The German Return Home.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 2, Issue 90, 1 August 1871, Page 3

The German Return Home.

The ' Scotsman' give 3 a translation as follows of a letter from a Prussian Landwelir officer to a relative in Edinburgh : " Berlin, April 5, 1871.

" I wish, you had been able to cast s look, on the morning of March the 2lst, upon the large square close to the little manufacturing town of Burkan, by Madgeburg. There, to use the correct technical eipression, the battalion, having arrived duly by mail, was to be disembarked (ausgeschijft). Strange to say, the city of Madgeburg had decided against any official reception of the battalion which bears the city's name ; but the reception on the part of the population was all the more hearty and intensely joyous. Prom the earliest dawn of day the square was crowded with people, chiefly women and children. They had all wreaths of flowers in their hands, and they all peered impatiently into the dim afar, waiting restlessly for the arrivrl of the train which bore so precious a burden. At last, at last, —four hours after the appointed time, the engine, festooned with garlands, comes up snorting and steaming. With the loud and glad and triumphant strains of our military band, there mingled the joyful acclamations, repeated again and again, of the assembled multitude. After

eight months of clanger and privation they return, those brave, sturdy fellows, with their weatherburnt faces ; after long and anxious watching and waiting they return to the embraces of their dear ones. There they stand, as proud and happy as possible ; many a one holds his child with one vigorous arm, while the other clasps the waist of his radiantly joyous young wife. Oh ! the Unutterable bliss, the rapt enchantment of these meetings ! But here stands a weeping mother : two well-beloved sons went forth from her homestead ; one only returns to the mother who bore him. And here stands a pale young wife, attired in black, two chubby-faced little boys by her side ; she has come out with the merry throng to welcome her brother home ; her husband, alas, sleeps the sleep that knows no waking under the blood-red soil of France. The soldiei-s crowd aaound the mourners and tell them how brave, how good their fellowcomrade was ; how, when he sank on the ground to die, with his heart's blood oozing from a deadly wound, his faltering lips feebly whispered the names of his wife, of his children ; and how a smile, happy and innocent as that of a little child, lit Up his pallid features.

" MadgebUrg—so strangely inhospitable on this occasion—was filled, even to overflowing, with French prisoners, and our men were to be billeted on the farmers all around. But the loving wives would not let their newlyreturned husbands go away by themselves, so they accompanied vis en masse. It was a most marvellous marching order, I assure you : the graceful, slander female figures side by side with the broad-shouldered, bearded, and burly men, trampling along gleefully, and in wild exuberance, some of the fair sex actually bore along the hoavy kapsack or needle-gun of their well-beloved husbands.

"We all got into jolly good quarters out in the country. I stayed with a prosperous farmer, and wa3 lodged in a large and scrupulously clean room. My cheerful and goodhitmoured host has done his best to make my first home quarters right comfortable. A laurel wreath is placed along the edge of nly plate, the bottle of good Rhenish wine is festooned with laurel, and even the enormous roast fowl which is seryed up in honor of the occasion, ' squats,' as it were, on a heap of laurel leaves. And now the evening has deepened into night. The sky is glofious with stars, and the warm and balmy spring air comes pouring in at the open window. ! From afar off there comes a sound of mirth I and music. The old patriotic songs resound ; but, 10, as I listen, gentle, tremulous female voices mingle sweetly with the deep chested tones I knew and loved so well, and right overhead the great German flag is rustling pleasantly in the midnight breeze. Invoktrttarily I fold my hands, and breath forth an unspoken but heartfelt prayer of praise and thanksgiving. Yes, we .are once moro in the dear, the beloved German Fatherland—home, .again, home. Glory to God in the highest ! , "On the following day the Ausfcidctutij) (literally, itndressing) commenced. On the first day the guns and swords were given up ; next day the cartridges, knapsacks, uniforms, ifcc. The whole thing is done in capital order, company by company marching up and laying down their accoutrements. Already the men are dressed in their everyday garb ; one wears the long smoke-frock of the farmer, another the artisan's blouse, a third the well-to-do citizen's broadcloth and fine linen. And so away to the last act of duty. The men form into a square ; we officers stand in the centre. ' Farewell, men of the

Garde Landwehr,' said tho commanding officer. ' A good soldier will also be a good citizen. Fai^e-ye-well! You are dismissed to your homes.' A thundering Ilock for the German Emperor follows, then a Hock for the commander, and Hocks for all the officers of the battalion. Hitherto the discipline had not been loosened for a second, but now the ranks break up, and all rush about in Wild confusion ; every soldier is anxious to grasp his officer's hand once more, and to exchange a kindly farewell. ' Good-bye, my boys ! Good-bye ! Good-bye ! We have passed through many a trying hour together. 'Think of all those days and night 3 of the fighting before Strasburg and before Paris. Think of our marches over wide plains covered with snow, over hill and dale. Think of the brave comrades for whom we have dug quiet graves in far off Franco. In ovr recollections we shall be inseparably connected. Bretheren in arms ( Wajjhit ruder) fare-ye-well, fare-ye-well!' And thus the second battalion of the Second Garde Landwehr regiment was disbanded, and its component parts scatttered to all points of tho compass. The officers met for the last time at a little farewell banquet; then, with a hearty shake of the hand, they, too, parted and every one of us sped quickly towards his own home."