Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1915 — Delayed “Last Momenta.” [ARTICLE]

Delayed “Last Momenta.”

• In the battle of Friedland, on June 14, 1807, there was a young lieutenant in Napoleon’s army named Schramm. When the victorious general was riding over the battlefield that evening he came upon the eighteen-year-old officer lying on the ground, mortally wounded, and weeping bitterly. “Why do you weep?” asked Napoleon as he rode by. "Because I ‘must die before I can become a captain,” the youth complained. The words of the dying lieutenant softened the emperor's heart. "My son, I shall gladly fulfill your wish,” he ‘said. "I hereby advance you to the rank of captain.” The unexpected promotion actually saved the boy'B life; he recovered. Later on he fought most valiantly for the cause of Napoleon, and by the time of the battle of Waterloo he had already become a general. He outlived his “last moments” on the field of Friedland by more than seventy years.— Youth’s Companion.