In the Path of Napoleon 100 Years After His Downfall * \ ^ Crossing the Alps by the Great St. Bernard Bv JAMES MORGAN Napoleon’s secret passage of the Alps six months after he became the first consul of France and his un- heralded descent from the clouds upon the rear of an Austrian army as it was about to invade France, was not only one of the boldest feats of his military career, but also one of his most important and decisive move- ments. Mr. Morgan tells today the dra- matic story of the celebrated march of more than 30,000 men over the Al- pine heights and sketches his own journeys :n “The Path of Napoleon” through the pass of the great St. Bernard. A visit to the house Napo- *' leon gave his guide and to the famous hospice on the summit of the lofty mountain, where, amid eternal snows, the good monks and their faithful dogs after a thousand years still keep watch over the storm-beaten way- fa rers. DATES AND EVENTS—AGE 30. April 5. 1880—Austrian army under Me* las opened its campaign in Italy. April 10. 1800—Mclas shut French army tinder Massena within the walls of J -r) 1 Genoa. 25. 1880—Austrian under de April army or rzzr y^zrs, Kray opened its campaign in Germany. *~Zzrr Snvrrs fjj May 0, 1800—De Kray driven across JV/7VZ Sr/irczr or Sr. 23rz?Mnrz> ■ the Danube by French rnder Moreau. May 6, 1800—Napoleon left Paris, desti- nation unknown. May 13, 1800—Reviewed his army at Lau- sanne. May 14, 1800— His army began the pas- sage of the Alps. May 20, 1800—He himself crossed the Great Si. Bernard. is a little cottage a Bourg o Paris 81. Pierre, the tiny Swiss ham- let that lies on a shelf more than half-way up the snowy the Great St. Bernard in "The CHEREPath of Napoleon" across the Alps. Its Reality unpainted walls have been stained by Tfie Ideality & David (no.not.) Tfie syBdilandz brown like <*"** wind and rain a deep, rich TVA POLEON CPOES/NG THE ALPS Co“nTVsj£") all the rest of the "/> or GO habitations In that rude and lonely Alpine village. Tet it has Its distinguishing mark, and every one in the place calls it "The "House With Three Windows." But vil- lagers have found that for some reason or other the stranger is more impressed if they point it out as "The House of the Guide of Napoleon. Before I was introduced to this Mui- son du Guide de Napoleon I made the acquaintance of the inn of St. Pierre, the Hotel an Dejeuner do Napoleon. As //apolaons 3/erAJcrAsr I drew up beneath !t3 swinging sign, Tabza amv Caala.aata Nosrs the very sight of the hotel of Napol- at A a Dejunzp be Napoleon. eon’s breakfast whetted to a fine edge Sr. Pizppz the appetite which had been sharpened liy a drive through the keen mountain serve was the butt of the caricatur- air. ists and the jest of London and Vienna. There the curious traveler may sit in The foreign goverrments, however, the veritable chair and at the veritable £ did not know that his extraordinary table of the historic dejeuner and listen success in hastily patching up a peace m i,-—--S to the story of it from the lips of the ----s ftm with the revolted provinces of western joj of the innkeeper who " granddaughter France and ids general pacification of „4 Napoleon = served it. until he is so distracted by the country had released, for the first iS hrELCOA7ED the feast of memory she spreads before time since the revolution began. all v : by Nonns him he can hardly do single-minded jus- the forces and ot thy Bernard military strength M or St. even tlie straw for their hors* to li tice to her worthy omelet. The old pic* * republic foi foreign service. II*' needed on. of the grandparents and their im- l —J tpres no army to defend Ids government at mortal hanging on the paneled y guest home, and even in the of The Call of the Cross garrisons Tli*- line of march, starting in an almof t great Napoleon paused entranced by the walls and the china and pewter acces- Paris he left 2&K> men*, a much so even n«t-v 'll The air is as unfavorable to human only barren region, soon left all vegetatlo music of hia noontime hell, the ?J sories of that dejeuner 113 years ago are life us it is to tiie dumb animals. Can smaller force than wav employed to pre- behind; lie arranged for the army to cart*; : mountaineer who walked beside the a in themselves. diduloH for tiie brotherhood, who have banquet serve the in London itself. man in the peace every morsel of food and forage for me: mule of Hie little greni big six As the of the old inn- .served their or seven years' novi- granddaughter While his he was phantom army at Dijon was and boasts. There was a weight of 00 t gray coat did not dream that tiate at the Hospice, rarely keep their keeper presides now over the Hotel au contributing to the ga:eiy of natians, a 70 pounds for the back of each man. ; uiding Napoleon to l ls destiny. Peus- strength until middle ng« When th* of Dejeuner de Napoleon, so a grandson ruler rhatted on terms as of health regiment was quietly !owning here, a ant and easy dread signs failing: appear, the guide in the Maison du Guide they, tolled together up the gorges of usually while the brothers are yet only dwells brigade there in various parts of Franc** His Baltic With the Alps de Together they industrious- 'riie road from Martigny to the valle the St. Bernard, while the’stranger ques- in their O' s, the strongest are sent to Napoleon. and marching itself toward stealthily by -to mile tioned and the countryman explained his be cures in the lower Country, the memory of Aosta in Italy is more than parish ly polish and keep shining Switzerland. Its own officers had no long. But from Bourg St. Pierre tlier little world. Tempted to confidences, the (o '*) I while the weaker take refuge in the of the great little man, all buttoned up in the val- | Xa idea of its real destination. Even the was no road at all in Napoleon’s day- guide told of his sweetheart | monastery at Martlgny. where to the chin in a big gray overcoat, who of th and how had baffled their made his It Is minister ol‘ war was net in only a path up to the summit ley poverty polenon headquarters. the secret. ■ sr ms Hossrcs rode out of St. Pierre on a mule one St. Bernard, eight miles, and then fo mating, of his humble life and modest Ztestf/xf Mom/srsj/r tailed the House of Convalescence, but As those mysterious and mystified St ambitions. it is almost certain to he their house May morning in the year 1800, a Swiss another seven or eight miles down to commands coming by many roads, met couli I “What above all things deal rest thou of death. beside him. Rhemy on the Italian side. Nothing peasant walking on the t- on the banks of Lake Geneva at Lau- go over that, part of the pass on wheels most at tills instant to make thee hup- They return to tiie Hospice sanne were found a of l py?“ the traveler asked. mountain only to rest beneath the 1 they amazed to find them* The artillerymen gang exper Why He Crossed the Alps Pierre to take thei “That mule you arc tiding,” the peas* chapel Moon, with the brothers* who .selves an army—the real of the workmen at St. ready was the first consul of France Army of a thou- The rider gun carriages and ammunition wagon ant replied without need hesitating. have been gathering there for Reserve—under the command of Na- A Skilled Workman who in six months had restored peace to pieces and pack the parts, properl; Not only did he get his wish and re- sand years and more, where even the poleon himself. who marched them turn to his the and of the ice and the snow and at home, but had failed to obtain peace numbered, on the backs of mules. neighbors proud crashing squarely against the Alps at Sledges had been for the can nappy owner of the? coveted animal, but the howling tempest cannot disturb abroad. As it is said of a man who takes Martlgny. provided not afterward an of the their slumber. Their Is guarded He was going to st^al up the Alpine non, but they proved to be useless. There long agent repose a land title that "he has bought In the Trade of War a disputed tire trees were cut down and thei: French n\lnlster to Switzerland sought by St. Bernard de Manthon from wail and jump down on the unsuspect- upon a lawsuit,’’ so Napoleon, assuming charge trunks split In two and hollowed out him out with a gift beyond his dreams. frame on tiie wall of tiie chapel above, ing Austrians! of tlie first consul of into the ten- of the French government, took upon Then the gun was laid In ono half o Py the command There is nothing in war that I cannot do tor a faithful dog looking: up the while the other hal : France the agent came to arrange for myself.