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PARIS WAR DAYS

[Illustration: Myron T. Herrick, American Ambassador in Paris.
_Frontispiece._]




PARIS WAR DAYS

DIARY OF AN AMERICAN



BY



CHARLES INMAN BARNARD, LL.B. (HARVARD)

Knight of the Legion of Honor
Paris Correspondent of The New York Tribune
President of The Association of the Foreign Press in Paris
Chairman of the Harvard Club of Paris




  TO
  _Ogden Mills Reid_
  EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE
  THIS  DIARY IS DEDICATED
  IN AFFECTIONATE MEMORY OF
  HIS FATHER, THE LATE
  _Whitelaw Reid_




PREFACE


This is not a story of the world-wide war. These notes, jotted down at
odd moments in a diary, are published with the idea of recording, day by
day, the aspect, temper, mood, and humor of Paris, when the entire
manhood of France responds with profound spontaneous patriotism to the
call of mobilization in defense of national existence. France is herself
again. Her capital, during this supreme trial, is a new Paris, the like
of which, after the present crisis is over, will probably not be seen
again by any one now living.

As a youth in the spring of 1871, I witnessed Paris, partly in ruins,
emerging from the scourges of German invasion and of the Commune. As a
correspondent of the _New York Herald_, under the personal
direction of my chief, Mr. James Gordon Bennett--for whom I retain a
deep-rooted friendship and admiration for his sterling, rugged qualities
of a true American and a masterly journalist--it was my good fortune,
during fourteen years, to share the joys and charms of Parisian life. I
was in Paris during the throes of the Dreyfus affair when, at the call
of the late Whitelaw Reid, I began my duties as resident correspondent
of the _New York Tribune_. I saw Paris suffer the winter floods of
1910. Whether in storm or in sunshine, I have always found myself among
friends in this vivacious center of humanity, intelligence, art,
science, and sentiment, where our countrymen, and above all our
countrywomen, realize that they have a second home. With a finger on the
pulse, as it were, of Paris, I have sought to register the throbs and
feelings of Parisians and Americans during these war days.

I acknowledge deep indebtedness to the European edition of the _New
York Herald_, and to the Continental edition of the _Daily
Mail_, from whose columns useful data and information have been
freely drawn.

C. I. B.

_Paris, October, 1914._




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


Myron T. Herrick, American Ambassador in Paris. _Frontispiece_

Shop of a German merchant in Paris, wrecked by French mobs

Sewing-girls at work in the American Episcopal Church

American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly

Paris workmen hastening to join the colors

Woman replacing man in traffic work

General Victor Constant Michel, Military Governor of Paris until August
27, 1914

The Statue of Strasbourg, after the capture of Altkirch in Alsace by
French troops

Americans in Paris besieging the American Express Company's office for
funds for their daily bread

French <DW64> troops from Africa entraining in Paris

Flag of the 132nd German Infantry Regiment, captured at Saint-Blaise by
the 1st Battalion of Chasseurs a Pied

Robert Woods Bliss, First Secretary of the United States Embassy in
Paris, September, 1914

A party of American volunteers crossing the Place de l'Opera in Paris on
their way to enlist

General Joseph Simon Gallieni, appointed Military Governor and Commander
of the Army of Paris, August 26, 1914

Etienne Alexandre Millerand, Minister of War, August 27, 1914

Parisians watching the German air craft that drop bombs on the city

Eiffel Tower's searchlight to reveal bomb-throwing air craft and air
scouts of the Germans

Wounded French soldiers returning to Paris with trophies from the
battlefields

29th Infantry Reserves, Army of the Defence of Paris

General Joffre, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies in France

M. Emile Laurent, appointed Prefect of Police of Paris, September 3,
1914

Workmen erecting a barricade in Paris

"Sauf-Conduit" issued by the Prefecture of Police to persons wishing to
travel

One of the wards in the American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly




PARIS WAR DAYS




_Saturday, August 1, 1914_


This war comes like the traditional "Bolt from the Blue!" I had made
arrangements to retire from active journalism and relinquish the duties
of Paris correspondent of the _New York Tribune_, which I had
fulfilled for sixteen consecutive years. In reply to a request from Mr.
Ogden Reid, I had expressed willingness to remain at my post in Paris
until the early autumn, inasmuch as "a quiet summer was expected."
Spring was a busy time for newspaper men. There had been the sensational
assassination of Gaston Calmette, editor of the _Figaro_, by Mme.
Caillaux, wife of the cabinet minister. Then there was the "caving-in"
of the streets of Paris, owing to the effect of storms on the thin
surface left by the underground tunnelling for the electric tramways,
and for the new metropolitan "tubes." The big prize fight between Jack
Johnson and Frank Moran for the heavy-weight championship of the world
followed. Next came the trial of Mme. Caillaux and her acquittal. Then
followed the newspaper campaign of the brothers, MM. Paul and Guy de
Cassagnac, against German newspaper correspondents in Paris. The
Cassagnacs demanded that certain German correspondents should quit
French territory within twenty-four hours. As several German
correspondents were members of the "Association of the Foreign Press,"
of which I happen to be president, I was able to smooth matters over a
little. Although my personal sympathies were strongly with the
Cassagnacs, who are editors of _L'Autorite_, especially in their
condemnation of the severity of the German Government in regard to
"Hansi," the Alsatian caricaturist and author of _Mon Village_, I
managed with the help of some of my Russian, Italian, English, and
Spanish colleagues to avoid needless duels and quarrels between French
and German journalists. Finally, the day of the "Grand Prix de Paris"
brought the news of the murder at Sarajevo of the heir to the
Austro-Hungarian throne. My friend, Mr. Edward Schuler, was despatched
by the Associated Press to Vienna, and when he returned, I readily saw,
from the state of feeling that he described as existing in Vienna, that
war between Austria and Servia was inevitable, and that unless some
supreme effort should be made for peace by Emperor William, a general
European war must follow.

Wednesday, July 29, the day after Austria's declaration of war against
Servia, I lunched at the Hotel Ritz with Mrs. Marshall Field and her
nephew, Mr. Spencer Eddy. Mrs. Field was about to leave Paris for
Aix-les-Bains. We talked about the probability of Russia being forced to
make war with Germany. I warned Mrs. Field of the risk she would run in
going to Aix-les-Bains, and in the event of mobilization, of being
deprived of her motor-car and of all means of getting away. At that time
no one seemed to think that war really would break out. Mrs. Field
finally gave up her plan of going to Aix-les-Bains and went to London.
The following evening Maitre Charles Philippe of the Paris Bar and M.
Max-Lyon, a French railroad engineer who had built many of the Turkish
and Servian railroads, dined with me. They both felt that nothing could
now avert war between France and Germany.

Yesterday (July 31) a sort of war fever permeated the air. A cabinet
minister assured me that at whatever capital there was the slightest
hope of engaging in negotiations and compromise, at that very point the
"mailed fist" diplomacy of the Kaiser William dealt an unexpected blow.
There seems no longer any hope for peace, because it is evident that the
Military Pretorian Guard, advisers to the German and Austrian emperors,
are in the ascendency, and they want war. "Very well, they will have
it!" remarked the veteran French statesman, M. Georges Clemenceau.

After dinner last evening I happened to be near the Cafe du Croissant
near the Bourse and in the heart of the newspaper quarter of Paris.
Suddenly an excited crowd collected. "Jaures has been assassinated!"
shouted a waiter. The French deputy and anti-war agitator was sitting
with his friends at a table near an open window in the cafe. A young
Frenchman named Raoul Villain, son of a clerk of the Civil Court of
Rheims, pushed a revolver through the window and shot Jaures through the
head. He died a few moments later. The murder of the socialist leader
would in ordinary times have so aroused party hatred that almost civil
war would have broken out in Paris. But to-night, under the tremendous
patriotic pressure of the German emperor's impending onslaught upon
France, the whole nation is united as one man. As M. Arthur Meyer,
editor of the _Gaulois_, remarked: "France is now herself again!
Not since a hundred years has the world seen '_France Debout!_'"

At four o'clock this afternoon I was standing on the Place de la Bourse
when the mobilization notices were posted. Paris seemed electrified. All
cabs were immediately taken. I walked to the Place de l'Opera and Rue de
la Paix to note the effect of the mobilization call upon the people.
Crowds of young men, with French flags, promenaded the streets, shouting
"Vive La France!" Bevies of young sewing-girls, _midinettes_,
collected at the open windows and on the balconies of the Rue de la
Paix, cheering, waving their handkerchiefs at the youthful patriots, and
throwing down upon them handfuls of flowers and garlands that had decked
the fronts of the shops. The crowd was not particularly noisy or
boisterous. No cries of "On to Berlin!" or "Down with the Germans!" were
heard. The shouts that predominated were simply: "Vive La France!" "Vive
l'Armee!" and "Vive l'Angleterre!" One or two British flags were also
borne along beside the French tricolor.

I cabled the following message to Mr. Ogden Reid, editor of the _New
York Tribune_:

  Tribune, New York, Private for Mr. Reid. Suggest
  supreme importance event hostilities of Brussels as center
  of all war news. Also that Harry Lawson, _Daily Telegraph_,
  London, is open any propositions coming from you
  concerning _Tribune_ sharing war news service with his
  paper. According best military information be useless
  expense sending special men to front with French owing
  absolute rigid censorship.

    BARNARD.

I based this suggestion about the supreme importance of Brussels because
it has for years been an open secret among military men that the only
hope of the famous _attaque brusquee_ of the German armies being
successful would be by violating Belgian neutrality and swarming in like
wasps near Liege and Namur, and surprising the French mobilization by
sweeping by the lines of forts constructed by the foremost military
engineer in Europe, the late Belgian general, De Brialmont.

I subsequently received a cable message from the editor of the
_Tribune_ expressing the wish to count upon my services during the
present crisis. To this I promptly agreed.




_Sunday, August 2._


This is the first day of mobilization. I looked out of the dining-room
window of my apartment at Number 8 Rue Theodule-Ribot at four this
morning. Already the streets resounded with the buzz, whirl, and horns
of motor-cars speeding along the Boulevard de Courcelles, and the
excited conversation of men and women gathered in groups on the
sidewalks. It was warm, rather cloudy weather. Thermometer, 20 degrees
centigrade, with light, southwesterly breezes. My servant, Felicien,
summoned by the mobilization notices calling out the reservists, was
getting ready to join his regiment, the Thirty-second Dragoons. His
young wife and child had arrived the day before from Brittany. My
housekeeper, Sophie, who was born in Baden-Baden and came to Paris with
her mother when a girl of eight, is in great anxiety lest she be
expelled, owing to her German nationality.

I walked to the chancellery of the American Embassy, Number 5 Rue de
Chaillot, where fifty stranded Americans were vainly asking the clerks
how they could get away from Paris and how they could have their letters
of credit cashed. Three stray Americans drove up in a one-horse cab. I
took the cab, after it had been discharged, and went to the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, where I expected to find our Ambassador, Mr. Myron T.
Herrick. M. Viviani, the President of the Council of Ministers and
Minister of Foreign Affairs, was there awaiting the arrival of Baron de
Schoen, the German Ambassador, who had made an appointment for eleven
o'clock. It was now half-past eleven, and his German excellency had not
yet come.

I watched the arrival of the St. Cyr cadets at the Gare d'Orsay station
on their way to the Gare de l'Est. These young French "West Pointers"
are sturdy, active, wiry little chaps, brimful of pluck, intelligence,
and determination. They carried their bags and boxes in their hands, and
their overcoats were neatly folded _bandeliere_ fashion from the
right shoulder to the left hip. Then came a couple of hundred
requisitioned horses led by cavalrymen. Driving by the Invalides, I
noticed about five hundred requisitioned automobiles. I was very much
impressed by the earnest, grave determination of the reservists, who
were silently rejoining their posts. Some of them were accompanied by
wives, sisters, or sweethearts, who concealed their tears with forced
smiles. Now and then groups of young men escorted the reservists,
singing the "Marseillaise" and waving French, British, and Russian
flags. At the Place de la Concorde, near the statue of "Strasbourg," was
a procession of Italians, who had offered their military services to the
Minister of War in spite of Italy's obligation to the Triple Alliance.

Later, at the American Embassy, Number 5 Rue Francois Premier, I found
Ambassador Herrick arranging for a sort of relief committee of Americans
to aid and regulate the situation of our stranded countrymen and women
here. There are about three thousand who want to get home, but who are
unable to obtain money on their letters of credit; if they have money,
they are unable to find trains, or passenger space on westward bound
liners. Mr. Herrick showed me a cablegram from the State Department at
Washington instructing him to remain at his post until his successor,
Mr. Sharp, can reach Paris; also to inform Mr. Thomas Nelson Page,
American Ambassador at Rome, to cancel his leave of absence and stop in
Rome, even if "Italy had decided to remain neutral." As soon as the
German and Austro-Hungarian ambassadors quit the capital, Mr. Herrick
will be placed in charge of all the German and Austro-Hungarian subjects
left behind here. I met also M. J. J. Jusserand, French Ambassador at
Washington, who intends sailing Tuesday for New York. M. Jusserand
informed me that official news had reached the Paris Ministry of the
Interior of Germany's violation of the territory of Luxemburg, the
independence of which had been guaranteed by the Powers, including of
course Prussia, by the Treaty of London in 1867. M. Jusserand was very
indignant at this reckless breach of international law.

At the suggestion of Mr. Herrick, a committee of Americans was chosen to
co-operate with him in giving such information and advice to Americans
in Paris as the efforts of the committee to ascertain facts and
conditions may justify. The committee think there is no cause for alarm
on the part of those who remain in the city for the present; and that
Americans will be able to leave at some later date, if any desire to do
so.

The committee will endeavor to learn what can be done in securing money
on letters of credit or travelers' cheques, or in getting means of
transportation to such places as they may desire to go.

The committee includes Messrs. Laurence B. Benet, W.S. Dalliba, Charles
Carroll, Frederick Coudert, James Deering, Chauncey M. Depew, E.H. Gary,
H. Herman Harjes, William Jay, F.B. Kellog, Percy Peixotto, and Henry S.
Priest. The chairman is Judge E.H. Gary.

Mr. Herrick asked me to convey a private message to one of his friends,
but as the telephone service was interrupted, Mr. Laurence Norton, the
Ambassador's secretary, loaned me his motor-car for the purpose. On the
Cour La Reine a procession of young men escorting reservists and bearing
a French flag appeared. I naturally raised my hat to salute the colors.
The crowd, noticing the red, white, and blue cockades on the hats of the
chauffeur and the footman, mistook me for the American Ambassador or for
a cabinet minister, and burst into frantic cheers.

In the German quarter, near the Rue d'Hauteville, a couple of German
socialists who were so imprudent as to shout "_A bas l'armee!_"
were surrounded by angry Frenchmen, and despite an attempt of the police
to protect them, were very roughly handled. A German shoemaker who
attempted to charge exaggerated prices for boots had his windows smashed
and his stock looted by an infuriated crowd.

The news that the German shops were being attacked soon spread, and
youths gathered in bands, going from one shop to the other and wrecking
them in the course of a few moments. Further riots occurred near the
Gare de l'Est, a district which is inhabited by a large number of
Germans. A great deal of damage was done.

Measures were taken at once by the authorities, and several cavalry
detachments were called to the aid of the police. The youths were quite
docile on the whole, a word from a policeman being sufficient to turn
them away.

The cavalry, too, only made a few charges at a sharp trot and were
received with hearty cheers. Policemen and municipal guards were,
however, stationed before shops known to be owned by Germans.

[Illustration: Shop of a German merchant in Paris, wrecked by French
mobs.]

In spite of this rioting, responsible Parisians may be said to have
remained as calm as they have been all through this critical time. Among
those taking part in wrecking shops were few people older than seventeen
or eighteen.

Already the familiar aspect of the Parisian street crowd has changed. It
is now composed almost exclusively of men either too young or too old
for military service and of women and children. Most of the younger
generation have already left to join corps on the front or elsewhere in
France. It is impossible to spend more than a few minutes in the streets
without witnessing scenes which speak of war.

There are long processions of vehicles of all sorts, market carts,
two-wheeled lorries, furniture vans, all of them stocked with rifles for
the reserves and all of them led or driven by soldiers.

Not a motor-omnibus is to be seen. The taxi-cabs and cabs are scarce.
Tramway-cars are running, although on some lines the service is reduced
considerably. In spite of the disorganization of traffic, the majority
of Parisians go about their business quietly.

There is deep confidence in the national cause. "We did not want this
war, but as Germany has begun we will fight, and Germany will find that
the heart of France is in a war for freedom," is an expression heard on
all sides.

Everywhere there are touching scenes. In the early hours of the morning
a _chasseur_ covered with dust, who had come to bid farewell to his
family, was seen riding through the city. As he rode down the street, an
old woman stopped him and said: "Do your best! They killed my husband in
'70." The young soldier stooped from his saddle and silently gripped the
old woman's hand.




_Monday, August 3._


This is the second day of mobilization. A warm, cloudy day with
occasional showers. Thermometer, 20 degrees centigrade.

At six this morning Felicien, with a brown paper parcel containing a
day's rations consisting of cold roast beef, sandwiches, hard-boiled
eggs, bread, butter, and potato salad, walked off to the Gare St.
Lazare, which is his point of rendezvous indicated by the mobilization
paper. His young wife wept as if broken-hearted. Felicien, like all the
reservists, restrained his emotions. I shook him warmly by the hand and
said that I would surely see him again here within six months, and that
he would come home a victor. "Don't be afraid of that, sir!" was his
reply, and away he went.

I watched the looting of the Maggi milk shops near the Place des Ternes.
The marauders were youths from fifteen to eighteen years old, and seemed
to have no idea of the crimes they were committing. The Maggi is no
longer a German enterprise, and the stupid acts of these young ruffians
can only have the effect of depriving French mothers and infants of
much-needed milk. I bought a bicycle to-day at Peugeot's in the Avenue
of the Grande Armee, because it is hopeless to get cabs or motor-cabs.
While there, the shop was requisitioned by an officer, who took away
with him three hundred bicycles for the army.

The aspect of the main thoroughfares in the Opera quarter, the center of
English and American tourist traffic, was depressing in the extreme this
afternoon. All the shipping offices in the Rue Scribe closed in the
morning. The Rue de la Paix is never very brilliant in August, but now
it is an abode of desolation. Nine tenths of the shops have their
shutters up and the jewelers who keep open have withdrawn all their
stock from the windows.

Many of the closed shops on the boulevards and elsewhere bear placards
designed to protect them from the possible attentions of the mob. On
these placards are such texts as "Maison Francaise" or even "Maison
ultrafrancaise."

On the Cafe de la Paix is the following announcement, in several places:
"The proprietor, Andre Millon, who is mayor of Evecquemont
(Seine-et-Oise), has been called out for service in the army and left
this morning." Similar messages, written in chalk, are to be seen on
hundreds of shutters.

Steps have been taken at the American Embassy to supply credentials, in
the form of "a paper of nationality," to citizens of the United States,
which will make it possible for them to register as such with the
police, as required by the French Government.

The proposed American Ambulance has been organized under the official
patronage of Ambassador Herrick, and the auspices of the American
Hospital of Paris.

Beginning to-day, all cafes and restaurants will be closed at eight in
the evening. They were left open till nine yesterday as an exceptional
measure, owing to the fact that there was not time to distribute the
order for early closing by eight o'clock.

The aspect of the boulevards last night was the completest possible
contrast to what was seen on Sunday night. The city was under martial
law, and the police showed very plainly that they did not intend to be
trifled with.

Instead of shouting crowds and stone-throwing by excited youths and
women, one saw only a few citizens walking slowly along. One group of
policemen took shelter from the intermittent showers under the marquise
of the Vaudeville Theater, and other detachments were in readiness at
corners all along the line of the boulevards, which were dotted with
isolated policemen.

No one was allowed to loiter. To wait five minutes outside a house was
to court investigation and possibly arrest. There was no sound except
that of footfalls and a low murmur of conversation. It was the first
night of war's stern government.

Germany officially declared war upon France at five forty-five this
evening. The notification was made by Baron von Schoen, the German
Ambassador to France, when he called at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
to ask for his passports.

Baron von Schoen declared that his Government had instructed him to
inform the Government of the Republic that French aviators had flown
over Belgium and that other French aviators had flown over Germany and
dropped bombs as far as Nuremberg. He added that this constituted an act
of aggression and violation of German territory.

M. Viviani listened in silence to Baron von Schoen's statement, and when
the German Ambassador had finished, replied that it was absolutely false
that French aviators had flown over Belgium and Germany and had dropped
bombs.

Immediately after this interview, M. Viviani telegraphed to M. Jules
Cambon, French Ambassador in Berlin, instructing him to immediately ask
for his passports and to make a report on France's protest against the
violation of the neutrality of Luxemburg and the ultimatum sent to
Belgium. M. Cambon will leave Berlin to-morrow.

Since acts of war were committed by German troops two days ago, the
delay in the recall of the German Ambassador had appeared inexplicable
to the great majority of French people, to whom Baron von Schoen
appeared to be decidedly outstopping his welcome.

The Ambassador himself seemed conscious of this feeling, for not only
did he take care to proceed to the Quai d'Orsay in as inconspicuous a
manner as possible, but he also applied to the authorities to detail a
policeman to accompany him in his automobile.

Baron von Schoen's departure from Paris was a solemn affair. He left the
Embassy last, after a vast collection of luggage had gone off in
motor-wagons and other vehicles. A few minutes before ten o'clock,
wearing a soft felt hat and black frock coat adorned with the rosette of
the Legion of Honor and carrying a rainproof coat over his arm, he left
in a powerful automobile, which, by way of the Invalides, the Trocadero,
and the Boulevard Flandrin, conveyed him to the station.

The station employes and the police on duty at the station formed a
silent cordon, through which the departing Ambassador passed with
downcast eyes.

Not a word was spoken as the baron stood for a few minutes on the
platform.

Then the stationmaster said quietly: "_En voiture_," there was a
shrill whistle, and the train, composed of five coaches and three goods
trucks, glided slowly out of the station.




_Tuesday, August 4._


We are now in the third day of mobilization. Weather slightly cooler, 17
degrees centigrade, with moderate southwest wind.

At seven this morning I went with Sophie to the registration office for
Germans, Alsatians, and Austro-Hungarians, Number 213 Place Boulevard
Periere. A crowd of some five hundred persons--men, women, and
children--were waiting at the doors of the public schoolroom now used as
the _Siege du District_ for the seventeenth arrondissement.
Although a German by birth, Sophie is French at heart. She came to Paris
when only eight years old and has remained here ever since--she is now
sixty-one--and has been thirty-two years with me as housekeeper and
cook. All her German relatives are dead. Hers is a hard case, for if
expelled from France, she would have to become practically a stranger in
a strange land. Fortunately she has all her papers in order, and can
show that she has nine nephews actually in the French army. I made a
statement in writing for her to this effect, which she took to the
registration office, but she had to wait, standing without shelter from
eight in the morning to six o'clock at night. After carefully
scrutinizing her papers, the officials told her that her papers must go
for inspection to the Prefecture of Police, and that she must come back
for them to-morrow. She had with her photographs of three of her nephews
in military uniforms. One of these nephews had received a decoration
during the Morocco campaign for saving his captain's life during an
engagement.

I managed to see the Commissary of Police of the quarter and spoke to
him about Sophie, explaining her case and saying that as she was such a
splendid cook it would be a great pity if Paris should lose her
services. The commissary smiled and said: "It will be all right. Sophie
will be allowed to remain in Paris!" I profited by the occasion to
obtain a _permis de sejour_, or residence permit, for myself. The
commissary, after noting on paper my personal description and measuring
my height, handed me the precious document authorizing me to reside in
the "entrenched camp of Paris." These papers must be kept on one's
person, ready to be shown whenever called for. Outside of the office
about three hundred foreigners, including Emile Wauters, the Belgian
painter, and several well-known Americans and English, were waiting
their turn to get into the office. I congratulated myself on having a
journalist's _coupe-file_ card that had enabled me to get in before
the others, some of whom stood waiting for six hours before their turn
came. This is an instance of stupid French bureaucracy or red-tapism. It
would have been very easy to have distributed numbers to those waiting,
and the applicants would then have been able, by calculating the time,
to go about their business and return when necessary. Another instance
of this fatal red-tapism of French officialdom came in the shape of a
summons from the fiscal office of Vernon, where I have a little country
place on the Seine, to pay the sum of two francs, which is the annual
tax for a float I had there for boating purposes. This trivial paper,
coming in amidst the whirlpool of mobilization, displays the mentality
of the provincial officials.

After doing some writing, I went on my new bicycle to the chancellery of
the United States Embassy and saw a crowd of about seventy Americans on
the sidewalk awaiting their turn to obtain identification papers. I met
here Mr. Bernard J. Schoninger, former president of the American Chamber
of Commerce in Paris. The news of the outbreak of war found him at
Luchon in the Pyrenees. All train service being monopolized for the
troops, he came in his automobile to Paris, a distance of about a
thousand kilometers. All went smoothly until he reached Tours, when he
was held up at every five kilometers by guards who demanded his papers.
Chains or ropes were often stretched across the roads. Mr. Schoninger
showed the guards his visiting card, explained who he was, and said that
he was going to Paris on purpose to get his papers. The authorities were
very civil, as they usually are to all Americans who approach them
politely, and allowed him to motor to Neuilly, just outside the
fortifications of Paris.

I proceeded on my wheel to the Embassy, where I found our Ambassador
very busy with the American Relief Committee and with the American
Ambulance people.

Several Americans at the Embassy were making impractical requests, as
for instance that the American Ambassador demand that the French
Government accept the passports or identification papers issued by the
American Embassy here in lieu of _permis de sejour_. If the French
Government accorded this favor to the United States, all the other
neutral nations would require the same privilege, and thus in time of
war, with fighting going on only a little over two hundred kilometers
from Paris, the French Government would lose direct control of
permission for foreigners to remain in the capital.

It is estimated that there are over forty thousand Americans at present
stranded in Europe, seventy-five hundred of them being in Paris. Of
these fifteen hundred are without present means.

The Embassy is literally besieged by hundreds of these unfortunate
travelers. There were so many of them, and their demands were so urgent,
that the Military Attache, Major Spencer Cosby, had to utilize the
services of eight American army officers on leave to form a sort of
guard to control their compatriots. These officers were Major Morton
John Henry, Captain Frank Parker, Captain Francis H. Pope, Lieutenants
B.B. Summerwell, F.W. Honeycutt, Joseph B. Treat, J.H. Jouett, and H.F.
Loomis. The last four are young graduates of West Point, the others
being on the active list of the United States army.

Ambassador Herrick set his face against any favoritism in receiving the
applicants, and some very prominent citizens had to stand in line for
hours before they could be admitted. Mr. Oscar Underwood, son of
Senator-elect Underwood, is organizing means to alleviate the distress
among his countrymen and countrywomen in Paris. He has also asked the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to extend the time allowed for Americans to
obtain formal permission to remain in France, and his request will no
doubt be granted.

Doctor Watson, rector of the American Church of the Holy Trinity, in the
Avenue de l'Alma, has offered that building as temporary sleeping
quarters for Americans who are unable to obtain shelter elsewhere, and
is arranging to hold some trained nurses at the disposal of the feeble
and sick.

War is a wonderful leveler, but there could hardly be a greater piece of
irony perpetrated by Fate than compelling well-to-do Americans, who have
no share in the quarrel on hand, to sleep in a church in France like
destitutes before any of the French themselves are called upon to
undergo such an experience.

[Illustration: Photo. H.C. Ellis Paris. Sewing-girls at work in the
American Episcopal Church, making garments for the American Ambulance
Hospital.]

At the Chamber of Deputies I witnessed a historic scene never to be
forgotten. Some of the deputies were reservists and had come in their
uniforms, but the rules prevented them from taking their seats in
military attire. In the Diplomatic Tribune sat Sir Francis Bertie, the
British Ambassador, side by side with M. Alexander Iswolsky, the Russian
Ambassador. The Chamber filled in complete silence. The whole House,
from royalists to socialists, listened, standing, to a glowing tribute
by M. Paul Deschanel, president of the Chamber, to M. Jaures, over whose
coffin, he said, the whole of France was united. "There are no more
adversaries," exclaimed M. Deschanel, with a voice trembling with
emotion, "there are only Frenchmen." The whole house as one man raised a
resounding shout of "Vive la France!"

When M. Deschanel concluded, there was a pause during the absence of M.
Viviani. The Premier entered, pale but confident, amid a hurricane of
cheers and read amid a silence broken only by frenzied shouts of "Vive
la France!" a speech detailing the whole course of the diplomatic
negotiations, in which he placed upon Germany crushing responsibility
for the catastrophe which has overtaken Europe.

The Chamber, before rising, adopted unanimously without discussion a
whole series of bills making provision for national defense and the
maintenance of order in France.

M. Viviani's speech was interrupted by terrific cheering when he
referred to the attitude adopted by the British and Belgian governments.
All rose to face the diplomatic tribune, cheering again and again.

M. Viviani's last phrase, "We are without reproach. We shall be without
fear," swept the whole Chamber off its feet.

The vast hemicycle was a compact mass of cheering deputies, all waving
aloft in their hands papers and handkerchiefs. From the tribunes of the
public gallery shout after shout went up. At the foot of the
presidential platform the gray-haired usher, with his 1870 war medals on
his breasts, was seated, overcome with emotion, the tears coursing down
his cheeks.

Paris is back in the days of the curfew, and at eight o'clock, by order
of the Military Governor of Paris, it is "lights out" on the boulevards,
all the cafes close their doors, the underground railway ceases running,
and policemen and sentinels challenge any one going home late, lest he
should be a German spy. Paris is no longer "_la ville lumiere_"--
it is a sad and gloomy city, where men and women go about with solemn,
anxious faces, and every conversation seems to begin and end with the
dreadful word "War!"

There is no more rioting in the streets. The bands of young blackguards
who went about pillaging the shops of inoffensive citizens have been
cleared from the streets, and demonstrations of every kind are strictly
forbidden. So far is this carried that a cab was stopped at the
Madeleine, and a policeman ordered the cab driver to take the little
French flag out of the horse's collar.

In the evening the city is wrapped in a silence which makes it difficult
to realize that one is in the capital of a great commercial center. The
smallest of provincial villages would seem lively compared with the
boulevards last night. But for large numbers of policemen and occasional
military patrols, the streets were practically deserted.

There is, however, nothing for the police to do, for the sternly worded
announcement that disturbers of the peace would be court-martialed had
the instant effect of putting a stop to any noisy demonstrations, let
alone any attempts at pillage. Policemen can be seen sitting about on
doorsteps or leaning against trees.

Parisians are already going through a small revival of what they did
during the siege of 1871. They are lining up at regular hours outside
provision shops and waiting their turn to be served. Many large
groceries are open only from nine to eleven in the morning and from
three to five in the afternoon, not because there is any scarcity of
food, but on account of lack of assistants, all their young men being at
the front or on their way there.

Great activity is already being shown in preparing to receive wounded
soldiers from the front, and all the ambulance and nursing societies are
working hand in hand.

The women of Paris are being enrolled in special schools where they will
be taught the art of nursing, and thousands of young women and girls in
the provinces have promised to help their country by making uniforms and
bandages. Others will look after the children of widowers who have gone
to the front, and in various other ways the women of France are
justifying their reputation for cheerful self-abnegation.

[Illustration: Photo. H.C. Ellis, Paris American Ambulance Hospital at
Neuilly. Ambulance train of motor-cars ready to start out to get the
wounded.]

The Medical Board of the American Hospital held another meeting at the
hospital in Neuilly, to consider further the organization of the
hospital for wounded soldiers, with an ambulance service, which it is
proposed to offer as an American contribution to France in her hour of
trouble.

Just how extensive this medical service will be depends upon the amount
of money that will be obtained from Americans. The enterprise was given
its first impulse at a meeting of the Board of Governors and the Medical
Board of the American Hospital held on Monday at the request of
Ambassador Herrick.

It is intended to establish at first a hospital of one hundred or two
hundred beds, fully equipped to care for wounded French soldiers.
Several places are under consideration, but at present no information
of a definite character can be given on this subject. Later, if
Americans are sufficiently generous in their contributions, it is
proposed to obtain from the French Government the use of the Lycee
Pasteur in Neuilly, not far from the American Hospital. In this building
a thousand beds could be placed, and it is hoped that funds will be
available to undertake this larger ambulance service.

Meanwhile the American Hospital at Neuilly is not to be affected in any
way by this emergency undertaking, but it will continue its work for
Americans in need of medical attention. The special hospital for
soldiers is to be an American offering under the auspices of the
American Hospital and under the direction of the Medical Board of that
institution.

The Medical Board of the American Hospital consists of Doctor Robert
Turner, chairman; Doctor Magnier, who is well known as the founder of
the hospital; Doctor Debuchet, Doctor Gros, Doctor Koenig and Doctor
Whitman.

Mrs. Herrick, Mrs. Potter Palmer, Mrs. Carolan, and other prominent
American women have applied for service with the Red Cross.




_Wednesday, August 5._


Fourth day of mobilization. Cloudy weather with southwesterly wind,
temperature at five P.M. 21 degrees centigrade.

Looking out of the window this morning I noticed British flags waving
beside French flags on several balconies and shops. England's
declaration of war against Germany arouses tremendous enthusiasm. The
heroic defense made by the Belgians against three German army corps
advancing on the almost impregnable fortress of Liege--a second Port
Arthur--is a magnificent encouragement for the French. At some of the
houses in Paris one now sees occasionally assembled the flags of France,
Russia, Great Britain, Belgium, and Servia.

Paris is beginning to settle down more or less to the abnormal state of
things prevailing in the city since the departure of the reservists.
Those who remain behind are showing an admirable spirit. Nowhere are
complaints voiced in regard to the complete disorganization of the
public services. M. Hennion, chief of police, has devised an excellent
means of clearing the streets of dangerous individuals. He has arranged
for half a dozen auto-busses containing a dozen policemen to circulate
in the different quarters at night. The auto-busses stop now and then,
and the police make a silent search for marauders. Any one found with a
revolver or a knife is arrested, put in handcuffs, and placed in the
auto-bus and carried to the police station.

Sophie at last got her _permis de sejour_ this evening. The
expelled Germans will be sent to a remote station near the Spanish
frontier. The undesirable Austro-Hungarians will be relegated to
Brittany, where perhaps they may be utilized in harvesting the wheat
crop. Germans in the domestic service of French citizens are allowed to
remain in Paris.

The French Institute is participating in the campaign reservist
mobilization. M. Etienne Lamy, Perpetual Secretary of the French
Academy, is a major in the territorial army and is about to take the
field. M. Pierre Loti, who is a captain in the navy, will be provided
with a suitable command. M. Marcel Prevost, graduate of the Polytechnic
School, is a major of artillery, and will command a battery in one of
the forts near Paris.

Among American ladies added to the list of those who have volunteered
for service with the Red Cross are Mrs. Gary, Mrs. E. Tuck, Mrs. Hickox,
Mrs. George Munroe, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Bell, Mrs. French, Mrs. G. Gray,
Mrs. Gurnee, Mrs. Burden, Mrs. Harjes, Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Dalliba, Mrs.
Burnell, Mrs. Farwell, Mrs. Blumenthal, Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Walter Gay,
Mrs. Tiffany, Mrs. Allan, Miss Gillett, and Miss Gurnee.

A number of American and English-speaking physicians and surgeons
responded to the appeal made by Doctor J.M. Gershberg, of New York,
visiting physician to the Hopital Broca, and attended a meeting held at
Professor Pozzi's dispensary to form an organization offering their
medical and surgical services to the French Government and the Red Cross
Society.

Doctor Gershberg explained that the plan is to form three bodies: a body
of English-speaking physicians and surgeons, a body of English-speaking
nurses, and a body of English-speaking attendants. The proprietor of
the Hotel Chatham, a reserve officer in the artillery, and M. C.
Michaut, ex-reserve officer of artillery, have decided to place the
establishment at the disposal of the Red Cross Society for the reception
of wounded soldiers.

Americans arriving in Paris from Germany and Switzerland continue to
bring stories of hardships inflicted on them by the sudden outbreak of
war. Mr. T.C. Estee, of New York, who reached Paris with his family,
reported that he left behind at Zurich two hundred Americans who
apparently had no means of getting away.

He and his family were lucky enough to catch the last train conveying
troops westward. They traveled for two days without food or water, one
of the ladies fainting from exhaustion, and after the train reached its
destination they had to walk several miles across the frontier, where
they were taken on board a French troop train. They lost all their
baggage.

Eight other Americans reported a similar experience. They had a tramp of
ten miles into France, and one of their number, a lady partly paralyzed,
had to be carried. They could procure no food until they reached France.
Finally they obtained a motor-car which brought them to Paris. This
memorable journey began at Dresden.




_Thursday, August 6._


Fifth day of mobilization. Cloudy in the morning, fair in the afternoon.
Thermometer at five P.M. 17 degrees centigrade.

Our Ambassador, Mr. Herrick, whom I saw in the afternoon, is delighted
with the progress being made with the American Hospital for the French
wounded. Mrs. Herrick is getting on famously with her organization of
the woman's committee of the American Ambulance of Paris, which is to be
offered to the French Military Government for the aid of wounded
soldiers.

Mrs. Herrick was elected president of the committee, Mrs. Potter Palmer
vice-president, Mrs. H. Herman Harjes treasurer, and Mrs. Laurence V.
Benet secretary. An executive committee was then elected, consisting of
Mrs. Laurence V. Benet, Mrs. H. Herman Harjes, Mrs. Potter Palmer, Mrs.
Carroll of Carrollton, and Mrs. George Munroe.

Among the women present at the meeting, in addition to those already
named, were: Mrs. Elbert H. Gary, Mrs. William Jay, Mrs. A. M. Thackara,
Mrs. James Henry Smith, Mrs. J. Burden, Mrs. Dalliba, Mrs. Blumenthal,
Mrs. Walter Gay, Mrs. Tuck, Mrs. Charles Barney, Mrs. Whitney Warren,
Mrs. Philip Lydig, Mrs. Hickox, Mrs. F. Bell, Mrs. French, Mrs.
Frederick Allen, Mrs. Farwell, Miss Edyth Deacon, Mrs. Cameron, Mrs.
William Crocker, Mrs. Herman B. Duryea, Mrs. Roche, Miss Hallmark, Mrs.
Robert Bliss, Mrs. Crosby, Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Howe, Miss Allen, Mrs.
Carolan and Mrs. Marcou.

At the Embassy, I met Colonel William Jay, whom I had known as a boy
when he was aide-de-camp to General Meade, then in command of the Army
of the Potomac. We talked about the prospects of the war and especially
of the Belgians' superb defense at Liege and also discussed the report
that a British force had been transported to Havre. I called at the
Ministry of War this morning, and Colonel Commandant Duval, chief of the
press bureau there, gave me a _laisser-passer_ to enter the
Ministry three times a day: ten in the morning, three in the afternoon,
and at eleven o'clock at night to get the official news communicated by
the War Department to the newspapers. It is odd to notice the martial
aspect of the doorkeepers and ushers at the War Office. Their moustaches
have become longer and fiercer, and their replies to most trivial
questions are pronounced with an air of impressive mystery. At the War
Office, I met M. Louis Barthou, former prime minister, who expressed
genuine enthusiasm at the heroic fighting of the Belgians. I afterwards
went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to see about having my
_coupe-file_, or special pass, vised with a _laisser-passer_
label. This can only be obtained at the Prefecture of Police upon the
special authorization of the Foreign Office. I was told that although a
few such permits had been granted, no decision will be taken in the
matter before Saturday.

[Illustration: Photo, by Paul Thompson. Paris workmen hastening to join
the colors.]

M. Jusserand, French Ambassador at Washington, together with his wife,
made a vain attempt a few days ago to reach Havre in time to catch the
_France_, which sailed before her schedule time--a precautionary
measure, taken, it is said, to elude German cruisers. M. and Mme.
Jusserand consequently failed to catch the liner and returned to Paris.

Much to my surprise, Felicien, my servant, turned up at six P.M., having
obtained leave from the reserve squadron of his regiment, the
Thirty-second Dragoons at Versailles, to visit his wife in Paris. The
active squadrons of his regiment are at Chalons. The married reservists
are held back until the others have gone to the front. This system is
likely to be an economical one, for all the widows of soldiers killed in
the war will have fairly good pensions.

There is probably no more forlorn street in Paris at the present moment
than the Rue de la Paix, the headquarters for dressmakers and milliners.
Upwards of seventy-five per cent. of the shops are closed, and on both
sides the street presents a long, gray expanse--broken only at
intervals--of forbidding iron shutters.

It is not here, however, that one must look for the effect of the war on
American business, but rather along the Avenue de l'Opera, the Grand
Boulevards, and other well-known business streets.

In the Avenue de l'Opera, at the intersection of the Rue Louis-le-Grand,
the Paris shop of the Singer Sewing Machine Company is closed, while on
the other side Hanan's boot and shoe store is also shut. Just off the
avenue, where the Rue des Pyramides cuts in, the establishment where the
Colgate and the Chesebrough companies exploit their products likewise
presents barred doors. Two conspicuous American establishments remaining
open in the Avenue de l'Opera are the Butterick shop and Brentano's.

Mr. Lewis J. Ford, manager of Brentano's, said that they had lost a
quarter of their employes and fifty per cent. of their trade by reason
of the war, but proposed to keep open just the same.

In the Grand Boulevards the Remington typewriter headquarters are
closed, as is the Spalding shop for athletic supplies; but the
establishments of the Walkover Shoe Company, both on the Boulevard des
Capucines and the Boulevard des Italiens, are open.

In spite of the hardship entailed upon American firms, they are far from
complaining. On the contrary, there is a concerted movement among
American business men at this time to assist the French in keeping the
industrial life of Paris going as normally as possible during the war.

At night Paris is still dark and silent, but in the daytime the city is
beginning to adapt itself to the new state of things. Many places from
which the men have been called away to serve their country are being
filled by women.

Women are becoming tramway conductors, and there is talk of their
working the underground railway. Girl clerks are taking places in
government and other offices.

The unusual state of things prevailing in Paris is the cause of many
picturesque scenes. This morning there was an unwonted sight of a
hundred cows being driven by herdsmen of rustic appearance along the
Boulevard des Capucines. A little further on, the eye was arrested by a
brilliant mass of red and blue on the steps of the Madeleine, where a
number of men of the Second Cuirassiers were attending special mass.

The cheerful tone which prevails among the people in the street is very
noticeable. All faces are smiling and give the impression of a holiday
crowd out enjoying themselves at the national fete, an impression which
is reinforced by the gay display of bunting in most of the streets in
the center of Paris.

A remarkable sight is the Rue du Croissant in the afternoon, at the time
when the evening newspapers are printed. The unusual number of papers
sold in the streets has brought thousands of boys, girls, women, and old
men from the outlying districts of the city.

[Illustration: Photo by Paul Thompson. Woman replacing man in traffic
work.]

There are thousands of them eagerly awaiting the appearance of the
_Presse_, _Intransigeant_, and other papers. The narrow,
picturesque old street is one seething mass of human beings. Hundreds
also wait in the Rue Montmartre. As they wait, they pass the time by
playing cards or dice.

Many industries are severely affected owing to the absence of men. One
of them is the laundry industry, which is unable to deliver washing,
owing to the want of vehicles and drivers. In consequence, many
Parisians have now adopted the soft collar. No one at this hour pays
attention to questions of toilette or personal elegance.

However, no one dreams of complaining of lack of comfort. All want to do
their best to help the national cause in any way they can. The warmth of
patriotic feeling is magnificent.

Already it is proposed to name streets in Paris after Samain, the young
Alsatian who was shot in Metz for French sympathies, and after the cure
of the frontier village who was murdered by German soldiers because he
rang his church bells to give the alarm of their approach. Never did a
nation rise to repel attack with a deeper resentment or a more vigorous
_elan_.

One effect of the war has been to anathematize the name of Germany. The
Villette district, through its local representatives, has presented a
petition to the City Council praying that the name Rue d'Allemagne shall
be changed to that of Rue Jean Jaures, in honor of the assassinated
socialist leader.

Scenes of extraordinary enthusiasm marked the departure of the Fifth
Regiment of Line from the Pepiniere barracks to-day. Long before six
o'clock, the appointed hour of departure, the Avenue Portalis and the
steps of the Church of Saint-Philippe du Roule were black with people.

At six o'clock the bugles sounded, the iron gates opened, and the
regiment, with fixed bayonets, swung out into the road amid ringing
cheers and shouts of "Vive la France!" As the standard-bearer passed,
the cheer increased in volume, and men stood with bared heads and waved
their hats in the air. The regiment entrained last night for the Belgian
frontier.




_Friday, August 7._


This is the sixth day of mobilization. Steady rain during the morning.
Temperature at five P.M. 16 degrees centigrade.

Disembarking of British troops in France has begun, and the greatest
enthusiasm is reported from the northern departments. I went to see the
Duc de Loubet this morning and met there Mr. De Courcey Forbes, who told
me that the French mobilization was working like clock-work two days
ahead of scheduled time. He said that about a hundred Germans and
Austrians had been arrested as spies. They were tried by court martial
at eleven o'clock yesterday morning, and fifty-nine of them, who were
found guilty, were shot at Vincennes at four o'clock the same afternoon.

It subsequently turned out that these spies had not been shot, after
all, but had been imprisoned and kept in close confinement.

When Baron Schoen left the German Embassy in Paris, he was treated with
great courtesy and escorted by the Chef de Protocol, M. William Martin,
to the railway station, where he was provided with a special _train de
luxe_ with a restaurant car. Upon the arrival at the frontier, the
Germans actually seized and confiscated the train! Reports of French
families returning from Germany show that not only individual Frenchmen
but French diplomatists and Russian diplomatists have been greatly
insulted in Germany, especially in Berlin and Munich.

Contrast with this the attitude of a crowd which I saw to-day watching
about a thousand Germans and Austrians tramp to a railway station, where
they were entrained for their concentration camp. They marched between
soldiers with fixed bayonets ready to protect them. But the crowd
watched them almost sympathetically, with not an insult, not a jeer.

The mobilization in France has caused an extraordinary increase in the
number of marriages contracted at the various Paris town halls. From
morning till night the mayors and their assistants have been kept busy
uniting couples who would be separated the same day or the next, when
the husband joined his regiment. At the bare announcement of the
possibility of war, the marriage offices at the town halls were
literally taken by assault. As there was no time to be lost,
arrangements were made by the chief officials to accept the minimum of
documentary proofs of identity in all cases where the bridegrooms were
called upon to serve their country. The other papers required by the law
will be put in later.

The statistics of the first five days of the mobilization show that one
hundred and eighty-one marriages were performed a day as against the
ordinary figure of one hundred and ten. In the suburbs the increase is
even greater, and a notable fact, both in Paris and outside, is that the
largest number of marriages took place in the most populous districts.
In the eleventh arrondissement the ordinary figures were trebled. All
wedding parties wear little French, English, Russian, and Belgian flags.

General Michel, Military Governor of Paris, has issued an order formally
forbidding any one to leave or enter Paris either on foot or in any kind
of vehicle between the hours of six at night and six in the morning.

At a meeting of the executive committee of the American Ambulance of
Paris, it was announced that more than thirty thousand francs had been
received, exclusive of the sums obtained by the women's committee, and
apart from the promises of larger subscriptions.

Up to yesterday morning twelve physicians and surgeons and twice that
number of nurses had volunteered to assist the regular staff of the
American Hospital in the work of caring for wounded French soldiers.
Among the physicians and surgeons who have volunteered are Doctor Joseph
Blake, of New York; Doctor Charles Roland, formerly a surgeon of the
United States army; and Doctor George B. Hayes, of Paris.

The women's committee held a meeting at the American Embassy, when
further subscriptions were received, that brought the total amount
obtained by this committee up to eighteen thousand francs.

The executive committee now consists of Mrs. Laurence V. Benet, Mrs. H.
Herman Harjes, Mrs. Potter Palmer, Mrs. Charles Carroll of Carrollton,
Mrs. George Munroe, Mrs. Edith Wharton, Mrs. William Jay, Mrs. Tuck,
Mrs. C.C. Cuyler and Mrs. Elbert H. Gary.

[Illustration: Photo. Henri Manuel, Paris. General Victor Constant
Michel, Military Governor of Paris until August 27, 1914.]

I was to-day with an American journalist who has an apartment in the Rue
Hardy at Versailles. He is a single man, and his house is a fairly roomy
one. The other day he was waited upon by a military officer, who told
him that sixty thousand soldiers were to be billeted on the
inhabitants--making one to every man, woman, and child in the city of
the "Roi Soleil." They would need some part of his house--which, by the
way, was formerly the domicile of Louis David, the great painter of
Napoleon--and he would be glad if he could make arrangements to lodge
four soldiers. My friend at once consented, and out of the five rooms he
has kept two to himself. In the other three are billeted a cavalry
officer and four soldiers. The only thing the American has had to
complain of up to now is that every morning at six o'clock the officer
wakes him up by playing the "Pilgrims' Chorus" from "Tannhauser" on the
piano.

Germans are still found in strange places, considering the fact that the
French are at war with them. I saw one man ask for his papers at the
Gare de l'Est this afternoon, where with incredible assurance he was
watching the entraining of French troops. He was led away between two
policemen, and ought to feel thankful that the crowd did not get hold of
him. He might have shared the same fate as that which befell one of his
imprudent compatriots last Sunday at Clarendon. It was the day after
mobilization had been declared, and the German knew that he must leave
the country. But in a swaggering mood he said he would not leave until
he had killed at least one of these condemned Frenchmen. His words were
reported, and he fled into an entry and made his way into an adjoining
house, where the crowd lost sight of him. When he emerged a cavalry
escort protected him against the mad people who wanted to lynch him, and
bundled him into a cab. He had been very badly handled, and his face was
streaming with blood. He drove away as fast as the horse could gallop,
but bystanders went after him, climbed up behind at the rear of the cab,
and shot him dead through the little window.

Foreigners who know the women of France, who have lived in the country,
have always given them a very high place as wives, mothers, and
managers. But to-day they merit the admiration of the world more than
ever.

I have seen them taking farewell of their husbands, sons, and brothers
during the past few days, and nothing could surpass the courage with
which they have sent them off to the war. They have struggled bravely to
conceal their emotion, and only after the men have gone have the women
given their feelings free play. An American lady who has seen some of
these departures told me the other day that the sight of the children
clinging to their fathers' hands so as to prevent them going away to the
war was one of the saddest sights she had ever witnessed.




_Saturday, August 8._


Seventh day of mobilization. Ideal summer weather. Temperature, 16
centigrade, with light westerly breezes. The moon is now full--a
first-rate thing for the British fleet in search of German ships; also
useful for French military operations, and for lighting the streets of
Paris, thereby enabling economy in gas.

The news of the capture of Altkirch, in Alsace, by the French troops,
reached Paris at about five o'clock this afternoon. It spread like
wildfire through the city, and a rush was immediately made to buy the
special editions of the newspapers announcing the victory.

To those who are not familiar with the Parisian character, the
comparative silence with which the news was received came as a surprise.
There was no enthusiastic outbreak of popular sentiment, no cheering, no
throwing into the air of hats or sticks.

After forty-three years of weary waiting, the Tricolor floated over an
Alsatian town. "At last!" That was the word that was heard on every
side. The moment was too solemn to Frenchmen to allow them to say more.

The existence of war will be further brought home to Parisians on Monday
by the disappearance of the morning breakfast rolls. In consequence of
the great number of bakers now serving with the colors, it has been
decided to simplify bread making in Paris so as to ensure the supply
being regular, and consequently the only kinds obtainable after to-day
will be those known as _boulot_ and _demi-fendu_.

The regulation of the milk supply is being rapidly organized. Those
households in which milk is a necessity, for children, invalids, or the
old, can obtain certificates giving them the preference. On the day
after application for these certificates they are delivered, together
with full particulars as to the amount, quantity, price, and place of
purchase.

The position of other food supplies is excellent. The only difficulty is
to get them delivered. Housekeepers must fetch their bread and milk if
they want them to time.

Few articles of food have reached the maximum price laid down for them
by the authorities. Fresh vegetables and fruit are very cheap. The only
important articles which the shops have difficulty in supplying are
sugar, condensed milk, and dried cereals.

During the past week about three thousand papers of nationality were
issued at the American Consulate-general, and some sixteen hundred at
the Embassy. This number may be taken as approximately coinciding with
the number of American tourists now in Paris, as virtually all of these
had to secure papers of nationality in order to register with the
police.

Post-office regulations are still very strict. Following the discovery
of numerous spies in and about Paris, General Michel has issued an order
strictly prohibiting conversations on the telephone in any other
language but French. When this order is not obeyed, the communication is
immediately cut off.




_Sunday, August 9._


Eighth day of mobilization. Hot summer day, with light southwesterly
breezes. Temperature at five P. M. 26 degrees centigrade.

This may be regarded as the first Sunday of the war. Last Sunday was a
day of rush and clamor in Paris. All shops were open and filled with
eager customers; the streets were crammed with shouting crowds and
hurrying vehicles; everything was forgotten in the outburst of national
enthusiasm. In the afternoon and evening the city was the scene of riots
and pillage.

To-day Paris presented a strong contrast. The news of French and Belgian
successes at the front had cheered the hearts of Parisians, and, in
spite of the strange aspect of the boulevards, denuded of their gay
terraces, and of most of the ordinary means of locomotion, the city had
something of a holiday aspect about it.

In the afternoon the city was crowded with promenaders dressed in Sunday
garb. The proportion of women to men has largely increased, but the
arrival of numerous reservists from the provinces caused Paris to
appear, temporarily at least, somewhat less empty of men.

Indeed, the aspect of the city very much resembled that of any Sunday in
summer, when the city is normally far from crowded.

I met MacAlpin of the _Daily Mail_, who said to me:

"I took a walk in the Bois de Boulogne yesterday afternoon. In a lonely
alley I was stopped by three cyclist policemen. They asked for my
papers. Fortunately, I had with me my passport and the 'permission to
remain' issued to me as a foreigner. If I had happened to have left
these in another coat, I should have been arrested.

"The policemen told me those were their orders. They added
confidentially that they were looking for Germans. After this I saw many
more cyclists on the same errand. They are hunting the woods
systematically, because many Germans of suspicious character have taken
refuge there.

"I rang up a friend on the telephone, and began, as usual: 'Hullo, is
that you?' I was immediately told by the girl at the exchange that
'speaking in foreign languages was not permitted.' 'Unless you speak in
French' she said, 'I shall cut you off at once.' I suppose she listened
to what we were saying all the time.

"I went into a post-office to send a telegram to my wife. 'You must get
it authorized at a police office' I was told. Not the simplest private
message can be accepted until it has passed the censor."

No one is to be allowed from now on to have a complete wireless
installation in Paris. Many people have set up instruments, some for
amusement, some, it appears, for sinister purposes. No one may send
messages now, though they are allowed to keep their receivers. In order
to hear the messages which come through from Russia, the Eiffel Tower
station, it is explained, needs "dead silence" in the air.

It was even announced two days ago that no one would be allowed to pass
in or out of Paris between six at night and six in the morning. But this
caused such inconvenience to so many people that the Military Governor
of Paris was asked by the police to rescind his order, which he at once
did.

The tenors and baritones and sopranos of the Opera and other theaters
are going round singing in the courtyards for the benefit of the Red
Cross. The Salon is turned into a military stable. Where the pictures
hung, horses are munching their hay. The Comedie Francaise is to become
a day nursery for the children of women who, in the absence of their
husbands, are obliged to go out to work.

Mr. Herrick told me this afternoon that a few days ago the Telegraph
Office refused his cipher cables to Washington. The Ambassador at once
protested at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the Minister, M.
Doumergue, forthwith gave orders authorizing the telegraph office to
accept his cipher messages. The Austrian Ambassador, who is still here,
is not permitted to communicate by cipher telegrams with his Government.
This is quite natural.




_Monday, August 10._


Ninth day of mobilization. Hot, sunny weather. Temperature at five P.M.
29 degrees centigrade. Light southerly breeze.

Depicted on all faces this morning is anxious but confident expectation,
for the public are conscious that a desperate encounter between two
millions of men is impending in Belgium and on the Alsace-Lorraine
border from Liege to Colmar.

The French capital is, at the present moment, a city of strange
contrasts. Mothers, wives, sisters, and brides were last week red-eyed
from the sorrow of parting. Now these same women have decorated their
windows with bunting and have no thought other than of working as best
they may to help the national cause.

In the streets, the shrill voices of children pipe the latest news from
the front; small girls cry grim details of the war.

All prisoners charged with light offenses who are mobilizable have been
allowed to go to the front to rehabilitate themselves. The central
prison of Fresnes, which ten days ago contained nine hundred criminals,
has now only two hundred and fifty left.

And all the time Paris lives an every-day, humdrum life, makes the best
of everything, and never complains.

Day by day the aspect of the streets becomes more normal, for the reason
that more and more vehicles are freed from military service and can now
resume their ordinary duties of transporting the public. Pending the
return of the motor-omnibuses, a service of _char-a-bancs_ has been
started on the boulevards, which reminds Parisians of the days of the
popular "Madeleine-Bastille" omnibus.

Diplomatic relations between France and Austria-Hungary were broken off
to-day. War however has not been declared between France and Austria.

I met to-day M. Hedeman, the correspondent of the _Matin_, who
recently witnessed in Berlin the arrival of Emperor William and the
Crown Prince, which he compared to the departure of Napoleon III for
Sedan in 1870. We were talking at the Ministry of War, where I also met
the Marquis Robert de Flers, the well-known dramatist and editor of the
_Figaro_, and M. Lazare Weiler, deputy. M. Hedeman told me that two
days after the declaration of war a skirmish took place near the village
of Genaville in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, between French
custom-house officials and a squadron of German cavalry. The commander
of the German detachment was shot in the stomach, fell to the ground,
and was captured. He was Lieutenant Baron Marshall von Bieberstein, son
of the former German Ambassador at Constantinople. A French lieutenant
of gendarmes helped the prisoner to his feet. Lieutenant von
Bieberstein, who was mortally wounded, said: "Thank you, gentlemen! I
have done my duty in serving my country, just as you are serving your
own!" He then died. M. Charles Humbert, senator of the Meuse, gave the
helmet and sabre that had been worn by Lieutenant Marshall von
Bieberstein to the editor of the _Matin_.

[Illustration: The Statue of Strasbourg, after the capture of Altkirch
in Alsace by French troops.]




_Tuesday, August 11._


Tenth day of mobilization. Warm, sunny weather, with light northerly
breezes. Temperature at five P.M. 27 degrees centigrade.

Expectation of the great battle believed to be forthcoming to the north
of Liege dominates the situation here.

I breakfasted to-day at the restaurant Paillard with M. Max-Lyon and M.
Arthur Meyer, manager of the _Gaulois_. Mlle. Zinia Brozia, of the
Opera Comique, who remains in Paris, was also of our party. All sorts of
war rumors were current, but as M. Messimy, the minister of war, has
given to M. Arthur Meyer the assurance that while the news given out
"might not be _all_ the news, it would nevertheless be invariably
_true news_," confidence in the official communications to the
press, which are the only authentic source of war news, is unshaken. The
French Ministry of War, in its official _communique_ of the
military situation, issued at 11.30 this evening, states that the French
troops are in contact with the enemy along almost the entire front. The
only fighting that has taken place, however, has been engagements
between the outposts, in which the French soldiers everywhere showed
irresistible courage and ardor.

A Uhlan who was captured near Liege on Saturday was found to be the
bearer of a map marked with the proposed marches of the German army.
According to this map, the Germans were to be in Brussels on August 3
and at Lille on August 5.




_Wednesday, August 12._


Eleventh day of mobilization. Hot weather, with light northerly breeze.
Temperature at five P.M. 29 degrees centigrade.

Breakfasted with M. Galtier at the Cercle Artistique et Litteraire, Rue
Volney. Several members of the club had just arrived from various
watering-places. One of them, who came from Evian-les-Bains, said that
he was sixty-two hours en route. The trains stop at every station so
that they have uniform speed, thus rendering accidents almost out of the
question. Only third-class tickets are sold, but these admit to all
places.

It seems certain that the first part of the German plan--namely to come
with a lightning-like, overwhelming crash through Belgium, via Liege and
Namur--has failed. But the battle of millions along the vast front of
two hundred and fifty miles between Liege and Verdun has opened, and the
opposing armies are in touch with each other. Every one in Paris has
confidence in the final result.

There is news of stupendous importance in the official announcement that
Germany is employing the bulk of her twenty-six army corps against
France and Belgium between Liege and Luxemburg. The disappearance of the
German first line troops from the Russian frontier is now explained. By
flinging this immense force upon France, Germany gains an advantage of
numbers. How will she use it?

Paris seems to have seen very little, after all, of the mobilization.
Most people may have seen an odd regiment pass, or perhaps numbers of
horses obviously requisitioned. But they realize none of the feverish
bustle of the mobilization centers.

Versailles relieves Paris of all this, and Versailles, since the first
day of August, has been amazing. The broad avenues of the sleepy old
town have been packed from side to side with men in uniform, men only
partly in uniform, or men carrying their uniforms under their arm. At
the first glance there seemed nothing but confusion, but the appearance
was misleading, for at the Chantiers Station trainload after trainload
of troops--men, guns, horses, material--have been despatched, taking the
route of the Grande Ceinture Railway around Paris to Noisy-le-Sec, and
on to the Est system.

At Versailles one realizes very fully that France is at war. For there
are lines and lines of guns awaiting teams and drivers, hundreds upon
hundreds of provision wagons, rows and rows of light draught-horses,
many being shod in the street, while out along the road to Saint-Cyr, in
a broad pasturage stretching perhaps half a mile, are thousands of
magnificent cattle tightly packed together. They are to feed some of
France's fighting force.

And at Saint-Cyr there is unheard-of activity. The second army flying
corps is being organized. It consists of nearly eighty certificated
volunteer pilots, including Garros, Chevillard, Verrier, Champel,
Audemars, and many more well-known names. There are others than French
airmen in the corps. Audemars is Swiss, while there are also an
Englishman, a Peruvian, and a Dane. These men are all waiting eagerly
the order to move.

Those at the American Embassy who are in charge of advancing funds to
Americans in need of them had their busiest day since the work began, on
Monday. Forty-six persons received a total of 3,514 francs.

The total amount of money distributed for the three days has been 8,869
francs. This has gone to 105 persons, which gives an average of the
modest sum of 84 francs apiece, or less than seventeen dollars.

At least nine out of ten of the applicants are virtually without
bankable credit of any kind. One man gave as security--because the money
is advanced as a loan, not as a gift--a cheque on a Chicago bank, but he
admitted that the cheque was not negotiable, as it was drawn on one of
the Lorrimer banks of Chicago, which had gone into the hands of
receivers since he left for Europe.

Callers included a number of <DW64> song and dance artists who had come
to the end of their resources.

The work of distributing money is entirely in the hands of American army
officers, and they investigate every case which has not already been
investigated by the relief committee appointed by the Ambassador. Major
Spencer Cosby, the military attache at the Embassy, is the treasurer of
the fund. Investigations are made by Captain Frank Parker, assisted by
Lieutenants William H. Jouett and H. F. Loomis. The cashier is Captain
Francis H. Pope, with Lieutenants Francis W. Honeycutt and B.B.
Somervell as assistants.

When the history of the great war is written, a very honorable place
will have to be reserved for the women of Paris. In the work of caring
for the destitute and unemployed of their own sex, and anticipating the
needs of great numbers of wounded men, they are showing extraordinary
energy. Every day new and special philanthropic institutions are started
and carried on by women in Paris.

Comtesse Greffulhe has taken in hand the provision of food and lodging
for convalescent soldiers, so as to relieve the pressure on public and
private hospitals and ambulances. Mme. Couyba, wife of the Minister of
Labor, is arranging for the supply of free food to girls and women out
of work. Marquise de Dion, Mme. Le Menuet and other ladies are opening
temporary workshops where women can obtain employment at rates that will
enable them to tide over the hard times before them.

The Union des Femmes de France is doing wonderful work in the
organization of hospitals and in sending out nurses to wherever they are
most likely to be needed.

One of the finest examples of energy and devotion is being set by the
wife of the Military Governor of Paris, Mme. Michel. She has identified
herself specially with what may be briefly described as "saving the
babies." Her idea is to see that the coming generation shall not be
sacrificed and that expectant mothers whose natural defenders have gone
to the war shall not feel themselves forsaken.

Mme. Michel is the president of a committee of ladies who have
undertaken, each in her own district, to seek out needy mothers, to see
that they and their children receive assistance, and to give them all
possible moral support.

Mme. Michel is putting in about eighteen hours' work a day in the
discharge of her duties. She is up at daylight, and after dealing with a
mass of correspondence, is out in her motor-car before seven o'clock, on
a round of the various _mairies_, to see that the permanent
maternity office, which it has been found necessary to start in every
one of these municipal centers, is doing its work properly.

At eleven o'clock she is back at the big house which is the official
residence of her husband, close to the Invalides, and is presiding over
a committee meeting. She lunches in about a quarter of an hour, and
plunges into more committee work, which usually lasts until well after
four o'clock.

The latter part of the afternoon is taken up in another tour of
inspection, dinner is a movable feast to be observed if there happens to
be time for it, and then there is another pile of letters and telegrams
a foot high to be gone through and answered; and so to bed, very late.




_Thursday, August 13._


Twelfth day of mobilization. Hot, sultry weather with faint
northeasterly wind. Thermometer at five P.M. 30 degrees centigrade.

Breakfasted to-day at the restaurant Paillard and met there M. Arthur
Meyer, M. Max-Lyon, Maitre Charles Philippe of the French Bar, and Mr.
Slade, manager of the Paris branch of the Equitable Trust Company. War!
War! War! was the subject of the conversation, but no real news from the
front except of outpost fighting, with success for the French and the
Belgians. Gabriele d'Annunzio's flaming "Ode for the Latin
Resurrection," published to-day in the _Figaro_, is evidently
intended to excite Italians to seize an opportunity to abandon
neutrality and join France and the Allied Powers against Austria, and
thereby win back the "Italia Irredenta." D'Annunzio invokes the Austrian
oppression of bygone days in Mantua and Verona, calls Austria the
"double-headed Vulture," and summons all true Italians to take the
war-path of revenge. "Italy! Thine hour has struck for Barbarians call
thee to arms! _Vae Victis!_ Remember Mantua!"

After lunch I met Mrs. Edith Wharton, who had made some valuable mental
and written notes of what she has seen in Paris. She is about to leave
for England.

So sure were the Germans of advancing rapidly into France that they had
decided to complete their mobilization on French territory. According to
the _Figaro_, an Alsatian doctor, who came to France on the
outbreak of hostilities, had been ordered to join the German army at
Verdun on the third day of mobilization. A German tailor, living in
Paris, had instructions to join at Rheims on the thirteenth day.

Although the early closing hour of all cafes and restaurants causes some
inconvenience, it is being taken in good part by Parisians. It has not
the slightest effect on the habits of the city as far as keeping late
hours is concerned--no power on earth could make the Parisian go to bed
at nine o'clock.

People cannot spend their evenings in the cafes, so they spend them
either strolling or sitting about in the streets, smoking and chatting
for hours. But the new closing hour has had the effect expected by the
authorities. It has made Paris the most orderly city in the world. The
police are, however, kept very busy, for the regulation as to carrying
papers is being rigorously enforced, and the belated pedestrian is
invariably challenged by a cavalry patrol or by the ordinary police. If
his answers are unsatisfactory, he undergoes a more searching
examination at the police station.

Paris has become a paradise for cyclists. Owing to the lack of
transportation facilities, hundreds of Parisians have taken to using
bicycles as a practical mode of locomotion, and the city now swarms with
them. This state of things is not, however, likely to last very long,
for every day brings more vehicles back to the capital, and every day
brings a further step towards a more normal situation.

Some cars requisitioned will hardly be returned,--as is evidenced by
the experience of Mrs. Julia Newell and her sister, Miss Josephine
Pomeroy, two Americans just returned to Paris.

Before the war broke out, Miss Pomeroy left Frankfort by automobile, but
in passing through Metz her $5,000 Delaunay-Belleville machine was
confiscated by the Germans, and her footman and chauffeur, who were
Frenchmen, were put into prison. All her luggage was lost. No attention
was paid to her protests that she was an American citizen.




_Friday, August 14._


Thirteenth day of mobilization. Another hot, stifling day with
thermometer (centigrade) 31 degrees at five P.M.

Lunched at the Cercle Artistique et Litteraire, Rue Volney. Only the old
servants remain. The club is no longer open to non-member dinner guests.
The price of meals is reduced to three and a half francs for lunch, and
to four francs for dinner, including wine, mineral water, beer, or
cider. There is great scarcity of small change. To alleviate this, ivory
bridge or poker counters, marked fifty _centimes_, and one
_franc_, are given in change and circulate for payment of meals,
drinks, etc.

Greater military activity is noticed in the streets than for some days
past. Many movements of troops took place all day, and long convoys of
the ambulance corps, including several complete field hospital staffs,
were seen driving and marching through the city.

This was due to the fact that within the last few days large bodies of
the territorial forces had concentrated in the environs, notably at
Versailles, from whence they left for the front.

Early this morning certain districts of Paris literally swarmed with
soldiers of the territorial reserve.

Although most of them are married men and fathers, they display as fine
a spirit as their younger comrades. They may, perhaps, show less
enthusiasm, but that they are quite as calm is shown by the fact that a
number of them spent the last hours before their departure fishing in
the Ourcq Canal.

A detachment of naval reserves has been brought to Paris to assist the
police and the Municipal Guards in assuring order in the capital. The
men wear the uniform of _fusiliers marins_, and correspond to the
marines in the British navy. They will be placed under the orders of the
Prefect of Police.

Mr. A. Beaumont of the _Daily Telegraph_ has had a very narrow
escape from being shot as a spy. He is a naturalized American citizen,
but was born in Alsace. When the present war broke out, he started in a
motor-car to the front without the necessary passes and permits. He
circulated about and obtained good and useful news for his paper. The
other day, however, he was brought to a standstill in Belgium and was
arrested. The Belgian authorities asked at the French headquarters:
"What shall we do with him?" The reply was: "Send him on here to
headquarters, and if he proves to be a spy he will be court-martialed
and shot." This arose from the confusion of names. It seems that the
doings of a German spy named Bremont, of Alsatian birth, had become
known to the military authorities in France and Belgium. Beaumont
stoutly asserted that he was the victim of mistaken identity, and only
after very great difficulty, and with the exceptional efforts of Mr.
Herrick and of Sir Francis Bertie, the British Ambassador, was he able
to establish his true identity, when he was released by the French
Headquarter Staff, and handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Arrivals of detachments of German prisoners continue to be reported from
various parts of France. A Prussian officer, speaking French fluently,
was among a convoy of prisoners at Versailles yesterday. The officer, on
seeing some French territorials march past, singing the "Marseillaise,"
remarked to his guard: "What a disillusion awaits us!"




_Saturday, August 15._


(_Feast of the Assumption._)

Fourteenth day of mobilization. Heavy thunder storms set in at three
A.M. Showers followed until one o'clock; cloudy afternoon with variable
wind. Thermometer at five P.M. 22 degrees centigrade.

Huge crowds lined the streets leading from the Gare du Nord to the
British Embassy, to welcome Field-marshal Sir John French, Commander of
the British expeditionary force, who came to visit President Poincare
before taking command of his army. At quarter to one, three motor-cars
rapidly approached the Embassy. In the second I could get a glimpse of
Sir John in his gray-brown khaki uniform. His firm, trim appearance and
his clear blue eyes, genial smile, and sunburnt face made an excellent
impression, and he was greeted with loud cheers. He had a long talk with
M. Messimy, Minister of War.

I am having a very busy time trying to obtain permission for American
war correspondents to accompany the French armies in the field. Mr.
Richard Harding Davis and Mr. D. Gerald Morgan have arrived in London on
the _Lusitania_ from New York to act as war correspondents in the
field with the French forces. As president of the Association of the
Foreign Press, and as Paris correspondent of the _New York
Tribune_, I made special applications at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and at the War Office for authority for them to act as war
correspondents for the _New York Tribune_. These applications were
endorsed by Ambassador Herrick, who also did everything possible to
secure permission for them to take the field.

The official regulations for war correspondents are much more severe,
however, than those enforced during the Japanese and Turkish wars. In
the first place, only Frenchmen and correspondents of one of the
belligerent nationalities, that is to say French, British, Russian,
Belgian, or Servian, are allowed to act as war correspondents. Frenchmen
may represent foreign papers. All despatches must be written in the
French language and must be sent by the military post, and only after
having been formally approved by the military censor. No despatches can
be sent by wire or by wireless telegraphy. No correspondent can
circulate in the zone of operations unless accompanied by an officer
especially designated for that purpose. All private as well as
professional correspondence must pass through the hands of the censor.
War correspondents of whatever nationality will, during their sojourn
with the army, be subject to martial law, and if they infringe
regulations by trying to communicate news not especially authorized by
the official censors, will be dealt with by the laws of espionage in war
time. These are merely a few among the many rigid prescriptions
governing war correspondents.

I talked with several editors of Paris papers on the subject, notably
with M. Arthur Meyer of the _Gaulois_, Marquis Robert de Flers of
the _Figaro_, and M. Georges Clemenceau of the _Homme Libre_.
They one and all expressed the opinion that war correspondents would
enjoy exceptional opportunities, enabling them to get mental snap-shots
of picturesque events and to acquire valuable first-hand information for
writing magazine articles or books, but that from a newspaper standpoint
there would be insurmountable difficulties preventing them from getting
their "news to market," that is to say, in getting their despatches on
the wires for their respective papers. However, Mr. Herrick is doing
everything he can to obtain all possible facilities for Mr. Davis and
for Mr. Morgan.

Almost every day brings some fresh measure in the interest of the
public. Yesterday the Prefect of Police issued an order forbidding the
sale of absinthe in the cafes under pain of immediate closure, and again
called the attention of motorists to the regulations which they are
daily breaking.

The sanitary authorities, too, have their hands full. So far, however,
the present circumstances have had no influence on the state of health
in Paris. The weekly bulletin published by the municipality shows that
the death and disease figures are quite normal.

Mr. Bernard J. Schoninger, chairman of the committee which has recently
been formed by the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris with the object
of settling difficult questions which may arise in Franco-American
commercial relations, states that his committee is collaborating with
the ladies' committee founded by the wife of the American Ambassador to
assist wounded soldiers. In a few days this committee collected one
hundred and seventy-five thousand francs. His own committee has issued
an appeal to all Chambers of Commerce in the United States, and he
trusts that considerable funds will be forthcoming for the ambulance
corps created under the auspices of the American Hospital in Paris. The
Minister for War has granted the use of the Lycee Pasteur, where it is
hoped to establish an ambulance of two hundred beds, which may later be
increased to one thousand.

The committee has also taken up the question of the payment of customs
duties on American imports into France, and Mr. Schoninger states that
he has met with the greatest kindness and that the French customs
authorities have agreed to accept guarantees from various commercial
syndicates instead of actual immediate cash payments. This will obviate
difficulties occasioned by the refusal of French banking establishments,
acting under the terms of the moratorium, in handing over funds which
they have on deposit.




_Sunday, August 16._


Fifteenth day of mobilization. Gray, cloudy day with occasional showers
and westerly wind. Thermometer at five P.M. 17 degrees centigrade.

I drove out in the Bois de Boulogne after lunch with the Duc de Loubat.
The Bois was rather deserted; only a few couples were strolling about or
seated on benches reading newspapers. Went to the Cercle des Patineurs,
where fences were being put up on the lawns to enclose sheep and oxen to
provision Paris. In the tennis court we saw about two hundred Kabyles
from Algeria, who had been found astray in Paris. They sleep on straw
beds in the tennis court and are provided with rations. They are all
men, and will be drafted into the Algerian reserves.

Madame Waddington, formerly Miss King of New York, and widow of the late
William Henry Waddington, senator, and member of several French
Cabinets, and one of the French delegates to the Berlin Conference in
1878, remains in Paris, and is stopping with her sister, Miss King, at
her apartment in the Rue de La Tremouille. Madame Waddington was a great
friend of the late King Edward VII, who never passed through Paris
without calling to see her and lunching with her and her family. Madame
Waddington, who is in excellent health and spirits, told me that the
feeling was so strong against the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, Count
Szecsen de Temerin, during the last few days of his stay here after
hostilities had begun with Germany, that one evening, as he was about to
sit down to dinner with his fellow diplomatist, M. Alexandre Lahovary,
the Roumanian Minister, at the Cercle de l'Union, which is one of the
most select and restricted clubs of Paris, the secretary of the club
requested M. Lahovary to announce to the Austrian Ambassador that the
committee of the club expressed the wish that he should no longer take
his meals at the club nor appear on the premises, because his presence
under prevailing political conditions rendered the Austrian Ambassador
an "undesirable personage." The Austrian Ambassador, who had just
ordered an excellent bottle of Mouton Rothschild claret for his dinner,
at once left the club.

[Illustration: French <DW64> troops from Africa entraining in Paris.
Photo by Paul Thompson.]

Parisians flocked in thousands to-day to the basilica of the Sacre Coeur
of Montmartre, where special services were held. This church was planned
and built in expiation of the war of 1870. It was finished only a few
months ago, and was to have been definitely "inaugurated" next month.

A detachment of about four thousand men of the Naval Reserve, most of
whom are Bretons, is encamped to the north of Paris at Le Bourget, and
there have been stirring scenes in the little church there. It has been
crowded with sailors and soldiers at every service, for Bretons are
among the most religious of all peoples of France.

Abbe Marcade, the cure of Le Bourget, has had magnificent congregations.
On the Feast of the Assumption the Abbe decided to hold Mass in the open
air. An altar was accordingly set up in a large field beside a haystack.
Thirty-five hundred soldiers attended. At the end, the Abbe, standing on
a table, preached a sermon in the falling rain.

These military services at Le Bourget have been strikingly picturesque.
The Abbe's sermons are interrupted from time to time by cheers, as if he
were making a political speech. His words on patriotism and soldiers'
duty have been greeted with shouts of "Vive la France." Loudest of all
was the applause when he declared that feelings of party were now
drowned in love for the country. In the evening, after the service at
which this sermon was preached, the Abbe dined with the officers of the
regiment and with the socialist mayor of the commune, a thing which
would have been impossible in ordinary times. The war has made Frenchmen
stand together in closer unity than they have ever done before.

One of the strangest changes brought about by the war is that of the
fashionable race-courses of Auteuil and Longchamp. These have been
turned into large grazing farms for sheep and cattle requisitioned by
the military authorities. Another curious requisition is that of all
French military uniforms in the wardrobes of the Paris theaters.

Mobilization orders to rejoin his regiment at Rheims on August 7 have
been found in the possession of a wounded German soldier in hospital at
Brussels. The man stated that several of his comrades had received
orders to join the colors at other French towns on specified dates. This
shows how the German plans were upset by the resistance at Liege.

Field-marshal Sir John French slept at the British Embassy last night,
and after a rousing reception left Paris at seven o'clock this morning
in an automobile for an "unknown destination."

Every man in France is envying the young dragoon officer, Lieutenant
Bruyant, who has been given the first Cross of the Legion of Honor in
the war. The lieutenant with six men was scouting near the frontier,
when suddenly he saw a number of horsemen moving a good way off, and
made them out to be a patrol of twenty-seven Uhlans. Shots were
exchanged and a German fell. Then the Uhlans cantered away. They were
four to one, but did not care to fight.

The French followed up resolutely, but the Germans kept their distance.
When the dragoons trotted, the Uhlans trotted too. Now the former would
gallop across a bit of open country, and the Germans would gallop away
just as quickly. Evidently they were making for shelter.

Soon Lieutenant Bruyant saw that they were trying to reach a wood, where
they could take cover. No time was to be lost. He knew that if they got
there they would escape him. Now was the moment to unchain the ardor of
his men. He gave the orders "Draw swords!" "Charge!"

The seven spurred their horses and fell upon the twenty-seven with
shouts of defiance. The shock demoralized the Germans, who made no stand
at all. One was killed by a lance thrust. The officer in command was
drawing his revolver when Lieutenant Bruyant cut him down with his
sabre. Six more were wounded and knocked off their horses. The rest fled
in disorder.




_Monday, August 17._


Sixteenth day of mobilization. Gray, cloudy weather with northerly
breezes. Thermometer at five P.M. 17 degrees centigrade.

The first trophy of the war, the flag of the One Hundred and
Thirty-second German Infantry Regiment (First Regiment of Lower Alsace),
arrived in Paris this morning, having been brought by motor-car from the
front, where it was captured at Sainte-Blaise by the Tenth Battalion of
Chasseurs-a-Pieds (riflemen), a corps which distinguished itself in the
Franco-Austrian war of 1859 by capturing the first Austrian flag at
Solferino. In 1840, the Tenth Chasseurs-a-Pied were commanded by Patrice
de MacMahon, then a major and afterwards Marshal of France and Duc de
Magenta, and whose name is remembered by the corps in their march song:

  "L' dixiem' batallion,
  Commandant Mac-Mahon,
  N'a pas peur du canon,
  Nom de nom!"

The captured flag is of magenta  silk, with a white St. Andrew's
cross, on which the imperial eagle and the regimental insignia are
embroidered in gold. The news that a German flag was being shown spread
rapidly, and a large crowd gathered. There were no insulting remarks,
merely quiet observation. Among the first to see the trophy were some
school-children headed by their master, who explained the significance
of the capture. The flag was taken to the Elysee Palace and shown to
President Poincare, who is himself a major of chasseurs-a-pied. It was
afterwards placed in the Invalides.

General Michel, the Governor of Paris, has notified all places of public
entertainment that their programmes must henceforth be submitted to the
censors under pain of closure of the establishment.

Except for trifling drawbacks, inevitable in times like the present,
Paris has little to complain of. There are everywhere signs of a gradual
return to normal conditions. Among these is the reappearance of flowers
on the costermongers' carts and at the kiosks. In the early stages of
the mobilization, when many thousands of families were saying good-by to
their men, no one had the heart to buy flowers, even had any supply been
available. The conveyance to Paris of flowers grown in the neighborhood
of the capital has now been reorganized, and roses and carnations are
being sold on the main thoroughfares at normal prices.

Women and girl newspaper-sellers have become familiar figures in Paris,
and their number is increasing steadily as the needs of the army are
depriving more and more families of their bread-winners. A pathetic
figure seen on the Boulevard des Italiens yesterday afternoon was a
woman toiling along under the weight of a sleeping child about five
years old, and calling her newspapers gently, so as not to wake him.




_Tuesday, August 18._


Seventeenth day of mobilization. Cloudy weather with occasional patches
of blue sky. Thermometer at five P.M. 17 degrees centigrade. Light
northeasterly wind.

It is now for the first time officially announced that the British
expeditionary force has safely landed in France and in Belgium. The
transportation has been effected in perfect order, promptly on schedule
time, and without the slightest hitch or casualty. British troops were
everywhere received with immense enthusiasm. Not only have they landed
at Ostend, Boulogne, and Havre, with all their field transports, but
they have been taken up the Seine in steamers to Rouen, whence they were
entrained on the strategic lines for Belgium. M.J.A. Picard, a young
Frenchman, and his wife arrived from New York and reached Paris via
Boulogne. M. Picard will join the army to-morrow as a reservist employed
in the general staff. His wife will act as a correspondent of the
_Tribune_ in France. M. Picard said that Boulogne was full of
British troops. They marched through the narrow streets of the city
wearing their khaki uniforms, thousands upon thousands of them, roaring
as they pass the new British war slogan: "Are we downhearted?
_No-o-o-o-o! Shall we win? Ye-e-e-e-e-s-s-s!_" Then came an Irish
regiment with their brown jolly faces beaming with fun, and singing:
"It's a long way to Tipperary ... It's a long way to go!" A Welsh
battalion followed, whistling the "Marseillaise." The prettiest girls in
every town throw flowers and kisses to these stalwart British lads. As
soon as the order to break ranks is given, bevies of smiling lasses
surround the troops, offering them sandwiches, fruit, wine, and flowers,
and even kisses. There would be thousands of jealous girls in England,
Scotland, Ireland, and Wales to-day if they could but witness the
reception. Highland regiments wearing the kilt have stupendous success
with the blushing young women of France.

From the seat of war in Belgium, and also in the North Sea, the same
awful silence continues, and Parisians manifest growing impatience for
the inevitable great battle. I went to the Ministry of War with M. and
Mme. Picard, but no news of military importance was communicated.




_Wednesday, August 19._


Eighteenth day of mobilization. Fine summer weather, with light
northerly wind. Temperature at five P.M. 17 degrees centigrade.

Absolute silence concerning military movements in Belgium. No official
communication was made to-day at the Ministry of War. Parisians feel
that momentous events are about to take place but look forward with calm
confidence.

I called upon my old friend, M. Rene Baschet, manager of the
_Illustration_, which is the only illustrated weekly paper in
France to continue its issue. I hastened to tell M. Baschet that I had
received a private telegram from Rome announcing that the Pope was so
ill that his physicians, and above all Monseigneur Zampini, did not
think that His Holiness could live through the night. M. Baschet paid
genuine tribute to Lord Kitchener's instructions "to every soldier of
the British expeditionary forces," and said that the British War
Minister showed himself at once "heroic and hygienic," and cited the
passage: "You may find temptations, both in wine and women. You must
entirely resist both temptations, and while treating all women with
perfect courtesy, you should avoid any intimacy."

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I met M. Jules Cambon, French
Ambassador at Berlin, who after being treated discourteously by the
Germans and dealt with practically as a prisoner, reached Paris by way
of Denmark and England. It would have been indiscreet to ask M. Jules
Cambon to disclose diplomatic secrets, but after conversing with persons
who accompanied him, it seems certain that there had been complete
understanding between Germany and Austria about the sending of Austria's
ultimatum to Servia. It is true that German diplomacy had not accepted
the exact terms of the ultimatum communicated to Servia on July 23 and
had asked for certain modifications in the text, which Austria refused
to make. M. Cambon drew an important distinction between German
_diplomacy_, and the German _military clique_. The former were
willing only to go so far as _risking_ a war, while the latter
seized the opportunity to _bring on_ the war and to attack France.
The discussion lasted two or three days, and the military caste,
receiving the strong personal encouragement and support of Emperor
William, became omnipotent, and from that moment war was inevitable. In
regard to France, Germany constantly repeated the formula: "Put strong
pressure upon Russia, your ally, to prevent her from helping the
Servians!" To this France replied: "Very good, but you yourself should
put strong pressure upon Austria, your ally, to prevent her from
provoking a catastrophe!" To this Germany rejoined: "Ah! But that is not
the same thing!" Thus it was in this "_cercle vicieux_" that the
diplomatic conversation continued, which, under the circumstances, and
especially owing to the attitude of Emperor William, could end in
nothing else but war.




_Thursday, August 20._


Nineteenth day of mobilization. Ideal summer weather. Light northerly
breezes. Temperature at five P.M. 16 degrees centigrade.

Good news of further French advances in Upper Alsace and the recapture
of Muelhausen make Parisians cheerful. The death of the Pope during the
present tension is scarcely noticed. All thoughts and expectations are
centered on Belgium, where the great battle is impending.

It is announced at the Ministry of War that it was not the Tenth but the
First Battalion of Chasseurs-a-Pied that captured the German regimental
flag now hung in the Invalides. The French tobacco factories are working
night and day to supply the armies with tobacco, for in all countries
soldiers and sailors are ardent devotees to "My Lady Nicotine." In honor
of the Belgians, a special cigarette, _La Liegeoise_, has been
produced, which is naturally tipped with cork (_liege_). The stock
of "Virginia" has run short for supply to the British soldiers. The
"Virginia," being slightly scented, is known in France as _tabac a la
confiture_, but large quantities are being imported from Liverpool
expressly to satisfy Tommy Atkins.

I met at the War Office, M. Pegoud, inventor of "looping the loop," who
was being congratulated by M. Messimy, Minister of War. He came here to
get a new aeroplane, his own having been riddled through the wings by
ninety-seven bullets and two shells when he was making a raid of one
hundred and eighty miles into German territory. He naturally did not
tell me _where_ he went, but simply said he crossed the Rhine with
an official observer and blew up, by means of bombs, two German convoys.
"Captain Fink," he stated, "destroyed the Frascati airship shed near
Metz, where there was a Zeppelin which was wrecked. He also destroyed
three Taube aeroplanes, which were also in the shed."

General Bonnal, formerly professor of strategy at the Ecole Militaire,
says: "The greatest piece of good fortune for France that can be
expected, is that Emperor William will take personal command of all the
German armies. This is now an accomplished fact, and it gives us all
immense encouragement."

[Illustration: From _L'Illustration._ Flag of the 132nd German
Infantry Regiment. Captured at Saint-Blaise by the 1st Battalion of
Chasseurs a Pied (riflemen) and exhibited at a window of the Ministry
of War.]




_Friday, August 21._


Twentieth day of mobilization. Threatening weather with overcast sky.
Northwesterly wind. Temperature at five P.M. 19 degrees centigrade. No
clouds prevented the eclipse of the sun from being seen in Paris. Most
people however were profoundly indifferent to the celestial phenomena.

Thousands of foreign volunteers assembled on the Esplanade des Invalides
this morning to offer their services for the war. These young foreigners
are mostly strong, active youths and have all received more or less
military training. They marched through the streets in detachments of
from two to six hundred, grouped together according to nationalities,
bearing French flags alongside flags of their own countries. There were
about five thousand Russians, five thousand Italians, two thousand
Belgians, numerous Czecs, Slavs, Roumanians, and Armenians, together
with smaller contingents of Americans, British, and Greeks. Mr. Arthur
Bles and his second in command, Mr. Victor Little, are busy organizing
the "Rough Riders" in a riding-school in Rue Avenue des Chasseurs.

M. Geissler, manager of the Hotel Astoria, who was recently reported as
having been shot as a spy for arranging disks on the roof of his hotel
to interfere with the French wireless telegraphy, was tried today, not
by court martial, but by a civil judge, M. Tortat, to whom the court
martial had referred the matter for further evidence. It appears that M.
Geissler had been denounced on insufficient grounds by a clerk in his
employment. His innocence was established, this morning, and he was
released from the Sante prison and handed over to the military
authorities, who will probably let the matter drop.




_Saturday, August 22._


Mobilization is now completed. This is the nineteenth day since the
declaration of war (August 3). A sultry day with light northwesterly
breezes. Thermometer at five P.M. 22 degrees centigrade.

"All that I can say to you is that the battle has begun. That is all I
know," is the statement made by M. Malvy, Minister of the Interior, as
he stepped into his motor-car at the Elysee Palace on his way home this
evening after the meeting of the Council of National Defence.
Remarkable, impressive silence prevails everywhere. If people speak, it
seems to be in a whisper. Never before was Paris so full of
motor-ambulances, all driving hurriedly hither and thither, bearing
nurses or Red Cross attendants, but never a wounded. The whole of the
Rue Francois-Premier is lined on both sides with Red Cross motor-cars.
The railway stations have an unusual appearance, with hundreds of wooden
booths forming a sort of barrier to approaches. The calm, confident,
silent, patriotic expectation augurs well for the future and vividly
contrasts with the noisy, braggadocio spirit of 1870. Paris at the
present moment is the most orderly, well-behaved city in the world.

I met at the Cafe Napolitain, a favorite resort of journalists, my
friend Laurence Jerrold, chief Paris correspondent of the _London
Daily Telegraph_. We spoke of the stories showing the amazing
ignorance in which German officers have been kept regarding the
situation. Mr. Jerrold told me that a relative of his, who is a French
officer, saw yesterday two Prussian lieutenants, who, as prisoners of
war, were being taken around Paris, to a town in western France. Both
spoke French perfectly. At Juvisy station, where the train stopped, they
said to the French officer: "Of course, we know why you are taking us
around Paris and not _into_ Paris. Paris is in a state of
revolution, and you don't want us to see what is going on there."
Argument followed; the Prussian officers persisted that Paris was in
revolt, that France stood alone, that England had declared neutrality,
that an Italian army had already crossed the French frontier and had
invaded the department of Haute Savoie, etc. The French officer rushed
to the waiting-room, bought all the newspapers he could find, and
brought them back to the Prussian prisoners, who fell aghast and read
them in silence, as the train proceeded.

The curator of the Louvre Museum has taken every possible precaution to
ensure the safety of the works of art under his care. The Venus of Milo
has been placed in a strong-room lined with steel plates--a sort of
gigantic safe--and stands in absolute security from any stray Zeppelin
bombs. The Winged Victory of Samothrace is also protected by armor
plates. Mona Lisa once more smiles in darkness. The Salle Greque,
containing masterpieces of Phidias, is protected by sand bags. Many
unique treasures of statuary and painting are placed in the cellars.
Similar precautions are taken at the Luxembourg and at other museums.
The upper stories of the Louvre, which are roofed in glass, are being
converted into hospital wards, and thus the collections of the national
museum, which belong to all time and to all nations, enjoy the
protection of the Red Cross flag.

I made a brief trip to Versailles, which has been transformed into an
arsenal and a vast supply depot for food and forage. Troops of the
military commissariat train are cantoned in the parks and shooting
preserves of Prince Murat and of Mr. James Gordon Bennett. The
attractive little summer residence of Miss Elsie de Wolff and Miss
Elizabeth Marbury is occupied by cavalry officers. Versailles is the
mobilization center or assembly for the southwestern military regions,
and over fifty thousand men have been equipped here and sent on to their
destinations at the front. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep are
grazing contentedly on the lawns and meadows of the chateau.

The membership of the executive committee of the women's committee of
the American Ambulance has been increased by the addition of Mrs. Robert
Woods Bliss, Mrs. Cooper Hewitt, and Mrs. Barton French.

Among the American women who have volunteered to serve as nurses in the
hospital now being established in the Lycee Pasteur, in Neuilly, are the
following: Mrs. H. Herman Harjes, Mrs. Frederick H. Allen, Mrs. Laurence
V. Benet, Mrs. Whitney Warren, Mrs. Charles Carroll, Miss Ives, Miss
Edith Deacon, Mrs. Barton French and Miss Treadwell.




_Sunday, August 23_.


Twenty-first day of the war. A hot sultry day, with southerly wind.
Temperature at five P.M. 25 degrees centigrade.

The fourth Sunday of August finds Paris silently awaiting news from the
great battle going on for a distance of one hundred and five miles
extending from Mons to the Luxemburg frontier, and which is expected to
rage for several days. Parisians receive with enthusiasm the news
communicated by M. Iswolski, the Russian Ambassador, announcing that
three of the five army corps which Germany has in East Prussia have been
defeated by the army of General Rennekampf, near Gumbinnen.

I drove to-day with the Duke de Loubat, who is a close friend of
Cardinal Ferrata, now spoken of as foremost favorite among the
_Papabili_ Cardinals. Monseigneur Ferrata enjoys great popularity
not only at Rome but abroad, and is a warm friend of the United States.
He has also a keen sense of humor. Not long ago a distinguished member
of the French parliament lunched with Monseigneur Ferrata and remarked:
"How is it that the Church requires such a long lapse of time before
pronouncing a decree of nullity of marriage?" "Well," replied Cardinal
Ferrata, "before the end of the ten years' delay, it is usually found
that _one of the three_ dies or disappears, and that the petition
consequently is no longer pressed!" A great change is noticeable in the
Paris churches. They have been more crowded since the war than for many
years past. I entered the Madeleine to-day and found, to my surprise, an
unusually large proportion of men among the congregation. Most of them
were reservists called to arms. In other churches the congregations were
almost entirely composed of women and children.

Our Ambassador, Herrick, is a sort of guardian angel for Americans in
Paris. I saw him to-day working with Mr. Robert Woods Bliss, first
secretary of the Embassy. He rose at six in the morning, and except for
a brief repose for breakfast and dinner, is constantly ready to give
advice to Americans or to attend to intricate diplomatic duties that
crop up here at every turn. Our Ambassador also has on his shoulders the
affairs of all the Germans and Austrians who remain in France. Some of
our countrymen are very hard to please. Everything possible is being
done for those who wish to return home, and money, when necessary, is
advanced to them for the purpose. But they strongly object to waiting
in line for their turn, whether at the Embassy, the Consulate, or at the
Transatlantic Company, where, owing to the crowd of applicants, there is
some necessary delay in attending to them.

[Illustration: Robert Woods Bliss, First Secretary of the United States
Embassy in Paris, September, 1914.]

A number of complications have arisen by discharged servants filing
statements against their former employers, denouncing them as "probable
spies." Several examples of this have already occurred with prominent
American ladies who permanently reside here. I spoke with M. Hennion,
the prefect of police, on the subject, and he said that "such malicious
accusations"--and he showed me a pile of denunciations nearly a yard
high--"were never acted upon, unless under _really suspicious
circumstances_."

One of Mr. Herrick's callers at the American Embassy was Mme. Henri de
Sincay, a grand-daughter of General Logan, of Civil War fame. She is the
wife of a French army officer and when the war broke out was living in a
chateau near Liege. She fled to Brussels with her child, and then,
leaving the latter there with her sister-in-law, came to Paris to say
good-by to her husband, who is attached to the aviation corps near
Versailles. Now Mme. de Sincay cannot return to her child, but she is
not worrying over the situation and has offered her services to the
American Ambulance here in Paris.

The earnest, practical way in which General Victor Constant Michel,
Military Governor of Paris, carries out his work, is admirable. General
Michel has quietly despatched large numbers of the unruly youths of
Belleville, Montmartre, and Montparnasse,--known as the "apaches"--to
the country, in small gangs, to reap the wheat harvest, and he also
employs them in the government cartridge and ammunition factories. In
Paris, they have completely vanished from sight. The prohibition of the
drinking and sale of absinthe, not only in Paris, but throughout France,
was also due to the foresight of the Military Governor. General Michel,
although a rigid disciplinarian and a masterful organizer, is extremely
affable and agreeable. He was born at Auteuil in 1850, and after
graduation from Saint-Cyr, the French West Point, served in the war of
1870-1871 as second lieutenant of infantry. In 1894 he was made colonel
of an infantry regiment and showed such proficiency during the
manoeuvers that he became general-of-brigade in 1897. He was made
general-of-division in 1902; he is member of the Supreme War Council,
and in 1910 was awarded the high distinction of Grand Officer of the
Legion of Honor.




_Monday, August 24._


Twenty-second day of the war. Hot day with bright blue sky and
southeasterly wind. Thermometer at five P.M. 27 degrees centigrade.

Terrific night and day fighting continues on the Sambre and Meuse. The
French attack seems to have been repulsed. The allies remain on the
defensive, awaiting further German attacks. The losses on both sides are
terrible. Some days yet must elapse before the final result of the great
battle can be known. Meanwhile, Paris waits with patriotic confidence.
Russian victories in East Prussia, the Japanese bombardment of Tsin-Tao,
in Kiao-Chow, the advance of the Servians, and the increasing probability
of Italy claiming eventually her "_irredenta_" territory, are all
encouraging factors in this world-wide war.

The American volunteers mustered to-day at their recruiting offices in
the Rue de Valais and marched to the Invalides, where they passed the
French medical test prior to enrolment in the French army. The men are
wonderfully fit, and their splendid muscular, wiry physique was greatly
admired as they marched through the streets. Out of the two hundred
present, only one was not passed by the army surgeons, and even he was
not definitely refused. The corps will proceed to-morrow to the Gare
Saint-Lazare for entrainment. They will be sent, at first, to Rouen.

M.F.A. Granger, a young Frenchman, arrived to-day in Paris from New
York, where he left his wife and family. He sailed on the
_Rochambeau_ with many of his countrymen, coming, like himself, to
join the colors. M. Granger tells me that he saw near Lisieux a train of
German prisoners, mostly cavalrymen, some of whom had been wounded by
lance thrusts. They seemed resigned to their fate, without enthusiasm,
and on the whole rather pleased at the prospect of being confined and
fed in France, instead of remaining at the front. They said that they
had no idea that England and Belgium were fighting against them, until
they crossed swords with the Belgian cavalry, which they at first
supposed were French.




_Tuesday, August 25._


This is the twenty-third day of the war. Another warm, sunny day, with
northwesterly breezes. Thermometer at five P.M. 24 degrees centigrade.

Better news from the front this morning. The great battle that has been
raging for three days from Mons to Virton, during which the French and
British attacks were repulsed, has been resumed, and renewed German
attacks have been checked. Considerable anxiety as to the result
nevertheless prevails. My concierge, Baptiste, for instance, shakes his
head in a mournful way and says: "Ah! Monsieur, there is already
terrible loss of life. My brother-in-law, who left Luxemburg three weeks
ago to join his reserve regiment in France, is without a cent in the
world, and what will become of his wife and two little children--the
Lord only knows! Their little farmhouse, with all their belongings, has
been burned, and nothing is left."

I breakfasted to-day at the restaurant Champeaux, Place de la Bourse.
Two agents-de-change (official members of the Paris Stock Exchange) took
very gloomy views of the situation. It seems, however, that the French
rentes maintain their quotation of seventy-five francs. Mr. Elmer
Roberts of the Associated Press and Mr. Hart O. Berg sat at our table.
Both thought that the war would be much longer than at first expected
and would depend upon how long Germany could exist, owing to the
impossibility of obtaining food from abroad. "Eight months," said Mr.
Berg.

After lunch I went with Roberts to see the departure of the first
contingent of American volunteers from the Gare Saint-Lazare. These
youths are a tall, stalwart lot, marching with a sort of cowboy swing.
They were not in uniform, but wore flannel shirts, broad-brimmed felt
hats, and khaki trousers. They carried a big American flag surmounted
with a huge bouquet of roses, and alongside this a large French flag.
They were loudly cheered as they were entrained for Rouen, where they
will be drilled into effective shape.

I met Mrs. Edith Wharton, who remains in Paris, and is doing good work
with her _ouvroir_, or sewing-circle, which, with Mrs. Thorne, she
has organized in the Rue Vaneau. This _ouvroir_ is to supply work
to unmarried French women and widows. Among those who have liberally
subscribed to this are Mrs. William Jay, Mrs. Elbert H. Gary, Mrs. Beach
Grant, and Mrs. Griswold Gray.

I went in the afternoon to see Madame Waddington at her _ouvroir_,
156 Boulevard Haussmann. Madame Waddington makes an appeal by cable to
the _New York Tribune_, calling upon all American women and men to
aid her indigent French sewing-women, who are employed in making
garments for the sick and wounded, for which they receive one and a half
francs (thirty cents) and one meal, for a day's work. Madame Waddington
wore a gray linen gown, with a red cross, and was working away very
merrily, distributing materials to the women. She told me that her son
had joined the colors as a sergeant in an infantry reservist regiment
and was at the front.

M. Maurice Maeterlinck, the Belgian writer and philosopher, is living at
his quaint Abbaye de Sainte-Wandrille, on the Seine near Caudebec. The
author of _La Vie des Abeilles_ has been helping the peasants
gather the wheat harvest.

[Photograph: Photo by Paul Thompson. A party of American volunteers
crossing the Place de l'Opera in Paris on their way to enlist.]

After three weeks, during which relief funds have been advanced to
Americans at the Embassy, the demands for money continue to be as heavy
as ever. Paris is a human clearing-house, into which new arrivals are
now coming every day from Switzerland and elsewhere. Although many
tourists have been helped and started on their way for the United
States, new ones take their places before they are fairly out of the
way.

Thus, although the Embassy hoped that it had succeeded in getting the
persons in most urgent need off to America on the _Espagne_, the
departure of that vessel has caused no let-up in the demand for funds,
and some individuals who have already been helped once are now coming
back for further assistance.

One of the <DW64> song and dance artists, who was given some money a
couple of weeks ago and who was supposed to have left on the
_Espagne_, presented himself and asked for further funds after that
vessel steamed. When asked how it happened that he did not go, as
arranged, he replied: "'Deed, Ah overslept mahself."

"Considering that the boat train left at six o'clock in the evening,"
remarked Major Cosby, who has charge of the administration of the relief
fund, "he would seem to be a good sleeper."

In the case of all persons who are helped, the stipulation is made that
they must take the earliest possible means of transport to America. The
Government has no intention of financing tourists who desire to visit
Europe at this time. The sole object of the relief fund is to get them
back to the United States as soon as possible.

In addition to the ordinary relief fund, one hundred and seventy
thousand francs have been paid out at the Embassy this week by cable
orders against funds already deposited with the Department of State.
This is a purely business transaction, the Government having already
received the full amount of the payment made, but it has been a source
of much relief to many travelers.




_Wednesday, August 26_.


Twenty-fourth day of the war. Dull, cheerless weather, with a Scotch
drizzle in the afternoon and heavy rain in the evening. Southwesterly
wind. Temperature at five P.M. 20 degrees centigrade.

The great battle on the Sambre and Meuse continues with frightful
slaughter on both sides. The allies have been partially forced back but
resist with dogged determination.

Mrs. Hermann Duryea, a family relative of mine, and whose husband's
horse "Durbar" won the English Derby this spring, has come to Paris for
a few days from their country place near Argentan in Normandy, and is
stopping at her apartment in the Avenue Gabriel. Mrs. Duryea's
chauffeur, who is a young Frenchman, says that Belgian chauffeurs have
reached Normandy from the north, telling harrowing tales of the
brutality and cruelty of the Germans, and announcing that the "German
cavalry and armored motor-cars would soon prevent people from leaving
Paris." Mrs. Duryea, who is an exceedingly cool-headed, plucky woman,
came to me for advice. I told her that there was no probability at
present of communication from Paris to the westward being interfered
with. She sent some of her servants home to the United States and made
arrangements to rejoin her husband at Bazoches-en-Houlme, near Argentan.
The chateau has, through the generosity of the Duryeas, been turned into
a Red Cross hospital.

President Poincare has taken a leaf from Great Britain, and Premier Rene
Viviani has reconstructed a new Cabinet with eminent men, representing
all political parties, making a government of national defence. Since
the outbreak of the war, the Cabinet has been taking advice from
statesmen such as MM. Millerand, Delcasse, Briand, and Ribot. These men
now form part of the Ministry, the formation of which was announced to a
group of journalists at 11.30 this evening at the Ministry of War, when
we assembled there for the usual nightly _communique_. The new
Cabinet is made up as follows: Prime Minister (without Portfolio), M.
Rene Viviani; Vice-President of Council and Minister of Justice, M.
Aristide Briand; Interior, M. Malvy; Foreign Affairs, M. Delcasse; War,
M. Millerand; Navy, M. Augagneur; Finance, M. Ribot; Agriculture, M.
Fernand David; Public Works, M. Marcel Sembat; Labor, M.
Bienvenu-Martin; Commerce, M. Thomson; Public Instruction, M. Albert
Sarraut; Colonies, M. G. Doumergue; Minister without Portfolio, M. Jules
Guesde.

M. Etienne Alexandre Millerand is an illustrious member of the Paris
Bar, who has been several times a cabinet minister. As head of the War
Department, two years ago, he did more than any living Frenchman towards
the reconstitution of true _esprit militaire_ in the French army.
He prepared the way for the three years' service, and reorganized the
forces of the nation that had grown rusty during the decade that
preceded the alarm caused by the German Emperor at Agadir. It is quite
probable that M. Millerand will prove to be the Lazare Carnot--"The
Organizer of Victory"--of the present war. With M. Theophile Delcasse as
Minister of Foreign Affairs, French diplomacy cannot be in better hands.
In calling upon M. Jules Guesde, socialist deputy for Lille, and upon M.
Marcel Sembat, a red-hot socialist--both unified socialists and trusted
friends of the late Jean Jaures, the Government is assured of the hearty
support of the extreme "revolutionary" parties.

MM. Guesde and Sembat can certainly do the Government less harm _inside_
the Cabinet than they might do _outside_ of it. No better evidence that
all bitterness of political parties is now in the melting-pot can be
found than in the comment of the reactionary, ultra-Catholic, royalist
_Gaulois_, which says: "We are to-day all united in the bonds of
patriotism in face of the common enemy. We place absolute confidence in
the men who have assumed a task, the success of which means the salvation
of France and the triumph of civilization." M. Georges Clemenceau was
offered a place in the Cabinet, but declined to accept it.

The appointment of General Joseph Simon Gallieni as commander of the
army of Paris, and military governor, in succession to General Michel,
means that France is resolved to put Paris in a thoroughly efficient
state of defence, and to be ready for the worst possible emergencies.
General Michel is an admirable organizer and administrator, but he has
not had the vast military experience of General Gallieni, who is, by the
way, a warm friend and comrade of the former military governor. Moreover
General Michel will now serve under General Gallieni's orders.

[Photograph: Photo. Henri Munuel, Paris. General Joseph Simon Gallieni,
appointed Military Governor and Commander of the Army of Paris, August 26,
1914.]

General Gallieni, as a strategist, enjoys the same high reputation as
the commander-in-chief, General Joffre. He was born on April 24, 1849,
at Saint-Beat in the department of the Haute Garonne. He entered the
Saint-Cyr military academy in 1868, and was appointed a sub-lieutenant
in the Third Regiment of Marine Infantry two years later, and he fought
with his regiment through the war of 1870. Since then he has
distinguished himself in Tonkin, Senegal, and Madagascar. Everywhere he
has shown exceptional qualities, both as a soldier and administrator.
His brilliant career finally led to his appointment as a member of the
Higher Council of War, and, in acknowledgment of his great services, he
was maintained on the active list after passing the age limit. He is a
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.

President Poincare to-day confers further extraordinary powers upon
General Joffre, authorizing him to exercise the almost sovereign right
of promoting officers on the spot, just as Napoleon did, by simply
naming them to the posts where he thinks they may be most useful. Thus,
General Joffre can make a captain a colonel or a full-fledged
general-of-division, by word of mouth. This privilege was not even
granted by Napoleon to his marshals. These promotions are, however, only
provisional during the war, and when peace is made, must be ratified by
Parliament. This renders it possible to replace general officers, killed
or wounded, by officers selected on the battlefield, and above all
enables important commands to be filled by young officers, who give
proof of their qualities in face of the enemy.

An idea of the infinite tragedy of war was brought home to many
Parisians by a visit to the Cirque de Paris, where twenty-five hundred
Belgian refugees, men, women, and children, have been provided with at
least a temporary shelter.

The vast building, where so many famous boxing-matches have taken place,
is now completely transformed. The ring has been cut in two, and
hundreds of fauteuils have been placed in small groups so arranged as to
form substitutes for beds. The boxes have been reserved for the many
women with infants in arms.

Hardly were they installed, and hardly had the news spread in Paris of
their miserable plight, than hundreds of Parisians visited the Cirque de
Paris, all bringing gifts of food, drink, or clothing. It was a pathetic
and at the same time a cheering sight to watch the refugees hungrily
eating the midday meal which their French sympathizers had helped to
provide. These refugees, many of whom carry babies in arms, will
probably be sent into Normandy and Brittany to be cared for.




_Thursday, August 27._


Twenty-fifth day of the war. Rain, severe thunderstorm at noon,
northwesterly wind. Temperature at five P.M. 17 degrees centigrade.

The huge German army, making its desperate struggle to invade France at
many points from Maubeuge to the Vosges, is still held in check.
Meanwhile the hand of fate, in the shape of the gigantic "Russian
steam-roller," steadily advances in East Prussia. Cossacks have
penetrated to within two hundred miles of Berlin.

Minister of War Millerand has revived the daily meetings of heads of
departments at the War Office. To-day the defensive condition of Paris
was discussed. Work already in progress, under the supervision of
General Gallieni, is pushed forward rapidly and methodically, and
obstructions to artillery fire are being cleared away in the suburbs.

I rambled this morning through the so-called German quarter of Paris
around the Rue d'Hauteville and between the main boulevards and the Rue
Lafayette. All the German and Austrian _teutons_ shops and places
of business are closed. The _brasseries_, where the best Munich or
Pilsener beer, with _wiener Schnitzel_ or _leber-knoedel
suppe_ could be obtained until the end of July, are invisible behind
signless iron shutters. The "intelligence section" of the German general
staff had for years obtained precious military information through the
enterprising, affable German commercial agents, restaurant keepers,
commission merchants, waiters, and hotel errand boys (_chasseurs_)
who thrived in this thrifty quarter.

A wounded sergeant of a Highland regiment, in talking yesterday with an
American friend of mine at Amiens station, bitterly denounced the German
practice of concealing their advance by driving along in front of them
numbers of refugee women and children. The Scottish sergeant said: "Our
battalion was badly cut up. We were using our machine guns to repel a
German advance. Suddenly we saw a lot of women and children coming along
the road towards us. Our officers ordered us to cease firing. The
refugees came pouring through our lines. Immediately behind them,
however, were the German riflemen, who suddenly opened fire on us at
short range with terrible effect. Had it not been for this dastardly
trick of shoving women and children ahead of them at the points of their
bayonets, we might have wiped out this German rifle battalion that
attacked us, but instead of that, we were driven back. Damn these
Germans!" With these words the Scottish sergeant, his right arm
shattered from shoulder to elbow, climbed into the train of British
wounded and was carried off towards Rouen.

A number of French wounded soldiers from the Northern Army arrived in
Paris during the night and were sent to the Military Hospital, Rue des
Recollets, to the Hospital of Saint-Louis, and to a hospital installed
in the College Rollin. Among them were a number slightly wounded, but
very few severely. Their spirit seems excellent, and all agree that few
were killed considering the number of wounded.

All promise to obey orders more closely when they are well and back in
the firing line, and not to be too rash. Rashness and too great anxiety
to get at the foe seem, indeed, to have been the cause of a great many
casualties.




_Friday, August 28._


Twenty-sixth day of the war. Bright, clear weather with northeasterly
breezes. Temperature at five P.M. 20 degrees centigrade.

I saw, in the Rue Franklin, M. Georges Clemenceau, the veteran
demolisher of cabinets, and former Prime Minister, who in his youthful
days was a mayor of the eighteenth arrondissement of Paris, the
turbulent Montmartre quarter. M. Clemenceau severely criticizes the new
Viviani Cabinet. "Viviani," said he, "asked me twice to form part of it.
I declined because, in addition to personal reasons, the Ministry did
not seem to me to realize the elements of power and action required by
this war. Having this opinion, it would not be fair either to Viviani or
to myself to enter into a combination where I should have to assume the
responsibility for acts that to my mind would not adequately meet the
emergency. Under the circumstances, there are only three ministers that
count for anything; those of war, foreign affairs, and finance." M.
Clemenceau said: "There must be something wrong with the mobilization
scheme, because when our troops were outnumbered at the front, there
were great quantities of young officers and men who for ten days had
been awaiting, at their various points of assembly, orders to join their
corps, and at the last moment were told to go home."

On the other hand, M. Millerand, Minister of War, has visited General
Joffre at the army headquarters and returned to Paris to-night "very
satisfied with the situation."

I took a spin in an automobile to-day to Versailles, and thence to Buc
with its red brick aerodrome tower, sheds, and long rows of hangars.
Here were groups of airmen in the rough, serviceable French sapper
uniform--loose-fitting blue coat, blue trousers with a double red
stripe, blue flannel scarf about their necks, as if they had all got
sore throats, and blue pointed forage caps. Here is Chevillard, that
wonderful gymnast of the air. There is Verrier, and here, driving a
sporting-looking car, is Carpentier, whose more familiar costume is a
pair of white slips and a pair of four-ounce gloves. For Carpentier has
been mobilized, too. Instead of making thousands of dollars this month
by his fight with Young Ahearn, and possibly other matches with
Bombardier Wells and Gunboat Smith, he, too, is on the pay list of the
army at next to nothing a day. He is attached to the flying center as a
chauffeur, and that car he is driving is his own, only he cannot take it
out without orders now.

[Photograph: Etienne Alexandre Millerand, Minister of War, August 27,
1914.]

Morning and evening they fly at Buc. They are constantly testing new
machines, and then, when they have tested them, they fly off to the army
on the eastern frontier, or to Amiens, perhaps. The other day a pilot
even flew to Antwerp right across the German lines over the heads of the
German army, but so high up that they never even guessed he was there.
Then they practise bomb-dropping, too, and they are always on the alert
for a possible Zeppelin raid on Paris. The other night a wireless
message reached the Eiffel Tower from the frontier that one had started.
It was midnight, and instantly the alarm was given at Buc. The airmen
sleep in the hangars there, and in five minutes they had their machines
wheeled out.

By the light of lanterns you could see mechanics running to and fro. The
airmen themselves were hurriedly putting on helmets and woollen gloves
and leather coats, for it is cold work hunting airships at midnight.
Their little armory of bombs was quickly overhauled, and the belt of the
machine gun that the man in the passenger's seat uses--the "syringe" as
they call it--was filled, and the engines were set running to see that
they were all right. But it was a false alarm after all, for, although a
close lookout was kept everywhere between Paris and the frontier for the
adventurous Zeppelin, and a hundred guns were craning up into the sky
ready for her if she hove in sight, she never came, and the tired airmen
turned in again to snatch a little sleep before morning parade.

Constantly airmen fly off to the front. Those who have been there say
that the supply trains and the whole service is working splendidly. They
have organized a new sport among the air-scouts. Every day, at the end
of the day's reconnoitring, the airmen count the bullet-holes in the
wings and body of their machines. The aeroplane that has the most is the
cock machine of the squadrilla--six in the squadrilla--and holds the
title until some one gets a bigger peppering and displaces him. They are
very jealous of this distinction, and the counting has to be very
carefully carried out by an impartial jury, for the cock aeroplane has
the honor of carrying the mascot of the squadrilla.




_Saturday, August 29._


Twenty-seventh day of the war. Sultry weather, with light northerly
breezes. Temperature at five P.M. 26 degrees centigrade.

"Hold tight!" Such is the watchword given by the French Government, and
French and British soldiers are holding tight for all they are worth
against the slowly advancing German armies. Heavy fighting all along the
lines from the Somme to the Vosges continues without a break. The
Prussian Guard Corps and the Tenth German Army Corps have been driven
back to Guise, in the department of the Aisne (one hundred and ninety
kilometers from Paris), but on the French left the Germans have fought
their way to La Fere (northwest of Laon, about one hundred and forty
kilometers from Paris). In the eastern theater of the war, Koenigsberg
has been invested by the Russians under Rennenkampf, who continue their
advance towards Berlin.

Paris begins to realize that the war is coming closer to them, by the
following official announcement:

DEFENCES OF PARIS

_The Military Governor of Paris, in view of the urgent military
requirements, has decided:

1. Within a delay of four full days, starting from August 30, all
proprietors, occupants, and tenants of all descriptions of houses and
buildings situated in the military zone of old and new forts must
evacuate and demolish the aforesaid houses and buildings.

2. In the event of these instructions not being fulfilled within the
prescribed delay, these houses and buildings will be immediately
demolished by military authority and the materials taken away.

The Military Governor of Paris, Commander of the Armies of Paris.

(Signed)

GALLIENI._

General Pau, the gallant one-armed general who commands the French Army
of the East, arrived in Paris at four o'clock this afternoon, but the
reason for his visit is naturally kept secret. He had a conference at
the Ministry of War with M. Millerand. He called for a few moments at
his residence in the Boulevard Raspail. General Pau's son, a
sub-lieutenant of infantry, is lying wounded at the hospital at Troyes.
General Pau had an informal conversation with President Poincare at the
Elysee Palace, and leaves again for the front to-morrow morning.

Refugees from Belgium and northern France continue to pour into Paris.
But the authorities, having had time to organize, are sending them on
with very little delay to various places in the west and south of
France.

It is impossible to prevent these frightened people from taking refuge
in Paris, which they regard as a place of safety, and the only course
open is to send them on as soon as possible.

Among the financial victims of the war are a number of Chinese students
who have found their supplies of money from home suddenly cut off. A
body of about sixty went to the Chinese Legation in the Rue de Babylone
on Friday evening, and clamored for money.

The Minister, Mr. Liu Shih-shen, was out but, to the great disgust of
the staff, the students invaded the dining-room and kitchen and
commandeered the dinner which was being prepared for the Minister.

A message was sent to his Excellency, who dined at a restaurant.
Meanwhile the students, having dined, began to gamble, and several made
preparations to spend the night in the Legation. They were, however,
expelled by the police.

At the meeting of the women's auxiliary of the American Ambulance at the
Embassy this afternoon, many details in connection with the
establishment and maintenance of the hospital in the Lycee Pasteur were
discussed.

A committee was appointed for the special purpose of supplying with
clothing such wounded soldiers as may be brought to the hospital.

It was announced that Miss Matthews will succeed Miss Cameron as the
chairman of the sewing committee, the latter having been called to
America by her brother's illness.

Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt has offered to contribute many articles needed in
the installation of the hospital, particularly such things as window
curtains and other furnishings designed to make the institution as
comfortable as possible for the sufferers.

For just four weeks now the American Government has been advancing money
to citizens in need of it at the Embassy, and still the stream of
applicants continues in about the same proportions as ever.

The undiminishing demand for funds is due largely to the fact that there
are new arrivals in the city every day, but Major Cosby, who is in
charge of the distribution of the money, believes that with the
departure of the _Rochambeau_ and the _Flandre_ there will
come a gradually lessening demand for assistance.

So far about five hundred persons have received money, and the total
paid out for the four weeks is 62,100 francs. This represents about one
hundred and twenty-five francs, or twenty-five dollars, apiece.

In addition to the Government fund, which is paid only to persons who
accept it as a loan, about twenty-seven thousand francs, raised here in
Paris, has been given outright to persons who for various reasons could
not be assisted out of the Government fund.

Captain Brinton has also paid out from sixty to seventy thousand dollars
to various persons upon cable orders from the Department of State in
Washington. This represents a purely business transaction, as the money
has first been deposited with the Government by friends in the United
States. It has, however, been an exceedingly practical means of helping
persons who otherwise might have had to fall back on the relief funds.




_Sunday, August 30._


Twenty-eighth day of the war. Sunny, but sultry, August Sunday. Light
northerly breeze, thermometer at five P.M. 26 degrees centigrade.

No let-up in the fighting. The Germans continue with wonderful tenacity
their favorite tactics of rolling up their forces on their right, and
then enveloping and striving to turn the Anglo-French left. The French
left, as officially announced at the War Office, has been forced to
yield ground. But the result of the gigantic battle in the department of
the Aisne near La Fere, Guise, and Laon, on the road to Paris, still
hangs in the balance.

It seems pretty certain that the French armies were concentrated too far
to the east. The temptation to enter Alsace, where strong force is
needless, was too great for the then war minister, M. Messimy, to
withstand. France is paying for this now. For over twenty years it was
an open secret among military authorities that the main German attack
upon France would burst in through Belgium and the northern departments
of France, which seem to have been left without adequate fortifications.
Here is France's vulnerable point. For France to be now outnumbered in
this theater of the war is strong evidence of her also being
out-generaled. While the French have wasted needless troops in futile
excursions beyond the Vosges and in the Ardennes, they seem to have been
blind to the tremendous concentration of German fighting strength in the
north. Had it not been for the solid, heroic resistance of the British
army under Field-marshal Sir John French, on the extreme French left at
Mons and Cambrai, it is very likely that the French would have sustained
a crushing defeat. That the French should be outnumbered on the lines
near La Fere seems incomprehensible and requires satisfactory
explanation from the Ministry of War. Further proof of this primary
fault is forthcoming in the proclamation issued to-day, calling to the
colors the 1914 class, some two hundred and fifty thousand young men of
twenty, due to join the army in October. Moreover, those classes of the
reserves of the territorial army called up when the general mobilization
order was issued and for some unaccountable reason _actually sent home
again_, have also been recalled.

[Photograph: Copyright by American Press Association. Parisians watching
the German air-craft that drop bombs on the city.]

In broad daylight, at 1.15 this afternoon, the Germans left their first
visiting-card in Paris. This came in the shape of three bombs dropped
from a German aeroplane, that made a curved flight over the city at an
altitude of two thousand meters. The first bomb fell at the corner of
the Rue des Vinaigriers and the Rue du Marais, another in the Rue des
Recollets, and a third near an asylum for aged workmen on the Quai
Valmy. The airman also let fall an oriflamme, two and a half meters
long, bearing the black and white Prussian colors, ballasted by sand in
an india-rubber football, attached to which was a letter, written in
German, which ran as follows: "The German Army is at the gates of Paris.
The only thing left for you to do is to surrender! (Signed) LIEUTENANT
VON HEIDSSEN."

The first bomb wounded two women, one of whom died of her injuries at
the hospital shortly afterwards. She was concierge of the house Number
39 Rue des Vinaigriers. No other damage was done. There were thousands
of Parisians promenading the streets at the time. The news spread like
wild-fire, but no panic, nor even undue excitement, ensued; the people
of Paris are totally different to-day from what they were in 1870. Of
course the intention of these aeroplane bomb-throwers, of whose exploits
we shall probably hear a great deal, was to create a panic and
demoralize the inhabitants, and especially to terrify women and
children. This utterly failed. After dropping the three bombs and his
_carte de visite_, the German aeroplane vanished towards the east.
It seems strange that the flotillas of air-craft at Buc were thus caught
napping and allowed the German air-lieutenant to escape.

I called in the afternoon upon Madame Waddington and her sister, Miss
King. Madame Waddington was anxious about her grandchildren, who are at
their country place not far from Laon, where the battle is now raging.
Madame Waddington says that Mr. Herrick, whom she saw this morning, told
her that if worse came to the worst, the seat of government would
probably be transferred to Bordeaux.

A large sum in gold coin, it is said, has been taken from the vaults of
the Bank of France and sent to Rennes. Sharp comment is elicited by an
incident at the Travellers Club, a somewhat select resort of Americans,
English, and other foreigners, in the former hotel of the famous beauty
of the Second Empire, Madame de Paiva, in the Champs-Elysees. It appears
that a wealthy and prominent German by birth, but naturalized American,
Mr. X., casually remarked one day at the club that he did not intend to
trouble himself to get a _permis de sejour_ (permission to reside
in Paris), because "when the German troops arrived in the capital, these
papers would no longer be needed." Mr. X. was told that if he persisted
in expressing such views, offensive to the members of the club and to
the hospitable city in which the club was situated, his resignation
would be forthwith accepted by the house committee. Mr. X. paid no
attention to the warning, but when next he entered the club--a few days
after the incident--he was informed that his name had been stricken from
the list of members.

M. Adrien Mithouard, President of the Municipal Council, states that
arrangements were made months ago to store a large quantity of flour in
the city, so as to provide the civilian inhabitants with bread. This
flour is in the hands of the military authorities, who have a
considerably larger supply than was originally intended, and are still
adding to it.

There will be no lack of coal. The army has accumulated enormous
quantities, and the Gas Company has enough coal for five months. M.
Mithouard also says he recently made a personal investigation of the
water supply, and found that, even if the aqueducts were cut, the city
would have two hundred and sixty thousand cubic meters of filtered water
available every day from the Ivry and Saint-Maur waterworks; and even
without these, Paris could still have two hundred and sixty thousand
cubic meters a day chemically purified.

The Municipal Council has also approved a proposal to buy up certain
provisions to be added to the necessaries of life for the civilian
population.

M. Georges Clemenceau, the "parliamentary tiger," who, although
remaining outside the Cabinet, is one of the greatest personal forces of
France, has made a stirring statement to Mr. Somerville Story, editor of
the _Daily Mail_. M. Clemenceau said:

"Yes, their guns are almost within sound of Paris. And what if they are?
What if we were yet to be defeated again and again? We should still go
on. Let them burn Paris if they can. Let them wipe it out, raze it to
the level of the ground. We shall still fight on.

"This is not my personal resolve alone. The Government, too, is just as
grimly determined. Do you know, it is strange that one should have been
able to come to feel like this, but the Germans could destroy all these
beautiful places that I love so much; they may blow up the museums,
overthrow monuments--it would only leave me still determined to fight
on.

"France may disappear, if you like. It may be called Frankreich, if you
like. We may be driven back to the very Pyrenees. It will not abate one
fraction our vigor and our decision.

"And in this terrible war we must all realize how unutterably great are
the stakes. It is we in France and our friends in Belgium who are doomed
to suffer the most bitterly. England will be spared much that we must
endure. But we must all make sacrifices almost beyond reckoning. We are
fighting for the dignity of humanity. We are fighting for the right of
civilization to continue to exist. We are fighting so that nations may
continue to live in Europe without being under the heel of another
nation. It is a great cause; it is worthy of great sacrifices.

"I say this to convince you of the unbreakable spirit of the French
nation.

"But the situation is not yet so grave. We knew our frontier would be
invaded somewhere. We have many troops in reserve for the big battle
that will follow this one.

"The Germans cannot besiege or invest Paris. Its size is too vast. Its
defence will be assisted by the armies now fighting on the Oise, seventy
miles away.

"The fortifications of Paris are by no means the feeble things they were
in 1870. From the Eiffel Tower we can control the movements in
co-operation with our armies in the provinces of France.

"The situation is in no way desperate, although the Germans have invaded
France. France will fight on and on until this attempt to establish
tyranny in Europe is overthrown."

[Photograph: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y. Eiffel Tower's
searchlight, to reveal bomb-throwing air craft and air-scouts of the
Germans.]




_Monday, August 31._


Twenty-ninth day of the war. Hot, somewhat hazy, summer weather, with
faint northerly wind. Thermometer at five P.M. 27 degrees centigrade.

Kaiser William, who it appears was on the field during the battle of
Charleroi, is pressing forward in hot haste, regardless of consequences,
on the road to Paris, close behind the steel-tipped elite of his vast
armies, consisting of the Royal Prussian Guard Corps and the famous
Third Army Corps. To-morrow will be the anniversary of the Battle of
Sedan. The "Mailed Fist" is doing his best to celebrate it by leading
his legions to Paris. It is daredevil desperation that spurs him on, for
nowhere, as yet, have the Franco-British armies been broken through, and
they continue to present successive stone walls to the Teuton invasion,
and oppose every inch of ground with dogged tenacity. The allied left
wing has been forced--always by the traditional enveloping tactics on
their right--to retreat, but they do so sullenly and in good order,
making the Germans pay dearly for every step gained. The battle is
raging continuously, and much depends upon which side first receives
strong reenforcements to fill up the gaps made by tremendous losses. The
Russian advance in East Prussia, according to accounts from Brussels,
has already forced the Germans to send back to Berlin from their center
at least one army corps.

There is hurry and skurry all day long among Parisians and foreign
residents to get away from Paris to more peaceful towns in the south and
west. The railway stations are so crowded that it is almost impossible,
at the Gare of Saint-Lazare or at the Quai d'Orsay to get anywhere near
the booking office. Motor-cabs are being hired at extravagant prices to
convey families to Tours, Orleans, Le Mans, or Bordeaux. The bearing of
the public however by no means resembles that of "nerves," and less
still a panic.

[Illustration: Copyright by International News Service. Wounded French
soldiers returning to Paris with trophies from the battlefields.]

I lunched to-day with Mr. Hulme Beaman, correspondent of the _London
Standard_, and his charming wife, who live just across the way from
me, in the Boulevard de Courcelles. Mr. Beaman passed Sunday at Poissy,
where he usually goes fishing for gudgeon. At Acheres, the junction of
the lines from Picardy and Belgium, he saw train after train filled with
wounded French soldiers, who seemed in good spirits and who, in spite of
their suffering, were burning to get back again to the front.

Another German air-lieutenant made a flight over Paris this afternoon
and dropped two bombs near the Notre Dame Cathedral, but caused no
damage; one of the projectiles fell into the Seine. The airman also
tossed into Paris a German flag, to which was tied a postal card calling
upon Paris to surrender. Groups watched the aeroplane, which never came
lower than fifteen hundred meters, and women and children seemed rather
amused at the sight.

A fugitive from Belgium, who was at Louvain shortly before the wilful
destruction of the once beautiful university town, tells a curious story
of a Dutchman who had a thrilling escape on the arrival of the Germans.
He rushed for the Dutch flag, which, in his nervousness, he hoisted
outside his door upside down. This then represented the French flag, and
the Dutchman, who spoke no German, was immediately seized by the enemy
and ordered to be shot. He was placed upright against a wall and was
about to be riddled with bullets when his employer rushed up and told
the Germans that they were going to shoot a Dutchman, which saved his
life.

General Gallieni, Governor of Paris, has issued a decree prohibiting
newspapers to publish "spread-head" lines extending over two columns in
width. The news vendors are not allowed to shout out the news, or even
the names of the papers on the streets. The type of headlines must not
be of alarming size. In fact, a worldwide war was required to check the
march of the sensational Paris "yellow" press.

The Minister of War has suppressed _sauf-conduits_ for travelers
leaving Paris by rail, but they must be provided with proper
identification papers. The _laisser-passer_, delivered by the
Prefecture of Police, is still required however for all who leave Paris
by automobile.

The American committee, in a circular to Americans, signed by Judge
Elbert H. Gary, chairman, and H. Herman Harjes, secretary, gives a
warning against sensational reports about the "imminent occupation" of
the city by the Germans, but expresses the opinion that "it would be
wise for Americans who cannot be of special service during the war, or
who are not required to remain by their business or professional
interests, to leave the city in an orderly and quiet way, whenever
reasonable opportunity is offered."




_Tuesday, September 1._


Thirtieth day of the war, and forty-fourth anniversary of the Battle of
Sedan. Oppressive sultry weather, with northeasterly wind. Thermometer
at five P.M. 23 degrees centigrade.

The War Office _communique_ to-night states that: "on our left
wing, in consequence of the enveloping movement of the Germans and with
the object of not entering into a decisive action under bad conditions,
our troops have fallen back, some towards the south and others towards
the southwest. The action which took place in the district of Rethel has
enabled our forces to stop the enemy for the time being. In the center
and on the right (Woevre, Lorraine, and the Vosges), there is no change
in the situation."

This means that Emperor William is hacking his way still nearer to
Paris. The failure however to realize his boast that he would celebrate
the anniversary of Sedan by appearing within striking distance of the
French capital may indicate that the turning point of this phase of the
war is near at hand.

The allied troops north of Paris have established themselves in a
fighting position more favorable than that into which an attempt was
made to draw them. The dam still holds good, and breaches are being
repaired.

The people of Paris are quite calm, in spite of false rumors and of
pyrotechnics aloft executed by the German _taubes_.

At quarter past five this afternoon, I was walking across the Place de
la Bourse to file a cable message to the _New York Tribune_. I
heard a loud explosion, followed by clashing of broken glass. A
projectile had fallen a hundred yards distant and hit the top of a house
in the Rue de Hanovre. The _pompiers_ were on the spot within three
minutes, having been summoned by the fire-alarm box near the Bourse. No
serious damage was done, but little lead pellets were found in
profusion. When I heard the explosion, I looked up and saw an aeroplane
at an altitude of about fourteen hundred meters vanishing towards the
northeast. It was pale yellow, and white near the after part. It was a
German _taube_. A sand-bag with a German Uhlan's pennant was
dropped, bearing a card reminding Parisians that it was "the anniversary
of Sedan, that they would soon be obliged to surrender the city, and
that the Russians had been crushed on the Prussian frontier." Another
bomb had been dropped on the roof of Number 29 Rue du Mail and broke
into an empty room, but did not explode. A third bomb fell on a
schoolhouse in the Rue Colbert; ricochetting off the wall, it fell into
a courtyard, where it exploded and made a hole in the ground. Other
bombs were dropped in the Rue de Londres and in the Rue de la Condamine;
the last one injured a woman and a little girl, who were hit in the
chest and head by fragments of the projectile. As the _taube_
passed over the Pepiniere barracks, and the Place de l'Opera, at an
altitude of perhaps twelve hundred meters, some soldiers fired at it
with their rifles, but without effect. The German air-lieutenants have
so far avoided the Eiffel Tower, where machine guns are placed.

The War Office announces that a flotilla of armored aeroplanes provided
with machine guns has been organized to attack the German aeroplanes
that fly over Paris. Spectacular sights are thus in store for us.

[Photograph: Photo. Henri Manuel, Paris. 29th Infantry Reserves, Army
of the Defence of Paris.]

The American committee, constituted by the American Ambassador and
including some of the most eminent Americans residing in Paris on the
day of the declaration of war, has requested the Minister of War to
supply it with formal proofs of the fact that the bombs which have
fallen in Paris were thrown from a German aeroplane.

M. Millerand, in response to this request, has submitted to the American
Ambassador and two delegates from the committee the complete "dossier."

The Ambassador, after having examined the evidence submitted to him, and
to the members of the committee, decided to cable a report to his
Government concerning these methods of warfare, which are not only acts
against humanity, but, further, are in absolute violation of The Hague
Convention, signed by Germany herself.

The committee has also decided to ask the American Government, while
remaining loyal to its declaration of neutrality, to make a strong
protest to the German Government.

The Minister of War has issued a decree calling up territorial
reservists of all classes in the north and northeastern districts of
France, not yet with the colors.

The French "left wing," which, as foreseen more than twenty years ago,
must be the vulnerable spot in the defence of Paris, will very likely be
forced to retire still nearer to the capital. In that case, a battle
would be likely under the shelter of the Paris forts, which encircle the
city at from thirty to forty kilometers from the Notre Dame. This belt
of forts, connected by three lines of formidable entrenchments and rifle
pits, now being dug, not only by the troops, but by thousands of Paris
workmen out of regular employment, make a circumference of two hundred
kilometers, or about one hundred and twenty-five miles. This line of
defence would protect Paris and also a field army with all its own
resources, and probably make it impossible for the Germans to completely
invest the city, as they did in 1870. Meanwhile the allied armies
outside of Paris would be able to keep the rest of the German armies
"busy," and threaten the long line of German communications. Paris would
thus be able to hold out for a long time. The Germans would obtain food
supplies from the rich country that they occupy, but their supplies of
ammunition, and of men to fill gaps in the fighting units of the first
line, must become precarious. Meanwhile the Russian "steam-roller" is
moving towards Berlin.

At six o'clock this evening the following decree was issued by the
Prefecture of Police:


 "By order of the Military Governor of Paris, no civilian automobile
carriage will be allowed to leave Paris from today. This order has
been immediately enforced."

Streams of people from the regions to the north of Paris within the
sphere of the German operations are swarming into Paris, bringing their
belongings with them. I saw a train pull slowly into the Gare du Nord
laden with about fifteen hundred peasants--old men, women,
children--encumbered with bags, boxes, bundles, fowls, and provisions of
various kinds. The station is strewn with straw, on which country folk
fleeing from the Germans are soundly sleeping for the first time in many
days. These refugees are being shunted on to the _chemin de fer de la
ceinture_ and proceed around the city to other stations, from which
they are transported towards the south.

Tens of thousands of Parisians throng the railway stations, seeking
their turn to buy tickets to points outside the city. At the Gare de
Lyon, Montparnasse, d'Orsay, d'Orleans, people are standing in lines ten
abreast and a quarter of a mile in length, waiting for hours and hours
to book for Bordeaux, Biarritz, Brest, Rennes, or Nantes. Some of these
people have waited from seven in the morning until three in the
afternoon to obtain tickets.

If matters get worse, President Poincare and the Ministry will establish
themselves at Bordeaux. Ambassador Herrick intends to remain in Paris,
as Minister Elihu Washburne did in 1870. He will delegate a secretary to
represent the United States Embassy at the seat of government. Perhaps
Mr. Sharp, the newly appointed Ambassador, might be utilized for this
purpose.

A convoy of one hundred and forty British soldiers, wounded in the
recent fighting in the Aisne Department, arrived at nine o'clock this
morning at the Gare du Nord.

Most of them were shot in the legs and arms, but in spite of their
sufferings, none of them showed the least sign of being broken in
spirit. As they were transported from the train, there were touching
demonstrations of sympathy from the crowd, which the wounded men
acknowledged to the best of their ability.

By a pretty little attention on the part of the Red Cross workers in
Chantilly, all the men wore a flower and had been the recipients of
refreshments and fair words of encouragement.

There was quite a procession of wounded of various nationalities at the
station, and scenes were witnessed which caused the tears to start in
many eyes. A group of Belgian soldiers, including several wounded,
encountered the British convoy on their arrival, and hearty handshakes
were exchanged.

Half an hour after the arrival of the British wounded, a party of thirty
Turcos wounded in the battle of Guise came in and were in turn accorded
an ovation. According to one of the men, they fought for nine days and
nights without a break, but were gratified in the end by beating back
the enemy. With one voice they declared that they are impatient to get
back again into the fighting line.

A British private, wounded in the leg by a German shell, described the
fighting around Mons on Sunday week as "terrific." They first got the
German shell fire quite unexpectedly near the railway station. Two of
their battalions marched through the streets of Mons and were fired on
from house windows by the Germans. Some of the German shells, he said,
were filled with broken glass and emitted a suffocating gas when they
exploded.

Mr. Elbert H. Gary, chairman of the American Committee, left to-day by
automobile for Havre, whence he expects to start for New York on
Saturday on the _France_. It was decided at the meeting of the
committee yesterday afternoon that Mr. Gary should, though absent,
retain the chairmanship, with Mr. H. Herman Harjes, the secretary,
acting as presiding officer. Mr. Lazo, the assistant secretary, becomes
secretary in Mr. Harjes' place.

Mr. F. E. Drake, Major Clyde M. Hunt, Mr. Henry S. Downe and Mr. W. H.
Ingram were added to the membership of the committee.




_Wednesday, September 2_.


Thirty-first day of the war. Beautifully clear weather, cloudless sky,
northeasterly wind. Temperature at five P.M. 25 degrees centigrade.

German prisoners declare that Emperor William has made it known to every
soldier that his orders are to "take Paris or die." A German cavalry
division came into contact with British troops yesterday in the forest
of Compiegne. The British captured ten field guns. But the right wing of
the German army, which ever since the battles of Charleroi and Mons has
enveloped and turned the allied left, continues its advance. The allied
troops have retired partly to the south and partly to the southwest. A
great battle must consequently take place within the range of the Paris
forts. Work on the entrenched lines connecting the forts is actively
carried out and is said to give every satisfaction. The positions,
believed to be impregnable, are strengthened by ingenious arrangements
of barbed wire. It is reported that some of this barbed entanglement
contains live wires fed by the electric batteries of the defence.

In a stirring editorial in his newspaper _L'Homme Libre_, M.
Georges Clemenceau frankly faces the situation now that "the Germans are
close to Paris." He adds: "We have left open the approach to Paris,
while reserving to ourselves flank attacks on the enemy. If the forts do
their duty, this move may be a happy one. From what we have seen of him,
General Joffre belongs to the temporizing school. At this moment there
are no better tactics. The supreme art will be to seize the instant when
temporization must give way to a carefully prepared offensive movement.
I have full confidence in General Joffre."

Lord Kitchener made a rapid incognito visit to Paris yesterday, where he
met Field-marshal Sir John French. As far as can be ascertained, Lord
Kitchener went to the front and had a conference with General Joffre.
There seems to be no doubt but what General Joffre's plans have the
heartiest approval and support of Lord Kitchener. French troops from the
eastern theater of the war are being brought up rapidly, so as to attack
the German lines of communications, possibly near Rethel. Reenforcements
are coming in rapidly from England, and a large new army has formed, at
Le Mans, and will soon be ready to take the field with great effect.

[Illustration: General Joffre, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies
in France.]

The usual six o'clock serenade of the German air-lieutenants this
afternoon drew forth a few rifle shots from roofs of Paris houses, and
even a quick-firing gun was discharged at one of these _taubes_.
But the distance was too great, and the two German aeroplanes vanished
shortly before seven in a northerly direction.

This evening President Poincare and the French Government removed the
seat of government from Paris to Bordeaux, and the following
proclamation was issued:

Frenchmen,

For several weeks, during desperate fighting, our heroic troops have
struggled with the enemy's army. Our soldiers' valiance has brought them
marked advantages on several points. But to the north the advance of the
German forces has compelled us to draw back.

This situation imposes on the President of the Republic and the
Government a painful decision. To safeguard the national salvation, the
public powers have as a duty momentarily to leave the city of Paris.

Under the command of an eminent leader, a French army, full of courage
and zest, will defend the capital and its patriotic population against
the invader. But the war must be pursued at the same time over the rest
of the land.

Without peace or truce, without halt or faltering, the sacred struggle
for the honor of the nation and the reparation of violated right will be
continued.

None of our armies is cut into. If some of them have undergone
losses--too great losses--the vacant places have been immediately filled
by the depots, and the call of the recruits ensures for us for to-morrow
further resources of men and energies.

Fight and stand firm--such must be the watchword of the allied armies,
British, Russian, Belgian, and French.

Fight and stand firm; while on the sea the British help us to cut our
enemy's line of communications with the outside world.

Fight and stand firm; while the Russians continue to advance to strike
the decisive blow in the heart of the German Empire.

It is the duty of the Government of the Republic to direct this stubborn
resistance.

Frenchmen will rise on every side for the sake of independence. But in
order that this formidable struggle shall be conducted as efficaciously
and with as much spirit as possible, it is essential that the Government
should be left free to act.

At the request of the military authorities, therefore, the Government
will be temporarily transferred to a point in French territory where it
can remain in constant relations with the whole of the country.

The Government requests members of Parliament not to remain too distant
from it, in order that, in conjunction with them and with their
colleagues, they may be able to form a solid core of national unity in
the face of the enemy.

The Government leaves Paris only after having assured, by every means
within its power, the defence of the city and the entrenched camp.

It knows that there is no necessity to recommend the admirable
population of Paris to remain calm, resolute, and self-possessed. Every
day the people show that it is equal to this highest duty.

Frenchmen,

Let us be worthy of these tragic circumstances. We shall win the victory
finally.

We shall win it by untiring will, endurance, and tenacity.

A nation which is determined not to perish, and which recoils neither
before suffering nor sacrifice, is sure to conquer.


       *       *       *       *       *


This proclamation had a good effect on the population.

The wife of my concierge voiced the popular sentiment when she said this
evening: "Ah! Monsieur! We may have some pretty bad _quarts
d'heures_ here, but we have such confidence that all must end well,
that my husband's old mother and our little children will remain in
Paris with us." This remark was made five minutes after a German
air-lieutenant had flown over the roof of the houses in my street, Rue
Theodule-Ribot, and had dropped near the Parc Monceau a bomb that made a
terrific noise, but did no damage.




_Thursday, September 3._


Thirty-second day of the war. Dazzling sunshine, cloudless sky, and
light northeasterly wind. Thermometer at five P.M. 27 degrees
centigrade.

The forward movement of the Germans, the "Paris or Death" rush of the
Kaiser, seems, for a moment at least, to have come to a standstill.
Although precautions had been taken in expectation of a German attack
from the region of Compiegne-Senlis, no contact, says the French
official _communique_, occurred to-day. In the northeast all is
reported quiet.

Disappointed Parisians scanned the sky in vain for their five o'clock
_taube_. A _marchand-de-vin_ on the famous "Butte" of Montmartre
arranged a tribune with numbered seats commanding a splendid view of the
city. Field-glasses were on hand for hire. Orchestra stalls were paid
for at the rate of ten cents a seat. The performance was announced to
begin at half-past five. This worked very well yesterday, when the
evolutions of the two German air-lieutenants, accompanied by pyrotechnic
display, netted a lucrative harvest. To-day, however, the enterprising
theatrical manager was forced by his public to return the money at the
"box office;" this was promptly done, the performance "being postponed."
The postponement was due to the appearance of several French aeroplanes,
which evidently had been sighted by the Germans.

Now that the French Government has gone to Bordeaux and temporarily
transferred the capital to Gascony, the only heads of the diplomatic
corps remaining in Paris are the American Ambassador; the Spanish
Ambassador, the Marquis de Villa Urrutia; the Swiss Minister, M. C.
Lardy; the Danish Minister, M. H.A. Bernhoft; and the Norwegian
Minister, Baron de Wedel Jarlsberg.

That American property may be safeguarded, in the extremely improbable
event of an occupation of the city by the Germans, Ambassador Herrick
requests all American citizens owning or leasing houses or apartments in
the city of Paris or its vicinity to register their names, with
descriptions of their dwellings, at the Embassy. If worse comes to the
worst, notices will be posted on American dwellings, giving them the
protection of the American flag.

Mr. Robert Bacon, former Ambassador to France, is stopping at the Hotel
de Crillon in the Place Vendome. He lunched to-day with Mr. Herrick, and
both express optimistic views of the situation from military,
diplomatic, and financial standpoints.

My servant, Felicien, telephoned me from Aubervillier, some ten
kilometers from Paris, saying that he, together with four men of his
squadron, had become separated from his regiment, the Thirty-second
Dragoons. They had lost their horses in the marshes and woods near
Chantilly during a cavalry engagement and had been instructed to make
their way to Paris and rejoin their regimental depot at Versailles. The
party was in charge of their sergeant, who explained that the regiment
had at first been sent towards Metz, where they took part in the daily
fighting all along the line there, and that suddenly they were entrained
and rushed across country to Peronne, to check the advance of the
Germans in their march upon Paris. This seems to indicate that the
French generals did not fully appreciate until too late the really vital
importance of the concentrated rush upon Paris of the right wing of the
German armies, where all their strength had been assembled. The dragoons
seemed pretty worn out, but were in good spirits and anxious to get back
again in the fighting line. But they must go to Versailles to obtain
their remounts. Sophie made a succulent lunch for them in the kitchen.
They ate beefsteak, potatoes, cabbage, fruit, rice, and cheese, washed
down with half a dozen bottles of light claret.

Every one seems to be trying to get away from Paris. It is a sort of
exodus. I watched my opposite neighbors, Baron and Baroness Pierre de
Bourgoing--the latter better known as Suzanne Reichenberg of the Comedie
Francaise--getting into their motor-car at half-past five this morning,
accompanied by a maid and a pet dog. Baron de Bourgoing was in the
uniform of a captain of territorials. He will go with his wife as far as
the outer fortifications in the direction of Versailles.

The news of the election of Cardinal Jacques della Chiesa as Pope, with
the title Benoit XV, does not arouse as much public interest here as
does the nomination of M. Emile Laurent as Prefect of Police, in place
of M. Hennion who, on account of ill health, retires at his own request.
M. Laurent has for twenty-three years been secretary-general of the
Prefecture of Police. He was born in 1852. He is thoroughly familiar
with every phase of Paris life. He is a man of great energy and of
prompt decision. He is a very kind-hearted man and has done much toward
relieving misery in the capital. The appointment is a very popular one
and gives general satisfaction.

[Photograph: Photo. Henri Manuel, Paris. M. Emile Laurent, appointed
Prefect of Police of Paris, September 3, 1914.]




_Friday, September 4._


Thirty-third day of the war. Hot, sultry day with light northeast wind.
Thunderstorm, with heavy rain in the evening. Temperature at five P.M.
28 degrees centigrade.

Americans still left in Paris were very busy to-day registering their
addresses at the chancellery of the Embassy in the Rue de Chaillot. They
had to have their leases with them. I registered for my little place at
Vernon and also for my apartment in the Rue Theodule-Ribot. Among well
known Americans whom I saw at the chancellery were Messrs. James Gordon
Bennett, De Courcey Forbes, Julius and Robert Stewart, William Morton
Fullerton, Mrs. Duer, formerly Mrs. Clarence Mackay, Dr. Joseph Blake,
and about a hundred others. All sorts of wild rumors about the
approaching Germans were current. One tremulous little lady said that
"when the Germans entered the forest of Compiegne, the French set fire
to the woods, and then shot down the Germans like rabbits as they fled
from the burning thicket!"

I met here Mr. Robert Dunn, war correspondent of the _New York Evening
Post_, who is the only newspaper man I have talked with who really
saw the fighting near La Cateau and Saint Quentin. Mr. Dunn went on a
train with his bicycle last week, provided only with a _laisser-passer_
for Aulnay in the Department of the North. The train was brought to a
stop near Aulnay, and the passengers were informed that German cavalry
occupied the line a couple of kilometers further on. Every one got out.
Mr. Dunn jumped on his bicycle and wheeled off to La Cateau. Here he met
the British retreating in good order. He remained with them as they
retired toward Saint Quentin. He saw them spread out in thin lines and
pick off the German gunners by their splendid marksmanship. Most of the
British were wounded by shells. Very few of them had bullet wounds. At
Saint Quentin a few Highlanders came limping along, thoroughly exhausted
with their five days' continuous fighting. But although pale and hungry,
their jaws were set with determined grit. Their superb pluck impressed
Mr. Dunn immensely. As they were sitting at a cafe, some French soldiers
led away a German spy, with a towel wrapped around his eyes. The man
was executed.

I met a British staff officer at Brentano's bookstore, as he was buying
maps of the environs of Paris. I told him that Lord Kitchener had been
to Paris and had conferred with M. Millerand, the French Minister of
War. The officer said: "I am glad to hear of _that_, because at a
certain phase of the fighting in the north, the _French completely
failed to support us_."

I called upon Mr. William G. Sharp, the newly appointed United States
Ambassador, and upon Mr. Robert Bacon, the former United States
Ambassador. Both are stopping at the Hotel de Crillon. The Paris
newspapers seem highly pleased at this "strong diplomatic
manifestation"--the American Ambassador of yesterday, the American
Ambassador of today, and the American Ambassador of tomorrow
--constituting a delegation from the United States to see that
the rights of universal humanity are respected. Parisians salute the
Star Spangled Banner as it floats over the American Embassy as the
symbol of the "World's Vigilance against Barbarity,"--such are the
words of _La Liberte_. M. Gabriel Hanotaux, writing in the _Figaro_,
attaches equal importance to the attitude of the United States as
interpreted by its three representatives, saying: "Mr. Herrick is very
happily not leaving us. He has followed the whole course of events which
led to this fatal war, watching with a just and noble spirit. He has
kept his Government accurately informed of all, and he will continue at
the head of the Embassy."

The _Matin_ says, "that of all the diplomatists accredited to
France, it was Mr. Herrick who took the gallant initiative to remain in
Paris, and Parisians deeply appreciate this. In making this choice, Mr.
Herrick said that he regarded Paris not only as the capital of France,
but as that 'Metropolis of the World' spoken of by Marcus Aurelius. He
feels that he is the American Ambassador to both these cities. In his
eyes this 'Metropolis of the World' possesses a Government, invisible
doubtless, but perpetually present, and one with which he wishes to
remain in touch. It is at one and the same time to Paris, in its period
of trial, and to the fatherland of the human race, that Mr. Herrick
wishes to give the pledge of his affection. Thus he is remaining as a
link between those of his compatriots who are residing among us and the
citizens of the free Republic across the sea that has more than once
declared itself the sister Republic and which professes as much love for
our 'traditions' as we ourselves esteem the passion for 'progress', of
which it gives the example."




_Saturday, September 5._


Thirty-fourth day of the war. Hazy autumnal morning, clear and hot in
the afternoon, with light northerly breeze. Thermometer at five P.M. 26
degrees centigrade.

Germans appear to have evacuated the Compiegne-Senlis region, and are
apparently moving towards the southeast, thus continuing a movement that
began on Friday. General Cherfils, the military critic of the
_Gaulois_, taking a very optimistic view of the situation, thinks
the movement may be to assure a retreat by some route other than by a
return through Belgium. General Cherfils says: "This rush of the German
right wing upon Paris is the last bluff of terrorism of the last German
Emperor! The Kaiser thought that he could frighten us and induce France
to make peace. After which he would be free to return with his armies
against Russia."

Mr. d'Arcy Morel, the financial correspondent of the _London Daily
Telegraph_, came to see me to-day. He lives at Reuil, in the military
zone northwest of Fort Mount-Valerian. He had been up all night, getting
his belongings to Paris, and had just sent his little daughter to Dieppe
on her way to England. Mr. Morel said that the night trains out of Paris
at the Gare Saint-Lazare were filled to overflowing. No lights were
permitted in the cars, and a dozen soldiers with loaded rifles were
placed in a car just behind the locomotive, and a dozen more soldiers at
the rear end of the train. These trains stop at every station and take
about ten hours to reach Dieppe, instead of four hours as usual.
Precautions of guarding the trains are made because several German
armored motor-cars had been signalled dashing about near Marly and
Pontoise. The gardener of my little place at Vernon, which is on the
western line of the Seine, at a point where it is intersected by a
strategic line between Chartres in the south and Gisors and Beauvais in
the north, seems to be confident that Vernon will not be occupied by the
Germans, for he managed to send me today a big basket full of peaches,
pears, string beans, and green corn.

To-day the first oysters make their appearance! This event, trivial in
itself, is significant as showing that the Paris central markets are
able to supply Parisians not only with necessities but with luxuries.
The mute oyster that comes in with the months having the letter "R" in
their names bears eloquent testimony to uninterrupted communications.

I looked in for a few moments this afternoon at the National Library in
the Rue de Richelieu. No signs of war here! A score of inveterate
bookworms were pondering over dusty volumes, inquisitive writers were
exploring literature bearing upon the war of 1870, seeking precedents
and parallels for coming events; a few ladies were looking up files of
old newspapers and fashion plates. The National Library seemed exactly
as in the most peaceful days.

I lunched to-day at the restaurant Beauge, in the Rue Saint-Marc, a
favorite resort of journalists. The manager told me that it would be
closed that evening. It seems that he had received a "third warning" not
to keep open after half-past nine. As he could never pluck up courage to
eject his customers while enjoying succulent repasts, he decided to shut
up his place altogether. The suggestion made by an Irishman, Mr.
Sullivan of Reuter's Agency, to employ a London "chucker-out" did not at
all appeal to his notions of the traditions of Parisian gastronomic
hospitality.

I met to-day another British officer buying books at Brentano's. He gave
me a picturesque description of the German method of advance. "It is the
scientific development of the wild, fanatic, life-regardless, condensed
rush of the Soudan dervishes," he said. "The Germans mass together all
their big field guns. They close in around them serried infantry, goaded
on by their wonderful, machine-made, non-commissioned officers, who
prick them with sword bayonets, and whenever, from wounds or from sheer
exhaustion, men fall out, they are shoved aside, to die by the roadside,
or to be trampled under foot, like mechanical tools that have become
useless. The German officers and non-commissioned officers are utterly
regardless of life. The German flanks are protected by quantities of
machine guns placed so close together that their gunners jostle one
another. This strange engine of modern warfare creeps on like a monster
of the apocalypse, carrying all before it. Aeroplanes hovering over the
fronts of the columns direct movements by signalling. The dense, serried
mass of infantry offers a splendid target. The losses must have been
frightful--exceeding anything recorded in modern war. The German
infantry are poor marksmen. They don't know how to shoot. Scarcely any
of our men were wounded by bullets. Nearly all the wounds were inflicted
by shells."

The Marquis de Valtierra has been appointed Spanish Ambassador to the
French Republic, in place of the Marquis de Villa Urrutia, who has
resigned. The new Ambassador, who has presented his credentials to
President Poincare at Bordeaux, and who is expected to arrive in Paris
to-morrow, has not followed a diplomatic career. He is a captain-general
--a title corresponding with that of an army corps commander in
France--and until a few days ago was in command of the military region
of Burgos.

News that the representatives of France, Great Britain, and Russia have
signed an agreement in London not to make peace without previous
understanding with the others, meets with popular approval here, and is
taken as further evidence that the allies are determined to fight the
war to a finish.




_Sunday, September 6._


Thirty-fifth day of the war. Ideal September weather, with light
easterly wind. Temperature at five P.M. 24 degrees centigrade. The moon
is now full.

Instead of making a ferocious _attaque brusquee_ on Paris, the four
army corps composing the German right wing are moving southeastward, in
a supreme effort to crush the left flank of the French center, which is
reported to be engaged with the main German forces near Rethel, striving
to cut off and surround the French center, and thus achieve a second,
but far more gigantic, Sedan. In any event, the Germans are certainly
moving away from Paris to the southeast.

Paris assumes a holiday aspect. Thousands of people made excursions to
the suburbs of the city, and particularly to the Bois de Boulogne, to
see something of the preparations for the defence. Boys and girls from
boarding-schools, under care of their teachers, were among those who
watched gangs of men digging wide and deep trenches, while trees that
obstructed the ground in the vicinity were being cut down.

The daily crop of Paris newspapers is becoming beautifully less. The
_Temps_ published its last Paris issue on Friday and has transferred its
headquarters to Bordeaux. M. Georges Clemenceau's _Homme Libre_ has
ceased to appear. So also have the _Gil Blas_ and _Autorite_. The _Daily
Mail_ has migrated to Bordeaux. Most of the newspapers that remain are
published on a single sheet. The veteran _Journal des Debats_ announces
that for one hundred and twenty-five years it has appeared in Paris,
being interrupted only at rare and brief intervals when provisional
governments, resulting from violence, by brute force prevented
publication. _Le Journal des Debats_ will continue to be printed and
published in Paris "so long as it is materially possible to do so." M.
Arthur Meyer, editor and proprietor of _Le Gaulois_, announces that he
will "remain in Paris in 1914 as he did in 1870." He will continue to
edit and publish the _Gaulois_ in Paris, having around him "a small
family of editors and reporters, who replace my own family, now, Alas!
far away!" The _Echo de Paris_ continues to publish each day an edition
of four pages. So also does _Le Figaro_. The _Matin_ and _Liberte_
appear on single sheets.

[Photograph: Photo. by Paul Thompson. Workmen erecting a barricade in
Paris.]

The European edition of the _New York Herald_ appears every day on
its nice white glazed _papier de luxe_, in a four-page edition
Sundays, and on a single sheet on week days. The _Paris Herald_, as
it is familiarly called, is printed half in English and half in French.
The war has not frightened away the venerable "Old Philadelphia Lady,"
who daily continues, as she has done since Christmas eve, 1899, to put
the following question:

TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:--

I am anxious to find out the way to figure the temperature from
Centigrade to Fahrenheit and vice-versa. In other words, I want to know,
whenever I see the temperature designated on Centigrade thermometer, how
to find out what it would be on Fahrenheit's thermometer.

OLD PHILADELPHIA LADY.

Paris, December 24, 1899.




_Monday, September 7_.


Thirty-sixth day of the war. Hot September weather, with brisk east
wind. Temperature at five P.M. 24 degrees centigrade.

The great battle begun Sunday morning continues with slight advantages
obtained by the allies and extends over a front of one hundred and
thirty miles, from Nanteuil le Haudoin, on the allied left, to Verdun.
The allies occupy very strong positions. Their left is supported by
Paris, their right by the fortresses of Verdun, and their center by the
entrenched camps of Mailly, just south of Vitry-le-Francois.

About thirty American and English newspaper men met at lunch to-day at
the restaurant Hubin, Number 22 Rue Brouot. Among those present were
Fullerton, Grundy, MacAlpin, Williams, Knox, Reeves, O'Niel, Sims, and
others. Every one was in fine spirits, the trend of feeling being that
Paris was the most interesting place to be in just now, and that perhaps
the best story of the war may yet be written in Paris.

I drove in a cab with MacAlpin to the Gare du Nord to meet a train of
British wounded that was expected to arrive there. We found the station
almost deserted. A reserve captain of the Forty-sixth Infantry, whose
left forearm had been smashed by a shell, arrived and was very glad to
get some hot soup provided by the railroad ambulance women. Saw a
brigadier-general and his staff going full speed in a motor-car to the
east. Artillery firing was heard this morning to the east of Paris, but
was no longer audible after eleven A.M. While sitting at a cafe opposite
the Gare du Nord, I noticed the huge statues of "Berlin" and "Vienna"
over the front of the building, and wondered if they would remain intact
during the war. Driving to the Gare de l'Est, we saw gangs of workmen
with entrenching tools, going into trains, under the direction of
engineer officers, to dig rifle pits.

The sanitary condition of Paris is excellent. No epidemic of any kind is
reported. There were several cases of scarlatina, but the number is
insignificant.

The board of governors of the American Hospital has turned over its
responsibility to the American Ambulance Committee, which will manage
the Hospital service for the benefit of the French army, at the Lycee
Pasteur, Neuilly. The committee is composed of William S. Dalliba,
honorary chairman, Reverend Doctor S.N. Watson, chairman, Messrs.
Laurence B. Benet, Charles Carroll, F.W. Monahan, and I.V. Twyeffort.

I met in the Rue de la Paix two Irish cavalry soldiers, who had become
detached from their squadron during the operations north of Paris. "The
last place we remember fighting at was _Copenhagen_," said one of
the men. But on being further questioned, it turned out that Copenhagen
was Tipperary dialect for Compiegne.

The _Herald_ has decided to remain in Paris, but its price will be
twenty-five centimes instead of fifteen centimes. The reasons for the
increased price are that advertisements, the main source of revenue for
a newspaper, have almost completely disappeared. The _Herald_ at
present is being run at a loss of thirty-five thousand francs a week. As
the editor points out: "This may be journalism, but it is not business."
The increased price will probably diminish the weekly loss.




_Tuesday, September 8._


Thirty-seventh day of the war. Cloudy weather with rain in the
afternoon. Brisk southeasterly wind. Thermometer at five P.M. 22 degrees
centigrade.

The allied armies are more than holding their own on the vast line
between the Ourcq and Verdun. Meanwhile all precautions are being taken
by the Military Government of Paris for an eventual siege. The Bois de
Boulogne resembles a cattle ranch. The census of the civil population of
the "entrenched camp of Paris," just taken with a view of providing
rations during a possible siege, shows that there are 887,267 families
residing in Paris, representing a total of 2,106,786 individuals of all
ages and both sexes. This is a decrease of thirty percent since the last
census in 1911. The health of the city is excellent. The census sheets
notify inhabitants that gas during a siege must be used exclusively for
lighting purposes and never for cooking or heating. This will cause some
tribulation in the small menages, where the cheap, popular, and handy
gas-stove has replaced the coal or charcoal ovens and ranges.

The ram came on this afternoon at four, while a large crowd of Parisians
stood in the square in front of the church of Saint-Etienne du Mont,
beside the Pantheon, but it failed to disperse the faithful, who were
taking part in the outdoor service of homage to Sainte-Genevieve, the
protectress of Paris, whose remains are buried in this small church of
the Gothic-Renaissance period (1517-1620), one of the most beautiful of
all the sacred edifices of France.

Those who recently hastened away from Paris in search of a place of
refuge, quiet, and safety, have met with many disappointments. The roads
to Tours are blocked with vehicles of every description, many of them
filled with refugees who have turned them into temporary dwellings.
Automobiles are brought to a standstill for lack of benzol. Everything
on the way from Paris to Bordeaux is requisitioned. At Orleans, people
wander about vainly seeking a place in which to sleep. The town is
filled. People buy ham and sausages, which they eat in cafes or in the
streets. At Blois, the citizens offer to lodge refugees and travelers at
the rate of five francs a day. The Blois people are very hospitable and
do not seek to unduly profit by the situation. The Grand Hotel is of
course overflowing, but the prices remain the same as in ordinary times.
At Tours, the inhabitants are less hospitable and more avaricious. One
of the biggest hotels in the town asks fifty francs (ten dollars) for a
simple armchair in which to pass the night. Three special trains
yesterday carried away to Provence the inmates of the insane asylums of
Bicetre and Charenton. It was a weird sight to see these men and women,
utterly unconscious of the war, gazing with nervous uncertainty upon the
strange scenes through which they were conducted to the Orleans Station,
somewhat like helpless flocks of sheep.

Shortly after leaving the large room at Number 31 Boulevard des
Invalides, where the official _communiques_ are now given out to
the French and foreign press, I met a sergeant of an infantry regiment
who had been wounded during the fighting between Coulommier and
Ferte-Gaucher. "At daybreak on Sunday," he said, "we were sent forward
to prevent the German infantry from making their favorite turning
movement on our left wing. Our orders were to hold on to the enemy and
prevent his advance until the allied troops near Meaux had repulsed the
German attack being made in their direction. Early in the afternoon, the
Germans retired from Meaux before the allied divisions. We advanced and
drove them north of Ferte-Gaucher. The fighting lasted all night and
became very severe on Monday morning, but shortly afterwards the Germans
offered but slight resistance. For thirty kilometers we followed up two
German infantry regiments, supported by their cavalry and a section of
artillery. During their retreat, the Germans did not fire a single shot.
We soon succeeded in cutting off a detachment of infantry and in
capturing seven field guns and two machine guns. One of the prisoners,
an infantry sergeant, admitted that his men were short of ammunition,
and that their orders were to use as little of it as possible. It was
during the last combat that I was wounded in the thigh by a Prussian
officer, who cut me with his sword as I was trying to disarm him."

A wounded French infantry lieutenant says that the German troops seem
"fatigued and fagged out." Another officer says that in the trenches
near Coulommier, a dozen German infantry soldiers were found dead,
having been killed by French .75 millimeter shells, and were in the same
attitudes of firing that they had taken at the moment when they had been
"crisped" by death. An Algerian Turco was found dead, grasping his
rifle, the bayonet of which had pierced and killed a German soldier.
Both were corpses, but stood in grim death like a group of statuary.

I received to-day a letter from my gardener at Vernon. He says that the
roads are filled with refugees, who are being sent on to Brittany by way
of Louviers. Motorists along the roads say that they have passed
continuous lines of refugees, sometimes seventy kilometers in length.
The Chateau de Bizy is transformed into a hospital and so also is the
Chateau des Penitents at Vernonnet. Most of the injured have slight
wounds in the arms or legs. Many of them, after five days' treatment,
are able to go back to the front.




_Wednesday, September 9._


Thirty-eighth day of the war. Somewhat cooler weather, with cloudy sky
and with south to southwesterly wind, at times blowing in sharp gusts.
Thermometer at five P.M. 21 degrees centigrade.

The air is still overcharged with uncertainty as to the result of the
great battle along the front of one hundred and twenty miles between the
Ourcq and Verdun. Will the Germans succeed in forcing their tremendous
wedge through the French center near Vitry and separate the allied
armies to the west and around Paris, from the great French armies to the
east and around Verdun?

A German repulse means a German tragedy. But if they succeed in their
bold move on the center, and separate the allied armies, they will gain
a very great strategic success and can then turn their attention to the
investment of a segment of the fortifications of Paris.

Meanwhile the official _communiques_ given out at three P.M. and at
eleven P.M., at the Military Government of Paris, are, to say the least,
hopeful. Every attempt to break through the French lines on the Ourcq
has failed. No change noted on the center and on the allied right.

At two this afternoon I saw a small, low, dusty motor-car come spinning
along the Boulevard des Invalides, containing four soldiers, who had
with them two German flags, captured this morning during the fighting
near the Ourcq. They were bringing their trophies to General Gallieni,
who conferred the Military Medal--the highest French distinction for
valor in action--on the reserve infantry soldier Guillemard, who
captured one of these flags in a hand-to-hand encounter. The flag
belonged to the Thirty-sixth Prussian Infantry Regiment, the Magdeburg
Fusiliers, and had been decorated with the Iron Cross in 1870.

One of the French biplanes that scour the sky daily in search of German
_taubes_ met with sad disaster yesterday while flying over the Bois
de Vincennes. The aeroplane contained a lieutenant and a corporal of the
aviation corps. A violent gust of wind capsized it, and it fell to the
ground, burying the occupants in a heap of debris. When extricated, both
were dead. A few moments after the biplane struck the earth, either its
motor, or the bombs that it had on board, exploded, and four passers-by
were killed by flying fragments. Two of them were ten-year-old lads. A
little girl and several other persons were more or less bruised. It so
happened that I had watched this biplane from the Boulevard de
Courcelles as it soared over Paris at a height of fifteen hundred
meters. It was very steady in its movements and was going in an easterly
direction. This must have been some ten minutes before the catastrophe.

The committee of the National Society of Fine Arts held a meeting today
at the Grand Palais, to render aid to painters, sculptors, and artists
in need of assistance, without regard to nationality, passed resolutions
of indignation at the injury of works of art in France and Belgium
committed by the German armies, and at the destruction of the objects of
art solicited by Germany and entrusted by France to the International
Exhibition at Leipsic, and unanimously voted to strike from the list of
members the names of all artists of German nationality.

The art critic of the _Gil Blas_, M. Louis Vauxelles, whose
scathing criticisms of the "classic" _pompier_ academic school of
painting and of sculpture, and whose intelligent censure of the extreme
"futurist" clique elicit the hearty approval of all true lovers of art,
in the United States, as well as in France, is serving as a simple
soldier in an infantry regiment, but finds time occasionally to write to
the _Intransigeant_ picturesque descriptions of military life.

I received a letter from a friend at Tours, where the refugees are
becoming less numerous, but the hospitals on the contrary are nearly
full of wounded. Comtesse Paul de Pourtales is doing splendid work there
as the head of the Red Cross, and M. Gaston Menier, the popular senator,
a warm personal friend of Mr. Andrew Carnegie and the owner of the great
chocolate works, has turned his Chateau of Chenonceaux into a perfectly
organized hospital with a corps of surgeons and professional nurses,
which he maintains at his own expense. Nearly a hundred French wounded
are already being cared for in the Chenonceaux hospital. As soon as they
get well enough, they are sent back to rejoin their regiments. All the
villas in the neighborhood of Tours are already leased to families that
have gone away from Paris.

In accordance with the notices of the Military Governor of Paris, I was
vaccinated against smallpox to-day, together with all those now living
in the house--in all twelve persons.

Mr. William G. Sharp, who has been appointed to succeed Mr. Myron T.
Herrick as American Ambassador in France, remains here with his son,
George, and is preparing to make himself familiar with the situation, so
that when the proper time comes, he may take over his office. Mr. Sharp
is already making headway with his somewhat theoretical knowledge of
French. He told me that the war had upset many diplomatic and other
precedents. "It is quite obvious," he said, "that at this critical
period, Mr. Herrick could not desert his post, where his knowledge and
experience have been so valuable." Mr. Sharp added: "It is needless to
say that there will be no change of policy with my arrival as Ambassador
to France. The friendship between the United States and France was never
firmer than it is to-day. Personally, I am a fervent admirer of France,
of French art, culture, and science.

"Probably no country in the world is more universally admired for its
high degree of civilization than France. But it is my duty, as the
future representative of the United States, to be absolutely neutral in
everything concerning the present conflict. It cannot be too strongly
stated that the United States Government will not swerve from its
attitude of strict neutrality. The more impartial we remain, the
stronger our position will be, and the better it will be, indeed, for
all the belligerents when the time comes for discussing the conclusion
of peace.

"For I shall not be indiscreet if I give voice to the thought held by
many people that the role of the United States is bound to be a most
important one at that moment.

"President Wilson's recent offer," he said, "was timely, and although
every one knew that it could not then be accepted, yet it had the effect
of setting men's minds thinking.

"What nation could be more fitted than the United States to take the
lead in the peace negotiations?" asked Mr. Sharp. "In our nation are
amalgamated all the races now at war. Our sincerity is undoubted. Our
natural position of impartiality and neutrality is such that America's
voice would be surely listened to at the opportune moment."

Mr. Sharp himself belongs to several peace organizations in America. He
believes that after the present war there will be a complete revulsion
of public opinion throughout the world in favor of peace. Never, he
said, will there have been a riper moment for some scheme of general
disarmament.

Mr. Sharp would like to see the United States a party to an epoch-making
treaty sealing such an international accord. In this respect he believes
that, atrocious as this European conflagration is, good will be the
outcome for all nations, whoever the victors may be, if Europe reaps a
lasting peace.

Mr. Sharp comes to Paris with a general knowledge of international
political affairs, having served as a member in the United States
Congress for three terms, and holding position of ranking member of the
Foreign Affairs Committee at the time of his appointment.




_Thursday, September 10._


Thirty-ninth day of the war. Cloudy weather, with a brisk shower and
some thunder at three this afternoon. Afterwards fine. Southerly wind.
Temperature at five P.M. 22 degrees centigrade.

Favorable news was communicated at eleven o'clock this evening at the
headquarters at the Invalides. After four days of steady fighting, the
allied left wing has crossed the Marne near Charly and driven back the
enemy sixty kilometers, the British taking many prisoners and machine
guns. Near Sezanne, the Prussian Guard Corps has been driven back, north
of the marshes of St. Gond. No change is noted in relative positions on
the allied center and right, where fighting still continues with great
violence.

I went to the official press bureau at three this afternoon and met
there M. Arthur Meyer, the genial and venerable editor of the
_Gaulois_, and about forty French and foreign journalists. M.
Arthur Meyer, as "dean" of our calling, had a pleasant word and smile
for all. Just before the official _communique_, the director of the
Press Bureau, Commandant Klotz, former Minister of Finance, instructed
his assistant to notify all present that "any reproduction of or even
allusion to the interview published in an American morning paper (the
_Paris Herald_) with an American diplomatist would not pass the
censor if handed in at the telegraph or cable offices, and also that its
appearance in any French newspaper was prohibited. The reason for this
is that the interview might cause misunderstanding, and that it merely
reflected the personal opinions of a private individual who in no way
was an accredited representative of the United States."

This "official rebuke" was of course intended for Mr. William G. Sharp,
whose interview was printed in today's _Herald_. According to
European custom, diplomacy is a special calling or profession like those
of the soldier, sailor, lawyer, or physician. Amateur diplomacy has no
place in Europe, and to the French mind, the presence in Paris of an
unaccredited, although designated, ambassador, who expresses his
personal opinions on every subject, while there is a duly accredited
ambassador here, is an anomaly, causing no little annoyance to the
authorities, and tending to hamper and discredit the official
representative of the United States in Paris.

It is whispered that this "diplomatic indiscretion" of Mr. Sharp may
lead to a refusal of the French Government, when the time comes, to
grant his credentials. All the more so, because when Mr. Sharp was first
spoken of as a possible ambassador to Russia, the Russian Foreign Office
notified Washington that Mr. Sharp was not exactly a _persona
grata_, owing to certain public statements attributed to him
concerning the attitude of the Russian Government in regard to passports
to Jews of American and other nationalities. When Mr. Sharp was
nominated as American Ambassador to France, the French Foreign Office
discreetly inquired at St. Petersburg whether the Russian Government had
any objection to Mr. Sharp being accepted in Paris as the United States
Ambassador. The reply from St. Petersburg was that "there were no
objections," consequently the usual intimation was given by the Quai
d'Orsay that Mr. Sharp would be an agreeable person in Paris. The
arrival here of Mr. Sharp, in the midst of the war, and his interview on
the situation, however, has not influenced the French officials at the
Foreign Office in his favor. Mr. Sharp is unquestionably a patriotic,
clear-headed, capable, and highly intelligent representative of our
countrymen, and moreover, he is now obtaining diplomatic experience.

Spain has also had some tribulation with its ambassadors to France. When
President Poincare and the French Cabinet decided to transfer the seat
of government to Bordeaux, the Spanish Ambassador, Marquis de Villa
Urrutia, was about to quit Paris with President Poincare, but the King
of Spain wished his representative to remain in Paris. The marquis,
however, to use an American expression, got "cold feet" and expressed a
wish to go to Bordeaux. When this news reached King Alfonso, it so
happened that Lieutenant-general de los Monteros, Marquis de Valtierra,
Captain-general of Northern Spain at Burgos and San Sebastian, was in
conference with the king. King Alfonso asked the Marquis de Valtierra
where in his opinion would be the proper place in France for the Spanish
Ambassador. "Why," was the quick reply, "Paris, of course." "Well," said
the king, "that is not the opinion of the Marquis de Villa Urrutia, but
it is also my own opinion, and I have now decided to send you to Paris
as my ambassador!" Consequently, the Marquis de Villa Urrutia was
forthwith replaced by the Marquis de Valtierra, who is already duly
installed in the Spanish Embassy in the Boulevard de Courcelles. The new
Spanish Ambassador speaks English perfectly, as well as French, and he
is a personal friend of Ambassador Herrick.

The condition at the outbreak of the war of some of the French
fortresses in the north near the Belgian frontier, as well as around
Rheims and Vitry-le-Francois, for which the French Chamber of Deputies
refused in 1899 to vote appropriations, is being paid for a thousandfold
to-day. In 1885, when experiments made at Malmaison with the
newly-invented torpedo shells, then about to be adopted by the German
artillery, showed that no forts could resist them unless provided with
armor plates and with _beton_ protection for men and ammunition, a
new plan of defence was drawn up. As the cost of the new armor and
protection for the forts was very great, it was decided to
_declasser_ a number of fortresses, among which were Lille, Douai,
Arras, Landrecies, Peronne, Vitry-le-Francois, and others. It had
already been foreseen that the main German attack would some day be made
through Luxemburg and Belgium. The fortresses of Maubeuge, Charlemont
(Givet), Montmedy, and Longwy then became of supreme importance, for the
defence of northern France against an invading army through Belgium. The
Chamber of Deputies persistently refused to vote the necessary money,
and the result of this want of foresight became painfully apparent
during the present war, when the Germans made their broad sweep from
Belgium to Compiegne, meeting on their way with no permanent works of
defence.

The civil and religious wedding of Mr. James Gordon Bennett, proprietor
of the _New York Herald_, with Baroness George de Reuter took place
to-day at the Town Hall of the ninth arrondissement of Paris, and at the
American Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity, in the Avenue de l'Alma.
The witnesses of the bride were the Duc de Camastra and Vicomte de
Breteuil. Those for Mr. Bennett were the American Ambassador, Mr.
Herrick, and Professor Albert Robin, the well-known scientist and member
of the French Academy of Medicine. The bride was the widow of Baron
George de Reuter, and was formerly Miss Potter of Baltimore. The
ceremonies were very simple, the only guests being Mrs. Herrick and the
Vicomtesse de Breteuil. The ceremony in the church was performed by the
Reverend Doctor Watson. Those present afterwards took tea at the
residence of Mrs. Bennett in the Rue de Lubeck. The day before the
wedding Mr. Bennett had been confirmed by the Reverend Doctor Watson in
the faith of the American Episcopal Church. It will be remembered that
Mr. Bennett's father was a Scotch Roman Catholic, while his mother was
an Irish Protestant, a combination that seldom occurs, and which often
induced Mr. Bennett to playfully remark: "I take after both my father
and my mother, for when I find myself surrounded by genial conviviality,
I feel that I am an Irishman, but when amidst grave cares and weighty
business, I am a Scotchman."




_Friday, September 11._


Fortieth day of the war. Overcast sky from dawn to noon, then steady,
heavy rain all the afternoon. Southwest wind, blowing in gusts.
Thermometer at five P.M. 17 degrees centigrade.

The Germans continue to retire north of the Marne towards Soissons. The
British army has captured eleven guns, stores, ammunition, and fifteen
hundred prisoners. The German retreat measures seventy kilometers in
four days. All seems to go well with the allies. The heavy rain is bad
for the German retreat, especially in the swampy ground they must pass
through.

All this cheerful news from the front gives renewed confidence to the
two millions of Parisians remaining at home, who begin to feel that
there is no longer any imminent danger of being besieged.

What might be called a side-issue of the war appeared to-day in the
shape of a new English daily newspaper published in Paris, called the
_Paris Daily Post_. It consists of a small single sheet--the
_Figaro_, and the _Echo de Paris_, are the only papers now
printed on double sheets--and in an editorial note declares that its
policy is to "preach courage and confidence." It is an unpretentious,
lively, amusing little production and may eventually have a brilliant
career.

Many of the wounded now coming in to the hospitals are being treated for
rheumatism contracted in the trenches during days and nights of exposure
to the rain. A man of the East Lancashire Regiment, who had his left arm
smashed by a shell, said that when his detachment were attacked at dawn
in a village near Compiegne, "the terrified women and children rushed
into the streets in their night gowns. Their houses were being smashed
like pie-crust. It made us feel badly to see some of these poor women
and children blown to pieces by the German shells. We tried to put them
in whatever shelter was available."

Professor Pierre Delbet, of the Paris Faculty of Medicine, relates an
extraordinary conversation between a young general commanding a division
of the Prussian Guard Corps and Doctor Delbet's mother, who is a
venerable lady of seventy-seven. Professor Delbet went yesterday to
visit his mother at her country house situated in a village on the Grand
Morin River, in the heart of the region where the fighting took place a
few days ago. Madame Delbet's house is in the center of the village, and
on her grounds a small wooden bridge connects the courtyard and flower
garden with the vegetable garden on the other bank. There are two public
bridges at the ends of the village, but these had been blown up by the
French engineer soldiers. Last Friday morning the Germans arrived and
smashed open the double gate of Madame Delbet's house. A young general,
with an eyeglass fixed to his left eye, approached, while a soldier
stood with a loaded revolver pointed at the old lady's head. The general
remarked with politeness: "Madame, you will let us pass over your
private bridge."

"I have no means of preventing you, but I warn you the bridge is not
very solid."

"Ah! we will see to that."

The general gave orders, and in fifteen minutes the rickety bridge was
braced up with three strong trusses. Then thirty soldiers were put on
the bridge and jumped six times in unison at the word of command. After
this test, the passage of troops began, while the _pontoniers_ were
repairing the two public bridges. The general approached Madame Delbet
and with great courtesy placed two comfortable armchairs in a shady nook
of the courtyard, and by an invitation that seemed to be a command,
requested her to take a seat and see "the little Prussian review that
would surely be interesting." The old lady sat beside the general and
witnessed the _defile_ that lasted seven hours--from 11.30 in the
morning to 6.30 in the evening. The general scrutinized his men through
his monocle. By and by he had his servant make some tea and toast, which
he offered to his "hostess." While sipping tea, the general said:
"Madame, when you become a German, as will surely be the case, you will
be proud to recollect that you witnessed the passage of my troops over
your bridge. I shall have a bronze tablet made and placed over your gate
to commemorate the event."

When Madame Delbet protested, the general burst into a hearty laugh, and
said: "Why, Madame, that is already settled. You cannot defend
yourselves. Oh, yes! you have in mind your friends the English and your
friends the Russians. But your good friends the English can only fight
on the sea; they are of no value on land. As for the Russians, they
don't know what an army is!"

At this moment the cavalry was passing over the bridge three abreast,
and a lancer accidentally knocked over a bison's head that was hung in
the court as a hunting trophy. The general severely reprimanded the
trooper for his carelessness, and ordered the cavalry to cross two
abreast. The conversation continued. Madame Delbet said that she thought
the Russians had made considerable progress since the Japanese war. "Ah,
yes, perhaps, but they have no real army _yet!_"

The general then remarked: "Now about the French. You, yourself, Madame,
must be aware, as you belong to a medical family, that the French are
absolutely degenerate. The French have come to the end of their tether!
I will let you into one of our secrets. This will be our
_ultimatum_, of which I have already read the text. Voila! We have
decided to preserve a selection of the best and healthiest Frenchmen and
marry them to well-chosen North German girls of strong shape and build.
The result of this cross may be useful children. As to the other
Frenchmen who survive the war, we have arranged to export them all to
North and South America!"

"But, General," replied Madame Delbet, "we have had at least _some_
success during the war."

"None whatever, Madame!"

"Why! We have captured some flags, anyway!"

"Where did you see that?"

"In the newspapers."

"The French, English, and American newspapers publish nothing but lies.
In two days we shall be in Paris."

The general then gave a fresh turn to his eyeglass and called Madame
Delbet's attention to the splendid physique, smart appearance, perfect
order, method, and discipline of his troops. Madame Delbet admitted that
this praise was fully justified, for the troops and horses were quite
fresh, their uniforms and equipments were all spick and span, and the
officers even wore fresh, unspotted gloves.

On Sunday the general took his departure. As he came to bid Madame
Delbet good-by, he said: "I am going to Paris, Madame, and if I can be
of any service to you there, kindly let me know." He then mounted his
beautiful bay charger and rode away, followed by his staff. A couple of
officers and a small detachment were left in the village.

Monday morning a German automobile dashed through the village at fourth
speed. A sentry discharged his rifle as a signal. The same troops came
trotting back again over the three bridges. One of them, who had been
particularly attentive to Madame Delbet's maid, passed through the
little courtyard. The maid slyly asked: "Is that the road to Paris?" She
received the reply from her admirer: _"Plus Paris! Plus Paris!"_

Soon afterwards, some French dragoons galloped into the village over the
bridges that the Germans had had no time to destroy. Then came two
battalions of British infantry, at a double, over Madame Delbet's little
garden bridge, and they deployed and opened fire on the retreating
Germans. _"A Paris!"_ and _"Plus Paris!"_ are words that
Madame Delbet says will always ring in her ears, for these phrases
exactly describe the picturesque side glimpse of the war that passed in
her pretty little courtyard, lined with rose-bushes, near her rustic
wooden bridge. Professor Pierre Delbet vouches for the implicit accuracy
of this characteristic conversation between his mother and the young
lieutenant-general of the Prussian Guard Corps.




_Saturday, September 12._


Forty-first day of the war. Rain and drizzle with southwesterly wind.
Thermometer at five P.M. 15 degrees centigrade.

Good news. Six days' steady, hard fighting results in a French victory
all along the line of the Marne. The German retreat is general. It is
astonishing to see how quietly and calmly Parisians receive the welcome
news. They are naturally delighted, but there are no wild outbursts of
enthusiasm. They fully realize that this is merely one of the phases of
the long, hard struggle.

Both General-in-Chief Joffre, and the German General Staff, foresaw that
the great battle of the Marne must be decisive. General Joffre, in his
order of the day of September 6, impressed upon his troops that "upon
the coming battle the salvation of the country would depend," and
admonished his soldiers that "if they should be unable to advance
further, they must hold their ground or be killed on the spot, rather
than retire." When the French cavalry made a sudden dash into
Vitry-le-Francois and entered the house that had been occupied by the
headquarters staff of the Eighth Army Corps, which had been hastily
abandoned a few minutes before, they found, signed by Lieutenant-general
Tulff von Tscheppe und Werdenbach, a general order which ran as follows:

Vitry-le-Francois, September 7, 10.30 A.M.--The goal pursued by our long
and painful marches is reached. The principal French forces have had to
accept battle after withdrawing continually. The great decision is
undoubtedly near at hand. To-morrow, therefore, the total forces of the
German army, as well as all those of our army corps, will have to be
engaged all along the line going from Paris to Verdun. To save the
happiness and honor of Germany, I expect from each officer and soldier,
despite the hard and heroic fighting of the last few days, that he will
accomplish his duty entirely and to his last breath. All depends upon
the result of to-morrow's battle.




_Sunday, September 13._


Forty-second day of the war. Cloudy weather, with strong westerly wind.
Temperature at five P.M. 19 degrees centigrade.

I took one of the four daily trains for Havre, leaving the Gare
Saint-Lazare, for my little country place in Vernon at 9.33 this morning
and met in the same compartment Captain Decker, commander of the U.S.S.
_Tennessee_, and two officers of his ship, which acts as a sort of
ferry-boat for Americans stranded in France, carrying them to England.
The _Tennessee_ will sail from Havre to-morrow for Falmouth. The
United States naval officers were in uniform and were constantly
mistaken for British army officers. The military commanders at the
stations came on board the train to ask if they could be of any service
to them, and they were saluted with enthusiasm whenever they showed
themselves. The train, conforming to the war regulations on all the
railroads, went at the uniform prescribed pace of thirty miles an hour
and stopped at every station, consequently we were four hours, instead
of the usual one hour and ten minutes in getting to Vernon, which is
only fifty miles from Paris. At Acheres, the junction with the northern
lines, two carloads of wounded were hitched to our train. I found
barricades on the outskirts of Vernon and the beautiful bridge, that had
been blown up by the French in 1870 in a vain attempt to prevent the
German occupation, was mined, so that it could be instantly destroyed. I
found my little garden rather neglected, for the man who looks after it
had been "mobilized" and is now lying in a hospital at Bordeaux, getting
over a shrapnel wound in the leg. The place nevertheless was full of
pears, peaches, figs, green corn, American squashes, beans, tomatoes,
and no end of roses, gladioli, tobacco plant, hollyhocks, heliotrope,
dahlias, morning-glories, verbena, and sunflowers.

[Photograph: Photo H. C. Ellis, Paris. "Sauf-Conduit" issued by the
Prefecture of Police to persons wishing to travel.]

I visited the Red Cross Hospital which, under the direction of Madame
Steiner, wife of the mayor of Vernon, is doing splendid work at
Vernonnet. There were two hundred wounded officers and soldiers here;
among them were a dozen Belgians and a score of "Turcos," Algerian
riflemen, who seemed very patient and docile. Some twenty wounded
Germans here receive exactly the same treatment as the French. The
German soldiers were from Prussian-Polish and Saxon regiments. The
officers, five altogether, in a separate ward, were extremely reticent,
and it was only with great difficulty that they could be induced to give
their names and the numbers of their regiments. Happening to speak
German, I acted as interpreter during the inspection by the French
Medical Director. These young officers seemed greatly depressed and
mortified at finding themselves prisoners.

While strolling about Vernon, I met Frederick MacMonnies, the American
sculptor, and his wife, riding on bicycles. They had come from Giverny,
some three miles away, where MacMonnies has his studio, not far from
that of Claude Monet. MacMonnies told me that his studio was now a
hospital with fifty beds, all of which were occupied by French and
Belgians. Mrs. MacMonnies aids the surgeons in tending the wounded.
During the approach of the Germans towards Beauvais, it was thought that
Uhlans would soon appear at Vernon, and orders had been given to
evacuate the hospitals. MacMonnies buried his valuable tapestries and
rare works of French and Italian Renaissance art and prepared for the
worst. Fortunately Vernon, Giverny, Paris, and its delightful
neighborhood seems no longer to be in danger from invaders, and the
people are recovering their peace of mind.




_Monday, September 14._


Forty-third day of the war. Dull morning with slight showers. Sky
overcast all the afternoon. Southwesterly wind blowing strong.
Thermometer at five P.M. 16 degrees centigrade.

Back in Paris again, after a five hours' ride in a second-class
compartment intended for ten, packed with twelve. Most of my
fellow-passengers were refugees returning to Creil, Beaumont-sur-Oise,
and other places north of Paris, now evacuated by the Germans.

Within living memory Paris has rarely seen so dense and vast a throng as
that which assembled on Sunday in the Cathedral of Notre Dame for the
special service of "intercession for the success of French arms," when
Monseigneur Amette, Cardinal of Paris, preached a stirring sermon,
exhorting people to "make extreme sacrifice for their native land."
There must have been eight thousand persons in the cathedral. Not only
were the five naves densely packed, but all the chapels along the side
aisles were crowded with worshippers. An imposing procession was formed,
including many religious bodies, associations of young girls, and all
the Roman Catholic clergy of Paris. This cortege left the cathedral
through the three gates of the great facade and took up its position
between the basilica and the exterior railings. Here a temporary
platform had been erected, from which Monseigneur Amette addressed the
enormous crowd that filled the Rue d'Argonne, the Pont Notre Dame, and
the Place Notre Dame, right up to the Prefecture of Police. After the
Cardinal had pronounced the benediction, the crowd joined with
impressive solemnity in the invocation of Sainte-Genevieve, Saint-Denis,
Joan of Arc, and other saints on behalf of the French armies, and
afterwards dispersed quietly and reverently.




_Tuesday, September 15._


Forty-fourth day of the war. Gray, cloudy day, with occasional glimpses
of sunshine. Brisk southwest wind. Temperature at five P.M. 15 degrees
centigrade.

The Franco-British armies are close on the Germans' heels, but as
everybody in Paris expected, the enemy is inclined to resist along their
new lines. They are throwing up defences on the northwest, from the
forest of l'Aigle to Craonne, and in the center from north of Rheims and
the Camp of Chalons to Vienne-la-Ville on the west fringe of the
Argonne.

The outlook seems so encouraging to the _Herald_ that it has
returned to ante-bellum conditions and reduced its price to fifteen
centimes in France, and twenty-five centimes abroad, and usually appears
in double sheet form.

Another American wedding to-day at the Town Hall of the sixth
arrondissement. The bridegroom was Mr. John R. Clarke of New York, and
the bride was Miss Marion Virginia Goode, also an American. Mr. Clarke
went to the front immediately after the wedding, having volunteered in
the British army for automobile service. He was arrayed in the
regulation khaki uniform, and as he drove to the Mairie in his car just
brought back from the Aisne with a number of bullet-holes in it, he was
greeted with cheers. The bridal party was accompanied by Mr. Charles G.
Loeb, of the American law firm of Valois, Loeb and Company.

The American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly is doing really effective
work. Among the wounded being treated there are French, Belgians, a few
"Turcos," British officers and men, and some wounded German prisoners.
Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, who has been entrusted by the French Red
Cross Association with the charge of the hospital, is indefatigable in
her personal attention and efforts. The organization seems perfect. The
funds so far subscribed exceed five hundred and seventy-four thousand
francs. During a brief visit to the hospital, I noticed that Mrs.
Vanderbilt herself visited the wounded, and with the aid of her
experienced staff of trained nurses, prepared them for surgical
operations. Mrs. Vanderbilt wore the white Red Cross uniform. Half
concealed about her neck was a double string of pearls. Rose-
silk stockings were tipped with neat but serviceable white shoes, and in
this attire she seemed to impersonate the presiding "good angel" of the
hospital.

[Illustration: Photo. H.C. Ellis, Paris. One of the wards in the
American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly.]

Through the courtesy of a friend who was going to Meaux in charge of a
Red Cross automobile to distribute hospital stores to a field hospital
near Plessis-Pacy, I had an opportunity to visit the scene of the recent
battles along the Ourcq Canal, where General von Kluck's army met its
first signal defeat. We came near to the villages of Chambry, Marcilly,
Etrepilly, and Vincy--along the road from Meaux to Soissons--and found
that the trenches dug by the Germans were filled with human corpses in
thick, serried masses. Quicklime and straw had been thrown over them by
the ton. Piles of bodies of men and of horses had been partially
cremated in the most rudimentary fashion. The country seemed to be one
endless charnel-house. The stench of the dead was appalling. Of the
fifty odd houses that form the village of Etrepilly, not one remained
intact. Some of them had been hit by a shell that penetrated through the
roof, falling into the cellar, and by its explosion bringing down from
garret or second story all the furniture in one confused mass of ruin.
But many other houses had been simply sacked and looted. Cupboards,
chests of drawers, and wardrobes were smashed open, and their contents
scattered pell-mell in the streets, courtyards, and fields. Here was the
portrait of an ancestor ripped to shreds by a bayonet; there was a
child's cradle. An old-fashioned grandmother's armchair, with its
cushions and ear-laps, lay smashed in fragments in the gutter. The
village had fortunately been deserted by its inhabitants at the approach
of the Germans, who, furious with rage, had looted, sacked, or wantonly
destroyed whatever they found.

How thirsty the Germans were! The roads and fields and trenches were
strewn with bottles, full or half-empty. The Germans must have been
obliged to retreat suddenly, for heaps of unexploded shells for the
three-inch and five-inch German field-guns were abandoned, and in wicker
baskets were loads of three-inch unexploded shells, apparently about to
be served to the gunners. Wanton, ruthless devastation everywhere! In a
field was a wrecked aeroplane, a white and yellow _taube_, with its
right wing reaching into the air, looking like some gigantic, wounded
bird. Towards sunset, an automobile passed along the road through this
terrible desolate valley of death. In it sat Monseigneur Marbeau, the
venerable Bishop of Meaux--the successor of Bossuet, the famous "Eagle
of Meaux"--who now and then raised his right finger aloft and then
lowered it with the sign of the cross, as he pronounced benedictions on
this vast charnel-house. A great number of German killed and wounded
wearing uniforms of the Eleventh Prussian Infantry Regiment indicated
that this corps had occupied the village of Etrepilly. As there were no
civilian villagers noticed in this part of the country, this seems
presumptive evidence that the Eleventh Prussian Infantry participated in
this looting and wanton devastation.

As we were about to return to Paris, we met a friend of M. Gaston Menier
on his way from the latter's country-house near Villa-Cotterets, where
the memorable _chasses a courre_ take place in the forest, which,
under normal conditions, abounds in deer and stags. The chateau had been
used as the headquarters of a brigade of Bavarian infantry. The house
was intact, but some valuable furniture of the Louis XV period and some
paintings had been destroyed, and the cellar, that had contained over
two thousand bottles of excellent wine, including forty dozen bottles of
champagne of the admirable vintage of 1904, had been "visited," and only
seven bottles remained. The Bavarians, in pursuance of their practice in
1870, carried away all the clocks in the chateau.




_Wednesday, September 16._


Forty-fifth day of the war. Sky heavily overcast. Southwesterly wind.
Thermometer at five P.M. 15 degrees centigrade.

After the victorious contest of the Marne, we are now to have the
gigantic struggle of the Aisne. The battle now engaged, because the
Franco-British pursuit has compelled the German armies all along the
line to reenforce their rear guards and fight, extends some one hundred
and fifty miles in length on one front from Noyon, the heights north of
Vic-sur-Aisne, Soissons, Rheims, to Ville-sur-Tourbe, west of the wooded
ridge of the Argonne. Another "front," where vigorous defence is made by
the German eastern armies, extends from the eastern border of the
Argonne to the Forges forest north of Verdun, some fifty miles long.

Now that the Germans are fighting on the defensive, it is not too soon
to record the fact that their extraordinary raid of a million of
soldiers through Belgium to within twenty miles of Paris has failed.
Nothing in military history approaches this avalanche of armies. The
German invasion of France and the threat to invest and capture Paris is
coming to an end. Yet this war can only be ended by an invasion either
of France or of Germany being driven to a triumphant conclusion. The
theater of war must soon be transferred from France to the east. The
curtain falls upon the German invasion of France, and for the present,
at least, Paris is no longer in danger. I see that a change has come
over the Parisians, and I can read in their calm, confident faces the
brighter phase that the war has assumed. Parisians of every class, from
the _grande dame_ of the Faubourg Saint-Germain to the _midinette_ of
the Rue de la Paix, or the professional beauty of Montmartre, are
subdued and chastened by the sudden change that overtook their bright
and exuberant existence. During this first period of the war, Paris
assumed the aspect of a Scottish Sabbath. Feverish pursuit of pleasure,
earnest hard work, luxury, elegant distinction, thrift, thronged
boulevards, crowded theaters, clamorous music halls, frisky supper
parties, tango teas, overflowing gaiety, sparkling wit, boisterous fun,
and sly humor, have all vanished. The machinery of Parisian life is
working at quarter speed. Streets are nearly deserted, except for
rapidly flitting automobiles, used mostly for military purposes. The Rue
de la Paix is a vacant pathway, where one might play lawn tennis all day
long. Probably three fourths of the Paris shops are still closed. The
underground trains are as yet few and far between. Now and then a
tramway rumbles along the streets, but there is not a solitary omnibus
running in the city. The popularity of the bicycle is regained, for
well-to-do folk whose motor-cars have been requisitioned now make use of
the humble wheel. The quaint, one-horse cab, evoking souvenirs of
Muerger, Paul de Kock, and Guy de Maupassant, with venerable _cocher_,
re-appears. There are some auto-taxicabs about, and their slowly
increasing number indicates that Paris is beginning to shake off the
paralysis imposed by the outbreak of the war. Undisturbed by the
turmoil, the forty "immortal" Academicians are continuing their labors
on the Dictionary of the Academy. They are approaching the end of the
letter "E" and are to-day discussing, with singular actuality, the word
"Exodus." May that mean the German exodus from French soil!

THE END










End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Paris War Days, by Charles Inman Barnard

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