Paris under the Commune: The Seventy-Three Days of the Second Siege; with Numerous Illustrations, Sketches Taken on the Spot, and Portraits (from the Original Photographs)Leighton, John
History
Paris under the Commune: The Seventy-Three Days of the Second Siege; with Numerous Illustrations, Sketches Taken on the Spot, and Portraits (from the Original Photographs)
Leighton, John
Paris (France) -- History -- Commune, 1871
“Yesterday evening, towards ten o’clock, the attention of the
passers-by in the Rue St. Denis was attracted by cries which seemed
to proceed from a four-storied house situated at the corner of the
Rue Sainte-Apolline. The cries were evidently cries of despair.
Some people went to the nearest guardhouse to make the fact known,
and four National Guards, preceded by their corporal, entered the
house. Guided by the sound of the cries they arrived at the fourth
storey, and broke open the door. A horrible spectacle was then
exposed to the view of the Guards and of the persons who had
followed them in their quest. Three young children lay stretched on
the floor of the room, the disorder of which denoted a recent
struggle. The poor little things were without any covering
whatever, and there were traces of blows upon their bodies; one of
them had a cut across the forehead. The National Guards questioned
the children with an almost maternal kindness. They had not eaten
for four days, and, in consequence of this prolonged fast, they
were in such a state of moral and physical abasement that no
precise information could be obtained from them. The corporal then
addressed himself to the neighbours, and soon became acquainted
with a part of the terrible truth.
“In this room lived a poor work-girl, young and pretty. One day, as
she was carrying back her work to the shop, she observed that she
was followed by a well-dressed man, whose physiognomy indicated the
lowest passions. He spoke to her, and was at first repulsed; but,
like the tempter Faust offering jewels to Marguerite, he tempted
her with bright promises, and the poor girl, to whom work did not
always come, listened to the base seducer. Blame her not too
harshly, pity her rather, and reserve all your indignation for the
wretch who betrayed her.
“After three years, which were but anguish and remorse to the
miserable woman, and during which she had no other consolation but
the smiles of the children whose very existence was a crime, she
was becoming reconciled at last to her life, when the father of her
children deserted her.
“This desertion coincided with the glorious revolution of the 18th
of March; and the poor work-girl, who had still room in her heart
for patriotism, found some consolation in reflecting that the day,
so miserable for her, had at least brought happiness to France.
“A fortnight passed, the poor abandoned mother had given up all
hope of ever seeing the father of her three children again, when
one evening—it was last Friday—a man, wrapped in a black cloak,
introduced himself into the house, and made inquiries of the
_concierge_—a great patriot, and commander of the 114th
Battalion—whether Mademoiselle O... were at home? Upon an answer in
the affirmative from the heroic defender of Right and Liberties of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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