ourse gravely; but I did not then fully
understand what he meant, and I thought, "Words are only words; and
bullets are bullets. If we only encounter students and professors of
theology, all will go well, and discipline will keep the Hessians and
Bavarians and Saxons from turning against us, as it forces us Frenchmen
to fight, little as we may like it. Does not the soldier obey the
corporal, the corporal the sergeant, and so on to the marshal, who does
what the King wishes? One can see very well that this pastor never
served in a regiment, for if he did he would know that ideas are
nothing and orders everything; but I do not care to contradict him, for
then the postmaster would bring me no more wine after supper. Let them
think as they please. All that I hope is that we shall have only
theologians to fight."

While we used to chat thus, suddenly, on the morning of the
twenty-seventh of March, the order for our departure came. The
battalion rested that night at Lauterbach, the next at Neukirchen, and
we did nothing but march, march, march. Those who did not grow
accustomed to carrying the knapsack could not complain of want of
practice. How we travelled! I no longer sweated under my fifty
cartridges in my cartouche-box, my knapsack on my back and my musket on
my shoulder, and I do not know if I limped.

We were not the only ones in motion; all were marching; everywhere we
met regiments on the road, detachments of cavalry, long lines of
cannon, ammunition trains--all advancing toward Erfurt, as after a
heavy rain thousands of streams, by thousands of channels, seek the
river.

Our sergeants keep repeating, "We are nearing them! there will be hot
work soon;" and we thought, "So much the better!" that those beggarly
Prussians and Russians had drawn their fate upon themselves. If they
had remained quiet we would have been yet in France.

These thoughts embittered us all toward the enemy, and as we met
everywhere people who seemed to rejoice alone in fighting, Klipfel and
Zebede talked only of the pleasure it would give them to meet the
Prussians; and I, not to seem less courageous than they, adopted the
same strain.

On the eighth of April, the battalion entered Erfurt, and I will never
forget how, when we broke ranks before the barracks, a package of
letters was handed to the sergeant of the company. Among the number
was one for me, and I recognized Catharine's writing at once. This
affected me so that it