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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 168, 18 July 1871, Page 4

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The following is a translation of a letter from a Prussian Landwehr officer, who served with his regiment before Paris : — Berlin, April 3, 1871. I wish you had been able to cast a look on the morning of March the 21st upon the large square close to the little manufacturiog town of Burkan, by Madgeburg. There, to use the correct technical expression, the battalion, having duly arrived hy rail, 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 ou the part of the population was all the more hearty and intensely joyous. From the earliest dawn of the day the square was crowded with people, chiefly women and children. They all had wreaths of flowers in their hands, and they all peered impatiently into the dim afar, waiting restlessly for the arrival of the train which bore so precious a burden. At last, at last, four hours after tbe appointed time, the engine, festooned with garland-*-, comes up snorting and steaming. With the loud and glad and triumphal strains of our military band there .mingle the joyful acclamations, repeated again and again, of the assembled multitude. After eight months of danger and privation they return, those brave, sturdy fellows, with the weatherburnt faces ; after long and anxious watching aud 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. 0, the unutterable bliss, the 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 iv 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 bloodred soil of France. The soldiers crowd round the mourners and tell them how good, how brave their fellow-comrade 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 pf his. wife, of his children, and how a smile, happy and innocent as that of a little child, lit up his palid features. Magdeburg — 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 ndwly-returned husbands gq away by 'themselves', so they accompanied us ew masse. It was a most marvellous " marching , order," I assure you — the graceful, Jlender femaleS figures side by side with, the broad-shouldered, bearded, and burly men, tramping along gleefully and in wild exuberance of delight. Some pretty stroifg members of the fuir sex actually bore along the heavy knapsack or the needle-gun of their well-beloved husbands, ; We all aot into jolly good/ quarters out in the co^tey. I stayed with a prosperous farther, and was lodgew in a large and scrupulously clean room. My cheerful and good-humored host has done his best to make my first home quarters right comfortable. A laurel wre*ath is placed along theedgerof.my plate, toe bottle of good Rhenish wine is festooned with laurel, and even the enormous roast fowl with is served' up in hott'or of the " squata/*; ;as it were,,on a^smgll heap of laurel leaves. And -now th^\evdning has ; deepened in to night. The sky is glorious with stars, and the warm and balmy

spring air comes pouring in by the open window. From afar- off there comes a; sound of, mirth and music. The old patriotic songs resound ; but lo ! as I listen, gentle tremulous female voices mingle sweetly with the .deep-chested tones I know and love sq well, and right overhead the great German; flag is rustling ! pleasautly in the midnight breeze. Involuntarily I fold my hands and breathe forth an outspoken but heartfelt prayer of praise and thanksgiving. Yes , we are once more in the dear, the beloved German Fatherland — home again, home. Glory to God in the highest ! On the following morning the Auskleidung (literally undressing) commenced. On the first, day the guns and swords were given up ; next day the cartridges, knapsacks, uniforms, &c. 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 loog smock-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 Lahdwehr, " said the commanding officer. "A good soldier will also be a good citizen. Fare-ye-well ! You are dismissed to your homes." A thundering Hoch for the German Emperor follows, then a Hoch for the commauder, and Hochs 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. " Goodbye, my boys ! Good-bye ! Good-bye ! We have passed through many a trying hour together. Think of all those days and nights of the fighting beforeTStrassbourg 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 France. In our recollections we shall be inseparably connected. Brethern-in-arms {Waffenbruder), fare-ye-well, fare-ye-well !" And thus the second battalion of the Second Garde Landwehr Regiment was disbanded, and its component part's scattered to all the points of the 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.