The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-07-25

ploding in the streets, on the sidewalks,
on bridges and quays, squares and
bOulevards, hurting death and destruc-
ton to the four quarters of the city.
Three little children crossing the Rue
AIalaise were blown to atoms; woman
running for shelter TO the Prince Murat
barracks was disembowellled in the rue
d'Ypres. A convent was struck re-
peatedly: two shells entered a hospital
and tore the helpless wounded TO
shredS. another killed a poor American
student in his room in the rue de Seine.
Faster and faster came the shells:
night added to the horror of the scene;
the darkness was lighted with the
flames Of burning houses. The uproar
of the forts, the scream and hiss of
shells, the deafening explosions of the
cannon blended in a tumult indescrib-
ably frightful. At moments IN the
brief lulls of the uproar. the iron knell-
ing of the tocsin was heard. the fainter
booming of drums calling to arms, the
distant rush OF artillery. galloping pell-
nell TO the bastions.
In the rue Serpente. Hide and Yo-
lette croUched, half dead with terror.
A shell had fallen at the corner of the
street and had torn a cafe to pieces.
Bourke had been away since early
noon. and Yolette's fright and anxiety
for him drove Hide to forget her own
fear.
In that dark, narrow street. with its
rows of ancient houses. women and
children. frantic. shrieking, disheveled
ran hither and thither to escape the
shells. Some shouted, The other side
of the river! Save yourselves" Others
ran back into the tall, crumbling
houses to cover on the worm-eaten
stairs or crawl into the cellars.
I'VE must go TO the cellar" repeated
Hide with white lips. "Yolette, every
body is'going to the cellar"
Il cannot-I Will not stir until he
GENES back" whispered Yolette. Go
TO the cellar if you wish"
Shell after shell, moaning, whistling,
few high overhead The air hummed
with the quaver. the windows Vibrat-
ed. There came a terrific report from
the corner of the street; a house bulged
outward, falling slowly amid the crash
and crackle of wooden beams heap
of plaster choked the street: some
woodwork afire lighted up the mass of
lime and bricks, under which something
writhed --ably-a man, perhaps.
Red Riding Hood knelt clinging to
Hides skirt in an agony of fright. The
child was still in her night gown. and
her little limbs, numb with cold, quiv-
cred.
Somebody on the stairs cried out.
The roof is on fire." Another rushed
screaming to the cellar.
"Comei" murmured Hide" we can
not stay. Yolette-we shall be burned
if we stay-O. come. comet"
Not to the cellari'' cried Yolette
What are you doing-the house will
burn over youi" They were on the
stairs now. Hide dragging the child
by the hand, Yolette following and try
ing TO make herself heard in the din.
Don't go into the street, she cried
again.
I'VE can't stay in the house," painted
Hide desperately.
Go back. Go back!" shouted a
crowd OF soldiers, who came stamped
ing through the street and poured into
the houses. The cellars are safe. Go
TO the cellarsi"
They pushed past the doorway, mo-
tiOning Hide 10 follow. She shrank
against the doorpost. holding tight to
Yolette and Red Riding Hood.
The street outside was rudy with
the glare of burning houses; the shells
streamed high over head toward the
Pantheon now, falling beyond the rue
Serpente, some in the boulevard ST.
Michel, some on the Sorbonne. many on
the Val de Grace and few even in
the river. The nre of the Prussian
guns shifted capriciously: MOVE the
Montparnasse quarter was covered
with pro1ectiles. now the Luxembourg,
now the Latin quarter. But always the /
shells streamed thickest toward the
hospitals, the barracks. the churches. /
palaces and great public buildings.
AS the shells ceased falling in the rue /
Serpente, the people crept from the cell
lars, the soldiers of the. Garde Mobile