“A sutler of the 33d regiment had been brought to bed in Prussia, before the beginning of the campaign. She followed her regiment to Moscow, with her little daughter, who was six months old when the army left that city. During the retreat this child lived by a miracle: her sole nourishment was black pudding made of horses’ blood: she was wrapped in a fur taken at Moscow, and often her head was bare. Twice she was lost; and they found her again, first in a field, then in a burnt village, lying on a mattress. Her mother crossed the Beresina on horseback, with water to her neck, holding the bridle in one hand, and with the other her child upon her head. Thus, by a succession of marvellous circumstances, this little girl got through the retreat without accident, and did not even take cold.” For many many leagues before reaching the Niemen, the harassed remnant of the great French army had looked forward to that river as the term of pursuit. The idea that the Russians would not pass the Niemen had taken a strong hold of the imaginations of both officers and soldiers. At Kowno, a stand was made by the rearguard; no very steadfast one, certainly; but then, as ever, Ney proved equal to the emergency. An earthen work, hastily thrown up, seemed to him sufficient to check the foe for a whole day. Here were posted two pieces of cannon, and some Bavarian infantry; and the marshal sought a moment’s repose in his quarters. But the very first discharge of the Russian artillery dismounted a French gun; the infantry took to flight—the gunners were about to follow. Another minute, and the Cossacks might enter the streets unopposed. Just then Ney appeared upon the ramparts, musket in hand. His absence had been nearly fatal; his presence restored the fight. The troops rallied, and the position was held till night, when the retreat recommenced. The bridge was crossed, and each man, as he set foot south of the Niemen, deemed himself safe. Great then was the consternation of all, when, at the foot of a lofty hill, over which winds the road to Königsberg, an alarm was given, and, at the same moment, a cannon-ball plunged into their ranks. The Cossacks had crossed the river on the ice, and had established themselves on the summit of the mountain. This fresh danger, so totally unexpected, completed the demoralisation of the troops. Brave spirits, which, till then, had steadfastly held out, lost their firmness in face of this new calamity. There is something very affecting in the following passage:—