your houses it is no fault of mine. I go home to
close mine. As many as come to my share I will take; the others I will
show to your houses. You have heard of to-day's misfortunes. At
Smalkalden, friend Boehler's brother-in-law, Lieutenant Zimmermann, is
dead; our gates have been hewn down; below are the soldiers thundering
out curses. Gentlemen, let us billet them. The soldiers in the
market-place say they only wish they had shot the peasants who were
with the Lieutenant. What a calamity that would have been! They say
also that more shall be shot; that one shall not be the last. Thus you
see that the same misfortune might come upon us also. Ah! gentlemen, if
we had but such a prince as he of Gotha is! but ours troubles himself
not about us; he lives comfortably at Frankfort, and let what will come
to us, he cares not. And who knows wherefore this has begun? These
soldiers assuredly have not come for a pastime. One can learn nothing
from them. And how soon one night will pass, or even two! They are our
border neighbours too; why should we not give them a night's lodging?'

"They all agreed to this and sought for their old rate of tax;
whereupon I had to tell them the whole strength of our division.

"After that, I received an order to enjoin upon the soldiers, when they
received their billets, that they were not to undress themselves, but
were each of them to place his weapon by his bedside, and soon as a
call was heard, every soldier was instantly to join his commanding
officer fully armed, and if any one was found in a state of
drunkenness, he was to be punished by running the gauntlet of the whole
division; therefore an order was to be given directly to the assistant
executioner, to cut this very evening six hundred rods.

"None of the officers undressed themselves; for the most part they
remained in company together, in order to be alert on the morrow. When
morning approached, the citizens as well as the officers were listening
for the beating of the drum. They also had probably passed an unquiet
night; wherefore? because they were badly provided with beds, and had
given them up perhaps to the soldiers for a douceur. This one might
conclude, as in all the houses lights were to be seen throughout the
night. In the morning, instead of the call from the staff of the
grenadier guards, the reveille was beaten. Now, every soldier knows
well, that beating the reveille signifies remaining quiet, or a day of
rest; so we p