e of the river, attempting to cross over on a pontoon. The
only safety for the Republican soldiers was to cut the cables that
held the bridge to the shore. Whoever should attempt to do this would
fall within range of the Royalists' guns, and would be exposed to what
seemed to be certain destruction.

"Who would volunteer?

"Every soldier hesitated. The boy Vialla seized an axe, and ran to the
bank of the stream. He began to cut the cables amid frequent volleys
of shot from the other side, when a ball entered his breast. He fell,
but raising himself for a moment, exclaimed,--

"'I die, but I die for my fatherland!'

"In the _Chant du Depart_--an old French revolutionary song, once
almost as famous as the _Marseillaise_--the deeds of these boy-heroes
are celebrated in the following strain:--

"'O Barra! Vialla! we envy your glory.
Still victors, though breathless ye lie.
A coward lives not, though with age he is hoary;
Who fall for the people ne'er die.

"'Brave boys, we would rival your deed-roll,
'Twill guard us 'gainst tyranny then;
Republicans all swell the bead-roll,
While slaves are but infants 'mong men.

"'The Republic awakes in her splendor,
She calls us to win, not to fly!
A Frenchman should live to defend her,
For her should he manfully die!'"

Wyllys Wynn seemed much impressed by these incidents of youthful
heroism. He sometimes wrote poems, and on his return to the hotel he
related the incident of the boy and the watch in these lines, which he
read in one of the parlors to Agnes.

HONOR BRIGHT.

The rush of men, the clash of arms,
The morning stillness broke,
And followed fast the fresh alarms,
The clouds of battle-smoke.

The Seine still bore a lurid light,
As down its ripples run,
Where late had shone the fires at night,
The rosy rifts of sun.

"Shoot every man," the captain cried,
"That dares our way oppose!"
Like water ran the crimson tide,
Like clouds the smoke arose.

They forward rushed, the streets they cleared,--
But ere the work was done,
Before the troop a boy appeared,
And bore the boy a gun.

"Thou too shalt die," the captain said.
The boy stopped calmly there,
And sweet and low the music played
Amid the silenced air.

"Hold!" cried the boy; "a moment wait.
For, ere I meet my end,
I would retu