the rumor +spread among the servants of the "Red Ox," that these people did not +hesitate to say that they had conquered <I>us</I>, and that they were our +masters; that King Louis XVIII. had always reigned since Louis XVII., +son of Louis XVI.; that we were rebels, and that they had come to +restore us to order. +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden did not relish this, and said to me in an ill-humored +way: "Do you know, Joseph, what these people are going to do in Paris? +they are going to demand the restoration of their ponds and their +forests, their parks and their chateaux, and their pensions, not to +speak of the fat offices and honors and favors of every kind. You +think their coats and perukes very old-fashioned, but their notions are +still older than their coats and perukes. They are more dangerous for +us than the Russians or the Austrians, because they are going away, but +these people are going to remain. They would like to destroy all we +have done for the last twenty-five years. You see how proud they are; +though many of them lived in the greatest misery on the other side of +the Rhine, yet they think they are of a different race from ours—a +superior race; they believe the people are always ready to let +themselves be fleeced as they were before '89. They say Louis XVIII. +has good sense; so much the better for him, for if he is unfortunate +enough to listen to these people, if they imagine even that he can act +upon their advice, all is lost. There will be civil war. The people +have <I>thought</I>, during the last twenty-five years. They know their +rights, and they know that one man is as good as another, and that all +their 'noble races' are nonsense. Each one will keep his property, +each one will have equal rights and will defend himself to the death." +That is what Father Goulden said to me, and as my permit never came, I +thought the minister had no time to answer our demands with all these +counts and viscounts, these dukes and marquises at his back, who were +clamoring for their woods and their ponds and their fat offices. I was +indignant. +</P> + +<P> +"Great God," I cried, "what misery! as soon as one misfortune is over +another begins! and it is always the innocent who suffer for the faults +of the others! O God! deliver us from the <I>nobles</I>, old and new! +Crown them with blessings, but let them leave us in peace!" +</P> + +<P> +One morning Aunt Grédel came in to see us; it was on Friday and +market-day. She brought her basket on her arm and seemed very happy. +I looked toward the door, thinking that Catherine was coming too, and I +said: "Good-morning, Aunt Grédel; Catherine is in town, she is coming +too?" +</P> + +<P> +"No! Joseph, no; she is at Quatre Vents. We are over our ears in work +on account of the planting." +</P> + +<P> +I was disappointed and vexed too, for I had anticipated seeing her. +But Aunt Grédel put her basket on the table, and said as she lifted up +the cover: +</P> + +<P> +"Look! here is something for you, Joseph, something from Catherine." +</P> + +<P> +There was a great bouquet of May roses, violets, and three beautiful +lilacs with their green leaves around the edge. The sight of this made +me happy, and I laughed and said: "How sweetly it smells." And Father +Goulden turned round and laughed too, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"You see, Joseph, they are always thinking of you!" +</P> + +<P> +And we all laughed together. My good-humor had returned, and I kissed +Aunt Grédel and told her to take it to Catherine from me. +</P> + +<P> +Then I put my bouquet in a vase on the window-sill by my bedside, and +thought of Catherine going out in the early morning to gather the +violets and the fresh roses and adding one after the other in the dew, +putting in the lilacs last, and the odor seemed still more delightful. +I could not look at them enough. I left them on the window-sill, +thinking: +</P> + +<P> +"I shall enjoy them through the night, and shall give them fresh water +in the morning, and the next day after will be Sunday and I shall see +Catherine and thank her with a kiss." +</P> + +<P> +I went back into the room, where Aunt Grédel was talking to Father +Goulden about the markets and the price of grain, etc., both in the +best of humor. Aunt put her basket on the ground and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Joseph, your permit has not come yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"No! not yet, and it is terrible!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she replied, "the ministers are all alike, one is no better than +another; they take the worst and laziest to fill that place." +</P> + +<P> +Then she went on: "Make yourself easy, I have a plan which will change +all that." She laughed, and as Father Goulden and I listened to hear +her plan, she continued: +</P> + +<P> +"Just now while I was at the town-hall, Sergeant Harmantier announced +that we were to have a grand mass for the repose of the souls of Louis +XVI., Pichegru, Moreau, and—another one." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," interrupted Father Goulden, "for George Cadoudal,—I read it +last evening in the gazette." +</P> + +<P> +"That is it, of Cadoudal," said Aunt Grédel. "You see, Joseph, hearing +that, I thought at once, 'now we will have the permit.' We are going +to have processions and atonements, and we will all go together, +Joseph, Catherine, and I. We shall be the first, and everybody will +say, 'They are good royalists, they are well disposed.' The priest +will hear of it. Now the priests have long arms, as in the time of the +generals and colonels,—we will go and see him, he will receive us +favorably, and will even make a petition for us. And I tell you this +will succeed, we shall not fail this time." +</P> + +<P> +She spoke quite low as she explained all this, and seemed well +satisfied with her ingenuity. I felt happy too, and thought, "That is +what we must do, Aunt Grédel is right." But on looking at Father +Goulden, I saw he was very grave, and that he had turned away and was +looking at a watch through his glass, and knitting his big white +eyebrows. So, knowing he was not pleased, I said: +</P> + +<P> +"I think myself, that would succeed, but before we do anything I would +like to have Father Goulden's opinion." +</P> + +<P> +Then he turned round and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Every one is free, Joseph, to follow his own conscience. To make an +expiation for the death of Louis XVI. is all very well; honest people +of all parties will have nothing to say, if they are royalists, of +course; but if you kneel from self-interest, you had better stay at +home. As for Louis XVI., I will let him pass, but for Pichegru, +Moreau, and Cadoudal,—that is altogether another thing. Pichegru +surrendered his troops to the enemy, Moreau fought against France, and +George Cadoudal was an assassin,—three kinds of ambitious men, who +asked for nothing but to oppress us, and all three deserved their fate. +<I>That</I> is what I think." +</P> + +<P> +"But what has all that to do with us, pray?" exclaimed Aunt Grédel. +"We will not go for them, we will go to get our permit. I despise all +the rest, and so does Joseph, do you not?" +</P> + +<P> +I was greatly embarrassed, for what Father Goulden said seemed to me to +be right, and he, seeing this, said: +</P> + +<P> +"I understand the love of young people, Mother Grédel, but we must not +use such means to induce a young man to sacrifice what he thinks is +right. If Joseph does not hold the same opinion as I do of Pichegru +and Moreau and Cadoudal, very well, let him go to the procession. I +shall not reproach him for it, but as for me, I shall not go." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall not go either. Mr. Goulden is right," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +I saw Aunt Grédel was displeased, she turned quite red, but was calm +again in a moment, and added: +</P> + +<P> +"Very well! Catherine and I will go, because we mock at all those old +notions." +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden could not help smiling as he saw her anger. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, everybody is free," said he, "to do as he pleases, so do as you +like." +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Grédel took up her basket and went away, and he laughed and made a +sign to me to go with her. I very quickly had my coat on and overtook +her at the corner of the street. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, Joseph," said she, as she went toward the square, "Father +Goulden is an excellent man, but he is an old fool! He has never since +I knew him been satisfied with anything. He does not say so, but the +Republic is always in his head. He thinks of nothing but his old +Republic, when everybody was a sovereign—beggars, tinkers, +soap-boilers, Jews, and Christians. There is no sense in it. But what +are we to do? If he were not such an excellent man I would not care +for him, but we must remember he has taught you a good trade, and done +us all many favors, and we owe him great respect, that is why I hurried +away, for I was inclined to be angry." +</P> + +<P> +"You did right," I said, "I love Father Goulden like my father, and you +like my mother, and nothing could give me so much pain as to see you +angry with one another." +</P> + +<P> +"I quarrel with a man like him!" said Aunt Grédel. "I would rather +jump out of the window. No, no, but we need not listen to all he says, +for I insist that this procession is a good thing for us, that the +priest will get the permit for us, and that is the principal thing. +Catherine and I will go, and as Mr. Goulden will stay at home, you had +best stay too. But I am certain that three-fourths of the town and +country round will go, and whether it be for Moreau or Pichegru or +Cadoudal it is of no consequence. It will be very fine. You will see!" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you," I answered. +</P> + +<P> +We had reached the German gate; I kissed her again, and went back quite +happy to my work. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<P> +I recollect this visit of Aunt Grédel because eight days after the +processions and atonements and sermons commenced, and did not end till +the return of the Emperor in 1815, and then they commenced again and +continued till the fall of Charles X. in 1830. Everybody who was then +alive knows there was no end to them. So when I think of Napoleon, I +hear the cannon of the arsenal thunder and the panes of our windows +rattle, and Father Goulden cries out from his bed: "Another victory, +Joseph! Ha! ha! ha! Always victories." And when I think of Louis +XVIII., I hear the bells ring and I imagine Father Brainstein and his +two big boys hanging to the ropes, and I hear Father Goulden laugh and +say: "That, Joseph, is for Saint Magloire or Saint Polycarp." +</P> + +<P> +I cannot think of those days in any other way. +</P> + +<P> +Under the Empire I see too at nightfall, Father Coiffé, Nicholas Rolfo, +and five or six other veterans, loading their cannon for the evening +salute of twenty-one guns, while half of Pfalzbourg stand on the +opposite bastion looking at the red light, and smoke, and watching the +wads as they fall into the moat; then the illuminations at night and +the crackers and rockets, I hear the children cry <I>Vive l'Empereur</I>, +and then some days after, the death notices and the conscription. +Under Louis XVIII. I see the altars and the peasants with their carts +full of moss and broom and young pines; the ladies coming out of their +houses with great vases of flowers; people carrying their chandeliers +and crucifixes, and then the processions—the priest and his vicars, +the choir boys and Jacob Cloutier, Purrhus, and Tribou, the singers; +the beadle Koekli, with his red robe and his banner which swept the +skies, the bells ringing their full peals; Mr. Jourdan, the new mayor, +with his great red face, his beautiful uniform with his cross of St. +Louis, and the commandant with his three-cornered hat under his arm, +his great peruke frosted with powder, and his uniform glittering in the +sunshine, and behind them the town council, and the innumerable +torches, which they lighted for each other as the wind blew them out; +the Swiss, Jean-Peter Siroti, with his blue beard closely shaven and +his splendid hat pointing across his shoulders, his broad white silk +shoulder-belt sprinkled with fleur-de-lis across his breast, his +halberd erect, glistening like a plate of silver; the young girls, +ladies, and thousands of country people in their Sunday clothes, +praying in concert with the old people at their head, from each +village, who kept repeating incessantly, "pray for us, pray for us." +With the streets full of leaves and garlands and the white flags in the +windows, the Jews and the Lutherans looking out from their closed +blinds and the sun lighting up the grand sight below. This continued +from 1814 to 1830, except during the hundred days, not to speak of the +missions, the bishop's visits, and other extraordinary ceremonies. I +like best to tell you all this at once, for if I should undertake to +describe one procession after another the story would be too long. +</P> + +<P> +Well! this commenced the 19th of May, and the same day that Harmentier +announced the grand atonement, there arrived five preachers from Nancy, +young men, who preached during the whole week, from morning until +midnight. This was to prepare for the atonement; nothing else was +talked about in the town, the people were converted, and all the women +and girls went to confession. It was rumored also that the national +property was to be restored, and that the poor men would be separated +from the respectable people by the procession, because the beggars +would not dare to show themselves. You may imagine my chagrin at being +obliged, in spite of myself, to remain among the poor people; but, +thank God! I had nothing to reproach myself with in regard to the +death of Louis XVI., and I had none of the national property, and all I +wanted was permission to marry Catherine. I thought with Aunt Grédel +that Father Goulden was very obstinate, but I never dared to say a word +to him about that. I was very unhappy, the more so, because the people +who came to us to have their watches repaired, respectable citizens, +mayors, foresters, etc., approved of all these sermons, and said that +the like had never been heard. Mr. Goulden always kept on his work +while listening to them, and when it was done he would turn to them and +say, "Here is your watch, Mr. Christopher or Mr. Nicholas; it is so and +so much." He did not seem to be interested in these matters, and it +was only when one and another would speak of the national property, of +the rebellion of twenty-five years, and of expiating past crimes, that +he would take off his spectacles and raise his head to listen, and +would say with an air of surprise, "Pshaw! well! well! that is fine! +that is, Mr. Claude! indeed you astonish me. These young men preach so +well then? Well, if the work were not so pressing, I would go and hear +them. I need instruction also." +</P> + +<P> +I always kept thinking that he would change his mind, and the next +evening as we were finishing our supper I was happy enough to hear him +say good-humoredly: +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph, are you not curious to hear these preachers? They tell so +many fine things of them, that I want to hear how it is for myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Mr. Goulden, I should like nothing better! but we must lose no +time, for the church is always full by the second stroke of the bell." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well! let us go," said he, rising and taking down his hat. "I am +curious to see how it is. Those people astonish me. Come!" +</P> + +<P> +We went out; the moon was shining so brightly that we could recognize +people as easily as in broad daylight. At the corner of the rue +Fouquet we saw that even the steps of the church were already covered +with people. Two or three old women, Annette Petit, Mother Balaie, and +Jeannette Baltzer, with their big shawls wrapped closely round them, +and the long fringes of their bonnets over their eyes, hurried past us, +when Father Goulden exclaimed, "Here are the old women! Ha! ha! ha! +always the same!" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed, and as he went on said, that since Father Colin's time +there had never been so many people seen at the evening service. I +could not believe that he was speaking of the old landlord of the +"Three Roses," opposite the infantry barracks, so I said: +</P> + +<P> +"He was a priest, Mr. Goulden?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no," he answered smiling, "I mean old Colin. In 1792, when we had +a club in the church, everybody could preach; but Colin spoke best of +all. He had a magnificent voice, and said many forcible and true +things, and the people came from far and near, from Saverne and +Saarburg, and even still farther away to hear him; women and girls, +'citoyennes' as they called them then, filled the choir galleries and +the pews. They wore little cockades in their bonnets, and sang the +'Marseillaise' to arouse the young men. You never saw anything like +it! Annette Petit, Mother Baltzer, and all those whom you see running +before us, with their prayer-books under their arms, were among the +foremost. But they had white teeth and beautiful hair then, and loved +'Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.' Ha! ha! poor Bevel! poor Annette! +Now they are going to repent, though they were good patriots then; I +believe God will pardon them." He laughed as he recalled these old +stories, but when we had reached the steps of the church he grew sober, +and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—yes—everything changes, everything! I remember the day in '93, +when old Colin spoke of the country being in danger, when three hundred +young men left the country to join the army of Hoche; Colin followed +them, and became their commander. He was a terrible fellow among his +grenadiers. He would not sign the proposition to make Napoleon +emperor,—now he sells over the counter by the glass!" +</P> + +<P> +Then looking at me as if he were astonished at his own thoughts, he +said, "Let us go in, Joseph." +</P> + +<P> +We entered under the great pillars of the organ; the crowd was very +great, and he did not say a word more. There were lights burning in +the choir over the heads of the people. The only sound which broke the +silence was the opening and shutting of the doors of the pews. At last +we heard Sirou's halberd on the floor, and Mr. Goulden said, "There he +is!" +</P> + +<P> +A light near the vessel for the holy water enabled us to see a little. +A shadow mounted to the pulpit at the left, while Koekli lighted two or +three candles with his stick. The preacher might have been twenty-five +or thirty years old, he had a pleasant, rosy face and heavy blonde hair +below his tonsure, that fell in curls over his neck. They commenced by +singing a psalm, the young girls of the village sang in the choir "What +joy to be a Christian." After that the preacher from the desk said, +that he had come to defend the faith, the law, and the "right divine" +of Louis XVIII., and demanded if any one had the audacity to take the +other side. As nobody wished to be stoned, there was a dead silence. +Then a brown, thin man, six feet high with a black cloak on, rose in +one of the pews opposite, and exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"I have! I maintain that faith, religion, and the right of kings, and +all the rest, are nothing but superstitions. I maintain that the +republic is just, and that the worship of reason is worth them all!" +and so on. +</P> + +<P> +The people were indignant. There never was anything like it! When he +had finished speaking, I looked at Mr. Goulden, who laughed softly, and +said: "Listen! listen!" +</P> + +<P> +Of course I listened; the young preacher prayed to God for this +infidel, and then he spoke so beautifully that the crowd was entranced. +The big thin man replied, saying, "They had done right to guillotine +Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, and all the family." The indignation +increased, and the men from Bois-de-Chênes, and especially their wives, +wanted to get into the pew to knock him down, but just then Sirou came +up, crying "Room! room!" and old Koekli in his red gown threw himself +before the man, who escaped into the sacristy, raising his hands to +heaven and declaring that he was converted, and that he renounced the +devil and all his works. Then the preacher made a prayer for the soul +of the sinner. It was a real triumph for religion. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody left about eleven o'clock, and it was announced that there +would be a procession the next day, which was Sunday. +</P> + +<P> +In consequence of the great crowd, which had pushed us into the corner, +Mr. Goulden and I were among the last to get out, and by the time we +reached the street, the people from Quatre Vents and the other villages +were already beyond the German gate, and nothing was heard in the +streets but the closing of the shutters by the townspeople, and a few +old women talking about the wonderful things they had heard, as they +went home by the rue de l'Arsenal. +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden and I walked along in the silence, he with his head bent +down and smiling, though without speaking a word. When we reached home +I lighted the candle, and while he was undressing asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Well! Father Goulden, did they preach well?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he replied smiling, "yes, for young men who have seen nothing, +it was not bad." Then he laughed aloud and said, "But if old Colin had +been in the Jacobin's place, he would have puzzled the young man +terribly." I was greatly surprised at that, and as I still waited to +hear what more he had to say, he slowly pulled his black silk cap over +his ears and added thoughtfully, "but it's all the same; all the same. +These people go too fast, much too fast. They will never make me +believe that Louis XVIII. knows about all this. No, he has seen too +much in his life not to know men better than that. But, good-night, +Joseph, good-night. Let us hope that an order will soon arrive from +Paris sending these young men back to their seminary." +</P> + +<P> +I went to bed and dreamed of Catherine, the Jacobin, and of the +procession we were going to see. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<P> +Next morning the bells began to ring as soon as it was light. I rose +and opened my shutters and saw the red sun rising from behind the +Magazine, and over the forest of Bonne-Fontaine. It might have been +five o'clock, and you could feel beforehand how hot it was going to be, +and the air was laden with the odor of the oak and beech and holly +leaves which were strewn in the streets. The peasants began to arrive +in companies, talking in the still morning. You could recognize the +villagers from Wechem, from Metting, from the Graufthal and Dasenheim, +by their three-cornered hats turned down in front and their square +coats, and the women with their long black dresses and big bonnets +quilted like a mattress hanging on their necks; and those from +Dagsberg, Hildehouse, Harberg, and Houpe with their large round felt +hats, and the women without bonnets and with short skirts, small, +brown, dry, and quick as powder, with the children behind with their +shoes in their hands, but when they reached Luterspech they sat down in +a row and put them on to be ready for the procession. +</P> + +<P> +Some priests from the different villages, also came by twos and threes, +laughing and talking among themselves in the best of humor. +</P> + +<P> +And I thought, as I rested my elbows on the window-sill, that these +people must have risen before midnight to reach here so early in the +morning, and that they must have come over the mountains walking for +hours under the trees, crossing the little bridges in the moonlight; as +I thought this I reflected that religion is a beautiful thing, that the +people in towns do not know what it is, and that for thousands upon +thousands of field laborers and wood-choppers, uncultivated and rude +beings, who at the same time were good and loved their wives and +children and honored their aged parents, supporting them and closing +their eyes in the hope of a better world; this was the only +consolation. And in looking at the crowd, I imagined that Aunt Grédel +and Catherine had the same thoughts, and I was happy to know that they +prayed for me. It grew lighter and lighter, and the bells rang while I +continued to look on. I heard Father Goulden rise and dress himself, +and a few minutes after he came into my chamber in his shirt-sleeves, +and seeing me so thoughtful, he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph, the most beautiful thing in the world is the religion of the +people." +</P> + +<P> +I was quite astonished to hear him express precisely my own thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he added, "the love of God, the love of country and of family, +are one and the same thing; but it is sad to see the love of country +perverted to satisfy the ambition of a man, and the love of God to +exalt the pride and the desire to rule in a few." +</P> + +<P> +These words impressed me deeply, and I have often thought since that +they expressed the sad truth. Well! to return to those days, you know +that after the siege we were obliged to work on Sundays, because Mr. +Goulden while serving as a gunner on the ramparts had neglected his +work and we were behindhand. So that on that morning as on the others +I lighted the fire in our little stove and prepared the breakfast; the +windows were open and we could hear the noise from the streets. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden leaned out of the window and said: "Look! all the shops +except the inns and the beer-houses are closed!" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed, and I asked, "Shall we open our shutters, Mr. Goulden?" +</P> + +<P> +He turned round as if surprised: "Look here, Joseph, I never knew a +better boy than you, but you lack sense. Why should we close our +shutters? Because God created the world in six days and rested the +seventh? But we did not create it ourselves, and we need to work to +live. If we shut our shop from interest and pretend to be saints and +so gain new customers, that will be hypocrisy. You speak sometimes +without thinking." +</P> + +<P> +I saw at once that I was wrong, and I replied: "Mr. Goulden, we will +leave our windows open and it will be seen that we have watches to +sell, and that will do no harm to any one." +</P> + +<P> +We were no sooner at table than Aunt Grédel and Catherine came. +Catherine was dressed entirely in black, on account of the service for +Louis XVI. She had a pretty little bonnet of black tulle, and her +dress was very nicely made, and this set off her delicate red and white +complexion and made her look so beautiful that I could hardly believe +that she was Joseph Bertha's beloved; her neck was white as snow, and +had it not been for her lips and her rosy little chin, her blue eyes +and golden hair, I should have thought that it was some one who +resembled her, but who was more beautiful. She laughed when she saw +how much I admired her, and at last I said: "Catherine, you are <I>too</I> +beautiful now; I dare not kiss you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! you need not trouble yourself," said she. +</P> + +<P> +As she leaned upon my shoulder I gave her a long kiss, so that Aunt +Grédel and Mr. Goulden looked on and laughed, and I wished them far +enough away, that I might tell Catherine that I loved her more and +more, and that I would give my life a thousand times for her; but as I +could not do that before them, I only thought of these things and was +sad. +</P> + +<P> +Aunt had a black dress on also, and her prayer-book was under her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, kiss me too, Joseph; you see I too have a black dress, like +Catherine's." +</P> + +<P> +I embraced her, and Mr. Goulden said, "You will come and dine with +us—that is understood; but, meanwhile you will take something, will +you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"We have breakfasted," replied Aunt Grédel. +</P> + +<P> +"That is nothing; God knows when this procession will end, you will be +all the time on your feet, and will need something to sustain you." +</P> + +<P> +Then they sat down, Aunt Grédel on my right, and Catherine on my left, +and Father Goulden opposite. They drank a good glass of wine, and aunt +said the procession would be very fine, and that there were at least +twenty-five priests from the neighborhood round; that Mr. Hubert, the +pastor of Quatre Vents, had come, and that the grand altar in the +cavalry quarter was higher than the houses; that the pine-trees and +poplars around had crape on them, and that the altar was covered with a +black cloth. She talked of everything under the sun, while I looked at +Catherine, and we thought, without saying anything, "Oh! when will that +beggarly minister write and say, 'Get married and leave me alone?'" +</P> + +<P> +At last, toward nine o'clock, and when the second bell had rung, Aunt +Grédel said, "That is the second ringing; we will come to dinner as +soon as possible." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, Mother Grédel," replied Mr. Goulden, "we will wait for you." +</P> + +<P> +They rose, and I went down to the foot of the stairs with Catherine in +order to embrace her once again, when Aunt Grédel cried, "Let us hurry, +let us hurry!" +</P> + +<P> +They went away, and I went back to my work; but from that moment till +about eleven o'clock I could do nothing at all. The crowd was so very +great that you could hear nothing outside but a ceaseless murmur; the +leaves rustled under foot, and when the procession left the church the +effect was so impressive that even Mr. Goulden himself stopped his work +to listen to the prayers and hymns. I thought of Catherine in the +crowd more beautiful than any of the others, with Aunt Grédel near her, +repeating "Pray for us, pray for us," in their clear voices. I thought +they must be very much fatigued, and all these voices and chants made +me dream, and though I held a watch in my hand and tried to work, my +mind was not on it. The higher the sun rose the more uneasy I became, +till at last Mr. Goulden said, laughing, "Ah! Joseph, it does not go +to-day!" and as I blushed rosy red, he continued, "Yes, when I was +dreaming of Louisa Bénédum I looked in vain for springs and wheels. I +could see nothing but her blue eyes." +</P> + +<P> +He sighed, and I too, thinking, "you are quite right, Mr. Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +"That is enough," he added a moment after, taking the watch from my +hands. "Go, child, and find Catherine. You cannot conquer your love, +it Is stronger than you." +</P> + +<P> +On hearing this, I wanted to exclaim "Oh, good, excellent man! you can +never know how much I love you," but he rose to wipe his hands on a +towel behind the door, and I said, "If you <I>really</I> wish it, Mr. +Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes; certainly!" +</P> + +<P> +I did not wait for another word. My heart bounded with joy, I put on +my hat and went down the stairs at a leap, exclaiming, "I will be back +in an hour, Mr. Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +I was out of doors in a moment, but what a crowd, what a crowd! they +swarmed! military hats, felt hats, bonnets, and over all the noise and +confusion, the church bell tolled slowly. +</P> + +<P> +For a minute I stood on our own steps, not knowing which way to turn, +and seeing at last that it was impossible to take a step in that crowd +I turned into the little lane called the Lanche, in order to reach the +ramparts and run and wait for the procession at the slope by the German +gate, as then it would turn up the rue de Collége. It might have been +eleven o'clock. I saw many things that day which have suggested many +reflections since; they were the signs of great trouble but nobody +noticed them, nobody had the good sense to comprehend their +significance. It was only later, when everybody was up to their necks +in trouble, when we were obliged to take our knapsacks and guns, again +to be cut in pieces; then they said, "if we had only had good sense and +justice and prudence we should have been so much better off, we should +have been quiet at home instead of this breaking up, which is coming; +we can do nothing but be quiet and submit; what a misfortune!" +</P> + +<P> +I went along the Lanche, where they shot the deserters under the +Empire. The noise grew fainter in the distance, and the chanting and +prayers and the sound of the bells as well. All the doors and windows +were closed, everybody had followed the procession. I stopped in the +silent street to take breath, a slight breeze came from the fields +beyond the ramparts, and I listened to the tumult in the distance and +wiped the sweat from my face and thought, "how am I to find Catherine?" +</P> + +<P> +I was climbing the steps at the postern gate when I heard some one say: +"Mark the points, Margarot." +</P> + +<P> +I then saw that Father Colin's windows on the first floor were open, +and that some men in their shirt-sleeves were playing billiards. They +were old soldiers with short hair, and mustaches like a brush. They +went back and forth, without troubling themselves about the mayor, or +the commandant, or Louis XVI., or the bourgeoisie. One of them, short, +thick, with his whiskers cut as was the fashion of the hussars in those +days, and his cravat untied, leaned out of the window, resting his cue +on the sill, and, looking toward the square, said: +</P> + +<P> +"We will put the game at fifty." +</P> + +<P> +I thought at once that they were half-pay officers, who were spending +their last sous, and who would soon be troubled to live. I continued +on my way, and hurried along under the vault of the powder magazine +behind the college, thinking of all these things, but when I reached +the German gate I forgot everything. The procession was just turning +the corner at Bockholtz, the chants broke forth opposite the altar like +trumpets, and the young priests from Nancy were running among the crowd +with their crucifixes raised to keep order, and the Swiss Sirou carried +himself majestically under his banner; at the head of the procession +were the priests and the choir singing, while the prayers rose to +heaven, and behind, the crowd responded: and all this took form, in a +low fearful murmur. +</P> + +<P> +I stood on my tiptoes, half hidden by the shed, trying to discover +Catherine in all that multitude and thinking only of her, but what a +crowd of hats and bonnets and flags I saw defiling down the rue Ulrich. +You would never have imagined that there were so many people in the +country; there could not have been a soul left in the villages, except +a few little children and old people who stayed to take care of them. +</P> + +<P> +I waited about twenty minutes, and gave up hoping to find Catherine, +when suddenly I saw her with Aunt Grédel. Aunt was praying in such a +loud clear voice, that you could hear her above all the others. +Catherine said nothing, but walked slowly along with her eyes cast +down. If I could only have called to her she might perhaps have heard +me, but it was bad enough not to join the procession without causing +further scandal. All I can say is,—and there is not an old man in +Pfalzbourg who will assert the contrary,—that Catherine was not the +least beautiful girl in the country, and that Joseph Bertha was not to +be pitied. +</P> + +<P> +She had passed, and the procession halted on the "Place d'armes," +before the high altar at the right of the church. The priest +officiated, and silence spread all over the city. In the little +streets at the right and the left, it was as quiet as if they could +have seen the priest at the altar, great numbers kneeled, and others +sat down on the steps of the houses, for the heat was excessive, and +many of them had come to town before daylight. This grand sight +impressed me very much, and I prayed for my country and for peace, for +I felt it all in my heart, and I remember that just then I heard under +the shed at the German gate, voices which said very good-humoredly, +"Come, come, give us a little room, my friends." +</P> + +<P> +The procession blocked the way, everybody was stopped, and these voices +disturbed the kneeling multitude. Several persons near the door made +way. The Swiss and the beadle looked on from a distance, and my +curiosity induced me to get a little nearer the steps, when I saw five +or six old soldiers white with dust, bent down and apparently exhausted +with fatigue, making their way along the slope in order to gain the +little rue d'Arsenal, through which they no doubt thought to find the +way clear, it seems as if I could see them now, with their worn-out +shoes and their white gaiters, and their old patched uniforms and +shakos battered by the sun and rain and the hardships of the campaign. +They advanced in file, a little on the grass of the slope in order to +disturb the people who were below as little as possible. One old +fellow with three chevrons, who marched ahead and resembled poor +Sergeant Pinto who was killed near the Hinterthor at Leipzig, made me +feel very sad. He had the same long, gray mustaches, the same wrinkled +cheeks, and the same contented air in spite of all his misfortunes and +sufferings. He had his little bundle on the end of his stick, and +smiling and speaking quite low he said, "Excuse us, gentlemen and +ladies, excuse us," while the others followed step by step. +</P> + +<P> +They were the first prisoners released by the convention of the 23d of +April, and we saw these men pass afterward every day until July. They +had no doubt avoided the magazines, in order the sooner to reach France. +</P> + +<P> +On reaching the little street they found the crowd extended beyond the +arsenal; and then in order not to disturb the people, they went under +the postern and sat down on the damp steps, with their little bundles +on the ground beside them, and waited for the procession to pass. They +had come from a great distance, and hardly knew what was going on with +us. +</P> + +<P> +Unhappily the wretches from Bois-de-Chênes, the big Horni, Zaphéri +Roller, Nicholas Cochart, the carder, Pinacle, whom they had made mayor +to pay him for having shown the way to Falberg and Graufthal to the +allies during the siege, all these rascals and others who were with +them, who wanted the fleur-de-lis—as if the fleur-de-lis could make +them any better—unhappily, I say, all that bad set who lived by +stealing fagots from the forest, had discovered the old tri-colored +cockade in the tops of their shakos, and "now," they thought, "is the +time to prove ourselves the real supporters of the throne and the +altar." +</P> + +<P> +They came on disturbing everybody, Pinacle had a big black cravat on +his neck and a crape, an ell wide, on his hat, with his shirt collar +above his ears, and as grave as a bandit who wants to make himself look +like an honest man; he came up the first one. The old soldier with the +three chevrons had discovered that these men were threatening them at a +distance and had risen to see what it meant. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come! don't crowd so!" said he. "We are not much in the habit +of running, what do you want?" +</P> + +<P> +But Pinacle, who was afraid of losing so good an occasion to show his +zeal for Louis XVIII., instead of replying to him, smashed his shako at +a blow, shouting, "Down with the cockade!" +</P> + +<P> +Naturally the old veteran was indignant and was about to defend +himself, when these wretches, both men and women, fell upon the +soldiers, knocking them down, pulling off their cockades and epaulets, +and trampling them under foot without shame or pity. +</P> + +<P> +The poor old fellow got up several times, exclaiming, in a voice which +went to one's heart, "Pack of cowards, are you Frenchmen, assassins, +etc., etc." +</P> + +<P> +Every time he rose they beat him down again, and at last left him with +his clothes torn, and covered with blood in a corner, and the +commandant, de la Faisanderie, having arrived, ordered them to be +escorted to the "Violin." If I had been able to get down, I should +have run to the rescue, without thinking of Catherine or Aunt Grédel or +Mr. Goulden, and they might have killed me too. When I think of it now +even, I tremble, but fortunately the wall of the postern was twenty +feet thick, and when I saw them carried away covered with blood, and +comprehended the whole horrible affair, I ran home by way of the +arsenal, where I arrived so pale that Father Goulden exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Joseph! have you been hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no," I replied, "but I have seen a frightful thing." And I +commenced to cry as I told him of the affair. He walked up and down +with his hands behind his back, stopping from time to time to listen to +me, while his lips contracted and his eyes sparkled. +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph," said he, "these men provoked them?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Mr. Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +"It is impossible, they must have invited it. The devil! we are not +savages! The rascals must have had some other reason than the cockades +for attacking them!" +</P> + +<P> +He could not believe me, and it was only after telling him all the +details twice over that he said at last: +</P> + +<P> +"Well! since you saw it with your own eyes I must believe you. But it +is a greater misfortune than you think, Joseph. If this goes on, if +they do not put a strong check on these good-for-nothings, if the +Pinacles are to have the upper hand, honest people will open their +eyes." +</P> + +<P> +He said no more, for the procession was finished and Aunt Grédel and +Catherine had come. +</P> + +<P> +We dined together, aunt was happy and Catherine too, but even the +pleasure it gave me to see them, could not make me forget what I had +witnessed, and Mr. Goulden was very grave too. +</P> + +<P> +At night, I went with them to the "Roulette," and then I embraced them +and bade them good-night. It might have been eight o'clock, and I went +home immediately. Mr. Goulden had gone to the "Homme Sauvage" brewery, +as was his habit on Sunday, to read the gazette, and I went to bed. He +came in about ten, and seeing my candle burning on the table, he pushed +open the door and said: +</P> + +<P> +"It seems that they are having processions everywhere. You see nothing +else in the gazette." And he added that twenty thousand prisoners had +returned, and that it was a happy thing for the country. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + +<P> +The next morning all the clocks in the village were to be wound up, and +as Mr. Goulden was growing old he had intrusted that to me, and I went +out very early. The wind had blown the leaves in heaps against the +walls during the night, and the people were coming to take their +torches and vases of flowers from the altars. All this made me sad, +and I thought, "Now that they have performed their service for the +dead, I hope they are satisfied. If the permit would come, it would be +all very well, but if these people think they are going to amuse us +with psalms they are mistaken. In the time of the Emperor we had to go +to Russia and Spain it is true, but the ministers did not leave the +young people to pine away. I would like to know what peace is for if +it is not to get married!" +</P> + +<P> +I denounced Louis XVIII., the Comte d'Artois, the <I>émigrés</I>, and +everybody else, and declared that the nobles mocked the people. +</P> + +<P> +On going home I found that Mr. Goulden had set the table, and while we +were eating breakfast, I told him what I thought. He listened to my +complaint and laughed, saying, "Take care, Joseph, take care; you seem +to me as if you were becoming a Jacobin." +</P> + +<P> +He got up and opened the closet, and I thought he was going to take out +a bottle, but, instead, he handed me a thick square envelope with a big +red seal. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Joseph," said he, "is something that Brigadier Werner charged me +to give you." +</P> + +<P> +I felt my heart jump and I could not see clearly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you open it?" said Father Goulden. +</P> + +<P> +I opened it and tried to read, but had to take a little time. At last +I cried out, "It is the permit." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you believe it?" said he. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is the permit," I said, holding it at arm's length. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! that rascal of a minister, he has sent no others," said Father +Goulden. +</P> + +<P> +"But," I said, "I know nothing of politics, since the permit has come, +the rest does not concern me." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed aloud, saying, "Good, Joseph, good!" +</P> + +<P> +I saw that he was laughing at me, but I did not care. +</P> + +<P> +"We must let Catherine and Aunt Grédel know immediately," I cried in +the joy of my heart; "we must send Chaudron's boy right away." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! go yourself, that will be better," said the good man. +</P> + +<P> +"But the work, Mr. Goulden?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw! pshaw! at a time like this one forgets work! Go! child, stir +yourself, how could you work now? You cannot see clearly." +</P> + +<P> +It was true I could do nothing. I was so happy that I cried, I +embraced Mr. Goulden, and then without taking time to change my coat I +set off, and was so absorbed by my happiness, that I had gone far +beyond the German gate, the bridge and the outworks and the post +station, and it was only when I was within a hundred yards of the +village and saw the chimney and the little windows that I recalled it +all like a dream, and commenced to read the permit again, repeating, +"It is true, yes, it is true; what happiness! what will they say!" +</P> + +<P> +I reached the house and pushed open the door exclaiming, "The permit!" +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Grédel in her sabots was just sweeping the kitchen, and Catherine +was coming downstairs with her arms bare, and her blue kerchief crossed +over her breast; she had been to the garret for chips, and both of them +on seeing me and hearing me cry, "the permit!" stood stock still. But +I repeated, "the permit!" and Aunt Grédel threw up her hands as I had +done, exclaiming, "Long live the King!" +</P> + +<P> +Catherine, quite pale, was leaning against the side of the staircase; I +was at her side in an instant and embraced her so heartily that she +leaned on my shoulder and cried, and I carried her down, so to speak, +while aunt danced round us, exclaiming, "Long live the King! long live +the Minister!" +</P> + +<P> +There was never anything like it. The old blacksmith, Ruppert, with +his leather apron on and his shirt open at the throat, came in to ask +what had happened. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, neighbor?" said he, as he held his big tongs in his hands +and opened his little eyes as wide as possible. +</P> + +<P> +This calmed us a little, and I answered, "We have received our permit +to marry." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, that is it? is it? now I understand, I understand." +</P> + +<P> +He had left the door open and five or six other neighbors came in—Anna +Schmoutz, the spinner, Christopher Wagner, the field-guard, Zaphéri +Gross, and several others, till the room was full. I read the permit +aloud; everybody listened, and when it was finished Catherine began to +cry again, and Aunt Grédel said: +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph, that minister is the best of men. If he were here, I would +embrace him and invite him to the wedding; he should have the place of +honor next Mr. Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +Then the women went off to spread the news, and I commenced my +declarations anew to Catherine, as if the old ones went for nothing; +and I made her repeat a thousand times that she had never loved any one +but me, till we cried and laughed, and laughed and cried, one after the +other, till night. We heard Aunt Grédel, as she attended to the +cooking, talking to herself and saying, "That is what I call a good +king;" or, "If my good Franz could come back to the earth he would be +happy to-day, but one cannot have everything." She said, also, that +the procession had done us good; but Catherine and I were too happy to +answer a word. We dined, and lunched, and took supper without seeing +or hearing anything, and it was nine o'clock when I suddenly perceived +it was time to go home. Catherine and Aunt Grédel and I went out +together, the moon was shining brightly, and they went with me to the +"Roulette," and while on the way we agreed that the marriage should +take place in fifteen days. At the farm-house, under the poplars, aunt +kissed me, and I kissed Catherine, and then watched them as they went +back to the village. When they reached home they turned and kissed +their hands to me, and then I came back to town, crossed the great +square, and got home about ten o'clock. Mr. Goulden was awake though +in bed, and he heard me open the door softly. I had lighted my lamp +and was going to my chamber, when he called, "Joseph!" +</P> + +<P> +I went to him, and he took me in his arms and we kissed each other, and +he said: +</P> + +<P> +"It is well, my child; you are happy, and you deserve to be. Now go to +bed, and to-morrow we will talk about it." +</P> + +<P> +I went to bed, but it was long before I could sleep soundly. I wakened +every moment, thinking, "Is it really true that the permit has come?" +Then I would say to myself, "Yes; it is true." But toward morning I +slept. When I wakened it was broad day, and I jumped out of bed to +dress myself, when Father Goulden called out, as happy as possible, +"Come, Joseph, come to breakfast." +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me, Mr. Goulden," I replied; "I was so happy I could hardly +sleep." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, I heard you," he answered and we went into the workshop, +where the table was already laid. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + +<P> +After the joy of marrying Catherine, my greatest delight was in +thinking I should be a tradesman, for there was a great difference +between fighting for the King of Prussia and doing business on one's +own account. Mr. Goulden had told me he would take me into partnership +with him, and I imagined myself taking my little wife to mass and then +going for a walk to the Roche-plate or to Bonne-Fontaine. This gave me +great pleasure. In the meantime I went every day to see Catherine; she +would wait for me in the orchard, while Aunt Grédel prepared the little +cakes and the bride's loaf for the wedding. We did nothing but look at +each other for hours together; she was so fresh and joyous and grew +prettier every day. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden would say on seeing me come home happier every night, +"Well! Joseph, matters seem to be better than when we were at Leipzig!" +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes I wanted to go to work again, but he always stopped me by +saying, "Oh! pshaw! happy days in life are so few. Go and see +Catherine, go! If I should take a fancy to be married by and by, you +can work for us both." And then he would laugh. Such men as he ought +to live a hundred years, such a good heart! so true and honest! He was +a real father to us. And even now, after so many years, when I think +of him with his black silk cap drawn over his ears, and his gray beard +eight days old, and the little wrinkles about his eyes showing so much +good-humor, it seems to me that I still hear his voice and the tears +will come in spite of me. But I must tell you here of something which +happened before the wedding and which I shall never forget. It was the +6th of July and we were to be married on the 8th. I had dreamed of it +all night. I rose between six and seven. Father Goulden was already +at work, with the windows open. I was washing my face and thinking I +would run over to Quatre Vents, when all at once a bugle and two taps +of a drum were heard at the gate of France, just as when a regiment +arrives, they try their mouthpieces, and tap their drums just to get +the sticks well in hand. When I heard that my hair stood on end, and I +exclaimed, "Mr. Goulden, it is the Sixth!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed, for eight days everybody has been talking about it, but +you hear nothing in these days. It is the wedding bouquet, Joseph, and +I wanted to surprise you." +</P> + +<P> +I listened no longer, but went downstairs at a jump. Our old drummer +Padoue had already lifted his stick under the dark arch, and the +drummers came up behind balancing their drums on their hips; in the +distance was Gémeau, the commandant, on horseback, the red plumes of +the grenadiers and the bayonets came up slowly; it was the Third +battalion. The march commenced, and my blood bounded. I recognized at +the first glance the long gray cloaks which we had received on the 22d +of October, on the glacis at Erfurth; they had become quite green from +the snow and wind and rain. It was worse than after the battle of +Leipzig. The old shakos were full of ball holes, only the flag was +new, in its beautiful case of oil-cloth, with the fleur-de-lis at the +end. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! only those who have made a campaign can realize what it is to see +your regiment and to hear the same roll of the drum as when it is in +front of the enemy, and to say to yourself, "There are your comrades, +who return beaten, humiliated, and crushed, bowing their heads under +another cockade." No! I never felt anything like it. Later many of +the men of the Sixth came and settled down at Pfalzbourg, they were my +old officers, old sergeants, and were always welcome, there was +Laflèche, Carabin, Lavergne, Monyot, Padoue, Chazi, and many others. +Those who commanded me during the war sawed wood for me, put on tiles, +were my carpenters and masons. After giving me orders they obeyed me, +for I was independent, and had business, while they were simply +laborers. But that was nothing, and I always treated my old chiefs +with respect, I always thought, "at Weissenfels, at Lutzen, and at +Leipzig, these men who now are forced to labor so hard to support +themselves and their families, represented at the front the honor and +the courage of France." These changes came after Waterloo! and our old +Ensign Faizart, swept the bridge at the gate of France for fifteen +years! That is not right, the country ought to be more grateful. +</P> + +<P> +It was the Third battalion that returned, in so wretched a state that +it made the hearts of good men bleed. Zébédé told me that they left +Versailles on the 31st of March, after the capitulation of Paris, and +marched to Chartres, to Chateaudun, to Blois, Orleans and so on like +real Bohemians, for six weeks without pay or equipments, until at last +at Rouen, they received orders to cross France and return to +Pfalzbourg, and everywhere the processions and funeral services for the +King, Louis XVI., had excited the people against them. They were +obliged to bear it all, and even were compelled to bivouac in the +fields while the Russians, Austrians, and Prussians, and other beggars, +lived quietly in our towns. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé wept with rage as he recounted their sufferings afterward. +</P> + +<P> +"Is France no longer France?" he asked. "Have we not fought for her +honor?" +</P> + +<P> +But it gives me pleasure now in my old age, to remember how we received +the Sixth at Pfalzbourg. You know that the First battalion had already +arrived from Spain, and that the remnant of this regiment and of the +24th infantry of the line formed the 6th regiment of Berry, so that all +the village was rejoicing that instead of the few old veterans, we were +to have two thousand men in garrison. There was great rejoicing, and +everybody shouted, "Long live the Sixth;" the children ran out to St. +Jean to meet them, and the battalion had nowhere been better received +than here. Several old fellows wept and shouted, "Long live France." +But in spite of all that, the officers were dejected and only made +signs with their hands as if to thank the people for their kind +reception. +</P> + +<P> +I stood on our door-steps while three or four hundred men filed past, +so ragged that I could not distinguish our number, but suddenly I saw +Zébédé, who was marching in the rear, so thin that his long crooked +nose stood out from his face like a beak, his old cloak hanging like +fringe down his back, but he had his sergeant's stripes, and his large +bony shoulders gave him the appearance of strength. On seeing him, I +cried out so loud that it could be heard above the drums, "Zébédé!" +</P> + +<P> +He turned round and I sprang into his arms and he put down his gun at +the corner of the rue Fouquet. I cried like a child and he said, "Ah! +it is you, Joseph! there are two of us left then, at least." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is I," said I, "and I am going to marry Catherine, and you +shall be my best man." +</P> + +<P> +We marched along together to the corner of the rue Houte, where old +Furst was waiting with tears in his eyes. The poor old man thought, +"Perhaps my son will come too." Seeing Zébédé coming with me, he +turned suddenly into the little dark entrance to his house. On the +square, Father Klipfel and five or six others were looking at the +battalion in line. It is true they had received the notices of the +deaths, but still they thought there might be mistakes, and that their +sons did not like to write. They looked amongst them, and then went +away while the drums were beating. +</P> + +<P> +They called the roll, and just at that moment the old grave-digger came +up with his little yellow velvet vest and his gray cotton cap. He +looked behind the ranks where I was talking with Zébédé, who turned +round and saw him and grew quite pale, they looked at each other for an +instant, then I took his gun and the old man embraced his son. They +did not say a word, but remained in each other's arms for a long while. +Then when the battalion filed off to the right to go to the barracks, +Zébédé asked permission of Captain Vidal to go home with his father, +and gave his gun to his nearest comrade. We went together to the rue +de Capucins. The old man said: "You know that grandmother is so old +that she can no longer get out of bed, or she would have come to meet +you too." +</P> + +<P> +I went to the door, and then said to them, "You will come and dine with +us, both of you." +</P> + +<P> +"I will with pleasure," said the father. "Yes, Joseph, we will come." +</P> + +<P> +I went home to tell Father Goulden of my invitation, and he was all the +more pleased as Catherine and her aunt were to be there also. +</P> + +<P> +I never had been more happy than when thinking of having my beloved, my +best friend, and all those whom I loved the most, together at our house. +</P> + +<P> +That day at eleven o'clock our large room on the first floor was a +pretty sight to see. The floor had been well scrubbed, the round table +in the middle of the room was covered with a beautiful cloth with red +stripes and six large silver covers upon it, the napkins folded like a +boat in the shining plates, the salt-cellar and the sealed bottles, and +the large cut glasses sparkling in the sun which came over the groups +of lilac ranged along the windows. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden wished to have everything in abundance, grand and +magnificent, as he would for princes and embassadors, and he had taken +his silver from the basket, a most unusual thing; I had made the soup +myself. In it there were three pounds of good meat, a head of cabbage, +carrots in abundance, indeed everything necessary; except that,—which +you can never have so good at an hotel,—everything had been ordered by +Mr. Goulden himself from the "Ville de Metz." +</P> + +<P> +About noon we looked at each other, smiling and rubbing our hands, he +in his beautiful nut-brown coat, well shaved, and with his great peruke +a little rusty, in place of his old black silk cap, his maroon breeches +neatly turned over his thick woollen stockings, and shoes with great +buckles on his feet; while I had on my sky-blue coat of the latest +fashion, my shirt finely plaited in front, and happiness in my heart. +</P> + +<P> +All that was lacking now was our guests—Catherine, Aunt Grédel, the +grave-digger, and Zébédé. We walked up and down laughing and saying, +"Everything is in its place and we had best get out the soup-tureen." +And I looked out now and then to see if they were coming. +</P> + +<P> +At last Aunt Grédel and Catherine turned the corner of the rue Foquet; +they came from mass and had their prayer-books under their arms, and +farther on I saw the old grave-digger in his fine coat with wide +sleeves, and his old three-cornered hat, and Zébédé, who had put on a +clean shirt and shaved himself. They came from the side next the +ramparts arm in arm, gravely, like men who are sober because they are +perfectly happy. +</P> + +<P> +"Here they are," I said to Father Goulden. +</P> + +<P> +We just had time to pour out the soup and put the big tureen, smoking +hot in the middle of the table. This was happily accomplished just as +Aunt Grédel and Catherine came in. You can judge of their surprise on +seeing the beautiful table. We had hardly kissed each other when aunt +exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"It is the wedding-day then, Mr. Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Madame Grédel," the good man answered smiling,—on days of +ceremony he always called her Madame instead of Mother Grédel, "yes, +the wedding of good friends. You know that Zébédé has just returned, +and he will dine with us to-day with the old grave-digger." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said aunt, "that will give me great pleasure." +</P> + +<P> +Catherine blushed deeply, and said to me in a low voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Now everything is as it should be, that was what we wanted to make us +perfectly happy." +</P> + +<P> +She looked tenderly at me as she held my hand. Just then some one +opened the door, and old Laurent from the "Ville de Metz," with two +high baskets in which dishes were ranged in beautiful order one above +the other, cried out, "Mr. Goulden, here is the dinner!" +</P> + +<P> +"Very well!" said Mr. Goulden, "now arrange it on the table yourself." +</P> + +<P> +And Laurent put on the radishes first, the fricasseed chicken and +beautiful fat goose at the right, and on the left the beef which we had +ourselves arranged with parsley in the plate. He put on also a nice +plate of sauerkraut with little sausages, near the soup. Such a dinner +had never been seen in our house before. +</P> + +<P> +Just at that moment we heard Zébédé and his father coming up the +stairs, and Father Goulden and I ran to meet them. Mr. Goulden +embraced Zébédé and said: +</P> + +<P> +"How happy I am to see you, I know you showed yourself a good comrade +for Joseph in the midst of the greatest danger." +</P> + +<P> +Then he shook the old grave-digger's hand, saying, "I am proud of you +for having such a son." +</P> + +<P> +Then Catherine, who had come behind us, said to Zébédé: +</P> + +<P> +"I could not please Joseph more than to embrace you, you would have +carried him to Hanau only your strength failed. I look upon you as a +brother." +</P> + +<P> +Then Zébédé, who was very pale, kissed her without saying a word, and +we all went into the room in silence, Catherine, Zébédé, and I first, +Mr. Goulden and the old grave-digger came afterward. Aunt Grédel +arranged the dishes a little and then said: +</P> + +<P> +"You are welcome, you are welcome! you who met in sorrow, have rejoined +each other in joy. May God send his grace on us all." +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé kissed Aunt Grédel and said, "Always fresh and in good health, +it is a pleasure to see you." +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Father Zébédé, sit at the head of the table, and you there, +Zébédé, that I may have you on my right and my left, Joseph will sit +farther down, opposite Catherine, and Madame Grédel at the other end to +watch over all." +</P> + +<P> +Each one was satisfied with his place, and Zébédé smiled and looked at +me as if he would say: "If we had had the quarter of such a dinner as +this at Hanau, we should never have fallen by the roadside." Joy and a +good appetite shone on every face. Father Goulden dipped the great +silver ladle into the soup as we all looked on, and served first the +old grave-digger, who said nothing and seemed touched by this honor, +then his son, and then Catherine, Aunt Grédel, himself, and me. And +the dinner was begun quietly. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé winked and looked at me from time to time with great +satisfaction. We uncorked the first bottle and filled the glasses. +This was very good wine, but there was better coming, so we did not +drink each other's health yet, we each ate a good slice of beef, and +Father Goulden said: +</P> + +<P> +"Here is something <I>good</I>, this beef is excellent." He found the +fricassee very good also, and then I saw that Catherine was a woman of +spirit, for she said: +</P> + +<P> +"You know, Mr. Zébédé, that we should have invited your grandmother +Margaret, whom I go to see from time to time, only she is too old to go +out, but if you wish, she shall at least eat a morsel with us, and +drink her grandson's health in a glass of wine. What do you say, +Father Zébédé?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was just thinking of that," said the old man. +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden looked at Catherine with tears in his eyes, and as she +rose to select a suitable piece for the old woman, he kissed her, and I +heard him call her his daughter. +</P> + +<P> +She went out with a bottle and a plate; and while she was gone Zébédé +said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph, she who is soon to be your wife deserves to be perfectly +happy, for she is not only a good girl, not only a woman who ought to +be loved, but she deserves respect also, for she has a good and feeling +heart. She saw what my father and I thought of this excellent dinner, +and she knew it would give us a thousand times more pleasure if +grandmother could share it. I shall love her for it, as if she were my +sister." Then he added in a low voice: "It is when we are happy that +we feel the bitterness of poverty. It is not enough to give our blood +to our country, but there is suffering at home in consequence, and when +we return we must have misery before our eyes." +</P> + +<P> +I saw that he was growing sad, so I filled his glass and we drank, and +his melancholy vanished. Catherine came back and said, "the +grandmother was very happy, and that she thanked Mr. Goulden, and said +it had been a beautiful day for her." And this roused everybody. As +the dinner continued, Aunt Grédel heard the bells for vespers, and she +went out to church, but Catherine remained, and the animation which +good wine inspires had come, and we began to speak of the last +campaign; of the retreat from the Rhine to Paris, of the fighting of +the battalion at Bibelskirchen and at Saarbruck, where Lieutenant +Baubin swam the Saar when it was freezing as hard as stone, to destroy +some boats which were still in the hands of the enemy; of the passage +at Narbefontaine, at Courcelles, at Metz, at Enzelvin, and at Champion +and Verdun, and, still retreating, the battle of Brienne. The men were +nearly all destroyed, but on the 4th of February the battalion was +re-formed from the remnant of the 5th light infantry, and from that +moment they were every day under fire; on the 5th, 6th, and 7th at +Méry-sur-Seine; on the 8th at Sézanne, where the soldiers died in the +mud, not having strength enough to get out; the 9th and 10th at Mürs, +where Zébédé was buried at night in the dung-heap of a farmhouse in +order to get warm, and the terrible battle of Marché on the 11th, in +which the Commandant Philippe was wounded by a bayonet-thrust; the +encounter on the 12th and 13th at Montmirail, the battle of Beauchamp +on the 14th, the retreat on Montmirail on the 15th and 16th, when the +Prussians returned: the combats at the Ferté-Gauché, at Jouarre, at +Gué-à-Train, at Neufchettes, and so on. When the Prussians were +beaten, then came the Russians, after them the Austrians, the +Bavarians, the Wurtemburgers, the Hessians, the Saxons, and the Badois. +</P> + +<P> +I have often heard that campaign described, but never as it was done by +Zébédé. As he talked his great thin face quivered and his long nose +turned down over the four hairs of his yellow mustache, and his eyes +would flash and he would stretch out his hand from his old sleeve and +you could see what he was describing. The great plains of Champagne +with the smoking villages to the right and to the left, where the +women, children, and old men were wandering about in groups, half +naked, one carrying a miserable old mattress, another with a few pieces +of furniture on his cart, while the snow was falling from the sky, and +the cannon roared in the distance, and the Cossacks were flying about +like the wind with kitchen utensils and even old clocks hanging to +their saddles, shouting hurrah! +</P> + +<P> +Furious battles were raging, singly, or one against ten, in which the +desperate peasants joined also with their scythes. At night the +Emperor might be seen sitting astride his chair, with his chin resting +in his folded hands on the back, before a little fire with his generals +around him. This was the way he slept and dreamed. He must have had +terrible reflections after the days of Marengo, Austerlitz, and Wagram. +</P> + +<P> +To fight the enemy, to suffer hunger and cold and fatigue, to march and +countermarch, Zébédé said, were nothing, but to hear the women and +children weeping and groaning in French in the midst of their ruined +homes, to know you could not help them, and that the more enemies you +killed, the more would you have; that you must retreat, always retreat, +in spite of victories, in spite of courage, in spite of everything! +"that is what breaks your heart, Mr. Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +In listening and looking at him we had lost all inclination to drink, +and Father Goulden, with his great head bent down as if thinking, said +in a low voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that is what glory costs, it is not enough to lose our liberty, +not enough to lose the rights gained at such a cost, we must be +pillaged, sacked, burned, cut to pieces by Cossacks, we must see what +has not been seen for centuries, a horde of brigands making law for +us—but go on, we are listening, tell us all." +</P> + +<P> +Catherine, seeing how sad we were, filled the glasses. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said she, "to the health of Mr. Goulden and Father Zébédé. All +these misfortunes are past and will never return." +</P> + +<P> +We drank, and Zébédé related how it had been necessary to fill up the +battalion again, on the route to Soissons, with the soldiers of the +16th light infantry, and how they arrived at Meaux where the plague was +raging, although it was winter, in the hospital of Piété, in +consequence of the great numbers of wounded who could not be cared for. +</P> + +<P> +That was horrible, but the worst of all was when he described their +arrival at Paris, at the Barrière de Charenton: the Empress, King +Joseph, the King of Rome, the ministers, the new princes and dukes, and +all the great world, were running away toward Blois, and abandoning the +capital to the enemy, while the workingmen in blouses, who gained +nothing from the Empire, but to be forced to give their children to +defend it, were gathered around the town-house by thousands, begging +for arms to defend the honor of France; and the Old Guard repulsed them +with the bayonet! +</P> + +<P> +At this Father Goulden exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"That is enough, Zébédé, hold! stop there, and let us talk of something +else." +</P> + +<P> +He had suddenly grown very pale; at this moment Mother Grédel returned +from vespers, and seeing us all so quiet, and Mr. Goulden so disturbed, +asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What has happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"We were speaking of the Empress and of the ministers of the Emperor," +replied Father Goulden, forcing a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +Said she, "I am not astonished that the wine turns against you. Every +time I think of them, if by accident I look in the glass, I see that it +turns me quite livid. The beggars! fortunately, they are gone." +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé did not like this. Mr. Goulden observed it and said, "Well! +France is a great and glorious country all the same. If the new nobles +are worth no more than the old ones, the people are firm. They work in +vain against them. The bourgeois, the artisan, and the peasant are +united, they have the same interests and will not give up what they +have gained, nor let them again put their feet on their necks. Now, +friends, let us go and take the air, it is late, and Madame Grédel and +Catherine have a long way to go to Quatre Vents. Joseph will go with +them." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Catherine, "Joseph must stay with his friend to-day, and we +will go home alone." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well! so be it! on a day like this friends should be together," +said Mr. Goulden. +</P> + +<P> +We went out arm in arm, it was dark, and after embracing Catherine +again at the Place d'Armes she and her aunt took their way home, and +after having taken a few turns under the great lindens we went to the +"Wild Man" and refreshed ourselves with some glasses of foaming beer. +Mr. Goulden described the siege, the attack at Pernette, the sorties at +Bigelberg, at the barracks above, and the bombardment. It was then +that I learned for the first time that he had been captain of a gun, +and that it was he who had first thought of breaking up the +melting-pots in the foundry to make shot. These stories occupied us +till after ten o'clock. At last Zébédé left us to go to the barracks, +the old grave-digger went to the rue Capucin, and we to our beds, where +we slept till eight o'clock the next morning. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H3> + +<P> +Two days afterward I was married to Catherine at Aunt Grédel's at +Quatre Vents. Mr. Goulden represented my father. Zébédé was my best +man, and some old comrades remaining from the battalion were also at +the wedding. The next day we were installed in our two little rooms +over the workshop at Father Goulden's, Catherine and I. Many years +have rolled away since then! Mr. Goulden, Aunt Grédel, and the old +comrades have all passed away, and Catherine's hair is as white as +snow! Yet often, even now, when I look at her, those times come back +again, and I see her as she was at twenty, fresh and rosy, I see her +arrange the flower-pots in the chamber-window, I hear her singing to +herself, I see the sun opposite, and then we descend the steep little +staircase and say together, as we go into the workshop: "Good-morning, +Mr. Goulden;" he turns, smiles, and answers, "Good-morning, my +children, good-morning!" Then he kisses Catherine and she commences to +sweep and rub the furniture and prepare the soup, while we examine the +work we have to do during the day. +</P> + +<P> +Ah, those beautiful days, that charming life. What joy in being young +and in having a simple, good, and industrious wife! How our hearts +rejoice, and the future spreads out so far—so far—before us! We +shall never be old; we shall always love each other, and always keep +those we love! We shall always be of good heart; we shall always take +our Sunday walk arm in arm to Bonne-Fontaine; we shall always sit on +the moss in the woods, and hear the bees and May bugs buzzing in the +great trees filled with light; we shall always smile! What a life! +what a life! +</P> + +<P> +And at night we shall go softly home to the nest, as we silently look +at the golden trains which spread over the sky from Wecham to the +forests of Mittelbronn, we shall press each other's hand when we hear +the little clock at Pfalzbourg ring out the "Angelus," and those of all +the villages will respond through the twilight. Oh, youth! oh, life! +</P> + +<P> +All is before me just as it was fifty years ago; but other sparrows and +larks sing and build in the spring, other blossoms whiten the great +apple-trees. And have we changed too, and grown old like the old +people of those days? That alone makes me believe that we shall become +young again, that we shall renew our loves and rejoin Father Goulden +and Aunt Grédel and all our dear friends. Otherwise we should be too +unhappy in growing old. God would not send us pain without hope. And +Catherine believes it too. Well! at that time we were perfectly happy, +everything was beautiful to us, nothing troubled our joy. +</P> + +<P> +It was when the allies were passing through our city by hundreds of +thousands on their way home. Cavalry, artillery, infantry, foot and +horse, with oak leaves in their shakos, on their caps, and on the ends +of their muskets and lances. They shouted so that you could hear them +a league away. Just as you hear the chaffinches, thrushes, and +blackbirds, and thousands of other birds in the autumn. At any other +time this would have made me sad, because it was the sign of our +defeat, but I consoled myself by thinking that they were going away, +never to return. And when Zébédé came to tell me that every day the +Russian, Austrian, Prussian, and Bavarian officers crossed the city to +visit our new commandant, Mons. de la Faisanderie, who was an old +émigré, and who covered them with honors—that such an officer of the +battalion had provoked one of these strangers, and that such another +half-pay officer had killed two or three in duels at the "Roulette," or +the "Green Tree," or the "Flower Basket," for they were everywhere—our +soldiers could not bear the sight of the foreigners, there were fights +everywhere, and the litters of the hospital were constantly going and +coming—when Zébédé told me all these things, and when he said that so +many officers had been put upon half-pay in order to replace them by +officers from Coblentz, and that the soldiers were to be compelled to +go to mass in full uniform, that the priests were everything and +epaulettes nothing any more; instead of being vexed, I only said, "Bah! +all these things will get settled by and by. So long as we can have +quiet, and can live and labor in peace, we will be satisfied." +</P> + +<P> +I did not think that it is not enough that one is satisfied; to +preserve peace and tranquillity, all must be so likewise. I was like +Aunt Grédel, who found everything right now that we were married. She +came very often to see us, with her basket full of fresh eggs, fruits, +vegetables, and cakes for our housekeeping, and she would say: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Mr. Goulden, there is no need to ask if the children are well, +you have only to look at their faces." +</P> + +<P> +And to me she would say: "There is some difference, Joseph, between +being married, and trudging along under a knapsack and musket at +Lutzen!" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you, Mamma Grédel," I would answer. +</P> + +<P> +Then she would sit down, with her hands on her knees, and say: "All +this comes from peace; peace makes everybody happy, and to think of +that mob of barefoot beggars who shout against the King!" +</P> + +<P> +At first Mr. Goulden, who was at work, would say nothing, but when she +kept on he would say, "Come, Mother Grédel, a little moderation, you +know that opinion is free now, we have two chambers and constitution, +and each one has a voice." +</P> + +<P> +"But it is also true," said aunt looking at me maliciously, "that one +must hold his tongue from time to time, and that shows a difference +too." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden never went farther than this, for he looked upon aunt as a +good woman, but who was not worth the trouble of converting. He would +only laugh when she went too far, and matters went on without jarring +until something new happened. At first there was an order from Nancy +to compel the people to close all their shutters during service on +Sunday—Jews, Lutherans, and all. There was no more noise in the inns +and wine-shops, it was still as death in the city during mass and +vespers. The people said nothing, but looked at each other as if they +were afraid. +</P> + +<P> +The first Sunday that our shutters were closed, Mr. Goulden seemed very +sad, and said, as we were dining in the dark, "I had hoped, my +children, that all this was over, and that people would have +common-sense, and that we should be tranquil for years, but unhappily I +see that these Bourbons are of the same race as Dagobert. Affairs are +growing serious." +</P> + +<P> +He did not say anything else on this Sunday, and went out in the +afternoon to read the papers. Everybody who could read went, while the +peasants were at mass, to read the papers after shutting their shops. +The citizens and master-workmen then got in the habit of reading the +papers, and a little later they wanted a Casino. I remember that +everybody talked of Benjamin Constant and placed great confidence in +him. Mr. Goulden liked him very much, and as he was accustomed to go +every evening to Father Colin's, to read of what had taken place, we +also heard the news. He told us that the Duke d'Angoulême was at +Bordeaux, the Count d'Artois at Marseilles, they had promised this, and +they had said that. +</P> + +<P> +Catherine was more curious than I, she liked to hear all the news there +was in the country, and when Mr. Goulden said anything, I could see in +her eyes that she thought he was right. One evening he said, "The Duke +de Berry is coming here." +</P> + +<P> +We were greatly astonished. "What is he going to do here, Mr. +Goulden?" asked Catherine. +</P> + +<P> +"He is coming to review the regiment," he answered, "I have a great +curiosity to see him. The papers say that he looks like Bonaparte, but +that he has a great deal more mind. It is not astonishing for if a +legitimate prince had no more sense than the son of a peasant it would +be a great pity. But you have seen Bonaparte, Joseph, and you can +judge of the matter." +</P> + +<P> +You can imagine how this news excited the country. From that day +nothing was thought of but erecting triumphal arches, and making white +flags, and the people from all the villages kept coming with their +carts covered with garlands. They raised a triumphal arch at +Pfalzbourg and another near Saverne. Every evening after supper +Catherine and I went out to see how the work progressed. It was +between the hotel "de la Ville de Metz" and the shop of the +confectioner Dürr, right across the street. The old carpenter Ulrich +and his boys built it. It was like a great gate covered with garlands +of oak leaves, and over the front were displayed magnificent white +flags. +</P> + +<P> +While they were doing this, Zébédé came to see us several times. The +prince was to come from Metz, the regiment had received letters, which +represented him as being as severe as if he had gained fifty battles. +But what vexed Zébédé most was, that the prince called our old +officers, "Soldiers of fortune." +</P> + +<P> +He arrived the 1st of October, at six in the evening, we heard the +cannon when he was at Gerberhoff. He alighted at the "Ville de Metz," +without going under the arch. The square was crowded with officers in +full uniform, and from all the windows the people shouted, "Long live +the King, Long live the Duke de Berry," just as they cried in the time +of Napoleon, "Long live the Emperor." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden and Catherine and I could not get near because of the +crowd, and we only saw the carriages and the hussars file past. A +picket near our house cut off all communication. That same evening he +received the corps of officers and condescended to accept a dinner +offered to him by the Sixth, but he only invited Colonel Zaepfel. +After the dinner, from which they did not rise till ten o'clock, the +principal citizens gave a ball at the college. All the officers and +all the friends of the Bourbons were present in black coats, and +breeches and stockings of white silk, to meet the prince, and the young +girls of good families were there in crowds, dressed in white. I still +seem to hear the horses of the escort as they passed in the middle of +the night amid the thousands shouting "Vive le Roi! Vive le Duc de +Berry!" +</P> + +<P> +All the windows were illuminated, and before those of the commandant +there was a great shield of sky blue, and the crown and the three +fleur-de-lis in gold, sparkled in the centre. The great hall of the +college echoed with the music of the regimental band. +</P> + +<P> +Mademoiselle Bremer, who had a very fine voice, was to sing the air of +"Vive Henri IV." before the prince. But all the village knew the next +day, that she had been so confused by the sight of the prince, that she +could not utter a word, and everybody said, "Poor Mademoiselle +Félicité, poor Mademoiselle Félicité." +</P> + +<P> +The ball lasted all night. We—Mr. Goulden, Catherine, and I—were +asleep, when about three in the morning we were wakened by the hussars +going by and the shouts of "Vive le Duc de Berry." These princes must +have excellent health to be able to go to all the balls and dinners +which are offered to them on their journeys. And it must become very +tiresome at last to be called "Your Majesty," "Your Excellence," "Your +Goodness," and "Your Justice," and everything else that can be thought +of, that is new and extraordinary, in order to make them believe that +the people adore them and look upon them as gods. If they do despise +the men at last it is not astonishing. If the same thing were done to +us we might think ourselves eagles too. +</P> + +<P> +What I have told you is exactly the truth. I have exaggerated nothing. +</P> + +<P> +The next day they began again with new enthusiasm. The weather was +very fine, but as the prince had slept badly, and the children who +wished to imitate the court without succeeding, annoyed him, and he +thought perhaps, that they had not done him sufficient honor and had +not shouted "Vive le Roi, Vive le Duc de Berry" loud and long +enough—for all the <I>soldiers</I> kept silent—he was in a very bad humor. +</P> + +<P> +I saw him very well that day, while the review was taking place—the +soldiers occupied the sides of the square, we were at Wittman's, the +leather merchant, on the first floor—and also during the consecration +of the flag and the Te Deum at the church, for we had the fourth pew in +front of the choir. They said he looked like Napoleon, but it was not +true; he was a good-looking fat fellow, short and thick, and pale with +fatigue, and not at all lively, quite the contrary. During the service +he did nothing but yawn and rock back and forth like a pendulum. I am +telling you what I saw myself, and that shows how blind people are, +they want to find resemblances everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +During the review, too, I remembered that the Emperor always came on +horseback, and so would discover at a glance if everything was in +order; instead of this, the duke came along the ranks on foot, and two +or three times he found fault with old soldiers, examining them from +head to foot. That was the worst. Zébédé was one of these men, and he +never could forgive him. +</P> + +<P> +That was well enough for the review, but a more serious thing was the +distribution of the crosses and the fleur-de-lis. When I tell you that +all the mayors and their assistants, the councillors from the +Baraques-d'en-Haut and the Baraques-du-bois-de-Chênes, from Holderloch +and Hirschland, received the fleur-de-lis because they headed their +village deputations with a white flag, and that Pinacle received the +cross of honor, for having arrived first with the band of the Bohemian, +Waldteufel, who played "Vive Henri IV.," and had five or six white +flags larger than the others; when I tell you that, you will understand +what reasonable people thought. It was a real scandal! +</P> + +<P> +In the afternoon about four o'clock, the prince left for Strasbourg, +accompanied by all the royalists in the country on horseback, some on +good mounts, and others, like Pinacle, on old hacks. +</P> + +<P> +One event the Pfalzbourgers of that day remember until this, and that +is, that after the prince was seated in his carriage and was driving +slowly away, one of the émigré officers with his head uncovered and in +uniform, ran after him, crying in a pitiful voice, "Bread, my prince, +bread for my children!" That made the people blush, and they ran away +for shame. +</P> + +<P> +We went home in silence, Father Goulden was lost in thought, when Aunt +Grédel arrived. +</P> + +<P> +"Well! Mother Grédel, you ought to be satisfied," said he. +</P> + +<P> +"And why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because Pinacle has been decorated." +</P> + +<P> +She turned quite livid, and said after a minute: +</P> + +<P> +"That is the greatest trumpery that ever was seen. If the prince had +known what he is, he would have hung him rather than decorate him with +the cross of honor." +</P> + +<P> +"That is just the trouble," said Mr. Goulden, "those people do many +such things without knowing it, and when they do know, it is too late." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H3> + +<P> +So it was that Monseigneur the Duke de Berry, visited the departments +of the East. Every word he uttered was taken up and repeated again and +again. Some praised his exceeding graciousness, and others kept +silence. From that time I suspected that all these émigrés and +officers on half-pay, these preachers with their processions and their +expiations, would overturn everything again, and about the beginning of +winter we heard that not only with us, but all over Alsace affairs were +growing worse and worse in just the same way. +</P> + +<P> +One morning between eleven and twelve Father Goulden and I were both at +work, each one thinking after his own fashion, and Catherine was laying +the cloth. I started to go out to wash my hands at the pump, as I +always did before dinner, when I saw an old woman wiping her feet on +the straw mat at the foot of the stairs and shaking her skirts which +were covered with mud. She had a stout staff, and a large rosary hung +from her neck. As I looked at her from the top of the stairs, she +began to come up and I recognized her immediately by the folds about +her eyes and the innumerable wrinkles round her little mouth, as +Anna-Marie, the pilgrim of St. Witt. The poor old woman often brought +us watches to mend, from pious people who had confidence in her, and +Mr. Goulden was always delighted to see her. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" he exclaimed, "it is Anne-Marie! now we shall have the news. And +how is Mr. Such-an-one, the priest? How is the Vicar So-and-So? Does +he still look as well as ever? and Mr. Jacob, of such a place. And the +old sexton, Niclausse, does he still ring the bells at Dann, and at +Hirschland, and Saint Jean? He must begin to look old?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, thanks for Mr. Jacob, you know that he lost +Mademoiselle Christine last week." +</P> + +<P> +"What! Mademoiselle Christine?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed?" +</P> + +<P> +"What a misfortune! but we must remember that we are all mortal!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mr. Goulden, and when one is so fortunate as to receive the holy +consolations of the Church." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly—certainly, that is the principal thing." +</P> + +<P> +So they talked on, Father Goulden laughing in his sleeve. She knew +everything that happened within six leagues round the city. He looked +mischievously at me from time to time. This same thing had happened a +hundred times during my apprenticeship, but you will understand how +much more curious he was now to learn all that was going on in the +country. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! it is really Anna-Marie!" said he rising, "it is a long time since +we have seen you." +</P> + +<P> +"Three months, Mr. Goulden, three long months. I have made pilgrimages +to Saint Witt, to Saint Odille, to Marienthal, to Hazlach, and I have +vows for all the saints in Alsace, in Lorraine, and in the Vosges. But +now I have nearly finished, only Saint Quirin remains." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! so much the better, your affairs go on well, and that gives me +pleasure. Sit down, Anna-Marie, sit down and rest yourself." +</P> + +<P> +I saw in his eyes how happy he was to have her unroll her budget of +news. But it appeared she had other matters to attend to. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Mr. Goulden," said she. "I cannot today. Others are before me, +Mother Evig, Gaspard Rosenkranz, and Jacob Heilig. I must go to Saint +Quirin, to-night. I only just came in to tell you that the clock at +Dosenheim is out of order, and that they are expecting you to repair +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw! pshaw! stay a moment." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I cannot, I am very sorry, Mr. Goulden, but I must finish my +round." +</P> + +<P> +She had already taken up her bundle, and Mr. Goulden seemed greatly +disappointed; when Catherine put a great dish of cabbage on the table, +and said, "What! are you going, Anna-Marie? you cannot think of it! +here is your plate!" +</P> + +<P> +She turned her head and saw the smoking soup and the cabbage, which +exhaled a most delicious odor. +</P> + +<P> +"I am in a great hurry," said she. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! pshaw! you have very good legs," said Catherine, glancing at Mr. +Goulden. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, thank God, they are very good still." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sit down then and refresh yourself. It is hard work to be +always walking." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed, Madame Bertha, one earns the thirty sous that one gets." +</P> + +<P> +I placed the chairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down, Anna-Marie, and give me your stick." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I must listen to you, I suppose, but I cannot stay long, I will +only take a mouthful and then go." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, that is settled, Anna-Marie," said Mr. Goulden; "we will not +hinder you long." +</P> + +<P> +We sat down, and Mr. Goulden served us at once. Catherine looked at me +and smiled, and I said to myself, "Women are more ingenious than we," +and I was very happy. What more could a man wish for than to have a +wife with sense and spirit? It is a real treasure, and I have often +seen that men are happy when they allow themselves to be guided by such +a woman. You can easily believe that when once seated at the table +near the fire, instead of being out in the mud, with the sharp November +wind whistling in her thin skirts, she no longer thought of her +journey. She was a good creature sixty years old, who still supported +two children of her son who died some years before. To travel round +the country at that age, with the sun and rain and snow on your back, +to sleep in barns and stables on straw, and three-quarters of the time +have only potatoes to eat and not enough of them, does not make one +despise a plate of good hot soup, a piece of smoked bacon and cabbage, +with two or three glasses of wine to warm the heart. No, you must look +at things as they are, the life of these poor people is very hard, +every one would do well to try a pilgrimage on his own account. +</P> + +<P> +Anna-Marie understood the difference between being at table and on the +road, she ate with a good appetite, and she took real pleasure in +telling us what she had seen during her last round. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said she, "everything is going on well now. All the processions +and expiations which you have seen are nothing, they will grow larger +and more imposing from day to day. And you know there are missionaries +coming among us, as they used to do among the savages, to convert us. +They are coming from Mr. de Forbin-Janson and Mr. de Ranzan, because +the corruption of the times is so great. And the convents are to be +rebuilt, and the gates along the roads restored, as they were before +the twenty-five years' rebellion. And when the pilgrims arrive at the +convents, they will only have to ring and they will be admitted at +once, when the brothers who serve, will bring them porringers of rich +soup with meat on ordinary days, and vegetable soup with fish on +Fridays and Saturdays and during Lent. In that way piety will +increase, and everybody will make pilgrimages. But the pious women of +Bischoffsheim say, that only those who have been pilgrims from father +to son, like us, ought to go; that each one ought to attend to his +work, that the peasants should belong to the soil, and that the lords +should have their chateaux again, and govern them. I heard this with +my own ears from these pious women, who are to have their properties +again because they have returned from exile, and that they must have +their estates in order to build their chapels is very certain. Oh! if +that were only done now, so I could profit by it in my old age! I have +fasted long enough, and my little grandchildren also. I would take +them with me, and the priests would teach them, and when I die I should +have the consolation of seeing them in a good way." +</P> + +<P> +On hearing her recount all these things so contrary to reason we were +much moved, for she wept as she imagined her little girls begging at +the door of the convent and the brother bringing them soup. +</P> + +<P> +"And you know, too, that Mr. de Ranzan and the Reverend Father Tarin +want the chateaux rebuilt, and the woods and meadows and fields given +up to the nobles, and in the meantime that the ponds are to be put in +good condition, because they belong to the reverend fathers, who have +no time to plough or sow or reap. Everything must come to them of +itself." +</P> + +<P> +"But tell us, Anna-Marie, is all this quite certain? I can hardly +believe that such great happiness is in store for us." +</P> + +<P> +"It is quite certain, Mr. Goulden. The Count d'Artois wishes to secure +his salvation, and in order to do that everything must be set in order. +Mons. le Vicar Antoine of Marienthal said the same things last week. +They come from above,—these things,—and the hearts of the people must +be accustomed to them by the sermons and expiations. Those who will +not submit, like the Jews and Lutherans, will be forced to do so, and +the Jacobins"—in speaking of the Jacobins Anna-Marie looked suddenly +at Mr. Goulden and blushed up to her ears, for he was smiling. +</P> + +<P> +But she recovered herself, and went on: +</P> + +<P> +"Among the Jacobins there are some very good people, but the poor must +live. The Jacobins have taken the property of the poor and that is not +right." +</P> + +<P> +"When and where have they taken the property of the poor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, Mr. Goulden, the monks and the Capuchins had the estates of +the poor, and the Jacobins have divided them amongst themselves." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! I understand, I understand, the monks and Capuchins had your +property, Anna-Marie; I never should have guessed that." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden was all the time in good-humor, and Anna-Marie said: +</P> + +<P> +"We shall be in accord at last." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! yes, we are, we are," said he pleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +I listened without saying anything, as I was naturally curious to hear +what was coming. It was easy to see that this was what she had heard +on her last journey. +</P> + +<P> +She said also that miracles were coming again and that Saint Quirin, +Saint Odille, and the others would not work miracles under the usurper, +but that they had commenced already; that the little black St. John at +Kortzeroth, on seeing the ancient prior return had shed tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, I understand," said Mr. Goulden, "that does not astonish me +in the least, after all these processions and atonements the saints +must work miracles; and it is natural, Anna-Marie, quite natural." +</P> + +<P> +"Without doubt, Mr. Goulden, and when we see miracles, faith will +return. That is clear, that is certain." +</P> + +<P> +The dinner was finished, and Anna-Marie seeing that nothing more was +coming, remembered that she was late, and exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Lord, that is one o'clock striking. The others must be near +Ercheviller; now I must leave you." +</P> + +<P> +She rose and took her stick with a very important air. +</P> + +<P> +"Well! <I>bon voyage</I>, Anna-Marie, don't make us wait so long next time." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, if I do not sit every day at your table it is not my +fault." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed, and as she took up her bundle she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, good-by, and for the kindness you have shown me I will pray the +blessed Saint Quirin to send you a fine fat boy as fresh and rosy as a +lady-apple. That is the best thing, Madame Bertha, that an old woman +like me can do for you." +</P> + +<P> +On hearing these good wishes, I said, "That old woman is a good soul. +There is nothing I so much wish for in the world. May God hear her +prayer!" I was touched by that good wish. +</P> + +<P> +She went downstairs, and as she shut the door, Catherine began to +laugh, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"She emptied her budget this time." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my children," replied Mr. Goulden, who was quite grave, "that is +what we may call human ignorance. You would believe that poor creature +had invented all that, but she has picked it up right and left, it is +word for word what those émigrés think, and what they repeat every day +in their journals, and what the preachers say every day openly in all +the churches. Louis XVIII. troubles them, he has too much good sense +for them, but the real king is Monseigneur the Duke d'Artois, who wants +to secure his salvation, and in order that this may be done everything +must be put back where it was before the 'rebellion of twenty-five +years,' and all the national property must be given up to its ancient +owners, and the nobles must have their rights and privileges as in +1788; they must occupy all the grades of the army, and the Catholic +religion must be the only religion in the state. The Sabbath and fête +days must be observed, and heretics driven from all the offices, and +the priests alone have the right to instruct the children of the +people, and this great and terrible country, which carried its ideas of +Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity everywhere by means of its good sense +and its victories, and which never would have been vanquished if the +Emperor had not made an alliance with the kings at Tilsit, this nation, +which in a few years produced so many more great captains and orators, +learned men and geniuses of all kinds, than the noble races produced in +a thousand years, must surrender everything and go back to tilling the +earth, while the others, who are not one in a thousand, will go on from +father to son, taking everything and gladdening their hearts at the +expense of the people! Oh! no doubt the fields and meadows and ponds +will be given up as Anna-Marie said, and that the convents will be +rebuilt in order to please Mons. le Comte d'Artois and help him to gain +his salvation—that is the least the country could do for so great a +prince!" +</P> + +<P> +Then Father Goulden, joining his hands, looked upward saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Lord God, Lord God, who hast wrought so many miracles by the little +black St. John of Kortzeroth, if thou wouldst permit even a single ray +of reason to enter the heads of Monseigneur and his friends, I believe +it would be more beautiful than the tears of the little saint! And +that other one on his island, with his clear eyes like the sparrow-hawk +who pretends to sleep as he watches the unconscious geese in a pool,—O +Lord, a few strokes of his wing and he is upon them, the birds may +escape, while we shall have all Europe at our heels again!" +</P> + +<P> +He said all this very gravely, and I looked at Catherine to know +whether I should laugh or cry. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he sat down, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Come! Joseph, this is not at all cheerful, but what can we do? It is +time to be at work. Look, and see what is the matter with Mr. Jacob's +watch." +</P> + +<P> +Catherine took off the cloth, and each one went to his work. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H3> + +<P> +It was winter. Rain fell constantly, mingled with snow. There were no +gutters, and the wind blew the rain as it fell from the tiles quite +into the middle of the street. We could hear it pattering all day +while Catherine was running about, watching the fire, and lifting the +covers of the saucepans, and sometimes singing quietly to herself as +she sat down to her spinning. Father Goulden and I were so accustomed +to this kind of life that we worked on without thinking. We troubled +ourselves about nothing, the table was laid and the dinner served +exactly on the stroke of noon. At night Mr. Goulden went out after +supper to read the gazette at Hoffman's, with his old cloak wrapped +closely round his shoulders and his big fox-skin cap pulled down over +his neck. +</P> + +<P> +But in spite of that, often when he came in at ten o'clock, after we +had gone to bed, we heard him cough; he had dampened his feet. Then +Catherine would say, "He is coughing again, he thinks he is as young as +he was at twenty," and in the morning she did not hesitate to reproach +him. +</P> + +<P> +"Monsieur Goulden," she would say, "you are not reasonable; you have an +ugly cold, and yet you go out every evening." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! my child, what would you have? I have got the habit of reading +the gazette, and it is stronger than I. I want to know what Benjamin +Constant and the rest of them say, it is like a second life to me and I +often think 'they ought to have spoken further of such or such a thing. +If Melchior Goulden had been there he would have opposed this or that, +and it would not have failed to produce a great effect.'" +</P> + +<P> +Then he would laugh and shake his head and say: +</P> + +<P> +"Every one thinks he has more wit and good sense than the others, but +Benjamin Constant always pleases me." +</P> + +<P> +We could say nothing more, his desire to read the gazette was so great. +One day Catherine said to him: +</P> + +<P> +"If you wish to hear the news, that is no reason why you should make +yourself sick, you have only to do as the old carpenter Carabin does, +he arranged last week with Father Hoffman, and he sends him the journal +every night at seven o'clock, after the others have read it, for which +he pays him three francs a month. In this way, without any trouble to +himself, Carabin knows everything that goes on, and his wife, old +Bevel, also; they sit by the fire and talk about all these things and +discuss them together, and that is what you should do." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Catherine, that is an excellent idea, but—the three francs?" +</P> + +<P> +"The three francs are nothing," said I, "the principal thing is not to +be sick, you cough very badly and that cannot go on." +</P> + +<P> +These words, far from offending, pleased him, as they proved our +affection for him and that he ought to listen to us. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well! we will try to arrange it as you wish, and the rather as +the café is filled with half-pay officers from morning till night, and +they pass the journals from one to the other so that sometimes we must +wait two hours before we can catch one. Yes, Catherine is right." +</P> + +<P> +He went that very day to see Father Hoffman, so that after that, +Michel, one of the waiters at the café brought us the gazette every +night at seven o'clock, just as we rose from the table. We were happy +always when we heard him coming up the stairs, and we would say, "There +comes the gazette." +</P> + +<P> +Catherine would hurry off the cloth and I would put a big bullet of +wood in the stove, and Mr. Goulden would draw his spectacles from their +case, and while Catherine spun and I smoked my pipe like an old +soldier, and watched the blaze as it danced in the stove, he would read +us the news from Paris. +</P> + +<P> +You cannot imagine the happiness and satisfaction we had in hearing +Benjamin Constant and two or three others maintain the same opinions +which we held ourselves. Sometimes Mr. Goulden was forced to stop to +wipe his spectacles, and then Catherine would exclaim: +</P> + +<P> +"How well these people talk. They are men of good sense. Yes, what +they say is right—it is the simple truth." +</P> + +<P> +And we all approved it. Sometimes Father Goulden thought that they +ought to have spoken of this or that a little more, but that the rest +was all very well. Then he would go on with his reading, which lasted +till ten o'clock, and then we all went to bed, reflecting on what we +had just heard. Outside the wind blew, as it only can blow at +Pfalzbourg, and vanes creaked as they turned, and the rain beat against +the walls, while we enjoyed the warmth and comfort, and thanked God +till sleep came, and we forgot everything. Ah! how happily we sleep +with peace in our souls, and when we have strength and health, and the +love and respect of those whom we love. +</P> + +<P> +Days, weeks, and months went by, and we became, after a manner, +politicians, and when the ministers were going to speak, we thought: +</P> + +<P> +"Now the beggars want to deceive us! the miserable race! they ought to +be driven out, every one of them!" +</P> + +<P> +Catherine above all could not endure them, and when Mother Grédel came +and talked as before about our good King, Louis XVIII., we allowed her +to talk out of respect, but we pitied her for being so blind to the +real interests of the country. +</P> + +<P> +It must be remembered, too, that these émigrés, ministers, and princes, +conducted themselves in the most insolent manner possible toward us. +If the Count d'Artois and his sons had put themselves at the head of +the Vendéeans and Bretons, and marched on Paris and had been +victorious, they would have had reason to say, "We are masters, and +will make laws for you." But to be driven out at first, and to be +brought back by the Prussians and the Russians, and then to come and +humiliate us, that was contemptible, and the older I grow the more I am +confirmed in that idea—it was shameful! +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé came to see us from time to time, and he knew all that was in +the gazette. It was from us that he first learned that the young +émigrés had driven General Vandamme from the presence of the King. +This old soldier, who had just returned from a Russian prison, and whom +all the army respected in spite of his misfortune at Kulm, they +conducted from the royal presence, and told him that was not his place. +Vandamme had been colonel of a regiment at Pfalzbourg, and you cannot +imagine the indignation of the people at this news. +</P> + +<P> +And it was Zébédé who told us, that processes had been made out against +the generals on half-pay, and that their letters were opened at the +post, that they might appear like traitors. He told us a little +afterward that they were going to send away the daughters of the old +officers who were at the school of St. Denis and give them a pension of +two hundred francs; and later still, that the émigrés alone would have +the right to put their sons in the schools at "St. Cyr" and "la Flèche" +to be educated as officers, while the people's sons would remain +soldiers at five centimes (one cent) a day for centuries to come. +</P> + +<P> +The gazettes told the same stories, but Zébédé knew a great many other +details—the soldiers knew everything. +</P> + +<P> +I could not describe Zébédé's face to you as he sat behind the stove, +with the end of his black pipe between his teeth, recounting all these +misfortunes. His great nose would turn pale, and the muscles would +twitch around the corners of his light gray eyes, and he would pretend +to laugh from time to time, and murmur, "It moves, it moves." +</P> + +<P> +"And what do the other soldiers think of all this?" said Father Goulden. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! they think it is pretty well when they have given their blood to +France for twenty years, when they have made ten, fifteen, and twenty +campaigns, and wear three chevrons, and are riddled with wounds, to +hear that their old chiefs are driven from their posts, their daughters +turned out of the schools, and that the sons of those people are to be +their officers forever—that delights them, Father Goulden!" and his +face quivered even to his ears as he said this. +</P> + +<P> +"That is terrible, certainly," said Father Goulden, "but discipline is +always discipline there. The marshals obey the ministers, and the +officers the marshals, and the soldiers the officers." +</P> + +<P> +"You are right," said Zébédé, "but there, they are beating the +assembly." +</P> + +<P> +And he shook hands and hurried off to the barracks. +</P> + +<P> +The winter passed in this way, while the indignation increased every +day. The city was full of officers on half-pay, who dared not remain +in Paris,—lieutenants, captains, commandants, and colonels of infantry +and cavalry,—men who lived on a crust of bread and a glass of wine a +day, and who were the more miserable because they were forced to keep +up an appearance—think of such men with their hollow cheeks and their +hair closely cropped, with sparkling eyes and their big mustaches and +their old uniform cloaks, of which they had been forced to change the +buttons, see them promenading by threes and sixes and tens on the +square, with their sword-canes at their button-holes, and their +three-cornered hats so old and worn, though still well brushed; you +could not help thinking that they had not one quarter enough to eat. +</P> + +<P> +And yet we were compelled to say to ourselves, these are the victors of +Jemmapes, of Fleurus, of Zurich, of Hohenlinden, of Marengo, of +Austerlitz, and of Friedland and Wagram. If we are proud of being +Frenchmen, neither the Comte d'Artois nor the Duke de Berry can boast +of being the cause; on the contrary, it is these men, and now they +leave them to perish, they even refuse them bread and put the émigrés +in their place. It does not need any extraordinary amount of +common-sense, or heart, or of justice to discover that this is contrary +to nature. +</P> + +<P> +I never could look at these unhappy men; it made me miserable. If you +have been a soldier for only six months, your respect for your old +chiefs, for those whom you have seen in the very front under fire, +always remains. I was ashamed of my country for permitting such +indignities. +</P> + +<P> +One circumstance I shall never forget: it was the last of January, +1815, when two of these half-pay officers—one was a large, austere, +gray-haired man, known as Colonel Falconette, who appeared to have +served in the infantry, the other was short and thick and they called +him Commandant Margarot, and he still wore his hussar whiskers—came to +us and proposed to sell a splendid watch. It might have been ten +o'clock in the morning. I can see them now as they came gravely in, +the colonel with his high collar, and the other one with his head down +between his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +The watch was a gold one, with double case; a repeater which marked the +seconds, and was wound up only once in eight days. I had never seen +such a fine one. +</P> + +<P> +While Mr. Goulden examined it I turned round on my chair and looked at +the men, who seemed to be in great need of money, especially the +hussar. His brown, bony face, his big red mustaches, and his little +brown eyes, his broad shoulders and long arms, which hung down to his +knees, inspired me with great respect. I thought that when he took his +sabre his long arm would reach a good way, that his eyes would burn +under his heavy brows, and that the parry and thrust would come like +lightning. I imagined him in a charge, half hidden behind his horse's +head, with the point advanced, and my admiration was greater still. I +suddenly remembered that Colonel Falconette and Commandant Margarot had +killed some Russian and Austrian officers in a duel in the rear of the +"Green Tree," when the allies were passing through the town six months +ago. +</P> + +<P> +The large man too, without any shirt-collar, although he was thin, +wrinkled, and pale, and his temples were gray and his manner cold, +seemed respectable too. +</P> + +<P> +I waited to hear what Father Goulden would say about the watch. He did +not raise his eyes, but looked at it with profound admiration, while +the men waited quietly like those who suffer from not being able to +conceal their pain. At last he said: +</P> + +<P> +"This, gentlemen, is a beautiful watch, fit for a prince?" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed it is," said the hussar, "and it was from a prince I received +it after the battle of Rabbe," and he glanced at his companion, who +said nothing. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden saw that they were in great need. He took off his black +silk bonnet, and said, as he rose slowly from his seat: +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen, do not take offence at what I am going to say. I am like +you an old soldier, I served France under the Republic, and I am sure +it must be heart-breaking to be forced to sell such a thing as that, an +object which recalls some noble action, the souvenir of a chief whom we +revere." +</P> + +<P> +I had never heard Father Goulden speak with such emotion, his bald head +was bowed sadly, and his eyes were on the ground, so that he might not +see the pain of those to whom he was speaking. +</P> + +<P> +The commandant grew quite red, his eyes were dim, his great fingers +worked, and the colonel was pale as death. I wished myself away. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden went on, "This watch is worth more than a thousand francs, +I have not so much money in hand, and besides you would doubtless +regret to part with such a souvenir. I will make you this offer, leave +the watch with me, I will hang it in my window—it shall always be +yours—and I will advance you two hundred francs, which you shall repay +me when you take it away." +</P> + +<P> +On hearing this, the hussar extended his two great hairy hands, as if +to embrace Father Goulden. +</P> + +<P> +"You are a good patriot," he exclaimed, "Colin told us so. Ah! sir, I +shall never forget the service you have rendered me. This watch I +received from Prince Eugène for bravery in action, it is dear to me as +my own blood, but poverty——" +</P> + +<P> +"Commandant!" exclaimed the other, turning pale. +</P> + +<P> +"Colonel, permit me! we are old comrades together. They are starving +us, they treat us like Cossacks. They are too cowardly to shoot us +outright." +</P> + +<P> +He could be heard all over the house. Catherine and I ran into the +kitchen in order not to see the sad spectacle. Mr. Goulden soothed +him, and we heard him say: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, gentlemen, I know all that, and I put myself in your place." +</P> + +<P> +"Come! Margarot, be quiet," said the colonel. And this went on for a +quarter of an hour. +</P> + +<P> +At last we heard Mr. Goulden count out the money, and the hussar said: +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, sir, thank you! If ever you have occasion, remember the +Commandant Margarot." +</P> + +<P> +We were glad to hear the door open, and to hear them go downstairs, for +Catherine and I were much pained by what we had heard and seen. We +went back to the room, and Mr. Goulden, who had been to show the +officers out, came back with his head bare. He was very much disturbed. +</P> + +<P> +"These unhappy men are right," said he, "the conduct of the government +toward them is horrible, but it will have to pay for it sooner or +later." +</P> + +<P> +We were sad all day, but Mr. Goulden showed me the watch and explained +its beauties, and told me, we ought always to have such models before +us, and then we hung it in our window. +</P> + +<P> +From that moment the idea never left me that matters would end badly, +and that even if the émigrés stopped here, they had done too much +mischief already. I could still hear the commandant exclaiming, that +they treated the army like Cossacks. All those processions and +expiations and sermons about the rebellion of twenty-five years, seemed +to me to be a terrible confusion, and I felt that the restoration of +the national property and the rebuilding of the convents would be +productive of no good. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X +</H3> + +<P> +It was about the beginning of March, when a rumor began to circulate +that the Emperor had just landed at Cannes. This rumor was like the +wind, nobody ever could tell where it came from. Pfalzbourg is two +hundred leagues from the sea, and many a mountain and valley lies +between them. An extraordinary circumstance, I remember, happened on +the 6th of March. When I rose in the morning, I pushed open the window +of our little chamber which was just under the eaves, and looked across +the street at the old black chimneys of Spitz the baker, and saw that a +little snow still remained behind them. The cold was sharp, though the +sun was shining, and I thought, "What fine weather for a march!" Then +I remembered how happy we used to be in Germany, as we put out our +campfires and set off on such fine mornings as this, with our guns on +our shoulders, listening to the footfalls of the battalion echoing from +the hard frozen ground. I do not know how it was, but suddenly the +Emperor came into my mind, and I saw him with his gray coat and round +shoulders, with his hat drawn over his eyes, marching along with the +Old Guard behind him. +</P> + +<P> +Catherine was sweeping our little room, and I was almost dreaming as I +leaned out into the dry, clear air, when we heard some one coming up +the stairs. Catherine stopped her sweeping and said: +</P> + +<P> +"It is Mr. Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +I also recognized his step, and was surprised, as he seldom came into +our chamber. He opened the door and said in a low voice: +</P> + +<P> +"My children, the Emperor landed on the 1st of March at Cannes, near +Toulon, and is marching upon Paris." +</P> + +<P> +He said no more, but sat down to take breath. We looked at each other +in astonishment, but a moment after Catherine asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Is it in the gazette, Mr. Goulden?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," he replied, "either they know nothing of it over there, or else +they conceal it from us. But, in Heaven's name, not a word of all +this, or we shall be arrested. This morning, about five o'clock, +Zébédé, who mounted guard at the French gate, came to let me know of +it; he knocked downstairs, did you hear him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No! we were asleep, Mr. Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +"Well! I opened the window to see what was the matter, and then I went +down and unlocked the door. Zébédé told it to me as a fact, and says +the soldiers are to be confined to the barracks till further orders. +It seems they are afraid of the soldiers, but how can they stop +Bonaparte without them? They cannot send the peasants, whom they have +stripped of everything, against him, nor the bourgeoisie, whom they +have treated like Jacobins. Now is a good time for the émigrés to show +themselves. But silence, above all things, the most profound silence!" +</P> + +<P> +He rose, and we all went down to the workshop. Catherine made a good +fire, and everyone went about his work as usual. +</P> + +<P> +That day everything was quiet, and the next day also. Some neighbors, +Father Riboc and Offran, came in to see us, under pretence of having +their watches cleaned. +</P> + +<P> +"Anything new, neighbor?" they inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed!" replied Mr. Goulden. "Everything is quiet. Do you hear +anything?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +But you could see by their eyes, that they had heard the news. Zébédé +stayed at the barracks. The half-pay officers filled the café from +morning till night, but not a word transpired, the affair was too +serious. On the third day these officers, who were boiling over with +impatience, were seen running back and forth, their very faces showing +their terrible anxiety. If they had had horses or even arms, I am sure +they would have attempted something. But the guards went and came +also, with old Chancel at their head, and a courier was sent off hourly +to Saarbourg. The excitement increased, nobody felt any interest in +his work. We soon learned through the commercial travellers, who +arrived at the "City of Basle," that the upper Rhine provinces and the +Jura had risen, and that regiments of cavalry and infantry were +following each other from Besançon, and that heavy forces had been sent +against the usurper. +</P> + +<P> +One of these travellers having spoken rather too freely, was ordered to +quit the town at once, the brigadier in command having examined his +passport and, fortunately for him, found it properly made out. +</P> + +<P> +I have seen other revolutions since then, but never such excitement as +reigned on the 8th of March between four and five in the evening, when +the order arrived for the departure of the first and second battalions +fully equipped for service for Lons-le-Saulnier. It was only then that +the danger was fully realized, and every one thought, "It is not the +Duke d'Angoulême nor the Duke de Berry that we need to arrest the +progress of Bonaparte, but the whole of Europe." +</P> + +<P> +The faces of the officers on half-pay lighted up as with a burst of +sunshine, and they breathed freely again. About five o'clock the first +roll of the drum was heard on the square, when suddenly Zébédé rushed +in. +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" said Father Goulden to him. +</P> + +<P> +"The first two battalions are going away," he replied. He was very +pale. +</P> + +<P> +"They are sent to stop him," said Mr. Goulden. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Zébédé, winking, "they are going to stop him." +</P> + +<P> +The drums still rolled. He went downstairs, four at a time. I +followed him. At the foot of the stairs, and while he was on the first +step, he seized me by the arm, and raising his shako, whispered in my +ear: +</P> + +<P> +"Look, Joseph, do you recognize that?" +</P> + +<P> +I saw the old tri-colored cockade in the lining. +</P> + +<P> +"That is ours," he said, "all the soldiers have it." +</P> + +<P> +I hardly had time to glance at it when he shook my hand and, turning +away, hurried to Fouquet's corner. I went upstairs, saying to myself, +"Now for another breaking up, in which Europe will be involved; now for +the conscription, Joseph, the abolition of all permits and all the +other things that we read of in the gazettes. In the place of quiet, +we must be plunged in confusion; instead of listening to the ticking of +clocks, we must hear the thunder of cannon; instead of talking of +convents, we must talk of arsenals; instead of smelling flowers and +incense, we must smell powder. Great God! will this never come to an +end? Everything would go prosperously without missionaries and +émigrés. What a calamity! What a calamity! We who work and ask for +nothing are always the ones who have to pay. All these crimes are +committed for our happiness, while they mock us and treat us like +brutes." A great many other ideas passed through my head, but what +good did they do me? I was not the Comte d'Artois, nor was I the Duke +de Berry; and one must be a prince in order that his ideas may be of +consequence, and that every word he speaks may pass for a miracle. +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden could not keep still a moment that afternoon. He was +just as impatient as I was when I was expecting my permit to marry. He +would look out of the window every moment and say, "There will be great +news to-day; the orders have been given, and there is no need of hiding +anything from us any longer." And from time to time he would exclaim, +"Hush! here is the mail coach!" We would listen, but it was Lanche's +cart with his old horses, or Baptiste's boat at the bridge. It was +quite dark and Catherine had laid the cloth, when for the twentieth +time Mr. Goulden exclaimed, "Listen!" +</P> + +<P> +This time we heard a distant rumbling, which came nearer every moment. +Without waiting an instant, he ran to the alcove and slipped on his big +waistcoat, crying: +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph, it has come." +</P> + +<P> +He rolled down the stairs, as it were, and from seeing him in such a +hurry the desire to hear the news seized me, and I followed him. We +had hardly reached the street when the coach came through the dark +gateway, with its two red lanterns, and rushed past us like a +thunder-bolt. We ran after it, but we were not alone; from all sides +we heard the people running and shouting, "There it is, there it is!" +The post-office was in the rue des Foins, near the German gate, and the +coach went straight down to the college and turned there to the right. +The farther we went the greater was the crowd; it poured from every +door. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-118"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-118.jpg" ALT="People were heard shouting, "There it is, there it is!"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="469" HEIGHT="696"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 469px"> +People were heard shouting, "There it is, there it is!" +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The old mayor, Mr. Parmentier, his secretary, Eschbach, and Cauchois, +the tax-gatherer, and many other notables were in the crowd, talking +together and saying: +</P> + +<P> +"The decisive moment has come." +</P> + +<P> +When we turned into the Place d'Armes, we saw the crowd already +gathered in front of the postoffice; innumerable faces were leaning +over the iron balustrade, one trying to get before the other, and +interrogating the courier, who did not answer a word. +</P> + +<P> +The postmaster, Mr. Pernette, opened the window, which was lighted up +from the inside, and the package of letters and papers flew from the +coach through this window into the room; the window closed, and the +crack of the postilion's whip warned the crowd to get out of the way. +</P> + +<P> +"The papers, the papers!" shouted the crowd from every side. The coach +set off again and disappeared through the German gate. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us go to Hoffman's café," said Mr. Goulden. "Hurry! the papers +will go there, and if we wait we shall not be able to get in." +</P> + +<P> +As we crossed the square we heard some one running behind us, and the +clear, strong voice of Margarot, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"They have come, I have them." +</P> + +<P> +All the half-pay officers were following him, and as the moon was +shining we could see they were coming at a great pace. We rushed into +the café and were hardly seated near the great stove of Delft ware, +when the crowd at once poured in through both doors. You should have +seen the faces of the half-pay officers at that moment. Their great +three-cornered hats, defiling under the lamps, their thin faces with +their long mustaches hanging down, their sparkling eyes peering into +the darkness, made them look like savages in pursuit of something. +Some of them squinted in their impatience and anxiety, and I think that +they did not see anything at all, and that their thoughts were +elsewhere with Bonaparte;—that was fearful. +</P> + +<P> +The people kept coming and coming, till we were suffocating, and were +obliged to open the windows. Outside in the street, where the cavalry +barracks were, and on the Fountain Square, there was a great tumult. +</P> + +<P> +"We did well to come at once," said Mr. Goulden, springing on a chair +and steadying himself with his hand on the stove. Others were doing +the same thing, and I followed his example. Nothing could be seen but +the eager faces and the big hats of the officers, and the great crowd +on the square outside in the moonlight. The tumult increased and a +voice cried, "Silence." It was the Commandant Margarot, who had +mounted upon a table. Behind him the gendarmes Keltz and Werner looked +on, and at all the open windows people were leaning in to hear. On the +square at the same instant somebody repeated, "Silence, silence." And +it was at once so still that you would have said, there was not a soul +there. +</P> + +<P> +The commandant read the gazette, his clear voice pronouncing every word +with a sort of quaver in it, resembling the tic-tac of our clock in the +middle of the night, and it could be distinctly heard in the square. +The reading lasted a long time, for the commandant omitted nothing. I +remember it commenced by declaring that the one called Bonaparte, a +public enemy, who for fifteen years had held France in despotic +slavery, had escaped from his island, and had had the audacity to set +his foot on the soil deluged with blood through his own crimes, but +that the troops—faithful to the King and to the nation—were on the +march to stop him, and that in view of the general horror, Bonaparte, +with the handful of beggars that accompanied him, had fled into the +mountains, but that he was surrounded on all sides and could not escape. +</P> + +<P> +I remember too, according to that gazette all the marshals had hastened +to place their glorious swords at the service of the King, the father +of the people and of the nation, and that the illustrious Marshal Ney, +Prince of Moscowa, had kissed the King's hand and promised to bring +Bonaparte to Paris dead or alive. After that there were some Latin +words which no doubt had been put there for the priests. +</P> + +<P> +From time to time I heard some one behind me laughing and jeering at +the journal. On turning round, I saw that it was Professor Burguet and +two or three other noted men who had been taken after the "Hundred +days," and had been forced to remain at Bourges because, as Father +Goulden said, they had too much spirit. That shows plainly that it is +better to keep still at such times, if one does not wish to fight on +either side; for words are of no use, but to get us into difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +But there was something worse still toward the end, when the commandant +commenced to read the decrees. +</P> + +<P> +The first indicated the movement of the troops, and the second, +commanded all Frenchmen to fall upon Bonaparte, to arrest and deliver +him dead or alive, because he had put himself out of the pale of law. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the commandant, who had until then only laughed when he +read the name of Bonaparte, and whose bony face had only trembled a +little as it was lighted up by the lamp—at that moment his aspect +changed completely, I never saw anything more terrible; his face +contracted, fold upon fold, his little eyes blazed like those of a cat, +and his mustaches and whiskers stood on end; he seized the gazette and +tore it into a thousand pieces, and then pale as death he raised +himself to his full height, extended his long arms, and shouted in a +voice so loud that it made our flesh creep, <I>Vive l'Empereur!</I> +Immediately all the half-pay officers raised their three-cornered hats, +some in their hands and some on the end of their sword-canes, and +repeated with one voice, <I>Vive l'Empereur!</I> +</P> + +<P> +You would have thought the roof was coming down. I felt just as if +some one had thrown cold water down my back. I said to myself, "It is +all over now. What is the use in preaching peace to such people?" +</P> + +<P> +Outside among the groups of citizens, the soldiers of the post repeated +the cry, <I>Vive l'Empereur</I>. And as I looked in great anxiety to see +what the gendarmes would do, they retired without saying a word, being +old soldiers also. +</P> + +<P> +But it was not yet over. As the commandant was getting down from the +table, an officer suggested that they should carry him in triumph. +They seized him by the legs, and forcing the crowd aside, carried him +around the room, screaming like madmen, <I>Vive l'Empereur</I>. He was so +affected by the honor shown him by his comrades and by hearing them +shout what he so much loved to hear, that he sat there with his long +hairy hands on their shoulders, and his head above their great hats, +and wept. No one would have believed that such a face could weep; that +alone was sufficient to upset you and make you tremble. He said not a +word; his eyes were closed and the tears ran down his nose and his long +mustaches. I was looking on with all my eyes, as you can imagine, when +Father Goulden got down from his chair and pulled me by the arm, +saying: "Joseph, let us go, it is time." +</P> + +<P> +Behind us the hall was already empty. Everybody had hurried out by the +brewer Klein's alley for fear of being mixed up in a disagreeable +affair, and we went that way also. +</P> + +<P> +As we crossed the square, Father Goulden said, "There is danger that +matters will take a bad turn. To-morrow the gendarmerie may commence +to act, the Commandant Margarot and the others have not the air of men +who will allow themselves to be arrested. The soldiers of the third +battalion will take their part, if they have not already. The city is +in their power." +</P> + +<P> +He was talking to himself, and I thought as he did. +</P> + +<P> +When we reached home, Catherine was waiting anxiously for us in the +workshop. We told her all that had happened. The table was set, but +nobody was inclined to eat. Mr. Goulden drank a glass of wine, and +then as he took off his shoes he said to us: +</P> + +<P> +"My children, after what we have just heard we may be sure that the +Emperor will reach Paris; the soldiers wish it, and the peasants desire +it, and if he has considered well since he has been on his island and +will give up his ideas about war, and will respect the treaties, the +bourgeoise will ask nothing better, especially if we have a good +Constitution that will guarantee to everyone his liberty, which is the +best of all good things. Let us wish it for ourselves and for him. +Good-night." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XI +</H3> + +<P> +The next day was Friday and market day, and there was nothing talked of +in the whole town but the great news. Great numbers of peasants from +Alsace and Lorraine came filing into town on their carts, some in +blouses, some in their waistcoats, some in three-cornered hats, and +some in their cotton caps, under pretence of selling their grain, their +barley and oats, but in reality to find out what was going on. +</P> + +<P> +You could hear nothing but "Get up, Fox! gee ho, Gray!" and the rolling +of the wheels and the cracking of the whips. And the women were not +behindhand, they arrived from the Houpe, from Dagsberg, Ercheviller, +and Baraques, with their scanty skirts and with great baskets on their +heads, striding and hurrying along. Everybody passed under our +windows, and Mr. Goulden said, "What an excitement there is, what a +rush! It is easy to see that there is another spirit in the land. +Nobody is marching now with candles in his hand and a surplice on his +back." +</P> + +<P> +He seemed to be satisfied, and that proved how much all these +ceremonies had annoyed him. At last about eight o'clock it was +necessary to set about our work again, and Catherine went out as usual +to buy our butter and eggs and vegetables for the week. At ten o'clock +she came back again. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Heavens!" said she, "everything is topsy-turvy." And then she +related how the half-pay officers were promenading with their +sword-canes, with the Commandant Margarot in their midst, that on the +square, in the market, in the church, and around the stands, everywhere +the peasants and citizens were shaking hands and taking snuff together, +and saying, "Ah! now trade is brisk again." +</P> + +<P> +And she told us also that during the night proclamations had been +posted up at the town-house and on the three doors of the church, and +even against the pillars of the market, but that the gendarmes had torn +them down early in the morning, in fact, that everything was in +commotion. Father Goulden had risen from the counter in order to +listen to her, and I turned round on my chair and thought: +</P> + +<P> +"All that is good, very good, but at this rate your leave of absence +will soon be recalled. Everything is moving and you must also move, +Joseph! Instead of remaining here quietly with your wife, you will +have to take your cartridge-box and knapsack and musket and two +packages of cartridges on your back." +</P> + +<P> +As I looked at Catherine, who did not think of the bad side of affairs, +Weissenfels, Lutzen, and Leipzig passed through my mind, and I was +quite melancholy. While we were all so sober, the door opened and Aunt +Grédel walked in. At first you would have thought she was quite +composed. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning, Mr. Goulden; good-morning, my children," said she, +putting down her basket behind the stove. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you well too, Mother Grédel?" asked Mr. Goulden. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! well! well!" said she. +</P> + +<P> +I saw that she had set her teeth, and that two red spots burned on her +cheeks. She crammed her hair which was hanging down over her ears, +with a single thrust into her cap, and looked at us one after the other +with her gray eyes to see what we thought, and then she commenced. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems that the rascal has escaped from his island." +</P> + +<P> +"Of what rascal do you speak?" asked Mr. Goulden calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! you know very well of whom I speak, I speak of your Bonaparte." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden, seeing her anger, turned round to his counter to avoid a +dispute. He seemed to be examining a watch, and I followed his example. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said she, speaking still louder, "his evil deeds are commencing +again; just as we thought all was finished! and he comes back again +worse than ever! What a pest!" +</P> + +<P> +I could hear her voice tremble. Mr. Goulden kept on with his work, and +asked, without turning round, "Whose fault is it, Mother Grédel? Do +you think that those processions, atonements, and the sermons in regard +to the national domains and the 'rebellion of twenty-five years,' these +continual menaces of establishing the old order of things, the order to +close the shops during the service, do you think all that could +continue? Did any one, let me ask, ever see since the world began, +anything more calculated to rouse a nation against those who attempt to +degrade it! You would have said that Bonaparte himself had whispered +in the ears of those Bourbons, all the stupidities which would be +likely to disgust the people. Tell me, might we not expect just what +has come to pass?" +</P> + +<P> +He kept on looking at the watch through his glass in order to keep +calm. While he was speaking I had looked at Aunt Grédel out of the +corner of my eye. She had changed color two or three times, and +Catherine, who was behind us near the stove, made signs to her not to +make trouble in our house, but the wilful woman disregarded all signs. +</P> + +<P> +"You, too, are satisfied then, are you? you change from one day to +another like the rest of them, you always bring out your republic when +it suits you." +</P> + +<P> +On hearing this, Mr. Goulden coughed softly, as if he had something in +his throat, and for half a minute he seemed to be considering, while +aunt looked on. He recovered himself at last and said slowly: "You are +wrong, Madame Grédel, to reproach me, for if I had wished to change I +should have begun sooner. Instead of being a clock-maker in Pfalzbourg +I should have been a colonel or a general, like the others, but I +always have been, I am now, and shall remain till I die, for the +Republic and the Rights of Man." +</P> + +<P> +Then he turned suddenly round, and looking at aunt from head to foot, +and raising his voice; he went on: "And that is the reason why I like +Bonaparte better than the Comte d'Artois, the émigrés, the +missionaries, and the workers of miracles; at least he is forced to +keep something of the Revolution, he is forced to respect the national +domain, to guarantee to every one his property, his rank, and +everything he has acquired under the new laws. Without that, what +right would he have to be Emperor? If he had not maintained equality +why should the nation wish to have him? The others, on the contrary, +have attacked everything; they want to destroy everything that we have +done. Now you understand why I like him better than the others. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Mother Grédel, "that is new!" and she laughed +contemptuously. I would have given anything if she had been at Quatre +Vents. +</P> + +<P> +"There was a time when you talked otherwise, when he re-established the +bishops and the archbishops and the cardinals, when he had himself +crowned by the Pope, and consecrated with oil from the holy ampoule,[<A NAME="chap11fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap11fn1">1</A>] +when he recalled the émigrés, when he gave up the chateaux and forests +to the great families, when he made princes and dukes and barons by the +dozen; how many times have I heard you say that all that was atrocious, +that he had betrayed the Revolution, that you would have preferred the +Bourbons, because they did not know any other way, that they were like +blackbirds, who only whistle one tune because they know no other, and +because they think it the most beautiful air in the world. While he, +the result of the Revolution, whose father had only a few dozens of +goats on the mountains of Corsica, should have known that all men are +equal, that courage and genius alone elevate them above their +fellows,—that he should have despised all those old notions, and that +he should have made war only to defend the new rights, the new ideas, +which are just and which nothing can arrest: did you not say that, when +you were talking with old Colin in the rear of our garden, for fear of +being arrested—did you not say that between yourselves and before me?" +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap11fn1"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap11fn1text">1</A>] Vial which contains the oil for anointing the kings of France. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Father Goulden had grown quite pale. He looked down at his feet and +turned his snuff-box round and round in his fingers as if he were +thinking, and I saw his emotion in his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I said it," he replied, "and I think so still—you have a good +memory, Mother Grédel. It is true that for ten years Colin and I have +been obliged to hide ourselves if we spoke of events that will +certainly be accomplished, and it is the despotism of one man born +among us, whom we have sustained with our own blood, which compelled us +to do that. But to-day everything is changed. The man, to whom you +cannot deny genius, has seen his sycophants abandon and betray him; he +has seen that his strength lies in the people, and that those alliances +of which he had the weakness to be so proud, were the cause of his +ruin. He has come now to rid us of the others, and I am glad." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you have no faith in yourself, eh? Have you any need of him?" +exclaimed Aunt Grédel. "If the processions annoyed you, and if you +were, as you say, 'the people,' why do you need him?" +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden smiled, and said, "If everybody had the courage to +follow his own conscience, and if so many persons who joined the +processions had not done so from vanity or to show their fine clothes, +and if others had not joined from interest, from the hope of getting a +good office, or to obtain permits, then Madame Grédel you would be +right, and we should not have needed Bonaparte to overturn all that, +and you would have seen that three-quarters of the people had +common-sense, and perhaps even the Comte d'Artois himself would have +cried, Hold! But as hypocrisy and interest hide and obscure everything +and make night out of the broad day, unhappily we must have +thunder-bolts to make us see clearly. It is you, and those who are +like you, who have caused those who have never changed their opinions, +to rejoice when fever takes the place of colic." +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden rose and walked up and down in great agitation, and as +Aunt Grédel was going on again, he took his cap and went out, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"I have given you my opinions. Now talk to Joseph; he thinks you are +always right." +</P> + +<P> +As soon as he had gone, Mother Grédel cried out: +</P> + +<P> +"He is an old fool, and he has been, always! Now, as for you, if you +do not go to Switzerland, I warn you, you will be obliged to go, God +knows where. But we will talk about that another time, the principal +thing is to warn you. We will wait and see what happens; perhaps +Bonaparte will be arrested, but if he reaches Paris, we will go +somewhere else." +</P> + +<P> +She embraced us and took her basket and went away. A few minutes +afterward, Father Goulden came in and we sat down to our work and said +no more about these things. We were very sober, and at night I was +more than ever surprised, when Catherine said: +</P> + +<P> +"We will always listen to Mr. Goulden, he is right and will give us +good counsel." +</P> + +<P> +On hearing that, I thought that she agreed with Father Goulden because +they read the gazette together. That gazette always says what just +pleases them, but that does not prevent it being very terrible if we +are obliged to take our guns and knapsacks again, and it would be +better to be in Switzerland, either at Geneva, or at Father Rulle's +manufactory or at Chaux-de-Fonds, than at Leipzig, and those other +places. I did not wish to contradict Catherine, but her remarks +annoyed me greatly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XII +</H3> + +<P> +From that moment there was confusion everywhere, the half-pay officers +shouted, "<I>Vive l'Empereur</I>." The commandant gave orders to arrest +them, but the battalion did the same thing, and the gendarmes seemed to +be deaf. Nobody was at work; the tax-gatherers and overseers, the +mayor and his counsellors, grew gray with uncertainty, not knowing on +which foot they should dance. Nobody dared to come out for Bonaparte, +or for Louis XVIII., except the slaters and masons and knife-grinders, +who could not lose their offices and who wished for nothing better than +to see others in their places. With their hatchets stuck in their +leather belts and a bag of chips on their shoulders, they did not +hesitate to shout, "Down with the émigrés," they laughed at the +troubles, which increased visibly. +</P> + +<P> +One day the gazette said, the usurper is at Grenoble, the next he is at +Lyons, the next at Mâcon, and the next at Auxerre, and so on. Father +Goulden was in good-humor as he read the news at night, and he would +say: +</P> + +<P> +"They can see now that the Frenchmen are for the Revolution, and that +the others cannot hold out. Everybody says, 'Down with the <I>émigrés</I>.' +What a lesson for those who can see clearly! Those Bourbons wanted to +make us all Vendéeans, they ought to rejoice that they have succeeded +so well." +</P> + +<P> +But one thing troubled him still, that was the great battle which was +announced between Ney and Napoleon. +</P> + +<P> +"Although Ney has kissed the hand of the King, yet he is an old +soldier, and I will never believe that he will fight against the will +of the people. No, it is not possible, he will remember the old cooper +of Saar-Louis, who would break his head with his hammer, if he were +still living, on learning that Michel had betrayed the country in order +to please the King." +</P> + +<P> +That was what Mr. Goulden said, but that did not prevent people from +being uneasy, when suddenly the news arrived that he had followed the +example of the army and the bourgeoisie and all those who wished to be +rid of the atonements, and that he had rallied with them. Then there +was greater confidence, but still prudent men were silent in view of +what might happen. +</P> + +<P> +On the 21st of March, between five and six in the evening, Mr. Goulden +and I were at work; it had begun to grow dark, and Catherine was +lighting the lamp, a gentle rain was falling on the panes, when +Theodore Roeber, who had charge of the telegraph, passed under our +windows, riding a big dapple-gray horse at the top of his speed, his +blouse filled out by the air, he went so fast, and he was holding his +great felt hat on with one hand, while he kept striking his horse with +a whip which he held in the other, though he was galloping like the +wind. Father Goulden wiped the glass and leaned over to see better, +and said: +</P> + +<P> +"That is Roeber, who is coming from the telegraph, some great news has +arrived." His pale cheeks reddened, and I felt my heart beat +violently. Catherine came and placed the lamp near us, and I opened +the window to close the shutter. That took me some moments, as I was +obliged to disarrange the glasses on the work-table, and take down the +watches before I could do it. Mr. Goulden seemed lost in thought. +Just as I had fastened the window, we heard the assembly beat from both +sides of the city at once, from the bastion of the Mittelbronn and from +Bigelberg, the echoes from the ramparts and from the target valley +responded, and a dull rumbling filled the air, Mr. Goulden rose, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"The matter is decided at last," in a tone which made me shudder. +"Either they are fighting near Paris, or the Emperor is in his old +palace as he was in 1809." +</P> + +<P> +Catherine ran for his cloak, for she saw plainly he was going out in +spite of the rain. He was speaking with his great gray eyes wide open, +and took no notice as she slipped on the sleeves, and as he went out +Catherine touched me on the shoulder—I was still sitting—and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Go, Joseph, follow him." +</P> + +<P> +We reached the square just as the battalion filed out of the broad +street at the corner by the mayor's, behind the drummers, who had their +drums over their shoulders. A great crowd followed them. When they +reached the great lindens, the drums recommenced, and the soldiers +hurriedly got into their ranks, and almost immediately the Commandant +Gémeau, who was suffering from his wounds and had not been out for two +months appeared on the steps of the "Minque." A sapper held his horse +by the bridle, and gave him his shoulder to mount. Everybody was +looking on, and the roll commenced. The commandant crossed the square, +and the captains went quickly up to meet him; he said a few words to +them, and then passed in front of the battalion, followed by a sergeant +with three chevrons, who carried a flag in its oil-cloth case. The +crowd increased every moment. Mr. Goulden had mounted on the stone +posts in front of the arch of the guard-house. After the roll was +called, the commandant waited a moment and then drew his sword and gave +the order to form a square. I tell you these things in a simple way, +because they were simple and terrible. +</P> + +<P> +The commandant was very pale, and we could see, though it was almost +night, that he had fever. The gray lines of soldiers in the square, +the commandant on horseback, the officers around him in the rain, the +listening citizens, the profound silence, the opening of the windows in +the vicinity, all are present to my mind though fifty years have passed +since then. Not a word was said, for we all felt that we were going to +learn the fate of France. +</P> + +<P> +"Carry arms! shoulder arms!" +</P> + +<P> +After this nothing was heard but the voice of the commandant, that +voice which I had heard on the other side of the Rhine at Lutzen and +Leipzig, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Close the ranks." +</P> + +<P> +The words went through my very marrow. +</P> + +<P> +"Soldiers!" said he, "Louis XVIII. left Paris on the 20th of March, and +the Emperor Napoleon made his entry into the capital the same day." +</P> + +<P> +A sort of shiver went through the crowd, but it lasted for a moment +only, and the commandant continued: +</P> + +<P> +"Soldiers, the flag of France is the flag of Arcola, of Rivoli, of +Alexandria, of Chébreisse, of the Pyramids, of Aboukir, of Marengo, of +Austerlitz, and of Jena, of Eylau, of Friedland, of Sommo-Sierra, of +Madrid, of Abensberg, of Eckmül, of Essling, of Wagram, of Smolensk, of +Moscowa, of Weissenfels, of Lutzen, of Bautzen, of Wurtschen, of +Dresden, of Bischofswarda, of Hanau, of Brienne, of Saint Dizier, of +Champaubert, of Chateau-Thierry, of Joinvilliers, of Méry-sur-Seine, of +Montereau, and of Montmirail. It is the flag which we have dyed with +our blood, and it is that which makes it our glory." +</P> + +<P> +The old sergeant had drawn the torn flag from its case, and the +commandant continued: +</P> + +<P> +"Here is the flag! you recognize it; it is the flag of the nation, it +is that flag which the Russians and Austrians and Prussians took from +us on the day of their first victory, because they feared it." +</P> + +<P> +A great number of the old soldiers, on hearing these words, turned away +their heads to hide their tears; while others, deathly pale, looked and +listened with flashing eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I," said the commandant, raising his sword, "know no other. <I>Vive la +France! Vive l'Empereur!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +The words had hardly left his mouth when from every window, from the +square, from the streets, rose the shouts, "<I>Vive la France! Vive +l'Empereur!</I>" like the blast of a trumpet. The people and the soldiers +embraced each other, you would have thought that everything was safe, +that we had found all that France lost in 1814. It was almost dark, +and the people went away in companies of threes, sixes, and twenties, +shouting, "<I>Vive l'Empereur!</I>" When near the hospital a red flash +lighted up the sky, the cannon thundered, another responded from the +rear of the arsenal, and so they continued to roar from second to +second. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden and I left the square arm in arm, crying, "<I>Vive +l'Empereur!</I>" also, and as at each discharge of cannon the flash +lighted up the square, in one of them we saw Catherine, who was coming +to meet us with old Madelon Schouler. She had put on her little cloak +and hood, protecting her rosy little nose from the mist, and she +exclaimed, on seeing us: +</P> + +<P> +"There they are, Madelon! The Emperor is master, is he not, Mr. +Goulden?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my child," he replied, "it is decided." +</P> + +<P> +Catherine took my arm, and I kissed her two or three times as we were +going home. Perhaps I felt that we should soon be forced to part, and +that then, it would be long before I should kiss her again. Father +Goulden and Madelon were before us, and he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Come up, Madelon; I want to drink a good glass of wine with you." But +she declined, and left us at the door. I can only say that the joy of +the people was as great as on the return of Louis XVIII., and perhaps +still greater. +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden took off his cloak and sat down in his place at table, +as supper was waiting. Catherine ran down to the cellar and brought up +a bottle of good wine, we laughed and drank while the cannon made our +windows rattle. Sometimes people's heads are turned, even those who +love nothing but peace. So the sound of the cannon made us happy, and +we went back in a measure to our old habits. +</P> + +<P> +"The commandant," said Mr. Goulden, "spoke well, but he might have kept +on till to-morrow with his victories, commencing with Valmy, +Hundschott, Wattignies, Fleurus, Neuwied, Ukerath, Fröeschwiller, +Geisberg, to Zurich and Hohenlinden. These were also great victories, +and even the most splendid of all, for they preserved liberty. He only +spoke of the last ones, that was enough for the moment. Let those +people come! let them dare to move! The nation wants peace, but if the +allies commence war woe be unto them. Now we shall again talk of +liberty, equality, and fraternity. All France will be roused by it, I +warn you beforehand. There will be a national guard, and the old men +like me and the married men will defend the towns, while the younger +ones will march, but no one will cross the frontiers. The Emperor, +taught by experience, will arm the artisans, the peasants, and the +bourgeoisie, and when we are attacked, even if they are a million, not +one shall escape. The day for soldiers is past, regular armies are for +conquest, but a people who can defend themselves do not fear the best +armies in the world. We proved that to the Prussians and Austrians, to +the English and the Russians from 1792 to 1800, and since then the +Spaniards have shown us the same thing, and even before that, the +Americans demonstrated it to the English. The Emperor will speak to us +of liberty, be sure of that; and if he will send his proclamations into +Germany, many Germans will be with us; they were promised liberty in +order to make them rise against France, and now the sovereigns in +conference at Vienna mock at their own promises. Their plan is fixed. +They divide the people among themselves as they would a flock of sheep. +Those who have good sense will unite, and in that way peace will be +established by force. The kings alone have any interest in war, the +people do not need to conquer themselves, provided that they arrange +for the freedom of commerce, that is the principal thing." +</P> + +<P> +In his excitement everything looked bright to him. And all that he +said seemed to me so natural, that I was sure that the Emperor would +direct matters as we had supposed. Catherine believed it too. We +thanked God for what had come, and about eleven o'clock, after having +laughed and drank and shouted, we went to bed with the brightest hopes. +All the city was illuminated, and we had put lamps in our windows also. +Every moment we heard the crackers in the street and the children were +shouting, "Vive l'Empereur!" and the soldiers were coming out of the +inns, singing, "Down with the émigrés." This lasted till very late, +and it was one o'clock before we slept. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIII +</H3> + +<P> +This general satisfaction continued for five or six days. The old +mayors and their assistants were replaced as well as the field-guards, +and all those who had been displaced a few months before. The whole +city, even the women, wore little tri-colored cockades, and all the +seamstresses were busily at work making them, of red, white, and blue +ribbon; and those who railed so bitterly against the "ogre of Corsica," +never spoke of Louis XVIII. except as the "Panada King." On the 25th +of March a Te Deum was sung, the garrison and all the civil authorities +joining in the service with great ceremony. After the Te Deum, the +authorities gave a grand dinner to the officers of the garrison at the +"Ville de Metz." The weather was fine and the windows were open, and +the hall was lighted by clusters of lamps hanging from the ceiling. +Catherine and I went out in the evening to enjoy the spectacle. We +could see the uniforms and the black coats sitting side by side around +the long tables, and first the mayor would rise, and then his +assistants, or the new commandant of the post, Mr. Brandon, to drink to +the health of the Emperor or of his ministers, of France, to peace or +to victory, etc., etc., and this they kept up till midnight. +</P> + +<P> +Inside the glasses jingled, and outside the children fired crackers. +They had erected a climbing pole before the church, and wooden horses +and organ-grinders had come from Saverne, and there was a holiday at +the college. In Klein's Court, at the "Ox," there was a fight between +dogs and donkeys; in short, it was just as it was in 1830 and in 1848, +and afterward. The people never invent anything new to glorify those +who rise, or to express their contempt for those who fall. +</P> + +<P> +But they soon found out that the Emperor had no time to lose in +rejoicings. The gazette said that "his Majesty wished for peace, that +he made no demands, that he was on good terms with his father-in-law +the Emperor Francis, that Marie Louise and the King of Rome were to +return, they were daily expected," etc. +</P> + +<P> +But meanwhile the order arrived to arm the place. Two years before +Pfalzbourg was a hundred leagues from the frontier. The ramparts were +in ruins, the ditches filled up, and there was nothing in the arsenal +but miserable old muskets of the time of Louis XIV., which were +discharged with matches; and the guns were so unwieldy on their heavy +carriages, that horses were required to move them. The arsenals were +really at Dresden and Hamburg and Erfurt; but though we had not +stirred, we were ten leagues from Rhenish Bavaria, and it was upon us +that the first shower of bombs and bullets would fall. So, day after +day, we received orders to restore the earthworks and to clear out the +ditches and to put the old ordnance in good condition. At the +beginning of April a great workshop was established at the arsenal for +repairing the arms, and skilful engineers and artillerists arrived from +Metz to repair the earthworks of the bastions and make terraces around +the embrasures. The activity was very great—greater than in 1805 and +in 1813, and I thought more than once that these extensive frontiers +had their good side, because we might in the interior live in peace, +while they took the blows and bombardments. +</P> + +<P> +But we had great anxiety, for naturally when the palisades were newly +planted on the glacis, and the half-moons filled with fascines, when +cannon were placed in every nook and corner, we knew that there must be +soldiers to guard and serve them. +</P> + +<P> +Often as we heard these decrees read at night, Catherine and I looked +at each other in mute apprehension. I felt beforehand that instead of +remaining quietly at home, cleaning and mending clocks, I would be +obliged to be again on the march, and that always made me sad; and this +melancholy increased from day to day. Sometimes Father Goulden, seeing +this, would say cheerfully: +</P> + +<P> +"Come! Joseph, courage! all will come right at last." +</P> + +<P> +He wished to raise my spirits, but I thought: "Yes, he says that to +encourage me, but any one who is not blind can see what turn affairs +will take." +</P> + +<P> +Events followed each other so rapidly, that the decrees came like hail, +always with sounding phrases and grand words to embellish them. +</P> + +<P> +And we learned too that the regiments were to take their old numbers, +"illustrious in so many glorious campaigns." Without being very +malicious, we could understand that the old numbers which had no +regiments would soon find them again. And not only that, but we +learned that the skeletons of the third, fourth, and fifth battalions +of infantry, the fourth and fifth squadrons of cavalry, and thirty +battalions of artillery trains were to be filled up, and twenty +regiments of the Young Guard, ten battalions of military equipages, and +twenty regiments of marines were to be formed, ostensibly to give +employment to all the half-pay officers of both arms of the service, +land and naval. That was very well to say; but when they are created +they are to be filled up, and when they are full the soldiers must go. +When I saw that, my confidence vanished, but yet everybody cried, +"Peace, peace, peace! We accept the treaty of Paris. The kings and +emperors convened at Vienna are our friends. Marie Louise and the King +of Rome are coming." +</P> + +<P> +The more I heard of these things, the more my distrust increased. In +vain Mr. Goulden would say, "He has taken Carnot into his counsels. +Carnot is a good patriot; Carnot will prevent him from going to war, or +if we are forced to go to war, he will show him that the enemy must +come here to find us, the nation must be roused, declare the country in +danger, etc." +</P> + +<P> +In vain did he tell me these things, I always said to myself, "all +these new regiments are to be filled; that is certain." We heard also +that ten thousand picked men were to be added to the Old Guard, and +that the light artillery was to be reorganized. Everybody knows that +light artillery follows the army. To remain behind the ramparts or for +defence at home, it is useless. +</P> + +<P> +I came to this conclusion at once, and though I was generally careful +to conceal my anxiety from Catherine, yet this night I could not help +telling her so. She said nothing, which shows plainly that she had +good sense and that she thought so too. +</P> + +<P> +All these things diminished my enthusiasm for the Emperor very much +indeed, and I sometimes said to myself as I was at work, "I would +rather see processions going past my windows, than to go and fight +against people whom I never saw." At least the sight would cost me +neither leg nor arm, and if it annoyed me too much I could make an +excursion to Quatre Vents. My vexation increased the more, as since +the dispute with Mr. Goulden, Aunt Grédel did not come to see us. She +was a very wilful woman and would not listen to reason, and would hold +resentment against a person for years and years. But she was our +mother, and it was our duty to yield something to her as she wished us +only good. But how could we be reconciled to her ideas and those of +Mr. Goulden? +</P> + +<P> +This was what embarrassed us, for if we were bound to love Aunt Grédel, +we owed also the most profound respect to him, who looked upon us as +his own children, and who loaded us every day with his benefits. +</P> + +<P> +These thoughts made us sad, and I had resolved to tell Mr. Goulden, +that Catherine and I were Jacobins like himself, but without doing +injustice to Jacobin ideas, or abandoning them, we ought to honor our +mother, and go and inquire after her health. +</P> + +<P> +I did not know how he would receive this declaration, when one Sunday +morning, as we went down about eight o'clock, we found him dressed, and +in excellent humor. He said to us, "Children, here it is more than a +month since Aunt Grédel has been to see us. She is obstinate. I wish +to show her that I can yield. Between friends like us, there should +not be even a shadow of difference. After breakfast we will go to +Quatre Vents, and tell her that she is prejudiced, and that we love her +in spite of her faults. You will see how ashamed she will be." He +laughed, but we were quite touched by his generosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, how good and kind you are," said Catherine, "they +who do not love you, must have very bad hearts." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha!" he exclaimed, "is not what I have done quite natural? must we let +a few words separate us? Thank God! age teaches us to be more +reasonable and to be willing to take the first step,—that you know is +one of the principles of the Rights of Man,—in order to maintain +concord between reasonable persons." +</P> + +<P> +Everything was summed up, when he had quoted the "Rights of Man." You +can hardly imagine our satisfaction. Catherine could hardly wait till +breakfast was over, she was here and there and everywhere, to bring his +hat and cane and his shoes and the box which held his beautiful peruke. +She helped him on with his brown coat, while he laughed as he watched +her, and at last he kissed her saying, "I knew this would make you +happy, so do not let us lose a minute, let us go." +</P> + +<P> +We all set off together, Father Goulden gravely giving his arm to +Catherine, as he always did in the street, and I marched on behind as +happy as possible. Those I loved best in the world were here before my +eyes, and as I went on I thought of what I should say to Aunt Grédel. +</P> + +<P> +The weather was splendid, and on we went beyond the wall and the +glacis, and in twenty minutes, without hurrying, we stood before Aunt +Grédel's door. It might have been ten o'clock, and as I had gained a +little on them at the "Roulette" I went in by the alley of elders that +ran along the side of the house, and looked into the little window to +see what aunt was doing. She was seated right opposite me near the +fireplace, in which a little fire was smouldering, she had on her short +skirt, striped with blue, with great pockets on the outside, and her +linen corsage with shoulder-straps, and her old shoes. She was +spinning away, with her eyes cast down, looking very sober, her great +thin arms naked to the elbow, and her gray hair twisted up in her neck +without any cap. "Poor Aunt Grédel," thought I, "she is thinking of us +no doubt—and she is so obstinate in her vexation. It is sad though, +all the same, to live alone and never see her children." It made me +sad to see her. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the door opened on the side next the street, and Father +Goulden walked in with Catherine, as happy as possible, exclaiming: +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! Mother Grédel, you do not come to see us any more, therefore I +have brought your children to see you, and have come myself to embrace +you. You will have to get us a good dinner, do you hear? and that +will teach you a lesson." He seemed a little grave with all his joy. +</P> + +<P> +On seeing them, aunt sprang up and embraced Catherine, and then she +fell into Mr. Goulden's arms and hung on his neck: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, how happy I am to see you. You are a good man; you +are worth a thousand of me." +</P> + +<P> +Seeing that matters had taken a pleasant turn, I ran round to the door +and found them both with their eyes full of tears. Father Goulden said: +</P> + +<P> +"We will talk no more politics!" +</P> + +<P> +"No! but whether one is Jacobin or anything else you will, the +principal thing is to keep in good temper." +</P> + +<P> +She then came and embraced me, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"My poor Joseph! I have been thinking of you from morning till night. +But all is well now and I am satisfied." +</P> + +<P> +She ran into the kitchen and commenced bustling among the kettles to +prepare something to regale us with, while Mr. Goulden placed his cane +in a corner and hung his great hat upon it, and sat down with an air of +contentment near the hearth. +</P> + +<P> +"What fine weather!" he exclaimed, "how green and flourishing +everything is! How happy I should be to live in the fields, to see the +hedges and apple-trees and plum-trees from my windows, covered with +their red and white blossoms!" +</P> + +<P> +He was gay as a lark, and we all should have been except for the +thoughts of the war which were constantly coming into our heads. +</P> + +<P> +"Leave all that, mother," said Catherine, "I will get the dinner to-day +as I used to do; go and sit down quietly with Mr. Goulden." +</P> + +<P> +"But you do not know where anything is, I have disarranged everything," +said aunt. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down, I beg you," said Catherine, "I shall find the butter and the +eggs and the flour and everything that is necessary." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well! I am going to obey you," said she, as she went down to +the cellar. +</P> + +<P> +Catherine took off her pretty shawl and hung it on the back of my +chair, then she put some wood on the fire and some butter in a saucepan +and looked into the kettles to see that everything was in order. Aunt +came in at that moment with a bottle of white wine. +</P> + +<P> +"You will first refresh yourselves a little before dinner, and while +Catherine looks after the kitchen I will go and put on my sacque and +give my hair a touch with the comb, for certainly it needs it, and +you—go into the orchard;—here, Joseph, take these glasses and the +bottle and go and sit in the bee-house, the weather is fine, in an hour +all will be in order and I will come and drink with you." +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden and I went out through the tall grass and the yellow +dandelions which came up to our knees. It was very warm and the air +was full of soft murmurs. We sat down in the shade and looked at the +glorious sunshine. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden took off his peruke in order to be more at his ease and +hung it up behind him, and I opened the bottle and we drank some of the +good white wine. +</P> + +<P> +"Well! all goes on even though man does commit follies; the Lord God +watches over all his works. Look at the grain, Joseph, how it grows! +What a harvest there will be in three or four months. And those +turnips and cabbages, and the shrubs, and the bees, how busy everything +is, how they live and grow! what a pity it is that men do not follow so +good an example! what a pity that some must labor to support the others +in idleness. What a pity that there must be always idlers of every +kind, who treat us like Jacobins because we wish for order and peace +and justice!" +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing he liked so much to see as industry, not only that of +man but even of the smallest insect that runs about in the grass, as in +an endless forest, which builds and pairs and covers its eggs, heaps +them up in its places of deposit, exposes them to the sunshine, +protects them from the chills of night, and defends them from its +enemies; in short, all that great universe of life where everything +sings, everything is in its place; from the lark which fills the air +with his joyous music to the ant which goes and comes and runs and mows +and saws and pulls and is master of all trades. +</P> + +<P> +This was what pleased Mr. Goulden, but he never spoke of it except in +the fields, when this grand spectacle was right under his eyes, and +naturally he then spoke of God, whom he called the "Supreme Being," as +in the time of the Republic, and he said, He was reason and wisdom and +goodness and love; justice, order, and life. The ideas of the +almanac-makers came back to him also, and it was splendid to hear him +talk of the "Pluviose" the season of rains, of "Nivose" the season of +snows, of "Ventose" season of winds, and "Floreal, Prairial, and +Fructidor." He said the ideas of men in those times were more closely +allied to God's, while July, September, and October meant nothing, and +were only invented to confuse and obscure everything. Once on this +subject it was plain that he could not exhaust it. Unfortunately I +have not the learning that that good man had, otherwise it would give +me real pleasure to recount his sayings to you. We were just here when +Mother Grédel, well washed and combed and in her Sunday dress, came +round the corner of the house toward us. He stopped instantly that she +might not be disturbed. +</P> + +<P> +"Here I am," she said, "all in order." +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down," said Father Goulden, making a place for her beside him on +the bench. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know what time it is?" said she. "Does it not seem long to +you? Listen!" and we heard the city clock slowly strike twelve. +</P> + +<P> +"What! is it noon already! I would not have believed that we had been +here more than ten minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is noon, and dinner is waiting." +</P> + +<P> +"So much the better," said Mr. Goulden, offering his arm to her, "since +you have told me the hour I find I have a good appetite." +</P> + +<P> +They went along the alley arm in arm, and when we were at the door a +most charming sight met our eyes, the great tureen with its red flowers +was smoking on the table, a breast of stuffed veal filled the room with +a delicious odor. A great plate of cinnamon cakes stood on the edge of +the old oak buffet, two bottles of wine, and glasses clear as crystal, +shone on the white cloth beside the plates. The very sight of it made +you feel that it is the joy of the Lord to shower blessings on His +children. +</P> + +<P> +Catherine, with her rosy cheeks and white teeth, laughed to see our +satisfaction, and during the whole dinner our anxiety for the future +was forgotten. We laughed and were as happy as if the world were in +the best condition possible. But as we were taking coffee our sadness +returned, and without knowing why, we were all very grave. Nobody +wished to speak of politics, when suddenly Aunt Grédel herself asked if +there was anything new. Mr. Goulden then said that the Emperor desired +peace, and that he wished to put himself in a condition of defence, in +order to warn our enemies that we were not afraid. He said that in any +case, in spite of the ill-feeling of the allies they would not dare to +attack us, that the Emperor Francis, though he had not much heart, +would not wish to overthrow his son-in-law and his own daughter and +grandson a second time, that it would be contrary to nature, and +besides that, the nation would rise <I>en masse</I>, that they would declare +the country to be in danger, and that it would not be a war of soldiers +alone, but of all Frenchmen against those who wished to oppress them, +that this would make the allied sovereigns reflect, etc., etc. +</P> + +<P> +He said many other things which I do not recall. Aunt Grédel listened +without saying a word. She rose at last, and went to a closet and took +a piece of paper from a porringer, and, giving it to Mr. Goulden, said, +"Read this; such papers are all around the country; this came to me +from the Vicar Diemer. You will see whether peace is so certain." +</P> + +<P> +As Mr. Goulden had left his spectacles at home, I read the paper. I +put all those old papers aside years and years ago, they have grown +yellow and no one thinks of them or speaks of them, and still it is +well to read them. How do we know what will happen? Those old kings +and emperors died after doing us all the harm possible, but their sons +and grandsons still live, and do not wish us overmuch good, and that +which they said then they may say again now, and those who lent their +aid to the fathers might incline to help their sons. Here is the paper. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"The Allied Powers which signed the treaty of Paris, assembled in +Congress at Vienna, having been informed of the escape of Napoleon +Bonaparte, and of his entrance into France with arms in his hands, owe +it to their dignity and to the interest of social order to make a +solemn declaration of the sentiments which this event has excited. In +violating the terms of the convention which placed him at Elba, +Bonaparte destroyed his only legal title to life; and in reappearing in +France with projects for disturbing the public peace, he has deprived +himself of the protection of the laws, and made it manifest to the +universe that there can be neither truce nor peace with him." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +And so they continued through two long pages, and those people who had +nothing in common with us, who had no concern with our affairs, and who +gave themselves the title of Defenders of the Peace, finished by +declaring that they united themselves to maintain the treaty of Paris +and replace Louis XVIII. on the throne. +</P> + +<P> +When I had finished, aunt turned to Mr. Goulden and asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of all that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think," said he, "that those sovereigns despise the people, and that +they would exterminate the human race without shame or pity in order to +maintain fifteen or twenty families in luxury. They look upon +themselves as gods, and upon us as brutes." +</P> + +<P> +"Doubtless," replied Aunt Grédel. "I do not deny it, but all that will +not prevent Joseph from being compelled to go away." +</P> + +<P> +I turned quite pale, for I saw that she was right. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Mr. Goulden, "I knew that some days ago, and this is what I +have done. You have heard, no doubt, Mother Grédel, that great +workshops have been built for repairing arms. There is an arsenal at +Pfalzbourg, but they are in want of skilful workmen. Of course the +good laborers render as much service to the state in repairing arms as +those who go to battle; they have more to do, but they do not risk +their lives, and they remain at home. Well! I went at once to the +commandant of artillery, and asked him to accept Joseph as a workman. +It is nothing for a good clock-maker to repair a gun-lock, and Mr. +Montravel accepted him at once. Here is his order," said he, showing +us a paper which he took from his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +I felt as if I had returned to life, and I exclaimed, "Oh! Mr. +Goulden, you are more than a father; you have saved my life." +</P> + +<P> +Catherine, who had been overwhelmed with anxiety, got up and went out, +and Aunt Grédel kissed Mr. Goulden twice over, and said, "Yes, you are +the best of men, a man of sense and of a great spirit. If all Jacobins +were like you, women would wish only for Jacobins." +</P> + +<P> +"But it was the most simple thing in the world to do!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no; it is your good heart which gives you good thoughts." +</P> + +<P> +Words failed me in my joy and astonishment, and while aunt was speaking +I went out into the orchard to take the air. Catherine was there in a +corner of the bake-house, weeping hot tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! now I can breathe again," she said, "now I can live." +</P> + +<P> +I embraced her with deep emotion. I saw what she had suffered during +the last month, but she was a brave woman, and had concealed her +anxiety from me, knowing that I had enough on my own account. We +stayed for ten minutes in the orchard to wipe away our tears, and then +went in. Mr. Goulden said: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Joseph! you go to-morrow; you must set off early, and you will +not lack work." +</P> + +<P> +Oh! what joy to think I should not be compelled to go away, and then +too I had other reasons for wishing to remain at home, for Catherine +and I already had our hopes. Ah! those who have not suffered cannot +realize our feelings, nor understand what a weight this good news +lifted from our hearts. We stayed an hour longer at Quatre Vents, and +as the people were coming from vespers, at nightfall, we set off for +the town. Aunt Grédel went with us to where the post changes horses, +and at seven o'clock we were at home again. +</P> + +<P> +It was thus that peace was established between Aunt Grédel and Mr. +Goulden, and now she came to see us as often as before. I went every +day to the arsenal and worked at repairing the guns. When the clock +struck twelve I went home to dinner, and at one returned to my work and +stayed until seven o'clock. I was at once soldier and workman, excused +from roll-call but overwhelmed with work. We hoped that I could remain +in that position till the war was over, if unfortunately it commenced +again, but we were sure of nothing. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIV +</H3> + +<P> +Our confidence returned a little after I worked at the arsenal, but +still we were anxious, for hundreds of men on furloughs for six months, +conscripts, and old soldiers enlisted for one campaign, passed through +the town in citizens' clothes but with knapsacks on their backs. They +all shouted "<I>Vive l'Empereur!</I>" and seemed to be furious. In the +great hall of the town-house they received one a cloak, another a +shako, and others epaulettes and gaiters and shoes, at the expense of +the department, and off they went, and I wished them a pleasant +journey. All the tailors in town were making uniforms by contract, the +gendarmes gave up their horses to mount the cavalry, and the mayor, +Baron Parmentier, urged the young men of sixteen and seventeen to join +the partisans of Colonel Bruce, who defended the defiles of the Zorne, +the Zinselle, and the Saar. +</P> + +<P> +The baron was going to the "Champ de Mai," and his enthusiasm +redoubled. "Go!" cried he, "courage!" as he spoke to them of the +Romans who fought for their country. I thought to myself as I listened +to him, "If you think all that so beautiful why do you not go yourself." +</P> + +<P> +You can imagine with what courage I worked at the arsenal; nothing was +too much for me. I would have passed night and day in mending the guns +and adjusting the bayonets and tightening the screws. When the +commandant, Mr. Montravel, came to see us, he praised me. +</P> + +<P> +"Excellent!" said he, "that is good! I am pleased with you, Bertha." +</P> + +<P> +These words filled me with satisfaction, and I did not fail to report +them to Catherine, in order to raise her spirits. We were almost +certain that Mr. Montravel would keep me at Pfalzbourg. +</P> + +<P> +The gazettes were full of the new constitution, which they called the +"Additional Act," and the act of the "Champ de Mai." Mr. Goulden +always had something to say, sometimes about one article and sometimes +another, but I mixed no more in these affairs, and repented of having +complained of the processions and expiations; I had had enough of +politics. +</P> + +<P> +This lasted till the 23d of May. That morning about ten o'clock I was +in the great hall of the arsenal, filling the boxes with guns. The +great door was wide open, and the men were waiting with their wagons +before the bullet park, to load up the boxes. I had nailed the last +one, when Robert, the guard, touched me on the shoulder and said in my +ear: +</P> + +<P> +"Bertha, the Commandant Montravel wishes to see you. He is in the +pavilion." +</P> + +<P> +"What does he want of me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know." +</P> + +<P> +I was afraid directly, but I went at once. I crossed the grand court, +near the sheds for the gun-carriages, mounted the stairs, and knocked +softly at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in," said the commandant. +</P> + +<P> +I opened the door all in a tremble, and stood with my cap in my hand. +Mr. Montravel was a tall, brown, thin man, with a little stoop in his +shoulders. He was walking hastily up and down his room, in the midst +of his books and maps, and arms hung on the wall. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Bertha, it is you, is it? I have disagreeable news to tell you, +the third battalion to which you belong leaves for Metz." +</P> + +<P> +On hearing this my heart sank, and I could not say a word. He looked +at me, and after a moment he added: +</P> + +<P> +"Do not be troubled, you have been married for several months, and you +are a good workman, and that deserves consideration. You will give +this letter to Colonel Desmichels at the arsenal at Metz; he is one of +my friends, and will find employment in some of his workshops for you, +you may be certain." +</P> + +<P> +I took the letter which he handed me, thanked him, and went home filled +with alarm. Zébédé, Mr. Goulden, and Catherine were talking together +in the shop, distress was written on every face. They knew everything. +"The third battalion is going," I said as I entered, "but Mr. Montravel +has just given me a letter to the director of the arsenal at Metz. Do +not be anxious, I shall not make the campaign." +</P> + +<P> +I was almost choking. Mr. Goulden took the letter and said, "It is +open; we can read it." +</P> + +<P> +Then he read the letter, in which Mr. Montravel recommended me to his +friend, saying that I was married, a good workman, industrious, and +that I could render real service at the arsenal. He could have said +nothing better. +</P> + +<P> +"Now the matter is certain," said Zébédé. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you will be retained in the arsenal at Metz," said Father Goulden. +</P> + +<P> +Catherine was very pale, she kissed me and said, "What happiness, +Joseph!" +</P> + +<P> +They all pretended to believe that I should remain at Metz, and I tried +to hide my fears from them. But the effort almost suffocated me, and I +could hardly avoid sobbing, when happily I thought I would go and +announce the news to Aunt Grédel. So I said, "Although it will not be +very long, and I shall stay in Metz, yet I must go and tell the good +news to Aunt Grédel. I will be back between five and six, and +Catherine will have time to prepare my haversack, and we will have +supper." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Joseph, go!" said Father Goulden. Catherine said not a word, for +she could hardly restrain her tears. I set off like a madman. Zébédé, +who was returning to the barracks, told me at the door, that the +officer in charge at the town-house would give me my uniform, and that +I must be there about five o'clock. I listened, as if in a dream, to +his words, and ran till I was outside of the city. Once on the glacis +I ran on without knowing where, in the trenches, and by the +Trois-Châteaux and the Baraques-à-en-haut, and along the forest to +Quatre Vents. +</P> + +<P> +I cannot describe to you the thoughts that ran through my brain. I was +bewildered, and wanted to run away to Switzerland. But the worst of +all was when I approached Quatre Vents by the path along the Daun. It +was about three o'clock. Aunt Grédel was putting up some poles for her +beans, in the rear of the garden, and she saw me in the distance, and +said to herself: +</P> + +<P> +"Why it is Joseph! what is he doing in the grain?" +</P> + +<P> +But when I got into the road, which was full of ruts and sand and which +the sun made as hot as a furnace, I went on more slowly with my head +bent down, thinking I should never dare to go in, when, suddenly aunt +exclaimed from behind the hedge, "Is it you, Joseph?" +</P> + +<P> +Then I shivered. "Yes, it is I." +</P> + +<P> +She ran out into the little elder alley, and seeing me so pale she +said, "I know why you have come, you are going away!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I replied, "the others are going, but I am to stay in Metz; it +is very fortunate." +</P> + +<P> +She said nothing, and we went into the kitchen, which was very cool +compared with the heat outside. She sat down, and I read her the +commandant's letter. She listened to it, and repeated, "Yes, it is +very fortunate." +</P> + +<P> +And we sat and looked at each other without speaking a word, and then +she took my head between her hands and kissed me, and embraced me for a +long time, and I could see she was crying, though she did not say a +word. +</P> + +<P> +"You weep," said I, "but since I am to stay in Metz!" +</P> + +<P> +Still she did not speak, but went and brought some wine. I took a +glass, and she asked, "What does Catherine say?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is glad that I am to remain at the arsenal; and Mr. Goulden also." +</P> + +<P> +"That is well; and are they preparing what you need?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Aunt Grédel, and I must be at the city hall before five o'clock +to receive my uniform." +</P> + +<P> +"Well! then you must go; kiss me, Joseph. I will not go with you. I +do not wish to see the battalion leave—I will stay here. I must live +a long while yet—Catherine has need of me—" here her restraint gave +way. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly she checked herself, and said, "At what time do you leave?" +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow, at seven o'clock, Mamma Grédel." +</P> + +<P> +"Well! at eight o'clock I will be there. You will be far away, but you +will know that the mother of your wife is there, that she will take +care of her daughter, that she loves you, that she has only you in the +whole world." +</P> + +<P> +The courageous woman sobbed aloud; she accompanied me to the door, and +I left her. It seemed as if I had not a drop of blood left in my +veins. Just as the clock struck five I reached the town-house. I went +up and saw that hall again where I had lost, that cursed hall where +everybody drew unlucky numbers. I received a cloak and coat, +pantaloons, gaiters, and shoes. Zébédé, who was waiting for me, told +one of the musketeers to take them to the mess-room. +</P> + +<P> +"You will come early and put them on," said he; "your musket and +knapsack have been in the rack since morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Come with me," said I. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I cannot, the sight of Catherine breaks my heart; and besides I +must stay with my father. Who knows whether I shall find the old man +alive at the end of a year? I promised to take supper with you, but I +shall not go." +</P> + +<P> +I was obliged to go home alone. My haversack was all ready; my old +haversack, the only thing I had saved from Hanau, as my head rested on +it in the wagon. Mr. Goulden was at work. He turned round without +speaking, and I asked, "Where is Catherine?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is upstairs." +</P> + +<P> +I knew she was crying, and I wanted to go up, but my legs and my +courage both failed me. +</P> + +<P> +I told Mr. Goulden of my visit to Quatre-Vents, and then we sat and +waited, thinking, without daring to look each other in the face. It +was already dark when Catherine came down. She laid the table in the +twilight, and then I took her hand, and made her sit down on my knee, +and we remained so for half an hour. +</P> + +<P> +Then Mr. Goulden asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Is not Zébédé coming?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, he cannot come." +</P> + +<P> +"Well! let us take our supper then." +</P> + +<P> +But no one was hungry. Catherine removed the table about nine o'clock, +and we all retired. It was the most terrible night I ever passed in my +life. Catherine was in a deathly swoon. I called her, but she did not +answer. At midnight I wakened Mr. Goulden, and he dressed himself and +came up to our chamber. We gave her some sugar-water, when she revived +and got up. I cannot tell you everything; I only know that she sank at +my feet and begged me not to abandon her, as if I did it voluntarily! +but she was crazed. Mr. Goulden wanted to call a doctor, but I +prevented him. Toward morning she recovered entirely, and after a long +fit of weeping, she fell asleep in my arms. I did not even dare to +embrace her, and we went out softly and left her. +</P> + +<P> +When we feel all the miseries of life, we exclaim: "Why are we in the +world? Why did we not sleep through the eternal ages? What have we +done, that we must see those we love suffer, when we are not in fault? +It is not God, but man, who breaks our hearts." +</P> + +<P> +After we went downstairs Mr. Goulden said to me, "She is asleep, she +knows nothing of it all, and that is a blessing; you will go before she +wakes." I thanked God for His goodness, and we sat waiting for the +least sound, till at last the drums beat the assembly. Then Mr. +Goulden looked at me very gravely, we rose, and he buckled my knapsack +on my shoulders in silence. +</P> + +<P> +At last he said: "Joseph, go and see the commandant in Metz, but count +upon nothing; the danger is so great that France has need of all her +children for her defence, and this time it is not a question of +acquiring from others, but of saving our own country. Remember that it +is yourself and your wife and all that is dearest to you in the world +that is at stake." We went down to the street in silence, embraced +each other, and then I went to the barracks. Zébédé took me to the +mess-room and I put on my uniform. All that I remember after so many +years is, that Zébédé's father, who was there, took my clothes and made +them into a bundle and said he would take them home after our +departure; and the battalion filed out by the little rue de Lanche +through the French gate. A few children ran after us, and the soldiers +on guard presented arms; we were <I>en route</I> for <I>Waterloo</I>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XV +</H3> + +<P> +At Sarrebourg we received tickets for lodgings. Mine was for the old +printer Jârcisse, who knew Mr. Goulden and Aunt Grédel, and who made me +dine at his table with my new comrade and bedfellow, Jean Buche, the +son of a wood-cutter of Harberg, who had never eaten anything but +potatoes before he was conscripted. He devoured everything, even to +the bones that they set before us. But I was so melancholy, that to +hear him crunch the bones made me nervous. Father Jârcisse tried to +console me, but every word he said only increased my pain. We passed +the remainder of that day and the following night at Sarrebourg. The +next day we kept on our route to the village of Mézières, the next to +the Vic, and on to Soigne, till on the fifth day we came to Metz. I do +not need to tell you of our march, of the soldiers white with dust, how +we passed one magazine after another, with our knapsacks on our backs, +and our guns carried at will, talking, laughing, looking at the young +girls as we passed through the villages, at the carts, the manure +heaps, the sheds, the hills, and the valleys, without troubling +ourselves about anything. And when one is sad and has left his wife at +home, and dear friends too, whom he may never see again, all these pass +before his eyes like shadows, and a hundred steps more and they too are +unthought of. But yet the view of Metz, with its tall cathedral and +its ancient dwellings, and its frowning ramparts awakened me. Two +hours before we arrived, we kept thinking we should soon reach the +earthworks, and hastened our steps in order the sooner to get into the +shade. I thought of Colonel Desmichels, and had a little—very little, +hope. "If fate wills!" I thought, and I felt for my letter. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé did not talk to me now, but from time to time he turned his head +and looked back at me. It was not exactly as it was in the old +campaign, he was sergeant, and I only a common soldier; we loved each +other always, but that made a difference of course. Jean Buche marched +along beside me, with his round shoulders and his feet turned in like a +wolf. The only thing he said from time to time was, that his shoes +hurt him on the march, and that they should only be worn on parade. +During two months the drill-sergeant had not been able to make him turn +out his toes, or to raise his shoulders, but for all that he could +march terribly well in his own fashion, and without being fatigued. At +last about five in the afternoon, we reached the outposts. They soon +recognized us, and the captain of the guard himself exclaimed, "Pass!" +The drums rolled, and we entered the oldest town I had ever seen. +</P> + +<P> +Metz is at the confluence of the Seille and the Moselle. The houses +are four or five stories high; their old walls are full of beams as at +Saverne and Bouxviller, the windows round and square, great and small, +on the same line, with shutters and without, some with glass and some +without any. It is as old as the mountains and rivers. The roofs +project about six feet, spreading their shadows over the black water, +in which old shoes, rags, and dead dogs are floating. If you look +upward you will be sure to see the face of some old Jew at the windows +in the roof, with his gray beard and crooked nose, or a child who is +risking his neck. Properly speaking, it is a city of Jews and +soldiers. Poor people are not wanting either. It is much worse in +this respect than at Mayence, or at Strasbourg, or even at Frankfort. +If they have not changed since then, they love their ease now. In +spite of my sadness I could not help looking at these lanes and alleys. +The town swarmed with national guards; they were arriving from Longwy, +from Sarrelouis and other places; the soldiers left and were replaced +by these guards. +</P> + +<P> +We came upon a square encumbered with beds and mattresses, bedding, +etc., which the citizens had furnished for the troops. We stacked arms +in front of the barracks, every window of which was open from top to +bottom. We waited, thinking we should be lodged there, but at the end +of twenty minutes the distribution commenced, and each man received +twenty-five sous and a ticket for lodging. We broke rank, each one +going his own way. Jean Buche, who had never seen any other town than +Pfalzbourg, did not leave me for a moment. Our ticket was for Elias +Meyer, butcher, in the rue St. Valery. When we reached the house the +butcher was cutting meat in the arched and grated window, and was +anything but pleased to see us, and received us very ungraciously. He +was a fat, red, round-faced Jew, with silver rings on his fingers and +in his ears. His thin, yellow-skinned wife came down exclaiming that +they had "had lodgers for two nights before, that the mayor's secretary +did it on purpose, that he sent soldiers every day, and that the +neighbors did not have them," and so on. +</P> + +<P> +But they allowed us to enter after all. The daughter came and stared +at us, and behind her was a fat servant-woman, frizzled and very dirty. +I seem to see those people before me still, in that old room with its +oak wainscoting, and the great copper lamp hanging from the ceiling, +and the grated window looking into the little court. The daughter, who +was very pale and had very black eyes, said something to her mother and +then the servant was ordered to show us to the garret, to the beggars' +chamber, for all the Jews feed and shelter beggars on Friday. My +comrade from Harberg did not complain, but I was indignant. We +followed the servant up a winding stair slippery with filth, to the +room. It was separated from the rest of the garret by slats, through +which we could see the dirty linen. It was lighted by a little window +like a lozenge in the roof. Even if I had not been so miserable I +should have thought it abominable. There was only one chair and a +straw mattress on the floor and one single coverlet for us both. The +servant stood staring at us at the door, as if she expected thanks or +compliments. I took off my knapsack, sad enough as you can imagine, +and Jean Buche did the same. The servant turned to go downstairs when +I cried out: "Wait a minute, we will go down too, we do not want to +break our necks on those stairs." We changed our shoes and stockings +and fastened the door and went down to the shop to buy some meat. Jean +went to the baker opposite for some bread, and as our ticket gave us a +place at the fire we went to the kitchen to make our soup. The butcher +came to see us just as we were finishing our supper. He was smoking a +big Ulm pipe. He asked where we were from. I was so indignant I would +not answer him, but Jean Buche told him that I was a watch-maker from +Pfalzbourg, upon which he treated me with more consideration. He said +that his brother travelled in Alsace and Lorraine, with watches, rings, +watch-chains, and other articles of silver and gold, and jewelry, and +that his name was Samuel Meyer, and perhaps we had had business with +him. I replied that I had seen his brother two or three times at Mr. +Goulden's, which was true. Thereupon he ordered the servant to bring +us a pillow, but he did nothing more for us and we went to bed. +</P> + +<P> +We were very weary and were soon sound asleep. I thought to get up +very early and go to the arsenal, but I was still asleep when my +comrade shook me and said: "The assembly!" +</P> + +<P> +I listened—it was the assembly! We only had time to dress, buckle on +our knapsacks, take our guns, and run down. When we reached the +barracks the roll-call had begun. When it was finished two wagons came +up, and we received fifty ball-cartridges each. The Commandant Gémeau, +the captains, and all the officers were there. I saw that all was +over, that I had nothing to count on longer, and that my letter to +Colonel Desmichels might be good after the campaign was over, if I +escaped and should be obliged to serve out my seven years. Zébédé +looked at me from a distance—I turned away my head. The order came: +</P> + +<P> +"Carry arms! arms at will! by file! left! forward! march!" +</P> + +<P> +The drums rolled, we marked step, and the roofs, the houses, the +windows, the lanes, and the people seemed to glide past us. We crossed +over the first bridge and the drawbridge. The drums ceased to beat and +we went on toward Thionville. The other troops followed the same +route, cavalry and infantry. +</P> + +<P> +That night we reached the village of Beauregard, the next night we were +at Vitry, near Thionville, where we were stationed till the 8th of +June. Buche and I were lodged with a fat landlord named Pochon. He +was a very good man and gave us excellent white wine to drink, and +liked to talk politics like Mr. Goulden. During our stay in this +village General Schoeffer came from Thionville, and we went to be +reviewed with our arms at a large farm called "Silvange." +</P> + +<P> +It is a woody country, and we often went, several of us together, to +make excursions in the vicinity. One day Zébédé came and took me to +see the great foundry at Moyeuvre where we saw then run bullets and +bombs. We talked about Catherine and Mr. Goulden, and he told me to +write to them, but somehow I was afraid to hear from home, and I turned +my thoughts away from Pfalzbourg. +</P> + +<P> +On the 8th of June we left this village very early in the morning, +returning near to Metz but without entering the city. The city gates +were shut and the cannon frowned on the walls as in time of war. We +slept at Chatel, and the next day we were at Etain, the day following +at Dannevoux, where I was lodged with a good patriot named Sebastian +Perrin. He was a rich man, and wanted to know the details of +everything. +</P> + +<P> +As a great number of battalions had followed the same route before us, +he said, "In a month perhaps we shall see great things, all the troops +are marching into Belgium. The Emperor is going to fall upon the +English and Prussians." +</P> + +<P> +This was the last place where we had good supplies. The next day we +arrived at Yong, which is in a miserable country. We slept on the 12th +of June at Vivier, and the 13th at Cul-de-Sard. The farther we +advanced the more troops we encountered, and as I had seen these things +in Germany, I said to Jean Buche: +</P> + +<P> +"Now we shall have hot work." +</P> + +<P> +On all sides and in every direction, files of infantry, cavalry, and +artillery, were seen as far as the eye could reach. The weather was as +delightful as possible, and nothing could be more promising than the +ripening grain. But it was very hot. What astonished me was, that +neither before nor behind, on the right hand nor on the left could we +discover any enemies. Nobody knew anything about them. The rumor +circulated amongst us that we were to attack the English. I had seen +the Russians, Prussians, Austrians, Bavarians and Wurtemburgers and the +Swedes. I knew the people of all the countries in the world, and now I +was going to make the acquaintance of the English also. If we must be +exterminated, I thought, it might as well be done by them as by the +Germans. We could not avoid our fate—if I was to escape, I should +escape, but if I were doomed to leave my bones here, all I could do +would avail nothing—but the more we destroyed of them the greater +would be the chances for us. This was the way I reasoned with myself, +and if it did me no good it caused me at least no harm. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVI +</H3> + +<P> +We passed the Meuse on the 12th, and during the 13th and 14th we +marched along the wretched roads, bordered with grain fields, barley, +oats, and hemp, without end. The heat was extraordinary, the sweat ran +down to our hips from under our knapsacks and cartridge-boxes. What a +misfortune to be poor, and unable to buy a man to march and take the +musket-shots in our place! After having gone through the rain, wind, +and snow, and mud, in Germany, the turn of the sun and dust had come. +And I saw too, that the destruction was approaching, you could hear the +sound of the drum and the bugle in every direction, and whenever the +battalion passed over an elevation long lines of helmets and lances and +bayonets were seen as far as the eye could reach. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé, with his musket on his shoulder, would exclaim cheerfully, +"Well, Joseph! we are going to see the whites of the Prussians' eyes +again;" and I would force myself to reply, "Oh! yes, the weddings will +soon begin again." As if I wanted to risk my life and leave Catherine +a young widow for the sake of something which did not in the least +concern me. +</P> + +<P> +That same day at seven o'clock we reached Roly. The hussars occupied +the town already, and we were obliged to bivouac in a deep road along +the side of the hill. We had hardly stacked our arms when several +general officers arrived. The Commandant Gémeau, who had just +dismounted, sprang upon his horse and hurried to meet them. They +conversed a moment together and came down into our road. Everybody +looked on and said, "Something has happened." One of the officers, +General Pechaux, whom we knew afterward, ordered the drums to beat, and +shouted, "Form a circle." The road was too narrow, and some of the +soldiers went up on the slope each side of the road, while the others +remained on the road. All the battalion looked on while the general +unrolled a paper, and said, "Proclamation from the Emperor." +</P> + +<P> +When he had said that, the silence was so profound that you would have +thought yourself alone in the midst of these great fields. Every one, +from the last conscript to the Commandant Gémeau, listened, and, even +to-day, when I think of it, after fifty years, it moves my heart; it +was grand and terrible. This is what the general read: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Soldiers! To-day is the anniversary of Marengo and of Friedland, +which twice decided the fate of Europe! Then, as after Austerlitz and +after Wagram, we were too generous, we believed the protestations and +the oaths of princes, whom we left on their thrones. They have +combined to attack the independence and even the most sacred rights of +France. They have commenced the most unjust aggressions, let us meet +them! They and we,—are we no longer of the same race?" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The whole battalion shouted, "<I>Vive l'Empereur</I>." The general raised +his hand, and all were silent. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Soldiers! at Jena, we were as one to three against these Prussians who +are so arrogant to-day; at Montmirail we were as one against six! Let +those among you who have been prisoners of the English tell the tale of +their frightful sufferings in their prison ships. The Saxons, the +Belgians, the Hanoverians, the soldiers of the Confederation of the +Rhine, complain that they are compelled to lend their arms to princes +who are enemies of justice and of the rights of all nations. They know +that this coalition is insatiable. After having devoured twelve +millions of Poles, twelve millions of Italians, one million of Saxons, +six millions of Belgians, it will devour all the states of the second +order in Germany. Madmen! a moment of prosperity has blinded them; the +oppression and humiliation of the French people is beyond their power. +If they enter France they will find their graves there. Soldiers, we +have forced marches to make, battles to wage, and perils to encounter, +but, if we are constant, victory will be ours. The rights of man and +the happiness of our country will be reconquered. For all Frenchmen, +who have hearts, the time has come to conquer or to perish.—NAPOLEON." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The shouts which arose were like thunder, it was as if the Emperor had +breathed his war spirit into our hearts, and moved us as one man to +destroy our enemies. The shouts continued long after the general had +gone, and even I was satisfied. I saw that it was the truth, that the +Prussians, Austrians, and Russians, who had talked so much of the +deliverance of the people, had profited by the first opportunity to +grasp everything, that those grand words about liberty, which had +served to excite their young men against us in 1813, and all the +promises of constitutions which they had made, had been set aside and +broken. I looked upon them as beggars, as men who had not kept their +word, who despised the people, and whose ideas were very narrow and +limited, and consisted in always keeping the best place for themselves +and their children and descendants whether they were good or bad, just +or unjust, without any reference to God's law. That was the way I +looked at it; the proclamation seemed to me very beautiful. I thought +too, that Father Goulden would be pleased with it, because the Emperor +had not forgotten the rights of man, which are liberty, equality, and +justice, and all those grand ideas which distinguish men from brutes, +causing them to respect themselves and the rights of their neighbors +also. Our courage was greatly strengthened by these strong and just +words. The old soldiers laughed and said, "We shall not be kept +waiting this time. On the first march we shall fall upon the +Prussians." +</P> + +<P> +But the conscripts, who had never yet heard the bullets whistle, were +the most excited of all. Buche's eyes sparkled like those of a cat, as +he sat on the road-side, with his knapsack opened on the slope, slowly +sharpening his sabre, and trying the edge on the toe of his shoe. +Others were setting their bayonets and adjusting their flints, as they +always do when on the eve of a battle. At those times their heads are +full of thought, which makes them knit their brows, and compress their +lips; giving them anything but pleasant faces. +</P> + +<P> +The sun sank lower and lower behind the grain fields, several +detachments of men went to the village for wood, and they brought back +onions and leeks and salt, and even several quarters of beef were hung +on long sticks over their shoulders. But it was when the men were +around the fires, watching their kettles as they commenced to boil, and +the smoke went curling up into the air, that their faces were happiest, +one would talk of Lutzen, another of Wagram, of Austerlitz, of Jena, of +Friedland, of Spain, of Portugal, and of all the countries in the +world. They all talked at once, but only the old soldiers whose arms +were covered with chevrons, were listened to. They were most +interesting, as they marked the positions on the ground with their +fingers, and explained them by a line on the right, and a line on the +left. You seemed to see it all while listening to them. Each one had +his pewter spoon at his button-hole, and kept thinking, "The soup will +be capital, the meat is good and fat." +</P> + +<P> +When we were stationed for the night, the order was given to extinguish +the fires and not to beat the retreat, which indicated that the enemy +was near, and that they feared to alarm them. +</P> + +<P> +The moon was shining, and Buche and I were eating at the same mess; +when we had finished, he talked to me more than two hours about his +life at Harberg, how they were obliged to drag two or three cords of +wood on great sleds at the risk of being run over and crushed, +especially when the snow was melting. Compared with that, the life of +a soldier, with his pleasant mess and good bread, regular rations, the +neat warm uniform, the stout linen shirts, seemed to him delightful. +He had never dreamed that he could be so comfortable, and his strongest +desire was to let his two younger brothers, Gaspard and Jacob, know how +delighted he was, in order that they might enlist as soon as they were +old enough. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said I, "that is all very well,—but the English and +Prussians,—you do not think of that." +</P> + +<P> +"I despise them," said he, "my sabre cuts like a butcher's knife, and +my bayonet is sharp as a needle. It is they who should be afraid to +encounter me." +</P> + +<P> +We were the best friends in the world, and I liked him almost as well +as my old comrades Klipfel, Furst, and Zébédé. And he liked me too. I +believe he would have let himself be cut to pieces to save me from +danger. Old comrades and bed-fellows never forget each other. In my +time, old Harwig whom I knew in Pfalzbourg, always received a pension +from his old comrade Bernadotte, King of Sweden. If I had been a king, +Jean Buche should have had a pension, for if he had not a great mind he +had a good heart, which is better still. +</P> + +<P> +While we were talking, Zébédé came and tapped me on the shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"You do not smoke, Joseph?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have no tobacco." +</P> + +<P> +Then he gave me half of a package which he had and I saw that he loved +me still, in spite of the difference in our rank, and that touched me. +He was beside himself with delight at the thought of attacking the +Prussians. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll be revenged!" he cried. "No quarter! they shall pay for all, +from Katzbach even to Soissons." +</P> + +<P> +You would have thought that those English and Prussians were not going +to defend themselves, and that we ran no risk of catching bullets and +canister as at Lutzen and at Gross-Beren, at Leipzig and everywhere +else. But what could you say to a man who remembered nothing and who +always looked on the bright side? +</P> + +<P> +I smoked my pipe quietly and replied, "Yes! yes! we'll settle the +rascals, we'll push them! They'll see enough of us!" +</P> + +<P> +I left Jean Buche with his pipe, and as we were on guard, Zébédé went +about nine o'clock to relieve the sentinels at the head of the picket. +I stepped a little out of the circle and stretched myself in a furrow a +few steps in the rear with my knapsack under my head. The weather was +warm, and we heard the crickets long after the sun went down. A few +stars shone in the heavens. There was not a breath of air stirring +over the plain, the ears of grain stood erect and motionless, and in +the distance the village clocks struck nine, ten, and eleven, but at +last I dropped asleep. This was the night of the 14th and 15th of +June, 1815. Between two and three in the morning Zébédé came and shook +me. "Up!" said he, "come!" Buche had stretched himself beside me +also, and we rose at once. It was our turn to relieve the guard. It +was still dark, but there was a line of light along the horizon at the +edge of the grain fields. Thirty paces farther on, Lieutenant +Bretonville was waiting for us, surrounded by the picket. It is hard +to get up out of a sound sleep after a march of ten hours. But we +buckled on our knapsacks as we went, and I relieved the sentinel behind +the hedge opposite Roly. The countersign was "Jemmapes and Fleurus," +this struck me at once, I had not heard this countersign since 1813. +How memory sleeps sometimes for years! I seem to see the picket now as +they turn into the road, while I renew the priming of my gun by the +light of the stars, and I hear the other sentinels marching slowly back +and forth, while the footsteps of the picket grew faint and fainter in +the distance. I marched up and down the hedge with my gun on my arm. +There was nothing to be seen but the village with its thatched roofs +and the slated church spire a little farther on; and a mounted sentinel +stationed in the road with his blunderbuss resting on his thigh looking +out into the night. I walked up and down thinking and listening. +Everything slept. The white line along the horizon grew broader. +Another half hour and the distant country began to appear in the gray +light of morning. Two or three quails called and answered each other +across the plain. As I heard these sounds I stopped and thought sadly +of Quatre Vents, Danne, the Baraques-du-bois-de-chênes, and of our +grain fields, where the quails were calling from the edge of the forest +of Bonne Fontaine. "Is Catherine asleep? and Aunt Grédel and Father +Goulden and all the town? The national guard from Nancy has taken our +place." I saw the sentinels of the two magazines and the guard at the +two gates; in short, thoughts without number came and went, when I +heard a horse galloping in the distance, but I could see nothing. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-190"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-190.jpg" ALT="A mounted hussar was looking out into the night." BORDER="2" WIDTH="466" HEIGHT="690"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 466px"> +A mounted hussar was looking out into the night. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +In a few minutes he entered the village, and all was still except a +sort of confused tumult. In an instant after, the horseman came from +Roly into our road at full gallop. I advanced to the edge of the hedge +and presented my musket, and cried, "Who goes there?" "France!" "What +regiment?" "Twelfth chasseurs! Staff." "Pass on!" He went on his +way faster than before. I heard him stop in the midst of our +encampment, and call "Commandant." I advanced to the top of the hill +to see what was going on. There was a great excitement; the officers +came running up, and the soldiers gathered round. The chasseur was +speaking to Gémeau, I listened, but was too far away to hear. The +courier went on again up the hill, and everything was in an uproar. +They shouted and gesticulated. Suddenly the drums beat to mount guard, +and the relief turned a corner in the road. I saw Zébédé in the +distance looking pale as death; as he passed me he said, "Come!" the +two other sentinels were in their places a little to the left. Talking +is not allowed when under arms, but, notwithstanding, Zébédé said, +"Joseph, we are betrayed. Bourmont, general of the division in +advance, and five other brigands of the same sort, have just gone over +to the enemy." His voice trembled. +</P> + +<P> +My blood boiled, and looking at the other men on the picket, two old +soldiers with chevrons, I saw their lips quiver under their gray +mustaches, their eyes rolled fiercely as if they were meditating +vengeance, but they said nothing. We hurried on to relieve the other +two sentinels. Some minutes afterward, on returning to our bivouac, we +found the battalion already under arms and ready to move. Fury and +indignation were stamped on every face, the drums beat and we formed +ranks, the commandant and the adjutant waited on horseback at the head +of the battalion, pale as ashes. +</P> + +<P> +I remember that the commandant suddenly drew his sword as a signal to +stop the drums, and tried to speak, but the words would not come, and +he began to shout like a madman: "Ah! the wretches! miserable villains! +<I>Vive l'Empereur</I>! No quarter!" He stammered and did not know what he +said, but the battalion thought he was eloquent, and began to shout as +one man, "Forward! forward! to the enemy! no quarter!" We went through +the village at quick step, and the meanest soldier was furious at not +finding the Prussians. +</P> + +<P> +It was an hour after, when having reflected a little, the men commenced +swearing and threatening, secretly at first, but soon openly, and at +last the battalion was almost in revolt. Some said that all the +officers under Louis XVIII. must be exterminated, and others, that we +were given up <I>en masse</I>, and several declared that the marshals were +traitors, and ought to be court-martialed and shot. +</P> + +<P> +At last the commandant ordered a halt, and riding down the line he told +the men, that the traitors had left too late to do mischief, that we +would make the attack that very day, and that the enemy would not have +time to profit by the treason, and that he would be surprised and +overwhelmed. This calmed the fury of a great proportion of the men, +and we resumed our march, and all along the route, we heard repeatedly +that the exposure of our plans had been made too late. +</P> + +<P> +But our anger gave place to joy, when about ten o'clock we heard the +thunder of cannon five or six leagues to the left, on the other side of +the Sambre. The men raised their shakos on their bayonets and shouted: +"Forward! Vive l'Empereur!" +</P> + +<P> +Many of the old soldiers wept, and over all that great plain there was +one immense shout; when one regiment had ceased another took it up. +The cannon thundered incessantly. We quickened our steps. We had been +marching on Charleroi since seven o'clock, when an order reached us by +an orderly to support the right. I remember that in all the villages +through which we passed, the doors and windows were full of eager +friendly faces, waving their hands and shouting, "The French, the +French!" We could see that they were friendly to us, and that they +were of the same blood as ourselves; and in the two halts that we made, +they came out with their loaves of excellent home-made bread, with a +knife stuck in the crust, and great jugs of black beer, and offered +them to us without asking any return. We had come to deliver them +without knowing it, and nobody in their country knew it either, which +shows the sagacity of the Emperor, for there were already in that +corner of the Sambre et Meuse, more than one hundred thousand men, and +not the slightest hint of it had reached the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +The treason of Bourmont had prevented our surprising them as they were +scattered about in their separate camps. We could then have +annihilated them at a blow, but now it would be much more difficult. +</P> + +<P> +We continued our march till after noon, in the intense heat and choking +dust. The farther we advanced the greater the number of troops we saw, +infantry and cavalry. They massed themselves more and more, so to +speak, and behind us there were still other regiments. +</P> + +<P> +Toward five o'clock we reached a village where the battalions and +squadrons filed over a bridge built of brick. This village had been +taken by our vanguard, and in going through it, we saw some of the +Prussians stretched out in the little streets on the right and left, +and I said to Jean Buche: "Those are Prussians, I saw them at Lutzen +and Leipzig, and you are going to see them too, Jean." +</P> + +<P> +"So much the better," he replied, "that is what I want." +</P> + +<P> +This village was called Chatelet. It is on the river Sambre, the water +is very deep, yellow, and clayey, and those who are so unfortunate as +to fall into it, find it very difficult to get out of, for the banks +are perpendicular, as we found out afterward. On the other side of the +bridge we bivouacked along the river; we were not in the advance, as +the hussars had passed over before us, but we were the first infantry +of the corps of Gérard. All the rest of that day the Fourth corps were +filing over the bridge, and we learned at night, that the whole army +had passed the Sambre, and that there had been fighting near Charleroi, +at Marchiennes, and Jumet. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVII +</H3> + +<P> +On reaching the other bank of the river, we stacked our arms in an +orchard, and lighted our pipes and took breath as we watched the +hussars, the chasseurs, the artillery, and the infantry, file over the +bridge hour after hour, and take their positions on the plain. In our +front was a beech forest, about three leagues in length, which extended +toward Fleurus. We could see great yellow spots, here and there in +this wood; these were stubble, and great patches of grain, instead of +being covered with bramble or heath and furze as in our country. About +twenty old decrepit houses were on that side the bridge. Chatelet is a +very large village, larger than the city of Saverne. +</P> + +<P> +Between the battalions and squadrons, which were constantly moving +onward, the men, women, and children would come out with jugs of sour +beer, bread, and strong white brandy which they sold to the soldiers +for a few sous. Buche and I broke a crust as we looked on and laughed +with the girls, who are blonde and very pretty in that country. +</P> + +<P> +Very near us was the little village Catelineau, and in the distance on +our left, between the wood and the river, lay the village of Gilly. +The sound of musketry, cannon, and platoon firing, was heard constantly +in that direction. The news soon came that the Emperor had driven the +Prussians out of Charleroi, and that they had re-formed in squares at +the corner of the wood. +</P> + +<P> +We expected every moment to be ordered to cut off their retreat, but +between seven and eight o'clock, the sound of musketry ceased, the +Prussians retired to Fleurus, after having lost one of their squares; +and the others escaped into the wood. We saw two regiments of dragoons +arrive and take up their position at our right, along the bank of the +Sambre. There was a rumor a few minutes afterward that General Le Tort +had been killed by a ball in the abdomen, very near the place where in +his youth he had watched and tended the cattle of a farmer. What +strange things happen in life! The general had fought all over Europe, +since he was twenty years old, but death waited for him here! +</P> + +<P> +It was about eight o'clock in the evening, and we were expecting to +remain at Chatelet until our three divisions had crossed. An old bald +peasant, in a blue blouse and a cotton cap and as lean as a goat, came +into camp and told Captain Grégoire that on the side of the beech wood +in a hollow, lay the village of Fleurus, and to the right of this, the +little village of Lambusart; that the Prussians had been stationed in +these towns more than three weeks, and that more of them had arrived +the night before, and the night before that. He told us also that +there was a broad road, bordered with trees, running two good leagues +along our left; that the Belgians and Hanoverians had posts at +Gosselies and at Quatre-Bras; that it was the high-road to Brussels, +where the English and Hanoverians and Belgians had all their forces; +while the Prussians, four or five leagues at our right, occupied the +route to Namur, and that between them and the English, there was a good +road running from the plateau of Quatre-Bras to the plateau of Ligny in +the rear of Fleurus, over which their couriers went and came from +morning till night, so that the Prussians and English were in perfect +communication, and could support each other with men, guns, and +supplies when necessary. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally enough I thought at once, that the first thing to be done was +to get possession of this road and so cut off their communication; and +I was not the only one who thought so; but we said nothing for fear of +interrupting the old man. In five minutes half the battalion had +gathered round him in a circle. He was smoking a clay pipe and +pointing out all the positions with the stem. He was a sort of +commissioner between Chatelet, Fleurus, and Namur and knew every foot +of the country and all that happened every day. +</P> + +<P> +He complained greatly of the Prussians, said they were proud and +insolent, that they corrupted the women and were never satisfied, and +that the officers boasted of having driven us from Dresden to Paris, +that they had made us run like hares. +</P> + +<P> +I was indignant at that, for I knew they were two to one at Leipzig, +and that the Russians, Austrians, Saxons, Bavarians, Wurtemburgers, +Swedes, in fact all Europe had overwhelmed us, while three-quarters of +our army were sick with typhus, cold, and famine, marching and +countermarching; but that even all this had not prevented us from +beating them at Hanau, and fifty other times when they were three to +one, in Champagne, Alsace, in the Vosges, and everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +Their boasting disgusted me, I had a horror of the whole race, and I +thought, "those are the rascals who sour your blood." The old man said +too, that the Prussians constantly declared that they would soon be +enjoying themselves in Paris, drinking good French wines; and that the +French army was only a band of brigands. When I heard that, I said to +myself, "Joseph, that is too much! now you will show no more mercy, +there is nothing but extermination." +</P> + +<P> +The clocks of Chatelet struck nine and a half, and the hussars sounded +the retreat, and each one was about to dispose himself behind a hedge +or a bee-house or in a furrow for the night, when the general of the +brigade, Schoeffer, ordered the battalion to take up their position on +the other side of the wood, as the vanguard. I saw at once that our +unlucky battalion was always to be in the van, just as it was in 1813. +</P> + +<P> +It is a sad thing for a regiment to have a reputation; the men change, +but the number remains the same. The Sixth light infantry had always +been a distinguished number, and I knew what it cost. Those of us who +were inclined to sleep, were wide awake now, for when you know that the +enemy is at hand, and you say to yourself, "The Prussians are in +ambush, perhaps in that wood, waiting for you," it makes you open your +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Several hussars deployed as scouts on our right and left, in front of +the column. We marched at the route step, with the captains between +the companies, and the Commandant Gémeau, on his little gray mare, in +the middle of the battalion. Before starting each man had received +three pounds of bread and two pounds of rice, and this was the way in +which the campaign opened for us. +</P> + +<P> +The sky was without a cloud, and all the country and even the forest, +which lay three-quarters of a league before us, shone in the moonlight +like silver. I thought involuntarily of the wood at Leipzig, where I +had slipped into a clay-pit with two Prussian hussars, when poor +Klipfel was cut into a thousand pieces at a little distance from me. +All this made me very watchful. No one spoke, even Buche raised his +head and shut his teeth, and Zébédé, who was at the left of the +company, did not look toward me, but right ahead into the shadow of the +trees, like everybody else. +</P> + +<P> +It took us nearly an hour to reach the forest, and when within two +hundred paces the order came to "halt." +</P> + +<P> +The hussars fell back on the flanks of the battalion, and one company +deployed as scouts. We waited about five minutes, and as not the +slightest noise or sound of any kind reached our ears, we resumed our +march. The road which we followed through the wood was quite a wide +cart-path. The column marked step in the shadows. At every moment +great openings in the forest gave us light and air, and we could see +the white piles of newly cut wood between their stakes, shining in the +distance from time to time. +</P> + +<P> +Besides this, nothing could be heard or seen. Buche said to me in a +low voice, "I like the smell of the wood, it is like Harberg." +</P> + +<P> +"I despise the smell of the wood," I thought; "and if we do not get a +musket-shot, I shall be satisfied." +</P> + +<P> +At the end of two hours the light appeared again through the underwood, +and we reached the other side, fortunately without encountering either +enemy or obstacle. The hussars who had accompanied us returned +immediately, and the battalion stacked arms. +</P> + +<P> +We were in a grain country, the like of which I had never seen. Some +of the grain was in flower, a little green still, though the barley was +almost ripe. The fields extended as far as the eye could reach. We +looked around in perfect silence, and I saw that the old man had not +deceived us. Two thousand paces in front of us, in a hollow, we saw +the top of an old church spire and some slated gables, lighted up by +the moon. That was Fleurus. Nearer to us on our right were some +thatched cottages, and a few houses; this was without doubt Lambusart. +At the end of the plain, more than a league distant and in the rear of +Fleurus, the surface of the country was broken into little hills, and +on these hills innumerable fires were burning. Three large villages +were easily recognized extending over the heights from left to right. +The one nearest to us, we afterward found, was St. Amand, Ligny in the +middle, and two leagues beyond, was Sombref. We could see them more +distinctly, even, than in the day-time, on account of the fires of the +enemy. The Prussians were in the houses and the orchards and the +fields; and beyond these three villages in a line, was another, lying +still higher and farther away, where fires were burning also. This was +Bry, where the rascals had their reserves. +</P> + +<P> +As we looked at this grand spectacle, I understood the disposition and +the plan, and saw too that it would be very difficult to take the +position. On the plain at our left there were fires also, but it was +the camp of the Third corps, which had turned the corner of the forest +after having repulsed the Prussians, and had halted in some village +this side of Fleurus. There were a few fires along the edge of the +forest, on a line with us; these were the fires of our own soldiers. I +believe there were some on both sides of us, but the great mass were at +the left. +</P> + +<P> +We posted our sentinels immediately, and without lighting our fires +laid down at the border of the wood to wait for further orders. +General Schoeffer came again during the night with several hussar +officers, and talked a long time with our commandant, Gémeau, who was +watching under arms. Their conversation was quite distinct at twenty +paces from us. The general said that our army corps continued to +arrive, but that they were very late, and would not all reach here the +next day. I saw at once that he was right; for our fourth battalion, +which should have joined us at Chatelet, did not come till the day +after the battle, when we were almost exterminated by those rascals at +Ligny, having only four hundred men left. If they had been there they +would have had their share of the combat and of the glory. +</P> + +<P> +As I had been on guard the night before, I quietly stretched myself at +the foot of a tree by the side of Buche, with my comrades. It was +about one o'clock in the morning of the day of the terrible battle of +Ligny. Nearly half of those men who were sleeping around me left their +bodies on the plain and in the villages which we saw, to be food for +the grain, such as was growing so beautifully around us, for the oats +and the barley for ages to come. If they had known that, there was +more than one of them who would not have slept so well, for men cling +to life, and it is a sad thing to think, "to-day I draw my last breath!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVIII +</H3> + +<P> +During the night the air was heavy, and I wakened every hour in spite +of my great fatigue, but my comrades slept on, some talking in their +sleep. Buche did not stir. +</P> + +<P> +Close at hand, on the edge of the forest, our stacked muskets sparkled +in the moonlight. In the distance on the left I could hear the "Qui +vive,"[<A NAME="chap18fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap18fn1">1</A>] +and on our front the "Wer da."[<A NAME="chap18fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap18fn2">2</A>] Nearer to us, our +sentinels stood motionless, up to their waists in the standing grain. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap18fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap18fn2"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap18fn1text">1</A>] Who goes there!—French. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap18fn2text">2</A>] Who goes there!—German. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I rose up softly and looked about me. In the vicinity of Sombref, two +leagues to our right, I could hear a great tumult from time to time, +which would increase and then cease entirely. It might have been +little gusts of wind among the leaves, but there was not a breath of +air and not a drop of dew fell, and I thought, "Those are the cannon +and wagons of the Prussians, galloping over the Namur road; their +battalions and squadrons, which are coming continually. What a +position we shall be in to-morrow with that mass of men already before +us, and re-enforcements arriving every moment." +</P> + +<P> +They had extinguished their fires at St. Amand and at Ligny, but they +burned brighter than ever at Sombref. The Prussians who had just +arrived after forced marches were no doubt making their soup. +</P> + +<P> +A thousand thoughts ran through my brain, and I said to myself from +time to time, "You escaped from Lutzen and Leipzig and Hanau, why not +escape this time also?" +</P> + +<P> +But the hopes which I cherished did not prevent me from realizing that +the battle would be a terrible one. I lay down, however, and slept +soundly for half an hour, when the drum-major, Padoue himself, +commenced to beat the reveille. He promenaded up and down the edge of +the wood and turned off his rolls and double rolls with great +satisfaction. The officers were standing in the grain on the hill-side +in a group, looking toward Fleurus, and talking among themselves. Our +reveille always commenced before that of the Austrians or Prussians or +any of our enemies. It is like the song of the lark at dawn. They +commence theirs on their big drums with a dismal roll which gives you +the idea of a funeral. But, on the contrary, their buglers have pretty +airs for sounding the reveille, while ours only give two or three +blasts, as much as to say: "Come, let us be going! there is no time to +lose." Everybody rose and the sun came up splendidly over the grain +fields, and we could feel beforehand how hot it would be at noon. +</P> + +<P> +Buche and all the detailed men set off with their canteens for water, +while others were lighting handfuls of straw with tinder for their +fires. There was no lack of wood, as each one took an armful from the +piles that were already cut. Corporal Duhem and Sergeant Rabot and +Zébédé came to have a talk with me. We were together in 1813, and they +had been at my wedding, and in spite of the difference in our rank they +had always continued their friendship for me. +</P> + +<P> +"Well! Joseph," said Zébédé, "the dance is going to commence." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I replied, and recalling the words of poor Sergeant Pinto the +morning before Lutzen, I added with a wink, "this, Zébédé, will be a +battle, as Sergeant Pinto said, where you will gain the cross between +the thrusts of ramrod and bayonet, and if you do not have a chance now +you need never expect it." +</P> + +<P> +They all began to laugh, and Zébédé said: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed, the poor old fellow richly deserved it, but it is harder +to catch than the bouquet at the top of a climbing pole." +</P> + +<P> +We all laughed, and as they had a flask of brandy, we took a crust of +bread together as we watched the movements of the enemy which began to +be perceptible. Buche had returned among the first with his canteen +and now stood behind us with his ears wide open like a fox on the alert. +</P> + +<P> +Files of cavalry came out of the woods and crossed the grain fields in +the direction of St. Amand, the large village at the left of Fleurus. +</P> + +<P> +"Those," said Zébédé, "are the light horse of Pajol who will deploy as +scouts. These are Exelman's dragoons. When the others have +ascertained the positions they will advance in line, that is the way +they always do, and the cannon will come with the infantry. The +cavalry will form on the right or the left and support the flanks, and +the infantry will take the front rank. They will form their attacking +columns on the good roads and in the fields, and the affair will begin +with a cannonade for twenty minutes or half an hour, more or less, and +when half the batteries are disabled, the Emperor will choose a +favorable moment to put us in, but it is we who will catch the bullets +and canister because we are nearest. We advance, carry arms, in +readiness for a charge, at a quick step and in good order, but it +always ends in a double quick, because the shot makes you impatient. I +warn you, conscripts, beforehand, so that you may not be surprised." +More than twenty conscripts had ranged themselves behind us to listen. +The cavalry continued to pour out of the wood. +</P> + +<P> +"I will bet," said Corporal Duhem, "that the Fourth cavalry has been on +the march in our rear since daybreak." +</P> + +<P> +And Rabot said they would have to take time to get into line, as it was +so bad traversing the wood. We were discussing the matter like +generals, and we scanned the position of the Prussians around the +villages, in the orchards, and behind the hedges, which are six feet +high in that country. A great number of their guns were grouped in +batteries between Ligny and St. Amand, and we could plainly see the +bronze shining in the sun, which inspired all sorts of reflections. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure," said Zébédé, "that they are all barricaded, and they have +dug ditches and pierced the walls; we should have done well to push on +yesterday, when their squares retreated to the first village on the +heights. If we were on a level with them it would be very well, but to +climb up across those hedges under the enemy's fire will cost a trifle, +unless something should happen in the rear as is sometimes the case +with the Emperor." +</P> + +<P> +The old soldiers were talking in this fashion on all sides, and the +conscripts were listening with open ears. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the camp-kettles were suspended over the fire, but they were +expressly forbidden to use their bayonets for this purpose as it +destroyed their temper. It was about seven o'clock, and we all thought +that the battle would be at St. Amand. The village was surrounded by +hedges and shrubbery, with a great tower in the centre, and higher up +in the rear there were more houses and a winding road bordered with a +stone wail. All the officers said: "That is where the struggle will +be." As our troops came from Charleroi they spread over the plain +below us, infantry and cavalry side by side; all the corps of Vandamme +and Gérard's division. Thousands and thousands of helmets glittered in +the sun, and Buche who stood beside me, exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! oh! oh! look, Joseph, look! they come continually!" +</P> + +<P> +And we could see innumerable bayonets in the same direction as far as +the eye could reach. +</P> + +<P> +The Prussians were spreading more and more over the hill-side near the +windmills. This movement continued till eight o'clock. Nobody was +hungry, but we ate all the same, so as not to reproach ourselves; for +the battle, once begun, might last two days without giving us a chance +to eat again. +</P> + +<P> +Between eight and nine o'clock the first battalions of our division +left the wood. The officers came to shake hands with their comrades, +but the staff remained in the rear. Suddenly the hussars and chasseurs +passed us, extending our line of battle toward the right. They were +Morin's cavalry. Our idea was that when the Prussians should have +become engaged in the attack on St. Amand, we would fall on their flank +at Ligny. But the Prussians were on their guard, and from that moment +they stopped at Ligny, instead of going on to St. Amand. They even +came lower down, and we could see the officers posting the men among +the hedges and in the gardens and behind the low walls and barracks. +We thought their position very strong. They continued to come lower +down in a sort of fold of the hill-side between Ligny and Fleurus, and +that astonished us, for we did not yet know that a little brook divided +the village into two parts, and that they were filling the houses on +our side, and we did not know that if they were repulsed they could +retreat up the hill and still hold us always under their fire. +</P> + +<P> +If we knew everything about such affairs beforehand, we should never +dare to commence such a dangerous enterprise, but the difficulties are +discovered step by step. We were destined that day to find a great +many things which we did not expect. +</P> + +<P> +About half-past eight several of our regiments had left the wood, and +very soon the drums beat the assembly and all the battalions took their +arms. The general, Count Gérard, arrived with his staff, and passing +us at a gallop, without any notice, went on to the hill below Fleurus. +Almost immediately the firing commenced; the scouts of Vandamme +approached the village on the left, and two pieces of cannon were sent +off, with the artillerymen on horseback. After five or six discharges +of cannon from the top of the hill the musketry ceased and our scouts +were in Fleurus, and we saw three or four hundred Prussians mounting +the hill in the distance, toward Ligny. General Gérard, after looking +at this little engagement, came back with his staff and passed slowly +down our front, inspecting us carefully, as if he wished to ascertain +what sort of humor we were in. He was about forty-five years old, +brown, with a large head, a round face, the lower part heavy, with a +pointed chin. A great many peasants in our country resemble him, and +they are not the most stupid. He said not a word to us, and when he +had passed the whole length of our line, all the generals and colonels +were grouped together. The command was given to order arms. The +orderlies then set off like the wind; this engrossed the attention of +all, but not a man stirred. The rumor spread that Grouchy was to be +commander-in-chief, and that the Emperor had attacked the English four +leagues away, on the route to Brussels. +</P> + +<P> +This news put us in anything but a pleasant humor, and more than one +said, "It is no wonder that we are here doing nothing since morning; if +the Emperor was with us, we should have given battle long ago, and the +Prussians would not have had time to know where they were." +</P> + +<P> +This was the talk we indulged in, and it shows the injustice of men; +for three hours afterward, in the midst of shouts of "<I>Vive +l'Empereur</I>," Napoleon arrived. These shouts swept along the line like +a tempest, and were continued even opposite Sombref. Now everything +was right. That for which we had reproached Marshal Grouchy, was +perfectly proper when done by the Emperor, since it was he. +</P> + +<P> +Very soon the order reached us to advance our line five hundred paces +to the right, and off we started through the rye, oats, and barley, +which were swept down before us, but the principal line of battle on +the left was not changed. +</P> + +<P> +As we reached a broad road which we had not before seen and came in +sight of Fleurus, with its little brook bordered with willows, the +order was given to halt! A murmur ran through the whole +division—"There he is!" +</P> + +<P> +He was on horseback, and only accompanied by a few of the officers of +his staff. +</P> + +<P> +We could only recognize him in the distance by has gray coat and his +hat; his carriage with its escort of lancers was in the rear. He +entered Fleurus by the high road, and remained in the village more than +an hour, while we were roasting in the grain fields. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +At the end of this hour, which we thought interminable, files of staff +officers set off, at a gallop, bent over their saddle-bows till their +noses were between their horse's ears. Two of them stopped near +General Gérard, one remained with him, and the other went on again. +Still we waited, until suddenly the bands of all the regiments began to +play; drums and trumpets all together; and that immense line which +extended from the rear of St. Amand to the forest, swung round, with +the right wing in the advance. As it reached beyond our division in +the rear, we advanced our line still more obliquely, and again the +order came, Halt! The road running out of Fleurus was opposite us, a +blank wall on the left; behind which were trees and a large house, and +in front a windmill of red brick, like a tower. +</P> + +<P> +We had hardly halted, when the Emperor came out of this mill with three +or four generals and two old peasants in blouses, holding their cotton +caps in their hands. The whole division commenced to shout, "Vive +l'Empereur!" +</P> + +<P> +I saw him plainly as he came along a path in front of the battalion, +with his head bent down and his hands behind his back listening to the +old bald peasant. He took no notice of the shouts, but turned round +twice and pointed toward Ligny. I saw him as plainly as I could see +Father Goulden when we sat opposite each other at table. He had grown +much stouter than when he was at Leipzig, and looked yellow. If it had +not been for his gray coat and his hat, I should hardly have recognized +him. His cheeks were sunken and he looked much older. All this came, +I presume, from his troubles at Elba, and in thinking of the mistakes +he had made; for he was a wise man, and could see his own faults. He +had destroyed the revolution which had sustained him, he had recalled +the émigrés who despised him, he had married an archduchess who +preferred Vienna to Paris, and he had chosen his bitterest enemies for +his counsellors. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-214"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-214.jpg" ALT="The Emperor, his hands behind his back, and his head bent forward." BORDER="2" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="696"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 468px"> +The Emperor, his hands behind his back, and his head bent forward. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +In short he had put everything back where it was before the revolution, +nothing was wanting but Louis XVIII., and then the kings had put Louis +XVIII. on his throne again. Now he had come to overthrow the +legitimate sovereign, and some called him a despot, and some a Jacobin. +It was unfortunate for him that he had done everything possible to +facilitate the return of the Bourbons. Nothing remained to him but his +army, if he lost that, he lost everything, for many of the people +wanted liberty like Father Goulden, others wanted tranquillity and +peace like Mother Grédel, and like me and all those who were forced +into the war. +</P> + +<P> +These things made him terribly anxious, he had lost the confidence of +the whole world. The old soldiers alone preserved their attachment to +him, and asked only to conquer or die. With such notions you cannot +fail of one or the other, all is plain and clear; but a great many +people do not have these ideas, and for my part I loved Catherine a +thousand times more than the Emperor. +</P> + +<P> +On reaching a turn in the wall, where the hussars were waiting for him, +he mounted his horse, and General Gérard who had recognized him came up +at a gallop. He turned round for two seconds to listen to him, and +then both went into Fleurus. +</P> + +<P> +Still we waited! About two o'clock General Gérard returned, and our +line was obliqued a third time more to the right, and then the whole +division broke into columns, and we followed the road to Fleurus with +the cannon and caissons at intervals between the brigades. The dust +enveloped us completely. +</P> + +<P> +Buche said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"Cost what it may, I must drink at the first puddle we come to." +</P> + +<P> +But we did not find any water. The music did not cease, and masses of +cavalry kept coming up behind us, principally dragoons. We were still +on the march when suddenly the roar of musketry and cannon broke on our +ears as when water breaking over its barriers sweeps all before it. +</P> + +<P> +I knew what it was, but Buche turned pale and looked at me in mute +astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed, Jean," said I, "those over there are attacking St. Amand, +but our turn will come presently." +</P> + +<P> +The music had ceased but the thunder of the guns had redoubled, and we +heard the order on all sides, "Halt!" +</P> + +<P> +The division stopped on the road and the gunners ran out at intervals +and put their pieces in line fifty paces in front, with their caissons +in the rear. +</P> + +<P> +We were opposite Ligny. We could only see a white line of houses half +hidden in the orchards, with a church spire above them—slopes of +yellow earth, trees, hedges, and palisades. There we were, twelve or +fifteen thousand men without the cavalry, waiting the order to attack. +</P> + +<P> +The battle raged fiercely about St. Amand, and great masses of smoke +rose over the combatants toward the sky. +</P> + +<P> +While waiting for our turn, my thoughts turned to Catherine with more +tenderness than ever, the idea that she would soon be a mother crossed +my mind, and then I besought God to spare my life, but with this, came +the comfort of feeling that our child would be there if I should die to +console them all, Catherine, Aunt Grédel, and Father Goulden. If it +should be a boy they would call it Joseph, and caress it, and Father +Goulden would dandle it on his knee, Aunt Grédel would love it, and +Catherine would think of me as she embraced it, and I should not be +altogether dead to them. But I clung to life while I saw how terrible +was the conflict before us. +</P> + +<P> +Buche said to me, "Joseph, will you promise me something?—I have a +cross—if I am killed." +</P> + +<P> +He shook my hand, and I said: "I promise." +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" he added, "it is here on my breast. You must carry it to +Harberg and hang it up in the chapel in remembrance of Jean Buche, dead +in the faith of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke very earnestly, and I thought his wish very natural. Some die +for the rights of Humanity; with some, the last thought is for their +mother, others are influenced by the example of just men who have +sacrificed themselves for the race, but the feeling is the same in +every case, though each one expresses it according to his own manner of +thinking. +</P> + +<P> +I gave him the desired promise and we waited for nearly half an hour +longer. All the troops as they left the wood came and formed near us, +and the cavalry were mustering on our right as if to attack Sombref. +</P> + +<P> +Up to half-past two o'clock not a gun had been fired, when an +aid-de-camp of the Emperor arrived on the road to Fleurus, at full +speed, and I thought immediately, "Our turn has come now. May God +watch over us, for, miserable wretches that we are, we cannot save +ourselves in such a slaughter as is threatening." +</P> + +<P> +I had scarcely made these reflections when two battalions on the right +set off on the road, with the artillery, toward Sombref, where the +Uhlans and Prussian cavalry were deploying in front of our dragoons. +It was the fortune of these two battalions to remain in position on the +route all that day to observe the cavalry of the enemy, while we went +to take the village where the Prussians were in force. +</P> + +<P> +The attacking columns were formed just as the clock struck three; I was +in the one on the left which moved first at a quick step along a +winding road. +</P> + +<P> +On the hill where Ligny was situated, was an immense ruin. It had been +built of brick and was pierced with holes and overlooked us as we +mounted the hill. We watched it sharply too, through the grain as we +went. The second column left immediately after us and passed by a +shorter route directly up the hill, we were to meet them at the +entrance to the village. I do not know when the third column left, as +we did not meet again till later. +</P> + +<P> +All went smoothly until we reached a point where the road was cut +through a little elevation and then ran down to the village. As we +passed through between these little hills covered with grain, and +caught sight of the nearest house, a veritable hail of balls fell on +the head of the column with a frightful noise. From every hole in the +old ruin, from all the windows and loop-holes in the houses, from the +hedges and orchards and from above the stone walls the muskets showered +their deadly fire upon us like lightning. +</P> + +<P> +At the same time a battery of fifteen pieces which had been for that +very purpose placed in a field in the rear of the great tower at the +left of, and higher tip than Ligny, near the windmill, opened upon us +with a roar, compared with which that of the musketry was nothing. +Those who had unfortunately passed the cut in the road fell over each +other in heaps in the smoke. At that moment we heard the fire of the +other column which had engaged the enemy at our right, and the roar of +other cannon, though we could not tell whether they were ours or those +of the Prussians. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the whole battalion had not passed the little knoll, and +the balls whistled through the grain above us, and tore up the ground +without doing us the least injury. Every time this whizzing was heard, +I observed that the conscripts near me ducked their heads, and Jean +Buche, I remember, was staring at me with open eyes. The old soldiers +marched with tightly compressed lips. +</P> + +<P> +The column stopped. For an instant each man thought whether it would +not be better to turn back, but it was only for a second, the enemy's +fire seemed to slacken, the officers all drew their sabres and shouted, +"Forward!" +</P> + +<P> +The column set off again at a run and threw itself into the road that +led down the hill across the hedges. From the palisades and the walls +behind which the Prussians were in ambush, they continued to pour their +musketry fire upon us. But woe to every one we encountered! they +defended themselves with the desperation of wolves, but a few blows +from a musket, or a bayonet thrust, soon stretched them out in some +corner. A great number of old soldiers with gray mustaches had secured +their retreat, and retired in good order, turning to fire a last shot, +and then slipped through a breach or shut a door. We followed them +without hesitation, we had neither prudence nor mercy. +</P> + +<P> +At last, quite scattered and in the greatest confusion, we reached the +first houses, when the fusillade commenced again from the windows, the +corners of the streets, and from everywhere. There were the orchards +and the gardens and the stone walls which ran along the hill-side, but +they were thrown down and demolished, the palisades torn up, and could +no longer serve as a shelter or a defence. From the well-barricaded +cottages, they still poured their fire upon us. In ten minutes more, +we should have been exterminated to the last man; seeing this, the +column turned down the hill again, drummers and sappers, officers and +soldiers pell-mell, all went without once turning their heads to look +back. I jumped over the palisades where I never should have thought it +possible at any other time, with my knapsack and cartridge-box at my +back; the others followed my example, and we all tumbled in a heap like +a falling wall. +</P> + +<P> +Once in the road again between the hills, we stopped to breathe. Some +stretched themselves on the ground, and others sat down with their +backs against the slope. The officers were furious; as if they too had +not followed the movement to retreat, and some shouted to bring up the +cannon, and others wanted to re-form the troops, though they could +scarcely make themselves heard in the midst of the thunder of the +artillery which shook the air like a tempest. +</P> + +<P> +I saw Jean Buche hurrying back with his bayonet red with blood. He +took his place beside me without saying a word, and commenced to reload. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Grégoire, Lieutenant Certain, and several sergeants and +corporals, and more than a hundred men were left behind in the +orchards; and the first two battalions of the column had suffered as +much as we. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé, with his great crooked nose, white as snow, seeing me at some +distance, shouted, "Joseph—no quarter!" +</P> + +<P> +Great masses of white smoke rose over the sides of the road. The whole +hill-side from Ligny to St. Amand was on fire behind the willows and +aspens and poplars. +</P> + +<P> +As I crept up on my hands and knees, and looked over the surface of the +grain and saw this terrible spectacle, and saw the long black lines of +infantry on the top of the hill and near the windmills, and the +innumerable cavalry on their flanks ready to fall upon us, I went back +thinking: +</P> + +<P> +"We shall never rout that army. It fills the villages, and guards the +roads, and covers the hill as far as the eye can reach, there are guns +everywhere, and it is contrary to reason to persist in such an +enterprise." +</P> + +<P> +I was indignant and even disgusted with the generals. +</P> + +<P> +All this did not take ten minutes. God only knew what had become of +our other two columns. The terrible musketry fire on the left, and the +volleys of grape and canister which we heard rushing through the air, +were no doubt intended for them. +</P> + +<P> +I thought we had had our full share of troubles, when Generals Gérard, +Vichery, and Schoeffer came riding up at full speed on the road below +us, shouting like madmen, "Forward! Forward!" +</P> + +<P> +They drew their swords, and there was nothing to do but go. +</P> + +<P> +At this moment our batteries on the road below opened their fire on +Ligny, the roofs in the village tumbled, and the walls sank, and we +rushed forward with the generals at our head with their swords drawn, +the drums beating the charge. We shouted, "<I>Vive l'Empereur</I>." The +Prussian bullets swept us away by dozens, and shot fell like hail, and +the drums kept up their "pan-pan-pan." We saw nothing, heard nothing, +as we crossed the orchards, nobody paid any attention to those who +fell, and in two minutes after, we entered the village, broke in the +doors with the butts of our muskets, while the Prussians fired upon us +from the windows. +</P> + +<P> +It was a thousand times worse in-doors, because yells of rage mingled +in the uproar; we rushed into the houses with fixed bayonets and +massacred each other without mercy. On every side the cry rose, "No +quarter!" +</P> + +<P> +The Prussians who were surprised in the first houses we entered, were +old soldiers and asked for nothing better. They perfectly understood +what "No quarter" meant, and made a most desperate defence. +</P> + +<P> +As we reached the third or fourth house on a tolerably wide street on +which was a church, and a little bridge farther on, the air was full of +smoke from the fires caused by our bombs; great broken tiles and slate +were raining down upon us, and everything roared and whistled and +cracked, when Zébédé, with a terrible look in his eyes, seized me by +the arm, shouting, "Come!" +</P> + +<P> +We rushed into a large room already filled with soldiers, on the first +floor of a house; it was dark, as they had covered the windows with +sacks of earth, but we could see a steep wooden stairway at one end, +down which the blood was running. We heard musket-shots from above and +the flashes each moment showed us five or six of our men sunk in a heap +against the balustrade with their arms hanging down, and the others +running over their bodies with their bayonets fixed, trying to force +their way into the loft. +</P> + +<P> +It was horrible to see those men with their bristling mustaches, and +brown cheeks, every wrinkle expressing the fury which possessed them, +determined to force a passage at any cost. The sight made me furious, +and I shouted, "Forward! No quarter!" +</P> + +<P> +If I had been near the stairway, I might have been cut to pieces in +mounting, but fortunately for me, others were ahead and not one would +give up his place. +</P> + +<P> +An old fellow, covered with wounds, succeeded in reaching the top of +the stairs under the bayonets. As he gained the loft he let go his +musket, and seized the balustrade with both hands. Two balls from +muskets touching his breast did not make him let go his hold. Three or +four others rushed up behind him striving each to be first, and leaped +over the top stairs into the loft above. +</P> + +<P> +Then followed such an uproar as is impossible to describe, shots +followed each other in quick succession, and the shouts and trampling +of feet made us think the house was coming down over our heads. Others +followed, and when I reached the scene behind Zébédé, the room was full +of dead and wounded men, the windows were blown out, the walls splashed +with blood, and not a Prussian was left on his feet. Five or six of +our men were supporting themselves against the different pieces of +furniture, smiling ferociously. Nearly all of them had balls or +bayonet thrusts in their bodies, but the pleasure of revenge was +greater than the pain of their wounds. My hair stands on end when I +recall that scene. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as Zébédé saw that the Prussians were all dead, he went down +again, saying to me, "Come, there is nothing more to do here." +</P> + +<P> +We went out and found that our column had already passed the church, +and thousands of musket-shots crackled against the bridge like the fire +breaking out from a coal-pit. +</P> + +<P> +The second column had come down the broad street on our right and +joined ours, and in the meantime, one of those Prussian columns which +we had seen on the hill in the rear of Ligny, came down to drive us out +of the village. +</P> + +<P> +Here it was that we had the first encounter in force. Two staff +officers rode down the street by which we had come. +</P> + +<P> +"Those men," said Zébédé, "are going to order up the guns. When they +arrive, Joseph, you will see whether they can rout us." +</P> + +<P> +He ran and I followed him. The fight at the bridge continued. The old +church clock struck five. We had destroyed all the Prussians on this +side the stream except those who were in ambush in the great old ruin +at the left, which was full of holes. It had been set on fire at the +top by our howitzers, but the fire continued from the lower stories, +and we were obliged to avoid it. +</P> + +<P> +In front of the church we were in force. We found the little square +filled with troops ready to march, and others were coming by the broad +street, which traversed the whole length of Ligny. Only the head of +the column was engaged at the little bridge. The Prussians tried hard +to repulse them. The discharges in file followed each other like +running water. The square was so filled with smoke that we could see +nothing but the bayonets, the front of the church, and the officers on +the steps giving their orders. Now and then a staff officer would set +off at a gallop, and the air round the old slated spire was full of +rooks whirling about affrighted with the noise. The cannon at St. +Amand roared incessantly. +</P> + +<P> +Between the gables on the left, we could see on the hill, the long blue +lines of infantry and masses of cavalry coming from Sombref to turn our +columns. It was there in our rear that the desperate combats took +place between the Uhlans and our hussars. How many of these Uhlans we +saw next morning stretched dead on the plain! +</P> + +<P> +Our battalion having suffered the most, we fell back to the second +rank. We soon found our own company commanded by Captain Florentin. +The guns were arriving by the same street on which we were; the horses +at full gallop foaming and shaking their heads furiously, while the +wheels crushed everything before them. All this produced a tremendous +uproar, but the thunder of cannon and the crash of musketry was all +that could be distinguished. The soldiers were all shouting and +singing, with their guns on their shoulders, but we knew this only by +seeing their open mouths. +</P> + +<P> +I had just taken my place by the side of Buche and had begun to +breathe, when a forward movement began. +</P> + +<P> +This time the plan was to cross the little stream, push the Prussians +out of Ligny, mount the hill behind and cut their line in two, and the +battle would be gained. Each one of us understood that, but with such +masses of troops as they held in reserve, it was no small affair. +</P> + +<P> +Everything moved toward the bridge, but we could see nothing but the +five or six men before us, and I was well satisfied to know that the +head of the column was far in front. +</P> + +<P> +But I was most delighted when Captain Florentin halted our company in +front of an old barn with the door broken down, and posted the remnant +of the battalion behind the ruins in order to sustain the attacking +columns by firing from the windows. +</P> + +<P> +There were fifteen of us in that barn and I can see it now, with the +door hanging by one hinge, and battered with the balls, and the ladder +running up through a square hole, three or four dead Prussians leaning +against the walls, and a window at the other end looking into the +street in the rear. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé commanded our post, Lieutenant Bretonville occupied the house +opposite with another squad, and Captain Florentin went somewhere else. +The street was filled with troops quite up to the two corners near the +brook. +</P> + +<P> +The first thing we tried to do was to put up the door and fasten it, +but we had hardly commenced when we heard a terrible crash in the +street, and walls, shutters, tiles, and everything were swept away at a +stroke. Two of our men who were outside holding up the door, fell as +if cut down with a scythe. +</P> + +<P> +At the same moment we could hear the steps of the retreating column +rolling over the bridge, while a dozen more such explosions made us +draw back in spite of ourselves. It was a battery of six pieces +charged with canister which Blücher had masked at the end of the +street, and which now opened upon us. +</P> + +<P> +The whole column—drummers, soldiers, officers, mounted and foot, were +in retreat, pushing and jostling each other, swept along as by a +hurricane. Nobody looked back, those who fell were lost. The last +ones had hardly passed our door when Zébédé, who looked out to see what +had happened, shouted in a voice of thunder, "The Prussians!" +</P> + +<P> +He fired, and several of us rushed for the ladder, but before we could +think of climbing they were upon us. Zébédé, Buche, and all who had +not had time to get up the ladder drove them back with their bayonets. +It seems to me as if I could see those Prussians still, with their big +mustaches, their red faces and flat shakos, furious at being checked. +</P> + +<P> +I never had such a shock as that. Zébédé shouted, "No quarter," just +as if we had been the stronger. But immediately he received a blow on +the head from the butt of a musket and fell. +</P> + +<P> +I saw that he was going to be murdered and I burned for revenge. I +shouted, "To the bayonet," and we all fell upon the rascals, while our +comrades fired at them from above, and a fusillade commenced from the +houses opposite. +</P> + +<P> +The Prussians fell back, but a little distance away there was a whole +battalion. Buche took Zébédé on his shoulders and started up the +ladder. We followed him, shouting "Hurry!" while we aided him with all +our strength to climb the ladder with his burden. I was next to the +last, and I thought we should never get up. We heard the shots already +in the barn, but we were up at last, and all inspired with the same +idea, we tried to draw the ladder up after us. To our horror we found, +as we endeavored to pull it through the opening between the shots, one +of which took off the head of a comrade, that it was so large we could +not get it into the loft. We hesitated for a moment, when Zébédé, +recovering himself, exclaimed, "Shoot through the rounds!" This seemed +to us an inspiration from heaven. +</P> + +<P> +Below us the uproar was terrible. The whole street, as well as our +barn, was full of Prussians. +</P> + +<P> +They were mad with rage, and worse than we; repeating incessantly, "No +prisoners!" +</P> + +<P> +They were enraged by the musket-shots from the houses; they broke down +the doors, and then we could hear the struggles, the falls, curses in +French and German, the orders of Lieutenant Bretonville opposite, and +the Prussian officers commanding their men to go and bring straw to +fire the houses. Fortunately the harvest was not yet secured, or we +should all have been burned. +</P> + +<P> +They fired into the floor under our feet, but it was made of thick oak +plank and the balls tapped on it like the strokes of a hammer. We +stood one behind the other and continued our fire into the street, and +every shot told. +</P> + +<P> +It appeared as if they had retaken the church square, for we only heard +our fire very far away. We were alone, two or three hundred men in the +midst of three or four thousand. Then I said to myself, "Joseph! you +will never escape from this danger. It is impossible! your end has +come!" I dared not think of Catherine, my heart quaked. Our retreat +was cut off, the Prussians held both ends of the street and the lanes +in the rear, and they had already retaken several houses. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the hubbub ceased; they were making some preparation we +thought; they have gone for straw or fagots or they are going to bring +up their guns to demolish us. +</P> + +<P> +Our gunners looked out of the window, but they saw nothing, the barn +was empty. This dead silence was more terrible than the tumult had +been a few minutes before. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé had just raised himself up, and the blood was running from his +mouth and nose. +</P> + +<P> +"Attention! we are going to have another attack. The rascals are +getting ready. Charge!" +</P> + +<P> +He hardly finished speaking when the whole building, from the gables to +the foundation, swayed as if the earth had opened beneath it, and beams +and lath and slate came down with the shock, while a red flame burst +out under our feet and mounted above the roof. We all fell in a heap. +</P> + +<P> +A lighted bomb which the Prussians had rolled into the barn had just +exploded. On getting up I heard a whizzing in my ears, but that did +not prevent me from seeing a ladder placed at the window of the barn. +Buche was using his bayonet with great effect on the invaders. +</P> + +<P> +The Prussians thought to profit by our surprise to mount the ladder and +butcher us; this made me shudder, but I ran to the assistance of my +comrade. Two others who had escaped, ran up shouting, "<I>Vive +l'Empereur!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +I heard nothing more, the noise was frightful. The flashes of the +muskets below and from the windows lighted up the street like a moving +flame. We had thrown down the ladder, and there were six of us still +remaining, two in front who fired the muskets, and four behind who +loaded and passed the guns to them. +</P> + +<P> +In this extremity I had become calm. I resigned myself to my fate, +thinking I would try to sell my own life as dearly as possible. The +others no doubt had the same thoughts, and we made great havoc. +</P> + +<P> +This lasted about a quarter of an hour, when the cannon began to +thunder again, and some seconds after our comrades in front looked out +the window and ceased firing. My cartridge-box was nearly empty, and I +went to replenish it from those of my dead comrades. +</P> + +<P> +The cries of "<I>Vive l'Empereur!</I>" came nearer and nearer, when suddenly +the head of our column with its flag all blackened and torn, filed into +the little square through our street. +</P> + +<P> +The Prussians beat a retreat. We all wanted to go down, but two or +three times the column recoiled before the grape and canister. The +shouts and the thunder of the cannon mingled afresh. Zébédé, who was +looking out, ran to the ladder. Our column had passed the barn and we +all went down in file without regarding our comrades who were wounded +by the bursting of the bomb, some of whom begged us piteously not to +leave them behind. +</P> + +<P> +Such are men! the fear of being taken prisoners, made us barbarians. +</P> + +<P> +When we recalled these terrible scenes afterward, we would have given +anything if we had had the least heart, but then it was too late. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIX +</H3> + +<P> +An hour before, fifteen of us had entered that old barn, now there were +but six to come out. +</P> + +<P> +Buche and Zébédé were among the living; the Pfalzbourgers had been +fortunate. +</P> + +<P> +Once outside it was necessary to follow the attacking column. +</P> + +<P> +We advanced over the heaps of dead. Our feet encountered this yielding +mass, but we did not look to see if we stepped on the face of a wounded +man, on his breast, or on his limbs; we marched straight on. We found +out next morning, that this mass of men had been cut down by the +battery in front of the church; their obstinacy had proved their ruin. +Blücher was only waiting to serve us in the same manner, but instead of +going over the bridge we turned off to the right and occupied the +houses along the brook. The Prussians fired at us from every window +opposite, but as soon as we were ambushed we opened our fire on their +guns and they were obliged to fall back. +</P> + +<P> +They had already begun to talk of attacking the other part of the +village, when the rumor was heard that a column of Prussians forty +thousand strong had come up behind us from Charleroi. We could not +understand it, as we had swept everything before us to the banks of the +Sambre. This column which had fallen on our rear, must have been +hidden in the forest. +</P> + +<P> +It was about half-past six and the combat at St. Amand seemed to grow +fiercer than ever. Blücher had moved his forces to that side, and it +was a favorable moment to carry the other part of the village, but this +column forced us to wait. +</P> + +<P> +The houses on either side of the brook were filled with troops, the +French on the right and the Prussians on the left. The firing had +ceased, a few shots were still heard from time to time, but they were +evidently by design. We looked at each other as if to say, "Let us +breathe awhile now, and we will commence again presently." +</P> + +<P> +The Prussians in the house opposite us, in their blue coats and leather +shakos, with their mustaches turned up, were all strongly built men, +old soldiers with square chins and their ears standing out from their +heads. They looked as if they might overthrow us at a blow. The +officers, too, were looking on. +</P> + +<P> +Along the two streets which were parallel with the brook and in the +brook itself, the dead were lying in long rows. +</P> + +<P> +Many of them were seated with their backs against the walls. They had +been dangerously wounded in the battle but had had sufficient strength +to retire from the strife, and had sunk down against the wall and died +from loss of blood. +</P> + +<P> +Some were still standing upright in the brook, their hands clutching +the bank as if to climb out, rigid in death. And in obscure corners of +the ruined houses, when they were lighted up with the sun's rays, we +could see the miserable wretches crushed under the rubbish, with stones +and beams lying across their bodies. +</P> + +<P> +The struggle at St. Amand became still more terrible, the discharges of +cannon seemed to rise one above the other, and if we had not all been +looking death in the face, nothing could have prevented us from +admiring this grand music. +</P> + +<P> +At every discharge hundreds of men perished, but there was no +interruption, the solid earth trembled under our feet. We could +breathe again now, and very soon we began to feel a most intolerable +thirst. During the fight nobody had thought of it, but now everybody +wanted to drink. +</P> + +<P> +Our house formed the corner at the left of the bridge, but the little +water that was running over the muddy bottom of the brook was red with +blood. Between our house and the next there was a little garden, where +there was a well from which to water it. We all looked at this well +with its curb and its wooden posts; the bucket was still hanging to the +chain in spite of the showers of shot, but three men were already lying +face downward in the path leading to it. The Prussians had shot them +as they were trying to reach it. +</P> + +<P> +As we stood there with our loaded muskets, one said, "I would give half +my blood for one glass of that water;" another, "Yes, but the Prussians +are on the watch." +</P> + +<P> +This was true, there they were, a hundred paces from us, perhaps they +were as thirsty as we, and were guessing our thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +The shots that were still fired came from these houses, and no one +could go along the street, they would shoot him at once, so we were all +suffering horribly. +</P> + +<P> +This lasted for another half hour, when the cannonade extended from St. +Amand to Ligny, and we could see that our batteries had opened with +grape and canister on the Prussians by the great gaps made in their +columns at every discharge. +</P> + +<P> +This new attack produced a great excitement. Buche, who had not +stirred till that moment, ran down through the path leading to the well +in the garden and sheltered himself behind the curb. From the two +houses opposite a volley was fired, and the stones and the posts were +soon riddled with balls. +</P> + +<P> +But we opened our fire on their windows and in an instant it began +again from one end of the village to the other, and everything was +enveloped in smoke. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment I heard some one shout from below, "Joseph, Joseph!" +</P> + +<P> +It was Buche; he had had the courage after he had drank himself, to +fill the bucket, unfasten it, and bring it back with him. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-240"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-240.jpg" ALT="He had had the courage to pull up the bucket." BORDER="2" WIDTH="465" HEIGHT="688"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 465px"> +He had had the courage to pull up the bucket. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Several old soldiers wanted to take it from him, but he shouted, "My +comrade first! let go, or I'll pour it all out!" +</P> + +<P> +They were compelled to wait till I had drank, then they took their +turn, and afterward the others who were upstairs drained the rest. +</P> + +<P> +We all went up together greatly refreshed. +</P> + +<P> +It was about seven o'clock and near sunset, the shadows of the houses +on our side reached quite to the brook—while those occupied by the +Prussians were still in the sunlight, as well as the hill-side of Bry, +down which we could see the fresh troops coming on the run. The +cannonade had never been so fierce as at this moment from our side. +</P> + +<P> +Every one now knows, that at nightfall between seven and eight o'clock +the Emperor, having discovered that the column which had been signalled +in our rear was the corps of General d'Erlon, which had missed its +route between the battle of Ney with the English at Quatre-Bras and +ours here at Ligny, had ordered the Old Guard to support us at once. +</P> + +<P> +The lieutenant who was with us said, "This is the grand attack. +Attention!" +</P> + +<P> +The whole of the Prussian cavalry was swarming between the two +villages. We felt that there was a grand movement behind us, though we +did not see it. The lieutenant repeated, "Attention to orders! Let no +one stay behind after the order to march! Here is the attack!" +</P> + +<P> +We all opened our eyes. The farther the night advanced the redder the +sky grew over St. Amand. We were so absorbed in listening to the +cannonade that, we no longer thought of anything else. At each +discharge you would have said the heavens were on fire. The tumult +behind us was increasing. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the broad street running along the brook was full of troops, +from the bridge quite to the end of Ligny. On the left in the distance +the Prussians were shooting from the windows again, while we did not +reply. The shout rose—"The Guard! the Guard!" I do not know how that +mass of men passed the muddy ditch, probably by means of plank thrown +across, but in a moment they were on the left bank in force. +</P> + +<P> +The batteries of the Prussians at the top of the ravine between the two +villages, cut gaps through our columns, but they closed up immediately, +and moved steadily up the hill. What remained of our division ran +across the bridge, followed by the artillerymen and their pieces with +the horses at a gallop. +</P> + +<P> +Then we went down to the street, but we had not reached the bridge when +the cuirassiers began to file over it, followed by the dragoons and the +mounted grenadiers of the guard. They were passing everywhere, across +and around the village. It was like a new and innumerable army. +</P> + +<P> +The slaughter began again on the hill, this time the battle was in the +open fields, and we could trace the outlines of the Prussian squares on +the hill-side at every discharge of musketry. +</P> + +<P> +We rushed on over the dead and wounded, and when we were clear of the +village we could see that there was an engagement between the cavalry, +though we could only distinguish the white cuirasses as they pierced +the lines of the Uhlans; then they would be indiscriminately mingled +and the cuirassiers would re-form and set off again like a solid wall. +</P> + +<P> +It was dark already, and the dense masses of smoke made it impossible +to see fifty paces ahead. Everything was moving toward the windmills, +the clatter of the cavalry, the shouts, the orders of the officers and +the file-firing in the distance, all were confounded. Several of the +squares were broken. From time to time a flash would reveal a lancer +bent to his horse's neck, or a cuirassier, with his broad white back +and his helmet with its floating plume, shooting off like a bullet, two +or three foot soldiers running about in the midst of the fray,—all +would come and go like lightning. The trampled grain, the rain +streaking the heavens, the wounded under the feet of the horses, all +came out of the black night—through the storm which had just broken +out—for a quarter of a second. +</P> + +<P> +Every flash of musket or pistol showed us inexplicable things by +thousands. But everything moved up the hill and away from Ligny; we +were masters. +</P> + +<P> +We had pierced the enemy's centre, the Prussians no longer made any +defence, except at the top of the hill near the mills and in the +direction of Sombref, at our right. St. Amand and Ligny were both in +our hands. +</P> + +<P> +As for us, a dozen or so of our company there alone among the ruins of +the cottages, with our cartridge-boxes almost empty;—we did not know +which way to turn. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé, Lieutenant Bretonville, and Captain Florentin had disappeared, +and Sergeant Rabot was in command. He was a little old fellow, thin +and deformed, but as tough as steel; he squinted and seemed to have had +red hair when young. Now, as I speak of him, I seem to hear him say +quietly to us, "The battle is won! by file right! forward, march!" +</P> + +<P> +Several wanted to stop and make some soup, for we had eaten nothing +since noon and began to be hungry. The sergeant marched down the lane +with his musket on his shoulder, laughing quietly, and saying in an +ironical tone: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! soup, soup! wait a little, the commissary is coming!" +</P> + +<P> +We followed him down the dark lane; about midway we saw a cuirassier on +horseback with his back toward us. He had a sabre cut in the abdomen +and had retired into this lane, the horse leaned against the wall to +prevent him from falling off. +</P> + +<P> +As we filed past he called out, "Comrades!" But nobody even turned his +head. +</P> + +<P> +Twenty paces farther on we found the ruins of a cottage completely +riddled with balls, but half the thatched roof was still there, and +this was why Sergeant Rabot had selected it; and we filed into it for +shelter. +</P> + +<P> +We could see no more than if we had been in an oven; the sergeant +exploded the priming of his musket, and we saw that it was the kitchen, +that the fireplace was at the right, and the stairway on the left. +Five or six Prussians and Frenchmen were stretched on the floor, white +as wax, and with their eyes wide open. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is the mess-room," said the sergeant, "let every one make himself +comfortable. Our bedfellows will not kick us." +</P> + +<P> +As we saw plainly that there were to be no rations, each one took off +his knapsack and placed it by the wall on the floor for a pillow. We +could still hear the firing, but it was far in the distance on the hill. +</P> + +<P> +The rain fell in torrents. The sergeant shut the door, which creaked +on its hinges, and then quietly lighted his pipe. Some of the men were +already snoring when I looked up, and he was standing at the little +window, in which not a pane of glass remained, smoking. +</P> + +<P> +He was a firm, just man, he could read and write, had been wounded and +had his three chevrons, and ought to have been an officer, only he was +not well formed. +</P> + +<P> +He soon laid his head on his knapsack, and shortly after all were +asleep. It was long after this when I was suddenly awakened by +footsteps and fumbling about the house outside. +</P> + +<P> +I raised up on my elbow to listen, when somebody tried to open the +door. I could not help screaming out. "What's the matter?" said the +sergeant. +</P> + +<P> +We could hear them running away, and Rabot turned on his knapsack +saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Night birds,—rascals,—clear out, or I'll send a ball after you!" He +said no more and I got up and looked out of the window, and saw the +wretches in the act of robbing the dead and wounded. They were going +softly from one to another, while the rain was falling in torrents. It +was something horrible. +</P> + +<P> +I lay down again and fell asleep overcome by fatigue. +</P> + +<P> +At daybreak the sergeant was up and crying, "En route!" +</P> + +<P> +We left the cottage and went back through the lane. The cuirassier was +on the ground, but his horse still stood beside him. The sergeant took +him by the bridle and led him out into the orchard, pulled the bits +from his mouth and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Go, and eat, they will find you again by and by." +</P> + +<P> +And the poor beast walked quietly away. We hurried along the path +which runs by Ligny. The furrows stopped here and some plats of garden +ground lay along by the road. The sergeant looked about him as he +went, and stooped down to dig up some carrots and turnips which were +left. I quickly followed his example, while our comrades hastened on +without looking round. +</P> + +<P> +I saw that it was a good thing to know the fruits of the earth. I +found two beautiful turnips and some carrots, which are very good raw, +but I followed the example of the sergeant and put them in my shako. +</P> + +<P> +I ran on to overtake the squad, which was directing its steps toward +the fires at Sombref. As for the rest, I will not attempt to describe +to you the appearance of the plateau in the rear of Ligny where our +cuirassiers and dragoons had slaughtered all before them. The men and +horses were lying in heaps. The horses with their long necks stretched +out on the ground and the dead and wounded lying under them. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes the wounded men would raise their hands to make signs when +the horses would attempt to get up and fall back, crushing them still +more fearfully. +</P> + +<P> +Blood! blood! everywhere. The directions of the balls and shot was +marked on the slope by the red lines, just as we see in our country the +lines in the sand formed by the water from the melting snow. But will +you believe it? These horrors scarcely made any impression upon me. +Before I went to Lutzen such a sight would have knocked me down. I +should have thought then, "Do our masters look upon us as brutes? Will +the good God give us up to be eaten by wolves? Have we mothers and +sisters and friends, beings who are dear to us, and will they not cry +out for vengeance?" +</P> + +<P> +I should have thought of a thousand other things, but now I did not +think at all. From having seen such a mass of slaughter and wrong +every day and in every fashion, I began to say to myself: +</P> + +<P> +"The strongest are always right. The Emperor is the strongest, and he +has called us, and we must come in spite of everything, from +Pfalzbourg, from Saverne, or other cities, and take our places in the +ranks and march. The one who would show the least sign of resistance +ought to be shot at once. The marshals, the generals, the officers, +down to the last man, follow their instructions, they dare not make a +move without orders, and everybody obeys the army. It is the Emperor +who wills, who has the power and who does everything. And would not +Joseph Bertha be a fool to believe that the Emperor ever committed a +single fault in his life? Would it not be contrary to reason?" +</P> + +<P> +That was what we all thought, and if the Emperor had remained here, all +France would have had the same opinion. +</P> + +<P> +My only satisfaction was in thinking that I had some carrots and +turnips, for in passing in the rear of the pickets to find our place in +the battalion, we learned that no rations had been distributed except +brandy and cartridges. +</P> + +<P> +The veterans were filling their kettles; but the conscripts, who had +not yet learned the art of living while on a campaign, and who had +unfortunately already eaten all their bread, as will happen when one is +twenty years old, and is on the march with a good appetite, they had +not a spoonful of anything. At last about seven o'clock we reached the +camp. Zébédé came to meet me and was delighted to see me, and said, +"What have you brought, Joseph? We have found a fat kid and we have +some salt, but not a mouthful of bread." +</P> + +<P> +I showed him the rice which I had left, and my turnips and carrots. +</P> + +<P> +"That's good," said he, "we shall have the best soup in the battalion." +</P> + +<P> +I wanted Buche to eat with us too, and the six men belonging to our +mess, who had all escaped with only bruises and scratches, consented. +Padoue, the drum-major, said, laughing, "Veterans are always veterans, +they never come empty-handed." +</P> + +<P> +We looked into the kettles of the five conscripts, and winked, for they +had nothing but rice and water in them, while we had a good rich soup, +the odor of which filled the air around us. +</P> + +<P> +At eight we took our breakfast with an appetite, as you can imagine. +</P> + +<P> +Not even on my wedding-day did I eat a better meal, and it is a +pleasure even now to think of it. When we are old we are not so +enthusiastic about such things as when we are young, but still we +always recall them with satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +This breakfast sustained us a long time, but the poor conscripts with +only a few crumbs as it were soaked in rain water, had a hard time next +day—the 18th. We were to have a short but terrible campaign. +</P> + +<P> +Though all is over now, yet I cannot think of those terrible sufferings +without emotion, or without thanking God that we escaped them. The sun +shone again and the weather was fine,—we had hardly finished our +breakfast when the drums began to beat the assembly along the whole +line. +</P> + +<P> +The Prussian rear-guard had just left Sombref, and it was a question +whether we should pursue them. Some said we ought to send out the +light-horse, to pick up the prisoners. But no one paid any attention +to them,—the Emperor knew what he was doing. +</P> + +<P> +But I remember that everybody was astonished notwithstanding, because +it is the custom to profit by victories. The veterans had never seen +anything like it. They thought that the Emperor was preparing some +grand stroke; that Ney had turned the enemy's line, and so forth. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the roll commenced and General Gérard reviewed the Fourth +corps. Our battalion had suffered most, because in the three attacks +we had always been in the front. +</P> + +<P> +The Commandant Gémeau and Captain Vidal were wounded, and Captains +Grégoire and Vignot killed, seven lieutenants and second lieutenants, +and three hundred and sixty men <I>hors de combat</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé said that it was worse than at Montmirail, and that they would +finish us up completely before we got through. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the fourth battalion arrived from Metz under Commandant +Délong and took our place in the line. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Florentin ordered us to file off to the left, and we went back +to the village near the church, where a quantity of carts were +stationed. +</P> + +<P> +We were then distributed in squads to superintend the removal of the +wounded. Several detachments of chasseurs were ordered to escort the +convoys to Fleurus as there was no room for them at Ligny; the church +was already filled with the poor fellows. We did not select those to +be removed, the surgeons did that, as we could hardly distinguish in +numbers of cases, between the living and the dead. We only laid them +on the straw in the carts. +</P> + +<P> +I knew how all this was, for I was at Lutzen, and I understand what a +man suffers in recovering from a ball, or a musket-shot, or such a cut +as our cuirassiers made. +</P> + +<P> +Every time I saw one of these men taken up, I thanked God that I was +not reduced to that condition, and, thinking that the same thing might +befall me, I said to myself: "You do not know how many balls and slugs +have been near you, or you would be horrified." I was astonished that +so many of us had escaped in the carnage, which had been far greater +than at Lutzen or even at Leipzig. The battle had only lasted five +hours, and the dead in many places were piled two or three feet deep. +The blood flowed from under them in streams. Through the principal +street where the artillery went, the mud was red with blood, and the +mud itself was crushed flesh and bones. +</P> + +<P> +It is necessary to tell you this, in order that the young men may +understand. I shall fight no more, thank God, I am too old, but all +these young men who think of nothing but war, instead of being +industrious and helping their aged parents, should know how the +soldiers are treated. Let them imagine what the poor fellows who have +done their duty think, as they lie in the street, wanting an arm or a +leg, and hear the cannon, weighing twelve or fifteen thousand pounds, +coming with their big well-shod horses, plunging and neighing. +</P> + +<P> +Then it is that they will recall their old parents who embraced them in +their own village, while they went off saying: +</P> + +<P> +"I am going, but I shall return with the cross of honor, and with my +epaulettes." +</P> + +<P> +Yes, indeed! if they could weep and ask God's pardon, we should hear +their cries and complaints, but there is no time for that; the cannon +and the caissons with their freight of bombs and bullets arrive—and +they can hear their own bones crack beforehand—and all pass right over +their bodies, just as they do through the mud. +</P> + +<P> +When we are old, and think that such horrible things may happen to the +children we love, we feel as if we would part with the last sou before +we would allow them to go. +</P> + +<P> +But all this does no good, bad men cannot be changed, while good ones +must do their duty, and if misfortune comes, their confidence in the +justice of God remains. Such men do not destroy their fellows from the +love of glory, they are forced to do so, they have nothing with which +to reproach themselves, they defend their own lives and the blood which +is shed is not on their hands. +</P> + +<P> +But I must finish my story of the battle and the removal of the wounded. +</P> + +<P> +I saw sights there which are incredible; men killed in a moment of +fury, whose faces had not lost their horrible expression, still held +their muskets in their hands and stood upright against the walls, and +you could almost hear them cry, as they stared with glazed eyes, "To +the bayonet! No quarter!" +</P> + +<P> +It was with this thought and this cry that they appeared before God. +He was awaiting them, and He may have said to them, "Here am I. Thou +killest thy brethren—thou givest no quarter? None shall be given +thee!" +</P> + +<P> +I have seen others mortally wounded strangling each other. At Fleurus +we were obliged to separate the French and the Prussians, because they +would rise from their beds, or their bundles of straw, to tear each +other to pieces. Ah! war! those who wish for it, and those who make +men like ferocious beasts, will have a terrible account to settle above. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XX +</H3> + +<P> +The removal of the wounded continued until night. About noon shouts of +<I>Vive l'Empereur</I> extended along the whole line of our bivouac from the +village of Bry to Sombref. Napoleon had left Fleurus with his staff +and had passed in review the whole army on the plateau. These shouts +continued for an hour, and then all was quiet and the army took up its +march. +</P> + +<P> +We waited a long time for the orders to follow, but as they did not +come, Captain Florentin went to see what was the matter, and came back +at full speed shouting, "Beat the assembly!" The detachments of the +battalion joined each other and we passed through the village at a +quick step. +</P> + +<P> +All had left, many other squads had received no orders, and in the +vicinity of St. Amand the streets were full of soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +Several companies remained behind, and reached the road by crossing the +fields on the left, where we could see the rear of the column as far as +the eye could reach—caissons, wagons, and baggage of every sort. +</P> + +<P> +I have often thought that we might have been left behind, as Gérard's +division was at St. Amand, and nobody could have blamed us, as we +followed our orders to pick up the wounded, but Captain Florentin would +have thought himself dishonored. +</P> + +<P> +We hurried forward as fast as possible. It had commenced to rain again +and we slipped in the mud and darkness. I never saw worse weather, not +even at the retreat from Leipzig when we were in Germany. The rain +came down as if from a watering pot, and we tramped on with our guns +under our arms with the cape of our cloaks over the locks, so wet that +if we had been through a river it could not have been worse; and such +mud! With all this we began to feel the want of food. Buche kept +saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Well! a dozen big potatoes roasted in the ashes as we do at Harberg +would rejoice my eyes. We don't eat meat every day at home, but we +always have potatoes." +</P> + +<P> +I thought of our warm little room at Pfalzbourg, the table with its +white cloth, Father Goulden with his plate before him, while Catherine +served the rich hot soup and the smoked cutlets on the gridiron. My +present sufferings and troubles overwhelmed me, and if wishing for +death only had been necessary to rid me of them, I should have long ago +been out of this world. +</P> + +<P> +The night was dark, and if it had not been for the ruts, into which we +plunged to our knees at every step, we should have found it difficult +to keep the road; as it was, we had only to march in the mud to be sure +we were right. +</P> + +<P> +Between seven and eight o'clock we heard in the distance something like +thunder. Some said: "It is a thunder-storm!" others, "It is cannon!" +</P> + +<P> +Great numbers of disbanded soldiers were following us. +</P> + +<P> +At eight o'clock we reached Quatre-Bras. There are two houses opposite +each other at the intersection of the road from Nivelles to Namur with +that from Brussels to Charleroi. They were both full of wounded men. +It was here that Marshal Ney had given battle to the English, to +prevent them from going to the support of the Prussians along the road +by which we had just come. He had but twenty thousand men against +forty thousand, and yet Nicholas Cloutier, the tanner, maintains to-day +even, that he ought to have sent half his troops to attack the Prussian +rear, as if it were not enough to stop the English. +</P> + +<P> +To such people everything is easy, but if they were in command, it +would be easy to rout them with four men and a corporal. +</P> + +<P> +Below us the barley and oat fields were full of dead men. It was then +that I saw the first red-coats stretched out in the road. +</P> + +<P> +The captain ordered us to halt, and he went into the house at the +right. We waited for some time in the rain, when he came out with +Dauzelot, general of the division, who was laughing, because we had not +followed Grouchy toward Namur; the want of orders had compelled us to +turn off to Quatre-Bras. Notwithstanding, we received orders to +continue our march without stopping. +</P> + +<P> +I thought I should drop every moment from weakness, but it was worse +still when we overtook the baggage, for then we were obliged to march +on the sides of the road, and the farther from it we went the more +deeply we sank in the soft soil. +</P> + +<P> +About eleven o'clock we reached a large village called Genappe, which +lies on both sides of the route. +</P> + +<P> +The crowd of wagons, cannon, and baggage was so great that we were +forced to turn to the right and cross the Thy by a bridge, and from +this point we continued to march through the fields of grain and hemp, +like savages who respect nothing. The night was so dark that the +mounted dragoons, who were placed at intervals of two hundred paces +like guide-posts, kept shouting, "This way, this way!" +</P> + +<P> +About midnight we reached a sort of farm-house thatched with straw, +which was filled with superior officers. It was not far from the main +road, as we could hear the cavalry and artillery and baggage wagons +rushing by like a torrent. +</P> + +<P> +The captain had hardly got into the house, when we jumped over the +hedge into the garden. I did like the rest, and snatched what I could. +Nearly the whole battalion followed this example in spite of the shouts +of the officers, and each one began digging up what he could find with +his bayonet. In two minutes there was nothing left. The sergeants and +corporals were with us, but when the captain returned we had all +regained our ranks. +</P> + +<P> +Those who pillage and steal on a campaign ought to be shot; but what +could you do? There was not a quarter enough food in the towns through +which we passed to supply such numbers. The English had already taken +nearly everything. We had a little rice left, but rice without meat is +not very strengthening. +</P> + +<P> +The English troops received sheep and beeves from Brussels, they were +well fed and glowing with health. We had come too late, the convoys of +supplies were belated, and the next day when the terrible battle of +Waterloo was fought the only ration we received was brandy. +</P> + +<P> +We left the village, and on mounting a little elevation we perceived +the English pickets through the rain. We were ordered to take a +position in the grain fields with several regiments which we could not +see, and not to light our fires for fear of alarming the English, if +they should discover us in line, and so induce them to continue their +retreat. +</P> + +<P> +Now just imagine us lying in the grain under a pouring rain like +regular gypsies, shivering with cold and bent on destroying our +fellows, and happy in having a turnip or a radish to keep up our +strength and tell me if that is the kind of life for honest people. Is +it for that, that God has created us and put us in the world? Is it +not abominable that a king or an emperor, instead of watching over the +affairs of the state, encouraging commerce, and instructing the people +in the principles of liberty and giving good examples, should reduce us +to such a condition as that by hundreds of thousands. I know very well +that this is called glory, but the people are very stupid to glorify +such men as those. Yes, indeed, they must have first lost all sense of +right, all heart, and all religion! +</P> + +<P> +But all this did not prevent my teeth from chattering, or from seeing +the English in our front warming and enjoying themselves around their +good fires, after receiving their rations of beef, brandy, and tobacco. +And I thought, "It is we poor devils, drenched to our very marrow, who +are to be compelled to attack these fellows who are full of confidence, +and want neither cannon nor supplies, who sleep with their feet to the +fire, with their stomachs well lined, while we must lie here in the +mud." I was indignant the whole night. Buche would say: +</P> + +<P> +"I do not care for the rain, I have been through many a worse one when +on the watch; but then I had at least a crust of bread and some onions +and salt." +</P> + +<P> +I was quite absorbed with my own troubles and said nothing, but he was +angry. +</P> + +<P> +The rain ceased between two and three in the morning. Buche and I were +lying back to back in a furrow, in order to keep warm, and at last +overcome by fatigue I fell asleep. +</P> + +<P> +When I woke about five in the morning, the church bells were ringing +matins over all that vast plain. +</P> + +<P> +I shall never forget the scene; and as I looked at the gray sky, the +trampled grain, and my sleeping comrades on the right and left, my +heart sunk under the sense of desolation. The sound of the bells as +they responded to each other from Planchenois to Genappe, from +Frichemont to Waterloo, reminded me of Pfalzbourg, and I thought: +</P> + +<P> +"To-day is Sunday, the day of rest and peace. Mr. Goulden has hung his +best coat, with a white shirt, on the back of his chair. He is getting +up now and he is thinking of me; Catherine has risen too and is sitting +crying on the bed, and Aunt Grédel at Quatre Vents is pushing open the +shutters and she has taken her prayer-book from the shelf and is going +to mass." I could hear the bells of Dann and Mittelbronn and Bigelberg +ring out in the silence. I thought of that peaceful quiet life and was +ready to burst into tears. +</P> + +<P> +The roll of the drums was heard through the damp air, and there was +something inauspicious and portentous in the sound. +</P> + +<P> +Near the main road, on the left, they were beating the assembly, and +the bugles of the cavalry sounded the reveille. The men rose and +looked over the grain. Those three days of marching and fighting in +the bad weather without rations made them sober; there was no talking +as at Ligny, every one looked in silence and kept his thoughts to +himself. +</P> + +<P> +We could see too, that the battle was to be a much more important +affair, for instead of having villages already occupied, which caused +so many separate battles, on our front, there was an immense elevated +naked plain on which the English were encamped. +</P> + +<P> +Behind their lines at the top of the hill was the village of +Mont-St.-Jean, and a league and a half still farther away, was a forest +which bounded the horizon. +</P> + +<P> +Between us and the English, the ground descended gently and rose again +nearest us, forming a little valley, but one must have been accustomed +to the country to perceive this; it was deepest on the right and +contracted like a ravine. On the slope of this ravine on our side, +behind the hedges and poplars and other trees, some thatched roofs +indicated a hamlet; this was Planchenois. In the same direction but +much higher, and in the rear of the enemy's left, the plain extended as +far as the eye could reach, and was scattered over with little villages. +</P> + +<P> +The clear atmosphere after the storm enabled us to distinguish all this +very plainly. +</P> + +<P> +We could even see the little village of Saint-Lambert three leagues +distant on our right. +</P> + +<P> +At our left in the rear of the English right, there were other little +villages to be seen, of which I never knew the names. +</P> + +<P> +We took in all this grand region covered with a magnificent crop just +in flower, at a glance; and we asked ourselves why the English were +there, and what advantage they had in guarding that position. But when +we observed their line a little more closely—it was from fifteen +hundred to two thousand yards from us—we could see the broad, +well-paved road, which we had followed from Quatre-Bras and which led +to Brussels, dividing their position nearly in the centre. It was +straight, and we could follow it with the eye to the village of +Mont-St.-Jean and beyond quite to the entrance of the forest of +Soignes. This we saw the English intended to hold to prevent us from +going to Brussels. +</P> + +<P> +On looking carefully we could see that their line of battle was curved +a little toward us at the wings, and that it followed a road which cut +the route to Brussels like a cross. On the left it was a deep cut, and +on the right of the road it was bordered with thick hedges of holly and +dwarf beech which are common in that country. Behind these were posted +mass of red-coats who watched us from their trenches. In the front, +the slope was like a glacis. This was very dangerous. +</P> + +<P> +Immense bodies of cavalry were stationed on the flanks, which extended +nearly three-quarters of a league. +</P> + +<P> +We saw that the cavalry on the plateau in the vicinity of the main road +after having passed the hill, descended before going to Mont-St.-Jean, +and we understood that there was a hollow between the position of the +English and that village; not very deep, as we could see the plumes of +the soldiers as they passed through, but still deep enough to shelter +heavy reserves from our bullets. +</P> + +<P> +I had already seen Weissenfels, Lutzen, Leipzig, and Ligny, and I began +to understand what these things meant, and why they arranged themselves +in one way rather than another, and I thought that the manner in which +these English had laid their plans and stationed their forces on this +cross-road to defend the road to Brussels, and to shelter their +reserves, showed a vast deal of good sense. +</P> + +<P> +But in spite of all that, three things seemed to me to be in our favor. +The position of the enemy with its covered ways and hidden reserves was +like a great fort. Every one knows that in time of war everything is +demolished that can furnish a shelter to the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Well! just in their centre, on the high-road and on the slope of their +glacis, was a farm-house like the "Roulette" at Quatre Vents, but five +or six times larger. +</P> + +<P> +I could see it plainly from where we stood. It was a great square, the +offices, the house, the stables and barns formed a triangle on the side +toward the English, and on our side the other half was formed by a wall +and sheds, with a court in the centre. The wall running along the +field side, had a small door, the other on the road had an entrance for +carriages and wagons. +</P> + +<P> +It was built of brick and was very solid. Of course the English had +filled it with troops like a sort of demilune, but if we could take it +we should be close to their centre and could throw our attacking +columns upon them, without remaining long under their fire. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing could be better for us. This place was called Haie-Sainte, as +we found out afterward. +</P> + +<P> +A little farther on, in front of their right wing was another little +farmstead and grove, which we could also try to take. I could not see +it from where I stood, but it was a stronger position than Haie-Sainte +as it was covered by an orchard, surrounded with walls, and farther on +was the wood. The fire from the windows swept the garden, and that +from the garden covered the wood, and that from the wood the side-hill, +and the enemy could beat a retreat from one to the other. +</P> + +<P> +I did not see this with my own eyes, but some veterans gave me an +account of the attack on this farm; it was called Hougoumont. +</P> + +<P> +One must be exact in speaking of such a battle, the things seen with +one's own eyes are the principal, and we can say: +</P> + +<P> +"I saw them, but the other accounts I had from men incapable of +falsehood or deception." +</P> + +<P> +And lastly in front of their left wing on the road leading to Wavre, +about a hundred paces from the hill on our side, were the farms of +Papelotte and La Haye, occupied by the Germans, and the little hamlets +of Smohain, Cheval-de-Bois, and Jean-Loo, which I informed myself about +afterward in order to understand all that took place. I could see +these hamlets plainly enough then, but I did not pay much attention to +them as they were beyond our line of battle on the right, and we did +not see any troops there. +</P> + +<P> +Now you can all see the position of the English on our front, the road +to Brussels which traversed it, the cross-road which covered it, the +plateau in the rear where the reserves were, and the three farms, +Hougoumont, Haie-Sainte, and Papelotte in front, well garrisoned. You +can all see that it would be very difficult to force. +</P> + +<P> +I looked at it about six o'clock that morning very attentively, as a +man will do who is to run the risk of breaking his bones and losing his +life in some enterprise, and who at least likes to know if he has any +chance of escape. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé, Sergeant Rabot, and Captain Florentin, Buche, and indeed every +one as he rose cast a glance at that hill-side without saying a word. +Then they looked around them at the great squares of infantry, the +squadrons of cuirassiers, of dragoons, chasseurs, lancers, etc., +encamped amid the growing grain. +</P> + +<P> +Nobody had any fears now that the English would beat a retreat, we +lighted as many fires as we pleased, and the smoke from the damp straw +filled the air. Those who had a little rice left, put on their +camp-kettles, while those who had none looked on thinking: +</P> + +<P> +"Each has his turn; yesterday we had meat, and we despised the rice, +now we should be very grateful for even that." +</P> + +<P> +About eight o'clock the wagons arrived with cartridges and hogsheads of +brandy; each soldier received a double ration: with a crust of bread we +might have done very well, but the bread was not there. You can +imagine what sort of humor we were in. +</P> + +<P> +This was all we had that day: immediately after, the grand movements +commenced. Regiments joined their brigades, brigades their divisions, +and the divisions re-formed their corps. Officers on horseback carried +orders back and forth, everything was in motion. +</P> + +<P> +Our battalion joined Donzelot's division; the others had only eight +battalions, but his had nine. +</P> + +<P> +I have often heard the veterans repeat the order of battle given by +Napoleon. The corps of Reille was on the left of the road opposite +Hougoumont, that of d'Erlon, at the right, opposite Haie-Sainte; Ney on +horseback on the highway, and Napoleon in the rear with the Old Guard, +the special detachments, the lancers and chasseurs, etc. That was all +that I understood, for when they began to talk of the movements of +eleven columns, of the distance which they deployed, and when they +named the generals one after another, it seemed to me as if they were +talking of something which I had never seen. +</P> + +<P> +I like better therefore to tell you simply what I saw and remember +myself. +</P> + +<P> +The first movement was at half-past eight, when our four divisions +received the order to take the advance to the right of the highway. +There were about fifteen or twenty thousand men marching in two +columns, with arms at will, sinking to our knees at every step in the +soft ground. Nobody spoke a word. +</P> + +<P> +Several persons have related that we were jubilant and were all +singing; but it is false. Marching all night without rations, sleeping +in the water, forbidden to light a fire, when preparing for showers of +grape and canister, all this took away any inclination to sing, we were +glad to pull our shoes out of the holes in which they were buried at +every step, and chilled and drenched to our waists by the wet grain, +the hardiest and most courageous among us wore a discontented air. It +is true that the bands played marches for their regiments, that the +trumpets of the cavalry, the drums of the infantry, and the trombones +mingled their tones and produced a terrible effect, as they do always. +</P> + +<P> +It is also true that these thousands of men marched briskly and in good +order, with their knapsacks at their backs, and their muskets on their +shoulders, the white lines of the cuirassiers followed the red, brown, +and green of the dragoons, hussars, and lancers, with their little +swallow-tailed pennons filling the air; the artillerymen in the +intervals between the brigades, on horseback around their guns, which +cut through the ground to their axles,—all these moved straight +through the grain, not a head of which remained standing behind them, +and truly there could not be a sight more dreadful. +</P> + +<P> +The English drawn up in perfect order in front, their gunners ready +with their lighted matches in their hands, made us think, but did not +delight us quite so much as some have pretended, and men who like to +receive cannon-balls are still rather rare. +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden told me that the soldiers sang in his time, but then +they went voluntarily and not from force. They fought in defence of +their homes and for human rights, which they loved better than their +own eyes, and it was not at all like risking our lives to find out +whether we were to have an old or a new nobility. As for me, I never +heard any one sing either at Leipzig or Waterloo. +</P> + +<P> +On we went, the bands still playing by order from head-quarters. +</P> + +<P> +The music ceased, and the silence which followed was profound. Then we +were at the edge of the little valley, and about twelve hundred paces +from the English left. We were in the centre of our army, with the +chasseurs and lancers on our right flank. +</P> + +<P> +We took our distances and closed up the intervals. The first brigade +of the first division turned to the left and formed on the highway. +Our battalion formed a part of the second division, and we were in the +first line, with a single brigade of the first division before us. The +artillery was passed up to the front, and that of the English was +directly opposite and on the same level. And for a long time the other +divisions were moving up to support us. It seemed as if the earth +itself was in motion. The veterans would say: "There are Milhaud's +cuirassiers! Here are the chasseurs of Lefebvre-Desnoëttes! Yonder is +Lobau's corps!" +</P> + +<P> +On every side, as far as the eye could reach, there was nothing to be +seen but cuirasses, helmets, colbacks,[<A NAME="chap20fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap20fn1">1</A>] sabres, lances, and files of +bayonets. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap20fn1"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap20fn1text">1</A>] Military caps of bear-skin. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"What a battle," exclaimed Buche. "Woe to the English!" +</P> + +<P> +I had the same thought; I did not believe a single Englishman would +escape. But it was we who were unfortunate that day, though had it not +been for the Prussians I still believe we should have exterminated them. +</P> + +<P> +During the two hours we stood there, we did not see the half of our +regiments and squadrons, and new ones were continually coming. About +an hour after we took our position we heard suddenly on the left, +shouts of "Vive l'Empereur," they increased as they approached us like +a tempest; we all stood on our tiptoes and stretched our necks to see; +they spread through all the ranks, and even the horses in the rear +neighed as if they would shout too. At that moment a troop of general +officers whirled along our front like the wind. Napoleon was among +them, and I thought I saw him, though I was not certain, he went so +swiftly, and so many men raised their shakos on the points of their +bayonets that I hardly had time to distinguish his round shoulders and +gray coat in the midst of the laced uniforms. When the captain had +shouted, "Carry arms! present arms!" it was over. +</P> + +<P> +We saw him in this way every day, at least when we were on guard. +</P> + +<P> +After he had passed, the shouts continued along our right farther and +farther away, and we all thought the battle would begin in twenty +minutes. +</P> + +<P> +But we were obliged to wait a long time and we grew impatient. The +conscripts in d'Erlon's corps, who were not in battle the day before, +began to shout "Forward!" At last, about noon, the cannon thundered on +the left and were followed by the fire from the battalion and then the +file. We could see nothing, for it was on the other side of the road. +The attack had commenced on Hougoumont. Immediately shouts of "Vive +l'Empereur!" broke out. The cannoneers of our four divisions were +standing the whole length of the hill-side, at twenty paces from each +other. At the discharge of the first gun, they all commenced to load +at once. I see them still, as they put in the charge, ram it home, +raise up, and shake out their matches as by a single movement. This +made us shiver. The captains of the guns, nearly all old officers, +stood behind their pieces and gave orders as if on parade; and when the +whole twenty-four guns went off together, the report was deafening, and +the whole valley was covered with smoke. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of a second, we heard the calm voices of these veterans +above the whistling in our ears saying "Load! take aim! fire!" And +that continued without interruption for half an hour. We could see +nothing at all, but the English had opened their fire, and we heard +their bullets scream in the air and strike with a dull sound in the +mud; and then we could hear another sound too, that of the muskets +striking against each other, and the sound of the bodies of wounded men +as they were thrown like boneless sacks twenty paces in the rear, or +sank in a heap with a leg or an arm wanting. All this mingled with the +dull rumbling; the destruction had commenced. +</P> + +<P> +The groans of the wounded mingled also with these sounds, and with the +fierce terrible neighing of the horses, which are naturally ferocious, +and delight in slaughter. We could hear this tumult half a league in +the rear; and it was with great difficulty the animals could be +restrained from setting off to join in the battle. +</P> + +<P> +For a long time we had been able to see nothing but the shadows of the +gunners as they manoeuvred in the smoke, on the border of the ravine, +when we heard the order, "Cease firing!" At the same moment we heard +the piercing voices of the colonels of our four divisions shout, "Close +up the ranks for battle!" All the lines approached each other. +</P> + +<P> +"Now it is our turn," said I to Buche. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he replied, "let us keep together." +</P> + +<P> +The smoke from our guns rose up into the air, and then we could see the +batteries of the English, who still continued their fire all along the +hedges which bordered the road. +</P> + +<P> +The first brigade of Alix's division advanced at a quick step along the +road leading to Haie-Sainte. In the rear I recognized Marshal Ney with +several of the officers of his staff. +</P> + +<P> +From every window of the farm-house, and from the garden, and walls +which had been pierced with holes, came fiery showers, and at every +step men were left stretched on the road. General Ney on horseback +with the corners of his great hat pointing over his shoulders, watched +the action from the middle of the road. I said to Buche: +</P> + +<P> +"That is Marshal Ney, the second brigade will go to support the first, +and we shall come next." +</P> + +<P> +But I mistook; at that very moment the first battalion of the second +brigade received orders to march in line on the right of the highway, +the second in the rear of the first, the third behind the second, and +the fourth following in file. +</P> + +<P> +We had not time to form in column, but we were solidly arrayed after +all, one behind the other, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred +men in line in front, the captains between the companies, and the +commandants between the battalions. But the balls instead of carrying +off two men at a time would now take eight. Those in the rear could +not fire because those in front were in the way and we found too that +we could not form in squares. That should have been thought of +beforehand, but was overlooked in the desire to break the enemy's line +and gain all at a blow. +</P> + +<P> +Our division marched in the same order: as the first battalion +advanced, the second followed immediately in their steps, and so on +with all the rest. I was pleased to see, that, commencing on the left, +we should be in the twenty-fifth rank, and that there must be terrible +slaughter before we should be reached. +</P> + +<P> +The two divisions on our right were also formed in close column, at +three hundred paces from each other. +</P> + +<P> +Thus we descended into the little valley, in the face of the English +fire. We were somewhat delayed by the soft ground, but we all shouted, +"To the bayonet!" +</P> + +<P> +As we mounted on the other side, we were met by a hail of balls from +above the road at the left. If we had not been so crowded together, +this terrible volley would have checked us. The charge sounded and the +officers shouted, "Steady on the left!" +</P> + +<P> +But this terrible fire made us lengthen our right step more than our +left, in spite of ourselves, so that when we neared the road bordered +by the hedges, we had lost our distances and our division formed a +square, so to speak, with the third. +</P> + +<P> +Two batteries now swept our ranks, and the shot from the hedges a +hundred feet distant pierced us through and through; a cry of horror +burst forth and we rushed on the batteries, overpowering the redcoats +who vainly endeavored to stop us. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that I first saw the English close at hand. They were +strong, fair, and closely shaved, like well-to-do bourgeois. They +defended themselves bravely, but we were as good as they. It was not +our fault—the common soldiers—if they did defeat us at last, all the +world knows that we showed as much and more courage than they did. +</P> + +<P> +It has been said that we were not the soldiers of Austerlitz and Jena, +of Friedland and of Moskowa. It was because they were so good, +perhaps, that they were spared. We would have asked nothing better, +than to have seen them in our place. +</P> + +<P> +Every shot of the English told, and we were forced to break our ranks. +Men are not palisades, and must defend themselves when attacked. +</P> + +<P> +Great numbers were detached from their companies, when thousands of +Englishmen rose up from among the barley and fired, their muskets +almost touching our men, which caused a terrible slaughter. The other +ranks rushed to the support of their comrades, and we should all have +been dispersed over the hill-side like a swarm of ants, if we had not +heard the shout, "Attention, the cavalry!" +</P> + +<P> +Almost at the same instant, a crowd of red dragoons mounted on gray +horses, swept down upon us like the wind, and those who had straggled +were cut to pieces without mercy. +</P> + +<P> +They did not fall upon our columns in order to break them, they were +too deep and massive for that; but they came down between the +divisions, slashing right and left with their sabres, and spurring +their horses into the flanks of the columns to cut them in two, and +though they could not succeed in this, they killed great numbers and +threw us into confusion. +</P> + +<P> +It was one of the most terrible moments of my life. As an old soldier +I was at the right of the battalion, and saw what they were intending +to do. They leaned over as far as possible when they passed, in order +to cut into our ranks; their strokes followed each other like +lightning, and more than twenty times I thought my head was off my +shoulders, but Sergeant Rabot closed the file fortunately for me; it +was he who received this terrible shower of blows, and he defended +himself to the last breath. At every stroke he shouted, "Cowards, +Cowards!" +</P> + +<P> +His blood sprinkled me like rain, and at last he fell. My musket was +still loaded, and seeing one of the dragoons coming with his eye fixed +on me and bending over to give me a thrust, I let him have it full in +the breast. This was the only man I ever saw fall under my fire. +</P> + +<P> +The worst was, that at that moment their foot-soldiers rallied and +recommenced their fire, and they even were so bold as to attack us with +the bayonet. Only the first two ranks made a stand. It was shameful +to form our men in that manner. +</P> + +<P> +Then the red dragoons and our columns rushed pell-mell down the hill +together. +</P> + +<P> +And still our division made the best defence, for we brought off our +colors, while the two others had lost two eagles. +</P> + +<P> +We rushed down in this fashion through the mud and over the cannon, +which had been brought down to support us, and had been cut loose from +the horses by the sabres of the dragoons. +</P> + +<P> +We scattered in every direction, Buche and I always keeping together, +and it was ten minutes before we could be rallied again near the road +in squads from all the regiments. +</P> + +<P> +Those who have the direction of affairs in war should keep such +examples as these before their eyes, and reflect that new plans cost +those dear who are forced to try them. +</P> + +<P> +We looked over our shoulders as we took breath, and saw the red +dragoons rushing up the hill to capture our principal battery of +twenty-four guns, when, thank God! their turn came to be massacred. +</P> + +<P> +The Emperor had observed our retreat from a distance, and as the +dragoons mounted the hill, two regiments of cuirassiers on the right, +and a regiment of lancers on the left fell on their flanks like +lightning, and before they had time to look, they were upon them. We +could hear the blows slide over their cuirasses, hear their horses +puff, and a hundred paces away we could see the lances rise and fall, +the long sabres stretch out, and the men bend down to thrust under; the +furious horses, rearing, biting, and neighing frightfully, and then men +under the horses' feet were trying to get up, and sheltering themselves +with their hands. +</P> + +<P> +What horrible things are battles! Buche shouted, "Strike hard!" +</P> + +<P> +I felt the sweat run down my forehead, and others with great gashes, +and their eyes full of blood, were wiping their faces and laughing +ferociously. +</P> + +<P> +In ten minutes, seven hundred dragoons were <I>hors-de-combat</I>; their +gray horses were running wildly about on all sides, with their bits in +their teeth. Some hundreds of them had retired behind their batteries, +but more than one was reeling in his saddle and clutching at his +horse's mane. +</P> + +<P> +They had found out that to attack was not all the battle, and that very +often circumstances arise which are quite unexpected. +</P> + +<P> +In all that frightful spectacle, what impressed me most deeply, was +seeing our cuirassiers returning with their sabres red to the hilt, +laughing among themselves; and a fat captain with immense brown +mustaches, winked good-humoredly as he passed by us, as much as to say, +"You see we sent them back in a hurry, eh!" +</P> + +<P> +Yes, but three thousand of our men were left in that little hollow. +And it was not yet finished: the companies and battalions and brigades +were being re-formed, the musketry rattled in the vicinity of +Haie-Sainte, and the cannon thundered near Hougoumont. "It was only +just a beginning," the officers said. You would have thought that +men's lives were of no value! +</P> + +<P> +But it was necessary to get possession of Haie-Sainte, and to force a +passage from the highway to the enemy's centre just as an entrance must +be effected into a fortification through the fire of the outworks and +the demilunes. We had been repulsed the first time, but the battle was +begun, and we could not go back. After the charge of the cuirassiers, +it took a little time for us to re-form: the battle continued at +Hougoumont, and the cannonade re-opened on our right, and two batteries +had been brought up to sweep the highway in the rear of Haie-Sainte, +where the road begins to mount the hill. We all saw that that was to +be the point of attack. +</P> + +<P> +We stood waiting with shouldered arms, when about three o'clock Buche +looked behind him on the road and said, "The Emperor is coming!" +</P> + +<P> +And others in the ranks repeated, "Here is the Emperor." +</P> + +<P> +The smoke was so thick that we could barely see the bear-skin caps of +the Old Guard on the little hill of Rossomme. I turned round also to +see the Emperor, and immediately recognized Marshal Ney, with five or +six of his staff officers. He was coming from head-quarters and pushed +straight down upon us across the fields. We stood with our backs to +him; our officers hurried to meet him, and they conversed together, but +we could not hear a word in consequence of the noise which filled our +ears. +</P> + +<P> +The marshal then rode along the front of our two battalions, with his +sword drawn. I had never seen him so near since the grand review at +Aschaffenbourg; he seemed older, thinner, and more bony, but still the +same man; he looked at us with his sharp gray eyes, as if he took us +all in at a glance, and each one felt, as if he were looking directly +at him. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of a second he pointed toward Haie-Sainte with his sword, +and exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"We are going to take <I>that</I>, you will have the whole at once, it is +the turning-point of the battle. I am going to lead you myself. +Battalions by file to the left!" +</P> + +<P> +We started at a quick step on the road, marching by companies in three +ranks. I was in the second. Marshal Ney was in front, on horseback, +with the two colonels and Captain Florentin: he had returned his sword +to the scabbard. The balls whistled round our ears by hundreds, and +the roar of cannon from Hougoumont and on our left and right in the +rear was so incessant, that it was like the ringing of an immense bell, +when you no longer hear the strokes, but only the booming. One and +another sank down from among us, but we passed right on over them. +</P> + +<P> +Two or three times the marshal turned round to see if we were marching +in good order; he looked so calm, that it seemed to me quite natural +not to be afraid, his face inspired us all with confidence, and each +one thought, "Ney is with us, the others are lost!" which only shows +the stupidity of the human race, since so many others besides us +escaped. +</P> + +<P> +As we approached the buildings the report of the musketry became more +distinct from the roar of cannon, and we could better see the flash of +the guns from the windows, and the great black roof above in the smoke, +and the road blocked up with stones. +</P> + +<P> +We went along by a hedge, behind which crackled the fire of our +skirmishers, for the first brigade of Alix's division had not quitted +the orchards; and on seeing us filing along the road, they commenced to +shout, "Vive l'Empereur." +</P> + +<P> +The whole fire of the German musketry was then turned on us, when +Marshal Ney drew his sword and shouted in a voice which reached every +ear, "Forward!" +</P> + +<P> +He disappeared in the smoke with two or three officers, and we all +started on a run, our cartridge-boxes dangling about our hips, and our +muskets at the "ready." +</P> + +<P> +Far to the rear they were beating the charge; we did not see the +marshal again till we reached a shed which separated the garden from +the road, when we discovered him on horseback before the main entrance. +</P> + +<P> +It appeared that they had already tried to force the door, as there was +a heap of dead men, timbers, paving stones, and rubbish piled up before +it, reaching to the middle of the road. The shot poured from every +opening in the building, and the air was heavy with the smell of the +powder. +</P> + +<P> +"Break that in," shouted the marshal. Fifteen or twenty of us dropped +our muskets, and seizing beams we drove them against the door with such +force, that it cracked and echoed back the blows like thunder. You +would have thought it would drop at every stroke; we could see through +the planks the paving stones heaped as high as the top inside. It was +full of holes, and when it fell it might have crushed us, but fury had +rendered us blind to danger. We no longer had any resemblance to men, +some had lost their shakos, others had their clothes nearly torn off; +the blood ran from their fingers and down their sides, and at every +discharge of musketry the shot from the hill struck the paving stones, +pounding them to dust around us. +</P> + +<P> +I looked about me, but I could not see either Buche or Zébédé or any +others of our company, the marshal had disappeared also. Our rage +redoubled; and as the timbers went back and forth, we grew furious to +find that the door would not come down, when suddenly we heard shouts +of "Vive l'Empereur" from the court, accompanied with a most horrible +uproar. Every one knew that our troops had gained an entrance into the +enclosure. We dropped the timbers, and seizing our guns we sprang +through the breaches into the garden to find where the others had +entered. It was in the rear of the house through a door opening into +the barn. We rushed through one after the other like a pack of wolves. +</P> + +<P> +The interior of this old structure, with its lofts full of hay and +straw, and its stables covered with thatch, looked like a bloody nest +which had been attacked by a sparrow-hawk. +</P> + +<P> +On a great dung-heap in the middle of the court, our men were +bayoneting the Germans who were yelling and swearing savagely. +</P> + +<P> +I was running hap-hazard through this butchery, when I heard some one +call, "Joseph, Joseph!" I looked round, thinking, "That is Buche +calling me." In a moment I saw him at the door of a woodshed, crossing +bayonets with five or six of our men. +</P> + +<P> +I caught sight of Zébédé at that same instant, as our company was in +that corner, and rushing to Buche's assistance, I shouted, "Zébédé!" +Parting the combatants, I asked Buche what was the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"They want to murder my prisoners!" said he. I joined him, and the +others began to load their muskets to shoot us. They were voltigeurs +from another battalion. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment Zébédé came up with several men from our company, and +without knowing how the matter stood, he seized the most brutal one by +the throat and exclaimed, "My name is Zébédé, sergeant of the Sixth +light infantry. When this affair is settled, we will have a mutual +explanation." +</P> + +<P> +Then they went away, and Zébédé asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What is all this, Joseph?" +</P> + +<P> +I told him we had some prisoners. He turned pale with anger against +us, but when he went into the wood-shed he saw an old major, who +presented him the guard of his sabre in silence, and another soldier, +who said in German, "Spare my life, Frenchman; don't take my life." +</P> + +<P> +The cries of the dying still filled the court, and his heart relenting, +Zébédé said, "Very well, I take you prisoners." +</P> + +<P> +He went out and shut the door. We did not quit the place again until +the assembly began to beat. +</P> + +<P> +Then, when the men were in their ranks, Zébédé notified Captain +Florentin that we had taken a major and a soldier prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +They were brought out and marched across the court without arms, and +put in a room with three or four others. These were all that remained +of the two battalions of Nassau troops which were intrusted with the +defence of Haie-Sainte. +</P> + +<P> +While this had been going on, two other battalions from Nassau, who +were coming to the assistance of their comrades, had been massacred +outside by our cuirassiers, so that for the moment we were victorious: +we were masters of the principal outpost of the English and could begin +our attack on their centre, cut their communication by the highway with +Brussels, and throw them into the miserable roads of the forest of +Soignes. We had had a hard struggle, but the principal part of the +battle had been fought. We were two hundred paces from the English +lines, well sheltered from their fire; and I believe, without boasting, +that with the bayonet and well supported by the cavalry, we could have +fallen upon them, and pierced their line. An hour of good work would +have finished the affair. +</P> + +<P> +But while we were all rejoicing over our success, and the officers, +soldiers, drummers, and trumpeters were all in confusion, amongst the +ruins, thinking of nothing but stretching our legs and getting breath, +the rumor suddenly reached us that the Prussians were coming, that they +were going to fall on our flank, and that we were about to have two +battles, one in front and the other on our right, and that we ran the +risk of being surrounded by a force double our own. +</P> + +<P> +This was terrible news, but several hot-headed fellows exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"So much the better, let the Prussians come! we will crush them all at +once." +</P> + +<P> +Those who were cool saw at once what a mistake we had made by not +making the most of our victory at Ligny, and in allowing the Prussians +quietly to leave in the night without being pursued by our cavalry, as +is always done. +</P> + +<P> +We may boldly say that this great fault was the cause of our defeat at +Waterloo. It is true, the Emperor sent Marshal Grouchy the next day at +noon, with thirty-two thousand men to look after the enemy, but then it +was quite too late. In those fifteen hours they had time to re-form, +to communicate with the English, and to act on the defensive. +</P> + +<P> +The next day after Ligny, the Prussians still had ninety thousand men, +of whom thirty thousand were fresh troops, and two hundred and +seventy-five cannon. With such an army they could do what they +pleased; they could have even fought a second battle with the Emperor, +but they preferred falling on our flank, while we were engaged with the +English in front. That is so plain and clear, that I cannot imagine +how any one can think the movement of the Prussians surprising. +</P> + +<P> +Blücher had already played us the same trick at Leipzig—and he +repeated it now in drawing Grouchy on to pursue him so far. Grouchy +could not force him to return, and he could not prevent him from +leaving thirty or forty thousand men to stop his pursuers, while he +pushed on to the relief of Wellington. +</P> + +<P> +Our only hope was that Grouchy had been ordered to return and join us, +and that he would come up in the rear of the Prussians; but the Emperor +sent no such order. +</P> + +<P> +It was not we, the common soldiers, as you may well think, who had +these ideas; it was the officers and generals; we knew nothing of it; +we were like children, utterly unconscious that their hour is near. +</P> + +<P> +But now having told you what I think, I will give you the history of +the rest of the battle just as I saw it myself, so that each one of you +will know as much about it as I do. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXI +</H3> + +<P> +Almost immediately after the news of the arrival of the Prussians, the +assembly began to beat, the soldiers of the different battalions formed +their ranks, and ours, with another from Quiot's brigade, was left to +guard Haie-Sainte, and all the others went on to join General d'Erlon's +corps, which had advanced again into the valley, and was endeavoring to +flank the enemy on the left. +</P> + +<P> +The two battalions went to work at once to barricade the doors and the +breaches in the walls with timbers and paving stones, and men were +stationed in ambush at all the holes which the enemy had made in the +wall on the side toward the orchard and on that next the highway. +</P> + +<P> +Buche and I, with the remainder of our company, were posted over a +stable in a corner of the barn, about ten or twelve hundred paces from +Hougoumont. I can still see the row of holes which the Germans had +knocked in the wall, about as high as a man's head, in order to defend +the orchard. As we went up into this stable, we looked through these +holes, and we could see our line of battle, the high-road to Brussels +and Charleroi, the little farms of Belle-Alliance, Rossomme, and +Gros-Caillou, which lie along this road at little distances from each +other; the Old Guard which was stationed across it, with their +shouldered arms, and the staff on a little eminence at the left, and +farther away in the same direction, in the rear of the ravine of +Planchenois, we could see the white smoke rising continually above the +trees. This was the attack of the first Prussian corps. +</P> + +<P> +We heard afterward that the Emperor had sent Lobau with ten thousand +men to turn them back. The battle had begun, but the Old and the Young +Guard, the cuirassiers of Milhaud and of Kellerman, and the chasseurs +of Lefebvre-Desnoëttes; in fact the whole of our magnificent cavalry +remained in position. The great, the real battle was with the English. +</P> + +<P> +What a crowd of thoughts must have been suggested, by that grand +spectacle and that immense plain, to the Emperor, who could see it all +mentally better than we could with our own eyes. +</P> + +<P> +We might have stayed there for hours, if Captain Florentin had not come +up suddenly, and exclaimed, "What are you doing here? Are we going to +dispute the passage with the Guard? Come! hurry! Knock a hole in that +wall on the side toward the enemy!" +</P> + +<P> +We picked up the sledges and pickaxes which the Germans had dropped on +the floor, and made holes through the wall of the gable. +</P> + +<P> +This did not take fifteen minutes, and then we could see the fight at +Hougoumont; the blazing buildings, the bursting of the bombs from +second to second among the ruins, and the Scotch chasseurs in ambuscade +in the road in the rear of the place, and on our right about two +gunshots distant, the first line of the English artillery, falling back +on their centre, and stationing their cannon, which our gunners had +begun to dismount, higher up the hill. But the remainder of their line +did not change; they had squares of red and squares of black touching +each other at the corners like the squares of a chess-board, in the +rear of the deep road; and in attacking them we would come under their +crossfire. Their artillery was in position on the brow of the hill, +and in the hollow on the hill-side toward Mont-St.-Jean their cavalry +was waiting. +</P> + +<P> +The position of the English seemed to me still stronger than it was in +the morning; and as we had already failed in our attack on their left +wing, and the Prussians had fallen on our flank, the idea occurred to +me, for the first time, that we were not sure of gaining the battle. +</P> + +<P> +I imagined the horrible rout that would follow in case we lost the +battle—shut in between two armies, one in front and the other on our +flank, and then the invasion which would follow; the forced +contributions, the towns besieged, the return of the émigrés, and the +reign of vengeance. +</P> + +<P> +I felt that my apprehension had made me grow pale. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the shouts of "<I>Vive l'Empereur</I>" broke from thousands +of throats behind us. Buche, who stood near me in a corner of the +loft, shouted with all the rest of his comrades, "<I>Vive l'Empereur!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +I leaned over his shoulder and saw all the cavalry of our right wing; +the cuirassiers of Milhaud, the lancers and the chasseurs of the Guard, +more than five thousand men—advancing at a trot. They crossed the +road obliquely and went down into the valley between Hougoumont and +Haie-Sainte. I saw that they were going to attack the squares of the +English, and that our fate was to be decided. +</P> + +<P> +We could hear the voices of the English artillery officers, giving +their orders, above the tumult and the innumerable shouts of "<I>Vive +l'Empereur</I>." +</P> + +<P> +It was a terrible moment when our cuirassiers crossed the valley; it +made me think of a torrent formed by the melting snows, when millions +of flakes of snow and ice sparkle in the sunshine. The horses, with +the great blue portmanteaux fastened to their croups, stretched their +haunches like deer and tore up the earth with their feet, the trumpets +blew their savage blasts amidst the dull roar as they passed into the +valley, and the first discharge of grape and canister made even our old +shed tremble. The wind blew from the direction of Hougoumont, and +drove the smoke through all the openings; we leaned out to breathe, and +the second and third discharges followed each other instantly. +</P> + +<P> +I could see through the smoke that the English, gunners had abandoned +their cannon and were running away with their horses, and that our +cuirassiers had immediately fallen upon the squares, which were marked +out on the hill-side by the zig-zag line of their fire. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing could be heard but a grand uproar of cries, incessant clashing +of arms and neighing of horses, varied with the discharge from time to +time, and then new shouts, new tumult and fresh groans. A score of +horses with their manes erect, rushed through the thick smoke which +settled around us, like shadows; some of them dragging their riders +with one foot caught in the stirrup. +</P> + +<P> +And this lasted more than an hour. +</P> + +<P> +After Milhaud's cuirassiers, came the lancers of Lefebvre-Desnoëttes, +after them the cuirassiers of Kellerman, followed by the grenadiers of +the Guard, and after the grenadiers came the dragoons. They all +mounted the hill at a trot, and rushed upon the squares with drawn +sabres, shouting, "<I>Vive l'Empereur!</I>" in tones which reached the +clouds. At each new charge it seemed as if the squares must be +overthrown; but when the trumpets sounded the signal for rallying and +the squadrons rushed pell-mell back to the edge of the plateau to +re-form, pursued by the showers of shot, there were the great red +lines, steadfast as walls, in the smoke. +</P> + +<P> +Those Englishmen are good soldiers, but then they knew that Blücher was +coming to their assistance with sixty thousand men, and no doubt this +inspired them with great courage. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of everything, at six o'clock we had destroyed half their +squares, but the horses of our cuirassiers were exhausted by twenty +charges over the ground soaked with rain. They could no longer advance +over the heaps of dead. +</P> + +<P> +As night approached, the great battle-field in our rear began to be +deserted; at last the great plain where we had encamped the night +before was tenantless, only the Old Guard remained across the road with +shouldered arms, all had gone—on the right against the Prussians, on +the left against the English. We looked at each other in terror. +</P> + +<P> +It was already growing dark, when Captain Florentin appeared at the top +of the ladder, and placing both hands on the floor, he said in a grave +voice, "Men, the time has come to conquer or die!" +</P> + +<P> +I remembered that these words were in the proclamation of the Emperor, +and we all filed down the ladder. It was still twilight, but all was +gray in the devastated court; the dead were lying stiff on the +dung-heap and along the walls. +</P> + +<P> +The captain formed our men on the right side of the court, and the +commandant of the other battalion ranged his on the left; our drums +resounded through the old building for the last time, and we filed out +of the little rear door into the garden, stooping one after the other +as we went through. +</P> + +<P> +The walls of the garden outside had been knocked down, and all along +the rubbish, men were binding up their wounds—one his head, another +his arm or his leg. A cantinière with her donkey and cart, and with a +great straw hat flattened on her back—was there too in a corner. I do +not know what had brought the wretched creature there. Several +sorry-looking horses were standing there, exhausted with fatigue, with +their heads hanging down, and covered with blood and mud. +</P> + +<P> +What a difference between them now, and in the morning. Then the +companies were half destroyed, but still they were companies. +Confusion was coming. It had taken only three hours to reduce us to +the same condition we were in at Leipzig at the end of a year. The +remains of the two battalions still formed only one line, in good +order, and I must admit that we began to be anxious. +</P> + +<P> +When men have tasted nothing for twenty-four hours, and have exhausted +all their strength by fighting all day, the pangs of hunger seize them +at night, fear comes also, and the most courageous lose hope. All our +great retreats, with their horrors, are traceable to the want of food. +</P> + +<P> +For in spite of everything we were not conquered; the cuirassiers still +held their position on the plateau, and from all sides over the thunder +of cannon, over all the tumult, the cry was heard, "The Guard is +coming!" Yes, the Guard was coming at last! We could see them in the +distance on the highway, with their high bear-skin caps, advancing in +good order. +</P> + +<P> +Those who have never witnessed the arrival of the Guard on the +battle-field, can never know the confidence which is inspired by a body +of tried soldiers; the kind of respect paid to courage and force. +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers of the Old Guard were nearly all old peasants, born before +the Republic; men five feet and six inches in height, thin and well +built, who had held the plough for convent and chateau; afterward they +were levied with all the rest of the people, and went to Germany, +Holland, Italy, Egypt, Poland, Spain, and Russia, under Kleber, Hoche, +and Marceau first, and under Napoleon afterward. He took special care +of them and paid them liberally. They regarded themselves as the +proprietors of an immense farm, which they must defend and enlarge more +and more. This gained them consideration; they were defending their +own property. They no longer knew parents, relatives, or compatriots; +they only knew the Emperor; he was their God. And lastly they had +adopted the King of Rome, who was to inherit all with them, and to +support and honor them in their old age. Nothing like them was ever +seen, they were so accustomed to march, to dress their lines, to load, +and fire, and cross bayonets, that it was done mechanically in a +measure, whenever there was a necessity. When they advanced, carrying +arms, with their great caps, their white waistcoats and gaiters, they +all looked just alike; you could plainly see that it was the right arm +of the Emperor which was coming. When it was said in the ranks, "The +Guard is going to move," it was as if they had said, "The battle is +gained." +</P> + +<P> +But now, after this terrible massacre, after the repulse of these +furious attacks, on seeing the Prussians fall on our flank, we said, +"This is the decisive blow." +</P> + +<P> +And we thought, "If it fails, all is lost." +</P> + +<P> +This was why we all looked at the Guard as they marched steadily up on +the road. +</P> + +<P> +It was Ney who commanded them, as he had commanded the cuirassiers. +The Emperor knew that nobody could lead them like Ney, only he should +have ordered them up an hour sooner, when our cuirassiers were in the +squares; then we should have gained all. +</P> + +<P> +But the Emperor looked upon his Guard as upon his own flesh and blood; +if he had had them at Paris five days later, Lafayette and the rest of +them would not have remained long in their chamber to depose him, but +he had them no longer. +</P> + +<P> +This was why he waited so long before sending them; he hoped that Ney +would succeed in overwhelming the enemy with the cavalry, or that the +thirty-two thousand men under Grouchy would return, attracted by the +sound of the cannon, and then he could send them in place of his Guard; +because he could always replace thirty or forty thousand by +conscription; but to have another such Guard, he must commence at +twenty-five, and gain fifty victories, and what remained of the best, +most solid, and the toughest would be <I>the Guard</I>. +</P> + +<P> +It came, and we could see it. Ney, old Friant, and several other +generals, marched in front. We could see nothing but <I>the Guard</I>—the +roaring cannon, the musketry, the cries of the wounded, all were +forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +But the lull did not last long; the English perceived as well as we, +that this was to be the decisive blow, and hastened to rally all their +forces to receive it. +</P> + +<P> +That part of our field at our left was nearly deserted; there was no +more firing, either because their ammunition was exhausted, or the +enemy were forming in a new order. +</P> + +<P> +On the right, on the contrary, the cannonade was redoubled; the +struggle seemed to have been transferred to that side, but nobody dared +to say, "The Prussians are attacking us; another army has come to crush +us." +</P> + +<P> +No! the very idea was too horrible; when suddenly a staff officer +rushed past like lightning, shouting: +</P> + +<P> +"Grouchy, Marshal Grouchy is coming!" +</P> + +<P> +This was just at the moment when the four battalions of the Guard took +the left of the highway in order to go up in the rear of the orchard, +and commence the attack. +</P> + +<P> +How many times during the last fifty years I have seen it over again at +night, and how many times I have heard the story related by others. In +listening to these accounts you would think that only the Guard took +part in the attack, that it moved forward like ranks of palisades; and +that it was the Guard alone which received the showers of shot. +</P> + +<P> +But in truth this terrible attack took place in the greatest confusion; +our whole army joined in it; all the remnant of the left wing and +centre, all that was left of the cavalry exhausted by six hours of +fighting; every one who could stand or lift an arm. The infantry of +Reille which concentrated on the left, we who remained at Haie-Sainte, +<I>all</I> who were alive and did not wish to be massacred. +</P> + +<P> +And when they say we were in a panic of terror and tried to run away +like cowards, it is not true. When the news arrived that Grouchy was +coming, even the wounded rose up and took their places in the ranks; it +seemed as if a breath had raised the dead; and all those poor fellows +in the rear of Haie-Sainte with their bandaged heads and arms and legs, +with their clothes in tatters and soaked with blood, every one who +could put one foot before the other, joined the Guard when it passed +before the breaches in the wall of the garden, and every one tore open +his last cartridge. +</P> + +<P> +The attack sounded, and our cannon began again to thunder. All was +quiet on the hill-side, the rows of English cannon were deserted, and +we might have thought they were all gone, only as the bear-skin caps of +the Guard rose above the plateau, five or six volleys of shot warned us +that they were waiting for us. +</P> + +<P> +Then we knew that all those Englishmen, Germans, Belgians, and +Hanoverians, whom we had been sabring and shooting since morning, had +reformed in the rear, and that we must encounter them. Many of the +wounded retired at this moment, and the Guard, upon which the heaviest +part of the enemy's fire had fallen, advanced through the showers of +shot almost alone, sweeping everything before it, but it closed up more +and more, and diminished every moment. In twenty minutes every officer +was dismounted, and the Guard halted before such a terrible fire of +musketry, that even we, two hundred paces in the rear, could not hear +our own guns; we seemed to be only exploding our priming. At last the +whole army, in front, on the right and on the left, with the cavalry on +the flanks, fell upon us. +</P> + +<P> +The four battalions of the Guard, reduced from three thousand to twelve +hundred men, could not withstand the charge, they fell back slowly, and +we fell back also, defending ourselves with musket and bayonet. +</P> + +<P> +We had seen other battles more terrible, but this was the last. +</P> + +<P> +When we reached the edge of the plateau, all the plain below was +enveloped in darkness and in the confusion of the defeat. The +disbanded troops were flying, some on foot and some on horseback. +</P> + +<P> +A single battalion of the Guard in a square near the farm-house, and +three other battalions farther on, with another square of the Guard at +the junction of the route at Planchenois, stood motionless as some firm +structure in the midst of an inundation which sweeps away everything +else. +</P> + +<P> +They all went—hussars, chasseurs, cuirassiers, artillery, and +infantry—pell-mell along the road, across the fields, like an army of +savages. +</P> + +<P> +Along the ravine of Planchenois the dark sky was lighted up by the +discharges of musketry; the one square of the Guard still held out +against Bulow, and prevented him from cutting off our retreat, but +nearer us the Prussian cavalry poured down into the valley like a flood +breaking over its barriers. Old Blücher had just arrived with forty +thousand men: he doubled our right wing and dispersed it. +</P> + +<P> +What can I say more! It was dissolution—we were surrounded. The +English pushed us into the valley, and it was through this valley that +Blücher was coming. The generals and officers and even the Emperor +himself were compelled to take refuge in a square, and they say that we +poor wretches were panic-stricken! Such an injustice was never seen. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-302"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-302.jpg" ALT="Combat of Hougoumont Farm." BORDER="2" WIDTH="469" HEIGHT="694"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 469px"> +Combat of Hougoumont Farm. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Buche and I with five or six of our comrades ran toward the +farm-house—the bombs were bursting all around us, we reached the road +in our wild flight just as the English cavalry passed at full gallop, +shouting, "No quarter! no quarter!" +</P> + +<P> +At this moment the square of the Guard began to retreat, firing from +all sides in order to keep off the wretches who sought safety within +it. Only the officers and generals might save themselves. +</P> + +<P> +I shall never forget, even if I should live a thousand years, the +immeasurable, unceasing cries which filled the valley for more than a +league; and in the distance the <I>grenadière</I> was sounding like an +alarm-bell in the midst of a conflagration. But this was much more +terrible; it was the last appeal of France, of a proud and courageous +nation; it was the voice of the country saying, "Help, my children! I +perish!" +</P> + +<P> +This rolling of the drums of the Old Guard in the midst of disaster, +had in it something touching and horrible. I sobbed like a +child;—Buche hurried me along, but I cried, "Jean, leave me—we are +lost, everything is lost!" +</P> + +<P> +The thought of Catherine, and Mr. Goulden, and Pfalzbourg, did not +enter my mind. What astonishes me to-day is, that we were not +massacred a hundred times on the road, where files of English and +Prussians were passing. But perhaps they mistook us for Germans, or +they were running after the Emperor, for they were all hoping to see +him. +</P> + +<P> +Opposite the little farm of Rossomme, we were obliged to turn off the +road to the right, into the field; it was here that the last square of +the Guard still held out against the attack of the Prussians; they soon +gave way, for twenty minutes afterward the enemy poured over the road, +and the Prussian chasseurs separated into bands to arrest all those who +straggled or remained behind. This road was like a bridge; all who did +not keep on it fell into the abyss. +</P> + +<P> +At the slope of the ravine in the rear of the inn "Passe-Avant," some +Prussian hussars rushed upon us: there were not more than five or six +of them, and they called out to us to surrender; but if we had raised +the butts of our muskets, they would have sabred us. We aimed at them, +and seeing that we were not wounded, they passed on. +</P> + +<P> +This forced us to return to the road, where the uproar could be heard +for at least two leagues; cavalry, infantry, artillery, ambulances, and +baggage-wagons, were creeping along the road pell-mell, howling, +beating, neighing, and weeping. The retreat at Leipzig furnished no +such spectacle as this. +</P> + +<P> +The moon rose above the wood behind Planchenois, and lighted up this +crowd of shapskas,[<A NAME="chap21fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap21fn1">1</A>] bear-skin caps, helmets, sabres, bayonets, broken +caissons, and abandoned cannon; the crowd and confusion increased every +moment, plaintive howls were heard from one end of the line to the +other, rolling up and down the hill-side and dying away in the distance +like a sigh. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap21fn1"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap21fn1text">1</A>] Polish military cap. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But the saddest of all, were the cries of the women, those unhappy +creatures who follow armies. When they were knocked down or crowded +out on to the slope with their carts, their screams could be heard +above all the uproar, but no one turned his head, not a man stretched +out a hand to help them: "Every one for himself!—I shall crush +you,—so much the worse for you,—I am the stronger—you scream, but it +is all the same to me!—take care,—take care—I am on horseback—I +shall hit you!—room—let me get away—the others do just the +same—room for the Emperor! room for the marshal!" The strong crush +the weak—the only thing in the world is strength! On! on! Let the +cannons crush everything, if we can only save them! +</P> + +<P> +But the cannon can move no farther,—unhitch them, cut the traces, and +the horses will carry us off. Make them go as fast as possible, and if +they break down—then let them go? If we were not the stronger our +turn would come to be crushed—we should cry out and everybody would +mock at our complaints. Save himself who can—and "<I>Vive l'Empereur!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +"But the Emperor is dead!" +</P> + +<P> +Everybody thought the Emperor had died with, the Old Guard; that seemed +perfectly natural. +</P> + +<P> +The Prussian cavalry passed us in files with drawn sabres, shouting, +"Hurrah!" They seemed to be escorting us, but they sabred every one +who straggled from the road, and took no prisoners, neither did they +attack the column; a few musket-shots passed over us from the right and +left. +</P> + +<P> +Far in the rear we could see a red light: this was the farm-house at +Caillou. +</P> + +<P> +We hastened onward, borne down with fatigue, hunger, and despair; we +were ready to die, but still the hope of escape sustained us. Buche +said to me as we went along, "Joseph, let us help each other." +</P> + +<P> +"I will never abandon you," I replied. "We will die together. I can +hold out no longer, it is too terrible,—we might better lie down at +once." +</P> + +<P> +"No, let us keep on," said he. "The Prussians make no prisoners. +Look! they kill without mercy, just as we did at Ligny." +</P> + +<P> +We kept on in the same direction with thousands of others, sullen and +discouraged, and yet we would turn round all at once and close our +ranks and fire, when a squadron of Prussians came too near. We were +still firm, still the stronger from time to time; we found abandoned +gun-carriages, caissons, and cannons, and the ditches on either side +were full of knapsacks, cartridge-boxes, guns, and sabres, which had +been thrown away by the men to facilitate their flight. +</P> + +<P> +But the most terrible thing of all was the great ambulances in the +middle of the road filled with the wounded. The drivers had cut the +traces and fled with the horses for fear of being taken prisoners. The +poor half-dead wretches, with their arms hanging down, looked at us as +we passed with despairing eyes. +</P> + +<P> +When I think of all this now, it reminds me of the tufts of straw and +hay which lodge among the bushes after an inundation. We say "That is +our harvest, this is our crop, that is what the tempest has left us." +</P> + +<P> +Ah! I have had many such reflections during fifty years! +</P> + +<P> +What grieved me most and made my heart bleed in the midst of this rout +was that I could not discover a single man of our battalion besides +ourselves. I said to myself, "They cannot all be dead;" and I said to +Buche: +</P> + +<P> +"If I could only find Zébédé it would give me back my courage." +</P> + +<P> +But he replied: "Let us try to save ourselves, Joseph. As for me, if I +ever see Harberg again, I will not complain because I have to eat +potatoes. No, no. God has punished me. I shall be contented to work +and go into the woods with my axe on my shoulder. If only I do not go +home maimed, and if I am not compelled to hold out my hand at the +roadside in order to live, like so many others. Let us try to get home +safe and sound." +</P> + +<P> +I thought he showed great good sense. +</P> + +<P> +At about half-past ten, as we reached the environs of Genappe, terrible +cries were heard in the distance. Fires of straw had been lighted in +the middle of the principal street to give light to the multitude, and +we could see from where we were, that the houses were full of people +and the streets so full of horses and baggage that they could not move +a step. We knew that the Prussians might come at any moment, and that +they would have cannon; and that it would be better for us if we went +round the village than to be taken prisoners altogether. This was why +we turned to the left across the grain fields with a great many others. +We crossed the Thy in water up to our waists, and toward midnight we +reached Quatre-Bras. +</P> + +<P> +We had done well not to stop at Genappe, for we already heard the roar +of the Prussian cannon and musketry near the village. Great numbers of +fugitives came along the road, cuirassiers, lancers, and chasseurs. +Not one of them stopped. +</P> + +<P> +We began to be terribly hungry. We knew very well that everything in +these houses must have been eaten long ago, but still we went into the +one on the left. The floor was covered with straw, on which the +wounded were lying. We had hardly opened the door when they all began +to cry out at once; to tell the truth, the stench was so horrible that +we left immediately and took the road to Charleroi. The moon shone +beautifully, and we could see on the right amongst the grain a quantity +of dead men, who had not yet been buried. +</P> + +<P> +Buche followed a furrow about twenty-five paces, to where three or four +Englishmen were lying one on the top of the other. I asked him what he +was going to do amongst the dead. +</P> + +<P> +He came back with a tin bottle, and shaking it at his ear, he said, +"Joseph, it is full." +</P> + +<P> +He dipped it in the water of the ditch before opening it, and then took +out the cork and drank, saying, "It is brandy!" +</P> + +<P> +He passed it to me, and I drank also. I felt my life returning, and I +gave him back the bottle half full, thanking God for the good idea that +he had given us. +</P> + +<P> +We looked on all sides to see if we could not find some bread in the +haversacks of the dead, but the uproar increased, and as we could not +resist the Prussians if they should surround us, we set off again full +of strength and courage. The brandy made us look at everything on the +bright side already, and I said to Buche: +</P> + +<P> +"Jean, now the worst is over and we shall see Pfalzbourg and Harberg +again. We are on a good road which will take us back to France. If we +had gained the battle, we should have been forced to go still farther +into Germany, and we should have been obliged to fight the Austrians +and the Russians, and if we had had the good fortune to escape with our +lives, we should have returned old gray-haired veterans, and should +have been compelled to keep garrison at 'Petite Pierre,' or somewhere +else." +</P> + +<P> +These miserable thoughts ran through my head, but I marched on with +more courage, and Buche said: +</P> + +<P> +"The English are right in having their bottles made of tin, for if I +had not seen this shining in the moonlight, I should never have thought +of going to look for it." +</P> + +<P> +Every moment while we were talking in this way men were riding by, +their horses almost ready to drop, but by beating and spurring, they +kept them trotting just the same. +</P> + +<P> +The noise of the retreating army began to reach our ears again in the +distance, but fortunately we had the advance. +</P> + +<P> +It might have been about one o'clock in the morning, and we thought +ourselves safe, when suddenly Buche said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph, here are the Prussians!" +</P> + +<P> +And looking behind us, I saw in the moonlight five bronzed hussars from +the same regiment as those who, the year before, had cut poor Klipfel +to pieces. I thought this was a bad sign. +</P> + +<P> +"Is your gun loaded?" I asked Buche. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well! let us wait, we must defend ourselves, I will not surrender." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I either," said he, "I had rather die than to be taken prisoner." +</P> + +<P> +At the same moment the Prussian officer shouted arrogantly, "Lay down +your arms." +</P> + +<P> +Instead of waiting, as I did, Buche discharged the contents of his +musket full in the officer's breast. Then the other four fell upon us. +Buche received a blow from a sabre which cut his shako down to the +visor, but with one thrust with his bayonet he killed his antagonist. +Three of them still remained. My musket was loaded. Buche planted +himself with his back against a nut-tree, and every time the Prussians, +who had fallen back, approached us, I took aim. Neither of them wanted +to be the first to die! As we waited, Buche with his bayonet fixed and +I with my musket at my shoulder, we heard a galloping on the road. +This frightened us, for we thought more Prussians were coming, but they +were our lancers. The hussars then turned off into the grain, and +Buche hastened to re-load his gun. +</P> + +<P> +Our lancers passed and we followed them on the run. +</P> + +<P> +An officer who joined us, said that the Emperor had set out for Paris, +and that King Jerome had just taken command of the army. +</P> + +<P> +Buche's scalp was laid completely open, but the bone was not injured, +and the blood ran down his cheeks. He bound up his head with his +handkerchief. +</P> + +<P> +After that we saw no more Prussians. +</P> + +<P> +About two o'clock in the morning, we were so weary we could hardly take +another step. About two hundred paces to the left of the road there +was a little beech grove. Buche said: "Look, Joseph, let us go in +there and lie down and sleep." +</P> + +<P> +It was just what I wanted. +</P> + +<P> +We went down across the oat-field to the wood, and entered a close +thicket of young trees. +</P> + +<P> +We had both kept our guns and knapsacks and cartridge-boxes. We laid +our knapsacks on the ground for a pillow, and it had long been broad +daylight, and the retreating crowd had been passing for hours, when we +awoke and quietly pursued our journey. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXII +</H3> + +<P> +Numbers of our comrades and of the wounded remained behind at +Gosselies, but the larger part of the army kept on their way, and about +nine o'clock we began to see the spires of Charleroi in the distance, +when suddenly we heard shouts, cries, complaints, and shots +intermingled, half a league before us. +</P> + +<P> +The whole immense column of miserable wretches halted, shouting: "The +city closes its doors against us! we are stopped here!" +</P> + +<P> +Consternation and despair were stamped on every face. +</P> + +<P> +But a moment after, the news came that the convoys of provisions were +coming and that they would not distribute them. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us fall upon them! Kill the rascals who are starving us! We are +betrayed!" +</P> + +<P> +The most fearful and the most exhausted quickened their pace, and drew +their sabres or loaded their muskets. +</P> + +<P> +It was plain that there would be a veritable butchery if the guards did +not give way. Buche himself shouted: +</P> + +<P> +"They ought all to be murdered, we are betrayed. Come, Joseph, let us +be revenged." +</P> + +<P> +But I held him back by the collar and exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"No, Jean, no! We have had murders enough already, and we have escaped +all, and we do not want to be killed here by Frenchmen. Come!" +</P> + +<P> +He struggled still, but at last I showed him a village on the left of +the road and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Look! there is the road to Harberg, and there are houses like those at +Quatre Vents; let us go there and ask for bread; I have money, and we +shall certainly find some. That will be better than to attack the +convoys like a pack of wolves." +</P> + +<P> +He allowed himself to be persuaded at last, and we set off once more +through the grain. If hunger had not urged us on, we should have sat +down on the side of the path at every step. But at the end of half an +hour, thanks to God, we reached a sort of farm-house; it was abandoned, +with the windows broken out, and the door wide open, and great heaps of +black earth lying about. We went in and shouted, "Is there no one +here?" +</P> + +<P> +We knocked against the furniture with the butts of our muskets, but not +a soul answered. Our fury increased, because we saw several wretches, +following the route by which we had come, and we thought, "They are +coming to eat up our bread." +</P> + +<P> +Ah! those who have never suffered these privations cannot comprehend +the fury which possessed us. It was horrible—horrible! +</P> + +<P> +We had already broken open the door of a cupboard filled with linen, +and were turning over everything with our bayonets, when an old woman +came out from behind a table, which hid the passage to the cellar. She +sobbed and exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"My God, my God! have mercy upon us." +</P> + +<P> +The house had been pillaged early in the morning; they had taken away +the horses, the master had disappeared and the servants had fled. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of our fury the sight of the poor old woman made us ashamed of +ourselves, and I said to her: +</P> + +<P> +"Do not be afraid, we are not monsters, only give us some bread, we are +starving." +</P> + +<P> +She was sitting on an old chair with her withered hands crossed over +her knee, and she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I no longer have any, they have taken all. My God! all! all!" +</P> + +<P> +Her gray hair was hanging down over her face, and I felt like weeping +for her and for ourselves. "Well!" I said, "we must look for +ourselves, Buche." We went into all the rooms and the stables, there +was nothing to be seen, everything had been stolen and broken. +</P> + +<P> +I was going out, when in the shadow behind the old door, I saw +something whitish against the wall. I stopped, and stretched out my +hand. It was a linen bag with a strap, I took it down, trembling in my +hurry. Buche looked at me—the bag was heavy—I opened it, there were +two great black radishes, half of a small loaf of bread, dry and hard +as stone, a large pair of shears for trimming hedges, and quite in the +bottom some onions and some gray salt in a paper. +</P> + +<P> +On seeing these we made an exclamation of joy, but the fear of seeing +the others come in, made us run out in the rear, far into the +rye-field, skulking and hiding like thieves. +</P> + +<P> +We had regained all our strength, and we went and sat down on the edge +of a little brook. Buche said: +</P> + +<P> +"Look here! I must have my part." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes,—half of all," I replied. "You let me drink from your bottle, I +will divide with you." +</P> + +<P> +Then he was calm again. I cut the bread in two with my sabre and said: +"Choose, Jean; that is your radish, and there are half the onions, and +we will share the salt between us." We ate the bread without soaking +it in the water, we ate our radishes, our onions and the salt. We +should have kept on eating still, if we had had more to eat, but yet we +were satisfied. +</P> + +<P> +We knelt down with our hands in the water and we drank. +</P> + +<P> +"Now let us go," said Buche, "and leave the bag." +</P> + +<P> +In spite of our weary legs, which were ready to give out, we went on +again toward the left; while on the right behind us, toward Charleroi, +the shouts and shots redoubled, and all along the road we could see +nothing but the men fighting, but they were already far away. +</P> + +<P> +We looked back from time to time, and Buche said: +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph, you did well to bring me away, had it not been for you, I +might have been stretched out over there by the road-side, killed by a +Frenchman. I was too hungry. But where shall we go now?" +</P> + +<P> +I answered, "Follow me!" +</P> + +<P> +We passed through a large and beautiful village, pillaged and abandoned +also. +</P> + +<P> +Farther on we met some peasants, who scowled at us from the road-side. +We must have had ill-looking faces, especially Buche with his head +bound up, and his beard eight days old, thick and hard as the bristles +of a boar. +</P> + +<P> +About one o'clock in the afternoon we re-crossed the Sambre, by the +bridge of Chatelet, but as the Prussians were still in pursuit we did +not halt there. I was quite at ease, thinking: +</P> + +<P> +"If they are still pursuing us, they will follow the bulk of the army, +in order to take more prisoners and pick up the cannon, caissons, and +baggage." +</P> + +<P> +This was the manner in which we were compelled to reason, we, who three +days before had made the world tremble. +</P> + +<P> +I recollect that when we reached a small village about three o'clock in +the afternoon, we stopped at a blacksmith's shop to ask for water. The +country people immediately began to gather round, and the smith, a +large, dark man, asked us to go to the little inn, opposite, saying he +would join us and take a glass of beer with us. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally enough this pleased us, for we were afraid of being arrested, +and we saw that these people were on our side. +</P> + +<P> +I remembered that I had some money in my knapsack, and that now it +would be useful. +</P> + +<P> +We went into the inn, which was only a little shop, with two small +windows on the street, and a round door opening in the middle, as is +common in our country villages. +</P> + +<P> +When we were seated the room was so full of men and women, who had come +to hear the news, that we could hardly breathe. +</P> + +<P> +The smith came. He had taken off his leather apron and put on a little +blue blouse, and we saw at once that he had five or six men with him. +They were the mayor and his assistant, and the municipal councillors of +the place. +</P> + +<P> +They sat down on the benches opposite, and ordered the favorite sour +beer of the country for us to drink. Buche asked for some bread; the +innkeeper's wife brought us a whole loaf and a large piece of beef in a +porringer. +</P> + +<P> +All urged us to "Eat, eat!" When one or another would ask us a +question about the battle, the smith or the mayor would say: +</P> + +<P> +"Let the men finish, you can see plainly that they have come a long +way." +</P> + +<P> +And it was only when we had finished eating, that they questioned us, +asking if it was true that the French had lost a great battle. The +first report was that we were the victors, but afterward they heard a +rumor that we were defeated. +</P> + +<P> +We understood that they were speaking of Ligny, and that their ideas +were confused. I was ashamed to tell that we were overthrown; I looked +at Buche, and he said: +</P> + +<P> +"We have been betrayed. The traitors revealed our plans. The army was +full of traitors, who cried, 'Sauve qui peut!' How was it possible for +us not to lose, under such circumstances?" +</P> + +<P> +It was the first time I had heard treason spoken of; some of the +wounded, it is true, had said, "We are betrayed," but I had paid no +attention to their words, and when Buche relieved us from our +embarrassment by this means, I was glad of it, though I was astonished. +</P> + +<P> +The people sympathized with us in our indignation against the traitors. +</P> + +<P> +Then we were obliged to explain the battle and the treason. Buche said +the Prussians had fallen upon us through the treason of Marshal Grouchy. +</P> + +<P> +This seemed to me to be going too far, but the peasants in their pity +for us had made us drink again and again, and had given us pipes and +tobacco, and at last I said the same as Buche. It was not till after +we had left the place that the recollection of our shameful falsehoods +made me ashamed of myself, and I said to Buche: +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know, Jean, that our lies about the traitors were not right? +If every one tells as many, we shall all be traitors, and the Emperor +will be the only true man amongst us. It is a disgrace to the country +to say that we have so many traitors; it is not true." +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! bah!" said he. "We have been betrayed; if we had not, the +English and Prussians could never have forced us to retreat." +</P> + +<P> +We did nothing but dispute this point till eight o'clock in the +evening. By this time we had reached a village called Bouvigny. +</P> + +<P> +We were so tired that our legs were as stiff as stakes, and for a long +while we had needed a great deal of courage to take a single step. +</P> + +<P> +We were certain that the Prussians were no longer near, and as I had +money we went into an inn and asked for a bed. +</P> + +<P> +I took out a six-franc piece in order to let them see that we could +pay. I had resolved to change my uniform the next day, to leave my gun +and knapsack and cartridge-box here and to go home, for I believed that +the war was over, and I rejoiced in the midst of my misfortunes that I +had escaped with my arms and legs. +</P> + +<P> +Buche and I slept that night in a little room, with a Holy Virgin and +infant Jesus in a niche between the curtains over our heads, and we +rested like the blessed in heaven. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning, instead of keeping on our way, we were so glad to sit +on a comfortable chair in the kitchen, to stretch our legs and smoke +our pipes as we watched the kettles boiling, that we said, "Let us stay +quietly here. To-morrow we shall be well rested, and we will buy two +pairs of linen pantaloons, and two blouses, we will cut two good sticks +from a hedge, and go home by easy stages." +</P> + +<P> +The thought of these pleasant plans touched us. And it was from this +inn that I wrote to Catherine and Aunt Grédel and Mr. Goulden. I wrote +only a word: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"I have escaped, let us thank God, I am coming, I embrace you a +thousand times with all my heart. +<BR><BR> +"JOSEPH BERTHA." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I thanked God as I wrote, but a great many things were to happen before +I should mount our staircase at the corner of the rue Fouquet opposite +the "Red Ox." When one has been taken by conscription he must not be +in a hurry to write that he is released. That happiness does not +depend upon us, and the best will in the world helps nothing. +</P> + +<P> +I sent off my letter by the post, and we stayed all that day at the inn +of the "Golden Sheep." +</P> + +<P> +After we had eaten a good supper, we went up to our beds, and I said to +Buche, "Ha! Jean, to do what you please is quite a different thing +from being forced to respond to the roll-call." +</P> + +<P> +We both laughed in spite of the misfortunes of the country, of course +without thinking, otherwise we should have been veritable rascals. +</P> + +<P> +For the second time we went to sleep in our good bed, when about one +o'clock in the morning we were wakened in a most extraordinary manner: +the drums were beating and we heard men marching all over the village. +</P> + +<P> +I pushed Jean, and he said, "I hear it, the Prussians are outside." +</P> + +<P> +You cannot imagine our terror, but it was much worse a moment after; +some one knocked at the door of the inn, and it opened; in a moment the +great hall was full of people. Some one came up the stairs. We had +both got up, and Buche said, "I shall defend myself if they try to take +me." +</P> + +<P> +I dared not think what I was going to do. +</P> + +<P> +We were almost dressed, and I was hoping to escape in the darkness +without being recognized, when suddenly there was a knock at the door +and a shout, "Open." +</P> + +<P> +We were obliged to open it. +</P> + +<P> +An infantry officer, wet through by the rain, with his great blue cloak +thrown over his epaulettes, followed by an old sergeant with a lantern, +came in. +</P> + +<P> +We recognized them as Frenchmen, and the officer asked brusquely, +"Where do you come from?" +</P> + +<P> +"From Mont-St.-Jean, lieutenant," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"From what regiment are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"From the Sixth light infantry," I answered. +</P> + +<P> +He looked at the number on my shako, which was lying on the table, and +at the same time I saw that his number was also the Sixth. +</P> + +<P> +"From which battalion are you?" said he, knitting his brows. +</P> + +<P> +"The third." +</P> + +<P> +Buche, pale as ashes, did not say a word. The officer looked at our +guns and knapsacks and cartridge-boxes behind the bed in the corner. +</P> + +<P> +"You have deserted," said he. +</P> + +<P> +"No, lieutenant, we left, the last ones, at eight o'clock, from +Mont-St.-Jean." +</P> + +<P> +"Go downstairs, we will see if that is true." +</P> + +<P> +We went downstairs. The officer followed us, and the sergeant went +before with his lantern. +</P> + +<P> +The great hall below was full of officers of the 12th mounted +chasseurs, and of the 6th light infantry. The commandant of the 4th +battalion of the 6th was promenading up and down, smoking a little +wooden pipe. They were all of them wet through and covered with mud. +</P> + +<P> +The officers said a few words to the commandant, who stopped, and fixed +his black eyes upon us, while his crooked nose turned down into his +gray mustache. +</P> + +<P> +His manner was not very gentle as he asked us half a dozen questions +about our departure from Ligny, the road to Quatre-Bras, and the +battle. He winked and compressed his lips. The others walked up and +down dragging their sabres without listening to us. At last the +commandant said, "Sergeant, these men will join the second company; go!" +</P> + +<P> +He took his pipe again from the edge of the mantel, and we went out +with the sergeant, happy enough to get off so easily, for they might +have shot us as deserters before the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +We followed the sergeant for two hundred paces to the other end of the +village to a shed. Fires had been lighted farther on in the fields; +men were sleeping under the shed, leaning against the doors of the +stables, and the posts. +</P> + +<P> +A fine rain was falling and the puddles quivered in the gray uncertain +moonlight. We stood up under a part of the roof at the corner of the +old house thinking of our troubles. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of an hour, the drums began to beat with a dull sound; the +men shook the straw from their clothes and we resumed our march. It +was still dark—but we could hear the chasseurs sounding their signal +to mount, behind us. +</P> + +<P> +Between three and four in the morning, at dawn, we saw a great many +other regiments, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, on the march like +ourselves by different roads, all the corps of Marshal Grouchy in +retreat! The wet weather, the leaden sky, the long files of weary men, +the disappointment of being retaken, and the thought that so many +efforts and so much bloodshed had only terminated a second time in an +invasion, all this made us hang down our heads. Nothing was heard but +the sound of our own footsteps in the mud. +</P> + +<P> +I could not shake off my sadness for a long time, when a voice near me +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning, Joseph." +</P> + +<P> +I was awakened, and looking at the man who spoke to me, I recognized +the son of Martin the tanner, our neighbor at Pfalzbourg; he was +corporal of the Sixth, and the file-closer, marching with arms at will. +We shook hands. It was a real consolation for me to see some one from +our own place. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of the rain which continued to fall and our great fatigue, we +could talk of nothing but this terrible campaign. +</P> + +<P> +I related the story of the battle of Waterloo, and he told me that the +4th battalion on leaving Fleurus had taken the route toward Wavre with +the whole of Grouchy's corps, and that in the afternoon of the next +day, the 18th, they heard the cannon on their left and that they all +wanted to go in that direction, even the generals, but the marshal +having received positive orders, had continued on the route to Wavre. +It was between six and seven o'clock, before they were convinced that +the Prussians had escaped; then they changed their course to the left +in order to rejoin the Emperor, but unfortunately, it was too late, and +toward midnight they were obliged to take a position in the fields. +</P> + +<P> +Each battalion formed in a square. At three o'clock in the morning the +cannon of the Prussians had awakened the bivouacs, and they had +skirmished until two o'clock in the afternoon, when the order to +retreat reached them. +</P> + +<P> +Again, Martin said they were too late, for a part of the enemy's force +which had been engaged with that of the Emperor, was in their rear, and +they were obliged to march all the rest of that day and the night +following in order to escape from their pursuers. +</P> + +<P> +At six o'clock the battalion had taken a position near the village of +Temploux, and at ten the Prussians came up in superior force. They +opposed them in the most vigorous manner in order to give the baggage +and artillery time to get over the bridge at Namur. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the whole army corps had escaped from the village except +the 4th battalion which, through a mistake of the commandant, had +turned off the road at the left, and was obliged to throw itself into +the Sambre in order to escape being cut off. Some of the men were +taken prisoners and some were drowned in trying to swim across the +river. +</P> + +<P> +This was all that Martin told me; he had no news from home. +</P> + +<P> +That same day we passed through Givet; the battalion bivouacked near +the village of Hierches half a league farther on. The next day we +passed through Fumay and Rocroy, and slept at Bourg-Fidèles, the 23d of +June at Blombay, the 24th at Saulsse-Lenoy—where we heard of the +abdication of the Emperor—and the days following at Vitry, near +Rheims, at Jonchery, and at Soissons. From there the battalion took +the route toward Ville-Cotterets, but the enemy was already before us, +and we changed our course to Ferté-Milon, and bivouacked at Neuchelles, +a village destroyed by the invasion of 1814, and which had not yet been +rebuilt. We left that place on the 29th, about one o'clock in the +morning, passing through Meaux. +</P> + +<P> +Here we were obliged to take the road to Laguy, because the Prussians +occupied that which led to Claye. We marched all that day and the +night following. +</P> + +<P> +On the 30th, at five in the morning, we were at the bridge of +Saint-Maur. +</P> + +<P> +The same day we passed outside of Paris and bivouacked in a place rich +in everything, called Vaugirard. +</P> + +<P> +The 1st of July we reached Meudon, a superb place. We could see by the +walled gardens and orchards, and by the size and good condition of the +houses, that we were in the suburbs of the most beautiful city in the +world, and yet we were in the midst of the greatest danger and +suffering, and our hearts bled in consequence. +</P> + +<P> +The people were kind and friendly to the soldiers, and called us the +defenders of the country, and even the poorest were willing to go to +battle with us. +</P> + +<P> +We left our position at eleven o'clock in the evening of the 1st of +July, and went to St. Cloud, which is nothing but palace upon palace, +and garden upon garden, with great trees, and magnificent alleys, and +everything that is beautiful. At six o'clock we quitted St. Cloud to +go back to our position at Vaugirard. +</P> + +<P> +The most startling rumors filled the city. The Emperor had gone to +Rochefort—they said; the King was coming back—Louis the XVIII. was +<I>en route</I>—and so forth. +</P> + +<P> +They knew nothing certain in the city, where they should soonest know +everything. +</P> + +<P> +The enemy attacked us in the suburbs of Issy about one o'clock in the +afternoon, and we fought till midnight for our capital. +</P> + +<P> +The people aided as much as possible; they carried off the wounded from +under the enemy's fire; even the women took pity on us. +</P> + +<P> +What we suffered from being driven to this, I cannot describe. I have +seen Buche himself cry because we were in one sense dishonored. I +wished I had never seen that time. Twelve days before I did not know +that France was so beautiful. But on seeing Paris with its towers and +its innumerable palaces extending as far as the horizon, I thought, +"This is France, these are the treasures that our fathers have amassed +during century after century. What a misfortune that the English and +Prussians should ever come here." +</P> + +<P> +At four in the morning we attacked the Prussians with new fury, and +retook the positions we had lost the day before. Then it was that some +generals came and announced a suspension of hostilities. This took +place on the 3d of July, 1815. +</P> + +<P> +We thought that this suspension was to give notice to the enemy, that +if he did not quit our country, France would rise as one man, and crush +them all as she did in '92. These were our opinions, and seeing that +the people were on our side, I remembered the general levies which Mr. +Goulden was always talking about. +</P> + +<P> +But unhappily a great many were so tired of Napoleon and his soldiers, +that they sacrificed the country itself, in order to be rid of him. +They laid all the blame on the Emperor, and said, if it had not been +for him, our enemies would never have had the force or the courage to +attack us, that he had exhausted our resources, and that the Prussians +themselves would give us more liberty than he had done. +</P> + +<P> +The people talked like Mr. Goulden, but they had neither guns nor +cartridges, their only weapons were pikes. +</P> + +<P> +On the 4th, while we were thinking of these things, they announced to +us the armistice, by which the Prussians and English were to occupy the +barriers of Paris, and the French army was to retire beyond the Loire. +</P> + +<P> +When we heard this, our indignation was so great that we were furious. +Some of the soldiers broke their guns, and others tore off their +uniforms, and everybody exclaimed, "We are betrayed, we are given up." +The old officers were quiet, but they were pale as death, and the tears +ran down their cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +Nobody could pacify us, we had fallen below contempt, we were a +conquered people. +</P> + +<P> +For thousands of years it would be said, that Paris had been taken by +the Prussians and the English. It was an everlasting disgrace, but the +shame did not rest on us. +</P> + +<P> +The battalion left Vaugirard at five o'clock in the afternoon to go to +Montrouge. When we saw that the movement toward the Loire had +commenced, each one said, "What are we then? Are we subjects to the +Prussians? because they want to see us on the other side of the Loire, +are we forced to gratify them? No, no! that cannot be. Since they +have betrayed us, let us go! All this is none of our concern any +longer. We have done our duty, but we will not obey Blücher!" +</P> + +<P> +The desertion commenced that very night; all the soldiers went, some to +the right and some to the left; men in blouses and poor old women tried +to take us with them through the wilderness of streets, and endeavored +to console us, but we did not need consolation. I said to Buche: "Let +us leave the whole thing, and return to Pfalzbourg and Harberg, let us +go back to our trades and live like honest people. If the Austrians +and Russians come there, the mountaineers and villagers will know how +to defend themselves. We shall need no great battles to destroy +thousands of them, let us go!" +</P> + +<P> +There were fifteen of us from Lorraine in the battalion, and we all +left Montrouge, where the headquarters were, together; we passed +through Ivry and Bercy, both places of great beauty, but our trouble +prevented us from seeing a quarter of what we should have done. Some +kept their uniforms, while others had only their cloaks, and the rest +had bought blouses. +</P> + +<P> +We found the road to Strasbourg at last, in the rear of St. Mandé, near +a wood to the left of which we could see some high towers, which they +told us was the fortress of Vincennes. +</P> + +<P> +From this place, we regularly made our twelve leagues a day. +</P> + +<P> +On the 8th of July we learned that Louis XVIII. was to be restored, and +that Monseigneur le Comte d'Artois would secure his salvation. All the +wagons and boats and diligences already carried the white flag, and +they were singing "Te Deums" in all the villages through which we +passed; the mayors and their assistants and the councillors all praised +and glorified God for the return of "Louis the well-beloved." +</P> + +<P> +The scoundrels called us "Bonapartists," as they saw us pass, and even +set their dogs on us. +</P> + +<P> +But I do not like to speak of them; such people are the disgrace of the +human race. +</P> + +<P> +We replied only by contemptuous glances, which made them still more +insolent and furious. +</P> + +<P> +Some of them flourished their sticks, as much as to say,—"If we had +you in a corner, you would be as meek as lambs." +</P> + +<P> +The gendarmes upheld these <I>Pinacles</I> and we were arrested in three or +four places. They demanded our papers and took us before the mayor, +and the rascals forced us to shout "<I>Vive le Roi!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +It was shameful, and the old soldiers rather than do it allowed +themselves to be taken to prison. Buche wanted to follow their +example, but I said to him, "What harm will it do us to shout Vive Jean +Claude, or Vive Jean Nicholas? All these kings and emperors, old and +new, would not give a hair of their heads to save our lives, and shall +we go and break our necks in order to shout one thing rather than +another? No, it does not concern us, and if people will be so stupid, +as long as we are not the strongest, we must satisfy them. By and by, +they will shout something else, and afterward still something else. +Everything changes—nothing but good sense and good will remain." +</P> + +<P> +Buche did not want to understand this reasoning, but when the gendarmes +came, he submitted notwithstanding. +</P> + +<P> +As we went along, one after another of our little party would drop off +in his own village, till at last no one was left but Toul, Buche, and I. +</P> + +<P> +We saw the saddest sight of all, and this was the crowds of Germans and +Russians in Lorraine and Alsace. They were drilling at Luneville, at +Blamont, and at Sarrebourg, with oak branches in their wretched shakos. +What vexation to see such savages living in luxury at the expense of +our peasants. +</P> + +<P> +Father Goulden was right when he said that military glory costs very +dear. I only hope the Lord will save us from it for ages to come! +</P> + +<P> +At last, on the 16th July, 1815, about eleven o'clock in the morning, +we reached Mittelbronn, the last village on that side, before reaching +Pfalzbourg. The siege was raised after the armistice, and the whole +country was full of Cossacks, Landwehr,[<A NAME="chap22fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap22fn1">1</A>] +and Kaiserlichs.[<A NAME="chap22fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap22fn2">2</A>] Their +batteries were still in position around the town, though they no longer +discharged them; the gates were open, and the people went out and in to +secure their crops. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap22fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap22fn2"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap22fn1text">1</A>] German militiamen. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap22fn2text">2</A>] German imperial troops. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There was great need of the wheat and rye, and you can imagine the +suffering it caused us, to feed so many thousands of useless beings, +who denied themselves nothing, and who wanted bacon and schnapps every +day. +</P> + +<P> +Before every door and at every window there was nothing to be seen but +their flat noses, their long filthy yellow beards, their white coats +filled with vermin, and their low shakos, looking out at you, as they +smoked their pipes in idleness and drunkenness. We were obliged to +work for them, and at last honest people were compelled to give them +two thousand millions of francs more to induce them to go away. +</P> + +<P> +How many things I might say against these lazybones from Russia and +Germany, if we had not done ten times worse in their country. You can +each one make reflections for yourself, and imagine the rest. +</P> + +<P> +At Heitz's inn I said to Buche, "Let's stop here. My legs are giving +out." +</P> + +<P> +Mother Heitz, who was then still a young woman, threw up her hands and +exclaimed, "My God! there is Joseph Bertha! God in heaven! what a +surprise for the town!" +</P> + +<P> +I went in, sat down and leaned my head on a table and wept without +restraint. +</P> + +<P> +Mother Heitz ran down to the cellar to bring a bottle of wine, and I +heard Buche sobbing in the corner. Neither of us could speak for +thinking of the joy of our friends. The sight of our own country had +upset us, and we rejoiced to think that our bones would one day rest +peacefully in the village cemetery. Meanwhile we were going to embrace +those we loved best in the world. +</P> + +<P> +When we had recovered a little, I said to Buche: +</P> + +<P> +"Jean, you must go on before me, so that my wife and Mr. Goulden may +not be too much surprised. You will tell them that you saw me the day +after the battle, and that I was not wounded, and then you must say, +you met me again in the suburbs of Paris, and even on the way home, and +at last, that you think I am not far behind, that I am coming—you +understand." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I understand," said he, getting up after having emptied his +glass, "and I will do the same thing for grandmother, who loves me more +than she does the other boys; I will send some one on before me." +</P> + +<P> +He went out at once, and I waited a few minutes; Mother Heitz talked to +me but I did not listen; I was thinking how far Buche had gone; I saw +him near the ford, at the outworks, and at the gate. Suddenly I went +out, saying to Mother Heitz, "I will pay you another time." +</P> + +<P> +I began to run; I partly remember having met three or four persons, who +said, "Ah! that is Joseph Bertha!" But I am not sure of that. +</P> + +<P> +All at once, without knowing how, I sprang up the stairs, and then I +heard a great cry—Catherine was in my arms. +</P> + +<P> +My head swam—in a minute after I seemed to come out of a dream; I saw +the room, Mr. Goulden, Jean Buche, and Catherine; and I began to sob so +violently, that you would have thought some great misfortune had +happened. I held Catherine on my knee and kissed her, and she cried +too. After a long while I exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, pardon me! I ought to have embraced you, my father! +whom I love as I do myself!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know it, Joseph," said he with emotion, "I know it, I am not +jealous." And he wiped his eyes. "Yes—yes—love—and family and then +friends. It is quite natural, my child, do not trouble yourself about +that." +</P> + +<P> +I got up and pressed him to my heart. +</P> + +<P> +The first word Catherine said to me was, "Joseph, I knew you would come +back, I had put my trust in God! Now our worst troubles are over, and +we shall always remain together." +</P> + +<P> +She was still sitting on my knee with her arm on my shoulder, I looked +at her, she dropped her eyes and was very pale. That which we had +hoped for before my departure had come. +</P> + +<P> +We were happy. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goulden smiled as he sat at his workbench—Jean stood up near the +door and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Now I am going, Joseph, to Harberg. Father and grandmother are +waiting for me." +</P> + +<P> +"Stay, Jean, you will dine with us." Mr. Goulden and Catherine urged +him also, but he would not wait. I embraced him on the stairs and felt +that I loved him like a brother. +</P> + +<P> +He came often after that, but never once for thirty years without +stopping with me. Now he lies behind the church at Hommert. He was a +brave man and had a good heart. +</P> + +<P> +But what am I thinking of? I must finish my story, and I have not said +a word of Aunt Grédel, who came an hour afterward. Ah! she threw up +her hands, and she embraced me, exclaiming: +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph! Joseph! you have then escaped everything! let them come now +to take you again! let them come! oh! how I repented of letting you go +away! how I cursed the conscription and all the rest! but here you are! +how good it is! the Lord has had mercy upon us!" +</P> + +<P> +Yes, all these old stories bring the tears to my eyes, when I think of +them; it is like a long forgotten dream, and yet it is real. These +joys and sorrows that we recall, attach us to earth, and though we are +old and our strength is gone and our sight is dim, and we are only the +shadows of ourselves; yet we are never ready to go, we never say, "It +is enough!" +</P> + +<P> +These old memories are always fresh; when we speak of past dangers we +seem to be in the midst of them again; when we recall our old friends, +we again press their hands in imagination, and our beloved is again +seated on our knee, and we look in her face, thinking, "She is +beautiful!" and that which seemed to us just and wise and right in +those old days, seems right and wise and just still. +</P> + +<P> +I remember—and I must here finish my long story—that for many months +and even years there was great sorrow in many families, and nobody +dared to speak openly, or wish for the glory of the country. +</P> + +<P> +Zébédé came back with those who had been disbanded on the other side of +the Loire, but even he had lost his courage. This came from the +vengeance and the condemnations and shootings, massacres and revenge of +every kind which followed our humiliation; from the hundred and fifty +thousand Germans, English, and Russians, who garrisoned our fortresses, +from the indemnities of war, from the thousands of émigrés, from the +forced contributions, and especially from the laws against suspects, +and against sacrilege, and the rights of primogeniture which they +wished to be re-established. +</P> + +<P> +All these things so contrary to reason and to the honor of the nation, +together with the denunciations of the Pinacles and the outrages that +the old revolutionists were made to suffer—altogether these things +have made us melancholy, so that often when we were alone with +Catherine and the little Joseph, whom God had sent to console us for so +many misfortunes, Mr. Goulden would say, pensively: +</P> + +<P> +"Joseph, our unhappy country has fallen very low. When Napoleon took +France she was the greatest, the freest, and most powerful of nations, +all the world admired and envied us, but to-day we are conquered, +ruined, our fortresses are filled with our enemies, who have their feet +on our necks; and what was never before seen since France existed, +strangers are masters of our capital—twice we have seen this in two +years. See what it costs to put liberty, fortune, and honor in the +hands of an ambitious man. We are in a very sad condition, the great +Revolution is believed to be dead, and the Rights of Man are +annihilated. But we must not be discouraged, all this will pass away, +those who oppose liberty and justice will be driven away, and those who +wish to re-establish privileges and titles will be regarded as fools. +The great nation is reposing, is reflecting upon her faults, is +observing those who are leading her contrary to her own interests: she +reads their hearts, and in spite of the Swiss, in spite of the royal +guard, in spite of the Holy Alliance, when once she is weary of her +sufferings she will cast them out some day or other. Then it will be +finished, for France wants liberty, equality, and justice. +</P> + +<P> +"The one thing which we lack is instruction, though the people are +instructing themselves every day, they profit by our experiences, by +our misfortunes. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall not have the happiness, perhaps, of seeing the awakening of +the country, I am too old to hope for it, but you will see it, and the +sight will console you for all your sufferings; you will be proud to +belong to that generous nation which has outstripped all others since +'89; these slight checks are only moments of repose on a long journey." +</P> + +<P> +This excellent man preserved to his last hour his calm confidence. +</P> + +<P> +I have lived to see the accomplishment of his predictions, I have seen +the return of the banner of liberty, I have seen the nation grow in +wealth, in prosperity, and in education. I have seen those who +obstructed justice and who wished to establish the old regime, +compelled to leave. I have seen that mind always progresses, and that +even the peasants are willing to part with their last sou for the good +of their children. +</P> + +<P> +Unfortunately we have not enough schoolmasters. If we had fewer +soldiers and more teachers the work would go on much faster. +But—patience—that will come. +</P> + +<P> +The people begin to understand their rights, they know that war brings +them nothing but increased contributions, and when <I>they</I> shall say, +"Instead of sending our sons to perish by thousands under the sabre and +cannon, we prefer that they should be taught to be men;" who will dare +to oppose them? To-day the people are sovereign! +</P> + +<P> +In this hope, my friends, I embrace you with my whole heart, and bid +you, Adieu! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Waterloo, by Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WATERLOO *** + +***** This file should be named 31289-h.htm or 31289-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/8/31289/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Waterloo + A sequel to The Conscript of 1813 + +Author: Emile Erckmann + Alexandre Chatrian + +Release Date: February 15, 2010 [EBook #31289] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WATERLOO *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The Emperor had left for Paris.] + + + + + +HISTORICAL ROMANCES OF FRANCE + + +WATERLOO + +A SEQUEL TO THE CONSCRIPT OF 1813 + + + +TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF + +ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN + + + + +ILLUSTRATED + + + + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +NEW YORK :::::::::::::::::::::: 1911 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +_The Emperor had left for Paris_ . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +_People were heard shouting, "There it is! there it is!"_ + +_A mounted hussar was looking out into the night_ + +_The Emperor, his hands behind his back and his head bent forward_ + +_He had had the courage to pull up the bucket_ + +_Combat of Hougoumont Farm_ + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + +Often as the campaign of Waterloo has been described by historians and +frequently as it has been celebrated in fiction it has rarely been +narrated from the stand-point of a private soldier participating in it +and telling only what he saw. That this limitation, however, does not +exclude events of the greatest importance and incidents of the most +intensely dramatic interest is abundantly proved by the narrative of +the Conscript who makes another campaign in this volume and describes +it with his customary painstaking fulness and fidelity. But what +renders "Waterloo" still more interesting is the picture it presents of +the state of affairs after the first Bourbon restoration, and its +description of how gradually but surely the way was prepared by the +stupidity of the new _regime_ for that return to power of Napoleon +which seems so dramatically sudden and unexpected to a superficial view +of the events of the time. In this respect "Waterloo" deserves to rank +very high as a chapter of familiar history, or at least of historical +commentary. + + + + +WATERLOO: + +A SEQUEL TO + +THE CONSCRIPT OF 1813 + + +I + +The joy of the people on the return of Louis XVIII., in 1814, was +unbounded. It was in the spring, and the hedges, gardens, and orchards +were in full bloom. The people had for years suffered so much misery, +and had so many times feared being carried off by the conscription +never to return, they were so weary of battles, of the captured cannon, +of all the glory and the Te Deums, that they wished for nothing but to +live in peace and quiet and to rear their families by honest labor. + +Indeed, everybody was content except the old soldiers and the +fencing-masters. + +I well remember how, when on the 3d of May the order came to raise the +white flag on the church, the whole town trembled for fear of the +soldiers of the garrison, and Nicholas Passauf, the slater, demanded +six louis for the bold feat. He was plainly to be seen from every +street with the white silk flag with its "fleur-de-lis," and the +soldiers were shooting at him from every window of the two barracks, +but Passauf raised his flag in spite of them and came down and hid +himself in the barn of the "Trois Maisons," while the marines were +searching the town for him to kill him. + +That was their feeling, but the laborers and the peasants and the +tradespeople with one voice hailed the return of peace and cried, "Down +with the conscription and the right of union." Everybody was tired of +living like a bird on branch and of risking their lives for matters +which did not concern them. + +In the midst of all this joy nobody was so happy as I; the others had +not had the good luck to escape unharmed from the terrible battles of +Weissenfels and Lutzen and Leipzig, and from the horrible typhus. I +had made the acquaintance of glory and that gave me a still greater +love for peace and horror of conscription. + +I had come back to Father Goulden's, and I shall never in my life +forget his hearty welcome, or his exclamation as he took me in his +arms: "It is Joseph! Ah! my dear child, I thought you were lost!" and +we mingled our tears and our embraces together. And then we lived +together again like two friends. He would make me go over our battles +again and again, and laughingly call me "the old soldier." Then he +would tell me of the siege of Pfalzbourg, how the enemy arrived before +the town, in January, and how the old republicans with a few hundred +gunners were sent to mount our cannon on the ramparts, how they were +obliged to eat horseflesh on account of the famine, and to break up the +iron utensils of the citizens to make case-shot and canister. + +Father Goulden, in spite of his threescore years, had aimed the pieces +on the Magazine bastion on the Bichelberg side, and I often imagined I +could see him with his black silk cap and spectacles on, in the act of +aiming a twenty-four pounder. Then this would make us both laugh and +helped to pass away the time. + +We had resumed all our old habits. I laid the table and made the soup. +I was occupying my little chamber again and dreamed of Catherine day +and night. But now, instead of being afraid of the conscription as I +was in 1813, I had something else to trouble me. Man is never quite +happy, some petty misery or other assails him. How often do we see +this in life? My peace was disturbed by this. + +You know I was to marry Catherine; we were agreed, and Aunt Gredel +desired nothing better. Unhappily, however, the conscripts of 1815 +were disbanded, while those of 1813 still remained soldiers. It was no +longer so dangerous to be a soldier as it was under the Empire, and +many of these had returned to their homes and were living quietly, but +that did not prevent the necessity of my having a permit in order to be +married. Mr. Jourdan, the new mayor, would never allow me to register +without this permission, and this made me anxious. + +Father Goulden, as soon as the city gates were opened, had written to +the minister of war, Dupont, that I was at Pfalzbourg and still unwell, +that I had limped from my birth, and that I had in spite of this been +pressed into the service, that I was a poor soldier, but that I could +make a good father of a family, that it would be a real crime to +prevent me from marrying, that I was ill-formed and weak and should be +obliged to go into the hospital, etc. + +It was a beautiful letter, and it told the truth too. The very idea of +going away again made me ill. So we waited from day to day--Aunt +Gredel, Father Goulden, Catherine, and I, for the answer from the +minister. + +I cannot describe the impatience I felt when the postman Brainstein, +the son of the bell-ringer, came into the street. I could hear him +half a mile away, and then I could not go on with my work, but must +lean out of the window and watch him as he went from house to house. +When he would stay a little too long, I would say to myself, "What can +he have to talk about so long? why don't he leave his letters and come +away? he is a regular tattler, that Brainstein!" I was ready to pounce +upon him. Sometimes I ran down to meet him, and would ask, "Have you +nothing for me?" "No, Mr. Joseph," he would reply as he looked over +his letters. Then I would go sadly back, and Father Goulden, who had +been looking on, would say: + +"Have a little patience, child! have patience, it will come. It is not +war time now." + +"But he has had time to answer a dozen times, Mr. Goulden." + +"Do you think he has nobody's affairs to attend to but yours? He +receives hundreds of such letters every day--and each one receives his +answer in his turn. And then everything is in confusion from top to +bottom. Come, come! we are not alone in the world--many other brave +fellows are waiting for their permits to be married." + +I knew he was right, but I said to myself, "If that minister only knew +how happy he would make us by just writing ten words, I am sure he +would do it at once. How we would bless him, Catherine and I, Aunt +Gredel and all of us." But wait we must. + +Of course I had resumed my old habit of going to Quatre Vents on +Sundays. On these mornings I was always awake early--I do not know +what roused me. At first I thought I was a soldier again; this made me +shiver. Then I would open my eyes, look at the ceiling, and think, +"Why you are at home with Father Goulden, at Pfalzbourg, in your own +little room. To-day is Sunday, and you are going to see Catherine." +By this time I was wide awake, and could see Catherine with her +blooming cheeks and blue eyes. I wanted to get up at once and dress +myself and set off. But the clocks had just struck four, and the city +gates were still shut. I was obliged to wait, and this annoyed me very +much. In order to keep patience I began to recall our courtship, +remembering the first days, how we feared the conscription and the +drawing of the unlucky number, with its "fit for service;" the old +guard Werner, at the mayor's, the leave-taking, the journey to Mayence, +and the broad Capougnerstrasse where the good woman gave me a +foot-bath, Frankfort and Erfurth farther on, where I received my first +letter, two days before the battle, the Russians, the +Prussians--everything in fact--and then I would weep, but the thought +of Catherine was always uppermost. + +When the clock struck five I jumped from my bed, washed and shaved and +dressed myself, then Father Goulden, still behind his big curtains, +would put out his nose and say: + +"I hear you! I hear you! You have been rolling and tumbling for the +last half hour. Ha! ha! it is Sunday to-day." + +He would laugh at his own wit, and I laughed with him, and would then +bid him good-morning and be down the stairs at a bound. + +Very few people were stirring, but Sepel the butcher would always call +out: "Come here, Joseph, I have something to tell you." But I only +just turned my head, and ten minutes after was on the high-road to +Quatre Vents, outside the city walls. Oh! how fine the weather was +that beautiful year! How green and flourishing everything looked, and +how busy the people were, trying to make up for lost time, planting and +watering their cabbages and turnips, and digging over the ground +trodden down by the cavalry; how confident everybody was too of the +goodness of God, who, they hoped, would send the sun and the rain which +they so much needed. All along the road, in the little gardens, women +and old men, everybody, were at work, digging, planting, and watering. + +"Work away, Father Thiebeau, and you too, Mother Furst. Courage!" +cried I. + +"Yes, yes, Mr. Joseph, there is need enough for that; this blockade has +put everything back, there is no time to lose." + +The roads were filled with carts and wagons, laden with brick and +lumber and materials for repairing the houses and roofs which had been +destroyed by the howitzers. How the whips cracked and the hammers rang +in all the country round! On every side carpenters and masons were +seen busily at work on the summer houses. Father Ulrich and his three +boys were already on the roof of the "Flower Basket," which had been +broken to pieces by the balls, strengthening the new timbers, whistling +and hammering in concert. What a busy time it was, indeed, when peace +returned! They wanted no more war then. They knew the worth of +tranquillity, and only asked to repair their losses as far as possible. +They knew that a stroke of a saw or a plane was of more value than a +cannon-shot, and how many tears and how much fatigue it would cost to +rebuild even in ten years, that which the bombs had destroyed in ten +minutes. Oh! how happy I was as I went along. No more marches and +counter-marches; I did not need the countersign from Sergeant Pinto +where I was going! And how sweetly the lark sang as it soared +tremblingly upward, and the quails whistled and linnets twittered. The +sweet freshness of the morning, the fragrant eglantine in the hedges, +urged me on till I caught sight of the gable of the old roof of Quatre +Vents, and the little chimney with its wreath of smoke. "'Tis +Catherine who made the fire," I thought, "and she is preparing our +coffee." Then I would moderate my steps in order to get my breath a +little, while I scanned the little windows and laughed with anticipated +pleasure. The door opens, and Mother Gredel, with her woollen +petticoat and a big broom in her hand, turns round and exclaims: "Here +he is! here he is!" Then Catherine runs up, always more and more +beautiful, with her little blue cap, and says: "Ah! that is good; I was +expecting thee!" How happy she is, and how I embrace her! Ah! to be +young! I see it all again! + +I go into the old room with Catherine, and Aunt Gredel flourishes her +broom and exclaims energetically: "No more conscription--that is done +with!" We laugh heartily and sit down, and while Catherine looks at +me, aunt commences again: + +"That beggar of a minister, has he not written yet? Will he never +write, I wonder? Does he take us for brutes? It is very disagreeable +always to be ordered about. Thou art no longer a soldier, since they +left thee for dead. We saved thy life, and thou art nothing to them +now." + +"Certainly, you are right, Aunt Gredel," I would say; "but for all that +we cannot be married without going to the mayor--without a permit--and +if we do not go to the mayor, the priest will not dare to marry us at +the church." + +Then aunt would be very grave, and always ended by saying: "You see, +Joseph, that all those people from first to last have fixed everything +to suit themselves. Who pays the guards, and the judges, and the +priests, and who is it that pays everybody? It is we! and yet they +dare not marry us. It is shameful; and if it goes on, we will go to +Switzerland and be married." This would calm us, and we would spend +the rest of the day in singing and laughing. + + + + +II + +In spite of my great impatience every day brought something new, and it +comes back to me now like the comedies that are played at the fairs. +The mayors and their assistants, the municipal counsellors, the grain +and wood merchants, the foresters and field-guards, and all those +people who had been for ten years regarded as the best friends of the +Emperor, and had been very severe if any one said a word against his +majesty, turned round and denounced him as a tyrant and usurper, and +called him "the ogre of Corsica." You would have thought that Napoleon +had done them some great injury, when the fact was that they and their +families had always had the best offices. + +I have often thought since, that this is the way the good places are +obtained under all governments, and still I should be ashamed to abuse +those who could not defend themselves, and whom I had a thousand times +flattered. I should prefer to remain poor and work for a living rather +than to gain riches and consideration by such means. But such are men! +And I ought to remember too, that our old mayor and three or four of +the counsellors did not follow this example, and Mr. Goulden said that +at least they respected themselves, and that the brawlers had no honor. + +I remember how, one day, the Mayor of Hacmatt had come to have his +watch put in order at our shop, when he commenced to talk against the +Emperor in such a way that Father Goulden, rising suddenly, said to him: + +"Here, take your watch, Mr. Michael, I will not work for you. What! +only last year you called him constantly 'the great man.' And you +never could call him Emperor simply, but must add, Emperor and King, +protector of the Helvetic Confederation, etc., while your mouth was +full of beef; now you say he is an ogre, and you call Louis XVIII., +'Louis the well-beloved!' You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Do you +take people for brutes? and do you think they have no memories?" + +Then the mayor replied, "It is plain to be seen that you are an old +Jacobin." + +"What I am is nobody's business," replied Father Goulden, "but in any +case I am not a slanderer." He was pale as death, and ended by saying, +"Go, Mr. Michael, go! beggars are beggars under all governments." + +He was so indignant that day he could hardly work, and would jump up +every minute and exclaim: + +"Joseph, I did like those Bourbons, but this crowd of beggars has +disgusted me with them already. They are the kind of people who spoil +everything, for they declare everything perfect, beautiful, and +magnificent; they see no defect in anything, they raise their hands to +heaven in admiration if the king but coughs. They want their part of +the cake. And then, seeing their delight, kings and emperors end by +believing themselves gods, and when revolutions come, these rascals +abandon them, and begin to play the same role under some one else. In +this way they are always at the top, while honest people are always in +trouble." + +This was about the beginning of May, and it had been announced that the +King had just made his solemn entry into Paris, attended by the +marshals of the Empire, that nearly all the population had come out to +meet him, and that old men and women and little children had climbed +upon the balconies to catch a glimpse of him, and that he had at first +entered the church of Notre Dame to give thanks to God, and immediately +after retired to the Tuileries. + +It was announced also that the Senate had pronounced a high-sounding +address, assuring him there need be no alarm on account of all the +disturbances, urging him to take courage and promising the support of +the senators in case of any difficulties. + +Everybody approved this address. But we were soon to have a new sight, +we were to witness the return of the _emigres_ from the heart of +Germany and from Russia. Some returned by the government vessels, and +some in simple "salad baskets," a kind of wicker carriage, on two and +four wheels. The ladies wore dresses with immense flower patterns, and +the men wore the old French coats and short breeches, and waistcoats +hanging down to the thighs, as they are represented in the fashions of +the time of the Republic. + +All these people were apparently proud and happy to see their country +once more. In spite of the miserable beasts which dragged their +wretched wagons filled with straw, and the peasants who served as +postilions--in spite of all this, I was moved with compassion as I +recalled the joy I felt five months before on seeing France again, and +I said to myself: + +"Poor people! they will weep on beholding Paris again, they are going +to be happy!" + +They all stopped at the "Red Ox," the hotel of the old ambassadors and +marshals and princes and dukes and rich people, who no longer +patronized it, and we could see them in the rooms brushing their own +hair, dressing and shaving themselves. + +About noon they all came down, shouting and calling "John!" "Claude!" +"Germain!" with great impatience, and ordering them about like +important personages, and seating themselves around the great tables, +with their old servants all patched up and standing behind them with +their napkins under their arms. These people with their old-fashioned +clothes, and their fine manners and happy air, made a very good +appearance, and we said to ourselves: "There are the Frenchmen +returning from exile; they did wrong to go, and to excite all Europe +against us, but there is mercy for every sin; may they be well and +happy! That is the worst we wish them." + +Some of these _emigres_ returned by post, and then our new mayor, Mr. +Jourdan, chevalier de St. Louis, the vicar, Mr. Loth, and the new +commandant, Mr. Robert de la Faisanderie, in his embroidered uniform, +would wait for them at the gate, and when they heard the postilion's +whip crack they would go forward, smiling as if some great good fortune +had arrived, and the moment the coach stopped, the commandant would run +and open it, shouting most enthusiastically. + +At other times they would stand quite still to show their respect; I +have seen these people salute each other three times in succession, +slowly and gravely, each time approaching a little nearer to each other. + +Father Goulden would laugh and say: "Do you see, Joseph, that is the +grand style--the style of the nobles of the _ancien regime_; by just +looking out of the window we can learn fine manners which may serve us +when we get to be dukes and princes." Again it would be: "Those old +fellows, there, Joseph, fired away at us from the lines at Wissembourg, +they were good riders and they fought well, as all Frenchmen do, but we +routed them after all." + +Then he would wink and go back laughing to his work. But the rumor +spread among the servants of the "Red Ox," that these people did not +hesitate to say that they had conquered _us_, and that they were our +masters; that King Louis XVIII. had always reigned since Louis XVII., +son of Louis XVI.; that we were rebels, and that they had come to +restore us to order. + +Father Goulden did not relish this, and said to me in an ill-humored +way: "Do you know, Joseph, what these people are going to do in Paris? +they are going to demand the restoration of their ponds and their +forests, their parks and their chateaux, and their pensions, not to +speak of the fat offices and honors and favors of every kind. You +think their coats and perukes very old-fashioned, but their notions are +still older than their coats and perukes. They are more dangerous for +us than the Russians or the Austrians, because they are going away, but +these people are going to remain. They would like to destroy all we +have done for the last twenty-five years. You see how proud they are; +though many of them lived in the greatest misery on the other side of +the Rhine, yet they think they are of a different race from ours--a +superior race; they believe the people are always ready to let +themselves be fleeced as they were before '89. They say Louis XVIII. +has good sense; so much the better for him, for if he is unfortunate +enough to listen to these people, if they imagine even that he can act +upon their advice, all is lost. There will be civil war. The people +have _thought_, during the last twenty-five years. They know their +rights, and they know that one man is as good as another, and that all +their 'noble races' are nonsense. Each one will keep his property, +each one will have equal rights and will defend himself to the death." +That is what Father Goulden said to me, and as my permit never came, I +thought the minister had no time to answer our demands with all these +counts and viscounts, these dukes and marquises at his back, who were +clamoring for their woods and their ponds and their fat offices. I was +indignant. + +"Great God," I cried, "what misery! as soon as one misfortune is over +another begins! and it is always the innocent who suffer for the faults +of the others! O God! deliver us from the _nobles_, old and new! +Crown them with blessings, but let them leave us in peace!" + +One morning Aunt Gredel came in to see us; it was on Friday and +market-day. She brought her basket on her arm and seemed very happy. +I looked toward the door, thinking that Catherine was coming too, and I +said: "Good-morning, Aunt Gredel; Catherine is in town, she is coming +too?" + +"No! Joseph, no; she is at Quatre Vents. We are over our ears in work +on account of the planting." + +I was disappointed and vexed too, for I had anticipated seeing her. +But Aunt Gredel put her basket on the table, and said as she lifted up +the cover: + +"Look! here is something for you, Joseph, something from Catherine." + +There was a great bouquet of May roses, violets, and three beautiful +lilacs with their green leaves around the edge. The sight of this made +me happy, and I laughed and said: "How sweetly it smells." And Father +Goulden turned round and laughed too, saying: + +"You see, Joseph, they are always thinking of you!" + +And we all laughed together. My good-humor had returned, and I kissed +Aunt Gredel and told her to take it to Catherine from me. + +Then I put my bouquet in a vase on the window-sill by my bedside, and +thought of Catherine going out in the early morning to gather the +violets and the fresh roses and adding one after the other in the dew, +putting in the lilacs last, and the odor seemed still more delightful. +I could not look at them enough. I left them on the window-sill, +thinking: + +"I shall enjoy them through the night, and shall give them fresh water +in the morning, and the next day after will be Sunday and I shall see +Catherine and thank her with a kiss." + +I went back into the room, where Aunt Gredel was talking to Father +Goulden about the markets and the price of grain, etc., both in the +best of humor. Aunt put her basket on the ground and said: + +"Well, Joseph, your permit has not come yet?" + +"No! not yet, and it is terrible!" + +"Yes," she replied, "the ministers are all alike, one is no better than +another; they take the worst and laziest to fill that place." + +Then she went on: "Make yourself easy, I have a plan which will change +all that." She laughed, and as Father Goulden and I listened to hear +her plan, she continued: + +"Just now while I was at the town-hall, Sergeant Harmantier announced +that we were to have a grand mass for the repose of the souls of Louis +XVI., Pichegru, Moreau, and--another one." + +"Yes," interrupted Father Goulden, "for George Cadoudal,--I read it +last evening in the gazette." + +"That is it, of Cadoudal," said Aunt Gredel. "You see, Joseph, hearing +that, I thought at once, 'now we will have the permit.' We are going +to have processions and atonements, and we will all go together, +Joseph, Catherine, and I. We shall be the first, and everybody will +say, 'They are good royalists, they are well disposed.' The priest +will hear of it. Now the priests have long arms, as in the time of the +generals and colonels,--we will go and see him, he will receive us +favorably, and will even make a petition for us. And I tell you this +will succeed, we shall not fail this time." + +She spoke quite low as she explained all this, and seemed well +satisfied with her ingenuity. I felt happy too, and thought, "That is +what we must do, Aunt Gredel is right." But on looking at Father +Goulden, I saw he was very grave, and that he had turned away and was +looking at a watch through his glass, and knitting his big white +eyebrows. So, knowing he was not pleased, I said: + +"I think myself, that would succeed, but before we do anything I would +like to have Father Goulden's opinion." + +Then he turned round and said: + +"Every one is free, Joseph, to follow his own conscience. To make an +expiation for the death of Louis XVI. is all very well; honest people +of all parties will have nothing to say, if they are royalists, of +course; but if you kneel from self-interest, you had better stay at +home. As for Louis XVI., I will let him pass, but for Pichegru, +Moreau, and Cadoudal,--that is altogether another thing. Pichegru +surrendered his troops to the enemy, Moreau fought against France, and +George Cadoudal was an assassin,--three kinds of ambitious men, who +asked for nothing but to oppress us, and all three deserved their fate. +_That_ is what I think." + +"But what has all that to do with us, pray?" exclaimed Aunt Gredel. +"We will not go for them, we will go to get our permit. I despise all +the rest, and so does Joseph, do you not?" + +I was greatly embarrassed, for what Father Goulden said seemed to me to +be right, and he, seeing this, said: + +"I understand the love of young people, Mother Gredel, but we must not +use such means to induce a young man to sacrifice what he thinks is +right. If Joseph does not hold the same opinion as I do of Pichegru +and Moreau and Cadoudal, very well, let him go to the procession. I +shall not reproach him for it, but as for me, I shall not go." + +"I shall not go either. Mr. Goulden is right," I replied. + +I saw Aunt Gredel was displeased, she turned quite red, but was calm +again in a moment, and added: + +"Very well! Catherine and I will go, because we mock at all those old +notions." + +Father Goulden could not help smiling as he saw her anger. + +"Yes, everybody is free," said he, "to do as he pleases, so do as you +like." + +Aunt Gredel took up her basket and went away, and he laughed and made a +sign to me to go with her. I very quickly had my coat on and overtook +her at the corner of the street. + +"Listen, Joseph," said she, as she went toward the square, "Father +Goulden is an excellent man, but he is an old fool! He has never since +I knew him been satisfied with anything. He does not say so, but the +Republic is always in his head. He thinks of nothing but his old +Republic, when everybody was a sovereign--beggars, tinkers, +soap-boilers, Jews, and Christians. There is no sense in it. But what +are we to do? If he were not such an excellent man I would not care +for him, but we must remember he has taught you a good trade, and done +us all many favors, and we owe him great respect, that is why I hurried +away, for I was inclined to be angry." + +"You did right," I said, "I love Father Goulden like my father, and you +like my mother, and nothing could give me so much pain as to see you +angry with one another." + +"I quarrel with a man like him!" said Aunt Gredel. "I would rather +jump out of the window. No, no, but we need not listen to all he says, +for I insist that this procession is a good thing for us, that the +priest will get the permit for us, and that is the principal thing. +Catherine and I will go, and as Mr. Goulden will stay at home, you had +best stay too. But I am certain that three-fourths of the town and +country round will go, and whether it be for Moreau or Pichegru or +Cadoudal it is of no consequence. It will be very fine. You will see!" + +"I believe you," I answered. + +We had reached the German gate; I kissed her again, and went back quite +happy to my work. + + + + +III + +I recollect this visit of Aunt Gredel because eight days after the +processions and atonements and sermons commenced, and did not end till +the return of the Emperor in 1815, and then they commenced again and +continued till the fall of Charles X. in 1830. Everybody who was then +alive knows there was no end to them. So when I think of Napoleon, I +hear the cannon of the arsenal thunder and the panes of our windows +rattle, and Father Goulden cries out from his bed: "Another victory, +Joseph! Ha! ha! ha! Always victories." And when I think of Louis +XVIII., I hear the bells ring and I imagine Father Brainstein and his +two big boys hanging to the ropes, and I hear Father Goulden laugh and +say: "That, Joseph, is for Saint Magloire or Saint Polycarp." + +I cannot think of those days in any other way. + +Under the Empire I see too at nightfall, Father Coiffe, Nicholas Rolfo, +and five or six other veterans, loading their cannon for the evening +salute of twenty-one guns, while half of Pfalzbourg stand on the +opposite bastion looking at the red light, and smoke, and watching the +wads as they fall into the moat; then the illuminations at night and +the crackers and rockets, I hear the children cry _Vive l'Empereur_, +and then some days after, the death notices and the conscription. +Under Louis XVIII. I see the altars and the peasants with their carts +full of moss and broom and young pines; the ladies coming out of their +houses with great vases of flowers; people carrying their chandeliers +and crucifixes, and then the processions--the priest and his vicars, +the choir boys and Jacob Cloutier, Purrhus, and Tribou, the singers; +the beadle Koekli, with his red robe and his banner which swept the +skies, the bells ringing their full peals; Mr. Jourdan, the new mayor, +with his great red face, his beautiful uniform with his cross of St. +Louis, and the commandant with his three-cornered hat under his arm, +his great peruke frosted with powder, and his uniform glittering in the +sunshine, and behind them the town council, and the innumerable +torches, which they lighted for each other as the wind blew them out; +the Swiss, Jean-Peter Siroti, with his blue beard closely shaven and +his splendid hat pointing across his shoulders, his broad white silk +shoulder-belt sprinkled with fleur-de-lis across his breast, his +halberd erect, glistening like a plate of silver; the young girls, +ladies, and thousands of country people in their Sunday clothes, +praying in concert with the old people at their head, from each +village, who kept repeating incessantly, "pray for us, pray for us." +With the streets full of leaves and garlands and the white flags in the +windows, the Jews and the Lutherans looking out from their closed +blinds and the sun lighting up the grand sight below. This continued +from 1814 to 1830, except during the hundred days, not to speak of the +missions, the bishop's visits, and other extraordinary ceremonies. I +like best to tell you all this at once, for if I should undertake to +describe one procession after another the story would be too long. + +Well! this commenced the 19th of May, and the same day that Harmentier +announced the grand atonement, there arrived five preachers from Nancy, +young men, who preached during the whole week, from morning until +midnight. This was to prepare for the atonement; nothing else was +talked about in the town, the people were converted, and all the women +and girls went to confession. It was rumored also that the national +property was to be restored, and that the poor men would be separated +from the respectable people by the procession, because the beggars +would not dare to show themselves. You may imagine my chagrin at being +obliged, in spite of myself, to remain among the poor people; but, +thank God! I had nothing to reproach myself with in regard to the +death of Louis XVI., and I had none of the national property, and all I +wanted was permission to marry Catherine. I thought with Aunt Gredel +that Father Goulden was very obstinate, but I never dared to say a word +to him about that. I was very unhappy, the more so, because the people +who came to us to have their watches repaired, respectable citizens, +mayors, foresters, etc., approved of all these sermons, and said that +the like had never been heard. Mr. Goulden always kept on his work +while listening to them, and when it was done he would turn to them and +say, "Here is your watch, Mr. Christopher or Mr. Nicholas; it is so and +so much." He did not seem to be interested in these matters, and it +was only when one and another would speak of the national property, of +the rebellion of twenty-five years, and of expiating past crimes, that +he would take off his spectacles and raise his head to listen, and +would say with an air of surprise, "Pshaw! well! well! that is fine! +that is, Mr. Claude! indeed you astonish me. These young men preach so +well then? Well, if the work were not so pressing, I would go and hear +them. I need instruction also." + +I always kept thinking that he would change his mind, and the next +evening as we were finishing our supper I was happy enough to hear him +say good-humoredly: + +"Joseph, are you not curious to hear these preachers? They tell so +many fine things of them, that I want to hear how it is for myself." + +"Oh! Mr. Goulden, I should like nothing better! but we must lose no +time, for the church is always full by the second stroke of the bell." + +"Very well! let us go," said he, rising and taking down his hat. "I am +curious to see how it is. Those people astonish me. Come!" + +We went out; the moon was shining so brightly that we could recognize +people as easily as in broad daylight. At the corner of the rue +Fouquet we saw that even the steps of the church were already covered +with people. Two or three old women, Annette Petit, Mother Balaie, and +Jeannette Baltzer, with their big shawls wrapped closely round them, +and the long fringes of their bonnets over their eyes, hurried past us, +when Father Goulden exclaimed, "Here are the old women! Ha! ha! ha! +always the same!" + +He laughed, and as he went on said, that since Father Colin's time +there had never been so many people seen at the evening service. I +could not believe that he was speaking of the old landlord of the +"Three Roses," opposite the infantry barracks, so I said: + +"He was a priest, Mr. Goulden?" + +"No, no," he answered smiling, "I mean old Colin. In 1792, when we had +a club in the church, everybody could preach; but Colin spoke best of +all. He had a magnificent voice, and said many forcible and true +things, and the people came from far and near, from Saverne and +Saarburg, and even still farther away to hear him; women and girls, +'citoyennes' as they called them then, filled the choir galleries and +the pews. They wore little cockades in their bonnets, and sang the +'Marseillaise' to arouse the young men. You never saw anything like +it! Annette Petit, Mother Baltzer, and all those whom you see running +before us, with their prayer-books under their arms, were among the +foremost. But they had white teeth and beautiful hair then, and loved +'Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.' Ha! ha! poor Bevel! poor Annette! +Now they are going to repent, though they were good patriots then; I +believe God will pardon them." He laughed as he recalled these old +stories, but when we had reached the steps of the church he grew sober, +and said: + +"Yes--yes--everything changes, everything! I remember the day in '93, +when old Colin spoke of the country being in danger, when three hundred +young men left the country to join the army of Hoche; Colin followed +them, and became their commander. He was a terrible fellow among his +grenadiers. He would not sign the proposition to make Napoleon +emperor,--now he sells over the counter by the glass!" + +Then looking at me as if he were astonished at his own thoughts, he +said, "Let us go in, Joseph." + +We entered under the great pillars of the organ; the crowd was very +great, and he did not say a word more. There were lights burning in +the choir over the heads of the people. The only sound which broke the +silence was the opening and shutting of the doors of the pews. At last +we heard Sirou's halberd on the floor, and Mr. Goulden said, "There he +is!" + +A light near the vessel for the holy water enabled us to see a little. +A shadow mounted to the pulpit at the left, while Koekli lighted two or +three candles with his stick. The preacher might have been twenty-five +or thirty years old, he had a pleasant, rosy face and heavy blonde hair +below his tonsure, that fell in curls over his neck. They commenced by +singing a psalm, the young girls of the village sang in the choir "What +joy to be a Christian." After that the preacher from the desk said, +that he had come to defend the faith, the law, and the "right divine" +of Louis XVIII., and demanded if any one had the audacity to take the +other side. As nobody wished to be stoned, there was a dead silence. +Then a brown, thin man, six feet high with a black cloak on, rose in +one of the pews opposite, and exclaimed: + +"I have! I maintain that faith, religion, and the right of kings, and +all the rest, are nothing but superstitions. I maintain that the +republic is just, and that the worship of reason is worth them all!" +and so on. + +The people were indignant. There never was anything like it! When he +had finished speaking, I looked at Mr. Goulden, who laughed softly, and +said: "Listen! listen!" + +Of course I listened; the young preacher prayed to God for this +infidel, and then he spoke so beautifully that the crowd was entranced. +The big thin man replied, saying, "They had done right to guillotine +Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, and all the family." The indignation +increased, and the men from Bois-de-Chenes, and especially their wives, +wanted to get into the pew to knock him down, but just then Sirou came +up, crying "Room! room!" and old Koekli in his red gown threw himself +before the man, who escaped into the sacristy, raising his hands to +heaven and declaring that he was converted, and that he renounced the +devil and all his works. Then the preacher made a prayer for the soul +of the sinner. It was a real triumph for religion. + +Everybody left about eleven o'clock, and it was announced that there +would be a procession the next day, which was Sunday. + +In consequence of the great crowd, which had pushed us into the corner, +Mr. Goulden and I were among the last to get out, and by the time we +reached the street, the people from Quatre Vents and the other villages +were already beyond the German gate, and nothing was heard in the +streets but the closing of the shutters by the townspeople, and a few +old women talking about the wonderful things they had heard, as they +went home by the rue de l'Arsenal. + +Father Goulden and I walked along in the silence, he with his head bent +down and smiling, though without speaking a word. When we reached home +I lighted the candle, and while he was undressing asked: + +"Well! Father Goulden, did they preach well?" + +"Yes," he replied smiling, "yes, for young men who have seen nothing, +it was not bad." Then he laughed aloud and said, "But if old Colin had +been in the Jacobin's place, he would have puzzled the young man +terribly." I was greatly surprised at that, and as I still waited to +hear what more he had to say, he slowly pulled his black silk cap over +his ears and added thoughtfully, "but it's all the same; all the same. +These people go too fast, much too fast. They will never make me +believe that Louis XVIII. knows about all this. No, he has seen too +much in his life not to know men better than that. But, good-night, +Joseph, good-night. Let us hope that an order will soon arrive from +Paris sending these young men back to their seminary." + +I went to bed and dreamed of Catherine, the Jacobin, and of the +procession we were going to see. + + + + +IV + +Next morning the bells began to ring as soon as it was light. I rose +and opened my shutters and saw the red sun rising from behind the +Magazine, and over the forest of Bonne-Fontaine. It might have been +five o'clock, and you could feel beforehand how hot it was going to be, +and the air was laden with the odor of the oak and beech and holly +leaves which were strewn in the streets. The peasants began to arrive +in companies, talking in the still morning. You could recognize the +villagers from Wechem, from Metting, from the Graufthal and Dasenheim, +by their three-cornered hats turned down in front and their square +coats, and the women with their long black dresses and big bonnets +quilted like a mattress hanging on their necks; and those from +Dagsberg, Hildehouse, Harberg, and Houpe with their large round felt +hats, and the women without bonnets and with short skirts, small, +brown, dry, and quick as powder, with the children behind with their +shoes in their hands, but when they reached Luterspech they sat down in +a row and put them on to be ready for the procession. + +Some priests from the different villages, also came by twos and threes, +laughing and talking among themselves in the best of humor. + +And I thought, as I rested my elbows on the window-sill, that these +people must have risen before midnight to reach here so early in the +morning, and that they must have come over the mountains walking for +hours under the trees, crossing the little bridges in the moonlight; as +I thought this I reflected that religion is a beautiful thing, that the +people in towns do not know what it is, and that for thousands upon +thousands of field laborers and wood-choppers, uncultivated and rude +beings, who at the same time were good and loved their wives and +children and honored their aged parents, supporting them and closing +their eyes in the hope of a better world; this was the only +consolation. And in looking at the crowd, I imagined that Aunt Gredel +and Catherine had the same thoughts, and I was happy to know that they +prayed for me. It grew lighter and lighter, and the bells rang while I +continued to look on. I heard Father Goulden rise and dress himself, +and a few minutes after he came into my chamber in his shirt-sleeves, +and seeing me so thoughtful, he exclaimed: + +"Joseph, the most beautiful thing in the world is the religion of the +people." + +I was quite astonished to hear him express precisely my own thoughts. + +"Yes," he added, "the love of God, the love of country and of family, +are one and the same thing; but it is sad to see the love of country +perverted to satisfy the ambition of a man, and the love of God to +exalt the pride and the desire to rule in a few." + +These words impressed me deeply, and I have often thought since that +they expressed the sad truth. Well! to return to those days, you know +that after the siege we were obliged to work on Sundays, because Mr. +Goulden while serving as a gunner on the ramparts had neglected his +work and we were behindhand. So that on that morning as on the others +I lighted the fire in our little stove and prepared the breakfast; the +windows were open and we could hear the noise from the streets. + +Mr. Goulden leaned out of the window and said: "Look! all the shops +except the inns and the beer-houses are closed!" + +He laughed, and I asked, "Shall we open our shutters, Mr. Goulden?" + +He turned round as if surprised: "Look here, Joseph, I never knew a +better boy than you, but you lack sense. Why should we close our +shutters? Because God created the world in six days and rested the +seventh? But we did not create it ourselves, and we need to work to +live. If we shut our shop from interest and pretend to be saints and +so gain new customers, that will be hypocrisy. You speak sometimes +without thinking." + +I saw at once that I was wrong, and I replied: "Mr. Goulden, we will +leave our windows open and it will be seen that we have watches to +sell, and that will do no harm to any one." + +We were no sooner at table than Aunt Gredel and Catherine came. +Catherine was dressed entirely in black, on account of the service for +Louis XVI. She had a pretty little bonnet of black tulle, and her +dress was very nicely made, and this set off her delicate red and white +complexion and made her look so beautiful that I could hardly believe +that she was Joseph Bertha's beloved; her neck was white as snow, and +had it not been for her lips and her rosy little chin, her blue eyes +and golden hair, I should have thought that it was some one who +resembled her, but who was more beautiful. She laughed when she saw +how much I admired her, and at last I said: "Catherine, you are _too_ +beautiful now; I dare not kiss you." + +"Oh! you need not trouble yourself," said she. + +As she leaned upon my shoulder I gave her a long kiss, so that Aunt +Gredel and Mr. Goulden looked on and laughed, and I wished them far +enough away, that I might tell Catherine that I loved her more and +more, and that I would give my life a thousand times for her; but as I +could not do that before them, I only thought of these things and was +sad. + +Aunt had a black dress on also, and her prayer-book was under her arm. + +"Come, kiss me too, Joseph; you see I too have a black dress, like +Catherine's." + +I embraced her, and Mr. Goulden said, "You will come and dine with +us--that is understood; but, meanwhile you will take something, will +you not?" + +"We have breakfasted," replied Aunt Gredel. + +"That is nothing; God knows when this procession will end, you will be +all the time on your feet, and will need something to sustain you." + +Then they sat down, Aunt Gredel on my right, and Catherine on my left, +and Father Goulden opposite. They drank a good glass of wine, and aunt +said the procession would be very fine, and that there were at least +twenty-five priests from the neighborhood round; that Mr. Hubert, the +pastor of Quatre Vents, had come, and that the grand altar in the +cavalry quarter was higher than the houses; that the pine-trees and +poplars around had crape on them, and that the altar was covered with a +black cloth. She talked of everything under the sun, while I looked at +Catherine, and we thought, without saying anything, "Oh! when will that +beggarly minister write and say, 'Get married and leave me alone?'" + +At last, toward nine o'clock, and when the second bell had rung, Aunt +Gredel said, "That is the second ringing; we will come to dinner as +soon as possible." + +"Yes, yes, Mother Gredel," replied Mr. Goulden, "we will wait for you." + +They rose, and I went down to the foot of the stairs with Catherine in +order to embrace her once again, when Aunt Gredel cried, "Let us hurry, +let us hurry!" + +They went away, and I went back to my work; but from that moment till +about eleven o'clock I could do nothing at all. The crowd was so very +great that you could hear nothing outside but a ceaseless murmur; the +leaves rustled under foot, and when the procession left the church the +effect was so impressive that even Mr. Goulden himself stopped his work +to listen to the prayers and hymns. I thought of Catherine in the +crowd more beautiful than any of the others, with Aunt Gredel near her, +repeating "Pray for us, pray for us," in their clear voices. I thought +they must be very much fatigued, and all these voices and chants made +me dream, and though I held a watch in my hand and tried to work, my +mind was not on it. The higher the sun rose the more uneasy I became, +till at last Mr. Goulden said, laughing, "Ah! Joseph, it does not go +to-day!" and as I blushed rosy red, he continued, "Yes, when I was +dreaming of Louisa Benedum I looked in vain for springs and wheels. I +could see nothing but her blue eyes." + +He sighed, and I too, thinking, "you are quite right, Mr. Goulden." + +"That is enough," he added a moment after, taking the watch from my +hands. "Go, child, and find Catherine. You cannot conquer your love, +it Is stronger than you." + +On hearing this, I wanted to exclaim "Oh, good, excellent man! you can +never know how much I love you," but he rose to wipe his hands on a +towel behind the door, and I said, "If you _really_ wish it, Mr. +Goulden." + +"Yes, yes; certainly!" + +I did not wait for another word. My heart bounded with joy, I put on +my hat and went down the stairs at a leap, exclaiming, "I will be back +in an hour, Mr. Goulden." + +I was out of doors in a moment, but what a crowd, what a crowd! they +swarmed! military hats, felt hats, bonnets, and over all the noise and +confusion, the church bell tolled slowly. + +For a minute I stood on our own steps, not knowing which way to turn, +and seeing at last that it was impossible to take a step in that crowd +I turned into the little lane called the Lanche, in order to reach the +ramparts and run and wait for the procession at the slope by the German +gate, as then it would turn up the rue de College. It might have been +eleven o'clock. I saw many things that day which have suggested many +reflections since; they were the signs of great trouble but nobody +noticed them, nobody had the good sense to comprehend their +significance. It was only later, when everybody was up to their necks +in trouble, when we were obliged to take our knapsacks and guns, again +to be cut in pieces; then they said, "if we had only had good sense and +justice and prudence we should have been so much better off, we should +have been quiet at home instead of this breaking up, which is coming; +we can do nothing but be quiet and submit; what a misfortune!" + +I went along the Lanche, where they shot the deserters under the +Empire. The noise grew fainter in the distance, and the chanting and +prayers and the sound of the bells as well. All the doors and windows +were closed, everybody had followed the procession. I stopped in the +silent street to take breath, a slight breeze came from the fields +beyond the ramparts, and I listened to the tumult in the distance and +wiped the sweat from my face and thought, "how am I to find Catherine?" + +I was climbing the steps at the postern gate when I heard some one say: +"Mark the points, Margarot." + +I then saw that Father Colin's windows on the first floor were open, +and that some men in their shirt-sleeves were playing billiards. They +were old soldiers with short hair, and mustaches like a brush. They +went back and forth, without troubling themselves about the mayor, or +the commandant, or Louis XVI., or the bourgeoisie. One of them, short, +thick, with his whiskers cut as was the fashion of the hussars in those +days, and his cravat untied, leaned out of the window, resting his cue +on the sill, and, looking toward the square, said: + +"We will put the game at fifty." + +I thought at once that they were half-pay officers, who were spending +their last sous, and who would soon be troubled to live. I continued +on my way, and hurried along under the vault of the powder magazine +behind the college, thinking of all these things, but when I reached +the German gate I forgot everything. The procession was just turning +the corner at Bockholtz, the chants broke forth opposite the altar like +trumpets, and the young priests from Nancy were running among the crowd +with their crucifixes raised to keep order, and the Swiss Sirou carried +himself majestically under his banner; at the head of the procession +were the priests and the choir singing, while the prayers rose to +heaven, and behind, the crowd responded: and all this took form, in a +low fearful murmur. + +I stood on my tiptoes, half hidden by the shed, trying to discover +Catherine in all that multitude and thinking only of her, but what a +crowd of hats and bonnets and flags I saw defiling down the rue Ulrich. +You would never have imagined that there were so many people in the +country; there could not have been a soul left in the villages, except +a few little children and old people who stayed to take care of them. + +I waited about twenty minutes, and gave up hoping to find Catherine, +when suddenly I saw her with Aunt Gredel. Aunt was praying in such a +loud clear voice, that you could hear her above all the others. +Catherine said nothing, but walked slowly along with her eyes cast +down. If I could only have called to her she might perhaps have heard +me, but it was bad enough not to join the procession without causing +further scandal. All I can say is,--and there is not an old man in +Pfalzbourg who will assert the contrary,--that Catherine was not the +least beautiful girl in the country, and that Joseph Bertha was not to +be pitied. + +She had passed, and the procession halted on the "Place d'armes," +before the high altar at the right of the church. The priest +officiated, and silence spread all over the city. In the little +streets at the right and the left, it was as quiet as if they could +have seen the priest at the altar, great numbers kneeled, and others +sat down on the steps of the houses, for the heat was excessive, and +many of them had come to town before daylight. This grand sight +impressed me very much, and I prayed for my country and for peace, for +I felt it all in my heart, and I remember that just then I heard under +the shed at the German gate, voices which said very good-humoredly, +"Come, come, give us a little room, my friends." + +The procession blocked the way, everybody was stopped, and these voices +disturbed the kneeling multitude. Several persons near the door made +way. The Swiss and the beadle looked on from a distance, and my +curiosity induced me to get a little nearer the steps, when I saw five +or six old soldiers white with dust, bent down and apparently exhausted +with fatigue, making their way along the slope in order to gain the +little rue d'Arsenal, through which they no doubt thought to find the +way clear, it seems as if I could see them now, with their worn-out +shoes and their white gaiters, and their old patched uniforms and +shakos battered by the sun and rain and the hardships of the campaign. +They advanced in file, a little on the grass of the slope in order to +disturb the people who were below as little as possible. One old +fellow with three chevrons, who marched ahead and resembled poor +Sergeant Pinto who was killed near the Hinterthor at Leipzig, made me +feel very sad. He had the same long, gray mustaches, the same wrinkled +cheeks, and the same contented air in spite of all his misfortunes and +sufferings. He had his little bundle on the end of his stick, and +smiling and speaking quite low he said, "Excuse us, gentlemen and +ladies, excuse us," while the others followed step by step. + +They were the first prisoners released by the convention of the 23d of +April, and we saw these men pass afterward every day until July. They +had no doubt avoided the magazines, in order the sooner to reach France. + +On reaching the little street they found the crowd extended beyond the +arsenal; and then in order not to disturb the people, they went under +the postern and sat down on the damp steps, with their little bundles +on the ground beside them, and waited for the procession to pass. They +had come from a great distance, and hardly knew what was going on with +us. + +Unhappily the wretches from Bois-de-Chenes, the big Horni, Zapheri +Roller, Nicholas Cochart, the carder, Pinacle, whom they had made mayor +to pay him for having shown the way to Falberg and Graufthal to the +allies during the siege, all these rascals and others who were with +them, who wanted the fleur-de-lis--as if the fleur-de-lis could make +them any better--unhappily, I say, all that bad set who lived by +stealing fagots from the forest, had discovered the old tri-colored +cockade in the tops of their shakos, and "now," they thought, "is the +time to prove ourselves the real supporters of the throne and the +altar." + +They came on disturbing everybody, Pinacle had a big black cravat on +his neck and a crape, an ell wide, on his hat, with his shirt collar +above his ears, and as grave as a bandit who wants to make himself look +like an honest man; he came up the first one. The old soldier with the +three chevrons had discovered that these men were threatening them at a +distance and had risen to see what it meant. + +"Come, come! don't crowd so!" said he. "We are not much in the habit +of running, what do you want?" + +But Pinacle, who was afraid of losing so good an occasion to show his +zeal for Louis XVIII., instead of replying to him, smashed his shako at +a blow, shouting, "Down with the cockade!" + +Naturally the old veteran was indignant and was about to defend +himself, when these wretches, both men and women, fell upon the +soldiers, knocking them down, pulling off their cockades and epaulets, +and trampling them under foot without shame or pity. + +The poor old fellow got up several times, exclaiming, in a voice which +went to one's heart, "Pack of cowards, are you Frenchmen, assassins, +etc., etc." + +Every time he rose they beat him down again, and at last left him with +his clothes torn, and covered with blood in a corner, and the +commandant, de la Faisanderie, having arrived, ordered them to be +escorted to the "Violin." If I had been able to get down, I should +have run to the rescue, without thinking of Catherine or Aunt Gredel or +Mr. Goulden, and they might have killed me too. When I think of it now +even, I tremble, but fortunately the wall of the postern was twenty +feet thick, and when I saw them carried away covered with blood, and +comprehended the whole horrible affair, I ran home by way of the +arsenal, where I arrived so pale that Father Goulden exclaimed: + +"Why, Joseph! have you been hurt?" + +"No, no," I replied, "but I have seen a frightful thing." And I +commenced to cry as I told him of the affair. He walked up and down +with his hands behind his back, stopping from time to time to listen to +me, while his lips contracted and his eyes sparkled. + +"Joseph," said he, "these men provoked them?" + +"No, Mr. Goulden." + +"It is impossible, they must have invited it. The devil! we are not +savages! The rascals must have had some other reason than the cockades +for attacking them!" + +He could not believe me, and it was only after telling him all the +details twice over that he said at last: + +"Well! since you saw it with your own eyes I must believe you. But it +is a greater misfortune than you think, Joseph. If this goes on, if +they do not put a strong check on these good-for-nothings, if the +Pinacles are to have the upper hand, honest people will open their +eyes." + +He said no more, for the procession was finished and Aunt Gredel and +Catherine had come. + +We dined together, aunt was happy and Catherine too, but even the +pleasure it gave me to see them, could not make me forget what I had +witnessed, and Mr. Goulden was very grave too. + +At night, I went with them to the "Roulette," and then I embraced them +and bade them good-night. It might have been eight o'clock, and I went +home immediately. Mr. Goulden had gone to the "Homme Sauvage" brewery, +as was his habit on Sunday, to read the gazette, and I went to bed. He +came in about ten, and seeing my candle burning on the table, he pushed +open the door and said: + +"It seems that they are having processions everywhere. You see nothing +else in the gazette." And he added that twenty thousand prisoners had +returned, and that it was a happy thing for the country. + + + + +V + +The next morning all the clocks in the village were to be wound up, and +as Mr. Goulden was growing old he had intrusted that to me, and I went +out very early. The wind had blown the leaves in heaps against the +walls during the night, and the people were coming to take their +torches and vases of flowers from the altars. All this made me sad, +and I thought, "Now that they have performed their service for the +dead, I hope they are satisfied. If the permit would come, it would be +all very well, but if these people think they are going to amuse us +with psalms they are mistaken. In the time of the Emperor we had to go +to Russia and Spain it is true, but the ministers did not leave the +young people to pine away. I would like to know what peace is for if +it is not to get married!" + +I denounced Louis XVIII., the Comte d'Artois, the _emigres_, and +everybody else, and declared that the nobles mocked the people. + +On going home I found that Mr. Goulden had set the table, and while we +were eating breakfast, I told him what I thought. He listened to my +complaint and laughed, saying, "Take care, Joseph, take care; you seem +to me as if you were becoming a Jacobin." + +He got up and opened the closet, and I thought he was going to take out +a bottle, but, instead, he handed me a thick square envelope with a big +red seal. + +"Here, Joseph," said he, "is something that Brigadier Werner charged me +to give you." + +I felt my heart jump and I could not see clearly. + +"Why don't you open it?" said Father Goulden. + +I opened it and tried to read, but had to take a little time. At last +I cried out, "It is the permit." + +"Do you believe it?" said he. + +"Yes, it is the permit," I said, holding it at arm's length. + +"Ah! that rascal of a minister, he has sent no others," said Father +Goulden. + +"But," I said, "I know nothing of politics, since the permit has come, +the rest does not concern me." + +He laughed aloud, saying, "Good, Joseph, good!" + +I saw that he was laughing at me, but I did not care. + +"We must let Catherine and Aunt Gredel know immediately," I cried in +the joy of my heart; "we must send Chaudron's boy right away." + +"Ha! go yourself, that will be better," said the good man. + +"But the work, Mr. Goulden?" + +"Pshaw! pshaw! at a time like this one forgets work! Go! child, stir +yourself, how could you work now? You cannot see clearly." + +It was true I could do nothing. I was so happy that I cried, I +embraced Mr. Goulden, and then without taking time to change my coat I +set off, and was so absorbed by my happiness, that I had gone far +beyond the German gate, the bridge and the outworks and the post +station, and it was only when I was within a hundred yards of the +village and saw the chimney and the little windows that I recalled it +all like a dream, and commenced to read the permit again, repeating, +"It is true, yes, it is true; what happiness! what will they say!" + +I reached the house and pushed open the door exclaiming, "The permit!" + +Aunt Gredel in her sabots was just sweeping the kitchen, and Catherine +was coming downstairs with her arms bare, and her blue kerchief crossed +over her breast; she had been to the garret for chips, and both of them +on seeing me and hearing me cry, "the permit!" stood stock still. But +I repeated, "the permit!" and Aunt Gredel threw up her hands as I had +done, exclaiming, "Long live the King!" + +Catherine, quite pale, was leaning against the side of the staircase; I +was at her side in an instant and embraced her so heartily that she +leaned on my shoulder and cried, and I carried her down, so to speak, +while aunt danced round us, exclaiming, "Long live the King! long live +the Minister!" + +There was never anything like it. The old blacksmith, Ruppert, with +his leather apron on and his shirt open at the throat, came in to ask +what had happened. + +"What is it, neighbor?" said he, as he held his big tongs in his hands +and opened his little eyes as wide as possible. + +This calmed us a little, and I answered, "We have received our permit +to marry." + +"Ah, that is it? is it? now I understand, I understand." + +He had left the door open and five or six other neighbors came in--Anna +Schmoutz, the spinner, Christopher Wagner, the field-guard, Zapheri +Gross, and several others, till the room was full. I read the permit +aloud; everybody listened, and when it was finished Catherine began to +cry again, and Aunt Gredel said: + +"Joseph, that minister is the best of men. If he were here, I would +embrace him and invite him to the wedding; he should have the place of +honor next Mr. Goulden." + +Then the women went off to spread the news, and I commenced my +declarations anew to Catherine, as if the old ones went for nothing; +and I made her repeat a thousand times that she had never loved any one +but me, till we cried and laughed, and laughed and cried, one after the +other, till night. We heard Aunt Gredel, as she attended to the +cooking, talking to herself and saying, "That is what I call a good +king;" or, "If my good Franz could come back to the earth he would be +happy to-day, but one cannot have everything." She said, also, that +the procession had done us good; but Catherine and I were too happy to +answer a word. We dined, and lunched, and took supper without seeing +or hearing anything, and it was nine o'clock when I suddenly perceived +it was time to go home. Catherine and Aunt Gredel and I went out +together, the moon was shining brightly, and they went with me to the +"Roulette," and while on the way we agreed that the marriage should +take place in fifteen days. At the farm-house, under the poplars, aunt +kissed me, and I kissed Catherine, and then watched them as they went +back to the village. When they reached home they turned and kissed +their hands to me, and then I came back to town, crossed the great +square, and got home about ten o'clock. Mr. Goulden was awake though +in bed, and he heard me open the door softly. I had lighted my lamp +and was going to my chamber, when he called, "Joseph!" + +I went to him, and he took me in his arms and we kissed each other, and +he said: + +"It is well, my child; you are happy, and you deserve to be. Now go to +bed, and to-morrow we will talk about it." + +I went to bed, but it was long before I could sleep soundly. I wakened +every moment, thinking, "Is it really true that the permit has come?" +Then I would say to myself, "Yes; it is true." But toward morning I +slept. When I wakened it was broad day, and I jumped out of bed to +dress myself, when Father Goulden called out, as happy as possible, +"Come, Joseph, come to breakfast." + +"Forgive me, Mr. Goulden," I replied; "I was so happy I could hardly +sleep." + +"Yes, yes, I heard you," he answered and we went into the workshop, +where the table was already laid. + + + + +VI + +After the joy of marrying Catherine, my greatest delight was in +thinking I should be a tradesman, for there was a great difference +between fighting for the King of Prussia and doing business on one's +own account. Mr. Goulden had told me he would take me into partnership +with him, and I imagined myself taking my little wife to mass and then +going for a walk to the Roche-plate or to Bonne-Fontaine. This gave me +great pleasure. In the meantime I went every day to see Catherine; she +would wait for me in the orchard, while Aunt Gredel prepared the little +cakes and the bride's loaf for the wedding. We did nothing but look at +each other for hours together; she was so fresh and joyous and grew +prettier every day. + +Mr. Goulden would say on seeing me come home happier every night, +"Well! Joseph, matters seem to be better than when we were at Leipzig!" + +Sometimes I wanted to go to work again, but he always stopped me by +saying, "Oh! pshaw! happy days in life are so few. Go and see +Catherine, go! If I should take a fancy to be married by and by, you +can work for us both." And then he would laugh. Such men as he ought +to live a hundred years, such a good heart! so true and honest! He was +a real father to us. And even now, after so many years, when I think +of him with his black silk cap drawn over his ears, and his gray beard +eight days old, and the little wrinkles about his eyes showing so much +good-humor, it seems to me that I still hear his voice and the tears +will come in spite of me. But I must tell you here of something which +happened before the wedding and which I shall never forget. It was the +6th of July and we were to be married on the 8th. I had dreamed of it +all night. I rose between six and seven. Father Goulden was already +at work, with the windows open. I was washing my face and thinking I +would run over to Quatre Vents, when all at once a bugle and two taps +of a drum were heard at the gate of France, just as when a regiment +arrives, they try their mouthpieces, and tap their drums just to get +the sticks well in hand. When I heard that my hair stood on end, and I +exclaimed, "Mr. Goulden, it is the Sixth!" + +"Yes, indeed, for eight days everybody has been talking about it, but +you hear nothing in these days. It is the wedding bouquet, Joseph, and +I wanted to surprise you." + +I listened no longer, but went downstairs at a jump. Our old drummer +Padoue had already lifted his stick under the dark arch, and the +drummers came up behind balancing their drums on their hips; in the +distance was Gemeau, the commandant, on horseback, the red plumes of +the grenadiers and the bayonets came up slowly; it was the Third +battalion. The march commenced, and my blood bounded. I recognized at +the first glance the long gray cloaks which we had received on the 22d +of October, on the glacis at Erfurth; they had become quite green from +the snow and wind and rain. It was worse than after the battle of +Leipzig. The old shakos were full of ball holes, only the flag was +new, in its beautiful case of oil-cloth, with the fleur-de-lis at the +end. + +Ah! only those who have made a campaign can realize what it is to see +your regiment and to hear the same roll of the drum as when it is in +front of the enemy, and to say to yourself, "There are your comrades, +who return beaten, humiliated, and crushed, bowing their heads under +another cockade." No! I never felt anything like it. Later many of +the men of the Sixth came and settled down at Pfalzbourg, they were my +old officers, old sergeants, and were always welcome, there was +Lafleche, Carabin, Lavergne, Monyot, Padoue, Chazi, and many others. +Those who commanded me during the war sawed wood for me, put on tiles, +were my carpenters and masons. After giving me orders they obeyed me, +for I was independent, and had business, while they were simply +laborers. But that was nothing, and I always treated my old chiefs +with respect, I always thought, "at Weissenfels, at Lutzen, and at +Leipzig, these men who now are forced to labor so hard to support +themselves and their families, represented at the front the honor and +the courage of France." These changes came after Waterloo! and our old +Ensign Faizart, swept the bridge at the gate of France for fifteen +years! That is not right, the country ought to be more grateful. + +It was the Third battalion that returned, in so wretched a state that +it made the hearts of good men bleed. Zebede told me that they left +Versailles on the 31st of March, after the capitulation of Paris, and +marched to Chartres, to Chateaudun, to Blois, Orleans and so on like +real Bohemians, for six weeks without pay or equipments, until at last +at Rouen, they received orders to cross France and return to +Pfalzbourg, and everywhere the processions and funeral services for the +King, Louis XVI., had excited the people against them. They were +obliged to bear it all, and even were compelled to bivouac in the +fields while the Russians, Austrians, and Prussians, and other beggars, +lived quietly in our towns. + +Zebede wept with rage as he recounted their sufferings afterward. + +"Is France no longer France?" he asked. "Have we not fought for her +honor?" + +But it gives me pleasure now in my old age, to remember how we received +the Sixth at Pfalzbourg. You know that the First battalion had already +arrived from Spain, and that the remnant of this regiment and of the +24th infantry of the line formed the 6th regiment of Berry, so that all +the village was rejoicing that instead of the few old veterans, we were +to have two thousand men in garrison. There was great rejoicing, and +everybody shouted, "Long live the Sixth;" the children ran out to St. +Jean to meet them, and the battalion had nowhere been better received +than here. Several old fellows wept and shouted, "Long live France." +But in spite of all that, the officers were dejected and only made +signs with their hands as if to thank the people for their kind +reception. + +I stood on our door-steps while three or four hundred men filed past, +so ragged that I could not distinguish our number, but suddenly I saw +Zebede, who was marching in the rear, so thin that his long crooked +nose stood out from his face like a beak, his old cloak hanging like +fringe down his back, but he had his sergeant's stripes, and his large +bony shoulders gave him the appearance of strength. On seeing him, I +cried out so loud that it could be heard above the drums, "Zebede!" + +He turned round and I sprang into his arms and he put down his gun at +the corner of the rue Fouquet. I cried like a child and he said, "Ah! +it is you, Joseph! there are two of us left then, at least." + +"Yes, it is I," said I, "and I am going to marry Catherine, and you +shall be my best man." + +We marched along together to the corner of the rue Houte, where old +Furst was waiting with tears in his eyes. The poor old man thought, +"Perhaps my son will come too." Seeing Zebede coming with me, he +turned suddenly into the little dark entrance to his house. On the +square, Father Klipfel and five or six others were looking at the +battalion in line. It is true they had received the notices of the +deaths, but still they thought there might be mistakes, and that their +sons did not like to write. They looked amongst them, and then went +away while the drums were beating. + +They called the roll, and just at that moment the old grave-digger came +up with his little yellow velvet vest and his gray cotton cap. He +looked behind the ranks where I was talking with Zebede, who turned +round and saw him and grew quite pale, they looked at each other for an +instant, then I took his gun and the old man embraced his son. They +did not say a word, but remained in each other's arms for a long while. +Then when the battalion filed off to the right to go to the barracks, +Zebede asked permission of Captain Vidal to go home with his father, +and gave his gun to his nearest comrade. We went together to the rue +de Capucins. The old man said: "You know that grandmother is so old +that she can no longer get out of bed, or she would have come to meet +you too." + +I went to the door, and then said to them, "You will come and dine with +us, both of you." + +"I will with pleasure," said the father. "Yes, Joseph, we will come." + +I went home to tell Father Goulden of my invitation, and he was all the +more pleased as Catherine and her aunt were to be there also. + +I never had been more happy than when thinking of having my beloved, my +best friend, and all those whom I loved the most, together at our house. + +That day at eleven o'clock our large room on the first floor was a +pretty sight to see. The floor had been well scrubbed, the round table +in the middle of the room was covered with a beautiful cloth with red +stripes and six large silver covers upon it, the napkins folded like a +boat in the shining plates, the salt-cellar and the sealed bottles, and +the large cut glasses sparkling in the sun which came over the groups +of lilac ranged along the windows. + +Mr. Goulden wished to have everything in abundance, grand and +magnificent, as he would for princes and embassadors, and he had taken +his silver from the basket, a most unusual thing; I had made the soup +myself. In it there were three pounds of good meat, a head of cabbage, +carrots in abundance, indeed everything necessary; except that,--which +you can never have so good at an hotel,--everything had been ordered by +Mr. Goulden himself from the "Ville de Metz." + +About noon we looked at each other, smiling and rubbing our hands, he +in his beautiful nut-brown coat, well shaved, and with his great peruke +a little rusty, in place of his old black silk cap, his maroon breeches +neatly turned over his thick woollen stockings, and shoes with great +buckles on his feet; while I had on my sky-blue coat of the latest +fashion, my shirt finely plaited in front, and happiness in my heart. + +All that was lacking now was our guests--Catherine, Aunt Gredel, the +grave-digger, and Zebede. We walked up and down laughing and saying, +"Everything is in its place and we had best get out the soup-tureen." +And I looked out now and then to see if they were coming. + +At last Aunt Gredel and Catherine turned the corner of the rue Foquet; +they came from mass and had their prayer-books under their arms, and +farther on I saw the old grave-digger in his fine coat with wide +sleeves, and his old three-cornered hat, and Zebede, who had put on a +clean shirt and shaved himself. They came from the side next the +ramparts arm in arm, gravely, like men who are sober because they are +perfectly happy. + +"Here they are," I said to Father Goulden. + +We just had time to pour out the soup and put the big tureen, smoking +hot in the middle of the table. This was happily accomplished just as +Aunt Gredel and Catherine came in. You can judge of their surprise on +seeing the beautiful table. We had hardly kissed each other when aunt +exclaimed: + +"It is the wedding-day then, Mr. Goulden." + +"Yes, Madame Gredel," the good man answered smiling,--on days of +ceremony he always called her Madame instead of Mother Gredel, "yes, +the wedding of good friends. You know that Zebede has just returned, +and he will dine with us to-day with the old grave-digger." + +"Ah!" said aunt, "that will give me great pleasure." + +Catherine blushed deeply, and said to me in a low voice: + +"Now everything is as it should be, that was what we wanted to make us +perfectly happy." + +She looked tenderly at me as she held my hand. Just then some one +opened the door, and old Laurent from the "Ville de Metz," with two +high baskets in which dishes were ranged in beautiful order one above +the other, cried out, "Mr. Goulden, here is the dinner!" + +"Very well!" said Mr. Goulden, "now arrange it on the table yourself." + +And Laurent put on the radishes first, the fricasseed chicken and +beautiful fat goose at the right, and on the left the beef which we had +ourselves arranged with parsley in the plate. He put on also a nice +plate of sauerkraut with little sausages, near the soup. Such a dinner +had never been seen in our house before. + +Just at that moment we heard Zebede and his father coming up the +stairs, and Father Goulden and I ran to meet them. Mr. Goulden +embraced Zebede and said: + +"How happy I am to see you, I know you showed yourself a good comrade +for Joseph in the midst of the greatest danger." + +Then he shook the old grave-digger's hand, saying, "I am proud of you +for having such a son." + +Then Catherine, who had come behind us, said to Zebede: + +"I could not please Joseph more than to embrace you, you would have +carried him to Hanau only your strength failed. I look upon you as a +brother." + +Then Zebede, who was very pale, kissed her without saying a word, and +we all went into the room in silence, Catherine, Zebede, and I first, +Mr. Goulden and the old grave-digger came afterward. Aunt Gredel +arranged the dishes a little and then said: + +"You are welcome, you are welcome! you who met in sorrow, have rejoined +each other in joy. May God send his grace on us all." + +Zebede kissed Aunt Gredel and said, "Always fresh and in good health, +it is a pleasure to see you." + +"Come, Father Zebede, sit at the head of the table, and you there, +Zebede, that I may have you on my right and my left, Joseph will sit +farther down, opposite Catherine, and Madame Gredel at the other end to +watch over all." + +Each one was satisfied with his place, and Zebede smiled and looked at +me as if he would say: "If we had had the quarter of such a dinner as +this at Hanau, we should never have fallen by the roadside." Joy and a +good appetite shone on every face. Father Goulden dipped the great +silver ladle into the soup as we all looked on, and served first the +old grave-digger, who said nothing and seemed touched by this honor, +then his son, and then Catherine, Aunt Gredel, himself, and me. And +the dinner was begun quietly. + +Zebede winked and looked at me from time to time with great +satisfaction. We uncorked the first bottle and filled the glasses. +This was very good wine, but there was better coming, so we did not +drink each other's health yet, we each ate a good slice of beef, and +Father Goulden said: + +"Here is something _good_, this beef is excellent." He found the +fricassee very good also, and then I saw that Catherine was a woman of +spirit, for she said: + +"You know, Mr. Zebede, that we should have invited your grandmother +Margaret, whom I go to see from time to time, only she is too old to go +out, but if you wish, she shall at least eat a morsel with us, and +drink her grandson's health in a glass of wine. What do you say, +Father Zebede?" + +"I was just thinking of that," said the old man. + +Father Goulden looked at Catherine with tears in his eyes, and as she +rose to select a suitable piece for the old woman, he kissed her, and I +heard him call her his daughter. + +She went out with a bottle and a plate; and while she was gone Zebede +said to me: + +"Joseph, she who is soon to be your wife deserves to be perfectly +happy, for she is not only a good girl, not only a woman who ought to +be loved, but she deserves respect also, for she has a good and feeling +heart. She saw what my father and I thought of this excellent dinner, +and she knew it would give us a thousand times more pleasure if +grandmother could share it. I shall love her for it, as if she were my +sister." Then he added in a low voice: "It is when we are happy that +we feel the bitterness of poverty. It is not enough to give our blood +to our country, but there is suffering at home in consequence, and when +we return we must have misery before our eyes." + +I saw that he was growing sad, so I filled his glass and we drank, and +his melancholy vanished. Catherine came back and said, "the +grandmother was very happy, and that she thanked Mr. Goulden, and said +it had been a beautiful day for her." And this roused everybody. As +the dinner continued, Aunt Gredel heard the bells for vespers, and she +went out to church, but Catherine remained, and the animation which +good wine inspires had come, and we began to speak of the last +campaign; of the retreat from the Rhine to Paris, of the fighting of +the battalion at Bibelskirchen and at Saarbruck, where Lieutenant +Baubin swam the Saar when it was freezing as hard as stone, to destroy +some boats which were still in the hands of the enemy; of the passage +at Narbefontaine, at Courcelles, at Metz, at Enzelvin, and at Champion +and Verdun, and, still retreating, the battle of Brienne. The men were +nearly all destroyed, but on the 4th of February the battalion was +re-formed from the remnant of the 5th light infantry, and from that +moment they were every day under fire; on the 5th, 6th, and 7th at +Mery-sur-Seine; on the 8th at Sezanne, where the soldiers died in the +mud, not having strength enough to get out; the 9th and 10th at Muers, +where Zebede was buried at night in the dung-heap of a farmhouse in +order to get warm, and the terrible battle of Marche on the 11th, in +which the Commandant Philippe was wounded by a bayonet-thrust; the +encounter on the 12th and 13th at Montmirail, the battle of Beauchamp +on the 14th, the retreat on Montmirail on the 15th and 16th, when the +Prussians returned: the combats at the Ferte-Gauche, at Jouarre, at +Gue-a-Train, at Neufchettes, and so on. When the Prussians were +beaten, then came the Russians, after them the Austrians, the +Bavarians, the Wurtemburgers, the Hessians, the Saxons, and the Badois. + +I have often heard that campaign described, but never as it was done by +Zebede. As he talked his great thin face quivered and his long nose +turned down over the four hairs of his yellow mustache, and his eyes +would flash and he would stretch out his hand from his old sleeve and +you could see what he was describing. The great plains of Champagne +with the smoking villages to the right and to the left, where the +women, children, and old men were wandering about in groups, half +naked, one carrying a miserable old mattress, another with a few pieces +of furniture on his cart, while the snow was falling from the sky, and +the cannon roared in the distance, and the Cossacks were flying about +like the wind with kitchen utensils and even old clocks hanging to +their saddles, shouting hurrah! + +Furious battles were raging, singly, or one against ten, in which the +desperate peasants joined also with their scythes. At night the +Emperor might be seen sitting astride his chair, with his chin resting +in his folded hands on the back, before a little fire with his generals +around him. This was the way he slept and dreamed. He must have had +terrible reflections after the days of Marengo, Austerlitz, and Wagram. + +To fight the enemy, to suffer hunger and cold and fatigue, to march and +countermarch, Zebede said, were nothing, but to hear the women and +children weeping and groaning in French in the midst of their ruined +homes, to know you could not help them, and that the more enemies you +killed, the more would you have; that you must retreat, always retreat, +in spite of victories, in spite of courage, in spite of everything! +"that is what breaks your heart, Mr. Goulden." + +In listening and looking at him we had lost all inclination to drink, +and Father Goulden, with his great head bent down as if thinking, said +in a low voice: + +"Yes, that is what glory costs, it is not enough to lose our liberty, +not enough to lose the rights gained at such a cost, we must be +pillaged, sacked, burned, cut to pieces by Cossacks, we must see what +has not been seen for centuries, a horde of brigands making law for +us--but go on, we are listening, tell us all." + +Catherine, seeing how sad we were, filled the glasses. + +"Come," said she, "to the health of Mr. Goulden and Father Zebede. All +these misfortunes are past and will never return." + +We drank, and Zebede related how it had been necessary to fill up the +battalion again, on the route to Soissons, with the soldiers of the +16th light infantry, and how they arrived at Meaux where the plague was +raging, although it was winter, in the hospital of Piete, in +consequence of the great numbers of wounded who could not be cared for. + +That was horrible, but the worst of all was when he described their +arrival at Paris, at the Barriere de Charenton: the Empress, King +Joseph, the King of Rome, the ministers, the new princes and dukes, and +all the great world, were running away toward Blois, and abandoning the +capital to the enemy, while the workingmen in blouses, who gained +nothing from the Empire, but to be forced to give their children to +defend it, were gathered around the town-house by thousands, begging +for arms to defend the honor of France; and the Old Guard repulsed them +with the bayonet! + +At this Father Goulden exclaimed: + +"That is enough, Zebede, hold! stop there, and let us talk of something +else." + +He had suddenly grown very pale; at this moment Mother Gredel returned +from vespers, and seeing us all so quiet, and Mr. Goulden so disturbed, +asked: + +"What has happened?" + +"We were speaking of the Empress and of the ministers of the Emperor," +replied Father Goulden, forcing a laugh. + +Said she, "I am not astonished that the wine turns against you. Every +time I think of them, if by accident I look in the glass, I see that it +turns me quite livid. The beggars! fortunately, they are gone." + +Zebede did not like this. Mr. Goulden observed it and said, "Well! +France is a great and glorious country all the same. If the new nobles +are worth no more than the old ones, the people are firm. They work in +vain against them. The bourgeois, the artisan, and the peasant are +united, they have the same interests and will not give up what they +have gained, nor let them again put their feet on their necks. Now, +friends, let us go and take the air, it is late, and Madame Gredel and +Catherine have a long way to go to Quatre Vents. Joseph will go with +them." + +"No," said Catherine, "Joseph must stay with his friend to-day, and we +will go home alone." + +"Very well! so be it! on a day like this friends should be together," +said Mr. Goulden. + +We went out arm in arm, it was dark, and after embracing Catherine +again at the Place d'Armes she and her aunt took their way home, and +after having taken a few turns under the great lindens we went to the +"Wild Man" and refreshed ourselves with some glasses of foaming beer. +Mr. Goulden described the siege, the attack at Pernette, the sorties at +Bigelberg, at the barracks above, and the bombardment. It was then +that I learned for the first time that he had been captain of a gun, +and that it was he who had first thought of breaking up the +melting-pots in the foundry to make shot. These stories occupied us +till after ten o'clock. At last Zebede left us to go to the barracks, +the old grave-digger went to the rue Capucin, and we to our beds, where +we slept till eight o'clock the next morning. + + + + +VII + +Two days afterward I was married to Catherine at Aunt Gredel's at +Quatre Vents. Mr. Goulden represented my father. Zebede was my best +man, and some old comrades remaining from the battalion were also at +the wedding. The next day we were installed in our two little rooms +over the workshop at Father Goulden's, Catherine and I. Many years +have rolled away since then! Mr. Goulden, Aunt Gredel, and the old +comrades have all passed away, and Catherine's hair is as white as +snow! Yet often, even now, when I look at her, those times come back +again, and I see her as she was at twenty, fresh and rosy, I see her +arrange the flower-pots in the chamber-window, I hear her singing to +herself, I see the sun opposite, and then we descend the steep little +staircase and say together, as we go into the workshop: "Good-morning, +Mr. Goulden;" he turns, smiles, and answers, "Good-morning, my +children, good-morning!" Then he kisses Catherine and she commences to +sweep and rub the furniture and prepare the soup, while we examine the +work we have to do during the day. + +Ah, those beautiful days, that charming life. What joy in being young +and in having a simple, good, and industrious wife! How our hearts +rejoice, and the future spreads out so far--so far--before us! We +shall never be old; we shall always love each other, and always keep +those we love! We shall always be of good heart; we shall always take +our Sunday walk arm in arm to Bonne-Fontaine; we shall always sit on +the moss in the woods, and hear the bees and May bugs buzzing in the +great trees filled with light; we shall always smile! What a life! +what a life! + +And at night we shall go softly home to the nest, as we silently look +at the golden trains which spread over the sky from Wecham to the +forests of Mittelbronn, we shall press each other's hand when we hear +the little clock at Pfalzbourg ring out the "Angelus," and those of all +the villages will respond through the twilight. Oh, youth! oh, life! + +All is before me just as it was fifty years ago; but other sparrows and +larks sing and build in the spring, other blossoms whiten the great +apple-trees. And have we changed too, and grown old like the old +people of those days? That alone makes me believe that we shall become +young again, that we shall renew our loves and rejoin Father Goulden +and Aunt Gredel and all our dear friends. Otherwise we should be too +unhappy in growing old. God would not send us pain without hope. And +Catherine believes it too. Well! at that time we were perfectly happy, +everything was beautiful to us, nothing troubled our joy. + +It was when the allies were passing through our city by hundreds of +thousands on their way home. Cavalry, artillery, infantry, foot and +horse, with oak leaves in their shakos, on their caps, and on the ends +of their muskets and lances. They shouted so that you could hear them +a league away. Just as you hear the chaffinches, thrushes, and +blackbirds, and thousands of other birds in the autumn. At any other +time this would have made me sad, because it was the sign of our +defeat, but I consoled myself by thinking that they were going away, +never to return. And when Zebede came to tell me that every day the +Russian, Austrian, Prussian, and Bavarian officers crossed the city to +visit our new commandant, Mons. de la Faisanderie, who was an old +emigre, and who covered them with honors--that such an officer of the +battalion had provoked one of these strangers, and that such another +half-pay officer had killed two or three in duels at the "Roulette," or +the "Green Tree," or the "Flower Basket," for they were everywhere--our +soldiers could not bear the sight of the foreigners, there were fights +everywhere, and the litters of the hospital were constantly going and +coming--when Zebede told me all these things, and when he said that so +many officers had been put upon half-pay in order to replace them by +officers from Coblentz, and that the soldiers were to be compelled to +go to mass in full uniform, that the priests were everything and +epaulettes nothing any more; instead of being vexed, I only said, "Bah! +all these things will get settled by and by. So long as we can have +quiet, and can live and labor in peace, we will be satisfied." + +I did not think that it is not enough that one is satisfied; to +preserve peace and tranquillity, all must be so likewise. I was like +Aunt Gredel, who found everything right now that we were married. She +came very often to see us, with her basket full of fresh eggs, fruits, +vegetables, and cakes for our housekeeping, and she would say: + +"Oh! Mr. Goulden, there is no need to ask if the children are well, +you have only to look at their faces." + +And to me she would say: "There is some difference, Joseph, between +being married, and trudging along under a knapsack and musket at +Lutzen!" + +"I believe you, Mamma Gredel," I would answer. + +Then she would sit down, with her hands on her knees, and say: "All +this comes from peace; peace makes everybody happy, and to think of +that mob of barefoot beggars who shout against the King!" + +At first Mr. Goulden, who was at work, would say nothing, but when she +kept on he would say, "Come, Mother Gredel, a little moderation, you +know that opinion is free now, we have two chambers and constitution, +and each one has a voice." + +"But it is also true," said aunt looking at me maliciously, "that one +must hold his tongue from time to time, and that shows a difference +too." + +Mr. Goulden never went farther than this, for he looked upon aunt as a +good woman, but who was not worth the trouble of converting. He would +only laugh when she went too far, and matters went on without jarring +until something new happened. At first there was an order from Nancy +to compel the people to close all their shutters during service on +Sunday--Jews, Lutherans, and all. There was no more noise in the inns +and wine-shops, it was still as death in the city during mass and +vespers. The people said nothing, but looked at each other as if they +were afraid. + +The first Sunday that our shutters were closed, Mr. Goulden seemed very +sad, and said, as we were dining in the dark, "I had hoped, my +children, that all this was over, and that people would have +common-sense, and that we should be tranquil for years, but unhappily I +see that these Bourbons are of the same race as Dagobert. Affairs are +growing serious." + +He did not say anything else on this Sunday, and went out in the +afternoon to read the papers. Everybody who could read went, while the +peasants were at mass, to read the papers after shutting their shops. +The citizens and master-workmen then got in the habit of reading the +papers, and a little later they wanted a Casino. I remember that +everybody talked of Benjamin Constant and placed great confidence in +him. Mr. Goulden liked him very much, and as he was accustomed to go +every evening to Father Colin's, to read of what had taken place, we +also heard the news. He told us that the Duke d'Angouleme was at +Bordeaux, the Count d'Artois at Marseilles, they had promised this, and +they had said that. + +Catherine was more curious than I, she liked to hear all the news there +was in the country, and when Mr. Goulden said anything, I could see in +her eyes that she thought he was right. One evening he said, "The Duke +de Berry is coming here." + +We were greatly astonished. "What is he going to do here, Mr. +Goulden?" asked Catherine. + +"He is coming to review the regiment," he answered, "I have a great +curiosity to see him. The papers say that he looks like Bonaparte, but +that he has a great deal more mind. It is not astonishing for if a +legitimate prince had no more sense than the son of a peasant it would +be a great pity. But you have seen Bonaparte, Joseph, and you can +judge of the matter." + +You can imagine how this news excited the country. From that day +nothing was thought of but erecting triumphal arches, and making white +flags, and the people from all the villages kept coming with their +carts covered with garlands. They raised a triumphal arch at +Pfalzbourg and another near Saverne. Every evening after supper +Catherine and I went out to see how the work progressed. It was +between the hotel "de la Ville de Metz" and the shop of the +confectioner Duerr, right across the street. The old carpenter Ulrich +and his boys built it. It was like a great gate covered with garlands +of oak leaves, and over the front were displayed magnificent white +flags. + +While they were doing this, Zebede came to see us several times. The +prince was to come from Metz, the regiment had received letters, which +represented him as being as severe as if he had gained fifty battles. +But what vexed Zebede most was, that the prince called our old +officers, "Soldiers of fortune." + +He arrived the 1st of October, at six in the evening, we heard the +cannon when he was at Gerberhoff. He alighted at the "Ville de Metz," +without going under the arch. The square was crowded with officers in +full uniform, and from all the windows the people shouted, "Long live +the King, Long live the Duke de Berry," just as they cried in the time +of Napoleon, "Long live the Emperor." + +Mr. Goulden and Catherine and I could not get near because of the +crowd, and we only saw the carriages and the hussars file past. A +picket near our house cut off all communication. That same evening he +received the corps of officers and condescended to accept a dinner +offered to him by the Sixth, but he only invited Colonel Zaepfel. +After the dinner, from which they did not rise till ten o'clock, the +principal citizens gave a ball at the college. All the officers and +all the friends of the Bourbons were present in black coats, and +breeches and stockings of white silk, to meet the prince, and the young +girls of good families were there in crowds, dressed in white. I still +seem to hear the horses of the escort as they passed in the middle of +the night amid the thousands shouting "Vive le Roi! Vive le Duc de +Berry!" + +All the windows were illuminated, and before those of the commandant +there was a great shield of sky blue, and the crown and the three +fleur-de-lis in gold, sparkled in the centre. The great hall of the +college echoed with the music of the regimental band. + +Mademoiselle Bremer, who had a very fine voice, was to sing the air of +"Vive Henri IV." before the prince. But all the village knew the next +day, that she had been so confused by the sight of the prince, that she +could not utter a word, and everybody said, "Poor Mademoiselle +Felicite, poor Mademoiselle Felicite." + +The ball lasted all night. We--Mr. Goulden, Catherine, and I--were +asleep, when about three in the morning we were wakened by the hussars +going by and the shouts of "Vive le Duc de Berry." These princes must +have excellent health to be able to go to all the balls and dinners +which are offered to them on their journeys. And it must become very +tiresome at last to be called "Your Majesty," "Your Excellence," "Your +Goodness," and "Your Justice," and everything else that can be thought +of, that is new and extraordinary, in order to make them believe that +the people adore them and look upon them as gods. If they do despise +the men at last it is not astonishing. If the same thing were done to +us we might think ourselves eagles too. + +What I have told you is exactly the truth. I have exaggerated nothing. + +The next day they began again with new enthusiasm. The weather was +very fine, but as the prince had slept badly, and the children who +wished to imitate the court without succeeding, annoyed him, and he +thought perhaps, that they had not done him sufficient honor and had +not shouted "Vive le Roi, Vive le Duc de Berry" loud and long +enough--for all the _soldiers_ kept silent--he was in a very bad humor. + +I saw him very well that day, while the review was taking place--the +soldiers occupied the sides of the square, we were at Wittman's, the +leather merchant, on the first floor--and also during the consecration +of the flag and the Te Deum at the church, for we had the fourth pew in +front of the choir. They said he looked like Napoleon, but it was not +true; he was a good-looking fat fellow, short and thick, and pale with +fatigue, and not at all lively, quite the contrary. During the service +he did nothing but yawn and rock back and forth like a pendulum. I am +telling you what I saw myself, and that shows how blind people are, +they want to find resemblances everywhere. + +During the review, too, I remembered that the Emperor always came on +horseback, and so would discover at a glance if everything was in +order; instead of this, the duke came along the ranks on foot, and two +or three times he found fault with old soldiers, examining them from +head to foot. That was the worst. Zebede was one of these men, and he +never could forgive him. + +That was well enough for the review, but a more serious thing was the +distribution of the crosses and the fleur-de-lis. When I tell you that +all the mayors and their assistants, the councillors from the +Baraques-d'en-Haut and the Baraques-du-bois-de-Chenes, from Holderloch +and Hirschland, received the fleur-de-lis because they headed their +village deputations with a white flag, and that Pinacle received the +cross of honor, for having arrived first with the band of the Bohemian, +Waldteufel, who played "Vive Henri IV.," and had five or six white +flags larger than the others; when I tell you that, you will understand +what reasonable people thought. It was a real scandal! + +In the afternoon about four o'clock, the prince left for Strasbourg, +accompanied by all the royalists in the country on horseback, some on +good mounts, and others, like Pinacle, on old hacks. + +One event the Pfalzbourgers of that day remember until this, and that +is, that after the prince was seated in his carriage and was driving +slowly away, one of the emigre officers with his head uncovered and in +uniform, ran after him, crying in a pitiful voice, "Bread, my prince, +bread for my children!" That made the people blush, and they ran away +for shame. + +We went home in silence, Father Goulden was lost in thought, when Aunt +Gredel arrived. + +"Well! Mother Gredel, you ought to be satisfied," said he. + +"And why?" + +"Because Pinacle has been decorated." + +She turned quite livid, and said after a minute: + +"That is the greatest trumpery that ever was seen. If the prince had +known what he is, he would have hung him rather than decorate him with +the cross of honor." + +"That is just the trouble," said Mr. Goulden, "those people do many +such things without knowing it, and when they do know, it is too late." + + + + +VIII + +So it was that Monseigneur the Duke de Berry, visited the departments +of the East. Every word he uttered was taken up and repeated again and +again. Some praised his exceeding graciousness, and others kept +silence. From that time I suspected that all these emigres and +officers on half-pay, these preachers with their processions and their +expiations, would overturn everything again, and about the beginning of +winter we heard that not only with us, but all over Alsace affairs were +growing worse and worse in just the same way. + +One morning between eleven and twelve Father Goulden and I were both at +work, each one thinking after his own fashion, and Catherine was laying +the cloth. I started to go out to wash my hands at the pump, as I +always did before dinner, when I saw an old woman wiping her feet on +the straw mat at the foot of the stairs and shaking her skirts which +were covered with mud. She had a stout staff, and a large rosary hung +from her neck. As I looked at her from the top of the stairs, she +began to come up and I recognized her immediately by the folds about +her eyes and the innumerable wrinkles round her little mouth, as +Anna-Marie, the pilgrim of St. Witt. The poor old woman often brought +us watches to mend, from pious people who had confidence in her, and +Mr. Goulden was always delighted to see her. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, "it is Anne-Marie! now we shall have the news. And +how is Mr. Such-an-one, the priest? How is the Vicar So-and-So? Does +he still look as well as ever? and Mr. Jacob, of such a place. And the +old sexton, Niclausse, does he still ring the bells at Dann, and at +Hirschland, and Saint Jean? He must begin to look old?" + +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, thanks for Mr. Jacob, you know that he lost +Mademoiselle Christine last week." + +"What! Mademoiselle Christine?" + +"Yes, indeed?" + +"What a misfortune! but we must remember that we are all mortal!" + +"Yes, Mr. Goulden, and when one is so fortunate as to receive the holy +consolations of the Church." + +"Certainly--certainly, that is the principal thing." + +So they talked on, Father Goulden laughing in his sleeve. She knew +everything that happened within six leagues round the city. He looked +mischievously at me from time to time. This same thing had happened a +hundred times during my apprenticeship, but you will understand how +much more curious he was now to learn all that was going on in the +country. + +"Ah! it is really Anna-Marie!" said he rising, "it is a long time since +we have seen you." + +"Three months, Mr. Goulden, three long months. I have made pilgrimages +to Saint Witt, to Saint Odille, to Marienthal, to Hazlach, and I have +vows for all the saints in Alsace, in Lorraine, and in the Vosges. But +now I have nearly finished, only Saint Quirin remains." + +"Ah! so much the better, your affairs go on well, and that gives me +pleasure. Sit down, Anna-Marie, sit down and rest yourself." + +I saw in his eyes how happy he was to have her unroll her budget of +news. But it appeared she had other matters to attend to. + +"Oh! Mr. Goulden," said she. "I cannot today. Others are before me, +Mother Evig, Gaspard Rosenkranz, and Jacob Heilig. I must go to Saint +Quirin, to-night. I only just came in to tell you that the clock at +Dosenheim is out of order, and that they are expecting you to repair +it." + +"Pshaw! pshaw! stay a moment." + +"No, I cannot, I am very sorry, Mr. Goulden, but I must finish my +round." + +She had already taken up her bundle, and Mr. Goulden seemed greatly +disappointed; when Catherine put a great dish of cabbage on the table, +and said, "What! are you going, Anna-Marie? you cannot think of it! +here is your plate!" + +She turned her head and saw the smoking soup and the cabbage, which +exhaled a most delicious odor. + +"I am in a great hurry," said she. + +"Oh! pshaw! you have very good legs," said Catherine, glancing at Mr. +Goulden. + +"Yes, thank God, they are very good still." + +"Well, sit down then and refresh yourself. It is hard work to be +always walking." + +"Yes, indeed, Madame Bertha, one earns the thirty sous that one gets." + +I placed the chairs. + +"Sit down, Anna-Marie, and give me your stick." + +"Well, I must listen to you, I suppose, but I cannot stay long, I will +only take a mouthful and then go." + +"Yes, yes, that is settled, Anna-Marie," said Mr. Goulden; "we will not +hinder you long." + +We sat down, and Mr. Goulden served us at once. Catherine looked at me +and smiled, and I said to myself, "Women are more ingenious than we," +and I was very happy. What more could a man wish for than to have a +wife with sense and spirit? It is a real treasure, and I have often +seen that men are happy when they allow themselves to be guided by such +a woman. You can easily believe that when once seated at the table +near the fire, instead of being out in the mud, with the sharp November +wind whistling in her thin skirts, she no longer thought of her +journey. She was a good creature sixty years old, who still supported +two children of her son who died some years before. To travel round +the country at that age, with the sun and rain and snow on your back, +to sleep in barns and stables on straw, and three-quarters of the time +have only potatoes to eat and not enough of them, does not make one +despise a plate of good hot soup, a piece of smoked bacon and cabbage, +with two or three glasses of wine to warm the heart. No, you must look +at things as they are, the life of these poor people is very hard, +every one would do well to try a pilgrimage on his own account. + +Anna-Marie understood the difference between being at table and on the +road, she ate with a good appetite, and she took real pleasure in +telling us what she had seen during her last round. + +"Yes," said she, "everything is going on well now. All the processions +and expiations which you have seen are nothing, they will grow larger +and more imposing from day to day. And you know there are missionaries +coming among us, as they used to do among the savages, to convert us. +They are coming from Mr. de Forbin-Janson and Mr. de Ranzan, because +the corruption of the times is so great. And the convents are to be +rebuilt, and the gates along the roads restored, as they were before +the twenty-five years' rebellion. And when the pilgrims arrive at the +convents, they will only have to ring and they will be admitted at +once, when the brothers who serve, will bring them porringers of rich +soup with meat on ordinary days, and vegetable soup with fish on +Fridays and Saturdays and during Lent. In that way piety will +increase, and everybody will make pilgrimages. But the pious women of +Bischoffsheim say, that only those who have been pilgrims from father +to son, like us, ought to go; that each one ought to attend to his +work, that the peasants should belong to the soil, and that the lords +should have their chateaux again, and govern them. I heard this with +my own ears from these pious women, who are to have their properties +again because they have returned from exile, and that they must have +their estates in order to build their chapels is very certain. Oh! if +that were only done now, so I could profit by it in my old age! I have +fasted long enough, and my little grandchildren also. I would take +them with me, and the priests would teach them, and when I die I should +have the consolation of seeing them in a good way." + +On hearing her recount all these things so contrary to reason we were +much moved, for she wept as she imagined her little girls begging at +the door of the convent and the brother bringing them soup. + +"And you know, too, that Mr. de Ranzan and the Reverend Father Tarin +want the chateaux rebuilt, and the woods and meadows and fields given +up to the nobles, and in the meantime that the ponds are to be put in +good condition, because they belong to the reverend fathers, who have +no time to plough or sow or reap. Everything must come to them of +itself." + +"But tell us, Anna-Marie, is all this quite certain? I can hardly +believe that such great happiness is in store for us." + +"It is quite certain, Mr. Goulden. The Count d'Artois wishes to secure +his salvation, and in order to do that everything must be set in order. +Mons. le Vicar Antoine of Marienthal said the same things last week. +They come from above,--these things,--and the hearts of the people must +be accustomed to them by the sermons and expiations. Those who will +not submit, like the Jews and Lutherans, will be forced to do so, and +the Jacobins"--in speaking of the Jacobins Anna-Marie looked suddenly +at Mr. Goulden and blushed up to her ears, for he was smiling. + +But she recovered herself, and went on: + +"Among the Jacobins there are some very good people, but the poor must +live. The Jacobins have taken the property of the poor and that is not +right." + +"When and where have they taken the property of the poor?" + +"Listen, Mr. Goulden, the monks and the Capuchins had the estates of +the poor, and the Jacobins have divided them amongst themselves." + +"Ah! I understand, I understand, the monks and Capuchins had your +property, Anna-Marie; I never should have guessed that." + +Mr. Goulden was all the time in good-humor, and Anna-Marie said: + +"We shall be in accord at last." + +"Oh! yes, we are, we are," said he pleasantly. + +I listened without saying anything, as I was naturally curious to hear +what was coming. It was easy to see that this was what she had heard +on her last journey. + +She said also that miracles were coming again and that Saint Quirin, +Saint Odille, and the others would not work miracles under the usurper, +but that they had commenced already; that the little black St. John at +Kortzeroth, on seeing the ancient prior return had shed tears. + +"Yes, yes, I understand," said Mr. Goulden, "that does not astonish me +in the least, after all these processions and atonements the saints +must work miracles; and it is natural, Anna-Marie, quite natural." + +"Without doubt, Mr. Goulden, and when we see miracles, faith will +return. That is clear, that is certain." + +The dinner was finished, and Anna-Marie seeing that nothing more was +coming, remembered that she was late, and exclaimed: + +"Oh! Lord, that is one o'clock striking. The others must be near +Ercheviller; now I must leave you." + +She rose and took her stick with a very important air. + +"Well! _bon voyage_, Anna-Marie, don't make us wait so long next time." + +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, if I do not sit every day at your table it is not my +fault." + +She laughed, and as she took up her bundle she said: + +"Well, good-by, and for the kindness you have shown me I will pray the +blessed Saint Quirin to send you a fine fat boy as fresh and rosy as a +lady-apple. That is the best thing, Madame Bertha, that an old woman +like me can do for you." + +On hearing these good wishes, I said, "That old woman is a good soul. +There is nothing I so much wish for in the world. May God hear her +prayer!" I was touched by that good wish. + +She went downstairs, and as she shut the door, Catherine began to +laugh, and said: + +"She emptied her budget this time." + +"Yes, my children," replied Mr. Goulden, who was quite grave, "that is +what we may call human ignorance. You would believe that poor creature +had invented all that, but she has picked it up right and left, it is +word for word what those emigres think, and what they repeat every day +in their journals, and what the preachers say every day openly in all +the churches. Louis XVIII. troubles them, he has too much good sense +for them, but the real king is Monseigneur the Duke d'Artois, who wants +to secure his salvation, and in order that this may be done everything +must be put back where it was before the 'rebellion of twenty-five +years,' and all the national property must be given up to its ancient +owners, and the nobles must have their rights and privileges as in +1788; they must occupy all the grades of the army, and the Catholic +religion must be the only religion in the state. The Sabbath and fete +days must be observed, and heretics driven from all the offices, and +the priests alone have the right to instruct the children of the +people, and this great and terrible country, which carried its ideas of +Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity everywhere by means of its good sense +and its victories, and which never would have been vanquished if the +Emperor had not made an alliance with the kings at Tilsit, this nation, +which in a few years produced so many more great captains and orators, +learned men and geniuses of all kinds, than the noble races produced in +a thousand years, must surrender everything and go back to tilling the +earth, while the others, who are not one in a thousand, will go on from +father to son, taking everything and gladdening their hearts at the +expense of the people! Oh! no doubt the fields and meadows and ponds +will be given up as Anna-Marie said, and that the convents will be +rebuilt in order to please Mons. le Comte d'Artois and help him to gain +his salvation--that is the least the country could do for so great a +prince!" + +Then Father Goulden, joining his hands, looked upward saying: + +"Lord God, Lord God, who hast wrought so many miracles by the little +black St. John of Kortzeroth, if thou wouldst permit even a single ray +of reason to enter the heads of Monseigneur and his friends, I believe +it would be more beautiful than the tears of the little saint! And +that other one on his island, with his clear eyes like the sparrow-hawk +who pretends to sleep as he watches the unconscious geese in a pool,--O +Lord, a few strokes of his wing and he is upon them, the birds may +escape, while we shall have all Europe at our heels again!" + +He said all this very gravely, and I looked at Catherine to know +whether I should laugh or cry. + +Suddenly he sat down, saying: + +"Come! Joseph, this is not at all cheerful, but what can we do? It is +time to be at work. Look, and see what is the matter with Mr. Jacob's +watch." + +Catherine took off the cloth, and each one went to his work. + + + + +IX + +It was winter. Rain fell constantly, mingled with snow. There were no +gutters, and the wind blew the rain as it fell from the tiles quite +into the middle of the street. We could hear it pattering all day +while Catherine was running about, watching the fire, and lifting the +covers of the saucepans, and sometimes singing quietly to herself as +she sat down to her spinning. Father Goulden and I were so accustomed +to this kind of life that we worked on without thinking. We troubled +ourselves about nothing, the table was laid and the dinner served +exactly on the stroke of noon. At night Mr. Goulden went out after +supper to read the gazette at Hoffman's, with his old cloak wrapped +closely round his shoulders and his big fox-skin cap pulled down over +his neck. + +But in spite of that, often when he came in at ten o'clock, after we +had gone to bed, we heard him cough; he had dampened his feet. Then +Catherine would say, "He is coughing again, he thinks he is as young as +he was at twenty," and in the morning she did not hesitate to reproach +him. + +"Monsieur Goulden," she would say, "you are not reasonable; you have an +ugly cold, and yet you go out every evening." + +"Ah! my child, what would you have? I have got the habit of reading +the gazette, and it is stronger than I. I want to know what Benjamin +Constant and the rest of them say, it is like a second life to me and I +often think 'they ought to have spoken further of such or such a thing. +If Melchior Goulden had been there he would have opposed this or that, +and it would not have failed to produce a great effect.'" + +Then he would laugh and shake his head and say: + +"Every one thinks he has more wit and good sense than the others, but +Benjamin Constant always pleases me." + +We could say nothing more, his desire to read the gazette was so great. +One day Catherine said to him: + +"If you wish to hear the news, that is no reason why you should make +yourself sick, you have only to do as the old carpenter Carabin does, +he arranged last week with Father Hoffman, and he sends him the journal +every night at seven o'clock, after the others have read it, for which +he pays him three francs a month. In this way, without any trouble to +himself, Carabin knows everything that goes on, and his wife, old +Bevel, also; they sit by the fire and talk about all these things and +discuss them together, and that is what you should do." + +"Ah! Catherine, that is an excellent idea, but--the three francs?" + +"The three francs are nothing," said I, "the principal thing is not to +be sick, you cough very badly and that cannot go on." + +These words, far from offending, pleased him, as they proved our +affection for him and that he ought to listen to us. + +"Very well! we will try to arrange it as you wish, and the rather as +the cafe is filled with half-pay officers from morning till night, and +they pass the journals from one to the other so that sometimes we must +wait two hours before we can catch one. Yes, Catherine is right." + +He went that very day to see Father Hoffman, so that after that, +Michel, one of the waiters at the cafe brought us the gazette every +night at seven o'clock, just as we rose from the table. We were happy +always when we heard him coming up the stairs, and we would say, "There +comes the gazette." + +Catherine would hurry off the cloth and I would put a big bullet of +wood in the stove, and Mr. Goulden would draw his spectacles from their +case, and while Catherine spun and I smoked my pipe like an old +soldier, and watched the blaze as it danced in the stove, he would read +us the news from Paris. + +You cannot imagine the happiness and satisfaction we had in hearing +Benjamin Constant and two or three others maintain the same opinions +which we held ourselves. Sometimes Mr. Goulden was forced to stop to +wipe his spectacles, and then Catherine would exclaim: + +"How well these people talk. They are men of good sense. Yes, what +they say is right--it is the simple truth." + +And we all approved it. Sometimes Father Goulden thought that they +ought to have spoken of this or that a little more, but that the rest +was all very well. Then he would go on with his reading, which lasted +till ten o'clock, and then we all went to bed, reflecting on what we +had just heard. Outside the wind blew, as it only can blow at +Pfalzbourg, and vanes creaked as they turned, and the rain beat against +the walls, while we enjoyed the warmth and comfort, and thanked God +till sleep came, and we forgot everything. Ah! how happily we sleep +with peace in our souls, and when we have strength and health, and the +love and respect of those whom we love. + +Days, weeks, and months went by, and we became, after a manner, +politicians, and when the ministers were going to speak, we thought: + +"Now the beggars want to deceive us! the miserable race! they ought to +be driven out, every one of them!" + +Catherine above all could not endure them, and when Mother Gredel came +and talked as before about our good King, Louis XVIII., we allowed her +to talk out of respect, but we pitied her for being so blind to the +real interests of the country. + +It must be remembered, too, that these emigres, ministers, and princes, +conducted themselves in the most insolent manner possible toward us. +If the Count d'Artois and his sons had put themselves at the head of +the Vendeeans and Bretons, and marched on Paris and had been +victorious, they would have had reason to say, "We are masters, and +will make laws for you." But to be driven out at first, and to be +brought back by the Prussians and the Russians, and then to come and +humiliate us, that was contemptible, and the older I grow the more I am +confirmed in that idea--it was shameful! + +Zebede came to see us from time to time, and he knew all that was in +the gazette. It was from us that he first learned that the young +emigres had driven General Vandamme from the presence of the King. +This old soldier, who had just returned from a Russian prison, and whom +all the army respected in spite of his misfortune at Kulm, they +conducted from the royal presence, and told him that was not his place. +Vandamme had been colonel of a regiment at Pfalzbourg, and you cannot +imagine the indignation of the people at this news. + +And it was Zebede who told us, that processes had been made out against +the generals on half-pay, and that their letters were opened at the +post, that they might appear like traitors. He told us a little +afterward that they were going to send away the daughters of the old +officers who were at the school of St. Denis and give them a pension of +two hundred francs; and later still, that the emigres alone would have +the right to put their sons in the schools at "St. Cyr" and "la Fleche" +to be educated as officers, while the people's sons would remain +soldiers at five centimes (one cent) a day for centuries to come. + +The gazettes told the same stories, but Zebede knew a great many other +details--the soldiers knew everything. + +I could not describe Zebede's face to you as he sat behind the stove, +with the end of his black pipe between his teeth, recounting all these +misfortunes. His great nose would turn pale, and the muscles would +twitch around the corners of his light gray eyes, and he would pretend +to laugh from time to time, and murmur, "It moves, it moves." + +"And what do the other soldiers think of all this?" said Father Goulden. + +"Ha! they think it is pretty well when they have given their blood to +France for twenty years, when they have made ten, fifteen, and twenty +campaigns, and wear three chevrons, and are riddled with wounds, to +hear that their old chiefs are driven from their posts, their daughters +turned out of the schools, and that the sons of those people are to be +their officers forever--that delights them, Father Goulden!" and his +face quivered even to his ears as he said this. + +"That is terrible, certainly," said Father Goulden, "but discipline is +always discipline there. The marshals obey the ministers, and the +officers the marshals, and the soldiers the officers." + +"You are right," said Zebede, "but there, they are beating the +assembly." + +And he shook hands and hurried off to the barracks. + +The winter passed in this way, while the indignation increased every +day. The city was full of officers on half-pay, who dared not remain +in Paris,--lieutenants, captains, commandants, and colonels of infantry +and cavalry,--men who lived on a crust of bread and a glass of wine a +day, and who were the more miserable because they were forced to keep +up an appearance--think of such men with their hollow cheeks and their +hair closely cropped, with sparkling eyes and their big mustaches and +their old uniform cloaks, of which they had been forced to change the +buttons, see them promenading by threes and sixes and tens on the +square, with their sword-canes at their button-holes, and their +three-cornered hats so old and worn, though still well brushed; you +could not help thinking that they had not one quarter enough to eat. + +And yet we were compelled to say to ourselves, these are the victors of +Jemmapes, of Fleurus, of Zurich, of Hohenlinden, of Marengo, of +Austerlitz, and of Friedland and Wagram. If we are proud of being +Frenchmen, neither the Comte d'Artois nor the Duke de Berry can boast +of being the cause; on the contrary, it is these men, and now they +leave them to perish, they even refuse them bread and put the emigres +in their place. It does not need any extraordinary amount of +common-sense, or heart, or of justice to discover that this is contrary +to nature. + +I never could look at these unhappy men; it made me miserable. If you +have been a soldier for only six months, your respect for your old +chiefs, for those whom you have seen in the very front under fire, +always remains. I was ashamed of my country for permitting such +indignities. + +One circumstance I shall never forget: it was the last of January, +1815, when two of these half-pay officers--one was a large, austere, +gray-haired man, known as Colonel Falconette, who appeared to have +served in the infantry, the other was short and thick and they called +him Commandant Margarot, and he still wore his hussar whiskers--came to +us and proposed to sell a splendid watch. It might have been ten +o'clock in the morning. I can see them now as they came gravely in, +the colonel with his high collar, and the other one with his head down +between his shoulders. + +The watch was a gold one, with double case; a repeater which marked the +seconds, and was wound up only once in eight days. I had never seen +such a fine one. + +While Mr. Goulden examined it I turned round on my chair and looked at +the men, who seemed to be in great need of money, especially the +hussar. His brown, bony face, his big red mustaches, and his little +brown eyes, his broad shoulders and long arms, which hung down to his +knees, inspired me with great respect. I thought that when he took his +sabre his long arm would reach a good way, that his eyes would burn +under his heavy brows, and that the parry and thrust would come like +lightning. I imagined him in a charge, half hidden behind his horse's +head, with the point advanced, and my admiration was greater still. I +suddenly remembered that Colonel Falconette and Commandant Margarot had +killed some Russian and Austrian officers in a duel in the rear of the +"Green Tree," when the allies were passing through the town six months +ago. + +The large man too, without any shirt-collar, although he was thin, +wrinkled, and pale, and his temples were gray and his manner cold, +seemed respectable too. + +I waited to hear what Father Goulden would say about the watch. He did +not raise his eyes, but looked at it with profound admiration, while +the men waited quietly like those who suffer from not being able to +conceal their pain. At last he said: + +"This, gentlemen, is a beautiful watch, fit for a prince?" + +"Indeed it is," said the hussar, "and it was from a prince I received +it after the battle of Rabbe," and he glanced at his companion, who +said nothing. + +Mr. Goulden saw that they were in great need. He took off his black +silk bonnet, and said, as he rose slowly from his seat: + +"Gentlemen, do not take offence at what I am going to say. I am like +you an old soldier, I served France under the Republic, and I am sure +it must be heart-breaking to be forced to sell such a thing as that, an +object which recalls some noble action, the souvenir of a chief whom we +revere." + +I had never heard Father Goulden speak with such emotion, his bald head +was bowed sadly, and his eyes were on the ground, so that he might not +see the pain of those to whom he was speaking. + +The commandant grew quite red, his eyes were dim, his great fingers +worked, and the colonel was pale as death. I wished myself away. + +Mr. Goulden went on, "This watch is worth more than a thousand francs, +I have not so much money in hand, and besides you would doubtless +regret to part with such a souvenir. I will make you this offer, leave +the watch with me, I will hang it in my window--it shall always be +yours--and I will advance you two hundred francs, which you shall repay +me when you take it away." + +On hearing this, the hussar extended his two great hairy hands, as if +to embrace Father Goulden. + +"You are a good patriot," he exclaimed, "Colin told us so. Ah! sir, I +shall never forget the service you have rendered me. This watch I +received from Prince Eugene for bravery in action, it is dear to me as +my own blood, but poverty----" + +"Commandant!" exclaimed the other, turning pale. + +"Colonel, permit me! we are old comrades together. They are starving +us, they treat us like Cossacks. They are too cowardly to shoot us +outright." + +He could be heard all over the house. Catherine and I ran into the +kitchen in order not to see the sad spectacle. Mr. Goulden soothed +him, and we heard him say: + +"Yes, yes, gentlemen, I know all that, and I put myself in your place." + +"Come! Margarot, be quiet," said the colonel. And this went on for a +quarter of an hour. + +At last we heard Mr. Goulden count out the money, and the hussar said: + +"Thank you, sir, thank you! If ever you have occasion, remember the +Commandant Margarot." + +We were glad to hear the door open, and to hear them go downstairs, for +Catherine and I were much pained by what we had heard and seen. We +went back to the room, and Mr. Goulden, who had been to show the +officers out, came back with his head bare. He was very much disturbed. + +"These unhappy men are right," said he, "the conduct of the government +toward them is horrible, but it will have to pay for it sooner or +later." + +We were sad all day, but Mr. Goulden showed me the watch and explained +its beauties, and told me, we ought always to have such models before +us, and then we hung it in our window. + +From that moment the idea never left me that matters would end badly, +and that even if the emigres stopped here, they had done too much +mischief already. I could still hear the commandant exclaiming, that +they treated the army like Cossacks. All those processions and +expiations and sermons about the rebellion of twenty-five years, seemed +to me to be a terrible confusion, and I felt that the restoration of +the national property and the rebuilding of the convents would be +productive of no good. + + + + +X + +It was about the beginning of March, when a rumor began to circulate +that the Emperor had just landed at Cannes. This rumor was like the +wind, nobody ever could tell where it came from. Pfalzbourg is two +hundred leagues from the sea, and many a mountain and valley lies +between them. An extraordinary circumstance, I remember, happened on +the 6th of March. When I rose in the morning, I pushed open the window +of our little chamber which was just under the eaves, and looked across +the street at the old black chimneys of Spitz the baker, and saw that a +little snow still remained behind them. The cold was sharp, though the +sun was shining, and I thought, "What fine weather for a march!" Then +I remembered how happy we used to be in Germany, as we put out our +campfires and set off on such fine mornings as this, with our guns on +our shoulders, listening to the footfalls of the battalion echoing from +the hard frozen ground. I do not know how it was, but suddenly the +Emperor came into my mind, and I saw him with his gray coat and round +shoulders, with his hat drawn over his eyes, marching along with the +Old Guard behind him. + +Catherine was sweeping our little room, and I was almost dreaming as I +leaned out into the dry, clear air, when we heard some one coming up +the stairs. Catherine stopped her sweeping and said: + +"It is Mr. Goulden." + +I also recognized his step, and was surprised, as he seldom came into +our chamber. He opened the door and said in a low voice: + +"My children, the Emperor landed on the 1st of March at Cannes, near +Toulon, and is marching upon Paris." + +He said no more, but sat down to take breath. We looked at each other +in astonishment, but a moment after Catherine asked: + +"Is it in the gazette, Mr. Goulden?" + +"No," he replied, "either they know nothing of it over there, or else +they conceal it from us. But, in Heaven's name, not a word of all +this, or we shall be arrested. This morning, about five o'clock, +Zebede, who mounted guard at the French gate, came to let me know of +it; he knocked downstairs, did you hear him?" + +"No! we were asleep, Mr. Goulden." + +"Well! I opened the window to see what was the matter, and then I went +down and unlocked the door. Zebede told it to me as a fact, and says +the soldiers are to be confined to the barracks till further orders. +It seems they are afraid of the soldiers, but how can they stop +Bonaparte without them? They cannot send the peasants, whom they have +stripped of everything, against him, nor the bourgeoisie, whom they +have treated like Jacobins. Now is a good time for the emigres to show +themselves. But silence, above all things, the most profound silence!" + +He rose, and we all went down to the workshop. Catherine made a good +fire, and everyone went about his work as usual. + +That day everything was quiet, and the next day also. Some neighbors, +Father Riboc and Offran, came in to see us, under pretence of having +their watches cleaned. + +"Anything new, neighbor?" they inquired. + +"No, indeed!" replied Mr. Goulden. "Everything is quiet. Do you hear +anything?" + +"No." + +But you could see by their eyes, that they had heard the news. Zebede +stayed at the barracks. The half-pay officers filled the cafe from +morning till night, but not a word transpired, the affair was too +serious. On the third day these officers, who were boiling over with +impatience, were seen running back and forth, their very faces showing +their terrible anxiety. If they had had horses or even arms, I am sure +they would have attempted something. But the guards went and came +also, with old Chancel at their head, and a courier was sent off hourly +to Saarbourg. The excitement increased, nobody felt any interest in +his work. We soon learned through the commercial travellers, who +arrived at the "City of Basle," that the upper Rhine provinces and the +Jura had risen, and that regiments of cavalry and infantry were +following each other from Besancon, and that heavy forces had been sent +against the usurper. + +One of these travellers having spoken rather too freely, was ordered to +quit the town at once, the brigadier in command having examined his +passport and, fortunately for him, found it properly made out. + +I have seen other revolutions since then, but never such excitement as +reigned on the 8th of March between four and five in the evening, when +the order arrived for the departure of the first and second battalions +fully equipped for service for Lons-le-Saulnier. It was only then that +the danger was fully realized, and every one thought, "It is not the +Duke d'Angouleme nor the Duke de Berry that we need to arrest the +progress of Bonaparte, but the whole of Europe." + +The faces of the officers on half-pay lighted up as with a burst of +sunshine, and they breathed freely again. About five o'clock the first +roll of the drum was heard on the square, when suddenly Zebede rushed +in. + +"Well!" said Father Goulden to him. + +"The first two battalions are going away," he replied. He was very +pale. + +"They are sent to stop him," said Mr. Goulden. + +"Yes," said Zebede, winking, "they are going to stop him." + +The drums still rolled. He went downstairs, four at a time. I +followed him. At the foot of the stairs, and while he was on the first +step, he seized me by the arm, and raising his shako, whispered in my +ear: + +"Look, Joseph, do you recognize that?" + +I saw the old tri-colored cockade in the lining. + +"That is ours," he said, "all the soldiers have it." + +I hardly had time to glance at it when he shook my hand and, turning +away, hurried to Fouquet's corner. I went upstairs, saying to myself, +"Now for another breaking up, in which Europe will be involved; now for +the conscription, Joseph, the abolition of all permits and all the +other things that we read of in the gazettes. In the place of quiet, +we must be plunged in confusion; instead of listening to the ticking of +clocks, we must hear the thunder of cannon; instead of talking of +convents, we must talk of arsenals; instead of smelling flowers and +incense, we must smell powder. Great God! will this never come to an +end? Everything would go prosperously without missionaries and +emigres. What a calamity! What a calamity! We who work and ask for +nothing are always the ones who have to pay. All these crimes are +committed for our happiness, while they mock us and treat us like +brutes." A great many other ideas passed through my head, but what +good did they do me? I was not the Comte d'Artois, nor was I the Duke +de Berry; and one must be a prince in order that his ideas may be of +consequence, and that every word he speaks may pass for a miracle. + +Father Goulden could not keep still a moment that afternoon. He was +just as impatient as I was when I was expecting my permit to marry. He +would look out of the window every moment and say, "There will be great +news to-day; the orders have been given, and there is no need of hiding +anything from us any longer." And from time to time he would exclaim, +"Hush! here is the mail coach!" We would listen, but it was Lanche's +cart with his old horses, or Baptiste's boat at the bridge. It was +quite dark and Catherine had laid the cloth, when for the twentieth +time Mr. Goulden exclaimed, "Listen!" + +This time we heard a distant rumbling, which came nearer every moment. +Without waiting an instant, he ran to the alcove and slipped on his big +waistcoat, crying: + +"Joseph, it has come." + +He rolled down the stairs, as it were, and from seeing him in such a +hurry the desire to hear the news seized me, and I followed him. We +had hardly reached the street when the coach came through the dark +gateway, with its two red lanterns, and rushed past us like a +thunder-bolt. We ran after it, but we were not alone; from all sides +we heard the people running and shouting, "There it is, there it is!" +The post-office was in the rue des Foins, near the German gate, and the +coach went straight down to the college and turned there to the right. +The farther we went the greater was the crowd; it poured from every +door. + +[Illustration: People were heard shouting, "There it is, there it is!"] + +The old mayor, Mr. Parmentier, his secretary, Eschbach, and Cauchois, +the tax-gatherer, and many other notables were in the crowd, talking +together and saying: + +"The decisive moment has come." + +When we turned into the Place d'Armes, we saw the crowd already +gathered in front of the postoffice; innumerable faces were leaning +over the iron balustrade, one trying to get before the other, and +interrogating the courier, who did not answer a word. + +The postmaster, Mr. Pernette, opened the window, which was lighted up +from the inside, and the package of letters and papers flew from the +coach through this window into the room; the window closed, and the +crack of the postilion's whip warned the crowd to get out of the way. + +"The papers, the papers!" shouted the crowd from every side. The coach +set off again and disappeared through the German gate. + +"Let us go to Hoffman's cafe," said Mr. Goulden. "Hurry! the papers +will go there, and if we wait we shall not be able to get in." + +As we crossed the square we heard some one running behind us, and the +clear, strong voice of Margarot, saying: + +"They have come, I have them." + +All the half-pay officers were following him, and as the moon was +shining we could see they were coming at a great pace. We rushed into +the cafe and were hardly seated near the great stove of Delft ware, +when the crowd at once poured in through both doors. You should have +seen the faces of the half-pay officers at that moment. Their great +three-cornered hats, defiling under the lamps, their thin faces with +their long mustaches hanging down, their sparkling eyes peering into +the darkness, made them look like savages in pursuit of something. +Some of them squinted in their impatience and anxiety, and I think that +they did not see anything at all, and that their thoughts were +elsewhere with Bonaparte;--that was fearful. + +The people kept coming and coming, till we were suffocating, and were +obliged to open the windows. Outside in the street, where the cavalry +barracks were, and on the Fountain Square, there was a great tumult. + +"We did well to come at once," said Mr. Goulden, springing on a chair +and steadying himself with his hand on the stove. Others were doing +the same thing, and I followed his example. Nothing could be seen but +the eager faces and the big hats of the officers, and the great crowd +on the square outside in the moonlight. The tumult increased and a +voice cried, "Silence." It was the Commandant Margarot, who had +mounted upon a table. Behind him the gendarmes Keltz and Werner looked +on, and at all the open windows people were leaning in to hear. On the +square at the same instant somebody repeated, "Silence, silence." And +it was at once so still that you would have said, there was not a soul +there. + +The commandant read the gazette, his clear voice pronouncing every word +with a sort of quaver in it, resembling the tic-tac of our clock in the +middle of the night, and it could be distinctly heard in the square. +The reading lasted a long time, for the commandant omitted nothing. I +remember it commenced by declaring that the one called Bonaparte, a +public enemy, who for fifteen years had held France in despotic +slavery, had escaped from his island, and had had the audacity to set +his foot on the soil deluged with blood through his own crimes, but +that the troops--faithful to the King and to the nation--were on the +march to stop him, and that in view of the general horror, Bonaparte, +with the handful of beggars that accompanied him, had fled into the +mountains, but that he was surrounded on all sides and could not escape. + +I remember too, according to that gazette all the marshals had hastened +to place their glorious swords at the service of the King, the father +of the people and of the nation, and that the illustrious Marshal Ney, +Prince of Moscowa, had kissed the King's hand and promised to bring +Bonaparte to Paris dead or alive. After that there were some Latin +words which no doubt had been put there for the priests. + +From time to time I heard some one behind me laughing and jeering at +the journal. On turning round, I saw that it was Professor Burguet and +two or three other noted men who had been taken after the "Hundred +days," and had been forced to remain at Bourges because, as Father +Goulden said, they had too much spirit. That shows plainly that it is +better to keep still at such times, if one does not wish to fight on +either side; for words are of no use, but to get us into difficulty. + +But there was something worse still toward the end, when the commandant +commenced to read the decrees. + +The first indicated the movement of the troops, and the second, +commanded all Frenchmen to fall upon Bonaparte, to arrest and deliver +him dead or alive, because he had put himself out of the pale of law. + +At that moment the commandant, who had until then only laughed when he +read the name of Bonaparte, and whose bony face had only trembled a +little as it was lighted up by the lamp--at that moment his aspect +changed completely, I never saw anything more terrible; his face +contracted, fold upon fold, his little eyes blazed like those of a cat, +and his mustaches and whiskers stood on end; he seized the gazette and +tore it into a thousand pieces, and then pale as death he raised +himself to his full height, extended his long arms, and shouted in a +voice so loud that it made our flesh creep, _Vive l'Empereur!_ +Immediately all the half-pay officers raised their three-cornered hats, +some in their hands and some on the end of their sword-canes, and +repeated with one voice, _Vive l'Empereur!_ + +You would have thought the roof was coming down. I felt just as if +some one had thrown cold water down my back. I said to myself, "It is +all over now. What is the use in preaching peace to such people?" + +Outside among the groups of citizens, the soldiers of the post repeated +the cry, _Vive l'Empereur_. And as I looked in great anxiety to see +what the gendarmes would do, they retired without saying a word, being +old soldiers also. + +But it was not yet over. As the commandant was getting down from the +table, an officer suggested that they should carry him in triumph. +They seized him by the legs, and forcing the crowd aside, carried him +around the room, screaming like madmen, _Vive l'Empereur_. He was so +affected by the honor shown him by his comrades and by hearing them +shout what he so much loved to hear, that he sat there with his long +hairy hands on their shoulders, and his head above their great hats, +and wept. No one would have believed that such a face could weep; that +alone was sufficient to upset you and make you tremble. He said not a +word; his eyes were closed and the tears ran down his nose and his long +mustaches. I was looking on with all my eyes, as you can imagine, when +Father Goulden got down from his chair and pulled me by the arm, +saying: "Joseph, let us go, it is time." + +Behind us the hall was already empty. Everybody had hurried out by the +brewer Klein's alley for fear of being mixed up in a disagreeable +affair, and we went that way also. + +As we crossed the square, Father Goulden said, "There is danger that +matters will take a bad turn. To-morrow the gendarmerie may commence +to act, the Commandant Margarot and the others have not the air of men +who will allow themselves to be arrested. The soldiers of the third +battalion will take their part, if they have not already. The city is +in their power." + +He was talking to himself, and I thought as he did. + +When we reached home, Catherine was waiting anxiously for us in the +workshop. We told her all that had happened. The table was set, but +nobody was inclined to eat. Mr. Goulden drank a glass of wine, and +then as he took off his shoes he said to us: + +"My children, after what we have just heard we may be sure that the +Emperor will reach Paris; the soldiers wish it, and the peasants desire +it, and if he has considered well since he has been on his island and +will give up his ideas about war, and will respect the treaties, the +bourgeoise will ask nothing better, especially if we have a good +Constitution that will guarantee to everyone his liberty, which is the +best of all good things. Let us wish it for ourselves and for him. +Good-night." + + + + +XI + +The next day was Friday and market day, and there was nothing talked of +in the whole town but the great news. Great numbers of peasants from +Alsace and Lorraine came filing into town on their carts, some in +blouses, some in their waistcoats, some in three-cornered hats, and +some in their cotton caps, under pretence of selling their grain, their +barley and oats, but in reality to find out what was going on. + +You could hear nothing but "Get up, Fox! gee ho, Gray!" and the rolling +of the wheels and the cracking of the whips. And the women were not +behindhand, they arrived from the Houpe, from Dagsberg, Ercheviller, +and Baraques, with their scanty skirts and with great baskets on their +heads, striding and hurrying along. Everybody passed under our +windows, and Mr. Goulden said, "What an excitement there is, what a +rush! It is easy to see that there is another spirit in the land. +Nobody is marching now with candles in his hand and a surplice on his +back." + +He seemed to be satisfied, and that proved how much all these +ceremonies had annoyed him. At last about eight o'clock it was +necessary to set about our work again, and Catherine went out as usual +to buy our butter and eggs and vegetables for the week. At ten o'clock +she came back again. + +"Oh! Heavens!" said she, "everything is topsy-turvy." And then she +related how the half-pay officers were promenading with their +sword-canes, with the Commandant Margarot in their midst, that on the +square, in the market, in the church, and around the stands, everywhere +the peasants and citizens were shaking hands and taking snuff together, +and saying, "Ah! now trade is brisk again." + +And she told us also that during the night proclamations had been +posted up at the town-house and on the three doors of the church, and +even against the pillars of the market, but that the gendarmes had torn +them down early in the morning, in fact, that everything was in +commotion. Father Goulden had risen from the counter in order to +listen to her, and I turned round on my chair and thought: + +"All that is good, very good, but at this rate your leave of absence +will soon be recalled. Everything is moving and you must also move, +Joseph! Instead of remaining here quietly with your wife, you will +have to take your cartridge-box and knapsack and musket and two +packages of cartridges on your back." + +As I looked at Catherine, who did not think of the bad side of affairs, +Weissenfels, Lutzen, and Leipzig passed through my mind, and I was +quite melancholy. While we were all so sober, the door opened and Aunt +Gredel walked in. At first you would have thought she was quite +composed. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Goulden; good-morning, my children," said she, +putting down her basket behind the stove. + +"Are you well too, Mother Gredel?" asked Mr. Goulden. + +"Ah! well! well!" said she. + +I saw that she had set her teeth, and that two red spots burned on her +cheeks. She crammed her hair which was hanging down over her ears, +with a single thrust into her cap, and looked at us one after the other +with her gray eyes to see what we thought, and then she commenced. + +"It seems that the rascal has escaped from his island." + +"Of what rascal do you speak?" asked Mr. Goulden calmly. + +"Oh! you know very well of whom I speak, I speak of your Bonaparte." + +Mr. Goulden, seeing her anger, turned round to his counter to avoid a +dispute. He seemed to be examining a watch, and I followed his example. + +"Yes," said she, speaking still louder, "his evil deeds are commencing +again; just as we thought all was finished! and he comes back again +worse than ever! What a pest!" + +I could hear her voice tremble. Mr. Goulden kept on with his work, and +asked, without turning round, "Whose fault is it, Mother Gredel? Do +you think that those processions, atonements, and the sermons in regard +to the national domains and the 'rebellion of twenty-five years,' these +continual menaces of establishing the old order of things, the order to +close the shops during the service, do you think all that could +continue? Did any one, let me ask, ever see since the world began, +anything more calculated to rouse a nation against those who attempt to +degrade it! You would have said that Bonaparte himself had whispered +in the ears of those Bourbons, all the stupidities which would be +likely to disgust the people. Tell me, might we not expect just what +has come to pass?" + +He kept on looking at the watch through his glass in order to keep +calm. While he was speaking I had looked at Aunt Gredel out of the +corner of my eye. She had changed color two or three times, and +Catherine, who was behind us near the stove, made signs to her not to +make trouble in our house, but the wilful woman disregarded all signs. + +"You, too, are satisfied then, are you? you change from one day to +another like the rest of them, you always bring out your republic when +it suits you." + +On hearing this, Mr. Goulden coughed softly, as if he had something in +his throat, and for half a minute he seemed to be considering, while +aunt looked on. He recovered himself at last and said slowly: "You are +wrong, Madame Gredel, to reproach me, for if I had wished to change I +should have begun sooner. Instead of being a clock-maker in Pfalzbourg +I should have been a colonel or a general, like the others, but I +always have been, I am now, and shall remain till I die, for the +Republic and the Rights of Man." + +Then he turned suddenly round, and looking at aunt from head to foot, +and raising his voice; he went on: "And that is the reason why I like +Bonaparte better than the Comte d'Artois, the emigres, the +missionaries, and the workers of miracles; at least he is forced to +keep something of the Revolution, he is forced to respect the national +domain, to guarantee to every one his property, his rank, and +everything he has acquired under the new laws. Without that, what +right would he have to be Emperor? If he had not maintained equality +why should the nation wish to have him? The others, on the contrary, +have attacked everything; they want to destroy everything that we have +done. Now you understand why I like him better than the others. + +"Ah!" said Mother Gredel, "that is new!" and she laughed +contemptuously. I would have given anything if she had been at Quatre +Vents. + +"There was a time when you talked otherwise, when he re-established the +bishops and the archbishops and the cardinals, when he had himself +crowned by the Pope, and consecrated with oil from the holy ampoule,[1] +when he recalled the emigres, when he gave up the chateaux and forests +to the great families, when he made princes and dukes and barons by the +dozen; how many times have I heard you say that all that was atrocious, +that he had betrayed the Revolution, that you would have preferred the +Bourbons, because they did not know any other way, that they were like +blackbirds, who only whistle one tune because they know no other, and +because they think it the most beautiful air in the world. While he, +the result of the Revolution, whose father had only a few dozens of +goats on the mountains of Corsica, should have known that all men are +equal, that courage and genius alone elevate them above their +fellows,--that he should have despised all those old notions, and that +he should have made war only to defend the new rights, the new ideas, +which are just and which nothing can arrest: did you not say that, when +you were talking with old Colin in the rear of our garden, for fear of +being arrested--did you not say that between yourselves and before me?" + + +[1] Vial which contains the oil for anointing the kings of France. + + +Father Goulden had grown quite pale. He looked down at his feet and +turned his snuff-box round and round in his fingers as if he were +thinking, and I saw his emotion in his face. + +"Yes, I said it," he replied, "and I think so still--you have a good +memory, Mother Gredel. It is true that for ten years Colin and I have +been obliged to hide ourselves if we spoke of events that will +certainly be accomplished, and it is the despotism of one man born +among us, whom we have sustained with our own blood, which compelled us +to do that. But to-day everything is changed. The man, to whom you +cannot deny genius, has seen his sycophants abandon and betray him; he +has seen that his strength lies in the people, and that those alliances +of which he had the weakness to be so proud, were the cause of his +ruin. He has come now to rid us of the others, and I am glad." + +"Then you have no faith in yourself, eh? Have you any need of him?" +exclaimed Aunt Gredel. "If the processions annoyed you, and if you +were, as you say, 'the people,' why do you need him?" + +Father Goulden smiled, and said, "If everybody had the courage to +follow his own conscience, and if so many persons who joined the +processions had not done so from vanity or to show their fine clothes, +and if others had not joined from interest, from the hope of getting a +good office, or to obtain permits, then Madame Gredel you would be +right, and we should not have needed Bonaparte to overturn all that, +and you would have seen that three-quarters of the people had +common-sense, and perhaps even the Comte d'Artois himself would have +cried, Hold! But as hypocrisy and interest hide and obscure everything +and make night out of the broad day, unhappily we must have +thunder-bolts to make us see clearly. It is you, and those who are +like you, who have caused those who have never changed their opinions, +to rejoice when fever takes the place of colic." + +Father Goulden rose and walked up and down in great agitation, and as +Aunt Gredel was going on again, he took his cap and went out, saying: + +"I have given you my opinions. Now talk to Joseph; he thinks you are +always right." + +As soon as he had gone, Mother Gredel cried out: + +"He is an old fool, and he has been, always! Now, as for you, if you +do not go to Switzerland, I warn you, you will be obliged to go, God +knows where. But we will talk about that another time, the principal +thing is to warn you. We will wait and see what happens; perhaps +Bonaparte will be arrested, but if he reaches Paris, we will go +somewhere else." + +She embraced us and took her basket and went away. A few minutes +afterward, Father Goulden came in and we sat down to our work and said +no more about these things. We were very sober, and at night I was +more than ever surprised, when Catherine said: + +"We will always listen to Mr. Goulden, he is right and will give us +good counsel." + +On hearing that, I thought that she agreed with Father Goulden because +they read the gazette together. That gazette always says what just +pleases them, but that does not prevent it being very terrible if we +are obliged to take our guns and knapsacks again, and it would be +better to be in Switzerland, either at Geneva, or at Father Rulle's +manufactory or at Chaux-de-Fonds, than at Leipzig, and those other +places. I did not wish to contradict Catherine, but her remarks +annoyed me greatly. + + + + +XII + +From that moment there was confusion everywhere, the half-pay officers +shouted, "_Vive l'Empereur_." The commandant gave orders to arrest +them, but the battalion did the same thing, and the gendarmes seemed to +be deaf. Nobody was at work; the tax-gatherers and overseers, the +mayor and his counsellors, grew gray with uncertainty, not knowing on +which foot they should dance. Nobody dared to come out for Bonaparte, +or for Louis XVIII., except the slaters and masons and knife-grinders, +who could not lose their offices and who wished for nothing better than +to see others in their places. With their hatchets stuck in their +leather belts and a bag of chips on their shoulders, they did not +hesitate to shout, "Down with the emigres," they laughed at the +troubles, which increased visibly. + +One day the gazette said, the usurper is at Grenoble, the next he is at +Lyons, the next at Macon, and the next at Auxerre, and so on. Father +Goulden was in good-humor as he read the news at night, and he would +say: + +"They can see now that the Frenchmen are for the Revolution, and that +the others cannot hold out. Everybody says, 'Down with the _emigres_.' +What a lesson for those who can see clearly! Those Bourbons wanted to +make us all Vendeeans, they ought to rejoice that they have succeeded +so well." + +But one thing troubled him still, that was the great battle which was +announced between Ney and Napoleon. + +"Although Ney has kissed the hand of the King, yet he is an old +soldier, and I will never believe that he will fight against the will +of the people. No, it is not possible, he will remember the old cooper +of Saar-Louis, who would break his head with his hammer, if he were +still living, on learning that Michel had betrayed the country in order +to please the King." + +That was what Mr. Goulden said, but that did not prevent people from +being uneasy, when suddenly the news arrived that he had followed the +example of the army and the bourgeoisie and all those who wished to be +rid of the atonements, and that he had rallied with them. Then there +was greater confidence, but still prudent men were silent in view of +what might happen. + +On the 21st of March, between five and six in the evening, Mr. Goulden +and I were at work; it had begun to grow dark, and Catherine was +lighting the lamp, a gentle rain was falling on the panes, when +Theodore Roeber, who had charge of the telegraph, passed under our +windows, riding a big dapple-gray horse at the top of his speed, his +blouse filled out by the air, he went so fast, and he was holding his +great felt hat on with one hand, while he kept striking his horse with +a whip which he held in the other, though he was galloping like the +wind. Father Goulden wiped the glass and leaned over to see better, +and said: + +"That is Roeber, who is coming from the telegraph, some great news has +arrived." His pale cheeks reddened, and I felt my heart beat +violently. Catherine came and placed the lamp near us, and I opened +the window to close the shutter. That took me some moments, as I was +obliged to disarrange the glasses on the work-table, and take down the +watches before I could do it. Mr. Goulden seemed lost in thought. +Just as I had fastened the window, we heard the assembly beat from both +sides of the city at once, from the bastion of the Mittelbronn and from +Bigelberg, the echoes from the ramparts and from the target valley +responded, and a dull rumbling filled the air, Mr. Goulden rose, saying: + +"The matter is decided at last," in a tone which made me shudder. +"Either they are fighting near Paris, or the Emperor is in his old +palace as he was in 1809." + +Catherine ran for his cloak, for she saw plainly he was going out in +spite of the rain. He was speaking with his great gray eyes wide open, +and took no notice as she slipped on the sleeves, and as he went out +Catherine touched me on the shoulder--I was still sitting--and said: + +"Go, Joseph, follow him." + +We reached the square just as the battalion filed out of the broad +street at the corner by the mayor's, behind the drummers, who had their +drums over their shoulders. A great crowd followed them. When they +reached the great lindens, the drums recommenced, and the soldiers +hurriedly got into their ranks, and almost immediately the Commandant +Gemeau, who was suffering from his wounds and had not been out for two +months appeared on the steps of the "Minque." A sapper held his horse +by the bridle, and gave him his shoulder to mount. Everybody was +looking on, and the roll commenced. The commandant crossed the square, +and the captains went quickly up to meet him; he said a few words to +them, and then passed in front of the battalion, followed by a sergeant +with three chevrons, who carried a flag in its oil-cloth case. The +crowd increased every moment. Mr. Goulden had mounted on the stone +posts in front of the arch of the guard-house. After the roll was +called, the commandant waited a moment and then drew his sword and gave +the order to form a square. I tell you these things in a simple way, +because they were simple and terrible. + +The commandant was very pale, and we could see, though it was almost +night, that he had fever. The gray lines of soldiers in the square, +the commandant on horseback, the officers around him in the rain, the +listening citizens, the profound silence, the opening of the windows in +the vicinity, all are present to my mind though fifty years have passed +since then. Not a word was said, for we all felt that we were going to +learn the fate of France. + +"Carry arms! shoulder arms!" + +After this nothing was heard but the voice of the commandant, that +voice which I had heard on the other side of the Rhine at Lutzen and +Leipzig, saying: + +"Close the ranks." + +The words went through my very marrow. + +"Soldiers!" said he, "Louis XVIII. left Paris on the 20th of March, and +the Emperor Napoleon made his entry into the capital the same day." + +A sort of shiver went through the crowd, but it lasted for a moment +only, and the commandant continued: + +"Soldiers, the flag of France is the flag of Arcola, of Rivoli, of +Alexandria, of Chebreisse, of the Pyramids, of Aboukir, of Marengo, of +Austerlitz, and of Jena, of Eylau, of Friedland, of Sommo-Sierra, of +Madrid, of Abensberg, of Eckmuel, of Essling, of Wagram, of Smolensk, of +Moscowa, of Weissenfels, of Lutzen, of Bautzen, of Wurtschen, of +Dresden, of Bischofswarda, of Hanau, of Brienne, of Saint Dizier, of +Champaubert, of Chateau-Thierry, of Joinvilliers, of Mery-sur-Seine, of +Montereau, and of Montmirail. It is the flag which we have dyed with +our blood, and it is that which makes it our glory." + +The old sergeant had drawn the torn flag from its case, and the +commandant continued: + +"Here is the flag! you recognize it; it is the flag of the nation, it +is that flag which the Russians and Austrians and Prussians took from +us on the day of their first victory, because they feared it." + +A great number of the old soldiers, on hearing these words, turned away +their heads to hide their tears; while others, deathly pale, looked and +listened with flashing eyes. + +"I," said the commandant, raising his sword, "know no other. _Vive la +France! Vive l'Empereur!_" + +The words had hardly left his mouth when from every window, from the +square, from the streets, rose the shouts, "_Vive la France! Vive +l'Empereur!_" like the blast of a trumpet. The people and the soldiers +embraced each other, you would have thought that everything was safe, +that we had found all that France lost in 1814. It was almost dark, +and the people went away in companies of threes, sixes, and twenties, +shouting, "_Vive l'Empereur!_" When near the hospital a red flash +lighted up the sky, the cannon thundered, another responded from the +rear of the arsenal, and so they continued to roar from second to +second. + +Mr. Goulden and I left the square arm in arm, crying, "_Vive +l'Empereur!_" also, and as at each discharge of cannon the flash +lighted up the square, in one of them we saw Catherine, who was coming +to meet us with old Madelon Schouler. She had put on her little cloak +and hood, protecting her rosy little nose from the mist, and she +exclaimed, on seeing us: + +"There they are, Madelon! The Emperor is master, is he not, Mr. +Goulden?" + +"Yes, my child," he replied, "it is decided." + +Catherine took my arm, and I kissed her two or three times as we were +going home. Perhaps I felt that we should soon be forced to part, and +that then, it would be long before I should kiss her again. Father +Goulden and Madelon were before us, and he said: + +"Come up, Madelon; I want to drink a good glass of wine with you." But +she declined, and left us at the door. I can only say that the joy of +the people was as great as on the return of Louis XVIII., and perhaps +still greater. + +Father Goulden took off his cloak and sat down in his place at table, +as supper was waiting. Catherine ran down to the cellar and brought up +a bottle of good wine, we laughed and drank while the cannon made our +windows rattle. Sometimes people's heads are turned, even those who +love nothing but peace. So the sound of the cannon made us happy, and +we went back in a measure to our old habits. + +"The commandant," said Mr. Goulden, "spoke well, but he might have kept +on till to-morrow with his victories, commencing with Valmy, +Hundschott, Wattignies, Fleurus, Neuwied, Ukerath, Froeeschwiller, +Geisberg, to Zurich and Hohenlinden. These were also great victories, +and even the most splendid of all, for they preserved liberty. He only +spoke of the last ones, that was enough for the moment. Let those +people come! let them dare to move! The nation wants peace, but if the +allies commence war woe be unto them. Now we shall again talk of +liberty, equality, and fraternity. All France will be roused by it, I +warn you beforehand. There will be a national guard, and the old men +like me and the married men will defend the towns, while the younger +ones will march, but no one will cross the frontiers. The Emperor, +taught by experience, will arm the artisans, the peasants, and the +bourgeoisie, and when we are attacked, even if they are a million, not +one shall escape. The day for soldiers is past, regular armies are for +conquest, but a people who can defend themselves do not fear the best +armies in the world. We proved that to the Prussians and Austrians, to +the English and the Russians from 1792 to 1800, and since then the +Spaniards have shown us the same thing, and even before that, the +Americans demonstrated it to the English. The Emperor will speak to us +of liberty, be sure of that; and if he will send his proclamations into +Germany, many Germans will be with us; they were promised liberty in +order to make them rise against France, and now the sovereigns in +conference at Vienna mock at their own promises. Their plan is fixed. +They divide the people among themselves as they would a flock of sheep. +Those who have good sense will unite, and in that way peace will be +established by force. The kings alone have any interest in war, the +people do not need to conquer themselves, provided that they arrange +for the freedom of commerce, that is the principal thing." + +In his excitement everything looked bright to him. And all that he +said seemed to me so natural, that I was sure that the Emperor would +direct matters as we had supposed. Catherine believed it too. We +thanked God for what had come, and about eleven o'clock, after having +laughed and drank and shouted, we went to bed with the brightest hopes. +All the city was illuminated, and we had put lamps in our windows also. +Every moment we heard the crackers in the street and the children were +shouting, "Vive l'Empereur!" and the soldiers were coming out of the +inns, singing, "Down with the emigres." This lasted till very late, +and it was one o'clock before we slept. + + + + +XIII + +This general satisfaction continued for five or six days. The old +mayors and their assistants were replaced as well as the field-guards, +and all those who had been displaced a few months before. The whole +city, even the women, wore little tri-colored cockades, and all the +seamstresses were busily at work making them, of red, white, and blue +ribbon; and those who railed so bitterly against the "ogre of Corsica," +never spoke of Louis XVIII. except as the "Panada King." On the 25th +of March a Te Deum was sung, the garrison and all the civil authorities +joining in the service with great ceremony. After the Te Deum, the +authorities gave a grand dinner to the officers of the garrison at the +"Ville de Metz." The weather was fine and the windows were open, and +the hall was lighted by clusters of lamps hanging from the ceiling. +Catherine and I went out in the evening to enjoy the spectacle. We +could see the uniforms and the black coats sitting side by side around +the long tables, and first the mayor would rise, and then his +assistants, or the new commandant of the post, Mr. Brandon, to drink to +the health of the Emperor or of his ministers, of France, to peace or +to victory, etc., etc., and this they kept up till midnight. + +Inside the glasses jingled, and outside the children fired crackers. +They had erected a climbing pole before the church, and wooden horses +and organ-grinders had come from Saverne, and there was a holiday at +the college. In Klein's Court, at the "Ox," there was a fight between +dogs and donkeys; in short, it was just as it was in 1830 and in 1848, +and afterward. The people never invent anything new to glorify those +who rise, or to express their contempt for those who fall. + +But they soon found out that the Emperor had no time to lose in +rejoicings. The gazette said that "his Majesty wished for peace, that +he made no demands, that he was on good terms with his father-in-law +the Emperor Francis, that Marie Louise and the King of Rome were to +return, they were daily expected," etc. + +But meanwhile the order arrived to arm the place. Two years before +Pfalzbourg was a hundred leagues from the frontier. The ramparts were +in ruins, the ditches filled up, and there was nothing in the arsenal +but miserable old muskets of the time of Louis XIV., which were +discharged with matches; and the guns were so unwieldy on their heavy +carriages, that horses were required to move them. The arsenals were +really at Dresden and Hamburg and Erfurt; but though we had not +stirred, we were ten leagues from Rhenish Bavaria, and it was upon us +that the first shower of bombs and bullets would fall. So, day after +day, we received orders to restore the earthworks and to clear out the +ditches and to put the old ordnance in good condition. At the +beginning of April a great workshop was established at the arsenal for +repairing the arms, and skilful engineers and artillerists arrived from +Metz to repair the earthworks of the bastions and make terraces around +the embrasures. The activity was very great--greater than in 1805 and +in 1813, and I thought more than once that these extensive frontiers +had their good side, because we might in the interior live in peace, +while they took the blows and bombardments. + +But we had great anxiety, for naturally when the palisades were newly +planted on the glacis, and the half-moons filled with fascines, when +cannon were placed in every nook and corner, we knew that there must be +soldiers to guard and serve them. + +Often as we heard these decrees read at night, Catherine and I looked +at each other in mute apprehension. I felt beforehand that instead of +remaining quietly at home, cleaning and mending clocks, I would be +obliged to be again on the march, and that always made me sad; and this +melancholy increased from day to day. Sometimes Father Goulden, seeing +this, would say cheerfully: + +"Come! Joseph, courage! all will come right at last." + +He wished to raise my spirits, but I thought: "Yes, he says that to +encourage me, but any one who is not blind can see what turn affairs +will take." + +Events followed each other so rapidly, that the decrees came like hail, +always with sounding phrases and grand words to embellish them. + +And we learned too that the regiments were to take their old numbers, +"illustrious in so many glorious campaigns." Without being very +malicious, we could understand that the old numbers which had no +regiments would soon find them again. And not only that, but we +learned that the skeletons of the third, fourth, and fifth battalions +of infantry, the fourth and fifth squadrons of cavalry, and thirty +battalions of artillery trains were to be filled up, and twenty +regiments of the Young Guard, ten battalions of military equipages, and +twenty regiments of marines were to be formed, ostensibly to give +employment to all the half-pay officers of both arms of the service, +land and naval. That was very well to say; but when they are created +they are to be filled up, and when they are full the soldiers must go. +When I saw that, my confidence vanished, but yet everybody cried, +"Peace, peace, peace! We accept the treaty of Paris. The kings and +emperors convened at Vienna are our friends. Marie Louise and the King +of Rome are coming." + +The more I heard of these things, the more my distrust increased. In +vain Mr. Goulden would say, "He has taken Carnot into his counsels. +Carnot is a good patriot; Carnot will prevent him from going to war, or +if we are forced to go to war, he will show him that the enemy must +come here to find us, the nation must be roused, declare the country in +danger, etc." + +In vain did he tell me these things, I always said to myself, "all +these new regiments are to be filled; that is certain." We heard also +that ten thousand picked men were to be added to the Old Guard, and +that the light artillery was to be reorganized. Everybody knows that +light artillery follows the army. To remain behind the ramparts or for +defence at home, it is useless. + +I came to this conclusion at once, and though I was generally careful +to conceal my anxiety from Catherine, yet this night I could not help +telling her so. She said nothing, which shows plainly that she had +good sense and that she thought so too. + +All these things diminished my enthusiasm for the Emperor very much +indeed, and I sometimes said to myself as I was at work, "I would +rather see processions going past my windows, than to go and fight +against people whom I never saw." At least the sight would cost me +neither leg nor arm, and if it annoyed me too much I could make an +excursion to Quatre Vents. My vexation increased the more, as since +the dispute with Mr. Goulden, Aunt Gredel did not come to see us. She +was a very wilful woman and would not listen to reason, and would hold +resentment against a person for years and years. But she was our +mother, and it was our duty to yield something to her as she wished us +only good. But how could we be reconciled to her ideas and those of +Mr. Goulden? + +This was what embarrassed us, for if we were bound to love Aunt Gredel, +we owed also the most profound respect to him, who looked upon us as +his own children, and who loaded us every day with his benefits. + +These thoughts made us sad, and I had resolved to tell Mr. Goulden, +that Catherine and I were Jacobins like himself, but without doing +injustice to Jacobin ideas, or abandoning them, we ought to honor our +mother, and go and inquire after her health. + +I did not know how he would receive this declaration, when one Sunday +morning, as we went down about eight o'clock, we found him dressed, and +in excellent humor. He said to us, "Children, here it is more than a +month since Aunt Gredel has been to see us. She is obstinate. I wish +to show her that I can yield. Between friends like us, there should +not be even a shadow of difference. After breakfast we will go to +Quatre Vents, and tell her that she is prejudiced, and that we love her +in spite of her faults. You will see how ashamed she will be." He +laughed, but we were quite touched by his generosity. + +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, how good and kind you are," said Catherine, "they +who do not love you, must have very bad hearts." + +"Ha!" he exclaimed, "is not what I have done quite natural? must we let +a few words separate us? Thank God! age teaches us to be more +reasonable and to be willing to take the first step,--that you know is +one of the principles of the Rights of Man,--in order to maintain +concord between reasonable persons." + +Everything was summed up, when he had quoted the "Rights of Man." You +can hardly imagine our satisfaction. Catherine could hardly wait till +breakfast was over, she was here and there and everywhere, to bring his +hat and cane and his shoes and the box which held his beautiful peruke. +She helped him on with his brown coat, while he laughed as he watched +her, and at last he kissed her saying, "I knew this would make you +happy, so do not let us lose a minute, let us go." + +We all set off together, Father Goulden gravely giving his arm to +Catherine, as he always did in the street, and I marched on behind as +happy as possible. Those I loved best in the world were here before my +eyes, and as I went on I thought of what I should say to Aunt Gredel. + +The weather was splendid, and on we went beyond the wall and the +glacis, and in twenty minutes, without hurrying, we stood before Aunt +Gredel's door. It might have been ten o'clock, and as I had gained a +little on them at the "Roulette" I went in by the alley of elders that +ran along the side of the house, and looked into the little window to +see what aunt was doing. She was seated right opposite me near the +fireplace, in which a little fire was smouldering, she had on her short +skirt, striped with blue, with great pockets on the outside, and her +linen corsage with shoulder-straps, and her old shoes. She was +spinning away, with her eyes cast down, looking very sober, her great +thin arms naked to the elbow, and her gray hair twisted up in her neck +without any cap. "Poor Aunt Gredel," thought I, "she is thinking of us +no doubt--and she is so obstinate in her vexation. It is sad though, +all the same, to live alone and never see her children." It made me +sad to see her. + +At that moment the door opened on the side next the street, and Father +Goulden walked in with Catherine, as happy as possible, exclaiming: + +"Ha! Mother Gredel, you do not come to see us any more, therefore I +have brought your children to see you, and have come myself to embrace +you. You will have to get us a good dinner, do you hear? and that +will teach you a lesson." He seemed a little grave with all his joy. + +On seeing them, aunt sprang up and embraced Catherine, and then she +fell into Mr. Goulden's arms and hung on his neck: + +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, how happy I am to see you. You are a good man; you +are worth a thousand of me." + +Seeing that matters had taken a pleasant turn, I ran round to the door +and found them both with their eyes full of tears. Father Goulden said: + +"We will talk no more politics!" + +"No! but whether one is Jacobin or anything else you will, the +principal thing is to keep in good temper." + +She then came and embraced me, and said: + +"My poor Joseph! I have been thinking of you from morning till night. +But all is well now and I am satisfied." + +She ran into the kitchen and commenced bustling among the kettles to +prepare something to regale us with, while Mr. Goulden placed his cane +in a corner and hung his great hat upon it, and sat down with an air of +contentment near the hearth. + +"What fine weather!" he exclaimed, "how green and flourishing +everything is! How happy I should be to live in the fields, to see the +hedges and apple-trees and plum-trees from my windows, covered with +their red and white blossoms!" + +He was gay as a lark, and we all should have been except for the +thoughts of the war which were constantly coming into our heads. + +"Leave all that, mother," said Catherine, "I will get the dinner to-day +as I used to do; go and sit down quietly with Mr. Goulden." + +"But you do not know where anything is, I have disarranged everything," +said aunt. + +"Sit down, I beg you," said Catherine, "I shall find the butter and the +eggs and the flour and everything that is necessary." + +"Well, well! I am going to obey you," said she, as she went down to +the cellar. + +Catherine took off her pretty shawl and hung it on the back of my +chair, then she put some wood on the fire and some butter in a saucepan +and looked into the kettles to see that everything was in order. Aunt +came in at that moment with a bottle of white wine. + +"You will first refresh yourselves a little before dinner, and while +Catherine looks after the kitchen I will go and put on my sacque and +give my hair a touch with the comb, for certainly it needs it, and +you--go into the orchard;--here, Joseph, take these glasses and the +bottle and go and sit in the bee-house, the weather is fine, in an hour +all will be in order and I will come and drink with you." + +Father Goulden and I went out through the tall grass and the yellow +dandelions which came up to our knees. It was very warm and the air +was full of soft murmurs. We sat down in the shade and looked at the +glorious sunshine. + +Mr. Goulden took off his peruke in order to be more at his ease and +hung it up behind him, and I opened the bottle and we drank some of the +good white wine. + +"Well! all goes on even though man does commit follies; the Lord God +watches over all his works. Look at the grain, Joseph, how it grows! +What a harvest there will be in three or four months. And those +turnips and cabbages, and the shrubs, and the bees, how busy everything +is, how they live and grow! what a pity it is that men do not follow so +good an example! what a pity that some must labor to support the others +in idleness. What a pity that there must be always idlers of every +kind, who treat us like Jacobins because we wish for order and peace +and justice!" + +There was nothing he liked so much to see as industry, not only that of +man but even of the smallest insect that runs about in the grass, as in +an endless forest, which builds and pairs and covers its eggs, heaps +them up in its places of deposit, exposes them to the sunshine, +protects them from the chills of night, and defends them from its +enemies; in short, all that great universe of life where everything +sings, everything is in its place; from the lark which fills the air +with his joyous music to the ant which goes and comes and runs and mows +and saws and pulls and is master of all trades. + +This was what pleased Mr. Goulden, but he never spoke of it except in +the fields, when this grand spectacle was right under his eyes, and +naturally he then spoke of God, whom he called the "Supreme Being," as +in the time of the Republic, and he said, He was reason and wisdom and +goodness and love; justice, order, and life. The ideas of the +almanac-makers came back to him also, and it was splendid to hear him +talk of the "Pluviose" the season of rains, of "Nivose" the season of +snows, of "Ventose" season of winds, and "Floreal, Prairial, and +Fructidor." He said the ideas of men in those times were more closely +allied to God's, while July, September, and October meant nothing, and +were only invented to confuse and obscure everything. Once on this +subject it was plain that he could not exhaust it. Unfortunately I +have not the learning that that good man had, otherwise it would give +me real pleasure to recount his sayings to you. We were just here when +Mother Gredel, well washed and combed and in her Sunday dress, came +round the corner of the house toward us. He stopped instantly that she +might not be disturbed. + +"Here I am," she said, "all in order." + +"Sit down," said Father Goulden, making a place for her beside him on +the bench. + +"Do you know what time it is?" said she. "Does it not seem long to +you? Listen!" and we heard the city clock slowly strike twelve. + +"What! is it noon already! I would not have believed that we had been +here more than ten minutes." + +"Yes, it is noon, and dinner is waiting." + +"So much the better," said Mr. Goulden, offering his arm to her, "since +you have told me the hour I find I have a good appetite." + +They went along the alley arm in arm, and when we were at the door a +most charming sight met our eyes, the great tureen with its red flowers +was smoking on the table, a breast of stuffed veal filled the room with +a delicious odor. A great plate of cinnamon cakes stood on the edge of +the old oak buffet, two bottles of wine, and glasses clear as crystal, +shone on the white cloth beside the plates. The very sight of it made +you feel that it is the joy of the Lord to shower blessings on His +children. + +Catherine, with her rosy cheeks and white teeth, laughed to see our +satisfaction, and during the whole dinner our anxiety for the future +was forgotten. We laughed and were as happy as if the world were in +the best condition possible. But as we were taking coffee our sadness +returned, and without knowing why, we were all very grave. Nobody +wished to speak of politics, when suddenly Aunt Gredel herself asked if +there was anything new. Mr. Goulden then said that the Emperor desired +peace, and that he wished to put himself in a condition of defence, in +order to warn our enemies that we were not afraid. He said that in any +case, in spite of the ill-feeling of the allies they would not dare to +attack us, that the Emperor Francis, though he had not much heart, +would not wish to overthrow his son-in-law and his own daughter and +grandson a second time, that it would be contrary to nature, and +besides that, the nation would rise _en masse_, that they would declare +the country to be in danger, and that it would not be a war of soldiers +alone, but of all Frenchmen against those who wished to oppress them, +that this would make the allied sovereigns reflect, etc., etc. + +He said many other things which I do not recall. Aunt Gredel listened +without saying a word. She rose at last, and went to a closet and took +a piece of paper from a porringer, and, giving it to Mr. Goulden, said, +"Read this; such papers are all around the country; this came to me +from the Vicar Diemer. You will see whether peace is so certain." + +As Mr. Goulden had left his spectacles at home, I read the paper. I +put all those old papers aside years and years ago, they have grown +yellow and no one thinks of them or speaks of them, and still it is +well to read them. How do we know what will happen? Those old kings +and emperors died after doing us all the harm possible, but their sons +and grandsons still live, and do not wish us overmuch good, and that +which they said then they may say again now, and those who lent their +aid to the fathers might incline to help their sons. Here is the paper. + + +"The Allied Powers which signed the treaty of Paris, assembled in +Congress at Vienna, having been informed of the escape of Napoleon +Bonaparte, and of his entrance into France with arms in his hands, owe +it to their dignity and to the interest of social order to make a +solemn declaration of the sentiments which this event has excited. In +violating the terms of the convention which placed him at Elba, +Bonaparte destroyed his only legal title to life; and in reappearing in +France with projects for disturbing the public peace, he has deprived +himself of the protection of the laws, and made it manifest to the +universe that there can be neither truce nor peace with him." + + +And so they continued through two long pages, and those people who had +nothing in common with us, who had no concern with our affairs, and who +gave themselves the title of Defenders of the Peace, finished by +declaring that they united themselves to maintain the treaty of Paris +and replace Louis XVIII. on the throne. + +When I had finished, aunt turned to Mr. Goulden and asked: + +"What do you think of all that?" + +"I think," said he, "that those sovereigns despise the people, and that +they would exterminate the human race without shame or pity in order to +maintain fifteen or twenty families in luxury. They look upon +themselves as gods, and upon us as brutes." + +"Doubtless," replied Aunt Gredel. "I do not deny it, but all that will +not prevent Joseph from being compelled to go away." + +I turned quite pale, for I saw that she was right. + +"Yes," said Mr. Goulden, "I knew that some days ago, and this is what I +have done. You have heard, no doubt, Mother Gredel, that great +workshops have been built for repairing arms. There is an arsenal at +Pfalzbourg, but they are in want of skilful workmen. Of course the +good laborers render as much service to the state in repairing arms as +those who go to battle; they have more to do, but they do not risk +their lives, and they remain at home. Well! I went at once to the +commandant of artillery, and asked him to accept Joseph as a workman. +It is nothing for a good clock-maker to repair a gun-lock, and Mr. +Montravel accepted him at once. Here is his order," said he, showing +us a paper which he took from his pocket. + +I felt as if I had returned to life, and I exclaimed, "Oh! Mr. +Goulden, you are more than a father; you have saved my life." + +Catherine, who had been overwhelmed with anxiety, got up and went out, +and Aunt Gredel kissed Mr. Goulden twice over, and said, "Yes, you are +the best of men, a man of sense and of a great spirit. If all Jacobins +were like you, women would wish only for Jacobins." + +"But it was the most simple thing in the world to do!" + +"No, no; it is your good heart which gives you good thoughts." + +Words failed me in my joy and astonishment, and while aunt was speaking +I went out into the orchard to take the air. Catherine was there in a +corner of the bake-house, weeping hot tears. + +"Ah! now I can breathe again," she said, "now I can live." + +I embraced her with deep emotion. I saw what she had suffered during +the last month, but she was a brave woman, and had concealed her +anxiety from me, knowing that I had enough on my own account. We +stayed for ten minutes in the orchard to wipe away our tears, and then +went in. Mr. Goulden said: + +"Well, Joseph! you go to-morrow; you must set off early, and you will +not lack work." + +Oh! what joy to think I should not be compelled to go away, and then +too I had other reasons for wishing to remain at home, for Catherine +and I already had our hopes. Ah! those who have not suffered cannot +realize our feelings, nor understand what a weight this good news +lifted from our hearts. We stayed an hour longer at Quatre Vents, and +as the people were coming from vespers, at nightfall, we set off for +the town. Aunt Gredel went with us to where the post changes horses, +and at seven o'clock we were at home again. + +It was thus that peace was established between Aunt Gredel and Mr. +Goulden, and now she came to see us as often as before. I went every +day to the arsenal and worked at repairing the guns. When the clock +struck twelve I went home to dinner, and at one returned to my work and +stayed until seven o'clock. I was at once soldier and workman, excused +from roll-call but overwhelmed with work. We hoped that I could remain +in that position till the war was over, if unfortunately it commenced +again, but we were sure of nothing. + + + + +XIV + +Our confidence returned a little after I worked at the arsenal, but +still we were anxious, for hundreds of men on furloughs for six months, +conscripts, and old soldiers enlisted for one campaign, passed through +the town in citizens' clothes but with knapsacks on their backs. They +all shouted "_Vive l'Empereur!_" and seemed to be furious. In the +great hall of the town-house they received one a cloak, another a +shako, and others epaulettes and gaiters and shoes, at the expense of +the department, and off they went, and I wished them a pleasant +journey. All the tailors in town were making uniforms by contract, the +gendarmes gave up their horses to mount the cavalry, and the mayor, +Baron Parmentier, urged the young men of sixteen and seventeen to join +the partisans of Colonel Bruce, who defended the defiles of the Zorne, +the Zinselle, and the Saar. + +The baron was going to the "Champ de Mai," and his enthusiasm +redoubled. "Go!" cried he, "courage!" as he spoke to them of the +Romans who fought for their country. I thought to myself as I listened +to him, "If you think all that so beautiful why do you not go yourself." + +You can imagine with what courage I worked at the arsenal; nothing was +too much for me. I would have passed night and day in mending the guns +and adjusting the bayonets and tightening the screws. When the +commandant, Mr. Montravel, came to see us, he praised me. + +"Excellent!" said he, "that is good! I am pleased with you, Bertha." + +These words filled me with satisfaction, and I did not fail to report +them to Catherine, in order to raise her spirits. We were almost +certain that Mr. Montravel would keep me at Pfalzbourg. + +The gazettes were full of the new constitution, which they called the +"Additional Act," and the act of the "Champ de Mai." Mr. Goulden +always had something to say, sometimes about one article and sometimes +another, but I mixed no more in these affairs, and repented of having +complained of the processions and expiations; I had had enough of +politics. + +This lasted till the 23d of May. That morning about ten o'clock I was +in the great hall of the arsenal, filling the boxes with guns. The +great door was wide open, and the men were waiting with their wagons +before the bullet park, to load up the boxes. I had nailed the last +one, when Robert, the guard, touched me on the shoulder and said in my +ear: + +"Bertha, the Commandant Montravel wishes to see you. He is in the +pavilion." + +"What does he want of me?" + +"I do not know." + +I was afraid directly, but I went at once. I crossed the grand court, +near the sheds for the gun-carriages, mounted the stairs, and knocked +softly at the door. + +"Come in," said the commandant. + +I opened the door all in a tremble, and stood with my cap in my hand. +Mr. Montravel was a tall, brown, thin man, with a little stoop in his +shoulders. He was walking hastily up and down his room, in the midst +of his books and maps, and arms hung on the wall. + +"Ah! Bertha, it is you, is it? I have disagreeable news to tell you, +the third battalion to which you belong leaves for Metz." + +On hearing this my heart sank, and I could not say a word. He looked +at me, and after a moment he added: + +"Do not be troubled, you have been married for several months, and you +are a good workman, and that deserves consideration. You will give +this letter to Colonel Desmichels at the arsenal at Metz; he is one of +my friends, and will find employment in some of his workshops for you, +you may be certain." + +I took the letter which he handed me, thanked him, and went home filled +with alarm. Zebede, Mr. Goulden, and Catherine were talking together +in the shop, distress was written on every face. They knew everything. +"The third battalion is going," I said as I entered, "but Mr. Montravel +has just given me a letter to the director of the arsenal at Metz. Do +not be anxious, I shall not make the campaign." + +I was almost choking. Mr. Goulden took the letter and said, "It is +open; we can read it." + +Then he read the letter, in which Mr. Montravel recommended me to his +friend, saying that I was married, a good workman, industrious, and +that I could render real service at the arsenal. He could have said +nothing better. + +"Now the matter is certain," said Zebede. + +"Yes, you will be retained in the arsenal at Metz," said Father Goulden. + +Catherine was very pale, she kissed me and said, "What happiness, +Joseph!" + +They all pretended to believe that I should remain at Metz, and I tried +to hide my fears from them. But the effort almost suffocated me, and I +could hardly avoid sobbing, when happily I thought I would go and +announce the news to Aunt Gredel. So I said, "Although it will not be +very long, and I shall stay in Metz, yet I must go and tell the good +news to Aunt Gredel. I will be back between five and six, and +Catherine will have time to prepare my haversack, and we will have +supper." + +"Yes, Joseph, go!" said Father Goulden. Catherine said not a word, for +she could hardly restrain her tears. I set off like a madman. Zebede, +who was returning to the barracks, told me at the door, that the +officer in charge at the town-house would give me my uniform, and that +I must be there about five o'clock. I listened, as if in a dream, to +his words, and ran till I was outside of the city. Once on the glacis +I ran on without knowing where, in the trenches, and by the +Trois-Chateaux and the Baraques-a-en-haut, and along the forest to +Quatre Vents. + +I cannot describe to you the thoughts that ran through my brain. I was +bewildered, and wanted to run away to Switzerland. But the worst of +all was when I approached Quatre Vents by the path along the Daun. It +was about three o'clock. Aunt Gredel was putting up some poles for her +beans, in the rear of the garden, and she saw me in the distance, and +said to herself: + +"Why it is Joseph! what is he doing in the grain?" + +But when I got into the road, which was full of ruts and sand and which +the sun made as hot as a furnace, I went on more slowly with my head +bent down, thinking I should never dare to go in, when, suddenly aunt +exclaimed from behind the hedge, "Is it you, Joseph?" + +Then I shivered. "Yes, it is I." + +She ran out into the little elder alley, and seeing me so pale she +said, "I know why you have come, you are going away!" + +"Yes," I replied, "the others are going, but I am to stay in Metz; it +is very fortunate." + +She said nothing, and we went into the kitchen, which was very cool +compared with the heat outside. She sat down, and I read her the +commandant's letter. She listened to it, and repeated, "Yes, it is +very fortunate." + +And we sat and looked at each other without speaking a word, and then +she took my head between her hands and kissed me, and embraced me for a +long time, and I could see she was crying, though she did not say a +word. + +"You weep," said I, "but since I am to stay in Metz!" + +Still she did not speak, but went and brought some wine. I took a +glass, and she asked, "What does Catherine say?" + +"She is glad that I am to remain at the arsenal; and Mr. Goulden also." + +"That is well; and are they preparing what you need?" + +"Yes, Aunt Gredel, and I must be at the city hall before five o'clock +to receive my uniform." + +"Well! then you must go; kiss me, Joseph. I will not go with you. I +do not wish to see the battalion leave--I will stay here. I must live +a long while yet--Catherine has need of me--" here her restraint gave +way. + +Suddenly she checked herself, and said, "At what time do you leave?" + +"To-morrow, at seven o'clock, Mamma Gredel." + +"Well! at eight o'clock I will be there. You will be far away, but you +will know that the mother of your wife is there, that she will take +care of her daughter, that she loves you, that she has only you in the +whole world." + +The courageous woman sobbed aloud; she accompanied me to the door, and +I left her. It seemed as if I had not a drop of blood left in my +veins. Just as the clock struck five I reached the town-house. I went +up and saw that hall again where I had lost, that cursed hall where +everybody drew unlucky numbers. I received a cloak and coat, +pantaloons, gaiters, and shoes. Zebede, who was waiting for me, told +one of the musketeers to take them to the mess-room. + +"You will come early and put them on," said he; "your musket and +knapsack have been in the rack since morning." + +"Come with me," said I. + +"No, I cannot, the sight of Catherine breaks my heart; and besides I +must stay with my father. Who knows whether I shall find the old man +alive at the end of a year? I promised to take supper with you, but I +shall not go." + +I was obliged to go home alone. My haversack was all ready; my old +haversack, the only thing I had saved from Hanau, as my head rested on +it in the wagon. Mr. Goulden was at work. He turned round without +speaking, and I asked, "Where is Catherine?" + +"She is upstairs." + +I knew she was crying, and I wanted to go up, but my legs and my +courage both failed me. + +I told Mr. Goulden of my visit to Quatre-Vents, and then we sat and +waited, thinking, without daring to look each other in the face. It +was already dark when Catherine came down. She laid the table in the +twilight, and then I took her hand, and made her sit down on my knee, +and we remained so for half an hour. + +Then Mr. Goulden asked: + +"Is not Zebede coming?" + +"No, he cannot come." + +"Well! let us take our supper then." + +But no one was hungry. Catherine removed the table about nine o'clock, +and we all retired. It was the most terrible night I ever passed in my +life. Catherine was in a deathly swoon. I called her, but she did not +answer. At midnight I wakened Mr. Goulden, and he dressed himself and +came up to our chamber. We gave her some sugar-water, when she revived +and got up. I cannot tell you everything; I only know that she sank at +my feet and begged me not to abandon her, as if I did it voluntarily! +but she was crazed. Mr. Goulden wanted to call a doctor, but I +prevented him. Toward morning she recovered entirely, and after a long +fit of weeping, she fell asleep in my arms. I did not even dare to +embrace her, and we went out softly and left her. + +When we feel all the miseries of life, we exclaim: "Why are we in the +world? Why did we not sleep through the eternal ages? What have we +done, that we must see those we love suffer, when we are not in fault? +It is not God, but man, who breaks our hearts." + +After we went downstairs Mr. Goulden said to me, "She is asleep, she +knows nothing of it all, and that is a blessing; you will go before she +wakes." I thanked God for His goodness, and we sat waiting for the +least sound, till at last the drums beat the assembly. Then Mr. +Goulden looked at me very gravely, we rose, and he buckled my knapsack +on my shoulders in silence. + +At last he said: "Joseph, go and see the commandant in Metz, but count +upon nothing; the danger is so great that France has need of all her +children for her defence, and this time it is not a question of +acquiring from others, but of saving our own country. Remember that it +is yourself and your wife and all that is dearest to you in the world +that is at stake." We went down to the street in silence, embraced +each other, and then I went to the barracks. Zebede took me to the +mess-room and I put on my uniform. All that I remember after so many +years is, that Zebede's father, who was there, took my clothes and made +them into a bundle and said he would take them home after our +departure; and the battalion filed out by the little rue de Lanche +through the French gate. A few children ran after us, and the soldiers +on guard presented arms; we were _en route_ for _Waterloo_. + + + + +XV + +At Sarrebourg we received tickets for lodgings. Mine was for the old +printer Jarcisse, who knew Mr. Goulden and Aunt Gredel, and who made me +dine at his table with my new comrade and bedfellow, Jean Buche, the +son of a wood-cutter of Harberg, who had never eaten anything but +potatoes before he was conscripted. He devoured everything, even to +the bones that they set before us. But I was so melancholy, that to +hear him crunch the bones made me nervous. Father Jarcisse tried to +console me, but every word he said only increased my pain. We passed +the remainder of that day and the following night at Sarrebourg. The +next day we kept on our route to the village of Mezieres, the next to +the Vic, and on to Soigne, till on the fifth day we came to Metz. I do +not need to tell you of our march, of the soldiers white with dust, how +we passed one magazine after another, with our knapsacks on our backs, +and our guns carried at will, talking, laughing, looking at the young +girls as we passed through the villages, at the carts, the manure +heaps, the sheds, the hills, and the valleys, without troubling +ourselves about anything. And when one is sad and has left his wife at +home, and dear friends too, whom he may never see again, all these pass +before his eyes like shadows, and a hundred steps more and they too are +unthought of. But yet the view of Metz, with its tall cathedral and +its ancient dwellings, and its frowning ramparts awakened me. Two +hours before we arrived, we kept thinking we should soon reach the +earthworks, and hastened our steps in order the sooner to get into the +shade. I thought of Colonel Desmichels, and had a little--very little, +hope. "If fate wills!" I thought, and I felt for my letter. + +Zebede did not talk to me now, but from time to time he turned his head +and looked back at me. It was not exactly as it was in the old +campaign, he was sergeant, and I only a common soldier; we loved each +other always, but that made a difference of course. Jean Buche marched +along beside me, with his round shoulders and his feet turned in like a +wolf. The only thing he said from time to time was, that his shoes +hurt him on the march, and that they should only be worn on parade. +During two months the drill-sergeant had not been able to make him turn +out his toes, or to raise his shoulders, but for all that he could +march terribly well in his own fashion, and without being fatigued. At +last about five in the afternoon, we reached the outposts. They soon +recognized us, and the captain of the guard himself exclaimed, "Pass!" +The drums rolled, and we entered the oldest town I had ever seen. + +Metz is at the confluence of the Seille and the Moselle. The houses +are four or five stories high; their old walls are full of beams as at +Saverne and Bouxviller, the windows round and square, great and small, +on the same line, with shutters and without, some with glass and some +without any. It is as old as the mountains and rivers. The roofs +project about six feet, spreading their shadows over the black water, +in which old shoes, rags, and dead dogs are floating. If you look +upward you will be sure to see the face of some old Jew at the windows +in the roof, with his gray beard and crooked nose, or a child who is +risking his neck. Properly speaking, it is a city of Jews and +soldiers. Poor people are not wanting either. It is much worse in +this respect than at Mayence, or at Strasbourg, or even at Frankfort. +If they have not changed since then, they love their ease now. In +spite of my sadness I could not help looking at these lanes and alleys. +The town swarmed with national guards; they were arriving from Longwy, +from Sarrelouis and other places; the soldiers left and were replaced +by these guards. + +We came upon a square encumbered with beds and mattresses, bedding, +etc., which the citizens had furnished for the troops. We stacked arms +in front of the barracks, every window of which was open from top to +bottom. We waited, thinking we should be lodged there, but at the end +of twenty minutes the distribution commenced, and each man received +twenty-five sous and a ticket for lodging. We broke rank, each one +going his own way. Jean Buche, who had never seen any other town than +Pfalzbourg, did not leave me for a moment. Our ticket was for Elias +Meyer, butcher, in the rue St. Valery. When we reached the house the +butcher was cutting meat in the arched and grated window, and was +anything but pleased to see us, and received us very ungraciously. He +was a fat, red, round-faced Jew, with silver rings on his fingers and +in his ears. His thin, yellow-skinned wife came down exclaiming that +they had "had lodgers for two nights before, that the mayor's secretary +did it on purpose, that he sent soldiers every day, and that the +neighbors did not have them," and so on. + +But they allowed us to enter after all. The daughter came and stared +at us, and behind her was a fat servant-woman, frizzled and very dirty. +I seem to see those people before me still, in that old room with its +oak wainscoting, and the great copper lamp hanging from the ceiling, +and the grated window looking into the little court. The daughter, who +was very pale and had very black eyes, said something to her mother and +then the servant was ordered to show us to the garret, to the beggars' +chamber, for all the Jews feed and shelter beggars on Friday. My +comrade from Harberg did not complain, but I was indignant. We +followed the servant up a winding stair slippery with filth, to the +room. It was separated from the rest of the garret by slats, through +which we could see the dirty linen. It was lighted by a little window +like a lozenge in the roof. Even if I had not been so miserable I +should have thought it abominable. There was only one chair and a +straw mattress on the floor and one single coverlet for us both. The +servant stood staring at us at the door, as if she expected thanks or +compliments. I took off my knapsack, sad enough as you can imagine, +and Jean Buche did the same. The servant turned to go downstairs when +I cried out: "Wait a minute, we will go down too, we do not want to +break our necks on those stairs." We changed our shoes and stockings +and fastened the door and went down to the shop to buy some meat. Jean +went to the baker opposite for some bread, and as our ticket gave us a +place at the fire we went to the kitchen to make our soup. The butcher +came to see us just as we were finishing our supper. He was smoking a +big Ulm pipe. He asked where we were from. I was so indignant I would +not answer him, but Jean Buche told him that I was a watch-maker from +Pfalzbourg, upon which he treated me with more consideration. He said +that his brother travelled in Alsace and Lorraine, with watches, rings, +watch-chains, and other articles of silver and gold, and jewelry, and +that his name was Samuel Meyer, and perhaps we had had business with +him. I replied that I had seen his brother two or three times at Mr. +Goulden's, which was true. Thereupon he ordered the servant to bring +us a pillow, but he did nothing more for us and we went to bed. + +We were very weary and were soon sound asleep. I thought to get up +very early and go to the arsenal, but I was still asleep when my +comrade shook me and said: "The assembly!" + +I listened--it was the assembly! We only had time to dress, buckle on +our knapsacks, take our guns, and run down. When we reached the +barracks the roll-call had begun. When it was finished two wagons came +up, and we received fifty ball-cartridges each. The Commandant Gemeau, +the captains, and all the officers were there. I saw that all was +over, that I had nothing to count on longer, and that my letter to +Colonel Desmichels might be good after the campaign was over, if I +escaped and should be obliged to serve out my seven years. Zebede +looked at me from a distance--I turned away my head. The order came: + +"Carry arms! arms at will! by file! left! forward! march!" + +The drums rolled, we marked step, and the roofs, the houses, the +windows, the lanes, and the people seemed to glide past us. We crossed +over the first bridge and the drawbridge. The drums ceased to beat and +we went on toward Thionville. The other troops followed the same +route, cavalry and infantry. + +That night we reached the village of Beauregard, the next night we were +at Vitry, near Thionville, where we were stationed till the 8th of +June. Buche and I were lodged with a fat landlord named Pochon. He +was a very good man and gave us excellent white wine to drink, and +liked to talk politics like Mr. Goulden. During our stay in this +village General Schoeffer came from Thionville, and we went to be +reviewed with our arms at a large farm called "Silvange." + +It is a woody country, and we often went, several of us together, to +make excursions in the vicinity. One day Zebede came and took me to +see the great foundry at Moyeuvre where we saw then run bullets and +bombs. We talked about Catherine and Mr. Goulden, and he told me to +write to them, but somehow I was afraid to hear from home, and I turned +my thoughts away from Pfalzbourg. + +On the 8th of June we left this village very early in the morning, +returning near to Metz but without entering the city. The city gates +were shut and the cannon frowned on the walls as in time of war. We +slept at Chatel, and the next day we were at Etain, the day following +at Dannevoux, where I was lodged with a good patriot named Sebastian +Perrin. He was a rich man, and wanted to know the details of +everything. + +As a great number of battalions had followed the same route before us, +he said, "In a month perhaps we shall see great things, all the troops +are marching into Belgium. The Emperor is going to fall upon the +English and Prussians." + +This was the last place where we had good supplies. The next day we +arrived at Yong, which is in a miserable country. We slept on the 12th +of June at Vivier, and the 13th at Cul-de-Sard. The farther we +advanced the more troops we encountered, and as I had seen these things +in Germany, I said to Jean Buche: + +"Now we shall have hot work." + +On all sides and in every direction, files of infantry, cavalry, and +artillery, were seen as far as the eye could reach. The weather was as +delightful as possible, and nothing could be more promising than the +ripening grain. But it was very hot. What astonished me was, that +neither before nor behind, on the right hand nor on the left could we +discover any enemies. Nobody knew anything about them. The rumor +circulated amongst us that we were to attack the English. I had seen +the Russians, Prussians, Austrians, Bavarians and Wurtemburgers and the +Swedes. I knew the people of all the countries in the world, and now I +was going to make the acquaintance of the English also. If we must be +exterminated, I thought, it might as well be done by them as by the +Germans. We could not avoid our fate--if I was to escape, I should +escape, but if I were doomed to leave my bones here, all I could do +would avail nothing--but the more we destroyed of them the greater +would be the chances for us. This was the way I reasoned with myself, +and if it did me no good it caused me at least no harm. + + + + +XVI + +We passed the Meuse on the 12th, and during the 13th and 14th we +marched along the wretched roads, bordered with grain fields, barley, +oats, and hemp, without end. The heat was extraordinary, the sweat ran +down to our hips from under our knapsacks and cartridge-boxes. What a +misfortune to be poor, and unable to buy a man to march and take the +musket-shots in our place! After having gone through the rain, wind, +and snow, and mud, in Germany, the turn of the sun and dust had come. +And I saw too, that the destruction was approaching, you could hear the +sound of the drum and the bugle in every direction, and whenever the +battalion passed over an elevation long lines of helmets and lances and +bayonets were seen as far as the eye could reach. + +Zebede, with his musket on his shoulder, would exclaim cheerfully, +"Well, Joseph! we are going to see the whites of the Prussians' eyes +again;" and I would force myself to reply, "Oh! yes, the weddings will +soon begin again." As if I wanted to risk my life and leave Catherine +a young widow for the sake of something which did not in the least +concern me. + +That same day at seven o'clock we reached Roly. The hussars occupied +the town already, and we were obliged to bivouac in a deep road along +the side of the hill. We had hardly stacked our arms when several +general officers arrived. The Commandant Gemeau, who had just +dismounted, sprang upon his horse and hurried to meet them. They +conversed a moment together and came down into our road. Everybody +looked on and said, "Something has happened." One of the officers, +General Pechaux, whom we knew afterward, ordered the drums to beat, and +shouted, "Form a circle." The road was too narrow, and some of the +soldiers went up on the slope each side of the road, while the others +remained on the road. All the battalion looked on while the general +unrolled a paper, and said, "Proclamation from the Emperor." + +When he had said that, the silence was so profound that you would have +thought yourself alone in the midst of these great fields. Every one, +from the last conscript to the Commandant Gemeau, listened, and, even +to-day, when I think of it, after fifty years, it moves my heart; it +was grand and terrible. This is what the general read: + + +"Soldiers! To-day is the anniversary of Marengo and of Friedland, +which twice decided the fate of Europe! Then, as after Austerlitz and +after Wagram, we were too generous, we believed the protestations and +the oaths of princes, whom we left on their thrones. They have +combined to attack the independence and even the most sacred rights of +France. They have commenced the most unjust aggressions, let us meet +them! They and we,--are we no longer of the same race?" + + +The whole battalion shouted, "_Vive l'Empereur_." The general raised +his hand, and all were silent. + + +"Soldiers! at Jena, we were as one to three against these Prussians who +are so arrogant to-day; at Montmirail we were as one against six! Let +those among you who have been prisoners of the English tell the tale of +their frightful sufferings in their prison ships. The Saxons, the +Belgians, the Hanoverians, the soldiers of the Confederation of the +Rhine, complain that they are compelled to lend their arms to princes +who are enemies of justice and of the rights of all nations. They know +that this coalition is insatiable. After having devoured twelve +millions of Poles, twelve millions of Italians, one million of Saxons, +six millions of Belgians, it will devour all the states of the second +order in Germany. Madmen! a moment of prosperity has blinded them; the +oppression and humiliation of the French people is beyond their power. +If they enter France they will find their graves there. Soldiers, we +have forced marches to make, battles to wage, and perils to encounter, +but, if we are constant, victory will be ours. The rights of man and +the happiness of our country will be reconquered. For all Frenchmen, +who have hearts, the time has come to conquer or to perish.--NAPOLEON." + + +The shouts which arose were like thunder, it was as if the Emperor had +breathed his war spirit into our hearts, and moved us as one man to +destroy our enemies. The shouts continued long after the general had +gone, and even I was satisfied. I saw that it was the truth, that the +Prussians, Austrians, and Russians, who had talked so much of the +deliverance of the people, had profited by the first opportunity to +grasp everything, that those grand words about liberty, which had +served to excite their young men against us in 1813, and all the +promises of constitutions which they had made, had been set aside and +broken. I looked upon them as beggars, as men who had not kept their +word, who despised the people, and whose ideas were very narrow and +limited, and consisted in always keeping the best place for themselves +and their children and descendants whether they were good or bad, just +or unjust, without any reference to God's law. That was the way I +looked at it; the proclamation seemed to me very beautiful. I thought +too, that Father Goulden would be pleased with it, because the Emperor +had not forgotten the rights of man, which are liberty, equality, and +justice, and all those grand ideas which distinguish men from brutes, +causing them to respect themselves and the rights of their neighbors +also. Our courage was greatly strengthened by these strong and just +words. The old soldiers laughed and said, "We shall not be kept +waiting this time. On the first march we shall fall upon the +Prussians." + +But the conscripts, who had never yet heard the bullets whistle, were +the most excited of all. Buche's eyes sparkled like those of a cat, as +he sat on the road-side, with his knapsack opened on the slope, slowly +sharpening his sabre, and trying the edge on the toe of his shoe. +Others were setting their bayonets and adjusting their flints, as they +always do when on the eve of a battle. At those times their heads are +full of thought, which makes them knit their brows, and compress their +lips; giving them anything but pleasant faces. + +The sun sank lower and lower behind the grain fields, several +detachments of men went to the village for wood, and they brought back +onions and leeks and salt, and even several quarters of beef were hung +on long sticks over their shoulders. But it was when the men were +around the fires, watching their kettles as they commenced to boil, and +the smoke went curling up into the air, that their faces were happiest, +one would talk of Lutzen, another of Wagram, of Austerlitz, of Jena, of +Friedland, of Spain, of Portugal, and of all the countries in the +world. They all talked at once, but only the old soldiers whose arms +were covered with chevrons, were listened to. They were most +interesting, as they marked the positions on the ground with their +fingers, and explained them by a line on the right, and a line on the +left. You seemed to see it all while listening to them. Each one had +his pewter spoon at his button-hole, and kept thinking, "The soup will +be capital, the meat is good and fat." + +When we were stationed for the night, the order was given to extinguish +the fires and not to beat the retreat, which indicated that the enemy +was near, and that they feared to alarm them. + +The moon was shining, and Buche and I were eating at the same mess; +when we had finished, he talked to me more than two hours about his +life at Harberg, how they were obliged to drag two or three cords of +wood on great sleds at the risk of being run over and crushed, +especially when the snow was melting. Compared with that, the life of +a soldier, with his pleasant mess and good bread, regular rations, the +neat warm uniform, the stout linen shirts, seemed to him delightful. +He had never dreamed that he could be so comfortable, and his strongest +desire was to let his two younger brothers, Gaspard and Jacob, know how +delighted he was, in order that they might enlist as soon as they were +old enough. + +"Yes," said I, "that is all very well,--but the English and +Prussians,--you do not think of that." + +"I despise them," said he, "my sabre cuts like a butcher's knife, and +my bayonet is sharp as a needle. It is they who should be afraid to +encounter me." + +We were the best friends in the world, and I liked him almost as well +as my old comrades Klipfel, Furst, and Zebede. And he liked me too. I +believe he would have let himself be cut to pieces to save me from +danger. Old comrades and bed-fellows never forget each other. In my +time, old Harwig whom I knew in Pfalzbourg, always received a pension +from his old comrade Bernadotte, King of Sweden. If I had been a king, +Jean Buche should have had a pension, for if he had not a great mind he +had a good heart, which is better still. + +While we were talking, Zebede came and tapped me on the shoulder. + +"You do not smoke, Joseph?" + +"I have no tobacco." + +Then he gave me half of a package which he had and I saw that he loved +me still, in spite of the difference in our rank, and that touched me. +He was beside himself with delight at the thought of attacking the +Prussians. + +"We'll be revenged!" he cried. "No quarter! they shall pay for all, +from Katzbach even to Soissons." + +You would have thought that those English and Prussians were not going +to defend themselves, and that we ran no risk of catching bullets and +canister as at Lutzen and at Gross-Beren, at Leipzig and everywhere +else. But what could you say to a man who remembered nothing and who +always looked on the bright side? + +I smoked my pipe quietly and replied, "Yes! yes! we'll settle the +rascals, we'll push them! They'll see enough of us!" + +I left Jean Buche with his pipe, and as we were on guard, Zebede went +about nine o'clock to relieve the sentinels at the head of the picket. +I stepped a little out of the circle and stretched myself in a furrow a +few steps in the rear with my knapsack under my head. The weather was +warm, and we heard the crickets long after the sun went down. A few +stars shone in the heavens. There was not a breath of air stirring +over the plain, the ears of grain stood erect and motionless, and in +the distance the village clocks struck nine, ten, and eleven, but at +last I dropped asleep. This was the night of the 14th and 15th of +June, 1815. Between two and three in the morning Zebede came and shook +me. "Up!" said he, "come!" Buche had stretched himself beside me +also, and we rose at once. It was our turn to relieve the guard. It +was still dark, but there was a line of light along the horizon at the +edge of the grain fields. Thirty paces farther on, Lieutenant +Bretonville was waiting for us, surrounded by the picket. It is hard +to get up out of a sound sleep after a march of ten hours. But we +buckled on our knapsacks as we went, and I relieved the sentinel behind +the hedge opposite Roly. The countersign was "Jemmapes and Fleurus," +this struck me at once, I had not heard this countersign since 1813. +How memory sleeps sometimes for years! I seem to see the picket now as +they turn into the road, while I renew the priming of my gun by the +light of the stars, and I hear the other sentinels marching slowly back +and forth, while the footsteps of the picket grew faint and fainter in +the distance. I marched up and down the hedge with my gun on my arm. +There was nothing to be seen but the village with its thatched roofs +and the slated church spire a little farther on; and a mounted sentinel +stationed in the road with his blunderbuss resting on his thigh looking +out into the night. I walked up and down thinking and listening. +Everything slept. The white line along the horizon grew broader. +Another half hour and the distant country began to appear in the gray +light of morning. Two or three quails called and answered each other +across the plain. As I heard these sounds I stopped and thought sadly +of Quatre Vents, Danne, the Baraques-du-bois-de-chenes, and of our +grain fields, where the quails were calling from the edge of the forest +of Bonne Fontaine. "Is Catherine asleep? and Aunt Gredel and Father +Goulden and all the town? The national guard from Nancy has taken our +place." I saw the sentinels of the two magazines and the guard at the +two gates; in short, thoughts without number came and went, when I +heard a horse galloping in the distance, but I could see nothing. + +[Illustration: A mounted hussar was looking out into the night.] + +In a few minutes he entered the village, and all was still except a +sort of confused tumult. In an instant after, the horseman came from +Roly into our road at full gallop. I advanced to the edge of the hedge +and presented my musket, and cried, "Who goes there?" "France!" "What +regiment?" "Twelfth chasseurs! Staff." "Pass on!" He went on his +way faster than before. I heard him stop in the midst of our +encampment, and call "Commandant." I advanced to the top of the hill +to see what was going on. There was a great excitement; the officers +came running up, and the soldiers gathered round. The chasseur was +speaking to Gemeau, I listened, but was too far away to hear. The +courier went on again up the hill, and everything was in an uproar. +They shouted and gesticulated. Suddenly the drums beat to mount guard, +and the relief turned a corner in the road. I saw Zebede in the +distance looking pale as death; as he passed me he said, "Come!" the +two other sentinels were in their places a little to the left. Talking +is not allowed when under arms, but, notwithstanding, Zebede said, +"Joseph, we are betrayed. Bourmont, general of the division in +advance, and five other brigands of the same sort, have just gone over +to the enemy." His voice trembled. + +My blood boiled, and looking at the other men on the picket, two old +soldiers with chevrons, I saw their lips quiver under their gray +mustaches, their eyes rolled fiercely as if they were meditating +vengeance, but they said nothing. We hurried on to relieve the other +two sentinels. Some minutes afterward, on returning to our bivouac, we +found the battalion already under arms and ready to move. Fury and +indignation were stamped on every face, the drums beat and we formed +ranks, the commandant and the adjutant waited on horseback at the head +of the battalion, pale as ashes. + +I remember that the commandant suddenly drew his sword as a signal to +stop the drums, and tried to speak, but the words would not come, and +he began to shout like a madman: "Ah! the wretches! miserable villains! +_Vive l'Empereur_! No quarter!" He stammered and did not know what he +said, but the battalion thought he was eloquent, and began to shout as +one man, "Forward! forward! to the enemy! no quarter!" We went through +the village at quick step, and the meanest soldier was furious at not +finding the Prussians. + +It was an hour after, when having reflected a little, the men commenced +swearing and threatening, secretly at first, but soon openly, and at +last the battalion was almost in revolt. Some said that all the +officers under Louis XVIII. must be exterminated, and others, that we +were given up _en masse_, and several declared that the marshals were +traitors, and ought to be court-martialed and shot. + +At last the commandant ordered a halt, and riding down the line he told +the men, that the traitors had left too late to do mischief, that we +would make the attack that very day, and that the enemy would not have +time to profit by the treason, and that he would be surprised and +overwhelmed. This calmed the fury of a great proportion of the men, +and we resumed our march, and all along the route, we heard repeatedly +that the exposure of our plans had been made too late. + +But our anger gave place to joy, when about ten o'clock we heard the +thunder of cannon five or six leagues to the left, on the other side of +the Sambre. The men raised their shakos on their bayonets and shouted: +"Forward! Vive l'Empereur!" + +Many of the old soldiers wept, and over all that great plain there was +one immense shout; when one regiment had ceased another took it up. +The cannon thundered incessantly. We quickened our steps. We had been +marching on Charleroi since seven o'clock, when an order reached us by +an orderly to support the right. I remember that in all the villages +through which we passed, the doors and windows were full of eager +friendly faces, waving their hands and shouting, "The French, the +French!" We could see that they were friendly to us, and that they +were of the same blood as ourselves; and in the two halts that we made, +they came out with their loaves of excellent home-made bread, with a +knife stuck in the crust, and great jugs of black beer, and offered +them to us without asking any return. We had come to deliver them +without knowing it, and nobody in their country knew it either, which +shows the sagacity of the Emperor, for there were already in that +corner of the Sambre et Meuse, more than one hundred thousand men, and +not the slightest hint of it had reached the enemy. + +The treason of Bourmont had prevented our surprising them as they were +scattered about in their separate camps. We could then have +annihilated them at a blow, but now it would be much more difficult. + +We continued our march till after noon, in the intense heat and choking +dust. The farther we advanced the greater the number of troops we saw, +infantry and cavalry. They massed themselves more and more, so to +speak, and behind us there were still other regiments. + +Toward five o'clock we reached a village where the battalions and +squadrons filed over a bridge built of brick. This village had been +taken by our vanguard, and in going through it, we saw some of the +Prussians stretched out in the little streets on the right and left, +and I said to Jean Buche: "Those are Prussians, I saw them at Lutzen +and Leipzig, and you are going to see them too, Jean." + +"So much the better," he replied, "that is what I want." + +This village was called Chatelet. It is on the river Sambre, the water +is very deep, yellow, and clayey, and those who are so unfortunate as +to fall into it, find it very difficult to get out of, for the banks +are perpendicular, as we found out afterward. On the other side of the +bridge we bivouacked along the river; we were not in the advance, as +the hussars had passed over before us, but we were the first infantry +of the corps of Gerard. All the rest of that day the Fourth corps were +filing over the bridge, and we learned at night, that the whole army +had passed the Sambre, and that there had been fighting near Charleroi, +at Marchiennes, and Jumet. + + + + +XVII + +On reaching the other bank of the river, we stacked our arms in an +orchard, and lighted our pipes and took breath as we watched the +hussars, the chasseurs, the artillery, and the infantry, file over the +bridge hour after hour, and take their positions on the plain. In our +front was a beech forest, about three leagues in length, which extended +toward Fleurus. We could see great yellow spots, here and there in +this wood; these were stubble, and great patches of grain, instead of +being covered with bramble or heath and furze as in our country. About +twenty old decrepit houses were on that side the bridge. Chatelet is a +very large village, larger than the city of Saverne. + +Between the battalions and squadrons, which were constantly moving +onward, the men, women, and children would come out with jugs of sour +beer, bread, and strong white brandy which they sold to the soldiers +for a few sous. Buche and I broke a crust as we looked on and laughed +with the girls, who are blonde and very pretty in that country. + +Very near us was the little village Catelineau, and in the distance on +our left, between the wood and the river, lay the village of Gilly. +The sound of musketry, cannon, and platoon firing, was heard constantly +in that direction. The news soon came that the Emperor had driven the +Prussians out of Charleroi, and that they had re-formed in squares at +the corner of the wood. + +We expected every moment to be ordered to cut off their retreat, but +between seven and eight o'clock, the sound of musketry ceased, the +Prussians retired to Fleurus, after having lost one of their squares; +and the others escaped into the wood. We saw two regiments of dragoons +arrive and take up their position at our right, along the bank of the +Sambre. There was a rumor a few minutes afterward that General Le Tort +had been killed by a ball in the abdomen, very near the place where in +his youth he had watched and tended the cattle of a farmer. What +strange things happen in life! The general had fought all over Europe, +since he was twenty years old, but death waited for him here! + +It was about eight o'clock in the evening, and we were expecting to +remain at Chatelet until our three divisions had crossed. An old bald +peasant, in a blue blouse and a cotton cap and as lean as a goat, came +into camp and told Captain Gregoire that on the side of the beech wood +in a hollow, lay the village of Fleurus, and to the right of this, the +little village of Lambusart; that the Prussians had been stationed in +these towns more than three weeks, and that more of them had arrived +the night before, and the night before that. He told us also that +there was a broad road, bordered with trees, running two good leagues +along our left; that the Belgians and Hanoverians had posts at +Gosselies and at Quatre-Bras; that it was the high-road to Brussels, +where the English and Hanoverians and Belgians had all their forces; +while the Prussians, four or five leagues at our right, occupied the +route to Namur, and that between them and the English, there was a good +road running from the plateau of Quatre-Bras to the plateau of Ligny in +the rear of Fleurus, over which their couriers went and came from +morning till night, so that the Prussians and English were in perfect +communication, and could support each other with men, guns, and +supplies when necessary. + +Naturally enough I thought at once, that the first thing to be done was +to get possession of this road and so cut off their communication; and +I was not the only one who thought so; but we said nothing for fear of +interrupting the old man. In five minutes half the battalion had +gathered round him in a circle. He was smoking a clay pipe and +pointing out all the positions with the stem. He was a sort of +commissioner between Chatelet, Fleurus, and Namur and knew every foot +of the country and all that happened every day. + +He complained greatly of the Prussians, said they were proud and +insolent, that they corrupted the women and were never satisfied, and +that the officers boasted of having driven us from Dresden to Paris, +that they had made us run like hares. + +I was indignant at that, for I knew they were two to one at Leipzig, +and that the Russians, Austrians, Saxons, Bavarians, Wurtemburgers, +Swedes, in fact all Europe had overwhelmed us, while three-quarters of +our army were sick with typhus, cold, and famine, marching and +countermarching; but that even all this had not prevented us from +beating them at Hanau, and fifty other times when they were three to +one, in Champagne, Alsace, in the Vosges, and everywhere. + +Their boasting disgusted me, I had a horror of the whole race, and I +thought, "those are the rascals who sour your blood." The old man said +too, that the Prussians constantly declared that they would soon be +enjoying themselves in Paris, drinking good French wines; and that the +French army was only a band of brigands. When I heard that, I said to +myself, "Joseph, that is too much! now you will show no more mercy, +there is nothing but extermination." + +The clocks of Chatelet struck nine and a half, and the hussars sounded +the retreat, and each one was about to dispose himself behind a hedge +or a bee-house or in a furrow for the night, when the general of the +brigade, Schoeffer, ordered the battalion to take up their position on +the other side of the wood, as the vanguard. I saw at once that our +unlucky battalion was always to be in the van, just as it was in 1813. + +It is a sad thing for a regiment to have a reputation; the men change, +but the number remains the same. The Sixth light infantry had always +been a distinguished number, and I knew what it cost. Those of us who +were inclined to sleep, were wide awake now, for when you know that the +enemy is at hand, and you say to yourself, "The Prussians are in +ambush, perhaps in that wood, waiting for you," it makes you open your +eyes. + +Several hussars deployed as scouts on our right and left, in front of +the column. We marched at the route step, with the captains between +the companies, and the Commandant Gemeau, on his little gray mare, in +the middle of the battalion. Before starting each man had received +three pounds of bread and two pounds of rice, and this was the way in +which the campaign opened for us. + +The sky was without a cloud, and all the country and even the forest, +which lay three-quarters of a league before us, shone in the moonlight +like silver. I thought involuntarily of the wood at Leipzig, where I +had slipped into a clay-pit with two Prussian hussars, when poor +Klipfel was cut into a thousand pieces at a little distance from me. +All this made me very watchful. No one spoke, even Buche raised his +head and shut his teeth, and Zebede, who was at the left of the +company, did not look toward me, but right ahead into the shadow of the +trees, like everybody else. + +It took us nearly an hour to reach the forest, and when within two +hundred paces the order came to "halt." + +The hussars fell back on the flanks of the battalion, and one company +deployed as scouts. We waited about five minutes, and as not the +slightest noise or sound of any kind reached our ears, we resumed our +march. The road which we followed through the wood was quite a wide +cart-path. The column marked step in the shadows. At every moment +great openings in the forest gave us light and air, and we could see +the white piles of newly cut wood between their stakes, shining in the +distance from time to time. + +Besides this, nothing could be heard or seen. Buche said to me in a +low voice, "I like the smell of the wood, it is like Harberg." + +"I despise the smell of the wood," I thought; "and if we do not get a +musket-shot, I shall be satisfied." + +At the end of two hours the light appeared again through the underwood, +and we reached the other side, fortunately without encountering either +enemy or obstacle. The hussars who had accompanied us returned +immediately, and the battalion stacked arms. + +We were in a grain country, the like of which I had never seen. Some +of the grain was in flower, a little green still, though the barley was +almost ripe. The fields extended as far as the eye could reach. We +looked around in perfect silence, and I saw that the old man had not +deceived us. Two thousand paces in front of us, in a hollow, we saw +the top of an old church spire and some slated gables, lighted up by +the moon. That was Fleurus. Nearer to us on our right were some +thatched cottages, and a few houses; this was without doubt Lambusart. +At the end of the plain, more than a league distant and in the rear of +Fleurus, the surface of the country was broken into little hills, and +on these hills innumerable fires were burning. Three large villages +were easily recognized extending over the heights from left to right. +The one nearest to us, we afterward found, was St. Amand, Ligny in the +middle, and two leagues beyond, was Sombref. We could see them more +distinctly, even, than in the day-time, on account of the fires of the +enemy. The Prussians were in the houses and the orchards and the +fields; and beyond these three villages in a line, was another, lying +still higher and farther away, where fires were burning also. This was +Bry, where the rascals had their reserves. + +As we looked at this grand spectacle, I understood the disposition and +the plan, and saw too that it would be very difficult to take the +position. On the plain at our left there were fires also, but it was +the camp of the Third corps, which had turned the corner of the forest +after having repulsed the Prussians, and had halted in some village +this side of Fleurus. There were a few fires along the edge of the +forest, on a line with us; these were the fires of our own soldiers. I +believe there were some on both sides of us, but the great mass were at +the left. + +We posted our sentinels immediately, and without lighting our fires +laid down at the border of the wood to wait for further orders. +General Schoeffer came again during the night with several hussar +officers, and talked a long time with our commandant, Gemeau, who was +watching under arms. Their conversation was quite distinct at twenty +paces from us. The general said that our army corps continued to +arrive, but that they were very late, and would not all reach here the +next day. I saw at once that he was right; for our fourth battalion, +which should have joined us at Chatelet, did not come till the day +after the battle, when we were almost exterminated by those rascals at +Ligny, having only four hundred men left. If they had been there they +would have had their share of the combat and of the glory. + +As I had been on guard the night before, I quietly stretched myself at +the foot of a tree by the side of Buche, with my comrades. It was +about one o'clock in the morning of the day of the terrible battle of +Ligny. Nearly half of those men who were sleeping around me left their +bodies on the plain and in the villages which we saw, to be food for +the grain, such as was growing so beautifully around us, for the oats +and the barley for ages to come. If they had known that, there was +more than one of them who would not have slept so well, for men cling +to life, and it is a sad thing to think, "to-day I draw my last breath!" + + + + +XVIII + +During the night the air was heavy, and I wakened every hour in spite +of my great fatigue, but my comrades slept on, some talking in their +sleep. Buche did not stir. + +Close at hand, on the edge of the forest, our stacked muskets sparkled +in the moonlight. In the distance on the left I could hear the "Qui +vive,"[1] and on our front the "Wer da."[2] Nearer to us, our +sentinels stood motionless, up to their waists in the standing grain. + + +[1] Who goes there!--French. + +[2] Who goes there!--German. + + +I rose up softly and looked about me. In the vicinity of Sombref, two +leagues to our right, I could hear a great tumult from time to time, +which would increase and then cease entirely. It might have been +little gusts of wind among the leaves, but there was not a breath of +air and not a drop of dew fell, and I thought, "Those are the cannon +and wagons of the Prussians, galloping over the Namur road; their +battalions and squadrons, which are coming continually. What a +position we shall be in to-morrow with that mass of men already before +us, and re-enforcements arriving every moment." + +They had extinguished their fires at St. Amand and at Ligny, but they +burned brighter than ever at Sombref. The Prussians who had just +arrived after forced marches were no doubt making their soup. + +A thousand thoughts ran through my brain, and I said to myself from +time to time, "You escaped from Lutzen and Leipzig and Hanau, why not +escape this time also?" + +But the hopes which I cherished did not prevent me from realizing that +the battle would be a terrible one. I lay down, however, and slept +soundly for half an hour, when the drum-major, Padoue himself, +commenced to beat the reveille. He promenaded up and down the edge of +the wood and turned off his rolls and double rolls with great +satisfaction. The officers were standing in the grain on the hill-side +in a group, looking toward Fleurus, and talking among themselves. Our +reveille always commenced before that of the Austrians or Prussians or +any of our enemies. It is like the song of the lark at dawn. They +commence theirs on their big drums with a dismal roll which gives you +the idea of a funeral. But, on the contrary, their buglers have pretty +airs for sounding the reveille, while ours only give two or three +blasts, as much as to say: "Come, let us be going! there is no time to +lose." Everybody rose and the sun came up splendidly over the grain +fields, and we could feel beforehand how hot it would be at noon. + +Buche and all the detailed men set off with their canteens for water, +while others were lighting handfuls of straw with tinder for their +fires. There was no lack of wood, as each one took an armful from the +piles that were already cut. Corporal Duhem and Sergeant Rabot and +Zebede came to have a talk with me. We were together in 1813, and they +had been at my wedding, and in spite of the difference in our rank they +had always continued their friendship for me. + +"Well! Joseph," said Zebede, "the dance is going to commence." + +"Yes," I replied, and recalling the words of poor Sergeant Pinto the +morning before Lutzen, I added with a wink, "this, Zebede, will be a +battle, as Sergeant Pinto said, where you will gain the cross between +the thrusts of ramrod and bayonet, and if you do not have a chance now +you need never expect it." + +They all began to laugh, and Zebede said: + +"Yes, indeed, the poor old fellow richly deserved it, but it is harder +to catch than the bouquet at the top of a climbing pole." + +We all laughed, and as they had a flask of brandy, we took a crust of +bread together as we watched the movements of the enemy which began to +be perceptible. Buche had returned among the first with his canteen +and now stood behind us with his ears wide open like a fox on the alert. + +Files of cavalry came out of the woods and crossed the grain fields in +the direction of St. Amand, the large village at the left of Fleurus. + +"Those," said Zebede, "are the light horse of Pajol who will deploy as +scouts. These are Exelman's dragoons. When the others have +ascertained the positions they will advance in line, that is the way +they always do, and the cannon will come with the infantry. The +cavalry will form on the right or the left and support the flanks, and +the infantry will take the front rank. They will form their attacking +columns on the good roads and in the fields, and the affair will begin +with a cannonade for twenty minutes or half an hour, more or less, and +when half the batteries are disabled, the Emperor will choose a +favorable moment to put us in, but it is we who will catch the bullets +and canister because we are nearest. We advance, carry arms, in +readiness for a charge, at a quick step and in good order, but it +always ends in a double quick, because the shot makes you impatient. I +warn you, conscripts, beforehand, so that you may not be surprised." +More than twenty conscripts had ranged themselves behind us to listen. +The cavalry continued to pour out of the wood. + +"I will bet," said Corporal Duhem, "that the Fourth cavalry has been on +the march in our rear since daybreak." + +And Rabot said they would have to take time to get into line, as it was +so bad traversing the wood. We were discussing the matter like +generals, and we scanned the position of the Prussians around the +villages, in the orchards, and behind the hedges, which are six feet +high in that country. A great number of their guns were grouped in +batteries between Ligny and St. Amand, and we could plainly see the +bronze shining in the sun, which inspired all sorts of reflections. + +"I am sure," said Zebede, "that they are all barricaded, and they have +dug ditches and pierced the walls; we should have done well to push on +yesterday, when their squares retreated to the first village on the +heights. If we were on a level with them it would be very well, but to +climb up across those hedges under the enemy's fire will cost a trifle, +unless something should happen in the rear as is sometimes the case +with the Emperor." + +The old soldiers were talking in this fashion on all sides, and the +conscripts were listening with open ears. + +Meanwhile the camp-kettles were suspended over the fire, but they were +expressly forbidden to use their bayonets for this purpose as it +destroyed their temper. It was about seven o'clock, and we all thought +that the battle would be at St. Amand. The village was surrounded by +hedges and shrubbery, with a great tower in the centre, and higher up +in the rear there were more houses and a winding road bordered with a +stone wail. All the officers said: "That is where the struggle will +be." As our troops came from Charleroi they spread over the plain +below us, infantry and cavalry side by side; all the corps of Vandamme +and Gerard's division. Thousands and thousands of helmets glittered in +the sun, and Buche who stood beside me, exclaimed: + +"Oh! oh! oh! look, Joseph, look! they come continually!" + +And we could see innumerable bayonets in the same direction as far as +the eye could reach. + +The Prussians were spreading more and more over the hill-side near the +windmills. This movement continued till eight o'clock. Nobody was +hungry, but we ate all the same, so as not to reproach ourselves; for +the battle, once begun, might last two days without giving us a chance +to eat again. + +Between eight and nine o'clock the first battalions of our division +left the wood. The officers came to shake hands with their comrades, +but the staff remained in the rear. Suddenly the hussars and chasseurs +passed us, extending our line of battle toward the right. They were +Morin's cavalry. Our idea was that when the Prussians should have +become engaged in the attack on St. Amand, we would fall on their flank +at Ligny. But the Prussians were on their guard, and from that moment +they stopped at Ligny, instead of going on to St. Amand. They even +came lower down, and we could see the officers posting the men among +the hedges and in the gardens and behind the low walls and barracks. +We thought their position very strong. They continued to come lower +down in a sort of fold of the hill-side between Ligny and Fleurus, and +that astonished us, for we did not yet know that a little brook divided +the village into two parts, and that they were filling the houses on +our side, and we did not know that if they were repulsed they could +retreat up the hill and still hold us always under their fire. + +If we knew everything about such affairs beforehand, we should never +dare to commence such a dangerous enterprise, but the difficulties are +discovered step by step. We were destined that day to find a great +many things which we did not expect. + +About half-past eight several of our regiments had left the wood, and +very soon the drums beat the assembly and all the battalions took their +arms. The general, Count Gerard, arrived with his staff, and passing +us at a gallop, without any notice, went on to the hill below Fleurus. +Almost immediately the firing commenced; the scouts of Vandamme +approached the village on the left, and two pieces of cannon were sent +off, with the artillerymen on horseback. After five or six discharges +of cannon from the top of the hill the musketry ceased and our scouts +were in Fleurus, and we saw three or four hundred Prussians mounting +the hill in the distance, toward Ligny. General Gerard, after looking +at this little engagement, came back with his staff and passed slowly +down our front, inspecting us carefully, as if he wished to ascertain +what sort of humor we were in. He was about forty-five years old, +brown, with a large head, a round face, the lower part heavy, with a +pointed chin. A great many peasants in our country resemble him, and +they are not the most stupid. He said not a word to us, and when he +had passed the whole length of our line, all the generals and colonels +were grouped together. The command was given to order arms. The +orderlies then set off like the wind; this engrossed the attention of +all, but not a man stirred. The rumor spread that Grouchy was to be +commander-in-chief, and that the Emperor had attacked the English four +leagues away, on the route to Brussels. + +This news put us in anything but a pleasant humor, and more than one +said, "It is no wonder that we are here doing nothing since morning; if +the Emperor was with us, we should have given battle long ago, and the +Prussians would not have had time to know where they were." + +This was the talk we indulged in, and it shows the injustice of men; +for three hours afterward, in the midst of shouts of "_Vive +l'Empereur_," Napoleon arrived. These shouts swept along the line like +a tempest, and were continued even opposite Sombref. Now everything +was right. That for which we had reproached Marshal Grouchy, was +perfectly proper when done by the Emperor, since it was he. + +Very soon the order reached us to advance our line five hundred paces +to the right, and off we started through the rye, oats, and barley, +which were swept down before us, but the principal line of battle on +the left was not changed. + +As we reached a broad road which we had not before seen and came in +sight of Fleurus, with its little brook bordered with willows, the +order was given to halt! A murmur ran through the whole +division--"There he is!" + +He was on horseback, and only accompanied by a few of the officers of +his staff. + +We could only recognize him in the distance by has gray coat and his +hat; his carriage with its escort of lancers was in the rear. He +entered Fleurus by the high road, and remained in the village more than +an hour, while we were roasting in the grain fields. + + + + +At the end of this hour, which we thought interminable, files of staff +officers set off, at a gallop, bent over their saddle-bows till their +noses were between their horse's ears. Two of them stopped near +General Gerard, one remained with him, and the other went on again. +Still we waited, until suddenly the bands of all the regiments began to +play; drums and trumpets all together; and that immense line which +extended from the rear of St. Amand to the forest, swung round, with +the right wing in the advance. As it reached beyond our division in +the rear, we advanced our line still more obliquely, and again the +order came, Halt! The road running out of Fleurus was opposite us, a +blank wall on the left; behind which were trees and a large house, and +in front a windmill of red brick, like a tower. + +We had hardly halted, when the Emperor came out of this mill with three +or four generals and two old peasants in blouses, holding their cotton +caps in their hands. The whole division commenced to shout, "Vive +l'Empereur!" + +I saw him plainly as he came along a path in front of the battalion, +with his head bent down and his hands behind his back listening to the +old bald peasant. He took no notice of the shouts, but turned round +twice and pointed toward Ligny. I saw him as plainly as I could see +Father Goulden when we sat opposite each other at table. He had grown +much stouter than when he was at Leipzig, and looked yellow. If it had +not been for his gray coat and his hat, I should hardly have recognized +him. His cheeks were sunken and he looked much older. All this came, +I presume, from his troubles at Elba, and in thinking of the mistakes +he had made; for he was a wise man, and could see his own faults. He +had destroyed the revolution which had sustained him, he had recalled +the emigres who despised him, he had married an archduchess who +preferred Vienna to Paris, and he had chosen his bitterest enemies for +his counsellors. + +[Illustration: The Emperor, his hands behind his back, and his head +bent forward.] + +In short he had put everything back where it was before the revolution, +nothing was wanting but Louis XVIII., and then the kings had put Louis +XVIII. on his throne again. Now he had come to overthrow the +legitimate sovereign, and some called him a despot, and some a Jacobin. +It was unfortunate for him that he had done everything possible to +facilitate the return of the Bourbons. Nothing remained to him but his +army, if he lost that, he lost everything, for many of the people +wanted liberty like Father Goulden, others wanted tranquillity and +peace like Mother Gredel, and like me and all those who were forced +into the war. + +These things made him terribly anxious, he had lost the confidence of +the whole world. The old soldiers alone preserved their attachment to +him, and asked only to conquer or die. With such notions you cannot +fail of one or the other, all is plain and clear; but a great many +people do not have these ideas, and for my part I loved Catherine a +thousand times more than the Emperor. + +On reaching a turn in the wall, where the hussars were waiting for him, +he mounted his horse, and General Gerard who had recognized him came up +at a gallop. He turned round for two seconds to listen to him, and +then both went into Fleurus. + +Still we waited! About two o'clock General Gerard returned, and our +line was obliqued a third time more to the right, and then the whole +division broke into columns, and we followed the road to Fleurus with +the cannon and caissons at intervals between the brigades. The dust +enveloped us completely. + +Buche said to me: + +"Cost what it may, I must drink at the first puddle we come to." + +But we did not find any water. The music did not cease, and masses of +cavalry kept coming up behind us, principally dragoons. We were still +on the march when suddenly the roar of musketry and cannon broke on our +ears as when water breaking over its barriers sweeps all before it. + +I knew what it was, but Buche turned pale and looked at me in mute +astonishment. + +"Yes, indeed, Jean," said I, "those over there are attacking St. Amand, +but our turn will come presently." + +The music had ceased but the thunder of the guns had redoubled, and we +heard the order on all sides, "Halt!" + +The division stopped on the road and the gunners ran out at intervals +and put their pieces in line fifty paces in front, with their caissons +in the rear. + +We were opposite Ligny. We could only see a white line of houses half +hidden in the orchards, with a church spire above them--slopes of +yellow earth, trees, hedges, and palisades. There we were, twelve or +fifteen thousand men without the cavalry, waiting the order to attack. + +The battle raged fiercely about St. Amand, and great masses of smoke +rose over the combatants toward the sky. + +While waiting for our turn, my thoughts turned to Catherine with more +tenderness than ever, the idea that she would soon be a mother crossed +my mind, and then I besought God to spare my life, but with this, came +the comfort of feeling that our child would be there if I should die to +console them all, Catherine, Aunt Gredel, and Father Goulden. If it +should be a boy they would call it Joseph, and caress it, and Father +Goulden would dandle it on his knee, Aunt Gredel would love it, and +Catherine would think of me as she embraced it, and I should not be +altogether dead to them. But I clung to life while I saw how terrible +was the conflict before us. + +Buche said to me, "Joseph, will you promise me something?--I have a +cross--if I am killed." + +He shook my hand, and I said: "I promise." + +"Well!" he added, "it is here on my breast. You must carry it to +Harberg and hang it up in the chapel in remembrance of Jean Buche, dead +in the faith of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." + +He spoke very earnestly, and I thought his wish very natural. Some die +for the rights of Humanity; with some, the last thought is for their +mother, others are influenced by the example of just men who have +sacrificed themselves for the race, but the feeling is the same in +every case, though each one expresses it according to his own manner of +thinking. + +I gave him the desired promise and we waited for nearly half an hour +longer. All the troops as they left the wood came and formed near us, +and the cavalry were mustering on our right as if to attack Sombref. + +Up to half-past two o'clock not a gun had been fired, when an +aid-de-camp of the Emperor arrived on the road to Fleurus, at full +speed, and I thought immediately, "Our turn has come now. May God +watch over us, for, miserable wretches that we are, we cannot save +ourselves in such a slaughter as is threatening." + +I had scarcely made these reflections when two battalions on the right +set off on the road, with the artillery, toward Sombref, where the +Uhlans and Prussian cavalry were deploying in front of our dragoons. +It was the fortune of these two battalions to remain in position on the +route all that day to observe the cavalry of the enemy, while we went +to take the village where the Prussians were in force. + +The attacking columns were formed just as the clock struck three; I was +in the one on the left which moved first at a quick step along a +winding road. + +On the hill where Ligny was situated, was an immense ruin. It had been +built of brick and was pierced with holes and overlooked us as we +mounted the hill. We watched it sharply too, through the grain as we +went. The second column left immediately after us and passed by a +shorter route directly up the hill, we were to meet them at the +entrance to the village. I do not know when the third column left, as +we did not meet again till later. + +All went smoothly until we reached a point where the road was cut +through a little elevation and then ran down to the village. As we +passed through between these little hills covered with grain, and +caught sight of the nearest house, a veritable hail of balls fell on +the head of the column with a frightful noise. From every hole in the +old ruin, from all the windows and loop-holes in the houses, from the +hedges and orchards and from above the stone walls the muskets showered +their deadly fire upon us like lightning. + +At the same time a battery of fifteen pieces which had been for that +very purpose placed in a field in the rear of the great tower at the +left of, and higher tip than Ligny, near the windmill, opened upon us +with a roar, compared with which that of the musketry was nothing. +Those who had unfortunately passed the cut in the road fell over each +other in heaps in the smoke. At that moment we heard the fire of the +other column which had engaged the enemy at our right, and the roar of +other cannon, though we could not tell whether they were ours or those +of the Prussians. + +Fortunately the whole battalion had not passed the little knoll, and +the balls whistled through the grain above us, and tore up the ground +without doing us the least injury. Every time this whizzing was heard, +I observed that the conscripts near me ducked their heads, and Jean +Buche, I remember, was staring at me with open eyes. The old soldiers +marched with tightly compressed lips. + +The column stopped. For an instant each man thought whether it would +not be better to turn back, but it was only for a second, the enemy's +fire seemed to slacken, the officers all drew their sabres and shouted, +"Forward!" + +The column set off again at a run and threw itself into the road that +led down the hill across the hedges. From the palisades and the walls +behind which the Prussians were in ambush, they continued to pour their +musketry fire upon us. But woe to every one we encountered! they +defended themselves with the desperation of wolves, but a few blows +from a musket, or a bayonet thrust, soon stretched them out in some +corner. A great number of old soldiers with gray mustaches had secured +their retreat, and retired in good order, turning to fire a last shot, +and then slipped through a breach or shut a door. We followed them +without hesitation, we had neither prudence nor mercy. + +At last, quite scattered and in the greatest confusion, we reached the +first houses, when the fusillade commenced again from the windows, the +corners of the streets, and from everywhere. There were the orchards +and the gardens and the stone walls which ran along the hill-side, but +they were thrown down and demolished, the palisades torn up, and could +no longer serve as a shelter or a defence. From the well-barricaded +cottages, they still poured their fire upon us. In ten minutes more, +we should have been exterminated to the last man; seeing this, the +column turned down the hill again, drummers and sappers, officers and +soldiers pell-mell, all went without once turning their heads to look +back. I jumped over the palisades where I never should have thought it +possible at any other time, with my knapsack and cartridge-box at my +back; the others followed my example, and we all tumbled in a heap like +a falling wall. + +Once in the road again between the hills, we stopped to breathe. Some +stretched themselves on the ground, and others sat down with their +backs against the slope. The officers were furious; as if they too had +not followed the movement to retreat, and some shouted to bring up the +cannon, and others wanted to re-form the troops, though they could +scarcely make themselves heard in the midst of the thunder of the +artillery which shook the air like a tempest. + +I saw Jean Buche hurrying back with his bayonet red with blood. He +took his place beside me without saying a word, and commenced to reload. + +Captain Gregoire, Lieutenant Certain, and several sergeants and +corporals, and more than a hundred men were left behind in the +orchards; and the first two battalions of the column had suffered as +much as we. + +Zebede, with his great crooked nose, white as snow, seeing me at some +distance, shouted, "Joseph--no quarter!" + +Great masses of white smoke rose over the sides of the road. The whole +hill-side from Ligny to St. Amand was on fire behind the willows and +aspens and poplars. + +As I crept up on my hands and knees, and looked over the surface of the +grain and saw this terrible spectacle, and saw the long black lines of +infantry on the top of the hill and near the windmills, and the +innumerable cavalry on their flanks ready to fall upon us, I went back +thinking: + +"We shall never rout that army. It fills the villages, and guards the +roads, and covers the hill as far as the eye can reach, there are guns +everywhere, and it is contrary to reason to persist in such an +enterprise." + +I was indignant and even disgusted with the generals. + +All this did not take ten minutes. God only knew what had become of +our other two columns. The terrible musketry fire on the left, and the +volleys of grape and canister which we heard rushing through the air, +were no doubt intended for them. + +I thought we had had our full share of troubles, when Generals Gerard, +Vichery, and Schoeffer came riding up at full speed on the road below +us, shouting like madmen, "Forward! Forward!" + +They drew their swords, and there was nothing to do but go. + +At this moment our batteries on the road below opened their fire on +Ligny, the roofs in the village tumbled, and the walls sank, and we +rushed forward with the generals at our head with their swords drawn, +the drums beating the charge. We shouted, "_Vive l'Empereur_." The +Prussian bullets swept us away by dozens, and shot fell like hail, and +the drums kept up their "pan-pan-pan." We saw nothing, heard nothing, +as we crossed the orchards, nobody paid any attention to those who +fell, and in two minutes after, we entered the village, broke in the +doors with the butts of our muskets, while the Prussians fired upon us +from the windows. + +It was a thousand times worse in-doors, because yells of rage mingled +in the uproar; we rushed into the houses with fixed bayonets and +massacred each other without mercy. On every side the cry rose, "No +quarter!" + +The Prussians who were surprised in the first houses we entered, were +old soldiers and asked for nothing better. They perfectly understood +what "No quarter" meant, and made a most desperate defence. + +As we reached the third or fourth house on a tolerably wide street on +which was a church, and a little bridge farther on, the air was full of +smoke from the fires caused by our bombs; great broken tiles and slate +were raining down upon us, and everything roared and whistled and +cracked, when Zebede, with a terrible look in his eyes, seized me by +the arm, shouting, "Come!" + +We rushed into a large room already filled with soldiers, on the first +floor of a house; it was dark, as they had covered the windows with +sacks of earth, but we could see a steep wooden stairway at one end, +down which the blood was running. We heard musket-shots from above and +the flashes each moment showed us five or six of our men sunk in a heap +against the balustrade with their arms hanging down, and the others +running over their bodies with their bayonets fixed, trying to force +their way into the loft. + +It was horrible to see those men with their bristling mustaches, and +brown cheeks, every wrinkle expressing the fury which possessed them, +determined to force a passage at any cost. The sight made me furious, +and I shouted, "Forward! No quarter!" + +If I had been near the stairway, I might have been cut to pieces in +mounting, but fortunately for me, others were ahead and not one would +give up his place. + +An old fellow, covered with wounds, succeeded in reaching the top of +the stairs under the bayonets. As he gained the loft he let go his +musket, and seized the balustrade with both hands. Two balls from +muskets touching his breast did not make him let go his hold. Three or +four others rushed up behind him striving each to be first, and leaped +over the top stairs into the loft above. + +Then followed such an uproar as is impossible to describe, shots +followed each other in quick succession, and the shouts and trampling +of feet made us think the house was coming down over our heads. Others +followed, and when I reached the scene behind Zebede, the room was full +of dead and wounded men, the windows were blown out, the walls splashed +with blood, and not a Prussian was left on his feet. Five or six of +our men were supporting themselves against the different pieces of +furniture, smiling ferociously. Nearly all of them had balls or +bayonet thrusts in their bodies, but the pleasure of revenge was +greater than the pain of their wounds. My hair stands on end when I +recall that scene. + +As soon as Zebede saw that the Prussians were all dead, he went down +again, saying to me, "Come, there is nothing more to do here." + +We went out and found that our column had already passed the church, +and thousands of musket-shots crackled against the bridge like the fire +breaking out from a coal-pit. + +The second column had come down the broad street on our right and +joined ours, and in the meantime, one of those Prussian columns which +we had seen on the hill in the rear of Ligny, came down to drive us out +of the village. + +Here it was that we had the first encounter in force. Two staff +officers rode down the street by which we had come. + +"Those men," said Zebede, "are going to order up the guns. When they +arrive, Joseph, you will see whether they can rout us." + +He ran and I followed him. The fight at the bridge continued. The old +church clock struck five. We had destroyed all the Prussians on this +side the stream except those who were in ambush in the great old ruin +at the left, which was full of holes. It had been set on fire at the +top by our howitzers, but the fire continued from the lower stories, +and we were obliged to avoid it. + +In front of the church we were in force. We found the little square +filled with troops ready to march, and others were coming by the broad +street, which traversed the whole length of Ligny. Only the head of +the column was engaged at the little bridge. The Prussians tried hard +to repulse them. The discharges in file followed each other like +running water. The square was so filled with smoke that we could see +nothing but the bayonets, the front of the church, and the officers on +the steps giving their orders. Now and then a staff officer would set +off at a gallop, and the air round the old slated spire was full of +rooks whirling about affrighted with the noise. The cannon at St. +Amand roared incessantly. + +Between the gables on the left, we could see on the hill, the long blue +lines of infantry and masses of cavalry coming from Sombref to turn our +columns. It was there in our rear that the desperate combats took +place between the Uhlans and our hussars. How many of these Uhlans we +saw next morning stretched dead on the plain! + +Our battalion having suffered the most, we fell back to the second +rank. We soon found our own company commanded by Captain Florentin. +The guns were arriving by the same street on which we were; the horses +at full gallop foaming and shaking their heads furiously, while the +wheels crushed everything before them. All this produced a tremendous +uproar, but the thunder of cannon and the crash of musketry was all +that could be distinguished. The soldiers were all shouting and +singing, with their guns on their shoulders, but we knew this only by +seeing their open mouths. + +I had just taken my place by the side of Buche and had begun to +breathe, when a forward movement began. + +This time the plan was to cross the little stream, push the Prussians +out of Ligny, mount the hill behind and cut their line in two, and the +battle would be gained. Each one of us understood that, but with such +masses of troops as they held in reserve, it was no small affair. + +Everything moved toward the bridge, but we could see nothing but the +five or six men before us, and I was well satisfied to know that the +head of the column was far in front. + +But I was most delighted when Captain Florentin halted our company in +front of an old barn with the door broken down, and posted the remnant +of the battalion behind the ruins in order to sustain the attacking +columns by firing from the windows. + +There were fifteen of us in that barn and I can see it now, with the +door hanging by one hinge, and battered with the balls, and the ladder +running up through a square hole, three or four dead Prussians leaning +against the walls, and a window at the other end looking into the +street in the rear. + +Zebede commanded our post, Lieutenant Bretonville occupied the house +opposite with another squad, and Captain Florentin went somewhere else. +The street was filled with troops quite up to the two corners near the +brook. + +The first thing we tried to do was to put up the door and fasten it, +but we had hardly commenced when we heard a terrible crash in the +street, and walls, shutters, tiles, and everything were swept away at a +stroke. Two of our men who were outside holding up the door, fell as +if cut down with a scythe. + +At the same moment we could hear the steps of the retreating column +rolling over the bridge, while a dozen more such explosions made us +draw back in spite of ourselves. It was a battery of six pieces +charged with canister which Bluecher had masked at the end of the +street, and which now opened upon us. + +The whole column--drummers, soldiers, officers, mounted and foot, were +in retreat, pushing and jostling each other, swept along as by a +hurricane. Nobody looked back, those who fell were lost. The last +ones had hardly passed our door when Zebede, who looked out to see what +had happened, shouted in a voice of thunder, "The Prussians!" + +He fired, and several of us rushed for the ladder, but before we could +think of climbing they were upon us. Zebede, Buche, and all who had +not had time to get up the ladder drove them back with their bayonets. +It seems to me as if I could see those Prussians still, with their big +mustaches, their red faces and flat shakos, furious at being checked. + +I never had such a shock as that. Zebede shouted, "No quarter," just +as if we had been the stronger. But immediately he received a blow on +the head from the butt of a musket and fell. + +I saw that he was going to be murdered and I burned for revenge. I +shouted, "To the bayonet," and we all fell upon the rascals, while our +comrades fired at them from above, and a fusillade commenced from the +houses opposite. + +The Prussians fell back, but a little distance away there was a whole +battalion. Buche took Zebede on his shoulders and started up the +ladder. We followed him, shouting "Hurry!" while we aided him with all +our strength to climb the ladder with his burden. I was next to the +last, and I thought we should never get up. We heard the shots already +in the barn, but we were up at last, and all inspired with the same +idea, we tried to draw the ladder up after us. To our horror we found, +as we endeavored to pull it through the opening between the shots, one +of which took off the head of a comrade, that it was so large we could +not get it into the loft. We hesitated for a moment, when Zebede, +recovering himself, exclaimed, "Shoot through the rounds!" This seemed +to us an inspiration from heaven. + +Below us the uproar was terrible. The whole street, as well as our +barn, was full of Prussians. + +They were mad with rage, and worse than we; repeating incessantly, "No +prisoners!" + +They were enraged by the musket-shots from the houses; they broke down +the doors, and then we could hear the struggles, the falls, curses in +French and German, the orders of Lieutenant Bretonville opposite, and +the Prussian officers commanding their men to go and bring straw to +fire the houses. Fortunately the harvest was not yet secured, or we +should all have been burned. + +They fired into the floor under our feet, but it was made of thick oak +plank and the balls tapped on it like the strokes of a hammer. We +stood one behind the other and continued our fire into the street, and +every shot told. + +It appeared as if they had retaken the church square, for we only heard +our fire very far away. We were alone, two or three hundred men in the +midst of three or four thousand. Then I said to myself, "Joseph! you +will never escape from this danger. It is impossible! your end has +come!" I dared not think of Catherine, my heart quaked. Our retreat +was cut off, the Prussians held both ends of the street and the lanes +in the rear, and they had already retaken several houses. + +Suddenly the hubbub ceased; they were making some preparation we +thought; they have gone for straw or fagots or they are going to bring +up their guns to demolish us. + +Our gunners looked out of the window, but they saw nothing, the barn +was empty. This dead silence was more terrible than the tumult had +been a few minutes before. + +Zebede had just raised himself up, and the blood was running from his +mouth and nose. + +"Attention! we are going to have another attack. The rascals are +getting ready. Charge!" + +He hardly finished speaking when the whole building, from the gables to +the foundation, swayed as if the earth had opened beneath it, and beams +and lath and slate came down with the shock, while a red flame burst +out under our feet and mounted above the roof. We all fell in a heap. + +A lighted bomb which the Prussians had rolled into the barn had just +exploded. On getting up I heard a whizzing in my ears, but that did +not prevent me from seeing a ladder placed at the window of the barn. +Buche was using his bayonet with great effect on the invaders. + +The Prussians thought to profit by our surprise to mount the ladder and +butcher us; this made me shudder, but I ran to the assistance of my +comrade. Two others who had escaped, ran up shouting, "_Vive +l'Empereur!_" + +I heard nothing more, the noise was frightful. The flashes of the +muskets below and from the windows lighted up the street like a moving +flame. We had thrown down the ladder, and there were six of us still +remaining, two in front who fired the muskets, and four behind who +loaded and passed the guns to them. + +In this extremity I had become calm. I resigned myself to my fate, +thinking I would try to sell my own life as dearly as possible. The +others no doubt had the same thoughts, and we made great havoc. + +This lasted about a quarter of an hour, when the cannon began to +thunder again, and some seconds after our comrades in front looked out +the window and ceased firing. My cartridge-box was nearly empty, and I +went to replenish it from those of my dead comrades. + +The cries of "_Vive l'Empereur!_" came nearer and nearer, when suddenly +the head of our column with its flag all blackened and torn, filed into +the little square through our street. + +The Prussians beat a retreat. We all wanted to go down, but two or +three times the column recoiled before the grape and canister. The +shouts and the thunder of the cannon mingled afresh. Zebede, who was +looking out, ran to the ladder. Our column had passed the barn and we +all went down in file without regarding our comrades who were wounded +by the bursting of the bomb, some of whom begged us piteously not to +leave them behind. + +Such are men! the fear of being taken prisoners, made us barbarians. + +When we recalled these terrible scenes afterward, we would have given +anything if we had had the least heart, but then it was too late. + + + + +XIX + +An hour before, fifteen of us had entered that old barn, now there were +but six to come out. + +Buche and Zebede were among the living; the Pfalzbourgers had been +fortunate. + +Once outside it was necessary to follow the attacking column. + +We advanced over the heaps of dead. Our feet encountered this yielding +mass, but we did not look to see if we stepped on the face of a wounded +man, on his breast, or on his limbs; we marched straight on. We found +out next morning, that this mass of men had been cut down by the +battery in front of the church; their obstinacy had proved their ruin. +Bluecher was only waiting to serve us in the same manner, but instead of +going over the bridge we turned off to the right and occupied the +houses along the brook. The Prussians fired at us from every window +opposite, but as soon as we were ambushed we opened our fire on their +guns and they were obliged to fall back. + +They had already begun to talk of attacking the other part of the +village, when the rumor was heard that a column of Prussians forty +thousand strong had come up behind us from Charleroi. We could not +understand it, as we had swept everything before us to the banks of the +Sambre. This column which had fallen on our rear, must have been +hidden in the forest. + +It was about half-past six and the combat at St. Amand seemed to grow +fiercer than ever. Bluecher had moved his forces to that side, and it +was a favorable moment to carry the other part of the village, but this +column forced us to wait. + +The houses on either side of the brook were filled with troops, the +French on the right and the Prussians on the left. The firing had +ceased, a few shots were still heard from time to time, but they were +evidently by design. We looked at each other as if to say, "Let us +breathe awhile now, and we will commence again presently." + +The Prussians in the house opposite us, in their blue coats and leather +shakos, with their mustaches turned up, were all strongly built men, +old soldiers with square chins and their ears standing out from their +heads. They looked as if they might overthrow us at a blow. The +officers, too, were looking on. + +Along the two streets which were parallel with the brook and in the +brook itself, the dead were lying in long rows. + +Many of them were seated with their backs against the walls. They had +been dangerously wounded in the battle but had had sufficient strength +to retire from the strife, and had sunk down against the wall and died +from loss of blood. + +Some were still standing upright in the brook, their hands clutching +the bank as if to climb out, rigid in death. And in obscure corners of +the ruined houses, when they were lighted up with the sun's rays, we +could see the miserable wretches crushed under the rubbish, with stones +and beams lying across their bodies. + +The struggle at St. Amand became still more terrible, the discharges of +cannon seemed to rise one above the other, and if we had not all been +looking death in the face, nothing could have prevented us from +admiring this grand music. + +At every discharge hundreds of men perished, but there was no +interruption, the solid earth trembled under our feet. We could +breathe again now, and very soon we began to feel a most intolerable +thirst. During the fight nobody had thought of it, but now everybody +wanted to drink. + +Our house formed the corner at the left of the bridge, but the little +water that was running over the muddy bottom of the brook was red with +blood. Between our house and the next there was a little garden, where +there was a well from which to water it. We all looked at this well +with its curb and its wooden posts; the bucket was still hanging to the +chain in spite of the showers of shot, but three men were already lying +face downward in the path leading to it. The Prussians had shot them +as they were trying to reach it. + +As we stood there with our loaded muskets, one said, "I would give half +my blood for one glass of that water;" another, "Yes, but the Prussians +are on the watch." + +This was true, there they were, a hundred paces from us, perhaps they +were as thirsty as we, and were guessing our thoughts. + +The shots that were still fired came from these houses, and no one +could go along the street, they would shoot him at once, so we were all +suffering horribly. + +This lasted for another half hour, when the cannonade extended from St. +Amand to Ligny, and we could see that our batteries had opened with +grape and canister on the Prussians by the great gaps made in their +columns at every discharge. + +This new attack produced a great excitement. Buche, who had not +stirred till that moment, ran down through the path leading to the well +in the garden and sheltered himself behind the curb. From the two +houses opposite a volley was fired, and the stones and the posts were +soon riddled with balls. + +But we opened our fire on their windows and in an instant it began +again from one end of the village to the other, and everything was +enveloped in smoke. + +At that moment I heard some one shout from below, "Joseph, Joseph!" + +It was Buche; he had had the courage after he had drank himself, to +fill the bucket, unfasten it, and bring it back with him. + +[Illustration: He had had the courage to pull up the bucket.] + +Several old soldiers wanted to take it from him, but he shouted, "My +comrade first! let go, or I'll pour it all out!" + +They were compelled to wait till I had drank, then they took their +turn, and afterward the others who were upstairs drained the rest. + +We all went up together greatly refreshed. + +It was about seven o'clock and near sunset, the shadows of the houses +on our side reached quite to the brook--while those occupied by the +Prussians were still in the sunlight, as well as the hill-side of Bry, +down which we could see the fresh troops coming on the run. The +cannonade had never been so fierce as at this moment from our side. + +Every one now knows, that at nightfall between seven and eight o'clock +the Emperor, having discovered that the column which had been signalled +in our rear was the corps of General d'Erlon, which had missed its +route between the battle of Ney with the English at Quatre-Bras and +ours here at Ligny, had ordered the Old Guard to support us at once. + +The lieutenant who was with us said, "This is the grand attack. +Attention!" + +The whole of the Prussian cavalry was swarming between the two +villages. We felt that there was a grand movement behind us, though we +did not see it. The lieutenant repeated, "Attention to orders! Let no +one stay behind after the order to march! Here is the attack!" + +We all opened our eyes. The farther the night advanced the redder the +sky grew over St. Amand. We were so absorbed in listening to the +cannonade that, we no longer thought of anything else. At each +discharge you would have said the heavens were on fire. The tumult +behind us was increasing. + +Suddenly the broad street running along the brook was full of troops, +from the bridge quite to the end of Ligny. On the left in the distance +the Prussians were shooting from the windows again, while we did not +reply. The shout rose--"The Guard! the Guard!" I do not know how that +mass of men passed the muddy ditch, probably by means of plank thrown +across, but in a moment they were on the left bank in force. + +The batteries of the Prussians at the top of the ravine between the two +villages, cut gaps through our columns, but they closed up immediately, +and moved steadily up the hill. What remained of our division ran +across the bridge, followed by the artillerymen and their pieces with +the horses at a gallop. + +Then we went down to the street, but we had not reached the bridge when +the cuirassiers began to file over it, followed by the dragoons and the +mounted grenadiers of the guard. They were passing everywhere, across +and around the village. It was like a new and innumerable army. + +The slaughter began again on the hill, this time the battle was in the +open fields, and we could trace the outlines of the Prussian squares on +the hill-side at every discharge of musketry. + +We rushed on over the dead and wounded, and when we were clear of the +village we could see that there was an engagement between the cavalry, +though we could only distinguish the white cuirasses as they pierced +the lines of the Uhlans; then they would be indiscriminately mingled +and the cuirassiers would re-form and set off again like a solid wall. + +It was dark already, and the dense masses of smoke made it impossible +to see fifty paces ahead. Everything was moving toward the windmills, +the clatter of the cavalry, the shouts, the orders of the officers and +the file-firing in the distance, all were confounded. Several of the +squares were broken. From time to time a flash would reveal a lancer +bent to his horse's neck, or a cuirassier, with his broad white back +and his helmet with its floating plume, shooting off like a bullet, two +or three foot soldiers running about in the midst of the fray,--all +would come and go like lightning. The trampled grain, the rain +streaking the heavens, the wounded under the feet of the horses, all +came out of the black night--through the storm which had just broken +out--for a quarter of a second. + +Every flash of musket or pistol showed us inexplicable things by +thousands. But everything moved up the hill and away from Ligny; we +were masters. + +We had pierced the enemy's centre, the Prussians no longer made any +defence, except at the top of the hill near the mills and in the +direction of Sombref, at our right. St. Amand and Ligny were both in +our hands. + +As for us, a dozen or so of our company there alone among the ruins of +the cottages, with our cartridge-boxes almost empty;--we did not know +which way to turn. + +Zebede, Lieutenant Bretonville, and Captain Florentin had disappeared, +and Sergeant Rabot was in command. He was a little old fellow, thin +and deformed, but as tough as steel; he squinted and seemed to have had +red hair when young. Now, as I speak of him, I seem to hear him say +quietly to us, "The battle is won! by file right! forward, march!" + +Several wanted to stop and make some soup, for we had eaten nothing +since noon and began to be hungry. The sergeant marched down the lane +with his musket on his shoulder, laughing quietly, and saying in an +ironical tone: + +"Oh! soup, soup! wait a little, the commissary is coming!" + +We followed him down the dark lane; about midway we saw a cuirassier on +horseback with his back toward us. He had a sabre cut in the abdomen +and had retired into this lane, the horse leaned against the wall to +prevent him from falling off. + +As we filed past he called out, "Comrades!" But nobody even turned his +head. + +Twenty paces farther on we found the ruins of a cottage completely +riddled with balls, but half the thatched roof was still there, and +this was why Sergeant Rabot had selected it; and we filed into it for +shelter. + +We could see no more than if we had been in an oven; the sergeant +exploded the priming of his musket, and we saw that it was the kitchen, +that the fireplace was at the right, and the stairway on the left. +Five or six Prussians and Frenchmen were stretched on the floor, white +as wax, and with their eyes wide open. + +"Here is the mess-room," said the sergeant, "let every one make himself +comfortable. Our bedfellows will not kick us." + +As we saw plainly that there were to be no rations, each one took off +his knapsack and placed it by the wall on the floor for a pillow. We +could still hear the firing, but it was far in the distance on the hill. + +The rain fell in torrents. The sergeant shut the door, which creaked +on its hinges, and then quietly lighted his pipe. Some of the men were +already snoring when I looked up, and he was standing at the little +window, in which not a pane of glass remained, smoking. + +He was a firm, just man, he could read and write, had been wounded and +had his three chevrons, and ought to have been an officer, only he was +not well formed. + +He soon laid his head on his knapsack, and shortly after all were +asleep. It was long after this when I was suddenly awakened by +footsteps and fumbling about the house outside. + +I raised up on my elbow to listen, when somebody tried to open the +door. I could not help screaming out. "What's the matter?" said the +sergeant. + +We could hear them running away, and Rabot turned on his knapsack +saying: + +"Night birds,--rascals,--clear out, or I'll send a ball after you!" He +said no more and I got up and looked out of the window, and saw the +wretches in the act of robbing the dead and wounded. They were going +softly from one to another, while the rain was falling in torrents. It +was something horrible. + +I lay down again and fell asleep overcome by fatigue. + +At daybreak the sergeant was up and crying, "En route!" + +We left the cottage and went back through the lane. The cuirassier was +on the ground, but his horse still stood beside him. The sergeant took +him by the bridle and led him out into the orchard, pulled the bits +from his mouth and said: + +"Go, and eat, they will find you again by and by." + +And the poor beast walked quietly away. We hurried along the path +which runs by Ligny. The furrows stopped here and some plats of garden +ground lay along by the road. The sergeant looked about him as he +went, and stooped down to dig up some carrots and turnips which were +left. I quickly followed his example, while our comrades hastened on +without looking round. + +I saw that it was a good thing to know the fruits of the earth. I +found two beautiful turnips and some carrots, which are very good raw, +but I followed the example of the sergeant and put them in my shako. + +I ran on to overtake the squad, which was directing its steps toward +the fires at Sombref. As for the rest, I will not attempt to describe +to you the appearance of the plateau in the rear of Ligny where our +cuirassiers and dragoons had slaughtered all before them. The men and +horses were lying in heaps. The horses with their long necks stretched +out on the ground and the dead and wounded lying under them. + +Sometimes the wounded men would raise their hands to make signs when +the horses would attempt to get up and fall back, crushing them still +more fearfully. + +Blood! blood! everywhere. The directions of the balls and shot was +marked on the slope by the red lines, just as we see in our country the +lines in the sand formed by the water from the melting snow. But will +you believe it? These horrors scarcely made any impression upon me. +Before I went to Lutzen such a sight would have knocked me down. I +should have thought then, "Do our masters look upon us as brutes? Will +the good God give us up to be eaten by wolves? Have we mothers and +sisters and friends, beings who are dear to us, and will they not cry +out for vengeance?" + +I should have thought of a thousand other things, but now I did not +think at all. From having seen such a mass of slaughter and wrong +every day and in every fashion, I began to say to myself: + +"The strongest are always right. The Emperor is the strongest, and he +has called us, and we must come in spite of everything, from +Pfalzbourg, from Saverne, or other cities, and take our places in the +ranks and march. The one who would show the least sign of resistance +ought to be shot at once. The marshals, the generals, the officers, +down to the last man, follow their instructions, they dare not make a +move without orders, and everybody obeys the army. It is the Emperor +who wills, who has the power and who does everything. And would not +Joseph Bertha be a fool to believe that the Emperor ever committed a +single fault in his life? Would it not be contrary to reason?" + +That was what we all thought, and if the Emperor had remained here, all +France would have had the same opinion. + +My only satisfaction was in thinking that I had some carrots and +turnips, for in passing in the rear of the pickets to find our place in +the battalion, we learned that no rations had been distributed except +brandy and cartridges. + +The veterans were filling their kettles; but the conscripts, who had +not yet learned the art of living while on a campaign, and who had +unfortunately already eaten all their bread, as will happen when one is +twenty years old, and is on the march with a good appetite, they had +not a spoonful of anything. At last about seven o'clock we reached the +camp. Zebede came to meet me and was delighted to see me, and said, +"What have you brought, Joseph? We have found a fat kid and we have +some salt, but not a mouthful of bread." + +I showed him the rice which I had left, and my turnips and carrots. + +"That's good," said he, "we shall have the best soup in the battalion." + +I wanted Buche to eat with us too, and the six men belonging to our +mess, who had all escaped with only bruises and scratches, consented. +Padoue, the drum-major, said, laughing, "Veterans are always veterans, +they never come empty-handed." + +We looked into the kettles of the five conscripts, and winked, for they +had nothing but rice and water in them, while we had a good rich soup, +the odor of which filled the air around us. + +At eight we took our breakfast with an appetite, as you can imagine. + +Not even on my wedding-day did I eat a better meal, and it is a +pleasure even now to think of it. When we are old we are not so +enthusiastic about such things as when we are young, but still we +always recall them with satisfaction. + +This breakfast sustained us a long time, but the poor conscripts with +only a few crumbs as it were soaked in rain water, had a hard time next +day--the 18th. We were to have a short but terrible campaign. + +Though all is over now, yet I cannot think of those terrible sufferings +without emotion, or without thanking God that we escaped them. The sun +shone again and the weather was fine,--we had hardly finished our +breakfast when the drums began to beat the assembly along the whole +line. + +The Prussian rear-guard had just left Sombref, and it was a question +whether we should pursue them. Some said we ought to send out the +light-horse, to pick up the prisoners. But no one paid any attention +to them,--the Emperor knew what he was doing. + +But I remember that everybody was astonished notwithstanding, because +it is the custom to profit by victories. The veterans had never seen +anything like it. They thought that the Emperor was preparing some +grand stroke; that Ney had turned the enemy's line, and so forth. + +Meanwhile the roll commenced and General Gerard reviewed the Fourth +corps. Our battalion had suffered most, because in the three attacks +we had always been in the front. + +The Commandant Gemeau and Captain Vidal were wounded, and Captains +Gregoire and Vignot killed, seven lieutenants and second lieutenants, +and three hundred and sixty men _hors de combat_. + +Zebede said that it was worse than at Montmirail, and that they would +finish us up completely before we got through. + +Fortunately the fourth battalion arrived from Metz under Commandant +Delong and took our place in the line. + +Captain Florentin ordered us to file off to the left, and we went back +to the village near the church, where a quantity of carts were +stationed. + +We were then distributed in squads to superintend the removal of the +wounded. Several detachments of chasseurs were ordered to escort the +convoys to Fleurus as there was no room for them at Ligny; the church +was already filled with the poor fellows. We did not select those to +be removed, the surgeons did that, as we could hardly distinguish in +numbers of cases, between the living and the dead. We only laid them +on the straw in the carts. + +I knew how all this was, for I was at Lutzen, and I understand what a +man suffers in recovering from a ball, or a musket-shot, or such a cut +as our cuirassiers made. + +Every time I saw one of these men taken up, I thanked God that I was +not reduced to that condition, and, thinking that the same thing might +befall me, I said to myself: "You do not know how many balls and slugs +have been near you, or you would be horrified." I was astonished that +so many of us had escaped in the carnage, which had been far greater +than at Lutzen or even at Leipzig. The battle had only lasted five +hours, and the dead in many places were piled two or three feet deep. +The blood flowed from under them in streams. Through the principal +street where the artillery went, the mud was red with blood, and the +mud itself was crushed flesh and bones. + +It is necessary to tell you this, in order that the young men may +understand. I shall fight no more, thank God, I am too old, but all +these young men who think of nothing but war, instead of being +industrious and helping their aged parents, should know how the +soldiers are treated. Let them imagine what the poor fellows who have +done their duty think, as they lie in the street, wanting an arm or a +leg, and hear the cannon, weighing twelve or fifteen thousand pounds, +coming with their big well-shod horses, plunging and neighing. + +Then it is that they will recall their old parents who embraced them in +their own village, while they went off saying: + +"I am going, but I shall return with the cross of honor, and with my +epaulettes." + +Yes, indeed! if they could weep and ask God's pardon, we should hear +their cries and complaints, but there is no time for that; the cannon +and the caissons with their freight of bombs and bullets arrive--and +they can hear their own bones crack beforehand--and all pass right over +their bodies, just as they do through the mud. + +When we are old, and think that such horrible things may happen to the +children we love, we feel as if we would part with the last sou before +we would allow them to go. + +But all this does no good, bad men cannot be changed, while good ones +must do their duty, and if misfortune comes, their confidence in the +justice of God remains. Such men do not destroy their fellows from the +love of glory, they are forced to do so, they have nothing with which +to reproach themselves, they defend their own lives and the blood which +is shed is not on their hands. + +But I must finish my story of the battle and the removal of the wounded. + +I saw sights there which are incredible; men killed in a moment of +fury, whose faces had not lost their horrible expression, still held +their muskets in their hands and stood upright against the walls, and +you could almost hear them cry, as they stared with glazed eyes, "To +the bayonet! No quarter!" + +It was with this thought and this cry that they appeared before God. +He was awaiting them, and He may have said to them, "Here am I. Thou +killest thy brethren--thou givest no quarter? None shall be given +thee!" + +I have seen others mortally wounded strangling each other. At Fleurus +we were obliged to separate the French and the Prussians, because they +would rise from their beds, or their bundles of straw, to tear each +other to pieces. Ah! war! those who wish for it, and those who make +men like ferocious beasts, will have a terrible account to settle above. + + + + +XX + +The removal of the wounded continued until night. About noon shouts of +_Vive l'Empereur_ extended along the whole line of our bivouac from the +village of Bry to Sombref. Napoleon had left Fleurus with his staff +and had passed in review the whole army on the plateau. These shouts +continued for an hour, and then all was quiet and the army took up its +march. + +We waited a long time for the orders to follow, but as they did not +come, Captain Florentin went to see what was the matter, and came back +at full speed shouting, "Beat the assembly!" The detachments of the +battalion joined each other and we passed through the village at a +quick step. + +All had left, many other squads had received no orders, and in the +vicinity of St. Amand the streets were full of soldiers. + +Several companies remained behind, and reached the road by crossing the +fields on the left, where we could see the rear of the column as far as +the eye could reach--caissons, wagons, and baggage of every sort. + +I have often thought that we might have been left behind, as Gerard's +division was at St. Amand, and nobody could have blamed us, as we +followed our orders to pick up the wounded, but Captain Florentin would +have thought himself dishonored. + +We hurried forward as fast as possible. It had commenced to rain again +and we slipped in the mud and darkness. I never saw worse weather, not +even at the retreat from Leipzig when we were in Germany. The rain +came down as if from a watering pot, and we tramped on with our guns +under our arms with the cape of our cloaks over the locks, so wet that +if we had been through a river it could not have been worse; and such +mud! With all this we began to feel the want of food. Buche kept +saying: + +"Well! a dozen big potatoes roasted in the ashes as we do at Harberg +would rejoice my eyes. We don't eat meat every day at home, but we +always have potatoes." + +I thought of our warm little room at Pfalzbourg, the table with its +white cloth, Father Goulden with his plate before him, while Catherine +served the rich hot soup and the smoked cutlets on the gridiron. My +present sufferings and troubles overwhelmed me, and if wishing for +death only had been necessary to rid me of them, I should have long ago +been out of this world. + +The night was dark, and if it had not been for the ruts, into which we +plunged to our knees at every step, we should have found it difficult +to keep the road; as it was, we had only to march in the mud to be sure +we were right. + +Between seven and eight o'clock we heard in the distance something like +thunder. Some said: "It is a thunder-storm!" others, "It is cannon!" + +Great numbers of disbanded soldiers were following us. + +At eight o'clock we reached Quatre-Bras. There are two houses opposite +each other at the intersection of the road from Nivelles to Namur with +that from Brussels to Charleroi. They were both full of wounded men. +It was here that Marshal Ney had given battle to the English, to +prevent them from going to the support of the Prussians along the road +by which we had just come. He had but twenty thousand men against +forty thousand, and yet Nicholas Cloutier, the tanner, maintains to-day +even, that he ought to have sent half his troops to attack the Prussian +rear, as if it were not enough to stop the English. + +To such people everything is easy, but if they were in command, it +would be easy to rout them with four men and a corporal. + +Below us the barley and oat fields were full of dead men. It was then +that I saw the first red-coats stretched out in the road. + +The captain ordered us to halt, and he went into the house at the +right. We waited for some time in the rain, when he came out with +Dauzelot, general of the division, who was laughing, because we had not +followed Grouchy toward Namur; the want of orders had compelled us to +turn off to Quatre-Bras. Notwithstanding, we received orders to +continue our march without stopping. + +I thought I should drop every moment from weakness, but it was worse +still when we overtook the baggage, for then we were obliged to march +on the sides of the road, and the farther from it we went the more +deeply we sank in the soft soil. + +About eleven o'clock we reached a large village called Genappe, which +lies on both sides of the route. + +The crowd of wagons, cannon, and baggage was so great that we were +forced to turn to the right and cross the Thy by a bridge, and from +this point we continued to march through the fields of grain and hemp, +like savages who respect nothing. The night was so dark that the +mounted dragoons, who were placed at intervals of two hundred paces +like guide-posts, kept shouting, "This way, this way!" + +About midnight we reached a sort of farm-house thatched with straw, +which was filled with superior officers. It was not far from the main +road, as we could hear the cavalry and artillery and baggage wagons +rushing by like a torrent. + +The captain had hardly got into the house, when we jumped over the +hedge into the garden. I did like the rest, and snatched what I could. +Nearly the whole battalion followed this example in spite of the shouts +of the officers, and each one began digging up what he could find with +his bayonet. In two minutes there was nothing left. The sergeants and +corporals were with us, but when the captain returned we had all +regained our ranks. + +Those who pillage and steal on a campaign ought to be shot; but what +could you do? There was not a quarter enough food in the towns through +which we passed to supply such numbers. The English had already taken +nearly everything. We had a little rice left, but rice without meat is +not very strengthening. + +The English troops received sheep and beeves from Brussels, they were +well fed and glowing with health. We had come too late, the convoys of +supplies were belated, and the next day when the terrible battle of +Waterloo was fought the only ration we received was brandy. + +We left the village, and on mounting a little elevation we perceived +the English pickets through the rain. We were ordered to take a +position in the grain fields with several regiments which we could not +see, and not to light our fires for fear of alarming the English, if +they should discover us in line, and so induce them to continue their +retreat. + +Now just imagine us lying in the grain under a pouring rain like +regular gypsies, shivering with cold and bent on destroying our +fellows, and happy in having a turnip or a radish to keep up our +strength and tell me if that is the kind of life for honest people. Is +it for that, that God has created us and put us in the world? Is it +not abominable that a king or an emperor, instead of watching over the +affairs of the state, encouraging commerce, and instructing the people +in the principles of liberty and giving good examples, should reduce us +to such a condition as that by hundreds of thousands. I know very well +that this is called glory, but the people are very stupid to glorify +such men as those. Yes, indeed, they must have first lost all sense of +right, all heart, and all religion! + +But all this did not prevent my teeth from chattering, or from seeing +the English in our front warming and enjoying themselves around their +good fires, after receiving their rations of beef, brandy, and tobacco. +And I thought, "It is we poor devils, drenched to our very marrow, who +are to be compelled to attack these fellows who are full of confidence, +and want neither cannon nor supplies, who sleep with their feet to the +fire, with their stomachs well lined, while we must lie here in the +mud." I was indignant the whole night. Buche would say: + +"I do not care for the rain, I have been through many a worse one when +on the watch; but then I had at least a crust of bread and some onions +and salt." + +I was quite absorbed with my own troubles and said nothing, but he was +angry. + +The rain ceased between two and three in the morning. Buche and I were +lying back to back in a furrow, in order to keep warm, and at last +overcome by fatigue I fell asleep. + +When I woke about five in the morning, the church bells were ringing +matins over all that vast plain. + +I shall never forget the scene; and as I looked at the gray sky, the +trampled grain, and my sleeping comrades on the right and left, my +heart sunk under the sense of desolation. The sound of the bells as +they responded to each other from Planchenois to Genappe, from +Frichemont to Waterloo, reminded me of Pfalzbourg, and I thought: + +"To-day is Sunday, the day of rest and peace. Mr. Goulden has hung his +best coat, with a white shirt, on the back of his chair. He is getting +up now and he is thinking of me; Catherine has risen too and is sitting +crying on the bed, and Aunt Gredel at Quatre Vents is pushing open the +shutters and she has taken her prayer-book from the shelf and is going +to mass." I could hear the bells of Dann and Mittelbronn and Bigelberg +ring out in the silence. I thought of that peaceful quiet life and was +ready to burst into tears. + +The roll of the drums was heard through the damp air, and there was +something inauspicious and portentous in the sound. + +Near the main road, on the left, they were beating the assembly, and +the bugles of the cavalry sounded the reveille. The men rose and +looked over the grain. Those three days of marching and fighting in +the bad weather without rations made them sober; there was no talking +as at Ligny, every one looked in silence and kept his thoughts to +himself. + +We could see too, that the battle was to be a much more important +affair, for instead of having villages already occupied, which caused +so many separate battles, on our front, there was an immense elevated +naked plain on which the English were encamped. + +Behind their lines at the top of the hill was the village of +Mont-St.-Jean, and a league and a half still farther away, was a forest +which bounded the horizon. + +Between us and the English, the ground descended gently and rose again +nearest us, forming a little valley, but one must have been accustomed +to the country to perceive this; it was deepest on the right and +contracted like a ravine. On the slope of this ravine on our side, +behind the hedges and poplars and other trees, some thatched roofs +indicated a hamlet; this was Planchenois. In the same direction but +much higher, and in the rear of the enemy's left, the plain extended as +far as the eye could reach, and was scattered over with little villages. + +The clear atmosphere after the storm enabled us to distinguish all this +very plainly. + +We could even see the little village of Saint-Lambert three leagues +distant on our right. + +At our left in the rear of the English right, there were other little +villages to be seen, of which I never knew the names. + +We took in all this grand region covered with a magnificent crop just +in flower, at a glance; and we asked ourselves why the English were +there, and what advantage they had in guarding that position. But when +we observed their line a little more closely--it was from fifteen +hundred to two thousand yards from us--we could see the broad, +well-paved road, which we had followed from Quatre-Bras and which led +to Brussels, dividing their position nearly in the centre. It was +straight, and we could follow it with the eye to the village of +Mont-St.-Jean and beyond quite to the entrance of the forest of +Soignes. This we saw the English intended to hold to prevent us from +going to Brussels. + +On looking carefully we could see that their line of battle was curved +a little toward us at the wings, and that it followed a road which cut +the route to Brussels like a cross. On the left it was a deep cut, and +on the right of the road it was bordered with thick hedges of holly and +dwarf beech which are common in that country. Behind these were posted +mass of red-coats who watched us from their trenches. In the front, +the slope was like a glacis. This was very dangerous. + +Immense bodies of cavalry were stationed on the flanks, which extended +nearly three-quarters of a league. + +We saw that the cavalry on the plateau in the vicinity of the main road +after having passed the hill, descended before going to Mont-St.-Jean, +and we understood that there was a hollow between the position of the +English and that village; not very deep, as we could see the plumes of +the soldiers as they passed through, but still deep enough to shelter +heavy reserves from our bullets. + +I had already seen Weissenfels, Lutzen, Leipzig, and Ligny, and I began +to understand what these things meant, and why they arranged themselves +in one way rather than another, and I thought that the manner in which +these English had laid their plans and stationed their forces on this +cross-road to defend the road to Brussels, and to shelter their +reserves, showed a vast deal of good sense. + +But in spite of all that, three things seemed to me to be in our favor. +The position of the enemy with its covered ways and hidden reserves was +like a great fort. Every one knows that in time of war everything is +demolished that can furnish a shelter to the enemy. + +Well! just in their centre, on the high-road and on the slope of their +glacis, was a farm-house like the "Roulette" at Quatre Vents, but five +or six times larger. + +I could see it plainly from where we stood. It was a great square, the +offices, the house, the stables and barns formed a triangle on the side +toward the English, and on our side the other half was formed by a wall +and sheds, with a court in the centre. The wall running along the +field side, had a small door, the other on the road had an entrance for +carriages and wagons. + +It was built of brick and was very solid. Of course the English had +filled it with troops like a sort of demilune, but if we could take it +we should be close to their centre and could throw our attacking +columns upon them, without remaining long under their fire. + +Nothing could be better for us. This place was called Haie-Sainte, as +we found out afterward. + +A little farther on, in front of their right wing was another little +farmstead and grove, which we could also try to take. I could not see +it from where I stood, but it was a stronger position than Haie-Sainte +as it was covered by an orchard, surrounded with walls, and farther on +was the wood. The fire from the windows swept the garden, and that +from the garden covered the wood, and that from the wood the side-hill, +and the enemy could beat a retreat from one to the other. + +I did not see this with my own eyes, but some veterans gave me an +account of the attack on this farm; it was called Hougoumont. + +One must be exact in speaking of such a battle, the things seen with +one's own eyes are the principal, and we can say: + +"I saw them, but the other accounts I had from men incapable of +falsehood or deception." + +And lastly in front of their left wing on the road leading to Wavre, +about a hundred paces from the hill on our side, were the farms of +Papelotte and La Haye, occupied by the Germans, and the little hamlets +of Smohain, Cheval-de-Bois, and Jean-Loo, which I informed myself about +afterward in order to understand all that took place. I could see +these hamlets plainly enough then, but I did not pay much attention to +them as they were beyond our line of battle on the right, and we did +not see any troops there. + +Now you can all see the position of the English on our front, the road +to Brussels which traversed it, the cross-road which covered it, the +plateau in the rear where the reserves were, and the three farms, +Hougoumont, Haie-Sainte, and Papelotte in front, well garrisoned. You +can all see that it would be very difficult to force. + +I looked at it about six o'clock that morning very attentively, as a +man will do who is to run the risk of breaking his bones and losing his +life in some enterprise, and who at least likes to know if he has any +chance of escape. + +Zebede, Sergeant Rabot, and Captain Florentin, Buche, and indeed every +one as he rose cast a glance at that hill-side without saying a word. +Then they looked around them at the great squares of infantry, the +squadrons of cuirassiers, of dragoons, chasseurs, lancers, etc., +encamped amid the growing grain. + +Nobody had any fears now that the English would beat a retreat, we +lighted as many fires as we pleased, and the smoke from the damp straw +filled the air. Those who had a little rice left, put on their +camp-kettles, while those who had none looked on thinking: + +"Each has his turn; yesterday we had meat, and we despised the rice, +now we should be very grateful for even that." + +About eight o'clock the wagons arrived with cartridges and hogsheads of +brandy; each soldier received a double ration: with a crust of bread we +might have done very well, but the bread was not there. You can +imagine what sort of humor we were in. + +This was all we had that day: immediately after, the grand movements +commenced. Regiments joined their brigades, brigades their divisions, +and the divisions re-formed their corps. Officers on horseback carried +orders back and forth, everything was in motion. + +Our battalion joined Donzelot's division; the others had only eight +battalions, but his had nine. + +I have often heard the veterans repeat the order of battle given by +Napoleon. The corps of Reille was on the left of the road opposite +Hougoumont, that of d'Erlon, at the right, opposite Haie-Sainte; Ney on +horseback on the highway, and Napoleon in the rear with the Old Guard, +the special detachments, the lancers and chasseurs, etc. That was all +that I understood, for when they began to talk of the movements of +eleven columns, of the distance which they deployed, and when they +named the generals one after another, it seemed to me as if they were +talking of something which I had never seen. + +I like better therefore to tell you simply what I saw and remember +myself. + +The first movement was at half-past eight, when our four divisions +received the order to take the advance to the right of the highway. +There were about fifteen or twenty thousand men marching in two +columns, with arms at will, sinking to our knees at every step in the +soft ground. Nobody spoke a word. + +Several persons have related that we were jubilant and were all +singing; but it is false. Marching all night without rations, sleeping +in the water, forbidden to light a fire, when preparing for showers of +grape and canister, all this took away any inclination to sing, we were +glad to pull our shoes out of the holes in which they were buried at +every step, and chilled and drenched to our waists by the wet grain, +the hardiest and most courageous among us wore a discontented air. It +is true that the bands played marches for their regiments, that the +trumpets of the cavalry, the drums of the infantry, and the trombones +mingled their tones and produced a terrible effect, as they do always. + +It is also true that these thousands of men marched briskly and in good +order, with their knapsacks at their backs, and their muskets on their +shoulders, the white lines of the cuirassiers followed the red, brown, +and green of the dragoons, hussars, and lancers, with their little +swallow-tailed pennons filling the air; the artillerymen in the +intervals between the brigades, on horseback around their guns, which +cut through the ground to their axles,--all these moved straight +through the grain, not a head of which remained standing behind them, +and truly there could not be a sight more dreadful. + +The English drawn up in perfect order in front, their gunners ready +with their lighted matches in their hands, made us think, but did not +delight us quite so much as some have pretended, and men who like to +receive cannon-balls are still rather rare. + +Father Goulden told me that the soldiers sang in his time, but then +they went voluntarily and not from force. They fought in defence of +their homes and for human rights, which they loved better than their +own eyes, and it was not at all like risking our lives to find out +whether we were to have an old or a new nobility. As for me, I never +heard any one sing either at Leipzig or Waterloo. + +On we went, the bands still playing by order from head-quarters. + +The music ceased, and the silence which followed was profound. Then we +were at the edge of the little valley, and about twelve hundred paces +from the English left. We were in the centre of our army, with the +chasseurs and lancers on our right flank. + +We took our distances and closed up the intervals. The first brigade +of the first division turned to the left and formed on the highway. +Our battalion formed a part of the second division, and we were in the +first line, with a single brigade of the first division before us. The +artillery was passed up to the front, and that of the English was +directly opposite and on the same level. And for a long time the other +divisions were moving up to support us. It seemed as if the earth +itself was in motion. The veterans would say: "There are Milhaud's +cuirassiers! Here are the chasseurs of Lefebvre-Desnoettes! Yonder is +Lobau's corps!" + +On every side, as far as the eye could reach, there was nothing to be +seen but cuirasses, helmets, colbacks,[1] sabres, lances, and files of +bayonets. + + +[1] Military caps of bear-skin. + + +"What a battle," exclaimed Buche. "Woe to the English!" + +I had the same thought; I did not believe a single Englishman would +escape. But it was we who were unfortunate that day, though had it not +been for the Prussians I still believe we should have exterminated them. + +During the two hours we stood there, we did not see the half of our +regiments and squadrons, and new ones were continually coming. About +an hour after we took our position we heard suddenly on the left, +shouts of "Vive l'Empereur," they increased as they approached us like +a tempest; we all stood on our tiptoes and stretched our necks to see; +they spread through all the ranks, and even the horses in the rear +neighed as if they would shout too. At that moment a troop of general +officers whirled along our front like the wind. Napoleon was among +them, and I thought I saw him, though I was not certain, he went so +swiftly, and so many men raised their shakos on the points of their +bayonets that I hardly had time to distinguish his round shoulders and +gray coat in the midst of the laced uniforms. When the captain had +shouted, "Carry arms! present arms!" it was over. + +We saw him in this way every day, at least when we were on guard. + +After he had passed, the shouts continued along our right farther and +farther away, and we all thought the battle would begin in twenty +minutes. + +But we were obliged to wait a long time and we grew impatient. The +conscripts in d'Erlon's corps, who were not in battle the day before, +began to shout "Forward!" At last, about noon, the cannon thundered on +the left and were followed by the fire from the battalion and then the +file. We could see nothing, for it was on the other side of the road. +The attack had commenced on Hougoumont. Immediately shouts of "Vive +l'Empereur!" broke out. The cannoneers of our four divisions were +standing the whole length of the hill-side, at twenty paces from each +other. At the discharge of the first gun, they all commenced to load +at once. I see them still, as they put in the charge, ram it home, +raise up, and shake out their matches as by a single movement. This +made us shiver. The captains of the guns, nearly all old officers, +stood behind their pieces and gave orders as if on parade; and when the +whole twenty-four guns went off together, the report was deafening, and +the whole valley was covered with smoke. + +At the end of a second, we heard the calm voices of these veterans +above the whistling in our ears saying "Load! take aim! fire!" And +that continued without interruption for half an hour. We could see +nothing at all, but the English had opened their fire, and we heard +their bullets scream in the air and strike with a dull sound in the +mud; and then we could hear another sound too, that of the muskets +striking against each other, and the sound of the bodies of wounded men +as they were thrown like boneless sacks twenty paces in the rear, or +sank in a heap with a leg or an arm wanting. All this mingled with the +dull rumbling; the destruction had commenced. + +The groans of the wounded mingled also with these sounds, and with the +fierce terrible neighing of the horses, which are naturally ferocious, +and delight in slaughter. We could hear this tumult half a league in +the rear; and it was with great difficulty the animals could be +restrained from setting off to join in the battle. + +For a long time we had been able to see nothing but the shadows of the +gunners as they manoeuvred in the smoke, on the border of the ravine, +when we heard the order, "Cease firing!" At the same moment we heard +the piercing voices of the colonels of our four divisions shout, "Close +up the ranks for battle!" All the lines approached each other. + +"Now it is our turn," said I to Buche. + +"Yes," he replied, "let us keep together." + +The smoke from our guns rose up into the air, and then we could see the +batteries of the English, who still continued their fire all along the +hedges which bordered the road. + +The first brigade of Alix's division advanced at a quick step along the +road leading to Haie-Sainte. In the rear I recognized Marshal Ney with +several of the officers of his staff. + +From every window of the farm-house, and from the garden, and walls +which had been pierced with holes, came fiery showers, and at every +step men were left stretched on the road. General Ney on horseback +with the corners of his great hat pointing over his shoulders, watched +the action from the middle of the road. I said to Buche: + +"That is Marshal Ney, the second brigade will go to support the first, +and we shall come next." + +But I mistook; at that very moment the first battalion of the second +brigade received orders to march in line on the right of the highway, +the second in the rear of the first, the third behind the second, and +the fourth following in file. + +We had not time to form in column, but we were solidly arrayed after +all, one behind the other, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred +men in line in front, the captains between the companies, and the +commandants between the battalions. But the balls instead of carrying +off two men at a time would now take eight. Those in the rear could +not fire because those in front were in the way and we found too that +we could not form in squares. That should have been thought of +beforehand, but was overlooked in the desire to break the enemy's line +and gain all at a blow. + +Our division marched in the same order: as the first battalion +advanced, the second followed immediately in their steps, and so on +with all the rest. I was pleased to see, that, commencing on the left, +we should be in the twenty-fifth rank, and that there must be terrible +slaughter before we should be reached. + +The two divisions on our right were also formed in close column, at +three hundred paces from each other. + +Thus we descended into the little valley, in the face of the English +fire. We were somewhat delayed by the soft ground, but we all shouted, +"To the bayonet!" + +As we mounted on the other side, we were met by a hail of balls from +above the road at the left. If we had not been so crowded together, +this terrible volley would have checked us. The charge sounded and the +officers shouted, "Steady on the left!" + +But this terrible fire made us lengthen our right step more than our +left, in spite of ourselves, so that when we neared the road bordered +by the hedges, we had lost our distances and our division formed a +square, so to speak, with the third. + +Two batteries now swept our ranks, and the shot from the hedges a +hundred feet distant pierced us through and through; a cry of horror +burst forth and we rushed on the batteries, overpowering the redcoats +who vainly endeavored to stop us. + +It was then that I first saw the English close at hand. They were +strong, fair, and closely shaved, like well-to-do bourgeois. They +defended themselves bravely, but we were as good as they. It was not +our fault--the common soldiers--if they did defeat us at last, all the +world knows that we showed as much and more courage than they did. + +It has been said that we were not the soldiers of Austerlitz and Jena, +of Friedland and of Moskowa. It was because they were so good, +perhaps, that they were spared. We would have asked nothing better, +than to have seen them in our place. + +Every shot of the English told, and we were forced to break our ranks. +Men are not palisades, and must defend themselves when attacked. + +Great numbers were detached from their companies, when thousands of +Englishmen rose up from among the barley and fired, their muskets +almost touching our men, which caused a terrible slaughter. The other +ranks rushed to the support of their comrades, and we should all have +been dispersed over the hill-side like a swarm of ants, if we had not +heard the shout, "Attention, the cavalry!" + +Almost at the same instant, a crowd of red dragoons mounted on gray +horses, swept down upon us like the wind, and those who had straggled +were cut to pieces without mercy. + +They did not fall upon our columns in order to break them, they were +too deep and massive for that; but they came down between the +divisions, slashing right and left with their sabres, and spurring +their horses into the flanks of the columns to cut them in two, and +though they could not succeed in this, they killed great numbers and +threw us into confusion. + +It was one of the most terrible moments of my life. As an old soldier +I was at the right of the battalion, and saw what they were intending +to do. They leaned over as far as possible when they passed, in order +to cut into our ranks; their strokes followed each other like +lightning, and more than twenty times I thought my head was off my +shoulders, but Sergeant Rabot closed the file fortunately for me; it +was he who received this terrible shower of blows, and he defended +himself to the last breath. At every stroke he shouted, "Cowards, +Cowards!" + +His blood sprinkled me like rain, and at last he fell. My musket was +still loaded, and seeing one of the dragoons coming with his eye fixed +on me and bending over to give me a thrust, I let him have it full in +the breast. This was the only man I ever saw fall under my fire. + +The worst was, that at that moment their foot-soldiers rallied and +recommenced their fire, and they even were so bold as to attack us with +the bayonet. Only the first two ranks made a stand. It was shameful +to form our men in that manner. + +Then the red dragoons and our columns rushed pell-mell down the hill +together. + +And still our division made the best defence, for we brought off our +colors, while the two others had lost two eagles. + +We rushed down in this fashion through the mud and over the cannon, +which had been brought down to support us, and had been cut loose from +the horses by the sabres of the dragoons. + +We scattered in every direction, Buche and I always keeping together, +and it was ten minutes before we could be rallied again near the road +in squads from all the regiments. + +Those who have the direction of affairs in war should keep such +examples as these before their eyes, and reflect that new plans cost +those dear who are forced to try them. + +We looked over our shoulders as we took breath, and saw the red +dragoons rushing up the hill to capture our principal battery of +twenty-four guns, when, thank God! their turn came to be massacred. + +The Emperor had observed our retreat from a distance, and as the +dragoons mounted the hill, two regiments of cuirassiers on the right, +and a regiment of lancers on the left fell on their flanks like +lightning, and before they had time to look, they were upon them. We +could hear the blows slide over their cuirasses, hear their horses +puff, and a hundred paces away we could see the lances rise and fall, +the long sabres stretch out, and the men bend down to thrust under; the +furious horses, rearing, biting, and neighing frightfully, and then men +under the horses' feet were trying to get up, and sheltering themselves +with their hands. + +What horrible things are battles! Buche shouted, "Strike hard!" + +I felt the sweat run down my forehead, and others with great gashes, +and their eyes full of blood, were wiping their faces and laughing +ferociously. + +In ten minutes, seven hundred dragoons were _hors-de-combat_; their +gray horses were running wildly about on all sides, with their bits in +their teeth. Some hundreds of them had retired behind their batteries, +but more than one was reeling in his saddle and clutching at his +horse's mane. + +They had found out that to attack was not all the battle, and that very +often circumstances arise which are quite unexpected. + +In all that frightful spectacle, what impressed me most deeply, was +seeing our cuirassiers returning with their sabres red to the hilt, +laughing among themselves; and a fat captain with immense brown +mustaches, winked good-humoredly as he passed by us, as much as to say, +"You see we sent them back in a hurry, eh!" + +Yes, but three thousand of our men were left in that little hollow. +And it was not yet finished: the companies and battalions and brigades +were being re-formed, the musketry rattled in the vicinity of +Haie-Sainte, and the cannon thundered near Hougoumont. "It was only +just a beginning," the officers said. You would have thought that +men's lives were of no value! + +But it was necessary to get possession of Haie-Sainte, and to force a +passage from the highway to the enemy's centre just as an entrance must +be effected into a fortification through the fire of the outworks and +the demilunes. We had been repulsed the first time, but the battle was +begun, and we could not go back. After the charge of the cuirassiers, +it took a little time for us to re-form: the battle continued at +Hougoumont, and the cannonade re-opened on our right, and two batteries +had been brought up to sweep the highway in the rear of Haie-Sainte, +where the road begins to mount the hill. We all saw that that was to +be the point of attack. + +We stood waiting with shouldered arms, when about three o'clock Buche +looked behind him on the road and said, "The Emperor is coming!" + +And others in the ranks repeated, "Here is the Emperor." + +The smoke was so thick that we could barely see the bear-skin caps of +the Old Guard on the little hill of Rossomme. I turned round also to +see the Emperor, and immediately recognized Marshal Ney, with five or +six of his staff officers. He was coming from head-quarters and pushed +straight down upon us across the fields. We stood with our backs to +him; our officers hurried to meet him, and they conversed together, but +we could not hear a word in consequence of the noise which filled our +ears. + +The marshal then rode along the front of our two battalions, with his +sword drawn. I had never seen him so near since the grand review at +Aschaffenbourg; he seemed older, thinner, and more bony, but still the +same man; he looked at us with his sharp gray eyes, as if he took us +all in at a glance, and each one felt, as if he were looking directly +at him. + +At the end of a second he pointed toward Haie-Sainte with his sword, +and exclaimed: + +"We are going to take _that_, you will have the whole at once, it is +the turning-point of the battle. I am going to lead you myself. +Battalions by file to the left!" + +We started at a quick step on the road, marching by companies in three +ranks. I was in the second. Marshal Ney was in front, on horseback, +with the two colonels and Captain Florentin: he had returned his sword +to the scabbard. The balls whistled round our ears by hundreds, and +the roar of cannon from Hougoumont and on our left and right in the +rear was so incessant, that it was like the ringing of an immense bell, +when you no longer hear the strokes, but only the booming. One and +another sank down from among us, but we passed right on over them. + +Two or three times the marshal turned round to see if we were marching +in good order; he looked so calm, that it seemed to me quite natural +not to be afraid, his face inspired us all with confidence, and each +one thought, "Ney is with us, the others are lost!" which only shows +the stupidity of the human race, since so many others besides us +escaped. + +As we approached the buildings the report of the musketry became more +distinct from the roar of cannon, and we could better see the flash of +the guns from the windows, and the great black roof above in the smoke, +and the road blocked up with stones. + +We went along by a hedge, behind which crackled the fire of our +skirmishers, for the first brigade of Alix's division had not quitted +the orchards; and on seeing us filing along the road, they commenced to +shout, "Vive l'Empereur." + +The whole fire of the German musketry was then turned on us, when +Marshal Ney drew his sword and shouted in a voice which reached every +ear, "Forward!" + +He disappeared in the smoke with two or three officers, and we all +started on a run, our cartridge-boxes dangling about our hips, and our +muskets at the "ready." + +Far to the rear they were beating the charge; we did not see the +marshal again till we reached a shed which separated the garden from +the road, when we discovered him on horseback before the main entrance. + +It appeared that they had already tried to force the door, as there was +a heap of dead men, timbers, paving stones, and rubbish piled up before +it, reaching to the middle of the road. The shot poured from every +opening in the building, and the air was heavy with the smell of the +powder. + +"Break that in," shouted the marshal. Fifteen or twenty of us dropped +our muskets, and seizing beams we drove them against the door with such +force, that it cracked and echoed back the blows like thunder. You +would have thought it would drop at every stroke; we could see through +the planks the paving stones heaped as high as the top inside. It was +full of holes, and when it fell it might have crushed us, but fury had +rendered us blind to danger. We no longer had any resemblance to men, +some had lost their shakos, others had their clothes nearly torn off; +the blood ran from their fingers and down their sides, and at every +discharge of musketry the shot from the hill struck the paving stones, +pounding them to dust around us. + +I looked about me, but I could not see either Buche or Zebede or any +others of our company, the marshal had disappeared also. Our rage +redoubled; and as the timbers went back and forth, we grew furious to +find that the door would not come down, when suddenly we heard shouts +of "Vive l'Empereur" from the court, accompanied with a most horrible +uproar. Every one knew that our troops had gained an entrance into the +enclosure. We dropped the timbers, and seizing our guns we sprang +through the breaches into the garden to find where the others had +entered. It was in the rear of the house through a door opening into +the barn. We rushed through one after the other like a pack of wolves. + +The interior of this old structure, with its lofts full of hay and +straw, and its stables covered with thatch, looked like a bloody nest +which had been attacked by a sparrow-hawk. + +On a great dung-heap in the middle of the court, our men were +bayoneting the Germans who were yelling and swearing savagely. + +I was running hap-hazard through this butchery, when I heard some one +call, "Joseph, Joseph!" I looked round, thinking, "That is Buche +calling me." In a moment I saw him at the door of a woodshed, crossing +bayonets with five or six of our men. + +I caught sight of Zebede at that same instant, as our company was in +that corner, and rushing to Buche's assistance, I shouted, "Zebede!" +Parting the combatants, I asked Buche what was the matter. + +"They want to murder my prisoners!" said he. I joined him, and the +others began to load their muskets to shoot us. They were voltigeurs +from another battalion. + +At that moment Zebede came up with several men from our company, and +without knowing how the matter stood, he seized the most brutal one by +the throat and exclaimed, "My name is Zebede, sergeant of the Sixth +light infantry. When this affair is settled, we will have a mutual +explanation." + +Then they went away, and Zebede asked: + +"What is all this, Joseph?" + +I told him we had some prisoners. He turned pale with anger against +us, but when he went into the wood-shed he saw an old major, who +presented him the guard of his sabre in silence, and another soldier, +who said in German, "Spare my life, Frenchman; don't take my life." + +The cries of the dying still filled the court, and his heart relenting, +Zebede said, "Very well, I take you prisoners." + +He went out and shut the door. We did not quit the place again until +the assembly began to beat. + +Then, when the men were in their ranks, Zebede notified Captain +Florentin that we had taken a major and a soldier prisoners. + +They were brought out and marched across the court without arms, and +put in a room with three or four others. These were all that remained +of the two battalions of Nassau troops which were intrusted with the +defence of Haie-Sainte. + +While this had been going on, two other battalions from Nassau, who +were coming to the assistance of their comrades, had been massacred +outside by our cuirassiers, so that for the moment we were victorious: +we were masters of the principal outpost of the English and could begin +our attack on their centre, cut their communication by the highway with +Brussels, and throw them into the miserable roads of the forest of +Soignes. We had had a hard struggle, but the principal part of the +battle had been fought. We were two hundred paces from the English +lines, well sheltered from their fire; and I believe, without boasting, +that with the bayonet and well supported by the cavalry, we could have +fallen upon them, and pierced their line. An hour of good work would +have finished the affair. + +But while we were all rejoicing over our success, and the officers, +soldiers, drummers, and trumpeters were all in confusion, amongst the +ruins, thinking of nothing but stretching our legs and getting breath, +the rumor suddenly reached us that the Prussians were coming, that they +were going to fall on our flank, and that we were about to have two +battles, one in front and the other on our right, and that we ran the +risk of being surrounded by a force double our own. + +This was terrible news, but several hot-headed fellows exclaimed: + +"So much the better, let the Prussians come! we will crush them all at +once." + +Those who were cool saw at once what a mistake we had made by not +making the most of our victory at Ligny, and in allowing the Prussians +quietly to leave in the night without being pursued by our cavalry, as +is always done. + +We may boldly say that this great fault was the cause of our defeat at +Waterloo. It is true, the Emperor sent Marshal Grouchy the next day at +noon, with thirty-two thousand men to look after the enemy, but then it +was quite too late. In those fifteen hours they had time to re-form, +to communicate with the English, and to act on the defensive. + +The next day after Ligny, the Prussians still had ninety thousand men, +of whom thirty thousand were fresh troops, and two hundred and +seventy-five cannon. With such an army they could do what they +pleased; they could have even fought a second battle with the Emperor, +but they preferred falling on our flank, while we were engaged with the +English in front. That is so plain and clear, that I cannot imagine +how any one can think the movement of the Prussians surprising. + +Bluecher had already played us the same trick at Leipzig--and he +repeated it now in drawing Grouchy on to pursue him so far. Grouchy +could not force him to return, and he could not prevent him from +leaving thirty or forty thousand men to stop his pursuers, while he +pushed on to the relief of Wellington. + +Our only hope was that Grouchy had been ordered to return and join us, +and that he would come up in the rear of the Prussians; but the Emperor +sent no such order. + +It was not we, the common soldiers, as you may well think, who had +these ideas; it was the officers and generals; we knew nothing of it; +we were like children, utterly unconscious that their hour is near. + +But now having told you what I think, I will give you the history of +the rest of the battle just as I saw it myself, so that each one of you +will know as much about it as I do. + + + + +XXI + +Almost immediately after the news of the arrival of the Prussians, the +assembly began to beat, the soldiers of the different battalions formed +their ranks, and ours, with another from Quiot's brigade, was left to +guard Haie-Sainte, and all the others went on to join General d'Erlon's +corps, which had advanced again into the valley, and was endeavoring to +flank the enemy on the left. + +The two battalions went to work at once to barricade the doors and the +breaches in the walls with timbers and paving stones, and men were +stationed in ambush at all the holes which the enemy had made in the +wall on the side toward the orchard and on that next the highway. + +Buche and I, with the remainder of our company, were posted over a +stable in a corner of the barn, about ten or twelve hundred paces from +Hougoumont. I can still see the row of holes which the Germans had +knocked in the wall, about as high as a man's head, in order to defend +the orchard. As we went up into this stable, we looked through these +holes, and we could see our line of battle, the high-road to Brussels +and Charleroi, the little farms of Belle-Alliance, Rossomme, and +Gros-Caillou, which lie along this road at little distances from each +other; the Old Guard which was stationed across it, with their +shouldered arms, and the staff on a little eminence at the left, and +farther away in the same direction, in the rear of the ravine of +Planchenois, we could see the white smoke rising continually above the +trees. This was the attack of the first Prussian corps. + +We heard afterward that the Emperor had sent Lobau with ten thousand +men to turn them back. The battle had begun, but the Old and the Young +Guard, the cuirassiers of Milhaud and of Kellerman, and the chasseurs +of Lefebvre-Desnoettes; in fact the whole of our magnificent cavalry +remained in position. The great, the real battle was with the English. + +What a crowd of thoughts must have been suggested, by that grand +spectacle and that immense plain, to the Emperor, who could see it all +mentally better than we could with our own eyes. + +We might have stayed there for hours, if Captain Florentin had not come +up suddenly, and exclaimed, "What are you doing here? Are we going to +dispute the passage with the Guard? Come! hurry! Knock a hole in that +wall on the side toward the enemy!" + +We picked up the sledges and pickaxes which the Germans had dropped on +the floor, and made holes through the wall of the gable. + +This did not take fifteen minutes, and then we could see the fight at +Hougoumont; the blazing buildings, the bursting of the bombs from +second to second among the ruins, and the Scotch chasseurs in ambuscade +in the road in the rear of the place, and on our right about two +gunshots distant, the first line of the English artillery, falling back +on their centre, and stationing their cannon, which our gunners had +begun to dismount, higher up the hill. But the remainder of their line +did not change; they had squares of red and squares of black touching +each other at the corners like the squares of a chess-board, in the +rear of the deep road; and in attacking them we would come under their +crossfire. Their artillery was in position on the brow of the hill, +and in the hollow on the hill-side toward Mont-St.-Jean their cavalry +was waiting. + +The position of the English seemed to me still stronger than it was in +the morning; and as we had already failed in our attack on their left +wing, and the Prussians had fallen on our flank, the idea occurred to +me, for the first time, that we were not sure of gaining the battle. + +I imagined the horrible rout that would follow in case we lost the +battle--shut in between two armies, one in front and the other on our +flank, and then the invasion which would follow; the forced +contributions, the towns besieged, the return of the emigres, and the +reign of vengeance. + +I felt that my apprehension had made me grow pale. + +At that moment the shouts of "_Vive l'Empereur_" broke from thousands +of throats behind us. Buche, who stood near me in a corner of the +loft, shouted with all the rest of his comrades, "_Vive l'Empereur!_" + +I leaned over his shoulder and saw all the cavalry of our right wing; +the cuirassiers of Milhaud, the lancers and the chasseurs of the Guard, +more than five thousand men--advancing at a trot. They crossed the +road obliquely and went down into the valley between Hougoumont and +Haie-Sainte. I saw that they were going to attack the squares of the +English, and that our fate was to be decided. + +We could hear the voices of the English artillery officers, giving +their orders, above the tumult and the innumerable shouts of "_Vive +l'Empereur_." + +It was a terrible moment when our cuirassiers crossed the valley; it +made me think of a torrent formed by the melting snows, when millions +of flakes of snow and ice sparkle in the sunshine. The horses, with +the great blue portmanteaux fastened to their croups, stretched their +haunches like deer and tore up the earth with their feet, the trumpets +blew their savage blasts amidst the dull roar as they passed into the +valley, and the first discharge of grape and canister made even our old +shed tremble. The wind blew from the direction of Hougoumont, and +drove the smoke through all the openings; we leaned out to breathe, and +the second and third discharges followed each other instantly. + +I could see through the smoke that the English, gunners had abandoned +their cannon and were running away with their horses, and that our +cuirassiers had immediately fallen upon the squares, which were marked +out on the hill-side by the zig-zag line of their fire. + +Nothing could be heard but a grand uproar of cries, incessant clashing +of arms and neighing of horses, varied with the discharge from time to +time, and then new shouts, new tumult and fresh groans. A score of +horses with their manes erect, rushed through the thick smoke which +settled around us, like shadows; some of them dragging their riders +with one foot caught in the stirrup. + +And this lasted more than an hour. + +After Milhaud's cuirassiers, came the lancers of Lefebvre-Desnoettes, +after them the cuirassiers of Kellerman, followed by the grenadiers of +the Guard, and after the grenadiers came the dragoons. They all +mounted the hill at a trot, and rushed upon the squares with drawn +sabres, shouting, "_Vive l'Empereur!_" in tones which reached the +clouds. At each new charge it seemed as if the squares must be +overthrown; but when the trumpets sounded the signal for rallying and +the squadrons rushed pell-mell back to the edge of the plateau to +re-form, pursued by the showers of shot, there were the great red +lines, steadfast as walls, in the smoke. + +Those Englishmen are good soldiers, but then they knew that Bluecher was +coming to their assistance with sixty thousand men, and no doubt this +inspired them with great courage. + +In spite of everything, at six o'clock we had destroyed half their +squares, but the horses of our cuirassiers were exhausted by twenty +charges over the ground soaked with rain. They could no longer advance +over the heaps of dead. + +As night approached, the great battle-field in our rear began to be +deserted; at last the great plain where we had encamped the night +before was tenantless, only the Old Guard remained across the road with +shouldered arms, all had gone--on the right against the Prussians, on +the left against the English. We looked at each other in terror. + +It was already growing dark, when Captain Florentin appeared at the top +of the ladder, and placing both hands on the floor, he said in a grave +voice, "Men, the time has come to conquer or die!" + +I remembered that these words were in the proclamation of the Emperor, +and we all filed down the ladder. It was still twilight, but all was +gray in the devastated court; the dead were lying stiff on the +dung-heap and along the walls. + +The captain formed our men on the right side of the court, and the +commandant of the other battalion ranged his on the left; our drums +resounded through the old building for the last time, and we filed out +of the little rear door into the garden, stooping one after the other +as we went through. + +The walls of the garden outside had been knocked down, and all along +the rubbish, men were binding up their wounds--one his head, another +his arm or his leg. A cantiniere with her donkey and cart, and with a +great straw hat flattened on her back--was there too in a corner. I do +not know what had brought the wretched creature there. Several +sorry-looking horses were standing there, exhausted with fatigue, with +their heads hanging down, and covered with blood and mud. + +What a difference between them now, and in the morning. Then the +companies were half destroyed, but still they were companies. +Confusion was coming. It had taken only three hours to reduce us to +the same condition we were in at Leipzig at the end of a year. The +remains of the two battalions still formed only one line, in good +order, and I must admit that we began to be anxious. + +When men have tasted nothing for twenty-four hours, and have exhausted +all their strength by fighting all day, the pangs of hunger seize them +at night, fear comes also, and the most courageous lose hope. All our +great retreats, with their horrors, are traceable to the want of food. + +For in spite of everything we were not conquered; the cuirassiers still +held their position on the plateau, and from all sides over the thunder +of cannon, over all the tumult, the cry was heard, "The Guard is +coming!" Yes, the Guard was coming at last! We could see them in the +distance on the highway, with their high bear-skin caps, advancing in +good order. + +Those who have never witnessed the arrival of the Guard on the +battle-field, can never know the confidence which is inspired by a body +of tried soldiers; the kind of respect paid to courage and force. + +The soldiers of the Old Guard were nearly all old peasants, born before +the Republic; men five feet and six inches in height, thin and well +built, who had held the plough for convent and chateau; afterward they +were levied with all the rest of the people, and went to Germany, +Holland, Italy, Egypt, Poland, Spain, and Russia, under Kleber, Hoche, +and Marceau first, and under Napoleon afterward. He took special care +of them and paid them liberally. They regarded themselves as the +proprietors of an immense farm, which they must defend and enlarge more +and more. This gained them consideration; they were defending their +own property. They no longer knew parents, relatives, or compatriots; +they only knew the Emperor; he was their God. And lastly they had +adopted the King of Rome, who was to inherit all with them, and to +support and honor them in their old age. Nothing like them was ever +seen, they were so accustomed to march, to dress their lines, to load, +and fire, and cross bayonets, that it was done mechanically in a +measure, whenever there was a necessity. When they advanced, carrying +arms, with their great caps, their white waistcoats and gaiters, they +all looked just alike; you could plainly see that it was the right arm +of the Emperor which was coming. When it was said in the ranks, "The +Guard is going to move," it was as if they had said, "The battle is +gained." + +But now, after this terrible massacre, after the repulse of these +furious attacks, on seeing the Prussians fall on our flank, we said, +"This is the decisive blow." + +And we thought, "If it fails, all is lost." + +This was why we all looked at the Guard as they marched steadily up on +the road. + +It was Ney who commanded them, as he had commanded the cuirassiers. +The Emperor knew that nobody could lead them like Ney, only he should +have ordered them up an hour sooner, when our cuirassiers were in the +squares; then we should have gained all. + +But the Emperor looked upon his Guard as upon his own flesh and blood; +if he had had them at Paris five days later, Lafayette and the rest of +them would not have remained long in their chamber to depose him, but +he had them no longer. + +This was why he waited so long before sending them; he hoped that Ney +would succeed in overwhelming the enemy with the cavalry, or that the +thirty-two thousand men under Grouchy would return, attracted by the +sound of the cannon, and then he could send them in place of his Guard; +because he could always replace thirty or forty thousand by +conscription; but to have another such Guard, he must commence at +twenty-five, and gain fifty victories, and what remained of the best, +most solid, and the toughest would be _the Guard_. + +It came, and we could see it. Ney, old Friant, and several other +generals, marched in front. We could see nothing but _the Guard_--the +roaring cannon, the musketry, the cries of the wounded, all were +forgotten. + +But the lull did not last long; the English perceived as well as we, +that this was to be the decisive blow, and hastened to rally all their +forces to receive it. + +That part of our field at our left was nearly deserted; there was no +more firing, either because their ammunition was exhausted, or the +enemy were forming in a new order. + +On the right, on the contrary, the cannonade was redoubled; the +struggle seemed to have been transferred to that side, but nobody dared +to say, "The Prussians are attacking us; another army has come to crush +us." + +No! the very idea was too horrible; when suddenly a staff officer +rushed past like lightning, shouting: + +"Grouchy, Marshal Grouchy is coming!" + +This was just at the moment when the four battalions of the Guard took +the left of the highway in order to go up in the rear of the orchard, +and commence the attack. + +How many times during the last fifty years I have seen it over again at +night, and how many times I have heard the story related by others. In +listening to these accounts you would think that only the Guard took +part in the attack, that it moved forward like ranks of palisades; and +that it was the Guard alone which received the showers of shot. + +But in truth this terrible attack took place in the greatest confusion; +our whole army joined in it; all the remnant of the left wing and +centre, all that was left of the cavalry exhausted by six hours of +fighting; every one who could stand or lift an arm. The infantry of +Reille which concentrated on the left, we who remained at Haie-Sainte, +_all_ who were alive and did not wish to be massacred. + +And when they say we were in a panic of terror and tried to run away +like cowards, it is not true. When the news arrived that Grouchy was +coming, even the wounded rose up and took their places in the ranks; it +seemed as if a breath had raised the dead; and all those poor fellows +in the rear of Haie-Sainte with their bandaged heads and arms and legs, +with their clothes in tatters and soaked with blood, every one who +could put one foot before the other, joined the Guard when it passed +before the breaches in the wall of the garden, and every one tore open +his last cartridge. + +The attack sounded, and our cannon began again to thunder. All was +quiet on the hill-side, the rows of English cannon were deserted, and +we might have thought they were all gone, only as the bear-skin caps of +the Guard rose above the plateau, five or six volleys of shot warned us +that they were waiting for us. + +Then we knew that all those Englishmen, Germans, Belgians, and +Hanoverians, whom we had been sabring and shooting since morning, had +reformed in the rear, and that we must encounter them. Many of the +wounded retired at this moment, and the Guard, upon which the heaviest +part of the enemy's fire had fallen, advanced through the showers of +shot almost alone, sweeping everything before it, but it closed up more +and more, and diminished every moment. In twenty minutes every officer +was dismounted, and the Guard halted before such a terrible fire of +musketry, that even we, two hundred paces in the rear, could not hear +our own guns; we seemed to be only exploding our priming. At last the +whole army, in front, on the right and on the left, with the cavalry on +the flanks, fell upon us. + +The four battalions of the Guard, reduced from three thousand to twelve +hundred men, could not withstand the charge, they fell back slowly, and +we fell back also, defending ourselves with musket and bayonet. + +We had seen other battles more terrible, but this was the last. + +When we reached the edge of the plateau, all the plain below was +enveloped in darkness and in the confusion of the defeat. The +disbanded troops were flying, some on foot and some on horseback. + +A single battalion of the Guard in a square near the farm-house, and +three other battalions farther on, with another square of the Guard at +the junction of the route at Planchenois, stood motionless as some firm +structure in the midst of an inundation which sweeps away everything +else. + +They all went--hussars, chasseurs, cuirassiers, artillery, and +infantry--pell-mell along the road, across the fields, like an army of +savages. + +Along the ravine of Planchenois the dark sky was lighted up by the +discharges of musketry; the one square of the Guard still held out +against Bulow, and prevented him from cutting off our retreat, but +nearer us the Prussian cavalry poured down into the valley like a flood +breaking over its barriers. Old Bluecher had just arrived with forty +thousand men: he doubled our right wing and dispersed it. + +What can I say more! It was dissolution--we were surrounded. The +English pushed us into the valley, and it was through this valley that +Bluecher was coming. The generals and officers and even the Emperor +himself were compelled to take refuge in a square, and they say that we +poor wretches were panic-stricken! Such an injustice was never seen. + +[Illustration: Combat of Hougoumont Farm.] + +Buche and I with five or six of our comrades ran toward the +farm-house--the bombs were bursting all around us, we reached the road +in our wild flight just as the English cavalry passed at full gallop, +shouting, "No quarter! no quarter!" + +At this moment the square of the Guard began to retreat, firing from +all sides in order to keep off the wretches who sought safety within +it. Only the officers and generals might save themselves. + +I shall never forget, even if I should live a thousand years, the +immeasurable, unceasing cries which filled the valley for more than a +league; and in the distance the _grenadiere_ was sounding like an +alarm-bell in the midst of a conflagration. But this was much more +terrible; it was the last appeal of France, of a proud and courageous +nation; it was the voice of the country saying, "Help, my children! I +perish!" + +This rolling of the drums of the Old Guard in the midst of disaster, +had in it something touching and horrible. I sobbed like a +child;--Buche hurried me along, but I cried, "Jean, leave me--we are +lost, everything is lost!" + +The thought of Catherine, and Mr. Goulden, and Pfalzbourg, did not +enter my mind. What astonishes me to-day is, that we were not +massacred a hundred times on the road, where files of English and +Prussians were passing. But perhaps they mistook us for Germans, or +they were running after the Emperor, for they were all hoping to see +him. + +Opposite the little farm of Rossomme, we were obliged to turn off the +road to the right, into the field; it was here that the last square of +the Guard still held out against the attack of the Prussians; they soon +gave way, for twenty minutes afterward the enemy poured over the road, +and the Prussian chasseurs separated into bands to arrest all those who +straggled or remained behind. This road was like a bridge; all who did +not keep on it fell into the abyss. + +At the slope of the ravine in the rear of the inn "Passe-Avant," some +Prussian hussars rushed upon us: there were not more than five or six +of them, and they called out to us to surrender; but if we had raised +the butts of our muskets, they would have sabred us. We aimed at them, +and seeing that we were not wounded, they passed on. + +This forced us to return to the road, where the uproar could be heard +for at least two leagues; cavalry, infantry, artillery, ambulances, and +baggage-wagons, were creeping along the road pell-mell, howling, +beating, neighing, and weeping. The retreat at Leipzig furnished no +such spectacle as this. + +The moon rose above the wood behind Planchenois, and lighted up this +crowd of shapskas,[1] bear-skin caps, helmets, sabres, bayonets, broken +caissons, and abandoned cannon; the crowd and confusion increased every +moment, plaintive howls were heard from one end of the line to the +other, rolling up and down the hill-side and dying away in the distance +like a sigh. + + +[1] Polish military cap. + + +But the saddest of all, were the cries of the women, those unhappy +creatures who follow armies. When they were knocked down or crowded +out on to the slope with their carts, their screams could be heard +above all the uproar, but no one turned his head, not a man stretched +out a hand to help them: "Every one for himself!--I shall crush +you,--so much the worse for you,--I am the stronger--you scream, but it +is all the same to me!--take care,--take care--I am on horseback--I +shall hit you!--room--let me get away--the others do just the +same--room for the Emperor! room for the marshal!" The strong crush +the weak--the only thing in the world is strength! On! on! Let the +cannons crush everything, if we can only save them! + +But the cannon can move no farther,--unhitch them, cut the traces, and +the horses will carry us off. Make them go as fast as possible, and if +they break down--then let them go? If we were not the stronger our +turn would come to be crushed--we should cry out and everybody would +mock at our complaints. Save himself who can--and "_Vive l'Empereur!_" + +"But the Emperor is dead!" + +Everybody thought the Emperor had died with, the Old Guard; that seemed +perfectly natural. + +The Prussian cavalry passed us in files with drawn sabres, shouting, +"Hurrah!" They seemed to be escorting us, but they sabred every one +who straggled from the road, and took no prisoners, neither did they +attack the column; a few musket-shots passed over us from the right and +left. + +Far in the rear we could see a red light: this was the farm-house at +Caillou. + +We hastened onward, borne down with fatigue, hunger, and despair; we +were ready to die, but still the hope of escape sustained us. Buche +said to me as we went along, "Joseph, let us help each other." + +"I will never abandon you," I replied. "We will die together. I can +hold out no longer, it is too terrible,--we might better lie down at +once." + +"No, let us keep on," said he. "The Prussians make no prisoners. +Look! they kill without mercy, just as we did at Ligny." + +We kept on in the same direction with thousands of others, sullen and +discouraged, and yet we would turn round all at once and close our +ranks and fire, when a squadron of Prussians came too near. We were +still firm, still the stronger from time to time; we found abandoned +gun-carriages, caissons, and cannons, and the ditches on either side +were full of knapsacks, cartridge-boxes, guns, and sabres, which had +been thrown away by the men to facilitate their flight. + +But the most terrible thing of all was the great ambulances in the +middle of the road filled with the wounded. The drivers had cut the +traces and fled with the horses for fear of being taken prisoners. The +poor half-dead wretches, with their arms hanging down, looked at us as +we passed with despairing eyes. + +When I think of all this now, it reminds me of the tufts of straw and +hay which lodge among the bushes after an inundation. We say "That is +our harvest, this is our crop, that is what the tempest has left us." + +Ah! I have had many such reflections during fifty years! + +What grieved me most and made my heart bleed in the midst of this rout +was that I could not discover a single man of our battalion besides +ourselves. I said to myself, "They cannot all be dead;" and I said to +Buche: + +"If I could only find Zebede it would give me back my courage." + +But he replied: "Let us try to save ourselves, Joseph. As for me, if I +ever see Harberg again, I will not complain because I have to eat +potatoes. No, no. God has punished me. I shall be contented to work +and go into the woods with my axe on my shoulder. If only I do not go +home maimed, and if I am not compelled to hold out my hand at the +roadside in order to live, like so many others. Let us try to get home +safe and sound." + +I thought he showed great good sense. + +At about half-past ten, as we reached the environs of Genappe, terrible +cries were heard in the distance. Fires of straw had been lighted in +the middle of the principal street to give light to the multitude, and +we could see from where we were, that the houses were full of people +and the streets so full of horses and baggage that they could not move +a step. We knew that the Prussians might come at any moment, and that +they would have cannon; and that it would be better for us if we went +round the village than to be taken prisoners altogether. This was why +we turned to the left across the grain fields with a great many others. +We crossed the Thy in water up to our waists, and toward midnight we +reached Quatre-Bras. + +We had done well not to stop at Genappe, for we already heard the roar +of the Prussian cannon and musketry near the village. Great numbers of +fugitives came along the road, cuirassiers, lancers, and chasseurs. +Not one of them stopped. + +We began to be terribly hungry. We knew very well that everything in +these houses must have been eaten long ago, but still we went into the +one on the left. The floor was covered with straw, on which the +wounded were lying. We had hardly opened the door when they all began +to cry out at once; to tell the truth, the stench was so horrible that +we left immediately and took the road to Charleroi. The moon shone +beautifully, and we could see on the right amongst the grain a quantity +of dead men, who had not yet been buried. + +Buche followed a furrow about twenty-five paces, to where three or four +Englishmen were lying one on the top of the other. I asked him what he +was going to do amongst the dead. + +He came back with a tin bottle, and shaking it at his ear, he said, +"Joseph, it is full." + +He dipped it in the water of the ditch before opening it, and then took +out the cork and drank, saying, "It is brandy!" + +He passed it to me, and I drank also. I felt my life returning, and I +gave him back the bottle half full, thanking God for the good idea that +he had given us. + +We looked on all sides to see if we could not find some bread in the +haversacks of the dead, but the uproar increased, and as we could not +resist the Prussians if they should surround us, we set off again full +of strength and courage. The brandy made us look at everything on the +bright side already, and I said to Buche: + +"Jean, now the worst is over and we shall see Pfalzbourg and Harberg +again. We are on a good road which will take us back to France. If we +had gained the battle, we should have been forced to go still farther +into Germany, and we should have been obliged to fight the Austrians +and the Russians, and if we had had the good fortune to escape with our +lives, we should have returned old gray-haired veterans, and should +have been compelled to keep garrison at 'Petite Pierre,' or somewhere +else." + +These miserable thoughts ran through my head, but I marched on with +more courage, and Buche said: + +"The English are right in having their bottles made of tin, for if I +had not seen this shining in the moonlight, I should never have thought +of going to look for it." + +Every moment while we were talking in this way men were riding by, +their horses almost ready to drop, but by beating and spurring, they +kept them trotting just the same. + +The noise of the retreating army began to reach our ears again in the +distance, but fortunately we had the advance. + +It might have been about one o'clock in the morning, and we thought +ourselves safe, when suddenly Buche said to me: + +"Joseph, here are the Prussians!" + +And looking behind us, I saw in the moonlight five bronzed hussars from +the same regiment as those who, the year before, had cut poor Klipfel +to pieces. I thought this was a bad sign. + +"Is your gun loaded?" I asked Buche. + +"Yes." + +"Well! let us wait, we must defend ourselves, I will not surrender." + +"Nor I either," said he, "I had rather die than to be taken prisoner." + +At the same moment the Prussian officer shouted arrogantly, "Lay down +your arms." + +Instead of waiting, as I did, Buche discharged the contents of his +musket full in the officer's breast. Then the other four fell upon us. +Buche received a blow from a sabre which cut his shako down to the +visor, but with one thrust with his bayonet he killed his antagonist. +Three of them still remained. My musket was loaded. Buche planted +himself with his back against a nut-tree, and every time the Prussians, +who had fallen back, approached us, I took aim. Neither of them wanted +to be the first to die! As we waited, Buche with his bayonet fixed and +I with my musket at my shoulder, we heard a galloping on the road. +This frightened us, for we thought more Prussians were coming, but they +were our lancers. The hussars then turned off into the grain, and +Buche hastened to re-load his gun. + +Our lancers passed and we followed them on the run. + +An officer who joined us, said that the Emperor had set out for Paris, +and that King Jerome had just taken command of the army. + +Buche's scalp was laid completely open, but the bone was not injured, +and the blood ran down his cheeks. He bound up his head with his +handkerchief. + +After that we saw no more Prussians. + +About two o'clock in the morning, we were so weary we could hardly take +another step. About two hundred paces to the left of the road there +was a little beech grove. Buche said: "Look, Joseph, let us go in +there and lie down and sleep." + +It was just what I wanted. + +We went down across the oat-field to the wood, and entered a close +thicket of young trees. + +We had both kept our guns and knapsacks and cartridge-boxes. We laid +our knapsacks on the ground for a pillow, and it had long been broad +daylight, and the retreating crowd had been passing for hours, when we +awoke and quietly pursued our journey. + + + + +XXII + +Numbers of our comrades and of the wounded remained behind at +Gosselies, but the larger part of the army kept on their way, and about +nine o'clock we began to see the spires of Charleroi in the distance, +when suddenly we heard shouts, cries, complaints, and shots +intermingled, half a league before us. + +The whole immense column of miserable wretches halted, shouting: "The +city closes its doors against us! we are stopped here!" + +Consternation and despair were stamped on every face. + +But a moment after, the news came that the convoys of provisions were +coming and that they would not distribute them. + +"Let us fall upon them! Kill the rascals who are starving us! We are +betrayed!" + +The most fearful and the most exhausted quickened their pace, and drew +their sabres or loaded their muskets. + +It was plain that there would be a veritable butchery if the guards did +not give way. Buche himself shouted: + +"They ought all to be murdered, we are betrayed. Come, Joseph, let us +be revenged." + +But I held him back by the collar and exclaimed: + +"No, Jean, no! We have had murders enough already, and we have escaped +all, and we do not want to be killed here by Frenchmen. Come!" + +He struggled still, but at last I showed him a village on the left of +the road and said: + +"Look! there is the road to Harberg, and there are houses like those at +Quatre Vents; let us go there and ask for bread; I have money, and we +shall certainly find some. That will be better than to attack the +convoys like a pack of wolves." + +He allowed himself to be persuaded at last, and we set off once more +through the grain. If hunger had not urged us on, we should have sat +down on the side of the path at every step. But at the end of half an +hour, thanks to God, we reached a sort of farm-house; it was abandoned, +with the windows broken out, and the door wide open, and great heaps of +black earth lying about. We went in and shouted, "Is there no one +here?" + +We knocked against the furniture with the butts of our muskets, but not +a soul answered. Our fury increased, because we saw several wretches, +following the route by which we had come, and we thought, "They are +coming to eat up our bread." + +Ah! those who have never suffered these privations cannot comprehend +the fury which possessed us. It was horrible--horrible! + +We had already broken open the door of a cupboard filled with linen, +and were turning over everything with our bayonets, when an old woman +came out from behind a table, which hid the passage to the cellar. She +sobbed and exclaimed: + +"My God, my God! have mercy upon us." + +The house had been pillaged early in the morning; they had taken away +the horses, the master had disappeared and the servants had fled. + +In spite of our fury the sight of the poor old woman made us ashamed of +ourselves, and I said to her: + +"Do not be afraid, we are not monsters, only give us some bread, we are +starving." + +She was sitting on an old chair with her withered hands crossed over +her knee, and she said: + +"I no longer have any, they have taken all. My God! all! all!" + +Her gray hair was hanging down over her face, and I felt like weeping +for her and for ourselves. "Well!" I said, "we must look for +ourselves, Buche." We went into all the rooms and the stables, there +was nothing to be seen, everything had been stolen and broken. + +I was going out, when in the shadow behind the old door, I saw +something whitish against the wall. I stopped, and stretched out my +hand. It was a linen bag with a strap, I took it down, trembling in my +hurry. Buche looked at me--the bag was heavy--I opened it, there were +two great black radishes, half of a small loaf of bread, dry and hard +as stone, a large pair of shears for trimming hedges, and quite in the +bottom some onions and some gray salt in a paper. + +On seeing these we made an exclamation of joy, but the fear of seeing +the others come in, made us run out in the rear, far into the +rye-field, skulking and hiding like thieves. + +We had regained all our strength, and we went and sat down on the edge +of a little brook. Buche said: + +"Look here! I must have my part." + +"Yes,--half of all," I replied. "You let me drink from your bottle, I +will divide with you." + +Then he was calm again. I cut the bread in two with my sabre and said: +"Choose, Jean; that is your radish, and there are half the onions, and +we will share the salt between us." We ate the bread without soaking +it in the water, we ate our radishes, our onions and the salt. We +should have kept on eating still, if we had had more to eat, but yet we +were satisfied. + +We knelt down with our hands in the water and we drank. + +"Now let us go," said Buche, "and leave the bag." + +In spite of our weary legs, which were ready to give out, we went on +again toward the left; while on the right behind us, toward Charleroi, +the shouts and shots redoubled, and all along the road we could see +nothing but the men fighting, but they were already far away. + +We looked back from time to time, and Buche said: + +"Joseph, you did well to bring me away, had it not been for you, I +might have been stretched out over there by the road-side, killed by a +Frenchman. I was too hungry. But where shall we go now?" + +I answered, "Follow me!" + +We passed through a large and beautiful village, pillaged and abandoned +also. + +Farther on we met some peasants, who scowled at us from the road-side. +We must have had ill-looking faces, especially Buche with his head +bound up, and his beard eight days old, thick and hard as the bristles +of a boar. + +About one o'clock in the afternoon we re-crossed the Sambre, by the +bridge of Chatelet, but as the Prussians were still in pursuit we did +not halt there. I was quite at ease, thinking: + +"If they are still pursuing us, they will follow the bulk of the army, +in order to take more prisoners and pick up the cannon, caissons, and +baggage." + +This was the manner in which we were compelled to reason, we, who three +days before had made the world tremble. + +I recollect that when we reached a small village about three o'clock in +the afternoon, we stopped at a blacksmith's shop to ask for water. The +country people immediately began to gather round, and the smith, a +large, dark man, asked us to go to the little inn, opposite, saying he +would join us and take a glass of beer with us. + +Naturally enough this pleased us, for we were afraid of being arrested, +and we saw that these people were on our side. + +I remembered that I had some money in my knapsack, and that now it +would be useful. + +We went into the inn, which was only a little shop, with two small +windows on the street, and a round door opening in the middle, as is +common in our country villages. + +When we were seated the room was so full of men and women, who had come +to hear the news, that we could hardly breathe. + +The smith came. He had taken off his leather apron and put on a little +blue blouse, and we saw at once that he had five or six men with him. +They were the mayor and his assistant, and the municipal councillors of +the place. + +They sat down on the benches opposite, and ordered the favorite sour +beer of the country for us to drink. Buche asked for some bread; the +innkeeper's wife brought us a whole loaf and a large piece of beef in a +porringer. + +All urged us to "Eat, eat!" When one or another would ask us a +question about the battle, the smith or the mayor would say: + +"Let the men finish, you can see plainly that they have come a long +way." + +And it was only when we had finished eating, that they questioned us, +asking if it was true that the French had lost a great battle. The +first report was that we were the victors, but afterward they heard a +rumor that we were defeated. + +We understood that they were speaking of Ligny, and that their ideas +were confused. I was ashamed to tell that we were overthrown; I looked +at Buche, and he said: + +"We have been betrayed. The traitors revealed our plans. The army was +full of traitors, who cried, 'Sauve qui peut!' How was it possible for +us not to lose, under such circumstances?" + +It was the first time I had heard treason spoken of; some of the +wounded, it is true, had said, "We are betrayed," but I had paid no +attention to their words, and when Buche relieved us from our +embarrassment by this means, I was glad of it, though I was astonished. + +The people sympathized with us in our indignation against the traitors. + +Then we were obliged to explain the battle and the treason. Buche said +the Prussians had fallen upon us through the treason of Marshal Grouchy. + +This seemed to me to be going too far, but the peasants in their pity +for us had made us drink again and again, and had given us pipes and +tobacco, and at last I said the same as Buche. It was not till after +we had left the place that the recollection of our shameful falsehoods +made me ashamed of myself, and I said to Buche: + +"Do you know, Jean, that our lies about the traitors were not right? +If every one tells as many, we shall all be traitors, and the Emperor +will be the only true man amongst us. It is a disgrace to the country +to say that we have so many traitors; it is not true." + +"Bah! bah!" said he. "We have been betrayed; if we had not, the +English and Prussians could never have forced us to retreat." + +We did nothing but dispute this point till eight o'clock in the +evening. By this time we had reached a village called Bouvigny. + +We were so tired that our legs were as stiff as stakes, and for a long +while we had needed a great deal of courage to take a single step. + +We were certain that the Prussians were no longer near, and as I had +money we went into an inn and asked for a bed. + +I took out a six-franc piece in order to let them see that we could +pay. I had resolved to change my uniform the next day, to leave my gun +and knapsack and cartridge-box here and to go home, for I believed that +the war was over, and I rejoiced in the midst of my misfortunes that I +had escaped with my arms and legs. + +Buche and I slept that night in a little room, with a Holy Virgin and +infant Jesus in a niche between the curtains over our heads, and we +rested like the blessed in heaven. + +The next morning, instead of keeping on our way, we were so glad to sit +on a comfortable chair in the kitchen, to stretch our legs and smoke +our pipes as we watched the kettles boiling, that we said, "Let us stay +quietly here. To-morrow we shall be well rested, and we will buy two +pairs of linen pantaloons, and two blouses, we will cut two good sticks +from a hedge, and go home by easy stages." + +The thought of these pleasant plans touched us. And it was from this +inn that I wrote to Catherine and Aunt Gredel and Mr. Goulden. I wrote +only a word: + + +"I have escaped, let us thank God, I am coming, I embrace you a +thousand times with all my heart. + +"JOSEPH BERTHA." + + +I thanked God as I wrote, but a great many things were to happen before +I should mount our staircase at the corner of the rue Fouquet opposite +the "Red Ox." When one has been taken by conscription he must not be +in a hurry to write that he is released. That happiness does not +depend upon us, and the best will in the world helps nothing. + +I sent off my letter by the post, and we stayed all that day at the inn +of the "Golden Sheep." + +After we had eaten a good supper, we went up to our beds, and I said to +Buche, "Ha! Jean, to do what you please is quite a different thing +from being forced to respond to the roll-call." + +We both laughed in spite of the misfortunes of the country, of course +without thinking, otherwise we should have been veritable rascals. + +For the second time we went to sleep in our good bed, when about one +o'clock in the morning we were wakened in a most extraordinary manner: +the drums were beating and we heard men marching all over the village. + +I pushed Jean, and he said, "I hear it, the Prussians are outside." + +You cannot imagine our terror, but it was much worse a moment after; +some one knocked at the door of the inn, and it opened; in a moment the +great hall was full of people. Some one came up the stairs. We had +both got up, and Buche said, "I shall defend myself if they try to take +me." + +I dared not think what I was going to do. + +We were almost dressed, and I was hoping to escape in the darkness +without being recognized, when suddenly there was a knock at the door +and a shout, "Open." + +We were obliged to open it. + +An infantry officer, wet through by the rain, with his great blue cloak +thrown over his epaulettes, followed by an old sergeant with a lantern, +came in. + +We recognized them as Frenchmen, and the officer asked brusquely, +"Where do you come from?" + +"From Mont-St.-Jean, lieutenant," I replied. + +"From what regiment are you?" + +"From the Sixth light infantry," I answered. + +He looked at the number on my shako, which was lying on the table, and +at the same time I saw that his number was also the Sixth. + +"From which battalion are you?" said he, knitting his brows. + +"The third." + +Buche, pale as ashes, did not say a word. The officer looked at our +guns and knapsacks and cartridge-boxes behind the bed in the corner. + +"You have deserted," said he. + +"No, lieutenant, we left, the last ones, at eight o'clock, from +Mont-St.-Jean." + +"Go downstairs, we will see if that is true." + +We went downstairs. The officer followed us, and the sergeant went +before with his lantern. + +The great hall below was full of officers of the 12th mounted +chasseurs, and of the 6th light infantry. The commandant of the 4th +battalion of the 6th was promenading up and down, smoking a little +wooden pipe. They were all of them wet through and covered with mud. + +The officers said a few words to the commandant, who stopped, and fixed +his black eyes upon us, while his crooked nose turned down into his +gray mustache. + +His manner was not very gentle as he asked us half a dozen questions +about our departure from Ligny, the road to Quatre-Bras, and the +battle. He winked and compressed his lips. The others walked up and +down dragging their sabres without listening to us. At last the +commandant said, "Sergeant, these men will join the second company; go!" + +He took his pipe again from the edge of the mantel, and we went out +with the sergeant, happy enough to get off so easily, for they might +have shot us as deserters before the enemy. + +We followed the sergeant for two hundred paces to the other end of the +village to a shed. Fires had been lighted farther on in the fields; +men were sleeping under the shed, leaning against the doors of the +stables, and the posts. + +A fine rain was falling and the puddles quivered in the gray uncertain +moonlight. We stood up under a part of the roof at the corner of the +old house thinking of our troubles. + +At the end of an hour, the drums began to beat with a dull sound; the +men shook the straw from their clothes and we resumed our march. It +was still dark--but we could hear the chasseurs sounding their signal +to mount, behind us. + +Between three and four in the morning, at dawn, we saw a great many +other regiments, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, on the march like +ourselves by different roads, all the corps of Marshal Grouchy in +retreat! The wet weather, the leaden sky, the long files of weary men, +the disappointment of being retaken, and the thought that so many +efforts and so much bloodshed had only terminated a second time in an +invasion, all this made us hang down our heads. Nothing was heard but +the sound of our own footsteps in the mud. + +I could not shake off my sadness for a long time, when a voice near me +said: + +"Good-morning, Joseph." + +I was awakened, and looking at the man who spoke to me, I recognized +the son of Martin the tanner, our neighbor at Pfalzbourg; he was +corporal of the Sixth, and the file-closer, marching with arms at will. +We shook hands. It was a real consolation for me to see some one from +our own place. + +In spite of the rain which continued to fall and our great fatigue, we +could talk of nothing but this terrible campaign. + +I related the story of the battle of Waterloo, and he told me that the +4th battalion on leaving Fleurus had taken the route toward Wavre with +the whole of Grouchy's corps, and that in the afternoon of the next +day, the 18th, they heard the cannon on their left and that they all +wanted to go in that direction, even the generals, but the marshal +having received positive orders, had continued on the route to Wavre. +It was between six and seven o'clock, before they were convinced that +the Prussians had escaped; then they changed their course to the left +in order to rejoin the Emperor, but unfortunately, it was too late, and +toward midnight they were obliged to take a position in the fields. + +Each battalion formed in a square. At three o'clock in the morning the +cannon of the Prussians had awakened the bivouacs, and they had +skirmished until two o'clock in the afternoon, when the order to +retreat reached them. + +Again, Martin said they were too late, for a part of the enemy's force +which had been engaged with that of the Emperor, was in their rear, and +they were obliged to march all the rest of that day and the night +following in order to escape from their pursuers. + +At six o'clock the battalion had taken a position near the village of +Temploux, and at ten the Prussians came up in superior force. They +opposed them in the most vigorous manner in order to give the baggage +and artillery time to get over the bridge at Namur. + +Fortunately the whole army corps had escaped from the village except +the 4th battalion which, through a mistake of the commandant, had +turned off the road at the left, and was obliged to throw itself into +the Sambre in order to escape being cut off. Some of the men were +taken prisoners and some were drowned in trying to swim across the +river. + +This was all that Martin told me; he had no news from home. + +That same day we passed through Givet; the battalion bivouacked near +the village of Hierches half a league farther on. The next day we +passed through Fumay and Rocroy, and slept at Bourg-Fideles, the 23d of +June at Blombay, the 24th at Saulsse-Lenoy--where we heard of the +abdication of the Emperor--and the days following at Vitry, near +Rheims, at Jonchery, and at Soissons. From there the battalion took +the route toward Ville-Cotterets, but the enemy was already before us, +and we changed our course to Ferte-Milon, and bivouacked at Neuchelles, +a village destroyed by the invasion of 1814, and which had not yet been +rebuilt. We left that place on the 29th, about one o'clock in the +morning, passing through Meaux. + +Here we were obliged to take the road to Laguy, because the Prussians +occupied that which led to Claye. We marched all that day and the +night following. + +On the 30th, at five in the morning, we were at the bridge of +Saint-Maur. + +The same day we passed outside of Paris and bivouacked in a place rich +in everything, called Vaugirard. + +The 1st of July we reached Meudon, a superb place. We could see by the +walled gardens and orchards, and by the size and good condition of the +houses, that we were in the suburbs of the most beautiful city in the +world, and yet we were in the midst of the greatest danger and +suffering, and our hearts bled in consequence. + +The people were kind and friendly to the soldiers, and called us the +defenders of the country, and even the poorest were willing to go to +battle with us. + +We left our position at eleven o'clock in the evening of the 1st of +July, and went to St. Cloud, which is nothing but palace upon palace, +and garden upon garden, with great trees, and magnificent alleys, and +everything that is beautiful. At six o'clock we quitted St. Cloud to +go back to our position at Vaugirard. + +The most startling rumors filled the city. The Emperor had gone to +Rochefort--they said; the King was coming back--Louis the XVIII. was +_en route_--and so forth. + +They knew nothing certain in the city, where they should soonest know +everything. + +The enemy attacked us in the suburbs of Issy about one o'clock in the +afternoon, and we fought till midnight for our capital. + +The people aided as much as possible; they carried off the wounded from +under the enemy's fire; even the women took pity on us. + +What we suffered from being driven to this, I cannot describe. I have +seen Buche himself cry because we were in one sense dishonored. I +wished I had never seen that time. Twelve days before I did not know +that France was so beautiful. But on seeing Paris with its towers and +its innumerable palaces extending as far as the horizon, I thought, +"This is France, these are the treasures that our fathers have amassed +during century after century. What a misfortune that the English and +Prussians should ever come here." + +At four in the morning we attacked the Prussians with new fury, and +retook the positions we had lost the day before. Then it was that some +generals came and announced a suspension of hostilities. This took +place on the 3d of July, 1815. + +We thought that this suspension was to give notice to the enemy, that +if he did not quit our country, France would rise as one man, and crush +them all as she did in '92. These were our opinions, and seeing that +the people were on our side, I remembered the general levies which Mr. +Goulden was always talking about. + +But unhappily a great many were so tired of Napoleon and his soldiers, +that they sacrificed the country itself, in order to be rid of him. +They laid all the blame on the Emperor, and said, if it had not been +for him, our enemies would never have had the force or the courage to +attack us, that he had exhausted our resources, and that the Prussians +themselves would give us more liberty than he had done. + +The people talked like Mr. Goulden, but they had neither guns nor +cartridges, their only weapons were pikes. + +On the 4th, while we were thinking of these things, they announced to +us the armistice, by which the Prussians and English were to occupy the +barriers of Paris, and the French army was to retire beyond the Loire. + +When we heard this, our indignation was so great that we were furious. +Some of the soldiers broke their guns, and others tore off their +uniforms, and everybody exclaimed, "We are betrayed, we are given up." +The old officers were quiet, but they were pale as death, and the tears +ran down their cheeks. + +Nobody could pacify us, we had fallen below contempt, we were a +conquered people. + +For thousands of years it would be said, that Paris had been taken by +the Prussians and the English. It was an everlasting disgrace, but the +shame did not rest on us. + +The battalion left Vaugirard at five o'clock in the afternoon to go to +Montrouge. When we saw that the movement toward the Loire had +commenced, each one said, "What are we then? Are we subjects to the +Prussians? because they want to see us on the other side of the Loire, +are we forced to gratify them? No, no! that cannot be. Since they +have betrayed us, let us go! All this is none of our concern any +longer. We have done our duty, but we will not obey Bluecher!" + +The desertion commenced that very night; all the soldiers went, some to +the right and some to the left; men in blouses and poor old women tried +to take us with them through the wilderness of streets, and endeavored +to console us, but we did not need consolation. I said to Buche: "Let +us leave the whole thing, and return to Pfalzbourg and Harberg, let us +go back to our trades and live like honest people. If the Austrians +and Russians come there, the mountaineers and villagers will know how +to defend themselves. We shall need no great battles to destroy +thousands of them, let us go!" + +There were fifteen of us from Lorraine in the battalion, and we all +left Montrouge, where the headquarters were, together; we passed +through Ivry and Bercy, both places of great beauty, but our trouble +prevented us from seeing a quarter of what we should have done. Some +kept their uniforms, while others had only their cloaks, and the rest +had bought blouses. + +We found the road to Strasbourg at last, in the rear of St. Mande, near +a wood to the left of which we could see some high towers, which they +told us was the fortress of Vincennes. + +From this place, we regularly made our twelve leagues a day. + +On the 8th of July we learned that Louis XVIII. was to be restored, and +that Monseigneur le Comte d'Artois would secure his salvation. All the +wagons and boats and diligences already carried the white flag, and +they were singing "Te Deums" in all the villages through which we +passed; the mayors and their assistants and the councillors all praised +and glorified God for the return of "Louis the well-beloved." + +The scoundrels called us "Bonapartists," as they saw us pass, and even +set their dogs on us. + +But I do not like to speak of them; such people are the disgrace of the +human race. + +We replied only by contemptuous glances, which made them still more +insolent and furious. + +Some of them flourished their sticks, as much as to say,--"If we had +you in a corner, you would be as meek as lambs." + +The gendarmes upheld these _Pinacles_ and we were arrested in three or +four places. They demanded our papers and took us before the mayor, +and the rascals forced us to shout "_Vive le Roi!_" + +It was shameful, and the old soldiers rather than do it allowed +themselves to be taken to prison. Buche wanted to follow their +example, but I said to him, "What harm will it do us to shout Vive Jean +Claude, or Vive Jean Nicholas? All these kings and emperors, old and +new, would not give a hair of their heads to save our lives, and shall +we go and break our necks in order to shout one thing rather than +another? No, it does not concern us, and if people will be so stupid, +as long as we are not the strongest, we must satisfy them. By and by, +they will shout something else, and afterward still something else. +Everything changes--nothing but good sense and good will remain." + +Buche did not want to understand this reasoning, but when the gendarmes +came, he submitted notwithstanding. + +As we went along, one after another of our little party would drop off +in his own village, till at last no one was left but Toul, Buche, and I. + +We saw the saddest sight of all, and this was the crowds of Germans and +Russians in Lorraine and Alsace. They were drilling at Luneville, at +Blamont, and at Sarrebourg, with oak branches in their wretched shakos. +What vexation to see such savages living in luxury at the expense of +our peasants. + +Father Goulden was right when he said that military glory costs very +dear. I only hope the Lord will save us from it for ages to come! + +At last, on the 16th July, 1815, about eleven o'clock in the morning, +we reached Mittelbronn, the last village on that side, before reaching +Pfalzbourg. The siege was raised after the armistice, and the whole +country was full of Cossacks, Landwehr,[1] and Kaiserlichs.[2] Their +batteries were still in position around the town, though they no longer +discharged them; the gates were open, and the people went out and in to +secure their crops. + + +[1] German militiamen. + +[2] German imperial troops. + + +There was great need of the wheat and rye, and you can imagine the +suffering it caused us, to feed so many thousands of useless beings, +who denied themselves nothing, and who wanted bacon and schnapps every +day. + +Before every door and at every window there was nothing to be seen but +their flat noses, their long filthy yellow beards, their white coats +filled with vermin, and their low shakos, looking out at you, as they +smoked their pipes in idleness and drunkenness. We were obliged to +work for them, and at last honest people were compelled to give them +two thousand millions of francs more to induce them to go away. + +How many things I might say against these lazybones from Russia and +Germany, if we had not done ten times worse in their country. You can +each one make reflections for yourself, and imagine the rest. + +At Heitz's inn I said to Buche, "Let's stop here. My legs are giving +out." + +Mother Heitz, who was then still a young woman, threw up her hands and +exclaimed, "My God! there is Joseph Bertha! God in heaven! what a +surprise for the town!" + +I went in, sat down and leaned my head on a table and wept without +restraint. + +Mother Heitz ran down to the cellar to bring a bottle of wine, and I +heard Buche sobbing in the corner. Neither of us could speak for +thinking of the joy of our friends. The sight of our own country had +upset us, and we rejoiced to think that our bones would one day rest +peacefully in the village cemetery. Meanwhile we were going to embrace +those we loved best in the world. + +When we had recovered a little, I said to Buche: + +"Jean, you must go on before me, so that my wife and Mr. Goulden may +not be too much surprised. You will tell them that you saw me the day +after the battle, and that I was not wounded, and then you must say, +you met me again in the suburbs of Paris, and even on the way home, and +at last, that you think I am not far behind, that I am coming--you +understand." + +"Yes, I understand," said he, getting up after having emptied his +glass, "and I will do the same thing for grandmother, who loves me more +than she does the other boys; I will send some one on before me." + +He went out at once, and I waited a few minutes; Mother Heitz talked to +me but I did not listen; I was thinking how far Buche had gone; I saw +him near the ford, at the outworks, and at the gate. Suddenly I went +out, saying to Mother Heitz, "I will pay you another time." + +I began to run; I partly remember having met three or four persons, who +said, "Ah! that is Joseph Bertha!" But I am not sure of that. + +All at once, without knowing how, I sprang up the stairs, and then I +heard a great cry--Catherine was in my arms. + +My head swam--in a minute after I seemed to come out of a dream; I saw +the room, Mr. Goulden, Jean Buche, and Catherine; and I began to sob so +violently, that you would have thought some great misfortune had +happened. I held Catherine on my knee and kissed her, and she cried +too. After a long while I exclaimed: + +"Ah! Mr. Goulden, pardon me! I ought to have embraced you, my father! +whom I love as I do myself!" + +"I know it, Joseph," said he with emotion, "I know it, I am not +jealous." And he wiped his eyes. "Yes--yes--love--and family and then +friends. It is quite natural, my child, do not trouble yourself about +that." + +I got up and pressed him to my heart. + +The first word Catherine said to me was, "Joseph, I knew you would come +back, I had put my trust in God! Now our worst troubles are over, and +we shall always remain together." + +She was still sitting on my knee with her arm on my shoulder, I looked +at her, she dropped her eyes and was very pale. That which we had +hoped for before my departure had come. + +We were happy. + +Mr. Goulden smiled as he sat at his workbench--Jean stood up near the +door and said: + +"Now I am going, Joseph, to Harberg. Father and grandmother are +waiting for me." + +"Stay, Jean, you will dine with us." Mr. Goulden and Catherine urged +him also, but he would not wait. I embraced him on the stairs and felt +that I loved him like a brother. + +He came often after that, but never once for thirty years without +stopping with me. Now he lies behind the church at Hommert. He was a +brave man and had a good heart. + +But what am I thinking of? I must finish my story, and I have not said +a word of Aunt Gredel, who came an hour afterward. Ah! she threw up +her hands, and she embraced me, exclaiming: + +"Joseph! Joseph! you have then escaped everything! let them come now +to take you again! let them come! oh! how I repented of letting you go +away! how I cursed the conscription and all the rest! but here you are! +how good it is! the Lord has had mercy upon us!" + +Yes, all these old stories bring the tears to my eyes, when I think of +them; it is like a long forgotten dream, and yet it is real. These +joys and sorrows that we recall, attach us to earth, and though we are +old and our strength is gone and our sight is dim, and we are only the +shadows of ourselves; yet we are never ready to go, we never say, "It +is enough!" + +These old memories are always fresh; when we speak of past dangers we +seem to be in the midst of them again; when we recall our old friends, +we again press their hands in imagination, and our beloved is again +seated on our knee, and we look in her face, thinking, "She is +beautiful!" and that which seemed to us just and wise and right in +those old days, seems right and wise and just still. + +I remember--and I must here finish my long story--that for many months +and even years there was great sorrow in many families, and nobody +dared to speak openly, or wish for the glory of the country. + +Zebede came back with those who had been disbanded on the other side of +the Loire, but even he had lost his courage. This came from the +vengeance and the condemnations and shootings, massacres and revenge of +every kind which followed our humiliation; from the hundred and fifty +thousand Germans, English, and Russians, who garrisoned our fortresses, +from the indemnities of war, from the thousands of emigres, from the +forced contributions, and especially from the laws against suspects, +and against sacrilege, and the rights of primogeniture which they +wished to be re-established. + +All these things so contrary to reason and to the honor of the nation, +together with the denunciations of the Pinacles and the outrages that +the old revolutionists were made to suffer--altogether these things +have made us melancholy, so that often when we were alone with +Catherine and the little Joseph, whom God had sent to console us for so +many misfortunes, Mr. Goulden would say, pensively: + +"Joseph, our unhappy country has fallen very low. When Napoleon took +France she was the greatest, the freest, and most powerful of nations, +all the world admired and envied us, but to-day we are conquered, +ruined, our fortresses are filled with our enemies, who have their feet +on our necks; and what was never before seen since France existed, +strangers are masters of our capital--twice we have seen this in two +years. See what it costs to put liberty, fortune, and honor in the +hands of an ambitious man. We are in a very sad condition, the great +Revolution is believed to be dead, and the Rights of Man are +annihilated. But we must not be discouraged, all this will pass away, +those who oppose liberty and justice will be driven away, and those who +wish to re-establish privileges and titles will be regarded as fools. +The great nation is reposing, is reflecting upon her faults, is +observing those who are leading her contrary to her own interests: she +reads their hearts, and in spite of the Swiss, in spite of the royal +guard, in spite of the Holy Alliance, when once she is weary of her +sufferings she will cast them out some day or other. Then it will be +finished, for France wants liberty, equality, and justice. + +"The one thing which we lack is instruction, though the people are +instructing themselves every day, they profit by our experiences, by +our misfortunes. + +"I shall not have the happiness, perhaps, of seeing the awakening of +the country, I am too old to hope for it, but you will see it, and the +sight will console you for all your sufferings; you will be proud to +belong to that generous nation which has outstripped all others since +'89; these slight checks are only moments of repose on a long journey." + +This excellent man preserved to his last hour his calm confidence. + +I have lived to see the accomplishment of his predictions, I have seen +the return of the banner of liberty, I have seen the nation grow in +wealth, in prosperity, and in education. I have seen those who +obstructed justice and who wished to establish the old regime, +compelled to leave. I have seen that mind always progresses, and that +even the peasants are willing to part with their last sou for the good +of their children. + +Unfortunately we have not enough schoolmasters. If we had fewer +soldiers and more teachers the work would go on much faster. +But--patience--that will come. + +The people begin to understand their rights, they know that war brings +them nothing but increased contributions, and when _they_ shall say, +"Instead of sending our sons to perish by thousands under the sabre and +cannon, we prefer that they should be taught to be men;" who will dare +to oppose them? To-day the people are sovereign! + +In this hope, my friends, I embrace you with my whole heart, and bid +you, Adieu! + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Waterloo, by Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WATERLOO *** + +***** This file should be named 31289.txt or 31289.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/8/31289/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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