Military life in Italy : sketches - Societa italiana di storia militare

THE SON OF THE REGIMENT. 93
banded herd !
Ah, it is a spectacle that rends the soul, and
which no words can describe !
'
Who will give
us back the
hearts we had in the morning ? ' '
one of us asked ;
our pride,
faith, strength Who ?
will call back to our eyes those tears of
enthusiasm ? .Who will raise the edifice on these ruins ? And
what will the '
country say ? Heavenly Father, the country !
The mere thought fled back astonished ;
we seemed to hear
once more the cries and applause with which the population of
the cities had accompanied us to the gates, that applause which
'
went to our hearts and rilled them completely. Oh, be silent
! we said to ourselves ;
'
'
we are soldiers, and our poor
"
hearts are breaking.'
There followed a moment's silence.
" What a rout there must have been that evening ! " said the
counsellor.
"And your division?" asked the owner of the house with
to re-
much sweetness ;
" about what time did you begin
treat "
?
The tone in which the question was asked expressed the
strong desire to know how things really went, and not as they
were reported to have done by people and newspapers. The
officer understood, and replied
:
" As far as I can remember, my division began to retire from
the field shortly after sunset. The different corps
quick step from the different parts of the country
arrived at
at the road
leading to Villefranche here the ranks were
;
broken, the regiments
mingled, every appearance of order was lost, and a tumultuous
crowd rushed into the city, spreading rapidly through
the principal streets, squares, alleys, and court-yards of the
houses. Burning with thirst, a great portion of the soldiers