The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-03-24
The Royal TOOmbs OF France-St. Denis
After BOmbardment.

u
After BOmbardment.
The recent bombardment of st. Denis
imperled the sepulchres of the Kings
of France. The famous cathedral, how
ever, did not suffer very greatly. A
writer in the London Nel0S says that the
republicans, who have painted Liborte,
EgaHte, Fraternite on its portals, have not
allowed their republicanism to render
them negligent of the historical monu-
ments the edifice contains all around
it has been banked up high with sand
bags, which have caught and stopped
several shells The stained glass is in
tact, or all but intact. Only four shells
have penetrated to the interior Of the
building. One of the deliberately carved
crosses on the top of a buttress has been
splintered off, and coping stone has
been shattered this sums up the evil
done to the cathedral by the shells of
the enemy. The splendid carving on
the arches around the great door has
not been harmed in the least, although
there have been some very narrow es-
capes. Several houses in the neighbour
hood have been utterly demolished, and
others fired.
The aspect of the cathedral inside is
very strange the tombs of the kings
have all been protected by sand bags ;
the interior may be called one great
sand bag. The statues have been cov-
cred in with wooden frames, and the
sand bags laid over them. 1t is pleasant
10 be able to state that never statue
has had 50 much rs a nose knocked off
In fact, considering the weight and
duration of the bombardment, the
cathedral may be said to have escaped
wonderfully well. The same cannot be
said of the new church of st. Denis,
which is just behind Fort La Briche.
Its stceple is wrecked, its north side is
stove in, and its interior is chaos Of
mortar, stones, and smashed parapher-
MALTA. The little Protestant chapel, how
ever, has suffered worse than any other
religious editice in the place. One might
almost fancy its pastor trotting dole
fully about, picking up the pieces of his
church from the open spaces in the
vicinity. The pulpit and the door are
intact as for the rest, if you had all
the bits collected, it would be worse
than any Chinese puzzle to put them
together again. The Protestant school
rooms escaped the Commandment, with
the exception of having the windows
broken; but this morning the German
soldiers. hungry after wood, made n raid
upon the desks and forms. Pasteur
Saglier thought it hard, when there was
plenty Of Roman Catholic combustibles
about the place, that Protestants should
I,,, l,.n % h1
cal establishments in the town; so he
paid a visit of remonstrance to General
Zychlinski, who sent his chaplain to ex-
ercise the evil spirits that were trou-
bling the evangelical woodwork.
An average has been calculated which
would give about two shells a house
throughout the town during the bonn
bardment Of five days. With a few
seemingly fortuitous exceptions, the
distribution appears to have been re-
markedly impartial. If ever town
was effectually bombarded without being
burned outright or flattened level with
the ground, ST. Denis is that town. 1t
must have been verify the reign of the
period Of five days. While the shells
were crashing lntO tle houses, tLey were
blowing up the streets as with the deep
est subsoil pillow ever invented. There
was no safety for anybody but in the
cold and dark cellars so heavy were
the projectiles that not always in the
cellars was there found safety. There
are houses of which garrets and cellars
are battered into a shapeless pile OF
stone and mortar. If you ask the lazy
bystanders whether any have been
buried in the ruins, they mutter, Who
knows?" shrug their shoulders, and
turn away. For myself, l think there
must be not few underneath these
jagged Monumental piles but there is
nobody who has interest or energy tC
explore, and "Who knows?" may be
painted up as the vague epitaph.