When we reached the Beresina, the army had, as you know, lost
all discipline, and had forgotten military obedience. It was a medley
of men of all nations, instinctively making their way from north to
south. The soldiers would drive a general in rags and bare-foot away
from their fire if he brought neither wood nor victuals. After the
passage of this famous river disorder did not diminish. I had come
quietly and alone, without food, out of the marshes of Zembin, and was
wandering in search of a house where I might be taken in. Finding none
or driven away from those I came across, happily towards evening I
perceived a wretched little Polish farm, of which nothing can give you
any idea unless you have seen the wooden houses of Lower Normandy, or
the poorest farm-buildings of la Beauce. These dwellings consist of a
single room, with one end divided off by a wooden partition, the
smaller division serving as a store-room for forage.
"In the darkness of twilight I could just see a faint smoke rising
above this house. Hoping to find there some comrades more
compassionate than those I had hitherto addressed, I boldly walked as
far as the farm.
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