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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/36858-8.txt b/36858-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7831dc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/36858-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8116 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blockade of Phalsburg, 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: The Blockade of Phalsburg + An Episode of the End of the Empire + +Author: Émile Erckmann + Alexandre Chatrian + +Release Date: July 26, 2011 [EBook #36858] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLOCKADE OF PHALSBURG *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: ALL WERE DEAD, AS IT WERE ONE LONG CEMETERY.] + + + + + +HISTORICAL ROMANCES OF FRANCE + + +THE BLOCKADE OF PHALSBURG + + +AN EPISODE OF THE END OF THE EMPIRE + + + + +TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF + +ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN + + + + +ILLUSTRATED + + + + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +NEW YORK::::::::::::::::::::::1911 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1871, BY + CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO. + + COPYRIGHT, 1889, 1898 + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +_All were dead, as it were one long cemetery_ . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +"_Be so good as to come in, Mr. Sergeant_" + +_I shuddered in my very soul and my hair bristled_ + +_Winter took him by the collar, and said:_ "_I have you now!_" + +_The sortie from the Tile-kiln_ + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + +"The Blockade of Phalsburg" contains one of the happiest portraits in +the Erckmann-Chatrian gallery--that of the Jew Moses who tells the +story and who is always in character, however great the patriotic or +romantic temptation to idealize him, and whose character is +nevertheless portrayed with an almost affectionate appreciation of the +sterling qualities underlying its somewhat usurious exterior. + +The time is 1814, during the invasion of France by the allies after the +disastrous battle of Leipsic and the campaign described in "The +Conscript." The dwellers in Phalsburg--a little walled town of two or +three thousand inhabitants in Lorraine--defend themselves with great +intrepidity and determination during the siege which lasts until the +capitulation of Paris. The daily life of the citizens and garrison, +the various incidents of the blockade, the bombardment by night, the +scarcity of food, the occasional sortie for foraging, all pass before +the reader depicted with the authors' customary fidelity and +life-likeness, and form as perfect a picture of a siege as "The +Conscript" does of a campaign. + + + + +THE BLOCKADE: + +AN EPISODE OF + +THE END OF THE EMPIRE + + +I + +FATHER MOSES AND HIS FAMILY + +Since you wish to know about the blockade of Phalsburg in 1814, I will +tell you all about it, said Father Moses of the Jews' street. + +I lived then in the little house on the corner, at the right of the +market. My business was selling iron by the pound, under the arch +below, and I lived above with my wife Sorlé (Sarah) and my little +Sâfel, the child of my old age. + +My two other boys, Itzig and Frômel, had gone to America, and my +daughter Zeffen was married to Baruch, the leather-dealer, at Saverne. + +Besides my iron business, I traded in old shoes, old linen, and all the +articles of old clothing which conscripts sell on reaching the depot, +where they receive their military outfit. Travelling pedlers bought +the old linen of me for paper-rags, and the other things I sold to the +country people. + +This was a profitable business, because thousands of conscripts passed +through Phalsburg from week to week, and from month to month. They +were measured at once at the mayoralty, clothed, and filed off to +Mayence, Strasburg, or wherever it might be. + +This lasted a long time; but at length people were tired of war, +especially after the Russian campaign and the great recruiting of 1813. + +You may well suppose, Fritz, that I did not wait till this time before +sending my two boys beyond the reach of the recruiting officers' +clutches. They were boys who did not lack sense. At twelve years old +their heads were clear enough, and rather than go and fight for the +King of Prussia, they would see themselves safe at the ends of the +earth. + +At evening, when we sat at supper around the lamp with its seven +burners, their mother would sometimes cover her face and say: + +"My poor children! My poor children! When I think that the time is +near when you will go in the midst of musket and bayonet fire--in the +midst of thunder and lightning!--oh, how dreadful!" + +And I saw them turn pale. I smiled at myself and thought: "You are no +fools. You will hold on to your life. That is right!" + +If I had had children capable of becoming soldiers, I should have died +of grief. I should have said, "These are not of my race!" + +But the boys grew stronger and handsomer. When Itzig was fifteen he +was doing a good business. He bought cattle in the villages on his own +account, and sold them at a profit to butcher Borich at Mittelbronn; +and Frômel was not behind him, for he made the best bargains of the old +merchandise, which we had heaped in three barracks under the market. + +I should have liked well to keep the boys with me. It was my delight +to see them with my little Sâfel--the curly head and eyes bright as a +squirrel's--yes, it was my joy! Often I clasped them in my arms +without a word, and even they wondered at it; I frightened them; but +dreadful thoughts passed through my mind after 1812. I knew that +whenever the Emperor had returned to Paris, he had demanded four +hundred millions of francs and two or three hundred thousand men, and I +said to myself: + +"This time, everybody must go, even children of seventeen and eighteen!" + +As the tidings grew worse and worse, I said to them one evening: + +"Listen! you both understand trading, and what you do not yet know you +can learn. Now, if you wait a few months, you will be on the +conscription list, and be like all the rest; they will take you to the +square and show you how to load a gun, and then you will go away, and I +never shall hear of you again!" + +Sorlé sighed, and we all sighed together. Then, after a moment, I +continued: + +"But if you set out at once for America, by the way of Havre, you will +reach it safe and sound; you will do business there as well as here; +you will make money, you will marry, you will increase according to the +Lord's promise, and you will send me back money, according to God's +commandment, 'Honor thy father and thy mother.' I will bless you as +Isaac blessed Jacob, and you will have a long life. Choose!" + +They at once chose to go to America, and I went with them myself as far +as Sorreburg. Each of them had made twenty louis in his own business +so that I needed to give them nothing but my blessing. + +And what I said to them has come to pass; they are both living, they +have numerous children, who are my descendants, and when I want +anything they send it to me. + +Itzig and Frômel being gone, I had only Sâfel left, my Benjamin, dearer +even, if possible, than the others. And then, too, I had my daughter +Zeffen, married at Saverne to a good respectable man, Baruch; she was +the oldest, and had already given me a grandson named David, according +to the Lord's will that the dead should be replaced in his own family, +and David was the name of Baruch's grandfather. The one expected was +to be called after my father, Esdras. + +You see, Fritz, how I was situated before the blockade of Phalsburg, in +1814. Everything had gone well up to that time, but for six weeks +everything had gone wrong in town and country. We had the typhus; +thousands of wounded soldiers surrounded the houses; the ground had +lacked laborers for the last two years, and everything was dear--bread, +meat, and drink. The people of Alsace and Lorraine did not come to +market; our stores of merchandise did not sell; and when merchandise +does not sell, it might as well be sand or stones; we are poor in the +midst of abundance. Famine comes from every quarter. + +Ah, well! in spite of it all, the Lord had a great blessing in store +for me, for just at this time, early in November, came the news that a +second son was born to Zeffen, and that he was in fine health. I was +so glad that I set out at once for Saverne. + +You must know, Fritz, that if I was very glad, it was not only on +account of the birth of a grandson, but also because my son-in-law +would not be obliged to leave home, if the child lived. Baruch had +always been fortunate; at the moment when the Emperor had made the +Senate vote that unmarried men must go, he had just married Zeffen; and +when the Senate voted that married men without children must go, he had +his first child. Now, after the bad news, it was voted that married +men with only one child should go, all the same, and Baruch had two. + +At that time it was a fortunate thing to have quantities of children, +to keep you from being massacred; no greater blessing could be desired! +This is why I took my cane at once, to go and find out whether the +child were sound and healthy, and whether it would save its father. + +But for long years to come, if God spares my life, I shall remember +that day, and what I met upon my way. + +Imagine the road-side blocked, as it were, with carts filled with the +sick and wounded, forming a line all the way from Quatre-Vents to +Saverne. + +The peasants who, in Alsace, were required to transport these poor +creatures, had unharnessed their horses and escaped in the night, +abandoning their carts; the hoar-frost had passed over them; there was +not motion or sign of life--all dead, as it were one long cemetery! +Thousands of ravens covered the sky like a cloud; there was nothing to +be seen but wings moving in the air, nothing to be heard but one murmur +of innumerable cries. I would not have believed that heaven and earth +could produce so many ravens. They flew down to the very carts; but +the moment a living man approached, all these creatures rose and flew +away to the forest of La Bonne-Fontaine, or the ruins of the old +convent of Dann. + +As for myself, I lengthened my steps, feeling that I must not stop, +that the typhus was marching at my heels. + +Happily the winter sets in early at Phalsburg. A cold wind blew from +the Schneeberg, and these strong draughts of mountain air disperse all +maladies, even, it is said, the Black Plague itself. + +What I have now told you is about the retreat from Leipsic, in the +beginning of November. + +When I reached Saverne, the city was crowded with troops, artillery, +infantry, and cavalry, pell-mell. + +I remember that, in the principal street, the windows of an inn were +open, and a long table with its white cloth was seen, all laid, within. +All the guard of honor stopped there. These were young men of rich +families, who had money in spite of their tattered uniforms. The +moment they saw this table in passing, they leaped from their horses +and rushed into the hall. But the innkeeper, Hannes, made them pay +five francs in advance, and just as the poor things began to eat, a +servant ran in, crying out, "The Prussians! the Prussians!" They +sprang up at once and mounted their horses like madmen, without once +looking back, and in this way Hannes sold his dinner more than twenty +times. + +I have often thought since that such scoundrels deserve hanging; yes, +this way of making money is not lawful business. It disgusted me. + +But if I should describe the rest--the faces of the sick, the way in +which they lay, the groans they uttered, and, above all, the tears of +those who tried in vain to go on--if I should tell you this, it would +be still worse, it would be too much. I saw, on the slope of the old +tan-house bridge, a little guardsman of seventeen or eighteen years, +stretched out, with his face flat upon the stones. I have never +forgotten that boy; he raised himself from time to time, and showed his +hand as black as soot: he had a ball in the back, and his hand was half +gone. The poor fellow had doubtless fallen from a cart. Nobody dared +to help him because they heard it said, "He has the typhus! he has the +typhus." Oh, what misery! It is too dreadful to think of! + +Now, Fritz, I must tell you another thing about that day, and that is +how I saw Marshal Victor. + +It was late when I started from Phalsburg, and it was dark when, on +going up the principal street of Saverne, I saw all the windows of the +Hotel du Soleil illuminated from top to bottom. Two sentinels walked +to and fro under the arch, officers in full uniform went in and out, +magnificent horses were fastened to rings all along the walls; and, +within the court, the lamps of a calash shone like two stars. + +The sentinels kept the street clear, but I must pass, because Baruch +dwelt farther on. I was going through the crowd, in front of the +hotel, and the first sentinel was calling out to me, "Back! back!" when +an officer of hussars, a short, stout man, with great red whiskers, +came out of the arch, and as he met me, exclaimed, + +"Ah! is it you, Moses! I am glad to see you!" + +He shook hands with me. + +I opened my eyes with amazement, as was natural: a superior officer +shaking hands with a plain citizen is not an every-day occurrence. I +looked at him in astonishment, and recognized Commandant Zimmer. + +Thirty years before we had been at Father Genaudet's school, and we had +scoured the city, the moats, and the glacis together, as children. But +since then Zimmer had been a good many times in Phalsburg, without +remembering his old comrade, Samuel Moses. + +"Ho!" said he, smiling, and taking me by the arm, "come, I must present +you to the marshal." + +And, in spite of myself, before I had said a word, I went in under the +arch, into a large room where two long tables, loaded with lights and +bottles, were laid for the staff-officers. + +A number of superior officers, generals, colonels, commanders of +hussars, of dragoons and of chasseurs, in plumed hats, in helmets, in +red shakos, their chins in their huge cravats, their swords dragging, +were walking silently back and forth, or talking with each other, while +they waited to be called to table. + +It was difficult to pass through the crowd, but Zimmer kept hold of my +arm, and led me to the end of the room, to a little lighted door. + +We entered a high room, with two windows opening upon the gardens. + +The marshal was there, standing, his head uncovered; his back was +toward us, and he was dictating orders which two staff-officers were +writing. + +This was all which I noticed at the moment, in my confusion. + +Just after we entered, the marshal turned; I saw that he had the good +face of an old Lorraine peasant. He was a tall, powerful man, with a +grayish head; he was about fifty years old, and very heavy for his age. + +"Marshal, here's our man!" said Zimmer. "He is one of my old +school-mates, Samuel Moses, a first-rate fellow, who has been +traversing the country these thirty years, and knows every village in +Alsace and Lorraine." + +The marshal looked at me a few steps off. I held my hat in my hand in +great fear. After looking at me a couple of seconds, he took the paper +which one of the secretaries handed him, read and signed it, then +turned back to me: + +"Well, my good man," said he, "what do they say about the last +campaign? What do the people in your village think about it?" + +On hearing him call me "my good man," I took courage, and answered +"that the typhus had made bad work, but the people were not +disheartened, because they knew that the Emperor with his army was at +hand." + +And when he said abruptly: "Yes! But will they defend themselves?" I +answered: "The Alsatians and the Lorraines are people who will defend +themselves till death, because they love their Emperor, and they would +all be willing to die for him!" + +I said that by way of prudence; but he could plainly see in my face +that I was no fighting man, for he smiled good-humoredly, and said: +"That will do, commandant, that is enough!" + +The secretaries had kept on writing. Zimmer made a sign to me and we +went out together. When we were outside he called out: + +"Good-by, Moses, good-by!" + +The sentinels let me pass, and still trembling, I continued my journey. + +I was soon knocking at the little door of Baruch's house at the end of +the lane where the cardinal's old stables were. + +It was pitch dark. + +What a joy it was, Fritz, after having seen all these terrible things, +to come to the place where those I loved were resting! How softly my +heart beat, and how I pitied all that power and glory which made so +many people miserable! + +After a moment I heard my son-in-law enter the passage and open the +door. Baruch and Zeffen had long since ceased expecting me. + +"Is it you, my father?" asked Baruch. + +"Yes, my son, it is I. I am late. I have been hindered." + +"Come!" said he. + +And we entered the little passage, and then into the chamber where +Zeffen, my daughter, lay pale and happy, upon her bed. + +She had recognized my voice. As for me, my heart beat with joy; I +could not speak; and I embraced my daughter, while I looked around to +find the little one. Zeffen held it in her arms under the coverlet. + +"There he is!" she said. + +Then she showed him to me in his swaddling-clothes. I saw at once that +he was plump and healthy, with his little hands closed tight, and I +exclaimed: + +"Baruch, this is Esdras, my father! Let him be welcome!" + +I wanted to see him without his clothes, so I undressed him. It was +warm in the little room from the lamp with seven burners. Tremblingly +I undressed him; he did not cry, and my daughter's white hands assisted +me: + +"Wait, my father, wait!" said she. + +My son-in-law looked on behind me. We all had tears in our eyes. + +At last I had him all undressed; he was rosy, and his large head tossed +about, sleeping the sleep of centuries. Then I lifted him above my +head; I looked at his round thighs all in creases, at his little +drawn-up feet, his broad chest and plump back, and I wanted to dance +like David before the ark; I wanted to chant: "Praise the Lord! Praise +him ye servants of the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be +the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever more! From the +rising of the sun, unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is +to be praised! The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above +the heavens! Who is like unto the Lord our God, who raiseth up the +poor out of the dust, who maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to +be a joyful mother of children? Praise ye the Lord!" + +Yes, I felt like chanting this, but all that I could say was: "He is a +fine, perfect child! He is going to live! He will be the blessing of +our race and the joy of our old age!" + +And I blessed them all. + +Then giving him back to his mother to be covered, I went to embrace the +other who was sound asleep in his cradle. + +We remained there together a long time, to see each other, in this joy. +Without, horses were passing, soldiers shouting, carriages rolling by. +Here all was quiet: the mother nursed her infant. + +Ah! Fritz, I am an old man now, and these far-off things are always +before me, as at the first; my heart always beats in recalling them, +and I thank God for His great goodness,--I thank Him. He has loaded me +with years, He has permitted me to see the third generation, and I am +not weary of life; I should like to live on and see the fourth and the +fifth--His will be done! + +I should have liked to tell them of what had just happened to me at the +Hotel du Soleil, but everything was insignificant in comparison with my +joy; only after I had left the chamber, while I was taking a mouthful +of bread and drinking a glass of wine in the side hall so as to let +Zeffen sleep, I related the adventure to Baruch, who was greatly +surprised. + +"Listen, my son," said I, "this man asked me if we want to defend +ourselves. That shows that the allies are following our armies, that +they are marching by hundreds of thousands, and that they cannot be +hindered from entering France. So you see that, in the midst of our +joy, there is danger of terrible evils; you see that all the harm which +we have been doing to others for these last ten years may return upon +us. I fear so. God grant that I may be mistaken!" + +After this we went to bed. It was eleven o'clock, and the tumult +without still continued. + + + + +II + +FATHER MOSES'S SPECULATION + +Early the next morning, after breakfast, I took my cane to return to +Phalsburg. Zeffen and Baruch wanted to keep me longer, but I said: + +"You do not think of your mother, who is expecting me. She does not +keep still a minute; she keeps going upstairs and down, and looking out +of the window. No, I must go. Sorlé must not be uneasy while we are +comfortable." + +Zeffen said no more, and filled my pockets with apples and nuts for her +brother Sâfel. I embraced them again, the little ones and the big; +then Baruch led me far back of the gardens, to the place where the +roads to Schlittenbach and Lutzelburg divide. + +The troops had all left, only stragglers and the sick remaining. But +we could still see the line of carts in the distance, on the hill, and +bands of day-laborers who had been set to work digging graves back of +the road. + +The very thought of passing that way disturbed me. I shook hands with +Baruch at this fork of the road, promising to come again with +grandmother to the circumcision, and then took the valley road, which +follows the Zorn through the woods. + +This path was full of dead leaves, and for two hours I walked on +thinking at times of the Hotel du Soleil, of Zimmer, of Marshal Victor, +whom I seemed to see again, with his tall figure, his square shoulders, +his gray head, and coat covered with embroidery. Sometimes I pictured +to myself Zeffen's chamber, the little babe and its mother; then the +war which threatened us--that mass of enemies advancing from every side! + +Several times I stopped in the midst of these valleys sloping into each +other as far as the eye can reach, all covered with firs, oaks and +beeches, and I said to myself: + +"Who knows? Perhaps the Prussians, Austrians and Russians will soon +pass along here!" + +But there was comfort in this thought; "Moses, your two boys, Itzig and +Frômel, are in America far from the reach of cannon; they are there +with their packs on their shoulders, going from village to village +without danger. And your daughter Zeffen, too, may sleep in quiet; +Baruch has two fine children, and will have another every year while +the war lasts. He will sell leather to make bags and shoes for those +who have to go, but, for his part, he will stay at home." + +I smiled as I thought that I was too old to be conscripted, that I was +a gray-head, and the conscriptors could have none of us. Yes; I smiled +as I saw that I had acted very wisely in everything, and that the Lord +had, as it were, cleared my path. + +It is a great satisfaction, Fritz, to see that everything is working to +our advantage. + +In the midst of these thoughts I came quietly to Lutzelburg, and I went +to Brestel's at the Swan Hotel to take a cup of coffee. + +There I found Bernard, the soap merchant, whom you do not know--a +little man, bald to the very nape of the neck, with great wens on his +head--and Donadieu, the Harberg forest-keeper. One had laid his dosser +and the other his gun against the wall, and they were emptying a bottle +of wine between them. Brestel was helping. + +"Ha! it is Moses," exclaimed Bernard. "Where the devil dost thou come +from, so early in the morning!" + +Christians in those days were in the habit of _thou_ing the Jews--even +the old men. I answered that I had come from Saverne, by the valley. + +"Ah! thou hast seen the wounded," said the keeper. "What thinkest thou +of that, Moses!" + +"I have seen them," I replied sadly, "I saw them last evening. It is +dreadful!" + +"Yes, it is; everybody has gone up there to-day, because old Gredal of +Quatre-Vents found her nephew under a cart--Joseph Bertha, the little +lame watchmaker who worked last year with Father Goulden; so the people +from Dagsberg, Houpe, and Garburg, expect to find their brothers, or +sons, or cousins in the heap." + +He shrugged his shoulders compassionately. + +"These things are dreadful," said Brestel, "but they must come. There +has been no business these two years; I have back here, in my court, +three thousand pounds' worth of planks and timber. That would formerly +have lasted me for six weeks or two months; but now it is all rotting +on the spot; nobody wants it on the Sarre, nobody wants it in Alsace, +nobody orders anything or buys anything. It is just so with the hotel. +Nobody has a sous; everybody stays at home, thankful if they have +potatoes to eat and cold water to drink. Meanwhile my wine and beer +turn sour in the cellar, and are covered with mildew. And all that +does not keep off the duties; you must pay, or the officer will be upon +you." + +"Yes," cried Bernard, "it is the same thing everywhere. But what is it +to the Emperor whether planks and soap sell or not, provided the +contributions come in and the conscripts arrive?" + +Donadieu perceived that his comrade had taken a glass too much; he +rose, put back his gun into his shoulder-belt, and went out, calling to +us. + +"Good-by to you all, good-by! We will talk about this another time." + +A few minutes afterward, I paid for my cup of coffee, and followed his +example. + +I had the same thoughts as Brestel and Bernard; I saw that my trade in +iron and old clothes was at an end; and as I went up the Barracks' hill +I thought, "Try to find something else, Moses. Everything is at a +stand-still. But one cannot use up his money to the last farthing. I +must turn to something else--I must find an article which is always +salable. But what is always salable? Every trade has its day, and +then it comes to an end." + +While thus meditating, I passed the Barracks of the Bois-de-Chênes. I +was on the plateau from which I could see the glacis, the line of +ramparts, and the bastions, when the firing of a cannon gave notice +that the marshal was leaving the place. At the same time I saw at the +left, in the direction of Mittelbronn, the line of sabres flashing like +lightning in the distance among the poplars of the highway. The trees +were leafless, and I could see, too, the carriage and postilions +passing like the wind through the plumes and caps. + +The cannon pealed, second after second; the mountains gave back peal +after peal, from the very depths of their valleys; and as for myself, I +was quite carried away by the thought of having seen this man the day +before; it seemed like a dream. + +Then, about ten o'clock, I passed the bridge of the French gate. The +last cannon sounded upon the bastion of the powder-house; the crowd of +men, women and children descended the ramparts, as if it were a +festival; they knew nothing, thought of nothing, while cries of "Vive +l'Empereur!" rose in every street. + +I passed through the crowd, well pleased at bringing good news to my +wife; and I was saying to myself beforehand, "The little one is doing +well, Sorlé!" when, at the corner of the market, I saw her at our door. +I raised my cane at once, and smiled, as much as to say "Baruch is +safe--we may laugh!" + +She understood me, and went in at once; but I overtook her on the +stairs, and embraced her, saying: + +"It is a good, hearty little fellow--there! Such a baby--so round and +rosy! And Zeffen is doing well. Baruch wished me to embrace you for +him. But where is Sâfel?" + +"Under the market, selling." + +"Ah, good!" + +We went into our room. I sat down and began to praise Zeffen's baby. +Sorlé listened with delight, looking at me with her great black eyes, +and wiping my forehead, for I had walked fast, and could hardly breathe. + +And then, all of a sudden, our Sâfel came in. I had not time to turn +my head before he was on my knees, with his hands in my pockets. The +child knew that his sister Zeffen never forgot him; and Sorlé, too, +liked to bite an apple. + +You see, Fritz, when I think of these things, everything comes back to +me; I could talk to you about it forever. + +It was Friday, the day before the Sabbath; the _Schabbés-Goïe_* was to +come in the afternoon. While we were still alone at dinner, and I +related for the fifth and sixth time how Zimmer had recognized me, how +he had taken me into the presence of the Duke of Bellune, my wife told +me that the marshal had made the tour of our ramparts on horseback, +with his staff-officers; that he had examined the advanced works, the +bastions, the glacis, and that he had said, as he went down the college +street, that the place would hold out for eighteen days, and that it +must be fortified immediately. + + +* Woman, not Israelite, who on Saturday performs in a Jewish household +the labors forbidden by the law of Moses. + + +I remembered at once that he had asked me if we wished to defend +ourselves, and I exclaimed: "He is sure that the enemy is coming; since +he is going to put cannon upon the ramparts, it is because there will +be need of them. It is not natural to make preparations which are not +to be used. And, if the allies come, the gates will be shut. What +will become of us without our business? The country people can neither +go in nor out, and what will become of us?" + +Then Sorlé showed her good sense, for she said: + +"I have already thought about this, Moses; it is only the peasants who +buy iron, old shoes, and our other things. We must undertake a city +business for all classes--a business which will oblige citizens, +soldiers and workmen to buy of us. That is what we must do." + +I looked at her in surprise. Sâfel, with his elbow on the table, was +also listening. + +"It is all very well, Sorlé," I replied, "but what business is there +which will oblige citizens, soldiers, everybody to buy of us--what +business is there?" + +"Listen," said she; "if the gates are shut and the country people +cannot enter, there will be no eggs, butter, fish, or anything in the +market. People will have to live on salt meats and dried vegetables, +flour, and all kinds of preserved articles. Those who have bought up +these can sell them at their own price; they will grow rich." + +As I listened I was struck with astonishment. + +"Ah, Sorlé! Sorlé!" I exclaimed, "for thirty years you have been my +comfort. Yes, you have crowned me with all sorts of blessings, and I +have said a hundred times, 'A good wife is a diamond of pure water, and +without flaw. A good wife is a rich treasure for her husband.' I have +repeated it a hundred times. But now I know still better what you are +worth, and esteem you still more highly." + +The more I thought of it, the more I perceived the wisdom of this +advice. At length I said: + +"Sorlé, meat and flour, and everything which can be kept, are already +in the storehouses, and the soldiers will not need such things for a +long time, because their officers will have provided them. But what +will be wanted is brandy, which men must have to massacre and +exterminate each other in war, and brandy we will buy! We will have +plenty of it in our cellar, we will sell it, and nobody else will have +it. That is my idea!" + +"It is a good idea, Moses!" said she; "your reasons are good; I approve +of them." + +"Then I will write," said I, "and we will invest everything in spirits +of wine. We will add water ourselves, in proportion as people wish to +pay for it. In this way the freight will be less than if it were +brandy, for we shall not have to pay for the transportation of the +water, which we have here." + +"That is well, Moses," she said. + +And so we agreed. + +Then I said to Sâfel: + +"You must not speak of this to any one." + +She answered for him: + +"There's no need of telling him that, Moses. Sâfel knows very well +that this is between ourselves, and that our well-being depends upon +it." + +The child for a long time resented my words: "You must not speak of +this to any one." He was already full of good sense, and said to +himself: + +"So my father thinks I am an idiot." + +This thought humiliated him. Some years afterward he told me of it, +and I perceived that I had been wrong. + +Everybody has his notions. Children should not be humiliated in +theirs, but rather upheld by their parents. + + + + +III + +A CIRCUMCISION FEAST + +So I wrote to Pézenas. This is a southern city, rich in wools, wines, +and brandies. The price of brandies at Pézenas controls that of all +Europe. A trading man ought to know that, and I knew it, because I had +always liked to read the list of prices in the newspapers. I sent to +M. Quataya, at Pézenas, for a dozen pipes of spirits of wine. I +calculated that, after paying the freight, a pipe would cost me a +thousand francs, delivered in my cellar. + +As I had sold no iron for a year, I disposed of my merchandise without +asking anything for it; the payment of the twelve thousand francs did +not trouble me. Only, Fritz, those twelve thousand francs were half my +fortune, and you may suppose that it required some courage to risk in +one venture the gains of fifteen years. + +As soon as my letter was gone, I wished I could bring it back, but it +was too late. I kept a good face before my wife, and said, "It will +all do well! We shall gain double, triple, etc." + +She, too, kept a good face, but we both had misgivings; and during the +six weeks necessary for the receipt of the acknowledgment and +acceptance of my order, and the arrival of the spirits of wine, every +night I lay awake, thinking, "Moses, you have lost everything! You are +ruined from top to toe!" + +The cold sweat would cover my body. Still, if any one had come to me +and said, "Be easy, Moses, I will relieve you of this business," I +should have refused, because my hope of gain was as great as my fear of +loss. And by this you may know who are the true merchants, the true +generals, and all who accomplish anything. Others are but machines for +selling tobacco, or filling glasses, or firing guns. + +It all comes to the same thing. One man's glory is as great as +another's. This is why, when we speak of Austerlitz, Jena or Wagram, +it is not a question of Jean Claude or Jean Nicholas, but of Napoleon +alone; he alone risked everything, the others risked only being killed. + +I do not say this to compare myself with Napoleon, but the buying of +these twelve pipes of spirits of wine was my battle of Austerlitz. + +And when I think that, on reaching Paris, Napoleon had demanded four +hundred and forty millions of money, and _six hundred thousand men_! +and that then everybody, understanding that we were threatened with an +invasion, undertook to sell and to make money at any cost, while I +bought, unhampered by the example of others--when I think of this, I am +proud of it still and congratulate myself. + +It was in the midst of these disquietudes that the day for the +circumcision of little Esdras arrived. My daughter Zeffen had +recovered, and Baruch had written to us not to trouble ourselves, for +they would come to Phalsburg. + +My wife then hastened to prepare the meats and cakes for the festival: +the _bie-kougel_, the _haman_, and the _schlachmoness_, which are great +delicacies. + +On my part, I had tested my best wine on the old Rabbi Heymann, and I +had invited my friends, Leiser of Mittelbronn and his wife Boûné, +Senterlé Hirsch, and Professor Burguet. Burguet was not a Jew, but he +was worthy of being one on account of his genius and extraordinary +talents. + +When a speech was wanted in the Emperor's progress, Burguet made it; +when songs were needed for a national festival, Burguet composed them +between two sips of beer; when a young candidate for law or medicine +was perplexed in writing his thesis, he went to Burguet, who wrote it +for him, whether in French or in Latin; when fathers and mothers were +to be moved to tears at the distribution of school prizes, Burguet was +the man to do it; he would take a blank sheet of paper, and read them a +discourse on the spot, such as nobody else could have written in ten +years; when a petition was to be made to the Emperor or prefect, +Burguet was the first man thought of; and when Burguet took the trouble +to defend a deserter before the court-martial at the mayoralty, the +deserter, instead of being shot on the bastion of the barracks, was +pardoned. + +After all this, Burguet would return and take his part in piquet with +the little Jew, Solomon, at which he always lost; and people troubled +themselves no more about him. + +I have often thought that Burguet must have greatly despised those to +whom he took off his hat. Yes, to see the fellows putting on important +airs because they were rural guard or secretary of the mayoralty, must +have made a man like him laugh in his sleeve. But he never told me so; +he knew the ways of the world too well. + +He was an old constitutional priest, a tall man, with a noble figure +and very fine voice; the very tones of it would move you in spite of +yourself. Unfortunately, he did not take care of his own interests; he +was at the mercy of the first comer. How many times I have said to him: + +"Burguet, in heaven's name, don't get mixed up with thieves! Burguet, +don't let yourself be robbed by simpletons! Trust me about your +college expenses. When anybody comes to impose upon you I will be on +the spot; I will pay the bills and hand you the account." + +But he did not think of the future, and lived very carelessly. + +I had thus invited all my old friends for the morning of the +twenty-fourth of November, and they all came to the festival. + +The father and mother, with the little infant, and its godfather and +godmother, came early, in a large carriage. By eleven the ceremony had +taken place in our synagogue, and we all, in great joy and +satisfaction, for the child had not uttered a cry, returned together to +my house, which had been made ready beforehand--the large table on the +first floor, the meats in their pewter dishes, the fruits in their +baskets--and we had begun in great glee to celebrate the happy day. + +The old Rabbi Heymann, Leiser, and Burguet sat at my right, my little +Sâfel, Hirsch, and Baruch at my left, and the women Sorlé, Zeffen, +Jételé, and Boûné, facing us on the other side, according to the +command of the Lord, that men and women should be separate at +festivities. + +Burguet, with his white cravat, his handsome maroon coat and his +ruffled shirt, did me honor. He made a speech, raising his voice and +making fine gestures like a great orator--telling of the ancient +customs of our nation, of our religious ceremonies, of _Paeçach_ (the +feast of Passover), of _Rosch-haschannah_ (the New Year), of _Kippour_ +(the day of expiation), like a true _Ied_ (Jew), thinking our religion +very beautiful and glorifying the genius of Moses. + +He knew the _Lochene Koïdech_ (Chaldaic) as well as a _bal-kebolé_ +(cabalistic doctor). + +The Saverne people turned to their neighbors and asked in a whisper: + +"Pray, who is this man who speaks with authority, and says such fine +things? Is he a rabbi? Is he a _schamess_ (Jewish beadle)? or is he +the _parness_ (civil head) of your community?" + +And when they learned he was not one of us, they were astonished. The +old Rabbi Heymann alone was able to answer him, and they agreed on all +points, like learned men talking on familiar subjects and conscious of +their own learning. + +Behind us, on its grandmother's bed, inside of the curtains, slept our +little Esdras, with his sweet face and little clinched hands--slept so +soundly, that neither our shouts of laughter, nor the talking, nor the +sound of the glasses could wake him. Sometimes one, sometimes another, +went to look at him, and everybody said: + +"What a beautiful child! He looks like his grandfather Moses!" + +That pleased me, of course; and I would go and look at him, bending +over him for a long while, and finding a still stronger resemblance to +my father. + +At three o'clock, the meats having been removed and the delicacies +spread upon the table, as we came to the dessert, I went down to find a +bottle of better wine, an old bottle of Rousillon which I dug out from +under the others, all covered with dust and cobwebs. I took it up +carefully and placed it among the flowers on the table, saying: + +"You thought the other wine very good; what will you say to this?" + +Then Burguet smiled, for old wine was his special delight; he stretched +up his hand and exclaimed: + +"Oh! noble wine, the consoler, the restorer and benefactor of poor men +in this vale of misery! Oh, venerable bottle, thou bearest all the +signs of old nobility!" + +He said this with his mouth full, and everybody laughed. + +I asked Sorlé to bring the corkscrew. + +As she was rising, suddenly trumpets sounded without, and we all +listened and asked, "What is that?" + +At the same time the sound of many horses' steps came up the street, +and the earth and the houses trembled under an enormous weight. + +Everybody sprang up, throwing down their napkins and rushing to the +windows. + +And from the French gate to the little square we saw trains of +artillerymen advancing, with their great shakos covered with oil-cloth, +and their saddles in sheepskins and driving caissons full of round +shot, shells and intrenching tools. + +Imagine, Fritz, my thoughts at that moment! + +"This is war, my friends!" said Burguet. "This is war! It is coming! +Our turn has come, at the end of twenty years!" + +I stood leaning down with my hand on the stone, and thought: + +"Now the enemy cannot delay coming. These are sent to fortify the +place. And what if the allies surround us before I have received my +spirits of wine? What if the Austrians or Russians should stop the +wagons and seize them? I should have to pay for it all the same, and I +should not have a farthing left!" + +I turned pale at the thought. Sorlé looked at me, undoubtedly having +the same fears, but she said nothing. + +We stood there till they all passed by. The street was full. Some old +soldiers, Desmarets the Egyptian, Paradis the gunner, Rolfo, Faisard +the sapper, of the Beresina, as he was called, and some others, cried +"Vive l'Empereur!" + +Children ran behind the wagons, repeating the cry, "Vive l'Empereur!" +But the greater number, with closed lips and serious faces, looked on +in silence. + +When the last carriage had turned the Fouquet corner, all the crowd +returned with bowed heads; and we in the room looked at each other, +with no wish to continue the feast. + +"You are not well, Moses," said Burguet. "What is the matter?" + +"I am thinking of all the evils which are coming to the city." + +"Bah! don't be afraid," he replied. "We shall be strongly defended! +And then, God help us! what can't be cured must be endured! Come! +cheer up; this old wine will keep up our spirits." + +We resumed our places. I opened the bottle, and it was as Burguet +said. The old Rousillon did us good, and we began to laugh. + +Burguet called out: + +"To the health of the little Esdras! May the Lord cover him with his +right hand!" + +And the glasses clinked. Some one exclaimed: "May he long rejoice the +hearts of his grandfather Moses and his grandmother Sorlé! To their +health!" + +We ended by looking at everything in rose-color, and glorifying the +Emperor, who was hastening to defend us, and was soon going to crush +all the beggars beyond the Rhine. + +But it is equally true that, when we separated about five o'clock, +everybody had become serious, and Burguet himself, when he shook hands +with me at the foot of the stairs, looked anxious. + +"We shall have to send home our pupils," said he, "and we must sit with +our arms folded." + +The Saverne people, with Zeffen, Baruch, and the children, got into +their carriage, and started silently for home. + + + + +IV + +FATHER MOSES COMPELLED TO BEAR ARMS + +All this, Fritz, was but the beginning of troubles. + +You should have seen the city the next morning, at about eleven +o'clock, when the engineering officers had finished inspecting the +ramparts, and the tidings suddenly spread that there were needed +seventy-two platforms inside the bastions, three bomb-proof +block-houses, for thirty men each, at the right and left of the German +gate, ten palankas with battlements forming stronghold intrenchments +for forty men, and four blindages upon the great square of the +mayoralty to shelter each a hundred and ten men; and when it was known +that the citizens would be obliged to work at all these, to provide +themselves with shovels, pickaxes, and wheelbarrows, and the peasants +to bring trees with their own horses! + +As for Sorlé, Sâfel, and myself, we did not even know what blindages +and palankas were; we asked our neighbor Bailly, an old armorer, what +they were for, and he answered with a smile: + +"You will find out, neighbor, when you hear the balls roar and the +shells hiss. It would take too long to explain. You will see, by and +by; never too late to learn." + +Imagine how the people looked! I remember that everybody ran to the +square, where our mayor, Baron Parmentier, made a speech. We ran there +with all the rest. + +Sorlé held me by the arm, and Sâfel by the skirt of my coat. + +There, in front of the mayoralty, the whole city, men, women, and +children, formed in a semicircle, and listened in the deepest silence, +now and then crying all together, "Vive l'Empereur!" + +Parmentier, a tall, thin man, in a sky-blue dress-coat, a white cravat, +and the tri-colored sash around his waist, stood on the top of the +steps of the guard-house, with the members of the municipal council +behind him, under the arch, and shouted out: + +"Phalsburgians! The time has come in which to show your devotion to +the Empire. A year ago all Europe was with us, now all Europe is +against us. We should have everything to fear without the energy and +power of the people. He who will not do his duty now will be a traitor +to his country! Inhabitants of Phalsburg, show what you are! Remember +that your children have perished through the treachery of the allies. +Avenge them! Let every one be obedient to the military authority, for +the sake of the safety of France," etc. + +Only to hear him made one's flesh creep, and I said to myself: + +"Now there will not be time for the spirits of wine to get here--that +is plain! The allies are on their way!" + +Elias the butcher, and Kalmes Levy the ribbon-merchant, were standing +near us. Instead of crying "Vive l'Empereur!" with the rest, they said +to each other: + +"Good! we are not barons, you and I! Barons, counts, and dukes have +but to defend themselves. Are we to think only of their interests?" + +But all the old soldiers, and especially those of the Republic, old +Goulden, the clockmaker, Desmarels, the Egyptian--creatures with not a +hair left on their heads, nor as much as four teeth to hold their +pipes--these creatures fell in with the mayor, and cried out: + +"Vive la France! We must defend ourselves to the death!" + +I saw several looking askance at Kalmes Levy, and I whispered to him: + +"Keep still, Kalmes! For heaven's sake, keep still! They will tear +you in pieces!" + +It was true. The old men gave him terrible looks; they grew pale, and +their cheeks shook. + +Then Kalmes stopped talking, and even left the crowd to return home. +But Elias stayed till the end of the speech, and, as the whole mass of +people were going down the main street, shouting "Vive l'Empereur!" he +could not help saying to the old clockmaker: + +"What! you, Mr. Goulden, a reasonable man, who have never wanted +anything of the Emperor, you are now going to take his part, and cry +out that we must defend ourselves till death! Is it our business to be +soldiers? Have not we furnished enough soldiers to the Empire these +last ten years? Have not enough men been killed? Must we give, +besides, our own blood to support barons, counts, and dukes?" + +But old Goulden did not let him finish, and replied, as if indignant: +"Listen, Elias! try to keep still! The thing now to be done is not to +know what is right or wrong--it is to save France. I warn you, that if +you try to discourage others, it will be bad for you. Believe me--go!" + +Already a number of superannuated soldiers were gathered round us, and +Elias had only time to retreat by the opposite lane. + +From this time public notices, requisitions, forced labors, domiciliary +visits for tools and wheelbarrows, came one after another, incessantly. +A man was nothing in his own house; the officers of the place assumed +authority over everything: only to be sure, they gave receipts. + +All the tools from my storehouse of iron were in use on the ramparts. +Fortunately I had sold a good many beforehand, for these tickets in +place of my wares would have ruined me. + +From time to time the mayor made a speech, and the governor, a fat man, +covered with pimples, expressed his satisfaction to the citizens; that +made up for their money! + +When my time came to take the pickaxe and draw the wheelbarrow, I +arranged with Carabin, the wood-sawyer, to take my place for thirty +sous. Ah, what misery! Such a time will never come again. + +While the governor commanded us within the city, the soldiers were +always outside to superintend the peasants. The road to Lutzelburg was +but one line of carts, laden with old oaks for building blockhouses. +These are large sentry-boxes, or turrets, built up of solid trunks of +trees, laid crosswise one upon another, and then covered with earth. +These are more solid than an arch. Shells and bombs might rain upon +them without disturbing anything within, as I found afterward. + +These trees were also used to make lines of enormous palisades, pointed +and pierced with holes for firing; these are what they call palankas. + +I seem still to hear the shouts of the peasants, the neighing of the +horses, the strokes of the whips, and all the other noises, which never +stopped, day or night. + +My only consolation was in thinking, "If the spirits of wine comes now, +it will be well defended; the Austrians, Prussians, and Russians will +not drink it here!" + +Every morning Sorlé expected to receive the invoice. + +One Sabbath day we had the curiosity to go and see the works of the +bastions. Everybody was talking about it, and Sâfel kept coming to me, +saying: "The work is going on; they are filling the shells in front of +the arsenal; they are taking out the cannon; they are mounting them on +the ramparts!" + +We could not keep the child away. He had nothing to sell now under the +market, and it would be too tedious for him to stay at home. He +scoured the city, and brought us back the news. + +On this day, then, having heard that forty-two pieces were ranged in +battery, and that they were continuing the work upon the bastion of the +infantry-barracks, I told Sorlé to bring her shawl, and we would go and +see. + +We first went down to the French gate. Hundreds of wheelbarrows were +going up the ramparts of the bastion, from which could be seen the road +to Metz on the right and the road to Paris on the left. + +There, above, crowds of laborers, soldiers and citizens, were heaping +up a mass of earth in the form of a triangle, at least twenty-five feet +in height, and two hundred in length and breadth. + +An engineering officer had discovered with his spy-glass that this +bastion was commanded by the hill opposite, and so everybody was set to +work to place two pieces on a level with the hill. + +It was the same everywhere else. The interiors of these bastions, with +their platforms, were shut in all around, for seven feet from the +ground, like rooms. Nothing could fall into them except from the sky. +In the turf, however, were dug narrow openings, larger without, like +funnels; the mouths of the cannon, which were raised upon immense +carriages, were drawn out through these apertures; they could be pushed +forward and backward, and turned in all directions, by means of great +levers passed in rings over the hind wheels of the carriages. + +I had not yet heard the sound of these forty-eight pounders. But the +mere sight of them on their platforms gave me a terrible idea of their +power. Even Sorlé said: "It is fine, Moses; it is well done!" + +She was right, for within the bastions all was in complete order; not a +weed remained, and upon the sides were piled great bags filled with +earth to protect the artillerymen. + +But what lost labor! and to think that every firing of these large guns +costs at least a louis--money spent to kill our fellow-men! + +In fine the people worked at these things with more enthusiasm than if +they were gathering in their own harvests. I have often thought that +if the French bestowed as much pains, good sense, and courage upon +matters of peace, they would be the richest and happiest people in the +world. Yes, they would long ago have surpassed the English and +Americans. But when they have toiled and economized, when they have +opened roads everywhere, built magnificent bridges, dug out harbors and +canals, and riches come to them from all quarters, suddenly the fury of +war possesses them, and in three or four years they ruin themselves +with grand armies, with cannon, with powder, with bullets, with men, +and become poorer than before. A few soldiers are their masters, and +look down upon them. This is all it profits them! + +In the midst of all this, news from Mayence, from Strasburg, from +Paris, came by the dozens; we could not go into the street without +seeing a courier pass. They all stopped before the Bockhold house, +near the German gate, where the governor lived. A circle formed around +the house, the courier mounted, then the news spread through the city +that the allies were concentrated at Frankfort, that our troops guarded +the islands of the Rhine; that the conscripts from 1803 to 1814 were +recalled; that those of 1815 would form the reserve corps at Metz, at +Bordeaux, at Turin; that the deputies were going to assemble; then, +that the gates had been shut upon them, etc., etc. + +There came also smugglers of all sorts from Graufthal, Pirmasens, and +Kaiserslautern, with Franz Sepel, the one-armed man, at their head, and +others from the villages around, who secretly scattered the +proclamations of Alexander, Francis Joseph and Frederic William, saying +"that they did not make war upon France, but upon the Emperor alone to +prevent his further desolation of Europe." They spoke of the abolition +of duties, and of taxes of all sorts. The people at night did not know +what to think. + +But one fine morning it was all explained. It was the eighth or ninth +of December. I had just risen, and was putting on my clothes, when I +heard the rolling of a drum at the corner of the main street. + +It was cold, but nevertheless I opened the window and leaned out to +hear the announcements. Parmentier opened his paper, young Engelheider +kept up his drum-beating, and the people assembled. + +Then Parmentier read that the governor of the place ordered all +citizens to present themselves at the mayoralty between eight in the +morning and six in the evening, without fail, to receive their muskets +and cartridge-boxes, and that those who did not come, would be +court-martialed. + +There was the end at last! Every one who was able to march was on his +way, and the old men were to defend the fortifications; sober-minded +men--citizens--men accustomed to living quietly at home, and attending +to their own affairs! now they must mount the ramparts and every day +run the risk of losing their lives! + +Sorlé looked at me without a word, and indignation made me also +speechless. Not till after a quarter of an hour, when I was dressed, +did I say: + +"Make the soup ready. I am going to the mayoralty to get my musket and +cartridge-box." + +Then she exclaimed: "Moses, who would have believed that you would have +to go and fight at your age? Oh! what misery!" + +And I answered: "It is the Lord's will." + +Then I started with a sad heart. Little Sâfel followed me. + +As I arrived at the corner of the market, Burguet was coming down the +mayoralty steps, which swarmed with men; he had his musket on his +shoulder, and said with a smile: + +"Ah, well, Moses! We are going to turn Maccabees in our old age?" + +His cheerfulness encouraged me, and I replied: + +"Burguet, how is it they can take rational men, heads of families, and +make them destroy themselves? I cannot comprehend it; no, there is no +sense in it!" + +"Ah," said he, "what would you have? If they can't get thrushes, they +must take blackbirds." + +I could not smile at his pleasantries, and he said: + +"Come, Moses, don't be so disconsolate; this is only a formality. We +have troops enough for active service; we shall have only to mount +guard. If sorties are to be made, or attacks repulsed, they will not +take you; you are not of an age to run, or to give a bayonet stroke! +You are gray and bald. Don't be troubled!" + +"Yes," I said, "that is very true, Burguet, I am broken down--more so, +perhaps, than you think." + +"That is well," said he, "but go and take your musket and +cartridge-box." + +"And are we not going to stay in the barracks?" + +"No, no!" he cried, laughing aloud, "we are going to live quietly at +home." + +He shook hands with me, and I went under the arch of the mayoralty. +The stairway was crowded with people, and we heard names called out. + +And there, Fritz, you should have seen the looks of the Robinots, the +Gourdiers, the Mariners, that mass of tilers, knife-grinders, +house-painters, people who, every day, in ordinary times, would take +off their caps to you to get a little work--you should have seen them +straighten themselves up, look at you pityingly over the shoulder, blow +in their cheeks, and call out: + +"Ah, Moses, is it thou? Thou wilt make a comical soldier. He! he! he! +They will cut thy mustaches according to regulation!" + +And such-like nonsense. + +Yes, everything was changed; these former bullies had been named in +advance sergeants, sergeant-majors, corporals, and the rest of us were +nothing at all. War upsets everything; the first become last, and the +last first. It is not good sense but discipline which carries the day. +The man who scrubbed your floor yesterday, because he was too stupid to +gain a living any other way, becomes your sergeant, and if he tells you +that white is black, you must let it be so. + +At last, after waiting an hour, some one called out, "Moses!" and I +went up. + +The great hall above was full of people. They all exclaimed: + +"Moses! Wilt thou come, Moses? Ah, see him! He is the old guard! +Look now, how he is built! Thou shalt be ensign, Moses! Thou shalt +lead us on to victory!" + +And the fools laughed, nudging each others' elbows. I passed on, +without answering or even looking at them. + +In the room at the farther end, where the names were drawn at +conscriptions, Governor Moulin, Commandant Petitgenet, the mayor, +Frichard, secretary of the mayoralty, Rollin, captain of apparel, and +six or seven other superannuated men, crippled with rheumatism, brought +from all parts of the world, were met in council, some sitting, the +rest standing. + +These old ones began to laugh as they saw me come in. I heard them say +to one another: "He is strong yet! Yes, he is all right." + +So they talked, one after another. I thought to myself: "Say what you +like, you will not make me think that you are twenty years old, or that +you are handsome." + +But I kept silence. + +Suddenly the governor, who was talking with the mayor in a corner, +turned around, with his great chapeau awry, and looking at me, said: + +"What do you intend to do with such a patriarch? You see very well +that he can hardly stand." + +I was pleased, in spite of it all, and began to cough. + +"Good, good!" said he, "you may go home; take care of your cold!" + +I had taken four steps toward the door, when Frichard, the secretary of +the mayoralty, called out: + +"It is Moses! The Jew Moses, colonel, who has sent his two boys off to +America! The oldest should be in the service." + +This wretch of a Frichard had a grudge against me, because we had the +same business of selling old clothes under the market, and the country +people almost always preferred buying of me; he had a mortal grudge +against me, and that is why he began to inform against me. + +The governor exclaimed at once: "Stop a minute! Ah ha, old fox! You +send your boys to America to escape conscription! Very well! Give him +his musket, cartridge-box, and sabre." + +Indignation against Frichard choked me. I would have spoken, but the +wretch laughed and kept on writing at the desk; so I followed the +gendarme Werner to a side room, which was filled with muskets, sabres, +and cartridge-boxes. + +Werner himself hung a cartridge-box crosswise on my back, and gave me a +musket, saying: + +"Go, Moses, and try always to answer to the call." + +I went down through the crowd so indignant that I heard no longer the +shouts of laughter from the rabble. + +On reaching home I told Sorlé what had happened. She was very pale as +she listened. After a moment, she said: "This Frichard is the enemy of +our race; he is an enemy of Israel. I know it; he detests us! But +just now, Moses, do not say a word; do not let him see that you are +angry; it would please him too much. By and by you can have your +revenge! You will have a chance. And if not yourself, your children, +your grandchildren; they shall all know what this wretch has done to +their grandfather--they shall know it!" + +She clinched her hand, and little Sâfel listened. + +This was all the comfort she could give me. I thought as she did, but +I was so angry that I would have given half my fortune to ruin the +wretch. All that day, and in the night, too, I exclaimed more than +twenty times: + +"Ah, the scoundrel!--I was going--they had said to me, 'You may +go!'--He is the cause of all my misery!" + +You cannot imagine, Fritz, how I have always hated that man. Never +have my wife and I forgotten the harm he did us--never shall my +children forget it. + + + + +V + +FATHER MOSES RECEIVES WELCOME NEWS + +The next day we must answer to the call before the mayoralty. All the +children in town surrounded us and whistled. Fortunately, the +blindages of the Place d'Armes were not finished, so that we went to +learn our exercises in the large court of the college, near the _chemin +de ronde_ at the corner of the powder-house. As the pupils had been +dismissed for some time, the place was at liberty. + +Imagine to yourself this large court filled with citizens in bonnets, +coats, cloaks, vests, and breeches, obliged to obey the orders of their +former tinkers, chimney-sweeps, stable-boys, now turned into corporals, +sergeants, and sergeant-majors. Imagine these peaceable men, in fours, +in sixes, in tens, stretching out their legs in concert, and marching +to the step, "One--_two_! One--_two_! Halt! Steady!" while others, +marching backward, frowning, called out insolently: "Moses, dress thy +shoulders!" "Moses, bring thy nose into line!" "Attention, Moses! +Carry arms! Ah, old shoe, thou'lt never be good for anything! Can any +one be so stupid at his age? Look--just look! Thunder! Canst thou +not do that? One--_two_! What an old blockhead! Come, begin again! +Carry arms!" + +This is the way my own cobbler, Monborne, ordered me about. I believe +he would have beaten me if it had not been for Captain Vigneron. + +All the rest treated their old patrons in the same way. You would have +said that it had always been so--that they had always been sergeants +and we had always been soldiers. I heaped up gall enough against this +rabble to last fifty years. + +They in fine were the masters! And the only time that I remember ever +to have struck my own son, Sâfel, this Monborne was the cause of it. +All the children climbed upon the wall of the _chemin de ronde_ to look +at us and laugh at us. On looking up, I saw Sâfel among them, and made +a sign of displeasure with my finger. He went down at once; but at the +close of the exercise, when we were ordered to break ranks before the +town-house, I was seized with anger as I saw him coming toward me, and +I gave him two good boxes on the ear, and said: "Go--hiss and mock at +your father, like Shem, instead of bringing a garment to cover his +nakedness--go!" + +He wept bitterly, and in this state I went home. Sorlé seeing me come +in looking very pale, and the little one following me at a distance, +sobbing, came down at once to the door, and asked what was the matter. +I told her how angry I was, and went upstairs. + +Sorlé reproved Sâfel still more severely, and he came and begged my +pardon. I granted it with all my heart, as you may suppose. But when +I thought that the exercises were to be repeated every day, I would +gladly have abandoned everything if I could possibly have taken with me +my house and wares. + +Yes, the worst thing I know of is to be ordered about by bullies who +cannot restrain themselves when chance sets them up for a moment, and +who are not capable of receiving the idea that in this life everybody +has his turn. + +I should say too much if I continued on this head. I would rather go +on. + +The Lord granted me a great consolation. I had scarcely laid aside my +cartridge-box and musket, so as to sit at the table, when Sorlé +smilingly handed me a letter. + +"Read that, Moses," said she, "and you will feel better." + +I opened and read it. It was the notice from Pézenas that my dozen +pipes of spirits were on their way. I drew a long breath. + +"Ah! that is good, now!" I exclaimed; "the spirits are coming by the +ordinary conveyance; they will be here in three weeks. We hear nothing +from the direction of Strasburg and Sarrebruck; the allies are +collecting still, but they do not move; my spirits of wine are safe! +They will sell well! It is a grand thing!" + +I smiled, and was quite myself again, when Sorlé pushed the arm-chair +toward me, saying: "And what do you think of _that_, Moses?" + +She gave me, as she spoke, a second letter, covered with large stamps, +and at the first glance I recognized the handwriting of my two sons, +Frômel and Itzig. + +It was a letter from America! My heart swelled with joy, and I +silently thanked the Lord, deeply moved by this great blessing. I +said: "The Lord is good. His understanding is infinite. He delighteth +not in the strength of a horse; he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a +man. He taketh pleasure in those that hope in his mercy." + +Thus I spoke to myself while I read the letter, in which my sons +praised America, the true land of commerce, the land of enterprising +men, where everything is free, where there are no taxes or impositions, +because people are not brought up for war, but for peace; the land, +Fritz, where every man becomes, through his own labor, his +intelligence, his economy, and his good intentions, what he deserves to +be, and every one takes his proper place, because no important matter +is decided without the consent of all;--a just and sensible thing, for +where all contribute, all should give their opinions. + +This was one of their first letters. Frômel and Itzig wrote me that +they had made so much money in a year, that they need no longer carry +their own packs, but had three fine mules, and that they had just +opened at Catskill, near Albany, in the State of New York, an +establishment for the exchange of European fabrics with cow-hides, +which were very abundant in that region. + +Their business was prospering, and they were respected in the town and +its vicinity. While Frômel was travelling on the road with their three +mules, Itzig stayed at home, and when Itzig went in his turn his +brother had charge of the shop. + +They already knew of our misfortunes, and thanked the Lord for having +given them such parents, to save them from destruction. They would +have liked to have us with them, and after what had just happened, in +being maltreated by a Monborne, you can believe that I should have been +very glad to be there. But it was enough to receive such good news, +and in spite of all our misfortunes, I said to myself, as I thought of +Frichard: "But it is only to me that you can be an ass! You may harm +me here, but you can't hurt my boys. You are nothing but a miserable +secretary of mayoralty, while I am going to sell my spirits of wine. I +shall gain double and treble. I will put my little Sâfel at your side, +under the market, and he will beckon to everybody that is going into +your shop; and he will sell to them at cost price rather than lose +their custom, and he will make you die of anger." + +The tears came into my eyes as I thought of it, and I ended by +embracing Sorlé, who smiled, full of satisfaction. + +We pardoned Sâfel over again, and he promised to go no more with the +cursed race. Then, after dinner, I went down to my cellar, one of the +finest in the city, twelve feet high and thirty-five feet long, all +built of hewn stone, under the main street. It was as dry as an oven, +and even improved wine in the long run. + +As my spirits of wine might arrive before the end of the month, I +arranged four large beams to hold the pipes, and saw that the well, cut +in the rock, had enough water for mixing it. + +On going up about four o'clock, I perceived the old architect, Krômer, +who was walking across the market, his measuring-stick under his arm. + +"Ah!" said I, "come down a minute into my cellar; do you think it will +be safe against the bombs?" + +We went down together. He examined it, measured the stones and the +thickness of the arch with his stick, and said: "You have six feet of +earth over the key-stone. When the bombs enter here, Moses, it will be +all over with all of us. You may sleep with both ears shut." + +We took a good drink of wine from the spout, and went up in good +spirits. + +Just as we set foot on the pavement, a door in the main street opened +with a crash, and there was a sound of glass broken. Krômer raised his +nose, and said: "Look yonder, Moses, at Camus's steps! Something is +going on." + +We stopped and saw at the top of the railed staircase a sergeant of +veterans, in a gray coat, with his musket dangling, dragging Father +Camus by the collar. The poor old man clung to the door with both +hands to keep himself from falling; he succeeded at last in getting +loose, by tearing the collar from his coat, and the door shut with a +noise like thunder. + +"If war begins now between citizens and soldiers," said Krômer, "the +Germans and Russians will have fine sport." + +The sergeant, seeing the door shut and bolted within, tried to force it +open with blows from the butt-end of his musket, which caused a great +uproar; the neighbors came out, and the dogs barked. We were watching +it all, when we saw Burguet come along the passage in front, and begin +to talk vehemently with the sergeant. At first the man did not seem to +hear him, but after a moment he raised his musket to his shoulder with +a rough movement, and went down to the street, with his shoulders up +and his face dark and furious. He passed by us like a wild boar. He +was a veteran with three chevrons, sunburnt, with a gray mustache, +large straight wrinkles the whole length of his cheeks, and a square +chin. He muttered as he passed us, and went into the little inn of the +Three Pigeons. + +Burguet followed at a distance, with his broad hat down to his +eyebrows, wrapped in his beaver-cloth great-coat, his head thrown back, +and his hands in his pockets. He smiled. + +"Well," said I, "what has been going on at Camus's?" + +"Oh!" said he, "it is Sergeant Trubert, of the fifth company of +veterans, who had just been playing his tricks. The old fellow wants +everything to go by rule and measure. In the last fortnight he has had +five different lodgings, and cannot get along with anybody. Everybody +complains of him, but he always makes excuses which the governor and +commandant think excellent." + +"And at Camus's house?" + +"Camus has not too much room for his own family. He wished to send the +sergeant to the inn; but the sergeant had already chosen Camus's bed to +sleep in, had spread his cloak upon it, and said, 'My billet is for +this place. I am very comfortable here, and do not wish to change.' +Old Camus was vexed, and finally, as you have just seen, the sergeant +tried to pull him out, and beat him." + +Burguet smiled, but Krômer said: "Yes, all that is laughable. And yet +when we think of what such people must have done on the other side of +the Rhine!" + +"Ah!" exclaimed Burguet, "it was not very pleasant for the Germans, I +am sure. But it is time to go and read the newspaper. God grant that +the time for paying our old debts may not have come! Good-evening, +gentlemen." + +He continued his walk on the side of the square. Krômer went toward +his own house, while I shut the two doors of my cellar; after which I +went home. + +This was the tenth of December. It was already very cold. Every +night, after five or six o'clock, the roofs and pavements were covered +with frost. There was no more noise without, because people kept at +home, around their stoves. + +I found Sorlé in the kitchen, preparing our supper. The red flame +flickered upon the hearth around the saucepan. These things are now +before my eyes, Fritz--the mother, washing the plates at the stone +sink, near the gray window; little Sâfel blowing in his big iron pipe, +his cheeks round as an apple, his long curly hair all disordered, and +myself sitting on the stool, holding a coal to light my pipe. Yes, it +all seems here present! + +We said nothing. We were happy in thinking of the spirits of wine that +were coming, of the boys who were doing so well, of the good supper +that was cooking. And who would ever have thought, then, that +twenty-five days afterward the city would be surrounded by enemies, and +shells hissing in the air? + + + + +VI + +A DISAGREEABLE GUEST + +Now, Fritz, I am going to tell you something which has often made me +think that the Lord takes an interest in our affairs, and that He +orders everything for the best. At first it seems dreadful, and we +exclaim, "Lord have mercy on us!" and afterward we are surprised to +find that it has all been for our good. + +You know that Frichard, the secretary of the mayoralty, disliked me. +He was a little, yellow, dried-up old man, with a red wig, flat ears, +and hollow cheeks. This rascal was bent on doing me an injury, and he +soon found an opportunity. + +As the time of the blockade drew nearer, people were more and more +anxious to sell, and the day after I received the good news from +America--it was Friday, a market-day--so many of the Alsatian and +Lorraine people came with their great dossers and panniers of fruit, +eggs, butter, cheese, poultry, etc., that the market-place was crowded +with them. + +Everybody wanted money, to hide it in his cellar, or under a tree in +the neighboring wood. You know that large sums were lost at that time; +treasures which are now discovered from year to year, at the foot of +oaks and beeches, hidden because it was feared that the Germans and +Russians would pillage and destroy everything, as we had done to them. +The men died, or perhaps could not find the place where they had hidden +their money, and so it remained buried in the ground. + +This day, the eleventh of December, it was very cold; the frost +penetrated to the very marrow of your bones, but it had not yet begun +to snow. Very early in the morning, I went down, shivering, with my +woollen waistcoat buttoned up to my throat, and my seal-skin cap drawn +down over my ears. + +Both the little and the great squares were already swarming with +people, shouting and disputing about prices. I had only time to open +my shop, and to hang up my large scales in the arch, before a crowd of +country people stood about the door, some asking for nails, others iron +for forging; and some bringing their own old iron with the hope of +selling it. + +They knew that if the enemy came there would be no way of entering the +city, and that was what brought the crowd, some to sell and others to +buy. + +I opened shop and began to weigh. We heard the patrols passing +without; the guard was everywhere doubled, the drawbridges in good +condition, and the outside barriers fortified anew. We were not yet +declared to be in a state of siege, but we were like the bird on the +branch; the last news from Mayence, Sarrebruck, and Strasburg announced +the arrival of the allies on the other bank of the Rhine. + +As for me, I thought of nothing but my spirits of wine, and all the +time I was selling, weighing, and handling money, it was never out of +my mind. It had, as it were, taken root in my brain. + +This had lasted about an hour, when suddenly Burguet appeared at my +door, under the little arch, behind the crowd of country people, and +said to me: + +"Moses, come here a minute, I have something to say to you." + +I went out. + +"Let us go into your passage," said he. + +I was much surprised, for he looked very grave. The peasants behind +called out: + +"We have no time to lose. Make haste, Moses!" + +But I paid no attention. In the passage Burguet said to me: + +"I have just come from the mayoralty, where they are busy in making out +a report to the prefect in regard to the state of feeling among our +population, and I accidentally heard that they are going to send +Sergeant Trubert to your house." + +This was indeed a blow for me. I exclaimed: + +"I don't want him! I don't want him! I have lodged six men in the +last fortnight, and it isn't my turn." + +He answered: + +"Be quiet, and don't talk so loud. You will only make the matter +worse." + +I repeated: + +"Never, never shall this sergeant enter my house! It is abominable! A +quiet man like myself, who has never harmed any one, and who asks +nothing but peace!" + +While I was speaking, Sorlé, on her way to market, with her basket on +her arm, came down, and asked what was the matter. + +"Listen, Madame Sorlé," said Burguet to her; "be more reasonable than +your husband! I can understand his indignation, and yet for all that, +when a thing is inevitable we must submit to it. Frichard dislikes +you; he is secretary of the mayoralty; he distributes the billets for +quartering soldiers according to a list. Very well; he sends you +Sergeant Trubert, a violent, bad man, I allow, but he needs lodging as +well as the others. To everything which I have said in your favor, +Frichard has always replied: 'Moses is rich. He has sent away his boys +to escape conscription. He ought to pay for them.' The mayor, the +governor, everybody thinks he is right. So, you see, I tell you as a +friend, the more resistance you make, so much the more the sergeant +will affront you, and Frichard laugh at you, and there will be no help +for it. Be reasonable!" + +I was still more angry on finding that I owed these misfortunes to +Frichard. I would have exclaimed, but my wife laid her hand on my arm, +and said: + +"Let me speak, Moses. Monsieur Burguet is right, and I am much obliged +to him for telling us beforehand. Frichard has a spite against us. +Very well; he must pay for it all, and we will settle with him by and +by. Now, when is the sergeant coming?" + +"At noon," replied Burguet. + +"Very well," said my wife; "he has a right to lodging, fire, and +candles. We can't dispute that; but Frichard shall pay for it all." + +She was pale, and I listened, for I saw that she was right. + +"Be quiet, Moses," she said to me afterward, "and don't say a word; let +me manage it." + +"This is what I had to say to you," said Burguet, "it is an abominable +trick of Frichard's. I will see, by and by, if it is possible to rid +you of the sergeant. Now I must go back to my post." + +Sorlé had just started for the market. Burguet pressed my hand, and as +the peasants grew more impatient in their cries, I had to go back to my +scales. + +I was full of rage. I sold that day more than two hundred francs' +worth of iron, but my indignation against Frichard, and my fear of the +sergeant, took away all pleasure in anything. I might have sold ten +times more without feeling any better. + +"Ah! the rascal!" I said to myself; "he gives me no rest. I shall have +no peace in this city." + +As the clock struck twelve the market closed, and people went away by +the French gate. I shut up my shop and went home, thinking to myself: + +"Now I shall be nothing in my own house; this Trubert is going to rule +everything. He will look down upon us as if we were Germans or +Spaniards." + +I was in despair. But in the midst of my despair on the staircase, I +suddenly perceived an odor of good things from the kitchen, and I went +up in surprise, for I smelt fish and roast, as if it were a feast day. + +I was going into the kitchen, when Sorlé appeared and said: + +"Go into your chamber, shave yourself, and put on a clean shirt." + +I saw, at the same time, that she was dressed in her Sabbath clothes, +with her ear-rings, her green skirt, and her red silk neckerchief. + +"But why must I shave, Sorlé?" I exclaimed. + +"Go quick; you have no time to lose!" replied she. + +This woman had so much good sense, she had so many times set things +right by her ready wit, that I said nothing more, and went into my +bedroom to shave myself and put on a clean shirt. + +As I was putting on my shirt I heard little Sâfel cry out: + +"Here he is, mamma! here he is!" + +Then steps were heard on the stairs, and a rough voice called: + +"Holla! you folks. Ho!" + +I thought to myself: "It is the sergeant," and I listened. + +"Ah! here is our sergeant!" cried Sâfel, triumphantly. + +"Oh! that is good," replied my wife, in a cheerful tone. "Come in, Mr. +Sergeant, come in! We were expecting you. I knew that we were to have +the honor of having a sergeant; we were glad to hear it, because we +have had only common soldiers before. Be so good as to come in, Mr. +Sergeant." + +[Illustration: "BE SO GOOD AS TO COME IN, MR. SERGEANT."] + +She spoke in this way as if she were really pleased, and I thought to +myself: + +"O Sorlé, Sorlé! You shrewd woman! You sensible woman! I see through +it now. I see your cunning. You are going to mollify this rascal! +Ah, Moses! what a wife you have! Congratulate yourself! Congratulate +yourself!" + +I hastened to dress myself, laughing all the while; and I heard this +brute of a sergeant say: + +"Yes, yes! It is all very well. But that isn't the point! Show me my +room, my bed. You can't pay me with fine speeches; people know +Sergeant Trubert too well for that." + +"Certainly, Mr. Sergeant, certainly," replied my wife, "here is your +room and your bed. See, it is the best we have." + +Then they went into the passage, and I heard Sorlé open the door of the +handsome room which Baruch and Zeffen occupied when they came to +Phalsburg. + +I followed them softly. The sergeant thrust his fist into the bed to +feel if it was soft. Sorlé and Sâfel looked on smilingly behind him. +He examined every corner with a scowl. You never saw such a face, +Fritz; a gray bristling mustache, a long thin nose, hooked over the +mouth; a yellow skin, full of wrinkles: he dragged the butt-end of his +gun on the floor, without seeming to notice anything, and muttered +ill-naturedly: + +"Hem! hem! What is that down there?" + +"It is the wash-basin, Mr. Sergeant." + +"And these chairs, are they strong? Will they bear anything?" + +He knocked them rudely down. It was evident he wanted to find fault +with something. + +On turning round he saw me, and looking at me sideways, asked: + +"Are you the citizen?" + +"Yes, sergeant; I am." + +"Ah!" + +He put his gun in a corner, threw his knapsack on the table, and said: + +"That will do! You may go." + +Sâfel had opened the kitchen door, and the good smell of the roast came +into the room. + +"Mr. Sergeant," said Sorlé very pleasantly, "allow me to ask a favor of +you." + +"You!" said he, looking at her over his shoulder, "ask a favor of me!" + +"Yes. It is that since you now lodge with us, and will be in some +respects one of the family, you will give us the pleasure of dining +with us, at least for once." + +"Ah, ah!" said he, turning his nose toward the kitchen, "that is +another thing!" + +He seemed to be considering whether to grant us this favor or not. We +waited for him to answer, when he gave another sniff and threw his +cartridge-box on the bed, saying: + +"Well, so be it! We will go and see!" + +"Wretch!" thought I, "if I could make you eat potatoes!" + +But Sorlé seemed satisfied, and said: + +"This way, Mr. Sergeant; this way, if you please." + +When we went into the dining-room I saw that everything was prepared as +if for a prince; the floor swept, the table carefully laid, a white +table-cloth, and our silver knives and forks. + +Sorlé placed the sergeant in my arm-chair at the head of the table, +which seemed to him the most natural thing in the world. + +Our servant brought in the large tureen and took off the cover; the +odor of a good cream soup filled the room, and we began our dinner. + +Fritz, I could tell you everything we had for dinner; but believe me, +neither you nor I ever had a better. We had a roasted goose, a +magnificent pike, sauerkraut, everything, in fact, which could be +desired for a grand dinner, and all served by Sorlé in the most perfect +manner. We had, too, four bottles of Beaujolais warmed in napkins, as +was the custom in winter, and an abundant dessert. + +Well! do you believe that the rascal once had the grace to seem pleased +with all this? Do you believe that all through this dinner, which +lasted nearly two hours, he once thought of saying, "This pike is +excellent!" or, "This fat goose is well cooked!" or, "You have very +good wine!" or any of the other things which we know are pleasant for a +host to hear, and which repay a good cook for his trouble? No, Fritz, +not once! You would have supposed that he had such dinners every day. +The more even that my wife flattered him, and the more kindly she spoke +to him, the more he rebuffed her, the more he scowled, the more +defiantly he looked at us, as if we wanted to poison him. + +From time to time I looked indignantly at Sorlé, but she kept on +smiling; she kept on giving the nicest bits to the sergeant; she kept +on filling his glass. + +Two or three times I wanted to say, "Ah, Sorlé, what a good cook you +are! How nice this force-meat is!" But suddenly the sergeant would +look down upon me as if to say, "What does that signify? Perhaps you +want to give me lessons? Don't I know better than you do whether a +thing is good or bad?" + +So I kept silence. I could have wished him--well, in worse company; I +grew more and more indignant at every morsel which he swallowed in +silence. Nevertheless Sorlé's example encouraged me to put a good face +on the matter, and toward the end I thought, "Now, since the dinner is +eaten, since it is almost over, we will go on, with God's help. Sorlé +was mistaken, but it is all the same; her idea was a good one, except +for such a rascal!" + +And I myself ordered coffee; I went to the closet, too, to get some +cherry-brandy and old rum. + +"What is that?" asked the sergeant. + +"Rum and cherry-brandy; old cherry-brandy from the 'Black Forest,'" I +replied. + +"Ah," said he, winking, "everybody says, 'I have got some cherry-brandy +from the Black Forest!' It is very easy to say; but they can't cheat +Sergeant Trubert; we will see about this!" + +In taking his coffee he twice filled his glass with cherry-brandy, and +both times said, "He! he! We will see whether it is genuine." + +I could have thrown the bottle at his head. + +As Sorlé went to him to pour a third glassful, he rose and said, "That +is enough; thank you! The posts are doubled. This evening I shall be +on guard at the French gate. The dinner, to be sure, was not a bad +one. If you give me such now and then, we can get along with each +other." + +He did not smile, and, indeed, seemed to be ridiculing us. + +"We will do our best, Mr. Sergeant," replied Sorlé, while he went into +his room and took his great-coat to go out. + +"We will see," said he as he went downstairs, "we will see!" + +Till now I had said nothing, but when he was down I exclaimed, "Sorlé, +never, no never, was there such a rascal! We shall never get along +with this man. He will drive us all from the house." + +"Bah! bah! Moses," she replied, laughing, "I do not think as thou +dost! I have quite the contrary idea; we will be good friends, thou'lt +see, thou'lt see!" + +"God grant it!" I said; "but I have not much hope of it." + +She smiled as she took off the table-cloth, and gave me too a little +confidence, for this woman had a good deal of shrewdness, and I +acknowledged her sound judgment. + + + + +VII + +SERGEANT TRUBERT IN A NEW LIGHT + +You see, Fritz, what the common people had to endure in those days. +Ah, well! just as we were performing extra service, while Monborne was +commanding me at the drilling, while Sergeant Trubert was down upon me, +while we were hearing of domiciliary visits of inspection to ascertain +what provisions the citizens had--in the midst of all this, my dozen +pipes of spirits of wine were being slowly wheeled over the road. + +How I repented of having ordered them! How often I could have torn my +hair as I thought that half my thirty years' gains were at the mercy of +circumstances! How I prayed for the Emperor! How I ran every morning +to the coffee-houses and ale-houses to learn the news, and how I +trembled as I read! + +Nobody knew what I suffered, not even Sorlé, for I kept it all from +her. She was too keen-sighted not to perceive my anxiety, and +sometimes she would say, "Come, Moses, have courage! All will come +right--patience a little longer!" + +But the rumors which came from Alsace, and German Lorraine, and +Hundsruck, quite upset me: "They are coming! They will not dare to +come! We are ready for them! They will take us by surprise! Peace is +going to be made! They will pass by to-morrow! We shall have no +fighting this winter! They can wait no longer! The Emperor is still +in Paris! Marshal Victor is at Huninguen! They are impressing the +custom-house officers, the forest-keepers, and the gendarmerie! Some +Spanish dragoons went down by Saverne yesterday! The mountaineers are +to defend the Vosges! There will be fighting in Alsace!" etc., etc. +Your head would have been turned, Fritz. In the morning the wind would +blow one way and put you in good spirits; at night it would blow +another way and you would be miserable. + +And my spirits of wine were coming nearer and nearer, and at last +arrived, in the midst of this conflict of news, which might any day +turn into a conflict of bullets and shells. If it had not been for my +other troubles I should have been beside myself. Fortunately, my +indignation against Monborne and the other villains diverted my mind. + +We heard nothing more of Sergeant Trubert after the great dinner for +the remainder of that day, and the night following, as he was on guard; +but the next morning, as I was getting up, behold, he came up the +stairs, with his musket on his shoulder; he opened the door and began +to laugh, with his mustaches all white with frost. I had just put on +my pantaloons, and looked at him in astonishment. My wife was still in +her room. + +"He! he! Father Moses," said he, in a good-natured voice, "it has been +a dreadful cold night." He did not look or speak like the same person. + +"Yes, sergeant," I replied, "it is December, and that is what we must +expect." + +"What we must expect," he repeated;--"all the more reason for taking a +drop. Let us see, is there any more of that old cherry-brandy?" + +He looked, as he spoke, as if he could see through me. I got up at +once from my arm-chair, and ran to fetch the bottle: "Yes, yes, +sergeant," I exclaimed, "there is more, drink and enjoy it." + +As I said this, his face, still a little hard, seemed to smile all +over. He placed his gun in a corner, and, standing up, handed me the +glass, saying, "Pour out, Father Moses, pour out!" + +I filled it brimful. As I did so, he laughed quietly. His yellow face +puckered up in hundreds of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and +around his cheeks and mustaches and chin. He did not laugh so as to be +heard, but his eyes showed his good-humor. + +"Famous cherry-brandy this, in truth, Father Moses!" he said as he +drank it. "A body knows who has drank it in the Black Forest, where it +cost nothing! Aren't you going to drink with me?" + +"With pleasure," I answered. And we drank together. He looked at me +all the time. Suddenly he said, with a mischievous look, "Hey, Father +Moses, say, you were afraid of me yesterday?" He smiled as he spoke. + +"Oh--Sergeant----" + +"Come, come," said he, laying his hand upon my shoulder--"confess that +I frightened you." + +He smiled so pleasantly that I could not help saying: "Well, yes, a +little!" + +"He! he! he! I knew it very well," said he. "You had heard them say, +'Sergeant Trubert is a tough one!' You were afraid, and you gave me a +dinner fit for a prince to coax me!" + +He laughed aloud, and I ended by laughing too. Sorlé had heard all, in +the next room, and now came to the door and said, "Good-morning, Mr. +Sergeant." + +He exclaimed, "Father Moses, here is what may be called a woman! You +can boast of having a spirited woman, a sly woman, slyer than you are, +Father Moses; he, he, he! That is as it should be--that is as it +should be!" + +Sorlé was delighted. + +"Oh! Mr. Sergeant," said she, "can you really think so?" + +"Bah! bah!" he exclaimed. "You are a first-rate woman! I saw you when +I first came, and said to myself, 'Take heed, Trubert! They make a +fair pretence; it is a stratagem to send you to the hotel to sleep. We +will let the enemy unmask his batteries!' + +"Ha! ha! ha! You are nice folks. You gave me a dinner fit for a +Marshal of the Empire. Now, Father Moses, I invite myself to take a +small glass of cherry-brandy with you now and then. Put the bottle +aside, by itself, it is excellent! And as for the rest, the room which +you have given me is too handsome; I don't like such gewgaws; this fine +furniture and these soft beds are good for women. What I want is a +small room, like that at the side, two good chairs, a pine table, a +plain bed with a mattress, paillasse, and coverings, and five or six +nails in the wall for hanging my things. You just give me that!" + +"Since you wish it, Mr. Sergeant." + +"Yes, I wish it; the handsome room will be for state occasions." + +"You will breakfast with us?" asked my wife, well pleased. + +"I breakfast and dine at the cantine," replied the sergeant. "I do +very well there; and I don't want to have good people go to any expense +for me. When people respect an old soldier as he ought to be +respected, when they treat him kindly, when they are like +you,--Trubert, too, is what he ought to be." + +"But, Mr. Sergeant!" said Sorlé. + +"Call me sergeant," said he, "I know you now. You are not like all the +rabble of the city; rascals who have been growing rich while we have +been off fighting; wretches who do nothing but heap up money and grow +big at the expense of the army, who live on us, who are indebted to us +for everything, and who send us to sleep in nests of vermin. Ah! a +thousand million thunders!" + +His face resumed its bad look; his mustaches shook with his anger, and +I thought to myself, "What a good idea it was to treat him well! +Sorlé's ideas are always good!" + +But in a moment he relaxed, and laying his hand on my arm, he exclaimed: + +"To think that you are Jews! a kind of abominable race; everything that +is dirty and vile and niggardly! To think that you are Jews! It is +true, is it not, that you are Jews?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Sorlé. + +"Well, upon my word, I am surprised to hear it," said he; "I have seen +so many Jews, in Poland and Germany, that I thought to myself 'They are +sending me to some Jews; they had better look out or I'll smash +everything.'" + +We kept silent in our mortification, and he added, "Come, we will say +no more about that. You are good, honest people; I should be sorry to +trouble you. Your hand, Father Moses!" + +I gave him my hand. + +"I like you," said he. "Now, Madame Moses, the side room!" + +We showed him the small room that he asked for, and he went at once to +fetch his knapsack from the other, saying as he went: + +"Now I am among honest people! We shall have no difficulty in getting +along together. You do not trouble me, I do not trouble you; I come in +and go out, by day or night; it is Sergeant Trubert, that is enough. +And now and then, in the morning, we will take our little glass; it is +agreed, is it not, Father Moses!" + +"Yes, sergeant." + +"And here is the key of the house," said Sorlé. + +"Very well; everything is arranged; now I am going to take a nap; +good-by, my friends." + +"I hope you will sleep well, sergeant." We went out at once, and heard +him lie down. + +"You see, Moses, you see," whispered my wife, in the alley, "it has all +come right." + +"Yes," I replied, "all right, excellent; your plan was a good one; and +now, if the spirits of wine only come, we shall be happy." + + + + +VIII + +FATHER MOSES'S FIRST ENCOUNTER + +From that time the sergeant lived with us without troubling anybody. +Every morning, before he went to his duties, he came and sat a few +minutes in my room, and talked with me while he took his glass. He +liked to laugh with Sâfel, and we called him "our sergeant," as if he +were one of the family. He seemed to like to be with us; he was a +careful man; he would not allow our _schabisboïé_ to black his shoes; +he cleaned his own buff-skins, and would not let any one touch his arms. + +One morning, when I was going to answer to the call, he met me in the +alley, and, seeing a little rust on my musket, he began to swear like +the devil. + +"Ah! Father Moses, if I had you in my company, it would go hard with +you!" + +"Yes," thought I; "but, thank God, I'm not." + +Sorlé, leaning over the balustrades above, laughed heartily. + +From that time the sergeant regularly inspected my equipments; I must +clean my gun over and over, take it to pieces, clean the barrel and +furbish the bayonet, as if I expected to go and fight. And even when +he knew how Monborne treated me, he also wanted to teach me the +exercises. All my remonstrances were of no avail, he would frown, and +say: + +"Father Moses, I can't stand it, that an honest man like you should +know less than the rabble. Go along!" + +And then we would up to the loft. It was very cold, but the sergeant +was so provoked at my want of briskness in performing the movements, +that he always put me in a great perspiration before we finished. + +"Attention to the word of command, and no laziness!" he would exclaim. + +I used to hear Sorlé, Sâfel, and the servant laughing in the stairway, +as they peeped through the laths, and I did not dare to turn my head. +In fine, it was entirely owing to this good Trubert that I learned to +charge well, and became one of the best vaulters in the company. + +Ah! Fritz, it would all have been very well if the spirits of wine had +come; but instead of my dozen pipes, there came half a company of +marine artillery, and four hundred recruits for the sixth light +infantry. + +About this time the governor ordered that a space six hundred metres +wide should be cleared all round the city. + +You should have seen the havoc that was made in the place; the fences, +palisades, and trees hewn down, the houses demolished, from which +everybody carried away a beam or some timbers. You should have looked +down from the ramparts and seen the little gardens, the line of +poplars, the old trees in the orchards felled to the ground and dragged +away by swarms of workmen. You should have seen all this to know what +war is! + +Father Frise, the two Camus boys, the Sades, the Bosserts, and all the +families of the gardeners and small farmers who lived at Phalsburg, +suffered the most. I can almost hear old Fritz exclaim: + +"Ah! my poor apple-trees! Ah! my poor pear-trees; I planted you +myself, forty years ago. How beautiful you were, always covered with +fine fruit! Oh, misery! misery!" + +And the soldiers still chopped away. Toward the end, old Fritz went +away, his cap drawn over his eyes, and weeping bitterly. + +The rumor spread also that they were going to burn the Maisons Rouges +at the foot of the Mittelbronn hill, the tile-kiln at Pernette, and the +little inns of _l'Arbre Vert_ and _Panier Fleuri_, but it seemed that +the governor found it was not necessary as these houses were out of +range; or rather, that they would reserve that till later; and, that +the allies were coming sooner than they were expected. + +Of what happened before the blockade, I remember, too, that on the +twenty-second of December, about eleven o'clock in the morning, the +call was beat. Everybody supposed that it was for the drill, and I set +out quietly, with my musket on my shoulder, as usual; but, as I reached +the corner of the mayoralty, I saw the troops of the garrison formed +under the trees of the square. + +They placed us with them in two ranks; and then Governor Moulin, +Commandants Thomas and Pettigenet, and the mayor, with his tri-colored +sash, arrived. + +They beat the march, and then the drum-major raised his baton, and the +drums stopped. The governor began to speak, everybody listened, and +the words heard from a distance were repeated from one to another. + +"Officers, non-commissioned, National Guards, and Soldiers! + +"The enemy is concentrated upon the Rhine, only three days' march from +us. The city is declared to be in a state of siege; the civil +authorities give place to martial law. A permanent court-martial +replaces ordinary tribunals. + +"Inhabitants of Phalsburg! we expect from you courage, devotion, +obedience! _Vive l'Empereur_!" + +And a thousand cries of "_Vive l'Empereur_!" filled the air. + +I trembled to the ends of my hair; my spirits of wine were still on the +road; I considered myself a ruined man. + +The immediate distribution of cartridges, and the order to the +battalion to go and forage for provisions, and bring in cattle from the +surrounding villages for the supply of the city, prevented me from +thinking of my misfortune. + +I had also to think of my own life, for, in receiving such an order, we +supposed of course that the peasants would resist, and it is abominable +to have to fight the people you are robbing. + +I was very pale as I thought of all this. + +But when Commandant Thomas cried out, "Charge!" and I tore off my first +cartridge, and put it in the barrel, and, instead of hearing the ramrod +I felt a ball at the bottom!--when they ordered us: "By file--left! +left! forward! quick step! march!" and we set out for the barracks of +the Bois-de-Chênes, while the first battalion went on to Quatre-Vents +and Bichelberg, the second to Wechern and Metting; when I thought that +we were going to seize and carry away everything, and that the +court-martial was at the mayoralty to pass sentence upon those who did +not do their duty;--all these new and terrible things completely upset +me. I was troubled as I saw the village in the distance, and pictured +to myself beforehand the cries of the women and children. + +You see, Fritz, to take from the poor peasant all his living at the +beginning of winter; to take from him his cow, his goats, his pigs, +everything in short, it is dreadful! and my own misfortune made me feel +more for that of others. + +And then, as we marched, I thought of my daughter Zeffen, and Baruch, +and their children, and I exclaimed to myself: + +"Mercy on us! if the enemy comes, what will they do in an exposed town +like Saverne? They will lose everything. We may be beggared any day." + +These thoughts took away my breath, and in the midst of them I saw some +peasants, who, from their little windows, watched our approach over the +fields and along their street, without stirring. They did not know +what we were coming for. + +Six mounted soldiers preceded us; Commandant Thomas ordered them to +pass to the right and left of the barracks, to prevent the peasants +from driving their cattle into the woods, when they had found out that +we had come to rob them. + +They set off on a gallop. + +We came to the first house, where there is the stone crucifix. We +heard the order: + +"Halt!" + +Then thirty men were detached to act as sentinels in the little +streets, and I was among the number, which I liked, for I preferred +being on duty to going into their stables and barns. + +As we filed through the principal street the peasants asked us: + +"What is going on? Have they been cutting wood? Have they been making +arrests?" and such like questions. But we did not answer them, and +hastened on. + +Monborne placed me in the third street to the right, near the large +house of Father Franz, who raised bees on the slope of the valley +behind his house. We heard the sheep bleating and the cattle lowing; +that wretch of a Monborne said, winking at me: + +"It will be jolly! We will make the Baraquois open their eyes." + +He had no mercy in him. He said to me: + +"Moses, thou must stay there. If any one tries to pass, cross your +bayonet. If any one resists, prick him well and then fire. The law +must be supported by force." + +I don't know where the cobbler picked up that expression; but he left +me in the street, between two fences white with frost, and went on his +way with the rest of the guard. + +I waited there nearly twenty minutes, considering what I should do if +the peasants tried to save their property, and thinking it would be +much better to fire upon the cattle than upon their owners. + +I was much perplexed and was very cold, when I heard a great shouting; +at the same time the drum began to beat. Some men went into the +stables and drove the cattle. The Baraquins swore and wept; some tried +to defend themselves. Commandant Thomas cried out: + +"To the square! Drive them to the square!" + +Some cows escaped through the fences, and you can't imagine what a +tumult there was. I congratulated myself that I was not in the midst +of this pillage. But this did not last long, for suddenly a herd of +goats, driven by two old women, filed down the street on their way to +the valley. + +Then I had to stop them with my bayonet and call out: + +"Halt!" + +One of the women, Mother Migneron, knew me; she had a pitchfork, and +was very pale. + +"Let me pass, Moses," said she. + +I saw that she was coming slowly toward me, meaning to throw me down +with her pitchfork. The other tried to drive the goats into a little +garden at the side, but the slats were too near together, and the fence +too high. + +I should have liked to let them go by, and deny having seen anything; +but, unfortunately, Lieutenant Rollet came up and called out: + +"Attention!" + +And two men of the company followed: Mâcry and Schweyer, the brewer. + +Old Migneron, seeing me cross the bayonet, began to grind her teeth, +saying: + +"Ah! wretch of a Jew, thou'lt pay for this!" + +She was so angry that she had no fear of my musket, and three times she +tried to thrust her pitchfork into me; then I found the benefit of my +drilling, for I parried all her attacks. + +Two goats escaped between my legs; the rest were taken. The soldiers +pushed back the old women, broke their pitchforks, and finally regained +the chief street, which was full of cattle, lowing and kicking. + +Old Migneron sat down on the fence and tore her hair. + +Just then two cows came along, their tails in the air, leaping over the +fences and upsetting everything, the baskets of bees and their old +keeper. Fortunately, as it was winter, the bees remained as if dead in +their baskets, or else I believe they would have routed our whole +battalion. + +The horn of the _hardier_* sounded in the village. He had been +summoned in the name of the law. This old _hardier_, Nickel, passed +along the street, and the animals became quiet, and could be put in +some order. I saw the procession go along the street; the oxen and +cows in front, then the goats, and the pigs behind. + + +* Herdsman. + + +The Baraquins followed, flinging stones and throwing sticks. I saw +that, if I should be forgotten, these wretches would fall upon me, and +I should be murdered; but Sergeant Monborne, with other comrades, came +and relieved me. They all laughed and said: + +"We have shaved them well! There is not a goat left at the Barracks; +we have taken everything at one haul." + +We hastened to rejoin the column, which marched in two lines at the +right and left of the road, the cattle in the middle, our company +behind, and Nickel, with Commandant Thomas, in front. This formed a +file of at least three hundred paces. On every animal a bundle of hay +had been tied for fodder. + +In this way we passed slowly into the cemetery lane. + +Upon the glacis we halted, and tied up the animals, and the order came +to take them down into the fosses behind the arsenal. + +We were the first that returned; we had seized thirty oxen, forty-five +cows, a quantity of goats and pigs, and some sheep. + +All day long the companies were coming back with their booty, so that +the fosses were filled with cattle, which remained in the open air. +Then the governor said that the garrison had provisions for six months, +and every inhabitant must prove that he had enough to last as long, and +that domiciliary visits were to begin. + +We broke ranks before the city hall. I was going up the main street, +my gun on my shoulder, when some one called me: + +"Hey! Father Moses!" + +I turned and saw our sergeant. + +"Well," said he, laughing, "you have made your first attack; you have +brought us back some provisions. Well and good!" + +"Yes, sergeant, but it is very sad!" + +"What, sad? Thirty oxen, forty-five cows, some pigs and goats--it is +magnificent!" + +"To be sure, but if you had heard the cries of these poor people, if +you had seen them!" + +"Bah! bah!" said he. "_Primo_, Father Moses, soldiers must live; men +must have their rations if they are going to fight. I have often seen +these things done in Germany and Spain and Italy! Peasants are +selfish; they want to keep their own; they do not regard the honor of +the flag; that is trash! In some respects they would be worse than +townspeople, if we were foolish enough to listen to them; we must be +strict." + +"We have been, sergeant," I replied; "but if I had been master, we +should not have robbed these poor wretches; they are in a pitiable +condition enough already." + +"You are too compassionate, Father Moses, and you think that others are +like yourself. But we must remember that peasants, citizens, +civilians, live only by the soldiers, and have all the profit without +wanting to pay any of the cost. If we followed your advice we should +die of hunger in this little town; our peasants would support the +Russians, the Austrians, and Bavarians at our expense. This pack of +scoundrels would be having a good time from morning to night, and the +rest of us would be as poor as church-mice. That would not do--there +is no sense in it!" + +He laughed aloud. We had now come into our passage, and I went +upstairs. + +"Is it thou, Moses?" asked Sorlé in the darkness, for it was nightfall. + +"Yes, the sergeant and I." + +"Ah, good!" said she; "I was expecting you." + +"Madame Moses," exclaimed the sergeant, "your husband can boast now of +being a real soldier; he has not yet seen fire, but he has charged with +his bayonet." + +"Ah!" said Sorlé, "I am very glad to see him back." + +In the room, through the little white door-curtains, we saw the lamp +burning, and smelt the soup. The sergeant went to his room, as usual, +and we into ours. Sorlé looked at me with her great black eyes, she +saw how pale I was, and knew what I was thinking about. She took from +me my cartridge-box, and placed my musket in the closet. + +"Where is Sâfel?" I asked. + +"He must be in the square. I sent him to see if you had come back. +Hark! There he is coming up!" + +Then I heard the child come up the stairs; he opened the door at once +and ran joyfully to embrace me. + +We sat down to dinner, and, in spite of my trouble, I ate with a good +appetite, having taken nothing since morning. + +Suddenly Sorlé said: "If the invoice does not come before the city +gates are closed we shall not have to pay anything, for goods are at +the risk of the merchant until they are delivered. And we have not +received the inventory." + +"Yes," I replied, "you are right; M. Quataya, instead of sending us the +spirits of wine at once, waited a week before answering us. If he had +sent the twelve pipes that day or the day after, they would be here by +this time. The delay is not our fault." + +You see, Fritz, how anxious we were; but, as the sergeant came to smoke +his pipe at the corner of the stove, as usual, we said no more about it. + +I spoke only of my fears in regard to Zeffen, Baruch, and their +children, in an exposed town like Saverne. The sergeant tried to put +my mind at ease, and said that in such places they made, to be sure, +all sorts of requisitions in wines, brandies, provisions, carriages, +carts, and horses, but, except in case of resistance, the people were +let alone, and the soldiers even tried to keep on good terms with them. + +We kept on talking till nearly ten o'clock; then the sergeant, who had +to keep guard at the German gate, went away, and we went to bed. + +This was the night of the twenty-second and twenty-third of December, a +very cold night. + + + + +IX + +APPROACH OF THE ENEMY + +The next morning, when I threw back the shutters of our room, +everything was white with snow; the old elms of the square, the street, +the roofs of the mayoralty and market and church. Some of our +neighbors, Recco the tinman, Spick the baker, and old Durand the +mattress-maker, opened their doors and looked as if dazzled, while they +exclaimed: + +"He! Winter has come!" + +Although we see it every year yet it is like a new existence. We +breathe better out of doors, and within it is a pleasure to sit in the +corner of the fireplace and smoke our pipes, while we watch the +crackling of the red fire. Yes, I have always felt so for seventy-five +years, and I feel so still! + +I had scarcely opened the shutters when Sâfel sprang from his bed like +a squirrel, and came and flattened his nose against a pane of glass, +his long hair dishevelled and his legs bare. + +"Oh! snow! snow!" he exclaimed. "Now we can have some slides!" + +Sorlé, in the next room, made haste to dress herself and run in. We +all looked out for some minutes; then I went to make the fire, Sorlé +went to the kitchen, Sâfel dressed himself hastily, and everything fell +back into the ordinary channel. + +Notwithstanding the falling snow, it was very cold. You need only to +see the fire kindle at once, and hear it roar in the stove, to know +that it was freezing hard. + +As we were eating our soup, I said to Sorlé, "The poor sergeant must +have passed a dreadful night. His little glass of cherry-brandy will +taste good." + +"Yes," she said, "it is well you thought of it." + +She went to the closet, and filled my little pocket-flask from the +bottle of cherry-brandy. + +You know, Fritz, that we do not like to go into public houses when we +are on our way to our own business. Each of us carries his own little +bottle and crust of bread; it is the best way and most conformed to the +law of the Lord. + +Sorlé then filled my flask, and I put it in my pocket, under my +great-coat, to go to the guard-house. Sâfel wanted to follow me, but +his mother told him to stay, and I went down alone, well pleased at +being able to do the sergeant a kindness. + +It was about seven o'clock. The snow falling from the roofs at every +gust of wind was enough to blind you. But going along the walls, with +my nose in my great-coat, which was well drawn up on the shoulders, I +reached the German gate, and was about going down the three steps of +the guard-house, under the arch at the left, when the sergeant himself +opened the heavy door and exclaimed: + +"Is it you, Father Moses! What the devil has brought you here in this +cold?" + +The guard-house was full of mist; we could hardly see some men +stretched on camp-beds at the farther end, and five or six veterans +near the red-hot stove. + +I stood and looked. + +"Here," I said to the sergeant as I handed him my little bottle, "I +have brought you your drop of cherry-brandy; it was such a cold night, +you must need it." + +"And you have thought of me, Father Moses!" he exclaimed, taking me by +the arm, and looking at me with emotion. + +"Yes, sergeant." + +"Well, I am glad of it." + +He raised the flask to his mouth and took a good drink. At that moment +there was a distant cry. "Who goes there?" and the guard of the +outpost ran to open the gate. + +"That is good!" said the sergeant, tapping on the cork, and giving me +the bottle; "take it back, Father Moses, and thank you!" + +Then he turned toward the half-moon and asked, "News! What is it?" + +We both looked and saw a hussar quartermaster, a withered, gray old +man, with quantities of chevrons on his arm, arrive in great haste. + +All my life I shall have that man before my eyes; his smoking horse, +his flying sabretash, his sword clinking against his boots; his cap and +jacket covered with frost; his long, bony, wrinkled face, his pointed +nose, long chin, and yellow eyes. I shall always see him riding like +the wind, then stopping his rearing horse under the arch in front of +us, and calling out to us with a voice like a trumpet: "Where is the +governor's house, sergeant?" + +"The first house at the right, quartermaster. What is the news?" + +"The enemy is in Alsace!" + +Those who have never seen such men--men accustomed to long warfare, and +hard as iron--can have no idea of them. And then if you had heard the +exclamation, "The enemy is in Alsace!" it would have made you tremble. + +The veterans had gone away; the sergeant, as he saw the hussar fasten +his horse at the governor's door, said to me: "Ah, well, Father Moses, +now we shall see the whites of their eyes!" + +He laughed, and the others seemed pleased. + +As for myself, I set forth quickly, with my head bent, and in my terror +repeating to myself the words of the prophet: + +"One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, +to show the king that his passages are stopped, and the reeds they have +burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. + +"The mighty men have forborne to fight, they have remained in their +holds, their might hath failed, and the bars are broken. + +"Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, +prepare the nations against her, call together against her the +kingdoms, appoint a captain against her. + +"And the land shall tremble and sorrow; for every purpose of the Lord +shall be performed, to make the land a desolation without an +inhabitant!" + +I saw my ruin at hand--the destruction of my hopes. + +"Mercy, Moses!" exclaimed my wife, as she saw me come back, "what is +the matter? Your face is all drawn up. Something dreadful has +happened." + +"Yes, Sorlé," I said, as I sat down; "the time of trouble has come of +which the prophet spoke: 'The king of the south shall push at him, and +the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind; and he +shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over.'" + +This I said with my hands raised toward heaven. Little Sâfel squeezed +himself between my knees, while Sorlé looked on, not knowing what to +say; and I told them that the Austrians were in Alsace; that the +Bavarians, Swedes, Prussians, and Russians were coming by hundreds of +thousands; that a hussar had come to announce all these calamities; +that our spirits of wine were lost, and ruin was threatening us. + +I shed a few tears, and neither Sorlé nor Sâfel would comfort me. + +It was eight o'clock. There was a great commotion in the city. We +heard the drum beat, and proclamations read; it seemed as if the enemy +were already there. + +One thing which I remember especially, for we had opened a window to +hear, was that the governor ordered the inhabitants to empty +immediately their barns and granaries; and that, while we were +listening, a large Alsatian wagon with two horses, with Baruch sitting +on the pole, and Zeffen behind on some straw--her infant in her arms, +and her other child at her side--turned suddenly into the street. + +They were coming to us for safety! + +The sight of them upset me, and raising my hands, I exclaimed: + +"Lord, take from me all weakness! Thou seest that I need to live for +the sake of these little ones. Therefore be thou my strength, and let +me not be cast down!" + +And I went down at once to receive them, Sorlé and Sâfel following me. +I took my daughter in my arms, and helped her to the ground, while +Sorlé took the children, and Baruch exclaimed: + +"We came at the last minute! The gate was closed as soon as we had +come in. There were many others from Quatre-Vents and Saverne who had +to stay outside." + +"God be praised, Baruch!" I replied. "You are all welcome, my dear +children! I have not much, I am not rich; but what I have, you +have--it is all yours. Come in!" + +And we went upstairs; Zeffen, Sorlé, and I carrying the children, while +Baruch stayed to take their things out of the wagon, and then he came +up. + +The street was now full of straw and hay, thrown out from the lofts; +there was no wind, and the snow had stopped falling. In a little while +the shouts and proclamations ceased. + +Sorlé hastened to serve up the remains of our breakfast, with a bottle +of wine; and Baruch, while he was eating, told us that there was a +panic in Alsace, that the Austrians had turned Basle, and were +advancing by forced marches upon Schlestadt, Neuf Brisach, and +Strasburg, after having surrounded Huninguen. + +"Everybody is escaping," said he. "They are fleeing to the mountain, +taking their valuables on their carts, and driving their cattle into +the woods. There is a rumor already that bands of Cossacks have been +seen at Mutzig, but that is hardly possible, as the army of Marshal +Victor is on the Upper Rhine, and dragoons are passing every day to +join him. How could they pass his lines without giving battle?" + +We were listening very attentively to these things when the sergeant +came in. He was just off duty, and stood outside of the door, looking +at us with astonishment. + +I took Zeffen by the hand, and said: "Sergeant, this is my daughter, +this is my son-in-law, and these are my grandchildren, about whom I +have told you. They know you, for I have told them in my letters how +much we think of you." + +The sergeant looked at Zeffen.--"Father Moses," said he, "you have a +handsome daughter, and your son-in-law looks like a worthy man." + +Then he took little Esdras from Zeffen's arms, and lifted him up, and +made a face at him, at which the child laughed, and everybody was +pleased. The other little one opened his eyes wide and looked on. + +"My children have come to stay with me," I said to the sergeant; "you +will excuse them if they make a little noise in the house?" + +"How! Father Moses," he exclaimed. "I will excuse everything! Do not +be concerned; are we not old friends?" + +And at once, in spite of all we could say, he chose another room +looking upon the court. + +"All the nestful ought to be together," said he. "I am the friend of +the family, the old sergeant, who will not trouble anybody, provided +they are willing to see him here." + +I was so much moved that I gave him both my hands. + +"It was a happy day when you entered my house," said I. "The Lord be +thanked for it!" + +He laughed, and said: "Come now, Father Moses; come! Have I done +anything more than was natural? Why do you wonder at it?" + +He went at once to get his things and carry them to his new room; and +then went away, so as not to disturb us. + +How we are mistaken! This sergeant, whom Frichard had sent to plague +us, at the end of a fortnight was one of our family; he consulted our +comfort in everything--and, notwithstanding all the years that have +passed since then, I cannot think of that good man without emotion. + +When we were alone, Baruch told us that he could not stay at Phalsburg; +that he had come to bring his family, with everything that he could +provide for them in the first hurried moments; but that, in the midst +of such dangers, when the enemy could not long delay coming, his duty +was to guard his house, and prevent, as much as possible, the pillage +of his goods. + +This seemed right, though it made us none the less grieved to have him +go. We thought of the pain of living apart from each other; of hearing +no tidings; of being all the time uncertain about the fate of our +beloved ones! Meanwhile we were all busy. Sorlé and Zeffen prepared +the children's bed; Baruch took out the provisions which he had +brought; Sâfel played with the two little ones, and I went and came, +thinking about our troubles. + +At last, when the best room was ready for Zeffen and the children, as +the German gate was already shut, and the French gate would be open +only until two o'clock at the latest, for strangers to leave the city, +Baruch exclaimed: "Zeffen, the moment has come!" + +He had scarcely said the words when the great agony began--cries, +embraces, and tears! + +Ah! it is a great joy to be loved, the only true joy of life. But what +sorrow to be separated! And how our family loved each other! How +Zeffen and Baruch embraced one another! How they leaned over their +little ones, how they looked at them, and began to sob again! + +What can be said at such a moment? I sat by the window, with my hands +before my face, without strength to speak. I thought to myself: "My +God, must it be that a single man shall hold in his hands the fate of +us all! Must it be that, for his pleasure, for the gratification of +his pride, everything shall be confounded, overturned, torn asunder! +My God, shall these troubles never end? Hast thou no pity on thy poor +creatures?" + +I did not raise my eyes, but I heard the lamentations which rent my +heart, and which lasted till the moment when Baruch, perceiving that +Zeffen was quite exhausted, ran out, exclaiming: "It must be! It must +be! Adieu, Zeffen! Adieu, my children! Adieu, all!" + +No one followed him. + +We heard the carriage roll away, and then was the great sorrow--that +sorrow of which it is written: + +"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when we +remembered Zion. + +"We hanged our harps upon the willows. + +"For there they that carried us away captive, required of us a song, +saying: 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!' + +"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" + + + + +X + +AN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE COSSACKS + +But that day I was to have the greatest fright of all. You remember, +Fritz, that Sorlé had told me at supper the night before, that if we +did not receive the invoice, our spirits of wine would be at the risk +of M. Quataya of Pézenas, and that we need feel no anxiety about it. + +I thought so, too, for it seemed to me right; and as the French and +German gates were closed at three o'clock, and nothing more could enter +the city, I supposed that that was the end of the matter, and felt +quite relieved. + +"It is a pity, Moses!" I said to myself, as I walked up and down the +room; "yes, for if these spirits had been sent a week sooner, we should +have made a great profit; but now, at least, thou art relieved of great +anxiety. Be content with thine old trade. Let alone for the future +such harassing undertakings. Don't stake thine all again on one throw, +and let this be a lesson to thee!" + +Such thoughts were in my mind, when, about four o'clock, I heard some +one coming up our stairs. It was a heavy step, as of a man trying to +find his way in the dark. + +Zeffen and Sorlé were in the kitchen, preparing supper. Women always +have something to talk about by themselves, for nobody else to hear. +So I listened, and then opened the door. + +"Who is there?" I asked. + +"Does not Mr. Moses, the wine-merchant, live here?" asked the man in a +blouse and broad-brimmed felt hat, with his whip on his shoulder--a +wagoner's figure, in short. I turned pale as I heard him, and replied: +"Yes, my name is Moses. What do you want?" + +He came in, and took out a large leather portfolio from under his +blouse. I trembled as I looked on. + +"There!" said he, giving me two papers, "my invoice and my bill of +lading! Are not the twelve pipes of three-six from Pézenas for you?" + +"Yes, where are they?" + +"On the Mittelbronn hill, twenty minutes from here," he quietly +answered. "Some Cossacks stopped my wagons, and I had to take off the +horses. I hurried into the city by a postern under the bridge." + +My legs failed me as he spoke. I sank into my arm-chair, unable to +speak a word. + +"You will pay me the portage," said the man, "and give me a receipt for +the delivery." + +"Sorlé! Sorlé!" I cried in a despairing voice. And she and Zeffen ran +to me. The wagoner explained it all to them. As for me, I heard +nothing. I had strength only to exclaim: "Now all is lost! Now I must +pay without receiving the goods." + +"We are willing to pay, sir," said my wife, "but the letter states that +the twelve pipes shall be delivered in the city." + +The wagoner said: "I have just come from the justice of the peace, as I +wanted to find out before coming to you what I had a right to claim; he +told me that you ought to pay for everything, even my horses and +carriages, do you understand? I unharnessed my horses, and escaped, +myself, which is so much the less on your account. Will you settle? +Yes or no?" + +We were almost dead with fright when the sergeant came in. He had +heard loud words, and asked: "What is it, Father Moses? What is it +about? What does this man want?" + +Sorlé, who never lost her presence of mind, told him the whole story, +shortly and clearly; he comprehended it at once. + +"Twelve pipes of three-six, that makes twenty-four pipes of cognac. +What luck for the garrison! what luck!" + +"Yes," said I, "but it cannot come in; the city gates are shut, and the +wagons are surrounded by Cossacks." + +"Cannot come in!" cried the sergeant, raising his shoulders. "Go +along! Do you take the governor for a fool? Is he going to refuse +twenty-four pipes of good brandy, when the garrison needs it? Is he +going to leave this windfall to the Cossacks? Madame Sorlé, pay the +portage at once; and you, Father Moses, put on your cap and follow me +to the governor's, with the letter in your pocket. Come along! Don't +lose a minute! If the Cossacks have time to put their noses in your +casks, you will find a famous deficit, I warrant you!" + +When I heard that I exclaimed: "Sergeant, you have saved my life!" And +I hastened to get my cap. + +"Shall I pay the portage?" asked Sorlé. + +"Yes! pay!" I answered as I went down, for it was plain that the +wagoner could compel us. I went down with an anxious heart. + +All that I remember after this is that the sergeant walked before me in +the snow, that he said a few words to the sapper on orderly duty at the +governor's house, and that we went up the grand stairway with the +marble balustrade. + +Upstairs, in the gallery with the balustrade around it, he said to me: +"Be easy, Father Moses! Take out your letter, and let me do the +talking." + +He knocked softly at a door as he spoke: + +Somebody said: "Come in!" + +We went in. + +Colonel Moulin, a fat man in a dressing-gown and little silk cap, was +smoking his pipe in front of a good fire. He was very red, and had a +caraffe of rum and a glass at its side on the marble mantel-piece, +where were also a clock and vases of flowers. + +"What is it?" he asked, turning round. + +"Colonel, this is what is the matter," replied the sergeant: "twelve +pipes of spirits of wine have been stopped on the Mittelbronn hill, and +are surrounded by Cossacks." + +"Cossacks!" exclaimed the governor. "Have they broken through our +lines already?" + +"Yes," said the sergeant, "a sudden attack of Cossacks! They have +possession of the twelve pipes of three-six which this patriot brought +from Pézenas to sustain the garrison." + +"Some bandits," said the governor--"thieves!" + +"Here is the letter," said the sergeant, taking it from my hand. + +The colonel cast his eyes over it, and said hastily: + +"Sergeant, go and take twenty-five men of your company. Go on the run, +free the wagons, and put in requisition horses from the village to +bring them into the city." + +And, as we were going: "Wait!" said he; and he went to his bureau and +wrote four words; "here is the order." + +When we were once on the stairway, the sergeant said: "Father Moses, +run to the cooper's; we may perhaps need him and his boys. I know the +Cossacks; their first thought will be to unload the casks so as to be +more sure of keeping them. Have them bring ropes and ladders; and I +will go to the Barracks and get my men together." + +Then I ran home like a hart, for I was enraged at the Cossacks. I went +in to get my musket and cartridge-box. I could have fought an army: I +could not see straight. + +"What is it? Where are you going?" asked Sorlé and Zeffen. + +"You will know by and by," I replied. + +I went to Schweyer's. He had two large saddle-pistols, which he put +quickly into his apron-belt with the axe; his two boys, Nickel and +Frantz, took the ladder and ropes, and we ran to the French gate. + +The sergeant was not yet there; but two minutes after he came running +down the street by the rampart with thirty veterans in file, their +muskets on their shoulders. + +The officer guarding the postern had only to see the order to let us go +out, and a few minutes after we were in the trenches behind the +hospital, where the sergeant ranged his men. + +"It is cognac!" he told them; "twenty-four pipes of cognac! So, +comrades, attention! The garrison is without brandy; those who do not +like brandy have only to fall to the rear." + +But they all wanted to be in front, and laughed in anticipation. + +We went up the stairway, and were ranged in order in the covered ways. +It might have been five o'clock. Looking from the top of the glacis we +could see the broad meadow of Eichmatt, and above it the hills of +Mittelbronn covered with snow. The sky was full of clouds, and night +was coming on. It was very cold. + +"Forward!" said the sergeant. + +And we gained the highway. The veterans ran, in two files, at the +right and left, their backs rounded, and their muskets in their +shoulder-belts; the snow was up to their knees. + +Schweyer, his two boys, and I walked behind. + +At the end of a quarter of an hour, the veterans, who ran all the way, +had left us far behind; we heard for some time their cartridge-boxes +rattling, but soon this sound was lost in the distance, and then we +heard the dog of the Trois-Maisons barking in his chain. + +The deep silence of the night gave me a chance to think. If it had not +been for the thought of my spirits of wine, I would have gone straight +back to Phalsburg, but fortunately that thought prevailed, and I said: + +"Make haste, Schweyer, make haste!" + +"Make haste!" he exclaimed angrily, "you can make haste to get back +your spirits of wine, but what do we care for it? Is the highway the +place for us? Are we bandits that we should risk our lives?" + +I understood at once that he wanted to escape, and was enraged. + +"Take care, Schweyer," said I, "take care! If you and your boys go +back, people will say that you have been a traitor to the city brandy, +and that is worse than being a traitor to the flag, especially in a +cooper." + +"The devil take thee!" said he, "we ought never to have come." + +However, he kept on ascending the hill with me. Nickel and Frantz +followed us without hurrying. + +When we reached the plateau we saw lights in the village. All was +still and seemed quiet, although there was a great crowd around the two +first houses. + +The door of the _Bunch of Grapes_ was wide open, and its kitchen fire +shone through the passage to the street where my two wagons stood. + +This crowd came from the Cossacks who were carousing at Heitz's house, +after tying their horses under the shed. They had made Mother Heitz +cook them a good hot soup, and we saw them plainly, two or three +hundred paces distant, go up and down the outside steps, with jugs and +bottles which they passed from one to another. The thought came to me +that they were drinking my spirits of wine, for a lantern hung behind +the first wagon, and the rascals were all going from it with their +elbows raised. I was so furious that, regardless of danger, I began to +run to put a stop to the pillage. + +Fortunately the veterans were in advance of me, or I should have been +murdered by the Cossacks; I had not gone half way when our whole troop +sprang from the fences of the highway, and ran like a pack of wolves, +crying out, "To the bayonet!" + +You never saw such confusion, Fritz. In a second the Cossacks were on +their horses, and the veterans in the midst of them; the front of the +inn with its trellis, its pigeon-house, and its little fenced garden, +was lighted up by the firing of muskets and pistols. Heitz's two +daughters stood at the windows, with their arms lifted and screamed so +that they could be heard all over Mittelbronn. + +Every minute, in the midst of the confusion, something fell upon the +road, and then the horses started and ran through the fields like deer, +with their heads run out, and their manes and tails flying. The +villagers ran; Father Heitz slipped into the barn, and climbed up the +ladder, and I came up breathless, as if out of my senses. + +I had not gone more than fifteen steps when a Cossack, who was running +away at full speed, turned about furiously close to me, with his lance +in the air, and called out, "Hurra!" + +I had only time to stoop, and I felt the wind from the lance as it +passed along my body. + +I never felt so in my life, Fritz; I felt the chill of death, that +trembling of the flesh, of which the prophet spoke: "Fear came upon me +and trembling; the hair of my flesh stood up." + +[Illustration: I SHUDDERED IN MY VERY SOUL AND MY HAIR BRISTLED.] + +But what shows the spirit of wisdom and prudence which the Lord puts +into his creatures, when he means to spare them for a good old age, is +that immediately afterward, in spite of my trembling knees, I went and +sat under the first wagon, where the blows of the lances could not +reach me; and there I saw the veterans finish the extermination of the +rascals, who had retreated into the court, and not one of whom escaped. + +Five or six were in a heap before the door, and three others were +stretched upon the highway. + +This did not take more than ten minutes; then all was dark again, and I +heard the sergeant call: "Cease firing!" + +Heitz, who had come down from his hay-loft, had just lighted a lantern; +the sergeant seeing me under the wagon, called out: "Are you wounded, +Father Moses?" + +"No," I replied, "but a Cossack tried to thrust his lance into me, and +I got into a safe place." + +He laughed aloud, and gave me his hand to help me to rise. + +"Father Moses," said he, "I was frightened about you. Wipe your back; +people might think you were not brave." + +I laughed too, and thought: "People may think what they please! The +great thing is to live in good health as long as possible." + +We had only one wounded, Corporal Duhem, an old man, who bandaged his +own leg, and tried to walk. He had had a blow from a lance in the +right calf. He was placed on the first wagon, and Lehnel, Heitz's +granddaughter, came and gave him a drop of cherry-brandy, which at once +restored his strength and even his good spirits. + +"It is the fifteenth," he exclaimed. "I am in for a week at the +hospital; but leave me the bottle for the compresses." + +I was delighted to see my twelve pipes on the wagons, for Schweyer and +his two boys had run away, and without their help we could hardly have +reloaded. + +I tapped at once at the bung-hole of the hindmost cask to find out how +much was missing. These scamps of Cossacks had already drunk nearly +half a measure of spirits; Father Heitz told me that some of them +scarcely added a drop of water. Such creatures must have throats of +tin; the oldest topers among us could not bear a glass of three-six +without being upset. + +At last all was ready and we had only to return to the city. When I +think of it, it all seems before me now: Heitz's large dapple-gray +horses going out of the stable one by one; the sergeant standing by the +dark door with his lantern in his hand, and calling out, "Come, hurry +up! The rascals may come back!" On the road in front of the inn, the +veterans surrounded the wagons; farther on the right some peasants, who +had hastened to the scene with pitchforks and mattocks, were looking at +the dead Cossacks, and myself, standing on the stairs above, singing +praises to God in my heart as I thought how glad Sorlé and Zeffen and +little Sâfel would be to see me come back with our goods. + +And then when all is ready, when the little bells jingle, when the whip +snaps, and we start on the way--what delight! + +Ah Fritz! everything looks bright after thirty years; we forget fears, +anxieties, and fatigues; but the memory of good men and happy hours +remains with us forever! + +The veterans, on both sides of the wagons, with their muskets under +their arms, escorted my twelve pipes as if they were the tabernacle; +Heitz led the horses, and the sergeant and I walked behind. + +"Well, Father Moses!" said he laughing, "it has all gone off well; are +you satisfied?" + +"More than I can possibly tell, sergeant! What would have been my ruin +will make the fortune of my family, and we owe it all to you." + +"Go along," said he, "you are joking." + +He laughed, but I felt deeply; to have been in danger of losing +everything, and then to regain it all and make profit out of it--it +makes one feel deeply. + +I exclaimed inwardly: "I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people; +and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. + +"For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth unto +the clouds." + + + + +XI + +FATHER MOSES RETURNS IN TRIUMPH + +Now I must tell you about our return to Phalsburg. + +You may suppose that my wife and children, after seeing me take my gun +and go away, were in a state of great anxiety. About five o'clock +Sorlé went out with Zeffen to try to learn what was going on, and only +then they heard that I had started for Mittelbronn with a detachment of +veterans. + +Imagine their terror! + +The rumor of these extraordinary proceedings had spread through the +city, and quantities of people were on the bastion of the artillery +barracks, looking on from the distance. Burguet was there, with the +mayor, and other persons of distinction, and a number of women and +children, all trying to see through the darkness. Some insisted that +Moses marched with the detachment, but nobody would believe it, and +Burguet exclaimed: "It is not possible that a sensible man like Moses +would go and risk his life in fighting Cossacks--no, it is not +possible!" + +If I had been in his place I should have said the same of him. But +what can you do, Fritz? The most prudent of men become blind when +their property is at stake; blind, I say, and terrible, for they lose +sight of danger. + +This crowd was waiting, as I said, and soon Zeffen and Sorlé came, as +pale as death, with their large shawls over their heads. They went up +the rampart and stood there, with their feet in the snow, too much +frightened to speak. + +I learned these things afterward. + +When Zeffen and her mother went up on the bastion, it was, perhaps, +half-past five; there was not a star to be seen. Just at that time, +Schweyer and his boys ran away, and five minutes later the skirmish +began. + +Burguet told me afterward that, notwithstanding the darkness and the +distance, they saw the flash of the muskets around the inn as plainly +as if they were a hundred paces off, and everybody was still and +listened to hear the shots, which were repeated by the echoes of the +Bois-de-Chênes and Lutzelburg. + +When they ceased Sorlé descended from the slope leaning on Zeffen's +arm, for she could not support herself. Burguet helped them to reach +the street, and took them into old Frise's house on the corner, where +they found him warming himself gloomily by his hearth. + +"My last day has come!" said Sorlé. Zeffen wept bitterly. + +I have often reproached myself for having caused this sorrow, but who +can answer for his own wisdom? Has not the wise man himself said: "I +turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; and I saw that +wisdom excelleth folly; and I myself perceived that one event happeneth +to the wise man and the fool. Wherefore, I said in my heart, that +wisdom also is vanity." + +Burguet was going out from Father Frise's when Schweyer and his sons +came up the postern stairs, crying out that we were surrounded by +Cossacks and lost. Fortunately my wife and daughter could not hear +them, and the mayor soon came along and ordered them to stop talking +and go home quickly, if they did not want to be sent to prison. + +They obeyed, but that did not prevent people from believing what they +said, especially as it was all dark again in the direction of +Mittelbronn. + +The crowd came down from the ramparts and filled the street; many of +them went to their homes thinking they should never see us again, when, +just as the clock struck seven, the sentinel of the outworks called +out, "Who goes there?" + +We had reached the gate. + +The crowd was soon on the ramparts again. The squad in front of the +sergeant on duty flew to arms; they had just recognized us. + +We heard the murmur, without knowing what it was. So, when, after a +reconnoissance, the gates were slowly opened to us, and the two bridges +lowered for us to pass, what was our surprise at hearing the shouts: +"Hurrah for Father Moses! Hurrah for the spirits of wine!" + +The tears came to my eyes. And my wagons rolling heavily under the +gates, the soldiers presented arms to us, the great crowd surrounding +us, shouting: "Moses! Hey, Moses! are you all right? you have not been +killed?" the shouts of laughter, the people seizing my arm to hear me +tell about the fight,--all these things were very pleasant. + +Everybody wanted to talk with me, even the mayor, and I had not time to +answer them. + +But all this was nothing compared with the joy I felt at seeing Sorlé, +Zeffen, and little Sâfel run from Father Frise's and throw themselves +all at once into my arms, exclaiming: "He is safe! he is safe!" + +Ah, Fritz! what are honors by the side of such love? What is all the +glory of the world compared with the joy of seeing our beloved ones? +The others might have cried out, "Hurrah for Moses!" a hundred years, +and I would not even have turned my head; but I was terribly moved by +the sight of my family. + +I gave Sâfel my gun, and while the wagons, escorted by the veterans, +went on toward the little market, I led Zeffen and Sorlé through the +crowd to old Frise's, and there, when we were alone, we began to hug +each other again. + +Without, the shouts of joy were redoubled; you would have thought that +the spirits of wine belonged to the whole city. But within the room, +my wife and daughter burst into tears, and I confessed my imprudence. + +So, instead of telling them of the dangers I had experienced, I told +them that the Cossacks ran away as soon as they saw us, and that we had +only to put horses to the wagons before starting. + +A quarter of an hour afterward, when the cries and tumult had ceased, I +went out, with Zeffen and Sorlé on my arms, and little Sâfel in front, +with my gun on his shoulder, and in this way we went home, to see to +the unlading of the brandy. + +I wanted to put everything in order before morning, so as to begin to +sell at double price as soon as possible. + +When a man runs such risks he ought to make something by it; for if he +should sell at cost price, as some persons wish, nobody would be +willing to run any risk for the sake of others; and if it should come +to pass that a man should sacrifice himself for other people, he would +be thought a blockhead; we have seen it a hundred times, and it will +always be so. + +Thank God! such ideas never entered into my head! I have always +thought that the true idea of trade was to make as much profit as we +can, honestly and lawfully. + +That is according to justice and good sense. + +As we turned at the corner of the market, our two wagons were already +unharnessed before our house. Heitz was running back with his horses, +so as to take advantage of the open gates, and the veterans, with their +arms at will, were going up the street toward the infantry quarters. + +It might have been eight o'clock. Zeffen and Sorlé went to bed, and I +sent Sâfel for Gros the cooper, to come and unload the casks. +Quantities of people came and offered to help us. Gros came soon with +his boys, and the work began. + +It is very pleasant, Fritz, to see great tuns going into your cellar, +and to say to yourself, "These splendid tuns are mine: it is spirits +which cost me twenty sous the quart, and which I am going to sell for +three francs!" This shows the beauty of trade; but everybody can +imagine the pleasure for himself--there is no use in speaking of it. + +About midnight my twelve pipes were down on the stands, and there was +nothing left to do but to broach them. + +While the crowd was dispersing, I engaged Gros to come in the morning +to help me mix the spirits with water, and we went up, well pleased +with our day's work. We closed the double oak door, and I fastened the +padlock and went to bed. + +What a pleasure it is to own something and feel that it is all safe! + +This is how my twelve pipes were saved. + +You see now, Fritz, what anxieties and fears we had at that time. +Nobody was sure of anything; for you must not suppose that I was the +only one living like a bird on the branch; there were hundreds of +others who were not able to close their eyes. You should have seen how +the citizens looked every morning, when they heard that the Austrians +and Russians occupied Alsace, that the Prussians were marching upon +Sarrebruck, or when an order was published for domiciliary visits, or +for days' labor to wall up the posterns and orillons of the place, or +to form companies of firemen to remove at once all inflammable matter, +or to report to the governor the situation of the city treasury, and +the list of the principal persons subject to taxes for the supply of +shoes, caps, bed-linen, and so forth. + +You should have seen how people looked at each other. + +In war times civil life is nothing, and they will take from you your +last shirt, giving you the governor's receipt for it. The first men of +the land are zeros when the governor has spoken. This is why I have +often thought that everybody who wishes for war, or at least wants to +be a soldier, is either demented or half ruined, and hopes to better +himself by the ruin of everybody else. It must be so. + +But notwithstanding all these troubles, I could not lose time, and I +spent all the next day in mixing my spirits. I took off my cloak, and +drew out with great gusto. Gros and his boys brought jugs, and emptied +them in the casks which I had bought beforehand, so that by evening +these casks were brimful of good white brandy, eighteen degrees. + +I had caramel prepared, also, to give the brandy a good color of old +cognac, and when I turned the faucet, and raised the glass before the +candle, and saw that it was exactly the right tint, I was in ecstasies, +and exclaimed: "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and +wine unto those that be of heavy hearts! Let him drink and remember +his misery no more." + +Father Gros, standing at my side on his great flat feet, smiled +quietly, and his boys looked well pleased. + +I filled the glass for them; they passed it to each other and were +delighted with it. + +About five o'clock we went upstairs. Sâfel, on the same day, had +brought three workmen, and had them remove our old iron into the court +under the shed. The old rickety storehouse was cleaned. Desmarets, +the joiner, put up some shelves behind the door in the arch, for +holding bottles, and glasses, and tin measures, when the time for +selling should come, and his son put together the planks of the +counter. This was all done at once, as at a time of great pressure, +when people like to make a good sum of money quickly. + +I looked at it all with a good deal of satisfaction. Zeffen, with her +baby in her arms, and Sorlé, had also come down. I showed my wife the +place behind the counter, and said, "That is the place where you are to +sit, with your feet in loose slippers, and a warm tippet on your +shoulders, and sell our brandy." + +She smiled as she thought of it. + +Our neighbors, Bailly the armorer, Koffel the little weaver, and +several others, came and looked on without speaking; they were +astonished to see what quick work we were making. + +At six o'clock, just as Desmarets laid aside his hammer, the sergeant +arrived in great glee, on his return from the cantine. + +"Well, Father Moses!" he exclaimed, "the work goes on! But there is +still something wanting." + +"What is that, sergeant?" + +"Hi! It is all right, only you must put a screen up above, or look out +for the shells!" + +I saw that he was right, and we were all well frightened, except the +neighbors, who laughed to see our surprise. + +"Yes," said the sergeant, "we must have it." + +This took away all my pleasure; I saw that our troubles were not yet at +an end. + +Sorlé, Zeffen, and I went up, while Desmarets closed the door. Supper +was ready; we sat down thoughtfully, and little Sâfel brought the keys. + +The noise had ceased without; now and then a citizen on patrol passed +by. + +The sergeant came to smoke his pipe as usual. He explained how the +screens were made, by crossing beams in the form of a sentry-box, the +two sides supported against the gables, but while he maintained that it +would hold like an arch, I did not think it strong enough, and I saw by +Sorlé's face that she thought as I did. + +We sat there talking till ten o'clock, and then all went to bed. + + + + +XII + +THE ENEMY REPULSED + +About one o'clock in the morning of the sixth of January, the day of +the feast of the Kings, the enemy arrived on the hill of Saverne. + +It was terribly cold, our windows under the persiennes were white with +frost. I woke as the clock struck one; they were beating the call at +the infantry barracks. + +You can have no idea how it sounded in the silence of the night. + +"Dost thou hear, Moses?" whispered Sorlé. + +"Yes, I hear," said I, almost without breathing. + +After a minute some windows were opened in our street, and we knew that +others too were listening; then we heard running, and suddenly the cry, +"To arms! to arms!" + +It made one's hair stand on end. + +I had just risen, and was lighting a lamp, when we heard two knocks at +our door. + +"Come in!" said Sorlé, trembling. + +The sergeant opened the door. He was in marching equipments, with his +gaiters on his legs, his large gray cap turned up at the sides, his +musket on his shoulder, and his sabre and cartridge-box on his back. + +"Father Moses," said he, "go back to bed and be quiet: it is the +battalion call at the barracks, and has nothing to do with you." + +And we saw at once that he was right, for the drums did not come up the +street two by two, as when the National Guard was called in. + +"Thank you, sergeant," I said. + +"Go to sleep!" said he, and he went down the stairs. + +The door of the alley below slammed to. Then the children, who had +waked up, began to cry. Zeffen came in, very pale, with her baby in +her arms, exclaiming, "Mercy! What is the matter?" + +"It is nothing, Zeffen," said Sorlé. "It is nothing, my child: they +are beating the call for the soldiers." + +At the same moment the battalion came down the main street. We heard +them march as far as to the Place d'Armes, and beyond it toward the +German gate. + +We shut the windows, Zeffen went back to her room, and I lay down again. + +But how could I sleep after such a start? My head was full of a +thousand thoughts: I fancied the arrival of the Russians on the hill +this cold night, and our soldiers marching to meet them, or manning the +ramparts. I thought of all the blindages and block-houses, and +batteries inside the bastions, and that all these great works had been +made to guard against bombs and shells, and I exclaimed inwardly: +"Before the enemy has demolished all these works, our houses will be +crushed, and we shall be exterminated to the last man." + +I took on in this way for about half an hour, thinking of all the +calamities which threatened us, when I heard outside the city, toward +Quatre-Vents, a kind of heavy rolling, rising and falling like the +murmur of running water. This was repeated every second. I raised +myself on my elbow to listen, and I knew that it was a fight far more +terrible than that at Mittelbronn, for the rolling did not stop, but +seemed rather to increase. + +"How they are fighting, Sorlé, how they are fighting!" I exclaimed, as +I pictured to myself the fury of those men murdering each other at the +dead of night, not knowing what they were doing. "Listen! Sorlé, +listen! If that does not make one shudder!" + +"Yes," said she. "I hope our sergeant will not be wounded; I hope he +will come back safe!" + +"May the Lord watch over him!" I replied, jumping from my bed, and +lighting a candle. + +I could not control myself. I dressed myself as quickly as if I were +going to run away; and afterward I listened to that terrible rolling, +which came nearer or died away with every gust of wind. + +When once dressed, I opened a window, to try to see something. The +street was still black; but toward the ramparts, above the dark line of +the arsenal bastions, was stretched a line of red. + +The smoke of powder is red on account of the musket shots which light +it up. It looked like a great fire. All the windows in the street +were open: nothing could be seen, but I heard our neighbor the armorer +say to his wife, "It is growing warm down there! It is the beginning +of the dance, Annette; but they have not got the big drum yet; that +will come, by and by!" + +The woman did not answer, and I thought, "Is it possible to jest about +such things! It is against nature." + +The cold was so severe that after five or six minutes I shut the +window. Sorlé got up and made a fire in the stove. + +The whole city was in commotion; men were shouting and dogs barking. +Sâfel, who had been wakened by all these noises, went to dress himself +in the warm room. I looked very tenderly on this poor little one, his +eyes still heavy with sleep; and as I thought that we were to be fired +upon, that we must hide ourselves in cellars, and all of us be in +danger of being killed for matters which did not concern us, and about +which nobody had asked our opinion, I was full of indignation. But +what distressed me most was to hear Zeffen sob and say that it would +have been better for her and her children to stay with Baruch at +Saverne and all die together. + +Then the words of the prophet came to me: "Is not this thy fear, thy +confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? + +"Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent, or where were +the righteous cut off. + +"No, they that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same. + +"By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are +they consumed. + +"But thee, his servant, he shall redeem from death. + +"Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn +cometh in his season." + +In this way I strengthened my heart, while I heard the great tumult of +the panic-stricken crowd, running and trying to save their property. + +About seven o'clock it was announced that the casemates were open, and +that everybody might take their mattresses there, and that there must +be tubs full of water in every house, and the wells left open in case +of fire. + +Think, Fritz, what ideas these orders suggested. + +Some of our neighbors, Lisbeth Dubourg, Bével Ruppert, Camus's +daughters, and some others, came up to us exclaiming, "We are all lost!" + +Their husbands had gone out, right and left, to see what they could +see, and these women hung on Zeffen and Sorlé's necks, repeating again +and again, "Oh, dear! oh, dear! what misery!" + +I could have wished them all to the devil, for instead of comforting us +they only increased our fears; but at such times women will get +together and cry out all at once; you can't talk reason to them; they +like these loud cryings and groanings. + +Just as the clock struck eight, Bailly the armorer came to find his +wife: he had come from the ramparts. "The Russians," he said, "have +come down in a mass from Quatre-Vents to the very gate, filling the +whole plain--Cossacks, Baskirs, and rabble! Why don't they fire down +upon them from the ramparts? The governor is betraying us." + +"Where are our soldiers?" I asked. + +"Retreating!" exclaimed he. "The wounded came back two hours ago, and +our men stay yonder, with folded arms." + +His bony face shook with rage. He led away his wife; then others came +crying out, "The enemy has advanced to the lower part of the gardens, +upon the glacis." I was astonished at these things. + +The women had gone away to cry somewhere else, and just then a great +noise of wheels was heard from the direction of the rampart. I looked +out of the window, and saw a wagon from the arsenal, some citizen +gunners; old Goulden, Holender, Jacob Cloutier, and Barrier galloped at +its sides; Captain Jovis ran in front. They stopped at our door. + +"Call the iron-merchant!" cried the captain. "Tell him to come down." + +Baker Chanoine, the brigadier of the second battery, came up. I opened +the door. + +"What do you want of me?" I asked in the stairway. + +"Come down, Moses," said Chanoine. And I went down. + +Captain Jovis, a tall old man, with his face covered with sweat, in +spite of the cold, said to me, "You are Moses, the iron-merchant?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Open your storehouse. Your iron is required for the defence of the +city." + +So I had to lead all these people into my court, under the shed. The +captain on looking round, saw some cast-iron bars, which were used at +that time for closing up the backs of fireplaces. They weighed from +thirty to forty pounds each, and I sold a good many in the vicinity of +the city. There was no lack of old nails, rusty bolts, and old iron of +all sorts. + +"This is what we want," said he. "Break up these bars, and take away +the old iron, quick!" + +The others, with the help of our two axes, began at once to break up +everything. Some of them filled a basket with the pieces of cast-iron, +and ran with it to the wagon. + +The captain looked at his watch, and said, "Make haste! We have just +ten minutes!" + +I thought to myself, "They have no need of credit; they take what they +please; it is more convenient." + +All my bars and old iron were broken in pieces--more than fifteen +hundred pounds of iron. + +As they were starting to run to the ramparts, Chanoine laughed, and +said to me, "Capital grape-shot, Moses! Thou canst get ready thy +pennies. We'll come and take them to-morrow." + +The wagon started through the crowd which ran behind it, and I followed +too. + +As we came nearer the ramparts the firing became more and more +frequent. As we turned from the curate's house two sentinels stopped +everybody, but they let me pass on account of my iron, which they were +going to fire. + +You can never imagine that mass of people, the noise around the +bastion, the smoke which covered it, the orders of the infantry +officers whom we heard going up the glacis, the gunners, the lighted +match, caissons with the piles of bullets behind! No, in all these +thirty years I have not forgotten those men with their levers, running +back the cannon to load them to their mouths; those firings in file, at +the bottom of the ramparts; those volleys of balls hissing in the air; +the orders of the gun-captains, "Load! Ram! Prime!" + +What crowds upon those gun-carriages, seven feet high, where the +gunners were obliged to stand and stretch their arms to fire the +cannon! And what a frightful smoke! + +Men invent such machines to destroy each other, and they would think +that they did a great deal if they sacrificed a quarter as much to +assist their fellow-men, to instruct them in infancy, and to give them +a little bread in their old age. + +Ah! those who make an outcry against war, and demand a different state +of things, are not in the wrong. + +I was in the corner, at the left of the bastion, where the stairs go +down to the postern behind the college, among three or four willow +baskets as high as chimneys, and filled with clay. I ought to have +stayed there quietly, and made use of the right moment to get away, but +the thought seized me that I would go and see what was going on below +the ramparts, and while they were loading the cannon, I climbed to the +level of the glacis, and lay down flat between two enormous baskets, +where there was scarcely a chance that balls could reach me. + +If hundreds of others who were killed in the bastions had done as I +did, how many of them might be still living, respectable fathers of +families in their villages! + +Lying in this place, and raising my nose, I could see over the whole +plain. I saw the cordon of the rampart below, and the line of our +skirmishers behind the palankas, on the other side of the moat; they +did nothing but tear off their cartridges, prime, charge, and fire. +There one could appreciate the beauty of drilling; there were only two +companies of them, and their firing by file kept up an incessant roll. + +Farther on, directly to the right, stretched the road to Quatre-Vents. +The Ozillo farm, the cemetery, the horse-post-station, and George +Mouton's farm at the right; the inn of La Roulette and the great +poplar-walk at the left, all were full of Cossacks, and such-like +rascals, who were galloping into the very gardens, to reconnoitre the +environs of the place. This is what I suppose, for it is against +nature to run without an object, and to risk being struck by a ball. + +These people, mounted on small horses, with large gray cloaks, soft +boots, fox-skin caps, like those of the Baden peasants, long beards, +lances in rest, great pistols in their belts, came whirling on like +birds. + +They had not been fired upon as yet, because they kept themselves +scattered, so that bullets would have no effect; but their trumpets +sounded the rally from La Roulette, and they began to collect behind +the buildings of the inn. + +About thirty of our veterans, who had been kept back in the cemetery +lane, were making a slow retreat; they made a few paces, at the same +time hastily reloading, then turned, shouldered, fired, and began +marching again among the hedges and bushes, which there had not been +time to cut down in this locality. + +Our sergeant was one of these; I recognized him at once, and trembled +for him. + +Every time these veterans gave fire, five or six Cossacks came on like +the wind, with their lances lowered; but it did not frighten them: they +leaned against a tree and levelled their bayonets. Other veterans came +up, and then some loaded, while others parried the blows. Scarcely had +they torn open their cartridges when the Cossacks fled right and left, +their lances in the air. Some of them turned for a moment and fired +their large pistols behind like regular bandits. At length our men +began to march toward the city. + +Those old soldiers, with their great shakos set square on their heads, +their large capes hanging to the back of their calves, their sabres and +cartridge-boxes on their backs, calm in the midst of these savages, +reloading, trimming, and parrying as quietly as if they were smoking +their pipes in the guard-house, were something to be admired. At last, +after seeing them come out of the whirlwind two or three times, it +seemed almost an easy thing to do. + +Our sergeant commanded them. I understood then why he was such a +favorite with the officers, and why they always took his part against +the citizens: there were not many such. I wanted to call out, "Make +haste, sergeant; let us make haste!" but neither he nor his men hurried +in the least. + +As they reached the foot of the glacis, suddenly a large mass of +Cossacks, seeing that they were escaping, galloped up in two files, to +cut off their retreat. It was a dangerous moment, and they formed in a +square instantly. + +I felt my back turn cold, as if I had been one of them. + +Our sharpshooters behind the ammunition wagons did not fire, doubtless +for fear of hitting their comrades; our gunners on the bastion leaned +down to see, and the file of Cossacks stretched to the corner near the +drawbridge. + +There were seven or eight hundred of them. We heard them cry, "Hurra! +hurra! hurra!" like crows. Several officers in green cloaks and small +caps galloped at the sides of their lines, with raised sabres. I +thought our poor sergeant and his thirty men were lost; I thought +already, "How sorry little Sâfel and Sorlé will be!" + +But then, as the Cossacks formed in a half-circle at the left of the +outworks, I heard our gun-captain call out, "Fire!" + +I turned my head; old Goulden struck the match, the fusee glittered, +and at the same instant the bastion with its great baskets of clay +shook to the very rocks of the rampart. + +I looked toward the road; nothing was to be seen but men and horses on +the ground. + +Just then came a second shot, and I can truly say that I saw the +grape-shot pass like the stroke of a scythe into that mass of cavalry; +it all tumbled and fell; those who a second before were living beings +were now nothing. We saw some try to raise themselves, the rest made +their escape. + +The firing by file began again, and our gunners, without waiting for +the smoke to clear away, reloaded so quickly that the two discharges +seemed to come at once. + +This mass of old nails, bolts, broken bits of cast-iron, flying three +hundred metres, almost to the little bridge, made such slaughter that, +some days after, the Russians asked for an armistice in order to bury +their dead. + +Four hundred were found scattered in the ditches of the road. + +This I saw myself. + +And if you want to see the place where those savages were buried, you +have only to go up the cemetery lane. + +On the other side, at the right, in M. Adam Ottendorf's orchard, you +will see a stone cross in the middle of the fence; they were all buried +there, with their horses, in one great trench. + +You can imagine the delight of our gunners at seeing this massacre. +They lifted up their sponges and shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" + +The soldiers shouted back from the covered ways, and the air was filled +with their cries. + +Our sergeant, with his thirty men, their guns on their shoulders, +quietly reached the glacis. The barrier was quickly opened for them, +but the two companies descended together to the moat and came up again +by the postern. + +I was waiting for them above. + +When our sergeant came up I took him by the arm, "Ah, sergeant!" said +I, "how glad I am to see you out of danger!" + +I wanted to embrace him. He laughed and squeezed my hand. + +"Then you saw the engagement, Father Moses!" said he, with a +mischievous wink. "We have shown them what stuff the Fifth is made of!" + +"Oh, yes! yes! you have made me tremble." + +"Bah!" said he, "you will see a good deal more of it; it is a small +affair." + +The two companies re-formed against the wall of the _chemin de ronde_, +and the whole city shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" + +They went down the rampart street in the midst of the crowd. I kept +near our sergeant. + +As the detachment was turning our corner, Sorlé, Zeffen, and Sâfel +called out from the windows, "Hurrah for the veterans! Hurrah for the +Fifth!" + +The sergeant saw them and made a little sign to them with his head. As +I was going in I said to him, "Sergeant, don't forget your glass of +cherry-brandy." + +"Don't worry, Father Moses," said he. + +The detachment went on to break ranks at the Place d'Armes as usual, +and I went up home at a quarter to four. I was scarcely in the room +before Zeffen, Sorlé, and Sâfel threw their arms round me as if I had +come back from the war; little David clung to my knee, and they all +wanted to know the news. + +I had to tell them about the attack, the grape-shot, the routing of the +Cossacks. But the table was ready. I had not had my breakfast, and I +said, "Let us sit down. You shall hear the rest by and by. Let me +take breath." + +Just then the sergeant entered in fine spirits, and set the butt-end of +his musket on the floor. We were going to meet him when we saw a tuft +of red hair on the point of his bayonet, that made us tremble. + +"Mercy, what is that?" said Zeffen, covering her face. + +He knew nothing about it, and looked to see, much surprised. + +"That?" said he, "oh! it is the beard of a Cossack that I touched as I +passed him--it is not much of anything." + +He took the musket at once to his own room; but we were all +horror-struck, and Zeffen could not recover herself. When the sergeant +came back she was still sitting in the arm-chair, with both hands +before her face. + +"Ah, Madame Zeffen," said he sadly, "now you are going to detest me!" + +I thought, too, that Zeffen would be afraid of him, but women always +like these men who risk their lives at random. I have seen it a +hundred times. And Zeffen smiled as she answered: "No, sergeant, no; +these Cossacks ought to stay at home and not come and trouble us! You +protect us--we love you very much!" + +I persuaded him to breakfast with us, and it ended by his opening a +window, and calling out to some soldiers passing by to give notice at +the cantine that Sergeant Trubert was not coming to breakfast. + +So we were all calmed down, and seated ourselves at the table. Sorlé +went down to get a bottle of good wine, and we began to eat our +breakfast. + +We had coffee, too, and Zeffen wanted to pour it out herself for the +sergeant. He was delighted. + +"Madame Zeffen," said he, "you load me with kindness!" + +She laughed. We had never been happier. + +While he was taking his cherry-brandy, the sergeant told us all about +the attack in the night; the way in which the Wurtemberg troops had +stationed themselves at La Roulette, how it had been necessary to +dislodge them as they were forcing open the two large gates, the +arrival of the Cossacks at daybreak, and the sending out two companies +to fire at them. + +He told all this so well that we could almost think we saw it. But +about eleven o'clock, as I took up the bottle to pour out another +glassful, he wiped his mustache, and said, as he rose: "No, Father +Moses, we have something to do besides taking our ease and enjoying +ourselves; to-morrow, or next day, the shells will be coming; it is +time to go and screen the garret." + +We all became sober at these words. + +"Let us see!" said he; "I have seen in your court some long logs of +wood which have not been sawed, and there are three or four large beams +against the wall. Are we two strong enough to carry them up? Let us +try!" + +He was going to take off his cape at once; but, as the beams were very +heavy, I told him to wait and I would run for the two Carabins, +Nicolas, who was called the _Greyhound_, and Mathis, the wood-sawyer. +They came at once, and, being used to heavy work, they carried up the +timber. They had brought their saws and axes with them; the sergeant +made them saw the beams, so as to cross them above in the form of a +sentry-box. He worked himself like a regular carpenter, and Sorlé, +Zeffen, and I looked on. As it took some time, my wife and daughter +went down to prepare supper, and I went down with them, to get a +lantern for the workmen. + +I was going up again very quietly, never thinking of danger, when, +suddenly, a frightful noise, a kind of terrible rumbling, passed along +the roof, and almost made me drop my lantern. + +The two Carabins turned pale and looked at each other. + +"It is a ball!" said the sergeant. + +At the same time a loud sound of cannon in the distance was heard in +the darkness. + +I had a terrible feeling in my stomach, and I thought to myself, "Since +one ball has passed, there may be two, three, four!" + +My strength was all gone. The two Carabins doubtless thought the same, +for they took down at once their waistcoats, which were hanging on the +gable, to go away. + +"Wait!" said the sergeant. "It is nothing. Let us keep at our +work--it is going on well. It will be done in an hour more." + +But the elder Carabin called out, "You may do as you please! _I_ am +not going to stay here--I have a family!" + +And while he was speaking, a second ball, more frightful than the +first, began to rumble upon the roof, and five or six seconds after we +heard the explosion. + +It was astonishing! The Russians were firing from the edge of the +Bois-de-Chênes, more than a half-hour distant, and yet we saw the red +flash pass before our two windows, and even under the tiles. + +The sergeant tried to keep us still at work. + +"Two bullets never pass in the same place," said he. "We are in a safe +spot, since that has grazed the roof. Come, let us go to work!" + +It was too much for us. I placed the lantern on the floor and went +down, feeling as if my thighs were broken. I wanted to sit down at +every step. + +Out of doors they were shouting as if it were morning, and in a more +frightful way. Chimneys were falling, and women running to the +windows; but I paid no attention to it, I was so frightened myself. + +The two Carabins had gone away paler than death. + +All that night I was ill. Sorlé and Zeffen were no more at ease than +myself. The sergeant kept on alone, placing the logs and making them +fast. About midnight he came down. + +"Father Moses," said he, "the roof is screened, but your two men are +cowards; they left me alone." + +I thanked him, and told him that we were all sick, and as for myself I +had never felt anything like it. He laughed. + +"I know what that is," said he. "Conscripts always feel so when they +hear the first ball; but that is soon over--they only need to get a +little used to it." + +Then he went to bed, and everybody in the house, except myself, went to +sleep. + +The Russians did not fire after ten o'clock that night; they had only +tried one or two field-pieces, to warn us of what they had in store. + +All this, Fritz, was but the beginning of the blockade; you are going +to hear now of the miseries we endured for three months. + + + + +XIII + +A DESERTER CAPTURED + +The city was joyful the next day, notwithstanding the firing in the +night. A number of men who came from the ramparts about seven o'clock, +came down our street shouting: "They are gone! There is not a single +Cossack to be seen in the direction of Quatre-Vents, nor behind the +barracks of the Bois-de-Chênes! _Vive l'Empereur_!" + +Everybody ran to the bastions. + +I had opened one of our windows, and leaned out in my nightcap. It was +thawing, the snow was sliding from the roofs, and that in the streets +was melting in the mud. Sorlé, who was turning up our bed, called to +me: "Do shut the window, Moses! We shall catch cold from the draught!" + +But I did not listen. I laughed as I thought: "The rascals have had +enough of my old bars and rusty nails; they have found out that they +fly a good way: experience is a good thing!" + +I could have stayed there till night to hear the neighbors talk about +the clearing away of the Russians, and those who came from the ramparts +declaring that there was not one to be seen in the whole region. Some +said that they might come back, but that seemed to me contrary to +reason. It was clear that the villains would not quit the country at +once, that they would still for a long time pillage the villages, and +live on the peasants; but to believe that the officers would excite +their men to take our city, or that the soldiers would be foolish +enough to obey them, never entered my head. + +At last Zeffen came into our room to dress the children, and I shut the +window. A good fire roared in the stove. Sorlé made ready our +breakfast, while Zeffen washed her little Esdras in a basin of warm +water. + +"Ah, now, if I could only hear from Baruch, it would all be well," said +she. + +Little David played on the floor with Sâfel, and I thanked the Lord for +having delivered us from the scoundrels. + +While we were at breakfast, I said to my wife: "It has all gone well! +We shall be shut up for a while until the Emperor has carried the day, +but they will not fire upon us, they will be satisfied with blockading +us; and bread, wine, meats, and brandies, will grow dearer. It is the +right time for us to sell, or else we might fare like the people of +Samaria when Ben-Hadad besieged their city. There was a great famine, +so that the head of an ass sold for four-score pieces of silver, and +the fourth part of a cab of dove's-dung for five pieces. It was a good +price; but still the merchants were holding back, when a noise of +chariots and horses and of a great host came from heaven, and made the +Syrians escape with Ben-Hadad, and after the people had pillaged their +camp, a measure of fine flour sold for only a shekel, and two measures +of barley for a shekel. So let us try to sell while things are at a +reasonable price; we must begin in good season." + +Sorlé assented, and after breakfast I went down to the cellar to go on +with the mixing. + +Many of the mechanics had gone back to their work. Klipfel's hammer +sounded on his anvil. Chanoine put back his rolls into his windows, +and Tribolin, the druggist, his bottles of red and blue water behind +his panes. + +Confidence was restored everywhere. The citizen-gunners had taken off +their uniforms, and the joiners had come back to finish our counter; +the noise of the saw and plane filled the house. + +Everybody was glad to return to his own business, for war brings +nothing but harm; the sooner it is over the better. + +As I carried my jugs from one tun to another, in the cellar, I saw the +passers-by stop before our old shop, and heard them say to each other, +"Moses is going to make his fortune with the brandy; these rascals of +Jews always have good scent; while we have been selling this month +past, he has been buying. Now that we are shut up he can sell at any +price he pleases." + +You can judge whether that was not pleasant to hear! A man's greatest +happiness is to succeed in his business; everybody is obliged to say: +"This man has neither army, nor generals, nor cannon, he has nothing +but his own wit, like everybody else; when he succeeds he owes it to +himself, and not to the courage of others. And then he ruins no one; +he does not rob, or steal, or kill; while, in war, the strongest +crushes the weakest and often the best." + +So I worked on with great zeal, and would have kept on till night if +little Sâfel had not come to call me to dinner. I was hungry, and was +going upstairs, glad in the thought of sitting down in the midst of my +children, when the call-beat began on the Place d'Armes, before the +town-house. During a blockade a court-martial sits continually at the +mayoralty to try those who do not answer to the call. Some of my +neighbors were already leaving their houses with their muskets on their +shoulders. I had to go up very hastily, and swallow a little soup, a +morsel of meat, and a glass of wine. + +I was very pale. Sorlé, Zeffen, and the children said not a word. The +drum corps continued the call to arms; it came down the main street and +stopped at last before our house, on the little square. Then I ran for +my cartridge-box and musket. + +"Ah!" said Sorlé, "we thought we were going to have a quiet time, and +now it is all beginning again." + +Zeffen did not speak, but burst into tears. + +At that moment the old Rabbi Heymann came in, with his old martin-skin +cap drawn down to the nape of his neck. + +"For heaven's sake let the women and children hurry to the casemates! +An envoy has come threatening to burn the whole city if the gates are +not opened. Fly, Sorlé! Zeffen, fly!" + +Imagine the cries of the women on hearing this; as for myself, my hair +stood on end. + +"The rascals have no shame in them!" I exclaimed. "They have no pity +on women or children! May the curse of heaven fall on them!" + +Zeffen threw herself into my arms. I did not know what to do. + +But the old rabbi said: "They are doing to us what our people have done +to them! So the words of the Lord are fulfilled: 'As thou hast done +unto thy brother so shall it be done unto thee!'--But, you must fly +quickly." + +Below, the call-beat had ceased; my knees trembled. Sorlé, who never +lost courage, said to me: "Moses, run to the square, make haste, or +they will send you to prison!" + +Her judgment was always right; she pushed me by the shoulders, and in +spite of Zeffen's tears I went down, calling out: "Rabbi, I trust in +you--save them!" + +I could not see clearly; I went through the snow, miserable man that I +was, running to the townhouse where the National Guard was already +assembled. I came just in time to answer the call, and you can imagine +my trouble, for Zeffen, Sorlé, Sâfel, and the little ones were +abandoned before my eyes. What was Phalsburg to me? I would have +opened the gates in a minute to have had peace. + +The others did not look any better pleased than myself; they were all +thinking of their families. + +Our governor, Moulin, Lieutenant-Colonel Brancion, and Captains +Renvoyé, Vigneron, Grébillet, with their great military caps put on +crosswise, these alone felt no anxiety. They would have murdered and +burnt everything for the Emperor. The governor even laughed, and said +that he would surrender the city when the shells set his +pocket-handkerchief on fire. Judge from this, how much sense such a +being had! + +While they were reviewing us, groups of the aged and infirm, of women +and children, passed across the square on their way to the casemates. + +I saw our little wagon go by with the roll of coverings and mattresses +on it. The old rabbi was between the shafts--Sâfel pushed behind. +Sorlé carried David, and Zeffen Esdras. They were walking in the mud, +with their hair loose as if they were escaping from a fire; but they +did not speak, and went on silently in the midst of that great trouble. + +I would have given my life to go and help them--I must stay in the +ranks. Ah, the old men of my time have seen terrible things! How +often have they thought:--"Happy is he who lives alone in the world; he +suffers only for himself, he does not see those whom he loves weeping +and groaning, without the power to help them." + +Immediately after the review, detachments of citizen-gunners were sent +to the armories to man the pieces, the firemen were sent to the old +market to get out the pumps, and the rest of us, with half a battalion +of the Sixth Light Infantry, were sent to the guard-house on the +square, to relieve the guards and supply patrols. + +The two other battalions had already gone to the advance-posts of +Trois-Maisons, of La Fontaine-du-Chateau,--to the block-houses, the +half moons, the Ozillo farm, and the Maisons-Rouges, outside of the +city. + +Our post at the mayoralty consisted of thirty-two men; sixteen soldiers +of the line below, commanded by Lieutenant Schnindret, and sixteen of +the National Guard above, commanded by Desplaces Jacob. We used +Burrhus's lodging for our guard-house. It was a large hall with +six-inch planks, and beams such as you do not find nowadays in our +forests. A large, round, cast-iron stove, standing on a slab four feet +square, was in the left-hand corner, near the door; the zigzag pipes +went into the chimney at the right, and piles of wood covered the floor. + +It seems as if I were now in that hall. The melted snow which we shook +off on entering ran along the floor. I have never seen a sadder day +than that; not only because the bombshells and balls might rain upon us +at any moment, and set everything on fire, but because of the melting +snow, and the mud, and the dampness which reached your very bones, and +the orders of the sergeant, who did nothing but call out: "Such and +such an one, march! Such an one forward, it is your turn!" etc. + +And then the jests and jokes of this mass of tilers, and cobblers, and +plasterers, with their patched blouses, shoes run down at the heel, and +caps without visors, seated in a circle around the stove, with, their +rags sticking to their backs, _thouing_ you like all the rest of their +beggarly race: "Moses, pass along the pitcher! Moses, give me some +fire!--Ah, rascals of Jews, when a body risks his life to save +property, how proud it makes them! Ah, the villains!" + +And they winked at each other, and pushed each other's elbows, and made +up faces askance. Some of them wanted me to go and get some tobacco +for them, and pay for it myself! In fine, all sorts of insults, which +a respectable man could endure from the rabble!--Yes, it disgusts me +whenever I think of it. + +In this guard-house, where we burned whole logs of wood as if they were +straw, the steaming old rags which came in soaking wet did not smell +very pleasantly. I had to go out every minute to the little platform +behind the hall, in order to breathe, and the cold water which the wind +blew from the spout sent me in again at once. + +Afterward, in thinking it over, it has seemed as if, without these +troubles, my heart would have broken at the thought of Sorlé, Zeffen, +and the children shut up in a cellar, and that these very annoyances +preserved my reason. + +This lasted till evening. We did nothing but go in and out, sit down, +smoke our pipes, and then begin again to walk the pavement in the rain, +or remain on duty for hours together at the entrance of the posterns. + +Toward nine o'clock, when all was dark without, and nothing was to be +heard but the pacing of the patrols, the shouts of the sentries on the +ramparts: "Sentries, attention!" and the steps of our men on their +rounds up and down the great wooden stairway of the admiralty, the +thought suddenly came to me that the Russians had only tried to +frighten us, that it meant nothing; and that there would be no shells +that night. + +In order to be on good terms with the men, I had asked Monborne's +permission to go and get a jug full of brandy, which he at once +granted. I took advantage of the opportunity to bite a crust and drink +a glass of wine at home. Then I went back, and all the men at the +station were very friendly; they passed the jug from one to another, +and said that my brandy was very good, and that the sergeant would give +me leave to go and fill it as often as I pleased. + +"Yes, since it is Moses," replied Monborne, "he may have leave, but +nobody else." + +We were all on excellent terms with each other and nobody thought of +bombardment, when a red flash passed along the high windows of the +room. We all turned round, and in a few seconds the shell rumbled on +the Bichelberg hill. At the same time a second, then a third flash +passed, one after the other, through the large dark room, showing us +the houses opposite. + +You can never have an idea, Fritz, of those first lights at night! +Corporal Winter, an old soldier, who grated tobacco for Tribou, stooped +down quietly and lighted his pipe, and said: "Well, the dance is +beginning!" + +Almost instantly we heard a shell burst at the right in the infantry +quarters, another at the left in the Piplinger house on the square, and +another quite near us in the Hemmerle house. + +I can't help trembling as I think of it now after thirty years. + +All the women were in the casemates, except some old servants who did +not want to leave their kitchens; they screamed out: "Help! Fire!" + +We were all sure that we were lost; only the old soldiers, crooked on +their bench by the stove, with their pipes in their mouths, seemed very +calm, as people might who have nothing to lose. + +What was worst of all, at the moment when our cannon at the arsenal and +powder-house began to answer the Russians', and made every pane of +glass in the old building rattle, Sergeant Monborne called out: "Somme, +Chevreux, Moses, Dubourg: Forward!" + +To send fathers of families roaming about through the mud, in danger, +at every step, of being struck by bursting shells, tiles, and whole +chimneys falling on their backs, is something against nature; the very +mention of it makes me perfectly furious. + +Somme and the big innkeeper Chevreux turned round, full of indignation +also; they wanted to exclaim: "It is abominable!" + +But that rascal of a Monborne was sergeant, and nobody dared speak a +word or even give a side-look; and as Winter, the corporal of the +round, had taken down his musket, and made a signal for us to go on, we +all took our arms and followed him. + +As we went down the stairway, you should have seen the red light, flash +after flash, lighting up every nook and corner under the stairs and the +worm-eaten rafters; you should have heard our twenty-four pounders +thunder; the old rat-hole shook to its foundations, and seemed as if it +was all falling to pieces. And under the arch below, toward the Place +d'Armes, this light shone from the snow banks to the tops of the roofs, +showing the glittering pavements, the puddles of water, the chimneys, +and dormer-windows, and, at the very end of the street, the cavalry +barracks, even the sentry in his box near the large gate:--what a sight! + +"It is all over! We are all lost!" I thought. + +Two shells passed at this moment over the city: they were the first +that I had seen; they moved so slowly that I could follow them through +the dark sky; both fell in the trenches, behind the hospital. The +charge was too heavy, luckily for us. + +I did not speak, nor did the others--we kept our thoughts to ourselves. +We heard the calls "Sentries, attention!" answered from one bastion to +another all around the place, warning us of the terrible danger we were +in. + +Corporal Winter, with his old faded blouse, coarse cotton cap, stooping +shoulders, musket in shoulder-belt, pipe-end between his teeth, and +lantern full of tallow swinging at arm's length, walked before us, +calling out: "Look out for the shells! Lie flat! Do you hear?" + +I have always thought that veterans of this sort despise citizens, and +that he said this to frighten us still more. + +A little farther on, at the entrance of the cul-de-sac where Cloutier +lived, he halted. + +"Come on!" he called, for we marched in file without seeing each other. +When we had come up to him he said, "There, now, you men, try to keep +together! Our patrol is to prevent fire from breaking out anywhere; as +soon as we see a shell pass, Moses will run up and snatch the fuse." + +He burst into a laugh as he spoke, so that my anger was roused. + +"I have not come here to be laughed at," said I; "if you take me for a +fool, I will throw down my musket and cartridge-box, and go to the +casemates." + +He laughed harder than ever. "Moses, respect thy superiors, or beware +of the court-martial!" said he. + +The others would have laughed too, but the shell-flashes began again; +they went down the rampart street, driving the air before them like +gusts of wind; the cannon of the arsenal bastion had just fired. At +the same time a shell burst in the street of the Capuchins; Spick's +chimney and half his roof fell to the ground with a frightful noise. + +"Forward! March!" called Winter. + +They had now all become sober. We followed the lantern to the French +gate. Behind us, in the street of the Capuchins, a dog howled +incessantly. Now and then Winter stopped, and we all listened; nothing +was stirring, and nothing was to be heard but the dog and the cries: +"Sentries, attention!" The city was as still as death. + +We ought to have gone into the guard-house, for there was nothing to be +seen; but the lantern went on toward the gate, swinging above the +gutter. That Winter had taken too much brandy! + +"We are of no use in this street," said Cheyreux; "we can't keep the +balls from passing." + +But Winter kept calling out: "Are you coming?" And we had to obey. + +In front of Genodet's stables, where the old barns of the gendarmerie +begin, a lane turned to the left toward the hospital. This was full of +manure and heaps of dirt--a drain in fact. Well, this rascal of a +Winter turned into it, and as we could not see our feet without the +lantern, we had to follow him. We went groping, under the roofs of the +sheds, along the crazy old walls. It seemed as if we should never get +out of this gutter; but at last we came out near the hospital in the +midst of the great piles of manure, which were heaped against the +grating of the sewer. + +It seemed a little lighter, and we saw the roof of the French gate, and +the line of fortifications black against the sky; and almost +immediately I perceived the figure of a man gliding among the trees at +the top of the rampart. It was a soldier stooping so that his hands +almost touched the ground. They did not fire on this side; the distant +flashes passed over the roofs, and did not lighten the streets below. + +I caught Winter's arm, and pointed out to him this man; he instantly +hid his lantern under his blouse. The soldier whose back was toward +us, stood up, and looked round, apparently listening. This lasted for +two or three minutes; then he passed over the rampart at the corner of +the bastion, and we heard something scrape the wall of the rampart. + +Winter immediately began to run, crying out: "A deserter! To the +postern!" + +We had heard before this of deserters slipping down into the trenches +by means of their bayonets. We all ran. The sentry called out: "Who +goes there?" + +"The citizen patrol," replied Winter. + +He advanced, gave the order, and we went down the postern steps like +wild beasts. + +Below, at the foot of the large bastions built on the rock, we saw +nothing but snow, large black atones, and bushes covered with frost. +The deserter needed only to keep still under the bushes; our lantern, +which shone only for fifteen or twenty feet, might have wandered about +till morning without discovering him: and we should ourselves have +supposed that he had escaped. But unfortunately for him, fear urged +him on, and we saw him in the distance running to the stairs which lead +up to the covered ways. He went like the wind. + +"Halt! or I fire!" cried Winter; but he did not stop, and we all ran +together on his track, calling out "Halt! Halt!" + +Winter had given me the lantern so as to run faster; I followed at a +distance, thinking to myself: "Moses, if this man is taken, thou will +be the cause of his death." I wanted to put out the lantern, but if +Winter had seen me he would have been capable of knocking me down with +the butt-end of his musket. He had for a long time been hoping for the +cross, and was all the time expecting it and the pension with it. + +The deserter ran, as I said, to the stairs. Suddenly he perceived that +the ladder, which takes the place of the eight lower steps, was taken +away, and he stopped, stupefied! We came nearer--he heard us and began +to run faster, to the right toward the half-moon. The poor devil +rolled over the snow-banks. Winter aimed at him, and called out: +"Halt! Surrender!" + +But he got up and began to run again. + +Behind the outworks, under the drawbridge, we thought we had lost him: +the corporal called to me, "Come along! A thousand thunders!" and at +that moment we saw him leaning against the wall, as pale as death. +Winter took him by the collar and said: "I have got you!" + +[Illustration: WINTER TOOK HIM BY THE COLLAR, AND SAID: "I HAVE YOU +NOW!"] + +Then he tore an epaulette from his shoulder: "You are not worthy to +wear that!" said he; "come along!" + +He dragged him out of his corner, and held the lantern before his face. +We saw a handsome boy of eighteen or nineteen, tall and slender, with +small, light mustaches, and blue eyes. + +Seeing him there so pale, with Winter's fist at his throat, I thought +of the poor boy's father and mother; my heart smote me, and I could not +help Baying: "Come, Winter, he is a child, a mere child! He will not +do it again!" + +But Winter, who thought that now surely his cross was won, turned upon +me furiously: + +"I tell thee what, Jew, stop, or I will run my bayonet through thy +body!" + +"Wretch!" thought I, "what will not a man do to make sure of his glass +of wine for the rest of his days?" + +I had a sort of horror of that man; there are wild beasts in the human +race! + +Chevreux, Somme, and Dubourg did not speak. + +Winter began to walk toward the postern, with his hand on the +deserter's collar. + +"If he stops," said he, "strike him on the back with your muskets! Ah, +scoundrel, you desert in the face of the enemy! Your case is clear: +next Sunday you will sleep under the turf of the half-moon! Will you +come on? Strike him with the butt-end, you cowards!" + +What pained me most was to hear the poor fellow's heavy sighs; he +breathed so hard, from his fright at being taken, and knowing that he +would be shot, that we could hear him fifteen paces off; the sweat ran +down my forehead. And now and then he turned to me and gave me such a +look as I shall never forget, as if to say: "Save me!" + +If I had been alone with Dubourg and Chevreux, we would have let him +go; but Winter would sooner have murdered him. + +We came in this way to the foot of the postern. They made the deserter +pass first. When we reached the top, a sergeant, with four men from +the next station, was already there, waiting for us. + +"What is it?" asked the sergeant. + +"A deserter," said Winter. + +The sergeant--an old man--looked at him, and said: "Take him to the +station." + +"No," said Winter, "he will go with us to the station on the square." + +"I will reinforce you with two men," said the sergeant. + +"We do not need them," replied Winter roughly. "We took him ourselves, +and we are enough to guard him." + +The sergeant saw that we ought to have all the glory of it, and he said +no more. + +We started off again, shouldering our arms; the prisoner, all in +tatters and without his shako, walked in the midst. + +We soon came to the little square; we had only to cross the old market +before reaching the guard-house. The cannon of the arsenal were firing +all the time; as we were starting to leave the market, one of the +flashes lighted up the arch in front of us; the prisoner saw the door +of the jail at the left, with its great locks, and the sight gave him +terrible strength; he tore off his collar, and threw himself from us +with both arms stretched out behind. + +Winter had been almost thrown down, but he threw himself at once upon +the deserter, exclaiming, "Ah, scoundrel, you want to run away!" + +We saw no more, for the lantern fell to the ground. + +"Guard! guard!" cried Chevreux. + +All this took but a moment, and half of the infantry post were already +there under arms. Then we saw the prisoner again; he was sitting on +the edge of the stairway among the pillars; blood was running from his +mouth; not more than half his waistcoat was left, and he was bent +forward, trembling from head to foot. + +Winter held him by the nape of the neck, and said to Lieutenant +Schnindret, who was looking on: "A deserter, lieutenant! He has tried +to escape twice, but Winter was on hand." + +"That is right," said the lieutenant. "Let them find the jailer." + +Two soldiers went away. A number of our comrades of the National Guard +had come down, but nobody spoke. However hard men may be, when they +see a wretch in such a condition, and think, "the day after to-morrow +he will be shot!" everybody is silent, and a good many would even +release him if they could. + +After some minutes Harmantier arrived with his woollen jacket and his +bunch of keys. + +The lieutenant said to him, "Lock up this man!" + +"Come, get up and walk!" he said to the deserter, who rose and followed +Harmantier, while everybody crowded round. + +The jailer opened the two massive doors of the prison; the prisoner +entered without resistance, and then the large locks and bolts fastened +him in. + +"Every man return to his post!" said the lieutenant to us. And we went +up the steps of the mayoralty. + +All this had so upset me that I had not thought of my wife and +children. But when once above, in the large warm room, full of smoke, +with all that set who were laughing and boasting at having taken a +poor, unresisting deserter, the thought that I was the cause of this +misery filled my soul with anguish; I stretched myself on the camp-bed, +and thought of all the trouble that is in the world, of Zeffen, of +Sâfel, of my children, who might, perhaps, some day be arrested for not +liking war. And the words of the Lord came to my mind, which He spake +to Samuel, when the people desired a king: + +"Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; +for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I +should not reign over them. Howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, +and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. He +will take your sons and appoint them for himself; and some shall run +before his chariots. He will set them to make his instruments of war. +And he will take your daughters to be cooks and bakers. And he will +take your fields and your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the +best of them, and give them to his servants. He will take your +men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men. He +will take the tenth of your sheep; and ye shall be his servants. And +ye shall cry out in that day, and the Lord will not hear you." + +These thoughts made me very wretched; my only consolation was in +knowing that my sons Frômel and Itzig were in America. I resolved to +send Sâfel, David, and Esdras there also, when the time should come. + +These reveries lasted till daylight. I heard no longer the shouts of +laughter or the jokes of the ragamuffins. Now and then they would come +and shake me, and say, "Go, Moses, and fill your brandy jug! The +sergeant gives you leave." + +But I did not wish to hear them. + +About four o'clock in the morning, our arsenal cannon having dismounted +the Russian howitzers on the Quatre-Vents hill, the patrols ceased. + +Exactly at seven we were relieved. We went down, one by one, our +muskets on our shoulders. We were ranged before the mayoralty, and +Captain Vigneron gave the orders: "Carry arms! Present arms! Shoulder +arms! Break ranks!" + +We all dispersed, very glad to get rid of glory. + +I was going to run at once to the casemates when I had laid aside my +musket, to find Sorlé, Zeffen, and the children; but what was my joy at +seeing little Sâfel already at our door! As soon as he saw me turn the +corner, he ran to me, exclaiming: "We have all come back! We are +waiting for you!" + +I stooped to embrace him. At that moment Zeffen opened the window +above, and showed me her little Esdras, and Sorlé stood laughing behind +them. I went up quickly, blessing the Lord for having delivered us +from all our troubles, and exclaiming inwardly: "The Lord is merciful +and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Let the glory of +the Lord endure forever! Let the Lord rejoice in his works!" + + + + +XIV + +BURGUET'S VISIT TO THE DESERTER + +I still think it one of the happiest moments of my life, Fritz. +Scarcely had I come up the stairs when Zeffen and Sorlé were in my +arms; the little ones clung to my shoulders, and I felt their lovely +full lips on my cheeks; Sâfel held my hand, and I could not speak a +word, but my eyes filled with tears. + +Ah! if we had had Baruch with us, how happy we should have been! + +At length I went to lay aside my musket, and hang my cartridge-box in +the alcove. The children were laughing, and joy was in the house once +more. And when I came back in my old beaver cap, and my large, warm +woollen stockings, and sat down in the old arm-chair, in front of the +little table set with porringers, in which Zeffen was pouring the soup; +when I was again in the midst of all these happy faces, bright eyes, +and outstretched hands, I could have sung like an old lark on his +branch, over the nest where his little ones were opening their beaks +and flapping their wings. + +I blessed them in my heart a hundred times over. Sorlé, who saw in my +eyes what I was thinking, said: "They are all together, Moses, just as +they were yesterday; the Lord has preserved them." + +"Yes, blessed be the name of the Lord, forever and ever!" I replied. + +While we were at breakfast, Zeffen told me about their going to the +large casemate at the barracks, how it was full of people stretched on +their mattresses in every direction--the cries of some, the fright of +others, the torment from the vermin, the water dropping from the arch, +the crowds of children who could not sleep, and did nothing but cry, +the lamentations of five or six old men who kept calling out, "Ah! our +last hour has come! Ah! how cold it is! Ah! we shall never go +home--it is all over!" + +Then suddenly the deep silence of all, when they heard the cannon about +ten o'clock--the reports, coming slowly at first, then like the roar of +a tempest--the flashes, which could be seen even through the blindages +of the gate, and old Christine Evig telling her beads as loud as if she +were in a procession, and the other women responding together. + +As she told me this, Zeffen clasped her little Esdras tightly, while I +held David on my knees, embracing him as I thought to myself, "Yes, my +poor children, you have been through a great deal!" + +Notwithstanding the joy of seeing that we were all safe, the thought of +the deserter in his dungeon at the town-house would come to me; he too +had parents! And when you think of all the trouble which a father and +mother have in bringing up a child, of the nights spent in soothing his +cries, of their cares when he is sick, of their hopes in seeing him +growing up; and then imagine to yourself some old soldiers sitting +around a table to try him, and coolly send him to be shot behind the +bastion, it makes you shudder, especially when you say to yourself: +"But for me, this boy would have been at liberty; he would be on the +road to his village; to-morrow perhaps he would have reached the poor +old people's door, and have called out to them, 'Open! it is I!'" + +Such thoughts are enough to make one wild. + +I did not dare to speak to my wife and children of the poor fellow's +arrest; I kept my thoughts to myself. + +Without, the detachments from La Roulette, Trois-Maisons, and La +Fontaine-du-Chateau, passed through the street, keeping step; groups of +children ran about the city to find the pieces of shells; neighbors +collected to talk about the events of the night--the roofs torn off, +chimneys thrown down, the frights they had had. We heard their voices +rising and falling, and their shouts of laughter. And I have since +seen that it is always the same thing after a bombardment; the shower +is forgotten as soon as it is over, and they exclaim: "Huzza! the enemy +is routed!" + +While we were there meditating, some one came up the stairs. We +listened, and our sergeant, with his musket on his shoulder, and his +cape and gaiters covered with mud, opened the door, exclaiming: "Good +for you, Father Moses! Good for you!--You distinguished yourself last +night!" + +"Ha! what is it, sergeant?" asked my wife in astonishment. + +"What! has he not told you of the famous thing he did, Madame Sorlé? +Has he not told you that the national guard Moses, on patrol about nine +o'clock at the Hospital bastion, discovered and then arrested a +deserter in the very act! It is on Lieutenant Schnindret's affidavit!" + +"But I was not alone," I exclaimed in despair; "there were four of us." + +"Bah! You discovered the track, you went down into the trenches, you +carried the lantern! Father Moses, you must not try to make your good +deed seem less; you are wrong. You are going to be named for corporal. +The court-martial will sit to-morrow at nine. Be easy, they will take +care of your man!" + +Imagine, Fritz, how I looked; Sorlé, Zeffen, and the children looked at +me, and I did not know what to say. + +"Now I must go and change my clothes," said the sergeant, shaking my +hand. "We will talk about it again, Father Moses. I always said that +you would turn out well in the end." + +He gave a low laugh as was his custom, winking his eyes, and then went +across the passage into his room. + +My wife was very pale. + +"Is it true, Moses?" she asked after a minute. + +"He! I did not know that he wanted to desert, Sorlé," I replied. "And +then the boy ought to have looked round on all sides; he ought to have +gone down on the Hospital square, gone round the dunghills, and even +into the lane to see if any one was coming; he brought it on himself; I +did not know anything, I----" + +But Sorlé did not let me finish. + +"Run quickly, Moses, to Burguet's!" she exclaimed; "if this man is +shot, his blood will be upon our children. Make haste, do not lose a +minute." + +She raised her hands, and I went out, much troubled. + +My only fear was that I should not find Burguet at home; fortunately, +on opening his door, on the first floor of the old Cauchois house, I +saw the tall barber Vésenaire shaving him, in the midst of the old +books and papers which filled the room. + +Burguet was sitting with the towel at his chin. + +"Ah! It is you, Moses!" he exclaimed, in a glad tone. "What gives me +the pleasure of a visit from you?" + +"I come to ask a favor of you, Burguet." + +"If it is for money," said he, "we shall have difficulty." + +He laughed, and his servant-woman, Marie Loriot, who heard us from the +kitchen, opened the door, and thrust her red head-gear into the room, +as she called out, "I think that we shall have difficulty! We owe +Vésenaire for three months' shaving; do not we, Vésenaire?" + +She said this very seriously, and Burguet, instead of being angry, +began to laugh. I have always fancied that a man of his talents had a +sort of need of such an incarnation of human stupidity to laugh at, and +help his digestion. He never was willing to dismiss this Marie Loriot. + +In short, while Vésenaire kept on shaving him, I gave him an account of +our patrol and the arrest of the deserter; and begged him to defend the +poor fellow. I told him that he alone was able to save him, and +restore peace, not only to my own mind, but to Sorlé, Zeffen, and the +whole family, for we were all in great distress, and we depended +entirely upon him to help us. + +"Ah! you take me at my weak point, Moses! If it is possible for me to +save this man, I must try. But it will not be an easy matter. During +the last fortnight, desertions have begun--the court-martial wishes to +make an example. It is a bad business. You have money, Moses; give +Vésenaire four sous to go and take a drop." + +I gave four sous to Vésenaire, who made a grand bow and went out. +Burguet finished dressing himself. + +"Let us go and see!" said he, taking me by the arm. + +And we went down together on our way to the mayoralty. + +Many years have passed since that day. Ah, well! it seems now as if we +were going under the arch, and I heard Burguet saying: "Hey, sergeant! +Tell the turnkey that the prisoner's advocate is here." + +Harmantier came, bowed, and opened the door. We went down into the +dungeon full of stench, and saw in the right-hand corner a figure +gathered in a heap on the straw. + +"Get up!" said Harmantier, "here is your advocate." + +The poor wretch moved and raised himself in the darkness. Burguet +leaned toward him and said: "Come! Take courage! I have come to talk +with you about your defence." + +And the other began to sob. + +When a man has been knocked down, torn to tatters, beaten till he +cannot stand, when he knows that the law is against him, that he must +die without seeing those whom he loves, he becomes as weak as a baby. +Those who maltreat their prisoners are great villains. + +"Let us see!" said Burguet. "Sit down on the side of your camp-bed. +What is your name? Where did you come from? Harmantier, give this man +a little water to drink and wash himself!" + +"He has some, M. Burguet; he has some in the corner." + +"Ah, well!" + +"Compose yourself, my boy!" + +The more gently he spoke, the more did the poor fellow weep. At last, +however, he said that his family lived near Gérarmer, in the Vosges; +that his father's name was Mathieu Belin, and that he was a fisherman +at Retournemer. + +Burguet drew every word out of his mouth; he wanted to know every +particular about his father and mother, his brothers and sisters. + +I remember that his father had served under the Republic, and had even +been wounded at Fleurus; that his oldest brother had died in Russia; +that he himself was the second son taken from home by the conscription, +and that there was still at home three sisters younger than himself. + +This came from him slowly; he was so prostrated by Winter's blows, that +he moved and sank down like a soulless body. + +There was still another thing, Fritz, as you may think--the boy was +young! and that brought to my mind the days when I used to go in two +hours from Phalsburg to Marmoutier, to see Sorlé--Ah, poor wretch! As +he told all this, sobbing, with his face in his hands, my heart melted +within me. + +Burguet was quite overcome. When we were leaving, at the end of an +hour, he said, "Come, let us be hopeful! You will be tried +to-morrow.--Don't despair! Harmantier, we must give this man a cloak; +it is dreadfully cold, especially at night. It is a bad business, my +boy, but it is not hopeless. Try to appear as well as you can before +the audience; the court-martial always thinks better of a man who is +well dressed." + +When we were out, he said to me: "Moses, you send the man a clean +shirt. His waistcoat is torn; don't forget to have him decently +dressed every way; soldiers always judge of a man by his appearance." + +"Be easy about that," said I. + +The prison doors were closed, and we went across the market. + +"Now," said Burguet, "I must go in. I must think it over. It is well +that the brother was left in Russia, and that the father has been in +the service--it is something to make a point of." + +We had reached the corner of the rampart street; he kept on, and I went +home more miserable than before. + +You cannot imagine, Fritz, how troubled I was; when a man has always +had a quiet conscience it is terrible to reproach one's self, and +think: "If this man is shot, if his father, and mother, and sisters, +and that other one, who is expecting him, are made miserable, thou, +Moses, wilt be the cause of it all!" + +Fortunately there was no lack of work to be done at home; Sorlé had +just opened the old shop to begin to sell our brandies, and it was full +of people. For a week the keepers of coffee-houses and inns had had +nothing wherewith to fill their casks; they were on the point of +shutting up shop. Imagine the crowd! They came in a row, with their +jugs and little casks and pitchers. The old topers came too, sticking +out their elbows; Sorlé, Zeffen, and Sâfel had not time to serve them. + +The sergeant said that we must put a policeman at our door to prevent +quarrels, for some of them said that they lost their turn, and that +their money was as good as anybody's. + +It will be a good many years before such a crowd will be seen again in +front of a Phalsburg shop. + +I had only time to tell my wife that Burguet would defend the deserter, +and then went down into the cellar to fill the two tuns at the counter, +which were already empty. + +A fortnight after, Sorlé doubled the price; our first two pipes were +sold, and this extra price did not lessen the demand. + +Men always find money for brandy and tobacco, even when they have none +left for bread. This is why governments impose their heaviest taxes +upon these two articles; they might be heavier still without +diminishing their use--only, children would starve to death. + +I have seen this--I have seen this great folly in men, and I am +astonished whenever I think of it. + +That day we kept on selling until seven o'clock in the evening, when +the tattoo was sounded. + +My pleasure in making money had made me forget the deserter; I did not +think of him again till after supper, when night set in; but I did not +say a word about him; we were all so tired and so delighted with the +day's profits that we did not want to be troubled with thinking of such +things. But after Zeffen and the children had retired, I told Sorlé of +our visit to the prisoner. I told her, too, that Burguet had hopes, +which made her very happy. + +About nine o'clock, by God's blessing, we were all asleep. + + + + +XV + +TRIAL OF THE DESERTER + +You can believe, Fritz, that I did not sleep much that night, +notwithstanding my fatigue. The thought of the deserter tormented me. +I knew that if he should be shot, Zeffen and Sorlé would be +inconsolable; and I knew, too, that after three or four years the vile +race would say: "Look at this Moses, with his large brown cloak, his +cape turned down over the back of his neck, and his respectable +look--well, during the blockade he caused the arrest of a poor +deserter, who was shot: so much you can trust a Jew's appearance!" + +They would have said this, undoubtedly; for the only consolation of +villains is to make people think that everybody is like themselves. + +And then how often should I reproach myself for this man's death, in +times of misfortune or in my old age, when I should not have a minute's +peace! How often should I have said that it was a judgment of the +Lord, that it was on account of this deserter. + +So I wanted to do immediately all that I could, and by six o'clock in +the morning I was in my old shop in the market with my lantern, +selecting epaulettes and my best clothes. I put them in a napkin and +took them to Harmantier at daybreak. + +The special council of war, which was called--I do not know why--the +_Ventose_ council, was to meet at nine o'clock. It was composed of a +major, president, four captains, and two lieutenants. Monbrun, the +captain of the foreign legion, was judge-advocate, and Brigadier Duphot +recorder. + +It was astonishing how the whole city knew about it beforehand, and +that by seven o'clock the Nicaises, and Pigots, and Vinatiers, etc., +had left their rickety quarters, and had already filled the whole +mayoralty, the arch, the stairway, and the large room above, laughing, +whistling, stamping, as if it were a bear-fight at Klein's inn, the +"Ox." + +You do not see things like that nowadays, thank God! men have become +more gentle and humane. But after all these wars, a deserter met with +less pity than a fox caught in a trap, or a wolf led by the muzzle. + +As I saw all this, my courage failed; all my admiration for Burguet's +talents could not keep me from thinking: + +The man is lost! Who can save him, when this crowd has come on purpose +to see him condemned to death, and led to the Glacière bastion? + +I was overwhelmed by the thought. + +I went trembling into Harmantier's little room, and said to him: "This +is for the deserter; take it to him from me." "All right!" said he. + +I asked him if he had confidence in Burguet. He shrugged his +shoulders, and said: "We must have examples." + +The stamping outside continued, and when I went out there was a great +whistling in the balcony, the arch, and everywhere, and shouts of +"Moses! hey, Moses! this way!" + +But I did not turn my head, and went home very sad. + +Sorlé handed me a summons to appear as a witness before the +court-martial, which a gendarme had just brought; and till nine o'clock +I sat meditating behind the stove, trying to think of some way of +escape for the prisoner. + +Sâfel was playing with the children; Zeffen and Sorlé had gone down to +continue our sales. + +A few minutes before nine I started for the townhouse, which was +already so crowded that, had it not been for the guard at the door, and +the gendarmes scattered within the building, the witnesses could hardly +have got in. + +Just as I got there, Captain Monbrun was beginning to read his report. +Burguet sat opposite, with his head leaning on his hand. + +They showed me into a little room, where were Winter, Chevreux, +Dubourg, and the gendarme Fiegel; so that we didn't hear anything +before being called. + +On the wall at the right it was written in large letters that any +witness who did not tell the truth, should be delivered to the council, +and suffer the same penalty as the accused. This made one consider, +and I resolved at once to conceal nothing, as was right and sensible. +The gendarme also informed us that we were forbidden to speak to each +other. + +After a quarter of an hour Winter was summoned, and then, at intervals +of ten minutes, Chevreux, Dubourg, and myself. + +When I went into the court-room, the judges were all in their places; +the major had laid his hat on the desk before him; the recorder was +mending his pen. Burguet looked at me calmly. Without they were +stamping, and the major said to the brigadier: + +"Inform the public that if this noise continues, I shall have the +mayoralty cleared." + +The brigadier went out at once, and the major said to me: + +"National guard Moses, make your deposition. What do you know?" + +I told it all simply. The deserter at the left, between two gendarmes, +seemed more dead than alive. I would gladly have acquitted him of +everything; but when a man fears for himself, when old officers in full +dress are scowling at you as if they could see through you, the +simplest and best way is not to lie. A father's first thought should +be for his children! In short, I told everything that I had seen, +nothing more or less, and at last the major said to me: + +"That is enough; you may go." + +But seeing that the others, Winter, Chevreux, Dubourg, remained sitting +on a bench at the left, I did the same. + +Almost immediately five or six good-for-nothings began to stamp and +murmur, "Shoot him! shoot him!" The president ordered the brigadier to +arrest them, and in spite of their resistance they were all led to +prison. Silence was then established in the court-room, but the +stampings without continued. + +"Judge-advocate, it is your turn to speak," said the major. + +This judge-advocate, who seems now before my eyes, and whom I can +almost hear speak, was a man of fifty, short and thick, with a short +neck, long, thick, straight nose, very wide forehead, shining black +hair, thin mustaches, and bright eyes. While he was listening, his +head turned right and left as if on a pivot; you could see his long +nose and the corner of his eye, but his elbows did not stir from the +table. He looked like one of those large crows which seem to be +sleeping in the fields at the close of autumn, and yet see everything +that is going on around them. + +Now and then he raised his arm as if to draw back his sleeve, as +advocates have a way of doing. He was in full dress, and spoke +terribly well, in a clear and strong voice, stopping and looking at the +people to see if they agreed with him; and if he saw even a slight +grimace, he began again at once in some other way, and, as it were, +obliged you to understand in spite of yourself. + +As he went on very slowly, without hurrying or forgetting anything, to +show that the deserter was on the road when we arrested him, that he +not only had the intention of escaping, but was already outside of the +city, quite as guilty as if he had been found in the ranks of the +enemy--as he clearly showed all this, I was angry because he was right, +and I thought to myself, "Now, what was there to be said in reply." + +And then, when he said that the greatest of crimes was to abandon one's +flag, because one betrays at once his country, his family, all that has +a right to his life, and makes himself unworthy to live; when he said +that the court would follow the conscience of all who had a heart, of +all who held to the honor of France; that he would give a new example +of his zeal for the safety of the country and the glory of the Emperor; +that he would show the new recruits that they could only succeed by +doing their duty and by obeying orders; when he said all this with +terrible power and clearness, and I heard from time to time, a murmur +of assent and admiration, then, Fritz, I thought that the Lord alone +was able to save that man! + +The deserter sat motionless, his arms folded on the dock, and his face +upon them. He felt, doubtless, as I did, and every one in the room, +and the court itself. Those old men seemed pleased as they heard the +judge-advocate express so well what had all along been their own +opinion. Their faces showed their satisfaction. + +This lasted for more than an hour. The captain sometimes stopped a +moment to give his audience time to reflect on what he had said. I +have always thought that he must have been attorney-general, or +something more dangerous still to deserters. + +I remember that he said, in closing, "You will make an example! You +will be of one mind. You will not forget that, at this time, firmness +in the court is more necessary than ever to the safety of the country." + +When he sat down, such a murmur of approbation arose in the room that +it reached the stairway at once, and we heard the shouts outside, +"_Vive l'Empereur_!" + +The major and the other members of the council looked smilingly at each +other, as if to say, "It is all settled. What remains is a mere +formality!" + +The shouts without increased. This lasted more than ten minutes. At +last the major said: + +"Brigadier, if the tumult continues, clear the town-house! Begin with +the court-room!" + +There was silence at once, for every one was curious to know what +Burguet would say in reply. I would not have given two farthings for +the life of the deserter. + +"Counsel for the prisoner, you have the floor!" said the major, and +Burguet rose. + +Now, Fritz, if I had an idea that I could repeat to you what Burguet +said, for a whole hour, to save the life of a poor conscript; if I +should try to depict his face, the sweetness of his voice, and then his +heart-rending cries, and then his silent pauses and his appeals--if I +had such an idea, I should consider myself a being full of pride and +vanity! + +No; nothing finer was ever heard. It was not a man speaking; it was a +mother, trying to snatch her babe from death! Ah! what a great thing +it is to have this power of moving to tears those who hear us! But we +ought not to call it talent, it is heart. + +"Who is there without faults? Who does not need pity?" + +This is what he said, as he asked the council if they could find a +perfectly blameless man; if evil thoughts never came to the bravest; if +they had never, for even a day or a moment, had the thought of running +away to their native village, when they were young, when they were +eighteen, when father and mother and the friends of their childhood +were living, and they had not another in the world. A poor child +without instruction, without knowledge of the world, brought up at +hap-hazard, thrown into the army--what could you expect of him? What +fault of his could not be pardoned? What does he know of country, the +honor of his flag, the glory of his Majesty? Is it not later in life +that these great ideas come to him? + +And then he asked those old men if they had not a son, if they were +sure that, even at that moment, that son were not committing an offence +which was liable to the punishment of death. He said to them: + +"Plead for him! What would you say? You would say, 'I am an old +soldier. For thirty years I have shed my blood for France. I have +grown gray upon the battle-fields, I am riddled with wounds, I have +gained every rank at the point of the sword. Ah, well! take my +epaulettes, take my decorations, take everything; but save my child! +Let my blood be the ransom for his offence! He does not know the +greatness of his crime; he is too young; he is a conscript; he loved +us; he longed to embrace us, and then go back again--he loved a maiden. +Ah! you, too, have been young! Pardon him. Do not disgrace an old +soldier in his son.' + +"Perhaps you could say, too, 'I had other sons. They died for their +country. Let their blood answer for his, and give me back this +one--the last that I have left!' + +"This is what you would say, and far better than I, because you would +be the father, the old soldier speaking of his own services! Well, the +father of this youth could speak like you! He is an old soldier of the +Republic! He went with you, perhaps, when the Prussians entered +Champagne! He was wounded at Fleurus! He is an old comrade in arms! +His oldest son was left behind in Russia!" + +And Burguet turned pale as he spoke. It seemed as if grief had robbed +him of his strength, and he were about to fall. The silence was so +great that we heard the breathing throughout the court-room. The +deserter sobbed. Everybody thought, "It is done! Burguet need say no +more! It must be that he has gained his cause!" + +But all at once he began again in another and more tender manner. +Speaking slowly, he described the life of a poor peasant and his wife, +who had but one comfort, one solitary hope on earth--their child! As +we listened we saw these poor people, we heard them talk together, we +saw over the door the old chapeau of the time of the Republic. And +when we were thinking only of this, suddenly Burguet showed us the old +man and his wife learning that their son had been killed, not by +Russians or Germans, but by Frenchmen. We heard the old man's cry! + +But it was terrible, Fritz! I wanted to run away. The officers of the +council, several of whom were married men, looked before them with +fixed eyes, and clinched hands; their gray mustaches shook. The major +had raised his hand two or three times, as if to signify that it was +enough, but Burguet had always something still more powerful, more +just, more grand to add. His plea lasted till nearly eleven, when he +sat down. There was not a murmur to be heard in the three rooms nor +outside. And the judge-advocate on the other side began again, saying +that all that signified nothing, that it was unfortunate for the father +that his son was unworthy, that every man clung to his children, that +soldiers must be taught not to desert in face of the enemy; that, if +the court yielded to such arguments, nobody would ever be shot, +discipline would be utterly destroyed, the army could not exist, and +that the army was the strength and glory of the country. + +Burguet replied almost immediately. I cannot recall what he said; my +head could not hold so many things at once: but I shall never forget +this, that about one o'clock, the council having sent us away that they +might deliberate--the prisoner meanwhile having been taken back to his +cell--after a few minutes we were allowed to return, and the major, +standing on the platform where conscriptions were drawn, declared that +the accused Jean Balin was acquitted, and gave the order for his +immediate release. + +It was the first acquittal since the departure of the Spanish prisoners +before the blockade; the rowdies, who had come in crowds to see a man +condemned and shot, could not believe it; several of them exclaimed: +"We are cheated!" + +But the major ordered Brigadier Descarmes to take the names of these +brawlers, so that they should be seen to; then the whole mass trampled +down the stairs in five minutes, and we, in our turn, were able to +descend. + +I had taken Burguet by the arm, my eyes full of tears. + +"Are you satisfied, Moses?" said he, already quite his own joyous self +again. + +"Burguet!" said I, "Aaron himself, the own brother of Moses, and the +greatest orator of Israel, could not have spoken better than you did; +it was admirable! I owe my peace of mind to you! Whatever you may ask +for so great a service I am ready to give to the extent of my means." + +We went down the stairs; the members of the council following us +thoughtfully, one by one. Burguet smiled. + +"Do you mean it, Moses?" said he, stopping under the arch. + +"Yes, here is my hand." + +"Very well!" said he, "I ask you to give me a good dinner at the +_Ville-de-Metz_." + +"With all my heart!" + +Several citizens, Father Parmentier, Cochois the tax-gatherer, and +Adjutant Muller, were waiting for Burguet at the foot of the mayoralty +steps, to congratulate him. As they were surrounding and shaking hands +with him, Sâfel came and rushed into my arms; Zeffen had sent him to +learn the news. I embraced him, and said joyously: "Go, tell your +mother that we have won! Take your dinner. I am going to dine at the +_Ville-de-Metz_ with Burguet. Make haste, my child!" + +He started running. + +"You dine with me, Burguet," said Father Parmentier. + +"Thank you, Mr. Mayor, I am engaged to dine with Moses; I will go at +another time." + +And, with our arms around each other, we entered Mother Barrière's +large corridor, where there was still the odor of good roasts, in spite +of the blockade. + +"Listen, Burguet," said I; "we are going to dine alone, and you shall +choose whatever wines and dishes you like best; you know them better +than I do." + +I saw his eyes sparkle. + +"Good! good!" said he, "it is understood." + +In the large dining-hall the war-commissioner and two officers were +dining together; they turned round, and we saluted them. + +I sent for Mother Barrière, who came at once, her apron on her arm, as +smiling and chubby as usual. Burguet whispered a couple of words in +her ear, and she instantly opened the door at the right, and said: + +"Walk in, gentlemen, walk in! You will not have to wait long." + +We went into the square room at the corner of the square, a small, high +room, with two large windows covered with muslin curtains, and the +porcelain stove well heated, as it should be in winter. + +A servant came to lay the table, while we warmed our hands upon the +marble. + +"I have a good appetite, Moses; my pleading is going to cost you dear," +said Burguet, laughing. + +"So much the better; it cannot be too dear for the gratitude I owe you." + +"Come," said he, putting his hand on my shoulder, "I won't ruin you, +but we must have a good dinner." + +When the table was ready, we sat down, opposite each other, in soft, +comfortable arm-chairs; and Burguet, fastening his napkin in his +button-hole, as was his custom, took up the bill of fare. He pondered +over it a long time; for you know, Fritz, that though nightingales are +good singers, they have the sharpest beaks in the world. Burguet was +like them, and I was delighted at seeing him thus meditating. + +At last he said to the servant, slowly and solemnly: + +"This and that, Madeleine, cooked so and so. And such a wine to begin +with, and such another at the end." + +"Very well, M. Burguet," replied Madeleine, as she went out. + +Two minutes afterward she brought us a good toast soup. During a +blockade this was something greatly to be desired; three weeks later we +should have been very fortunate to have got one. + +Then she brought us some Bordeaux wine, warmed in a napkin. But you do +not suppose, Fritz, that I am going to tell you all the details of this +dinner? although I remember it all, with great pleasure, to this day. +Believe me, there was nothing wanting, meats nor fresh vegetables, nor +the large well-smoked ham, nor any of the things which are dreadfully +scarce in a shut-up city. We had even salad! Madame Barrière had kept +it in the cellar, in earth, and Burguet wished to dress it himself with +olive oil. We had, too, the last juicy pears which were seen in +Phalsburg, during that winter of 1814. + +Burguet seemed happy, especially when the bottle of old Lironcourt was +brought, and we drank together. + +"Moses," said he with softened eyes, "if all my pleas had as good pay +as you give, I would resign my place in college; but this is the first +fee I have received." + +"And if I were in your place, Burguet," I exclaimed, "instead of +staying in Phalsburg, I would go to a large city. You would have +plenty of good dinners, good hotels, and the rest would soon follow." + +"Ah! twenty years ago this might have been good advice," said he, +rising, "but it is too late now. Let us go and take our coffee, Moses." + +Thus it is that men of great talents often bury themselves in small +places, where nobody values them at their true worth; they fall +gradually into their own ruts, and disappear without notice. + +Burguet never forgot to go to the coffee-house at about five o'clock, +to play a game of cards with the old Jew Solomon, whose trade it was. +Burguet and five or six citizens fully supported this man, who took his +beer and coffee twice a day at their expense, to say nothing of the +crowns he pocketed for the support of his family. + +So far as the others were concerned, I was not surprised at this, for +they were fools! but for a man like Burguet I was always astonished at +it; for, out of twenty deals, Solomon did not let them win more than +one or two, with the risk before his eyes of losing his best practice, +by discouraging them altogether. + +I had explained this fifty times to Burguet; he assented, and kept on +all the same. + +When we reached the coffee-house, Solomon was already there, in the +corner of a window at the left--his little dirty cap on his nose, and +his old greasy frock hanging at the foot of the stool. He was +shuffling the cards all by himself. He looked at Burguet out of the +corner of his eye, as a bird-catcher looks at larks, as if to say: + +"Come! I am here! I am expecting you!" + +But Burguet, when with me, dared not obey the old man; he was ashamed +of his weakness, and merely made a little motion of his head while he +seated himself at the opposite table, where coffee was served to us. + +The comrades came soon, and Solomon began to fleece them. Burguet +turned his back to them; I tried to divert his attention, but his heart +was with them; he listened to all the throws, and yawned in his hand. + +About seven o'clock, when the room was full of smoke, and the balls +were rolling on the billiard tables, suddenly a young man, a soldier, +entered, looking round in all directions. + +It was the deserter. + +He saw us at last, and approached us with his foraging cap in his hand. +Burguet looked up and recognized him; I saw him turn red; the deserter, +on the contrary, was very pale; he tried to speak, but could not say a +word. + +"Ah! my friend!" said Burguet, "here you are, safe!" + +"Yes, sir," replied the conscript, "and I have come to thank you for +myself, for my father, and for my mother!" + +"Ah!" said Burguet, coughing, "it is all right! it is all right!" + +He looked tenderly at the young man, and asked him softly, "You are +glad to live?" + +"Oh! yes, sir," replied the conscript, "very glad." + +"Yes," said Burguet, in a low voice, looking at the clock; "it would +have been all over now! Poor child!" + +And suddenly beginning to use the _thou_ he said, "Thou hast had +nothing with which to drink my health, and I have not another sou. +Moses, give him a hundred sous." + +I gave him ten francs. The deserter tried to thank me. + +"That is good!" said Burguet, rising. "Go and take a drink with thy +comrades. Be happy, and do not desert again." + +He made as if he would follow Solomon's playing; but when the deserter +said, "I thank you, too, for her who is expecting me!" he looked at me +sideways, not knowing what to answer, so much was he moved. Then I +said to the conscript, "We are very glad that we have been of +assistance to you; go and drink the health of your advocate, and behave +yourself well." + +He looked at us for a moment longer, as if he were unable to move; we +saw his thanks in his face, a thousand times better than he had been +able to utter them. At length he slowly went out, saluting us, and +Burguet finished his cup of coffee. + +We meditated for some minutes upon what had passed. But soon the +thought of seeing my family seized me. + +Burguet was like a soul in purgatory. Every minute he got up to look +on, as one or another played, with his hands crossed behind his back; +then he sat down with a melancholy look. I should have been very sorry +to plague him longer, and, as the clock struck eight, I bade him +good-evening, which evidently pleased him. + +"Good-night, Moses," said he, leading me to the door. "My compliments +to Madame Sorlé, and Madame Zeffen." + +"Thank you! I shall not forget it." + +I went, very glad to return home, where I arrived in a few minutes. +Sorlé saw at once that I was in good spirits, for, meeting her at the +door of our little kitchen, I embraced her joyfully. + +"It is all right, Sorlé," said I, "all just right!" + +"Yes," said she, "I see that it is all right!" + +She laughed, and we went into the room where Zeffen was undressing +David. The poor little fellow, in his shirt, came and offered me his +cheek to kiss. Whenever I dined in the city, I used to bring him some +of the dessert, and, in spite of his sleepy eyes, he soon found his way +to my pockets. + +You see, Fritz, what makes grandfathers happy is to find out how bright +and sensible their grandchildren are. + +Even little Esdras, whom Sorlé was rocking, understood at once that +something unusual was going on; he stretched out his little hands to +me, as if to say, "I like cake too!" + +We were all of us very happy. At length, having sat down, I gave them +an account of the day, setting forth the eloquence of Burguet, and the +poor deserter's happiness. They all listened attentively. Sâfel, +seated on my knees, whispered to me, "We have sold three hundred +francs' worth of brandy!" + +This news pleased me greatly: when one makes an outlay, he ought to +profit by it. + +About ten o'clock, after Zeffen had wished us good-night, I went down +and shut the door, and put the key underneath for the sergeant, if he +should come in late. + +While we were going to bed, Sorlé repeated what Sâfel had said, adding +that we should be in easy circumstances when the blockade was over, and +that the Lord had helped us in the midst of great calamities. + +We were happy and without fear of the future. + + + + +XVI + +A SORTIE OF THE GARRISON + +Nothing extraordinary occurred for several days. The governor had the +plants and bushes growing in the crevices of the ramparts torn away, to +make desertion less easy, and he forbade the officers being too rough +with the men, which had a good effect. + +At this time, hundreds of thousands of Austrians, Russians, Bavarians, +and Wurtemburgers, by squadrons and regiments, passed around the city +beyond range of our cannon, and marched upon Paris. + +Then there were terrible battles in Champagne, but we knew nothing of +them. + +The uniforms changed every day outside the city; our old soldiers on +top of the ramparts recognized all the different nations they had been +fighting for twenty years. + +Our sergeant came regularly after the call, to take me upon the arsenal +bastion; citizens were there all the time, talking about the invasion, +which did not come to an end. + +It was wonderful! In the direction of St. Jean, on the edge of the +forest of La Bonne-Fontaine, we saw, for hours at a time, cavalry and +infantry defiling, and then convoys of powder and balls, and then +cannon, and then files of bayonets, helmets, red and green and blue +coats, lances, peasants' wagons covered with cloth--all these passed, +passed like a river. + +On this broad white plateau, surrounded by forests, we could see +everything. + +Now and then some Cossacks or dragoons would leave the main body, and +push on galloping to the very foot of the glacis, in the lane _des +Dames_, or near the little chapel. Instantly one of our old marine +artillerymen would stretch out his gray mustaches upon a rampart gun, +and slowly take aim; the bystanders would all gather round him, even +the children, who would creep between your legs, fearless of balls or +shells--and the heavy rifle-gun would go off! + +Many a time I have seen the Cossack or Uhlan fall from his saddle, and +the horse rush back to the squadron with his bridle on his neck. The +people would shout with joy; they would climb up on the ramparts and +look down, and the gunner would rub his hands and say, "One more out of +the way!" + +At other times these old men, with their ragged cloaks full of holes, +would bet a couple of sous as to who should bring down this sentinel or +that vidette, on the Mittelbronn or Bichelberg hill. + +It was so far that they needed good eyes to see the one they +designated; but these men, accustomed to the sea, can discern +everything as far as the eye can reach. + +"Come, Paradis, there he is!" one would say. + +"Yes, there he is! Lay down your two sous; there are mine!" + +And they would fire. They would go on as if it were a game of +ninepins. God knows how many men they killed for the sake of their two +sous. Every morning about nine o'clock I found these marines in my +shop, drinking "to the Cossack," as they said. The last drop they +poured into their hands, to strengthen their nerves, and started off +with rounded backs, calling out: + +"Hey! good-day, Father Moses! The kaiserlich is very well!" + +I do not think that I ever saw so many people in my life as in those +months of January and February, 1814; they were like the locusts of +Egypt! How the earth could produce so many people I could not +comprehend. + +I was naturally greatly troubled on account of it, and the other +citizens also, as I need not say; but our sergeant laughed and winked. + +"Look, Father Moses!" said he, pointing from Quatre-Vents to +Bichelberg--"all these that are passing by, all that have passed, and +all that are going to pass, are to enrich the soil of Champagne and +Lorraine! The Emperor is down there, waiting for them in a good +place--he will fall upon them! The thunder-bolt of Austerlitz, of +Jena, of Wagram, is all ready--it can wait no longer! Then they will +file back in retreat; but our armies will follow them, with our +bayonets in their backs, and we shall go out from here, and flank them +off. Not one shall escape. Their account is settled. And then will +be the time for you to have old clothes and other things to sell, +Father Moses! He! he! he! How fat you will grow!" + +He was merry at the thought of it; but you may suppose, Fritz, that I +did not count much upon those uniforms that were running across the +fields; I would much rather they had been a thousand leagues away. + +Such are men--some are glad and others miserable from the same cause. +The sergeant was so confident that sometimes he persuaded me, and I +thought as he did. + +We would go down the rampart street together, he would go to the +cantine where they had begun to distribute siege-rations, or perhaps he +would go home with me, take his little glass of cherry-brandy, and +explain to me the Emperor's grand strokes since '96 in Italy. I did +not understand anything about it, but I made believe that I understood, +which answered all the purpose. + +There came envoys, too, sometimes on the road from Nancy, sometimes +from Saverne or Metz. They raised, at a distance, the little white +flag; one of their trumpeters sounded and then withdrew; the officer of +the guard received the envoy and bandaged his eyes, then he went under +escort through the city to the governor's house. But what these envoys +told or demanded never transpired in the city; the council of defence +alone were informed of it. + +We lived confined within our walls as if we were in the middle of the +sea, and you cannot believe how that weighs upon one after a while, how +depressing and overpowering it is not to be able to go out even upon +the glacis. Old men who had been nailed for ten years to their +arm-chairs, and who never thought of moving, were oppressed by grief at +knowing that the gates remained shut. And then every one wants to know +what is going on, to see strangers and talk of the affairs of the +country--no one knows how necessary these things are until he has had +experience like ours. The meanest peasant, the lowest man in Dagsburg +who might have chanced to come into the city, would have been received +like a god; everybody would have run to see him and ask for the news +from France. + +Ah! those are right who hold that liberty is the greatest of blessings, +for it is insupportable being shut up in a prison--let it be as large +as France. Men are made to come and go, to talk and write, and live +together, to carry on trade, to tell the news; and if you take these +from them, you leave nothing desirable. + +Governments do not understand this simple matter; they think that they +are stronger when they prevent men from living at their ease, and at +last everybody is tired of them. The true power of a sovereign is +always in proportion to the liberty he can give, and not to that which +he is obliged to take away. The allies had learned this for Napoleon, +and thence came their confidence. + +The saddest thing of all was that, toward the end of January, the +citizens began to be in want. I cannot say that money was scarce, +because a centime never went out of the city, but everything was dear; +what three weeks before was worth two sous now cost twenty! This has +often led me to think that scarcity of money is one of the fooleries +invented by scoundrels to deceive the weak-minded. What else can make +money scarce? You are not poor with two sous, if they are enough to +buy your bread, wine, meat, clothes, etc.; but if you need twenty times +more to buy these things, then not only are you poor, but the whole +country is poor. There is no want of money when everything is cheap; +it is always scarce when the necessaries of life are dear. + +So, when people are shut up as we were, it is very fortunate to be able +to sell more than you buy. My brandy sold for three francs the quart, +but at the same time we needed bread, oil, potatoes, and their prices +were all proportionately high. + +One morning old Mother Queru came to my shop weeping; she had eaten +nothing for two days! and yet that was the least thing, said she; she +missed nothing but her glass of wine, which I gave her gratis. She +gave me a hundred blessings and went away happy. A good many others +would have liked their glass of wine! I have seen old men in despair +because they had nothing to snuff; they even went so far as to snuff +ashes; some at this time smoked the leaves of the large walnut-tree by +the arsenal, and liked it well. + +Unfortunately, all this was but the beginning of want: later we learned +to fast for the glory of his Majesty. + +Toward the end of February, it became cold again. Every evening they +fired a hundred shells upon us, but we became accustomed to all that, +till it seemed quite a thing of course. As soon as the shell burst +everybody ran to put out the fire, which was an easy matter, since +there were tubs full of water ready in every house. + +Our guns replied to the enemy; but as after ten o'clock the Russians +fired only with field-pieces, our men could aim only at their fire, +which was changing continually, and it was not easy to reach them. + +Sometimes the enemy fired incendiary balls; these are balls pierced +with three nails in a triangle, and filled with such inflammable matter +that it could be extinguished only by throwing the ball under water, +which was done. + +We had as yet had no fires; but our outposts had fallen back, and the +allies drew closer and closer around the city. They occupied the +Ozillo farm, Pernette's tile-kiln, and the Maisons-Rouges, which had +been abandoned by our troops. Here they intended to pass the winter +pleasantly. These were Wurtemburg, Bavarian, and Baden troops, and +other landwehr, who replaced in Alsace the regular troops that had left +for the interior. + +We could plainly see their sentinels in long, grayish-blue coats, flat +helmets, and muskets on their shoulders, walking slowly in the poplar +alley which leads to the tile-kiln. + +From thence these troops could any moment, on a dark night, enter the +trenches, and even attempt to force a postern. + +They were in large numbers and denied themselves nothing, having three +or four villages around them to furnish their provisions, and the great +fires of the tile-kiln to keep them warm. + +Sometimes a Russian battalion relieved them, but only for a day or two, +being obliged to continue its route. These Russians bathed in the +little pond behind the building, in spite of the ice and snow which +filled it. + +All of them, Russians, Wurtemburgers, and Baden men, fired upon our +sentinels, and we wondered that our governor had not stopped them with +our balls. But one day the sergeant came in joyfully, and whispered to +me, winking: + +"Get up early to-morrow morning, Father Moses; don't say a word to any +one, and follow me. You will see something that will make you laugh." + +"All right, sergeant!" said I. + +He went to bed at once, and long before day, about five o'clock, I +heard him jump out of bed, which astonished me the more, as I had not +heard the call. + +I rose softly. Sorlé sleepily asked me: "What is it, Moses?" + +"Go to sleep again, Sorlé," I replied; "the sergeant told me that he +wanted to show me something." + +She said no more, and I finished dressing myself. + +Just then the sergeant knocked at the door; I blew out the candle, and +we went down. It was very dark. + +We heard a faint noise in the direction of the barracks; the sergeant +went toward it, saying: "Go up on the bastion; we are going to attack +the tile-kiln." + +I ran up the street at once. As I came upon the ramparts I saw in the +shadow of the bastion on the right our gunners at their pieces. They +did not stir, and all around was still; matches lighted and set in the +ground gave the only light, and shone like stars in the darkness. + +Five or six citizens, in the secret, like myself, stood motionless at +the entrance of the postern. The usual cries, "Sentries, attention!" +were answered around the city; and without, from the part of the enemy, +we heard the cries "_Verdâ!_" and "_Souïda!_"* + + +* Who goes there? + + +It was very cold, a dry cold, notwithstanding the fog. + +Soon, from the direction of the square in the interior of the city, a +number of men went up the street; if they had kept step the enemy would +have heard them from the distance upon the glacis; but they came +pell-mell, and turned near us into the postern stair-way. It took full +ten minutes for them to pass. You can imagine whether I watched them, +and yet I could not recognize our sergeant in the darkness. + +The two companies formed again in the trenches after their defiling, +and all was still. + +My feet were perfectly numb, it was so cold; but curiosity kept me +there. + +At last, after about half an hour, a pale line stretched behind the +bottom-land of Fiquet, around the woods of La Bonne-Fontaine. Captain +Rolfo, the other citizens, and myself, leaned against the rampart, and +looked at the snow-covered plain, where some German patrols were +wandering in the fog, and nearer to us, at the foot of the glacis, the +Wurtemburg sentinel stood motionless in the poplar alley which leads to +the large shed of the tile-kiln. + +Everything was still gray and indistinct; though the winter sun, as +white as snow, rose above the dark line of firs. Our soldiers stood +motionless, with grounded arms, in the covered ways. The "_Verdâs!_" +and "_Souïdas!_" went their rounds. It grew lighter every moment. + +No one would have believed that a fight was preparing, when six o'clock +sounded from the mayoralty, and suddenly our two companies, without +command, started, shouldering their arms, from the covered ways, and +silently descended the glacis. + +In less than a minute, they reached the road which stretches along the +gardens, and defiled to the left, following the hedges. + +You cannot imagine my fright when I found that the fight was about to +begin. It was not yet clear daylight, but still the enemy's sentinel +saw the line of bayonets filing behind the hedges, and called out in a +terrible way: "_Verdâ!_" + +[Illustration: THE SORTIE FROM THE LIME-KILN.] + +"Forward!" replied Captain Vigneron, in a voice like thunder, and the +heavy soles of our soldiers sounded on the hard ground like an +avalanche. + +The sentinel fired, and then ran up the alley, shouting I know not +what. Fifteen of the landwehr, who formed the outpost under the old +shed used for drying bricks, started at once; they did not have time +for repentance, but were all massacred without mercy. + +We could not see very well at that distance, through the hedges and +poplars, but after the post was carried, the firing of the musketry and +the horrible cries were heard even in the city. + +All the unfortunate landwehr who were quartered in the Pernette +farm-house--a large number of whom were undressed, like respectable men +at home, so as to sleep more comfortably--jumped from the windows in +their pantaloons, in their drawers, in their shirts, with their +cartridge-boxes on their backs, and ranged themselves behind the +tile-kiln, in the large Seltier meadow. Their officers urged them on, +and gave their orders in the midst of the tumult. + +There must have been six or seven hundred of them there, almost naked +in the snow, and, notwithstanding their being thus surprised, they +opened a running fire which was well sustained, when our two pieces on +the bastion began to take part in the contest. + +Oh! what carnage! + +Looking down upon them, you should have seen the bullets hit, and the +shirts fly in the air! And, what was worst for these poor wretches, +they had to close ranks, because, after destroying everything in the +tile-kiln, our soldiers went out to make an attack with their bayonets! + +What a situation!--just imagine it, Fritz, for respectable citizens, +merchants, bankers, brewers, innkeepers--peaceable men who wanted +nothing but peace and quietness. + +I have always thought, since then, that the landwehr system is a very +bad one, and that it is much better to pay a good army of volunteers, +who are attached to the country, and know that their pay, pensions, and +decorations come from the nation and not from the government; young men +devoted to their country like those of '92, and full of enthusiasm, +because they are respected and honored in proportion to their +sacrifices. Yes, this is what they ought to be--and not men who are +thinking of their wives and children. + +Our balls struck down these poor fathers and husbands by the dozen. To +add to all these abominations, two other companies, sent out with the +greatest secrecy by the council of defence from the posterns of the +guard and of the German gate, and which came up, one by the Saverne +road, and the other by the road of Petit-Saint-Jean, now began to +outflank them, and forming behind them, fired upon them in the rear. + +It must be confessed that these old soldiers of the Empire had a +diabolical talent for stratagem! Who would ever have imagined such a +stroke! + +On seeing this, the remnant of the landwehr disbanded on the great +white plain like a whirlwind of sparrows. Those who had not had time +to put on their shoes did not mind the stones or briers or thorns of +the Fiquet bottom; they ran like stags, the stoutest as fast as the +rest. + +Our soldiers followed them as skirmishers, stopping not a second except +to make ready and fire. All the ground in front, up to the old beech +in the middle of the meadow of Quatre-Vents, was covered with their +bodies. + +Their colonel, a burgomaster doubtless, galloped before them on +horseback, his shirt flying out behind him. + +If the Baden soldiers, quartered in the village, had not come to their +assistance, they would all have been exterminated. But two battalions +of Baden men being deployed at the right of Quatre-Vents, our trumpets +sounded the recall, and the four companies formed in the alley _des +Dames_ to await them. + +The Baden soldiers then halted, and the last of the Wurtemburgers +passed behind them, glad to escape from such a terrible destruction. +They could well say: "I know what war is--I have seen it at the worst!" + +It was now seven o'clock--the whole city was on the ramparts. Soon a +thick smoke rose above the tile-kiln and the surrounding buildings; +some sappers had gone out with fagots and set it on fire. It was all +burned to cinders; nothing remained but a great black space, and some +rubbish behind the poplars. + +Our four companies, seeing that the Baden soldiers did not mean to +attack them, returned quietly, the trumpeter leading. + +Long before this, I had gone down to the square, near the German gate, +to meet our troops as they came back. It was one of the sights which I +shall never forget; the post under arms, the veterans hanging by the +chains of the lowered drawbridge; the men, women, and children pushing +in the street; and outside, on the ramparts, the trumpets sounding, and +answered from the distance by the echoes of the bastions and half-moon; +the wounded, who, pale, tattered, covered with blood, came in first, +supported on the shoulders of their comrades; Lieutenant Schnindret, in +one of the tile-kiln armchairs, his face covered with sweat, with a +bullet in his abdomen, shouting with thick voice and extended hand, +"_Vive l'Empereur!_"; the soldiers who threw the Wurtemburg commander +from his litter to put one of our own in it; the drums under the gate +beating the march, while the troops, with arms at will, and bread and +all kinds of provisions stuck on their bayonets, entered proudly in the +midst of the shouts: "_Hurra for the Sixth Light Infantry!_" These are +things which only old people can boast of having seen! + +Ah, Fritz, men are not what they once were! In my time, foreigners +paid the cost of war. The Emperor Napoleon had that virtue; he ruined +not France, but his enemies. Nowadays we pay for our own glory. + +And, in those times, the soldiers brought back booty, sacks, +epaulettes, cloaks, officers' sashes, watches, etc., etc.! They +remembered that General Bonaparte had said to them in 1796: "You need +clothes and shoes; the Republic owes you much, she can give you +nothing. I am going to lead you into the richest country in the world; +there you will find honors, glory, riches!" In fine, I saw at once +that we were going to sell glasses of wine at a great rate. + +As the sergeant passed I called to him from the distance, "Sergeant!" + +He saw me in the crowd, and we shook hands joyfully. "All right, +Father Moses! All right!" he said. + +Everybody laughed. + +Then, without waiting for the end of the procession, I ran to the +market to open my shop. + +Little Sâfel had also understood that we were going to have a +profitable day, for, in the midst of the crowd, he had come and pulled +my coat-tails, and said, "I have the key of the market; I have it; let +us make haste! Let us try to get there before Frichard!" + +Whatever natural wit a child may have, it shows itself at once; it is +truly a gift of God. + +So we ran to the shop. I opened my windows, and Sâfel remained while I +went home to eat a morsel, and get a good quantity of sous and small +change. + +Sorlé and Zeffen were at their counter selling small glassfuls. +Everything went well as usual. But a quarter of an hour later, when +the soldiers had broken ranks and put back their muskets in their +places at the barracks, the crowd at my shop in the market, of people +wishing to sell me coats, sacks, watches, pistols, cloaks, epaulettes, +etc., was so great that without Sâfel's help I never could have got out +of it. + +I got all these things for almost nothing. Men of this sort never +trouble themselves about to-morrow; their only thought was to live well +from one day to another, to have tobacco, brandy, and the other good +things which are never wanting in a garrisoned town. + +That day, in six hours' time, I refurnished my shop with coats, cloaks, +pantaloons, and thick boots of genuine German leather, of the first +quality, and I bought things of all sorts--nearly fifteen hundred +pounds' worth--which I afterward sold for six or seven times more than +they cost me. All those landwehr were well-to-do, and even rich +citizens, with good, substantial clothes. + +The soldiers, too, sold me a good many watches, which Goulden the old +watchmaker did not want, because they were taken from the dead. + +But what gave me more pleasure than all the rest, was that Frichard, +who was sick for three or four days, could not come and open his shop. +It makes me laugh now to think of it. It gave the rascal that green +jaundice which never left him as long as he lived. + +At noon Sâfel went to fetch our dinner in a basket; we ate under the +shed so as not to lose custom, and could not leave for a minute till +night. Scarcely had one set gone, before two and often three others +came at once. + +I was sinking with fatigue, and so was Sâfel; nothing but our love of +trade sustained us. + +Another pleasant thing which I recall is that, on going home a few +minutes before seven, we saw at a distance that our other shop was +full. My wife and daughter had not been able to close it; they had +raised the price, and the soldiers did not even notice it,--it seemed +all right to them; so that not only the French money which I had just +given them, but also Wurtemburg florins came to my pocket. + +Two trades which help each other along are an excellent thing, Fritz: +remember that! Without my brandies I should not have had the money to +buy so many goods, and without the market where I gave ready money for +the booty, the soldiers would not have had wherewith to buy my brandy. +This shows us plainly that the Lord favors orderly and peaceable men, +provided they know how to make the best use of their opportunities. + +At length, as we could not do more, we were obliged to close the shop, +in spite of the protestations of the soldiers, and defer business till +to-morrow. + +About nine o'clock, after supper, we all sat down together around the +large lamp, to count our gains. I made rolls of three francs each, and +on the chair next me the pile reached almost to the top of the table. +Little Sâfel put the white pieces in a wooden bowl. It was a pleasant +sight to us all, and Sorlé said: "We have sold twice as much as usual. +The more we raise the price the better it sells." + +I was going to reply that still we must use moderation in all +things--for these women, even the best of them, do not know that--when +the sergeant came in to take his little glass. He wore his foraging +coat, and carried hung across his cape a kind of bag of red leather. + +"He, he, he!" said he, as he saw the rolls. "The devil! the devil! +You ought to be satisfied with this day's work, Father Moses?" + +"Yes, not bad, sergeant," I joyfully replied. + +"I think," said he, as he sat down and tasted the little glass of +cherry-brandy, which Zeffen had just poured out for him, "I think that +after one or two sorties more, you will do for colonel of the +shopkeepers' regiment. So much the better; I am very glad of it!" + +Then, laughing heartily, he said, + +"He, Father Moses! see what I have here; these rascals of kaiserlichs +deny themselves nothing." + +At the same time he opened his bag, and began to draw out a pair of +mittens lined with fox-skin, then some good woollen stockings, and a +large knife with a horn handle and blades of very fine steel. He +opened the blades: + +"There is everything here," said he, "a pruning-knife, a saw, small +knives and large ones, even to a file for nails." + +"For finger-nails, sergeant!" said I. + +"Ah! very likely!" said he. "This big landwehr was as nice as a new +crown-piece. He would be likely to file his finger-nails. But wait!" + +My wife and children, leaning over us, looked on with eager eyes. +Thrusting his hand into a sort of portfolio in the side of the bag, he +drew out a handsome miniature, surrounded with a circle of gold in the +shape of a watch, but larger. + +"See! What ought this to be worth?" + +I looked, then Sorlé, then Zeffen, and Sâfel. We were all surprised at +seeing a work of such beauty, and even touched, for the miniature +represented a fair young woman and two lovely children, as fresh as +rose-buds. + +"Well, what do you think of that?" asked the sergeant. + +"It is very beautiful," said Sorlé. + +"Yes, but what is it worth?" + +I took the miniature and examined it. + +"To any one else, sergeant," said I, "I should say that it was worth +fifty francs; but the gold alone is worth more, and I should estimate +it at a hundred francs; we can weigh it." + +"And the portrait, Father Moses?" + +"The portrait is worth nothing to me, and I will give it back to you. +Such things do not sell in this country; they are of no value except to +the family." + +"Very well," said he, "we will talk about that by and by." + +He put back the miniature into the bag. + +"Do you read German?" he asked. + +"Very well." + +"Ah, good! I am curious to hear what this kaiserlich had to write. +See, it is a letter! He was keeping it doubtless for the +baggage-master to send it to Germany. But we came too soon! What does +it say?" + +He handed me a letter addressed to Madame Roedig, Stuttgart, No. 6 +Bergstrasse. That letter, Fritz, here it is. Sorlé has kept it; it +will tell you more about the landwehr than I can. + + +"Bichelberg, Feb. 25, 1814. + +"Dear Aurelia: Thy good letter of January 29th reached Coblentz too +late; the regiment was on its way to Alsace. + +"We have had a great many discomforts, from rain and snow. The +regiment came first to Bitche, one of the most terrible forts possible, +built upon rocks up in the sky. We were to take part in blockading it, +but a new order sent us on farther to the fort of Lutzelstein, on the +mountain, where we remained two days at the village of Pétersbach, to +summon that little place to surrender. The veterans who held it having +replied by cannon, our colonel did not judge it necessary to storm it, +and, thank God! we received orders to go and blockade another fortress +surrounded by good villages which furnish us provisions in abundance; +this is Phalsburg, a couple of leagues from Saverne. We relieve, here, +the Austrian regiment of Vogelgesang, which has left for Lorraine. + +"Thy good letter has followed me everywhere, and it fills me now with +joy. Embrace little Sabrina and our dear little Henry for me a hundred +times, and receive my embraces yourself, too, thou dear, adored wife! + +"Ah! when shall we be together again in our little pharmacy? When +shall I see again my vials nicely labelled upon their shelves, with the +heads of Æsculapius and Hippocrates above the door? When shall I take +my pestle, and mix my drugs again after the prescribed formulas? When +shall I have the joy of sitting again in my comfortable arm-chair, in +front of a good fire, in our back shop, and hear Henry's little wooden +horse roll upon the floor,--Henry whom I so long for? And thou, dear, +adored wife, when wilt thou exclaim: 'It is my Henry!' as thou seest me +return crowned with palms of victory." + + +"These Germans," interrupted the sergeant, "are blockheads as well as +asses! They are to have 'palms of victory!' What a silly letter!" + +But Sorlé and Zeffen listened as I read, with tears in their eyes. +They held our little ones in their arms, and I, too, thinking that +Baruch might have been in the same condition as this poor man, was +greatly moved. + +Now, Fritz, hear the end: + + +"We are here in an old tile-kiln, within range of the cannon of the +fort. A few shells are fired upon the city every evening, by order of +the Russian general, Berdiaiw, with the hope of making the inhabitants +decide to open the gates. That must be before long; they are short of +provisions! Then we shall be comfortably lodged in the citizens' +houses, till the end of this glorious campaign; and that will be soon, +for the regular armies have all passed without resistance, and we hear +daily of great victories in Champagne. Bonaparte is in full retreat; +field-marshals Blücher and Schwartzenberg have united their forces, and +are only five or six days' march from Paris----" + + +"What? What? What is that? What does he say?" stammered out the +sergeant, leaning over toward the letter. "Read that again!" + +I looked at him; he was very pale, and his cheeks shook with anger. + +"He says that generals Blücher and Schwartzenberg are near Paris." + +"Near Paris! They! The rascals!" he faltered out. + +Suddenly, with a bad look on his face, he gave a low laugh and said: + +"Ah! thou meanest to take Phalsburg, dost thou? Thou meanest to return +to thy land of sauerkraut with palms of victory? He! he! he! I have +given thee thy palms of victory!" + +He made the motions of pricking with his bayonet as he spoke, +"One--_two_--hop!" + +It made us all tremble only to look at him. + +"Yes, Father Moses, so it is," said he, emptying his glass by little +sips. "I have nailed this sort of an apothecary to the door of the +tile-kiln. He made up a funny face--his eyes starting from his head. +His Aurelia will have to expect him a good while! But never mind! +Only, Madame Sorlé, I assure you that it is a lie. You must not +believe a word he says. The Emperor will give it to them! Don't be +troubled." + +I did not wish to go on. I felt myself grow cold, and I finished the +letter quickly, passing over three-quarters of it which contained no +information, only compliments for friends and acquaintances. + +The sergeant himself had had enough of it, and went out soon afterward, +saying, "Good-night! Throw that in the fire!" + +Then I put the letter aside, and we all sat looking at each other for +some minutes. I opened the door. The sergeant was in his room at the +end of the passage, and I said, in a low voice: + +"What a horrible thing! Not only to kill the father of a family like a +fly, but to laugh about it afterward!" + +"Yes," replied Sorlé. "And the worst of it is that he is not a bad +man. He loves the Emperor too well, that is all!" + +The information contained in the letter caused us much serious +reflection, and that night, notwithstanding our stroke of good fortune +in our sales, I woke more than once, and thought of this terrible war, +and wondered what would become of the country if Napoleon were no +longer its master. But these questions were above my comprehension, +and I did not know how to answer them. + + + + +XVII + +FAMINE AND FEVER + +After this story of the landwehr, we were afraid of the sergeant, +though he did not know it, and came regularly to take his glass of +cherry-brandy. Sometimes in the evening he would hold the bottle +before our lamp, and exclaim: + +"It is getting low, Father Moses, it is getting low! We shall soon be +put upon half-rations, and then quarter, and so on. It is all the +same; if a drop is left, anything more than the smell, in six months, +Trubert will be very glad." + +He laughed, and I thought with indignation: + +"You will be satisfied with a drop! What are you in want of? The city +storehouses are bomb-proof, the fires at the guard-house are burning +every day, the market furnishes every soldier with his ration of fresh +meat, while respectable citizens are glad if they can get potatoes and +salt meat!" + +This is the way I felt in my ill-humor, while I treated him pleasantly, +all the same, on account of his terrible wickedness. + +And it was the truth, Fritz, even our children had nothing more +nourishing to eat than soup made of potatoes and salt beef, which cause +many dangerous maladies. + +The garrison had no lack of anything; but, notwithstanding, the +governor was all the time proclaiming that the visits were to be +recommenced, and that those who should be found delinquent should be +punished with the rigor of military law. Those people wanted to have +everything for themselves; but nobody minded them, everybody hid what +he could. + +Fortunate in those times was he who kept a cow in his cellar, with some +hay and straw for fodder; milk and butter were beyond all price. +Fortunate was he who owned a few hens; a fresh egg, at the end of +February, was valued at fifteen sous, and they were not to be had even +at that price. The price of fresh meat went up, so to speak, from hour +to hour, and we did not ask if it was beef or horse-flesh. + +The council of defence had sent away the paupers of the city before the +blockade, but a large number of poor people remained. A good many +slipped out at night into the trenches by one of the posterns; they +would go and dig up roots from under the snow, and cut the nettles in +the bastions to boil for spinach. The sentries fired from above, but +what will not a man risk for food? It is better to feel a ball than to +suffer with hunger. + +We needed only to meet these emaciated creatures, these women dragging +themselves along the walls, these pitiful children, to feel that famine +had come, and we often said to ourselves: + +"If the Emperor does not come and help us, in a month we shall be like +these wretched creatures! What good will our money do us, when a +radish will cost a hundred francs?" + +Then, Fritz, we smiled no more as we saw the little ones eating around +the table; we looked at each other, and this glance was enough to make +us understand each other. + +The good sense and good feeling of a brave woman are seen at times like +this. Sorlé had never spoken to me about our provisions; I knew how +prudent she was, and supposed that we must have provisions hidden +somewhere, without being entirely sure of it. So, at evening, as we +sat at our meagre supper, the fear that our children might want the +necessary food sometimes led me to say: + +"Eat! feast away! I am not hungry. I want an omelet or a chicken. +Potatoes do not agree with me." + +I would laugh, but Sorlé knew very well what I was thinking. + +"Come, Moses," she said to me one day; "we are not as badly off as you +think; and if we should come to it, ah, well! do not be troubled, we +shall find some way of getting along! So long as others have something +to live upon, we shall not perish, more than they." + +She gave me courage, and I ate cheerfully, I had so much confidence in +her. + +That same evening, after Zeffen and the children had gone to bed, Sorlé +took the lamp, and led me to her hiding-place. + +Under the house we had three cellars, very small and very low, +separated by lattices. Against the last of these lattices, Sorlé had +thrown bundles of straw up to the very top; but after removing the +straw, we went in, and I saw at the farther end, two bags of potatoes, +a bag of flour, and on the little oil-cask a large piece of salt beef. + +We stayed there more than an hour, to look, and calculate, and think. +These provisions might serve us for a month, and those in the large +cellar under the street, which we had declared to the commissary of +provisions, a fortnight. So that Sorlé said to me as we went up: + +"You see that, with economy, we have what will do for six weeks. A +time of great want is now beginning, and if the Emperor does not come +before the end of six weeks, the city will surrender. Meanwhile, we +must get along with potatoes and salt meat." + +She was right, but every day I saw how the children were suffering from +this diet. We could see that they grew thin, especially little David; +his large bright eyes, his hollow cheeks, his increasing dejected look, +made my heart ache. + +I held him, I caressed him; I whispered to him that, when the winter +was over, we would go to Saverne, and his father would take him to +drive in his carriage. He would look at me dreamily, and then lay his +head upon my shoulder, with his arm around my neck, without answering. +At last he refused to eat. + +Zeffen, too, became disheartened; she would often sob, and take her +babe from me, and say that she wanted to go, that she wanted to see +Baruch! You do not know what these troubles are, Fritz; a father's +troubles for his children; they are the cruelest of all! No child can +imagine how his parents love him, and what they suffer when he is +unhappy. + +But what was to be done in the midst of such calamities? Many other +families in France were still more to be pitied than we. + +During all this time, you must remember that we had the patrols, the +shells in the evening, requisition and notices, the call to arms at the +two barracks and in front of the mayoralty, the cries of "Fire!" in the +night, the noise of the fire-engines, the arrival of the envoys, the +rumors spread through the city that our armies were retreating, and +that the city was to be burned to the ground! + +The less people know the more they invent. + +It is best to tell the simple truth. Then every one would take +courage, for, during all such times, I have always seen that the truth, +even in the greatest calamities, is never so terrible as these +inventions. The republicans defended themselves so well, because they +knew everything, nothing was concealed from them, and every one +considered the affairs of his nation as his own. + +But when men's own affairs are hidden from them, how can they have +confidence? An honest man has nothing to conceal, and I say it is the +same with an honest government. + +In short, bad weather, cold, want, rumors of all kinds, increased our +miseries. Men like Burguet, whom we had always seen firm, became sad; +all that they could say to us was: + +"We shall see!--we must wait!" The soldiers again began to desert, and +were shot! + +Our brandy-selling always kept on: I had already emptied seven pipes of +spirit, all my debts were paid, my storehouse at the market was full of +goods, and I had eighteen thousand francs in the cellar; but what is +money, when we are trembling for the life of those we love? + +On the sixth of March, about nine o'clock in the evening, we had just +finished supper as usual, and the sergeant was smoking his pipe, with +his legs crossed, near the window, and looking at us without speaking. + +It was the hour when the bombarding began; we heard the first +cannon-shots, behind the Fiquet bottom-land; a cannon-shot from the +outposts had answered them; that had somewhat roused us, for we were +all thoughtful. + +"Father Moses," said the sergeant, "the children are pale!" + +"I know it very well," I replied, sorrowfully. + +He said no more, and as Zeffen had just gone out to weep, he took +little David on his knee, and looked at him for a long time. Sorlé +held little Esdras asleep in her arms. Sâfel took off the table-cloth +and rolled up the napkins, to put them back in the closet. + +"Yes," said the sergeant. "We must take care, Father Moses; we will +talk about it another time." + +I looked at him with surprise; he emptied his pipe at the edge of the +stove, and went out, making a sign for me to follow him. Zeffen came +in, and I took a candle from her hand. The sergeant led me to his +little room at the end of the passage, shut the door, sat down on the +foot of the bed, and said: + +"Father Moses, do not be frightened--but the typhus has just broken out +again in the city; five soldiers were taken to the hospital this +morning; the commandant of the place, Moulin, is taken. I hear, too, +of a woman and three children!" + +He looked at me, and I felt cold all over. + +"Yes," said he, "I have known this disease for a long time; we had it +in Poland, in Russia, after the retreat, and in Germany. It always +comes from poor nourishment." + +Then I could not help sobbing and exclaiming: + +"Ah, tell me! What can I do? If I could give my life for my children, +it would all be well! But what can I do?" + +"To-morrow, Father Moses, I will bring you my portion of meat, and you +shall have soup made of it for your children. Madame Sorlé may take +the piece at the market, or, if you prefer, I will bring it myself. +You shall have all my portions of fresh meat till the blockade is over, +Father Moses." + +I was so moved by this, that I went to him and took his hand, saying: + +"Sergeant, you are a noble man! Forgive me, I have thought evil of +you." + +"What about?" said he, scowling. + +"About the landwehr at the tile-kiln!" + +"Ah, good! That is a different thing! I do not care about that," said +he. "If you knew all the kaiserlichs that I have despatched these ten +years, you would have thought more evil of me. But that is not what we +are talking about; you accept, Father Moses?" + +"And you, sergeant," said I, "what will you have to eat?" + +"Do not be troubled about that; Sergeant Trubert has never been in +want!" + +I wanted to thank him. "Good!" said he, "that is all understood. I +cannot give you a pike, or a fat goose, but a good soup in blockade +times is worth something, too." + +He laughed and shook hands with me. As for myself I was quite +overcome, and my eyes were full of tears. + +"Let us go; good-night!" said he, as he led me to the door. "It will +all come out right! Tell Madame Sorlé that it will all come out right!" + +I blessed that man as I went out, and I told it all to Sorlé, who was +still more affected by it than myself. We could not refuse; it was for +the children! and during the last week there had been nothing but +horse-meat in the market. + +So the next morning we had fresh meat to make soup for those poor +little ones. But the dreadful malady was already upon us, Fritz! Now, +when I think of it, after all these years, I am quite overcome. +However, I cannot complain; before going to take the bit of meat, I had +consulted our old rabbi about the quality of this meat according to the +law, and he had replied: + +"The first law is to save Israel; but how can Israel be saved if the +children perish?" + +But after a while I remembered that other law: + +"The life of the flesh is in the blood, therefore I said unto the +children of Israel: Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh, for +the life of all flesh is the blood thereof; whosoever eateth it shall +be cut off; and whosoever eateth of any sick beast shall be unclean." + +In my great misery the words of the Lord came to me, and I wept. + +All these animals had been sick for six weeks; they lived in the mire, +exposed to the snow and wind, between the arsenal and guard bastions. + +The soldiers, almost all of whom were sons of peasants, ought to have +known that they could not live in the open air, in such cold weather; a +shelter could easily have been made. But when officers take the whole +charge, nobody else thinks of anything; they even forget their own +village trades. And if, unfortunately, their commanders do not give +the order, nothing is done. + +This is the reason that the animals had neither flesh nor fat; this is +the reason that they were nothing but miserable, trembling carcasses, +and their suffering, unhealthy flesh had become unclean, according to +the law of God. + +Many of the soldiers died. The wind brought to the city the bad air +from the bodies, scattered by hundreds around the tile-kiln, the Ozillo +farm, and in the gardens, and this also caused much sickness. + +The justice of the Lord is shown in all things; when the living neglect +their duties toward the dead, they perish. + +I have often remembered these things when it was too late, so that I +think of them only with grief. + + + + +XVIII + +DEATH OF LITTLE DAVID + +The most painful of all my recollections, Fritz, is the way in which +that terrible disease came to our family. + +On the twelfth of March we heard of a large number of men, women, and +children who were dying. We dared not listen; we said: + +"No one in our house is sick, the Lord watches over us!" + +After David had come, after supper, to cuddle in my arms, with his +little hand on my shoulder, I looked at him; he seemed very drowsy, but +children are always sleepy at night. Esdras was already asleep, and +Sâfel had just bidden us good-night. + +At last Zeffen took the child, and we all went to bed. + +That night the Russians did not fire; perhaps the typhus was among +them, too. I do not know. + +About midnight, when by God's goodness we were asleep, I heard a +terrible cry. + +I listened, and Sorlé said to me: + +"It is Zeffen!" + +I rose at once, and tried to light the lamp; but I was so much agitated +that I could not find anything. + +Sorlé struck a light, I drew on my pantaloons and ran to the door. But +I was hardly in the passage-way when Zeffen came out of her room like +an insane person, with her long black hair all loose. + +"The child!" she screamed. + +Sorlé followed me. We went in, we leaned over the cradle. The two +children seemed to be sleeping; Esdras all rosy, David as white as snow. + +At first I saw nothing, I was so frightened, but at last I took up +David to waken him; I shook him, and called, "David!" + +And then we first saw that his eyes were open and fixed. + +"Wake him! wake him!" cried Zeffen. + +Sorlé took my hands and said: + +"Quick! make a fire! heat some water!" + +And we laid him across the bed, shaking him and calling him by name. +Little Esdras began to cry. + +"Light a fire!" said Sorlé again to me. "And, Zeffen, be quiet! It +does no good to cry so! Quick, quick, a fire!" + +But Zeffen cried out incessantly, "My poor child!" + +"He will soon be warm again," said Sorlé; "only, Moses, make haste and +dress yourself, and run for Doctor Steinbrenner." + +She was pale and more alarmed than we, but this brave woman never lost +her presence of mind or her courage. She had made a fire, and the +fagots were crackling in the chimney. + +I ran to get my cloak, and went down, thinking to myself: + +"The Lord have mercy upon us! If the child dies I shall not survive +him! No, he is the one that I love best, I could not survive him!" + +For you know, Fritz, that the child who is most unhappy, or in the +greatest danger, is always the one that we love best; he needs us the +most; we forget the others. The Lord has ordered it so, doubtless for +the greatest good. + +I was already running in the street. + +A darker night was never known. The wind blew from the Rhine, the snow +blew about like dust; here and there the lighted windows showed where +people were watching the sick. + +My head was uncovered, yet I did not feel the cold. I cried within +myself: + +"The last day had come! That day of which the Lord has said: 'Afore +the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in +the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and +take away and cut down the branches." + +Full of these fearful thoughts, I went across the large market-place, +where the wind was tossing the old elms, full of frost. + +As the clock struck one, I pushed open Doctor Steinbrenner's door; its +large pulley rattled in the vestibule. As I was groping about, trying +to find the railing, the servant appeared with a light at the top of +the stairs. + +"Who is there?" she asked, holding the lantern before her. + +"Ah!" I replied, "tell the doctor to come immediately; we have a child +sick, very sick." + +I could not restrain my sobs. + +"Come up, Monsieur Moses," said the girl: "the doctor has just come in, +and has not gone to bed. Come up a moment and warm yourself!" + +But Father Steinbrenner had heard it all. + +"Very well, Theresa!" said he, coming out of his room; "keep the fire +burning. I shall be back in an hour at latest." + +He had already put on his large three-cornered cap, and his goat's-hair +great-coat. + +We walked across the square without speaking. I went first; in a few +minutes we ascended our stairs. + +Sorlé had placed a candle at the top of the stairs; I took it and led +M. Steinbrenner to the baby's room. + +All seemed quiet as we entered. Zeffen was sitting in an arm-chair +behind the door, with her head on her knees, and her shoulders +uncovered; she was no longer crying but weeping. The child was in bed. +Sorlé, standing at its side, looked at us. + +The doctor laid his cap on the bureau. + +"It is too warm here," said he, "give us a little air." + +Then he went to the bed. Zeffen had risen from her chair, as pale as +death. The doctor took the lamp, and looked at our poor little David; +he raised the coverlet and lifted out the little round limbs; he +listened to the breathing. Esdras having begun to cry, he turned round +and said: "Take the other child away from this room--we must be quiet! +and besides, the air of a sick-room is not good for such small +children." + +He gave me a side look. I understood what he meant to say. It was the +typhus! I looked at my wife; she understood it all. + +I felt at that moment as if my heart were torn; I wanted to groan, but +Zeffen was there leaning over, behind us, and I said nothing; nor did +Sorlé. + +The doctor asked for paper to write a prescription, and we went out +together. I led him to our room, and shut the door, and began to sob. + +"Moses," said he, "you are a man, do not weep! Remember that you ought +to set an example of courage to two poor women." + +"Is there no hope?" I asked him in a low voice, afraid of being heard. + +"It is the typhus!" said he. "We will do what we can. There, that is +the prescription; go to Tribolin's; his boy is up at night now, and he +will give you the medicine. Be quick! And then, in heaven's name, +take the other child out of that room, and your daughter too, if +possible. Try to find some one out of the family, accustomed to +sickness; the typhus is contagious." + +I said nothing. + +He took his cap and went. + +Now what can I say more? The typhus is a disease engendered by death +itself; the prophet speaks of it, when he says: + +"Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming!" + +How many have I seen die of the typhus in our hospitals, on the Saverne +hill, and elsewhere! + +When men tear each other to pieces, without mercy, why should not death +come to help them? But what had this poor babe done that it must die +so soon? This, Fritz, is the most dreadful thing, that all must suffer +for the crimes of a few. Yes, when I think that my child died of this +pestilence, which war had brought from the heart of Russia to our +homes, and which ravaged all Alsace and Lorraine for six months, +instead of accusing God, as the impious do, I accuse men. Has not God +given them reason? And when they do not use it--when they let +themselves rage against each other like brutes--is He to blame for it? + +But of what use are right ideas, when we are suffering! + +I remember that the sickness lasted for six days, and those were the +cruelest days of my life. I feared for my wife, for my daughter, for +Sâfel, for Esdras. I sat in a corner, listening to the babe's +breathing. Sometimes he seemed to breathe no longer. Then a chill +passed over me; I went to him and listened. And when, by chance, +Zeffen came, in spite of the doctor's prohibition, I went into a sort +of fury; I pushed her out by the shoulders, trembling. + +"But he is my child! He is my child!" she said. + +"And art thou not my child too?" said I. "I do not want you all to +die!" + +Then I burst into tears, and fell into my chair, looking straight +before me, my strength all gone; I was exhausted with grief. + +Sorlé came and went, with firm-closed lips; she prepared everything, +and cared for everybody. + +At that time musk was the remedy for typhus; the house was full of +musk. Often the idea seized me that Esdras, too, was going to be sick. +Ah, if having children is the greatest happiness in the world, what +agony is it to see them suffer! How fearful to think of losing +them!--to be there, to hear their labored breathing, their delirium, to +watch their sinking from hour to hour, from minute to minute, and to +exclaim from the depths of the soul: + +"Death is near at hand! There is nothing, nothing more that can be +done to save thee, my child! I cannot give thee my life! Death does +not wish for it!" + +What heart-rending and what anguish, till the last moment when all is +over! + +Then, Fritz, money, the blockade, the famine, the general +desolation--all were forgotten. I hardly saw the sergeant open our +door every morning, and look in, asking: + +"Well, Father Moses, well?" + +I did not know what he said; I paid no attention to him. + +But, what I always think of with pleasure, what I am always proud of, +is that, in the midst of all this trouble, when Sorlé, Zeffen, myself, +and everybody were beside ourselves, when we forgot all about our +business, and let everything go, little Sâfel at once took charge of +our shop. Every morning we heard him rise at six o'clock, go down, +open, the warehouse, take up one or two pitchers of brandy, and begin +to serve the customers. + +No one had said a word to him about it, but Sâfel had a genius for +trade. And if anything could console a father in such troubles, it +would be to see himself, as it were, living over again in so young a +child, and to say to himself: "At least the good race is not extinct; +it still remains to preserve common-sense in the world." Yes, it is +the only consolation which a man can have. + +Our _schabesgoïé_ did the work in the kitchen, and old Lanche helped us +watch, but Sâfel took the charge of the shop; his mother and I thought +of nothing but our little David. + +He died in the night of the eighteenth of March, the day when the fire +broke out in Captain Cabanier's house. + +That same night two shells fell upon our house; the blindage made them +roll into the court, where they both burst, shattering the laundry +windows and demolishing the butcher's door, which fell down at once +with a fearful crash. + +It was the most powerful bombardment since the blockade began, for, as +soon as the enemy saw the flame ascending, they fired from Mittelbronn, +from the Barracks, and the Fiquet lowlands, to prevent its being +extinguished. + +I stayed all the while with Sorlé, near the babe's bed, and the noise +of the bursting shells did not disturb us. + +The unhappy do not cling to life; and then the child was so sick! +There were blue spots all over his body. + +The end was drawing near. + +I walked the room. Without they were crying "Fire! Fire!" + +People passed in the street like a torrent. We heard those returning +from the fire telling the news, the engines hurrying by, the soldiers +ranging the crowd in the line, the shells bursting at the right and +left. + +Before our windows the long trails of red flame descended upon the +roofs in front, and shattered the glass of the windows. Our cannon all +around the city replied to the enemy. Now and then we heard the cry: +"Room! Room!" as the wounded were carried away. + +Twice some pickets came up into my room to put me in the line, but, on +seeing me sitting with Sorlé by our child, they went down again. + +The first shell burst at our house about eleven o'clock, the second at +four in the morning; everything shook, from the garret to the cellar; +the floor, the bed, the furniture seemed to be upheaved; but, in our +exhaustion and despair, we did not speak a single word. + +Zeffen came running to us with Esdras and little Sâfel, at the first +explosion. It was evident that little David was dying. Old Lanche and +Sorlé were sitting, sobbing. Zeffen began to cry. + +I opened the windows wide, to admit the air, and the powder-smoke which +covered the city came into the room. + +Sâfel saw at once that the hour was at hand. I needed only to look at +him, and he went out, and soon returned by a side street, +notwithstanding the crowd, with Kalmes the chanter, who began to recite +the prayer of the dying: + +"The Lord reigneth! The Lord reigneth! The Lord shall reign +everywhere and forever! + +"Praise, everywhere and forever, the name of His glorious reign! + +"The Lord is God! The Lord is God! The Lord is God! + +"Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one God! + +"Go, then, where the Lord calleth thee--go, and may His mercy help thee! + +"May the Lord, our God, be with thee; may His immortal angels lead thee +to heaven, and may the righteous be glad when the Lord shall receive +thee into His bosom! + +"God of mercy, receive this soul into the midst of eternal joys!" + +Sorlé and I repeated, weeping, those holy words. Zeffen lay as if +dead, her arms extended across the bed, over the feet of her child. +Her brother Sâfel stood behind her, weeping bitterly, and calling +softly, "Zeffen! Zeffen!" + +But she did not hear; her soul was lost in infinite sorrows. + +Without, the cries of "Fire!" the orders for the engines, the tumult of +the crowd, the rolling of the cannonade still continued; the flashes, +one after another, lighted up the darkness. + +What a night, Fritz! What a night! + +Suddenly Sâfel, who was leaning over under the curtain, turned round to +us in terror. My wife and I ran, and saw that the child was dead. We +raised our hands, sobbing, to indicate it. The chanter ceased his +psalm. Our David was dead! + +The most terrible thing was the mother's cry! She lay, stretched out, +as if she had fainted; but when the chanter leaned over and closed the +lips, saying "_Amen!_" she rose, lifted the little one, looked at him, +then, raising him above her head, began to run toward the door, crying +out with a heart-rending voice: + +"Baruch! Baruch! save our child!" + +She was mad, Fritz! In this last terror I stopped her, and, by main +force, took from her the little body which she was carrying away. And +Sorlé, throwing her arms round her, with ceaseless groanings, Mother +Lanche, the chanter, Sâfel, all led her away. + +I remained alone, and I heard them go down, leading away my daughter. + +How can a man endure such sorrows? + +I put David back in the bed and covered him, because of the open +windows. I knew that he was dead, but it seemed to me as if he would +be cold. I looked at him for a long time, so as to retain that +beautiful face in my heart. + +It was all heart-rending--all! I felt as if my bowels were torn from +me, and in my madness I accused the Lord, and said: + +"I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of Thy wrath. +Surely against me is He turned. My flesh and my skin hath He made old: +He hath broken my bones. He hath set me in dark places. Also when I +cry and shout He shutteth out my prayer. He was unto me as a lion in +secret places!" + +Thus I walked about, groaning and even blaspheming. But God in His +mercy forgave me; He knew that it was not myself that spoke, but my +despair. + +At last I sat down, the others came back. Sorlé sat next to me in +silence. Sâfel said to me: + +"Zeffen has gone to the rabbi's with Esdras." + +I covered my head without answering him. + +Then some women came with old Lanche; I took Sorlé by the hand, and we +went into the large room, without speaking a word. + +The mere sight of this room, where the two little brothers had played +so long, made my tears come afresh, and Sorlé, Sâfel, and I wept +together. The house was full of people; it might have been eight +o'clock, and they knew already that we had a child dead. + + + + +XIX + +THE PASSOVER + +Then, Fritz, the funeral rites began. All who died of typhus had to be +buried the same day: Christians behind the church, and Jews in the +trenches, in the place now occupied by the riding-school. + +Old women were already there to wash the poor little body, and comb the +hair, and cut the nails, according to the law of the Lord. Some of +them sewed the winding-sheet. + +The open windows admitted the air, the shutters struck against the +walls. The _schamess_* went through the streets, striking the doors +with his mace, to summon our brethren. + + +* Beadle. + + +Sorlé sat upon the ground with her head veiled. Hearing Desmarets come +up the stairs, I had courage to go and meet him, and show him the room. +The poor angel was in his little shirt on the floor, the head raised a +little on some straw, and the little _thaleth_ in his fingers. He was +so beautiful, with his brown hair, and half-opened lips, that I thought +as I looked at him: "The Lord wanted to have thee near his throne!" + +And my tears fell silently: my beard was full of them. + +Desmarets then took the measure and went. Half an hour afterward, he +returned with the little pine coffin under his arm, and the house was +filled anew with lamentations. + +I could not see the coffin closed! I went and sat upon the sack of +ashes, covering my face with both hands, and crying in my heart like +Jacob, "Surely I shall go down to the grave with this child; I shall +not survive him." + +Only a very few of our brethren came, for a panic was in the city; men +knew that the angel of death was passing by, and that drops of blood +rained from his sword upon the houses; each emptied the water from his +jug upon the threshold and entered quickly. But the best of them came +silently, and as evening approached, it was necessary to go and descend +by the postern. + +I was the only one of our family. Sorlé was not able to follow me, nor +Zeffen. I was the only one to throw the shovelful of earth. My +strength all left me, they had to lead me back to our door. The +sergeant held me by the arm; he spoke to me and I did not hear him; I +was as if dead. + +All else that I remember of that dreadful day, is the moment when, +having come into the house, sitting on the sack, before our cold +hearth, with bare feet and bent head, and my soul in the depths, the +_schamess_ came to me, touched my shoulder and made me rise; and then +took his knife from his pocket and rent my garment, tearing it to the +hip. This blow was the last and the most dreadful; I fell back, +murmuring with Job: + +"Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was +said, there is a man child conceived! Let a cloud dwell upon it, let +the blackness of the day terrify it! For mourning, the true mourning +does not come down from the father to the child, but goes up from the +child to the father. Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts +that I should suck? For now I should have lain still in the tomb and +been at rest!" + +And my grief, Fritz, had no bounds; "What will Baruch say," I +exclaimed, "and what shall I answer him when he asks me to give him +back his child?" + +I felt no longer any interest in our business. Zeffen lived with the +old rabbi; her mother spent the days with her, to take care of Esdras +and comfort her. + +Every part of our house was opened; the _schabesgoïé_ burned sugar and +spices, and the air from without had free circulation. Sâfel went on +selling. + +As for myself, I sat before the hearth in the morning, cooked some +potatoes, and ate them with a little salt, and then went out, without +thought or aim. I wandered sometimes to the right, sometimes to the +left, toward the old gendarmerie, around the ramparts, in +out-of-the-way places. + +I could not bear to see any one, especially those who had known the +child. + +Then, Fritz, our miseries were at their height; famine, cold, all kinds +of sufferings weighed upon the city; faces grew thin, and women and +children were seen, half-naked and trembling, groping in the shadow in +the deserted by-ways. + +Ah! such miseries will never return! We have no more such abominable +wars, lasting twenty years, when the highways looked like ruts, and the +roads like streams of mud; when the ground remained untilled for want +of husbandmen, when houses sank for want of inhabitants; when the poor +went barefoot and the rich in wooden shoes, while the superior officers +passed by on superb horses, looking down contemptuously on the whole +human race. + +We could not endure that now! + +But at that time everything in the nation was destroyed and humiliated; +the citizens and the people had nothing left; force was everything. If +a man said, "But there is such a thing as justice, right, truth!" the +way was to answer with a smile, "I do not understand you!" and you were +taken for a man of sense and experience, who would make his way. + +Then, in the midst of my sorrow, I saw these things without thinking +about them; but since then, they have come back to me, and thousands of +others; all the survivors of those days can remember them, too. + +One morning, I was under the old market, looking at the wretches as +they bought meat. At that time they knocked down the horses of +Rouge-Colas and those of the gendarmes, as fleshless as the cattle in +the trenches, and sold the meat at very high prices. + +I looked at the swarms of wrinkled old women, of hollow-eyed citizens, +all these wretched creatures crowding before Frantz Sepel's stall, +while he distributed bits of carcass to them. + +Frantz's large dogs were seen no longer prowling about the market, +licking up the bloody scraps. The dried hands of old women were +stretched out at the end of their fleshless arms, to snatch everything; +weak voices called out entreatingly, "A little more liver, Monsieur +Frantz, so that we can make merry!" + +I saw all this under the great dark roof, through which a little light +came, in the holes made by the shells. In the distance, among the +worm-eaten pillars, some soldiers, under the arch of the guard-house, +with their old capes hanging down their thighs, were also looking +on;--it seemed like a dream. + +My great sorrow accorded with these sad sights. I was about leaving at +the end of a half hour, when I saw Burguet coming along by Father +Brainstein's old country-house, which was now staved in by the shells, +and leaning, all shattered, over the street. + +Burguet had told me several days before our affliction, that his +maid-servant was sick. I had thought no more of it, but now it came to +me. + +He looked so changed, so thin, his cheeks so marked by wrinkles, it +seemed as if years had passed since I had seen him. His hat came down +to his eyes, and his beard, at least a fortnight old, had turned gray. +He came in, looking round in all directions; but he could not see me +where I was, in the deep shadow, against the planks of the old +fodder-house; and he stopped behind the crowd of old women, who were +squeezed in a semicircle before the stall, awaiting their turn. + +After a minute he put some sous in Frantz Sepel's hand, and received +his morsel, which he hid under his cloak. Then looking round again, he +was going away quickly, with his head down. + +This sight moved my heart: I hurried away, raising my hands to heaven, +and exclaiming: "Is it possible? Is it possible? Burguet too! A man +of his genius to suffer hunger and eat carcasses! Oh, what times of +trial!" + +I went home, completely upset. + +We had not many provisions left; but, still, the next morning, as Sâfel +was going down to open the shop, I said to him: + +"Stop, my child, take this little basket to M. Burguet; it is some +potatoes and salt beef. Take care that nobody sees it, they would take +it from you. Say that it is in remembrance of the poor deserter." + +The child went. He told me that Burguet wept. + +This, Fritz, is what must be seen in a blockade, where you are attacked +from day to day. This is what the Germans and Spaniards had to suffer, +and what we suffered in our turn. This is war! + +Even the siege rations were almost gone; but Moulin, the commandant of +the place, having died of typhus, the famine did not prevent the +lieutenant-colonel, who took his place, from giving balls and fêtes to +the envoys, in the old Thevenot house. The windows were bright, music +played, the staff-officers drank punch and warm wine, to make believe +that we were living in abundance. There was good reason for bandaging +the eyes of these envoys till they reached the very ball-room, for, if +they had seen the look of the people, all the punch-bowls and warm +wines in the world would not have deceived them. + +All this time, the grave-digger Mouyot and his two boys came every +morning to take their two or three drops of brandy. They might say "We +drink to the dead!" as the veterans said "We drink to the Cossacks!" +Nobody in the city would willingly have undertaken to bury those who +had died of typhus; they alone, after taking their drop, dared to throw +the bodies from the hospital upon a cart, and pile them up in the pit, +and then they passed for grave-diggers, with Father Zébédé. + +The order was to wrap the dead in a sheet. But who saw that it was +done? Old Mouyot himself told me that they were buried in their cloaks +or vests, as it might be, and sometimes entirely naked. + +For every corpse, these men had their thirty-five sous; Father Mouyot, +the blind man, can tell you so; it was his harvest. + +Toward the end of March, in the midst of this fearful want, when there +was not a dog, and still less a cat, to be seen in the streets, the +city was full of evil tidings; rumors of battles lost, of marches upon +Paris, etc. + +As the envoys had been received, and balls given in their honor, +something of our misfortunes became known either through the family or +the servants. + +Often, in wandering through the streets which ran along the ramparts, I +mounted one of the bastions, looking toward Strasburg, or Metz, or +Paris. I had no fear then of stray balls. I looked forth upon the +thousand bivouac fires scattered over the plain, the soldiers of the +enemy returning from the villages with their long poles hung with +quarters of meat, at others crouched around the little fires which +shone like stars upon the edge of the forest, and at their patrols and +their covered batteries from which their flag was flying. + +Sometimes I looked at the smoke of the chimneys at Quatre-Vents, or +Bichelberg, or Mittelbronn. Our chimneys had no smoke, our festive +days were over. + +You can never imagine how many thoughts come to you, when you are so +shut up, as your eyes follow the long white highways, and you imagine +yourself walking there, talking with people about the news, asking them +what they have suffered, and telling them what you have yourself +endured. + +From the bastion of the guard, I could see even the white peaks of the +Schneeberg; I imagined myself in the midst of foresters, wood-cutters, +and wood-splitters. There was a rumor that they were defending their +route from Schirmeck; I longed to know if it were true. + +As I looked toward the Maisons-Rouges, on the road to Paris, I imagined +myself to be with my old friend Leiser; I saw him at his hearth, in +despair at having to support so many people, for the Russian, Austrian, +and Bavarian staff-officers remained upon this route, and new regiments +went by continually. + +And spring came! The snow began to melt in the furrows and behind the +hedges. The great forests of La Bonne-Fontaine and the Barracks began +to change their tents. + +The thing which affected me most, as I have often remembered, was +hearing the first lark at the end of March. The sky was entirely +clear, and I looked up to see the bird. I thought of little David, and +I wept, I knew not why. + +Men have strange thoughts; they are affected by the song of a bird, and +sometimes, years after, the same sounds recall the same emotions, so as +even to make them weep. + +At last the house was purified, and Zeffen and Sorlé came back to it. + +The time of the Passover drew near; and the floors must be washed, the +walls scoured, the vessels cleansed. In the midst of these cares, the +poor women forgot, in some measure, our affliction; but as the time +drew nearer our anxiety increased; how, in the midst of this famine, +were we to obey the command of God: + +"This month shall be the first month of the year to you. + +"In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a +lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. + +"Ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats. + +"And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. + +"And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and +unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs shall they eat it." + +But where was the sacrificial lamb to be found? Schmoûlé alone, the +old _schamess_, had thought of it for us all, three months before; he +had nourished a male goat of that year in his cellar, and that was the +goat that was killed. + +Every Jewish family had a portion of it, small indeed, but the law of +the Lord was fulfilled. + +We invited on that day, according to the law, one of the poorest of our +brethren, Kalmes. We went together to the synagogue; the prayers were +recited, and then we returned to partake of the feast at our table. + +Everything was ready and according to the proper order, notwithstanding +the great destitution; the white cloth, the goblet of vinegar, the hard +egg, the horseradish, the unleavened bread, and the flesh of the goat. +The lamp with seven burners shone above it; but we had not much bread. + +Having taken my seat in the midst of my family, Sâfel took the jug and +poured water upon my hands; then we all bent forward, each took a piece +of bread, saying with heavy hearts: + +"This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in Egypt. +Whosoever is hungry, let him come and eat with us. Whosoever is poor, +let him come and make the Passover!" + +We sat down again, and Sâfel said to me: + +"What mean ye by this service, my father?" + +And I answered: + +"We were slaves in Egypt, my child, and the Lord brought us forth with +a mighty hand and an outstretched arm!" + +These words inspired us with courage; we hoped that God would deliver +us as He had delivered our fathers, and that the Emperor would be His +right arm; but we were mistaken, the Lord wanted nothing more of that +man! + + + + +XX + +PEACE + +The next morning, at daybreak, between six and seven o'clock, when we +were all asleep, the report of a cannon made our windows rattle. The +enemy usually fired only at night. I listened; a second report +followed after a few seconds, then another, then others, one by one. + +I rose, opened a window, and looked out. The sun was rising behind the +arsenal. Not a soul was in the street; but, as one report came after +another, doors and windows were opened; men in their shirts leaned out, +listening. + +No shells hissed through the air; the enemy fired blank cartridges. + +As I listened, a great murmur came from the distance, outside of the +city. First it came from the Mittelbronn hill, then it reached the +Bichelberg, Quatre-Vents, the upper and lower Barracks. + +Sorlé had just risen also; I finished dressing, and said to her: + +"Something extraordinary is going on--God grant that it may be for +good!" + +And I went down in great perturbation. + +It was not a quarter of an hour since the first report, and the whole +city was out. Some ran to the ramparts, others were in groups, +shouting and disputing at the corners of the streets. Astonishment, +fear, and anger were depicted upon every face. + +A large number of soldiers were mingled with the citizens, and all went +up together in groups to the right and left of the French gate. + +I was about following one of these groups, when Burguet came down the +street. He looked thin and emaciated, as on the day when I saw him in +the market. + +"Well!" said I, running to meet him, "this is something serious!" + +"Very serious, and promising no good, Moses!" said he. + +"Yes, it is evident," said I, "that the allies have gained victories; +it may be that they are in Paris!" + +He turned around in alarm, and said in a low voice: + +"Take care, Moses, take care! If any one heard you, at a moment like +this, the veterans would tear you in pieces!" + +I was dreadfully frightened, for I saw that he was right, while, as for +him, his cheeks shook. He took me by the arm and said: + +"I owe you thanks for the provisions you sent me; they came very +opportunely." + +And when I answered that we should always have a morsel of bread at his +service, so long as we had any left, he pressed my hand; and we went +together up the street of the infantry quarters, as far as to the +ice-house bastion, where two batteries had been placed to command the +Mittelbronn hill. There we could see the road to Paris as far as to +Petite Saint Jean, and even to Lixheim; but those great heaps of earth, +called _cavaliers_, were covered with people; Baron Parmentier, his +assistant Pipelingre, the old curate Leth, and many other men of note +were there, in the midst of the crowd, looking on in silence. We had +only to see their faces to know that something dreadful was happening. + +From this height on the talus, we saw what was riveting everybody's +attention. All our enemies, Austrians, Bavarians, Wurtemburgers, +Russians, cavalry and infantry mixed together, were swarming around +their intrenchments like ants, embracing each other, shaking hands, +lifting their shakos on the points of their bayonets, waving branches +of trees just beginning to turn green. Horsemen dashed across the +plain, with their colbacs on the point of their swords, and rending the +air with their shouts. + +The telegraph was in operation on the hill of Saint Jean; Burguet +pointed it out to me. + +"If we understood those signals, Moses," said he, "we should know +better what was going to happen to us in the next fortnight." + +Some persons having turned round to listen to us, we went down again +into the streets of the quarters, very thoughtfully. + +The soldiers at the upper windows of the barracks were also looking +out. Men and women in great numbers were collecting in the street. + +We went through the crowd. In the street of the Capuchins, which was +always deserted, Burguet, who was walking with his head down, exclaimed: + +"So it is all over! What things have we seen in these last twenty-five +years, Moses! What astonishing and terrible things! And it is all +over!" + +He took hold of my hand, and looked at me as if he were astonished at +his own words; then he began to walk on. + +"This winter campaign has been frightful to me," said he; "it has +dragged along--dragged along--and the thunder-bolt did not come! But +to-morrow, the day after to-morrow, what are we going to hear? Is the +Emperor dead? How will that affect us? Will France still be France? +What will they leave us? What will they take from us?" + +Reflecting on these things, we came in front of our house. Then, as if +suddenly wakened, Burguet said to me: + +"Prudence, Moses! If the Emperor is not dead, the veterans will hold +out till the last second. Remember that, and whoever they suspect will +have everything to fear." + +I thanked him, and went up, promising myself that I would follow his +advice. + +My wife and children were waiting breakfast for me, with the little +basket of potatoes upon the table. We sat down, and I told them in a +low voice what was to be seen from the top of the ramparts, and charged +them to keep silent, for the danger was not over; the garrison might +revolt and choose to defend itself, in spite of the officers; and those +who mixed themselves in these matters, either for or against, even only +in words, ran the risk of destruction without profit to any one. + +They saw that I was right, and I had no need of saying more. + +We were afraid that our sergeant would come, and that we should be +obliged to answer him, if he asked what we thought of these matters; +but he did not come in till about eleven, when we had all been in bed +for a long time. + +The next day the news of the entrance of the allies to Paris was +affixed to the church doors and the pillars of the market; it was never +known by whom! M. de Vablerie, and three or four other emigrants, +capable of such a deed, were spoken of at the time, but nothing was +known with certainty. + +The mounted guard tore down the placards, but unfortunately not before +the soldiers and citizens had read them. + +It was something so new, so incredible, after those ten years of war, +when the Emperor had been everything, and the nation had been, so to +speak, in the shadow; when not a man had dared to speak or write a word +without permission; when men had had no other rights than those of +paying, and giving their sons as conscripts,--it was such a great +matter to think that the Emperor could have been conquered, that a man +like myself in the midst of his family shook his head three or four +times, before daring to breathe a single word. + +So everybody kept quiet, notwithstanding the placards. The officials +stayed at home, so as not to have to talk about it; the governor and +council of defence did not stir; but the last recruits, in the hope of +going home to their villages, embracing their families, and returning +to their trades or farming, did not conceal their joy, as was very +natural. The veterans, whose only trade and only means of living was +war, were full of indignation! They did not believe a word of it; they +declared that the reports were all false, that the Emperor had not lost +a battle, and that the placards and the cannon-firing of the allies +were only a stratagem to make us open the gates. + +And from that time, Fritz, the men began to desert, not one at a time, +but by sixes, by tens, by twenties. Whole posts filed off over the +mountain with their arms and baggage. The veterans fired upon the +deserters; they killed some of them, and were ordered to escort the +conscripts who carried soup to the outposts. * * * * * + +During this time, the flag of truce officers did nothing but come and +go, one after another. All, Russian, Austrian, Bavarian, +staff-officers stayed whole hours at the head-quarters, having, no +doubt, important matters to discuss. + +Our sergeant came to our room only for a moment in the evening, to +complain of the desertions, and we were glad of it; Zeffen was still +sick, Sorlé could not leave her, and I had to help Sâfel until the +people went home. + +The shop was always full of veterans; as soon as one set went away +another came. + +These old, gray-headed men swallowed down glass after glass of brandy; +they paid by turns, and grew more and more down-hearted. They trembled +with rage, and talked of nothing but treason, while they looked at you +as if they would see through you. + +Sometimes they would smile and say: + +"I tell you! if it is necessary to blow up the fortress, it will go!" + +Sâfel and I pretended not to understand; but you can imagine our agony; +after having suffered all that we had, to be in danger of being blown +up with those veterans! + +That evening our sergeant repeated word for word what the others had +said: "It was all nothing but lies and treason. The Emperor would put +a stop to it by sweeping off this rabble!" + +"Just wait! Just wait!" he exclaimed, as he smoked his pipe, with his +teeth set. "It will all be cleared up soon! The thunder-bolt is +coming! And, this time, no pity, no mercy! All the villains will have +to go then--all the traitors! The country will have to be cleansed for +a hundred years! Never mind, Moses, we'll laugh!" + +You may well suppose that we did not feel like laughing. + +But the day when I was most anxious was the eighth of April, in the +morning, when the decree of the Senate, deposing the Emperor, appeared. + +Our shop was full of marine artillerymen and subalterns from the +storehouses. We had just served them, when the secretary of the +treasury, a short stout man, with full yellow cheeks, and the +regulation cap over his ears, came in and called for a glass; he then +took the decree from his pocket. + +"Listen!" said he, as he began calmly to read it to the others. + +It seems as if I could hear it now: + +"Whereas, Napoleon Bonaparte has violated the compact which bound him +to the French nation, by levying taxes otherwise than in virtue of the +law, by unnecessarily adjourning the Legislative Body, by illegally +making many decrees involving sentence of death, by annulling the +authority of the ministers, the independence of the judiciary, the +freedom of the press, etc.; Whereas, Napoleon has filled up the measure +of the country's misfortunes, by his abuse of all the means of war +committed to him, in men and money, and by refusing to treat on +conditions which the national interest required him to accept; Whereas, +the manifest wish of all the French demands an order of things, the +first result of which shall be the re-establishment of general peace, +and which shall also be the epoch of solemn reconciliation between all +the States of the great European family, the Senate decrees: Napoleon +Bonaparte has forfeited the throne; the right of succession is +abolished in his family; the people and the army are released from the +oath of allegiance to him." + +He had scarcely begun to read when I thought: "If that goes on they +will tear down my shop over my head." + +In my fright, I even sent Sâfel out hastily by the back door. But it +all happened very differently from what I expected. These veterans +despised the Senate; they shrugged their shoulders, and the one who +read the decree sniffed at it, and threw it under the counter. "The +Senate!" said he. "What is the Senate? A set of hangers-on, a set of +sycophants that the Emperor has bribed, right and left, to keep saying +to him--'_God bless you!_'" + +"Yes, major," said another; "but they ought to be kicked out all the +same." + +"Bah! It is not worth the trouble," replied the sergeant-major; "a +fortnight hence, when the Emperor is master again, they will come and +lick his boots. Such men are necessary in a dynasty--men who lick your +boots--it has a good effect!--especially old nobility, who are paid +thirty or forty thousand francs a year. They will come back, and be +quiet, and the Emperor will pardon them, especially since he cannot +find others noble enough to fill their places." + +And as they all went away after emptying their glasses, I thanked +heaven for having given them such confidence in the Emperor. + +This confidence lasted till about the eleventh or twelfth of April, +when some officers, sent by the general commanding the fourth military +division, came to say that the garrison of Metz recognized the Senate +and followed its orders. + +This was a terrible blow for our veterans. We saw, that evening, by +our sergeant's face, that it was a death-blow to him. He looked ten +years older, and you would have wept merely to see his face. Up to +that time he had kept saying: "All these decrees, all these placards +are acts of treason! The Emperor is down yonder with his army, all the +while, and we are here to support him. Don't fear, Father Moses!" + +But since the arrival of the officers from Metz, he had lost his +confidence. He came into our room, without speaking, and stood up, +very pale, looking at us. + +I thought: "But this man loves us. He has been kind to us. He gave us +his fresh meat all through the blockade; he loved our little David; he +fondled him on his knees. He loves Esdras too. He is a good, brave +man, and here he is, so wretched!" + +I wanted to comfort him, to tell him that he had friends, that we all +loved him, that we would make sacrifices to help him, if he had to +change his employment; yes, I thought of all this, but as I looked at +him his grief seemed so terrible that I could not say a word. + +He took two or three turns and stopped again, then suddenly went out. +His sorrow was too great, he would not even speak of it. + +At length, on the sixteenth of April, an armistice was concluded for +burying the dead. The bridge of the German gate was lowered, and large +numbers of people went out and stayed till evening, to dig the ground a +little with their spades, and try to bring back a few green things. +Zeffen being all this time sick, we stayed at home. + +That evening two new officers from Metz, sent as envoys, came in at +night as the bridges were being raised. They galloped along the street +to the headquarters. I saw them pass. + +The arrival of these officers greatly excited the hopes and fears of +every one; important measures were expected, and all night long we +heard the sergeant walk to and fro in his room, get up, walk about, and +lie down again, talking confusedly to himself. + +The poor man felt that a dreadful blow was coming, and he had not a +minute's rest. I heard him lamenting, and his sighs kept me from +sleeping. + +The next morning at ten the assembly was beat. The governor and the +members of the council of defence went, in full dress, to the infantry +quarters. + +Everybody in the city was at the windows. + +Our sergeant went down, and I followed him in a few minutes. The +street was thronged with people. I made my way through the crowd; +everybody kept his place in it, trying to move on. + +When I came in front of the barracks, the companies had just formed in +a circle; the quarter-masters in the midst were reading in a loud voice +the order of the day; it was the abdication of the Emperor, the +disbanding of the recruits of 1813 and 1814, the recognition of Louis +XVIII., the order to set up the white flag and change the cockade! + +Not a murmur was heard from the ranks; all was quiet, terrible, +frightful! Those old soldiers, their teeth set, their mustaches +shaking, their brows scowling fiercely, presenting arms in silence; the +voices of the quartermasters stopping now and then as if choking; the +staff-officers of the place, at a distance under the arch, sullen, with +their eyes on the ground; the eager attention of all that crowd of men, +women, and children, through the whole length of the street, leaning +forward on tiptoe, with open mouths and listening ears; all this, +Fritz, would have made you tremble. + +I was on cooper Schweyer's steps, where I could see everything and hear +every word. + +So long as the order of the day was read, nobody stirred; but at the +command:--Break ranks! a terrible cry arose from all directions; +tumult, confusion, fury burst forth at once. + +People did not know what they were doing. The conscripts ran in files +to the postern gates, the old soldiers stood a moment, as if rooted to +the spot, then their rage broke forth; one tore off his epaulettes, +another dashed his musket with both hands against the pavement; some +officers doubled up their sabres and swords, which snapped apart with a +crash. + +The governor tried to speak; he tried to form the ranks again, but +nobody heard him; the new recruits were already in all the rooms at the +barracks, making up their bundles to start on their journey; the old +ones were going to the right and left, as if they were drunk or mad. + +I saw some of these old soldiers stop in a corner, lean their heads +against the wall, and weep bitterly. + +At last all were dispersed, and protracted cries reached from the +barracks to the square, incessant cries, which rose and fell like sighs. + +Some low, despairing shouts of "_Vive l'Empereur!_" but not a single +shout of "_Vive le Roi!_" + +For my part, I ran home to tell about it all; I had scarcely gone up, +when the sergeant came also, with his musket on his shoulder. We +should have liked to congratulate each other on the ending of the +blockade, but on seeing the sergeant standing at the door, we were +chilled to the bones, and our attention was fixed upon him. + +"Ah, well!" said he, placing the butt-end of his musket upon the floor, +"it is all ended!" + +And for a moment he said no more. + +Then he stammered out: "This is the shabbiest piece of business in the +world--the recruits are disbanded--they are leaving--France remains, +bound hand and foot, in the grip of the kaiserlichs! Ah! the rascals! +the rascals!" + +"Yes, sergeant," I replied with emotion, seeing that his thoughts must +be diverted: "now we are going to have peace, sergeant! You have a +sister left in the Jura, you will go to her----" + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, lifting his hand, "my poor sister!" + +This came like a sob; but he quickly recovered himself, and went and +placed his musket in the corner by the door. + +He sat down at the table with us for a moment, and took up little +Sâfel, drawing him to him and caressing his cheeks. Then he wanted to +hold Esdras also. We looked on in silence. + +"I am going to leave you, Father Moses," said he, "I am going to pack +my bag. Thunder and lightning! I am sorry to leave you!" + +"And we are sorry, too, sergeant," said Sorlé,. mournfully; "but if +you will live with us----" + +"It is impossible!" + +"Then you remain in the service?" + +"Service of whom--of what?" said he; "of Louis XVIII.? No! no! I know +no one but my general--but that makes it hard to go--when a man has +done his duty----" + +He started up, and shouted in a piercing voice: "_Vive l'Empereur!_" + +We trembled, we did not know why. + +I reached out my hand to him, and rose; we embraced each other like +brothers. + +"Good-by, Father Moses," said he, "good-by for a long while." + +"You are going at once, then?" + +"Yes!" + +"You know, sergeant, that you will always have friends here. You will +come and see us. If you need anything----" + +"Yes, yes, I know it. You are true friends--excellent people!" + +He shook my hand vehemently. + +Then he took up his musket, and we were all following him, expressing +our good wishes, when he turned, with tears in his eyes, and embraced +my wife, saying: + +"I must embrace you, too; there is no harm in it, is there, Madame +Sorlé?" + +"Oh, no!" said she, "you are one of the family, and I will embrace +Zeffen for you!" + +He went out at once, exclaiming in a hoarse voice, "Good-by! Farewell!" + +I saw him go into his room at the end of the little passage. + +Twenty-five years of service, eight wounds, and no bread in his old +age! My heart bled at the thought of it. + +About a quarter of an hour after, the sergeant came down with his +musket. Meeting Sâfel on the stairs, he said to him, "Stay, that is +for your father!" + +It was the portrait of the landwehr's wife and children. Sâfel brought +it to me at once. I took the poor devil's gift, and looked at it for a +long time, very sadly; then I shut it up in the closet with the letter. + +It was noon, and, as the gates were about to be opened, and abundance +of provisions were to come, we sat down before a large piece of boiled +beef, with a dish of potatoes, and opened a good bottle of wine. + +We were still eating when we heard shouts in the street. Sâfel got up +to look out. + +"A wounded soldier that they are carrying to the hospital!" said he. + +Then he exclaimed, "It is our sergeant!" + +A horrible thought ran through my mind. "Keep still!" I said to Sorlé, +who was getting up, and I went down alone. + +Four marine gunners were carrying the litter by on their shoulders; +children were running behind. + +At the first glance I recognized the sergeant; his face perfectly white +and his breast covered with blood. He did not move. The poor fellow +had gone from our house to the bastion behind the arsenal, to shoot +himself through the heart. + +I went up so overwhelmed, so sad and sorrowful, that I could scarcely +stand. + +Sorlé was waiting for me in great agitation. + +"Our poor sergeant has killed himself," said I; "may God forgive him!" + +And, sitting down, I could not help bursting into tears! + + + + +XXI + +It is said with truth that misfortunes never come singly; one brings +another in its train. The death of our good sergeant was, however, the +last. + +That same day the enemy withdrew his outposts to six hundred yards from +the city, the white flag was raised on the church, and the gates were +opened. + +Now, Fritz, you know about our blockade. Should I tell you, in +addition, about Baruch's coming, of Zeffen's cries, and the groanings +of us all, when we had to say to the good man: "Our little David is +dead--thou wilt never see him again!" + +No, it is enough! If we were to speak of all the miseries of war, and +all their consequences in after years, there would be no end! + +I would rather tell you of my sons Itzig and Frômel, and of my Sâfel, +who has gone to join them in America. + +If I should tell you of all the wealth they have acquired in that great +country of freemen, of the lands they have bought, the money they have +laid up, the number of grandchildren they have given me, and of all the +blessings they have heaped upon Sorlé and myself, you would be full of +astonishment and admiration. + +They have never allowed me to want for anything. The greatest pleasure +I can give them is to wish for something; each of them wants to send it +to me! They do not forget that by my prudent foresight I saved them +from the war. + +I love them all alike, Fritz, and I say of them, like Jacob: + +"May the God of Abraham and Isaac, our fathers, the God which fed me +all my life long unto this day, bless the lads; let them grow into a +multitude in the midst of the earth, and their seed become a multitude +of nations!" + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blockade of Phalsburg, by +Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLOCKADE OF PHALSBURG *** + +***** This file should be named 36858-8.txt or 36858-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/5/36858/ + +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: The Blockade of Phalsburg + An Episode of the End of the Empire + +Author: Émile Erckmann + Alexandre Chatrian + +Release Date: July 26, 2011 [EBook #36858] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLOCKADE OF PHALSBURG *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="ALL WERE DEAD, AS IT WERE ONE LONG CEMETERY." BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +ALL WERE DEAD, AS IT WERE ONE LONG CEMETERY. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +HISTORICAL ROMANCES OF FRANCE +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +THE BLOCKADE OF PHALSBURG +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +AN EPISODE OF THE END OF THE EMPIRE +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +ILLUSTRATED +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +<BR> +NEW YORK::::::::::::::::::::::1911 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +COPYRIGHT, 1871, BY<BR> +CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO.<BR> +<BR> +COPYRIGHT, 1889, 1898<BR> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</P> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +<I>All were dead, as it were one long cemetery</I> . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-070"> +"<I>Be so good as to come in, Mr. Sergeant</I>" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-120"> +<I>I shuddered in my very soul and my hair bristled</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-174"> +<I>Winter took him by the collar, and said:</I> "<I>I have you now!</I>" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-226"> +<I>The sortie from the Tile-kiln</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INTRODUCTORY NOTE +</H3> + +<P> +"The Blockade of Phalsburg" contains one of the happiest portraits in +the Erckmann-Chatrian gallery—that of the Jew Moses who tells the +story and who is always in character, however great the patriotic or +romantic temptation to idealize him, and whose character is +nevertheless portrayed with an almost affectionate appreciation of the +sterling qualities underlying its somewhat usurious exterior. +</P> + +<P> +The time is 1814, during the invasion of France by the allies after the +disastrous battle of Leipsic and the campaign described in "The +Conscript." The dwellers in Phalsburg—a little walled town of two or +three thousand inhabitants in Lorraine—defend themselves with great +intrepidity and determination during the siege which lasts until the +capitulation of Paris. The daily life of the citizens and garrison, +the various incidents of the blockade, the bombardment by night, the +scarcity of food, the occasional sortie for foraging, all pass before +the reader depicted with the authors' customary fidelity and +life-likeness, and form as perfect a picture of a siege as "The +Conscript" does of a campaign. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE BLOCKADE: +</H2> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AN EPISODE OF +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE END OF THE EMPIRE +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FATHER MOSES AND HIS FAMILY +</H4> + +<P> +Since you wish to know about the blockade of Phalsburg in 1814, I will +tell you all about it, said Father Moses of the Jews' street. +</P> + +<P> +I lived then in the little house on the corner, at the right of the +market. My business was selling iron by the pound, under the arch +below, and I lived above with my wife Sorlé (Sarah) and my little +Sâfel, the child of my old age. +</P> + +<P> +My two other boys, Itzig and Frômel, had gone to America, and my +daughter Zeffen was married to Baruch, the leather-dealer, at Saverne. +</P> + +<P> +Besides my iron business, I traded in old shoes, old linen, and all the +articles of old clothing which conscripts sell on reaching the depot, +where they receive their military outfit. Travelling pedlers bought +the old linen of me for paper-rags, and the other things I sold to the +country people. +</P> + +<P> +This was a profitable business, because thousands of conscripts passed +through Phalsburg from week to week, and from month to month. They +were measured at once at the mayoralty, clothed, and filed off to +Mayence, Strasburg, or wherever it might be. +</P> + +<P> +This lasted a long time; but at length people were tired of war, +especially after the Russian campaign and the great recruiting of 1813. +</P> + +<P> +You may well suppose, Fritz, that I did not wait till this time before +sending my two boys beyond the reach of the recruiting officers' +clutches. They were boys who did not lack sense. At twelve years old +their heads were clear enough, and rather than go and fight for the +King of Prussia, they would see themselves safe at the ends of the +earth. +</P> + +<P> +At evening, when we sat at supper around the lamp with its seven +burners, their mother would sometimes cover her face and say: +</P> + +<P> +"My poor children! My poor children! When I think that the time is +near when you will go in the midst of musket and bayonet fire—in the +midst of thunder and lightning!—oh, how dreadful!" +</P> + +<P> +And I saw them turn pale. I smiled at myself and thought: "You are no +fools. You will hold on to your life. That is right!" +</P> + +<P> +If I had had children capable of becoming soldiers, I should have died +of grief. I should have said, "These are not of my race!" +</P> + +<P> +But the boys grew stronger and handsomer. When Itzig was fifteen he +was doing a good business. He bought cattle in the villages on his own +account, and sold them at a profit to butcher Borich at Mittelbronn; +and Frômel was not behind him, for he made the best bargains of the old +merchandise, which we had heaped in three barracks under the market. +</P> + +<P> +I should have liked well to keep the boys with me. It was my delight +to see them with my little Sâfel—the curly head and eyes bright as a +squirrel's—yes, it was my joy! Often I clasped them in my arms +without a word, and even they wondered at it; I frightened them; but +dreadful thoughts passed through my mind after 1812. I knew that +whenever the Emperor had returned to Paris, he had demanded four +hundred millions of francs and two or three hundred thousand men, and I +said to myself: +</P> + +<P> +"This time, everybody must go, even children of seventeen and eighteen!" +</P> + +<P> +As the tidings grew worse and worse, I said to them one evening: +</P> + +<P> +"Listen! you both understand trading, and what you do not yet know you +can learn. Now, if you wait a few months, you will be on the +conscription list, and be like all the rest; they will take you to the +square and show you how to load a gun, and then you will go away, and I +never shall hear of you again!" +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé sighed, and we all sighed together. Then, after a moment, I +continued: +</P> + +<P> +"But if you set out at once for America, by the way of Havre, you will +reach it safe and sound; you will do business there as well as here; +you will make money, you will marry, you will increase according to the +Lord's promise, and you will send me back money, according to God's +commandment, 'Honor thy father and thy mother.' I will bless you as +Isaac blessed Jacob, and you will have a long life. Choose!" +</P> + +<P> +They at once chose to go to America, and I went with them myself as far +as Sorreburg. Each of them had made twenty louis in his own business +so that I needed to give them nothing but my blessing. +</P> + +<P> +And what I said to them has come to pass; they are both living, they +have numerous children, who are my descendants, and when I want +anything they send it to me. +</P> + +<P> +Itzig and Frômel being gone, I had only Sâfel left, my Benjamin, dearer +even, if possible, than the others. And then, too, I had my daughter +Zeffen, married at Saverne to a good respectable man, Baruch; she was +the oldest, and had already given me a grandson named David, according +to the Lord's will that the dead should be replaced in his own family, +and David was the name of Baruch's grandfather. The one expected was +to be called after my father, Esdras. +</P> + +<P> +You see, Fritz, how I was situated before the blockade of Phalsburg, in +1814. Everything had gone well up to that time, but for six weeks +everything had gone wrong in town and country. We had the typhus; +thousands of wounded soldiers surrounded the houses; the ground had +lacked laborers for the last two years, and everything was dear—bread, +meat, and drink. The people of Alsace and Lorraine did not come to +market; our stores of merchandise did not sell; and when merchandise +does not sell, it might as well be sand or stones; we are poor in the +midst of abundance. Famine comes from every quarter. +</P> + +<P> +Ah, well! in spite of it all, the Lord had a great blessing in store +for me, for just at this time, early in November, came the news that a +second son was born to Zeffen, and that he was in fine health. I was +so glad that I set out at once for Saverne. +</P> + +<P> +You must know, Fritz, that if I was very glad, it was not only on +account of the birth of a grandson, but also because my son-in-law +would not be obliged to leave home, if the child lived. Baruch had +always been fortunate; at the moment when the Emperor had made the +Senate vote that unmarried men must go, he had just married Zeffen; and +when the Senate voted that married men without children must go, he had +his first child. Now, after the bad news, it was voted that married +men with only one child should go, all the same, and Baruch had two. +</P> + +<P> +At that time it was a fortunate thing to have quantities of children, +to keep you from being massacred; no greater blessing could be desired! +This is why I took my cane at once, to go and find out whether the +child were sound and healthy, and whether it would save its father. +</P> + +<P> +But for long years to come, if God spares my life, I shall remember +that day, and what I met upon my way. +</P> + +<P> +Imagine the road-side blocked, as it were, with carts filled with the +sick and wounded, forming a line all the way from Quatre-Vents to +Saverne. +</P> + +<P> +The peasants who, in Alsace, were required to transport these poor +creatures, had unharnessed their horses and escaped in the night, +abandoning their carts; the hoar-frost had passed over them; there was +not motion or sign of life—all dead, as it were one long cemetery! +Thousands of ravens covered the sky like a cloud; there was nothing to +be seen but wings moving in the air, nothing to be heard but one murmur +of innumerable cries. I would not have believed that heaven and earth +could produce so many ravens. They flew down to the very carts; but +the moment a living man approached, all these creatures rose and flew +away to the forest of La Bonne-Fontaine, or the ruins of the old +convent of Dann. +</P> + +<P> +As for myself, I lengthened my steps, feeling that I must not stop, +that the typhus was marching at my heels. +</P> + +<P> +Happily the winter sets in early at Phalsburg. A cold wind blew from +the Schneeberg, and these strong draughts of mountain air disperse all +maladies, even, it is said, the Black Plague itself. +</P> + +<P> +What I have now told you is about the retreat from Leipsic, in the +beginning of November. +</P> + +<P> +When I reached Saverne, the city was crowded with troops, artillery, +infantry, and cavalry, pell-mell. +</P> + +<P> +I remember that, in the principal street, the windows of an inn were +open, and a long table with its white cloth was seen, all laid, within. +All the guard of honor stopped there. These were young men of rich +families, who had money in spite of their tattered uniforms. The +moment they saw this table in passing, they leaped from their horses +and rushed into the hall. But the innkeeper, Hannes, made them pay +five francs in advance, and just as the poor things began to eat, a +servant ran in, crying out, "The Prussians! the Prussians!" They +sprang up at once and mounted their horses like madmen, without once +looking back, and in this way Hannes sold his dinner more than twenty +times. +</P> + +<P> +I have often thought since that such scoundrels deserve hanging; yes, +this way of making money is not lawful business. It disgusted me. +</P> + +<P> +But if I should describe the rest—the faces of the sick, the way in +which they lay, the groans they uttered, and, above all, the tears of +those who tried in vain to go on—if I should tell you this, it would +be still worse, it would be too much. I saw, on the slope of the old +tan-house bridge, a little guardsman of seventeen or eighteen years, +stretched out, with his face flat upon the stones. I have never +forgotten that boy; he raised himself from time to time, and showed his +hand as black as soot: he had a ball in the back, and his hand was half +gone. The poor fellow had doubtless fallen from a cart. Nobody dared +to help him because they heard it said, "He has the typhus! he has the +typhus." Oh, what misery! It is too dreadful to think of! +</P> + +<P> +Now, Fritz, I must tell you another thing about that day, and that is +how I saw Marshal Victor. +</P> + +<P> +It was late when I started from Phalsburg, and it was dark when, on +going up the principal street of Saverne, I saw all the windows of the +Hotel du Soleil illuminated from top to bottom. Two sentinels walked +to and fro under the arch, officers in full uniform went in and out, +magnificent horses were fastened to rings all along the walls; and, +within the court, the lamps of a calash shone like two stars. +</P> + +<P> +The sentinels kept the street clear, but I must pass, because Baruch +dwelt farther on. I was going through the crowd, in front of the +hotel, and the first sentinel was calling out to me, "Back! back!" when +an officer of hussars, a short, stout man, with great red whiskers, +came out of the arch, and as he met me, exclaimed, +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! is it you, Moses! I am glad to see you!" +</P> + +<P> +He shook hands with me. +</P> + +<P> +I opened my eyes with amazement, as was natural: a superior officer +shaking hands with a plain citizen is not an every-day occurrence. I +looked at him in astonishment, and recognized Commandant Zimmer. +</P> + +<P> +Thirty years before we had been at Father Genaudet's school, and we had +scoured the city, the moats, and the glacis together, as children. But +since then Zimmer had been a good many times in Phalsburg, without +remembering his old comrade, Samuel Moses. +</P> + +<P> +"Ho!" said he, smiling, and taking me by the arm, "come, I must present +you to the marshal." +</P> + +<P> +And, in spite of myself, before I had said a word, I went in under the +arch, into a large room where two long tables, loaded with lights and +bottles, were laid for the staff-officers. +</P> + +<P> +A number of superior officers, generals, colonels, commanders of +hussars, of dragoons and of chasseurs, in plumed hats, in helmets, in +red shakos, their chins in their huge cravats, their swords dragging, +were walking silently back and forth, or talking with each other, while +they waited to be called to table. +</P> + +<P> +It was difficult to pass through the crowd, but Zimmer kept hold of my +arm, and led me to the end of the room, to a little lighted door. +</P> + +<P> +We entered a high room, with two windows opening upon the gardens. +</P> + +<P> +The marshal was there, standing, his head uncovered; his back was +toward us, and he was dictating orders which two staff-officers were +writing. +</P> + +<P> +This was all which I noticed at the moment, in my confusion. +</P> + +<P> +Just after we entered, the marshal turned; I saw that he had the good +face of an old Lorraine peasant. He was a tall, powerful man, with a +grayish head; he was about fifty years old, and very heavy for his age. +</P> + +<P> +"Marshal, here's our man!" said Zimmer. "He is one of my old +school-mates, Samuel Moses, a first-rate fellow, who has been +traversing the country these thirty years, and knows every village in +Alsace and Lorraine." +</P> + +<P> +The marshal looked at me a few steps off. I held my hat in my hand in +great fear. After looking at me a couple of seconds, he took the paper +which one of the secretaries handed him, read and signed it, then +turned back to me: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my good man," said he, "what do they say about the last +campaign? What do the people in your village think about it?" +</P> + +<P> +On hearing him call me "my good man," I took courage, and answered +"that the typhus had made bad work, but the people were not +disheartened, because they knew that the Emperor with his army was at +hand." +</P> + +<P> +And when he said abruptly: "Yes! But will they defend themselves?" I +answered: "The Alsatians and the Lorraines are people who will defend +themselves till death, because they love their Emperor, and they would +all be willing to die for him!" +</P> + +<P> +I said that by way of prudence; but he could plainly see in my face +that I was no fighting man, for he smiled good-humoredly, and said: +"That will do, commandant, that is enough!" +</P> + +<P> +The secretaries had kept on writing. Zimmer made a sign to me and we +went out together. When we were outside he called out: +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, Moses, good-by!" +</P> + +<P> +The sentinels let me pass, and still trembling, I continued my journey. +</P> + +<P> +I was soon knocking at the little door of Baruch's house at the end of +the lane where the cardinal's old stables were. +</P> + +<P> +It was pitch dark. +</P> + +<P> +What a joy it was, Fritz, after having seen all these terrible things, +to come to the place where those I loved were resting! How softly my +heart beat, and how I pitied all that power and glory which made so +many people miserable! +</P> + +<P> +After a moment I heard my son-in-law enter the passage and open the +door. Baruch and Zeffen had long since ceased expecting me. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it you, my father?" asked Baruch. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my son, it is I. I am late. I have been hindered." +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" said he. +</P> + +<P> +And we entered the little passage, and then into the chamber where +Zeffen, my daughter, lay pale and happy, upon her bed. +</P> + +<P> +She had recognized my voice. As for me, my heart beat with joy; I +could not speak; and I embraced my daughter, while I looked around to +find the little one. Zeffen held it in her arms under the coverlet. +</P> + +<P> +"There he is!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +Then she showed him to me in his swaddling-clothes. I saw at once that +he was plump and healthy, with his little hands closed tight, and I +exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Baruch, this is Esdras, my father! Let him be welcome!" +</P> + +<P> +I wanted to see him without his clothes, so I undressed him. It was +warm in the little room from the lamp with seven burners. Tremblingly +I undressed him; he did not cry, and my daughter's white hands assisted +me: +</P> + +<P> +"Wait, my father, wait!" said she. +</P> + +<P> +My son-in-law looked on behind me. We all had tears in our eyes. +</P> + +<P> +At last I had him all undressed; he was rosy, and his large head tossed +about, sleeping the sleep of centuries. Then I lifted him above my +head; I looked at his round thighs all in creases, at his little +drawn-up feet, his broad chest and plump back, and I wanted to dance +like David before the ark; I wanted to chant: "Praise the Lord! Praise +him ye servants of the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be +the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever more! From the +rising of the sun, unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is +to be praised! The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above +the heavens! Who is like unto the Lord our God, who raiseth up the +poor out of the dust, who maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to +be a joyful mother of children? Praise ye the Lord!" +</P> + +<P> +Yes, I felt like chanting this, but all that I could say was: "He is a +fine, perfect child! He is going to live! He will be the blessing of +our race and the joy of our old age!" +</P> + +<P> +And I blessed them all. +</P> + +<P> +Then giving him back to his mother to be covered, I went to embrace the +other who was sound asleep in his cradle. +</P> + +<P> +We remained there together a long time, to see each other, in this joy. +Without, horses were passing, soldiers shouting, carriages rolling by. +Here all was quiet: the mother nursed her infant. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! Fritz, I am an old man now, and these far-off things are always +before me, as at the first; my heart always beats in recalling them, +and I thank God for His great goodness,—I thank Him. He has loaded me +with years, He has permitted me to see the third generation, and I am +not weary of life; I should like to live on and see the fourth and the +fifth—His will be done! +</P> + +<P> +I should have liked to tell them of what had just happened to me at the +Hotel du Soleil, but everything was insignificant in comparison with my +joy; only after I had left the chamber, while I was taking a mouthful +of bread and drinking a glass of wine in the side hall so as to let +Zeffen sleep, I related the adventure to Baruch, who was greatly +surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, my son," said I, "this man asked me if we want to defend +ourselves. That shows that the allies are following our armies, that +they are marching by hundreds of thousands, and that they cannot be +hindered from entering France. So you see that, in the midst of our +joy, there is danger of terrible evils; you see that all the harm which +we have been doing to others for these last ten years may return upon +us. I fear so. God grant that I may be mistaken!" +</P> + +<P> +After this we went to bed. It was eleven o'clock, and the tumult +without still continued. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FATHER MOSES'S SPECULATION +</H4> + +<P> +Early the next morning, after breakfast, I took my cane to return to +Phalsburg. Zeffen and Baruch wanted to keep me longer, but I said: +</P> + +<P> +"You do not think of your mother, who is expecting me. She does not +keep still a minute; she keeps going upstairs and down, and looking out +of the window. No, I must go. Sorlé must not be uneasy while we are +comfortable." +</P> + +<P> +Zeffen said no more, and filled my pockets with apples and nuts for her +brother Sâfel. I embraced them again, the little ones and the big; +then Baruch led me far back of the gardens, to the place where the +roads to Schlittenbach and Lutzelburg divide. +</P> + +<P> +The troops had all left, only stragglers and the sick remaining. But +we could still see the line of carts in the distance, on the hill, and +bands of day-laborers who had been set to work digging graves back of +the road. +</P> + +<P> +The very thought of passing that way disturbed me. I shook hands with +Baruch at this fork of the road, promising to come again with +grandmother to the circumcision, and then took the valley road, which +follows the Zorn through the woods. +</P> + +<P> +This path was full of dead leaves, and for two hours I walked on +thinking at times of the Hotel du Soleil, of Zimmer, of Marshal Victor, +whom I seemed to see again, with his tall figure, his square shoulders, +his gray head, and coat covered with embroidery. Sometimes I pictured +to myself Zeffen's chamber, the little babe and its mother; then the +war which threatened us—that mass of enemies advancing from every side! +</P> + +<P> +Several times I stopped in the midst of these valleys sloping into each +other as far as the eye can reach, all covered with firs, oaks and +beeches, and I said to myself: +</P> + +<P> +"Who knows? Perhaps the Prussians, Austrians and Russians will soon +pass along here!" +</P> + +<P> +But there was comfort in this thought; "Moses, your two boys, Itzig and +Frômel, are in America far from the reach of cannon; they are there +with their packs on their shoulders, going from village to village +without danger. And your daughter Zeffen, too, may sleep in quiet; +Baruch has two fine children, and will have another every year while +the war lasts. He will sell leather to make bags and shoes for those +who have to go, but, for his part, he will stay at home." +</P> + +<P> +I smiled as I thought that I was too old to be conscripted, that I was +a gray-head, and the conscriptors could have none of us. Yes; I smiled +as I saw that I had acted very wisely in everything, and that the Lord +had, as it were, cleared my path. +</P> + +<P> +It is a great satisfaction, Fritz, to see that everything is working to +our advantage. +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of these thoughts I came quietly to Lutzelburg, and I went +to Brestel's at the Swan Hotel to take a cup of coffee. +</P> + +<P> +There I found Bernard, the soap merchant, whom you do not know—a +little man, bald to the very nape of the neck, with great wens on his +head—and Donadieu, the Harberg forest-keeper. One had laid his dosser +and the other his gun against the wall, and they were emptying a bottle +of wine between them. Brestel was helping. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! it is Moses," exclaimed Bernard. "Where the devil dost thou come +from, so early in the morning!" +</P> + +<P> +Christians in those days were in the habit of <I>thou</I>ing the Jews—even +the old men. I answered that I had come from Saverne, by the valley. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! thou hast seen the wounded," said the keeper. "What thinkest thou +of that, Moses!" +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen them," I replied sadly, "I saw them last evening. It is +dreadful!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is; everybody has gone up there to-day, because old Gredal of +Quatre-Vents found her nephew under a cart—Joseph Bertha, the little +lame watchmaker who worked last year with Father Goulden; so the people +from Dagsberg, Houpe, and Garburg, expect to find their brothers, or +sons, or cousins in the heap." +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders compassionately. +</P> + +<P> +"These things are dreadful," said Brestel, "but they must come. There +has been no business these two years; I have back here, in my court, +three thousand pounds' worth of planks and timber. That would formerly +have lasted me for six weeks or two months; but now it is all rotting +on the spot; nobody wants it on the Sarre, nobody wants it in Alsace, +nobody orders anything or buys anything. It is just so with the hotel. +Nobody has a sous; everybody stays at home, thankful if they have +potatoes to eat and cold water to drink. Meanwhile my wine and beer +turn sour in the cellar, and are covered with mildew. And all that +does not keep off the duties; you must pay, or the officer will be upon +you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," cried Bernard, "it is the same thing everywhere. But what is it +to the Emperor whether planks and soap sell or not, provided the +contributions come in and the conscripts arrive?" +</P> + +<P> +Donadieu perceived that his comrade had taken a glass too much; he +rose, put back his gun into his shoulder-belt, and went out, calling to +us. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by to you all, good-by! We will talk about this another time." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes afterward, I paid for my cup of coffee, and followed his +example. +</P> + +<P> +I had the same thoughts as Brestel and Bernard; I saw that my trade in +iron and old clothes was at an end; and as I went up the Barracks' hill +I thought, "Try to find something else, Moses. Everything is at a +stand-still. But one cannot use up his money to the last farthing. I +must turn to something else—I must find an article which is always +salable. But what is always salable? Every trade has its day, and +then it comes to an end." +</P> + +<P> +While thus meditating, I passed the Barracks of the Bois-de-Chênes. I +was on the plateau from which I could see the glacis, the line of +ramparts, and the bastions, when the firing of a cannon gave notice +that the marshal was leaving the place. At the same time I saw at the +left, in the direction of Mittelbronn, the line of sabres flashing like +lightning in the distance among the poplars of the highway. The trees +were leafless, and I could see, too, the carriage and postilions +passing like the wind through the plumes and caps. +</P> + +<P> +The cannon pealed, second after second; the mountains gave back peal +after peal, from the very depths of their valleys; and as for myself, I +was quite carried away by the thought of having seen this man the day +before; it seemed like a dream. +</P> + +<P> +Then, about ten o'clock, I passed the bridge of the French gate. The +last cannon sounded upon the bastion of the powder-house; the crowd of +men, women and children descended the ramparts, as if it were a +festival; they knew nothing, thought of nothing, while cries of "Vive +l'Empereur!" rose in every street. +</P> + +<P> +I passed through the crowd, well pleased at bringing good news to my +wife; and I was saying to myself beforehand, "The little one is doing +well, Sorlé!" when, at the corner of the market, I saw her at our door. +I raised my cane at once, and smiled, as much as to say "Baruch is +safe—we may laugh!" +</P> + +<P> +She understood me, and went in at once; but I overtook her on the +stairs, and embraced her, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"It is a good, hearty little fellow—there! Such a baby—so round and +rosy! And Zeffen is doing well. Baruch wished me to embrace you for +him. But where is Sâfel?" +</P> + +<P> +"Under the market, selling." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, good!" +</P> + +<P> +We went into our room. I sat down and began to praise Zeffen's baby. +Sorlé listened with delight, looking at me with her great black eyes, +and wiping my forehead, for I had walked fast, and could hardly breathe. +</P> + +<P> +And then, all of a sudden, our Sâfel came in. I had not time to turn +my head before he was on my knees, with his hands in my pockets. The +child knew that his sister Zeffen never forgot him; and Sorlé, too, +liked to bite an apple. +</P> + +<P> +You see, Fritz, when I think of these things, everything comes back to +me; I could talk to you about it forever. +</P> + +<P> +It was Friday, the day before the Sabbath; the <I>Schabbés-Goïe</I>* was to +come in the afternoon. While we were still alone at dinner, and I +related for the fifth and sixth time how Zimmer had recognized me, how +he had taken me into the presence of the Duke of Bellune, my wife told +me that the marshal had made the tour of our ramparts on horseback, +with his staff-officers; that he had examined the advanced works, the +bastions, the glacis, and that he had said, as he went down the college +street, that the place would hold out for eighteen days, and that it +must be fortified immediately. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* Woman, not Israelite, who on Saturday performs in a Jewish household +the labors forbidden by the law of Moses. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I remembered at once that he had asked me if we wished to defend +ourselves, and I exclaimed: "He is sure that the enemy is coming; since +he is going to put cannon upon the ramparts, it is because there will +be need of them. It is not natural to make preparations which are not +to be used. And, if the allies come, the gates will be shut. What +will become of us without our business? The country people can neither +go in nor out, and what will become of us?" +</P> + +<P> +Then Sorlé showed her good sense, for she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I have already thought about this, Moses; it is only the peasants who +buy iron, old shoes, and our other things. We must undertake a city +business for all classes—a business which will oblige citizens, +soldiers and workmen to buy of us. That is what we must do." +</P> + +<P> +I looked at her in surprise. Sâfel, with his elbow on the table, was +also listening. +</P> + +<P> +"It is all very well, Sorlé," I replied, "but what business is there +which will oblige citizens, soldiers, everybody to buy of us—what +business is there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," said she; "if the gates are shut and the country people +cannot enter, there will be no eggs, butter, fish, or anything in the +market. People will have to live on salt meats and dried vegetables, +flour, and all kinds of preserved articles. Those who have bought up +these can sell them at their own price; they will grow rich." +</P> + +<P> +As I listened I was struck with astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Sorlé! Sorlé!" I exclaimed, "for thirty years you have been my +comfort. Yes, you have crowned me with all sorts of blessings, and I +have said a hundred times, 'A good wife is a diamond of pure water, and +without flaw. A good wife is a rich treasure for her husband.' I have +repeated it a hundred times. But now I know still better what you are +worth, and esteem you still more highly." +</P> + +<P> +The more I thought of it, the more I perceived the wisdom of this +advice. At length I said: +</P> + +<P> +"Sorlé, meat and flour, and everything which can be kept, are already +in the storehouses, and the soldiers will not need such things for a +long time, because their officers will have provided them. But what +will be wanted is brandy, which men must have to massacre and +exterminate each other in war, and brandy we will buy! We will have +plenty of it in our cellar, we will sell it, and nobody else will have +it. That is my idea!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is a good idea, Moses!" said she; "your reasons are good; I approve +of them." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I will write," said I, "and we will invest everything in spirits +of wine. We will add water ourselves, in proportion as people wish to +pay for it. In this way the freight will be less than if it were +brandy, for we shall not have to pay for the transportation of the +water, which we have here." +</P> + +<P> +"That is well, Moses," she said. +</P> + +<P> +And so we agreed. +</P> + +<P> +Then I said to Sâfel: +</P> + +<P> +"You must not speak of this to any one." +</P> + +<P> +She answered for him: +</P> + +<P> +"There's no need of telling him that, Moses. Sâfel knows very well +that this is between ourselves, and that our well-being depends upon +it." +</P> + +<P> +The child for a long time resented my words: "You must not speak of +this to any one." He was already full of good sense, and said to +himself: +</P> + +<P> +"So my father thinks I am an idiot." +</P> + +<P> +This thought humiliated him. Some years afterward he told me of it, +and I perceived that I had been wrong. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody has his notions. Children should not be humiliated in +theirs, but rather upheld by their parents. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A CIRCUMCISION FEAST +</H4> + +<P> +So I wrote to Pézenas. This is a southern city, rich in wools, wines, +and brandies. The price of brandies at Pézenas controls that of all +Europe. A trading man ought to know that, and I knew it, because I had +always liked to read the list of prices in the newspapers. I sent to +M. Quataya, at Pézenas, for a dozen pipes of spirits of wine. I +calculated that, after paying the freight, a pipe would cost me a +thousand francs, delivered in my cellar. +</P> + +<P> +As I had sold no iron for a year, I disposed of my merchandise without +asking anything for it; the payment of the twelve thousand francs did +not trouble me. Only, Fritz, those twelve thousand francs were half my +fortune, and you may suppose that it required some courage to risk in +one venture the gains of fifteen years. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as my letter was gone, I wished I could bring it back, but it +was too late. I kept a good face before my wife, and said, "It will +all do well! We shall gain double, triple, etc." +</P> + +<P> +She, too, kept a good face, but we both had misgivings; and during the +six weeks necessary for the receipt of the acknowledgment and +acceptance of my order, and the arrival of the spirits of wine, every +night I lay awake, thinking, "Moses, you have lost everything! You are +ruined from top to toe!" +</P> + +<P> +The cold sweat would cover my body. Still, if any one had come to me +and said, "Be easy, Moses, I will relieve you of this business," I +should have refused, because my hope of gain was as great as my fear of +loss. And by this you may know who are the true merchants, the true +generals, and all who accomplish anything. Others are but machines for +selling tobacco, or filling glasses, or firing guns. +</P> + +<P> +It all comes to the same thing. One man's glory is as great as +another's. This is why, when we speak of Austerlitz, Jena or Wagram, +it is not a question of Jean Claude or Jean Nicholas, but of Napoleon +alone; he alone risked everything, the others risked only being killed. +</P> + +<P> +I do not say this to compare myself with Napoleon, but the buying of +these twelve pipes of spirits of wine was my battle of Austerlitz. +</P> + +<P> +And when I think that, on reaching Paris, Napoleon had demanded four +hundred and forty millions of money, and <I>six hundred thousand men</I>! +and that then everybody, understanding that we were threatened with an +invasion, undertook to sell and to make money at any cost, while I +bought, unhampered by the example of others—when I think of this, I am +proud of it still and congratulate myself. +</P> + +<P> +It was in the midst of these disquietudes that the day for the +circumcision of little Esdras arrived. My daughter Zeffen had +recovered, and Baruch had written to us not to trouble ourselves, for +they would come to Phalsburg. +</P> + +<P> +My wife then hastened to prepare the meats and cakes for the festival: +the <I>bie-kougel</I>, the <I>haman</I>, and the <I>schlachmoness</I>, which are great +delicacies. +</P> + +<P> +On my part, I had tested my best wine on the old Rabbi Heymann, and I +had invited my friends, Leiser of Mittelbronn and his wife Boûné, +Senterlé Hirsch, and Professor Burguet. Burguet was not a Jew, but he +was worthy of being one on account of his genius and extraordinary +talents. +</P> + +<P> +When a speech was wanted in the Emperor's progress, Burguet made it; +when songs were needed for a national festival, Burguet composed them +between two sips of beer; when a young candidate for law or medicine +was perplexed in writing his thesis, he went to Burguet, who wrote it +for him, whether in French or in Latin; when fathers and mothers were +to be moved to tears at the distribution of school prizes, Burguet was +the man to do it; he would take a blank sheet of paper, and read them a +discourse on the spot, such as nobody else could have written in ten +years; when a petition was to be made to the Emperor or prefect, +Burguet was the first man thought of; and when Burguet took the trouble +to defend a deserter before the court-martial at the mayoralty, the +deserter, instead of being shot on the bastion of the barracks, was +pardoned. +</P> + +<P> +After all this, Burguet would return and take his part in piquet with +the little Jew, Solomon, at which he always lost; and people troubled +themselves no more about him. +</P> + +<P> +I have often thought that Burguet must have greatly despised those to +whom he took off his hat. Yes, to see the fellows putting on important +airs because they were rural guard or secretary of the mayoralty, must +have made a man like him laugh in his sleeve. But he never told me so; +he knew the ways of the world too well. +</P> + +<P> +He was an old constitutional priest, a tall man, with a noble figure +and very fine voice; the very tones of it would move you in spite of +yourself. Unfortunately, he did not take care of his own interests; he +was at the mercy of the first comer. How many times I have said to him: +</P> + +<P> +"Burguet, in heaven's name, don't get mixed up with thieves! Burguet, +don't let yourself be robbed by simpletons! Trust me about your +college expenses. When anybody comes to impose upon you I will be on +the spot; I will pay the bills and hand you the account." +</P> + +<P> +But he did not think of the future, and lived very carelessly. +</P> + +<P> +I had thus invited all my old friends for the morning of the +twenty-fourth of November, and they all came to the festival. +</P> + +<P> +The father and mother, with the little infant, and its godfather and +godmother, came early, in a large carriage. By eleven the ceremony had +taken place in our synagogue, and we all, in great joy and +satisfaction, for the child had not uttered a cry, returned together to +my house, which had been made ready beforehand—the large table on the +first floor, the meats in their pewter dishes, the fruits in their +baskets—and we had begun in great glee to celebrate the happy day. +</P> + +<P> +The old Rabbi Heymann, Leiser, and Burguet sat at my right, my little +Sâfel, Hirsch, and Baruch at my left, and the women Sorlé, Zeffen, +Jételé, and Boûné, facing us on the other side, according to the +command of the Lord, that men and women should be separate at +festivities. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet, with his white cravat, his handsome maroon coat and his +ruffled shirt, did me honor. He made a speech, raising his voice and +making fine gestures like a great orator—telling of the ancient +customs of our nation, of our religious ceremonies, of <I>Paeçach</I> (the +feast of Passover), of <I>Rosch-haschannah</I> (the New Year), of <I>Kippour</I> +(the day of expiation), like a true <I>Ied</I> (Jew), thinking our religion +very beautiful and glorifying the genius of Moses. +</P> + +<P> +He knew the <I>Lochene Koïdech</I> (Chaldaic) as well as a <I>bal-kebolé</I> +(cabalistic doctor). +</P> + +<P> +The Saverne people turned to their neighbors and asked in a whisper: +</P> + +<P> +"Pray, who is this man who speaks with authority, and says such fine +things? Is he a rabbi? Is he a <I>schamess</I> (Jewish beadle)? or is he +the <I>parness</I> (civil head) of your community?" +</P> + +<P> +And when they learned he was not one of us, they were astonished. The +old Rabbi Heymann alone was able to answer him, and they agreed on all +points, like learned men talking on familiar subjects and conscious of +their own learning. +</P> + +<P> +Behind us, on its grandmother's bed, inside of the curtains, slept our +little Esdras, with his sweet face and little clinched hands—slept so +soundly, that neither our shouts of laughter, nor the talking, nor the +sound of the glasses could wake him. Sometimes one, sometimes another, +went to look at him, and everybody said: +</P> + +<P> +"What a beautiful child! He looks like his grandfather Moses!" +</P> + +<P> +That pleased me, of course; and I would go and look at him, bending +over him for a long while, and finding a still stronger resemblance to +my father. +</P> + +<P> +At three o'clock, the meats having been removed and the delicacies +spread upon the table, as we came to the dessert, I went down to find a +bottle of better wine, an old bottle of Rousillon which I dug out from +under the others, all covered with dust and cobwebs. I took it up +carefully and placed it among the flowers on the table, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"You thought the other wine very good; what will you say to this?" +</P> + +<P> +Then Burguet smiled, for old wine was his special delight; he stretched +up his hand and exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! noble wine, the consoler, the restorer and benefactor of poor men +in this vale of misery! Oh, venerable bottle, thou bearest all the +signs of old nobility!" +</P> + +<P> +He said this with his mouth full, and everybody laughed. +</P> + +<P> +I asked Sorlé to bring the corkscrew. +</P> + +<P> +As she was rising, suddenly trumpets sounded without, and we all +listened and asked, "What is that?" +</P> + +<P> +At the same time the sound of many horses' steps came up the street, +and the earth and the houses trembled under an enormous weight. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody sprang up, throwing down their napkins and rushing to the +windows. +</P> + +<P> +And from the French gate to the little square we saw trains of +artillerymen advancing, with their great shakos covered with oil-cloth, +and their saddles in sheepskins and driving caissons full of round +shot, shells and intrenching tools. +</P> + +<P> +Imagine, Fritz, my thoughts at that moment! +</P> + +<P> +"This is war, my friends!" said Burguet. "This is war! It is coming! +Our turn has come, at the end of twenty years!" +</P> + +<P> +I stood leaning down with my hand on the stone, and thought: +</P> + +<P> +"Now the enemy cannot delay coming. These are sent to fortify the +place. And what if the allies surround us before I have received my +spirits of wine? What if the Austrians or Russians should stop the +wagons and seize them? I should have to pay for it all the same, and I +should not have a farthing left!" +</P> + +<P> +I turned pale at the thought. Sorlé looked at me, undoubtedly having +the same fears, but she said nothing. +</P> + +<P> +We stood there till they all passed by. The street was full. Some old +soldiers, Desmarets the Egyptian, Paradis the gunner, Rolfo, Faisard +the sapper, of the Beresina, as he was called, and some others, cried +"Vive l'Empereur!" +</P> + +<P> +Children ran behind the wagons, repeating the cry, "Vive l'Empereur!" +But the greater number, with closed lips and serious faces, looked on +in silence. +</P> + +<P> +When the last carriage had turned the Fouquet corner, all the crowd +returned with bowed heads; and we in the room looked at each other, +with no wish to continue the feast. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not well, Moses," said Burguet. "What is the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am thinking of all the evils which are coming to the city." +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! don't be afraid," he replied. "We shall be strongly defended! +And then, God help us! what can't be cured must be endured! Come! +cheer up; this old wine will keep up our spirits." +</P> + +<P> +We resumed our places. I opened the bottle, and it was as Burguet +said. The old Rousillon did us good, and we began to laugh. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet called out: +</P> + +<P> +"To the health of the little Esdras! May the Lord cover him with his +right hand!" +</P> + +<P> +And the glasses clinked. Some one exclaimed: "May he long rejoice the +hearts of his grandfather Moses and his grandmother Sorlé! To their +health!" +</P> + +<P> +We ended by looking at everything in rose-color, and glorifying the +Emperor, who was hastening to defend us, and was soon going to crush +all the beggars beyond the Rhine. +</P> + +<P> +But it is equally true that, when we separated about five o'clock, +everybody had become serious, and Burguet himself, when he shook hands +with me at the foot of the stairs, looked anxious. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall have to send home our pupils," said he, "and we must sit with +our arms folded." +</P> + +<P> +The Saverne people, with Zeffen, Baruch, and the children, got into +their carriage, and started silently for home. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FATHER MOSES COMPELLED TO BEAR ARMS +</H4> + +<P> +All this, Fritz, was but the beginning of troubles. +</P> + +<P> +You should have seen the city the next morning, at about eleven +o'clock, when the engineering officers had finished inspecting the +ramparts, and the tidings suddenly spread that there were needed +seventy-two platforms inside the bastions, three bomb-proof +block-houses, for thirty men each, at the right and left of the German +gate, ten palankas with battlements forming stronghold intrenchments +for forty men, and four blindages upon the great square of the +mayoralty to shelter each a hundred and ten men; and when it was known +that the citizens would be obliged to work at all these, to provide +themselves with shovels, pickaxes, and wheelbarrows, and the peasants +to bring trees with their own horses! +</P> + +<P> +As for Sorlé, Sâfel, and myself, we did not even know what blindages +and palankas were; we asked our neighbor Bailly, an old armorer, what +they were for, and he answered with a smile: +</P> + +<P> +"You will find out, neighbor, when you hear the balls roar and the +shells hiss. It would take too long to explain. You will see, by and +by; never too late to learn." +</P> + +<P> +Imagine how the people looked! I remember that everybody ran to the +square, where our mayor, Baron Parmentier, made a speech. We ran there +with all the rest. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé held me by the arm, and Sâfel by the skirt of my coat. +</P> + +<P> +There, in front of the mayoralty, the whole city, men, women, and +children, formed in a semicircle, and listened in the deepest silence, +now and then crying all together, "Vive l'Empereur!" +</P> + +<P> +Parmentier, a tall, thin man, in a sky-blue dress-coat, a white cravat, +and the tri-colored sash around his waist, stood on the top of the +steps of the guard-house, with the members of the municipal council +behind him, under the arch, and shouted out: +</P> + +<P> +"Phalsburgians! The time has come in which to show your devotion to +the Empire. A year ago all Europe was with us, now all Europe is +against us. We should have everything to fear without the energy and +power of the people. He who will not do his duty now will be a traitor +to his country! Inhabitants of Phalsburg, show what you are! Remember +that your children have perished through the treachery of the allies. +Avenge them! Let every one be obedient to the military authority, for +the sake of the safety of France," etc. +</P> + +<P> +Only to hear him made one's flesh creep, and I said to myself: +</P> + +<P> +"Now there will not be time for the spirits of wine to get here—that +is plain! The allies are on their way!" +</P> + +<P> +Elias the butcher, and Kalmes Levy the ribbon-merchant, were standing +near us. Instead of crying "Vive l'Empereur!" with the rest, they said +to each other: +</P> + +<P> +"Good! we are not barons, you and I! Barons, counts, and dukes have +but to defend themselves. Are we to think only of their interests?" +</P> + +<P> +But all the old soldiers, and especially those of the Republic, old +Goulden, the clockmaker, Desmarels, the Egyptian—creatures with not a +hair left on their heads, nor as much as four teeth to hold their +pipes—these creatures fell in with the mayor, and cried out: +</P> + +<P> +"Vive la France! We must defend ourselves to the death!" +</P> + +<P> +I saw several looking askance at Kalmes Levy, and I whispered to him: +</P> + +<P> +"Keep still, Kalmes! For heaven's sake, keep still! They will tear +you in pieces!" +</P> + +<P> +It was true. The old men gave him terrible looks; they grew pale, and +their cheeks shook. +</P> + +<P> +Then Kalmes stopped talking, and even left the crowd to return home. +But Elias stayed till the end of the speech, and, as the whole mass of +people were going down the main street, shouting "Vive l'Empereur!" he +could not help saying to the old clockmaker: +</P> + +<P> +"What! you, Mr. Goulden, a reasonable man, who have never wanted +anything of the Emperor, you are now going to take his part, and cry +out that we must defend ourselves till death! Is it our business to be +soldiers? Have not we furnished enough soldiers to the Empire these +last ten years? Have not enough men been killed? Must we give, +besides, our own blood to support barons, counts, and dukes?" +</P> + +<P> +But old Goulden did not let him finish, and replied, as if indignant: +"Listen, Elias! try to keep still! The thing now to be done is not to +know what is right or wrong—it is to save France. I warn you, that if +you try to discourage others, it will be bad for you. Believe me—go!" +</P> + +<P> +Already a number of superannuated soldiers were gathered round us, and +Elias had only time to retreat by the opposite lane. +</P> + +<P> +From this time public notices, requisitions, forced labors, domiciliary +visits for tools and wheelbarrows, came one after another, incessantly. +A man was nothing in his own house; the officers of the place assumed +authority over everything: only to be sure, they gave receipts. +</P> + +<P> +All the tools from my storehouse of iron were in use on the ramparts. +Fortunately I had sold a good many beforehand, for these tickets in +place of my wares would have ruined me. +</P> + +<P> +From time to time the mayor made a speech, and the governor, a fat man, +covered with pimples, expressed his satisfaction to the citizens; that +made up for their money! +</P> + +<P> +When my time came to take the pickaxe and draw the wheelbarrow, I +arranged with Carabin, the wood-sawyer, to take my place for thirty +sous. Ah, what misery! Such a time will never come again. +</P> + +<P> +While the governor commanded us within the city, the soldiers were +always outside to superintend the peasants. The road to Lutzelburg was +but one line of carts, laden with old oaks for building blockhouses. +These are large sentry-boxes, or turrets, built up of solid trunks of +trees, laid crosswise one upon another, and then covered with earth. +These are more solid than an arch. Shells and bombs might rain upon +them without disturbing anything within, as I found afterward. +</P> + +<P> +These trees were also used to make lines of enormous palisades, pointed +and pierced with holes for firing; these are what they call palankas. +</P> + +<P> +I seem still to hear the shouts of the peasants, the neighing of the +horses, the strokes of the whips, and all the other noises, which never +stopped, day or night. +</P> + +<P> +My only consolation was in thinking, "If the spirits of wine comes now, +it will be well defended; the Austrians, Prussians, and Russians will +not drink it here!" +</P> + +<P> +Every morning Sorlé expected to receive the invoice. +</P> + +<P> +One Sabbath day we had the curiosity to go and see the works of the +bastions. Everybody was talking about it, and Sâfel kept coming to me, +saying: "The work is going on; they are filling the shells in front of +the arsenal; they are taking out the cannon; they are mounting them on +the ramparts!" +</P> + +<P> +We could not keep the child away. He had nothing to sell now under the +market, and it would be too tedious for him to stay at home. He +scoured the city, and brought us back the news. +</P> + +<P> +On this day, then, having heard that forty-two pieces were ranged in +battery, and that they were continuing the work upon the bastion of the +infantry-barracks, I told Sorlé to bring her shawl, and we would go and +see. +</P> + +<P> +We first went down to the French gate. Hundreds of wheelbarrows were +going up the ramparts of the bastion, from which could be seen the road +to Metz on the right and the road to Paris on the left. +</P> + +<P> +There, above, crowds of laborers, soldiers and citizens, were heaping +up a mass of earth in the form of a triangle, at least twenty-five feet +in height, and two hundred in length and breadth. +</P> + +<P> +An engineering officer had discovered with his spy-glass that this +bastion was commanded by the hill opposite, and so everybody was set to +work to place two pieces on a level with the hill. +</P> + +<P> +It was the same everywhere else. The interiors of these bastions, with +their platforms, were shut in all around, for seven feet from the +ground, like rooms. Nothing could fall into them except from the sky. +In the turf, however, were dug narrow openings, larger without, like +funnels; the mouths of the cannon, which were raised upon immense +carriages, were drawn out through these apertures; they could be pushed +forward and backward, and turned in all directions, by means of great +levers passed in rings over the hind wheels of the carriages. +</P> + +<P> +I had not yet heard the sound of these forty-eight pounders. But the +mere sight of them on their platforms gave me a terrible idea of their +power. Even Sorlé said: "It is fine, Moses; it is well done!" +</P> + +<P> +She was right, for within the bastions all was in complete order; not a +weed remained, and upon the sides were piled great bags filled with +earth to protect the artillerymen. +</P> + +<P> +But what lost labor! and to think that every firing of these large guns +costs at least a louis—money spent to kill our fellow-men! +</P> + +<P> +In fine the people worked at these things with more enthusiasm than if +they were gathering in their own harvests. I have often thought that +if the French bestowed as much pains, good sense, and courage upon +matters of peace, they would be the richest and happiest people in the +world. Yes, they would long ago have surpassed the English and +Americans. But when they have toiled and economized, when they have +opened roads everywhere, built magnificent bridges, dug out harbors and +canals, and riches come to them from all quarters, suddenly the fury of +war possesses them, and in three or four years they ruin themselves +with grand armies, with cannon, with powder, with bullets, with men, +and become poorer than before. A few soldiers are their masters, and +look down upon them. This is all it profits them! +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of all this, news from Mayence, from Strasburg, from +Paris, came by the dozens; we could not go into the street without +seeing a courier pass. They all stopped before the Bockhold house, +near the German gate, where the governor lived. A circle formed around +the house, the courier mounted, then the news spread through the city +that the allies were concentrated at Frankfort, that our troops guarded +the islands of the Rhine; that the conscripts from 1803 to 1814 were +recalled; that those of 1815 would form the reserve corps at Metz, at +Bordeaux, at Turin; that the deputies were going to assemble; then, +that the gates had been shut upon them, etc., etc. +</P> + +<P> +There came also smugglers of all sorts from Graufthal, Pirmasens, and +Kaiserslautern, with Franz Sepel, the one-armed man, at their head, and +others from the villages around, who secretly scattered the +proclamations of Alexander, Francis Joseph and Frederic William, saying +"that they did not make war upon France, but upon the Emperor alone to +prevent his further desolation of Europe." They spoke of the abolition +of duties, and of taxes of all sorts. The people at night did not know +what to think. +</P> + +<P> +But one fine morning it was all explained. It was the eighth or ninth +of December. I had just risen, and was putting on my clothes, when I +heard the rolling of a drum at the corner of the main street. +</P> + +<P> +It was cold, but nevertheless I opened the window and leaned out to +hear the announcements. Parmentier opened his paper, young Engelheider +kept up his drum-beating, and the people assembled. +</P> + +<P> +Then Parmentier read that the governor of the place ordered all +citizens to present themselves at the mayoralty between eight in the +morning and six in the evening, without fail, to receive their muskets +and cartridge-boxes, and that those who did not come, would be +court-martialed. +</P> + +<P> +There was the end at last! Every one who was able to march was on his +way, and the old men were to defend the fortifications; sober-minded +men—citizens—men accustomed to living quietly at home, and attending +to their own affairs! now they must mount the ramparts and every day +run the risk of losing their lives! +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé looked at me without a word, and indignation made me also +speechless. Not till after a quarter of an hour, when I was dressed, +did I say: +</P> + +<P> +"Make the soup ready. I am going to the mayoralty to get my musket and +cartridge-box." +</P> + +<P> +Then she exclaimed: "Moses, who would have believed that you would have +to go and fight at your age? Oh! what misery!" +</P> + +<P> +And I answered: "It is the Lord's will." +</P> + +<P> +Then I started with a sad heart. Little Sâfel followed me. +</P> + +<P> +As I arrived at the corner of the market, Burguet was coming down the +mayoralty steps, which swarmed with men; he had his musket on his +shoulder, and said with a smile: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, well, Moses! We are going to turn Maccabees in our old age?" +</P> + +<P> +His cheerfulness encouraged me, and I replied: +</P> + +<P> +"Burguet, how is it they can take rational men, heads of families, and +make them destroy themselves? I cannot comprehend it; no, there is no +sense in it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," said he, "what would you have? If they can't get thrushes, they +must take blackbirds." +</P> + +<P> +I could not smile at his pleasantries, and he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Moses, don't be so disconsolate; this is only a formality. We +have troops enough for active service; we shall have only to mount +guard. If sorties are to be made, or attacks repulsed, they will not +take you; you are not of an age to run, or to give a bayonet stroke! +You are gray and bald. Don't be troubled!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I said, "that is very true, Burguet, I am broken down—more so, +perhaps, than you think." +</P> + +<P> +"That is well," said he, "but go and take your musket and +cartridge-box." +</P> + +<P> +"And are we not going to stay in the barracks?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no!" he cried, laughing aloud, "we are going to live quietly at +home." +</P> + +<P> +He shook hands with me, and I went under the arch of the mayoralty. +The stairway was crowded with people, and we heard names called out. +</P> + +<P> +And there, Fritz, you should have seen the looks of the Robinots, the +Gourdiers, the Mariners, that mass of tilers, knife-grinders, +house-painters, people who, every day, in ordinary times, would take +off their caps to you to get a little work—you should have seen them +straighten themselves up, look at you pityingly over the shoulder, blow +in their cheeks, and call out: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Moses, is it thou? Thou wilt make a comical soldier. He! he! he! +They will cut thy mustaches according to regulation!" +</P> + +<P> +And such-like nonsense. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, everything was changed; these former bullies had been named in +advance sergeants, sergeant-majors, corporals, and the rest of us were +nothing at all. War upsets everything; the first become last, and the +last first. It is not good sense but discipline which carries the day. +The man who scrubbed your floor yesterday, because he was too stupid to +gain a living any other way, becomes your sergeant, and if he tells you +that white is black, you must let it be so. +</P> + +<P> +At last, after waiting an hour, some one called out, "Moses!" and I +went up. +</P> + +<P> +The great hall above was full of people. They all exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Moses! Wilt thou come, Moses? Ah, see him! He is the old guard! +Look now, how he is built! Thou shalt be ensign, Moses! Thou shalt +lead us on to victory!" +</P> + +<P> +And the fools laughed, nudging each others' elbows. I passed on, +without answering or even looking at them. +</P> + +<P> +In the room at the farther end, where the names were drawn at +conscriptions, Governor Moulin, Commandant Petitgenet, the mayor, +Frichard, secretary of the mayoralty, Rollin, captain of apparel, and +six or seven other superannuated men, crippled with rheumatism, brought +from all parts of the world, were met in council, some sitting, the +rest standing. +</P> + +<P> +These old ones began to laugh as they saw me come in. I heard them say +to one another: "He is strong yet! Yes, he is all right." +</P> + +<P> +So they talked, one after another. I thought to myself: "Say what you +like, you will not make me think that you are twenty years old, or that +you are handsome." +</P> + +<P> +But I kept silence. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the governor, who was talking with the mayor in a corner, +turned around, with his great chapeau awry, and looking at me, said: +</P> + +<P> +"What do you intend to do with such a patriarch? You see very well +that he can hardly stand." +</P> + +<P> +I was pleased, in spite of it all, and began to cough. +</P> + +<P> +"Good, good!" said he, "you may go home; take care of your cold!" +</P> + +<P> +I had taken four steps toward the door, when Frichard, the secretary of +the mayoralty, called out: +</P> + +<P> +"It is Moses! The Jew Moses, colonel, who has sent his two boys off to +America! The oldest should be in the service." +</P> + +<P> +This wretch of a Frichard had a grudge against me, because we had the +same business of selling old clothes under the market, and the country +people almost always preferred buying of me; he had a mortal grudge +against me, and that is why he began to inform against me. +</P> + +<P> +The governor exclaimed at once: "Stop a minute! Ah ha, old fox! You +send your boys to America to escape conscription! Very well! Give him +his musket, cartridge-box, and sabre." +</P> + +<P> +Indignation against Frichard choked me. I would have spoken, but the +wretch laughed and kept on writing at the desk; so I followed the +gendarme Werner to a side room, which was filled with muskets, sabres, +and cartridge-boxes. +</P> + +<P> +Werner himself hung a cartridge-box crosswise on my back, and gave me a +musket, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Go, Moses, and try always to answer to the call." +</P> + +<P> +I went down through the crowd so indignant that I heard no longer the +shouts of laughter from the rabble. +</P> + +<P> +On reaching home I told Sorlé what had happened. She was very pale as +she listened. After a moment, she said: "This Frichard is the enemy of +our race; he is an enemy of Israel. I know it; he detests us! But +just now, Moses, do not say a word; do not let him see that you are +angry; it would please him too much. By and by you can have your +revenge! You will have a chance. And if not yourself, your children, +your grandchildren; they shall all know what this wretch has done to +their grandfather—they shall know it!" +</P> + +<P> +She clinched her hand, and little Sâfel listened. +</P> + +<P> +This was all the comfort she could give me. I thought as she did, but +I was so angry that I would have given half my fortune to ruin the +wretch. All that day, and in the night, too, I exclaimed more than +twenty times: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, the scoundrel!—I was going—they had said to me, 'You may +go!'—He is the cause of all my misery!" +</P> + +<P> +You cannot imagine, Fritz, how I have always hated that man. Never +have my wife and I forgotten the harm he did us—never shall my +children forget it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FATHER MOSES RECEIVES WELCOME NEWS +</H4> + +<P> +The next day we must answer to the call before the mayoralty. All the +children in town surrounded us and whistled. Fortunately, the +blindages of the Place d'Armes were not finished, so that we went to +learn our exercises in the large court of the college, near the <I>chemin +de ronde</I> at the corner of the powder-house. As the pupils had been +dismissed for some time, the place was at liberty. +</P> + +<P> +Imagine to yourself this large court filled with citizens in bonnets, +coats, cloaks, vests, and breeches, obliged to obey the orders of their +former tinkers, chimney-sweeps, stable-boys, now turned into corporals, +sergeants, and sergeant-majors. Imagine these peaceable men, in fours, +in sixes, in tens, stretching out their legs in concert, and marching +to the step, "One—<I>two</I>! One—<I>two</I>! Halt! Steady!" while others, +marching backward, frowning, called out insolently: "Moses, dress thy +shoulders!" "Moses, bring thy nose into line!" "Attention, Moses! +Carry arms! Ah, old shoe, thou'lt never be good for anything! Can any +one be so stupid at his age? Look—just look! Thunder! Canst thou +not do that? One—<I>two</I>! What an old blockhead! Come, begin again! +Carry arms!" +</P> + +<P> +This is the way my own cobbler, Monborne, ordered me about. I believe +he would have beaten me if it had not been for Captain Vigneron. +</P> + +<P> +All the rest treated their old patrons in the same way. You would have +said that it had always been so—that they had always been sergeants +and we had always been soldiers. I heaped up gall enough against this +rabble to last fifty years. +</P> + +<P> +They in fine were the masters! And the only time that I remember ever +to have struck my own son, Sâfel, this Monborne was the cause of it. +All the children climbed upon the wall of the <I>chemin de ronde</I> to look +at us and laugh at us. On looking up, I saw Sâfel among them, and made +a sign of displeasure with my finger. He went down at once; but at the +close of the exercise, when we were ordered to break ranks before the +town-house, I was seized with anger as I saw him coming toward me, and +I gave him two good boxes on the ear, and said: "Go—hiss and mock at +your father, like Shem, instead of bringing a garment to cover his +nakedness—go!" +</P> + +<P> +He wept bitterly, and in this state I went home. Sorlé seeing me come +in looking very pale, and the little one following me at a distance, +sobbing, came down at once to the door, and asked what was the matter. +I told her how angry I was, and went upstairs. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé reproved Sâfel still more severely, and he came and begged my +pardon. I granted it with all my heart, as you may suppose. But when +I thought that the exercises were to be repeated every day, I would +gladly have abandoned everything if I could possibly have taken with me +my house and wares. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, the worst thing I know of is to be ordered about by bullies who +cannot restrain themselves when chance sets them up for a moment, and +who are not capable of receiving the idea that in this life everybody +has his turn. +</P> + +<P> +I should say too much if I continued on this head. I would rather go +on. +</P> + +<P> +The Lord granted me a great consolation. I had scarcely laid aside my +cartridge-box and musket, so as to sit at the table, when Sorlé +smilingly handed me a letter. +</P> + +<P> +"Read that, Moses," said she, "and you will feel better." +</P> + +<P> +I opened and read it. It was the notice from Pézenas that my dozen +pipes of spirits were on their way. I drew a long breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! that is good, now!" I exclaimed; "the spirits are coming by the +ordinary conveyance; they will be here in three weeks. We hear nothing +from the direction of Strasburg and Sarrebruck; the allies are +collecting still, but they do not move; my spirits of wine are safe! +They will sell well! It is a grand thing!" +</P> + +<P> +I smiled, and was quite myself again, when Sorlé pushed the arm-chair +toward me, saying: "And what do you think of <I>that</I>, Moses?" +</P> + +<P> +She gave me, as she spoke, a second letter, covered with large stamps, +and at the first glance I recognized the handwriting of my two sons, +Frômel and Itzig. +</P> + +<P> +It was a letter from America! My heart swelled with joy, and I +silently thanked the Lord, deeply moved by this great blessing. I +said: "The Lord is good. His understanding is infinite. He delighteth +not in the strength of a horse; he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a +man. He taketh pleasure in those that hope in his mercy." +</P> + +<P> +Thus I spoke to myself while I read the letter, in which my sons +praised America, the true land of commerce, the land of enterprising +men, where everything is free, where there are no taxes or impositions, +because people are not brought up for war, but for peace; the land, +Fritz, where every man becomes, through his own labor, his +intelligence, his economy, and his good intentions, what he deserves to +be, and every one takes his proper place, because no important matter +is decided without the consent of all;—a just and sensible thing, for +where all contribute, all should give their opinions. +</P> + +<P> +This was one of their first letters. Frômel and Itzig wrote me that +they had made so much money in a year, that they need no longer carry +their own packs, but had three fine mules, and that they had just +opened at Catskill, near Albany, in the State of New York, an +establishment for the exchange of European fabrics with cow-hides, +which were very abundant in that region. +</P> + +<P> +Their business was prospering, and they were respected in the town and +its vicinity. While Frômel was travelling on the road with their three +mules, Itzig stayed at home, and when Itzig went in his turn his +brother had charge of the shop. +</P> + +<P> +They already knew of our misfortunes, and thanked the Lord for having +given them such parents, to save them from destruction. They would +have liked to have us with them, and after what had just happened, in +being maltreated by a Monborne, you can believe that I should have been +very glad to be there. But it was enough to receive such good news, +and in spite of all our misfortunes, I said to myself, as I thought of +Frichard: "But it is only to me that you can be an ass! You may harm +me here, but you can't hurt my boys. You are nothing but a miserable +secretary of mayoralty, while I am going to sell my spirits of wine. I +shall gain double and treble. I will put my little Sâfel at your side, +under the market, and he will beckon to everybody that is going into +your shop; and he will sell to them at cost price rather than lose +their custom, and he will make you die of anger." +</P> + +<P> +The tears came into my eyes as I thought of it, and I ended by +embracing Sorlé, who smiled, full of satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +We pardoned Sâfel over again, and he promised to go no more with the +cursed race. Then, after dinner, I went down to my cellar, one of the +finest in the city, twelve feet high and thirty-five feet long, all +built of hewn stone, under the main street. It was as dry as an oven, +and even improved wine in the long run. +</P> + +<P> +As my spirits of wine might arrive before the end of the month, I +arranged four large beams to hold the pipes, and saw that the well, cut +in the rock, had enough water for mixing it. +</P> + +<P> +On going up about four o'clock, I perceived the old architect, Krômer, +who was walking across the market, his measuring-stick under his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said I, "come down a minute into my cellar; do you think it will +be safe against the bombs?" +</P> + +<P> +We went down together. He examined it, measured the stones and the +thickness of the arch with his stick, and said: "You have six feet of +earth over the key-stone. When the bombs enter here, Moses, it will be +all over with all of us. You may sleep with both ears shut." +</P> + +<P> +We took a good drink of wine from the spout, and went up in good +spirits. +</P> + +<P> +Just as we set foot on the pavement, a door in the main street opened +with a crash, and there was a sound of glass broken. Krômer raised his +nose, and said: "Look yonder, Moses, at Camus's steps! Something is +going on." +</P> + +<P> +We stopped and saw at the top of the railed staircase a sergeant of +veterans, in a gray coat, with his musket dangling, dragging Father +Camus by the collar. The poor old man clung to the door with both +hands to keep himself from falling; he succeeded at last in getting +loose, by tearing the collar from his coat, and the door shut with a +noise like thunder. +</P> + +<P> +"If war begins now between citizens and soldiers," said Krômer, "the +Germans and Russians will have fine sport." +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant, seeing the door shut and bolted within, tried to force it +open with blows from the butt-end of his musket, which caused a great +uproar; the neighbors came out, and the dogs barked. We were watching +it all, when we saw Burguet come along the passage in front, and begin +to talk vehemently with the sergeant. At first the man did not seem to +hear him, but after a moment he raised his musket to his shoulder with +a rough movement, and went down to the street, with his shoulders up +and his face dark and furious. He passed by us like a wild boar. He +was a veteran with three chevrons, sunburnt, with a gray mustache, +large straight wrinkles the whole length of his cheeks, and a square +chin. He muttered as he passed us, and went into the little inn of the +Three Pigeons. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet followed at a distance, with his broad hat down to his +eyebrows, wrapped in his beaver-cloth great-coat, his head thrown back, +and his hands in his pockets. He smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said I, "what has been going on at Camus's?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" said he, "it is Sergeant Trubert, of the fifth company of +veterans, who had just been playing his tricks. The old fellow wants +everything to go by rule and measure. In the last fortnight he has had +five different lodgings, and cannot get along with anybody. Everybody +complains of him, but he always makes excuses which the governor and +commandant think excellent." +</P> + +<P> +"And at Camus's house?" +</P> + +<P> +"Camus has not too much room for his own family. He wished to send the +sergeant to the inn; but the sergeant had already chosen Camus's bed to +sleep in, had spread his cloak upon it, and said, 'My billet is for +this place. I am very comfortable here, and do not wish to change.' +Old Camus was vexed, and finally, as you have just seen, the sergeant +tried to pull him out, and beat him." +</P> + +<P> +Burguet smiled, but Krômer said: "Yes, all that is laughable. And yet +when we think of what such people must have done on the other side of +the Rhine!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" exclaimed Burguet, "it was not very pleasant for the Germans, I +am sure. But it is time to go and read the newspaper. God grant that +the time for paying our old debts may not have come! Good-evening, +gentlemen." +</P> + +<P> +He continued his walk on the side of the square. Krômer went toward +his own house, while I shut the two doors of my cellar; after which I +went home. +</P> + +<P> +This was the tenth of December. It was already very cold. Every +night, after five or six o'clock, the roofs and pavements were covered +with frost. There was no more noise without, because people kept at +home, around their stoves. +</P> + +<P> +I found Sorlé in the kitchen, preparing our supper. The red flame +flickered upon the hearth around the saucepan. These things are now +before my eyes, Fritz—the mother, washing the plates at the stone +sink, near the gray window; little Sâfel blowing in his big iron pipe, +his cheeks round as an apple, his long curly hair all disordered, and +myself sitting on the stool, holding a coal to light my pipe. Yes, it +all seems here present! +</P> + +<P> +We said nothing. We were happy in thinking of the spirits of wine that +were coming, of the boys who were doing so well, of the good supper +that was cooking. And who would ever have thought, then, that +twenty-five days afterward the city would be surrounded by enemies, and +shells hissing in the air? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A DISAGREEABLE GUEST +</H4> + +<P> +Now, Fritz, I am going to tell you something which has often made me +think that the Lord takes an interest in our affairs, and that He +orders everything for the best. At first it seems dreadful, and we +exclaim, "Lord have mercy on us!" and afterward we are surprised to +find that it has all been for our good. +</P> + +<P> +You know that Frichard, the secretary of the mayoralty, disliked me. +He was a little, yellow, dried-up old man, with a red wig, flat ears, +and hollow cheeks. This rascal was bent on doing me an injury, and he +soon found an opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +As the time of the blockade drew nearer, people were more and more +anxious to sell, and the day after I received the good news from +America—it was Friday, a market-day—so many of the Alsatian and +Lorraine people came with their great dossers and panniers of fruit, +eggs, butter, cheese, poultry, etc., that the market-place was crowded +with them. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody wanted money, to hide it in his cellar, or under a tree in +the neighboring wood. You know that large sums were lost at that time; +treasures which are now discovered from year to year, at the foot of +oaks and beeches, hidden because it was feared that the Germans and +Russians would pillage and destroy everything, as we had done to them. +The men died, or perhaps could not find the place where they had hidden +their money, and so it remained buried in the ground. +</P> + +<P> +This day, the eleventh of December, it was very cold; the frost +penetrated to the very marrow of your bones, but it had not yet begun +to snow. Very early in the morning, I went down, shivering, with my +woollen waistcoat buttoned up to my throat, and my seal-skin cap drawn +down over my ears. +</P> + +<P> +Both the little and the great squares were already swarming with +people, shouting and disputing about prices. I had only time to open +my shop, and to hang up my large scales in the arch, before a crowd of +country people stood about the door, some asking for nails, others iron +for forging; and some bringing their own old iron with the hope of +selling it. +</P> + +<P> +They knew that if the enemy came there would be no way of entering the +city, and that was what brought the crowd, some to sell and others to +buy. +</P> + +<P> +I opened shop and began to weigh. We heard the patrols passing +without; the guard was everywhere doubled, the drawbridges in good +condition, and the outside barriers fortified anew. We were not yet +declared to be in a state of siege, but we were like the bird on the +branch; the last news from Mayence, Sarrebruck, and Strasburg announced +the arrival of the allies on the other bank of the Rhine. +</P> + +<P> +As for me, I thought of nothing but my spirits of wine, and all the +time I was selling, weighing, and handling money, it was never out of +my mind. It had, as it were, taken root in my brain. +</P> + +<P> +This had lasted about an hour, when suddenly Burguet appeared at my +door, under the little arch, behind the crowd of country people, and +said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"Moses, come here a minute, I have something to say to you." +</P> + +<P> +I went out. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us go into your passage," said he. +</P> + +<P> +I was much surprised, for he looked very grave. The peasants behind +called out: +</P> + +<P> +"We have no time to lose. Make haste, Moses!" +</P> + +<P> +But I paid no attention. In the passage Burguet said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"I have just come from the mayoralty, where they are busy in making out +a report to the prefect in regard to the state of feeling among our +population, and I accidentally heard that they are going to send +Sergeant Trubert to your house." +</P> + +<P> +This was indeed a blow for me. I exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want him! I don't want him! I have lodged six men in the +last fortnight, and it isn't my turn." +</P> + +<P> +He answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Be quiet, and don't talk so loud. You will only make the matter +worse." +</P> + +<P> +I repeated: +</P> + +<P> +"Never, never shall this sergeant enter my house! It is abominable! A +quiet man like myself, who has never harmed any one, and who asks +nothing but peace!" +</P> + +<P> +While I was speaking, Sorlé, on her way to market, with her basket on +her arm, came down, and asked what was the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, Madame Sorlé," said Burguet to her; "be more reasonable than +your husband! I can understand his indignation, and yet for all that, +when a thing is inevitable we must submit to it. Frichard dislikes +you; he is secretary of the mayoralty; he distributes the billets for +quartering soldiers according to a list. Very well; he sends you +Sergeant Trubert, a violent, bad man, I allow, but he needs lodging as +well as the others. To everything which I have said in your favor, +Frichard has always replied: 'Moses is rich. He has sent away his boys +to escape conscription. He ought to pay for them.' The mayor, the +governor, everybody thinks he is right. So, you see, I tell you as a +friend, the more resistance you make, so much the more the sergeant +will affront you, and Frichard laugh at you, and there will be no help +for it. Be reasonable!" +</P> + +<P> +I was still more angry on finding that I owed these misfortunes to +Frichard. I would have exclaimed, but my wife laid her hand on my arm, +and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Let me speak, Moses. Monsieur Burguet is right, and I am much obliged +to him for telling us beforehand. Frichard has a spite against us. +Very well; he must pay for it all, and we will settle with him by and +by. Now, when is the sergeant coming?" +</P> + +<P> +"At noon," replied Burguet. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," said my wife; "he has a right to lodging, fire, and +candles. We can't dispute that; but Frichard shall pay for it all." +</P> + +<P> +She was pale, and I listened, for I saw that she was right. +</P> + +<P> +"Be quiet, Moses," she said to me afterward, "and don't say a word; let +me manage it." +</P> + +<P> +"This is what I had to say to you," said Burguet, "it is an abominable +trick of Frichard's. I will see, by and by, if it is possible to rid +you of the sergeant. Now I must go back to my post." +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé had just started for the market. Burguet pressed my hand, and as +the peasants grew more impatient in their cries, I had to go back to my +scales. +</P> + +<P> +I was full of rage. I sold that day more than two hundred francs' +worth of iron, but my indignation against Frichard, and my fear of the +sergeant, took away all pleasure in anything. I might have sold ten +times more without feeling any better. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! the rascal!" I said to myself; "he gives me no rest. I shall have +no peace in this city." +</P> + +<P> +As the clock struck twelve the market closed, and people went away by +the French gate. I shut up my shop and went home, thinking to myself: +</P> + +<P> +"Now I shall be nothing in my own house; this Trubert is going to rule +everything. He will look down upon us as if we were Germans or +Spaniards." +</P> + +<P> +I was in despair. But in the midst of my despair on the staircase, I +suddenly perceived an odor of good things from the kitchen, and I went +up in surprise, for I smelt fish and roast, as if it were a feast day. +</P> + +<P> +I was going into the kitchen, when Sorlé appeared and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Go into your chamber, shave yourself, and put on a clean shirt." +</P> + +<P> +I saw, at the same time, that she was dressed in her Sabbath clothes, +with her ear-rings, her green skirt, and her red silk neckerchief. +</P> + +<P> +"But why must I shave, Sorlé?" I exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Go quick; you have no time to lose!" replied she. +</P> + +<P> +This woman had so much good sense, she had so many times set things +right by her ready wit, that I said nothing more, and went into my +bedroom to shave myself and put on a clean shirt. +</P> + +<P> +As I was putting on my shirt I heard little Sâfel cry out: +</P> + +<P> +"Here he is, mamma! here he is!" +</P> + +<P> +Then steps were heard on the stairs, and a rough voice called: +</P> + +<P> +"Holla! you folks. Ho!" +</P> + +<P> +I thought to myself: "It is the sergeant," and I listened. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! here is our sergeant!" cried Sâfel, triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! that is good," replied my wife, in a cheerful tone. "Come in, Mr. +Sergeant, come in! We were expecting you. I knew that we were to have +the honor of having a sergeant; we were glad to hear it, because we +have had only common soldiers before. Be so good as to come in, Mr. +Sergeant." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-070"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-070.jpg" ALT=""BE SO GOOD AS TO COME IN, MR. SERGEANT."" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +"BE SO GOOD AS TO COME IN, MR. SERGEANT." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +She spoke in this way as if she were really pleased, and I thought to +myself: +</P> + +<P> +"O Sorlé, Sorlé! You shrewd woman! You sensible woman! I see through +it now. I see your cunning. You are going to mollify this rascal! +Ah, Moses! what a wife you have! Congratulate yourself! Congratulate +yourself!" +</P> + +<P> +I hastened to dress myself, laughing all the while; and I heard this +brute of a sergeant say: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes! It is all very well. But that isn't the point! Show me my +room, my bed. You can't pay me with fine speeches; people know +Sergeant Trubert too well for that." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, Mr. Sergeant, certainly," replied my wife, "here is your +room and your bed. See, it is the best we have." +</P> + +<P> +Then they went into the passage, and I heard Sorlé open the door of the +handsome room which Baruch and Zeffen occupied when they came to +Phalsburg. +</P> + +<P> +I followed them softly. The sergeant thrust his fist into the bed to +feel if it was soft. Sorlé and Sâfel looked on smilingly behind him. +He examined every corner with a scowl. You never saw such a face, +Fritz; a gray bristling mustache, a long thin nose, hooked over the +mouth; a yellow skin, full of wrinkles: he dragged the butt-end of his +gun on the floor, without seeming to notice anything, and muttered +ill-naturedly: +</P> + +<P> +"Hem! hem! What is that down there?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is the wash-basin, Mr. Sergeant." +</P> + +<P> +"And these chairs, are they strong? Will they bear anything?" +</P> + +<P> +He knocked them rudely down. It was evident he wanted to find fault +with something. +</P> + +<P> +On turning round he saw me, and looking at me sideways, asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Are you the citizen?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sergeant; I am." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" +</P> + +<P> +He put his gun in a corner, threw his knapsack on the table, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"That will do! You may go." +</P> + +<P> +Sâfel had opened the kitchen door, and the good smell of the roast came +into the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Sergeant," said Sorlé very pleasantly, "allow me to ask a favor of +you." +</P> + +<P> +"You!" said he, looking at her over his shoulder, "ask a favor of me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. It is that since you now lodge with us, and will be in some +respects one of the family, you will give us the pleasure of dining +with us, at least for once." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, ah!" said he, turning his nose toward the kitchen, "that is +another thing!" +</P> + +<P> +He seemed to be considering whether to grant us this favor or not. We +waited for him to answer, when he gave another sniff and threw his +cartridge-box on the bed, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, so be it! We will go and see!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wretch!" thought I, "if I could make you eat potatoes!" +</P> + +<P> +But Sorlé seemed satisfied, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"This way, Mr. Sergeant; this way, if you please." +</P> + +<P> +When we went into the dining-room I saw that everything was prepared as +if for a prince; the floor swept, the table carefully laid, a white +table-cloth, and our silver knives and forks. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé placed the sergeant in my arm-chair at the head of the table, +which seemed to him the most natural thing in the world. +</P> + +<P> +Our servant brought in the large tureen and took off the cover; the +odor of a good cream soup filled the room, and we began our dinner. +</P> + +<P> +Fritz, I could tell you everything we had for dinner; but believe me, +neither you nor I ever had a better. We had a roasted goose, a +magnificent pike, sauerkraut, everything, in fact, which could be +desired for a grand dinner, and all served by Sorlé in the most perfect +manner. We had, too, four bottles of Beaujolais warmed in napkins, as +was the custom in winter, and an abundant dessert. +</P> + +<P> +Well! do you believe that the rascal once had the grace to seem pleased +with all this? Do you believe that all through this dinner, which +lasted nearly two hours, he once thought of saying, "This pike is +excellent!" or, "This fat goose is well cooked!" or, "You have very +good wine!" or any of the other things which we know are pleasant for a +host to hear, and which repay a good cook for his trouble? No, Fritz, +not once! You would have supposed that he had such dinners every day. +The more even that my wife flattered him, and the more kindly she spoke +to him, the more he rebuffed her, the more he scowled, the more +defiantly he looked at us, as if we wanted to poison him. +</P> + +<P> +From time to time I looked indignantly at Sorlé, but she kept on +smiling; she kept on giving the nicest bits to the sergeant; she kept +on filling his glass. +</P> + +<P> +Two or three times I wanted to say, "Ah, Sorlé, what a good cook you +are! How nice this force-meat is!" But suddenly the sergeant would +look down upon me as if to say, "What does that signify? Perhaps you +want to give me lessons? Don't I know better than you do whether a +thing is good or bad?" +</P> + +<P> +So I kept silence. I could have wished him—well, in worse company; I +grew more and more indignant at every morsel which he swallowed in +silence. Nevertheless Sorlé's example encouraged me to put a good face +on the matter, and toward the end I thought, "Now, since the dinner is +eaten, since it is almost over, we will go on, with God's help. Sorlé +was mistaken, but it is all the same; her idea was a good one, except +for such a rascal!" +</P> + +<P> +And I myself ordered coffee; I went to the closet, too, to get some +cherry-brandy and old rum. +</P> + +<P> +"What is that?" asked the sergeant. +</P> + +<P> +"Rum and cherry-brandy; old cherry-brandy from the 'Black Forest,'" I +replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," said he, winking, "everybody says, 'I have got some cherry-brandy +from the Black Forest!' It is very easy to say; but they can't cheat +Sergeant Trubert; we will see about this!" +</P> + +<P> +In taking his coffee he twice filled his glass with cherry-brandy, and +both times said, "He! he! We will see whether it is genuine." +</P> + +<P> +I could have thrown the bottle at his head. +</P> + +<P> +As Sorlé went to him to pour a third glassful, he rose and said, "That +is enough; thank you! The posts are doubled. This evening I shall be +on guard at the French gate. The dinner, to be sure, was not a bad +one. If you give me such now and then, we can get along with each +other." +</P> + +<P> +He did not smile, and, indeed, seemed to be ridiculing us. +</P> + +<P> +"We will do our best, Mr. Sergeant," replied Sorlé, while he went into +his room and took his great-coat to go out. +</P> + +<P> +"We will see," said he as he went downstairs, "we will see!" +</P> + +<P> +Till now I had said nothing, but when he was down I exclaimed, "Sorlé, +never, no never, was there such a rascal! We shall never get along +with this man. He will drive us all from the house." +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! bah! Moses," she replied, laughing, "I do not think as thou +dost! I have quite the contrary idea; we will be good friends, thou'lt +see, thou'lt see!" +</P> + +<P> +"God grant it!" I said; "but I have not much hope of it." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled as she took off the table-cloth, and gave me too a little +confidence, for this woman had a good deal of shrewdness, and I +acknowledged her sound judgment. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +SERGEANT TRUBERT IN A NEW LIGHT +</H4> + +<P> +You see, Fritz, what the common people had to endure in those days. +Ah, well! just as we were performing extra service, while Monborne was +commanding me at the drilling, while Sergeant Trubert was down upon me, +while we were hearing of domiciliary visits of inspection to ascertain +what provisions the citizens had—in the midst of all this, my dozen +pipes of spirits of wine were being slowly wheeled over the road. +</P> + +<P> +How I repented of having ordered them! How often I could have torn my +hair as I thought that half my thirty years' gains were at the mercy of +circumstances! How I prayed for the Emperor! How I ran every morning +to the coffee-houses and ale-houses to learn the news, and how I +trembled as I read! +</P> + +<P> +Nobody knew what I suffered, not even Sorlé, for I kept it all from +her. She was too keen-sighted not to perceive my anxiety, and +sometimes she would say, "Come, Moses, have courage! All will come +right—patience a little longer!" +</P> + +<P> +But the rumors which came from Alsace, and German Lorraine, and +Hundsruck, quite upset me: "They are coming! They will not dare to +come! We are ready for them! They will take us by surprise! Peace is +going to be made! They will pass by to-morrow! We shall have no +fighting this winter! They can wait no longer! The Emperor is still +in Paris! Marshal Victor is at Huninguen! They are impressing the +custom-house officers, the forest-keepers, and the gendarmerie! Some +Spanish dragoons went down by Saverne yesterday! The mountaineers are +to defend the Vosges! There will be fighting in Alsace!" etc., etc. +Your head would have been turned, Fritz. In the morning the wind would +blow one way and put you in good spirits; at night it would blow +another way and you would be miserable. +</P> + +<P> +And my spirits of wine were coming nearer and nearer, and at last +arrived, in the midst of this conflict of news, which might any day +turn into a conflict of bullets and shells. If it had not been for my +other troubles I should have been beside myself. Fortunately, my +indignation against Monborne and the other villains diverted my mind. +</P> + +<P> +We heard nothing more of Sergeant Trubert after the great dinner for +the remainder of that day, and the night following, as he was on guard; +but the next morning, as I was getting up, behold, he came up the +stairs, with his musket on his shoulder; he opened the door and began +to laugh, with his mustaches all white with frost. I had just put on +my pantaloons, and looked at him in astonishment. My wife was still in +her room. +</P> + +<P> +"He! he! Father Moses," said he, in a good-natured voice, "it has been +a dreadful cold night." He did not look or speak like the same person. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sergeant," I replied, "it is December, and that is what we must +expect." +</P> + +<P> +"What we must expect," he repeated;—"all the more reason for taking a +drop. Let us see, is there any more of that old cherry-brandy?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked, as he spoke, as if he could see through me. I got up at +once from my arm-chair, and ran to fetch the bottle: "Yes, yes, +sergeant," I exclaimed, "there is more, drink and enjoy it." +</P> + +<P> +As I said this, his face, still a little hard, seemed to smile all +over. He placed his gun in a corner, and, standing up, handed me the +glass, saying, "Pour out, Father Moses, pour out!" +</P> + +<P> +I filled it brimful. As I did so, he laughed quietly. His yellow face +puckered up in hundreds of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and +around his cheeks and mustaches and chin. He did not laugh so as to be +heard, but his eyes showed his good-humor. +</P> + +<P> +"Famous cherry-brandy this, in truth, Father Moses!" he said as he +drank it. "A body knows who has drank it in the Black Forest, where it +cost nothing! Aren't you going to drink with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"With pleasure," I answered. And we drank together. He looked at me +all the time. Suddenly he said, with a mischievous look, "Hey, Father +Moses, say, you were afraid of me yesterday?" He smiled as he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—Sergeant——" +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come," said he, laying his hand upon my shoulder—"confess that +I frightened you." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled so pleasantly that I could not help saying: "Well, yes, a +little!" +</P> + +<P> +"He! he! he! I knew it very well," said he. "You had heard them say, +'Sergeant Trubert is a tough one!' You were afraid, and you gave me a +dinner fit for a prince to coax me!" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed aloud, and I ended by laughing too. Sorlé had heard all, in +the next room, and now came to the door and said, "Good-morning, Mr. +Sergeant." +</P> + +<P> +He exclaimed, "Father Moses, here is what may be called a woman! You +can boast of having a spirited woman, a sly woman, slyer than you are, +Father Moses; he, he, he! That is as it should be—that is as it +should be!" +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé was delighted. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Mr. Sergeant," said she, "can you really think so?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! bah!" he exclaimed. "You are a first-rate woman! I saw you when +I first came, and said to myself, 'Take heed, Trubert! They make a +fair pretence; it is a stratagem to send you to the hotel to sleep. We +will let the enemy unmask his batteries!' +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! ha! ha! You are nice folks. You gave me a dinner fit for a +Marshal of the Empire. Now, Father Moses, I invite myself to take a +small glass of cherry-brandy with you now and then. Put the bottle +aside, by itself, it is excellent! And as for the rest, the room which +you have given me is too handsome; I don't like such gewgaws; this fine +furniture and these soft beds are good for women. What I want is a +small room, like that at the side, two good chairs, a pine table, a +plain bed with a mattress, paillasse, and coverings, and five or six +nails in the wall for hanging my things. You just give me that!" +</P> + +<P> +"Since you wish it, Mr. Sergeant." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I wish it; the handsome room will be for state occasions." +</P> + +<P> +"You will breakfast with us?" asked my wife, well pleased. +</P> + +<P> +"I breakfast and dine at the cantine," replied the sergeant. "I do +very well there; and I don't want to have good people go to any expense +for me. When people respect an old soldier as he ought to be +respected, when they treat him kindly, when they are like +you,—Trubert, too, is what he ought to be." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Mr. Sergeant!" said Sorlé. +</P> + +<P> +"Call me sergeant," said he, "I know you now. You are not like all the +rabble of the city; rascals who have been growing rich while we have +been off fighting; wretches who do nothing but heap up money and grow +big at the expense of the army, who live on us, who are indebted to us +for everything, and who send us to sleep in nests of vermin. Ah! a +thousand million thunders!" +</P> + +<P> +His face resumed its bad look; his mustaches shook with his anger, and +I thought to myself, "What a good idea it was to treat him well! +Sorlé's ideas are always good!" +</P> + +<P> +But in a moment he relaxed, and laying his hand on my arm, he exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"To think that you are Jews! a kind of abominable race; everything that +is dirty and vile and niggardly! To think that you are Jews! It is +true, is it not, that you are Jews?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," replied Sorlé. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, upon my word, I am surprised to hear it," said he; "I have seen +so many Jews, in Poland and Germany, that I thought to myself 'They are +sending me to some Jews; they had better look out or I'll smash +everything.'" +</P> + +<P> +We kept silent in our mortification, and he added, "Come, we will say +no more about that. You are good, honest people; I should be sorry to +trouble you. Your hand, Father Moses!" +</P> + +<P> +I gave him my hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I like you," said he. "Now, Madame Moses, the side room!" +</P> + +<P> +We showed him the small room that he asked for, and he went at once to +fetch his knapsack from the other, saying as he went: +</P> + +<P> +"Now I am among honest people! We shall have no difficulty in getting +along together. You do not trouble me, I do not trouble you; I come in +and go out, by day or night; it is Sergeant Trubert, that is enough. +And now and then, in the morning, we will take our little glass; it is +agreed, is it not, Father Moses!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sergeant." +</P> + +<P> +"And here is the key of the house," said Sorlé. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well; everything is arranged; now I am going to take a nap; +good-by, my friends." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you will sleep well, sergeant." We went out at once, and heard +him lie down. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, Moses, you see," whispered my wife, in the alley, "it has all +come right." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I replied, "all right, excellent; your plan was a good one; and +now, if the spirits of wine only come, we shall be happy." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FATHER MOSES'S FIRST ENCOUNTER +</H4> + +<P> +From that time the sergeant lived with us without troubling anybody. +Every morning, before he went to his duties, he came and sat a few +minutes in my room, and talked with me while he took his glass. He +liked to laugh with Sâfel, and we called him "our sergeant," as if he +were one of the family. He seemed to like to be with us; he was a +careful man; he would not allow our <I>schabisboïé</I> to black his shoes; +he cleaned his own buff-skins, and would not let any one touch his arms. +</P> + +<P> +One morning, when I was going to answer to the call, he met me in the +alley, and, seeing a little rust on my musket, he began to swear like +the devil. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Father Moses, if I had you in my company, it would go hard with +you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," thought I; "but, thank God, I'm not." +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé, leaning over the balustrades above, laughed heartily. +</P> + +<P> +From that time the sergeant regularly inspected my equipments; I must +clean my gun over and over, take it to pieces, clean the barrel and +furbish the bayonet, as if I expected to go and fight. And even when +he knew how Monborne treated me, he also wanted to teach me the +exercises. All my remonstrances were of no avail, he would frown, and +say: +</P> + +<P> +"Father Moses, I can't stand it, that an honest man like you should +know less than the rabble. Go along!" +</P> + +<P> +And then we would up to the loft. It was very cold, but the sergeant +was so provoked at my want of briskness in performing the movements, +that he always put me in a great perspiration before we finished. +</P> + +<P> +"Attention to the word of command, and no laziness!" he would exclaim. +</P> + +<P> +I used to hear Sorlé, Sâfel, and the servant laughing in the stairway, +as they peeped through the laths, and I did not dare to turn my head. +In fine, it was entirely owing to this good Trubert that I learned to +charge well, and became one of the best vaulters in the company. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! Fritz, it would all have been very well if the spirits of wine had +come; but instead of my dozen pipes, there came half a company of +marine artillery, and four hundred recruits for the sixth light +infantry. +</P> + +<P> +About this time the governor ordered that a space six hundred metres +wide should be cleared all round the city. +</P> + +<P> +You should have seen the havoc that was made in the place; the fences, +palisades, and trees hewn down, the houses demolished, from which +everybody carried away a beam or some timbers. You should have looked +down from the ramparts and seen the little gardens, the line of +poplars, the old trees in the orchards felled to the ground and dragged +away by swarms of workmen. You should have seen all this to know what +war is! +</P> + +<P> +Father Frise, the two Camus boys, the Sades, the Bosserts, and all the +families of the gardeners and small farmers who lived at Phalsburg, +suffered the most. I can almost hear old Fritz exclaim: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! my poor apple-trees! Ah! my poor pear-trees; I planted you +myself, forty years ago. How beautiful you were, always covered with +fine fruit! Oh, misery! misery!" +</P> + +<P> +And the soldiers still chopped away. Toward the end, old Fritz went +away, his cap drawn over his eyes, and weeping bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +The rumor spread also that they were going to burn the Maisons Rouges +at the foot of the Mittelbronn hill, the tile-kiln at Pernette, and the +little inns of <I>l'Arbre Vert</I> and <I>Panier Fleuri</I>, but it seemed that +the governor found it was not necessary as these houses were out of +range; or rather, that they would reserve that till later; and, that +the allies were coming sooner than they were expected. +</P> + +<P> +Of what happened before the blockade, I remember, too, that on the +twenty-second of December, about eleven o'clock in the morning, the +call was beat. Everybody supposed that it was for the drill, and I set +out quietly, with my musket on my shoulder, as usual; but, as I reached +the corner of the mayoralty, I saw the troops of the garrison formed +under the trees of the square. +</P> + +<P> +They placed us with them in two ranks; and then Governor Moulin, +Commandants Thomas and Pettigenet, and the mayor, with his tri-colored +sash, arrived. +</P> + +<P> +They beat the march, and then the drum-major raised his baton, and the +drums stopped. The governor began to speak, everybody listened, and +the words heard from a distance were repeated from one to another. +</P> + +<P> +"Officers, non-commissioned, National Guards, and Soldiers! +</P> + +<P> +"The enemy is concentrated upon the Rhine, only three days' march from +us. The city is declared to be in a state of siege; the civil +authorities give place to martial law. A permanent court-martial +replaces ordinary tribunals. +</P> + +<P> +"Inhabitants of Phalsburg! we expect from you courage, devotion, +obedience! <I>Vive l'Empereur</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +And a thousand cries of "<I>Vive l'Empereur</I>!" filled the air. +</P> + +<P> +I trembled to the ends of my hair; my spirits of wine were still on the +road; I considered myself a ruined man. +</P> + +<P> +The immediate distribution of cartridges, and the order to the +battalion to go and forage for provisions, and bring in cattle from the +surrounding villages for the supply of the city, prevented me from +thinking of my misfortune. +</P> + +<P> +I had also to think of my own life, for, in receiving such an order, we +supposed of course that the peasants would resist, and it is abominable +to have to fight the people you are robbing. +</P> + +<P> +I was very pale as I thought of all this. +</P> + +<P> +But when Commandant Thomas cried out, "Charge!" and I tore off my first +cartridge, and put it in the barrel, and, instead of hearing the ramrod +I felt a ball at the bottom!—when they ordered us: "By file—left! +left! forward! quick step! march!" and we set out for the barracks of +the Bois-de-Chênes, while the first battalion went on to Quatre-Vents +and Bichelberg, the second to Wechern and Metting; when I thought that +we were going to seize and carry away everything, and that the +court-martial was at the mayoralty to pass sentence upon those who did +not do their duty;—all these new and terrible things completely upset +me. I was troubled as I saw the village in the distance, and pictured +to myself beforehand the cries of the women and children. +</P> + +<P> +You see, Fritz, to take from the poor peasant all his living at the +beginning of winter; to take from him his cow, his goats, his pigs, +everything in short, it is dreadful! and my own misfortune made me feel +more for that of others. +</P> + +<P> +And then, as we marched, I thought of my daughter Zeffen, and Baruch, +and their children, and I exclaimed to myself: +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy on us! if the enemy comes, what will they do in an exposed town +like Saverne? They will lose everything. We may be beggared any day." +</P> + +<P> +These thoughts took away my breath, and in the midst of them I saw some +peasants, who, from their little windows, watched our approach over the +fields and along their street, without stirring. They did not know +what we were coming for. +</P> + +<P> +Six mounted soldiers preceded us; Commandant Thomas ordered them to +pass to the right and left of the barracks, to prevent the peasants +from driving their cattle into the woods, when they had found out that +we had come to rob them. +</P> + +<P> +They set off on a gallop. +</P> + +<P> +We came to the first house, where there is the stone crucifix. We +heard the order: +</P> + +<P> +"Halt!" +</P> + +<P> +Then thirty men were detached to act as sentinels in the little +streets, and I was among the number, which I liked, for I preferred +being on duty to going into their stables and barns. +</P> + +<P> +As we filed through the principal street the peasants asked us: +</P> + +<P> +"What is going on? Have they been cutting wood? Have they been making +arrests?" and such like questions. But we did not answer them, and +hastened on. +</P> + +<P> +Monborne placed me in the third street to the right, near the large +house of Father Franz, who raised bees on the slope of the valley +behind his house. We heard the sheep bleating and the cattle lowing; +that wretch of a Monborne said, winking at me: +</P> + +<P> +"It will be jolly! We will make the Baraquois open their eyes." +</P> + +<P> +He had no mercy in him. He said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"Moses, thou must stay there. If any one tries to pass, cross your +bayonet. If any one resists, prick him well and then fire. The law +must be supported by force." +</P> + +<P> +I don't know where the cobbler picked up that expression; but he left +me in the street, between two fences white with frost, and went on his +way with the rest of the guard. +</P> + +<P> +I waited there nearly twenty minutes, considering what I should do if +the peasants tried to save their property, and thinking it would be +much better to fire upon the cattle than upon their owners. +</P> + +<P> +I was much perplexed and was very cold, when I heard a great shouting; +at the same time the drum began to beat. Some men went into the +stables and drove the cattle. The Baraquins swore and wept; some tried +to defend themselves. Commandant Thomas cried out: +</P> + +<P> +"To the square! Drive them to the square!" +</P> + +<P> +Some cows escaped through the fences, and you can't imagine what a +tumult there was. I congratulated myself that I was not in the midst +of this pillage. But this did not last long, for suddenly a herd of +goats, driven by two old women, filed down the street on their way to +the valley. +</P> + +<P> +Then I had to stop them with my bayonet and call out: +</P> + +<P> +"Halt!" +</P> + +<P> +One of the women, Mother Migneron, knew me; she had a pitchfork, and +was very pale. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me pass, Moses," said she. +</P> + +<P> +I saw that she was coming slowly toward me, meaning to throw me down +with her pitchfork. The other tried to drive the goats into a little +garden at the side, but the slats were too near together, and the fence +too high. +</P> + +<P> +I should have liked to let them go by, and deny having seen anything; +but, unfortunately, Lieutenant Rollet came up and called out: +</P> + +<P> +"Attention!" +</P> + +<P> +And two men of the company followed: Mâcry and Schweyer, the brewer. +</P> + +<P> +Old Migneron, seeing me cross the bayonet, began to grind her teeth, +saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! wretch of a Jew, thou'lt pay for this!" +</P> + +<P> +She was so angry that she had no fear of my musket, and three times she +tried to thrust her pitchfork into me; then I found the benefit of my +drilling, for I parried all her attacks. +</P> + +<P> +Two goats escaped between my legs; the rest were taken. The soldiers +pushed back the old women, broke their pitchforks, and finally regained +the chief street, which was full of cattle, lowing and kicking. +</P> + +<P> +Old Migneron sat down on the fence and tore her hair. +</P> + +<P> +Just then two cows came along, their tails in the air, leaping over the +fences and upsetting everything, the baskets of bees and their old +keeper. Fortunately, as it was winter, the bees remained as if dead in +their baskets, or else I believe they would have routed our whole +battalion. +</P> + +<P> +The horn of the <I>hardier</I>* sounded in the village. He had been +summoned in the name of the law. This old <I>hardier</I>, Nickel, passed +along the street, and the animals became quiet, and could be put in +some order. I saw the procession go along the street; the oxen and +cows in front, then the goats, and the pigs behind. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* Herdsman. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Baraquins followed, flinging stones and throwing sticks. I saw +that, if I should be forgotten, these wretches would fall upon me, and +I should be murdered; but Sergeant Monborne, with other comrades, came +and relieved me. They all laughed and said: +</P> + +<P> +"We have shaved them well! There is not a goat left at the Barracks; +we have taken everything at one haul." +</P> + +<P> +We hastened to rejoin the column, which marched in two lines at the +right and left of the road, the cattle in the middle, our company +behind, and Nickel, with Commandant Thomas, in front. This formed a +file of at least three hundred paces. On every animal a bundle of hay +had been tied for fodder. +</P> + +<P> +In this way we passed slowly into the cemetery lane. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the glacis we halted, and tied up the animals, and the order came +to take them down into the fosses behind the arsenal. +</P> + +<P> +We were the first that returned; we had seized thirty oxen, forty-five +cows, a quantity of goats and pigs, and some sheep. +</P> + +<P> +All day long the companies were coming back with their booty, so that +the fosses were filled with cattle, which remained in the open air. +Then the governor said that the garrison had provisions for six months, +and every inhabitant must prove that he had enough to last as long, and +that domiciliary visits were to begin. +</P> + +<P> +We broke ranks before the city hall. I was going up the main street, +my gun on my shoulder, when some one called me: +</P> + +<P> +"Hey! Father Moses!" +</P> + +<P> +I turned and saw our sergeant. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said he, laughing, "you have made your first attack; you have +brought us back some provisions. Well and good!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sergeant, but it is very sad!" +</P> + +<P> +"What, sad? Thirty oxen, forty-five cows, some pigs and goats—it is +magnificent!" +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure, but if you had heard the cries of these poor people, if +you had seen them!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! bah!" said he. "<I>Primo</I>, Father Moses, soldiers must live; men +must have their rations if they are going to fight. I have often seen +these things done in Germany and Spain and Italy! Peasants are +selfish; they want to keep their own; they do not regard the honor of +the flag; that is trash! In some respects they would be worse than +townspeople, if we were foolish enough to listen to them; we must be +strict." +</P> + +<P> +"We have been, sergeant," I replied; "but if I had been master, we +should not have robbed these poor wretches; they are in a pitiable +condition enough already." +</P> + +<P> +"You are too compassionate, Father Moses, and you think that others are +like yourself. But we must remember that peasants, citizens, +civilians, live only by the soldiers, and have all the profit without +wanting to pay any of the cost. If we followed your advice we should +die of hunger in this little town; our peasants would support the +Russians, the Austrians, and Bavarians at our expense. This pack of +scoundrels would be having a good time from morning to night, and the +rest of us would be as poor as church-mice. That would not do—there +is no sense in it!" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed aloud. We had now come into our passage, and I went +upstairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it thou, Moses?" asked Sorlé in the darkness, for it was nightfall. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, the sergeant and I." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, good!" said she; "I was expecting you." +</P> + +<P> +"Madame Moses," exclaimed the sergeant, "your husband can boast now of +being a real soldier; he has not yet seen fire, but he has charged with +his bayonet." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Sorlé, "I am very glad to see him back." +</P> + +<P> +In the room, through the little white door-curtains, we saw the lamp +burning, and smelt the soup. The sergeant went to his room, as usual, +and we into ours. Sorlé looked at me with her great black eyes, she +saw how pale I was, and knew what I was thinking about. She took from +me my cartridge-box, and placed my musket in the closet. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Sâfel?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"He must be in the square. I sent him to see if you had come back. +Hark! There he is coming up!" +</P> + +<P> +Then I heard the child come up the stairs; he opened the door at once +and ran joyfully to embrace me. +</P> + +<P> +We sat down to dinner, and, in spite of my trouble, I ate with a good +appetite, having taken nothing since morning. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Sorlé said: "If the invoice does not come before the city +gates are closed we shall not have to pay anything, for goods are at +the risk of the merchant until they are delivered. And we have not +received the inventory." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I replied, "you are right; M. Quataya, instead of sending us the +spirits of wine at once, waited a week before answering us. If he had +sent the twelve pipes that day or the day after, they would be here by +this time. The delay is not our fault." +</P> + +<P> +You see, Fritz, how anxious we were; but, as the sergeant came to smoke +his pipe at the corner of the stove, as usual, we said no more about it. +</P> + +<P> +I spoke only of my fears in regard to Zeffen, Baruch, and their +children, in an exposed town like Saverne. The sergeant tried to put +my mind at ease, and said that in such places they made, to be sure, +all sorts of requisitions in wines, brandies, provisions, carriages, +carts, and horses, but, except in case of resistance, the people were +let alone, and the soldiers even tried to keep on good terms with them. +</P> + +<P> +We kept on talking till nearly ten o'clock; then the sergeant, who had +to keep guard at the German gate, went away, and we went to bed. +</P> + +<P> +This was the night of the twenty-second and twenty-third of December, a +very cold night. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +APPROACH OF THE ENEMY +</H4> + +<P> +The next morning, when I threw back the shutters of our room, +everything was white with snow; the old elms of the square, the street, +the roofs of the mayoralty and market and church. Some of our +neighbors, Recco the tinman, Spick the baker, and old Durand the +mattress-maker, opened their doors and looked as if dazzled, while they +exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"He! Winter has come!" +</P> + +<P> +Although we see it every year yet it is like a new existence. We +breathe better out of doors, and within it is a pleasure to sit in the +corner of the fireplace and smoke our pipes, while we watch the +crackling of the red fire. Yes, I have always felt so for seventy-five +years, and I feel so still! +</P> + +<P> +I had scarcely opened the shutters when Sâfel sprang from his bed like +a squirrel, and came and flattened his nose against a pane of glass, +his long hair dishevelled and his legs bare. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! snow! snow!" he exclaimed. "Now we can have some slides!" +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé, in the next room, made haste to dress herself and run in. We +all looked out for some minutes; then I went to make the fire, Sorlé +went to the kitchen, Sâfel dressed himself hastily, and everything fell +back into the ordinary channel. +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding the falling snow, it was very cold. You need only to +see the fire kindle at once, and hear it roar in the stove, to know +that it was freezing hard. +</P> + +<P> +As we were eating our soup, I said to Sorlé, "The poor sergeant must +have passed a dreadful night. His little glass of cherry-brandy will +taste good." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said, "it is well you thought of it." +</P> + +<P> +She went to the closet, and filled my little pocket-flask from the +bottle of cherry-brandy. +</P> + +<P> +You know, Fritz, that we do not like to go into public houses when we +are on our way to our own business. Each of us carries his own little +bottle and crust of bread; it is the best way and most conformed to the +law of the Lord. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé then filled my flask, and I put it in my pocket, under my +great-coat, to go to the guard-house. Sâfel wanted to follow me, but +his mother told him to stay, and I went down alone, well pleased at +being able to do the sergeant a kindness. +</P> + +<P> +It was about seven o'clock. The snow falling from the roofs at every +gust of wind was enough to blind you. But going along the walls, with +my nose in my great-coat, which was well drawn up on the shoulders, I +reached the German gate, and was about going down the three steps of +the guard-house, under the arch at the left, when the sergeant himself +opened the heavy door and exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Is it you, Father Moses! What the devil has brought you here in this +cold?" +</P> + +<P> +The guard-house was full of mist; we could hardly see some men +stretched on camp-beds at the farther end, and five or six veterans +near the red-hot stove. +</P> + +<P> +I stood and looked. +</P> + +<P> +"Here," I said to the sergeant as I handed him my little bottle, "I +have brought you your drop of cherry-brandy; it was such a cold night, +you must need it." +</P> + +<P> +"And you have thought of me, Father Moses!" he exclaimed, taking me by +the arm, and looking at me with emotion. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sergeant." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I am glad of it." +</P> + +<P> +He raised the flask to his mouth and took a good drink. At that moment +there was a distant cry. "Who goes there?" and the guard of the +outpost ran to open the gate. +</P> + +<P> +"That is good!" said the sergeant, tapping on the cork, and giving me +the bottle; "take it back, Father Moses, and thank you!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he turned toward the half-moon and asked, "News! What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +We both looked and saw a hussar quartermaster, a withered, gray old +man, with quantities of chevrons on his arm, arrive in great haste. +</P> + +<P> +All my life I shall have that man before my eyes; his smoking horse, +his flying sabretash, his sword clinking against his boots; his cap and +jacket covered with frost; his long, bony, wrinkled face, his pointed +nose, long chin, and yellow eyes. I shall always see him riding like +the wind, then stopping his rearing horse under the arch in front of +us, and calling out to us with a voice like a trumpet: "Where is the +governor's house, sergeant?" +</P> + +<P> +"The first house at the right, quartermaster. What is the news?" +</P> + +<P> +"The enemy is in Alsace!" +</P> + +<P> +Those who have never seen such men—men accustomed to long warfare, and +hard as iron—can have no idea of them. And then if you had heard the +exclamation, "The enemy is in Alsace!" it would have made you tremble. +</P> + +<P> +The veterans had gone away; the sergeant, as he saw the hussar fasten +his horse at the governor's door, said to me: "Ah, well, Father Moses, +now we shall see the whites of their eyes!" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed, and the others seemed pleased. +</P> + +<P> +As for myself, I set forth quickly, with my head bent, and in my terror +repeating to myself the words of the prophet: +</P> + +<P> +"One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, +to show the king that his passages are stopped, and the reeds they have +burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. +</P> + +<P> +"The mighty men have forborne to fight, they have remained in their +holds, their might hath failed, and the bars are broken. +</P> + +<P> +"Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, +prepare the nations against her, call together against her the +kingdoms, appoint a captain against her. +</P> + +<P> +"And the land shall tremble and sorrow; for every purpose of the Lord +shall be performed, to make the land a desolation without an +inhabitant!" +</P> + +<P> +I saw my ruin at hand—the destruction of my hopes. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy, Moses!" exclaimed my wife, as she saw me come back, "what is +the matter? Your face is all drawn up. Something dreadful has +happened." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Sorlé," I said, as I sat down; "the time of trouble has come of +which the prophet spoke: 'The king of the south shall push at him, and +the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind; and he +shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over.'" +</P> + +<P> +This I said with my hands raised toward heaven. Little Sâfel squeezed +himself between my knees, while Sorlé looked on, not knowing what to +say; and I told them that the Austrians were in Alsace; that the +Bavarians, Swedes, Prussians, and Russians were coming by hundreds of +thousands; that a hussar had come to announce all these calamities; +that our spirits of wine were lost, and ruin was threatening us. +</P> + +<P> +I shed a few tears, and neither Sorlé nor Sâfel would comfort me. +</P> + +<P> +It was eight o'clock. There was a great commotion in the city. We +heard the drum beat, and proclamations read; it seemed as if the enemy +were already there. +</P> + +<P> +One thing which I remember especially, for we had opened a window to +hear, was that the governor ordered the inhabitants to empty +immediately their barns and granaries; and that, while we were +listening, a large Alsatian wagon with two horses, with Baruch sitting +on the pole, and Zeffen behind on some straw—her infant in her arms, +and her other child at her side—turned suddenly into the street. +</P> + +<P> +They were coming to us for safety! +</P> + +<P> +The sight of them upset me, and raising my hands, I exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Lord, take from me all weakness! Thou seest that I need to live for +the sake of these little ones. Therefore be thou my strength, and let +me not be cast down!" +</P> + +<P> +And I went down at once to receive them, Sorlé and Sâfel following me. +I took my daughter in my arms, and helped her to the ground, while +Sorlé took the children, and Baruch exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"We came at the last minute! The gate was closed as soon as we had +come in. There were many others from Quatre-Vents and Saverne who had +to stay outside." +</P> + +<P> +"God be praised, Baruch!" I replied. "You are all welcome, my dear +children! I have not much, I am not rich; but what I have, you +have—it is all yours. Come in!" +</P> + +<P> +And we went upstairs; Zeffen, Sorlé, and I carrying the children, while +Baruch stayed to take their things out of the wagon, and then he came +up. +</P> + +<P> +The street was now full of straw and hay, thrown out from the lofts; +there was no wind, and the snow had stopped falling. In a little while +the shouts and proclamations ceased. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé hastened to serve up the remains of our breakfast, with a bottle +of wine; and Baruch, while he was eating, told us that there was a +panic in Alsace, that the Austrians had turned Basle, and were +advancing by forced marches upon Schlestadt, Neuf Brisach, and +Strasburg, after having surrounded Huninguen. +</P> + +<P> +"Everybody is escaping," said he. "They are fleeing to the mountain, +taking their valuables on their carts, and driving their cattle into +the woods. There is a rumor already that bands of Cossacks have been +seen at Mutzig, but that is hardly possible, as the army of Marshal +Victor is on the Upper Rhine, and dragoons are passing every day to +join him. How could they pass his lines without giving battle?" +</P> + +<P> +We were listening very attentively to these things when the sergeant +came in. He was just off duty, and stood outside of the door, looking +at us with astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +I took Zeffen by the hand, and said: "Sergeant, this is my daughter, +this is my son-in-law, and these are my grandchildren, about whom I +have told you. They know you, for I have told them in my letters how +much we think of you." +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant looked at Zeffen.—"Father Moses," said he, "you have a +handsome daughter, and your son-in-law looks like a worthy man." +</P> + +<P> +Then he took little Esdras from Zeffen's arms, and lifted him up, and +made a face at him, at which the child laughed, and everybody was +pleased. The other little one opened his eyes wide and looked on. +</P> + +<P> +"My children have come to stay with me," I said to the sergeant; "you +will excuse them if they make a little noise in the house?" +</P> + +<P> +"How! Father Moses," he exclaimed. "I will excuse everything! Do not +be concerned; are we not old friends?" +</P> + +<P> +And at once, in spite of all we could say, he chose another room +looking upon the court. +</P> + +<P> +"All the nestful ought to be together," said he. "I am the friend of +the family, the old sergeant, who will not trouble anybody, provided +they are willing to see him here." +</P> + +<P> +I was so much moved that I gave him both my hands. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a happy day when you entered my house," said I. "The Lord be +thanked for it!" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed, and said: "Come now, Father Moses; come! Have I done +anything more than was natural? Why do you wonder at it?" +</P> + +<P> +He went at once to get his things and carry them to his new room; and +then went away, so as not to disturb us. +</P> + +<P> +How we are mistaken! This sergeant, whom Frichard had sent to plague +us, at the end of a fortnight was one of our family; he consulted our +comfort in everything—and, notwithstanding all the years that have +passed since then, I cannot think of that good man without emotion. +</P> + +<P> +When we were alone, Baruch told us that he could not stay at Phalsburg; +that he had come to bring his family, with everything that he could +provide for them in the first hurried moments; but that, in the midst +of such dangers, when the enemy could not long delay coming, his duty +was to guard his house, and prevent, as much as possible, the pillage +of his goods. +</P> + +<P> +This seemed right, though it made us none the less grieved to have him +go. We thought of the pain of living apart from each other; of hearing +no tidings; of being all the time uncertain about the fate of our +beloved ones! Meanwhile we were all busy. Sorlé and Zeffen prepared +the children's bed; Baruch took out the provisions which he had +brought; Sâfel played with the two little ones, and I went and came, +thinking about our troubles. +</P> + +<P> +At last, when the best room was ready for Zeffen and the children, as +the German gate was already shut, and the French gate would be open +only until two o'clock at the latest, for strangers to leave the city, +Baruch exclaimed: "Zeffen, the moment has come!" +</P> + +<P> +He had scarcely said the words when the great agony began—cries, +embraces, and tears! +</P> + +<P> +Ah! it is a great joy to be loved, the only true joy of life. But what +sorrow to be separated! And how our family loved each other! How +Zeffen and Baruch embraced one another! How they leaned over their +little ones, how they looked at them, and began to sob again! +</P> + +<P> +What can be said at such a moment? I sat by the window, with my hands +before my face, without strength to speak. I thought to myself: "My +God, must it be that a single man shall hold in his hands the fate of +us all! Must it be that, for his pleasure, for the gratification of +his pride, everything shall be confounded, overturned, torn asunder! +My God, shall these troubles never end? Hast thou no pity on thy poor +creatures?" +</P> + +<P> +I did not raise my eyes, but I heard the lamentations which rent my +heart, and which lasted till the moment when Baruch, perceiving that +Zeffen was quite exhausted, ran out, exclaiming: "It must be! It must +be! Adieu, Zeffen! Adieu, my children! Adieu, all!" +</P> + +<P> +No one followed him. +</P> + +<P> +We heard the carriage roll away, and then was the great sorrow—that +sorrow of which it is written: +</P> + +<P> +"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when we +remembered Zion. +</P> + +<P> +"We hanged our harps upon the willows. +</P> + +<P> +"For there they that carried us away captive, required of us a song, +saying: 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!' +</P> + +<P> +"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE COSSACKS +</H4> + +<P> +But that day I was to have the greatest fright of all. You remember, +Fritz, that Sorlé had told me at supper the night before, that if we +did not receive the invoice, our spirits of wine would be at the risk +of M. Quataya of Pézenas, and that we need feel no anxiety about it. +</P> + +<P> +I thought so, too, for it seemed to me right; and as the French and +German gates were closed at three o'clock, and nothing more could enter +the city, I supposed that that was the end of the matter, and felt +quite relieved. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a pity, Moses!" I said to myself, as I walked up and down the +room; "yes, for if these spirits had been sent a week sooner, we should +have made a great profit; but now, at least, thou art relieved of great +anxiety. Be content with thine old trade. Let alone for the future +such harassing undertakings. Don't stake thine all again on one throw, +and let this be a lesson to thee!" +</P> + +<P> +Such thoughts were in my mind, when, about four o'clock, I heard some +one coming up our stairs. It was a heavy step, as of a man trying to +find his way in the dark. +</P> + +<P> +Zeffen and Sorlé were in the kitchen, preparing supper. Women always +have something to talk about by themselves, for nobody else to hear. +So I listened, and then opened the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is there?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Does not Mr. Moses, the wine-merchant, live here?" asked the man in a +blouse and broad-brimmed felt hat, with his whip on his shoulder—a +wagoner's figure, in short. I turned pale as I heard him, and replied: +"Yes, my name is Moses. What do you want?" +</P> + +<P> +He came in, and took out a large leather portfolio from under his +blouse. I trembled as I looked on. +</P> + +<P> +"There!" said he, giving me two papers, "my invoice and my bill of +lading! Are not the twelve pipes of three-six from Pézenas for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, where are they?" +</P> + +<P> +"On the Mittelbronn hill, twenty minutes from here," he quietly +answered. "Some Cossacks stopped my wagons, and I had to take off the +horses. I hurried into the city by a postern under the bridge." +</P> + +<P> +My legs failed me as he spoke. I sank into my arm-chair, unable to +speak a word. +</P> + +<P> +"You will pay me the portage," said the man, "and give me a receipt for +the delivery." +</P> + +<P> +"Sorlé! Sorlé!" I cried in a despairing voice. And she and Zeffen ran +to me. The wagoner explained it all to them. As for me, I heard +nothing. I had strength only to exclaim: "Now all is lost! Now I must +pay without receiving the goods." +</P> + +<P> +"We are willing to pay, sir," said my wife, "but the letter states that +the twelve pipes shall be delivered in the city." +</P> + +<P> +The wagoner said: "I have just come from the justice of the peace, as I +wanted to find out before coming to you what I had a right to claim; he +told me that you ought to pay for everything, even my horses and +carriages, do you understand? I unharnessed my horses, and escaped, +myself, which is so much the less on your account. Will you settle? +Yes or no?" +</P> + +<P> +We were almost dead with fright when the sergeant came in. He had +heard loud words, and asked: "What is it, Father Moses? What is it +about? What does this man want?" +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé, who never lost her presence of mind, told him the whole story, +shortly and clearly; he comprehended it at once. +</P> + +<P> +"Twelve pipes of three-six, that makes twenty-four pipes of cognac. +What luck for the garrison! what luck!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said I, "but it cannot come in; the city gates are shut, and the +wagons are surrounded by Cossacks." +</P> + +<P> +"Cannot come in!" cried the sergeant, raising his shoulders. "Go +along! Do you take the governor for a fool? Is he going to refuse +twenty-four pipes of good brandy, when the garrison needs it? Is he +going to leave this windfall to the Cossacks? Madame Sorlé, pay the +portage at once; and you, Father Moses, put on your cap and follow me +to the governor's, with the letter in your pocket. Come along! Don't +lose a minute! If the Cossacks have time to put their noses in your +casks, you will find a famous deficit, I warrant you!" +</P> + +<P> +When I heard that I exclaimed: "Sergeant, you have saved my life!" And +I hastened to get my cap. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I pay the portage?" asked Sorlé. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes! pay!" I answered as I went down, for it was plain that the +wagoner could compel us. I went down with an anxious heart. +</P> + +<P> +All that I remember after this is that the sergeant walked before me in +the snow, that he said a few words to the sapper on orderly duty at the +governor's house, and that we went up the grand stairway with the +marble balustrade. +</P> + +<P> +Upstairs, in the gallery with the balustrade around it, he said to me: +"Be easy, Father Moses! Take out your letter, and let me do the +talking." +</P> + +<P> +He knocked softly at a door as he spoke: +</P> + +<P> +Somebody said: "Come in!" +</P> + +<P> +We went in. +</P> + +<P> +Colonel Moulin, a fat man in a dressing-gown and little silk cap, was +smoking his pipe in front of a good fire. He was very red, and had a +caraffe of rum and a glass at its side on the marble mantel-piece, +where were also a clock and vases of flowers. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" he asked, turning round. +</P> + +<P> +"Colonel, this is what is the matter," replied the sergeant: "twelve +pipes of spirits of wine have been stopped on the Mittelbronn hill, and +are surrounded by Cossacks." +</P> + +<P> +"Cossacks!" exclaimed the governor. "Have they broken through our +lines already?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the sergeant, "a sudden attack of Cossacks! They have +possession of the twelve pipes of three-six which this patriot brought +from Pézenas to sustain the garrison." +</P> + +<P> +"Some bandits," said the governor—"thieves!" +</P> + +<P> +"Here is the letter," said the sergeant, taking it from my hand. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel cast his eyes over it, and said hastily: +</P> + +<P> +"Sergeant, go and take twenty-five men of your company. Go on the run, +free the wagons, and put in requisition horses from the village to +bring them into the city." +</P> + +<P> +And, as we were going: "Wait!" said he; and he went to his bureau and +wrote four words; "here is the order." +</P> + +<P> +When we were once on the stairway, the sergeant said: "Father Moses, +run to the cooper's; we may perhaps need him and his boys. I know the +Cossacks; their first thought will be to unload the casks so as to be +more sure of keeping them. Have them bring ropes and ladders; and I +will go to the Barracks and get my men together." +</P> + +<P> +Then I ran home like a hart, for I was enraged at the Cossacks. I went +in to get my musket and cartridge-box. I could have fought an army: I +could not see straight. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it? Where are you going?" asked Sorlé and Zeffen. +</P> + +<P> +"You will know by and by," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +I went to Schweyer's. He had two large saddle-pistols, which he put +quickly into his apron-belt with the axe; his two boys, Nickel and +Frantz, took the ladder and ropes, and we ran to the French gate. +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant was not yet there; but two minutes after he came running +down the street by the rampart with thirty veterans in file, their +muskets on their shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +The officer guarding the postern had only to see the order to let us go +out, and a few minutes after we were in the trenches behind the +hospital, where the sergeant ranged his men. +</P> + +<P> +"It is cognac!" he told them; "twenty-four pipes of cognac! So, +comrades, attention! The garrison is without brandy; those who do not +like brandy have only to fall to the rear." +</P> + +<P> +But they all wanted to be in front, and laughed in anticipation. +</P> + +<P> +We went up the stairway, and were ranged in order in the covered ways. +It might have been five o'clock. Looking from the top of the glacis we +could see the broad meadow of Eichmatt, and above it the hills of +Mittelbronn covered with snow. The sky was full of clouds, and night +was coming on. It was very cold. +</P> + +<P> +"Forward!" said the sergeant. +</P> + +<P> +And we gained the highway. The veterans ran, in two files, at the +right and left, their backs rounded, and their muskets in their +shoulder-belts; the snow was up to their knees. +</P> + +<P> +Schweyer, his two boys, and I walked behind. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of a quarter of an hour, the veterans, who ran all the way, +had left us far behind; we heard for some time their cartridge-boxes +rattling, but soon this sound was lost in the distance, and then we +heard the dog of the Trois-Maisons barking in his chain. +</P> + +<P> +The deep silence of the night gave me a chance to think. If it had not +been for the thought of my spirits of wine, I would have gone straight +back to Phalsburg, but fortunately that thought prevailed, and I said: +</P> + +<P> +"Make haste, Schweyer, make haste!" +</P> + +<P> +"Make haste!" he exclaimed angrily, "you can make haste to get back +your spirits of wine, but what do we care for it? Is the highway the +place for us? Are we bandits that we should risk our lives?" +</P> + +<P> +I understood at once that he wanted to escape, and was enraged. +</P> + +<P> +"Take care, Schweyer," said I, "take care! If you and your boys go +back, people will say that you have been a traitor to the city brandy, +and that is worse than being a traitor to the flag, especially in a +cooper." +</P> + +<P> +"The devil take thee!" said he, "we ought never to have come." +</P> + +<P> +However, he kept on ascending the hill with me. Nickel and Frantz +followed us without hurrying. +</P> + +<P> +When we reached the plateau we saw lights in the village. All was +still and seemed quiet, although there was a great crowd around the two +first houses. +</P> + +<P> +The door of the <I>Bunch of Grapes</I> was wide open, and its kitchen fire +shone through the passage to the street where my two wagons stood. +</P> + +<P> +This crowd came from the Cossacks who were carousing at Heitz's house, +after tying their horses under the shed. They had made Mother Heitz +cook them a good hot soup, and we saw them plainly, two or three +hundred paces distant, go up and down the outside steps, with jugs and +bottles which they passed from one to another. The thought came to me +that they were drinking my spirits of wine, for a lantern hung behind +the first wagon, and the rascals were all going from it with their +elbows raised. I was so furious that, regardless of danger, I began to +run to put a stop to the pillage. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the veterans were in advance of me, or I should have been +murdered by the Cossacks; I had not gone half way when our whole troop +sprang from the fences of the highway, and ran like a pack of wolves, +crying out, "To the bayonet!" +</P> + +<P> +You never saw such confusion, Fritz. In a second the Cossacks were on +their horses, and the veterans in the midst of them; the front of the +inn with its trellis, its pigeon-house, and its little fenced garden, +was lighted up by the firing of muskets and pistols. Heitz's two +daughters stood at the windows, with their arms lifted and screamed so +that they could be heard all over Mittelbronn. +</P> + +<P> +Every minute, in the midst of the confusion, something fell upon the +road, and then the horses started and ran through the fields like deer, +with their heads run out, and their manes and tails flying. The +villagers ran; Father Heitz slipped into the barn, and climbed up the +ladder, and I came up breathless, as if out of my senses. +</P> + +<P> +I had not gone more than fifteen steps when a Cossack, who was running +away at full speed, turned about furiously close to me, with his lance +in the air, and called out, "Hurra!" +</P> + +<P> +I had only time to stoop, and I felt the wind from the lance as it +passed along my body. +</P> + +<P> +I never felt so in my life, Fritz; I felt the chill of death, that +trembling of the flesh, of which the prophet spoke: "Fear came upon me +and trembling; the hair of my flesh stood up." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-120"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-120.jpg" ALT="I SHUDDERED IN MY VERY SOUL AND MY HAIR BRISTLED." BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +I SHUDDERED IN MY VERY SOUL AND MY HAIR BRISTLED. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +But what shows the spirit of wisdom and prudence which the Lord puts +into his creatures, when he means to spare them for a good old age, is +that immediately afterward, in spite of my trembling knees, I went and +sat under the first wagon, where the blows of the lances could not +reach me; and there I saw the veterans finish the extermination of the +rascals, who had retreated into the court, and not one of whom escaped. +</P> + +<P> +Five or six were in a heap before the door, and three others were +stretched upon the highway. +</P> + +<P> +This did not take more than ten minutes; then all was dark again, and I +heard the sergeant call: "Cease firing!" +</P> + +<P> +Heitz, who had come down from his hay-loft, had just lighted a lantern; +the sergeant seeing me under the wagon, called out: "Are you wounded, +Father Moses?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," I replied, "but a Cossack tried to thrust his lance into me, and +I got into a safe place." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed aloud, and gave me his hand to help me to rise. +</P> + +<P> +"Father Moses," said he, "I was frightened about you. Wipe your back; +people might think you were not brave." +</P> + +<P> +I laughed too, and thought: "People may think what they please! The +great thing is to live in good health as long as possible." +</P> + +<P> +We had only one wounded, Corporal Duhem, an old man, who bandaged his +own leg, and tried to walk. He had had a blow from a lance in the +right calf. He was placed on the first wagon, and Lehnel, Heitz's +granddaughter, came and gave him a drop of cherry-brandy, which at once +restored his strength and even his good spirits. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the fifteenth," he exclaimed. "I am in for a week at the +hospital; but leave me the bottle for the compresses." +</P> + +<P> +I was delighted to see my twelve pipes on the wagons, for Schweyer and +his two boys had run away, and without their help we could hardly have +reloaded. +</P> + +<P> +I tapped at once at the bung-hole of the hindmost cask to find out how +much was missing. These scamps of Cossacks had already drunk nearly +half a measure of spirits; Father Heitz told me that some of them +scarcely added a drop of water. Such creatures must have throats of +tin; the oldest topers among us could not bear a glass of three-six +without being upset. +</P> + +<P> +At last all was ready and we had only to return to the city. When I +think of it, it all seems before me now: Heitz's large dapple-gray +horses going out of the stable one by one; the sergeant standing by the +dark door with his lantern in his hand, and calling out, "Come, hurry +up! The rascals may come back!" On the road in front of the inn, the +veterans surrounded the wagons; farther on the right some peasants, who +had hastened to the scene with pitchforks and mattocks, were looking at +the dead Cossacks, and myself, standing on the stairs above, singing +praises to God in my heart as I thought how glad Sorlé and Zeffen and +little Sâfel would be to see me come back with our goods. +</P> + +<P> +And then when all is ready, when the little bells jingle, when the whip +snaps, and we start on the way—what delight! +</P> + +<P> +Ah Fritz! everything looks bright after thirty years; we forget fears, +anxieties, and fatigues; but the memory of good men and happy hours +remains with us forever! +</P> + +<P> +The veterans, on both sides of the wagons, with their muskets under +their arms, escorted my twelve pipes as if they were the tabernacle; +Heitz led the horses, and the sergeant and I walked behind. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Father Moses!" said he laughing, "it has all gone off well; are +you satisfied?" +</P> + +<P> +"More than I can possibly tell, sergeant! What would have been my ruin +will make the fortune of my family, and we owe it all to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Go along," said he, "you are joking." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed, but I felt deeply; to have been in danger of losing +everything, and then to regain it all and make profit out of it—it +makes one feel deeply. +</P> + +<P> +I exclaimed inwardly: "I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people; +and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. +</P> + +<P> +"For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth unto +the clouds." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FATHER MOSES RETURNS IN TRIUMPH +</H4> + +<P> +Now I must tell you about our return to Phalsburg. +</P> + +<P> +You may suppose that my wife and children, after seeing me take my gun +and go away, were in a state of great anxiety. About five o'clock +Sorlé went out with Zeffen to try to learn what was going on, and only +then they heard that I had started for Mittelbronn with a detachment of +veterans. +</P> + +<P> +Imagine their terror! +</P> + +<P> +The rumor of these extraordinary proceedings had spread through the +city, and quantities of people were on the bastion of the artillery +barracks, looking on from the distance. Burguet was there, with the +mayor, and other persons of distinction, and a number of women and +children, all trying to see through the darkness. Some insisted that +Moses marched with the detachment, but nobody would believe it, and +Burguet exclaimed: "It is not possible that a sensible man like Moses +would go and risk his life in fighting Cossacks—no, it is not +possible!" +</P> + +<P> +If I had been in his place I should have said the same of him. But +what can you do, Fritz? The most prudent of men become blind when +their property is at stake; blind, I say, and terrible, for they lose +sight of danger. +</P> + +<P> +This crowd was waiting, as I said, and soon Zeffen and Sorlé came, as +pale as death, with their large shawls over their heads. They went up +the rampart and stood there, with their feet in the snow, too much +frightened to speak. +</P> + +<P> +I learned these things afterward. +</P> + +<P> +When Zeffen and her mother went up on the bastion, it was, perhaps, +half-past five; there was not a star to be seen. Just at that time, +Schweyer and his boys ran away, and five minutes later the skirmish +began. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet told me afterward that, notwithstanding the darkness and the +distance, they saw the flash of the muskets around the inn as plainly +as if they were a hundred paces off, and everybody was still and +listened to hear the shots, which were repeated by the echoes of the +Bois-de-Chênes and Lutzelburg. +</P> + +<P> +When they ceased Sorlé descended from the slope leaning on Zeffen's +arm, for she could not support herself. Burguet helped them to reach +the street, and took them into old Frise's house on the corner, where +they found him warming himself gloomily by his hearth. +</P> + +<P> +"My last day has come!" said Sorlé. Zeffen wept bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +I have often reproached myself for having caused this sorrow, but who +can answer for his own wisdom? Has not the wise man himself said: "I +turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; and I saw that +wisdom excelleth folly; and I myself perceived that one event happeneth +to the wise man and the fool. Wherefore, I said in my heart, that +wisdom also is vanity." +</P> + +<P> +Burguet was going out from Father Frise's when Schweyer and his sons +came up the postern stairs, crying out that we were surrounded by +Cossacks and lost. Fortunately my wife and daughter could not hear +them, and the mayor soon came along and ordered them to stop talking +and go home quickly, if they did not want to be sent to prison. +</P> + +<P> +They obeyed, but that did not prevent people from believing what they +said, especially as it was all dark again in the direction of +Mittelbronn. +</P> + +<P> +The crowd came down from the ramparts and filled the street; many of +them went to their homes thinking they should never see us again, when, +just as the clock struck seven, the sentinel of the outworks called +out, "Who goes there?" +</P> + +<P> +We had reached the gate. +</P> + +<P> +The crowd was soon on the ramparts again. The squad in front of the +sergeant on duty flew to arms; they had just recognized us. +</P> + +<P> +We heard the murmur, without knowing what it was. So, when, after a +reconnoissance, the gates were slowly opened to us, and the two bridges +lowered for us to pass, what was our surprise at hearing the shouts: +"Hurrah for Father Moses! Hurrah for the spirits of wine!" +</P> + +<P> +The tears came to my eyes. And my wagons rolling heavily under the +gates, the soldiers presented arms to us, the great crowd surrounding +us, shouting: "Moses! Hey, Moses! are you all right? you have not been +killed?" the shouts of laughter, the people seizing my arm to hear me +tell about the fight,—all these things were very pleasant. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody wanted to talk with me, even the mayor, and I had not time to +answer them. +</P> + +<P> +But all this was nothing compared with the joy I felt at seeing Sorlé, +Zeffen, and little Sâfel run from Father Frise's and throw themselves +all at once into my arms, exclaiming: "He is safe! he is safe!" +</P> + +<P> +Ah, Fritz! what are honors by the side of such love? What is all the +glory of the world compared with the joy of seeing our beloved ones? +The others might have cried out, "Hurrah for Moses!" a hundred years, +and I would not even have turned my head; but I was terribly moved by +the sight of my family. +</P> + +<P> +I gave Sâfel my gun, and while the wagons, escorted by the veterans, +went on toward the little market, I led Zeffen and Sorlé through the +crowd to old Frise's, and there, when we were alone, we began to hug +each other again. +</P> + +<P> +Without, the shouts of joy were redoubled; you would have thought that +the spirits of wine belonged to the whole city. But within the room, +my wife and daughter burst into tears, and I confessed my imprudence. +</P> + +<P> +So, instead of telling them of the dangers I had experienced, I told +them that the Cossacks ran away as soon as they saw us, and that we had +only to put horses to the wagons before starting. +</P> + +<P> +A quarter of an hour afterward, when the cries and tumult had ceased, I +went out, with Zeffen and Sorlé on my arms, and little Sâfel in front, +with my gun on his shoulder, and in this way we went home, to see to +the unlading of the brandy. +</P> + +<P> +I wanted to put everything in order before morning, so as to begin to +sell at double price as soon as possible. +</P> + +<P> +When a man runs such risks he ought to make something by it; for if he +should sell at cost price, as some persons wish, nobody would be +willing to run any risk for the sake of others; and if it should come +to pass that a man should sacrifice himself for other people, he would +be thought a blockhead; we have seen it a hundred times, and it will +always be so. +</P> + +<P> +Thank God! such ideas never entered into my head! I have always +thought that the true idea of trade was to make as much profit as we +can, honestly and lawfully. +</P> + +<P> +That is according to justice and good sense. +</P> + +<P> +As we turned at the corner of the market, our two wagons were already +unharnessed before our house. Heitz was running back with his horses, +so as to take advantage of the open gates, and the veterans, with their +arms at will, were going up the street toward the infantry quarters. +</P> + +<P> +It might have been eight o'clock. Zeffen and Sorlé went to bed, and I +sent Sâfel for Gros the cooper, to come and unload the casks. +Quantities of people came and offered to help us. Gros came soon with +his boys, and the work began. +</P> + +<P> +It is very pleasant, Fritz, to see great tuns going into your cellar, +and to say to yourself, "These splendid tuns are mine: it is spirits +which cost me twenty sous the quart, and which I am going to sell for +three francs!" This shows the beauty of trade; but everybody can +imagine the pleasure for himself—there is no use in speaking of it. +</P> + +<P> +About midnight my twelve pipes were down on the stands, and there was +nothing left to do but to broach them. +</P> + +<P> +While the crowd was dispersing, I engaged Gros to come in the morning +to help me mix the spirits with water, and we went up, well pleased +with our day's work. We closed the double oak door, and I fastened the +padlock and went to bed. +</P> + +<P> +What a pleasure it is to own something and feel that it is all safe! +</P> + +<P> +This is how my twelve pipes were saved. +</P> + +<P> +You see now, Fritz, what anxieties and fears we had at that time. +Nobody was sure of anything; for you must not suppose that I was the +only one living like a bird on the branch; there were hundreds of +others who were not able to close their eyes. You should have seen how +the citizens looked every morning, when they heard that the Austrians +and Russians occupied Alsace, that the Prussians were marching upon +Sarrebruck, or when an order was published for domiciliary visits, or +for days' labor to wall up the posterns and orillons of the place, or +to form companies of firemen to remove at once all inflammable matter, +or to report to the governor the situation of the city treasury, and +the list of the principal persons subject to taxes for the supply of +shoes, caps, bed-linen, and so forth. +</P> + +<P> +You should have seen how people looked at each other. +</P> + +<P> +In war times civil life is nothing, and they will take from you your +last shirt, giving you the governor's receipt for it. The first men of +the land are zeros when the governor has spoken. This is why I have +often thought that everybody who wishes for war, or at least wants to +be a soldier, is either demented or half ruined, and hopes to better +himself by the ruin of everybody else. It must be so. +</P> + +<P> +But notwithstanding all these troubles, I could not lose time, and I +spent all the next day in mixing my spirits. I took off my cloak, and +drew out with great gusto. Gros and his boys brought jugs, and emptied +them in the casks which I had bought beforehand, so that by evening +these casks were brimful of good white brandy, eighteen degrees. +</P> + +<P> +I had caramel prepared, also, to give the brandy a good color of old +cognac, and when I turned the faucet, and raised the glass before the +candle, and saw that it was exactly the right tint, I was in ecstasies, +and exclaimed: "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and +wine unto those that be of heavy hearts! Let him drink and remember +his misery no more." +</P> + +<P> +Father Gros, standing at my side on his great flat feet, smiled +quietly, and his boys looked well pleased. +</P> + +<P> +I filled the glass for them; they passed it to each other and were +delighted with it. +</P> + +<P> +About five o'clock we went upstairs. Sâfel, on the same day, had +brought three workmen, and had them remove our old iron into the court +under the shed. The old rickety storehouse was cleaned. Desmarets, +the joiner, put up some shelves behind the door in the arch, for +holding bottles, and glasses, and tin measures, when the time for +selling should come, and his son put together the planks of the +counter. This was all done at once, as at a time of great pressure, +when people like to make a good sum of money quickly. +</P> + +<P> +I looked at it all with a good deal of satisfaction. Zeffen, with her +baby in her arms, and Sorlé, had also come down. I showed my wife the +place behind the counter, and said, "That is the place where you are to +sit, with your feet in loose slippers, and a warm tippet on your +shoulders, and sell our brandy." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled as she thought of it. +</P> + +<P> +Our neighbors, Bailly the armorer, Koffel the little weaver, and +several others, came and looked on without speaking; they were +astonished to see what quick work we were making. +</P> + +<P> +At six o'clock, just as Desmarets laid aside his hammer, the sergeant +arrived in great glee, on his return from the cantine. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Father Moses!" he exclaimed, "the work goes on! But there is +still something wanting." +</P> + +<P> +"What is that, sergeant?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hi! It is all right, only you must put a screen up above, or look out +for the shells!" +</P> + +<P> +I saw that he was right, and we were all well frightened, except the +neighbors, who laughed to see our surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the sergeant, "we must have it." +</P> + +<P> +This took away all my pleasure; I saw that our troubles were not yet at +an end. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé, Zeffen, and I went up, while Desmarets closed the door. Supper +was ready; we sat down thoughtfully, and little Sâfel brought the keys. +</P> + +<P> +The noise had ceased without; now and then a citizen on patrol passed +by. +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant came to smoke his pipe as usual. He explained how the +screens were made, by crossing beams in the form of a sentry-box, the +two sides supported against the gables, but while he maintained that it +would hold like an arch, I did not think it strong enough, and I saw by +Sorlé's face that she thought as I did. +</P> + +<P> +We sat there talking till ten o'clock, and then all went to bed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE ENEMY REPULSED +</H4> + +<P> +About one o'clock in the morning of the sixth of January, the day of +the feast of the Kings, the enemy arrived on the hill of Saverne. +</P> + +<P> +It was terribly cold, our windows under the persiennes were white with +frost. I woke as the clock struck one; they were beating the call at +the infantry barracks. +</P> + +<P> +You can have no idea how it sounded in the silence of the night. +</P> + +<P> +"Dost thou hear, Moses?" whispered Sorlé. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I hear," said I, almost without breathing. +</P> + +<P> +After a minute some windows were opened in our street, and we knew that +others too were listening; then we heard running, and suddenly the cry, +"To arms! to arms!" +</P> + +<P> +It made one's hair stand on end. +</P> + +<P> +I had just risen, and was lighting a lamp, when we heard two knocks at +our door. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in!" said Sorlé, trembling. +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant opened the door. He was in marching equipments, with his +gaiters on his legs, his large gray cap turned up at the sides, his +musket on his shoulder, and his sabre and cartridge-box on his back. +</P> + +<P> +"Father Moses," said he, "go back to bed and be quiet: it is the +battalion call at the barracks, and has nothing to do with you." +</P> + +<P> +And we saw at once that he was right, for the drums did not come up the +street two by two, as when the National Guard was called in. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, sergeant," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"Go to sleep!" said he, and he went down the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +The door of the alley below slammed to. Then the children, who had +waked up, began to cry. Zeffen came in, very pale, with her baby in +her arms, exclaiming, "Mercy! What is the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is nothing, Zeffen," said Sorlé. "It is nothing, my child: they +are beating the call for the soldiers." +</P> + +<P> +At the same moment the battalion came down the main street. We heard +them march as far as to the Place d'Armes, and beyond it toward the +German gate. +</P> + +<P> +We shut the windows, Zeffen went back to her room, and I lay down again. +</P> + +<P> +But how could I sleep after such a start? My head was full of a +thousand thoughts: I fancied the arrival of the Russians on the hill +this cold night, and our soldiers marching to meet them, or manning the +ramparts. I thought of all the blindages and block-houses, and +batteries inside the bastions, and that all these great works had been +made to guard against bombs and shells, and I exclaimed inwardly: +"Before the enemy has demolished all these works, our houses will be +crushed, and we shall be exterminated to the last man." +</P> + +<P> +I took on in this way for about half an hour, thinking of all the +calamities which threatened us, when I heard outside the city, toward +Quatre-Vents, a kind of heavy rolling, rising and falling like the +murmur of running water. This was repeated every second. I raised +myself on my elbow to listen, and I knew that it was a fight far more +terrible than that at Mittelbronn, for the rolling did not stop, but +seemed rather to increase. +</P> + +<P> +"How they are fighting, Sorlé, how they are fighting!" I exclaimed, as +I pictured to myself the fury of those men murdering each other at the +dead of night, not knowing what they were doing. "Listen! Sorlé, +listen! If that does not make one shudder!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said she. "I hope our sergeant will not be wounded; I hope he +will come back safe!" +</P> + +<P> +"May the Lord watch over him!" I replied, jumping from my bed, and +lighting a candle. +</P> + +<P> +I could not control myself. I dressed myself as quickly as if I were +going to run away; and afterward I listened to that terrible rolling, +which came nearer or died away with every gust of wind. +</P> + +<P> +When once dressed, I opened a window, to try to see something. The +street was still black; but toward the ramparts, above the dark line of +the arsenal bastions, was stretched a line of red. +</P> + +<P> +The smoke of powder is red on account of the musket shots which light +it up. It looked like a great fire. All the windows in the street +were open: nothing could be seen, but I heard our neighbor the armorer +say to his wife, "It is growing warm down there! It is the beginning +of the dance, Annette; but they have not got the big drum yet; that +will come, by and by!" +</P> + +<P> +The woman did not answer, and I thought, "Is it possible to jest about +such things! It is against nature." +</P> + +<P> +The cold was so severe that after five or six minutes I shut the +window. Sorlé got up and made a fire in the stove. +</P> + +<P> +The whole city was in commotion; men were shouting and dogs barking. +Sâfel, who had been wakened by all these noises, went to dress himself +in the warm room. I looked very tenderly on this poor little one, his +eyes still heavy with sleep; and as I thought that we were to be fired +upon, that we must hide ourselves in cellars, and all of us be in +danger of being killed for matters which did not concern us, and about +which nobody had asked our opinion, I was full of indignation. But +what distressed me most was to hear Zeffen sob and say that it would +have been better for her and her children to stay with Baruch at +Saverne and all die together. +</P> + +<P> +Then the words of the prophet came to me: "Is not this thy fear, thy +confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? +</P> + +<P> +"Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent, or where were +the righteous cut off. +</P> + +<P> +"No, they that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same. +</P> + +<P> +"By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are +they consumed. +</P> + +<P> +"But thee, his servant, he shall redeem from death. +</P> + +<P> +"Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn +cometh in his season." +</P> + +<P> +In this way I strengthened my heart, while I heard the great tumult of +the panic-stricken crowd, running and trying to save their property. +</P> + +<P> +About seven o'clock it was announced that the casemates were open, and +that everybody might take their mattresses there, and that there must +be tubs full of water in every house, and the wells left open in case +of fire. +</P> + +<P> +Think, Fritz, what ideas these orders suggested. +</P> + +<P> +Some of our neighbors, Lisbeth Dubourg, Bével Ruppert, Camus's +daughters, and some others, came up to us exclaiming, "We are all lost!" +</P> + +<P> +Their husbands had gone out, right and left, to see what they could +see, and these women hung on Zeffen and Sorlé's necks, repeating again +and again, "Oh, dear! oh, dear! what misery!" +</P> + +<P> +I could have wished them all to the devil, for instead of comforting us +they only increased our fears; but at such times women will get +together and cry out all at once; you can't talk reason to them; they +like these loud cryings and groanings. +</P> + +<P> +Just as the clock struck eight, Bailly the armorer came to find his +wife: he had come from the ramparts. "The Russians," he said, "have +come down in a mass from Quatre-Vents to the very gate, filling the +whole plain—Cossacks, Baskirs, and rabble! Why don't they fire down +upon them from the ramparts? The governor is betraying us." +</P> + +<P> +"Where are our soldiers?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Retreating!" exclaimed he. "The wounded came back two hours ago, and +our men stay yonder, with folded arms." +</P> + +<P> +His bony face shook with rage. He led away his wife; then others came +crying out, "The enemy has advanced to the lower part of the gardens, +upon the glacis." I was astonished at these things. +</P> + +<P> +The women had gone away to cry somewhere else, and just then a great +noise of wheels was heard from the direction of the rampart. I looked +out of the window, and saw a wagon from the arsenal, some citizen +gunners; old Goulden, Holender, Jacob Cloutier, and Barrier galloped at +its sides; Captain Jovis ran in front. They stopped at our door. +</P> + +<P> +"Call the iron-merchant!" cried the captain. "Tell him to come down." +</P> + +<P> +Baker Chanoine, the brigadier of the second battery, came up. I opened +the door. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want of me?" I asked in the stairway. +</P> + +<P> +"Come down, Moses," said Chanoine. And I went down. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Jovis, a tall old man, with his face covered with sweat, in +spite of the cold, said to me, "You are Moses, the iron-merchant?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Open your storehouse. Your iron is required for the defence of the +city." +</P> + +<P> +So I had to lead all these people into my court, under the shed. The +captain on looking round, saw some cast-iron bars, which were used at +that time for closing up the backs of fireplaces. They weighed from +thirty to forty pounds each, and I sold a good many in the vicinity of +the city. There was no lack of old nails, rusty bolts, and old iron of +all sorts. +</P> + +<P> +"This is what we want," said he. "Break up these bars, and take away +the old iron, quick!" +</P> + +<P> +The others, with the help of our two axes, began at once to break up +everything. Some of them filled a basket with the pieces of cast-iron, +and ran with it to the wagon. +</P> + +<P> +The captain looked at his watch, and said, "Make haste! We have just +ten minutes!" +</P> + +<P> +I thought to myself, "They have no need of credit; they take what they +please; it is more convenient." +</P> + +<P> +All my bars and old iron were broken in pieces—more than fifteen +hundred pounds of iron. +</P> + +<P> +As they were starting to run to the ramparts, Chanoine laughed, and +said to me, "Capital grape-shot, Moses! Thou canst get ready thy +pennies. We'll come and take them to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +The wagon started through the crowd which ran behind it, and I followed +too. +</P> + +<P> +As we came nearer the ramparts the firing became more and more +frequent. As we turned from the curate's house two sentinels stopped +everybody, but they let me pass on account of my iron, which they were +going to fire. +</P> + +<P> +You can never imagine that mass of people, the noise around the +bastion, the smoke which covered it, the orders of the infantry +officers whom we heard going up the glacis, the gunners, the lighted +match, caissons with the piles of bullets behind! No, in all these +thirty years I have not forgotten those men with their levers, running +back the cannon to load them to their mouths; those firings in file, at +the bottom of the ramparts; those volleys of balls hissing in the air; +the orders of the gun-captains, "Load! Ram! Prime!" +</P> + +<P> +What crowds upon those gun-carriages, seven feet high, where the +gunners were obliged to stand and stretch their arms to fire the +cannon! And what a frightful smoke! +</P> + +<P> +Men invent such machines to destroy each other, and they would think +that they did a great deal if they sacrificed a quarter as much to +assist their fellow-men, to instruct them in infancy, and to give them +a little bread in their old age. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! those who make an outcry against war, and demand a different state +of things, are not in the wrong. +</P> + +<P> +I was in the corner, at the left of the bastion, where the stairs go +down to the postern behind the college, among three or four willow +baskets as high as chimneys, and filled with clay. I ought to have +stayed there quietly, and made use of the right moment to get away, but +the thought seized me that I would go and see what was going on below +the ramparts, and while they were loading the cannon, I climbed to the +level of the glacis, and lay down flat between two enormous baskets, +where there was scarcely a chance that balls could reach me. +</P> + +<P> +If hundreds of others who were killed in the bastions had done as I +did, how many of them might be still living, respectable fathers of +families in their villages! +</P> + +<P> +Lying in this place, and raising my nose, I could see over the whole +plain. I saw the cordon of the rampart below, and the line of our +skirmishers behind the palankas, on the other side of the moat; they +did nothing but tear off their cartridges, prime, charge, and fire. +There one could appreciate the beauty of drilling; there were only two +companies of them, and their firing by file kept up an incessant roll. +</P> + +<P> +Farther on, directly to the right, stretched the road to Quatre-Vents. +The Ozillo farm, the cemetery, the horse-post-station, and George +Mouton's farm at the right; the inn of La Roulette and the great +poplar-walk at the left, all were full of Cossacks, and such-like +rascals, who were galloping into the very gardens, to reconnoitre the +environs of the place. This is what I suppose, for it is against +nature to run without an object, and to risk being struck by a ball. +</P> + +<P> +These people, mounted on small horses, with large gray cloaks, soft +boots, fox-skin caps, like those of the Baden peasants, long beards, +lances in rest, great pistols in their belts, came whirling on like +birds. +</P> + +<P> +They had not been fired upon as yet, because they kept themselves +scattered, so that bullets would have no effect; but their trumpets +sounded the rally from La Roulette, and they began to collect behind +the buildings of the inn. +</P> + +<P> +About thirty of our veterans, who had been kept back in the cemetery +lane, were making a slow retreat; they made a few paces, at the same +time hastily reloading, then turned, shouldered, fired, and began +marching again among the hedges and bushes, which there had not been +time to cut down in this locality. +</P> + +<P> +Our sergeant was one of these; I recognized him at once, and trembled +for him. +</P> + +<P> +Every time these veterans gave fire, five or six Cossacks came on like +the wind, with their lances lowered; but it did not frighten them: they +leaned against a tree and levelled their bayonets. Other veterans came +up, and then some loaded, while others parried the blows. Scarcely had +they torn open their cartridges when the Cossacks fled right and left, +their lances in the air. Some of them turned for a moment and fired +their large pistols behind like regular bandits. At length our men +began to march toward the city. +</P> + +<P> +Those old soldiers, with their great shakos set square on their heads, +their large capes hanging to the back of their calves, their sabres and +cartridge-boxes on their backs, calm in the midst of these savages, +reloading, trimming, and parrying as quietly as if they were smoking +their pipes in the guard-house, were something to be admired. At last, +after seeing them come out of the whirlwind two or three times, it +seemed almost an easy thing to do. +</P> + +<P> +Our sergeant commanded them. I understood then why he was such a +favorite with the officers, and why they always took his part against +the citizens: there were not many such. I wanted to call out, "Make +haste, sergeant; let us make haste!" but neither he nor his men hurried +in the least. +</P> + +<P> +As they reached the foot of the glacis, suddenly a large mass of +Cossacks, seeing that they were escaping, galloped up in two files, to +cut off their retreat. It was a dangerous moment, and they formed in a +square instantly. +</P> + +<P> +I felt my back turn cold, as if I had been one of them. +</P> + +<P> +Our sharpshooters behind the ammunition wagons did not fire, doubtless +for fear of hitting their comrades; our gunners on the bastion leaned +down to see, and the file of Cossacks stretched to the corner near the +drawbridge. +</P> + +<P> +There were seven or eight hundred of them. We heard them cry, "Hurra! +hurra! hurra!" like crows. Several officers in green cloaks and small +caps galloped at the sides of their lines, with raised sabres. I +thought our poor sergeant and his thirty men were lost; I thought +already, "How sorry little Sâfel and Sorlé will be!" +</P> + +<P> +But then, as the Cossacks formed in a half-circle at the left of the +outworks, I heard our gun-captain call out, "Fire!" +</P> + +<P> +I turned my head; old Goulden struck the match, the fusee glittered, +and at the same instant the bastion with its great baskets of clay +shook to the very rocks of the rampart. +</P> + +<P> +I looked toward the road; nothing was to be seen but men and horses on +the ground. +</P> + +<P> +Just then came a second shot, and I can truly say that I saw the +grape-shot pass like the stroke of a scythe into that mass of cavalry; +it all tumbled and fell; those who a second before were living beings +were now nothing. We saw some try to raise themselves, the rest made +their escape. +</P> + +<P> +The firing by file began again, and our gunners, without waiting for +the smoke to clear away, reloaded so quickly that the two discharges +seemed to come at once. +</P> + +<P> +This mass of old nails, bolts, broken bits of cast-iron, flying three +hundred metres, almost to the little bridge, made such slaughter that, +some days after, the Russians asked for an armistice in order to bury +their dead. +</P> + +<P> +Four hundred were found scattered in the ditches of the road. +</P> + +<P> +This I saw myself. +</P> + +<P> +And if you want to see the place where those savages were buried, you +have only to go up the cemetery lane. +</P> + +<P> +On the other side, at the right, in M. Adam Ottendorf's orchard, you +will see a stone cross in the middle of the fence; they were all buried +there, with their horses, in one great trench. +</P> + +<P> +You can imagine the delight of our gunners at seeing this massacre. +They lifted up their sponges and shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers shouted back from the covered ways, and the air was filled +with their cries. +</P> + +<P> +Our sergeant, with his thirty men, their guns on their shoulders, +quietly reached the glacis. The barrier was quickly opened for them, +but the two companies descended together to the moat and came up again +by the postern. +</P> + +<P> +I was waiting for them above. +</P> + +<P> +When our sergeant came up I took him by the arm, "Ah, sergeant!" said +I, "how glad I am to see you out of danger!" +</P> + +<P> +I wanted to embrace him. He laughed and squeezed my hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you saw the engagement, Father Moses!" said he, with a +mischievous wink. "We have shown them what stuff the Fifth is made of!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes! yes! you have made me tremble." +</P> + +<P> +"Bah!" said he, "you will see a good deal more of it; it is a small +affair." +</P> + +<P> +The two companies re-formed against the wall of the <I>chemin de ronde</I>, +and the whole city shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" +</P> + +<P> +They went down the rampart street in the midst of the crowd. I kept +near our sergeant. +</P> + +<P> +As the detachment was turning our corner, Sorlé, Zeffen, and Sâfel +called out from the windows, "Hurrah for the veterans! Hurrah for the +Fifth!" +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant saw them and made a little sign to them with his head. As +I was going in I said to him, "Sergeant, don't forget your glass of +cherry-brandy." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't worry, Father Moses," said he. +</P> + +<P> +The detachment went on to break ranks at the Place d'Armes as usual, +and I went up home at a quarter to four. I was scarcely in the room +before Zeffen, Sorlé, and Sâfel threw their arms round me as if I had +come back from the war; little David clung to my knee, and they all +wanted to know the news. +</P> + +<P> +I had to tell them about the attack, the grape-shot, the routing of the +Cossacks. But the table was ready. I had not had my breakfast, and I +said, "Let us sit down. You shall hear the rest by and by. Let me +take breath." +</P> + +<P> +Just then the sergeant entered in fine spirits, and set the butt-end of +his musket on the floor. We were going to meet him when we saw a tuft +of red hair on the point of his bayonet, that made us tremble. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy, what is that?" said Zeffen, covering her face. +</P> + +<P> +He knew nothing about it, and looked to see, much surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"That?" said he, "oh! it is the beard of a Cossack that I touched as I +passed him—it is not much of anything." +</P> + +<P> +He took the musket at once to his own room; but we were all +horror-struck, and Zeffen could not recover herself. When the sergeant +came back she was still sitting in the arm-chair, with both hands +before her face. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Madame Zeffen," said he sadly, "now you are going to detest me!" +</P> + +<P> +I thought, too, that Zeffen would be afraid of him, but women always +like these men who risk their lives at random. I have seen it a +hundred times. And Zeffen smiled as she answered: "No, sergeant, no; +these Cossacks ought to stay at home and not come and trouble us! You +protect us—we love you very much!" +</P> + +<P> +I persuaded him to breakfast with us, and it ended by his opening a +window, and calling out to some soldiers passing by to give notice at +the cantine that Sergeant Trubert was not coming to breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +So we were all calmed down, and seated ourselves at the table. Sorlé +went down to get a bottle of good wine, and we began to eat our +breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +We had coffee, too, and Zeffen wanted to pour it out herself for the +sergeant. He was delighted. +</P> + +<P> +"Madame Zeffen," said he, "you load me with kindness!" +</P> + +<P> +She laughed. We had never been happier. +</P> + +<P> +While he was taking his cherry-brandy, the sergeant told us all about +the attack in the night; the way in which the Wurtemberg troops had +stationed themselves at La Roulette, how it had been necessary to +dislodge them as they were forcing open the two large gates, the +arrival of the Cossacks at daybreak, and the sending out two companies +to fire at them. +</P> + +<P> +He told all this so well that we could almost think we saw it. But +about eleven o'clock, as I took up the bottle to pour out another +glassful, he wiped his mustache, and said, as he rose: "No, Father +Moses, we have something to do besides taking our ease and enjoying +ourselves; to-morrow, or next day, the shells will be coming; it is +time to go and screen the garret." +</P> + +<P> +We all became sober at these words. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us see!" said he; "I have seen in your court some long logs of +wood which have not been sawed, and there are three or four large beams +against the wall. Are we two strong enough to carry them up? Let us +try!" +</P> + +<P> +He was going to take off his cape at once; but, as the beams were very +heavy, I told him to wait and I would run for the two Carabins, +Nicolas, who was called the <I>Greyhound</I>, and Mathis, the wood-sawyer. +They came at once, and, being used to heavy work, they carried up the +timber. They had brought their saws and axes with them; the sergeant +made them saw the beams, so as to cross them above in the form of a +sentry-box. He worked himself like a regular carpenter, and Sorlé, +Zeffen, and I looked on. As it took some time, my wife and daughter +went down to prepare supper, and I went down with them, to get a +lantern for the workmen. +</P> + +<P> +I was going up again very quietly, never thinking of danger, when, +suddenly, a frightful noise, a kind of terrible rumbling, passed along +the roof, and almost made me drop my lantern. +</P> + +<P> +The two Carabins turned pale and looked at each other. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a ball!" said the sergeant. +</P> + +<P> +At the same time a loud sound of cannon in the distance was heard in +the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +I had a terrible feeling in my stomach, and I thought to myself, "Since +one ball has passed, there may be two, three, four!" +</P> + +<P> +My strength was all gone. The two Carabins doubtless thought the same, +for they took down at once their waistcoats, which were hanging on the +gable, to go away. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait!" said the sergeant. "It is nothing. Let us keep at our +work—it is going on well. It will be done in an hour more." +</P> + +<P> +But the elder Carabin called out, "You may do as you please! <I>I</I> am +not going to stay here—I have a family!" +</P> + +<P> +And while he was speaking, a second ball, more frightful than the +first, began to rumble upon the roof, and five or six seconds after we +heard the explosion. +</P> + +<P> +It was astonishing! The Russians were firing from the edge of the +Bois-de-Chênes, more than a half-hour distant, and yet we saw the red +flash pass before our two windows, and even under the tiles. +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant tried to keep us still at work. +</P> + +<P> +"Two bullets never pass in the same place," said he. "We are in a safe +spot, since that has grazed the roof. Come, let us go to work!" +</P> + +<P> +It was too much for us. I placed the lantern on the floor and went +down, feeling as if my thighs were broken. I wanted to sit down at +every step. +</P> + +<P> +Out of doors they were shouting as if it were morning, and in a more +frightful way. Chimneys were falling, and women running to the +windows; but I paid no attention to it, I was so frightened myself. +</P> + +<P> +The two Carabins had gone away paler than death. +</P> + +<P> +All that night I was ill. Sorlé and Zeffen were no more at ease than +myself. The sergeant kept on alone, placing the logs and making them +fast. About midnight he came down. +</P> + +<P> +"Father Moses," said he, "the roof is screened, but your two men are +cowards; they left me alone." +</P> + +<P> +I thanked him, and told him that we were all sick, and as for myself I +had never felt anything like it. He laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I know what that is," said he. "Conscripts always feel so when they +hear the first ball; but that is soon over—they only need to get a +little used to it." +</P> + +<P> +Then he went to bed, and everybody in the house, except myself, went to +sleep. +</P> + +<P> +The Russians did not fire after ten o'clock that night; they had only +tried one or two field-pieces, to warn us of what they had in store. +</P> + +<P> +All this, Fritz, was but the beginning of the blockade; you are going +to hear now of the miseries we endured for three months. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A DESERTER CAPTURED +</H4> + +<P> +The city was joyful the next day, notwithstanding the firing in the +night. A number of men who came from the ramparts about seven o'clock, +came down our street shouting: "They are gone! There is not a single +Cossack to be seen in the direction of Quatre-Vents, nor behind the +barracks of the Bois-de-Chênes! <I>Vive l'Empereur</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Everybody ran to the bastions. +</P> + +<P> +I had opened one of our windows, and leaned out in my nightcap. It was +thawing, the snow was sliding from the roofs, and that in the streets +was melting in the mud. Sorlé, who was turning up our bed, called to +me: "Do shut the window, Moses! We shall catch cold from the draught!" +</P> + +<P> +But I did not listen. I laughed as I thought: "The rascals have had +enough of my old bars and rusty nails; they have found out that they +fly a good way: experience is a good thing!" +</P> + +<P> +I could have stayed there till night to hear the neighbors talk about +the clearing away of the Russians, and those who came from the ramparts +declaring that there was not one to be seen in the whole region. Some +said that they might come back, but that seemed to me contrary to +reason. It was clear that the villains would not quit the country at +once, that they would still for a long time pillage the villages, and +live on the peasants; but to believe that the officers would excite +their men to take our city, or that the soldiers would be foolish +enough to obey them, never entered my head. +</P> + +<P> +At last Zeffen came into our room to dress the children, and I shut the +window. A good fire roared in the stove. Sorlé made ready our +breakfast, while Zeffen washed her little Esdras in a basin of warm +water. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, now, if I could only hear from Baruch, it would all be well," said +she. +</P> + +<P> +Little David played on the floor with Sâfel, and I thanked the Lord for +having delivered us from the scoundrels. +</P> + +<P> +While we were at breakfast, I said to my wife: "It has all gone well! +We shall be shut up for a while until the Emperor has carried the day, +but they will not fire upon us, they will be satisfied with blockading +us; and bread, wine, meats, and brandies, will grow dearer. It is the +right time for us to sell, or else we might fare like the people of +Samaria when Ben-Hadad besieged their city. There was a great famine, +so that the head of an ass sold for four-score pieces of silver, and +the fourth part of a cab of dove's-dung for five pieces. It was a good +price; but still the merchants were holding back, when a noise of +chariots and horses and of a great host came from heaven, and made the +Syrians escape with Ben-Hadad, and after the people had pillaged their +camp, a measure of fine flour sold for only a shekel, and two measures +of barley for a shekel. So let us try to sell while things are at a +reasonable price; we must begin in good season." +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé assented, and after breakfast I went down to the cellar to go on +with the mixing. +</P> + +<P> +Many of the mechanics had gone back to their work. Klipfel's hammer +sounded on his anvil. Chanoine put back his rolls into his windows, +and Tribolin, the druggist, his bottles of red and blue water behind +his panes. +</P> + +<P> +Confidence was restored everywhere. The citizen-gunners had taken off +their uniforms, and the joiners had come back to finish our counter; +the noise of the saw and plane filled the house. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody was glad to return to his own business, for war brings +nothing but harm; the sooner it is over the better. +</P> + +<P> +As I carried my jugs from one tun to another, in the cellar, I saw the +passers-by stop before our old shop, and heard them say to each other, +"Moses is going to make his fortune with the brandy; these rascals of +Jews always have good scent; while we have been selling this month +past, he has been buying. Now that we are shut up he can sell at any +price he pleases." +</P> + +<P> +You can judge whether that was not pleasant to hear! A man's greatest +happiness is to succeed in his business; everybody is obliged to say: +"This man has neither army, nor generals, nor cannon, he has nothing +but his own wit, like everybody else; when he succeeds he owes it to +himself, and not to the courage of others. And then he ruins no one; +he does not rob, or steal, or kill; while, in war, the strongest +crushes the weakest and often the best." +</P> + +<P> +So I worked on with great zeal, and would have kept on till night if +little Sâfel had not come to call me to dinner. I was hungry, and was +going upstairs, glad in the thought of sitting down in the midst of my +children, when the call-beat began on the Place d'Armes, before the +town-house. During a blockade a court-martial sits continually at the +mayoralty to try those who do not answer to the call. Some of my +neighbors were already leaving their houses with their muskets on their +shoulders. I had to go up very hastily, and swallow a little soup, a +morsel of meat, and a glass of wine. +</P> + +<P> +I was very pale. Sorlé, Zeffen, and the children said not a word. The +drum corps continued the call to arms; it came down the main street and +stopped at last before our house, on the little square. Then I ran for +my cartridge-box and musket. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Sorlé, "we thought we were going to have a quiet time, and +now it is all beginning again." +</P> + +<P> +Zeffen did not speak, but burst into tears. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the old Rabbi Heymann came in, with his old martin-skin +cap drawn down to the nape of his neck. +</P> + +<P> +"For heaven's sake let the women and children hurry to the casemates! +An envoy has come threatening to burn the whole city if the gates are +not opened. Fly, Sorlé! Zeffen, fly!" +</P> + +<P> +Imagine the cries of the women on hearing this; as for myself, my hair +stood on end. +</P> + +<P> +"The rascals have no shame in them!" I exclaimed. "They have no pity +on women or children! May the curse of heaven fall on them!" +</P> + +<P> +Zeffen threw herself into my arms. I did not know what to do. +</P> + +<P> +But the old rabbi said: "They are doing to us what our people have done +to them! So the words of the Lord are fulfilled: 'As thou hast done +unto thy brother so shall it be done unto thee!'—But, you must fly +quickly." +</P> + +<P> +Below, the call-beat had ceased; my knees trembled. Sorlé, who never +lost courage, said to me: "Moses, run to the square, make haste, or +they will send you to prison!" +</P> + +<P> +Her judgment was always right; she pushed me by the shoulders, and in +spite of Zeffen's tears I went down, calling out: "Rabbi, I trust in +you—save them!" +</P> + +<P> +I could not see clearly; I went through the snow, miserable man that I +was, running to the townhouse where the National Guard was already +assembled. I came just in time to answer the call, and you can imagine +my trouble, for Zeffen, Sorlé, Sâfel, and the little ones were +abandoned before my eyes. What was Phalsburg to me? I would have +opened the gates in a minute to have had peace. +</P> + +<P> +The others did not look any better pleased than myself; they were all +thinking of their families. +</P> + +<P> +Our governor, Moulin, Lieutenant-Colonel Brancion, and Captains +Renvoyé, Vigneron, Grébillet, with their great military caps put on +crosswise, these alone felt no anxiety. They would have murdered and +burnt everything for the Emperor. The governor even laughed, and said +that he would surrender the city when the shells set his +pocket-handkerchief on fire. Judge from this, how much sense such a +being had! +</P> + +<P> +While they were reviewing us, groups of the aged and infirm, of women +and children, passed across the square on their way to the casemates. +</P> + +<P> +I saw our little wagon go by with the roll of coverings and mattresses +on it. The old rabbi was between the shafts—Sâfel pushed behind. +Sorlé carried David, and Zeffen Esdras. They were walking in the mud, +with their hair loose as if they were escaping from a fire; but they +did not speak, and went on silently in the midst of that great trouble. +</P> + +<P> +I would have given my life to go and help them—I must stay in the +ranks. Ah, the old men of my time have seen terrible things! How +often have they thought:—"Happy is he who lives alone in the world; he +suffers only for himself, he does not see those whom he loves weeping +and groaning, without the power to help them." +</P> + +<P> +Immediately after the review, detachments of citizen-gunners were sent +to the armories to man the pieces, the firemen were sent to the old +market to get out the pumps, and the rest of us, with half a battalion +of the Sixth Light Infantry, were sent to the guard-house on the +square, to relieve the guards and supply patrols. +</P> + +<P> +The two other battalions had already gone to the advance-posts of +Trois-Maisons, of La Fontaine-du-Chateau,—to the block-houses, the +half moons, the Ozillo farm, and the Maisons-Rouges, outside of the +city. +</P> + +<P> +Our post at the mayoralty consisted of thirty-two men; sixteen soldiers +of the line below, commanded by Lieutenant Schnindret, and sixteen of +the National Guard above, commanded by Desplaces Jacob. We used +Burrhus's lodging for our guard-house. It was a large hall with +six-inch planks, and beams such as you do not find nowadays in our +forests. A large, round, cast-iron stove, standing on a slab four feet +square, was in the left-hand corner, near the door; the zigzag pipes +went into the chimney at the right, and piles of wood covered the floor. +</P> + +<P> +It seems as if I were now in that hall. The melted snow which we shook +off on entering ran along the floor. I have never seen a sadder day +than that; not only because the bombshells and balls might rain upon us +at any moment, and set everything on fire, but because of the melting +snow, and the mud, and the dampness which reached your very bones, and +the orders of the sergeant, who did nothing but call out: "Such and +such an one, march! Such an one forward, it is your turn!" etc. +</P> + +<P> +And then the jests and jokes of this mass of tilers, and cobblers, and +plasterers, with their patched blouses, shoes run down at the heel, and +caps without visors, seated in a circle around the stove, with, their +rags sticking to their backs, <I>thouing</I> you like all the rest of their +beggarly race: "Moses, pass along the pitcher! Moses, give me some +fire!—Ah, rascals of Jews, when a body risks his life to save +property, how proud it makes them! Ah, the villains!" +</P> + +<P> +And they winked at each other, and pushed each other's elbows, and made +up faces askance. Some of them wanted me to go and get some tobacco +for them, and pay for it myself! In fine, all sorts of insults, which +a respectable man could endure from the rabble!—Yes, it disgusts me +whenever I think of it. +</P> + +<P> +In this guard-house, where we burned whole logs of wood as if they were +straw, the steaming old rags which came in soaking wet did not smell +very pleasantly. I had to go out every minute to the little platform +behind the hall, in order to breathe, and the cold water which the wind +blew from the spout sent me in again at once. +</P> + +<P> +Afterward, in thinking it over, it has seemed as if, without these +troubles, my heart would have broken at the thought of Sorlé, Zeffen, +and the children shut up in a cellar, and that these very annoyances +preserved my reason. +</P> + +<P> +This lasted till evening. We did nothing but go in and out, sit down, +smoke our pipes, and then begin again to walk the pavement in the rain, +or remain on duty for hours together at the entrance of the posterns. +</P> + +<P> +Toward nine o'clock, when all was dark without, and nothing was to be +heard but the pacing of the patrols, the shouts of the sentries on the +ramparts: "Sentries, attention!" and the steps of our men on their +rounds up and down the great wooden stairway of the admiralty, the +thought suddenly came to me that the Russians had only tried to +frighten us, that it meant nothing; and that there would be no shells +that night. +</P> + +<P> +In order to be on good terms with the men, I had asked Monborne's +permission to go and get a jug full of brandy, which he at once +granted. I took advantage of the opportunity to bite a crust and drink +a glass of wine at home. Then I went back, and all the men at the +station were very friendly; they passed the jug from one to another, +and said that my brandy was very good, and that the sergeant would give +me leave to go and fill it as often as I pleased. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, since it is Moses," replied Monborne, "he may have leave, but +nobody else." +</P> + +<P> +We were all on excellent terms with each other and nobody thought of +bombardment, when a red flash passed along the high windows of the +room. We all turned round, and in a few seconds the shell rumbled on +the Bichelberg hill. At the same time a second, then a third flash +passed, one after the other, through the large dark room, showing us +the houses opposite. +</P> + +<P> +You can never have an idea, Fritz, of those first lights at night! +Corporal Winter, an old soldier, who grated tobacco for Tribou, stooped +down quietly and lighted his pipe, and said: "Well, the dance is +beginning!" +</P> + +<P> +Almost instantly we heard a shell burst at the right in the infantry +quarters, another at the left in the Piplinger house on the square, and +another quite near us in the Hemmerle house. +</P> + +<P> +I can't help trembling as I think of it now after thirty years. +</P> + +<P> +All the women were in the casemates, except some old servants who did +not want to leave their kitchens; they screamed out: "Help! Fire!" +</P> + +<P> +We were all sure that we were lost; only the old soldiers, crooked on +their bench by the stove, with their pipes in their mouths, seemed very +calm, as people might who have nothing to lose. +</P> + +<P> +What was worst of all, at the moment when our cannon at the arsenal and +powder-house began to answer the Russians', and made every pane of +glass in the old building rattle, Sergeant Monborne called out: "Somme, +Chevreux, Moses, Dubourg: Forward!" +</P> + +<P> +To send fathers of families roaming about through the mud, in danger, +at every step, of being struck by bursting shells, tiles, and whole +chimneys falling on their backs, is something against nature; the very +mention of it makes me perfectly furious. +</P> + +<P> +Somme and the big innkeeper Chevreux turned round, full of indignation +also; they wanted to exclaim: "It is abominable!" +</P> + +<P> +But that rascal of a Monborne was sergeant, and nobody dared speak a +word or even give a side-look; and as Winter, the corporal of the +round, had taken down his musket, and made a signal for us to go on, we +all took our arms and followed him. +</P> + +<P> +As we went down the stairway, you should have seen the red light, flash +after flash, lighting up every nook and corner under the stairs and the +worm-eaten rafters; you should have heard our twenty-four pounders +thunder; the old rat-hole shook to its foundations, and seemed as if it +was all falling to pieces. And under the arch below, toward the Place +d'Armes, this light shone from the snow banks to the tops of the roofs, +showing the glittering pavements, the puddles of water, the chimneys, +and dormer-windows, and, at the very end of the street, the cavalry +barracks, even the sentry in his box near the large gate:—what a sight! +</P> + +<P> +"It is all over! We are all lost!" I thought. +</P> + +<P> +Two shells passed at this moment over the city: they were the first +that I had seen; they moved so slowly that I could follow them through +the dark sky; both fell in the trenches, behind the hospital. The +charge was too heavy, luckily for us. +</P> + +<P> +I did not speak, nor did the others—we kept our thoughts to ourselves. +We heard the calls "Sentries, attention!" answered from one bastion to +another all around the place, warning us of the terrible danger we were +in. +</P> + +<P> +Corporal Winter, with his old faded blouse, coarse cotton cap, stooping +shoulders, musket in shoulder-belt, pipe-end between his teeth, and +lantern full of tallow swinging at arm's length, walked before us, +calling out: "Look out for the shells! Lie flat! Do you hear?" +</P> + +<P> +I have always thought that veterans of this sort despise citizens, and +that he said this to frighten us still more. +</P> + +<P> +A little farther on, at the entrance of the cul-de-sac where Cloutier +lived, he halted. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on!" he called, for we marched in file without seeing each other. +When we had come up to him he said, "There, now, you men, try to keep +together! Our patrol is to prevent fire from breaking out anywhere; as +soon as we see a shell pass, Moses will run up and snatch the fuse." +</P> + +<P> +He burst into a laugh as he spoke, so that my anger was roused. +</P> + +<P> +"I have not come here to be laughed at," said I; "if you take me for a +fool, I will throw down my musket and cartridge-box, and go to the +casemates." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed harder than ever. "Moses, respect thy superiors, or beware +of the court-martial!" said he. +</P> + +<P> +The others would have laughed too, but the shell-flashes began again; +they went down the rampart street, driving the air before them like +gusts of wind; the cannon of the arsenal bastion had just fired. At +the same time a shell burst in the street of the Capuchins; Spick's +chimney and half his roof fell to the ground with a frightful noise. +</P> + +<P> +"Forward! March!" called Winter. +</P> + +<P> +They had now all become sober. We followed the lantern to the French +gate. Behind us, in the street of the Capuchins, a dog howled +incessantly. Now and then Winter stopped, and we all listened; nothing +was stirring, and nothing was to be heard but the dog and the cries: +"Sentries, attention!" The city was as still as death. +</P> + +<P> +We ought to have gone into the guard-house, for there was nothing to be +seen; but the lantern went on toward the gate, swinging above the +gutter. That Winter had taken too much brandy! +</P> + +<P> +"We are of no use in this street," said Cheyreux; "we can't keep the +balls from passing." +</P> + +<P> +But Winter kept calling out: "Are you coming?" And we had to obey. +</P> + +<P> +In front of Genodet's stables, where the old barns of the gendarmerie +begin, a lane turned to the left toward the hospital. This was full of +manure and heaps of dirt—a drain in fact. Well, this rascal of a +Winter turned into it, and as we could not see our feet without the +lantern, we had to follow him. We went groping, under the roofs of the +sheds, along the crazy old walls. It seemed as if we should never get +out of this gutter; but at last we came out near the hospital in the +midst of the great piles of manure, which were heaped against the +grating of the sewer. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed a little lighter, and we saw the roof of the French gate, and +the line of fortifications black against the sky; and almost +immediately I perceived the figure of a man gliding among the trees at +the top of the rampart. It was a soldier stooping so that his hands +almost touched the ground. They did not fire on this side; the distant +flashes passed over the roofs, and did not lighten the streets below. +</P> + +<P> +I caught Winter's arm, and pointed out to him this man; he instantly +hid his lantern under his blouse. The soldier whose back was toward +us, stood up, and looked round, apparently listening. This lasted for +two or three minutes; then he passed over the rampart at the corner of +the bastion, and we heard something scrape the wall of the rampart. +</P> + +<P> +Winter immediately began to run, crying out: "A deserter! To the +postern!" +</P> + +<P> +We had heard before this of deserters slipping down into the trenches +by means of their bayonets. We all ran. The sentry called out: "Who +goes there?" +</P> + +<P> +"The citizen patrol," replied Winter. +</P> + +<P> +He advanced, gave the order, and we went down the postern steps like +wild beasts. +</P> + +<P> +Below, at the foot of the large bastions built on the rock, we saw +nothing but snow, large black atones, and bushes covered with frost. +The deserter needed only to keep still under the bushes; our lantern, +which shone only for fifteen or twenty feet, might have wandered about +till morning without discovering him: and we should ourselves have +supposed that he had escaped. But unfortunately for him, fear urged +him on, and we saw him in the distance running to the stairs which lead +up to the covered ways. He went like the wind. +</P> + +<P> +"Halt! or I fire!" cried Winter; but he did not stop, and we all ran +together on his track, calling out "Halt! Halt!" +</P> + +<P> +Winter had given me the lantern so as to run faster; I followed at a +distance, thinking to myself: "Moses, if this man is taken, thou will +be the cause of his death." I wanted to put out the lantern, but if +Winter had seen me he would have been capable of knocking me down with +the butt-end of his musket. He had for a long time been hoping for the +cross, and was all the time expecting it and the pension with it. +</P> + +<P> +The deserter ran, as I said, to the stairs. Suddenly he perceived that +the ladder, which takes the place of the eight lower steps, was taken +away, and he stopped, stupefied! We came nearer—he heard us and began +to run faster, to the right toward the half-moon. The poor devil +rolled over the snow-banks. Winter aimed at him, and called out: +"Halt! Surrender!" +</P> + +<P> +But he got up and began to run again. +</P> + +<P> +Behind the outworks, under the drawbridge, we thought we had lost him: +the corporal called to me, "Come along! A thousand thunders!" and at +that moment we saw him leaning against the wall, as pale as death. +Winter took him by the collar and said: "I have got you!" +</P> + +<A NAME="img-174"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-174.jpg" ALT="WINTER TOOK HIM BY THE COLLAR, AND SAID: "I HAVE YOU NOW!"" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +WINTER TOOK HIM BY THE COLLAR, AND SAID: "I HAVE YOU NOW!" +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Then he tore an epaulette from his shoulder: "You are not worthy to +wear that!" said he; "come along!" +</P> + +<P> +He dragged him out of his corner, and held the lantern before his face. +We saw a handsome boy of eighteen or nineteen, tall and slender, with +small, light mustaches, and blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Seeing him there so pale, with Winter's fist at his throat, I thought +of the poor boy's father and mother; my heart smote me, and I could not +help Baying: "Come, Winter, he is a child, a mere child! He will not +do it again!" +</P> + +<P> +But Winter, who thought that now surely his cross was won, turned upon +me furiously: +</P> + +<P> +"I tell thee what, Jew, stop, or I will run my bayonet through thy +body!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wretch!" thought I, "what will not a man do to make sure of his glass +of wine for the rest of his days?" +</P> + +<P> +I had a sort of horror of that man; there are wild beasts in the human +race! +</P> + +<P> +Chevreux, Somme, and Dubourg did not speak. +</P> + +<P> +Winter began to walk toward the postern, with his hand on the +deserter's collar. +</P> + +<P> +"If he stops," said he, "strike him on the back with your muskets! Ah, +scoundrel, you desert in the face of the enemy! Your case is clear: +next Sunday you will sleep under the turf of the half-moon! Will you +come on? Strike him with the butt-end, you cowards!" +</P> + +<P> +What pained me most was to hear the poor fellow's heavy sighs; he +breathed so hard, from his fright at being taken, and knowing that he +would be shot, that we could hear him fifteen paces off; the sweat ran +down my forehead. And now and then he turned to me and gave me such a +look as I shall never forget, as if to say: "Save me!" +</P> + +<P> +If I had been alone with Dubourg and Chevreux, we would have let him +go; but Winter would sooner have murdered him. +</P> + +<P> +We came in this way to the foot of the postern. They made the deserter +pass first. When we reached the top, a sergeant, with four men from +the next station, was already there, waiting for us. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked the sergeant. +</P> + +<P> +"A deserter," said Winter. +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant—an old man—looked at him, and said: "Take him to the +station." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Winter, "he will go with us to the station on the square." +</P> + +<P> +"I will reinforce you with two men," said the sergeant. +</P> + +<P> +"We do not need them," replied Winter roughly. "We took him ourselves, +and we are enough to guard him." +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant saw that we ought to have all the glory of it, and he said +no more. +</P> + +<P> +We started off again, shouldering our arms; the prisoner, all in +tatters and without his shako, walked in the midst. +</P> + +<P> +We soon came to the little square; we had only to cross the old market +before reaching the guard-house. The cannon of the arsenal were firing +all the time; as we were starting to leave the market, one of the +flashes lighted up the arch in front of us; the prisoner saw the door +of the jail at the left, with its great locks, and the sight gave him +terrible strength; he tore off his collar, and threw himself from us +with both arms stretched out behind. +</P> + +<P> +Winter had been almost thrown down, but he threw himself at once upon +the deserter, exclaiming, "Ah, scoundrel, you want to run away!" +</P> + +<P> +We saw no more, for the lantern fell to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Guard! guard!" cried Chevreux. +</P> + +<P> +All this took but a moment, and half of the infantry post were already +there under arms. Then we saw the prisoner again; he was sitting on +the edge of the stairway among the pillars; blood was running from his +mouth; not more than half his waistcoat was left, and he was bent +forward, trembling from head to foot. +</P> + +<P> +Winter held him by the nape of the neck, and said to Lieutenant +Schnindret, who was looking on: "A deserter, lieutenant! He has tried +to escape twice, but Winter was on hand." +</P> + +<P> +"That is right," said the lieutenant. "Let them find the jailer." +</P> + +<P> +Two soldiers went away. A number of our comrades of the National Guard +had come down, but nobody spoke. However hard men may be, when they +see a wretch in such a condition, and think, "the day after to-morrow +he will be shot!" everybody is silent, and a good many would even +release him if they could. +</P> + +<P> +After some minutes Harmantier arrived with his woollen jacket and his +bunch of keys. +</P> + +<P> +The lieutenant said to him, "Lock up this man!" +</P> + +<P> +"Come, get up and walk!" he said to the deserter, who rose and followed +Harmantier, while everybody crowded round. +</P> + +<P> +The jailer opened the two massive doors of the prison; the prisoner +entered without resistance, and then the large locks and bolts fastened +him in. +</P> + +<P> +"Every man return to his post!" said the lieutenant to us. And we went +up the steps of the mayoralty. +</P> + +<P> +All this had so upset me that I had not thought of my wife and +children. But when once above, in the large warm room, full of smoke, +with all that set who were laughing and boasting at having taken a +poor, unresisting deserter, the thought that I was the cause of this +misery filled my soul with anguish; I stretched myself on the camp-bed, +and thought of all the trouble that is in the world, of Zeffen, of +Sâfel, of my children, who might, perhaps, some day be arrested for not +liking war. And the words of the Lord came to my mind, which He spake +to Samuel, when the people desired a king: +</P> + +<P> +"Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; +for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I +should not reign over them. Howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, +and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. He +will take your sons and appoint them for himself; and some shall run +before his chariots. He will set them to make his instruments of war. +And he will take your daughters to be cooks and bakers. And he will +take your fields and your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the +best of them, and give them to his servants. He will take your +men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men. He +will take the tenth of your sheep; and ye shall be his servants. And +ye shall cry out in that day, and the Lord will not hear you." +</P> + +<P> +These thoughts made me very wretched; my only consolation was in +knowing that my sons Frômel and Itzig were in America. I resolved to +send Sâfel, David, and Esdras there also, when the time should come. +</P> + +<P> +These reveries lasted till daylight. I heard no longer the shouts of +laughter or the jokes of the ragamuffins. Now and then they would come +and shake me, and say, "Go, Moses, and fill your brandy jug! The +sergeant gives you leave." +</P> + +<P> +But I did not wish to hear them. +</P> + +<P> +About four o'clock in the morning, our arsenal cannon having dismounted +the Russian howitzers on the Quatre-Vents hill, the patrols ceased. +</P> + +<P> +Exactly at seven we were relieved. We went down, one by one, our +muskets on our shoulders. We were ranged before the mayoralty, and +Captain Vigneron gave the orders: "Carry arms! Present arms! Shoulder +arms! Break ranks!" +</P> + +<P> +We all dispersed, very glad to get rid of glory. +</P> + +<P> +I was going to run at once to the casemates when I had laid aside my +musket, to find Sorlé, Zeffen, and the children; but what was my joy at +seeing little Sâfel already at our door! As soon as he saw me turn the +corner, he ran to me, exclaiming: "We have all come back! We are +waiting for you!" +</P> + +<P> +I stooped to embrace him. At that moment Zeffen opened the window +above, and showed me her little Esdras, and Sorlé stood laughing behind +them. I went up quickly, blessing the Lord for having delivered us +from all our troubles, and exclaiming inwardly: "The Lord is merciful +and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Let the glory of +the Lord endure forever! Let the Lord rejoice in his works!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BURGUET'S VISIT TO THE DESERTER +</H4> + +<P> +I still think it one of the happiest moments of my life, Fritz. +Scarcely had I come up the stairs when Zeffen and Sorlé were in my +arms; the little ones clung to my shoulders, and I felt their lovely +full lips on my cheeks; Sâfel held my hand, and I could not speak a +word, but my eyes filled with tears. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! if we had had Baruch with us, how happy we should have been! +</P> + +<P> +At length I went to lay aside my musket, and hang my cartridge-box in +the alcove. The children were laughing, and joy was in the house once +more. And when I came back in my old beaver cap, and my large, warm +woollen stockings, and sat down in the old arm-chair, in front of the +little table set with porringers, in which Zeffen was pouring the soup; +when I was again in the midst of all these happy faces, bright eyes, +and outstretched hands, I could have sung like an old lark on his +branch, over the nest where his little ones were opening their beaks +and flapping their wings. +</P> + +<P> +I blessed them in my heart a hundred times over. Sorlé, who saw in my +eyes what I was thinking, said: "They are all together, Moses, just as +they were yesterday; the Lord has preserved them." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, blessed be the name of the Lord, forever and ever!" I replied. +</P> + +<P> +While we were at breakfast, Zeffen told me about their going to the +large casemate at the barracks, how it was full of people stretched on +their mattresses in every direction—the cries of some, the fright of +others, the torment from the vermin, the water dropping from the arch, +the crowds of children who could not sleep, and did nothing but cry, +the lamentations of five or six old men who kept calling out, "Ah! our +last hour has come! Ah! how cold it is! Ah! we shall never go +home—it is all over!" +</P> + +<P> +Then suddenly the deep silence of all, when they heard the cannon about +ten o'clock—the reports, coming slowly at first, then like the roar of +a tempest—the flashes, which could be seen even through the blindages +of the gate, and old Christine Evig telling her beads as loud as if she +were in a procession, and the other women responding together. +</P> + +<P> +As she told me this, Zeffen clasped her little Esdras tightly, while I +held David on my knees, embracing him as I thought to myself, "Yes, my +poor children, you have been through a great deal!" +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding the joy of seeing that we were all safe, the thought of +the deserter in his dungeon at the town-house would come to me; he too +had parents! And when you think of all the trouble which a father and +mother have in bringing up a child, of the nights spent in soothing his +cries, of their cares when he is sick, of their hopes in seeing him +growing up; and then imagine to yourself some old soldiers sitting +around a table to try him, and coolly send him to be shot behind the +bastion, it makes you shudder, especially when you say to yourself: +"But for me, this boy would have been at liberty; he would be on the +road to his village; to-morrow perhaps he would have reached the poor +old people's door, and have called out to them, 'Open! it is I!'" +</P> + +<P> +Such thoughts are enough to make one wild. +</P> + +<P> +I did not dare to speak to my wife and children of the poor fellow's +arrest; I kept my thoughts to myself. +</P> + +<P> +Without, the detachments from La Roulette, Trois-Maisons, and La +Fontaine-du-Chateau, passed through the street, keeping step; groups of +children ran about the city to find the pieces of shells; neighbors +collected to talk about the events of the night—the roofs torn off, +chimneys thrown down, the frights they had had. We heard their voices +rising and falling, and their shouts of laughter. And I have since +seen that it is always the same thing after a bombardment; the shower +is forgotten as soon as it is over, and they exclaim: "Huzza! the enemy +is routed!" +</P> + +<P> +While we were there meditating, some one came up the stairs. We +listened, and our sergeant, with his musket on his shoulder, and his +cape and gaiters covered with mud, opened the door, exclaiming: "Good +for you, Father Moses! Good for you!—You distinguished yourself last +night!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! what is it, sergeant?" asked my wife in astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"What! has he not told you of the famous thing he did, Madame Sorlé? +Has he not told you that the national guard Moses, on patrol about nine +o'clock at the Hospital bastion, discovered and then arrested a +deserter in the very act! It is on Lieutenant Schnindret's affidavit!" +</P> + +<P> +"But I was not alone," I exclaimed in despair; "there were four of us." +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! You discovered the track, you went down into the trenches, you +carried the lantern! Father Moses, you must not try to make your good +deed seem less; you are wrong. You are going to be named for corporal. +The court-martial will sit to-morrow at nine. Be easy, they will take +care of your man!" +</P> + +<P> +Imagine, Fritz, how I looked; Sorlé, Zeffen, and the children looked at +me, and I did not know what to say. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I must go and change my clothes," said the sergeant, shaking my +hand. "We will talk about it again, Father Moses. I always said that +you would turn out well in the end." +</P> + +<P> +He gave a low laugh as was his custom, winking his eyes, and then went +across the passage into his room. +</P> + +<P> +My wife was very pale. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it true, Moses?" she asked after a minute. +</P> + +<P> +"He! I did not know that he wanted to desert, Sorlé," I replied. "And +then the boy ought to have looked round on all sides; he ought to have +gone down on the Hospital square, gone round the dunghills, and even +into the lane to see if any one was coming; he brought it on himself; I +did not know anything, I——" +</P> + +<P> +But Sorlé did not let me finish. +</P> + +<P> +"Run quickly, Moses, to Burguet's!" she exclaimed; "if this man is +shot, his blood will be upon our children. Make haste, do not lose a +minute." +</P> + +<P> +She raised her hands, and I went out, much troubled. +</P> + +<P> +My only fear was that I should not find Burguet at home; fortunately, +on opening his door, on the first floor of the old Cauchois house, I +saw the tall barber Vésenaire shaving him, in the midst of the old +books and papers which filled the room. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet was sitting with the towel at his chin. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! It is you, Moses!" he exclaimed, in a glad tone. "What gives me +the pleasure of a visit from you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I come to ask a favor of you, Burguet." +</P> + +<P> +"If it is for money," said he, "we shall have difficulty." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed, and his servant-woman, Marie Loriot, who heard us from the +kitchen, opened the door, and thrust her red head-gear into the room, +as she called out, "I think that we shall have difficulty! We owe +Vésenaire for three months' shaving; do not we, Vésenaire?" +</P> + +<P> +She said this very seriously, and Burguet, instead of being angry, +began to laugh. I have always fancied that a man of his talents had a +sort of need of such an incarnation of human stupidity to laugh at, and +help his digestion. He never was willing to dismiss this Marie Loriot. +</P> + +<P> +In short, while Vésenaire kept on shaving him, I gave him an account of +our patrol and the arrest of the deserter; and begged him to defend the +poor fellow. I told him that he alone was able to save him, and +restore peace, not only to my own mind, but to Sorlé, Zeffen, and the +whole family, for we were all in great distress, and we depended +entirely upon him to help us. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! you take me at my weak point, Moses! If it is possible for me to +save this man, I must try. But it will not be an easy matter. During +the last fortnight, desertions have begun—the court-martial wishes to +make an example. It is a bad business. You have money, Moses; give +Vésenaire four sous to go and take a drop." +</P> + +<P> +I gave four sous to Vésenaire, who made a grand bow and went out. +Burguet finished dressing himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us go and see!" said he, taking me by the arm. +</P> + +<P> +And we went down together on our way to the mayoralty. +</P> + +<P> +Many years have passed since that day. Ah, well! it seems now as if we +were going under the arch, and I heard Burguet saying: "Hey, sergeant! +Tell the turnkey that the prisoner's advocate is here." +</P> + +<P> +Harmantier came, bowed, and opened the door. We went down into the +dungeon full of stench, and saw in the right-hand corner a figure +gathered in a heap on the straw. +</P> + +<P> +"Get up!" said Harmantier, "here is your advocate." +</P> + +<P> +The poor wretch moved and raised himself in the darkness. Burguet +leaned toward him and said: "Come! Take courage! I have come to talk +with you about your defence." +</P> + +<P> +And the other began to sob. +</P> + +<P> +When a man has been knocked down, torn to tatters, beaten till he +cannot stand, when he knows that the law is against him, that he must +die without seeing those whom he loves, he becomes as weak as a baby. +Those who maltreat their prisoners are great villains. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us see!" said Burguet. "Sit down on the side of your camp-bed. +What is your name? Where did you come from? Harmantier, give this man +a little water to drink and wash himself!" +</P> + +<P> +"He has some, M. Burguet; he has some in the corner." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, well!" +</P> + +<P> +"Compose yourself, my boy!" +</P> + +<P> +The more gently he spoke, the more did the poor fellow weep. At last, +however, he said that his family lived near Gérarmer, in the Vosges; +that his father's name was Mathieu Belin, and that he was a fisherman +at Retournemer. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet drew every word out of his mouth; he wanted to know every +particular about his father and mother, his brothers and sisters. +</P> + +<P> +I remember that his father had served under the Republic, and had even +been wounded at Fleurus; that his oldest brother had died in Russia; +that he himself was the second son taken from home by the conscription, +and that there was still at home three sisters younger than himself. +</P> + +<P> +This came from him slowly; he was so prostrated by Winter's blows, that +he moved and sank down like a soulless body. +</P> + +<P> +There was still another thing, Fritz, as you may think—the boy was +young! and that brought to my mind the days when I used to go in two +hours from Phalsburg to Marmoutier, to see Sorlé—Ah, poor wretch! As +he told all this, sobbing, with his face in his hands, my heart melted +within me. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet was quite overcome. When we were leaving, at the end of an +hour, he said, "Come, let us be hopeful! You will be tried +to-morrow.—Don't despair! Harmantier, we must give this man a cloak; +it is dreadfully cold, especially at night. It is a bad business, my +boy, but it is not hopeless. Try to appear as well as you can before +the audience; the court-martial always thinks better of a man who is +well dressed." +</P> + +<P> +When we were out, he said to me: "Moses, you send the man a clean +shirt. His waistcoat is torn; don't forget to have him decently +dressed every way; soldiers always judge of a man by his appearance." +</P> + +<P> +"Be easy about that," said I. +</P> + +<P> +The prison doors were closed, and we went across the market. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," said Burguet, "I must go in. I must think it over. It is well +that the brother was left in Russia, and that the father has been in +the service—it is something to make a point of." +</P> + +<P> +We had reached the corner of the rampart street; he kept on, and I went +home more miserable than before. +</P> + +<P> +You cannot imagine, Fritz, how troubled I was; when a man has always +had a quiet conscience it is terrible to reproach one's self, and +think: "If this man is shot, if his father, and mother, and sisters, +and that other one, who is expecting him, are made miserable, thou, +Moses, wilt be the cause of it all!" +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately there was no lack of work to be done at home; Sorlé had +just opened the old shop to begin to sell our brandies, and it was full +of people. For a week the keepers of coffee-houses and inns had had +nothing wherewith to fill their casks; they were on the point of +shutting up shop. Imagine the crowd! They came in a row, with their +jugs and little casks and pitchers. The old topers came too, sticking +out their elbows; Sorlé, Zeffen, and Sâfel had not time to serve them. +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant said that we must put a policeman at our door to prevent +quarrels, for some of them said that they lost their turn, and that +their money was as good as anybody's. +</P> + +<P> +It will be a good many years before such a crowd will be seen again in +front of a Phalsburg shop. +</P> + +<P> +I had only time to tell my wife that Burguet would defend the deserter, +and then went down into the cellar to fill the two tuns at the counter, +which were already empty. +</P> + +<P> +A fortnight after, Sorlé doubled the price; our first two pipes were +sold, and this extra price did not lessen the demand. +</P> + +<P> +Men always find money for brandy and tobacco, even when they have none +left for bread. This is why governments impose their heaviest taxes +upon these two articles; they might be heavier still without +diminishing their use—only, children would starve to death. +</P> + +<P> +I have seen this—I have seen this great folly in men, and I am +astonished whenever I think of it. +</P> + +<P> +That day we kept on selling until seven o'clock in the evening, when +the tattoo was sounded. +</P> + +<P> +My pleasure in making money had made me forget the deserter; I did not +think of him again till after supper, when night set in; but I did not +say a word about him; we were all so tired and so delighted with the +day's profits that we did not want to be troubled with thinking of such +things. But after Zeffen and the children had retired, I told Sorlé of +our visit to the prisoner. I told her, too, that Burguet had hopes, +which made her very happy. +</P> + +<P> +About nine o'clock, by God's blessing, we were all asleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +TRIAL OF THE DESERTER +</H4> + +<P> +You can believe, Fritz, that I did not sleep much that night, +notwithstanding my fatigue. The thought of the deserter tormented me. +I knew that if he should be shot, Zeffen and Sorlé would be +inconsolable; and I knew, too, that after three or four years the vile +race would say: "Look at this Moses, with his large brown cloak, his +cape turned down over the back of his neck, and his respectable +look—well, during the blockade he caused the arrest of a poor +deserter, who was shot: so much you can trust a Jew's appearance!" +</P> + +<P> +They would have said this, undoubtedly; for the only consolation of +villains is to make people think that everybody is like themselves. +</P> + +<P> +And then how often should I reproach myself for this man's death, in +times of misfortune or in my old age, when I should not have a minute's +peace! How often should I have said that it was a judgment of the +Lord, that it was on account of this deserter. +</P> + +<P> +So I wanted to do immediately all that I could, and by six o'clock in +the morning I was in my old shop in the market with my lantern, +selecting epaulettes and my best clothes. I put them in a napkin and +took them to Harmantier at daybreak. +</P> + +<P> +The special council of war, which was called—I do not know why—the +<I>Ventose</I> council, was to meet at nine o'clock. It was composed of a +major, president, four captains, and two lieutenants. Monbrun, the +captain of the foreign legion, was judge-advocate, and Brigadier Duphot +recorder. +</P> + +<P> +It was astonishing how the whole city knew about it beforehand, and +that by seven o'clock the Nicaises, and Pigots, and Vinatiers, etc., +had left their rickety quarters, and had already filled the whole +mayoralty, the arch, the stairway, and the large room above, laughing, +whistling, stamping, as if it were a bear-fight at Klein's inn, the +"Ox." +</P> + +<P> +You do not see things like that nowadays, thank God! men have become +more gentle and humane. But after all these wars, a deserter met with +less pity than a fox caught in a trap, or a wolf led by the muzzle. +</P> + +<P> +As I saw all this, my courage failed; all my admiration for Burguet's +talents could not keep me from thinking: +</P> + +<P> +The man is lost! Who can save him, when this crowd has come on purpose +to see him condemned to death, and led to the Glacière bastion? +</P> + +<P> +I was overwhelmed by the thought. +</P> + +<P> +I went trembling into Harmantier's little room, and said to him: "This +is for the deserter; take it to him from me." "All right!" said he. +</P> + +<P> +I asked him if he had confidence in Burguet. He shrugged his +shoulders, and said: "We must have examples." +</P> + +<P> +The stamping outside continued, and when I went out there was a great +whistling in the balcony, the arch, and everywhere, and shouts of +"Moses! hey, Moses! this way!" +</P> + +<P> +But I did not turn my head, and went home very sad. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé handed me a summons to appear as a witness before the +court-martial, which a gendarme had just brought; and till nine o'clock +I sat meditating behind the stove, trying to think of some way of +escape for the prisoner. +</P> + +<P> +Sâfel was playing with the children; Zeffen and Sorlé had gone down to +continue our sales. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes before nine I started for the townhouse, which was +already so crowded that, had it not been for the guard at the door, and +the gendarmes scattered within the building, the witnesses could hardly +have got in. +</P> + +<P> +Just as I got there, Captain Monbrun was beginning to read his report. +Burguet sat opposite, with his head leaning on his hand. +</P> + +<P> +They showed me into a little room, where were Winter, Chevreux, +Dubourg, and the gendarme Fiegel; so that we didn't hear anything +before being called. +</P> + +<P> +On the wall at the right it was written in large letters that any +witness who did not tell the truth, should be delivered to the council, +and suffer the same penalty as the accused. This made one consider, +and I resolved at once to conceal nothing, as was right and sensible. +The gendarme also informed us that we were forbidden to speak to each +other. +</P> + +<P> +After a quarter of an hour Winter was summoned, and then, at intervals +of ten minutes, Chevreux, Dubourg, and myself. +</P> + +<P> +When I went into the court-room, the judges were all in their places; +the major had laid his hat on the desk before him; the recorder was +mending his pen. Burguet looked at me calmly. Without they were +stamping, and the major said to the brigadier: +</P> + +<P> +"Inform the public that if this noise continues, I shall have the +mayoralty cleared." +</P> + +<P> +The brigadier went out at once, and the major said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"National guard Moses, make your deposition. What do you know?" +</P> + +<P> +I told it all simply. The deserter at the left, between two gendarmes, +seemed more dead than alive. I would gladly have acquitted him of +everything; but when a man fears for himself, when old officers in full +dress are scowling at you as if they could see through you, the +simplest and best way is not to lie. A father's first thought should +be for his children! In short, I told everything that I had seen, +nothing more or less, and at last the major said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"That is enough; you may go." +</P> + +<P> +But seeing that the others, Winter, Chevreux, Dubourg, remained sitting +on a bench at the left, I did the same. +</P> + +<P> +Almost immediately five or six good-for-nothings began to stamp and +murmur, "Shoot him! shoot him!" The president ordered the brigadier to +arrest them, and in spite of their resistance they were all led to +prison. Silence was then established in the court-room, but the +stampings without continued. +</P> + +<P> +"Judge-advocate, it is your turn to speak," said the major. +</P> + +<P> +This judge-advocate, who seems now before my eyes, and whom I can +almost hear speak, was a man of fifty, short and thick, with a short +neck, long, thick, straight nose, very wide forehead, shining black +hair, thin mustaches, and bright eyes. While he was listening, his +head turned right and left as if on a pivot; you could see his long +nose and the corner of his eye, but his elbows did not stir from the +table. He looked like one of those large crows which seem to be +sleeping in the fields at the close of autumn, and yet see everything +that is going on around them. +</P> + +<P> +Now and then he raised his arm as if to draw back his sleeve, as +advocates have a way of doing. He was in full dress, and spoke +terribly well, in a clear and strong voice, stopping and looking at the +people to see if they agreed with him; and if he saw even a slight +grimace, he began again at once in some other way, and, as it were, +obliged you to understand in spite of yourself. +</P> + +<P> +As he went on very slowly, without hurrying or forgetting anything, to +show that the deserter was on the road when we arrested him, that he +not only had the intention of escaping, but was already outside of the +city, quite as guilty as if he had been found in the ranks of the +enemy—as he clearly showed all this, I was angry because he was right, +and I thought to myself, "Now, what was there to be said in reply." +</P> + +<P> +And then, when he said that the greatest of crimes was to abandon one's +flag, because one betrays at once his country, his family, all that has +a right to his life, and makes himself unworthy to live; when he said +that the court would follow the conscience of all who had a heart, of +all who held to the honor of France; that he would give a new example +of his zeal for the safety of the country and the glory of the Emperor; +that he would show the new recruits that they could only succeed by +doing their duty and by obeying orders; when he said all this with +terrible power and clearness, and I heard from time to time, a murmur +of assent and admiration, then, Fritz, I thought that the Lord alone +was able to save that man! +</P> + +<P> +The deserter sat motionless, his arms folded on the dock, and his face +upon them. He felt, doubtless, as I did, and every one in the room, +and the court itself. Those old men seemed pleased as they heard the +judge-advocate express so well what had all along been their own +opinion. Their faces showed their satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +This lasted for more than an hour. The captain sometimes stopped a +moment to give his audience time to reflect on what he had said. I +have always thought that he must have been attorney-general, or +something more dangerous still to deserters. +</P> + +<P> +I remember that he said, in closing, "You will make an example! You +will be of one mind. You will not forget that, at this time, firmness +in the court is more necessary than ever to the safety of the country." +</P> + +<P> +When he sat down, such a murmur of approbation arose in the room that +it reached the stairway at once, and we heard the shouts outside, +"<I>Vive l'Empereur</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +The major and the other members of the council looked smilingly at each +other, as if to say, "It is all settled. What remains is a mere +formality!" +</P> + +<P> +The shouts without increased. This lasted more than ten minutes. At +last the major said: +</P> + +<P> +"Brigadier, if the tumult continues, clear the town-house! Begin with +the court-room!" +</P> + +<P> +There was silence at once, for every one was curious to know what +Burguet would say in reply. I would not have given two farthings for +the life of the deserter. +</P> + +<P> +"Counsel for the prisoner, you have the floor!" said the major, and +Burguet rose. +</P> + +<P> +Now, Fritz, if I had an idea that I could repeat to you what Burguet +said, for a whole hour, to save the life of a poor conscript; if I +should try to depict his face, the sweetness of his voice, and then his +heart-rending cries, and then his silent pauses and his appeals—if I +had such an idea, I should consider myself a being full of pride and +vanity! +</P> + +<P> +No; nothing finer was ever heard. It was not a man speaking; it was a +mother, trying to snatch her babe from death! Ah! what a great thing +it is to have this power of moving to tears those who hear us! But we +ought not to call it talent, it is heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is there without faults? Who does not need pity?" +</P> + +<P> +This is what he said, as he asked the council if they could find a +perfectly blameless man; if evil thoughts never came to the bravest; if +they had never, for even a day or a moment, had the thought of running +away to their native village, when they were young, when they were +eighteen, when father and mother and the friends of their childhood +were living, and they had not another in the world. A poor child +without instruction, without knowledge of the world, brought up at +hap-hazard, thrown into the army—what could you expect of him? What +fault of his could not be pardoned? What does he know of country, the +honor of his flag, the glory of his Majesty? Is it not later in life +that these great ideas come to him? +</P> + +<P> +And then he asked those old men if they had not a son, if they were +sure that, even at that moment, that son were not committing an offence +which was liable to the punishment of death. He said to them: +</P> + +<P> +"Plead for him! What would you say? You would say, 'I am an old +soldier. For thirty years I have shed my blood for France. I have +grown gray upon the battle-fields, I am riddled with wounds, I have +gained every rank at the point of the sword. Ah, well! take my +epaulettes, take my decorations, take everything; but save my child! +Let my blood be the ransom for his offence! He does not know the +greatness of his crime; he is too young; he is a conscript; he loved +us; he longed to embrace us, and then go back again—he loved a maiden. +Ah! you, too, have been young! Pardon him. Do not disgrace an old +soldier in his son.' +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you could say, too, 'I had other sons. They died for their +country. Let their blood answer for his, and give me back this +one—the last that I have left!' +</P> + +<P> +"This is what you would say, and far better than I, because you would +be the father, the old soldier speaking of his own services! Well, the +father of this youth could speak like you! He is an old soldier of the +Republic! He went with you, perhaps, when the Prussians entered +Champagne! He was wounded at Fleurus! He is an old comrade in arms! +His oldest son was left behind in Russia!" +</P> + +<P> +And Burguet turned pale as he spoke. It seemed as if grief had robbed +him of his strength, and he were about to fall. The silence was so +great that we heard the breathing throughout the court-room. The +deserter sobbed. Everybody thought, "It is done! Burguet need say no +more! It must be that he has gained his cause!" +</P> + +<P> +But all at once he began again in another and more tender manner. +Speaking slowly, he described the life of a poor peasant and his wife, +who had but one comfort, one solitary hope on earth—their child! As +we listened we saw these poor people, we heard them talk together, we +saw over the door the old chapeau of the time of the Republic. And +when we were thinking only of this, suddenly Burguet showed us the old +man and his wife learning that their son had been killed, not by +Russians or Germans, but by Frenchmen. We heard the old man's cry! +</P> + +<P> +But it was terrible, Fritz! I wanted to run away. The officers of the +council, several of whom were married men, looked before them with +fixed eyes, and clinched hands; their gray mustaches shook. The major +had raised his hand two or three times, as if to signify that it was +enough, but Burguet had always something still more powerful, more +just, more grand to add. His plea lasted till nearly eleven, when he +sat down. There was not a murmur to be heard in the three rooms nor +outside. And the judge-advocate on the other side began again, saying +that all that signified nothing, that it was unfortunate for the father +that his son was unworthy, that every man clung to his children, that +soldiers must be taught not to desert in face of the enemy; that, if +the court yielded to such arguments, nobody would ever be shot, +discipline would be utterly destroyed, the army could not exist, and +that the army was the strength and glory of the country. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet replied almost immediately. I cannot recall what he said; my +head could not hold so many things at once: but I shall never forget +this, that about one o'clock, the council having sent us away that they +might deliberate—the prisoner meanwhile having been taken back to his +cell—after a few minutes we were allowed to return, and the major, +standing on the platform where conscriptions were drawn, declared that +the accused Jean Balin was acquitted, and gave the order for his +immediate release. +</P> + +<P> +It was the first acquittal since the departure of the Spanish prisoners +before the blockade; the rowdies, who had come in crowds to see a man +condemned and shot, could not believe it; several of them exclaimed: +"We are cheated!" +</P> + +<P> +But the major ordered Brigadier Descarmes to take the names of these +brawlers, so that they should be seen to; then the whole mass trampled +down the stairs in five minutes, and we, in our turn, were able to +descend. +</P> + +<P> +I had taken Burguet by the arm, my eyes full of tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you satisfied, Moses?" said he, already quite his own joyous self +again. +</P> + +<P> +"Burguet!" said I, "Aaron himself, the own brother of Moses, and the +greatest orator of Israel, could not have spoken better than you did; +it was admirable! I owe my peace of mind to you! Whatever you may ask +for so great a service I am ready to give to the extent of my means." +</P> + +<P> +We went down the stairs; the members of the council following us +thoughtfully, one by one. Burguet smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean it, Moses?" said he, stopping under the arch. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, here is my hand." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well!" said he, "I ask you to give me a good dinner at the +<I>Ville-de-Metz</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"With all my heart!" +</P> + +<P> +Several citizens, Father Parmentier, Cochois the tax-gatherer, and +Adjutant Muller, were waiting for Burguet at the foot of the mayoralty +steps, to congratulate him. As they were surrounding and shaking hands +with him, Sâfel came and rushed into my arms; Zeffen had sent him to +learn the news. I embraced him, and said joyously: "Go, tell your +mother that we have won! Take your dinner. I am going to dine at the +<I>Ville-de-Metz</I> with Burguet. Make haste, my child!" +</P> + +<P> +He started running. +</P> + +<P> +"You dine with me, Burguet," said Father Parmentier. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Mr. Mayor, I am engaged to dine with Moses; I will go at +another time." +</P> + +<P> +And, with our arms around each other, we entered Mother Barrière's +large corridor, where there was still the odor of good roasts, in spite +of the blockade. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, Burguet," said I; "we are going to dine alone, and you shall +choose whatever wines and dishes you like best; you know them better +than I do." +</P> + +<P> +I saw his eyes sparkle. +</P> + +<P> +"Good! good!" said he, "it is understood." +</P> + +<P> +In the large dining-hall the war-commissioner and two officers were +dining together; they turned round, and we saluted them. +</P> + +<P> +I sent for Mother Barrière, who came at once, her apron on her arm, as +smiling and chubby as usual. Burguet whispered a couple of words in +her ear, and she instantly opened the door at the right, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Walk in, gentlemen, walk in! You will not have to wait long." +</P> + +<P> +We went into the square room at the corner of the square, a small, high +room, with two large windows covered with muslin curtains, and the +porcelain stove well heated, as it should be in winter. +</P> + +<P> +A servant came to lay the table, while we warmed our hands upon the +marble. +</P> + +<P> +"I have a good appetite, Moses; my pleading is going to cost you dear," +said Burguet, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"So much the better; it cannot be too dear for the gratitude I owe you." +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said he, putting his hand on my shoulder, "I won't ruin you, +but we must have a good dinner." +</P> + +<P> +When the table was ready, we sat down, opposite each other, in soft, +comfortable arm-chairs; and Burguet, fastening his napkin in his +button-hole, as was his custom, took up the bill of fare. He pondered +over it a long time; for you know, Fritz, that though nightingales are +good singers, they have the sharpest beaks in the world. Burguet was +like them, and I was delighted at seeing him thus meditating. +</P> + +<P> +At last he said to the servant, slowly and solemnly: +</P> + +<P> +"This and that, Madeleine, cooked so and so. And such a wine to begin +with, and such another at the end." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, M. Burguet," replied Madeleine, as she went out. +</P> + +<P> +Two minutes afterward she brought us a good toast soup. During a +blockade this was something greatly to be desired; three weeks later we +should have been very fortunate to have got one. +</P> + +<P> +Then she brought us some Bordeaux wine, warmed in a napkin. But you do +not suppose, Fritz, that I am going to tell you all the details of this +dinner? although I remember it all, with great pleasure, to this day. +Believe me, there was nothing wanting, meats nor fresh vegetables, nor +the large well-smoked ham, nor any of the things which are dreadfully +scarce in a shut-up city. We had even salad! Madame Barrière had kept +it in the cellar, in earth, and Burguet wished to dress it himself with +olive oil. We had, too, the last juicy pears which were seen in +Phalsburg, during that winter of 1814. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet seemed happy, especially when the bottle of old Lironcourt was +brought, and we drank together. +</P> + +<P> +"Moses," said he with softened eyes, "if all my pleas had as good pay +as you give, I would resign my place in college; but this is the first +fee I have received." +</P> + +<P> +"And if I were in your place, Burguet," I exclaimed, "instead of +staying in Phalsburg, I would go to a large city. You would have +plenty of good dinners, good hotels, and the rest would soon follow." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! twenty years ago this might have been good advice," said he, +rising, "but it is too late now. Let us go and take our coffee, Moses." +</P> + +<P> +Thus it is that men of great talents often bury themselves in small +places, where nobody values them at their true worth; they fall +gradually into their own ruts, and disappear without notice. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet never forgot to go to the coffee-house at about five o'clock, +to play a game of cards with the old Jew Solomon, whose trade it was. +Burguet and five or six citizens fully supported this man, who took his +beer and coffee twice a day at their expense, to say nothing of the +crowns he pocketed for the support of his family. +</P> + +<P> +So far as the others were concerned, I was not surprised at this, for +they were fools! but for a man like Burguet I was always astonished at +it; for, out of twenty deals, Solomon did not let them win more than +one or two, with the risk before his eyes of losing his best practice, +by discouraging them altogether. +</P> + +<P> +I had explained this fifty times to Burguet; he assented, and kept on +all the same. +</P> + +<P> +When we reached the coffee-house, Solomon was already there, in the +corner of a window at the left—his little dirty cap on his nose, and +his old greasy frock hanging at the foot of the stool. He was +shuffling the cards all by himself. He looked at Burguet out of the +corner of his eye, as a bird-catcher looks at larks, as if to say: +</P> + +<P> +"Come! I am here! I am expecting you!" +</P> + +<P> +But Burguet, when with me, dared not obey the old man; he was ashamed +of his weakness, and merely made a little motion of his head while he +seated himself at the opposite table, where coffee was served to us. +</P> + +<P> +The comrades came soon, and Solomon began to fleece them. Burguet +turned his back to them; I tried to divert his attention, but his heart +was with them; he listened to all the throws, and yawned in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +About seven o'clock, when the room was full of smoke, and the balls +were rolling on the billiard tables, suddenly a young man, a soldier, +entered, looking round in all directions. +</P> + +<P> +It was the deserter. +</P> + +<P> +He saw us at last, and approached us with his foraging cap in his hand. +Burguet looked up and recognized him; I saw him turn red; the deserter, +on the contrary, was very pale; he tried to speak, but could not say a +word. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! my friend!" said Burguet, "here you are, safe!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," replied the conscript, "and I have come to thank you for +myself, for my father, and for my mother!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Burguet, coughing, "it is all right! it is all right!" +</P> + +<P> +He looked tenderly at the young man, and asked him softly, "You are +glad to live?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! yes, sir," replied the conscript, "very glad." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Burguet, in a low voice, looking at the clock; "it would +have been all over now! Poor child!" +</P> + +<P> +And suddenly beginning to use the <I>thou</I> he said, "Thou hast had +nothing with which to drink my health, and I have not another sou. +Moses, give him a hundred sous." +</P> + +<P> +I gave him ten francs. The deserter tried to thank me. +</P> + +<P> +"That is good!" said Burguet, rising. "Go and take a drink with thy +comrades. Be happy, and do not desert again." +</P> + +<P> +He made as if he would follow Solomon's playing; but when the deserter +said, "I thank you, too, for her who is expecting me!" he looked at me +sideways, not knowing what to answer, so much was he moved. Then I +said to the conscript, "We are very glad that we have been of +assistance to you; go and drink the health of your advocate, and behave +yourself well." +</P> + +<P> +He looked at us for a moment longer, as if he were unable to move; we +saw his thanks in his face, a thousand times better than he had been +able to utter them. At length he slowly went out, saluting us, and +Burguet finished his cup of coffee. +</P> + +<P> +We meditated for some minutes upon what had passed. But soon the +thought of seeing my family seized me. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet was like a soul in purgatory. Every minute he got up to look +on, as one or another played, with his hands crossed behind his back; +then he sat down with a melancholy look. I should have been very sorry +to plague him longer, and, as the clock struck eight, I bade him +good-evening, which evidently pleased him. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, Moses," said he, leading me to the door. "My compliments +to Madame Sorlé, and Madame Zeffen." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you! I shall not forget it." +</P> + +<P> +I went, very glad to return home, where I arrived in a few minutes. +Sorlé saw at once that I was in good spirits, for, meeting her at the +door of our little kitchen, I embraced her joyfully. +</P> + +<P> +"It is all right, Sorlé," said I, "all just right!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said she, "I see that it is all right!" +</P> + +<P> +She laughed, and we went into the room where Zeffen was undressing +David. The poor little fellow, in his shirt, came and offered me his +cheek to kiss. Whenever I dined in the city, I used to bring him some +of the dessert, and, in spite of his sleepy eyes, he soon found his way +to my pockets. +</P> + +<P> +You see, Fritz, what makes grandfathers happy is to find out how bright +and sensible their grandchildren are. +</P> + +<P> +Even little Esdras, whom Sorlé was rocking, understood at once that +something unusual was going on; he stretched out his little hands to +me, as if to say, "I like cake too!" +</P> + +<P> +We were all of us very happy. At length, having sat down, I gave them +an account of the day, setting forth the eloquence of Burguet, and the +poor deserter's happiness. They all listened attentively. Sâfel, +seated on my knees, whispered to me, "We have sold three hundred +francs' worth of brandy!" +</P> + +<P> +This news pleased me greatly: when one makes an outlay, he ought to +profit by it. +</P> + +<P> +About ten o'clock, after Zeffen had wished us good-night, I went down +and shut the door, and put the key underneath for the sergeant, if he +should come in late. +</P> + +<P> +While we were going to bed, Sorlé repeated what Sâfel had said, adding +that we should be in easy circumstances when the blockade was over, and +that the Lord had helped us in the midst of great calamities. +</P> + +<P> +We were happy and without fear of the future. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A SORTIE OF THE GARRISON +</H4> + +<P> +Nothing extraordinary occurred for several days. The governor had the +plants and bushes growing in the crevices of the ramparts torn away, to +make desertion less easy, and he forbade the officers being too rough +with the men, which had a good effect. +</P> + +<P> +At this time, hundreds of thousands of Austrians, Russians, Bavarians, +and Wurtemburgers, by squadrons and regiments, passed around the city +beyond range of our cannon, and marched upon Paris. +</P> + +<P> +Then there were terrible battles in Champagne, but we knew nothing of +them. +</P> + +<P> +The uniforms changed every day outside the city; our old soldiers on +top of the ramparts recognized all the different nations they had been +fighting for twenty years. +</P> + +<P> +Our sergeant came regularly after the call, to take me upon the arsenal +bastion; citizens were there all the time, talking about the invasion, +which did not come to an end. +</P> + +<P> +It was wonderful! In the direction of St. Jean, on the edge of the +forest of La Bonne-Fontaine, we saw, for hours at a time, cavalry and +infantry defiling, and then convoys of powder and balls, and then +cannon, and then files of bayonets, helmets, red and green and blue +coats, lances, peasants' wagons covered with cloth—all these passed, +passed like a river. +</P> + +<P> +On this broad white plateau, surrounded by forests, we could see +everything. +</P> + +<P> +Now and then some Cossacks or dragoons would leave the main body, and +push on galloping to the very foot of the glacis, in the lane <I>des +Dames</I>, or near the little chapel. Instantly one of our old marine +artillerymen would stretch out his gray mustaches upon a rampart gun, +and slowly take aim; the bystanders would all gather round him, even +the children, who would creep between your legs, fearless of balls or +shells—and the heavy rifle-gun would go off! +</P> + +<P> +Many a time I have seen the Cossack or Uhlan fall from his saddle, and +the horse rush back to the squadron with his bridle on his neck. The +people would shout with joy; they would climb up on the ramparts and +look down, and the gunner would rub his hands and say, "One more out of +the way!" +</P> + +<P> +At other times these old men, with their ragged cloaks full of holes, +would bet a couple of sous as to who should bring down this sentinel or +that vidette, on the Mittelbronn or Bichelberg hill. +</P> + +<P> +It was so far that they needed good eyes to see the one they +designated; but these men, accustomed to the sea, can discern +everything as far as the eye can reach. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Paradis, there he is!" one would say. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, there he is! Lay down your two sous; there are mine!" +</P> + +<P> +And they would fire. They would go on as if it were a game of +ninepins. God knows how many men they killed for the sake of their two +sous. Every morning about nine o'clock I found these marines in my +shop, drinking "to the Cossack," as they said. The last drop they +poured into their hands, to strengthen their nerves, and started off +with rounded backs, calling out: +</P> + +<P> +"Hey! good-day, Father Moses! The kaiserlich is very well!" +</P> + +<P> +I do not think that I ever saw so many people in my life as in those +months of January and February, 1814; they were like the locusts of +Egypt! How the earth could produce so many people I could not +comprehend. +</P> + +<P> +I was naturally greatly troubled on account of it, and the other +citizens also, as I need not say; but our sergeant laughed and winked. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, Father Moses!" said he, pointing from Quatre-Vents to +Bichelberg—"all these that are passing by, all that have passed, and +all that are going to pass, are to enrich the soil of Champagne and +Lorraine! The Emperor is down there, waiting for them in a good +place—he will fall upon them! The thunder-bolt of Austerlitz, of +Jena, of Wagram, is all ready—it can wait no longer! Then they will +file back in retreat; but our armies will follow them, with our +bayonets in their backs, and we shall go out from here, and flank them +off. Not one shall escape. Their account is settled. And then will +be the time for you to have old clothes and other things to sell, +Father Moses! He! he! he! How fat you will grow!" +</P> + +<P> +He was merry at the thought of it; but you may suppose, Fritz, that I +did not count much upon those uniforms that were running across the +fields; I would much rather they had been a thousand leagues away. +</P> + +<P> +Such are men—some are glad and others miserable from the same cause. +The sergeant was so confident that sometimes he persuaded me, and I +thought as he did. +</P> + +<P> +We would go down the rampart street together, he would go to the +cantine where they had begun to distribute siege-rations, or perhaps he +would go home with me, take his little glass of cherry-brandy, and +explain to me the Emperor's grand strokes since '96 in Italy. I did +not understand anything about it, but I made believe that I understood, +which answered all the purpose. +</P> + +<P> +There came envoys, too, sometimes on the road from Nancy, sometimes +from Saverne or Metz. They raised, at a distance, the little white +flag; one of their trumpeters sounded and then withdrew; the officer of +the guard received the envoy and bandaged his eyes, then he went under +escort through the city to the governor's house. But what these envoys +told or demanded never transpired in the city; the council of defence +alone were informed of it. +</P> + +<P> +We lived confined within our walls as if we were in the middle of the +sea, and you cannot believe how that weighs upon one after a while, how +depressing and overpowering it is not to be able to go out even upon +the glacis. Old men who had been nailed for ten years to their +arm-chairs, and who never thought of moving, were oppressed by grief at +knowing that the gates remained shut. And then every one wants to know +what is going on, to see strangers and talk of the affairs of the +country—no one knows how necessary these things are until he has had +experience like ours. The meanest peasant, the lowest man in Dagsburg +who might have chanced to come into the city, would have been received +like a god; everybody would have run to see him and ask for the news +from France. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! those are right who hold that liberty is the greatest of blessings, +for it is insupportable being shut up in a prison—let it be as large +as France. Men are made to come and go, to talk and write, and live +together, to carry on trade, to tell the news; and if you take these +from them, you leave nothing desirable. +</P> + +<P> +Governments do not understand this simple matter; they think that they +are stronger when they prevent men from living at their ease, and at +last everybody is tired of them. The true power of a sovereign is +always in proportion to the liberty he can give, and not to that which +he is obliged to take away. The allies had learned this for Napoleon, +and thence came their confidence. +</P> + +<P> +The saddest thing of all was that, toward the end of January, the +citizens began to be in want. I cannot say that money was scarce, +because a centime never went out of the city, but everything was dear; +what three weeks before was worth two sous now cost twenty! This has +often led me to think that scarcity of money is one of the fooleries +invented by scoundrels to deceive the weak-minded. What else can make +money scarce? You are not poor with two sous, if they are enough to +buy your bread, wine, meat, clothes, etc.; but if you need twenty times +more to buy these things, then not only are you poor, but the whole +country is poor. There is no want of money when everything is cheap; +it is always scarce when the necessaries of life are dear. +</P> + +<P> +So, when people are shut up as we were, it is very fortunate to be able +to sell more than you buy. My brandy sold for three francs the quart, +but at the same time we needed bread, oil, potatoes, and their prices +were all proportionately high. +</P> + +<P> +One morning old Mother Queru came to my shop weeping; she had eaten +nothing for two days! and yet that was the least thing, said she; she +missed nothing but her glass of wine, which I gave her gratis. She +gave me a hundred blessings and went away happy. A good many others +would have liked their glass of wine! I have seen old men in despair +because they had nothing to snuff; they even went so far as to snuff +ashes; some at this time smoked the leaves of the large walnut-tree by +the arsenal, and liked it well. +</P> + +<P> +Unfortunately, all this was but the beginning of want: later we learned +to fast for the glory of his Majesty. +</P> + +<P> +Toward the end of February, it became cold again. Every evening they +fired a hundred shells upon us, but we became accustomed to all that, +till it seemed quite a thing of course. As soon as the shell burst +everybody ran to put out the fire, which was an easy matter, since +there were tubs full of water ready in every house. +</P> + +<P> +Our guns replied to the enemy; but as after ten o'clock the Russians +fired only with field-pieces, our men could aim only at their fire, +which was changing continually, and it was not easy to reach them. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes the enemy fired incendiary balls; these are balls pierced +with three nails in a triangle, and filled with such inflammable matter +that it could be extinguished only by throwing the ball under water, +which was done. +</P> + +<P> +We had as yet had no fires; but our outposts had fallen back, and the +allies drew closer and closer around the city. They occupied the +Ozillo farm, Pernette's tile-kiln, and the Maisons-Rouges, which had +been abandoned by our troops. Here they intended to pass the winter +pleasantly. These were Wurtemburg, Bavarian, and Baden troops, and +other landwehr, who replaced in Alsace the regular troops that had left +for the interior. +</P> + +<P> +We could plainly see their sentinels in long, grayish-blue coats, flat +helmets, and muskets on their shoulders, walking slowly in the poplar +alley which leads to the tile-kiln. +</P> + +<P> +From thence these troops could any moment, on a dark night, enter the +trenches, and even attempt to force a postern. +</P> + +<P> +They were in large numbers and denied themselves nothing, having three +or four villages around them to furnish their provisions, and the great +fires of the tile-kiln to keep them warm. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes a Russian battalion relieved them, but only for a day or two, +being obliged to continue its route. These Russians bathed in the +little pond behind the building, in spite of the ice and snow which +filled it. +</P> + +<P> +All of them, Russians, Wurtemburgers, and Baden men, fired upon our +sentinels, and we wondered that our governor had not stopped them with +our balls. But one day the sergeant came in joyfully, and whispered to +me, winking: +</P> + +<P> +"Get up early to-morrow morning, Father Moses; don't say a word to any +one, and follow me. You will see something that will make you laugh." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, sergeant!" said I. +</P> + +<P> +He went to bed at once, and long before day, about five o'clock, I +heard him jump out of bed, which astonished me the more, as I had not +heard the call. +</P> + +<P> +I rose softly. Sorlé sleepily asked me: "What is it, Moses?" +</P> + +<P> +"Go to sleep again, Sorlé," I replied; "the sergeant told me that he +wanted to show me something." +</P> + +<P> +She said no more, and I finished dressing myself. +</P> + +<P> +Just then the sergeant knocked at the door; I blew out the candle, and +we went down. It was very dark. +</P> + +<P> +We heard a faint noise in the direction of the barracks; the sergeant +went toward it, saying: "Go up on the bastion; we are going to attack +the tile-kiln." +</P> + +<P> +I ran up the street at once. As I came upon the ramparts I saw in the +shadow of the bastion on the right our gunners at their pieces. They +did not stir, and all around was still; matches lighted and set in the +ground gave the only light, and shone like stars in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +Five or six citizens, in the secret, like myself, stood motionless at +the entrance of the postern. The usual cries, "Sentries, attention!" +were answered around the city; and without, from the part of the enemy, +we heard the cries "<I>Verdâ!</I>" and "<I>Souïda!</I>"* +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* Who goes there? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was very cold, a dry cold, notwithstanding the fog. +</P> + +<P> +Soon, from the direction of the square in the interior of the city, a +number of men went up the street; if they had kept step the enemy would +have heard them from the distance upon the glacis; but they came +pell-mell, and turned near us into the postern stair-way. It took full +ten minutes for them to pass. You can imagine whether I watched them, +and yet I could not recognize our sergeant in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +The two companies formed again in the trenches after their defiling, +and all was still. +</P> + +<P> +My feet were perfectly numb, it was so cold; but curiosity kept me +there. +</P> + +<P> +At last, after about half an hour, a pale line stretched behind the +bottom-land of Fiquet, around the woods of La Bonne-Fontaine. Captain +Rolfo, the other citizens, and myself, leaned against the rampart, and +looked at the snow-covered plain, where some German patrols were +wandering in the fog, and nearer to us, at the foot of the glacis, the +Wurtemburg sentinel stood motionless in the poplar alley which leads to +the large shed of the tile-kiln. +</P> + +<P> +Everything was still gray and indistinct; though the winter sun, as +white as snow, rose above the dark line of firs. Our soldiers stood +motionless, with grounded arms, in the covered ways. The "<I>Verdâs!</I>" +and "<I>Souïdas!</I>" went their rounds. It grew lighter every moment. +</P> + +<P> +No one would have believed that a fight was preparing, when six o'clock +sounded from the mayoralty, and suddenly our two companies, without +command, started, shouldering their arms, from the covered ways, and +silently descended the glacis. +</P> + +<P> +In less than a minute, they reached the road which stretches along the +gardens, and defiled to the left, following the hedges. +</P> + +<P> +You cannot imagine my fright when I found that the fight was about to +begin. It was not yet clear daylight, but still the enemy's sentinel +saw the line of bayonets filing behind the hedges, and called out in a +terrible way: "<I>Verdâ!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<A NAME="img-226"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-226.jpg" ALT="THE SORTIE FROM THE LIME-KILN." BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +THE SORTIE FROM THE LIME-KILN. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Forward!" replied Captain Vigneron, in a voice like thunder, and the +heavy soles of our soldiers sounded on the hard ground like an +avalanche. +</P> + +<P> +The sentinel fired, and then ran up the alley, shouting I know not +what. Fifteen of the landwehr, who formed the outpost under the old +shed used for drying bricks, started at once; they did not have time +for repentance, but were all massacred without mercy. +</P> + +<P> +We could not see very well at that distance, through the hedges and +poplars, but after the post was carried, the firing of the musketry and +the horrible cries were heard even in the city. +</P> + +<P> +All the unfortunate landwehr who were quartered in the Pernette +farm-house—a large number of whom were undressed, like respectable men +at home, so as to sleep more comfortably—jumped from the windows in +their pantaloons, in their drawers, in their shirts, with their +cartridge-boxes on their backs, and ranged themselves behind the +tile-kiln, in the large Seltier meadow. Their officers urged them on, +and gave their orders in the midst of the tumult. +</P> + +<P> +There must have been six or seven hundred of them there, almost naked +in the snow, and, notwithstanding their being thus surprised, they +opened a running fire which was well sustained, when our two pieces on +the bastion began to take part in the contest. +</P> + +<P> +Oh! what carnage! +</P> + +<P> +Looking down upon them, you should have seen the bullets hit, and the +shirts fly in the air! And, what was worst for these poor wretches, +they had to close ranks, because, after destroying everything in the +tile-kiln, our soldiers went out to make an attack with their bayonets! +</P> + +<P> +What a situation!—just imagine it, Fritz, for respectable citizens, +merchants, bankers, brewers, innkeepers—peaceable men who wanted +nothing but peace and quietness. +</P> + +<P> +I have always thought, since then, that the landwehr system is a very +bad one, and that it is much better to pay a good army of volunteers, +who are attached to the country, and know that their pay, pensions, and +decorations come from the nation and not from the government; young men +devoted to their country like those of '92, and full of enthusiasm, +because they are respected and honored in proportion to their +sacrifices. Yes, this is what they ought to be—and not men who are +thinking of their wives and children. +</P> + +<P> +Our balls struck down these poor fathers and husbands by the dozen. To +add to all these abominations, two other companies, sent out with the +greatest secrecy by the council of defence from the posterns of the +guard and of the German gate, and which came up, one by the Saverne +road, and the other by the road of Petit-Saint-Jean, now began to +outflank them, and forming behind them, fired upon them in the rear. +</P> + +<P> +It must be confessed that these old soldiers of the Empire had a +diabolical talent for stratagem! Who would ever have imagined such a +stroke! +</P> + +<P> +On seeing this, the remnant of the landwehr disbanded on the great +white plain like a whirlwind of sparrows. Those who had not had time +to put on their shoes did not mind the stones or briers or thorns of +the Fiquet bottom; they ran like stags, the stoutest as fast as the +rest. +</P> + +<P> +Our soldiers followed them as skirmishers, stopping not a second except +to make ready and fire. All the ground in front, up to the old beech +in the middle of the meadow of Quatre-Vents, was covered with their +bodies. +</P> + +<P> +Their colonel, a burgomaster doubtless, galloped before them on +horseback, his shirt flying out behind him. +</P> + +<P> +If the Baden soldiers, quartered in the village, had not come to their +assistance, they would all have been exterminated. But two battalions +of Baden men being deployed at the right of Quatre-Vents, our trumpets +sounded the recall, and the four companies formed in the alley <I>des +Dames</I> to await them. +</P> + +<P> +The Baden soldiers then halted, and the last of the Wurtemburgers +passed behind them, glad to escape from such a terrible destruction. +They could well say: "I know what war is—I have seen it at the worst!" +</P> + +<P> +It was now seven o'clock—the whole city was on the ramparts. Soon a +thick smoke rose above the tile-kiln and the surrounding buildings; +some sappers had gone out with fagots and set it on fire. It was all +burned to cinders; nothing remained but a great black space, and some +rubbish behind the poplars. +</P> + +<P> +Our four companies, seeing that the Baden soldiers did not mean to +attack them, returned quietly, the trumpeter leading. +</P> + +<P> +Long before this, I had gone down to the square, near the German gate, +to meet our troops as they came back. It was one of the sights which I +shall never forget; the post under arms, the veterans hanging by the +chains of the lowered drawbridge; the men, women, and children pushing +in the street; and outside, on the ramparts, the trumpets sounding, and +answered from the distance by the echoes of the bastions and half-moon; +the wounded, who, pale, tattered, covered with blood, came in first, +supported on the shoulders of their comrades; Lieutenant Schnindret, in +one of the tile-kiln armchairs, his face covered with sweat, with a +bullet in his abdomen, shouting with thick voice and extended hand, +"<I>Vive l'Empereur!</I>"; the soldiers who threw the Wurtemburg commander +from his litter to put one of our own in it; the drums under the gate +beating the march, while the troops, with arms at will, and bread and +all kinds of provisions stuck on their bayonets, entered proudly in the +midst of the shouts: "<I>Hurra for the Sixth Light Infantry!</I>" These are +things which only old people can boast of having seen! +</P> + +<P> +Ah, Fritz, men are not what they once were! In my time, foreigners +paid the cost of war. The Emperor Napoleon had that virtue; he ruined +not France, but his enemies. Nowadays we pay for our own glory. +</P> + +<P> +And, in those times, the soldiers brought back booty, sacks, +epaulettes, cloaks, officers' sashes, watches, etc., etc.! They +remembered that General Bonaparte had said to them in 1796: "You need +clothes and shoes; the Republic owes you much, she can give you +nothing. I am going to lead you into the richest country in the world; +there you will find honors, glory, riches!" In fine, I saw at once +that we were going to sell glasses of wine at a great rate. +</P> + +<P> +As the sergeant passed I called to him from the distance, "Sergeant!" +</P> + +<P> +He saw me in the crowd, and we shook hands joyfully. "All right, +Father Moses! All right!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody laughed. +</P> + +<P> +Then, without waiting for the end of the procession, I ran to the +market to open my shop. +</P> + +<P> +Little Sâfel had also understood that we were going to have a +profitable day, for, in the midst of the crowd, he had come and pulled +my coat-tails, and said, "I have the key of the market; I have it; let +us make haste! Let us try to get there before Frichard!" +</P> + +<P> +Whatever natural wit a child may have, it shows itself at once; it is +truly a gift of God. +</P> + +<P> +So we ran to the shop. I opened my windows, and Sâfel remained while I +went home to eat a morsel, and get a good quantity of sous and small +change. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé and Zeffen were at their counter selling small glassfuls. +Everything went well as usual. But a quarter of an hour later, when +the soldiers had broken ranks and put back their muskets in their +places at the barracks, the crowd at my shop in the market, of people +wishing to sell me coats, sacks, watches, pistols, cloaks, epaulettes, +etc., was so great that without Sâfel's help I never could have got out +of it. +</P> + +<P> +I got all these things for almost nothing. Men of this sort never +trouble themselves about to-morrow; their only thought was to live well +from one day to another, to have tobacco, brandy, and the other good +things which are never wanting in a garrisoned town. +</P> + +<P> +That day, in six hours' time, I refurnished my shop with coats, cloaks, +pantaloons, and thick boots of genuine German leather, of the first +quality, and I bought things of all sorts—nearly fifteen hundred +pounds' worth—which I afterward sold for six or seven times more than +they cost me. All those landwehr were well-to-do, and even rich +citizens, with good, substantial clothes. +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers, too, sold me a good many watches, which Goulden the old +watchmaker did not want, because they were taken from the dead. +</P> + +<P> +But what gave me more pleasure than all the rest, was that Frichard, +who was sick for three or four days, could not come and open his shop. +It makes me laugh now to think of it. It gave the rascal that green +jaundice which never left him as long as he lived. +</P> + +<P> +At noon Sâfel went to fetch our dinner in a basket; we ate under the +shed so as not to lose custom, and could not leave for a minute till +night. Scarcely had one set gone, before two and often three others +came at once. +</P> + +<P> +I was sinking with fatigue, and so was Sâfel; nothing but our love of +trade sustained us. +</P> + +<P> +Another pleasant thing which I recall is that, on going home a few +minutes before seven, we saw at a distance that our other shop was +full. My wife and daughter had not been able to close it; they had +raised the price, and the soldiers did not even notice it,—it seemed +all right to them; so that not only the French money which I had just +given them, but also Wurtemburg florins came to my pocket. +</P> + +<P> +Two trades which help each other along are an excellent thing, Fritz: +remember that! Without my brandies I should not have had the money to +buy so many goods, and without the market where I gave ready money for +the booty, the soldiers would not have had wherewith to buy my brandy. +This shows us plainly that the Lord favors orderly and peaceable men, +provided they know how to make the best use of their opportunities. +</P> + +<P> +At length, as we could not do more, we were obliged to close the shop, +in spite of the protestations of the soldiers, and defer business till +to-morrow. +</P> + +<P> +About nine o'clock, after supper, we all sat down together around the +large lamp, to count our gains. I made rolls of three francs each, and +on the chair next me the pile reached almost to the top of the table. +Little Sâfel put the white pieces in a wooden bowl. It was a pleasant +sight to us all, and Sorlé said: "We have sold twice as much as usual. +The more we raise the price the better it sells." +</P> + +<P> +I was going to reply that still we must use moderation in all +things—for these women, even the best of them, do not know that—when +the sergeant came in to take his little glass. He wore his foraging +coat, and carried hung across his cape a kind of bag of red leather. +</P> + +<P> +"He, he, he!" said he, as he saw the rolls. "The devil! the devil! +You ought to be satisfied with this day's work, Father Moses?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, not bad, sergeant," I joyfully replied. +</P> + +<P> +"I think," said he, as he sat down and tasted the little glass of +cherry-brandy, which Zeffen had just poured out for him, "I think that +after one or two sorties more, you will do for colonel of the +shopkeepers' regiment. So much the better; I am very glad of it!" +</P> + +<P> +Then, laughing heartily, he said, +</P> + +<P> +"He, Father Moses! see what I have here; these rascals of kaiserlichs +deny themselves nothing." +</P> + +<P> +At the same time he opened his bag, and began to draw out a pair of +mittens lined with fox-skin, then some good woollen stockings, and a +large knife with a horn handle and blades of very fine steel. He +opened the blades: +</P> + +<P> +"There is everything here," said he, "a pruning-knife, a saw, small +knives and large ones, even to a file for nails." +</P> + +<P> +"For finger-nails, sergeant!" said I. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! very likely!" said he. "This big landwehr was as nice as a new +crown-piece. He would be likely to file his finger-nails. But wait!" +</P> + +<P> +My wife and children, leaning over us, looked on with eager eyes. +Thrusting his hand into a sort of portfolio in the side of the bag, he +drew out a handsome miniature, surrounded with a circle of gold in the +shape of a watch, but larger. +</P> + +<P> +"See! What ought this to be worth?" +</P> + +<P> +I looked, then Sorlé, then Zeffen, and Sâfel. We were all surprised at +seeing a work of such beauty, and even touched, for the miniature +represented a fair young woman and two lovely children, as fresh as +rose-buds. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what do you think of that?" asked the sergeant. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very beautiful," said Sorlé. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but what is it worth?" +</P> + +<P> +I took the miniature and examined it. +</P> + +<P> +"To any one else, sergeant," said I, "I should say that it was worth +fifty francs; but the gold alone is worth more, and I should estimate +it at a hundred francs; we can weigh it." +</P> + +<P> +"And the portrait, Father Moses?" +</P> + +<P> +"The portrait is worth nothing to me, and I will give it back to you. +Such things do not sell in this country; they are of no value except to +the family." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," said he, "we will talk about that by and by." +</P> + +<P> +He put back the miniature into the bag. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you read German?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, good! I am curious to hear what this kaiserlich had to write. +See, it is a letter! He was keeping it doubtless for the +baggage-master to send it to Germany. But we came too soon! What does +it say?" +</P> + +<P> +He handed me a letter addressed to Madame Roedig, Stuttgart, No. 6 +Bergstrasse. That letter, Fritz, here it is. Sorlé has kept it; it +will tell you more about the landwehr than I can. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Bichelberg, Feb. 25, 1814. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear Aurelia: Thy good letter of January 29th reached Coblentz too +late; the regiment was on its way to Alsace. +</P> + +<P> +"We have had a great many discomforts, from rain and snow. The +regiment came first to Bitche, one of the most terrible forts possible, +built upon rocks up in the sky. We were to take part in blockading it, +but a new order sent us on farther to the fort of Lutzelstein, on the +mountain, where we remained two days at the village of Pétersbach, to +summon that little place to surrender. The veterans who held it having +replied by cannon, our colonel did not judge it necessary to storm it, +and, thank God! we received orders to go and blockade another fortress +surrounded by good villages which furnish us provisions in abundance; +this is Phalsburg, a couple of leagues from Saverne. We relieve, here, +the Austrian regiment of Vogelgesang, which has left for Lorraine. +</P> + +<P> +"Thy good letter has followed me everywhere, and it fills me now with +joy. Embrace little Sabrina and our dear little Henry for me a hundred +times, and receive my embraces yourself, too, thou dear, adored wife! +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! when shall we be together again in our little pharmacy? When +shall I see again my vials nicely labelled upon their shelves, with the +heads of Æsculapius and Hippocrates above the door? When shall I take +my pestle, and mix my drugs again after the prescribed formulas? When +shall I have the joy of sitting again in my comfortable arm-chair, in +front of a good fire, in our back shop, and hear Henry's little wooden +horse roll upon the floor,—Henry whom I so long for? And thou, dear, +adored wife, when wilt thou exclaim: 'It is my Henry!' as thou seest me +return crowned with palms of victory." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"These Germans," interrupted the sergeant, "are blockheads as well as +asses! They are to have 'palms of victory!' What a silly letter!" +</P> + +<P> +But Sorlé and Zeffen listened as I read, with tears in their eyes. +They held our little ones in their arms, and I, too, thinking that +Baruch might have been in the same condition as this poor man, was +greatly moved. +</P> + +<P> +Now, Fritz, hear the end: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"We are here in an old tile-kiln, within range of the cannon of the +fort. A few shells are fired upon the city every evening, by order of +the Russian general, Berdiaiw, with the hope of making the inhabitants +decide to open the gates. That must be before long; they are short of +provisions! Then we shall be comfortably lodged in the citizens' +houses, till the end of this glorious campaign; and that will be soon, +for the regular armies have all passed without resistance, and we hear +daily of great victories in Champagne. Bonaparte is in full retreat; +field-marshals Blücher and Schwartzenberg have united their forces, and +are only five or six days' march from Paris——" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"What? What? What is that? What does he say?" stammered out the +sergeant, leaning over toward the letter. "Read that again!" +</P> + +<P> +I looked at him; he was very pale, and his cheeks shook with anger. +</P> + +<P> +"He says that generals Blücher and Schwartzenberg are near Paris." +</P> + +<P> +"Near Paris! They! The rascals!" he faltered out. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, with a bad look on his face, he gave a low laugh and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! thou meanest to take Phalsburg, dost thou? Thou meanest to return +to thy land of sauerkraut with palms of victory? He! he! he! I have +given thee thy palms of victory!" +</P> + +<P> +He made the motions of pricking with his bayonet as he spoke, +"One—<I>two</I>—hop!" +</P> + +<P> +It made us all tremble only to look at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Father Moses, so it is," said he, emptying his glass by little +sips. "I have nailed this sort of an apothecary to the door of the +tile-kiln. He made up a funny face—his eyes starting from his head. +His Aurelia will have to expect him a good while! But never mind! +Only, Madame Sorlé, I assure you that it is a lie. You must not +believe a word he says. The Emperor will give it to them! Don't be +troubled." +</P> + +<P> +I did not wish to go on. I felt myself grow cold, and I finished the +letter quickly, passing over three-quarters of it which contained no +information, only compliments for friends and acquaintances. +</P> + +<P> +The sergeant himself had had enough of it, and went out soon afterward, +saying, "Good-night! Throw that in the fire!" +</P> + +<P> +Then I put the letter aside, and we all sat looking at each other for +some minutes. I opened the door. The sergeant was in his room at the +end of the passage, and I said, in a low voice: +</P> + +<P> +"What a horrible thing! Not only to kill the father of a family like a +fly, but to laugh about it afterward!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Sorlé. "And the worst of it is that he is not a bad +man. He loves the Emperor too well, that is all!" +</P> + +<P> +The information contained in the letter caused us much serious +reflection, and that night, notwithstanding our stroke of good fortune +in our sales, I woke more than once, and thought of this terrible war, +and wondered what would become of the country if Napoleon were no +longer its master. But these questions were above my comprehension, +and I did not know how to answer them. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FAMINE AND FEVER +</H4> + +<P> +After this story of the landwehr, we were afraid of the sergeant, +though he did not know it, and came regularly to take his glass of +cherry-brandy. Sometimes in the evening he would hold the bottle +before our lamp, and exclaim: +</P> + +<P> +"It is getting low, Father Moses, it is getting low! We shall soon be +put upon half-rations, and then quarter, and so on. It is all the +same; if a drop is left, anything more than the smell, in six months, +Trubert will be very glad." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed, and I thought with indignation: +</P> + +<P> +"You will be satisfied with a drop! What are you in want of? The city +storehouses are bomb-proof, the fires at the guard-house are burning +every day, the market furnishes every soldier with his ration of fresh +meat, while respectable citizens are glad if they can get potatoes and +salt meat!" +</P> + +<P> +This is the way I felt in my ill-humor, while I treated him pleasantly, +all the same, on account of his terrible wickedness. +</P> + +<P> +And it was the truth, Fritz, even our children had nothing more +nourishing to eat than soup made of potatoes and salt beef, which cause +many dangerous maladies. +</P> + +<P> +The garrison had no lack of anything; but, notwithstanding, the +governor was all the time proclaiming that the visits were to be +recommenced, and that those who should be found delinquent should be +punished with the rigor of military law. Those people wanted to have +everything for themselves; but nobody minded them, everybody hid what +he could. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunate in those times was he who kept a cow in his cellar, with some +hay and straw for fodder; milk and butter were beyond all price. +Fortunate was he who owned a few hens; a fresh egg, at the end of +February, was valued at fifteen sous, and they were not to be had even +at that price. The price of fresh meat went up, so to speak, from hour +to hour, and we did not ask if it was beef or horse-flesh. +</P> + +<P> +The council of defence had sent away the paupers of the city before the +blockade, but a large number of poor people remained. A good many +slipped out at night into the trenches by one of the posterns; they +would go and dig up roots from under the snow, and cut the nettles in +the bastions to boil for spinach. The sentries fired from above, but +what will not a man risk for food? It is better to feel a ball than to +suffer with hunger. +</P> + +<P> +We needed only to meet these emaciated creatures, these women dragging +themselves along the walls, these pitiful children, to feel that famine +had come, and we often said to ourselves: +</P> + +<P> +"If the Emperor does not come and help us, in a month we shall be like +these wretched creatures! What good will our money do us, when a +radish will cost a hundred francs?" +</P> + +<P> +Then, Fritz, we smiled no more as we saw the little ones eating around +the table; we looked at each other, and this glance was enough to make +us understand each other. +</P> + +<P> +The good sense and good feeling of a brave woman are seen at times like +this. Sorlé had never spoken to me about our provisions; I knew how +prudent she was, and supposed that we must have provisions hidden +somewhere, without being entirely sure of it. So, at evening, as we +sat at our meagre supper, the fear that our children might want the +necessary food sometimes led me to say: +</P> + +<P> +"Eat! feast away! I am not hungry. I want an omelet or a chicken. +Potatoes do not agree with me." +</P> + +<P> +I would laugh, but Sorlé knew very well what I was thinking. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Moses," she said to me one day; "we are not as badly off as you +think; and if we should come to it, ah, well! do not be troubled, we +shall find some way of getting along! So long as others have something +to live upon, we shall not perish, more than they." +</P> + +<P> +She gave me courage, and I ate cheerfully, I had so much confidence in +her. +</P> + +<P> +That same evening, after Zeffen and the children had gone to bed, Sorlé +took the lamp, and led me to her hiding-place. +</P> + +<P> +Under the house we had three cellars, very small and very low, +separated by lattices. Against the last of these lattices, Sorlé had +thrown bundles of straw up to the very top; but after removing the +straw, we went in, and I saw at the farther end, two bags of potatoes, +a bag of flour, and on the little oil-cask a large piece of salt beef. +</P> + +<P> +We stayed there more than an hour, to look, and calculate, and think. +These provisions might serve us for a month, and those in the large +cellar under the street, which we had declared to the commissary of +provisions, a fortnight. So that Sorlé said to me as we went up: +</P> + +<P> +"You see that, with economy, we have what will do for six weeks. A +time of great want is now beginning, and if the Emperor does not come +before the end of six weeks, the city will surrender. Meanwhile, we +must get along with potatoes and salt meat." +</P> + +<P> +She was right, but every day I saw how the children were suffering from +this diet. We could see that they grew thin, especially little David; +his large bright eyes, his hollow cheeks, his increasing dejected look, +made my heart ache. +</P> + +<P> +I held him, I caressed him; I whispered to him that, when the winter +was over, we would go to Saverne, and his father would take him to +drive in his carriage. He would look at me dreamily, and then lay his +head upon my shoulder, with his arm around my neck, without answering. +At last he refused to eat. +</P> + +<P> +Zeffen, too, became disheartened; she would often sob, and take her +babe from me, and say that she wanted to go, that she wanted to see +Baruch! You do not know what these troubles are, Fritz; a father's +troubles for his children; they are the cruelest of all! No child can +imagine how his parents love him, and what they suffer when he is +unhappy. +</P> + +<P> +But what was to be done in the midst of such calamities? Many other +families in France were still more to be pitied than we. +</P> + +<P> +During all this time, you must remember that we had the patrols, the +shells in the evening, requisition and notices, the call to arms at the +two barracks and in front of the mayoralty, the cries of "Fire!" in the +night, the noise of the fire-engines, the arrival of the envoys, the +rumors spread through the city that our armies were retreating, and +that the city was to be burned to the ground! +</P> + +<P> +The less people know the more they invent. +</P> + +<P> +It is best to tell the simple truth. Then every one would take +courage, for, during all such times, I have always seen that the truth, +even in the greatest calamities, is never so terrible as these +inventions. The republicans defended themselves so well, because they +knew everything, nothing was concealed from them, and every one +considered the affairs of his nation as his own. +</P> + +<P> +But when men's own affairs are hidden from them, how can they have +confidence? An honest man has nothing to conceal, and I say it is the +same with an honest government. +</P> + +<P> +In short, bad weather, cold, want, rumors of all kinds, increased our +miseries. Men like Burguet, whom we had always seen firm, became sad; +all that they could say to us was: +</P> + +<P> +"We shall see!—we must wait!" The soldiers again began to desert, and +were shot! +</P> + +<P> +Our brandy-selling always kept on: I had already emptied seven pipes of +spirit, all my debts were paid, my storehouse at the market was full of +goods, and I had eighteen thousand francs in the cellar; but what is +money, when we are trembling for the life of those we love? +</P> + +<P> +On the sixth of March, about nine o'clock in the evening, we had just +finished supper as usual, and the sergeant was smoking his pipe, with +his legs crossed, near the window, and looking at us without speaking. +</P> + +<P> +It was the hour when the bombarding began; we heard the first +cannon-shots, behind the Fiquet bottom-land; a cannon-shot from the +outposts had answered them; that had somewhat roused us, for we were +all thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +"Father Moses," said the sergeant, "the children are pale!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know it very well," I replied, sorrowfully. +</P> + +<P> +He said no more, and as Zeffen had just gone out to weep, he took +little David on his knee, and looked at him for a long time. Sorlé +held little Esdras asleep in her arms. Sâfel took off the table-cloth +and rolled up the napkins, to put them back in the closet. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the sergeant. "We must take care, Father Moses; we will +talk about it another time." +</P> + +<P> +I looked at him with surprise; he emptied his pipe at the edge of the +stove, and went out, making a sign for me to follow him. Zeffen came +in, and I took a candle from her hand. The sergeant led me to his +little room at the end of the passage, shut the door, sat down on the +foot of the bed, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Father Moses, do not be frightened—but the typhus has just broken out +again in the city; five soldiers were taken to the hospital this +morning; the commandant of the place, Moulin, is taken. I hear, too, +of a woman and three children!" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me, and I felt cold all over. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said he, "I have known this disease for a long time; we had it +in Poland, in Russia, after the retreat, and in Germany. It always +comes from poor nourishment." +</P> + +<P> +Then I could not help sobbing and exclaiming: +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, tell me! What can I do? If I could give my life for my children, +it would all be well! But what can I do?" +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow, Father Moses, I will bring you my portion of meat, and you +shall have soup made of it for your children. Madame Sorlé may take +the piece at the market, or, if you prefer, I will bring it myself. +You shall have all my portions of fresh meat till the blockade is over, +Father Moses." +</P> + +<P> +I was so moved by this, that I went to him and took his hand, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Sergeant, you are a noble man! Forgive me, I have thought evil of +you." +</P> + +<P> +"What about?" said he, scowling. +</P> + +<P> +"About the landwehr at the tile-kiln!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, good! That is a different thing! I do not care about that," said +he. "If you knew all the kaiserlichs that I have despatched these ten +years, you would have thought more evil of me. But that is not what we +are talking about; you accept, Father Moses?" +</P> + +<P> +"And you, sergeant," said I, "what will you have to eat?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do not be troubled about that; Sergeant Trubert has never been in +want!" +</P> + +<P> +I wanted to thank him. "Good!" said he, "that is all understood. I +cannot give you a pike, or a fat goose, but a good soup in blockade +times is worth something, too." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed and shook hands with me. As for myself I was quite +overcome, and my eyes were full of tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us go; good-night!" said he, as he led me to the door. "It will +all come out right! Tell Madame Sorlé that it will all come out right!" +</P> + +<P> +I blessed that man as I went out, and I told it all to Sorlé, who was +still more affected by it than myself. We could not refuse; it was for +the children! and during the last week there had been nothing but +horse-meat in the market. +</P> + +<P> +So the next morning we had fresh meat to make soup for those poor +little ones. But the dreadful malady was already upon us, Fritz! Now, +when I think of it, after all these years, I am quite overcome. +However, I cannot complain; before going to take the bit of meat, I had +consulted our old rabbi about the quality of this meat according to the +law, and he had replied: +</P> + +<P> +"The first law is to save Israel; but how can Israel be saved if the +children perish?" +</P> + +<P> +But after a while I remembered that other law: +</P> + +<P> +"The life of the flesh is in the blood, therefore I said unto the +children of Israel: Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh, for +the life of all flesh is the blood thereof; whosoever eateth it shall +be cut off; and whosoever eateth of any sick beast shall be unclean." +</P> + +<P> +In my great misery the words of the Lord came to me, and I wept. +</P> + +<P> +All these animals had been sick for six weeks; they lived in the mire, +exposed to the snow and wind, between the arsenal and guard bastions. +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers, almost all of whom were sons of peasants, ought to have +known that they could not live in the open air, in such cold weather; a +shelter could easily have been made. But when officers take the whole +charge, nobody else thinks of anything; they even forget their own +village trades. And if, unfortunately, their commanders do not give +the order, nothing is done. +</P> + +<P> +This is the reason that the animals had neither flesh nor fat; this is +the reason that they were nothing but miserable, trembling carcasses, +and their suffering, unhealthy flesh had become unclean, according to +the law of God. +</P> + +<P> +Many of the soldiers died. The wind brought to the city the bad air +from the bodies, scattered by hundreds around the tile-kiln, the Ozillo +farm, and in the gardens, and this also caused much sickness. +</P> + +<P> +The justice of the Lord is shown in all things; when the living neglect +their duties toward the dead, they perish. +</P> + +<P> +I have often remembered these things when it was too late, so that I +think of them only with grief. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +DEATH OF LITTLE DAVID +</H4> + +<P> +The most painful of all my recollections, Fritz, is the way in which +that terrible disease came to our family. +</P> + +<P> +On the twelfth of March we heard of a large number of men, women, and +children who were dying. We dared not listen; we said: +</P> + +<P> +"No one in our house is sick, the Lord watches over us!" +</P> + +<P> +After David had come, after supper, to cuddle in my arms, with his +little hand on my shoulder, I looked at him; he seemed very drowsy, but +children are always sleepy at night. Esdras was already asleep, and +Sâfel had just bidden us good-night. +</P> + +<P> +At last Zeffen took the child, and we all went to bed. +</P> + +<P> +That night the Russians did not fire; perhaps the typhus was among +them, too. I do not know. +</P> + +<P> +About midnight, when by God's goodness we were asleep, I heard a +terrible cry. +</P> + +<P> +I listened, and Sorlé said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"It is Zeffen!" +</P> + +<P> +I rose at once, and tried to light the lamp; but I was so much agitated +that I could not find anything. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé struck a light, I drew on my pantaloons and ran to the door. But +I was hardly in the passage-way when Zeffen came out of her room like +an insane person, with her long black hair all loose. +</P> + +<P> +"The child!" she screamed. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé followed me. We went in, we leaned over the cradle. The two +children seemed to be sleeping; Esdras all rosy, David as white as snow. +</P> + +<P> +At first I saw nothing, I was so frightened, but at last I took up +David to waken him; I shook him, and called, "David!" +</P> + +<P> +And then we first saw that his eyes were open and fixed. +</P> + +<P> +"Wake him! wake him!" cried Zeffen. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé took my hands and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Quick! make a fire! heat some water!" +</P> + +<P> +And we laid him across the bed, shaking him and calling him by name. +Little Esdras began to cry. +</P> + +<P> +"Light a fire!" said Sorlé again to me. "And, Zeffen, be quiet! It +does no good to cry so! Quick, quick, a fire!" +</P> + +<P> +But Zeffen cried out incessantly, "My poor child!" +</P> + +<P> +"He will soon be warm again," said Sorlé; "only, Moses, make haste and +dress yourself, and run for Doctor Steinbrenner." +</P> + +<P> +She was pale and more alarmed than we, but this brave woman never lost +her presence of mind or her courage. She had made a fire, and the +fagots were crackling in the chimney. +</P> + +<P> +I ran to get my cloak, and went down, thinking to myself: +</P> + +<P> +"The Lord have mercy upon us! If the child dies I shall not survive +him! No, he is the one that I love best, I could not survive him!" +</P> + +<P> +For you know, Fritz, that the child who is most unhappy, or in the +greatest danger, is always the one that we love best; he needs us the +most; we forget the others. The Lord has ordered it so, doubtless for +the greatest good. +</P> + +<P> +I was already running in the street. +</P> + +<P> +A darker night was never known. The wind blew from the Rhine, the snow +blew about like dust; here and there the lighted windows showed where +people were watching the sick. +</P> + +<P> +My head was uncovered, yet I did not feel the cold. I cried within +myself: +</P> + +<P> +"The last day had come! That day of which the Lord has said: 'Afore +the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in +the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and +take away and cut down the branches." +</P> + +<P> +Full of these fearful thoughts, I went across the large market-place, +where the wind was tossing the old elms, full of frost. +</P> + +<P> +As the clock struck one, I pushed open Doctor Steinbrenner's door; its +large pulley rattled in the vestibule. As I was groping about, trying +to find the railing, the servant appeared with a light at the top of +the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is there?" she asked, holding the lantern before her. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" I replied, "tell the doctor to come immediately; we have a child +sick, very sick." +</P> + +<P> +I could not restrain my sobs. +</P> + +<P> +"Come up, Monsieur Moses," said the girl: "the doctor has just come in, +and has not gone to bed. Come up a moment and warm yourself!" +</P> + +<P> +But Father Steinbrenner had heard it all. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, Theresa!" said he, coming out of his room; "keep the fire +burning. I shall be back in an hour at latest." +</P> + +<P> +He had already put on his large three-cornered cap, and his goat's-hair +great-coat. +</P> + +<P> +We walked across the square without speaking. I went first; in a few +minutes we ascended our stairs. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé had placed a candle at the top of the stairs; I took it and led +M. Steinbrenner to the baby's room. +</P> + +<P> +All seemed quiet as we entered. Zeffen was sitting in an arm-chair +behind the door, with her head on her knees, and her shoulders +uncovered; she was no longer crying but weeping. The child was in bed. +Sorlé, standing at its side, looked at us. +</P> + +<P> +The doctor laid his cap on the bureau. +</P> + +<P> +"It is too warm here," said he, "give us a little air." +</P> + +<P> +Then he went to the bed. Zeffen had risen from her chair, as pale as +death. The doctor took the lamp, and looked at our poor little David; +he raised the coverlet and lifted out the little round limbs; he +listened to the breathing. Esdras having begun to cry, he turned round +and said: "Take the other child away from this room—we must be quiet! +and besides, the air of a sick-room is not good for such small +children." +</P> + +<P> +He gave me a side look. I understood what he meant to say. It was the +typhus! I looked at my wife; she understood it all. +</P> + +<P> +I felt at that moment as if my heart were torn; I wanted to groan, but +Zeffen was there leaning over, behind us, and I said nothing; nor did +Sorlé. +</P> + +<P> +The doctor asked for paper to write a prescription, and we went out +together. I led him to our room, and shut the door, and began to sob. +</P> + +<P> +"Moses," said he, "you are a man, do not weep! Remember that you ought +to set an example of courage to two poor women." +</P> + +<P> +"Is there no hope?" I asked him in a low voice, afraid of being heard. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the typhus!" said he. "We will do what we can. There, that is +the prescription; go to Tribolin's; his boy is up at night now, and he +will give you the medicine. Be quick! And then, in heaven's name, +take the other child out of that room, and your daughter too, if +possible. Try to find some one out of the family, accustomed to +sickness; the typhus is contagious." +</P> + +<P> +I said nothing. +</P> + +<P> +He took his cap and went. +</P> + +<P> +Now what can I say more? The typhus is a disease engendered by death +itself; the prophet speaks of it, when he says: +</P> + +<P> +"Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming!" +</P> + +<P> +How many have I seen die of the typhus in our hospitals, on the Saverne +hill, and elsewhere! +</P> + +<P> +When men tear each other to pieces, without mercy, why should not death +come to help them? But what had this poor babe done that it must die +so soon? This, Fritz, is the most dreadful thing, that all must suffer +for the crimes of a few. Yes, when I think that my child died of this +pestilence, which war had brought from the heart of Russia to our +homes, and which ravaged all Alsace and Lorraine for six months, +instead of accusing God, as the impious do, I accuse men. Has not God +given them reason? And when they do not use it—when they let +themselves rage against each other like brutes—is He to blame for it? +</P> + +<P> +But of what use are right ideas, when we are suffering! +</P> + +<P> +I remember that the sickness lasted for six days, and those were the +cruelest days of my life. I feared for my wife, for my daughter, for +Sâfel, for Esdras. I sat in a corner, listening to the babe's +breathing. Sometimes he seemed to breathe no longer. Then a chill +passed over me; I went to him and listened. And when, by chance, +Zeffen came, in spite of the doctor's prohibition, I went into a sort +of fury; I pushed her out by the shoulders, trembling. +</P> + +<P> +"But he is my child! He is my child!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +"And art thou not my child too?" said I. "I do not want you all to +die!" +</P> + +<P> +Then I burst into tears, and fell into my chair, looking straight +before me, my strength all gone; I was exhausted with grief. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé came and went, with firm-closed lips; she prepared everything, +and cared for everybody. +</P> + +<P> +At that time musk was the remedy for typhus; the house was full of +musk. Often the idea seized me that Esdras, too, was going to be sick. +Ah, if having children is the greatest happiness in the world, what +agony is it to see them suffer! How fearful to think of losing +them!—to be there, to hear their labored breathing, their delirium, to +watch their sinking from hour to hour, from minute to minute, and to +exclaim from the depths of the soul: +</P> + +<P> +"Death is near at hand! There is nothing, nothing more that can be +done to save thee, my child! I cannot give thee my life! Death does +not wish for it!" +</P> + +<P> +What heart-rending and what anguish, till the last moment when all is +over! +</P> + +<P> +Then, Fritz, money, the blockade, the famine, the general +desolation—all were forgotten. I hardly saw the sergeant open our +door every morning, and look in, asking: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Father Moses, well?" +</P> + +<P> +I did not know what he said; I paid no attention to him. +</P> + +<P> +But, what I always think of with pleasure, what I am always proud of, +is that, in the midst of all this trouble, when Sorlé, Zeffen, myself, +and everybody were beside ourselves, when we forgot all about our +business, and let everything go, little Sâfel at once took charge of +our shop. Every morning we heard him rise at six o'clock, go down, +open, the warehouse, take up one or two pitchers of brandy, and begin +to serve the customers. +</P> + +<P> +No one had said a word to him about it, but Sâfel had a genius for +trade. And if anything could console a father in such troubles, it +would be to see himself, as it were, living over again in so young a +child, and to say to himself: "At least the good race is not extinct; +it still remains to preserve common-sense in the world." Yes, it is +the only consolation which a man can have. +</P> + +<P> +Our <I>schabesgoïé</I> did the work in the kitchen, and old Lanche helped us +watch, but Sâfel took the charge of the shop; his mother and I thought +of nothing but our little David. +</P> + +<P> +He died in the night of the eighteenth of March, the day when the fire +broke out in Captain Cabanier's house. +</P> + +<P> +That same night two shells fell upon our house; the blindage made them +roll into the court, where they both burst, shattering the laundry +windows and demolishing the butcher's door, which fell down at once +with a fearful crash. +</P> + +<P> +It was the most powerful bombardment since the blockade began, for, as +soon as the enemy saw the flame ascending, they fired from Mittelbronn, +from the Barracks, and the Fiquet lowlands, to prevent its being +extinguished. +</P> + +<P> +I stayed all the while with Sorlé, near the babe's bed, and the noise +of the bursting shells did not disturb us. +</P> + +<P> +The unhappy do not cling to life; and then the child was so sick! +There were blue spots all over his body. +</P> + +<P> +The end was drawing near. +</P> + +<P> +I walked the room. Without they were crying "Fire! Fire!" +</P> + +<P> +People passed in the street like a torrent. We heard those returning +from the fire telling the news, the engines hurrying by, the soldiers +ranging the crowd in the line, the shells bursting at the right and +left. +</P> + +<P> +Before our windows the long trails of red flame descended upon the +roofs in front, and shattered the glass of the windows. Our cannon all +around the city replied to the enemy. Now and then we heard the cry: +"Room! Room!" as the wounded were carried away. +</P> + +<P> +Twice some pickets came up into my room to put me in the line, but, on +seeing me sitting with Sorlé by our child, they went down again. +</P> + +<P> +The first shell burst at our house about eleven o'clock, the second at +four in the morning; everything shook, from the garret to the cellar; +the floor, the bed, the furniture seemed to be upheaved; but, in our +exhaustion and despair, we did not speak a single word. +</P> + +<P> +Zeffen came running to us with Esdras and little Sâfel, at the first +explosion. It was evident that little David was dying. Old Lanche and +Sorlé were sitting, sobbing. Zeffen began to cry. +</P> + +<P> +I opened the windows wide, to admit the air, and the powder-smoke which +covered the city came into the room. +</P> + +<P> +Sâfel saw at once that the hour was at hand. I needed only to look at +him, and he went out, and soon returned by a side street, +notwithstanding the crowd, with Kalmes the chanter, who began to recite +the prayer of the dying: +</P> + +<P> +"The Lord reigneth! The Lord reigneth! The Lord shall reign +everywhere and forever! +</P> + +<P> +"Praise, everywhere and forever, the name of His glorious reign! +</P> + +<P> +"The Lord is God! The Lord is God! The Lord is God! +</P> + +<P> +"Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one God! +</P> + +<P> +"Go, then, where the Lord calleth thee—go, and may His mercy help thee! +</P> + +<P> +"May the Lord, our God, be with thee; may His immortal angels lead thee +to heaven, and may the righteous be glad when the Lord shall receive +thee into His bosom! +</P> + +<P> +"God of mercy, receive this soul into the midst of eternal joys!" +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé and I repeated, weeping, those holy words. Zeffen lay as if +dead, her arms extended across the bed, over the feet of her child. +Her brother Sâfel stood behind her, weeping bitterly, and calling +softly, "Zeffen! Zeffen!" +</P> + +<P> +But she did not hear; her soul was lost in infinite sorrows. +</P> + +<P> +Without, the cries of "Fire!" the orders for the engines, the tumult of +the crowd, the rolling of the cannonade still continued; the flashes, +one after another, lighted up the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +What a night, Fritz! What a night! +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Sâfel, who was leaning over under the curtain, turned round to +us in terror. My wife and I ran, and saw that the child was dead. We +raised our hands, sobbing, to indicate it. The chanter ceased his +psalm. Our David was dead! +</P> + +<P> +The most terrible thing was the mother's cry! She lay, stretched out, +as if she had fainted; but when the chanter leaned over and closed the +lips, saying "<I>Amen!</I>" she rose, lifted the little one, looked at him, +then, raising him above her head, began to run toward the door, crying +out with a heart-rending voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Baruch! Baruch! save our child!" +</P> + +<P> +She was mad, Fritz! In this last terror I stopped her, and, by main +force, took from her the little body which she was carrying away. And +Sorlé, throwing her arms round her, with ceaseless groanings, Mother +Lanche, the chanter, Sâfel, all led her away. +</P> + +<P> +I remained alone, and I heard them go down, leading away my daughter. +</P> + +<P> +How can a man endure such sorrows? +</P> + +<P> +I put David back in the bed and covered him, because of the open +windows. I knew that he was dead, but it seemed to me as if he would +be cold. I looked at him for a long time, so as to retain that +beautiful face in my heart. +</P> + +<P> +It was all heart-rending—all! I felt as if my bowels were torn from +me, and in my madness I accused the Lord, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of Thy wrath. +Surely against me is He turned. My flesh and my skin hath He made old: +He hath broken my bones. He hath set me in dark places. Also when I +cry and shout He shutteth out my prayer. He was unto me as a lion in +secret places!" +</P> + +<P> +Thus I walked about, groaning and even blaspheming. But God in His +mercy forgave me; He knew that it was not myself that spoke, but my +despair. +</P> + +<P> +At last I sat down, the others came back. Sorlé sat next to me in +silence. Sâfel said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"Zeffen has gone to the rabbi's with Esdras." +</P> + +<P> +I covered my head without answering him. +</P> + +<P> +Then some women came with old Lanche; I took Sorlé by the hand, and we +went into the large room, without speaking a word. +</P> + +<P> +The mere sight of this room, where the two little brothers had played +so long, made my tears come afresh, and Sorlé, Sâfel, and I wept +together. The house was full of people; it might have been eight +o'clock, and they knew already that we had a child dead. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE PASSOVER +</H4> + +<P> +Then, Fritz, the funeral rites began. All who died of typhus had to be +buried the same day: Christians behind the church, and Jews in the +trenches, in the place now occupied by the riding-school. +</P> + +<P> +Old women were already there to wash the poor little body, and comb the +hair, and cut the nails, according to the law of the Lord. Some of +them sewed the winding-sheet. +</P> + +<P> +The open windows admitted the air, the shutters struck against the +walls. The <I>schamess</I>* went through the streets, striking the doors +with his mace, to summon our brethren. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* Beadle. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Sorlé sat upon the ground with her head veiled. Hearing Desmarets come +up the stairs, I had courage to go and meet him, and show him the room. +The poor angel was in his little shirt on the floor, the head raised a +little on some straw, and the little <I>thaleth</I> in his fingers. He was +so beautiful, with his brown hair, and half-opened lips, that I thought +as I looked at him: "The Lord wanted to have thee near his throne!" +</P> + +<P> +And my tears fell silently: my beard was full of them. +</P> + +<P> +Desmarets then took the measure and went. Half an hour afterward, he +returned with the little pine coffin under his arm, and the house was +filled anew with lamentations. +</P> + +<P> +I could not see the coffin closed! I went and sat upon the sack of +ashes, covering my face with both hands, and crying in my heart like +Jacob, "Surely I shall go down to the grave with this child; I shall +not survive him." +</P> + +<P> +Only a very few of our brethren came, for a panic was in the city; men +knew that the angel of death was passing by, and that drops of blood +rained from his sword upon the houses; each emptied the water from his +jug upon the threshold and entered quickly. But the best of them came +silently, and as evening approached, it was necessary to go and descend +by the postern. +</P> + +<P> +I was the only one of our family. Sorlé was not able to follow me, nor +Zeffen. I was the only one to throw the shovelful of earth. My +strength all left me, they had to lead me back to our door. The +sergeant held me by the arm; he spoke to me and I did not hear him; I +was as if dead. +</P> + +<P> +All else that I remember of that dreadful day, is the moment when, +having come into the house, sitting on the sack, before our cold +hearth, with bare feet and bent head, and my soul in the depths, the +<I>schamess</I> came to me, touched my shoulder and made me rise; and then +took his knife from his pocket and rent my garment, tearing it to the +hip. This blow was the last and the most dreadful; I fell back, +murmuring with Job: +</P> + +<P> +"Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was +said, there is a man child conceived! Let a cloud dwell upon it, let +the blackness of the day terrify it! For mourning, the true mourning +does not come down from the father to the child, but goes up from the +child to the father. Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts +that I should suck? For now I should have lain still in the tomb and +been at rest!" +</P> + +<P> +And my grief, Fritz, had no bounds; "What will Baruch say," I +exclaimed, "and what shall I answer him when he asks me to give him +back his child?" +</P> + +<P> +I felt no longer any interest in our business. Zeffen lived with the +old rabbi; her mother spent the days with her, to take care of Esdras +and comfort her. +</P> + +<P> +Every part of our house was opened; the <I>schabesgoïé</I> burned sugar and +spices, and the air from without had free circulation. Sâfel went on +selling. +</P> + +<P> +As for myself, I sat before the hearth in the morning, cooked some +potatoes, and ate them with a little salt, and then went out, without +thought or aim. I wandered sometimes to the right, sometimes to the +left, toward the old gendarmerie, around the ramparts, in +out-of-the-way places. +</P> + +<P> +I could not bear to see any one, especially those who had known the +child. +</P> + +<P> +Then, Fritz, our miseries were at their height; famine, cold, all kinds +of sufferings weighed upon the city; faces grew thin, and women and +children were seen, half-naked and trembling, groping in the shadow in +the deserted by-ways. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! such miseries will never return! We have no more such abominable +wars, lasting twenty years, when the highways looked like ruts, and the +roads like streams of mud; when the ground remained untilled for want +of husbandmen, when houses sank for want of inhabitants; when the poor +went barefoot and the rich in wooden shoes, while the superior officers +passed by on superb horses, looking down contemptuously on the whole +human race. +</P> + +<P> +We could not endure that now! +</P> + +<P> +But at that time everything in the nation was destroyed and humiliated; +the citizens and the people had nothing left; force was everything. If +a man said, "But there is such a thing as justice, right, truth!" the +way was to answer with a smile, "I do not understand you!" and you were +taken for a man of sense and experience, who would make his way. +</P> + +<P> +Then, in the midst of my sorrow, I saw these things without thinking +about them; but since then, they have come back to me, and thousands of +others; all the survivors of those days can remember them, too. +</P> + +<P> +One morning, I was under the old market, looking at the wretches as +they bought meat. At that time they knocked down the horses of +Rouge-Colas and those of the gendarmes, as fleshless as the cattle in +the trenches, and sold the meat at very high prices. +</P> + +<P> +I looked at the swarms of wrinkled old women, of hollow-eyed citizens, +all these wretched creatures crowding before Frantz Sepel's stall, +while he distributed bits of carcass to them. +</P> + +<P> +Frantz's large dogs were seen no longer prowling about the market, +licking up the bloody scraps. The dried hands of old women were +stretched out at the end of their fleshless arms, to snatch everything; +weak voices called out entreatingly, "A little more liver, Monsieur +Frantz, so that we can make merry!" +</P> + +<P> +I saw all this under the great dark roof, through which a little light +came, in the holes made by the shells. In the distance, among the +worm-eaten pillars, some soldiers, under the arch of the guard-house, +with their old capes hanging down their thighs, were also looking +on;—it seemed like a dream. +</P> + +<P> +My great sorrow accorded with these sad sights. I was about leaving at +the end of a half hour, when I saw Burguet coming along by Father +Brainstein's old country-house, which was now staved in by the shells, +and leaning, all shattered, over the street. +</P> + +<P> +Burguet had told me several days before our affliction, that his +maid-servant was sick. I had thought no more of it, but now it came to +me. +</P> + +<P> +He looked so changed, so thin, his cheeks so marked by wrinkles, it +seemed as if years had passed since I had seen him. His hat came down +to his eyes, and his beard, at least a fortnight old, had turned gray. +He came in, looking round in all directions; but he could not see me +where I was, in the deep shadow, against the planks of the old +fodder-house; and he stopped behind the crowd of old women, who were +squeezed in a semicircle before the stall, awaiting their turn. +</P> + +<P> +After a minute he put some sous in Frantz Sepel's hand, and received +his morsel, which he hid under his cloak. Then looking round again, he +was going away quickly, with his head down. +</P> + +<P> +This sight moved my heart: I hurried away, raising my hands to heaven, +and exclaiming: "Is it possible? Is it possible? Burguet too! A man +of his genius to suffer hunger and eat carcasses! Oh, what times of +trial!" +</P> + +<P> +I went home, completely upset. +</P> + +<P> +We had not many provisions left; but, still, the next morning, as Sâfel +was going down to open the shop, I said to him: +</P> + +<P> +"Stop, my child, take this little basket to M. Burguet; it is some +potatoes and salt beef. Take care that nobody sees it, they would take +it from you. Say that it is in remembrance of the poor deserter." +</P> + +<P> +The child went. He told me that Burguet wept. +</P> + +<P> +This, Fritz, is what must be seen in a blockade, where you are attacked +from day to day. This is what the Germans and Spaniards had to suffer, +and what we suffered in our turn. This is war! +</P> + +<P> +Even the siege rations were almost gone; but Moulin, the commandant of +the place, having died of typhus, the famine did not prevent the +lieutenant-colonel, who took his place, from giving balls and fêtes to +the envoys, in the old Thevenot house. The windows were bright, music +played, the staff-officers drank punch and warm wine, to make believe +that we were living in abundance. There was good reason for bandaging +the eyes of these envoys till they reached the very ball-room, for, if +they had seen the look of the people, all the punch-bowls and warm +wines in the world would not have deceived them. +</P> + +<P> +All this time, the grave-digger Mouyot and his two boys came every +morning to take their two or three drops of brandy. They might say "We +drink to the dead!" as the veterans said "We drink to the Cossacks!" +Nobody in the city would willingly have undertaken to bury those who +had died of typhus; they alone, after taking their drop, dared to throw +the bodies from the hospital upon a cart, and pile them up in the pit, +and then they passed for grave-diggers, with Father Zébédé. +</P> + +<P> +The order was to wrap the dead in a sheet. But who saw that it was +done? Old Mouyot himself told me that they were buried in their cloaks +or vests, as it might be, and sometimes entirely naked. +</P> + +<P> +For every corpse, these men had their thirty-five sous; Father Mouyot, +the blind man, can tell you so; it was his harvest. +</P> + +<P> +Toward the end of March, in the midst of this fearful want, when there +was not a dog, and still less a cat, to be seen in the streets, the +city was full of evil tidings; rumors of battles lost, of marches upon +Paris, etc. +</P> + +<P> +As the envoys had been received, and balls given in their honor, +something of our misfortunes became known either through the family or +the servants. +</P> + +<P> +Often, in wandering through the streets which ran along the ramparts, I +mounted one of the bastions, looking toward Strasburg, or Metz, or +Paris. I had no fear then of stray balls. I looked forth upon the +thousand bivouac fires scattered over the plain, the soldiers of the +enemy returning from the villages with their long poles hung with +quarters of meat, at others crouched around the little fires which +shone like stars upon the edge of the forest, and at their patrols and +their covered batteries from which their flag was flying. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes I looked at the smoke of the chimneys at Quatre-Vents, or +Bichelberg, or Mittelbronn. Our chimneys had no smoke, our festive +days were over. +</P> + +<P> +You can never imagine how many thoughts come to you, when you are so +shut up, as your eyes follow the long white highways, and you imagine +yourself walking there, talking with people about the news, asking them +what they have suffered, and telling them what you have yourself +endured. +</P> + +<P> +From the bastion of the guard, I could see even the white peaks of the +Schneeberg; I imagined myself in the midst of foresters, wood-cutters, +and wood-splitters. There was a rumor that they were defending their +route from Schirmeck; I longed to know if it were true. +</P> + +<P> +As I looked toward the Maisons-Rouges, on the road to Paris, I imagined +myself to be with my old friend Leiser; I saw him at his hearth, in +despair at having to support so many people, for the Russian, Austrian, +and Bavarian staff-officers remained upon this route, and new regiments +went by continually. +</P> + +<P> +And spring came! The snow began to melt in the furrows and behind the +hedges. The great forests of La Bonne-Fontaine and the Barracks began +to change their tents. +</P> + +<P> +The thing which affected me most, as I have often remembered, was +hearing the first lark at the end of March. The sky was entirely +clear, and I looked up to see the bird. I thought of little David, and +I wept, I knew not why. +</P> + +<P> +Men have strange thoughts; they are affected by the song of a bird, and +sometimes, years after, the same sounds recall the same emotions, so as +even to make them weep. +</P> + +<P> +At last the house was purified, and Zeffen and Sorlé came back to it. +</P> + +<P> +The time of the Passover drew near; and the floors must be washed, the +walls scoured, the vessels cleansed. In the midst of these cares, the +poor women forgot, in some measure, our affliction; but as the time +drew nearer our anxiety increased; how, in the midst of this famine, +were we to obey the command of God: +</P> + +<P> +"This month shall be the first month of the year to you. +</P> + +<P> +"In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a +lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats. +</P> + +<P> +"And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. +</P> + +<P> +"And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and +unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs shall they eat it." +</P> + +<P> +But where was the sacrificial lamb to be found? Schmoûlé alone, the +old <I>schamess</I>, had thought of it for us all, three months before; he +had nourished a male goat of that year in his cellar, and that was the +goat that was killed. +</P> + +<P> +Every Jewish family had a portion of it, small indeed, but the law of +the Lord was fulfilled. +</P> + +<P> +We invited on that day, according to the law, one of the poorest of our +brethren, Kalmes. We went together to the synagogue; the prayers were +recited, and then we returned to partake of the feast at our table. +</P> + +<P> +Everything was ready and according to the proper order, notwithstanding +the great destitution; the white cloth, the goblet of vinegar, the hard +egg, the horseradish, the unleavened bread, and the flesh of the goat. +The lamp with seven burners shone above it; but we had not much bread. +</P> + +<P> +Having taken my seat in the midst of my family, Sâfel took the jug and +poured water upon my hands; then we all bent forward, each took a piece +of bread, saying with heavy hearts: +</P> + +<P> +"This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in Egypt. +Whosoever is hungry, let him come and eat with us. Whosoever is poor, +let him come and make the Passover!" +</P> + +<P> +We sat down again, and Sâfel said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"What mean ye by this service, my father?" +</P> + +<P> +And I answered: +</P> + +<P> +"We were slaves in Egypt, my child, and the Lord brought us forth with +a mighty hand and an outstretched arm!" +</P> + +<P> +These words inspired us with courage; we hoped that God would deliver +us as He had delivered our fathers, and that the Emperor would be His +right arm; but we were mistaken, the Lord wanted nothing more of that +man! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PEACE +</H4> + +<P> +The next morning, at daybreak, between six and seven o'clock, when we +were all asleep, the report of a cannon made our windows rattle. The +enemy usually fired only at night. I listened; a second report +followed after a few seconds, then another, then others, one by one. +</P> + +<P> +I rose, opened a window, and looked out. The sun was rising behind the +arsenal. Not a soul was in the street; but, as one report came after +another, doors and windows were opened; men in their shirts leaned out, +listening. +</P> + +<P> +No shells hissed through the air; the enemy fired blank cartridges. +</P> + +<P> +As I listened, a great murmur came from the distance, outside of the +city. First it came from the Mittelbronn hill, then it reached the +Bichelberg, Quatre-Vents, the upper and lower Barracks. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé had just risen also; I finished dressing, and said to her: +</P> + +<P> +"Something extraordinary is going on—God grant that it may be for +good!" +</P> + +<P> +And I went down in great perturbation. +</P> + +<P> +It was not a quarter of an hour since the first report, and the whole +city was out. Some ran to the ramparts, others were in groups, +shouting and disputing at the corners of the streets. Astonishment, +fear, and anger were depicted upon every face. +</P> + +<P> +A large number of soldiers were mingled with the citizens, and all went +up together in groups to the right and left of the French gate. +</P> + +<P> +I was about following one of these groups, when Burguet came down the +street. He looked thin and emaciated, as on the day when I saw him in +the market. +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" said I, running to meet him, "this is something serious!" +</P> + +<P> +"Very serious, and promising no good, Moses!" said he. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is evident," said I, "that the allies have gained victories; +it may be that they are in Paris!" +</P> + +<P> +He turned around in alarm, and said in a low voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Take care, Moses, take care! If any one heard you, at a moment like +this, the veterans would tear you in pieces!" +</P> + +<P> +I was dreadfully frightened, for I saw that he was right, while, as for +him, his cheeks shook. He took me by the arm and said: +</P> + +<P> +"I owe you thanks for the provisions you sent me; they came very +opportunely." +</P> + +<P> +And when I answered that we should always have a morsel of bread at his +service, so long as we had any left, he pressed my hand; and we went +together up the street of the infantry quarters, as far as to the +ice-house bastion, where two batteries had been placed to command the +Mittelbronn hill. There we could see the road to Paris as far as to +Petite Saint Jean, and even to Lixheim; but those great heaps of earth, +called <I>cavaliers</I>, were covered with people; Baron Parmentier, his +assistant Pipelingre, the old curate Leth, and many other men of note +were there, in the midst of the crowd, looking on in silence. We had +only to see their faces to know that something dreadful was happening. +</P> + +<P> +From this height on the talus, we saw what was riveting everybody's +attention. All our enemies, Austrians, Bavarians, Wurtemburgers, +Russians, cavalry and infantry mixed together, were swarming around +their intrenchments like ants, embracing each other, shaking hands, +lifting their shakos on the points of their bayonets, waving branches +of trees just beginning to turn green. Horsemen dashed across the +plain, with their colbacs on the point of their swords, and rending the +air with their shouts. +</P> + +<P> +The telegraph was in operation on the hill of Saint Jean; Burguet +pointed it out to me. +</P> + +<P> +"If we understood those signals, Moses," said he, "we should know +better what was going to happen to us in the next fortnight." +</P> + +<P> +Some persons having turned round to listen to us, we went down again +into the streets of the quarters, very thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers at the upper windows of the barracks were also looking +out. Men and women in great numbers were collecting in the street. +</P> + +<P> +We went through the crowd. In the street of the Capuchins, which was +always deserted, Burguet, who was walking with his head down, exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"So it is all over! What things have we seen in these last twenty-five +years, Moses! What astonishing and terrible things! And it is all +over!" +</P> + +<P> +He took hold of my hand, and looked at me as if he were astonished at +his own words; then he began to walk on. +</P> + +<P> +"This winter campaign has been frightful to me," said he; "it has +dragged along—dragged along—and the thunder-bolt did not come! But +to-morrow, the day after to-morrow, what are we going to hear? Is the +Emperor dead? How will that affect us? Will France still be France? +What will they leave us? What will they take from us?" +</P> + +<P> +Reflecting on these things, we came in front of our house. Then, as if +suddenly wakened, Burguet said to me: +</P> + +<P> +"Prudence, Moses! If the Emperor is not dead, the veterans will hold +out till the last second. Remember that, and whoever they suspect will +have everything to fear." +</P> + +<P> +I thanked him, and went up, promising myself that I would follow his +advice. +</P> + +<P> +My wife and children were waiting breakfast for me, with the little +basket of potatoes upon the table. We sat down, and I told them in a +low voice what was to be seen from the top of the ramparts, and charged +them to keep silent, for the danger was not over; the garrison might +revolt and choose to defend itself, in spite of the officers; and those +who mixed themselves in these matters, either for or against, even only +in words, ran the risk of destruction without profit to any one. +</P> + +<P> +They saw that I was right, and I had no need of saying more. +</P> + +<P> +We were afraid that our sergeant would come, and that we should be +obliged to answer him, if he asked what we thought of these matters; +but he did not come in till about eleven, when we had all been in bed +for a long time. +</P> + +<P> +The next day the news of the entrance of the allies to Paris was +affixed to the church doors and the pillars of the market; it was never +known by whom! M. de Vablerie, and three or four other emigrants, +capable of such a deed, were spoken of at the time, but nothing was +known with certainty. +</P> + +<P> +The mounted guard tore down the placards, but unfortunately not before +the soldiers and citizens had read them. +</P> + +<P> +It was something so new, so incredible, after those ten years of war, +when the Emperor had been everything, and the nation had been, so to +speak, in the shadow; when not a man had dared to speak or write a word +without permission; when men had had no other rights than those of +paying, and giving their sons as conscripts,—it was such a great +matter to think that the Emperor could have been conquered, that a man +like myself in the midst of his family shook his head three or four +times, before daring to breathe a single word. +</P> + +<P> +So everybody kept quiet, notwithstanding the placards. The officials +stayed at home, so as not to have to talk about it; the governor and +council of defence did not stir; but the last recruits, in the hope of +going home to their villages, embracing their families, and returning +to their trades or farming, did not conceal their joy, as was very +natural. The veterans, whose only trade and only means of living was +war, were full of indignation! They did not believe a word of it; they +declared that the reports were all false, that the Emperor had not lost +a battle, and that the placards and the cannon-firing of the allies +were only a stratagem to make us open the gates. +</P> + +<P> +And from that time, Fritz, the men began to desert, not one at a time, +but by sixes, by tens, by twenties. Whole posts filed off over the +mountain with their arms and baggage. The veterans fired upon the +deserters; they killed some of them, and were ordered to escort the +conscripts who carried soup to the outposts. * * * * * +</P> + +<P> +During this time, the flag of truce officers did nothing but come and +go, one after another. All, Russian, Austrian, Bavarian, +staff-officers stayed whole hours at the head-quarters, having, no +doubt, important matters to discuss. +</P> + +<P> +Our sergeant came to our room only for a moment in the evening, to +complain of the desertions, and we were glad of it; Zeffen was still +sick, Sorlé could not leave her, and I had to help Sâfel until the +people went home. +</P> + +<P> +The shop was always full of veterans; as soon as one set went away +another came. +</P> + +<P> +These old, gray-headed men swallowed down glass after glass of brandy; +they paid by turns, and grew more and more down-hearted. They trembled +with rage, and talked of nothing but treason, while they looked at you +as if they would see through you. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes they would smile and say: +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you! if it is necessary to blow up the fortress, it will go!" +</P> + +<P> +Sâfel and I pretended not to understand; but you can imagine our agony; +after having suffered all that we had, to be in danger of being blown +up with those veterans! +</P> + +<P> +That evening our sergeant repeated word for word what the others had +said: "It was all nothing but lies and treason. The Emperor would put +a stop to it by sweeping off this rabble!" +</P> + +<P> +"Just wait! Just wait!" he exclaimed, as he smoked his pipe, with his +teeth set. "It will all be cleared up soon! The thunder-bolt is +coming! And, this time, no pity, no mercy! All the villains will have +to go then—all the traitors! The country will have to be cleansed for +a hundred years! Never mind, Moses, we'll laugh!" +</P> + +<P> +You may well suppose that we did not feel like laughing. +</P> + +<P> +But the day when I was most anxious was the eighth of April, in the +morning, when the decree of the Senate, deposing the Emperor, appeared. +</P> + +<P> +Our shop was full of marine artillerymen and subalterns from the +storehouses. We had just served them, when the secretary of the +treasury, a short stout man, with full yellow cheeks, and the +regulation cap over his ears, came in and called for a glass; he then +took the decree from his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen!" said he, as he began calmly to read it to the others. +</P> + +<P> +It seems as if I could hear it now: +</P> + +<P> +"Whereas, Napoleon Bonaparte has violated the compact which bound him +to the French nation, by levying taxes otherwise than in virtue of the +law, by unnecessarily adjourning the Legislative Body, by illegally +making many decrees involving sentence of death, by annulling the +authority of the ministers, the independence of the judiciary, the +freedom of the press, etc.; Whereas, Napoleon has filled up the measure +of the country's misfortunes, by his abuse of all the means of war +committed to him, in men and money, and by refusing to treat on +conditions which the national interest required him to accept; Whereas, +the manifest wish of all the French demands an order of things, the +first result of which shall be the re-establishment of general peace, +and which shall also be the epoch of solemn reconciliation between all +the States of the great European family, the Senate decrees: Napoleon +Bonaparte has forfeited the throne; the right of succession is +abolished in his family; the people and the army are released from the +oath of allegiance to him." +</P> + +<P> +He had scarcely begun to read when I thought: "If that goes on they +will tear down my shop over my head." +</P> + +<P> +In my fright, I even sent Sâfel out hastily by the back door. But it +all happened very differently from what I expected. These veterans +despised the Senate; they shrugged their shoulders, and the one who +read the decree sniffed at it, and threw it under the counter. "The +Senate!" said he. "What is the Senate? A set of hangers-on, a set of +sycophants that the Emperor has bribed, right and left, to keep saying +to him—'<I>God bless you!</I>'" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, major," said another; "but they ought to be kicked out all the +same." +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! It is not worth the trouble," replied the sergeant-major; "a +fortnight hence, when the Emperor is master again, they will come and +lick his boots. Such men are necessary in a dynasty—men who lick your +boots—it has a good effect!—especially old nobility, who are paid +thirty or forty thousand francs a year. They will come back, and be +quiet, and the Emperor will pardon them, especially since he cannot +find others noble enough to fill their places." +</P> + +<P> +And as they all went away after emptying their glasses, I thanked +heaven for having given them such confidence in the Emperor. +</P> + +<P> +This confidence lasted till about the eleventh or twelfth of April, +when some officers, sent by the general commanding the fourth military +division, came to say that the garrison of Metz recognized the Senate +and followed its orders. +</P> + +<P> +This was a terrible blow for our veterans. We saw, that evening, by +our sergeant's face, that it was a death-blow to him. He looked ten +years older, and you would have wept merely to see his face. Up to +that time he had kept saying: "All these decrees, all these placards +are acts of treason! The Emperor is down yonder with his army, all the +while, and we are here to support him. Don't fear, Father Moses!" +</P> + +<P> +But since the arrival of the officers from Metz, he had lost his +confidence. He came into our room, without speaking, and stood up, +very pale, looking at us. +</P> + +<P> +I thought: "But this man loves us. He has been kind to us. He gave us +his fresh meat all through the blockade; he loved our little David; he +fondled him on his knees. He loves Esdras too. He is a good, brave +man, and here he is, so wretched!" +</P> + +<P> +I wanted to comfort him, to tell him that he had friends, that we all +loved him, that we would make sacrifices to help him, if he had to +change his employment; yes, I thought of all this, but as I looked at +him his grief seemed so terrible that I could not say a word. +</P> + +<P> +He took two or three turns and stopped again, then suddenly went out. +His sorrow was too great, he would not even speak of it. +</P> + +<P> +At length, on the sixteenth of April, an armistice was concluded for +burying the dead. The bridge of the German gate was lowered, and large +numbers of people went out and stayed till evening, to dig the ground a +little with their spades, and try to bring back a few green things. +Zeffen being all this time sick, we stayed at home. +</P> + +<P> +That evening two new officers from Metz, sent as envoys, came in at +night as the bridges were being raised. They galloped along the street +to the headquarters. I saw them pass. +</P> + +<P> +The arrival of these officers greatly excited the hopes and fears of +every one; important measures were expected, and all night long we +heard the sergeant walk to and fro in his room, get up, walk about, and +lie down again, talking confusedly to himself. +</P> + +<P> +The poor man felt that a dreadful blow was coming, and he had not a +minute's rest. I heard him lamenting, and his sighs kept me from +sleeping. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning at ten the assembly was beat. The governor and the +members of the council of defence went, in full dress, to the infantry +quarters. +</P> + +<P> +Everybody in the city was at the windows. +</P> + +<P> +Our sergeant went down, and I followed him in a few minutes. The +street was thronged with people. I made my way through the crowd; +everybody kept his place in it, trying to move on. +</P> + +<P> +When I came in front of the barracks, the companies had just formed in +a circle; the quarter-masters in the midst were reading in a loud voice +the order of the day; it was the abdication of the Emperor, the +disbanding of the recruits of 1813 and 1814, the recognition of Louis +XVIII., the order to set up the white flag and change the cockade! +</P> + +<P> +Not a murmur was heard from the ranks; all was quiet, terrible, +frightful! Those old soldiers, their teeth set, their mustaches +shaking, their brows scowling fiercely, presenting arms in silence; the +voices of the quartermasters stopping now and then as if choking; the +staff-officers of the place, at a distance under the arch, sullen, with +their eyes on the ground; the eager attention of all that crowd of men, +women, and children, through the whole length of the street, leaning +forward on tiptoe, with open mouths and listening ears; all this, +Fritz, would have made you tremble. +</P> + +<P> +I was on cooper Schweyer's steps, where I could see everything and hear +every word. +</P> + +<P> +So long as the order of the day was read, nobody stirred; but at the +command:—Break ranks! a terrible cry arose from all directions; +tumult, confusion, fury burst forth at once. +</P> + +<P> +People did not know what they were doing. The conscripts ran in files +to the postern gates, the old soldiers stood a moment, as if rooted to +the spot, then their rage broke forth; one tore off his epaulettes, +another dashed his musket with both hands against the pavement; some +officers doubled up their sabres and swords, which snapped apart with a +crash. +</P> + +<P> +The governor tried to speak; he tried to form the ranks again, but +nobody heard him; the new recruits were already in all the rooms at the +barracks, making up their bundles to start on their journey; the old +ones were going to the right and left, as if they were drunk or mad. +</P> + +<P> +I saw some of these old soldiers stop in a corner, lean their heads +against the wall, and weep bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +At last all were dispersed, and protracted cries reached from the +barracks to the square, incessant cries, which rose and fell like sighs. +</P> + +<P> +Some low, despairing shouts of "<I>Vive l'Empereur!</I>" but not a single +shout of "<I>Vive le Roi!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +For my part, I ran home to tell about it all; I had scarcely gone up, +when the sergeant came also, with his musket on his shoulder. We +should have liked to congratulate each other on the ending of the +blockade, but on seeing the sergeant standing at the door, we were +chilled to the bones, and our attention was fixed upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, well!" said he, placing the butt-end of his musket upon the floor, +"it is all ended!" +</P> + +<P> +And for a moment he said no more. +</P> + +<P> +Then he stammered out: "This is the shabbiest piece of business in the +world—the recruits are disbanded—they are leaving—France remains, +bound hand and foot, in the grip of the kaiserlichs! Ah! the rascals! +the rascals!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sergeant," I replied with emotion, seeing that his thoughts must +be diverted: "now we are going to have peace, sergeant! You have a +sister left in the Jura, you will go to her——" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" he exclaimed, lifting his hand, "my poor sister!" +</P> + +<P> +This came like a sob; but he quickly recovered himself, and went and +placed his musket in the corner by the door. +</P> + +<P> +He sat down at the table with us for a moment, and took up little +Sâfel, drawing him to him and caressing his cheeks. Then he wanted to +hold Esdras also. We looked on in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to leave you, Father Moses," said he, "I am going to pack +my bag. Thunder and lightning! I am sorry to leave you!" +</P> + +<P> +"And we are sorry, too, sergeant," said Sorlé,. mournfully; "but if +you will live with us——" +</P> + +<P> +"It is impossible!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then you remain in the service?" +</P> + +<P> +"Service of whom—of what?" said he; "of Louis XVIII.? No! no! I know +no one but my general—but that makes it hard to go—when a man has +done his duty——" +</P> + +<P> +He started up, and shouted in a piercing voice: "<I>Vive l'Empereur!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +We trembled, we did not know why. +</P> + +<P> +I reached out my hand to him, and rose; we embraced each other like +brothers. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, Father Moses," said he, "good-by for a long while." +</P> + +<P> +"You are going at once, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes!" +</P> + +<P> +"You know, sergeant, that you will always have friends here. You will +come and see us. If you need anything——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, I know it. You are true friends—excellent people!" +</P> + +<P> +He shook my hand vehemently. +</P> + +<P> +Then he took up his musket, and we were all following him, expressing +our good wishes, when he turned, with tears in his eyes, and embraced +my wife, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"I must embrace you, too; there is no harm in it, is there, Madame +Sorlé?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no!" said she, "you are one of the family, and I will embrace +Zeffen for you!" +</P> + +<P> +He went out at once, exclaiming in a hoarse voice, "Good-by! Farewell!" +</P> + +<P> +I saw him go into his room at the end of the little passage. +</P> + +<P> +Twenty-five years of service, eight wounds, and no bread in his old +age! My heart bled at the thought of it. +</P> + +<P> +About a quarter of an hour after, the sergeant came down with his +musket. Meeting Sâfel on the stairs, he said to him, "Stay, that is +for your father!" +</P> + +<P> +It was the portrait of the landwehr's wife and children. Sâfel brought +it to me at once. I took the poor devil's gift, and looked at it for a +long time, very sadly; then I shut it up in the closet with the letter. +</P> + +<P> +It was noon, and, as the gates were about to be opened, and abundance +of provisions were to come, we sat down before a large piece of boiled +beef, with a dish of potatoes, and opened a good bottle of wine. +</P> + +<P> +We were still eating when we heard shouts in the street. Sâfel got up +to look out. +</P> + +<P> +"A wounded soldier that they are carrying to the hospital!" said he. +</P> + +<P> +Then he exclaimed, "It is our sergeant!" +</P> + +<P> +A horrible thought ran through my mind. "Keep still!" I said to Sorlé, +who was getting up, and I went down alone. +</P> + +<P> +Four marine gunners were carrying the litter by on their shoulders; +children were running behind. +</P> + +<P> +At the first glance I recognized the sergeant; his face perfectly white +and his breast covered with blood. He did not move. The poor fellow +had gone from our house to the bastion behind the arsenal, to shoot +himself through the heart. +</P> + +<P> +I went up so overwhelmed, so sad and sorrowful, that I could scarcely +stand. +</P> + +<P> +Sorlé was waiting for me in great agitation. +</P> + +<P> +"Our poor sergeant has killed himself," said I; "may God forgive him!" +</P> + +<P> +And, sitting down, I could not help bursting into tears! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXI +</H3> + +<P> +It is said with truth that misfortunes never come singly; one brings +another in its train. The death of our good sergeant was, however, the +last. +</P> + +<P> +That same day the enemy withdrew his outposts to six hundred yards from +the city, the white flag was raised on the church, and the gates were +opened. +</P> + +<P> +Now, Fritz, you know about our blockade. Should I tell you, in +addition, about Baruch's coming, of Zeffen's cries, and the groanings +of us all, when we had to say to the good man: "Our little David is +dead—thou wilt never see him again!" +</P> + +<P> +No, it is enough! If we were to speak of all the miseries of war, and +all their consequences in after years, there would be no end! +</P> + +<P> +I would rather tell you of my sons Itzig and Frômel, and of my Sâfel, +who has gone to join them in America. +</P> + +<P> +If I should tell you of all the wealth they have acquired in that great +country of freemen, of the lands they have bought, the money they have +laid up, the number of grandchildren they have given me, and of all the +blessings they have heaped upon Sorlé and myself, you would be full of +astonishment and admiration. +</P> + +<P> +They have never allowed me to want for anything. The greatest pleasure +I can give them is to wish for something; each of them wants to send it +to me! They do not forget that by my prudent foresight I saved them +from the war. +</P> + +<P> +I love them all alike, Fritz, and I say of them, like Jacob: +</P> + +<P> +"May the God of Abraham and Isaac, our fathers, the God which fed me +all my life long unto this day, bless the lads; let them grow into a +multitude in the midst of the earth, and their seed become a multitude +of nations!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blockade of Phalsburg, by +Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLOCKADE OF PHALSBURG *** + +***** This file should be named 36858-h.htm or 36858-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/5/36858/ + +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: The Blockade of Phalsburg + An Episode of the End of the Empire + +Author: Emile Erckmann + Alexandre Chatrian + +Release Date: July 26, 2011 [EBook #36858] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLOCKADE OF PHALSBURG *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: ALL WERE DEAD, AS IT WERE ONE LONG CEMETERY.] + + + + + +HISTORICAL ROMANCES OF FRANCE + + +THE BLOCKADE OF PHALSBURG + + +AN EPISODE OF THE END OF THE EMPIRE + + + + +TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF + +ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN + + + + +ILLUSTRATED + + + + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +NEW YORK::::::::::::::::::::::1911 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1871, BY + CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO. + + COPYRIGHT, 1889, 1898 + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +_All were dead, as it were one long cemetery_ . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +"_Be so good as to come in, Mr. Sergeant_" + +_I shuddered in my very soul and my hair bristled_ + +_Winter took him by the collar, and said:_ "_I have you now!_" + +_The sortie from the Tile-kiln_ + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + +"The Blockade of Phalsburg" contains one of the happiest portraits in +the Erckmann-Chatrian gallery--that of the Jew Moses who tells the +story and who is always in character, however great the patriotic or +romantic temptation to idealize him, and whose character is +nevertheless portrayed with an almost affectionate appreciation of the +sterling qualities underlying its somewhat usurious exterior. + +The time is 1814, during the invasion of France by the allies after the +disastrous battle of Leipsic and the campaign described in "The +Conscript." The dwellers in Phalsburg--a little walled town of two or +three thousand inhabitants in Lorraine--defend themselves with great +intrepidity and determination during the siege which lasts until the +capitulation of Paris. The daily life of the citizens and garrison, +the various incidents of the blockade, the bombardment by night, the +scarcity of food, the occasional sortie for foraging, all pass before +the reader depicted with the authors' customary fidelity and +life-likeness, and form as perfect a picture of a siege as "The +Conscript" does of a campaign. + + + + +THE BLOCKADE: + +AN EPISODE OF + +THE END OF THE EMPIRE + + +I + +FATHER MOSES AND HIS FAMILY + +Since you wish to know about the blockade of Phalsburg in 1814, I will +tell you all about it, said Father Moses of the Jews' street. + +I lived then in the little house on the corner, at the right of the +market. My business was selling iron by the pound, under the arch +below, and I lived above with my wife Sorle (Sarah) and my little +Safel, the child of my old age. + +My two other boys, Itzig and Fromel, had gone to America, and my +daughter Zeffen was married to Baruch, the leather-dealer, at Saverne. + +Besides my iron business, I traded in old shoes, old linen, and all the +articles of old clothing which conscripts sell on reaching the depot, +where they receive their military outfit. Travelling pedlers bought +the old linen of me for paper-rags, and the other things I sold to the +country people. + +This was a profitable business, because thousands of conscripts passed +through Phalsburg from week to week, and from month to month. They +were measured at once at the mayoralty, clothed, and filed off to +Mayence, Strasburg, or wherever it might be. + +This lasted a long time; but at length people were tired of war, +especially after the Russian campaign and the great recruiting of 1813. + +You may well suppose, Fritz, that I did not wait till this time before +sending my two boys beyond the reach of the recruiting officers' +clutches. They were boys who did not lack sense. At twelve years old +their heads were clear enough, and rather than go and fight for the +King of Prussia, they would see themselves safe at the ends of the +earth. + +At evening, when we sat at supper around the lamp with its seven +burners, their mother would sometimes cover her face and say: + +"My poor children! My poor children! When I think that the time is +near when you will go in the midst of musket and bayonet fire--in the +midst of thunder and lightning!--oh, how dreadful!" + +And I saw them turn pale. I smiled at myself and thought: "You are no +fools. You will hold on to your life. That is right!" + +If I had had children capable of becoming soldiers, I should have died +of grief. I should have said, "These are not of my race!" + +But the boys grew stronger and handsomer. When Itzig was fifteen he +was doing a good business. He bought cattle in the villages on his own +account, and sold them at a profit to butcher Borich at Mittelbronn; +and Fromel was not behind him, for he made the best bargains of the old +merchandise, which we had heaped in three barracks under the market. + +I should have liked well to keep the boys with me. It was my delight +to see them with my little Safel--the curly head and eyes bright as a +squirrel's--yes, it was my joy! Often I clasped them in my arms +without a word, and even they wondered at it; I frightened them; but +dreadful thoughts passed through my mind after 1812. I knew that +whenever the Emperor had returned to Paris, he had demanded four +hundred millions of francs and two or three hundred thousand men, and I +said to myself: + +"This time, everybody must go, even children of seventeen and eighteen!" + +As the tidings grew worse and worse, I said to them one evening: + +"Listen! you both understand trading, and what you do not yet know you +can learn. Now, if you wait a few months, you will be on the +conscription list, and be like all the rest; they will take you to the +square and show you how to load a gun, and then you will go away, and I +never shall hear of you again!" + +Sorle sighed, and we all sighed together. Then, after a moment, I +continued: + +"But if you set out at once for America, by the way of Havre, you will +reach it safe and sound; you will do business there as well as here; +you will make money, you will marry, you will increase according to the +Lord's promise, and you will send me back money, according to God's +commandment, 'Honor thy father and thy mother.' I will bless you as +Isaac blessed Jacob, and you will have a long life. Choose!" + +They at once chose to go to America, and I went with them myself as far +as Sorreburg. Each of them had made twenty louis in his own business +so that I needed to give them nothing but my blessing. + +And what I said to them has come to pass; they are both living, they +have numerous children, who are my descendants, and when I want +anything they send it to me. + +Itzig and Fromel being gone, I had only Safel left, my Benjamin, dearer +even, if possible, than the others. And then, too, I had my daughter +Zeffen, married at Saverne to a good respectable man, Baruch; she was +the oldest, and had already given me a grandson named David, according +to the Lord's will that the dead should be replaced in his own family, +and David was the name of Baruch's grandfather. The one expected was +to be called after my father, Esdras. + +You see, Fritz, how I was situated before the blockade of Phalsburg, in +1814. Everything had gone well up to that time, but for six weeks +everything had gone wrong in town and country. We had the typhus; +thousands of wounded soldiers surrounded the houses; the ground had +lacked laborers for the last two years, and everything was dear--bread, +meat, and drink. The people of Alsace and Lorraine did not come to +market; our stores of merchandise did not sell; and when merchandise +does not sell, it might as well be sand or stones; we are poor in the +midst of abundance. Famine comes from every quarter. + +Ah, well! in spite of it all, the Lord had a great blessing in store +for me, for just at this time, early in November, came the news that a +second son was born to Zeffen, and that he was in fine health. I was +so glad that I set out at once for Saverne. + +You must know, Fritz, that if I was very glad, it was not only on +account of the birth of a grandson, but also because my son-in-law +would not be obliged to leave home, if the child lived. Baruch had +always been fortunate; at the moment when the Emperor had made the +Senate vote that unmarried men must go, he had just married Zeffen; and +when the Senate voted that married men without children must go, he had +his first child. Now, after the bad news, it was voted that married +men with only one child should go, all the same, and Baruch had two. + +At that time it was a fortunate thing to have quantities of children, +to keep you from being massacred; no greater blessing could be desired! +This is why I took my cane at once, to go and find out whether the +child were sound and healthy, and whether it would save its father. + +But for long years to come, if God spares my life, I shall remember +that day, and what I met upon my way. + +Imagine the road-side blocked, as it were, with carts filled with the +sick and wounded, forming a line all the way from Quatre-Vents to +Saverne. + +The peasants who, in Alsace, were required to transport these poor +creatures, had unharnessed their horses and escaped in the night, +abandoning their carts; the hoar-frost had passed over them; there was +not motion or sign of life--all dead, as it were one long cemetery! +Thousands of ravens covered the sky like a cloud; there was nothing to +be seen but wings moving in the air, nothing to be heard but one murmur +of innumerable cries. I would not have believed that heaven and earth +could produce so many ravens. They flew down to the very carts; but +the moment a living man approached, all these creatures rose and flew +away to the forest of La Bonne-Fontaine, or the ruins of the old +convent of Dann. + +As for myself, I lengthened my steps, feeling that I must not stop, +that the typhus was marching at my heels. + +Happily the winter sets in early at Phalsburg. A cold wind blew from +the Schneeberg, and these strong draughts of mountain air disperse all +maladies, even, it is said, the Black Plague itself. + +What I have now told you is about the retreat from Leipsic, in the +beginning of November. + +When I reached Saverne, the city was crowded with troops, artillery, +infantry, and cavalry, pell-mell. + +I remember that, in the principal street, the windows of an inn were +open, and a long table with its white cloth was seen, all laid, within. +All the guard of honor stopped there. These were young men of rich +families, who had money in spite of their tattered uniforms. The +moment they saw this table in passing, they leaped from their horses +and rushed into the hall. But the innkeeper, Hannes, made them pay +five francs in advance, and just as the poor things began to eat, a +servant ran in, crying out, "The Prussians! the Prussians!" They +sprang up at once and mounted their horses like madmen, without once +looking back, and in this way Hannes sold his dinner more than twenty +times. + +I have often thought since that such scoundrels deserve hanging; yes, +this way of making money is not lawful business. It disgusted me. + +But if I should describe the rest--the faces of the sick, the way in +which they lay, the groans they uttered, and, above all, the tears of +those who tried in vain to go on--if I should tell you this, it would +be still worse, it would be too much. I saw, on the slope of the old +tan-house bridge, a little guardsman of seventeen or eighteen years, +stretched out, with his face flat upon the stones. I have never +forgotten that boy; he raised himself from time to time, and showed his +hand as black as soot: he had a ball in the back, and his hand was half +gone. The poor fellow had doubtless fallen from a cart. Nobody dared +to help him because they heard it said, "He has the typhus! he has the +typhus." Oh, what misery! It is too dreadful to think of! + +Now, Fritz, I must tell you another thing about that day, and that is +how I saw Marshal Victor. + +It was late when I started from Phalsburg, and it was dark when, on +going up the principal street of Saverne, I saw all the windows of the +Hotel du Soleil illuminated from top to bottom. Two sentinels walked +to and fro under the arch, officers in full uniform went in and out, +magnificent horses were fastened to rings all along the walls; and, +within the court, the lamps of a calash shone like two stars. + +The sentinels kept the street clear, but I must pass, because Baruch +dwelt farther on. I was going through the crowd, in front of the +hotel, and the first sentinel was calling out to me, "Back! back!" when +an officer of hussars, a short, stout man, with great red whiskers, +came out of the arch, and as he met me, exclaimed, + +"Ah! is it you, Moses! I am glad to see you!" + +He shook hands with me. + +I opened my eyes with amazement, as was natural: a superior officer +shaking hands with a plain citizen is not an every-day occurrence. I +looked at him in astonishment, and recognized Commandant Zimmer. + +Thirty years before we had been at Father Genaudet's school, and we had +scoured the city, the moats, and the glacis together, as children. But +since then Zimmer had been a good many times in Phalsburg, without +remembering his old comrade, Samuel Moses. + +"Ho!" said he, smiling, and taking me by the arm, "come, I must present +you to the marshal." + +And, in spite of myself, before I had said a word, I went in under the +arch, into a large room where two long tables, loaded with lights and +bottles, were laid for the staff-officers. + +A number of superior officers, generals, colonels, commanders of +hussars, of dragoons and of chasseurs, in plumed hats, in helmets, in +red shakos, their chins in their huge cravats, their swords dragging, +were walking silently back and forth, or talking with each other, while +they waited to be called to table. + +It was difficult to pass through the crowd, but Zimmer kept hold of my +arm, and led me to the end of the room, to a little lighted door. + +We entered a high room, with two windows opening upon the gardens. + +The marshal was there, standing, his head uncovered; his back was +toward us, and he was dictating orders which two staff-officers were +writing. + +This was all which I noticed at the moment, in my confusion. + +Just after we entered, the marshal turned; I saw that he had the good +face of an old Lorraine peasant. He was a tall, powerful man, with a +grayish head; he was about fifty years old, and very heavy for his age. + +"Marshal, here's our man!" said Zimmer. "He is one of my old +school-mates, Samuel Moses, a first-rate fellow, who has been +traversing the country these thirty years, and knows every village in +Alsace and Lorraine." + +The marshal looked at me a few steps off. I held my hat in my hand in +great fear. After looking at me a couple of seconds, he took the paper +which one of the secretaries handed him, read and signed it, then +turned back to me: + +"Well, my good man," said he, "what do they say about the last +campaign? What do the people in your village think about it?" + +On hearing him call me "my good man," I took courage, and answered +"that the typhus had made bad work, but the people were not +disheartened, because they knew that the Emperor with his army was at +hand." + +And when he said abruptly: "Yes! But will they defend themselves?" I +answered: "The Alsatians and the Lorraines are people who will defend +themselves till death, because they love their Emperor, and they would +all be willing to die for him!" + +I said that by way of prudence; but he could plainly see in my face +that I was no fighting man, for he smiled good-humoredly, and said: +"That will do, commandant, that is enough!" + +The secretaries had kept on writing. Zimmer made a sign to me and we +went out together. When we were outside he called out: + +"Good-by, Moses, good-by!" + +The sentinels let me pass, and still trembling, I continued my journey. + +I was soon knocking at the little door of Baruch's house at the end of +the lane where the cardinal's old stables were. + +It was pitch dark. + +What a joy it was, Fritz, after having seen all these terrible things, +to come to the place where those I loved were resting! How softly my +heart beat, and how I pitied all that power and glory which made so +many people miserable! + +After a moment I heard my son-in-law enter the passage and open the +door. Baruch and Zeffen had long since ceased expecting me. + +"Is it you, my father?" asked Baruch. + +"Yes, my son, it is I. I am late. I have been hindered." + +"Come!" said he. + +And we entered the little passage, and then into the chamber where +Zeffen, my daughter, lay pale and happy, upon her bed. + +She had recognized my voice. As for me, my heart beat with joy; I +could not speak; and I embraced my daughter, while I looked around to +find the little one. Zeffen held it in her arms under the coverlet. + +"There he is!" she said. + +Then she showed him to me in his swaddling-clothes. I saw at once that +he was plump and healthy, with his little hands closed tight, and I +exclaimed: + +"Baruch, this is Esdras, my father! Let him be welcome!" + +I wanted to see him without his clothes, so I undressed him. It was +warm in the little room from the lamp with seven burners. Tremblingly +I undressed him; he did not cry, and my daughter's white hands assisted +me: + +"Wait, my father, wait!" said she. + +My son-in-law looked on behind me. We all had tears in our eyes. + +At last I had him all undressed; he was rosy, and his large head tossed +about, sleeping the sleep of centuries. Then I lifted him above my +head; I looked at his round thighs all in creases, at his little +drawn-up feet, his broad chest and plump back, and I wanted to dance +like David before the ark; I wanted to chant: "Praise the Lord! Praise +him ye servants of the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be +the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever more! From the +rising of the sun, unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is +to be praised! The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above +the heavens! Who is like unto the Lord our God, who raiseth up the +poor out of the dust, who maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to +be a joyful mother of children? Praise ye the Lord!" + +Yes, I felt like chanting this, but all that I could say was: "He is a +fine, perfect child! He is going to live! He will be the blessing of +our race and the joy of our old age!" + +And I blessed them all. + +Then giving him back to his mother to be covered, I went to embrace the +other who was sound asleep in his cradle. + +We remained there together a long time, to see each other, in this joy. +Without, horses were passing, soldiers shouting, carriages rolling by. +Here all was quiet: the mother nursed her infant. + +Ah! Fritz, I am an old man now, and these far-off things are always +before me, as at the first; my heart always beats in recalling them, +and I thank God for His great goodness,--I thank Him. He has loaded me +with years, He has permitted me to see the third generation, and I am +not weary of life; I should like to live on and see the fourth and the +fifth--His will be done! + +I should have liked to tell them of what had just happened to me at the +Hotel du Soleil, but everything was insignificant in comparison with my +joy; only after I had left the chamber, while I was taking a mouthful +of bread and drinking a glass of wine in the side hall so as to let +Zeffen sleep, I related the adventure to Baruch, who was greatly +surprised. + +"Listen, my son," said I, "this man asked me if we want to defend +ourselves. That shows that the allies are following our armies, that +they are marching by hundreds of thousands, and that they cannot be +hindered from entering France. So you see that, in the midst of our +joy, there is danger of terrible evils; you see that all the harm which +we have been doing to others for these last ten years may return upon +us. I fear so. God grant that I may be mistaken!" + +After this we went to bed. It was eleven o'clock, and the tumult +without still continued. + + + + +II + +FATHER MOSES'S SPECULATION + +Early the next morning, after breakfast, I took my cane to return to +Phalsburg. Zeffen and Baruch wanted to keep me longer, but I said: + +"You do not think of your mother, who is expecting me. She does not +keep still a minute; she keeps going upstairs and down, and looking out +of the window. No, I must go. Sorle must not be uneasy while we are +comfortable." + +Zeffen said no more, and filled my pockets with apples and nuts for her +brother Safel. I embraced them again, the little ones and the big; +then Baruch led me far back of the gardens, to the place where the +roads to Schlittenbach and Lutzelburg divide. + +The troops had all left, only stragglers and the sick remaining. But +we could still see the line of carts in the distance, on the hill, and +bands of day-laborers who had been set to work digging graves back of +the road. + +The very thought of passing that way disturbed me. I shook hands with +Baruch at this fork of the road, promising to come again with +grandmother to the circumcision, and then took the valley road, which +follows the Zorn through the woods. + +This path was full of dead leaves, and for two hours I walked on +thinking at times of the Hotel du Soleil, of Zimmer, of Marshal Victor, +whom I seemed to see again, with his tall figure, his square shoulders, +his gray head, and coat covered with embroidery. Sometimes I pictured +to myself Zeffen's chamber, the little babe and its mother; then the +war which threatened us--that mass of enemies advancing from every side! + +Several times I stopped in the midst of these valleys sloping into each +other as far as the eye can reach, all covered with firs, oaks and +beeches, and I said to myself: + +"Who knows? Perhaps the Prussians, Austrians and Russians will soon +pass along here!" + +But there was comfort in this thought; "Moses, your two boys, Itzig and +Fromel, are in America far from the reach of cannon; they are there +with their packs on their shoulders, going from village to village +without danger. And your daughter Zeffen, too, may sleep in quiet; +Baruch has two fine children, and will have another every year while +the war lasts. He will sell leather to make bags and shoes for those +who have to go, but, for his part, he will stay at home." + +I smiled as I thought that I was too old to be conscripted, that I was +a gray-head, and the conscriptors could have none of us. Yes; I smiled +as I saw that I had acted very wisely in everything, and that the Lord +had, as it were, cleared my path. + +It is a great satisfaction, Fritz, to see that everything is working to +our advantage. + +In the midst of these thoughts I came quietly to Lutzelburg, and I went +to Brestel's at the Swan Hotel to take a cup of coffee. + +There I found Bernard, the soap merchant, whom you do not know--a +little man, bald to the very nape of the neck, with great wens on his +head--and Donadieu, the Harberg forest-keeper. One had laid his dosser +and the other his gun against the wall, and they were emptying a bottle +of wine between them. Brestel was helping. + +"Ha! it is Moses," exclaimed Bernard. "Where the devil dost thou come +from, so early in the morning!" + +Christians in those days were in the habit of _thou_ing the Jews--even +the old men. I answered that I had come from Saverne, by the valley. + +"Ah! thou hast seen the wounded," said the keeper. "What thinkest thou +of that, Moses!" + +"I have seen them," I replied sadly, "I saw them last evening. It is +dreadful!" + +"Yes, it is; everybody has gone up there to-day, because old Gredal of +Quatre-Vents found her nephew under a cart--Joseph Bertha, the little +lame watchmaker who worked last year with Father Goulden; so the people +from Dagsberg, Houpe, and Garburg, expect to find their brothers, or +sons, or cousins in the heap." + +He shrugged his shoulders compassionately. + +"These things are dreadful," said Brestel, "but they must come. There +has been no business these two years; I have back here, in my court, +three thousand pounds' worth of planks and timber. That would formerly +have lasted me for six weeks or two months; but now it is all rotting +on the spot; nobody wants it on the Sarre, nobody wants it in Alsace, +nobody orders anything or buys anything. It is just so with the hotel. +Nobody has a sous; everybody stays at home, thankful if they have +potatoes to eat and cold water to drink. Meanwhile my wine and beer +turn sour in the cellar, and are covered with mildew. And all that +does not keep off the duties; you must pay, or the officer will be upon +you." + +"Yes," cried Bernard, "it is the same thing everywhere. But what is it +to the Emperor whether planks and soap sell or not, provided the +contributions come in and the conscripts arrive?" + +Donadieu perceived that his comrade had taken a glass too much; he +rose, put back his gun into his shoulder-belt, and went out, calling to +us. + +"Good-by to you all, good-by! We will talk about this another time." + +A few minutes afterward, I paid for my cup of coffee, and followed his +example. + +I had the same thoughts as Brestel and Bernard; I saw that my trade in +iron and old clothes was at an end; and as I went up the Barracks' hill +I thought, "Try to find something else, Moses. Everything is at a +stand-still. But one cannot use up his money to the last farthing. I +must turn to something else--I must find an article which is always +salable. But what is always salable? Every trade has its day, and +then it comes to an end." + +While thus meditating, I passed the Barracks of the Bois-de-Chenes. I +was on the plateau from which I could see the glacis, the line of +ramparts, and the bastions, when the firing of a cannon gave notice +that the marshal was leaving the place. At the same time I saw at the +left, in the direction of Mittelbronn, the line of sabres flashing like +lightning in the distance among the poplars of the highway. The trees +were leafless, and I could see, too, the carriage and postilions +passing like the wind through the plumes and caps. + +The cannon pealed, second after second; the mountains gave back peal +after peal, from the very depths of their valleys; and as for myself, I +was quite carried away by the thought of having seen this man the day +before; it seemed like a dream. + +Then, about ten o'clock, I passed the bridge of the French gate. The +last cannon sounded upon the bastion of the powder-house; the crowd of +men, women and children descended the ramparts, as if it were a +festival; they knew nothing, thought of nothing, while cries of "Vive +l'Empereur!" rose in every street. + +I passed through the crowd, well pleased at bringing good news to my +wife; and I was saying to myself beforehand, "The little one is doing +well, Sorle!" when, at the corner of the market, I saw her at our door. +I raised my cane at once, and smiled, as much as to say "Baruch is +safe--we may laugh!" + +She understood me, and went in at once; but I overtook her on the +stairs, and embraced her, saying: + +"It is a good, hearty little fellow--there! Such a baby--so round and +rosy! And Zeffen is doing well. Baruch wished me to embrace you for +him. But where is Safel?" + +"Under the market, selling." + +"Ah, good!" + +We went into our room. I sat down and began to praise Zeffen's baby. +Sorle listened with delight, looking at me with her great black eyes, +and wiping my forehead, for I had walked fast, and could hardly breathe. + +And then, all of a sudden, our Safel came in. I had not time to turn +my head before he was on my knees, with his hands in my pockets. The +child knew that his sister Zeffen never forgot him; and Sorle, too, +liked to bite an apple. + +You see, Fritz, when I think of these things, everything comes back to +me; I could talk to you about it forever. + +It was Friday, the day before the Sabbath; the _Schabbes-Goie_* was to +come in the afternoon. While we were still alone at dinner, and I +related for the fifth and sixth time how Zimmer had recognized me, how +he had taken me into the presence of the Duke of Bellune, my wife told +me that the marshal had made the tour of our ramparts on horseback, +with his staff-officers; that he had examined the advanced works, the +bastions, the glacis, and that he had said, as he went down the college +street, that the place would hold out for eighteen days, and that it +must be fortified immediately. + + +* Woman, not Israelite, who on Saturday performs in a Jewish household +the labors forbidden by the law of Moses. + + +I remembered at once that he had asked me if we wished to defend +ourselves, and I exclaimed: "He is sure that the enemy is coming; since +he is going to put cannon upon the ramparts, it is because there will +be need of them. It is not natural to make preparations which are not +to be used. And, if the allies come, the gates will be shut. What +will become of us without our business? The country people can neither +go in nor out, and what will become of us?" + +Then Sorle showed her good sense, for she said: + +"I have already thought about this, Moses; it is only the peasants who +buy iron, old shoes, and our other things. We must undertake a city +business for all classes--a business which will oblige citizens, +soldiers and workmen to buy of us. That is what we must do." + +I looked at her in surprise. Safel, with his elbow on the table, was +also listening. + +"It is all very well, Sorle," I replied, "but what business is there +which will oblige citizens, soldiers, everybody to buy of us--what +business is there?" + +"Listen," said she; "if the gates are shut and the country people +cannot enter, there will be no eggs, butter, fish, or anything in the +market. People will have to live on salt meats and dried vegetables, +flour, and all kinds of preserved articles. Those who have bought up +these can sell them at their own price; they will grow rich." + +As I listened I was struck with astonishment. + +"Ah, Sorle! Sorle!" I exclaimed, "for thirty years you have been my +comfort. Yes, you have crowned me with all sorts of blessings, and I +have said a hundred times, 'A good wife is a diamond of pure water, and +without flaw. A good wife is a rich treasure for her husband.' I have +repeated it a hundred times. But now I know still better what you are +worth, and esteem you still more highly." + +The more I thought of it, the more I perceived the wisdom of this +advice. At length I said: + +"Sorle, meat and flour, and everything which can be kept, are already +in the storehouses, and the soldiers will not need such things for a +long time, because their officers will have provided them. But what +will be wanted is brandy, which men must have to massacre and +exterminate each other in war, and brandy we will buy! We will have +plenty of it in our cellar, we will sell it, and nobody else will have +it. That is my idea!" + +"It is a good idea, Moses!" said she; "your reasons are good; I approve +of them." + +"Then I will write," said I, "and we will invest everything in spirits +of wine. We will add water ourselves, in proportion as people wish to +pay for it. In this way the freight will be less than if it were +brandy, for we shall not have to pay for the transportation of the +water, which we have here." + +"That is well, Moses," she said. + +And so we agreed. + +Then I said to Safel: + +"You must not speak of this to any one." + +She answered for him: + +"There's no need of telling him that, Moses. Safel knows very well +that this is between ourselves, and that our well-being depends upon +it." + +The child for a long time resented my words: "You must not speak of +this to any one." He was already full of good sense, and said to +himself: + +"So my father thinks I am an idiot." + +This thought humiliated him. Some years afterward he told me of it, +and I perceived that I had been wrong. + +Everybody has his notions. Children should not be humiliated in +theirs, but rather upheld by their parents. + + + + +III + +A CIRCUMCISION FEAST + +So I wrote to Pezenas. This is a southern city, rich in wools, wines, +and brandies. The price of brandies at Pezenas controls that of all +Europe. A trading man ought to know that, and I knew it, because I had +always liked to read the list of prices in the newspapers. I sent to +M. Quataya, at Pezenas, for a dozen pipes of spirits of wine. I +calculated that, after paying the freight, a pipe would cost me a +thousand francs, delivered in my cellar. + +As I had sold no iron for a year, I disposed of my merchandise without +asking anything for it; the payment of the twelve thousand francs did +not trouble me. Only, Fritz, those twelve thousand francs were half my +fortune, and you may suppose that it required some courage to risk in +one venture the gains of fifteen years. + +As soon as my letter was gone, I wished I could bring it back, but it +was too late. I kept a good face before my wife, and said, "It will +all do well! We shall gain double, triple, etc." + +She, too, kept a good face, but we both had misgivings; and during the +six weeks necessary for the receipt of the acknowledgment and +acceptance of my order, and the arrival of the spirits of wine, every +night I lay awake, thinking, "Moses, you have lost everything! You are +ruined from top to toe!" + +The cold sweat would cover my body. Still, if any one had come to me +and said, "Be easy, Moses, I will relieve you of this business," I +should have refused, because my hope of gain was as great as my fear of +loss. And by this you may know who are the true merchants, the true +generals, and all who accomplish anything. Others are but machines for +selling tobacco, or filling glasses, or firing guns. + +It all comes to the same thing. One man's glory is as great as +another's. This is why, when we speak of Austerlitz, Jena or Wagram, +it is not a question of Jean Claude or Jean Nicholas, but of Napoleon +alone; he alone risked everything, the others risked only being killed. + +I do not say this to compare myself with Napoleon, but the buying of +these twelve pipes of spirits of wine was my battle of Austerlitz. + +And when I think that, on reaching Paris, Napoleon had demanded four +hundred and forty millions of money, and _six hundred thousand men_! +and that then everybody, understanding that we were threatened with an +invasion, undertook to sell and to make money at any cost, while I +bought, unhampered by the example of others--when I think of this, I am +proud of it still and congratulate myself. + +It was in the midst of these disquietudes that the day for the +circumcision of little Esdras arrived. My daughter Zeffen had +recovered, and Baruch had written to us not to trouble ourselves, for +they would come to Phalsburg. + +My wife then hastened to prepare the meats and cakes for the festival: +the _bie-kougel_, the _haman_, and the _schlachmoness_, which are great +delicacies. + +On my part, I had tested my best wine on the old Rabbi Heymann, and I +had invited my friends, Leiser of Mittelbronn and his wife Boune, +Senterle Hirsch, and Professor Burguet. Burguet was not a Jew, but he +was worthy of being one on account of his genius and extraordinary +talents. + +When a speech was wanted in the Emperor's progress, Burguet made it; +when songs were needed for a national festival, Burguet composed them +between two sips of beer; when a young candidate for law or medicine +was perplexed in writing his thesis, he went to Burguet, who wrote it +for him, whether in French or in Latin; when fathers and mothers were +to be moved to tears at the distribution of school prizes, Burguet was +the man to do it; he would take a blank sheet of paper, and read them a +discourse on the spot, such as nobody else could have written in ten +years; when a petition was to be made to the Emperor or prefect, +Burguet was the first man thought of; and when Burguet took the trouble +to defend a deserter before the court-martial at the mayoralty, the +deserter, instead of being shot on the bastion of the barracks, was +pardoned. + +After all this, Burguet would return and take his part in piquet with +the little Jew, Solomon, at which he always lost; and people troubled +themselves no more about him. + +I have often thought that Burguet must have greatly despised those to +whom he took off his hat. Yes, to see the fellows putting on important +airs because they were rural guard or secretary of the mayoralty, must +have made a man like him laugh in his sleeve. But he never told me so; +he knew the ways of the world too well. + +He was an old constitutional priest, a tall man, with a noble figure +and very fine voice; the very tones of it would move you in spite of +yourself. Unfortunately, he did not take care of his own interests; he +was at the mercy of the first comer. How many times I have said to him: + +"Burguet, in heaven's name, don't get mixed up with thieves! Burguet, +don't let yourself be robbed by simpletons! Trust me about your +college expenses. When anybody comes to impose upon you I will be on +the spot; I will pay the bills and hand you the account." + +But he did not think of the future, and lived very carelessly. + +I had thus invited all my old friends for the morning of the +twenty-fourth of November, and they all came to the festival. + +The father and mother, with the little infant, and its godfather and +godmother, came early, in a large carriage. By eleven the ceremony had +taken place in our synagogue, and we all, in great joy and +satisfaction, for the child had not uttered a cry, returned together to +my house, which had been made ready beforehand--the large table on the +first floor, the meats in their pewter dishes, the fruits in their +baskets--and we had begun in great glee to celebrate the happy day. + +The old Rabbi Heymann, Leiser, and Burguet sat at my right, my little +Safel, Hirsch, and Baruch at my left, and the women Sorle, Zeffen, +Jetele, and Boune, facing us on the other side, according to the +command of the Lord, that men and women should be separate at +festivities. + +Burguet, with his white cravat, his handsome maroon coat and his +ruffled shirt, did me honor. He made a speech, raising his voice and +making fine gestures like a great orator--telling of the ancient +customs of our nation, of our religious ceremonies, of _Paecach_ (the +feast of Passover), of _Rosch-haschannah_ (the New Year), of _Kippour_ +(the day of expiation), like a true _Ied_ (Jew), thinking our religion +very beautiful and glorifying the genius of Moses. + +He knew the _Lochene Koidech_ (Chaldaic) as well as a _bal-kebole_ +(cabalistic doctor). + +The Saverne people turned to their neighbors and asked in a whisper: + +"Pray, who is this man who speaks with authority, and says such fine +things? Is he a rabbi? Is he a _schamess_ (Jewish beadle)? or is he +the _parness_ (civil head) of your community?" + +And when they learned he was not one of us, they were astonished. The +old Rabbi Heymann alone was able to answer him, and they agreed on all +points, like learned men talking on familiar subjects and conscious of +their own learning. + +Behind us, on its grandmother's bed, inside of the curtains, slept our +little Esdras, with his sweet face and little clinched hands--slept so +soundly, that neither our shouts of laughter, nor the talking, nor the +sound of the glasses could wake him. Sometimes one, sometimes another, +went to look at him, and everybody said: + +"What a beautiful child! He looks like his grandfather Moses!" + +That pleased me, of course; and I would go and look at him, bending +over him for a long while, and finding a still stronger resemblance to +my father. + +At three o'clock, the meats having been removed and the delicacies +spread upon the table, as we came to the dessert, I went down to find a +bottle of better wine, an old bottle of Rousillon which I dug out from +under the others, all covered with dust and cobwebs. I took it up +carefully and placed it among the flowers on the table, saying: + +"You thought the other wine very good; what will you say to this?" + +Then Burguet smiled, for old wine was his special delight; he stretched +up his hand and exclaimed: + +"Oh! noble wine, the consoler, the restorer and benefactor of poor men +in this vale of misery! Oh, venerable bottle, thou bearest all the +signs of old nobility!" + +He said this with his mouth full, and everybody laughed. + +I asked Sorle to bring the corkscrew. + +As she was rising, suddenly trumpets sounded without, and we all +listened and asked, "What is that?" + +At the same time the sound of many horses' steps came up the street, +and the earth and the houses trembled under an enormous weight. + +Everybody sprang up, throwing down their napkins and rushing to the +windows. + +And from the French gate to the little square we saw trains of +artillerymen advancing, with their great shakos covered with oil-cloth, +and their saddles in sheepskins and driving caissons full of round +shot, shells and intrenching tools. + +Imagine, Fritz, my thoughts at that moment! + +"This is war, my friends!" said Burguet. "This is war! It is coming! +Our turn has come, at the end of twenty years!" + +I stood leaning down with my hand on the stone, and thought: + +"Now the enemy cannot delay coming. These are sent to fortify the +place. And what if the allies surround us before I have received my +spirits of wine? What if the Austrians or Russians should stop the +wagons and seize them? I should have to pay for it all the same, and I +should not have a farthing left!" + +I turned pale at the thought. Sorle looked at me, undoubtedly having +the same fears, but she said nothing. + +We stood there till they all passed by. The street was full. Some old +soldiers, Desmarets the Egyptian, Paradis the gunner, Rolfo, Faisard +the sapper, of the Beresina, as he was called, and some others, cried +"Vive l'Empereur!" + +Children ran behind the wagons, repeating the cry, "Vive l'Empereur!" +But the greater number, with closed lips and serious faces, looked on +in silence. + +When the last carriage had turned the Fouquet corner, all the crowd +returned with bowed heads; and we in the room looked at each other, +with no wish to continue the feast. + +"You are not well, Moses," said Burguet. "What is the matter?" + +"I am thinking of all the evils which are coming to the city." + +"Bah! don't be afraid," he replied. "We shall be strongly defended! +And then, God help us! what can't be cured must be endured! Come! +cheer up; this old wine will keep up our spirits." + +We resumed our places. I opened the bottle, and it was as Burguet +said. The old Rousillon did us good, and we began to laugh. + +Burguet called out: + +"To the health of the little Esdras! May the Lord cover him with his +right hand!" + +And the glasses clinked. Some one exclaimed: "May he long rejoice the +hearts of his grandfather Moses and his grandmother Sorle! To their +health!" + +We ended by looking at everything in rose-color, and glorifying the +Emperor, who was hastening to defend us, and was soon going to crush +all the beggars beyond the Rhine. + +But it is equally true that, when we separated about five o'clock, +everybody had become serious, and Burguet himself, when he shook hands +with me at the foot of the stairs, looked anxious. + +"We shall have to send home our pupils," said he, "and we must sit with +our arms folded." + +The Saverne people, with Zeffen, Baruch, and the children, got into +their carriage, and started silently for home. + + + + +IV + +FATHER MOSES COMPELLED TO BEAR ARMS + +All this, Fritz, was but the beginning of troubles. + +You should have seen the city the next morning, at about eleven +o'clock, when the engineering officers had finished inspecting the +ramparts, and the tidings suddenly spread that there were needed +seventy-two platforms inside the bastions, three bomb-proof +block-houses, for thirty men each, at the right and left of the German +gate, ten palankas with battlements forming stronghold intrenchments +for forty men, and four blindages upon the great square of the +mayoralty to shelter each a hundred and ten men; and when it was known +that the citizens would be obliged to work at all these, to provide +themselves with shovels, pickaxes, and wheelbarrows, and the peasants +to bring trees with their own horses! + +As for Sorle, Safel, and myself, we did not even know what blindages +and palankas were; we asked our neighbor Bailly, an old armorer, what +they were for, and he answered with a smile: + +"You will find out, neighbor, when you hear the balls roar and the +shells hiss. It would take too long to explain. You will see, by and +by; never too late to learn." + +Imagine how the people looked! I remember that everybody ran to the +square, where our mayor, Baron Parmentier, made a speech. We ran there +with all the rest. + +Sorle held me by the arm, and Safel by the skirt of my coat. + +There, in front of the mayoralty, the whole city, men, women, and +children, formed in a semicircle, and listened in the deepest silence, +now and then crying all together, "Vive l'Empereur!" + +Parmentier, a tall, thin man, in a sky-blue dress-coat, a white cravat, +and the tri-colored sash around his waist, stood on the top of the +steps of the guard-house, with the members of the municipal council +behind him, under the arch, and shouted out: + +"Phalsburgians! The time has come in which to show your devotion to +the Empire. A year ago all Europe was with us, now all Europe is +against us. We should have everything to fear without the energy and +power of the people. He who will not do his duty now will be a traitor +to his country! Inhabitants of Phalsburg, show what you are! Remember +that your children have perished through the treachery of the allies. +Avenge them! Let every one be obedient to the military authority, for +the sake of the safety of France," etc. + +Only to hear him made one's flesh creep, and I said to myself: + +"Now there will not be time for the spirits of wine to get here--that +is plain! The allies are on their way!" + +Elias the butcher, and Kalmes Levy the ribbon-merchant, were standing +near us. Instead of crying "Vive l'Empereur!" with the rest, they said +to each other: + +"Good! we are not barons, you and I! Barons, counts, and dukes have +but to defend themselves. Are we to think only of their interests?" + +But all the old soldiers, and especially those of the Republic, old +Goulden, the clockmaker, Desmarels, the Egyptian--creatures with not a +hair left on their heads, nor as much as four teeth to hold their +pipes--these creatures fell in with the mayor, and cried out: + +"Vive la France! We must defend ourselves to the death!" + +I saw several looking askance at Kalmes Levy, and I whispered to him: + +"Keep still, Kalmes! For heaven's sake, keep still! They will tear +you in pieces!" + +It was true. The old men gave him terrible looks; they grew pale, and +their cheeks shook. + +Then Kalmes stopped talking, and even left the crowd to return home. +But Elias stayed till the end of the speech, and, as the whole mass of +people were going down the main street, shouting "Vive l'Empereur!" he +could not help saying to the old clockmaker: + +"What! you, Mr. Goulden, a reasonable man, who have never wanted +anything of the Emperor, you are now going to take his part, and cry +out that we must defend ourselves till death! Is it our business to be +soldiers? Have not we furnished enough soldiers to the Empire these +last ten years? Have not enough men been killed? Must we give, +besides, our own blood to support barons, counts, and dukes?" + +But old Goulden did not let him finish, and replied, as if indignant: +"Listen, Elias! try to keep still! The thing now to be done is not to +know what is right or wrong--it is to save France. I warn you, that if +you try to discourage others, it will be bad for you. Believe me--go!" + +Already a number of superannuated soldiers were gathered round us, and +Elias had only time to retreat by the opposite lane. + +From this time public notices, requisitions, forced labors, domiciliary +visits for tools and wheelbarrows, came one after another, incessantly. +A man was nothing in his own house; the officers of the place assumed +authority over everything: only to be sure, they gave receipts. + +All the tools from my storehouse of iron were in use on the ramparts. +Fortunately I had sold a good many beforehand, for these tickets in +place of my wares would have ruined me. + +From time to time the mayor made a speech, and the governor, a fat man, +covered with pimples, expressed his satisfaction to the citizens; that +made up for their money! + +When my time came to take the pickaxe and draw the wheelbarrow, I +arranged with Carabin, the wood-sawyer, to take my place for thirty +sous. Ah, what misery! Such a time will never come again. + +While the governor commanded us within the city, the soldiers were +always outside to superintend the peasants. The road to Lutzelburg was +but one line of carts, laden with old oaks for building blockhouses. +These are large sentry-boxes, or turrets, built up of solid trunks of +trees, laid crosswise one upon another, and then covered with earth. +These are more solid than an arch. Shells and bombs might rain upon +them without disturbing anything within, as I found afterward. + +These trees were also used to make lines of enormous palisades, pointed +and pierced with holes for firing; these are what they call palankas. + +I seem still to hear the shouts of the peasants, the neighing of the +horses, the strokes of the whips, and all the other noises, which never +stopped, day or night. + +My only consolation was in thinking, "If the spirits of wine comes now, +it will be well defended; the Austrians, Prussians, and Russians will +not drink it here!" + +Every morning Sorle expected to receive the invoice. + +One Sabbath day we had the curiosity to go and see the works of the +bastions. Everybody was talking about it, and Safel kept coming to me, +saying: "The work is going on; they are filling the shells in front of +the arsenal; they are taking out the cannon; they are mounting them on +the ramparts!" + +We could not keep the child away. He had nothing to sell now under the +market, and it would be too tedious for him to stay at home. He +scoured the city, and brought us back the news. + +On this day, then, having heard that forty-two pieces were ranged in +battery, and that they were continuing the work upon the bastion of the +infantry-barracks, I told Sorle to bring her shawl, and we would go and +see. + +We first went down to the French gate. Hundreds of wheelbarrows were +going up the ramparts of the bastion, from which could be seen the road +to Metz on the right and the road to Paris on the left. + +There, above, crowds of laborers, soldiers and citizens, were heaping +up a mass of earth in the form of a triangle, at least twenty-five feet +in height, and two hundred in length and breadth. + +An engineering officer had discovered with his spy-glass that this +bastion was commanded by the hill opposite, and so everybody was set to +work to place two pieces on a level with the hill. + +It was the same everywhere else. The interiors of these bastions, with +their platforms, were shut in all around, for seven feet from the +ground, like rooms. Nothing could fall into them except from the sky. +In the turf, however, were dug narrow openings, larger without, like +funnels; the mouths of the cannon, which were raised upon immense +carriages, were drawn out through these apertures; they could be pushed +forward and backward, and turned in all directions, by means of great +levers passed in rings over the hind wheels of the carriages. + +I had not yet heard the sound of these forty-eight pounders. But the +mere sight of them on their platforms gave me a terrible idea of their +power. Even Sorle said: "It is fine, Moses; it is well done!" + +She was right, for within the bastions all was in complete order; not a +weed remained, and upon the sides were piled great bags filled with +earth to protect the artillerymen. + +But what lost labor! and to think that every firing of these large guns +costs at least a louis--money spent to kill our fellow-men! + +In fine the people worked at these things with more enthusiasm than if +they were gathering in their own harvests. I have often thought that +if the French bestowed as much pains, good sense, and courage upon +matters of peace, they would be the richest and happiest people in the +world. Yes, they would long ago have surpassed the English and +Americans. But when they have toiled and economized, when they have +opened roads everywhere, built magnificent bridges, dug out harbors and +canals, and riches come to them from all quarters, suddenly the fury of +war possesses them, and in three or four years they ruin themselves +with grand armies, with cannon, with powder, with bullets, with men, +and become poorer than before. A few soldiers are their masters, and +look down upon them. This is all it profits them! + +In the midst of all this, news from Mayence, from Strasburg, from +Paris, came by the dozens; we could not go into the street without +seeing a courier pass. They all stopped before the Bockhold house, +near the German gate, where the governor lived. A circle formed around +the house, the courier mounted, then the news spread through the city +that the allies were concentrated at Frankfort, that our troops guarded +the islands of the Rhine; that the conscripts from 1803 to 1814 were +recalled; that those of 1815 would form the reserve corps at Metz, at +Bordeaux, at Turin; that the deputies were going to assemble; then, +that the gates had been shut upon them, etc., etc. + +There came also smugglers of all sorts from Graufthal, Pirmasens, and +Kaiserslautern, with Franz Sepel, the one-armed man, at their head, and +others from the villages around, who secretly scattered the +proclamations of Alexander, Francis Joseph and Frederic William, saying +"that they did not make war upon France, but upon the Emperor alone to +prevent his further desolation of Europe." They spoke of the abolition +of duties, and of taxes of all sorts. The people at night did not know +what to think. + +But one fine morning it was all explained. It was the eighth or ninth +of December. I had just risen, and was putting on my clothes, when I +heard the rolling of a drum at the corner of the main street. + +It was cold, but nevertheless I opened the window and leaned out to +hear the announcements. Parmentier opened his paper, young Engelheider +kept up his drum-beating, and the people assembled. + +Then Parmentier read that the governor of the place ordered all +citizens to present themselves at the mayoralty between eight in the +morning and six in the evening, without fail, to receive their muskets +and cartridge-boxes, and that those who did not come, would be +court-martialed. + +There was the end at last! Every one who was able to march was on his +way, and the old men were to defend the fortifications; sober-minded +men--citizens--men accustomed to living quietly at home, and attending +to their own affairs! now they must mount the ramparts and every day +run the risk of losing their lives! + +Sorle looked at me without a word, and indignation made me also +speechless. Not till after a quarter of an hour, when I was dressed, +did I say: + +"Make the soup ready. I am going to the mayoralty to get my musket and +cartridge-box." + +Then she exclaimed: "Moses, who would have believed that you would have +to go and fight at your age? Oh! what misery!" + +And I answered: "It is the Lord's will." + +Then I started with a sad heart. Little Safel followed me. + +As I arrived at the corner of the market, Burguet was coming down the +mayoralty steps, which swarmed with men; he had his musket on his +shoulder, and said with a smile: + +"Ah, well, Moses! We are going to turn Maccabees in our old age?" + +His cheerfulness encouraged me, and I replied: + +"Burguet, how is it they can take rational men, heads of families, and +make them destroy themselves? I cannot comprehend it; no, there is no +sense in it!" + +"Ah," said he, "what would you have? If they can't get thrushes, they +must take blackbirds." + +I could not smile at his pleasantries, and he said: + +"Come, Moses, don't be so disconsolate; this is only a formality. We +have troops enough for active service; we shall have only to mount +guard. If sorties are to be made, or attacks repulsed, they will not +take you; you are not of an age to run, or to give a bayonet stroke! +You are gray and bald. Don't be troubled!" + +"Yes," I said, "that is very true, Burguet, I am broken down--more so, +perhaps, than you think." + +"That is well," said he, "but go and take your musket and +cartridge-box." + +"And are we not going to stay in the barracks?" + +"No, no!" he cried, laughing aloud, "we are going to live quietly at +home." + +He shook hands with me, and I went under the arch of the mayoralty. +The stairway was crowded with people, and we heard names called out. + +And there, Fritz, you should have seen the looks of the Robinots, the +Gourdiers, the Mariners, that mass of tilers, knife-grinders, +house-painters, people who, every day, in ordinary times, would take +off their caps to you to get a little work--you should have seen them +straighten themselves up, look at you pityingly over the shoulder, blow +in their cheeks, and call out: + +"Ah, Moses, is it thou? Thou wilt make a comical soldier. He! he! he! +They will cut thy mustaches according to regulation!" + +And such-like nonsense. + +Yes, everything was changed; these former bullies had been named in +advance sergeants, sergeant-majors, corporals, and the rest of us were +nothing at all. War upsets everything; the first become last, and the +last first. It is not good sense but discipline which carries the day. +The man who scrubbed your floor yesterday, because he was too stupid to +gain a living any other way, becomes your sergeant, and if he tells you +that white is black, you must let it be so. + +At last, after waiting an hour, some one called out, "Moses!" and I +went up. + +The great hall above was full of people. They all exclaimed: + +"Moses! Wilt thou come, Moses? Ah, see him! He is the old guard! +Look now, how he is built! Thou shalt be ensign, Moses! Thou shalt +lead us on to victory!" + +And the fools laughed, nudging each others' elbows. I passed on, +without answering or even looking at them. + +In the room at the farther end, where the names were drawn at +conscriptions, Governor Moulin, Commandant Petitgenet, the mayor, +Frichard, secretary of the mayoralty, Rollin, captain of apparel, and +six or seven other superannuated men, crippled with rheumatism, brought +from all parts of the world, were met in council, some sitting, the +rest standing. + +These old ones began to laugh as they saw me come in. I heard them say +to one another: "He is strong yet! Yes, he is all right." + +So they talked, one after another. I thought to myself: "Say what you +like, you will not make me think that you are twenty years old, or that +you are handsome." + +But I kept silence. + +Suddenly the governor, who was talking with the mayor in a corner, +turned around, with his great chapeau awry, and looking at me, said: + +"What do you intend to do with such a patriarch? You see very well +that he can hardly stand." + +I was pleased, in spite of it all, and began to cough. + +"Good, good!" said he, "you may go home; take care of your cold!" + +I had taken four steps toward the door, when Frichard, the secretary of +the mayoralty, called out: + +"It is Moses! The Jew Moses, colonel, who has sent his two boys off to +America! The oldest should be in the service." + +This wretch of a Frichard had a grudge against me, because we had the +same business of selling old clothes under the market, and the country +people almost always preferred buying of me; he had a mortal grudge +against me, and that is why he began to inform against me. + +The governor exclaimed at once: "Stop a minute! Ah ha, old fox! You +send your boys to America to escape conscription! Very well! Give him +his musket, cartridge-box, and sabre." + +Indignation against Frichard choked me. I would have spoken, but the +wretch laughed and kept on writing at the desk; so I followed the +gendarme Werner to a side room, which was filled with muskets, sabres, +and cartridge-boxes. + +Werner himself hung a cartridge-box crosswise on my back, and gave me a +musket, saying: + +"Go, Moses, and try always to answer to the call." + +I went down through the crowd so indignant that I heard no longer the +shouts of laughter from the rabble. + +On reaching home I told Sorle what had happened. She was very pale as +she listened. After a moment, she said: "This Frichard is the enemy of +our race; he is an enemy of Israel. I know it; he detests us! But +just now, Moses, do not say a word; do not let him see that you are +angry; it would please him too much. By and by you can have your +revenge! You will have a chance. And if not yourself, your children, +your grandchildren; they shall all know what this wretch has done to +their grandfather--they shall know it!" + +She clinched her hand, and little Safel listened. + +This was all the comfort she could give me. I thought as she did, but +I was so angry that I would have given half my fortune to ruin the +wretch. All that day, and in the night, too, I exclaimed more than +twenty times: + +"Ah, the scoundrel!--I was going--they had said to me, 'You may +go!'--He is the cause of all my misery!" + +You cannot imagine, Fritz, how I have always hated that man. Never +have my wife and I forgotten the harm he did us--never shall my +children forget it. + + + + +V + +FATHER MOSES RECEIVES WELCOME NEWS + +The next day we must answer to the call before the mayoralty. All the +children in town surrounded us and whistled. Fortunately, the +blindages of the Place d'Armes were not finished, so that we went to +learn our exercises in the large court of the college, near the _chemin +de ronde_ at the corner of the powder-house. As the pupils had been +dismissed for some time, the place was at liberty. + +Imagine to yourself this large court filled with citizens in bonnets, +coats, cloaks, vests, and breeches, obliged to obey the orders of their +former tinkers, chimney-sweeps, stable-boys, now turned into corporals, +sergeants, and sergeant-majors. Imagine these peaceable men, in fours, +in sixes, in tens, stretching out their legs in concert, and marching +to the step, "One--_two_! One--_two_! Halt! Steady!" while others, +marching backward, frowning, called out insolently: "Moses, dress thy +shoulders!" "Moses, bring thy nose into line!" "Attention, Moses! +Carry arms! Ah, old shoe, thou'lt never be good for anything! Can any +one be so stupid at his age? Look--just look! Thunder! Canst thou +not do that? One--_two_! What an old blockhead! Come, begin again! +Carry arms!" + +This is the way my own cobbler, Monborne, ordered me about. I believe +he would have beaten me if it had not been for Captain Vigneron. + +All the rest treated their old patrons in the same way. You would have +said that it had always been so--that they had always been sergeants +and we had always been soldiers. I heaped up gall enough against this +rabble to last fifty years. + +They in fine were the masters! And the only time that I remember ever +to have struck my own son, Safel, this Monborne was the cause of it. +All the children climbed upon the wall of the _chemin de ronde_ to look +at us and laugh at us. On looking up, I saw Safel among them, and made +a sign of displeasure with my finger. He went down at once; but at the +close of the exercise, when we were ordered to break ranks before the +town-house, I was seized with anger as I saw him coming toward me, and +I gave him two good boxes on the ear, and said: "Go--hiss and mock at +your father, like Shem, instead of bringing a garment to cover his +nakedness--go!" + +He wept bitterly, and in this state I went home. Sorle seeing me come +in looking very pale, and the little one following me at a distance, +sobbing, came down at once to the door, and asked what was the matter. +I told her how angry I was, and went upstairs. + +Sorle reproved Safel still more severely, and he came and begged my +pardon. I granted it with all my heart, as you may suppose. But when +I thought that the exercises were to be repeated every day, I would +gladly have abandoned everything if I could possibly have taken with me +my house and wares. + +Yes, the worst thing I know of is to be ordered about by bullies who +cannot restrain themselves when chance sets them up for a moment, and +who are not capable of receiving the idea that in this life everybody +has his turn. + +I should say too much if I continued on this head. I would rather go +on. + +The Lord granted me a great consolation. I had scarcely laid aside my +cartridge-box and musket, so as to sit at the table, when Sorle +smilingly handed me a letter. + +"Read that, Moses," said she, "and you will feel better." + +I opened and read it. It was the notice from Pezenas that my dozen +pipes of spirits were on their way. I drew a long breath. + +"Ah! that is good, now!" I exclaimed; "the spirits are coming by the +ordinary conveyance; they will be here in three weeks. We hear nothing +from the direction of Strasburg and Sarrebruck; the allies are +collecting still, but they do not move; my spirits of wine are safe! +They will sell well! It is a grand thing!" + +I smiled, and was quite myself again, when Sorle pushed the arm-chair +toward me, saying: "And what do you think of _that_, Moses?" + +She gave me, as she spoke, a second letter, covered with large stamps, +and at the first glance I recognized the handwriting of my two sons, +Fromel and Itzig. + +It was a letter from America! My heart swelled with joy, and I +silently thanked the Lord, deeply moved by this great blessing. I +said: "The Lord is good. His understanding is infinite. He delighteth +not in the strength of a horse; he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a +man. He taketh pleasure in those that hope in his mercy." + +Thus I spoke to myself while I read the letter, in which my sons +praised America, the true land of commerce, the land of enterprising +men, where everything is free, where there are no taxes or impositions, +because people are not brought up for war, but for peace; the land, +Fritz, where every man becomes, through his own labor, his +intelligence, his economy, and his good intentions, what he deserves to +be, and every one takes his proper place, because no important matter +is decided without the consent of all;--a just and sensible thing, for +where all contribute, all should give their opinions. + +This was one of their first letters. Fromel and Itzig wrote me that +they had made so much money in a year, that they need no longer carry +their own packs, but had three fine mules, and that they had just +opened at Catskill, near Albany, in the State of New York, an +establishment for the exchange of European fabrics with cow-hides, +which were very abundant in that region. + +Their business was prospering, and they were respected in the town and +its vicinity. While Fromel was travelling on the road with their three +mules, Itzig stayed at home, and when Itzig went in his turn his +brother had charge of the shop. + +They already knew of our misfortunes, and thanked the Lord for having +given them such parents, to save them from destruction. They would +have liked to have us with them, and after what had just happened, in +being maltreated by a Monborne, you can believe that I should have been +very glad to be there. But it was enough to receive such good news, +and in spite of all our misfortunes, I said to myself, as I thought of +Frichard: "But it is only to me that you can be an ass! You may harm +me here, but you can't hurt my boys. You are nothing but a miserable +secretary of mayoralty, while I am going to sell my spirits of wine. I +shall gain double and treble. I will put my little Safel at your side, +under the market, and he will beckon to everybody that is going into +your shop; and he will sell to them at cost price rather than lose +their custom, and he will make you die of anger." + +The tears came into my eyes as I thought of it, and I ended by +embracing Sorle, who smiled, full of satisfaction. + +We pardoned Safel over again, and he promised to go no more with the +cursed race. Then, after dinner, I went down to my cellar, one of the +finest in the city, twelve feet high and thirty-five feet long, all +built of hewn stone, under the main street. It was as dry as an oven, +and even improved wine in the long run. + +As my spirits of wine might arrive before the end of the month, I +arranged four large beams to hold the pipes, and saw that the well, cut +in the rock, had enough water for mixing it. + +On going up about four o'clock, I perceived the old architect, Kromer, +who was walking across the market, his measuring-stick under his arm. + +"Ah!" said I, "come down a minute into my cellar; do you think it will +be safe against the bombs?" + +We went down together. He examined it, measured the stones and the +thickness of the arch with his stick, and said: "You have six feet of +earth over the key-stone. When the bombs enter here, Moses, it will be +all over with all of us. You may sleep with both ears shut." + +We took a good drink of wine from the spout, and went up in good +spirits. + +Just as we set foot on the pavement, a door in the main street opened +with a crash, and there was a sound of glass broken. Kromer raised his +nose, and said: "Look yonder, Moses, at Camus's steps! Something is +going on." + +We stopped and saw at the top of the railed staircase a sergeant of +veterans, in a gray coat, with his musket dangling, dragging Father +Camus by the collar. The poor old man clung to the door with both +hands to keep himself from falling; he succeeded at last in getting +loose, by tearing the collar from his coat, and the door shut with a +noise like thunder. + +"If war begins now between citizens and soldiers," said Kromer, "the +Germans and Russians will have fine sport." + +The sergeant, seeing the door shut and bolted within, tried to force it +open with blows from the butt-end of his musket, which caused a great +uproar; the neighbors came out, and the dogs barked. We were watching +it all, when we saw Burguet come along the passage in front, and begin +to talk vehemently with the sergeant. At first the man did not seem to +hear him, but after a moment he raised his musket to his shoulder with +a rough movement, and went down to the street, with his shoulders up +and his face dark and furious. He passed by us like a wild boar. He +was a veteran with three chevrons, sunburnt, with a gray mustache, +large straight wrinkles the whole length of his cheeks, and a square +chin. He muttered as he passed us, and went into the little inn of the +Three Pigeons. + +Burguet followed at a distance, with his broad hat down to his +eyebrows, wrapped in his beaver-cloth great-coat, his head thrown back, +and his hands in his pockets. He smiled. + +"Well," said I, "what has been going on at Camus's?" + +"Oh!" said he, "it is Sergeant Trubert, of the fifth company of +veterans, who had just been playing his tricks. The old fellow wants +everything to go by rule and measure. In the last fortnight he has had +five different lodgings, and cannot get along with anybody. Everybody +complains of him, but he always makes excuses which the governor and +commandant think excellent." + +"And at Camus's house?" + +"Camus has not too much room for his own family. He wished to send the +sergeant to the inn; but the sergeant had already chosen Camus's bed to +sleep in, had spread his cloak upon it, and said, 'My billet is for +this place. I am very comfortable here, and do not wish to change.' +Old Camus was vexed, and finally, as you have just seen, the sergeant +tried to pull him out, and beat him." + +Burguet smiled, but Kromer said: "Yes, all that is laughable. And yet +when we think of what such people must have done on the other side of +the Rhine!" + +"Ah!" exclaimed Burguet, "it was not very pleasant for the Germans, I +am sure. But it is time to go and read the newspaper. God grant that +the time for paying our old debts may not have come! Good-evening, +gentlemen." + +He continued his walk on the side of the square. Kromer went toward +his own house, while I shut the two doors of my cellar; after which I +went home. + +This was the tenth of December. It was already very cold. Every +night, after five or six o'clock, the roofs and pavements were covered +with frost. There was no more noise without, because people kept at +home, around their stoves. + +I found Sorle in the kitchen, preparing our supper. The red flame +flickered upon the hearth around the saucepan. These things are now +before my eyes, Fritz--the mother, washing the plates at the stone +sink, near the gray window; little Safel blowing in his big iron pipe, +his cheeks round as an apple, his long curly hair all disordered, and +myself sitting on the stool, holding a coal to light my pipe. Yes, it +all seems here present! + +We said nothing. We were happy in thinking of the spirits of wine that +were coming, of the boys who were doing so well, of the good supper +that was cooking. And who would ever have thought, then, that +twenty-five days afterward the city would be surrounded by enemies, and +shells hissing in the air? + + + + +VI + +A DISAGREEABLE GUEST + +Now, Fritz, I am going to tell you something which has often made me +think that the Lord takes an interest in our affairs, and that He +orders everything for the best. At first it seems dreadful, and we +exclaim, "Lord have mercy on us!" and afterward we are surprised to +find that it has all been for our good. + +You know that Frichard, the secretary of the mayoralty, disliked me. +He was a little, yellow, dried-up old man, with a red wig, flat ears, +and hollow cheeks. This rascal was bent on doing me an injury, and he +soon found an opportunity. + +As the time of the blockade drew nearer, people were more and more +anxious to sell, and the day after I received the good news from +America--it was Friday, a market-day--so many of the Alsatian and +Lorraine people came with their great dossers and panniers of fruit, +eggs, butter, cheese, poultry, etc., that the market-place was crowded +with them. + +Everybody wanted money, to hide it in his cellar, or under a tree in +the neighboring wood. You know that large sums were lost at that time; +treasures which are now discovered from year to year, at the foot of +oaks and beeches, hidden because it was feared that the Germans and +Russians would pillage and destroy everything, as we had done to them. +The men died, or perhaps could not find the place where they had hidden +their money, and so it remained buried in the ground. + +This day, the eleventh of December, it was very cold; the frost +penetrated to the very marrow of your bones, but it had not yet begun +to snow. Very early in the morning, I went down, shivering, with my +woollen waistcoat buttoned up to my throat, and my seal-skin cap drawn +down over my ears. + +Both the little and the great squares were already swarming with +people, shouting and disputing about prices. I had only time to open +my shop, and to hang up my large scales in the arch, before a crowd of +country people stood about the door, some asking for nails, others iron +for forging; and some bringing their own old iron with the hope of +selling it. + +They knew that if the enemy came there would be no way of entering the +city, and that was what brought the crowd, some to sell and others to +buy. + +I opened shop and began to weigh. We heard the patrols passing +without; the guard was everywhere doubled, the drawbridges in good +condition, and the outside barriers fortified anew. We were not yet +declared to be in a state of siege, but we were like the bird on the +branch; the last news from Mayence, Sarrebruck, and Strasburg announced +the arrival of the allies on the other bank of the Rhine. + +As for me, I thought of nothing but my spirits of wine, and all the +time I was selling, weighing, and handling money, it was never out of +my mind. It had, as it were, taken root in my brain. + +This had lasted about an hour, when suddenly Burguet appeared at my +door, under the little arch, behind the crowd of country people, and +said to me: + +"Moses, come here a minute, I have something to say to you." + +I went out. + +"Let us go into your passage," said he. + +I was much surprised, for he looked very grave. The peasants behind +called out: + +"We have no time to lose. Make haste, Moses!" + +But I paid no attention. In the passage Burguet said to me: + +"I have just come from the mayoralty, where they are busy in making out +a report to the prefect in regard to the state of feeling among our +population, and I accidentally heard that they are going to send +Sergeant Trubert to your house." + +This was indeed a blow for me. I exclaimed: + +"I don't want him! I don't want him! I have lodged six men in the +last fortnight, and it isn't my turn." + +He answered: + +"Be quiet, and don't talk so loud. You will only make the matter +worse." + +I repeated: + +"Never, never shall this sergeant enter my house! It is abominable! A +quiet man like myself, who has never harmed any one, and who asks +nothing but peace!" + +While I was speaking, Sorle, on her way to market, with her basket on +her arm, came down, and asked what was the matter. + +"Listen, Madame Sorle," said Burguet to her; "be more reasonable than +your husband! I can understand his indignation, and yet for all that, +when a thing is inevitable we must submit to it. Frichard dislikes +you; he is secretary of the mayoralty; he distributes the billets for +quartering soldiers according to a list. Very well; he sends you +Sergeant Trubert, a violent, bad man, I allow, but he needs lodging as +well as the others. To everything which I have said in your favor, +Frichard has always replied: 'Moses is rich. He has sent away his boys +to escape conscription. He ought to pay for them.' The mayor, the +governor, everybody thinks he is right. So, you see, I tell you as a +friend, the more resistance you make, so much the more the sergeant +will affront you, and Frichard laugh at you, and there will be no help +for it. Be reasonable!" + +I was still more angry on finding that I owed these misfortunes to +Frichard. I would have exclaimed, but my wife laid her hand on my arm, +and said: + +"Let me speak, Moses. Monsieur Burguet is right, and I am much obliged +to him for telling us beforehand. Frichard has a spite against us. +Very well; he must pay for it all, and we will settle with him by and +by. Now, when is the sergeant coming?" + +"At noon," replied Burguet. + +"Very well," said my wife; "he has a right to lodging, fire, and +candles. We can't dispute that; but Frichard shall pay for it all." + +She was pale, and I listened, for I saw that she was right. + +"Be quiet, Moses," she said to me afterward, "and don't say a word; let +me manage it." + +"This is what I had to say to you," said Burguet, "it is an abominable +trick of Frichard's. I will see, by and by, if it is possible to rid +you of the sergeant. Now I must go back to my post." + +Sorle had just started for the market. Burguet pressed my hand, and as +the peasants grew more impatient in their cries, I had to go back to my +scales. + +I was full of rage. I sold that day more than two hundred francs' +worth of iron, but my indignation against Frichard, and my fear of the +sergeant, took away all pleasure in anything. I might have sold ten +times more without feeling any better. + +"Ah! the rascal!" I said to myself; "he gives me no rest. I shall have +no peace in this city." + +As the clock struck twelve the market closed, and people went away by +the French gate. I shut up my shop and went home, thinking to myself: + +"Now I shall be nothing in my own house; this Trubert is going to rule +everything. He will look down upon us as if we were Germans or +Spaniards." + +I was in despair. But in the midst of my despair on the staircase, I +suddenly perceived an odor of good things from the kitchen, and I went +up in surprise, for I smelt fish and roast, as if it were a feast day. + +I was going into the kitchen, when Sorle appeared and said: + +"Go into your chamber, shave yourself, and put on a clean shirt." + +I saw, at the same time, that she was dressed in her Sabbath clothes, +with her ear-rings, her green skirt, and her red silk neckerchief. + +"But why must I shave, Sorle?" I exclaimed. + +"Go quick; you have no time to lose!" replied she. + +This woman had so much good sense, she had so many times set things +right by her ready wit, that I said nothing more, and went into my +bedroom to shave myself and put on a clean shirt. + +As I was putting on my shirt I heard little Safel cry out: + +"Here he is, mamma! here he is!" + +Then steps were heard on the stairs, and a rough voice called: + +"Holla! you folks. Ho!" + +I thought to myself: "It is the sergeant," and I listened. + +"Ah! here is our sergeant!" cried Safel, triumphantly. + +"Oh! that is good," replied my wife, in a cheerful tone. "Come in, Mr. +Sergeant, come in! We were expecting you. I knew that we were to have +the honor of having a sergeant; we were glad to hear it, because we +have had only common soldiers before. Be so good as to come in, Mr. +Sergeant." + +[Illustration: "BE SO GOOD AS TO COME IN, MR. SERGEANT."] + +She spoke in this way as if she were really pleased, and I thought to +myself: + +"O Sorle, Sorle! You shrewd woman! You sensible woman! I see through +it now. I see your cunning. You are going to mollify this rascal! +Ah, Moses! what a wife you have! Congratulate yourself! Congratulate +yourself!" + +I hastened to dress myself, laughing all the while; and I heard this +brute of a sergeant say: + +"Yes, yes! It is all very well. But that isn't the point! Show me my +room, my bed. You can't pay me with fine speeches; people know +Sergeant Trubert too well for that." + +"Certainly, Mr. Sergeant, certainly," replied my wife, "here is your +room and your bed. See, it is the best we have." + +Then they went into the passage, and I heard Sorle open the door of the +handsome room which Baruch and Zeffen occupied when they came to +Phalsburg. + +I followed them softly. The sergeant thrust his fist into the bed to +feel if it was soft. Sorle and Safel looked on smilingly behind him. +He examined every corner with a scowl. You never saw such a face, +Fritz; a gray bristling mustache, a long thin nose, hooked over the +mouth; a yellow skin, full of wrinkles: he dragged the butt-end of his +gun on the floor, without seeming to notice anything, and muttered +ill-naturedly: + +"Hem! hem! What is that down there?" + +"It is the wash-basin, Mr. Sergeant." + +"And these chairs, are they strong? Will they bear anything?" + +He knocked them rudely down. It was evident he wanted to find fault +with something. + +On turning round he saw me, and looking at me sideways, asked: + +"Are you the citizen?" + +"Yes, sergeant; I am." + +"Ah!" + +He put his gun in a corner, threw his knapsack on the table, and said: + +"That will do! You may go." + +Safel had opened the kitchen door, and the good smell of the roast came +into the room. + +"Mr. Sergeant," said Sorle very pleasantly, "allow me to ask a favor of +you." + +"You!" said he, looking at her over his shoulder, "ask a favor of me!" + +"Yes. It is that since you now lodge with us, and will be in some +respects one of the family, you will give us the pleasure of dining +with us, at least for once." + +"Ah, ah!" said he, turning his nose toward the kitchen, "that is +another thing!" + +He seemed to be considering whether to grant us this favor or not. We +waited for him to answer, when he gave another sniff and threw his +cartridge-box on the bed, saying: + +"Well, so be it! We will go and see!" + +"Wretch!" thought I, "if I could make you eat potatoes!" + +But Sorle seemed satisfied, and said: + +"This way, Mr. Sergeant; this way, if you please." + +When we went into the dining-room I saw that everything was prepared as +if for a prince; the floor swept, the table carefully laid, a white +table-cloth, and our silver knives and forks. + +Sorle placed the sergeant in my arm-chair at the head of the table, +which seemed to him the most natural thing in the world. + +Our servant brought in the large tureen and took off the cover; the +odor of a good cream soup filled the room, and we began our dinner. + +Fritz, I could tell you everything we had for dinner; but believe me, +neither you nor I ever had a better. We had a roasted goose, a +magnificent pike, sauerkraut, everything, in fact, which could be +desired for a grand dinner, and all served by Sorle in the most perfect +manner. We had, too, four bottles of Beaujolais warmed in napkins, as +was the custom in winter, and an abundant dessert. + +Well! do you believe that the rascal once had the grace to seem pleased +with all this? Do you believe that all through this dinner, which +lasted nearly two hours, he once thought of saying, "This pike is +excellent!" or, "This fat goose is well cooked!" or, "You have very +good wine!" or any of the other things which we know are pleasant for a +host to hear, and which repay a good cook for his trouble? No, Fritz, +not once! You would have supposed that he had such dinners every day. +The more even that my wife flattered him, and the more kindly she spoke +to him, the more he rebuffed her, the more he scowled, the more +defiantly he looked at us, as if we wanted to poison him. + +From time to time I looked indignantly at Sorle, but she kept on +smiling; she kept on giving the nicest bits to the sergeant; she kept +on filling his glass. + +Two or three times I wanted to say, "Ah, Sorle, what a good cook you +are! How nice this force-meat is!" But suddenly the sergeant would +look down upon me as if to say, "What does that signify? Perhaps you +want to give me lessons? Don't I know better than you do whether a +thing is good or bad?" + +So I kept silence. I could have wished him--well, in worse company; I +grew more and more indignant at every morsel which he swallowed in +silence. Nevertheless Sorle's example encouraged me to put a good face +on the matter, and toward the end I thought, "Now, since the dinner is +eaten, since it is almost over, we will go on, with God's help. Sorle +was mistaken, but it is all the same; her idea was a good one, except +for such a rascal!" + +And I myself ordered coffee; I went to the closet, too, to get some +cherry-brandy and old rum. + +"What is that?" asked the sergeant. + +"Rum and cherry-brandy; old cherry-brandy from the 'Black Forest,'" I +replied. + +"Ah," said he, winking, "everybody says, 'I have got some cherry-brandy +from the Black Forest!' It is very easy to say; but they can't cheat +Sergeant Trubert; we will see about this!" + +In taking his coffee he twice filled his glass with cherry-brandy, and +both times said, "He! he! We will see whether it is genuine." + +I could have thrown the bottle at his head. + +As Sorle went to him to pour a third glassful, he rose and said, "That +is enough; thank you! The posts are doubled. This evening I shall be +on guard at the French gate. The dinner, to be sure, was not a bad +one. If you give me such now and then, we can get along with each +other." + +He did not smile, and, indeed, seemed to be ridiculing us. + +"We will do our best, Mr. Sergeant," replied Sorle, while he went into +his room and took his great-coat to go out. + +"We will see," said he as he went downstairs, "we will see!" + +Till now I had said nothing, but when he was down I exclaimed, "Sorle, +never, no never, was there such a rascal! We shall never get along +with this man. He will drive us all from the house." + +"Bah! bah! Moses," she replied, laughing, "I do not think as thou +dost! I have quite the contrary idea; we will be good friends, thou'lt +see, thou'lt see!" + +"God grant it!" I said; "but I have not much hope of it." + +She smiled as she took off the table-cloth, and gave me too a little +confidence, for this woman had a good deal of shrewdness, and I +acknowledged her sound judgment. + + + + +VII + +SERGEANT TRUBERT IN A NEW LIGHT + +You see, Fritz, what the common people had to endure in those days. +Ah, well! just as we were performing extra service, while Monborne was +commanding me at the drilling, while Sergeant Trubert was down upon me, +while we were hearing of domiciliary visits of inspection to ascertain +what provisions the citizens had--in the midst of all this, my dozen +pipes of spirits of wine were being slowly wheeled over the road. + +How I repented of having ordered them! How often I could have torn my +hair as I thought that half my thirty years' gains were at the mercy of +circumstances! How I prayed for the Emperor! How I ran every morning +to the coffee-houses and ale-houses to learn the news, and how I +trembled as I read! + +Nobody knew what I suffered, not even Sorle, for I kept it all from +her. She was too keen-sighted not to perceive my anxiety, and +sometimes she would say, "Come, Moses, have courage! All will come +right--patience a little longer!" + +But the rumors which came from Alsace, and German Lorraine, and +Hundsruck, quite upset me: "They are coming! They will not dare to +come! We are ready for them! They will take us by surprise! Peace is +going to be made! They will pass by to-morrow! We shall have no +fighting this winter! They can wait no longer! The Emperor is still +in Paris! Marshal Victor is at Huninguen! They are impressing the +custom-house officers, the forest-keepers, and the gendarmerie! Some +Spanish dragoons went down by Saverne yesterday! The mountaineers are +to defend the Vosges! There will be fighting in Alsace!" etc., etc. +Your head would have been turned, Fritz. In the morning the wind would +blow one way and put you in good spirits; at night it would blow +another way and you would be miserable. + +And my spirits of wine were coming nearer and nearer, and at last +arrived, in the midst of this conflict of news, which might any day +turn into a conflict of bullets and shells. If it had not been for my +other troubles I should have been beside myself. Fortunately, my +indignation against Monborne and the other villains diverted my mind. + +We heard nothing more of Sergeant Trubert after the great dinner for +the remainder of that day, and the night following, as he was on guard; +but the next morning, as I was getting up, behold, he came up the +stairs, with his musket on his shoulder; he opened the door and began +to laugh, with his mustaches all white with frost. I had just put on +my pantaloons, and looked at him in astonishment. My wife was still in +her room. + +"He! he! Father Moses," said he, in a good-natured voice, "it has been +a dreadful cold night." He did not look or speak like the same person. + +"Yes, sergeant," I replied, "it is December, and that is what we must +expect." + +"What we must expect," he repeated;--"all the more reason for taking a +drop. Let us see, is there any more of that old cherry-brandy?" + +He looked, as he spoke, as if he could see through me. I got up at +once from my arm-chair, and ran to fetch the bottle: "Yes, yes, +sergeant," I exclaimed, "there is more, drink and enjoy it." + +As I said this, his face, still a little hard, seemed to smile all +over. He placed his gun in a corner, and, standing up, handed me the +glass, saying, "Pour out, Father Moses, pour out!" + +I filled it brimful. As I did so, he laughed quietly. His yellow face +puckered up in hundreds of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and +around his cheeks and mustaches and chin. He did not laugh so as to be +heard, but his eyes showed his good-humor. + +"Famous cherry-brandy this, in truth, Father Moses!" he said as he +drank it. "A body knows who has drank it in the Black Forest, where it +cost nothing! Aren't you going to drink with me?" + +"With pleasure," I answered. And we drank together. He looked at me +all the time. Suddenly he said, with a mischievous look, "Hey, Father +Moses, say, you were afraid of me yesterday?" He smiled as he spoke. + +"Oh--Sergeant----" + +"Come, come," said he, laying his hand upon my shoulder--"confess that +I frightened you." + +He smiled so pleasantly that I could not help saying: "Well, yes, a +little!" + +"He! he! he! I knew it very well," said he. "You had heard them say, +'Sergeant Trubert is a tough one!' You were afraid, and you gave me a +dinner fit for a prince to coax me!" + +He laughed aloud, and I ended by laughing too. Sorle had heard all, in +the next room, and now came to the door and said, "Good-morning, Mr. +Sergeant." + +He exclaimed, "Father Moses, here is what may be called a woman! You +can boast of having a spirited woman, a sly woman, slyer than you are, +Father Moses; he, he, he! That is as it should be--that is as it +should be!" + +Sorle was delighted. + +"Oh! Mr. Sergeant," said she, "can you really think so?" + +"Bah! bah!" he exclaimed. "You are a first-rate woman! I saw you when +I first came, and said to myself, 'Take heed, Trubert! They make a +fair pretence; it is a stratagem to send you to the hotel to sleep. We +will let the enemy unmask his batteries!' + +"Ha! ha! ha! You are nice folks. You gave me a dinner fit for a +Marshal of the Empire. Now, Father Moses, I invite myself to take a +small glass of cherry-brandy with you now and then. Put the bottle +aside, by itself, it is excellent! And as for the rest, the room which +you have given me is too handsome; I don't like such gewgaws; this fine +furniture and these soft beds are good for women. What I want is a +small room, like that at the side, two good chairs, a pine table, a +plain bed with a mattress, paillasse, and coverings, and five or six +nails in the wall for hanging my things. You just give me that!" + +"Since you wish it, Mr. Sergeant." + +"Yes, I wish it; the handsome room will be for state occasions." + +"You will breakfast with us?" asked my wife, well pleased. + +"I breakfast and dine at the cantine," replied the sergeant. "I do +very well there; and I don't want to have good people go to any expense +for me. When people respect an old soldier as he ought to be +respected, when they treat him kindly, when they are like +you,--Trubert, too, is what he ought to be." + +"But, Mr. Sergeant!" said Sorle. + +"Call me sergeant," said he, "I know you now. You are not like all the +rabble of the city; rascals who have been growing rich while we have +been off fighting; wretches who do nothing but heap up money and grow +big at the expense of the army, who live on us, who are indebted to us +for everything, and who send us to sleep in nests of vermin. Ah! a +thousand million thunders!" + +His face resumed its bad look; his mustaches shook with his anger, and +I thought to myself, "What a good idea it was to treat him well! +Sorle's ideas are always good!" + +But in a moment he relaxed, and laying his hand on my arm, he exclaimed: + +"To think that you are Jews! a kind of abominable race; everything that +is dirty and vile and niggardly! To think that you are Jews! It is +true, is it not, that you are Jews?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Sorle. + +"Well, upon my word, I am surprised to hear it," said he; "I have seen +so many Jews, in Poland and Germany, that I thought to myself 'They are +sending me to some Jews; they had better look out or I'll smash +everything.'" + +We kept silent in our mortification, and he added, "Come, we will say +no more about that. You are good, honest people; I should be sorry to +trouble you. Your hand, Father Moses!" + +I gave him my hand. + +"I like you," said he. "Now, Madame Moses, the side room!" + +We showed him the small room that he asked for, and he went at once to +fetch his knapsack from the other, saying as he went: + +"Now I am among honest people! We shall have no difficulty in getting +along together. You do not trouble me, I do not trouble you; I come in +and go out, by day or night; it is Sergeant Trubert, that is enough. +And now and then, in the morning, we will take our little glass; it is +agreed, is it not, Father Moses!" + +"Yes, sergeant." + +"And here is the key of the house," said Sorle. + +"Very well; everything is arranged; now I am going to take a nap; +good-by, my friends." + +"I hope you will sleep well, sergeant." We went out at once, and heard +him lie down. + +"You see, Moses, you see," whispered my wife, in the alley, "it has all +come right." + +"Yes," I replied, "all right, excellent; your plan was a good one; and +now, if the spirits of wine only come, we shall be happy." + + + + +VIII + +FATHER MOSES'S FIRST ENCOUNTER + +From that time the sergeant lived with us without troubling anybody. +Every morning, before he went to his duties, he came and sat a few +minutes in my room, and talked with me while he took his glass. He +liked to laugh with Safel, and we called him "our sergeant," as if he +were one of the family. He seemed to like to be with us; he was a +careful man; he would not allow our _schabisboie_ to black his shoes; +he cleaned his own buff-skins, and would not let any one touch his arms. + +One morning, when I was going to answer to the call, he met me in the +alley, and, seeing a little rust on my musket, he began to swear like +the devil. + +"Ah! Father Moses, if I had you in my company, it would go hard with +you!" + +"Yes," thought I; "but, thank God, I'm not." + +Sorle, leaning over the balustrades above, laughed heartily. + +From that time the sergeant regularly inspected my equipments; I must +clean my gun over and over, take it to pieces, clean the barrel and +furbish the bayonet, as if I expected to go and fight. And even when +he knew how Monborne treated me, he also wanted to teach me the +exercises. All my remonstrances were of no avail, he would frown, and +say: + +"Father Moses, I can't stand it, that an honest man like you should +know less than the rabble. Go along!" + +And then we would up to the loft. It was very cold, but the sergeant +was so provoked at my want of briskness in performing the movements, +that he always put me in a great perspiration before we finished. + +"Attention to the word of command, and no laziness!" he would exclaim. + +I used to hear Sorle, Safel, and the servant laughing in the stairway, +as they peeped through the laths, and I did not dare to turn my head. +In fine, it was entirely owing to this good Trubert that I learned to +charge well, and became one of the best vaulters in the company. + +Ah! Fritz, it would all have been very well if the spirits of wine had +come; but instead of my dozen pipes, there came half a company of +marine artillery, and four hundred recruits for the sixth light +infantry. + +About this time the governor ordered that a space six hundred metres +wide should be cleared all round the city. + +You should have seen the havoc that was made in the place; the fences, +palisades, and trees hewn down, the houses demolished, from which +everybody carried away a beam or some timbers. You should have looked +down from the ramparts and seen the little gardens, the line of +poplars, the old trees in the orchards felled to the ground and dragged +away by swarms of workmen. You should have seen all this to know what +war is! + +Father Frise, the two Camus boys, the Sades, the Bosserts, and all the +families of the gardeners and small farmers who lived at Phalsburg, +suffered the most. I can almost hear old Fritz exclaim: + +"Ah! my poor apple-trees! Ah! my poor pear-trees; I planted you +myself, forty years ago. How beautiful you were, always covered with +fine fruit! Oh, misery! misery!" + +And the soldiers still chopped away. Toward the end, old Fritz went +away, his cap drawn over his eyes, and weeping bitterly. + +The rumor spread also that they were going to burn the Maisons Rouges +at the foot of the Mittelbronn hill, the tile-kiln at Pernette, and the +little inns of _l'Arbre Vert_ and _Panier Fleuri_, but it seemed that +the governor found it was not necessary as these houses were out of +range; or rather, that they would reserve that till later; and, that +the allies were coming sooner than they were expected. + +Of what happened before the blockade, I remember, too, that on the +twenty-second of December, about eleven o'clock in the morning, the +call was beat. Everybody supposed that it was for the drill, and I set +out quietly, with my musket on my shoulder, as usual; but, as I reached +the corner of the mayoralty, I saw the troops of the garrison formed +under the trees of the square. + +They placed us with them in two ranks; and then Governor Moulin, +Commandants Thomas and Pettigenet, and the mayor, with his tri-colored +sash, arrived. + +They beat the march, and then the drum-major raised his baton, and the +drums stopped. The governor began to speak, everybody listened, and +the words heard from a distance were repeated from one to another. + +"Officers, non-commissioned, National Guards, and Soldiers! + +"The enemy is concentrated upon the Rhine, only three days' march from +us. The city is declared to be in a state of siege; the civil +authorities give place to martial law. A permanent court-martial +replaces ordinary tribunals. + +"Inhabitants of Phalsburg! we expect from you courage, devotion, +obedience! _Vive l'Empereur_!" + +And a thousand cries of "_Vive l'Empereur_!" filled the air. + +I trembled to the ends of my hair; my spirits of wine were still on the +road; I considered myself a ruined man. + +The immediate distribution of cartridges, and the order to the +battalion to go and forage for provisions, and bring in cattle from the +surrounding villages for the supply of the city, prevented me from +thinking of my misfortune. + +I had also to think of my own life, for, in receiving such an order, we +supposed of course that the peasants would resist, and it is abominable +to have to fight the people you are robbing. + +I was very pale as I thought of all this. + +But when Commandant Thomas cried out, "Charge!" and I tore off my first +cartridge, and put it in the barrel, and, instead of hearing the ramrod +I felt a ball at the bottom!--when they ordered us: "By file--left! +left! forward! quick step! march!" and we set out for the barracks of +the Bois-de-Chenes, while the first battalion went on to Quatre-Vents +and Bichelberg, the second to Wechern and Metting; when I thought that +we were going to seize and carry away everything, and that the +court-martial was at the mayoralty to pass sentence upon those who did +not do their duty;--all these new and terrible things completely upset +me. I was troubled as I saw the village in the distance, and pictured +to myself beforehand the cries of the women and children. + +You see, Fritz, to take from the poor peasant all his living at the +beginning of winter; to take from him his cow, his goats, his pigs, +everything in short, it is dreadful! and my own misfortune made me feel +more for that of others. + +And then, as we marched, I thought of my daughter Zeffen, and Baruch, +and their children, and I exclaimed to myself: + +"Mercy on us! if the enemy comes, what will they do in an exposed town +like Saverne? They will lose everything. We may be beggared any day." + +These thoughts took away my breath, and in the midst of them I saw some +peasants, who, from their little windows, watched our approach over the +fields and along their street, without stirring. They did not know +what we were coming for. + +Six mounted soldiers preceded us; Commandant Thomas ordered them to +pass to the right and left of the barracks, to prevent the peasants +from driving their cattle into the woods, when they had found out that +we had come to rob them. + +They set off on a gallop. + +We came to the first house, where there is the stone crucifix. We +heard the order: + +"Halt!" + +Then thirty men were detached to act as sentinels in the little +streets, and I was among the number, which I liked, for I preferred +being on duty to going into their stables and barns. + +As we filed through the principal street the peasants asked us: + +"What is going on? Have they been cutting wood? Have they been making +arrests?" and such like questions. But we did not answer them, and +hastened on. + +Monborne placed me in the third street to the right, near the large +house of Father Franz, who raised bees on the slope of the valley +behind his house. We heard the sheep bleating and the cattle lowing; +that wretch of a Monborne said, winking at me: + +"It will be jolly! We will make the Baraquois open their eyes." + +He had no mercy in him. He said to me: + +"Moses, thou must stay there. If any one tries to pass, cross your +bayonet. If any one resists, prick him well and then fire. The law +must be supported by force." + +I don't know where the cobbler picked up that expression; but he left +me in the street, between two fences white with frost, and went on his +way with the rest of the guard. + +I waited there nearly twenty minutes, considering what I should do if +the peasants tried to save their property, and thinking it would be +much better to fire upon the cattle than upon their owners. + +I was much perplexed and was very cold, when I heard a great shouting; +at the same time the drum began to beat. Some men went into the +stables and drove the cattle. The Baraquins swore and wept; some tried +to defend themselves. Commandant Thomas cried out: + +"To the square! Drive them to the square!" + +Some cows escaped through the fences, and you can't imagine what a +tumult there was. I congratulated myself that I was not in the midst +of this pillage. But this did not last long, for suddenly a herd of +goats, driven by two old women, filed down the street on their way to +the valley. + +Then I had to stop them with my bayonet and call out: + +"Halt!" + +One of the women, Mother Migneron, knew me; she had a pitchfork, and +was very pale. + +"Let me pass, Moses," said she. + +I saw that she was coming slowly toward me, meaning to throw me down +with her pitchfork. The other tried to drive the goats into a little +garden at the side, but the slats were too near together, and the fence +too high. + +I should have liked to let them go by, and deny having seen anything; +but, unfortunately, Lieutenant Rollet came up and called out: + +"Attention!" + +And two men of the company followed: Macry and Schweyer, the brewer. + +Old Migneron, seeing me cross the bayonet, began to grind her teeth, +saying: + +"Ah! wretch of a Jew, thou'lt pay for this!" + +She was so angry that she had no fear of my musket, and three times she +tried to thrust her pitchfork into me; then I found the benefit of my +drilling, for I parried all her attacks. + +Two goats escaped between my legs; the rest were taken. The soldiers +pushed back the old women, broke their pitchforks, and finally regained +the chief street, which was full of cattle, lowing and kicking. + +Old Migneron sat down on the fence and tore her hair. + +Just then two cows came along, their tails in the air, leaping over the +fences and upsetting everything, the baskets of bees and their old +keeper. Fortunately, as it was winter, the bees remained as if dead in +their baskets, or else I believe they would have routed our whole +battalion. + +The horn of the _hardier_* sounded in the village. He had been +summoned in the name of the law. This old _hardier_, Nickel, passed +along the street, and the animals became quiet, and could be put in +some order. I saw the procession go along the street; the oxen and +cows in front, then the goats, and the pigs behind. + + +* Herdsman. + + +The Baraquins followed, flinging stones and throwing sticks. I saw +that, if I should be forgotten, these wretches would fall upon me, and +I should be murdered; but Sergeant Monborne, with other comrades, came +and relieved me. They all laughed and said: + +"We have shaved them well! There is not a goat left at the Barracks; +we have taken everything at one haul." + +We hastened to rejoin the column, which marched in two lines at the +right and left of the road, the cattle in the middle, our company +behind, and Nickel, with Commandant Thomas, in front. This formed a +file of at least three hundred paces. On every animal a bundle of hay +had been tied for fodder. + +In this way we passed slowly into the cemetery lane. + +Upon the glacis we halted, and tied up the animals, and the order came +to take them down into the fosses behind the arsenal. + +We were the first that returned; we had seized thirty oxen, forty-five +cows, a quantity of goats and pigs, and some sheep. + +All day long the companies were coming back with their booty, so that +the fosses were filled with cattle, which remained in the open air. +Then the governor said that the garrison had provisions for six months, +and every inhabitant must prove that he had enough to last as long, and +that domiciliary visits were to begin. + +We broke ranks before the city hall. I was going up the main street, +my gun on my shoulder, when some one called me: + +"Hey! Father Moses!" + +I turned and saw our sergeant. + +"Well," said he, laughing, "you have made your first attack; you have +brought us back some provisions. Well and good!" + +"Yes, sergeant, but it is very sad!" + +"What, sad? Thirty oxen, forty-five cows, some pigs and goats--it is +magnificent!" + +"To be sure, but if you had heard the cries of these poor people, if +you had seen them!" + +"Bah! bah!" said he. "_Primo_, Father Moses, soldiers must live; men +must have their rations if they are going to fight. I have often seen +these things done in Germany and Spain and Italy! Peasants are +selfish; they want to keep their own; they do not regard the honor of +the flag; that is trash! In some respects they would be worse than +townspeople, if we were foolish enough to listen to them; we must be +strict." + +"We have been, sergeant," I replied; "but if I had been master, we +should not have robbed these poor wretches; they are in a pitiable +condition enough already." + +"You are too compassionate, Father Moses, and you think that others are +like yourself. But we must remember that peasants, citizens, +civilians, live only by the soldiers, and have all the profit without +wanting to pay any of the cost. If we followed your advice we should +die of hunger in this little town; our peasants would support the +Russians, the Austrians, and Bavarians at our expense. This pack of +scoundrels would be having a good time from morning to night, and the +rest of us would be as poor as church-mice. That would not do--there +is no sense in it!" + +He laughed aloud. We had now come into our passage, and I went +upstairs. + +"Is it thou, Moses?" asked Sorle in the darkness, for it was nightfall. + +"Yes, the sergeant and I." + +"Ah, good!" said she; "I was expecting you." + +"Madame Moses," exclaimed the sergeant, "your husband can boast now of +being a real soldier; he has not yet seen fire, but he has charged with +his bayonet." + +"Ah!" said Sorle, "I am very glad to see him back." + +In the room, through the little white door-curtains, we saw the lamp +burning, and smelt the soup. The sergeant went to his room, as usual, +and we into ours. Sorle looked at me with her great black eyes, she +saw how pale I was, and knew what I was thinking about. She took from +me my cartridge-box, and placed my musket in the closet. + +"Where is Safel?" I asked. + +"He must be in the square. I sent him to see if you had come back. +Hark! There he is coming up!" + +Then I heard the child come up the stairs; he opened the door at once +and ran joyfully to embrace me. + +We sat down to dinner, and, in spite of my trouble, I ate with a good +appetite, having taken nothing since morning. + +Suddenly Sorle said: "If the invoice does not come before the city +gates are closed we shall not have to pay anything, for goods are at +the risk of the merchant until they are delivered. And we have not +received the inventory." + +"Yes," I replied, "you are right; M. Quataya, instead of sending us the +spirits of wine at once, waited a week before answering us. If he had +sent the twelve pipes that day or the day after, they would be here by +this time. The delay is not our fault." + +You see, Fritz, how anxious we were; but, as the sergeant came to smoke +his pipe at the corner of the stove, as usual, we said no more about it. + +I spoke only of my fears in regard to Zeffen, Baruch, and their +children, in an exposed town like Saverne. The sergeant tried to put +my mind at ease, and said that in such places they made, to be sure, +all sorts of requisitions in wines, brandies, provisions, carriages, +carts, and horses, but, except in case of resistance, the people were +let alone, and the soldiers even tried to keep on good terms with them. + +We kept on talking till nearly ten o'clock; then the sergeant, who had +to keep guard at the German gate, went away, and we went to bed. + +This was the night of the twenty-second and twenty-third of December, a +very cold night. + + + + +IX + +APPROACH OF THE ENEMY + +The next morning, when I threw back the shutters of our room, +everything was white with snow; the old elms of the square, the street, +the roofs of the mayoralty and market and church. Some of our +neighbors, Recco the tinman, Spick the baker, and old Durand the +mattress-maker, opened their doors and looked as if dazzled, while they +exclaimed: + +"He! Winter has come!" + +Although we see it every year yet it is like a new existence. We +breathe better out of doors, and within it is a pleasure to sit in the +corner of the fireplace and smoke our pipes, while we watch the +crackling of the red fire. Yes, I have always felt so for seventy-five +years, and I feel so still! + +I had scarcely opened the shutters when Safel sprang from his bed like +a squirrel, and came and flattened his nose against a pane of glass, +his long hair dishevelled and his legs bare. + +"Oh! snow! snow!" he exclaimed. "Now we can have some slides!" + +Sorle, in the next room, made haste to dress herself and run in. We +all looked out for some minutes; then I went to make the fire, Sorle +went to the kitchen, Safel dressed himself hastily, and everything fell +back into the ordinary channel. + +Notwithstanding the falling snow, it was very cold. You need only to +see the fire kindle at once, and hear it roar in the stove, to know +that it was freezing hard. + +As we were eating our soup, I said to Sorle, "The poor sergeant must +have passed a dreadful night. His little glass of cherry-brandy will +taste good." + +"Yes," she said, "it is well you thought of it." + +She went to the closet, and filled my little pocket-flask from the +bottle of cherry-brandy. + +You know, Fritz, that we do not like to go into public houses when we +are on our way to our own business. Each of us carries his own little +bottle and crust of bread; it is the best way and most conformed to the +law of the Lord. + +Sorle then filled my flask, and I put it in my pocket, under my +great-coat, to go to the guard-house. Safel wanted to follow me, but +his mother told him to stay, and I went down alone, well pleased at +being able to do the sergeant a kindness. + +It was about seven o'clock. The snow falling from the roofs at every +gust of wind was enough to blind you. But going along the walls, with +my nose in my great-coat, which was well drawn up on the shoulders, I +reached the German gate, and was about going down the three steps of +the guard-house, under the arch at the left, when the sergeant himself +opened the heavy door and exclaimed: + +"Is it you, Father Moses! What the devil has brought you here in this +cold?" + +The guard-house was full of mist; we could hardly see some men +stretched on camp-beds at the farther end, and five or six veterans +near the red-hot stove. + +I stood and looked. + +"Here," I said to the sergeant as I handed him my little bottle, "I +have brought you your drop of cherry-brandy; it was such a cold night, +you must need it." + +"And you have thought of me, Father Moses!" he exclaimed, taking me by +the arm, and looking at me with emotion. + +"Yes, sergeant." + +"Well, I am glad of it." + +He raised the flask to his mouth and took a good drink. At that moment +there was a distant cry. "Who goes there?" and the guard of the +outpost ran to open the gate. + +"That is good!" said the sergeant, tapping on the cork, and giving me +the bottle; "take it back, Father Moses, and thank you!" + +Then he turned toward the half-moon and asked, "News! What is it?" + +We both looked and saw a hussar quartermaster, a withered, gray old +man, with quantities of chevrons on his arm, arrive in great haste. + +All my life I shall have that man before my eyes; his smoking horse, +his flying sabretash, his sword clinking against his boots; his cap and +jacket covered with frost; his long, bony, wrinkled face, his pointed +nose, long chin, and yellow eyes. I shall always see him riding like +the wind, then stopping his rearing horse under the arch in front of +us, and calling out to us with a voice like a trumpet: "Where is the +governor's house, sergeant?" + +"The first house at the right, quartermaster. What is the news?" + +"The enemy is in Alsace!" + +Those who have never seen such men--men accustomed to long warfare, and +hard as iron--can have no idea of them. And then if you had heard the +exclamation, "The enemy is in Alsace!" it would have made you tremble. + +The veterans had gone away; the sergeant, as he saw the hussar fasten +his horse at the governor's door, said to me: "Ah, well, Father Moses, +now we shall see the whites of their eyes!" + +He laughed, and the others seemed pleased. + +As for myself, I set forth quickly, with my head bent, and in my terror +repeating to myself the words of the prophet: + +"One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, +to show the king that his passages are stopped, and the reeds they have +burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. + +"The mighty men have forborne to fight, they have remained in their +holds, their might hath failed, and the bars are broken. + +"Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, +prepare the nations against her, call together against her the +kingdoms, appoint a captain against her. + +"And the land shall tremble and sorrow; for every purpose of the Lord +shall be performed, to make the land a desolation without an +inhabitant!" + +I saw my ruin at hand--the destruction of my hopes. + +"Mercy, Moses!" exclaimed my wife, as she saw me come back, "what is +the matter? Your face is all drawn up. Something dreadful has +happened." + +"Yes, Sorle," I said, as I sat down; "the time of trouble has come of +which the prophet spoke: 'The king of the south shall push at him, and +the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind; and he +shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over.'" + +This I said with my hands raised toward heaven. Little Safel squeezed +himself between my knees, while Sorle looked on, not knowing what to +say; and I told them that the Austrians were in Alsace; that the +Bavarians, Swedes, Prussians, and Russians were coming by hundreds of +thousands; that a hussar had come to announce all these calamities; +that our spirits of wine were lost, and ruin was threatening us. + +I shed a few tears, and neither Sorle nor Safel would comfort me. + +It was eight o'clock. There was a great commotion in the city. We +heard the drum beat, and proclamations read; it seemed as if the enemy +were already there. + +One thing which I remember especially, for we had opened a window to +hear, was that the governor ordered the inhabitants to empty +immediately their barns and granaries; and that, while we were +listening, a large Alsatian wagon with two horses, with Baruch sitting +on the pole, and Zeffen behind on some straw--her infant in her arms, +and her other child at her side--turned suddenly into the street. + +They were coming to us for safety! + +The sight of them upset me, and raising my hands, I exclaimed: + +"Lord, take from me all weakness! Thou seest that I need to live for +the sake of these little ones. Therefore be thou my strength, and let +me not be cast down!" + +And I went down at once to receive them, Sorle and Safel following me. +I took my daughter in my arms, and helped her to the ground, while +Sorle took the children, and Baruch exclaimed: + +"We came at the last minute! The gate was closed as soon as we had +come in. There were many others from Quatre-Vents and Saverne who had +to stay outside." + +"God be praised, Baruch!" I replied. "You are all welcome, my dear +children! I have not much, I am not rich; but what I have, you +have--it is all yours. Come in!" + +And we went upstairs; Zeffen, Sorle, and I carrying the children, while +Baruch stayed to take their things out of the wagon, and then he came +up. + +The street was now full of straw and hay, thrown out from the lofts; +there was no wind, and the snow had stopped falling. In a little while +the shouts and proclamations ceased. + +Sorle hastened to serve up the remains of our breakfast, with a bottle +of wine; and Baruch, while he was eating, told us that there was a +panic in Alsace, that the Austrians had turned Basle, and were +advancing by forced marches upon Schlestadt, Neuf Brisach, and +Strasburg, after having surrounded Huninguen. + +"Everybody is escaping," said he. "They are fleeing to the mountain, +taking their valuables on their carts, and driving their cattle into +the woods. There is a rumor already that bands of Cossacks have been +seen at Mutzig, but that is hardly possible, as the army of Marshal +Victor is on the Upper Rhine, and dragoons are passing every day to +join him. How could they pass his lines without giving battle?" + +We were listening very attentively to these things when the sergeant +came in. He was just off duty, and stood outside of the door, looking +at us with astonishment. + +I took Zeffen by the hand, and said: "Sergeant, this is my daughter, +this is my son-in-law, and these are my grandchildren, about whom I +have told you. They know you, for I have told them in my letters how +much we think of you." + +The sergeant looked at Zeffen.--"Father Moses," said he, "you have a +handsome daughter, and your son-in-law looks like a worthy man." + +Then he took little Esdras from Zeffen's arms, and lifted him up, and +made a face at him, at which the child laughed, and everybody was +pleased. The other little one opened his eyes wide and looked on. + +"My children have come to stay with me," I said to the sergeant; "you +will excuse them if they make a little noise in the house?" + +"How! Father Moses," he exclaimed. "I will excuse everything! Do not +be concerned; are we not old friends?" + +And at once, in spite of all we could say, he chose another room +looking upon the court. + +"All the nestful ought to be together," said he. "I am the friend of +the family, the old sergeant, who will not trouble anybody, provided +they are willing to see him here." + +I was so much moved that I gave him both my hands. + +"It was a happy day when you entered my house," said I. "The Lord be +thanked for it!" + +He laughed, and said: "Come now, Father Moses; come! Have I done +anything more than was natural? Why do you wonder at it?" + +He went at once to get his things and carry them to his new room; and +then went away, so as not to disturb us. + +How we are mistaken! This sergeant, whom Frichard had sent to plague +us, at the end of a fortnight was one of our family; he consulted our +comfort in everything--and, notwithstanding all the years that have +passed since then, I cannot think of that good man without emotion. + +When we were alone, Baruch told us that he could not stay at Phalsburg; +that he had come to bring his family, with everything that he could +provide for them in the first hurried moments; but that, in the midst +of such dangers, when the enemy could not long delay coming, his duty +was to guard his house, and prevent, as much as possible, the pillage +of his goods. + +This seemed right, though it made us none the less grieved to have him +go. We thought of the pain of living apart from each other; of hearing +no tidings; of being all the time uncertain about the fate of our +beloved ones! Meanwhile we were all busy. Sorle and Zeffen prepared +the children's bed; Baruch took out the provisions which he had +brought; Safel played with the two little ones, and I went and came, +thinking about our troubles. + +At last, when the best room was ready for Zeffen and the children, as +the German gate was already shut, and the French gate would be open +only until two o'clock at the latest, for strangers to leave the city, +Baruch exclaimed: "Zeffen, the moment has come!" + +He had scarcely said the words when the great agony began--cries, +embraces, and tears! + +Ah! it is a great joy to be loved, the only true joy of life. But what +sorrow to be separated! And how our family loved each other! How +Zeffen and Baruch embraced one another! How they leaned over their +little ones, how they looked at them, and began to sob again! + +What can be said at such a moment? I sat by the window, with my hands +before my face, without strength to speak. I thought to myself: "My +God, must it be that a single man shall hold in his hands the fate of +us all! Must it be that, for his pleasure, for the gratification of +his pride, everything shall be confounded, overturned, torn asunder! +My God, shall these troubles never end? Hast thou no pity on thy poor +creatures?" + +I did not raise my eyes, but I heard the lamentations which rent my +heart, and which lasted till the moment when Baruch, perceiving that +Zeffen was quite exhausted, ran out, exclaiming: "It must be! It must +be! Adieu, Zeffen! Adieu, my children! Adieu, all!" + +No one followed him. + +We heard the carriage roll away, and then was the great sorrow--that +sorrow of which it is written: + +"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when we +remembered Zion. + +"We hanged our harps upon the willows. + +"For there they that carried us away captive, required of us a song, +saying: 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!' + +"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" + + + + +X + +AN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE COSSACKS + +But that day I was to have the greatest fright of all. You remember, +Fritz, that Sorle had told me at supper the night before, that if we +did not receive the invoice, our spirits of wine would be at the risk +of M. Quataya of Pezenas, and that we need feel no anxiety about it. + +I thought so, too, for it seemed to me right; and as the French and +German gates were closed at three o'clock, and nothing more could enter +the city, I supposed that that was the end of the matter, and felt +quite relieved. + +"It is a pity, Moses!" I said to myself, as I walked up and down the +room; "yes, for if these spirits had been sent a week sooner, we should +have made a great profit; but now, at least, thou art relieved of great +anxiety. Be content with thine old trade. Let alone for the future +such harassing undertakings. Don't stake thine all again on one throw, +and let this be a lesson to thee!" + +Such thoughts were in my mind, when, about four o'clock, I heard some +one coming up our stairs. It was a heavy step, as of a man trying to +find his way in the dark. + +Zeffen and Sorle were in the kitchen, preparing supper. Women always +have something to talk about by themselves, for nobody else to hear. +So I listened, and then opened the door. + +"Who is there?" I asked. + +"Does not Mr. Moses, the wine-merchant, live here?" asked the man in a +blouse and broad-brimmed felt hat, with his whip on his shoulder--a +wagoner's figure, in short. I turned pale as I heard him, and replied: +"Yes, my name is Moses. What do you want?" + +He came in, and took out a large leather portfolio from under his +blouse. I trembled as I looked on. + +"There!" said he, giving me two papers, "my invoice and my bill of +lading! Are not the twelve pipes of three-six from Pezenas for you?" + +"Yes, where are they?" + +"On the Mittelbronn hill, twenty minutes from here," he quietly +answered. "Some Cossacks stopped my wagons, and I had to take off the +horses. I hurried into the city by a postern under the bridge." + +My legs failed me as he spoke. I sank into my arm-chair, unable to +speak a word. + +"You will pay me the portage," said the man, "and give me a receipt for +the delivery." + +"Sorle! Sorle!" I cried in a despairing voice. And she and Zeffen ran +to me. The wagoner explained it all to them. As for me, I heard +nothing. I had strength only to exclaim: "Now all is lost! Now I must +pay without receiving the goods." + +"We are willing to pay, sir," said my wife, "but the letter states that +the twelve pipes shall be delivered in the city." + +The wagoner said: "I have just come from the justice of the peace, as I +wanted to find out before coming to you what I had a right to claim; he +told me that you ought to pay for everything, even my horses and +carriages, do you understand? I unharnessed my horses, and escaped, +myself, which is so much the less on your account. Will you settle? +Yes or no?" + +We were almost dead with fright when the sergeant came in. He had +heard loud words, and asked: "What is it, Father Moses? What is it +about? What does this man want?" + +Sorle, who never lost her presence of mind, told him the whole story, +shortly and clearly; he comprehended it at once. + +"Twelve pipes of three-six, that makes twenty-four pipes of cognac. +What luck for the garrison! what luck!" + +"Yes," said I, "but it cannot come in; the city gates are shut, and the +wagons are surrounded by Cossacks." + +"Cannot come in!" cried the sergeant, raising his shoulders. "Go +along! Do you take the governor for a fool? Is he going to refuse +twenty-four pipes of good brandy, when the garrison needs it? Is he +going to leave this windfall to the Cossacks? Madame Sorle, pay the +portage at once; and you, Father Moses, put on your cap and follow me +to the governor's, with the letter in your pocket. Come along! Don't +lose a minute! If the Cossacks have time to put their noses in your +casks, you will find a famous deficit, I warrant you!" + +When I heard that I exclaimed: "Sergeant, you have saved my life!" And +I hastened to get my cap. + +"Shall I pay the portage?" asked Sorle. + +"Yes! pay!" I answered as I went down, for it was plain that the +wagoner could compel us. I went down with an anxious heart. + +All that I remember after this is that the sergeant walked before me in +the snow, that he said a few words to the sapper on orderly duty at the +governor's house, and that we went up the grand stairway with the +marble balustrade. + +Upstairs, in the gallery with the balustrade around it, he said to me: +"Be easy, Father Moses! Take out your letter, and let me do the +talking." + +He knocked softly at a door as he spoke: + +Somebody said: "Come in!" + +We went in. + +Colonel Moulin, a fat man in a dressing-gown and little silk cap, was +smoking his pipe in front of a good fire. He was very red, and had a +caraffe of rum and a glass at its side on the marble mantel-piece, +where were also a clock and vases of flowers. + +"What is it?" he asked, turning round. + +"Colonel, this is what is the matter," replied the sergeant: "twelve +pipes of spirits of wine have been stopped on the Mittelbronn hill, and +are surrounded by Cossacks." + +"Cossacks!" exclaimed the governor. "Have they broken through our +lines already?" + +"Yes," said the sergeant, "a sudden attack of Cossacks! They have +possession of the twelve pipes of three-six which this patriot brought +from Pezenas to sustain the garrison." + +"Some bandits," said the governor--"thieves!" + +"Here is the letter," said the sergeant, taking it from my hand. + +The colonel cast his eyes over it, and said hastily: + +"Sergeant, go and take twenty-five men of your company. Go on the run, +free the wagons, and put in requisition horses from the village to +bring them into the city." + +And, as we were going: "Wait!" said he; and he went to his bureau and +wrote four words; "here is the order." + +When we were once on the stairway, the sergeant said: "Father Moses, +run to the cooper's; we may perhaps need him and his boys. I know the +Cossacks; their first thought will be to unload the casks so as to be +more sure of keeping them. Have them bring ropes and ladders; and I +will go to the Barracks and get my men together." + +Then I ran home like a hart, for I was enraged at the Cossacks. I went +in to get my musket and cartridge-box. I could have fought an army: I +could not see straight. + +"What is it? Where are you going?" asked Sorle and Zeffen. + +"You will know by and by," I replied. + +I went to Schweyer's. He had two large saddle-pistols, which he put +quickly into his apron-belt with the axe; his two boys, Nickel and +Frantz, took the ladder and ropes, and we ran to the French gate. + +The sergeant was not yet there; but two minutes after he came running +down the street by the rampart with thirty veterans in file, their +muskets on their shoulders. + +The officer guarding the postern had only to see the order to let us go +out, and a few minutes after we were in the trenches behind the +hospital, where the sergeant ranged his men. + +"It is cognac!" he told them; "twenty-four pipes of cognac! So, +comrades, attention! The garrison is without brandy; those who do not +like brandy have only to fall to the rear." + +But they all wanted to be in front, and laughed in anticipation. + +We went up the stairway, and were ranged in order in the covered ways. +It might have been five o'clock. Looking from the top of the glacis we +could see the broad meadow of Eichmatt, and above it the hills of +Mittelbronn covered with snow. The sky was full of clouds, and night +was coming on. It was very cold. + +"Forward!" said the sergeant. + +And we gained the highway. The veterans ran, in two files, at the +right and left, their backs rounded, and their muskets in their +shoulder-belts; the snow was up to their knees. + +Schweyer, his two boys, and I walked behind. + +At the end of a quarter of an hour, the veterans, who ran all the way, +had left us far behind; we heard for some time their cartridge-boxes +rattling, but soon this sound was lost in the distance, and then we +heard the dog of the Trois-Maisons barking in his chain. + +The deep silence of the night gave me a chance to think. If it had not +been for the thought of my spirits of wine, I would have gone straight +back to Phalsburg, but fortunately that thought prevailed, and I said: + +"Make haste, Schweyer, make haste!" + +"Make haste!" he exclaimed angrily, "you can make haste to get back +your spirits of wine, but what do we care for it? Is the highway the +place for us? Are we bandits that we should risk our lives?" + +I understood at once that he wanted to escape, and was enraged. + +"Take care, Schweyer," said I, "take care! If you and your boys go +back, people will say that you have been a traitor to the city brandy, +and that is worse than being a traitor to the flag, especially in a +cooper." + +"The devil take thee!" said he, "we ought never to have come." + +However, he kept on ascending the hill with me. Nickel and Frantz +followed us without hurrying. + +When we reached the plateau we saw lights in the village. All was +still and seemed quiet, although there was a great crowd around the two +first houses. + +The door of the _Bunch of Grapes_ was wide open, and its kitchen fire +shone through the passage to the street where my two wagons stood. + +This crowd came from the Cossacks who were carousing at Heitz's house, +after tying their horses under the shed. They had made Mother Heitz +cook them a good hot soup, and we saw them plainly, two or three +hundred paces distant, go up and down the outside steps, with jugs and +bottles which they passed from one to another. The thought came to me +that they were drinking my spirits of wine, for a lantern hung behind +the first wagon, and the rascals were all going from it with their +elbows raised. I was so furious that, regardless of danger, I began to +run to put a stop to the pillage. + +Fortunately the veterans were in advance of me, or I should have been +murdered by the Cossacks; I had not gone half way when our whole troop +sprang from the fences of the highway, and ran like a pack of wolves, +crying out, "To the bayonet!" + +You never saw such confusion, Fritz. In a second the Cossacks were on +their horses, and the veterans in the midst of them; the front of the +inn with its trellis, its pigeon-house, and its little fenced garden, +was lighted up by the firing of muskets and pistols. Heitz's two +daughters stood at the windows, with their arms lifted and screamed so +that they could be heard all over Mittelbronn. + +Every minute, in the midst of the confusion, something fell upon the +road, and then the horses started and ran through the fields like deer, +with their heads run out, and their manes and tails flying. The +villagers ran; Father Heitz slipped into the barn, and climbed up the +ladder, and I came up breathless, as if out of my senses. + +I had not gone more than fifteen steps when a Cossack, who was running +away at full speed, turned about furiously close to me, with his lance +in the air, and called out, "Hurra!" + +I had only time to stoop, and I felt the wind from the lance as it +passed along my body. + +I never felt so in my life, Fritz; I felt the chill of death, that +trembling of the flesh, of which the prophet spoke: "Fear came upon me +and trembling; the hair of my flesh stood up." + +[Illustration: I SHUDDERED IN MY VERY SOUL AND MY HAIR BRISTLED.] + +But what shows the spirit of wisdom and prudence which the Lord puts +into his creatures, when he means to spare them for a good old age, is +that immediately afterward, in spite of my trembling knees, I went and +sat under the first wagon, where the blows of the lances could not +reach me; and there I saw the veterans finish the extermination of the +rascals, who had retreated into the court, and not one of whom escaped. + +Five or six were in a heap before the door, and three others were +stretched upon the highway. + +This did not take more than ten minutes; then all was dark again, and I +heard the sergeant call: "Cease firing!" + +Heitz, who had come down from his hay-loft, had just lighted a lantern; +the sergeant seeing me under the wagon, called out: "Are you wounded, +Father Moses?" + +"No," I replied, "but a Cossack tried to thrust his lance into me, and +I got into a safe place." + +He laughed aloud, and gave me his hand to help me to rise. + +"Father Moses," said he, "I was frightened about you. Wipe your back; +people might think you were not brave." + +I laughed too, and thought: "People may think what they please! The +great thing is to live in good health as long as possible." + +We had only one wounded, Corporal Duhem, an old man, who bandaged his +own leg, and tried to walk. He had had a blow from a lance in the +right calf. He was placed on the first wagon, and Lehnel, Heitz's +granddaughter, came and gave him a drop of cherry-brandy, which at once +restored his strength and even his good spirits. + +"It is the fifteenth," he exclaimed. "I am in for a week at the +hospital; but leave me the bottle for the compresses." + +I was delighted to see my twelve pipes on the wagons, for Schweyer and +his two boys had run away, and without their help we could hardly have +reloaded. + +I tapped at once at the bung-hole of the hindmost cask to find out how +much was missing. These scamps of Cossacks had already drunk nearly +half a measure of spirits; Father Heitz told me that some of them +scarcely added a drop of water. Such creatures must have throats of +tin; the oldest topers among us could not bear a glass of three-six +without being upset. + +At last all was ready and we had only to return to the city. When I +think of it, it all seems before me now: Heitz's large dapple-gray +horses going out of the stable one by one; the sergeant standing by the +dark door with his lantern in his hand, and calling out, "Come, hurry +up! The rascals may come back!" On the road in front of the inn, the +veterans surrounded the wagons; farther on the right some peasants, who +had hastened to the scene with pitchforks and mattocks, were looking at +the dead Cossacks, and myself, standing on the stairs above, singing +praises to God in my heart as I thought how glad Sorle and Zeffen and +little Safel would be to see me come back with our goods. + +And then when all is ready, when the little bells jingle, when the whip +snaps, and we start on the way--what delight! + +Ah Fritz! everything looks bright after thirty years; we forget fears, +anxieties, and fatigues; but the memory of good men and happy hours +remains with us forever! + +The veterans, on both sides of the wagons, with their muskets under +their arms, escorted my twelve pipes as if they were the tabernacle; +Heitz led the horses, and the sergeant and I walked behind. + +"Well, Father Moses!" said he laughing, "it has all gone off well; are +you satisfied?" + +"More than I can possibly tell, sergeant! What would have been my ruin +will make the fortune of my family, and we owe it all to you." + +"Go along," said he, "you are joking." + +He laughed, but I felt deeply; to have been in danger of losing +everything, and then to regain it all and make profit out of it--it +makes one feel deeply. + +I exclaimed inwardly: "I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people; +and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. + +"For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth unto +the clouds." + + + + +XI + +FATHER MOSES RETURNS IN TRIUMPH + +Now I must tell you about our return to Phalsburg. + +You may suppose that my wife and children, after seeing me take my gun +and go away, were in a state of great anxiety. About five o'clock +Sorle went out with Zeffen to try to learn what was going on, and only +then they heard that I had started for Mittelbronn with a detachment of +veterans. + +Imagine their terror! + +The rumor of these extraordinary proceedings had spread through the +city, and quantities of people were on the bastion of the artillery +barracks, looking on from the distance. Burguet was there, with the +mayor, and other persons of distinction, and a number of women and +children, all trying to see through the darkness. Some insisted that +Moses marched with the detachment, but nobody would believe it, and +Burguet exclaimed: "It is not possible that a sensible man like Moses +would go and risk his life in fighting Cossacks--no, it is not +possible!" + +If I had been in his place I should have said the same of him. But +what can you do, Fritz? The most prudent of men become blind when +their property is at stake; blind, I say, and terrible, for they lose +sight of danger. + +This crowd was waiting, as I said, and soon Zeffen and Sorle came, as +pale as death, with their large shawls over their heads. They went up +the rampart and stood there, with their feet in the snow, too much +frightened to speak. + +I learned these things afterward. + +When Zeffen and her mother went up on the bastion, it was, perhaps, +half-past five; there was not a star to be seen. Just at that time, +Schweyer and his boys ran away, and five minutes later the skirmish +began. + +Burguet told me afterward that, notwithstanding the darkness and the +distance, they saw the flash of the muskets around the inn as plainly +as if they were a hundred paces off, and everybody was still and +listened to hear the shots, which were repeated by the echoes of the +Bois-de-Chenes and Lutzelburg. + +When they ceased Sorle descended from the slope leaning on Zeffen's +arm, for she could not support herself. Burguet helped them to reach +the street, and took them into old Frise's house on the corner, where +they found him warming himself gloomily by his hearth. + +"My last day has come!" said Sorle. Zeffen wept bitterly. + +I have often reproached myself for having caused this sorrow, but who +can answer for his own wisdom? Has not the wise man himself said: "I +turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; and I saw that +wisdom excelleth folly; and I myself perceived that one event happeneth +to the wise man and the fool. Wherefore, I said in my heart, that +wisdom also is vanity." + +Burguet was going out from Father Frise's when Schweyer and his sons +came up the postern stairs, crying out that we were surrounded by +Cossacks and lost. Fortunately my wife and daughter could not hear +them, and the mayor soon came along and ordered them to stop talking +and go home quickly, if they did not want to be sent to prison. + +They obeyed, but that did not prevent people from believing what they +said, especially as it was all dark again in the direction of +Mittelbronn. + +The crowd came down from the ramparts and filled the street; many of +them went to their homes thinking they should never see us again, when, +just as the clock struck seven, the sentinel of the outworks called +out, "Who goes there?" + +We had reached the gate. + +The crowd was soon on the ramparts again. The squad in front of the +sergeant on duty flew to arms; they had just recognized us. + +We heard the murmur, without knowing what it was. So, when, after a +reconnoissance, the gates were slowly opened to us, and the two bridges +lowered for us to pass, what was our surprise at hearing the shouts: +"Hurrah for Father Moses! Hurrah for the spirits of wine!" + +The tears came to my eyes. And my wagons rolling heavily under the +gates, the soldiers presented arms to us, the great crowd surrounding +us, shouting: "Moses! Hey, Moses! are you all right? you have not been +killed?" the shouts of laughter, the people seizing my arm to hear me +tell about the fight,--all these things were very pleasant. + +Everybody wanted to talk with me, even the mayor, and I had not time to +answer them. + +But all this was nothing compared with the joy I felt at seeing Sorle, +Zeffen, and little Safel run from Father Frise's and throw themselves +all at once into my arms, exclaiming: "He is safe! he is safe!" + +Ah, Fritz! what are honors by the side of such love? What is all the +glory of the world compared with the joy of seeing our beloved ones? +The others might have cried out, "Hurrah for Moses!" a hundred years, +and I would not even have turned my head; but I was terribly moved by +the sight of my family. + +I gave Safel my gun, and while the wagons, escorted by the veterans, +went on toward the little market, I led Zeffen and Sorle through the +crowd to old Frise's, and there, when we were alone, we began to hug +each other again. + +Without, the shouts of joy were redoubled; you would have thought that +the spirits of wine belonged to the whole city. But within the room, +my wife and daughter burst into tears, and I confessed my imprudence. + +So, instead of telling them of the dangers I had experienced, I told +them that the Cossacks ran away as soon as they saw us, and that we had +only to put horses to the wagons before starting. + +A quarter of an hour afterward, when the cries and tumult had ceased, I +went out, with Zeffen and Sorle on my arms, and little Safel in front, +with my gun on his shoulder, and in this way we went home, to see to +the unlading of the brandy. + +I wanted to put everything in order before morning, so as to begin to +sell at double price as soon as possible. + +When a man runs such risks he ought to make something by it; for if he +should sell at cost price, as some persons wish, nobody would be +willing to run any risk for the sake of others; and if it should come +to pass that a man should sacrifice himself for other people, he would +be thought a blockhead; we have seen it a hundred times, and it will +always be so. + +Thank God! such ideas never entered into my head! I have always +thought that the true idea of trade was to make as much profit as we +can, honestly and lawfully. + +That is according to justice and good sense. + +As we turned at the corner of the market, our two wagons were already +unharnessed before our house. Heitz was running back with his horses, +so as to take advantage of the open gates, and the veterans, with their +arms at will, were going up the street toward the infantry quarters. + +It might have been eight o'clock. Zeffen and Sorle went to bed, and I +sent Safel for Gros the cooper, to come and unload the casks. +Quantities of people came and offered to help us. Gros came soon with +his boys, and the work began. + +It is very pleasant, Fritz, to see great tuns going into your cellar, +and to say to yourself, "These splendid tuns are mine: it is spirits +which cost me twenty sous the quart, and which I am going to sell for +three francs!" This shows the beauty of trade; but everybody can +imagine the pleasure for himself--there is no use in speaking of it. + +About midnight my twelve pipes were down on the stands, and there was +nothing left to do but to broach them. + +While the crowd was dispersing, I engaged Gros to come in the morning +to help me mix the spirits with water, and we went up, well pleased +with our day's work. We closed the double oak door, and I fastened the +padlock and went to bed. + +What a pleasure it is to own something and feel that it is all safe! + +This is how my twelve pipes were saved. + +You see now, Fritz, what anxieties and fears we had at that time. +Nobody was sure of anything; for you must not suppose that I was the +only one living like a bird on the branch; there were hundreds of +others who were not able to close their eyes. You should have seen how +the citizens looked every morning, when they heard that the Austrians +and Russians occupied Alsace, that the Prussians were marching upon +Sarrebruck, or when an order was published for domiciliary visits, or +for days' labor to wall up the posterns and orillons of the place, or +to form companies of firemen to remove at once all inflammable matter, +or to report to the governor the situation of the city treasury, and +the list of the principal persons subject to taxes for the supply of +shoes, caps, bed-linen, and so forth. + +You should have seen how people looked at each other. + +In war times civil life is nothing, and they will take from you your +last shirt, giving you the governor's receipt for it. The first men of +the land are zeros when the governor has spoken. This is why I have +often thought that everybody who wishes for war, or at least wants to +be a soldier, is either demented or half ruined, and hopes to better +himself by the ruin of everybody else. It must be so. + +But notwithstanding all these troubles, I could not lose time, and I +spent all the next day in mixing my spirits. I took off my cloak, and +drew out with great gusto. Gros and his boys brought jugs, and emptied +them in the casks which I had bought beforehand, so that by evening +these casks were brimful of good white brandy, eighteen degrees. + +I had caramel prepared, also, to give the brandy a good color of old +cognac, and when I turned the faucet, and raised the glass before the +candle, and saw that it was exactly the right tint, I was in ecstasies, +and exclaimed: "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and +wine unto those that be of heavy hearts! Let him drink and remember +his misery no more." + +Father Gros, standing at my side on his great flat feet, smiled +quietly, and his boys looked well pleased. + +I filled the glass for them; they passed it to each other and were +delighted with it. + +About five o'clock we went upstairs. Safel, on the same day, had +brought three workmen, and had them remove our old iron into the court +under the shed. The old rickety storehouse was cleaned. Desmarets, +the joiner, put up some shelves behind the door in the arch, for +holding bottles, and glasses, and tin measures, when the time for +selling should come, and his son put together the planks of the +counter. This was all done at once, as at a time of great pressure, +when people like to make a good sum of money quickly. + +I looked at it all with a good deal of satisfaction. Zeffen, with her +baby in her arms, and Sorle, had also come down. I showed my wife the +place behind the counter, and said, "That is the place where you are to +sit, with your feet in loose slippers, and a warm tippet on your +shoulders, and sell our brandy." + +She smiled as she thought of it. + +Our neighbors, Bailly the armorer, Koffel the little weaver, and +several others, came and looked on without speaking; they were +astonished to see what quick work we were making. + +At six o'clock, just as Desmarets laid aside his hammer, the sergeant +arrived in great glee, on his return from the cantine. + +"Well, Father Moses!" he exclaimed, "the work goes on! But there is +still something wanting." + +"What is that, sergeant?" + +"Hi! It is all right, only you must put a screen up above, or look out +for the shells!" + +I saw that he was right, and we were all well frightened, except the +neighbors, who laughed to see our surprise. + +"Yes," said the sergeant, "we must have it." + +This took away all my pleasure; I saw that our troubles were not yet at +an end. + +Sorle, Zeffen, and I went up, while Desmarets closed the door. Supper +was ready; we sat down thoughtfully, and little Safel brought the keys. + +The noise had ceased without; now and then a citizen on patrol passed +by. + +The sergeant came to smoke his pipe as usual. He explained how the +screens were made, by crossing beams in the form of a sentry-box, the +two sides supported against the gables, but while he maintained that it +would hold like an arch, I did not think it strong enough, and I saw by +Sorle's face that she thought as I did. + +We sat there talking till ten o'clock, and then all went to bed. + + + + +XII + +THE ENEMY REPULSED + +About one o'clock in the morning of the sixth of January, the day of +the feast of the Kings, the enemy arrived on the hill of Saverne. + +It was terribly cold, our windows under the persiennes were white with +frost. I woke as the clock struck one; they were beating the call at +the infantry barracks. + +You can have no idea how it sounded in the silence of the night. + +"Dost thou hear, Moses?" whispered Sorle. + +"Yes, I hear," said I, almost without breathing. + +After a minute some windows were opened in our street, and we knew that +others too were listening; then we heard running, and suddenly the cry, +"To arms! to arms!" + +It made one's hair stand on end. + +I had just risen, and was lighting a lamp, when we heard two knocks at +our door. + +"Come in!" said Sorle, trembling. + +The sergeant opened the door. He was in marching equipments, with his +gaiters on his legs, his large gray cap turned up at the sides, his +musket on his shoulder, and his sabre and cartridge-box on his back. + +"Father Moses," said he, "go back to bed and be quiet: it is the +battalion call at the barracks, and has nothing to do with you." + +And we saw at once that he was right, for the drums did not come up the +street two by two, as when the National Guard was called in. + +"Thank you, sergeant," I said. + +"Go to sleep!" said he, and he went down the stairs. + +The door of the alley below slammed to. Then the children, who had +waked up, began to cry. Zeffen came in, very pale, with her baby in +her arms, exclaiming, "Mercy! What is the matter?" + +"It is nothing, Zeffen," said Sorle. "It is nothing, my child: they +are beating the call for the soldiers." + +At the same moment the battalion came down the main street. We heard +them march as far as to the Place d'Armes, and beyond it toward the +German gate. + +We shut the windows, Zeffen went back to her room, and I lay down again. + +But how could I sleep after such a start? My head was full of a +thousand thoughts: I fancied the arrival of the Russians on the hill +this cold night, and our soldiers marching to meet them, or manning the +ramparts. I thought of all the blindages and block-houses, and +batteries inside the bastions, and that all these great works had been +made to guard against bombs and shells, and I exclaimed inwardly: +"Before the enemy has demolished all these works, our houses will be +crushed, and we shall be exterminated to the last man." + +I took on in this way for about half an hour, thinking of all the +calamities which threatened us, when I heard outside the city, toward +Quatre-Vents, a kind of heavy rolling, rising and falling like the +murmur of running water. This was repeated every second. I raised +myself on my elbow to listen, and I knew that it was a fight far more +terrible than that at Mittelbronn, for the rolling did not stop, but +seemed rather to increase. + +"How they are fighting, Sorle, how they are fighting!" I exclaimed, as +I pictured to myself the fury of those men murdering each other at the +dead of night, not knowing what they were doing. "Listen! Sorle, +listen! If that does not make one shudder!" + +"Yes," said she. "I hope our sergeant will not be wounded; I hope he +will come back safe!" + +"May the Lord watch over him!" I replied, jumping from my bed, and +lighting a candle. + +I could not control myself. I dressed myself as quickly as if I were +going to run away; and afterward I listened to that terrible rolling, +which came nearer or died away with every gust of wind. + +When once dressed, I opened a window, to try to see something. The +street was still black; but toward the ramparts, above the dark line of +the arsenal bastions, was stretched a line of red. + +The smoke of powder is red on account of the musket shots which light +it up. It looked like a great fire. All the windows in the street +were open: nothing could be seen, but I heard our neighbor the armorer +say to his wife, "It is growing warm down there! It is the beginning +of the dance, Annette; but they have not got the big drum yet; that +will come, by and by!" + +The woman did not answer, and I thought, "Is it possible to jest about +such things! It is against nature." + +The cold was so severe that after five or six minutes I shut the +window. Sorle got up and made a fire in the stove. + +The whole city was in commotion; men were shouting and dogs barking. +Safel, who had been wakened by all these noises, went to dress himself +in the warm room. I looked very tenderly on this poor little one, his +eyes still heavy with sleep; and as I thought that we were to be fired +upon, that we must hide ourselves in cellars, and all of us be in +danger of being killed for matters which did not concern us, and about +which nobody had asked our opinion, I was full of indignation. But +what distressed me most was to hear Zeffen sob and say that it would +have been better for her and her children to stay with Baruch at +Saverne and all die together. + +Then the words of the prophet came to me: "Is not this thy fear, thy +confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? + +"Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent, or where were +the righteous cut off. + +"No, they that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same. + +"By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are +they consumed. + +"But thee, his servant, he shall redeem from death. + +"Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn +cometh in his season." + +In this way I strengthened my heart, while I heard the great tumult of +the panic-stricken crowd, running and trying to save their property. + +About seven o'clock it was announced that the casemates were open, and +that everybody might take their mattresses there, and that there must +be tubs full of water in every house, and the wells left open in case +of fire. + +Think, Fritz, what ideas these orders suggested. + +Some of our neighbors, Lisbeth Dubourg, Bevel Ruppert, Camus's +daughters, and some others, came up to us exclaiming, "We are all lost!" + +Their husbands had gone out, right and left, to see what they could +see, and these women hung on Zeffen and Sorle's necks, repeating again +and again, "Oh, dear! oh, dear! what misery!" + +I could have wished them all to the devil, for instead of comforting us +they only increased our fears; but at such times women will get +together and cry out all at once; you can't talk reason to them; they +like these loud cryings and groanings. + +Just as the clock struck eight, Bailly the armorer came to find his +wife: he had come from the ramparts. "The Russians," he said, "have +come down in a mass from Quatre-Vents to the very gate, filling the +whole plain--Cossacks, Baskirs, and rabble! Why don't they fire down +upon them from the ramparts? The governor is betraying us." + +"Where are our soldiers?" I asked. + +"Retreating!" exclaimed he. "The wounded came back two hours ago, and +our men stay yonder, with folded arms." + +His bony face shook with rage. He led away his wife; then others came +crying out, "The enemy has advanced to the lower part of the gardens, +upon the glacis." I was astonished at these things. + +The women had gone away to cry somewhere else, and just then a great +noise of wheels was heard from the direction of the rampart. I looked +out of the window, and saw a wagon from the arsenal, some citizen +gunners; old Goulden, Holender, Jacob Cloutier, and Barrier galloped at +its sides; Captain Jovis ran in front. They stopped at our door. + +"Call the iron-merchant!" cried the captain. "Tell him to come down." + +Baker Chanoine, the brigadier of the second battery, came up. I opened +the door. + +"What do you want of me?" I asked in the stairway. + +"Come down, Moses," said Chanoine. And I went down. + +Captain Jovis, a tall old man, with his face covered with sweat, in +spite of the cold, said to me, "You are Moses, the iron-merchant?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Open your storehouse. Your iron is required for the defence of the +city." + +So I had to lead all these people into my court, under the shed. The +captain on looking round, saw some cast-iron bars, which were used at +that time for closing up the backs of fireplaces. They weighed from +thirty to forty pounds each, and I sold a good many in the vicinity of +the city. There was no lack of old nails, rusty bolts, and old iron of +all sorts. + +"This is what we want," said he. "Break up these bars, and take away +the old iron, quick!" + +The others, with the help of our two axes, began at once to break up +everything. Some of them filled a basket with the pieces of cast-iron, +and ran with it to the wagon. + +The captain looked at his watch, and said, "Make haste! We have just +ten minutes!" + +I thought to myself, "They have no need of credit; they take what they +please; it is more convenient." + +All my bars and old iron were broken in pieces--more than fifteen +hundred pounds of iron. + +As they were starting to run to the ramparts, Chanoine laughed, and +said to me, "Capital grape-shot, Moses! Thou canst get ready thy +pennies. We'll come and take them to-morrow." + +The wagon started through the crowd which ran behind it, and I followed +too. + +As we came nearer the ramparts the firing became more and more +frequent. As we turned from the curate's house two sentinels stopped +everybody, but they let me pass on account of my iron, which they were +going to fire. + +You can never imagine that mass of people, the noise around the +bastion, the smoke which covered it, the orders of the infantry +officers whom we heard going up the glacis, the gunners, the lighted +match, caissons with the piles of bullets behind! No, in all these +thirty years I have not forgotten those men with their levers, running +back the cannon to load them to their mouths; those firings in file, at +the bottom of the ramparts; those volleys of balls hissing in the air; +the orders of the gun-captains, "Load! Ram! Prime!" + +What crowds upon those gun-carriages, seven feet high, where the +gunners were obliged to stand and stretch their arms to fire the +cannon! And what a frightful smoke! + +Men invent such machines to destroy each other, and they would think +that they did a great deal if they sacrificed a quarter as much to +assist their fellow-men, to instruct them in infancy, and to give them +a little bread in their old age. + +Ah! those who make an outcry against war, and demand a different state +of things, are not in the wrong. + +I was in the corner, at the left of the bastion, where the stairs go +down to the postern behind the college, among three or four willow +baskets as high as chimneys, and filled with clay. I ought to have +stayed there quietly, and made use of the right moment to get away, but +the thought seized me that I would go and see what was going on below +the ramparts, and while they were loading the cannon, I climbed to the +level of the glacis, and lay down flat between two enormous baskets, +where there was scarcely a chance that balls could reach me. + +If hundreds of others who were killed in the bastions had done as I +did, how many of them might be still living, respectable fathers of +families in their villages! + +Lying in this place, and raising my nose, I could see over the whole +plain. I saw the cordon of the rampart below, and the line of our +skirmishers behind the palankas, on the other side of the moat; they +did nothing but tear off their cartridges, prime, charge, and fire. +There one could appreciate the beauty of drilling; there were only two +companies of them, and their firing by file kept up an incessant roll. + +Farther on, directly to the right, stretched the road to Quatre-Vents. +The Ozillo farm, the cemetery, the horse-post-station, and George +Mouton's farm at the right; the inn of La Roulette and the great +poplar-walk at the left, all were full of Cossacks, and such-like +rascals, who were galloping into the very gardens, to reconnoitre the +environs of the place. This is what I suppose, for it is against +nature to run without an object, and to risk being struck by a ball. + +These people, mounted on small horses, with large gray cloaks, soft +boots, fox-skin caps, like those of the Baden peasants, long beards, +lances in rest, great pistols in their belts, came whirling on like +birds. + +They had not been fired upon as yet, because they kept themselves +scattered, so that bullets would have no effect; but their trumpets +sounded the rally from La Roulette, and they began to collect behind +the buildings of the inn. + +About thirty of our veterans, who had been kept back in the cemetery +lane, were making a slow retreat; they made a few paces, at the same +time hastily reloading, then turned, shouldered, fired, and began +marching again among the hedges and bushes, which there had not been +time to cut down in this locality. + +Our sergeant was one of these; I recognized him at once, and trembled +for him. + +Every time these veterans gave fire, five or six Cossacks came on like +the wind, with their lances lowered; but it did not frighten them: they +leaned against a tree and levelled their bayonets. Other veterans came +up, and then some loaded, while others parried the blows. Scarcely had +they torn open their cartridges when the Cossacks fled right and left, +their lances in the air. Some of them turned for a moment and fired +their large pistols behind like regular bandits. At length our men +began to march toward the city. + +Those old soldiers, with their great shakos set square on their heads, +their large capes hanging to the back of their calves, their sabres and +cartridge-boxes on their backs, calm in the midst of these savages, +reloading, trimming, and parrying as quietly as if they were smoking +their pipes in the guard-house, were something to be admired. At last, +after seeing them come out of the whirlwind two or three times, it +seemed almost an easy thing to do. + +Our sergeant commanded them. I understood then why he was such a +favorite with the officers, and why they always took his part against +the citizens: there were not many such. I wanted to call out, "Make +haste, sergeant; let us make haste!" but neither he nor his men hurried +in the least. + +As they reached the foot of the glacis, suddenly a large mass of +Cossacks, seeing that they were escaping, galloped up in two files, to +cut off their retreat. It was a dangerous moment, and they formed in a +square instantly. + +I felt my back turn cold, as if I had been one of them. + +Our sharpshooters behind the ammunition wagons did not fire, doubtless +for fear of hitting their comrades; our gunners on the bastion leaned +down to see, and the file of Cossacks stretched to the corner near the +drawbridge. + +There were seven or eight hundred of them. We heard them cry, "Hurra! +hurra! hurra!" like crows. Several officers in green cloaks and small +caps galloped at the sides of their lines, with raised sabres. I +thought our poor sergeant and his thirty men were lost; I thought +already, "How sorry little Safel and Sorle will be!" + +But then, as the Cossacks formed in a half-circle at the left of the +outworks, I heard our gun-captain call out, "Fire!" + +I turned my head; old Goulden struck the match, the fusee glittered, +and at the same instant the bastion with its great baskets of clay +shook to the very rocks of the rampart. + +I looked toward the road; nothing was to be seen but men and horses on +the ground. + +Just then came a second shot, and I can truly say that I saw the +grape-shot pass like the stroke of a scythe into that mass of cavalry; +it all tumbled and fell; those who a second before were living beings +were now nothing. We saw some try to raise themselves, the rest made +their escape. + +The firing by file began again, and our gunners, without waiting for +the smoke to clear away, reloaded so quickly that the two discharges +seemed to come at once. + +This mass of old nails, bolts, broken bits of cast-iron, flying three +hundred metres, almost to the little bridge, made such slaughter that, +some days after, the Russians asked for an armistice in order to bury +their dead. + +Four hundred were found scattered in the ditches of the road. + +This I saw myself. + +And if you want to see the place where those savages were buried, you +have only to go up the cemetery lane. + +On the other side, at the right, in M. Adam Ottendorf's orchard, you +will see a stone cross in the middle of the fence; they were all buried +there, with their horses, in one great trench. + +You can imagine the delight of our gunners at seeing this massacre. +They lifted up their sponges and shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" + +The soldiers shouted back from the covered ways, and the air was filled +with their cries. + +Our sergeant, with his thirty men, their guns on their shoulders, +quietly reached the glacis. The barrier was quickly opened for them, +but the two companies descended together to the moat and came up again +by the postern. + +I was waiting for them above. + +When our sergeant came up I took him by the arm, "Ah, sergeant!" said +I, "how glad I am to see you out of danger!" + +I wanted to embrace him. He laughed and squeezed my hand. + +"Then you saw the engagement, Father Moses!" said he, with a +mischievous wink. "We have shown them what stuff the Fifth is made of!" + +"Oh, yes! yes! you have made me tremble." + +"Bah!" said he, "you will see a good deal more of it; it is a small +affair." + +The two companies re-formed against the wall of the _chemin de ronde_, +and the whole city shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" + +They went down the rampart street in the midst of the crowd. I kept +near our sergeant. + +As the detachment was turning our corner, Sorle, Zeffen, and Safel +called out from the windows, "Hurrah for the veterans! Hurrah for the +Fifth!" + +The sergeant saw them and made a little sign to them with his head. As +I was going in I said to him, "Sergeant, don't forget your glass of +cherry-brandy." + +"Don't worry, Father Moses," said he. + +The detachment went on to break ranks at the Place d'Armes as usual, +and I went up home at a quarter to four. I was scarcely in the room +before Zeffen, Sorle, and Safel threw their arms round me as if I had +come back from the war; little David clung to my knee, and they all +wanted to know the news. + +I had to tell them about the attack, the grape-shot, the routing of the +Cossacks. But the table was ready. I had not had my breakfast, and I +said, "Let us sit down. You shall hear the rest by and by. Let me +take breath." + +Just then the sergeant entered in fine spirits, and set the butt-end of +his musket on the floor. We were going to meet him when we saw a tuft +of red hair on the point of his bayonet, that made us tremble. + +"Mercy, what is that?" said Zeffen, covering her face. + +He knew nothing about it, and looked to see, much surprised. + +"That?" said he, "oh! it is the beard of a Cossack that I touched as I +passed him--it is not much of anything." + +He took the musket at once to his own room; but we were all +horror-struck, and Zeffen could not recover herself. When the sergeant +came back she was still sitting in the arm-chair, with both hands +before her face. + +"Ah, Madame Zeffen," said he sadly, "now you are going to detest me!" + +I thought, too, that Zeffen would be afraid of him, but women always +like these men who risk their lives at random. I have seen it a +hundred times. And Zeffen smiled as she answered: "No, sergeant, no; +these Cossacks ought to stay at home and not come and trouble us! You +protect us--we love you very much!" + +I persuaded him to breakfast with us, and it ended by his opening a +window, and calling out to some soldiers passing by to give notice at +the cantine that Sergeant Trubert was not coming to breakfast. + +So we were all calmed down, and seated ourselves at the table. Sorle +went down to get a bottle of good wine, and we began to eat our +breakfast. + +We had coffee, too, and Zeffen wanted to pour it out herself for the +sergeant. He was delighted. + +"Madame Zeffen," said he, "you load me with kindness!" + +She laughed. We had never been happier. + +While he was taking his cherry-brandy, the sergeant told us all about +the attack in the night; the way in which the Wurtemberg troops had +stationed themselves at La Roulette, how it had been necessary to +dislodge them as they were forcing open the two large gates, the +arrival of the Cossacks at daybreak, and the sending out two companies +to fire at them. + +He told all this so well that we could almost think we saw it. But +about eleven o'clock, as I took up the bottle to pour out another +glassful, he wiped his mustache, and said, as he rose: "No, Father +Moses, we have something to do besides taking our ease and enjoying +ourselves; to-morrow, or next day, the shells will be coming; it is +time to go and screen the garret." + +We all became sober at these words. + +"Let us see!" said he; "I have seen in your court some long logs of +wood which have not been sawed, and there are three or four large beams +against the wall. Are we two strong enough to carry them up? Let us +try!" + +He was going to take off his cape at once; but, as the beams were very +heavy, I told him to wait and I would run for the two Carabins, +Nicolas, who was called the _Greyhound_, and Mathis, the wood-sawyer. +They came at once, and, being used to heavy work, they carried up the +timber. They had brought their saws and axes with them; the sergeant +made them saw the beams, so as to cross them above in the form of a +sentry-box. He worked himself like a regular carpenter, and Sorle, +Zeffen, and I looked on. As it took some time, my wife and daughter +went down to prepare supper, and I went down with them, to get a +lantern for the workmen. + +I was going up again very quietly, never thinking of danger, when, +suddenly, a frightful noise, a kind of terrible rumbling, passed along +the roof, and almost made me drop my lantern. + +The two Carabins turned pale and looked at each other. + +"It is a ball!" said the sergeant. + +At the same time a loud sound of cannon in the distance was heard in +the darkness. + +I had a terrible feeling in my stomach, and I thought to myself, "Since +one ball has passed, there may be two, three, four!" + +My strength was all gone. The two Carabins doubtless thought the same, +for they took down at once their waistcoats, which were hanging on the +gable, to go away. + +"Wait!" said the sergeant. "It is nothing. Let us keep at our +work--it is going on well. It will be done in an hour more." + +But the elder Carabin called out, "You may do as you please! _I_ am +not going to stay here--I have a family!" + +And while he was speaking, a second ball, more frightful than the +first, began to rumble upon the roof, and five or six seconds after we +heard the explosion. + +It was astonishing! The Russians were firing from the edge of the +Bois-de-Chenes, more than a half-hour distant, and yet we saw the red +flash pass before our two windows, and even under the tiles. + +The sergeant tried to keep us still at work. + +"Two bullets never pass in the same place," said he. "We are in a safe +spot, since that has grazed the roof. Come, let us go to work!" + +It was too much for us. I placed the lantern on the floor and went +down, feeling as if my thighs were broken. I wanted to sit down at +every step. + +Out of doors they were shouting as if it were morning, and in a more +frightful way. Chimneys were falling, and women running to the +windows; but I paid no attention to it, I was so frightened myself. + +The two Carabins had gone away paler than death. + +All that night I was ill. Sorle and Zeffen were no more at ease than +myself. The sergeant kept on alone, placing the logs and making them +fast. About midnight he came down. + +"Father Moses," said he, "the roof is screened, but your two men are +cowards; they left me alone." + +I thanked him, and told him that we were all sick, and as for myself I +had never felt anything like it. He laughed. + +"I know what that is," said he. "Conscripts always feel so when they +hear the first ball; but that is soon over--they only need to get a +little used to it." + +Then he went to bed, and everybody in the house, except myself, went to +sleep. + +The Russians did not fire after ten o'clock that night; they had only +tried one or two field-pieces, to warn us of what they had in store. + +All this, Fritz, was but the beginning of the blockade; you are going +to hear now of the miseries we endured for three months. + + + + +XIII + +A DESERTER CAPTURED + +The city was joyful the next day, notwithstanding the firing in the +night. A number of men who came from the ramparts about seven o'clock, +came down our street shouting: "They are gone! There is not a single +Cossack to be seen in the direction of Quatre-Vents, nor behind the +barracks of the Bois-de-Chenes! _Vive l'Empereur_!" + +Everybody ran to the bastions. + +I had opened one of our windows, and leaned out in my nightcap. It was +thawing, the snow was sliding from the roofs, and that in the streets +was melting in the mud. Sorle, who was turning up our bed, called to +me: "Do shut the window, Moses! We shall catch cold from the draught!" + +But I did not listen. I laughed as I thought: "The rascals have had +enough of my old bars and rusty nails; they have found out that they +fly a good way: experience is a good thing!" + +I could have stayed there till night to hear the neighbors talk about +the clearing away of the Russians, and those who came from the ramparts +declaring that there was not one to be seen in the whole region. Some +said that they might come back, but that seemed to me contrary to +reason. It was clear that the villains would not quit the country at +once, that they would still for a long time pillage the villages, and +live on the peasants; but to believe that the officers would excite +their men to take our city, or that the soldiers would be foolish +enough to obey them, never entered my head. + +At last Zeffen came into our room to dress the children, and I shut the +window. A good fire roared in the stove. Sorle made ready our +breakfast, while Zeffen washed her little Esdras in a basin of warm +water. + +"Ah, now, if I could only hear from Baruch, it would all be well," said +she. + +Little David played on the floor with Safel, and I thanked the Lord for +having delivered us from the scoundrels. + +While we were at breakfast, I said to my wife: "It has all gone well! +We shall be shut up for a while until the Emperor has carried the day, +but they will not fire upon us, they will be satisfied with blockading +us; and bread, wine, meats, and brandies, will grow dearer. It is the +right time for us to sell, or else we might fare like the people of +Samaria when Ben-Hadad besieged their city. There was a great famine, +so that the head of an ass sold for four-score pieces of silver, and +the fourth part of a cab of dove's-dung for five pieces. It was a good +price; but still the merchants were holding back, when a noise of +chariots and horses and of a great host came from heaven, and made the +Syrians escape with Ben-Hadad, and after the people had pillaged their +camp, a measure of fine flour sold for only a shekel, and two measures +of barley for a shekel. So let us try to sell while things are at a +reasonable price; we must begin in good season." + +Sorle assented, and after breakfast I went down to the cellar to go on +with the mixing. + +Many of the mechanics had gone back to their work. Klipfel's hammer +sounded on his anvil. Chanoine put back his rolls into his windows, +and Tribolin, the druggist, his bottles of red and blue water behind +his panes. + +Confidence was restored everywhere. The citizen-gunners had taken off +their uniforms, and the joiners had come back to finish our counter; +the noise of the saw and plane filled the house. + +Everybody was glad to return to his own business, for war brings +nothing but harm; the sooner it is over the better. + +As I carried my jugs from one tun to another, in the cellar, I saw the +passers-by stop before our old shop, and heard them say to each other, +"Moses is going to make his fortune with the brandy; these rascals of +Jews always have good scent; while we have been selling this month +past, he has been buying. Now that we are shut up he can sell at any +price he pleases." + +You can judge whether that was not pleasant to hear! A man's greatest +happiness is to succeed in his business; everybody is obliged to say: +"This man has neither army, nor generals, nor cannon, he has nothing +but his own wit, like everybody else; when he succeeds he owes it to +himself, and not to the courage of others. And then he ruins no one; +he does not rob, or steal, or kill; while, in war, the strongest +crushes the weakest and often the best." + +So I worked on with great zeal, and would have kept on till night if +little Safel had not come to call me to dinner. I was hungry, and was +going upstairs, glad in the thought of sitting down in the midst of my +children, when the call-beat began on the Place d'Armes, before the +town-house. During a blockade a court-martial sits continually at the +mayoralty to try those who do not answer to the call. Some of my +neighbors were already leaving their houses with their muskets on their +shoulders. I had to go up very hastily, and swallow a little soup, a +morsel of meat, and a glass of wine. + +I was very pale. Sorle, Zeffen, and the children said not a word. The +drum corps continued the call to arms; it came down the main street and +stopped at last before our house, on the little square. Then I ran for +my cartridge-box and musket. + +"Ah!" said Sorle, "we thought we were going to have a quiet time, and +now it is all beginning again." + +Zeffen did not speak, but burst into tears. + +At that moment the old Rabbi Heymann came in, with his old martin-skin +cap drawn down to the nape of his neck. + +"For heaven's sake let the women and children hurry to the casemates! +An envoy has come threatening to burn the whole city if the gates are +not opened. Fly, Sorle! Zeffen, fly!" + +Imagine the cries of the women on hearing this; as for myself, my hair +stood on end. + +"The rascals have no shame in them!" I exclaimed. "They have no pity +on women or children! May the curse of heaven fall on them!" + +Zeffen threw herself into my arms. I did not know what to do. + +But the old rabbi said: "They are doing to us what our people have done +to them! So the words of the Lord are fulfilled: 'As thou hast done +unto thy brother so shall it be done unto thee!'--But, you must fly +quickly." + +Below, the call-beat had ceased; my knees trembled. Sorle, who never +lost courage, said to me: "Moses, run to the square, make haste, or +they will send you to prison!" + +Her judgment was always right; she pushed me by the shoulders, and in +spite of Zeffen's tears I went down, calling out: "Rabbi, I trust in +you--save them!" + +I could not see clearly; I went through the snow, miserable man that I +was, running to the townhouse where the National Guard was already +assembled. I came just in time to answer the call, and you can imagine +my trouble, for Zeffen, Sorle, Safel, and the little ones were +abandoned before my eyes. What was Phalsburg to me? I would have +opened the gates in a minute to have had peace. + +The others did not look any better pleased than myself; they were all +thinking of their families. + +Our governor, Moulin, Lieutenant-Colonel Brancion, and Captains +Renvoye, Vigneron, Grebillet, with their great military caps put on +crosswise, these alone felt no anxiety. They would have murdered and +burnt everything for the Emperor. The governor even laughed, and said +that he would surrender the city when the shells set his +pocket-handkerchief on fire. Judge from this, how much sense such a +being had! + +While they were reviewing us, groups of the aged and infirm, of women +and children, passed across the square on their way to the casemates. + +I saw our little wagon go by with the roll of coverings and mattresses +on it. The old rabbi was between the shafts--Safel pushed behind. +Sorle carried David, and Zeffen Esdras. They were walking in the mud, +with their hair loose as if they were escaping from a fire; but they +did not speak, and went on silently in the midst of that great trouble. + +I would have given my life to go and help them--I must stay in the +ranks. Ah, the old men of my time have seen terrible things! How +often have they thought:--"Happy is he who lives alone in the world; he +suffers only for himself, he does not see those whom he loves weeping +and groaning, without the power to help them." + +Immediately after the review, detachments of citizen-gunners were sent +to the armories to man the pieces, the firemen were sent to the old +market to get out the pumps, and the rest of us, with half a battalion +of the Sixth Light Infantry, were sent to the guard-house on the +square, to relieve the guards and supply patrols. + +The two other battalions had already gone to the advance-posts of +Trois-Maisons, of La Fontaine-du-Chateau,--to the block-houses, the +half moons, the Ozillo farm, and the Maisons-Rouges, outside of the +city. + +Our post at the mayoralty consisted of thirty-two men; sixteen soldiers +of the line below, commanded by Lieutenant Schnindret, and sixteen of +the National Guard above, commanded by Desplaces Jacob. We used +Burrhus's lodging for our guard-house. It was a large hall with +six-inch planks, and beams such as you do not find nowadays in our +forests. A large, round, cast-iron stove, standing on a slab four feet +square, was in the left-hand corner, near the door; the zigzag pipes +went into the chimney at the right, and piles of wood covered the floor. + +It seems as if I were now in that hall. The melted snow which we shook +off on entering ran along the floor. I have never seen a sadder day +than that; not only because the bombshells and balls might rain upon us +at any moment, and set everything on fire, but because of the melting +snow, and the mud, and the dampness which reached your very bones, and +the orders of the sergeant, who did nothing but call out: "Such and +such an one, march! Such an one forward, it is your turn!" etc. + +And then the jests and jokes of this mass of tilers, and cobblers, and +plasterers, with their patched blouses, shoes run down at the heel, and +caps without visors, seated in a circle around the stove, with, their +rags sticking to their backs, _thouing_ you like all the rest of their +beggarly race: "Moses, pass along the pitcher! Moses, give me some +fire!--Ah, rascals of Jews, when a body risks his life to save +property, how proud it makes them! Ah, the villains!" + +And they winked at each other, and pushed each other's elbows, and made +up faces askance. Some of them wanted me to go and get some tobacco +for them, and pay for it myself! In fine, all sorts of insults, which +a respectable man could endure from the rabble!--Yes, it disgusts me +whenever I think of it. + +In this guard-house, where we burned whole logs of wood as if they were +straw, the steaming old rags which came in soaking wet did not smell +very pleasantly. I had to go out every minute to the little platform +behind the hall, in order to breathe, and the cold water which the wind +blew from the spout sent me in again at once. + +Afterward, in thinking it over, it has seemed as if, without these +troubles, my heart would have broken at the thought of Sorle, Zeffen, +and the children shut up in a cellar, and that these very annoyances +preserved my reason. + +This lasted till evening. We did nothing but go in and out, sit down, +smoke our pipes, and then begin again to walk the pavement in the rain, +or remain on duty for hours together at the entrance of the posterns. + +Toward nine o'clock, when all was dark without, and nothing was to be +heard but the pacing of the patrols, the shouts of the sentries on the +ramparts: "Sentries, attention!" and the steps of our men on their +rounds up and down the great wooden stairway of the admiralty, the +thought suddenly came to me that the Russians had only tried to +frighten us, that it meant nothing; and that there would be no shells +that night. + +In order to be on good terms with the men, I had asked Monborne's +permission to go and get a jug full of brandy, which he at once +granted. I took advantage of the opportunity to bite a crust and drink +a glass of wine at home. Then I went back, and all the men at the +station were very friendly; they passed the jug from one to another, +and said that my brandy was very good, and that the sergeant would give +me leave to go and fill it as often as I pleased. + +"Yes, since it is Moses," replied Monborne, "he may have leave, but +nobody else." + +We were all on excellent terms with each other and nobody thought of +bombardment, when a red flash passed along the high windows of the +room. We all turned round, and in a few seconds the shell rumbled on +the Bichelberg hill. At the same time a second, then a third flash +passed, one after the other, through the large dark room, showing us +the houses opposite. + +You can never have an idea, Fritz, of those first lights at night! +Corporal Winter, an old soldier, who grated tobacco for Tribou, stooped +down quietly and lighted his pipe, and said: "Well, the dance is +beginning!" + +Almost instantly we heard a shell burst at the right in the infantry +quarters, another at the left in the Piplinger house on the square, and +another quite near us in the Hemmerle house. + +I can't help trembling as I think of it now after thirty years. + +All the women were in the casemates, except some old servants who did +not want to leave their kitchens; they screamed out: "Help! Fire!" + +We were all sure that we were lost; only the old soldiers, crooked on +their bench by the stove, with their pipes in their mouths, seemed very +calm, as people might who have nothing to lose. + +What was worst of all, at the moment when our cannon at the arsenal and +powder-house began to answer the Russians', and made every pane of +glass in the old building rattle, Sergeant Monborne called out: "Somme, +Chevreux, Moses, Dubourg: Forward!" + +To send fathers of families roaming about through the mud, in danger, +at every step, of being struck by bursting shells, tiles, and whole +chimneys falling on their backs, is something against nature; the very +mention of it makes me perfectly furious. + +Somme and the big innkeeper Chevreux turned round, full of indignation +also; they wanted to exclaim: "It is abominable!" + +But that rascal of a Monborne was sergeant, and nobody dared speak a +word or even give a side-look; and as Winter, the corporal of the +round, had taken down his musket, and made a signal for us to go on, we +all took our arms and followed him. + +As we went down the stairway, you should have seen the red light, flash +after flash, lighting up every nook and corner under the stairs and the +worm-eaten rafters; you should have heard our twenty-four pounders +thunder; the old rat-hole shook to its foundations, and seemed as if it +was all falling to pieces. And under the arch below, toward the Place +d'Armes, this light shone from the snow banks to the tops of the roofs, +showing the glittering pavements, the puddles of water, the chimneys, +and dormer-windows, and, at the very end of the street, the cavalry +barracks, even the sentry in his box near the large gate:--what a sight! + +"It is all over! We are all lost!" I thought. + +Two shells passed at this moment over the city: they were the first +that I had seen; they moved so slowly that I could follow them through +the dark sky; both fell in the trenches, behind the hospital. The +charge was too heavy, luckily for us. + +I did not speak, nor did the others--we kept our thoughts to ourselves. +We heard the calls "Sentries, attention!" answered from one bastion to +another all around the place, warning us of the terrible danger we were +in. + +Corporal Winter, with his old faded blouse, coarse cotton cap, stooping +shoulders, musket in shoulder-belt, pipe-end between his teeth, and +lantern full of tallow swinging at arm's length, walked before us, +calling out: "Look out for the shells! Lie flat! Do you hear?" + +I have always thought that veterans of this sort despise citizens, and +that he said this to frighten us still more. + +A little farther on, at the entrance of the cul-de-sac where Cloutier +lived, he halted. + +"Come on!" he called, for we marched in file without seeing each other. +When we had come up to him he said, "There, now, you men, try to keep +together! Our patrol is to prevent fire from breaking out anywhere; as +soon as we see a shell pass, Moses will run up and snatch the fuse." + +He burst into a laugh as he spoke, so that my anger was roused. + +"I have not come here to be laughed at," said I; "if you take me for a +fool, I will throw down my musket and cartridge-box, and go to the +casemates." + +He laughed harder than ever. "Moses, respect thy superiors, or beware +of the court-martial!" said he. + +The others would have laughed too, but the shell-flashes began again; +they went down the rampart street, driving the air before them like +gusts of wind; the cannon of the arsenal bastion had just fired. At +the same time a shell burst in the street of the Capuchins; Spick's +chimney and half his roof fell to the ground with a frightful noise. + +"Forward! March!" called Winter. + +They had now all become sober. We followed the lantern to the French +gate. Behind us, in the street of the Capuchins, a dog howled +incessantly. Now and then Winter stopped, and we all listened; nothing +was stirring, and nothing was to be heard but the dog and the cries: +"Sentries, attention!" The city was as still as death. + +We ought to have gone into the guard-house, for there was nothing to be +seen; but the lantern went on toward the gate, swinging above the +gutter. That Winter had taken too much brandy! + +"We are of no use in this street," said Cheyreux; "we can't keep the +balls from passing." + +But Winter kept calling out: "Are you coming?" And we had to obey. + +In front of Genodet's stables, where the old barns of the gendarmerie +begin, a lane turned to the left toward the hospital. This was full of +manure and heaps of dirt--a drain in fact. Well, this rascal of a +Winter turned into it, and as we could not see our feet without the +lantern, we had to follow him. We went groping, under the roofs of the +sheds, along the crazy old walls. It seemed as if we should never get +out of this gutter; but at last we came out near the hospital in the +midst of the great piles of manure, which were heaped against the +grating of the sewer. + +It seemed a little lighter, and we saw the roof of the French gate, and +the line of fortifications black against the sky; and almost +immediately I perceived the figure of a man gliding among the trees at +the top of the rampart. It was a soldier stooping so that his hands +almost touched the ground. They did not fire on this side; the distant +flashes passed over the roofs, and did not lighten the streets below. + +I caught Winter's arm, and pointed out to him this man; he instantly +hid his lantern under his blouse. The soldier whose back was toward +us, stood up, and looked round, apparently listening. This lasted for +two or three minutes; then he passed over the rampart at the corner of +the bastion, and we heard something scrape the wall of the rampart. + +Winter immediately began to run, crying out: "A deserter! To the +postern!" + +We had heard before this of deserters slipping down into the trenches +by means of their bayonets. We all ran. The sentry called out: "Who +goes there?" + +"The citizen patrol," replied Winter. + +He advanced, gave the order, and we went down the postern steps like +wild beasts. + +Below, at the foot of the large bastions built on the rock, we saw +nothing but snow, large black atones, and bushes covered with frost. +The deserter needed only to keep still under the bushes; our lantern, +which shone only for fifteen or twenty feet, might have wandered about +till morning without discovering him: and we should ourselves have +supposed that he had escaped. But unfortunately for him, fear urged +him on, and we saw him in the distance running to the stairs which lead +up to the covered ways. He went like the wind. + +"Halt! or I fire!" cried Winter; but he did not stop, and we all ran +together on his track, calling out "Halt! Halt!" + +Winter had given me the lantern so as to run faster; I followed at a +distance, thinking to myself: "Moses, if this man is taken, thou will +be the cause of his death." I wanted to put out the lantern, but if +Winter had seen me he would have been capable of knocking me down with +the butt-end of his musket. He had for a long time been hoping for the +cross, and was all the time expecting it and the pension with it. + +The deserter ran, as I said, to the stairs. Suddenly he perceived that +the ladder, which takes the place of the eight lower steps, was taken +away, and he stopped, stupefied! We came nearer--he heard us and began +to run faster, to the right toward the half-moon. The poor devil +rolled over the snow-banks. Winter aimed at him, and called out: +"Halt! Surrender!" + +But he got up and began to run again. + +Behind the outworks, under the drawbridge, we thought we had lost him: +the corporal called to me, "Come along! A thousand thunders!" and at +that moment we saw him leaning against the wall, as pale as death. +Winter took him by the collar and said: "I have got you!" + +[Illustration: WINTER TOOK HIM BY THE COLLAR, AND SAID: "I HAVE YOU +NOW!"] + +Then he tore an epaulette from his shoulder: "You are not worthy to +wear that!" said he; "come along!" + +He dragged him out of his corner, and held the lantern before his face. +We saw a handsome boy of eighteen or nineteen, tall and slender, with +small, light mustaches, and blue eyes. + +Seeing him there so pale, with Winter's fist at his throat, I thought +of the poor boy's father and mother; my heart smote me, and I could not +help Baying: "Come, Winter, he is a child, a mere child! He will not +do it again!" + +But Winter, who thought that now surely his cross was won, turned upon +me furiously: + +"I tell thee what, Jew, stop, or I will run my bayonet through thy +body!" + +"Wretch!" thought I, "what will not a man do to make sure of his glass +of wine for the rest of his days?" + +I had a sort of horror of that man; there are wild beasts in the human +race! + +Chevreux, Somme, and Dubourg did not speak. + +Winter began to walk toward the postern, with his hand on the +deserter's collar. + +"If he stops," said he, "strike him on the back with your muskets! Ah, +scoundrel, you desert in the face of the enemy! Your case is clear: +next Sunday you will sleep under the turf of the half-moon! Will you +come on? Strike him with the butt-end, you cowards!" + +What pained me most was to hear the poor fellow's heavy sighs; he +breathed so hard, from his fright at being taken, and knowing that he +would be shot, that we could hear him fifteen paces off; the sweat ran +down my forehead. And now and then he turned to me and gave me such a +look as I shall never forget, as if to say: "Save me!" + +If I had been alone with Dubourg and Chevreux, we would have let him +go; but Winter would sooner have murdered him. + +We came in this way to the foot of the postern. They made the deserter +pass first. When we reached the top, a sergeant, with four men from +the next station, was already there, waiting for us. + +"What is it?" asked the sergeant. + +"A deserter," said Winter. + +The sergeant--an old man--looked at him, and said: "Take him to the +station." + +"No," said Winter, "he will go with us to the station on the square." + +"I will reinforce you with two men," said the sergeant. + +"We do not need them," replied Winter roughly. "We took him ourselves, +and we are enough to guard him." + +The sergeant saw that we ought to have all the glory of it, and he said +no more. + +We started off again, shouldering our arms; the prisoner, all in +tatters and without his shako, walked in the midst. + +We soon came to the little square; we had only to cross the old market +before reaching the guard-house. The cannon of the arsenal were firing +all the time; as we were starting to leave the market, one of the +flashes lighted up the arch in front of us; the prisoner saw the door +of the jail at the left, with its great locks, and the sight gave him +terrible strength; he tore off his collar, and threw himself from us +with both arms stretched out behind. + +Winter had been almost thrown down, but he threw himself at once upon +the deserter, exclaiming, "Ah, scoundrel, you want to run away!" + +We saw no more, for the lantern fell to the ground. + +"Guard! guard!" cried Chevreux. + +All this took but a moment, and half of the infantry post were already +there under arms. Then we saw the prisoner again; he was sitting on +the edge of the stairway among the pillars; blood was running from his +mouth; not more than half his waistcoat was left, and he was bent +forward, trembling from head to foot. + +Winter held him by the nape of the neck, and said to Lieutenant +Schnindret, who was looking on: "A deserter, lieutenant! He has tried +to escape twice, but Winter was on hand." + +"That is right," said the lieutenant. "Let them find the jailer." + +Two soldiers went away. A number of our comrades of the National Guard +had come down, but nobody spoke. However hard men may be, when they +see a wretch in such a condition, and think, "the day after to-morrow +he will be shot!" everybody is silent, and a good many would even +release him if they could. + +After some minutes Harmantier arrived with his woollen jacket and his +bunch of keys. + +The lieutenant said to him, "Lock up this man!" + +"Come, get up and walk!" he said to the deserter, who rose and followed +Harmantier, while everybody crowded round. + +The jailer opened the two massive doors of the prison; the prisoner +entered without resistance, and then the large locks and bolts fastened +him in. + +"Every man return to his post!" said the lieutenant to us. And we went +up the steps of the mayoralty. + +All this had so upset me that I had not thought of my wife and +children. But when once above, in the large warm room, full of smoke, +with all that set who were laughing and boasting at having taken a +poor, unresisting deserter, the thought that I was the cause of this +misery filled my soul with anguish; I stretched myself on the camp-bed, +and thought of all the trouble that is in the world, of Zeffen, of +Safel, of my children, who might, perhaps, some day be arrested for not +liking war. And the words of the Lord came to my mind, which He spake +to Samuel, when the people desired a king: + +"Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; +for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I +should not reign over them. Howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, +and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. He +will take your sons and appoint them for himself; and some shall run +before his chariots. He will set them to make his instruments of war. +And he will take your daughters to be cooks and bakers. And he will +take your fields and your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the +best of them, and give them to his servants. He will take your +men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men. He +will take the tenth of your sheep; and ye shall be his servants. And +ye shall cry out in that day, and the Lord will not hear you." + +These thoughts made me very wretched; my only consolation was in +knowing that my sons Fromel and Itzig were in America. I resolved to +send Safel, David, and Esdras there also, when the time should come. + +These reveries lasted till daylight. I heard no longer the shouts of +laughter or the jokes of the ragamuffins. Now and then they would come +and shake me, and say, "Go, Moses, and fill your brandy jug! The +sergeant gives you leave." + +But I did not wish to hear them. + +About four o'clock in the morning, our arsenal cannon having dismounted +the Russian howitzers on the Quatre-Vents hill, the patrols ceased. + +Exactly at seven we were relieved. We went down, one by one, our +muskets on our shoulders. We were ranged before the mayoralty, and +Captain Vigneron gave the orders: "Carry arms! Present arms! Shoulder +arms! Break ranks!" + +We all dispersed, very glad to get rid of glory. + +I was going to run at once to the casemates when I had laid aside my +musket, to find Sorle, Zeffen, and the children; but what was my joy at +seeing little Safel already at our door! As soon as he saw me turn the +corner, he ran to me, exclaiming: "We have all come back! We are +waiting for you!" + +I stooped to embrace him. At that moment Zeffen opened the window +above, and showed me her little Esdras, and Sorle stood laughing behind +them. I went up quickly, blessing the Lord for having delivered us +from all our troubles, and exclaiming inwardly: "The Lord is merciful +and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Let the glory of +the Lord endure forever! Let the Lord rejoice in his works!" + + + + +XIV + +BURGUET'S VISIT TO THE DESERTER + +I still think it one of the happiest moments of my life, Fritz. +Scarcely had I come up the stairs when Zeffen and Sorle were in my +arms; the little ones clung to my shoulders, and I felt their lovely +full lips on my cheeks; Safel held my hand, and I could not speak a +word, but my eyes filled with tears. + +Ah! if we had had Baruch with us, how happy we should have been! + +At length I went to lay aside my musket, and hang my cartridge-box in +the alcove. The children were laughing, and joy was in the house once +more. And when I came back in my old beaver cap, and my large, warm +woollen stockings, and sat down in the old arm-chair, in front of the +little table set with porringers, in which Zeffen was pouring the soup; +when I was again in the midst of all these happy faces, bright eyes, +and outstretched hands, I could have sung like an old lark on his +branch, over the nest where his little ones were opening their beaks +and flapping their wings. + +I blessed them in my heart a hundred times over. Sorle, who saw in my +eyes what I was thinking, said: "They are all together, Moses, just as +they were yesterday; the Lord has preserved them." + +"Yes, blessed be the name of the Lord, forever and ever!" I replied. + +While we were at breakfast, Zeffen told me about their going to the +large casemate at the barracks, how it was full of people stretched on +their mattresses in every direction--the cries of some, the fright of +others, the torment from the vermin, the water dropping from the arch, +the crowds of children who could not sleep, and did nothing but cry, +the lamentations of five or six old men who kept calling out, "Ah! our +last hour has come! Ah! how cold it is! Ah! we shall never go +home--it is all over!" + +Then suddenly the deep silence of all, when they heard the cannon about +ten o'clock--the reports, coming slowly at first, then like the roar of +a tempest--the flashes, which could be seen even through the blindages +of the gate, and old Christine Evig telling her beads as loud as if she +were in a procession, and the other women responding together. + +As she told me this, Zeffen clasped her little Esdras tightly, while I +held David on my knees, embracing him as I thought to myself, "Yes, my +poor children, you have been through a great deal!" + +Notwithstanding the joy of seeing that we were all safe, the thought of +the deserter in his dungeon at the town-house would come to me; he too +had parents! And when you think of all the trouble which a father and +mother have in bringing up a child, of the nights spent in soothing his +cries, of their cares when he is sick, of their hopes in seeing him +growing up; and then imagine to yourself some old soldiers sitting +around a table to try him, and coolly send him to be shot behind the +bastion, it makes you shudder, especially when you say to yourself: +"But for me, this boy would have been at liberty; he would be on the +road to his village; to-morrow perhaps he would have reached the poor +old people's door, and have called out to them, 'Open! it is I!'" + +Such thoughts are enough to make one wild. + +I did not dare to speak to my wife and children of the poor fellow's +arrest; I kept my thoughts to myself. + +Without, the detachments from La Roulette, Trois-Maisons, and La +Fontaine-du-Chateau, passed through the street, keeping step; groups of +children ran about the city to find the pieces of shells; neighbors +collected to talk about the events of the night--the roofs torn off, +chimneys thrown down, the frights they had had. We heard their voices +rising and falling, and their shouts of laughter. And I have since +seen that it is always the same thing after a bombardment; the shower +is forgotten as soon as it is over, and they exclaim: "Huzza! the enemy +is routed!" + +While we were there meditating, some one came up the stairs. We +listened, and our sergeant, with his musket on his shoulder, and his +cape and gaiters covered with mud, opened the door, exclaiming: "Good +for you, Father Moses! Good for you!--You distinguished yourself last +night!" + +"Ha! what is it, sergeant?" asked my wife in astonishment. + +"What! has he not told you of the famous thing he did, Madame Sorle? +Has he not told you that the national guard Moses, on patrol about nine +o'clock at the Hospital bastion, discovered and then arrested a +deserter in the very act! It is on Lieutenant Schnindret's affidavit!" + +"But I was not alone," I exclaimed in despair; "there were four of us." + +"Bah! You discovered the track, you went down into the trenches, you +carried the lantern! Father Moses, you must not try to make your good +deed seem less; you are wrong. You are going to be named for corporal. +The court-martial will sit to-morrow at nine. Be easy, they will take +care of your man!" + +Imagine, Fritz, how I looked; Sorle, Zeffen, and the children looked at +me, and I did not know what to say. + +"Now I must go and change my clothes," said the sergeant, shaking my +hand. "We will talk about it again, Father Moses. I always said that +you would turn out well in the end." + +He gave a low laugh as was his custom, winking his eyes, and then went +across the passage into his room. + +My wife was very pale. + +"Is it true, Moses?" she asked after a minute. + +"He! I did not know that he wanted to desert, Sorle," I replied. "And +then the boy ought to have looked round on all sides; he ought to have +gone down on the Hospital square, gone round the dunghills, and even +into the lane to see if any one was coming; he brought it on himself; I +did not know anything, I----" + +But Sorle did not let me finish. + +"Run quickly, Moses, to Burguet's!" she exclaimed; "if this man is +shot, his blood will be upon our children. Make haste, do not lose a +minute." + +She raised her hands, and I went out, much troubled. + +My only fear was that I should not find Burguet at home; fortunately, +on opening his door, on the first floor of the old Cauchois house, I +saw the tall barber Vesenaire shaving him, in the midst of the old +books and papers which filled the room. + +Burguet was sitting with the towel at his chin. + +"Ah! It is you, Moses!" he exclaimed, in a glad tone. "What gives me +the pleasure of a visit from you?" + +"I come to ask a favor of you, Burguet." + +"If it is for money," said he, "we shall have difficulty." + +He laughed, and his servant-woman, Marie Loriot, who heard us from the +kitchen, opened the door, and thrust her red head-gear into the room, +as she called out, "I think that we shall have difficulty! We owe +Vesenaire for three months' shaving; do not we, Vesenaire?" + +She said this very seriously, and Burguet, instead of being angry, +began to laugh. I have always fancied that a man of his talents had a +sort of need of such an incarnation of human stupidity to laugh at, and +help his digestion. He never was willing to dismiss this Marie Loriot. + +In short, while Vesenaire kept on shaving him, I gave him an account of +our patrol and the arrest of the deserter; and begged him to defend the +poor fellow. I told him that he alone was able to save him, and +restore peace, not only to my own mind, but to Sorle, Zeffen, and the +whole family, for we were all in great distress, and we depended +entirely upon him to help us. + +"Ah! you take me at my weak point, Moses! If it is possible for me to +save this man, I must try. But it will not be an easy matter. During +the last fortnight, desertions have begun--the court-martial wishes to +make an example. It is a bad business. You have money, Moses; give +Vesenaire four sous to go and take a drop." + +I gave four sous to Vesenaire, who made a grand bow and went out. +Burguet finished dressing himself. + +"Let us go and see!" said he, taking me by the arm. + +And we went down together on our way to the mayoralty. + +Many years have passed since that day. Ah, well! it seems now as if we +were going under the arch, and I heard Burguet saying: "Hey, sergeant! +Tell the turnkey that the prisoner's advocate is here." + +Harmantier came, bowed, and opened the door. We went down into the +dungeon full of stench, and saw in the right-hand corner a figure +gathered in a heap on the straw. + +"Get up!" said Harmantier, "here is your advocate." + +The poor wretch moved and raised himself in the darkness. Burguet +leaned toward him and said: "Come! Take courage! I have come to talk +with you about your defence." + +And the other began to sob. + +When a man has been knocked down, torn to tatters, beaten till he +cannot stand, when he knows that the law is against him, that he must +die without seeing those whom he loves, he becomes as weak as a baby. +Those who maltreat their prisoners are great villains. + +"Let us see!" said Burguet. "Sit down on the side of your camp-bed. +What is your name? Where did you come from? Harmantier, give this man +a little water to drink and wash himself!" + +"He has some, M. Burguet; he has some in the corner." + +"Ah, well!" + +"Compose yourself, my boy!" + +The more gently he spoke, the more did the poor fellow weep. At last, +however, he said that his family lived near Gerarmer, in the Vosges; +that his father's name was Mathieu Belin, and that he was a fisherman +at Retournemer. + +Burguet drew every word out of his mouth; he wanted to know every +particular about his father and mother, his brothers and sisters. + +I remember that his father had served under the Republic, and had even +been wounded at Fleurus; that his oldest brother had died in Russia; +that he himself was the second son taken from home by the conscription, +and that there was still at home three sisters younger than himself. + +This came from him slowly; he was so prostrated by Winter's blows, that +he moved and sank down like a soulless body. + +There was still another thing, Fritz, as you may think--the boy was +young! and that brought to my mind the days when I used to go in two +hours from Phalsburg to Marmoutier, to see Sorle--Ah, poor wretch! As +he told all this, sobbing, with his face in his hands, my heart melted +within me. + +Burguet was quite overcome. When we were leaving, at the end of an +hour, he said, "Come, let us be hopeful! You will be tried +to-morrow.--Don't despair! Harmantier, we must give this man a cloak; +it is dreadfully cold, especially at night. It is a bad business, my +boy, but it is not hopeless. Try to appear as well as you can before +the audience; the court-martial always thinks better of a man who is +well dressed." + +When we were out, he said to me: "Moses, you send the man a clean +shirt. His waistcoat is torn; don't forget to have him decently +dressed every way; soldiers always judge of a man by his appearance." + +"Be easy about that," said I. + +The prison doors were closed, and we went across the market. + +"Now," said Burguet, "I must go in. I must think it over. It is well +that the brother was left in Russia, and that the father has been in +the service--it is something to make a point of." + +We had reached the corner of the rampart street; he kept on, and I went +home more miserable than before. + +You cannot imagine, Fritz, how troubled I was; when a man has always +had a quiet conscience it is terrible to reproach one's self, and +think: "If this man is shot, if his father, and mother, and sisters, +and that other one, who is expecting him, are made miserable, thou, +Moses, wilt be the cause of it all!" + +Fortunately there was no lack of work to be done at home; Sorle had +just opened the old shop to begin to sell our brandies, and it was full +of people. For a week the keepers of coffee-houses and inns had had +nothing wherewith to fill their casks; they were on the point of +shutting up shop. Imagine the crowd! They came in a row, with their +jugs and little casks and pitchers. The old topers came too, sticking +out their elbows; Sorle, Zeffen, and Safel had not time to serve them. + +The sergeant said that we must put a policeman at our door to prevent +quarrels, for some of them said that they lost their turn, and that +their money was as good as anybody's. + +It will be a good many years before such a crowd will be seen again in +front of a Phalsburg shop. + +I had only time to tell my wife that Burguet would defend the deserter, +and then went down into the cellar to fill the two tuns at the counter, +which were already empty. + +A fortnight after, Sorle doubled the price; our first two pipes were +sold, and this extra price did not lessen the demand. + +Men always find money for brandy and tobacco, even when they have none +left for bread. This is why governments impose their heaviest taxes +upon these two articles; they might be heavier still without +diminishing their use--only, children would starve to death. + +I have seen this--I have seen this great folly in men, and I am +astonished whenever I think of it. + +That day we kept on selling until seven o'clock in the evening, when +the tattoo was sounded. + +My pleasure in making money had made me forget the deserter; I did not +think of him again till after supper, when night set in; but I did not +say a word about him; we were all so tired and so delighted with the +day's profits that we did not want to be troubled with thinking of such +things. But after Zeffen and the children had retired, I told Sorle of +our visit to the prisoner. I told her, too, that Burguet had hopes, +which made her very happy. + +About nine o'clock, by God's blessing, we were all asleep. + + + + +XV + +TRIAL OF THE DESERTER + +You can believe, Fritz, that I did not sleep much that night, +notwithstanding my fatigue. The thought of the deserter tormented me. +I knew that if he should be shot, Zeffen and Sorle would be +inconsolable; and I knew, too, that after three or four years the vile +race would say: "Look at this Moses, with his large brown cloak, his +cape turned down over the back of his neck, and his respectable +look--well, during the blockade he caused the arrest of a poor +deserter, who was shot: so much you can trust a Jew's appearance!" + +They would have said this, undoubtedly; for the only consolation of +villains is to make people think that everybody is like themselves. + +And then how often should I reproach myself for this man's death, in +times of misfortune or in my old age, when I should not have a minute's +peace! How often should I have said that it was a judgment of the +Lord, that it was on account of this deserter. + +So I wanted to do immediately all that I could, and by six o'clock in +the morning I was in my old shop in the market with my lantern, +selecting epaulettes and my best clothes. I put them in a napkin and +took them to Harmantier at daybreak. + +The special council of war, which was called--I do not know why--the +_Ventose_ council, was to meet at nine o'clock. It was composed of a +major, president, four captains, and two lieutenants. Monbrun, the +captain of the foreign legion, was judge-advocate, and Brigadier Duphot +recorder. + +It was astonishing how the whole city knew about it beforehand, and +that by seven o'clock the Nicaises, and Pigots, and Vinatiers, etc., +had left their rickety quarters, and had already filled the whole +mayoralty, the arch, the stairway, and the large room above, laughing, +whistling, stamping, as if it were a bear-fight at Klein's inn, the +"Ox." + +You do not see things like that nowadays, thank God! men have become +more gentle and humane. But after all these wars, a deserter met with +less pity than a fox caught in a trap, or a wolf led by the muzzle. + +As I saw all this, my courage failed; all my admiration for Burguet's +talents could not keep me from thinking: + +The man is lost! Who can save him, when this crowd has come on purpose +to see him condemned to death, and led to the Glaciere bastion? + +I was overwhelmed by the thought. + +I went trembling into Harmantier's little room, and said to him: "This +is for the deserter; take it to him from me." "All right!" said he. + +I asked him if he had confidence in Burguet. He shrugged his +shoulders, and said: "We must have examples." + +The stamping outside continued, and when I went out there was a great +whistling in the balcony, the arch, and everywhere, and shouts of +"Moses! hey, Moses! this way!" + +But I did not turn my head, and went home very sad. + +Sorle handed me a summons to appear as a witness before the +court-martial, which a gendarme had just brought; and till nine o'clock +I sat meditating behind the stove, trying to think of some way of +escape for the prisoner. + +Safel was playing with the children; Zeffen and Sorle had gone down to +continue our sales. + +A few minutes before nine I started for the townhouse, which was +already so crowded that, had it not been for the guard at the door, and +the gendarmes scattered within the building, the witnesses could hardly +have got in. + +Just as I got there, Captain Monbrun was beginning to read his report. +Burguet sat opposite, with his head leaning on his hand. + +They showed me into a little room, where were Winter, Chevreux, +Dubourg, and the gendarme Fiegel; so that we didn't hear anything +before being called. + +On the wall at the right it was written in large letters that any +witness who did not tell the truth, should be delivered to the council, +and suffer the same penalty as the accused. This made one consider, +and I resolved at once to conceal nothing, as was right and sensible. +The gendarme also informed us that we were forbidden to speak to each +other. + +After a quarter of an hour Winter was summoned, and then, at intervals +of ten minutes, Chevreux, Dubourg, and myself. + +When I went into the court-room, the judges were all in their places; +the major had laid his hat on the desk before him; the recorder was +mending his pen. Burguet looked at me calmly. Without they were +stamping, and the major said to the brigadier: + +"Inform the public that if this noise continues, I shall have the +mayoralty cleared." + +The brigadier went out at once, and the major said to me: + +"National guard Moses, make your deposition. What do you know?" + +I told it all simply. The deserter at the left, between two gendarmes, +seemed more dead than alive. I would gladly have acquitted him of +everything; but when a man fears for himself, when old officers in full +dress are scowling at you as if they could see through you, the +simplest and best way is not to lie. A father's first thought should +be for his children! In short, I told everything that I had seen, +nothing more or less, and at last the major said to me: + +"That is enough; you may go." + +But seeing that the others, Winter, Chevreux, Dubourg, remained sitting +on a bench at the left, I did the same. + +Almost immediately five or six good-for-nothings began to stamp and +murmur, "Shoot him! shoot him!" The president ordered the brigadier to +arrest them, and in spite of their resistance they were all led to +prison. Silence was then established in the court-room, but the +stampings without continued. + +"Judge-advocate, it is your turn to speak," said the major. + +This judge-advocate, who seems now before my eyes, and whom I can +almost hear speak, was a man of fifty, short and thick, with a short +neck, long, thick, straight nose, very wide forehead, shining black +hair, thin mustaches, and bright eyes. While he was listening, his +head turned right and left as if on a pivot; you could see his long +nose and the corner of his eye, but his elbows did not stir from the +table. He looked like one of those large crows which seem to be +sleeping in the fields at the close of autumn, and yet see everything +that is going on around them. + +Now and then he raised his arm as if to draw back his sleeve, as +advocates have a way of doing. He was in full dress, and spoke +terribly well, in a clear and strong voice, stopping and looking at the +people to see if they agreed with him; and if he saw even a slight +grimace, he began again at once in some other way, and, as it were, +obliged you to understand in spite of yourself. + +As he went on very slowly, without hurrying or forgetting anything, to +show that the deserter was on the road when we arrested him, that he +not only had the intention of escaping, but was already outside of the +city, quite as guilty as if he had been found in the ranks of the +enemy--as he clearly showed all this, I was angry because he was right, +and I thought to myself, "Now, what was there to be said in reply." + +And then, when he said that the greatest of crimes was to abandon one's +flag, because one betrays at once his country, his family, all that has +a right to his life, and makes himself unworthy to live; when he said +that the court would follow the conscience of all who had a heart, of +all who held to the honor of France; that he would give a new example +of his zeal for the safety of the country and the glory of the Emperor; +that he would show the new recruits that they could only succeed by +doing their duty and by obeying orders; when he said all this with +terrible power and clearness, and I heard from time to time, a murmur +of assent and admiration, then, Fritz, I thought that the Lord alone +was able to save that man! + +The deserter sat motionless, his arms folded on the dock, and his face +upon them. He felt, doubtless, as I did, and every one in the room, +and the court itself. Those old men seemed pleased as they heard the +judge-advocate express so well what had all along been their own +opinion. Their faces showed their satisfaction. + +This lasted for more than an hour. The captain sometimes stopped a +moment to give his audience time to reflect on what he had said. I +have always thought that he must have been attorney-general, or +something more dangerous still to deserters. + +I remember that he said, in closing, "You will make an example! You +will be of one mind. You will not forget that, at this time, firmness +in the court is more necessary than ever to the safety of the country." + +When he sat down, such a murmur of approbation arose in the room that +it reached the stairway at once, and we heard the shouts outside, +"_Vive l'Empereur_!" + +The major and the other members of the council looked smilingly at each +other, as if to say, "It is all settled. What remains is a mere +formality!" + +The shouts without increased. This lasted more than ten minutes. At +last the major said: + +"Brigadier, if the tumult continues, clear the town-house! Begin with +the court-room!" + +There was silence at once, for every one was curious to know what +Burguet would say in reply. I would not have given two farthings for +the life of the deserter. + +"Counsel for the prisoner, you have the floor!" said the major, and +Burguet rose. + +Now, Fritz, if I had an idea that I could repeat to you what Burguet +said, for a whole hour, to save the life of a poor conscript; if I +should try to depict his face, the sweetness of his voice, and then his +heart-rending cries, and then his silent pauses and his appeals--if I +had such an idea, I should consider myself a being full of pride and +vanity! + +No; nothing finer was ever heard. It was not a man speaking; it was a +mother, trying to snatch her babe from death! Ah! what a great thing +it is to have this power of moving to tears those who hear us! But we +ought not to call it talent, it is heart. + +"Who is there without faults? Who does not need pity?" + +This is what he said, as he asked the council if they could find a +perfectly blameless man; if evil thoughts never came to the bravest; if +they had never, for even a day or a moment, had the thought of running +away to their native village, when they were young, when they were +eighteen, when father and mother and the friends of their childhood +were living, and they had not another in the world. A poor child +without instruction, without knowledge of the world, brought up at +hap-hazard, thrown into the army--what could you expect of him? What +fault of his could not be pardoned? What does he know of country, the +honor of his flag, the glory of his Majesty? Is it not later in life +that these great ideas come to him? + +And then he asked those old men if they had not a son, if they were +sure that, even at that moment, that son were not committing an offence +which was liable to the punishment of death. He said to them: + +"Plead for him! What would you say? You would say, 'I am an old +soldier. For thirty years I have shed my blood for France. I have +grown gray upon the battle-fields, I am riddled with wounds, I have +gained every rank at the point of the sword. Ah, well! take my +epaulettes, take my decorations, take everything; but save my child! +Let my blood be the ransom for his offence! He does not know the +greatness of his crime; he is too young; he is a conscript; he loved +us; he longed to embrace us, and then go back again--he loved a maiden. +Ah! you, too, have been young! Pardon him. Do not disgrace an old +soldier in his son.' + +"Perhaps you could say, too, 'I had other sons. They died for their +country. Let their blood answer for his, and give me back this +one--the last that I have left!' + +"This is what you would say, and far better than I, because you would +be the father, the old soldier speaking of his own services! Well, the +father of this youth could speak like you! He is an old soldier of the +Republic! He went with you, perhaps, when the Prussians entered +Champagne! He was wounded at Fleurus! He is an old comrade in arms! +His oldest son was left behind in Russia!" + +And Burguet turned pale as he spoke. It seemed as if grief had robbed +him of his strength, and he were about to fall. The silence was so +great that we heard the breathing throughout the court-room. The +deserter sobbed. Everybody thought, "It is done! Burguet need say no +more! It must be that he has gained his cause!" + +But all at once he began again in another and more tender manner. +Speaking slowly, he described the life of a poor peasant and his wife, +who had but one comfort, one solitary hope on earth--their child! As +we listened we saw these poor people, we heard them talk together, we +saw over the door the old chapeau of the time of the Republic. And +when we were thinking only of this, suddenly Burguet showed us the old +man and his wife learning that their son had been killed, not by +Russians or Germans, but by Frenchmen. We heard the old man's cry! + +But it was terrible, Fritz! I wanted to run away. The officers of the +council, several of whom were married men, looked before them with +fixed eyes, and clinched hands; their gray mustaches shook. The major +had raised his hand two or three times, as if to signify that it was +enough, but Burguet had always something still more powerful, more +just, more grand to add. His plea lasted till nearly eleven, when he +sat down. There was not a murmur to be heard in the three rooms nor +outside. And the judge-advocate on the other side began again, saying +that all that signified nothing, that it was unfortunate for the father +that his son was unworthy, that every man clung to his children, that +soldiers must be taught not to desert in face of the enemy; that, if +the court yielded to such arguments, nobody would ever be shot, +discipline would be utterly destroyed, the army could not exist, and +that the army was the strength and glory of the country. + +Burguet replied almost immediately. I cannot recall what he said; my +head could not hold so many things at once: but I shall never forget +this, that about one o'clock, the council having sent us away that they +might deliberate--the prisoner meanwhile having been taken back to his +cell--after a few minutes we were allowed to return, and the major, +standing on the platform where conscriptions were drawn, declared that +the accused Jean Balin was acquitted, and gave the order for his +immediate release. + +It was the first acquittal since the departure of the Spanish prisoners +before the blockade; the rowdies, who had come in crowds to see a man +condemned and shot, could not believe it; several of them exclaimed: +"We are cheated!" + +But the major ordered Brigadier Descarmes to take the names of these +brawlers, so that they should be seen to; then the whole mass trampled +down the stairs in five minutes, and we, in our turn, were able to +descend. + +I had taken Burguet by the arm, my eyes full of tears. + +"Are you satisfied, Moses?" said he, already quite his own joyous self +again. + +"Burguet!" said I, "Aaron himself, the own brother of Moses, and the +greatest orator of Israel, could not have spoken better than you did; +it was admirable! I owe my peace of mind to you! Whatever you may ask +for so great a service I am ready to give to the extent of my means." + +We went down the stairs; the members of the council following us +thoughtfully, one by one. Burguet smiled. + +"Do you mean it, Moses?" said he, stopping under the arch. + +"Yes, here is my hand." + +"Very well!" said he, "I ask you to give me a good dinner at the +_Ville-de-Metz_." + +"With all my heart!" + +Several citizens, Father Parmentier, Cochois the tax-gatherer, and +Adjutant Muller, were waiting for Burguet at the foot of the mayoralty +steps, to congratulate him. As they were surrounding and shaking hands +with him, Safel came and rushed into my arms; Zeffen had sent him to +learn the news. I embraced him, and said joyously: "Go, tell your +mother that we have won! Take your dinner. I am going to dine at the +_Ville-de-Metz_ with Burguet. Make haste, my child!" + +He started running. + +"You dine with me, Burguet," said Father Parmentier. + +"Thank you, Mr. Mayor, I am engaged to dine with Moses; I will go at +another time." + +And, with our arms around each other, we entered Mother Barriere's +large corridor, where there was still the odor of good roasts, in spite +of the blockade. + +"Listen, Burguet," said I; "we are going to dine alone, and you shall +choose whatever wines and dishes you like best; you know them better +than I do." + +I saw his eyes sparkle. + +"Good! good!" said he, "it is understood." + +In the large dining-hall the war-commissioner and two officers were +dining together; they turned round, and we saluted them. + +I sent for Mother Barriere, who came at once, her apron on her arm, as +smiling and chubby as usual. Burguet whispered a couple of words in +her ear, and she instantly opened the door at the right, and said: + +"Walk in, gentlemen, walk in! You will not have to wait long." + +We went into the square room at the corner of the square, a small, high +room, with two large windows covered with muslin curtains, and the +porcelain stove well heated, as it should be in winter. + +A servant came to lay the table, while we warmed our hands upon the +marble. + +"I have a good appetite, Moses; my pleading is going to cost you dear," +said Burguet, laughing. + +"So much the better; it cannot be too dear for the gratitude I owe you." + +"Come," said he, putting his hand on my shoulder, "I won't ruin you, +but we must have a good dinner." + +When the table was ready, we sat down, opposite each other, in soft, +comfortable arm-chairs; and Burguet, fastening his napkin in his +button-hole, as was his custom, took up the bill of fare. He pondered +over it a long time; for you know, Fritz, that though nightingales are +good singers, they have the sharpest beaks in the world. Burguet was +like them, and I was delighted at seeing him thus meditating. + +At last he said to the servant, slowly and solemnly: + +"This and that, Madeleine, cooked so and so. And such a wine to begin +with, and such another at the end." + +"Very well, M. Burguet," replied Madeleine, as she went out. + +Two minutes afterward she brought us a good toast soup. During a +blockade this was something greatly to be desired; three weeks later we +should have been very fortunate to have got one. + +Then she brought us some Bordeaux wine, warmed in a napkin. But you do +not suppose, Fritz, that I am going to tell you all the details of this +dinner? although I remember it all, with great pleasure, to this day. +Believe me, there was nothing wanting, meats nor fresh vegetables, nor +the large well-smoked ham, nor any of the things which are dreadfully +scarce in a shut-up city. We had even salad! Madame Barriere had kept +it in the cellar, in earth, and Burguet wished to dress it himself with +olive oil. We had, too, the last juicy pears which were seen in +Phalsburg, during that winter of 1814. + +Burguet seemed happy, especially when the bottle of old Lironcourt was +brought, and we drank together. + +"Moses," said he with softened eyes, "if all my pleas had as good pay +as you give, I would resign my place in college; but this is the first +fee I have received." + +"And if I were in your place, Burguet," I exclaimed, "instead of +staying in Phalsburg, I would go to a large city. You would have +plenty of good dinners, good hotels, and the rest would soon follow." + +"Ah! twenty years ago this might have been good advice," said he, +rising, "but it is too late now. Let us go and take our coffee, Moses." + +Thus it is that men of great talents often bury themselves in small +places, where nobody values them at their true worth; they fall +gradually into their own ruts, and disappear without notice. + +Burguet never forgot to go to the coffee-house at about five o'clock, +to play a game of cards with the old Jew Solomon, whose trade it was. +Burguet and five or six citizens fully supported this man, who took his +beer and coffee twice a day at their expense, to say nothing of the +crowns he pocketed for the support of his family. + +So far as the others were concerned, I was not surprised at this, for +they were fools! but for a man like Burguet I was always astonished at +it; for, out of twenty deals, Solomon did not let them win more than +one or two, with the risk before his eyes of losing his best practice, +by discouraging them altogether. + +I had explained this fifty times to Burguet; he assented, and kept on +all the same. + +When we reached the coffee-house, Solomon was already there, in the +corner of a window at the left--his little dirty cap on his nose, and +his old greasy frock hanging at the foot of the stool. He was +shuffling the cards all by himself. He looked at Burguet out of the +corner of his eye, as a bird-catcher looks at larks, as if to say: + +"Come! I am here! I am expecting you!" + +But Burguet, when with me, dared not obey the old man; he was ashamed +of his weakness, and merely made a little motion of his head while he +seated himself at the opposite table, where coffee was served to us. + +The comrades came soon, and Solomon began to fleece them. Burguet +turned his back to them; I tried to divert his attention, but his heart +was with them; he listened to all the throws, and yawned in his hand. + +About seven o'clock, when the room was full of smoke, and the balls +were rolling on the billiard tables, suddenly a young man, a soldier, +entered, looking round in all directions. + +It was the deserter. + +He saw us at last, and approached us with his foraging cap in his hand. +Burguet looked up and recognized him; I saw him turn red; the deserter, +on the contrary, was very pale; he tried to speak, but could not say a +word. + +"Ah! my friend!" said Burguet, "here you are, safe!" + +"Yes, sir," replied the conscript, "and I have come to thank you for +myself, for my father, and for my mother!" + +"Ah!" said Burguet, coughing, "it is all right! it is all right!" + +He looked tenderly at the young man, and asked him softly, "You are +glad to live?" + +"Oh! yes, sir," replied the conscript, "very glad." + +"Yes," said Burguet, in a low voice, looking at the clock; "it would +have been all over now! Poor child!" + +And suddenly beginning to use the _thou_ he said, "Thou hast had +nothing with which to drink my health, and I have not another sou. +Moses, give him a hundred sous." + +I gave him ten francs. The deserter tried to thank me. + +"That is good!" said Burguet, rising. "Go and take a drink with thy +comrades. Be happy, and do not desert again." + +He made as if he would follow Solomon's playing; but when the deserter +said, "I thank you, too, for her who is expecting me!" he looked at me +sideways, not knowing what to answer, so much was he moved. Then I +said to the conscript, "We are very glad that we have been of +assistance to you; go and drink the health of your advocate, and behave +yourself well." + +He looked at us for a moment longer, as if he were unable to move; we +saw his thanks in his face, a thousand times better than he had been +able to utter them. At length he slowly went out, saluting us, and +Burguet finished his cup of coffee. + +We meditated for some minutes upon what had passed. But soon the +thought of seeing my family seized me. + +Burguet was like a soul in purgatory. Every minute he got up to look +on, as one or another played, with his hands crossed behind his back; +then he sat down with a melancholy look. I should have been very sorry +to plague him longer, and, as the clock struck eight, I bade him +good-evening, which evidently pleased him. + +"Good-night, Moses," said he, leading me to the door. "My compliments +to Madame Sorle, and Madame Zeffen." + +"Thank you! I shall not forget it." + +I went, very glad to return home, where I arrived in a few minutes. +Sorle saw at once that I was in good spirits, for, meeting her at the +door of our little kitchen, I embraced her joyfully. + +"It is all right, Sorle," said I, "all just right!" + +"Yes," said she, "I see that it is all right!" + +She laughed, and we went into the room where Zeffen was undressing +David. The poor little fellow, in his shirt, came and offered me his +cheek to kiss. Whenever I dined in the city, I used to bring him some +of the dessert, and, in spite of his sleepy eyes, he soon found his way +to my pockets. + +You see, Fritz, what makes grandfathers happy is to find out how bright +and sensible their grandchildren are. + +Even little Esdras, whom Sorle was rocking, understood at once that +something unusual was going on; he stretched out his little hands to +me, as if to say, "I like cake too!" + +We were all of us very happy. At length, having sat down, I gave them +an account of the day, setting forth the eloquence of Burguet, and the +poor deserter's happiness. They all listened attentively. Safel, +seated on my knees, whispered to me, "We have sold three hundred +francs' worth of brandy!" + +This news pleased me greatly: when one makes an outlay, he ought to +profit by it. + +About ten o'clock, after Zeffen had wished us good-night, I went down +and shut the door, and put the key underneath for the sergeant, if he +should come in late. + +While we were going to bed, Sorle repeated what Safel had said, adding +that we should be in easy circumstances when the blockade was over, and +that the Lord had helped us in the midst of great calamities. + +We were happy and without fear of the future. + + + + +XVI + +A SORTIE OF THE GARRISON + +Nothing extraordinary occurred for several days. The governor had the +plants and bushes growing in the crevices of the ramparts torn away, to +make desertion less easy, and he forbade the officers being too rough +with the men, which had a good effect. + +At this time, hundreds of thousands of Austrians, Russians, Bavarians, +and Wurtemburgers, by squadrons and regiments, passed around the city +beyond range of our cannon, and marched upon Paris. + +Then there were terrible battles in Champagne, but we knew nothing of +them. + +The uniforms changed every day outside the city; our old soldiers on +top of the ramparts recognized all the different nations they had been +fighting for twenty years. + +Our sergeant came regularly after the call, to take me upon the arsenal +bastion; citizens were there all the time, talking about the invasion, +which did not come to an end. + +It was wonderful! In the direction of St. Jean, on the edge of the +forest of La Bonne-Fontaine, we saw, for hours at a time, cavalry and +infantry defiling, and then convoys of powder and balls, and then +cannon, and then files of bayonets, helmets, red and green and blue +coats, lances, peasants' wagons covered with cloth--all these passed, +passed like a river. + +On this broad white plateau, surrounded by forests, we could see +everything. + +Now and then some Cossacks or dragoons would leave the main body, and +push on galloping to the very foot of the glacis, in the lane _des +Dames_, or near the little chapel. Instantly one of our old marine +artillerymen would stretch out his gray mustaches upon a rampart gun, +and slowly take aim; the bystanders would all gather round him, even +the children, who would creep between your legs, fearless of balls or +shells--and the heavy rifle-gun would go off! + +Many a time I have seen the Cossack or Uhlan fall from his saddle, and +the horse rush back to the squadron with his bridle on his neck. The +people would shout with joy; they would climb up on the ramparts and +look down, and the gunner would rub his hands and say, "One more out of +the way!" + +At other times these old men, with their ragged cloaks full of holes, +would bet a couple of sous as to who should bring down this sentinel or +that vidette, on the Mittelbronn or Bichelberg hill. + +It was so far that they needed good eyes to see the one they +designated; but these men, accustomed to the sea, can discern +everything as far as the eye can reach. + +"Come, Paradis, there he is!" one would say. + +"Yes, there he is! Lay down your two sous; there are mine!" + +And they would fire. They would go on as if it were a game of +ninepins. God knows how many men they killed for the sake of their two +sous. Every morning about nine o'clock I found these marines in my +shop, drinking "to the Cossack," as they said. The last drop they +poured into their hands, to strengthen their nerves, and started off +with rounded backs, calling out: + +"Hey! good-day, Father Moses! The kaiserlich is very well!" + +I do not think that I ever saw so many people in my life as in those +months of January and February, 1814; they were like the locusts of +Egypt! How the earth could produce so many people I could not +comprehend. + +I was naturally greatly troubled on account of it, and the other +citizens also, as I need not say; but our sergeant laughed and winked. + +"Look, Father Moses!" said he, pointing from Quatre-Vents to +Bichelberg--"all these that are passing by, all that have passed, and +all that are going to pass, are to enrich the soil of Champagne and +Lorraine! The Emperor is down there, waiting for them in a good +place--he will fall upon them! The thunder-bolt of Austerlitz, of +Jena, of Wagram, is all ready--it can wait no longer! Then they will +file back in retreat; but our armies will follow them, with our +bayonets in their backs, and we shall go out from here, and flank them +off. Not one shall escape. Their account is settled. And then will +be the time for you to have old clothes and other things to sell, +Father Moses! He! he! he! How fat you will grow!" + +He was merry at the thought of it; but you may suppose, Fritz, that I +did not count much upon those uniforms that were running across the +fields; I would much rather they had been a thousand leagues away. + +Such are men--some are glad and others miserable from the same cause. +The sergeant was so confident that sometimes he persuaded me, and I +thought as he did. + +We would go down the rampart street together, he would go to the +cantine where they had begun to distribute siege-rations, or perhaps he +would go home with me, take his little glass of cherry-brandy, and +explain to me the Emperor's grand strokes since '96 in Italy. I did +not understand anything about it, but I made believe that I understood, +which answered all the purpose. + +There came envoys, too, sometimes on the road from Nancy, sometimes +from Saverne or Metz. They raised, at a distance, the little white +flag; one of their trumpeters sounded and then withdrew; the officer of +the guard received the envoy and bandaged his eyes, then he went under +escort through the city to the governor's house. But what these envoys +told or demanded never transpired in the city; the council of defence +alone were informed of it. + +We lived confined within our walls as if we were in the middle of the +sea, and you cannot believe how that weighs upon one after a while, how +depressing and overpowering it is not to be able to go out even upon +the glacis. Old men who had been nailed for ten years to their +arm-chairs, and who never thought of moving, were oppressed by grief at +knowing that the gates remained shut. And then every one wants to know +what is going on, to see strangers and talk of the affairs of the +country--no one knows how necessary these things are until he has had +experience like ours. The meanest peasant, the lowest man in Dagsburg +who might have chanced to come into the city, would have been received +like a god; everybody would have run to see him and ask for the news +from France. + +Ah! those are right who hold that liberty is the greatest of blessings, +for it is insupportable being shut up in a prison--let it be as large +as France. Men are made to come and go, to talk and write, and live +together, to carry on trade, to tell the news; and if you take these +from them, you leave nothing desirable. + +Governments do not understand this simple matter; they think that they +are stronger when they prevent men from living at their ease, and at +last everybody is tired of them. The true power of a sovereign is +always in proportion to the liberty he can give, and not to that which +he is obliged to take away. The allies had learned this for Napoleon, +and thence came their confidence. + +The saddest thing of all was that, toward the end of January, the +citizens began to be in want. I cannot say that money was scarce, +because a centime never went out of the city, but everything was dear; +what three weeks before was worth two sous now cost twenty! This has +often led me to think that scarcity of money is one of the fooleries +invented by scoundrels to deceive the weak-minded. What else can make +money scarce? You are not poor with two sous, if they are enough to +buy your bread, wine, meat, clothes, etc.; but if you need twenty times +more to buy these things, then not only are you poor, but the whole +country is poor. There is no want of money when everything is cheap; +it is always scarce when the necessaries of life are dear. + +So, when people are shut up as we were, it is very fortunate to be able +to sell more than you buy. My brandy sold for three francs the quart, +but at the same time we needed bread, oil, potatoes, and their prices +were all proportionately high. + +One morning old Mother Queru came to my shop weeping; she had eaten +nothing for two days! and yet that was the least thing, said she; she +missed nothing but her glass of wine, which I gave her gratis. She +gave me a hundred blessings and went away happy. A good many others +would have liked their glass of wine! I have seen old men in despair +because they had nothing to snuff; they even went so far as to snuff +ashes; some at this time smoked the leaves of the large walnut-tree by +the arsenal, and liked it well. + +Unfortunately, all this was but the beginning of want: later we learned +to fast for the glory of his Majesty. + +Toward the end of February, it became cold again. Every evening they +fired a hundred shells upon us, but we became accustomed to all that, +till it seemed quite a thing of course. As soon as the shell burst +everybody ran to put out the fire, which was an easy matter, since +there were tubs full of water ready in every house. + +Our guns replied to the enemy; but as after ten o'clock the Russians +fired only with field-pieces, our men could aim only at their fire, +which was changing continually, and it was not easy to reach them. + +Sometimes the enemy fired incendiary balls; these are balls pierced +with three nails in a triangle, and filled with such inflammable matter +that it could be extinguished only by throwing the ball under water, +which was done. + +We had as yet had no fires; but our outposts had fallen back, and the +allies drew closer and closer around the city. They occupied the +Ozillo farm, Pernette's tile-kiln, and the Maisons-Rouges, which had +been abandoned by our troops. Here they intended to pass the winter +pleasantly. These were Wurtemburg, Bavarian, and Baden troops, and +other landwehr, who replaced in Alsace the regular troops that had left +for the interior. + +We could plainly see their sentinels in long, grayish-blue coats, flat +helmets, and muskets on their shoulders, walking slowly in the poplar +alley which leads to the tile-kiln. + +From thence these troops could any moment, on a dark night, enter the +trenches, and even attempt to force a postern. + +They were in large numbers and denied themselves nothing, having three +or four villages around them to furnish their provisions, and the great +fires of the tile-kiln to keep them warm. + +Sometimes a Russian battalion relieved them, but only for a day or two, +being obliged to continue its route. These Russians bathed in the +little pond behind the building, in spite of the ice and snow which +filled it. + +All of them, Russians, Wurtemburgers, and Baden men, fired upon our +sentinels, and we wondered that our governor had not stopped them with +our balls. But one day the sergeant came in joyfully, and whispered to +me, winking: + +"Get up early to-morrow morning, Father Moses; don't say a word to any +one, and follow me. You will see something that will make you laugh." + +"All right, sergeant!" said I. + +He went to bed at once, and long before day, about five o'clock, I +heard him jump out of bed, which astonished me the more, as I had not +heard the call. + +I rose softly. Sorle sleepily asked me: "What is it, Moses?" + +"Go to sleep again, Sorle," I replied; "the sergeant told me that he +wanted to show me something." + +She said no more, and I finished dressing myself. + +Just then the sergeant knocked at the door; I blew out the candle, and +we went down. It was very dark. + +We heard a faint noise in the direction of the barracks; the sergeant +went toward it, saying: "Go up on the bastion; we are going to attack +the tile-kiln." + +I ran up the street at once. As I came upon the ramparts I saw in the +shadow of the bastion on the right our gunners at their pieces. They +did not stir, and all around was still; matches lighted and set in the +ground gave the only light, and shone like stars in the darkness. + +Five or six citizens, in the secret, like myself, stood motionless at +the entrance of the postern. The usual cries, "Sentries, attention!" +were answered around the city; and without, from the part of the enemy, +we heard the cries "_Verda!_" and "_Souida!_"* + + +* Who goes there? + + +It was very cold, a dry cold, notwithstanding the fog. + +Soon, from the direction of the square in the interior of the city, a +number of men went up the street; if they had kept step the enemy would +have heard them from the distance upon the glacis; but they came +pell-mell, and turned near us into the postern stair-way. It took full +ten minutes for them to pass. You can imagine whether I watched them, +and yet I could not recognize our sergeant in the darkness. + +The two companies formed again in the trenches after their defiling, +and all was still. + +My feet were perfectly numb, it was so cold; but curiosity kept me +there. + +At last, after about half an hour, a pale line stretched behind the +bottom-land of Fiquet, around the woods of La Bonne-Fontaine. Captain +Rolfo, the other citizens, and myself, leaned against the rampart, and +looked at the snow-covered plain, where some German patrols were +wandering in the fog, and nearer to us, at the foot of the glacis, the +Wurtemburg sentinel stood motionless in the poplar alley which leads to +the large shed of the tile-kiln. + +Everything was still gray and indistinct; though the winter sun, as +white as snow, rose above the dark line of firs. Our soldiers stood +motionless, with grounded arms, in the covered ways. The "_Verdas!_" +and "_Souidas!_" went their rounds. It grew lighter every moment. + +No one would have believed that a fight was preparing, when six o'clock +sounded from the mayoralty, and suddenly our two companies, without +command, started, shouldering their arms, from the covered ways, and +silently descended the glacis. + +In less than a minute, they reached the road which stretches along the +gardens, and defiled to the left, following the hedges. + +You cannot imagine my fright when I found that the fight was about to +begin. It was not yet clear daylight, but still the enemy's sentinel +saw the line of bayonets filing behind the hedges, and called out in a +terrible way: "_Verda!_" + +[Illustration: THE SORTIE FROM THE LIME-KILN.] + +"Forward!" replied Captain Vigneron, in a voice like thunder, and the +heavy soles of our soldiers sounded on the hard ground like an +avalanche. + +The sentinel fired, and then ran up the alley, shouting I know not +what. Fifteen of the landwehr, who formed the outpost under the old +shed used for drying bricks, started at once; they did not have time +for repentance, but were all massacred without mercy. + +We could not see very well at that distance, through the hedges and +poplars, but after the post was carried, the firing of the musketry and +the horrible cries were heard even in the city. + +All the unfortunate landwehr who were quartered in the Pernette +farm-house--a large number of whom were undressed, like respectable men +at home, so as to sleep more comfortably--jumped from the windows in +their pantaloons, in their drawers, in their shirts, with their +cartridge-boxes on their backs, and ranged themselves behind the +tile-kiln, in the large Seltier meadow. Their officers urged them on, +and gave their orders in the midst of the tumult. + +There must have been six or seven hundred of them there, almost naked +in the snow, and, notwithstanding their being thus surprised, they +opened a running fire which was well sustained, when our two pieces on +the bastion began to take part in the contest. + +Oh! what carnage! + +Looking down upon them, you should have seen the bullets hit, and the +shirts fly in the air! And, what was worst for these poor wretches, +they had to close ranks, because, after destroying everything in the +tile-kiln, our soldiers went out to make an attack with their bayonets! + +What a situation!--just imagine it, Fritz, for respectable citizens, +merchants, bankers, brewers, innkeepers--peaceable men who wanted +nothing but peace and quietness. + +I have always thought, since then, that the landwehr system is a very +bad one, and that it is much better to pay a good army of volunteers, +who are attached to the country, and know that their pay, pensions, and +decorations come from the nation and not from the government; young men +devoted to their country like those of '92, and full of enthusiasm, +because they are respected and honored in proportion to their +sacrifices. Yes, this is what they ought to be--and not men who are +thinking of their wives and children. + +Our balls struck down these poor fathers and husbands by the dozen. To +add to all these abominations, two other companies, sent out with the +greatest secrecy by the council of defence from the posterns of the +guard and of the German gate, and which came up, one by the Saverne +road, and the other by the road of Petit-Saint-Jean, now began to +outflank them, and forming behind them, fired upon them in the rear. + +It must be confessed that these old soldiers of the Empire had a +diabolical talent for stratagem! Who would ever have imagined such a +stroke! + +On seeing this, the remnant of the landwehr disbanded on the great +white plain like a whirlwind of sparrows. Those who had not had time +to put on their shoes did not mind the stones or briers or thorns of +the Fiquet bottom; they ran like stags, the stoutest as fast as the +rest. + +Our soldiers followed them as skirmishers, stopping not a second except +to make ready and fire. All the ground in front, up to the old beech +in the middle of the meadow of Quatre-Vents, was covered with their +bodies. + +Their colonel, a burgomaster doubtless, galloped before them on +horseback, his shirt flying out behind him. + +If the Baden soldiers, quartered in the village, had not come to their +assistance, they would all have been exterminated. But two battalions +of Baden men being deployed at the right of Quatre-Vents, our trumpets +sounded the recall, and the four companies formed in the alley _des +Dames_ to await them. + +The Baden soldiers then halted, and the last of the Wurtemburgers +passed behind them, glad to escape from such a terrible destruction. +They could well say: "I know what war is--I have seen it at the worst!" + +It was now seven o'clock--the whole city was on the ramparts. Soon a +thick smoke rose above the tile-kiln and the surrounding buildings; +some sappers had gone out with fagots and set it on fire. It was all +burned to cinders; nothing remained but a great black space, and some +rubbish behind the poplars. + +Our four companies, seeing that the Baden soldiers did not mean to +attack them, returned quietly, the trumpeter leading. + +Long before this, I had gone down to the square, near the German gate, +to meet our troops as they came back. It was one of the sights which I +shall never forget; the post under arms, the veterans hanging by the +chains of the lowered drawbridge; the men, women, and children pushing +in the street; and outside, on the ramparts, the trumpets sounding, and +answered from the distance by the echoes of the bastions and half-moon; +the wounded, who, pale, tattered, covered with blood, came in first, +supported on the shoulders of their comrades; Lieutenant Schnindret, in +one of the tile-kiln armchairs, his face covered with sweat, with a +bullet in his abdomen, shouting with thick voice and extended hand, +"_Vive l'Empereur!_"; the soldiers who threw the Wurtemburg commander +from his litter to put one of our own in it; the drums under the gate +beating the march, while the troops, with arms at will, and bread and +all kinds of provisions stuck on their bayonets, entered proudly in the +midst of the shouts: "_Hurra for the Sixth Light Infantry!_" These are +things which only old people can boast of having seen! + +Ah, Fritz, men are not what they once were! In my time, foreigners +paid the cost of war. The Emperor Napoleon had that virtue; he ruined +not France, but his enemies. Nowadays we pay for our own glory. + +And, in those times, the soldiers brought back booty, sacks, +epaulettes, cloaks, officers' sashes, watches, etc., etc.! They +remembered that General Bonaparte had said to them in 1796: "You need +clothes and shoes; the Republic owes you much, she can give you +nothing. I am going to lead you into the richest country in the world; +there you will find honors, glory, riches!" In fine, I saw at once +that we were going to sell glasses of wine at a great rate. + +As the sergeant passed I called to him from the distance, "Sergeant!" + +He saw me in the crowd, and we shook hands joyfully. "All right, +Father Moses! All right!" he said. + +Everybody laughed. + +Then, without waiting for the end of the procession, I ran to the +market to open my shop. + +Little Safel had also understood that we were going to have a +profitable day, for, in the midst of the crowd, he had come and pulled +my coat-tails, and said, "I have the key of the market; I have it; let +us make haste! Let us try to get there before Frichard!" + +Whatever natural wit a child may have, it shows itself at once; it is +truly a gift of God. + +So we ran to the shop. I opened my windows, and Safel remained while I +went home to eat a morsel, and get a good quantity of sous and small +change. + +Sorle and Zeffen were at their counter selling small glassfuls. +Everything went well as usual. But a quarter of an hour later, when +the soldiers had broken ranks and put back their muskets in their +places at the barracks, the crowd at my shop in the market, of people +wishing to sell me coats, sacks, watches, pistols, cloaks, epaulettes, +etc., was so great that without Safel's help I never could have got out +of it. + +I got all these things for almost nothing. Men of this sort never +trouble themselves about to-morrow; their only thought was to live well +from one day to another, to have tobacco, brandy, and the other good +things which are never wanting in a garrisoned town. + +That day, in six hours' time, I refurnished my shop with coats, cloaks, +pantaloons, and thick boots of genuine German leather, of the first +quality, and I bought things of all sorts--nearly fifteen hundred +pounds' worth--which I afterward sold for six or seven times more than +they cost me. All those landwehr were well-to-do, and even rich +citizens, with good, substantial clothes. + +The soldiers, too, sold me a good many watches, which Goulden the old +watchmaker did not want, because they were taken from the dead. + +But what gave me more pleasure than all the rest, was that Frichard, +who was sick for three or four days, could not come and open his shop. +It makes me laugh now to think of it. It gave the rascal that green +jaundice which never left him as long as he lived. + +At noon Safel went to fetch our dinner in a basket; we ate under the +shed so as not to lose custom, and could not leave for a minute till +night. Scarcely had one set gone, before two and often three others +came at once. + +I was sinking with fatigue, and so was Safel; nothing but our love of +trade sustained us. + +Another pleasant thing which I recall is that, on going home a few +minutes before seven, we saw at a distance that our other shop was +full. My wife and daughter had not been able to close it; they had +raised the price, and the soldiers did not even notice it,--it seemed +all right to them; so that not only the French money which I had just +given them, but also Wurtemburg florins came to my pocket. + +Two trades which help each other along are an excellent thing, Fritz: +remember that! Without my brandies I should not have had the money to +buy so many goods, and without the market where I gave ready money for +the booty, the soldiers would not have had wherewith to buy my brandy. +This shows us plainly that the Lord favors orderly and peaceable men, +provided they know how to make the best use of their opportunities. + +At length, as we could not do more, we were obliged to close the shop, +in spite of the protestations of the soldiers, and defer business till +to-morrow. + +About nine o'clock, after supper, we all sat down together around the +large lamp, to count our gains. I made rolls of three francs each, and +on the chair next me the pile reached almost to the top of the table. +Little Safel put the white pieces in a wooden bowl. It was a pleasant +sight to us all, and Sorle said: "We have sold twice as much as usual. +The more we raise the price the better it sells." + +I was going to reply that still we must use moderation in all +things--for these women, even the best of them, do not know that--when +the sergeant came in to take his little glass. He wore his foraging +coat, and carried hung across his cape a kind of bag of red leather. + +"He, he, he!" said he, as he saw the rolls. "The devil! the devil! +You ought to be satisfied with this day's work, Father Moses?" + +"Yes, not bad, sergeant," I joyfully replied. + +"I think," said he, as he sat down and tasted the little glass of +cherry-brandy, which Zeffen had just poured out for him, "I think that +after one or two sorties more, you will do for colonel of the +shopkeepers' regiment. So much the better; I am very glad of it!" + +Then, laughing heartily, he said, + +"He, Father Moses! see what I have here; these rascals of kaiserlichs +deny themselves nothing." + +At the same time he opened his bag, and began to draw out a pair of +mittens lined with fox-skin, then some good woollen stockings, and a +large knife with a horn handle and blades of very fine steel. He +opened the blades: + +"There is everything here," said he, "a pruning-knife, a saw, small +knives and large ones, even to a file for nails." + +"For finger-nails, sergeant!" said I. + +"Ah! very likely!" said he. "This big landwehr was as nice as a new +crown-piece. He would be likely to file his finger-nails. But wait!" + +My wife and children, leaning over us, looked on with eager eyes. +Thrusting his hand into a sort of portfolio in the side of the bag, he +drew out a handsome miniature, surrounded with a circle of gold in the +shape of a watch, but larger. + +"See! What ought this to be worth?" + +I looked, then Sorle, then Zeffen, and Safel. We were all surprised at +seeing a work of such beauty, and even touched, for the miniature +represented a fair young woman and two lovely children, as fresh as +rose-buds. + +"Well, what do you think of that?" asked the sergeant. + +"It is very beautiful," said Sorle. + +"Yes, but what is it worth?" + +I took the miniature and examined it. + +"To any one else, sergeant," said I, "I should say that it was worth +fifty francs; but the gold alone is worth more, and I should estimate +it at a hundred francs; we can weigh it." + +"And the portrait, Father Moses?" + +"The portrait is worth nothing to me, and I will give it back to you. +Such things do not sell in this country; they are of no value except to +the family." + +"Very well," said he, "we will talk about that by and by." + +He put back the miniature into the bag. + +"Do you read German?" he asked. + +"Very well." + +"Ah, good! I am curious to hear what this kaiserlich had to write. +See, it is a letter! He was keeping it doubtless for the +baggage-master to send it to Germany. But we came too soon! What does +it say?" + +He handed me a letter addressed to Madame Roedig, Stuttgart, No. 6 +Bergstrasse. That letter, Fritz, here it is. Sorle has kept it; it +will tell you more about the landwehr than I can. + + +"Bichelberg, Feb. 25, 1814. + +"Dear Aurelia: Thy good letter of January 29th reached Coblentz too +late; the regiment was on its way to Alsace. + +"We have had a great many discomforts, from rain and snow. The +regiment came first to Bitche, one of the most terrible forts possible, +built upon rocks up in the sky. We were to take part in blockading it, +but a new order sent us on farther to the fort of Lutzelstein, on the +mountain, where we remained two days at the village of Petersbach, to +summon that little place to surrender. The veterans who held it having +replied by cannon, our colonel did not judge it necessary to storm it, +and, thank God! we received orders to go and blockade another fortress +surrounded by good villages which furnish us provisions in abundance; +this is Phalsburg, a couple of leagues from Saverne. We relieve, here, +the Austrian regiment of Vogelgesang, which has left for Lorraine. + +"Thy good letter has followed me everywhere, and it fills me now with +joy. Embrace little Sabrina and our dear little Henry for me a hundred +times, and receive my embraces yourself, too, thou dear, adored wife! + +"Ah! when shall we be together again in our little pharmacy? When +shall I see again my vials nicely labelled upon their shelves, with the +heads of AEsculapius and Hippocrates above the door? When shall I take +my pestle, and mix my drugs again after the prescribed formulas? When +shall I have the joy of sitting again in my comfortable arm-chair, in +front of a good fire, in our back shop, and hear Henry's little wooden +horse roll upon the floor,--Henry whom I so long for? And thou, dear, +adored wife, when wilt thou exclaim: 'It is my Henry!' as thou seest me +return crowned with palms of victory." + + +"These Germans," interrupted the sergeant, "are blockheads as well as +asses! They are to have 'palms of victory!' What a silly letter!" + +But Sorle and Zeffen listened as I read, with tears in their eyes. +They held our little ones in their arms, and I, too, thinking that +Baruch might have been in the same condition as this poor man, was +greatly moved. + +Now, Fritz, hear the end: + + +"We are here in an old tile-kiln, within range of the cannon of the +fort. A few shells are fired upon the city every evening, by order of +the Russian general, Berdiaiw, with the hope of making the inhabitants +decide to open the gates. That must be before long; they are short of +provisions! Then we shall be comfortably lodged in the citizens' +houses, till the end of this glorious campaign; and that will be soon, +for the regular armies have all passed without resistance, and we hear +daily of great victories in Champagne. Bonaparte is in full retreat; +field-marshals Bluecher and Schwartzenberg have united their forces, and +are only five or six days' march from Paris----" + + +"What? What? What is that? What does he say?" stammered out the +sergeant, leaning over toward the letter. "Read that again!" + +I looked at him; he was very pale, and his cheeks shook with anger. + +"He says that generals Bluecher and Schwartzenberg are near Paris." + +"Near Paris! They! The rascals!" he faltered out. + +Suddenly, with a bad look on his face, he gave a low laugh and said: + +"Ah! thou meanest to take Phalsburg, dost thou? Thou meanest to return +to thy land of sauerkraut with palms of victory? He! he! he! I have +given thee thy palms of victory!" + +He made the motions of pricking with his bayonet as he spoke, +"One--_two_--hop!" + +It made us all tremble only to look at him. + +"Yes, Father Moses, so it is," said he, emptying his glass by little +sips. "I have nailed this sort of an apothecary to the door of the +tile-kiln. He made up a funny face--his eyes starting from his head. +His Aurelia will have to expect him a good while! But never mind! +Only, Madame Sorle, I assure you that it is a lie. You must not +believe a word he says. The Emperor will give it to them! Don't be +troubled." + +I did not wish to go on. I felt myself grow cold, and I finished the +letter quickly, passing over three-quarters of it which contained no +information, only compliments for friends and acquaintances. + +The sergeant himself had had enough of it, and went out soon afterward, +saying, "Good-night! Throw that in the fire!" + +Then I put the letter aside, and we all sat looking at each other for +some minutes. I opened the door. The sergeant was in his room at the +end of the passage, and I said, in a low voice: + +"What a horrible thing! Not only to kill the father of a family like a +fly, but to laugh about it afterward!" + +"Yes," replied Sorle. "And the worst of it is that he is not a bad +man. He loves the Emperor too well, that is all!" + +The information contained in the letter caused us much serious +reflection, and that night, notwithstanding our stroke of good fortune +in our sales, I woke more than once, and thought of this terrible war, +and wondered what would become of the country if Napoleon were no +longer its master. But these questions were above my comprehension, +and I did not know how to answer them. + + + + +XVII + +FAMINE AND FEVER + +After this story of the landwehr, we were afraid of the sergeant, +though he did not know it, and came regularly to take his glass of +cherry-brandy. Sometimes in the evening he would hold the bottle +before our lamp, and exclaim: + +"It is getting low, Father Moses, it is getting low! We shall soon be +put upon half-rations, and then quarter, and so on. It is all the +same; if a drop is left, anything more than the smell, in six months, +Trubert will be very glad." + +He laughed, and I thought with indignation: + +"You will be satisfied with a drop! What are you in want of? The city +storehouses are bomb-proof, the fires at the guard-house are burning +every day, the market furnishes every soldier with his ration of fresh +meat, while respectable citizens are glad if they can get potatoes and +salt meat!" + +This is the way I felt in my ill-humor, while I treated him pleasantly, +all the same, on account of his terrible wickedness. + +And it was the truth, Fritz, even our children had nothing more +nourishing to eat than soup made of potatoes and salt beef, which cause +many dangerous maladies. + +The garrison had no lack of anything; but, notwithstanding, the +governor was all the time proclaiming that the visits were to be +recommenced, and that those who should be found delinquent should be +punished with the rigor of military law. Those people wanted to have +everything for themselves; but nobody minded them, everybody hid what +he could. + +Fortunate in those times was he who kept a cow in his cellar, with some +hay and straw for fodder; milk and butter were beyond all price. +Fortunate was he who owned a few hens; a fresh egg, at the end of +February, was valued at fifteen sous, and they were not to be had even +at that price. The price of fresh meat went up, so to speak, from hour +to hour, and we did not ask if it was beef or horse-flesh. + +The council of defence had sent away the paupers of the city before the +blockade, but a large number of poor people remained. A good many +slipped out at night into the trenches by one of the posterns; they +would go and dig up roots from under the snow, and cut the nettles in +the bastions to boil for spinach. The sentries fired from above, but +what will not a man risk for food? It is better to feel a ball than to +suffer with hunger. + +We needed only to meet these emaciated creatures, these women dragging +themselves along the walls, these pitiful children, to feel that famine +had come, and we often said to ourselves: + +"If the Emperor does not come and help us, in a month we shall be like +these wretched creatures! What good will our money do us, when a +radish will cost a hundred francs?" + +Then, Fritz, we smiled no more as we saw the little ones eating around +the table; we looked at each other, and this glance was enough to make +us understand each other. + +The good sense and good feeling of a brave woman are seen at times like +this. Sorle had never spoken to me about our provisions; I knew how +prudent she was, and supposed that we must have provisions hidden +somewhere, without being entirely sure of it. So, at evening, as we +sat at our meagre supper, the fear that our children might want the +necessary food sometimes led me to say: + +"Eat! feast away! I am not hungry. I want an omelet or a chicken. +Potatoes do not agree with me." + +I would laugh, but Sorle knew very well what I was thinking. + +"Come, Moses," she said to me one day; "we are not as badly off as you +think; and if we should come to it, ah, well! do not be troubled, we +shall find some way of getting along! So long as others have something +to live upon, we shall not perish, more than they." + +She gave me courage, and I ate cheerfully, I had so much confidence in +her. + +That same evening, after Zeffen and the children had gone to bed, Sorle +took the lamp, and led me to her hiding-place. + +Under the house we had three cellars, very small and very low, +separated by lattices. Against the last of these lattices, Sorle had +thrown bundles of straw up to the very top; but after removing the +straw, we went in, and I saw at the farther end, two bags of potatoes, +a bag of flour, and on the little oil-cask a large piece of salt beef. + +We stayed there more than an hour, to look, and calculate, and think. +These provisions might serve us for a month, and those in the large +cellar under the street, which we had declared to the commissary of +provisions, a fortnight. So that Sorle said to me as we went up: + +"You see that, with economy, we have what will do for six weeks. A +time of great want is now beginning, and if the Emperor does not come +before the end of six weeks, the city will surrender. Meanwhile, we +must get along with potatoes and salt meat." + +She was right, but every day I saw how the children were suffering from +this diet. We could see that they grew thin, especially little David; +his large bright eyes, his hollow cheeks, his increasing dejected look, +made my heart ache. + +I held him, I caressed him; I whispered to him that, when the winter +was over, we would go to Saverne, and his father would take him to +drive in his carriage. He would look at me dreamily, and then lay his +head upon my shoulder, with his arm around my neck, without answering. +At last he refused to eat. + +Zeffen, too, became disheartened; she would often sob, and take her +babe from me, and say that she wanted to go, that she wanted to see +Baruch! You do not know what these troubles are, Fritz; a father's +troubles for his children; they are the cruelest of all! No child can +imagine how his parents love him, and what they suffer when he is +unhappy. + +But what was to be done in the midst of such calamities? Many other +families in France were still more to be pitied than we. + +During all this time, you must remember that we had the patrols, the +shells in the evening, requisition and notices, the call to arms at the +two barracks and in front of the mayoralty, the cries of "Fire!" in the +night, the noise of the fire-engines, the arrival of the envoys, the +rumors spread through the city that our armies were retreating, and +that the city was to be burned to the ground! + +The less people know the more they invent. + +It is best to tell the simple truth. Then every one would take +courage, for, during all such times, I have always seen that the truth, +even in the greatest calamities, is never so terrible as these +inventions. The republicans defended themselves so well, because they +knew everything, nothing was concealed from them, and every one +considered the affairs of his nation as his own. + +But when men's own affairs are hidden from them, how can they have +confidence? An honest man has nothing to conceal, and I say it is the +same with an honest government. + +In short, bad weather, cold, want, rumors of all kinds, increased our +miseries. Men like Burguet, whom we had always seen firm, became sad; +all that they could say to us was: + +"We shall see!--we must wait!" The soldiers again began to desert, and +were shot! + +Our brandy-selling always kept on: I had already emptied seven pipes of +spirit, all my debts were paid, my storehouse at the market was full of +goods, and I had eighteen thousand francs in the cellar; but what is +money, when we are trembling for the life of those we love? + +On the sixth of March, about nine o'clock in the evening, we had just +finished supper as usual, and the sergeant was smoking his pipe, with +his legs crossed, near the window, and looking at us without speaking. + +It was the hour when the bombarding began; we heard the first +cannon-shots, behind the Fiquet bottom-land; a cannon-shot from the +outposts had answered them; that had somewhat roused us, for we were +all thoughtful. + +"Father Moses," said the sergeant, "the children are pale!" + +"I know it very well," I replied, sorrowfully. + +He said no more, and as Zeffen had just gone out to weep, he took +little David on his knee, and looked at him for a long time. Sorle +held little Esdras asleep in her arms. Safel took off the table-cloth +and rolled up the napkins, to put them back in the closet. + +"Yes," said the sergeant. "We must take care, Father Moses; we will +talk about it another time." + +I looked at him with surprise; he emptied his pipe at the edge of the +stove, and went out, making a sign for me to follow him. Zeffen came +in, and I took a candle from her hand. The sergeant led me to his +little room at the end of the passage, shut the door, sat down on the +foot of the bed, and said: + +"Father Moses, do not be frightened--but the typhus has just broken out +again in the city; five soldiers were taken to the hospital this +morning; the commandant of the place, Moulin, is taken. I hear, too, +of a woman and three children!" + +He looked at me, and I felt cold all over. + +"Yes," said he, "I have known this disease for a long time; we had it +in Poland, in Russia, after the retreat, and in Germany. It always +comes from poor nourishment." + +Then I could not help sobbing and exclaiming: + +"Ah, tell me! What can I do? If I could give my life for my children, +it would all be well! But what can I do?" + +"To-morrow, Father Moses, I will bring you my portion of meat, and you +shall have soup made of it for your children. Madame Sorle may take +the piece at the market, or, if you prefer, I will bring it myself. +You shall have all my portions of fresh meat till the blockade is over, +Father Moses." + +I was so moved by this, that I went to him and took his hand, saying: + +"Sergeant, you are a noble man! Forgive me, I have thought evil of +you." + +"What about?" said he, scowling. + +"About the landwehr at the tile-kiln!" + +"Ah, good! That is a different thing! I do not care about that," said +he. "If you knew all the kaiserlichs that I have despatched these ten +years, you would have thought more evil of me. But that is not what we +are talking about; you accept, Father Moses?" + +"And you, sergeant," said I, "what will you have to eat?" + +"Do not be troubled about that; Sergeant Trubert has never been in +want!" + +I wanted to thank him. "Good!" said he, "that is all understood. I +cannot give you a pike, or a fat goose, but a good soup in blockade +times is worth something, too." + +He laughed and shook hands with me. As for myself I was quite +overcome, and my eyes were full of tears. + +"Let us go; good-night!" said he, as he led me to the door. "It will +all come out right! Tell Madame Sorle that it will all come out right!" + +I blessed that man as I went out, and I told it all to Sorle, who was +still more affected by it than myself. We could not refuse; it was for +the children! and during the last week there had been nothing but +horse-meat in the market. + +So the next morning we had fresh meat to make soup for those poor +little ones. But the dreadful malady was already upon us, Fritz! Now, +when I think of it, after all these years, I am quite overcome. +However, I cannot complain; before going to take the bit of meat, I had +consulted our old rabbi about the quality of this meat according to the +law, and he had replied: + +"The first law is to save Israel; but how can Israel be saved if the +children perish?" + +But after a while I remembered that other law: + +"The life of the flesh is in the blood, therefore I said unto the +children of Israel: Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh, for +the life of all flesh is the blood thereof; whosoever eateth it shall +be cut off; and whosoever eateth of any sick beast shall be unclean." + +In my great misery the words of the Lord came to me, and I wept. + +All these animals had been sick for six weeks; they lived in the mire, +exposed to the snow and wind, between the arsenal and guard bastions. + +The soldiers, almost all of whom were sons of peasants, ought to have +known that they could not live in the open air, in such cold weather; a +shelter could easily have been made. But when officers take the whole +charge, nobody else thinks of anything; they even forget their own +village trades. And if, unfortunately, their commanders do not give +the order, nothing is done. + +This is the reason that the animals had neither flesh nor fat; this is +the reason that they were nothing but miserable, trembling carcasses, +and their suffering, unhealthy flesh had become unclean, according to +the law of God. + +Many of the soldiers died. The wind brought to the city the bad air +from the bodies, scattered by hundreds around the tile-kiln, the Ozillo +farm, and in the gardens, and this also caused much sickness. + +The justice of the Lord is shown in all things; when the living neglect +their duties toward the dead, they perish. + +I have often remembered these things when it was too late, so that I +think of them only with grief. + + + + +XVIII + +DEATH OF LITTLE DAVID + +The most painful of all my recollections, Fritz, is the way in which +that terrible disease came to our family. + +On the twelfth of March we heard of a large number of men, women, and +children who were dying. We dared not listen; we said: + +"No one in our house is sick, the Lord watches over us!" + +After David had come, after supper, to cuddle in my arms, with his +little hand on my shoulder, I looked at him; he seemed very drowsy, but +children are always sleepy at night. Esdras was already asleep, and +Safel had just bidden us good-night. + +At last Zeffen took the child, and we all went to bed. + +That night the Russians did not fire; perhaps the typhus was among +them, too. I do not know. + +About midnight, when by God's goodness we were asleep, I heard a +terrible cry. + +I listened, and Sorle said to me: + +"It is Zeffen!" + +I rose at once, and tried to light the lamp; but I was so much agitated +that I could not find anything. + +Sorle struck a light, I drew on my pantaloons and ran to the door. But +I was hardly in the passage-way when Zeffen came out of her room like +an insane person, with her long black hair all loose. + +"The child!" she screamed. + +Sorle followed me. We went in, we leaned over the cradle. The two +children seemed to be sleeping; Esdras all rosy, David as white as snow. + +At first I saw nothing, I was so frightened, but at last I took up +David to waken him; I shook him, and called, "David!" + +And then we first saw that his eyes were open and fixed. + +"Wake him! wake him!" cried Zeffen. + +Sorle took my hands and said: + +"Quick! make a fire! heat some water!" + +And we laid him across the bed, shaking him and calling him by name. +Little Esdras began to cry. + +"Light a fire!" said Sorle again to me. "And, Zeffen, be quiet! It +does no good to cry so! Quick, quick, a fire!" + +But Zeffen cried out incessantly, "My poor child!" + +"He will soon be warm again," said Sorle; "only, Moses, make haste and +dress yourself, and run for Doctor Steinbrenner." + +She was pale and more alarmed than we, but this brave woman never lost +her presence of mind or her courage. She had made a fire, and the +fagots were crackling in the chimney. + +I ran to get my cloak, and went down, thinking to myself: + +"The Lord have mercy upon us! If the child dies I shall not survive +him! No, he is the one that I love best, I could not survive him!" + +For you know, Fritz, that the child who is most unhappy, or in the +greatest danger, is always the one that we love best; he needs us the +most; we forget the others. The Lord has ordered it so, doubtless for +the greatest good. + +I was already running in the street. + +A darker night was never known. The wind blew from the Rhine, the snow +blew about like dust; here and there the lighted windows showed where +people were watching the sick. + +My head was uncovered, yet I did not feel the cold. I cried within +myself: + +"The last day had come! That day of which the Lord has said: 'Afore +the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in +the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and +take away and cut down the branches." + +Full of these fearful thoughts, I went across the large market-place, +where the wind was tossing the old elms, full of frost. + +As the clock struck one, I pushed open Doctor Steinbrenner's door; its +large pulley rattled in the vestibule. As I was groping about, trying +to find the railing, the servant appeared with a light at the top of +the stairs. + +"Who is there?" she asked, holding the lantern before her. + +"Ah!" I replied, "tell the doctor to come immediately; we have a child +sick, very sick." + +I could not restrain my sobs. + +"Come up, Monsieur Moses," said the girl: "the doctor has just come in, +and has not gone to bed. Come up a moment and warm yourself!" + +But Father Steinbrenner had heard it all. + +"Very well, Theresa!" said he, coming out of his room; "keep the fire +burning. I shall be back in an hour at latest." + +He had already put on his large three-cornered cap, and his goat's-hair +great-coat. + +We walked across the square without speaking. I went first; in a few +minutes we ascended our stairs. + +Sorle had placed a candle at the top of the stairs; I took it and led +M. Steinbrenner to the baby's room. + +All seemed quiet as we entered. Zeffen was sitting in an arm-chair +behind the door, with her head on her knees, and her shoulders +uncovered; she was no longer crying but weeping. The child was in bed. +Sorle, standing at its side, looked at us. + +The doctor laid his cap on the bureau. + +"It is too warm here," said he, "give us a little air." + +Then he went to the bed. Zeffen had risen from her chair, as pale as +death. The doctor took the lamp, and looked at our poor little David; +he raised the coverlet and lifted out the little round limbs; he +listened to the breathing. Esdras having begun to cry, he turned round +and said: "Take the other child away from this room--we must be quiet! +and besides, the air of a sick-room is not good for such small +children." + +He gave me a side look. I understood what he meant to say. It was the +typhus! I looked at my wife; she understood it all. + +I felt at that moment as if my heart were torn; I wanted to groan, but +Zeffen was there leaning over, behind us, and I said nothing; nor did +Sorle. + +The doctor asked for paper to write a prescription, and we went out +together. I led him to our room, and shut the door, and began to sob. + +"Moses," said he, "you are a man, do not weep! Remember that you ought +to set an example of courage to two poor women." + +"Is there no hope?" I asked him in a low voice, afraid of being heard. + +"It is the typhus!" said he. "We will do what we can. There, that is +the prescription; go to Tribolin's; his boy is up at night now, and he +will give you the medicine. Be quick! And then, in heaven's name, +take the other child out of that room, and your daughter too, if +possible. Try to find some one out of the family, accustomed to +sickness; the typhus is contagious." + +I said nothing. + +He took his cap and went. + +Now what can I say more? The typhus is a disease engendered by death +itself; the prophet speaks of it, when he says: + +"Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming!" + +How many have I seen die of the typhus in our hospitals, on the Saverne +hill, and elsewhere! + +When men tear each other to pieces, without mercy, why should not death +come to help them? But what had this poor babe done that it must die +so soon? This, Fritz, is the most dreadful thing, that all must suffer +for the crimes of a few. Yes, when I think that my child died of this +pestilence, which war had brought from the heart of Russia to our +homes, and which ravaged all Alsace and Lorraine for six months, +instead of accusing God, as the impious do, I accuse men. Has not God +given them reason? And when they do not use it--when they let +themselves rage against each other like brutes--is He to blame for it? + +But of what use are right ideas, when we are suffering! + +I remember that the sickness lasted for six days, and those were the +cruelest days of my life. I feared for my wife, for my daughter, for +Safel, for Esdras. I sat in a corner, listening to the babe's +breathing. Sometimes he seemed to breathe no longer. Then a chill +passed over me; I went to him and listened. And when, by chance, +Zeffen came, in spite of the doctor's prohibition, I went into a sort +of fury; I pushed her out by the shoulders, trembling. + +"But he is my child! He is my child!" she said. + +"And art thou not my child too?" said I. "I do not want you all to +die!" + +Then I burst into tears, and fell into my chair, looking straight +before me, my strength all gone; I was exhausted with grief. + +Sorle came and went, with firm-closed lips; she prepared everything, +and cared for everybody. + +At that time musk was the remedy for typhus; the house was full of +musk. Often the idea seized me that Esdras, too, was going to be sick. +Ah, if having children is the greatest happiness in the world, what +agony is it to see them suffer! How fearful to think of losing +them!--to be there, to hear their labored breathing, their delirium, to +watch their sinking from hour to hour, from minute to minute, and to +exclaim from the depths of the soul: + +"Death is near at hand! There is nothing, nothing more that can be +done to save thee, my child! I cannot give thee my life! Death does +not wish for it!" + +What heart-rending and what anguish, till the last moment when all is +over! + +Then, Fritz, money, the blockade, the famine, the general +desolation--all were forgotten. I hardly saw the sergeant open our +door every morning, and look in, asking: + +"Well, Father Moses, well?" + +I did not know what he said; I paid no attention to him. + +But, what I always think of with pleasure, what I am always proud of, +is that, in the midst of all this trouble, when Sorle, Zeffen, myself, +and everybody were beside ourselves, when we forgot all about our +business, and let everything go, little Safel at once took charge of +our shop. Every morning we heard him rise at six o'clock, go down, +open, the warehouse, take up one or two pitchers of brandy, and begin +to serve the customers. + +No one had said a word to him about it, but Safel had a genius for +trade. And if anything could console a father in such troubles, it +would be to see himself, as it were, living over again in so young a +child, and to say to himself: "At least the good race is not extinct; +it still remains to preserve common-sense in the world." Yes, it is +the only consolation which a man can have. + +Our _schabesgoie_ did the work in the kitchen, and old Lanche helped us +watch, but Safel took the charge of the shop; his mother and I thought +of nothing but our little David. + +He died in the night of the eighteenth of March, the day when the fire +broke out in Captain Cabanier's house. + +That same night two shells fell upon our house; the blindage made them +roll into the court, where they both burst, shattering the laundry +windows and demolishing the butcher's door, which fell down at once +with a fearful crash. + +It was the most powerful bombardment since the blockade began, for, as +soon as the enemy saw the flame ascending, they fired from Mittelbronn, +from the Barracks, and the Fiquet lowlands, to prevent its being +extinguished. + +I stayed all the while with Sorle, near the babe's bed, and the noise +of the bursting shells did not disturb us. + +The unhappy do not cling to life; and then the child was so sick! +There were blue spots all over his body. + +The end was drawing near. + +I walked the room. Without they were crying "Fire! Fire!" + +People passed in the street like a torrent. We heard those returning +from the fire telling the news, the engines hurrying by, the soldiers +ranging the crowd in the line, the shells bursting at the right and +left. + +Before our windows the long trails of red flame descended upon the +roofs in front, and shattered the glass of the windows. Our cannon all +around the city replied to the enemy. Now and then we heard the cry: +"Room! Room!" as the wounded were carried away. + +Twice some pickets came up into my room to put me in the line, but, on +seeing me sitting with Sorle by our child, they went down again. + +The first shell burst at our house about eleven o'clock, the second at +four in the morning; everything shook, from the garret to the cellar; +the floor, the bed, the furniture seemed to be upheaved; but, in our +exhaustion and despair, we did not speak a single word. + +Zeffen came running to us with Esdras and little Safel, at the first +explosion. It was evident that little David was dying. Old Lanche and +Sorle were sitting, sobbing. Zeffen began to cry. + +I opened the windows wide, to admit the air, and the powder-smoke which +covered the city came into the room. + +Safel saw at once that the hour was at hand. I needed only to look at +him, and he went out, and soon returned by a side street, +notwithstanding the crowd, with Kalmes the chanter, who began to recite +the prayer of the dying: + +"The Lord reigneth! The Lord reigneth! The Lord shall reign +everywhere and forever! + +"Praise, everywhere and forever, the name of His glorious reign! + +"The Lord is God! The Lord is God! The Lord is God! + +"Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one God! + +"Go, then, where the Lord calleth thee--go, and may His mercy help thee! + +"May the Lord, our God, be with thee; may His immortal angels lead thee +to heaven, and may the righteous be glad when the Lord shall receive +thee into His bosom! + +"God of mercy, receive this soul into the midst of eternal joys!" + +Sorle and I repeated, weeping, those holy words. Zeffen lay as if +dead, her arms extended across the bed, over the feet of her child. +Her brother Safel stood behind her, weeping bitterly, and calling +softly, "Zeffen! Zeffen!" + +But she did not hear; her soul was lost in infinite sorrows. + +Without, the cries of "Fire!" the orders for the engines, the tumult of +the crowd, the rolling of the cannonade still continued; the flashes, +one after another, lighted up the darkness. + +What a night, Fritz! What a night! + +Suddenly Safel, who was leaning over under the curtain, turned round to +us in terror. My wife and I ran, and saw that the child was dead. We +raised our hands, sobbing, to indicate it. The chanter ceased his +psalm. Our David was dead! + +The most terrible thing was the mother's cry! She lay, stretched out, +as if she had fainted; but when the chanter leaned over and closed the +lips, saying "_Amen!_" she rose, lifted the little one, looked at him, +then, raising him above her head, began to run toward the door, crying +out with a heart-rending voice: + +"Baruch! Baruch! save our child!" + +She was mad, Fritz! In this last terror I stopped her, and, by main +force, took from her the little body which she was carrying away. And +Sorle, throwing her arms round her, with ceaseless groanings, Mother +Lanche, the chanter, Safel, all led her away. + +I remained alone, and I heard them go down, leading away my daughter. + +How can a man endure such sorrows? + +I put David back in the bed and covered him, because of the open +windows. I knew that he was dead, but it seemed to me as if he would +be cold. I looked at him for a long time, so as to retain that +beautiful face in my heart. + +It was all heart-rending--all! I felt as if my bowels were torn from +me, and in my madness I accused the Lord, and said: + +"I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of Thy wrath. +Surely against me is He turned. My flesh and my skin hath He made old: +He hath broken my bones. He hath set me in dark places. Also when I +cry and shout He shutteth out my prayer. He was unto me as a lion in +secret places!" + +Thus I walked about, groaning and even blaspheming. But God in His +mercy forgave me; He knew that it was not myself that spoke, but my +despair. + +At last I sat down, the others came back. Sorle sat next to me in +silence. Safel said to me: + +"Zeffen has gone to the rabbi's with Esdras." + +I covered my head without answering him. + +Then some women came with old Lanche; I took Sorle by the hand, and we +went into the large room, without speaking a word. + +The mere sight of this room, where the two little brothers had played +so long, made my tears come afresh, and Sorle, Safel, and I wept +together. The house was full of people; it might have been eight +o'clock, and they knew already that we had a child dead. + + + + +XIX + +THE PASSOVER + +Then, Fritz, the funeral rites began. All who died of typhus had to be +buried the same day: Christians behind the church, and Jews in the +trenches, in the place now occupied by the riding-school. + +Old women were already there to wash the poor little body, and comb the +hair, and cut the nails, according to the law of the Lord. Some of +them sewed the winding-sheet. + +The open windows admitted the air, the shutters struck against the +walls. The _schamess_* went through the streets, striking the doors +with his mace, to summon our brethren. + + +* Beadle. + + +Sorle sat upon the ground with her head veiled. Hearing Desmarets come +up the stairs, I had courage to go and meet him, and show him the room. +The poor angel was in his little shirt on the floor, the head raised a +little on some straw, and the little _thaleth_ in his fingers. He was +so beautiful, with his brown hair, and half-opened lips, that I thought +as I looked at him: "The Lord wanted to have thee near his throne!" + +And my tears fell silently: my beard was full of them. + +Desmarets then took the measure and went. Half an hour afterward, he +returned with the little pine coffin under his arm, and the house was +filled anew with lamentations. + +I could not see the coffin closed! I went and sat upon the sack of +ashes, covering my face with both hands, and crying in my heart like +Jacob, "Surely I shall go down to the grave with this child; I shall +not survive him." + +Only a very few of our brethren came, for a panic was in the city; men +knew that the angel of death was passing by, and that drops of blood +rained from his sword upon the houses; each emptied the water from his +jug upon the threshold and entered quickly. But the best of them came +silently, and as evening approached, it was necessary to go and descend +by the postern. + +I was the only one of our family. Sorle was not able to follow me, nor +Zeffen. I was the only one to throw the shovelful of earth. My +strength all left me, they had to lead me back to our door. The +sergeant held me by the arm; he spoke to me and I did not hear him; I +was as if dead. + +All else that I remember of that dreadful day, is the moment when, +having come into the house, sitting on the sack, before our cold +hearth, with bare feet and bent head, and my soul in the depths, the +_schamess_ came to me, touched my shoulder and made me rise; and then +took his knife from his pocket and rent my garment, tearing it to the +hip. This blow was the last and the most dreadful; I fell back, +murmuring with Job: + +"Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was +said, there is a man child conceived! Let a cloud dwell upon it, let +the blackness of the day terrify it! For mourning, the true mourning +does not come down from the father to the child, but goes up from the +child to the father. Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts +that I should suck? For now I should have lain still in the tomb and +been at rest!" + +And my grief, Fritz, had no bounds; "What will Baruch say," I +exclaimed, "and what shall I answer him when he asks me to give him +back his child?" + +I felt no longer any interest in our business. Zeffen lived with the +old rabbi; her mother spent the days with her, to take care of Esdras +and comfort her. + +Every part of our house was opened; the _schabesgoie_ burned sugar and +spices, and the air from without had free circulation. Safel went on +selling. + +As for myself, I sat before the hearth in the morning, cooked some +potatoes, and ate them with a little salt, and then went out, without +thought or aim. I wandered sometimes to the right, sometimes to the +left, toward the old gendarmerie, around the ramparts, in +out-of-the-way places. + +I could not bear to see any one, especially those who had known the +child. + +Then, Fritz, our miseries were at their height; famine, cold, all kinds +of sufferings weighed upon the city; faces grew thin, and women and +children were seen, half-naked and trembling, groping in the shadow in +the deserted by-ways. + +Ah! such miseries will never return! We have no more such abominable +wars, lasting twenty years, when the highways looked like ruts, and the +roads like streams of mud; when the ground remained untilled for want +of husbandmen, when houses sank for want of inhabitants; when the poor +went barefoot and the rich in wooden shoes, while the superior officers +passed by on superb horses, looking down contemptuously on the whole +human race. + +We could not endure that now! + +But at that time everything in the nation was destroyed and humiliated; +the citizens and the people had nothing left; force was everything. If +a man said, "But there is such a thing as justice, right, truth!" the +way was to answer with a smile, "I do not understand you!" and you were +taken for a man of sense and experience, who would make his way. + +Then, in the midst of my sorrow, I saw these things without thinking +about them; but since then, they have come back to me, and thousands of +others; all the survivors of those days can remember them, too. + +One morning, I was under the old market, looking at the wretches as +they bought meat. At that time they knocked down the horses of +Rouge-Colas and those of the gendarmes, as fleshless as the cattle in +the trenches, and sold the meat at very high prices. + +I looked at the swarms of wrinkled old women, of hollow-eyed citizens, +all these wretched creatures crowding before Frantz Sepel's stall, +while he distributed bits of carcass to them. + +Frantz's large dogs were seen no longer prowling about the market, +licking up the bloody scraps. The dried hands of old women were +stretched out at the end of their fleshless arms, to snatch everything; +weak voices called out entreatingly, "A little more liver, Monsieur +Frantz, so that we can make merry!" + +I saw all this under the great dark roof, through which a little light +came, in the holes made by the shells. In the distance, among the +worm-eaten pillars, some soldiers, under the arch of the guard-house, +with their old capes hanging down their thighs, were also looking +on;--it seemed like a dream. + +My great sorrow accorded with these sad sights. I was about leaving at +the end of a half hour, when I saw Burguet coming along by Father +Brainstein's old country-house, which was now staved in by the shells, +and leaning, all shattered, over the street. + +Burguet had told me several days before our affliction, that his +maid-servant was sick. I had thought no more of it, but now it came to +me. + +He looked so changed, so thin, his cheeks so marked by wrinkles, it +seemed as if years had passed since I had seen him. His hat came down +to his eyes, and his beard, at least a fortnight old, had turned gray. +He came in, looking round in all directions; but he could not see me +where I was, in the deep shadow, against the planks of the old +fodder-house; and he stopped behind the crowd of old women, who were +squeezed in a semicircle before the stall, awaiting their turn. + +After a minute he put some sous in Frantz Sepel's hand, and received +his morsel, which he hid under his cloak. Then looking round again, he +was going away quickly, with his head down. + +This sight moved my heart: I hurried away, raising my hands to heaven, +and exclaiming: "Is it possible? Is it possible? Burguet too! A man +of his genius to suffer hunger and eat carcasses! Oh, what times of +trial!" + +I went home, completely upset. + +We had not many provisions left; but, still, the next morning, as Safel +was going down to open the shop, I said to him: + +"Stop, my child, take this little basket to M. Burguet; it is some +potatoes and salt beef. Take care that nobody sees it, they would take +it from you. Say that it is in remembrance of the poor deserter." + +The child went. He told me that Burguet wept. + +This, Fritz, is what must be seen in a blockade, where you are attacked +from day to day. This is what the Germans and Spaniards had to suffer, +and what we suffered in our turn. This is war! + +Even the siege rations were almost gone; but Moulin, the commandant of +the place, having died of typhus, the famine did not prevent the +lieutenant-colonel, who took his place, from giving balls and fetes to +the envoys, in the old Thevenot house. The windows were bright, music +played, the staff-officers drank punch and warm wine, to make believe +that we were living in abundance. There was good reason for bandaging +the eyes of these envoys till they reached the very ball-room, for, if +they had seen the look of the people, all the punch-bowls and warm +wines in the world would not have deceived them. + +All this time, the grave-digger Mouyot and his two boys came every +morning to take their two or three drops of brandy. They might say "We +drink to the dead!" as the veterans said "We drink to the Cossacks!" +Nobody in the city would willingly have undertaken to bury those who +had died of typhus; they alone, after taking their drop, dared to throw +the bodies from the hospital upon a cart, and pile them up in the pit, +and then they passed for grave-diggers, with Father Zebede. + +The order was to wrap the dead in a sheet. But who saw that it was +done? Old Mouyot himself told me that they were buried in their cloaks +or vests, as it might be, and sometimes entirely naked. + +For every corpse, these men had their thirty-five sous; Father Mouyot, +the blind man, can tell you so; it was his harvest. + +Toward the end of March, in the midst of this fearful want, when there +was not a dog, and still less a cat, to be seen in the streets, the +city was full of evil tidings; rumors of battles lost, of marches upon +Paris, etc. + +As the envoys had been received, and balls given in their honor, +something of our misfortunes became known either through the family or +the servants. + +Often, in wandering through the streets which ran along the ramparts, I +mounted one of the bastions, looking toward Strasburg, or Metz, or +Paris. I had no fear then of stray balls. I looked forth upon the +thousand bivouac fires scattered over the plain, the soldiers of the +enemy returning from the villages with their long poles hung with +quarters of meat, at others crouched around the little fires which +shone like stars upon the edge of the forest, and at their patrols and +their covered batteries from which their flag was flying. + +Sometimes I looked at the smoke of the chimneys at Quatre-Vents, or +Bichelberg, or Mittelbronn. Our chimneys had no smoke, our festive +days were over. + +You can never imagine how many thoughts come to you, when you are so +shut up, as your eyes follow the long white highways, and you imagine +yourself walking there, talking with people about the news, asking them +what they have suffered, and telling them what you have yourself +endured. + +From the bastion of the guard, I could see even the white peaks of the +Schneeberg; I imagined myself in the midst of foresters, wood-cutters, +and wood-splitters. There was a rumor that they were defending their +route from Schirmeck; I longed to know if it were true. + +As I looked toward the Maisons-Rouges, on the road to Paris, I imagined +myself to be with my old friend Leiser; I saw him at his hearth, in +despair at having to support so many people, for the Russian, Austrian, +and Bavarian staff-officers remained upon this route, and new regiments +went by continually. + +And spring came! The snow began to melt in the furrows and behind the +hedges. The great forests of La Bonne-Fontaine and the Barracks began +to change their tents. + +The thing which affected me most, as I have often remembered, was +hearing the first lark at the end of March. The sky was entirely +clear, and I looked up to see the bird. I thought of little David, and +I wept, I knew not why. + +Men have strange thoughts; they are affected by the song of a bird, and +sometimes, years after, the same sounds recall the same emotions, so as +even to make them weep. + +At last the house was purified, and Zeffen and Sorle came back to it. + +The time of the Passover drew near; and the floors must be washed, the +walls scoured, the vessels cleansed. In the midst of these cares, the +poor women forgot, in some measure, our affliction; but as the time +drew nearer our anxiety increased; how, in the midst of this famine, +were we to obey the command of God: + +"This month shall be the first month of the year to you. + +"In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a +lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. + +"Ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats. + +"And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. + +"And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and +unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs shall they eat it." + +But where was the sacrificial lamb to be found? Schmoule alone, the +old _schamess_, had thought of it for us all, three months before; he +had nourished a male goat of that year in his cellar, and that was the +goat that was killed. + +Every Jewish family had a portion of it, small indeed, but the law of +the Lord was fulfilled. + +We invited on that day, according to the law, one of the poorest of our +brethren, Kalmes. We went together to the synagogue; the prayers were +recited, and then we returned to partake of the feast at our table. + +Everything was ready and according to the proper order, notwithstanding +the great destitution; the white cloth, the goblet of vinegar, the hard +egg, the horseradish, the unleavened bread, and the flesh of the goat. +The lamp with seven burners shone above it; but we had not much bread. + +Having taken my seat in the midst of my family, Safel took the jug and +poured water upon my hands; then we all bent forward, each took a piece +of bread, saying with heavy hearts: + +"This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in Egypt. +Whosoever is hungry, let him come and eat with us. Whosoever is poor, +let him come and make the Passover!" + +We sat down again, and Safel said to me: + +"What mean ye by this service, my father?" + +And I answered: + +"We were slaves in Egypt, my child, and the Lord brought us forth with +a mighty hand and an outstretched arm!" + +These words inspired us with courage; we hoped that God would deliver +us as He had delivered our fathers, and that the Emperor would be His +right arm; but we were mistaken, the Lord wanted nothing more of that +man! + + + + +XX + +PEACE + +The next morning, at daybreak, between six and seven o'clock, when we +were all asleep, the report of a cannon made our windows rattle. The +enemy usually fired only at night. I listened; a second report +followed after a few seconds, then another, then others, one by one. + +I rose, opened a window, and looked out. The sun was rising behind the +arsenal. Not a soul was in the street; but, as one report came after +another, doors and windows were opened; men in their shirts leaned out, +listening. + +No shells hissed through the air; the enemy fired blank cartridges. + +As I listened, a great murmur came from the distance, outside of the +city. First it came from the Mittelbronn hill, then it reached the +Bichelberg, Quatre-Vents, the upper and lower Barracks. + +Sorle had just risen also; I finished dressing, and said to her: + +"Something extraordinary is going on--God grant that it may be for +good!" + +And I went down in great perturbation. + +It was not a quarter of an hour since the first report, and the whole +city was out. Some ran to the ramparts, others were in groups, +shouting and disputing at the corners of the streets. Astonishment, +fear, and anger were depicted upon every face. + +A large number of soldiers were mingled with the citizens, and all went +up together in groups to the right and left of the French gate. + +I was about following one of these groups, when Burguet came down the +street. He looked thin and emaciated, as on the day when I saw him in +the market. + +"Well!" said I, running to meet him, "this is something serious!" + +"Very serious, and promising no good, Moses!" said he. + +"Yes, it is evident," said I, "that the allies have gained victories; +it may be that they are in Paris!" + +He turned around in alarm, and said in a low voice: + +"Take care, Moses, take care! If any one heard you, at a moment like +this, the veterans would tear you in pieces!" + +I was dreadfully frightened, for I saw that he was right, while, as for +him, his cheeks shook. He took me by the arm and said: + +"I owe you thanks for the provisions you sent me; they came very +opportunely." + +And when I answered that we should always have a morsel of bread at his +service, so long as we had any left, he pressed my hand; and we went +together up the street of the infantry quarters, as far as to the +ice-house bastion, where two batteries had been placed to command the +Mittelbronn hill. There we could see the road to Paris as far as to +Petite Saint Jean, and even to Lixheim; but those great heaps of earth, +called _cavaliers_, were covered with people; Baron Parmentier, his +assistant Pipelingre, the old curate Leth, and many other men of note +were there, in the midst of the crowd, looking on in silence. We had +only to see their faces to know that something dreadful was happening. + +From this height on the talus, we saw what was riveting everybody's +attention. All our enemies, Austrians, Bavarians, Wurtemburgers, +Russians, cavalry and infantry mixed together, were swarming around +their intrenchments like ants, embracing each other, shaking hands, +lifting their shakos on the points of their bayonets, waving branches +of trees just beginning to turn green. Horsemen dashed across the +plain, with their colbacs on the point of their swords, and rending the +air with their shouts. + +The telegraph was in operation on the hill of Saint Jean; Burguet +pointed it out to me. + +"If we understood those signals, Moses," said he, "we should know +better what was going to happen to us in the next fortnight." + +Some persons having turned round to listen to us, we went down again +into the streets of the quarters, very thoughtfully. + +The soldiers at the upper windows of the barracks were also looking +out. Men and women in great numbers were collecting in the street. + +We went through the crowd. In the street of the Capuchins, which was +always deserted, Burguet, who was walking with his head down, exclaimed: + +"So it is all over! What things have we seen in these last twenty-five +years, Moses! What astonishing and terrible things! And it is all +over!" + +He took hold of my hand, and looked at me as if he were astonished at +his own words; then he began to walk on. + +"This winter campaign has been frightful to me," said he; "it has +dragged along--dragged along--and the thunder-bolt did not come! But +to-morrow, the day after to-morrow, what are we going to hear? Is the +Emperor dead? How will that affect us? Will France still be France? +What will they leave us? What will they take from us?" + +Reflecting on these things, we came in front of our house. Then, as if +suddenly wakened, Burguet said to me: + +"Prudence, Moses! If the Emperor is not dead, the veterans will hold +out till the last second. Remember that, and whoever they suspect will +have everything to fear." + +I thanked him, and went up, promising myself that I would follow his +advice. + +My wife and children were waiting breakfast for me, with the little +basket of potatoes upon the table. We sat down, and I told them in a +low voice what was to be seen from the top of the ramparts, and charged +them to keep silent, for the danger was not over; the garrison might +revolt and choose to defend itself, in spite of the officers; and those +who mixed themselves in these matters, either for or against, even only +in words, ran the risk of destruction without profit to any one. + +They saw that I was right, and I had no need of saying more. + +We were afraid that our sergeant would come, and that we should be +obliged to answer him, if he asked what we thought of these matters; +but he did not come in till about eleven, when we had all been in bed +for a long time. + +The next day the news of the entrance of the allies to Paris was +affixed to the church doors and the pillars of the market; it was never +known by whom! M. de Vablerie, and three or four other emigrants, +capable of such a deed, were spoken of at the time, but nothing was +known with certainty. + +The mounted guard tore down the placards, but unfortunately not before +the soldiers and citizens had read them. + +It was something so new, so incredible, after those ten years of war, +when the Emperor had been everything, and the nation had been, so to +speak, in the shadow; when not a man had dared to speak or write a word +without permission; when men had had no other rights than those of +paying, and giving their sons as conscripts,--it was such a great +matter to think that the Emperor could have been conquered, that a man +like myself in the midst of his family shook his head three or four +times, before daring to breathe a single word. + +So everybody kept quiet, notwithstanding the placards. The officials +stayed at home, so as not to have to talk about it; the governor and +council of defence did not stir; but the last recruits, in the hope of +going home to their villages, embracing their families, and returning +to their trades or farming, did not conceal their joy, as was very +natural. The veterans, whose only trade and only means of living was +war, were full of indignation! They did not believe a word of it; they +declared that the reports were all false, that the Emperor had not lost +a battle, and that the placards and the cannon-firing of the allies +were only a stratagem to make us open the gates. + +And from that time, Fritz, the men began to desert, not one at a time, +but by sixes, by tens, by twenties. Whole posts filed off over the +mountain with their arms and baggage. The veterans fired upon the +deserters; they killed some of them, and were ordered to escort the +conscripts who carried soup to the outposts. * * * * * + +During this time, the flag of truce officers did nothing but come and +go, one after another. All, Russian, Austrian, Bavarian, +staff-officers stayed whole hours at the head-quarters, having, no +doubt, important matters to discuss. + +Our sergeant came to our room only for a moment in the evening, to +complain of the desertions, and we were glad of it; Zeffen was still +sick, Sorle could not leave her, and I had to help Safel until the +people went home. + +The shop was always full of veterans; as soon as one set went away +another came. + +These old, gray-headed men swallowed down glass after glass of brandy; +they paid by turns, and grew more and more down-hearted. They trembled +with rage, and talked of nothing but treason, while they looked at you +as if they would see through you. + +Sometimes they would smile and say: + +"I tell you! if it is necessary to blow up the fortress, it will go!" + +Safel and I pretended not to understand; but you can imagine our agony; +after having suffered all that we had, to be in danger of being blown +up with those veterans! + +That evening our sergeant repeated word for word what the others had +said: "It was all nothing but lies and treason. The Emperor would put +a stop to it by sweeping off this rabble!" + +"Just wait! Just wait!" he exclaimed, as he smoked his pipe, with his +teeth set. "It will all be cleared up soon! The thunder-bolt is +coming! And, this time, no pity, no mercy! All the villains will have +to go then--all the traitors! The country will have to be cleansed for +a hundred years! Never mind, Moses, we'll laugh!" + +You may well suppose that we did not feel like laughing. + +But the day when I was most anxious was the eighth of April, in the +morning, when the decree of the Senate, deposing the Emperor, appeared. + +Our shop was full of marine artillerymen and subalterns from the +storehouses. We had just served them, when the secretary of the +treasury, a short stout man, with full yellow cheeks, and the +regulation cap over his ears, came in and called for a glass; he then +took the decree from his pocket. + +"Listen!" said he, as he began calmly to read it to the others. + +It seems as if I could hear it now: + +"Whereas, Napoleon Bonaparte has violated the compact which bound him +to the French nation, by levying taxes otherwise than in virtue of the +law, by unnecessarily adjourning the Legislative Body, by illegally +making many decrees involving sentence of death, by annulling the +authority of the ministers, the independence of the judiciary, the +freedom of the press, etc.; Whereas, Napoleon has filled up the measure +of the country's misfortunes, by his abuse of all the means of war +committed to him, in men and money, and by refusing to treat on +conditions which the national interest required him to accept; Whereas, +the manifest wish of all the French demands an order of things, the +first result of which shall be the re-establishment of general peace, +and which shall also be the epoch of solemn reconciliation between all +the States of the great European family, the Senate decrees: Napoleon +Bonaparte has forfeited the throne; the right of succession is +abolished in his family; the people and the army are released from the +oath of allegiance to him." + +He had scarcely begun to read when I thought: "If that goes on they +will tear down my shop over my head." + +In my fright, I even sent Safel out hastily by the back door. But it +all happened very differently from what I expected. These veterans +despised the Senate; they shrugged their shoulders, and the one who +read the decree sniffed at it, and threw it under the counter. "The +Senate!" said he. "What is the Senate? A set of hangers-on, a set of +sycophants that the Emperor has bribed, right and left, to keep saying +to him--'_God bless you!_'" + +"Yes, major," said another; "but they ought to be kicked out all the +same." + +"Bah! It is not worth the trouble," replied the sergeant-major; "a +fortnight hence, when the Emperor is master again, they will come and +lick his boots. Such men are necessary in a dynasty--men who lick your +boots--it has a good effect!--especially old nobility, who are paid +thirty or forty thousand francs a year. They will come back, and be +quiet, and the Emperor will pardon them, especially since he cannot +find others noble enough to fill their places." + +And as they all went away after emptying their glasses, I thanked +heaven for having given them such confidence in the Emperor. + +This confidence lasted till about the eleventh or twelfth of April, +when some officers, sent by the general commanding the fourth military +division, came to say that the garrison of Metz recognized the Senate +and followed its orders. + +This was a terrible blow for our veterans. We saw, that evening, by +our sergeant's face, that it was a death-blow to him. He looked ten +years older, and you would have wept merely to see his face. Up to +that time he had kept saying: "All these decrees, all these placards +are acts of treason! The Emperor is down yonder with his army, all the +while, and we are here to support him. Don't fear, Father Moses!" + +But since the arrival of the officers from Metz, he had lost his +confidence. He came into our room, without speaking, and stood up, +very pale, looking at us. + +I thought: "But this man loves us. He has been kind to us. He gave us +his fresh meat all through the blockade; he loved our little David; he +fondled him on his knees. He loves Esdras too. He is a good, brave +man, and here he is, so wretched!" + +I wanted to comfort him, to tell him that he had friends, that we all +loved him, that we would make sacrifices to help him, if he had to +change his employment; yes, I thought of all this, but as I looked at +him his grief seemed so terrible that I could not say a word. + +He took two or three turns and stopped again, then suddenly went out. +His sorrow was too great, he would not even speak of it. + +At length, on the sixteenth of April, an armistice was concluded for +burying the dead. The bridge of the German gate was lowered, and large +numbers of people went out and stayed till evening, to dig the ground a +little with their spades, and try to bring back a few green things. +Zeffen being all this time sick, we stayed at home. + +That evening two new officers from Metz, sent as envoys, came in at +night as the bridges were being raised. They galloped along the street +to the headquarters. I saw them pass. + +The arrival of these officers greatly excited the hopes and fears of +every one; important measures were expected, and all night long we +heard the sergeant walk to and fro in his room, get up, walk about, and +lie down again, talking confusedly to himself. + +The poor man felt that a dreadful blow was coming, and he had not a +minute's rest. I heard him lamenting, and his sighs kept me from +sleeping. + +The next morning at ten the assembly was beat. The governor and the +members of the council of defence went, in full dress, to the infantry +quarters. + +Everybody in the city was at the windows. + +Our sergeant went down, and I followed him in a few minutes. The +street was thronged with people. I made my way through the crowd; +everybody kept his place in it, trying to move on. + +When I came in front of the barracks, the companies had just formed in +a circle; the quarter-masters in the midst were reading in a loud voice +the order of the day; it was the abdication of the Emperor, the +disbanding of the recruits of 1813 and 1814, the recognition of Louis +XVIII., the order to set up the white flag and change the cockade! + +Not a murmur was heard from the ranks; all was quiet, terrible, +frightful! Those old soldiers, their teeth set, their mustaches +shaking, their brows scowling fiercely, presenting arms in silence; the +voices of the quartermasters stopping now and then as if choking; the +staff-officers of the place, at a distance under the arch, sullen, with +their eyes on the ground; the eager attention of all that crowd of men, +women, and children, through the whole length of the street, leaning +forward on tiptoe, with open mouths and listening ears; all this, +Fritz, would have made you tremble. + +I was on cooper Schweyer's steps, where I could see everything and hear +every word. + +So long as the order of the day was read, nobody stirred; but at the +command:--Break ranks! a terrible cry arose from all directions; +tumult, confusion, fury burst forth at once. + +People did not know what they were doing. The conscripts ran in files +to the postern gates, the old soldiers stood a moment, as if rooted to +the spot, then their rage broke forth; one tore off his epaulettes, +another dashed his musket with both hands against the pavement; some +officers doubled up their sabres and swords, which snapped apart with a +crash. + +The governor tried to speak; he tried to form the ranks again, but +nobody heard him; the new recruits were already in all the rooms at the +barracks, making up their bundles to start on their journey; the old +ones were going to the right and left, as if they were drunk or mad. + +I saw some of these old soldiers stop in a corner, lean their heads +against the wall, and weep bitterly. + +At last all were dispersed, and protracted cries reached from the +barracks to the square, incessant cries, which rose and fell like sighs. + +Some low, despairing shouts of "_Vive l'Empereur!_" but not a single +shout of "_Vive le Roi!_" + +For my part, I ran home to tell about it all; I had scarcely gone up, +when the sergeant came also, with his musket on his shoulder. We +should have liked to congratulate each other on the ending of the +blockade, but on seeing the sergeant standing at the door, we were +chilled to the bones, and our attention was fixed upon him. + +"Ah, well!" said he, placing the butt-end of his musket upon the floor, +"it is all ended!" + +And for a moment he said no more. + +Then he stammered out: "This is the shabbiest piece of business in the +world--the recruits are disbanded--they are leaving--France remains, +bound hand and foot, in the grip of the kaiserlichs! Ah! the rascals! +the rascals!" + +"Yes, sergeant," I replied with emotion, seeing that his thoughts must +be diverted: "now we are going to have peace, sergeant! You have a +sister left in the Jura, you will go to her----" + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, lifting his hand, "my poor sister!" + +This came like a sob; but he quickly recovered himself, and went and +placed his musket in the corner by the door. + +He sat down at the table with us for a moment, and took up little +Safel, drawing him to him and caressing his cheeks. Then he wanted to +hold Esdras also. We looked on in silence. + +"I am going to leave you, Father Moses," said he, "I am going to pack +my bag. Thunder and lightning! I am sorry to leave you!" + +"And we are sorry, too, sergeant," said Sorle,. mournfully; "but if +you will live with us----" + +"It is impossible!" + +"Then you remain in the service?" + +"Service of whom--of what?" said he; "of Louis XVIII.? No! no! I know +no one but my general--but that makes it hard to go--when a man has +done his duty----" + +He started up, and shouted in a piercing voice: "_Vive l'Empereur!_" + +We trembled, we did not know why. + +I reached out my hand to him, and rose; we embraced each other like +brothers. + +"Good-by, Father Moses," said he, "good-by for a long while." + +"You are going at once, then?" + +"Yes!" + +"You know, sergeant, that you will always have friends here. You will +come and see us. If you need anything----" + +"Yes, yes, I know it. You are true friends--excellent people!" + +He shook my hand vehemently. + +Then he took up his musket, and we were all following him, expressing +our good wishes, when he turned, with tears in his eyes, and embraced +my wife, saying: + +"I must embrace you, too; there is no harm in it, is there, Madame +Sorle?" + +"Oh, no!" said she, "you are one of the family, and I will embrace +Zeffen for you!" + +He went out at once, exclaiming in a hoarse voice, "Good-by! Farewell!" + +I saw him go into his room at the end of the little passage. + +Twenty-five years of service, eight wounds, and no bread in his old +age! My heart bled at the thought of it. + +About a quarter of an hour after, the sergeant came down with his +musket. Meeting Safel on the stairs, he said to him, "Stay, that is +for your father!" + +It was the portrait of the landwehr's wife and children. Safel brought +it to me at once. I took the poor devil's gift, and looked at it for a +long time, very sadly; then I shut it up in the closet with the letter. + +It was noon, and, as the gates were about to be opened, and abundance +of provisions were to come, we sat down before a large piece of boiled +beef, with a dish of potatoes, and opened a good bottle of wine. + +We were still eating when we heard shouts in the street. Safel got up +to look out. + +"A wounded soldier that they are carrying to the hospital!" said he. + +Then he exclaimed, "It is our sergeant!" + +A horrible thought ran through my mind. "Keep still!" I said to Sorle, +who was getting up, and I went down alone. + +Four marine gunners were carrying the litter by on their shoulders; +children were running behind. + +At the first glance I recognized the sergeant; his face perfectly white +and his breast covered with blood. He did not move. The poor fellow +had gone from our house to the bastion behind the arsenal, to shoot +himself through the heart. + +I went up so overwhelmed, so sad and sorrowful, that I could scarcely +stand. + +Sorle was waiting for me in great agitation. + +"Our poor sergeant has killed himself," said I; "may God forgive him!" + +And, sitting down, I could not help bursting into tears! + + + + +XXI + +It is said with truth that misfortunes never come singly; one brings +another in its train. The death of our good sergeant was, however, the +last. + +That same day the enemy withdrew his outposts to six hundred yards from +the city, the white flag was raised on the church, and the gates were +opened. + +Now, Fritz, you know about our blockade. Should I tell you, in +addition, about Baruch's coming, of Zeffen's cries, and the groanings +of us all, when we had to say to the good man: "Our little David is +dead--thou wilt never see him again!" + +No, it is enough! If we were to speak of all the miseries of war, and +all their consequences in after years, there would be no end! + +I would rather tell you of my sons Itzig and Fromel, and of my Safel, +who has gone to join them in America. + +If I should tell you of all the wealth they have acquired in that great +country of freemen, of the lands they have bought, the money they have +laid up, the number of grandchildren they have given me, and of all the +blessings they have heaped upon Sorle and myself, you would be full of +astonishment and admiration. + +They have never allowed me to want for anything. The greatest pleasure +I can give them is to wish for something; each of them wants to send it +to me! They do not forget that by my prudent foresight I saved them +from the war. + +I love them all alike, Fritz, and I say of them, like Jacob: + +"May the God of Abraham and Isaac, our fathers, the God which fed me +all my life long unto this day, bless the lads; let them grow into a +multitude in the midst of the earth, and their seed become a multitude +of nations!" + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blockade of Phalsburg, by +Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLOCKADE OF PHALSBURG *** + +***** This file should be named 36858.txt or 36858.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/5/36858/ + +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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