The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-11-22
THE WALLS OF PARIS.
ERECTED AT GREAT COST, BUT NOT
OF MUCH USE IN WAR.

such Notifications Keep the BesieGers
out, but They Also Keep the Besieged
In to Face Starvation-Paris Ambitious
to Surpass London.
One day the wise men of Paris consult.
ed together and agreed that it would be
well to surround the city with an elabo-
rate system of Notifications. The time
was not far from the year 1870 Perhaps
It was not accurately speaking, council
Of wise men, but only one of the many
plans that constantly evolved from the
brain Of Louis Philippe, who did so much .
to beautify Paris and improve it artistic /
ally and from sanitary standpoint Any .
how the decree was issued that Paris f.
should be a fortified city, and forthwith
thousands Of men and hundreds of carts
were set at work building the huge en-
bankments that now girdle the French
capital
For five years the men dug the team
uers swore at their much abused horses
the earthen wall grew and grew, and one
morning Paris woke up and found itself
city within fortress. In the first place
there was n moat about so feet wide and
as many feet deep, which must be crossed
by an invading enemy. Above it lowered
the steep side of the bank, on the top of
which was a parapet 10 feet wide. The
latter would accommodate the French ar
my in safety, and what splendid situa-
ton it would afford the defenders to ut
terly annihilate the invaders! The forti-
fcation was constructed at varying an
giles in order that the French infantry and
artillery might pour flank fire into the
ranks Of the hostiles whenever any hos
tiles presumed to surround Paris The en-
tire system, completed, cost the French
nation 14O OOO. 600 francs, about S2S, OOO,-
600 in American money. The total length
of the fertilization is 81 miles.
But years passed, and an invader tram
Piled the sacred soil of France" under his
sturdy German feet. The fertilization was
still there, and the residents Of the city
often walked out to it and from its para
pet watched for signs of the Germans 1t
was valuable for reserved seats in which
20 view some of the panorama of the war
simply that and nothing more. The
Germans were not such fools as to walk
up to it and expose their precious bodies
TO French bullets No, indeed; they camp
ed out on the hills surrounding Paris and
amused themselves shooting at the most
prominent steeples in the city with their
long range cannon. Upon some days the
French SOllltrN DltICutN bul VI tue EhNNo
of the avenues intersecting the fortiiica-
tions. They looked grim and determined.
Somehow or other, rs often the French
soldiers sailed forth, so often they strag-
gled home Not all of Them it is true, for
the mute stone arguments in the environs
of Paris bear silent testimony to the braV-
cry with which they fought. The fortif-
cation, however, was still there, and it is
there vet and the citizens of Paris are be
ginning to ask themselves whether 1t Is
worth the money that it cost and the adj
ditonal thousands that it takes to keep it
i'm repair
In this age of the world a walled city
is possessed of two advantages. The first
is that from the wall the defenders can
fight to save their lives and propcrty-the
second is an advantage for the other chap
That wall of defense is also n wall of i'm
prisonment. 1t is palpable to any on,
that it is much easier to keep an ANNA
in a cage than it is 20 hunt the animal il
the woods The gay Partisan and hi'
country relatives gOt behind the wall, ant
all the Germans had to do was to see tina
they kept behind At until they were starv
ed into submission. The officers of tn
German army knew that when the Pari
SLAMS were ready to sally it must be by on
of the main exits from that fertilization
How easy, therefore, to keep eXcellen
-. - - r. .l,,t ro,eo,, 81,
f.n.tG.,ti,,'s aLa,,t p,ris are NO Ionpe
- OVERWHELMINGLY hi, !, military ci
oIas In f,ct tt, dasrendonts of tbe nor
o-t i,,,,rl,a,is ,,a i1rIined "a noLeo II mar
rof a., Of ,,.bot fbair ancestors SACRED
u,,.ar,d 1rha' ,,;,,l,tr oartben emhank
- ma o,.r,, =, VI IN maths and foot
nntTg and - docs nor tate more tina
iaif ~, a,,, 70 see int p,ril recognizes TN
i,.'b,,iIit5, ,f i,,+ro,,chire, bersalf behind
I'll, jitob md I'll Of earth when III
-. hat,,,oa,, breol-fost and dinner chi
on tbabiIIside and fire his little nor
,,,,--,,,,l -, ,,a,o,,,,, oil do,, Ione ot IN
E,IdIn,,,, L,,iIliT',,s and most sacred ed
t.
NJ coo, I,-;., =, I,ooo,,,;, ar,b ;+ious
49,. % D." -, r+ aI,,,o,s heer nnl
~. tn"o a. "7 ai,n,,,',l, i,rt tbot
oI',,,,,oI I,,,' a,,a,,ad parie ia iaolor
new onaLi''i T"s Ip,, ~ +bo iar,,ost cit,
H. r,l,Id co To. as ,,arniation ia concer1
Ts 10, -, - iIa fortiGco+ions we,
,i ~. ,-,,;ai,aI Ii,i+s ,
D. a,.ta,,1aI tl,ra,,,,h tI,, ,,ranv snhurl
1T Ii, ,.,, n ,,ortio,, Of tho cit,
-; ~ -, MI ~, 1or,,a, tbo
- Ia tiarafo.a fror, q Frenc
ata,aylo;,,t r',ssitI, fror, tbot of other
1, s.sa -, I..,. . 40. =,
that nrotact paris or rather are NOT .
that ara meant To nrotect paris Revor
tha ,,,a1l 30 IN, forti fcotions tbera axis+s
circla If forts GEMS in the coronet of hi
sides that crown fine lovely CITY. OF the
forts the most imnortant. so / am told.
that of Mount Vnlerien. 1t was never ia