The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1871-04-01
The Royal Tombs of Paris-..St. Denis
After BOmbardment.

Inc ROyaI IOmDS OF Parls---St. Denis
After Bombardment.
The recent commandment of st.
Denis imperilled the sepulchres of the
kings of France. The famous cathe
dral, however, did not suffervery great
ly A writer in the London News saws
that the republicans who have painted
Liberte, Egotite, Frdternite on its por-
tails, have not allowed their republican
ism to render them negligent of the
historical monuments the edifce con-
tains; all around it has been banked
up high with sand bags, which have
caught and stopped several shells.
The stained glass is intact, or all but
intact. Only four shells have pene-
trated to the interior Of the building.
One of the deliberately carved crosses
on the top of butress has been splint-
cred off and a 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
escapes. Several houses i'll the neigh
borhood have been utterly demolished.
and others fred.
The aspect of hecathedral inside is
very strange; the tombs of the kings
have all been protected by sand bags :;
the interior may be called one great
bag. The statues have been covered
bags LAID over them II is pleasant to
be able to state that never a statue has
had SO much as nose Knocked Off In
fact, considering the weight and dura-
ton of the bombadmert, the cathedral
may be said to have escaped wonder
| fully well. The sane cannot be said
of the new church ofSt. Denis, which
is just behind Fort La Briche. It's
steeple is wrecked; its north side is
stove in; and its interior is a chaos OF
mortar, stones and smashed parpherna-
liza. The little Protestant chapel, how
ever, has suffered worse than any other
religious editice in the place. One
might almost fancy it's pastor trottine
dolefully 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. Protestant school.
rooms escaped the COMMANDMENT, with
the exception OF having the windows
broken; but this morning the German
soldiers, hungry after wood, made &
raid upon the desks and forms. Past
eur Saglier thought it hard, when there
was plenty of Roman Catholic coniljus
tlbles about the place, Protestanty
should burn the furniture Of the only
evangelical establishment in the town
so he paid visit of remonstrance tC
General ZchlinsEi, who sent his chap
lain to exercise the evil spirits that were
troubling the evangelical woodwork.
An average has been calculated which
would give about two shells a house
throughout the town during the BON
bardment of five days. with few
seemingly fortuituous exceptions, the
distribution appears to have been re
markedly impartial. II ever a tow
was effectually bombarded without be
ing, burned outright or fiattened level
with the ground, ST. Denis is tina
! town. 1t must have been verify TIL,
/ reign of the Prince of the Power o
Darkess, that period of tive days
! While the shells were crushing into tn,
houses, they were ploughing up tn,
streets as with the deepest subsoi
/ plough ever invented There was NJ
safety for anybody bat in the cold anC
dark cellars; so heavy were the pro
lectiles, that not always in the cellars
was there found safety. There ar,
houses of which garrets and cellars ar,
! battered into a shapeless piln Of etn',.
mortar. Ii you ask the lazy bystand
ers whether any have been buried il
the ruins, they moodily mutter '0Whc
knows2" shrug their shoulders, anC
turn away. For myself, I think Their,
must not be a few underneath thes,
! Jagged monumental piles; but there i
nobody who has interest or energy t,
/ explore, and "Whe knows?" may b,
painted up as the vague epitaph.