The Deserter from Matzleinsdorf.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8051, 20 February 1906, Page 4

The Deserter from Matzleinsdorf.

A*, one limy read in ali the chronicles from ii-ar lime, the winter 178!)-! M) was very mild, i:nl trees Hii-I bushes were blooming and n;tbiin» everywhere at Christmas time. This •line as a "i-eat surprise after the severe a intoi'fis of the preceding years. In 1788 the t'sllucnza, or. as it was then called, the • IJussiaii catarrh," appeared in Vienna for he th'st time, and more than fifty thousand iL-ll victims to it. Vienna was like an 101■ncuse tomb then, no sign of joy anywhere, nily an unending line of funerals.

And now the delightful spring of 17W had :ume, but the beautiful weather had failed 'o a rouse the people of Vienna from their leprtssion. The Emperor, the beloved Joseph if., who, though misunderstood by many, :«d earnestly tried to be a father to }>ia ieo;iie. was dying, and everybody bowed Imvn will, K ,-ief.

Kmpuror Joseph's reforms had been many iiul had affected all branches of public life, in the army, however, he had changed very ■ iuh 1 , wilh (he exception of creating the llhlan regiments and the Boaibardiers. f liou fc h the most liberal of men, he demanded perfect self-sacrifice and discipline in the army, and he thought the occupation of a soldier the highest of all. He was the first monarch to wear a uniform at court Junctions.

In October, 1789, Anton Krenmayer, the tallest and handsomest of all the young men in Mottleinedort, was drafted for military service and put in the uniform of the Hohenzollern Cuirassiers, the regiment in which Archduke Franz served as an officer. When he appeared in bis dazzling uniform in the cottage of his parents his sweetheart, the pretty Salerl, from Nicolsdorf, laid her head >n his shoulder and cried bitterly. " What is it, darling ? " Anton asked, and took Iter in his arms.

" Oh, Anton, it makes me so sad to think that they have made you a soldier for my jake," she cried.

"For your sake? I do not understand you." Salerl wiped away her tears, and then told how a young nobleman was running after her, and when she had told him that she was engaged to the strong Anton Krenmayer he had sworn that he would soon get him out of the town.

Anton turned red as blood at her words; the veins in his forehead'stood out like cords, and, drawing a deep breath, he burst the straps which held together his glittering Armour, which fell to the door with a crash.

" The regiment will never see me any more," he said with a mighty oath, and rushed out.

The deserter was not caught. When the toliliers came to his parents' home he was .villi SalerJ at Xieolsdorf, and when they Arrived he rim away like u deer. Then ail order was made out for. his arrest, and when the authorities proved unable to capture him a regiment was stationed at Matzleinsdorf.

Now, Anion Krenmayer had a friend, Franz Wollinger, a rough and ready fellow, with the reputation of being the worst poacher for miles around. One day the young Bacon, who was in love with Salerl. same to him and said: " Wolfinger, do you ice the purse full of gold coins ? It is yours as soon as Krenmayer ia'caught." " They shall have him in an hour," Kranz 9aid, and hurried out.

Anton Krenmayer was at Kicolsdorf, and .vas trying to cheer up Salerl, when there <vas a knock on the door. Snatching his pistol, Anton jumped to his feet. " Who is ;here? " he shouted.

" Franz Wolfinger," came the answer. Anton opened the door to his friend, who, having had a few minutes' chat with the two, left again, saying they would probably rather be alone. As lie went he left his pipe behind, and hurried into the garden, where the soldiers were hidden. He made a sign to them to follow him. Again he knocked on the door " I forgot my pipe, Anton." The moment the door was opened the soldiers forced their way in, and, in spite of his furious resistance, Anton was soon hound and sent to the military prison in Vienna. For almost a year he sat there, the dreadful monotony of prison life only broken by 'lie visits of Salerl, who tried in everyway to cheer him up. "I will soon have you out, Toni,"she ;aid. one day, " and in two weeks v;e will bo married—in two weeks. No, I will not tell you how, you must have patience, and wait."

That same afternoon a beautiful country girl found her way into the imperial palace. She was stopped by the sentry who guarded the Emperor's private apartments. ''The Emperor is sick. He cannot see you.'*

'•Hut I must see him. It is a matter o! life and death. You just tell him that, and if he says no, I have nothing to do but to jump in the Danube."

" What do you want with' the Emperor ? " she heard a feeble voice ask, and when she turned around a tall bony man, in the green uniform of the Chevaui Legers, stood before her.

Salerl recognised the beloved monarch, and threw herself -down before him. He gently lifted her up, and made her tell the whole sad story. She told him how proud Anton had been that he had been chosen to serve the Emperor until she told him why he had been put in the uniform. The pale features of the sick monarch turned still paler, and his eyes shot fire. '.' I thank you from my inmost heart foi having come to me, and as sure as there is a Gad Wove us I shall bring the scoundrels to justice. Go home, Salerl, and trust to me. Your Toni will soon be with you." How Salerl ever got home she could never tell, but the next day Anton came home to Matzleinsdorf a free man. The will of the Emperor had opened the prison doors. Franz Wolfinger was taken to serve in the Cuirassiers in his place, but what happened to the Baron no one knows. He was never seen in the neighbourhood again. Only three weeks later, on the 20th of February, 1790, Emperor Joseph died, and when he was buried two days later all Vienna was in tears. But probably no one cried more or prayed more sincerely for the rest of his soul than Salerl from Nicolsdorf and the deserter from liAtsisissior;, whose happiness was du« to iu6 dying monarch's love of jas-io* to ail, st«£ lbs tumble** of b:s sabjeefe.