The sun., 1914-08-25
PARIS, CALM, WAITS
FOR NEWS OF BATTLE
Official Information Slight, but
People Make No
Complaint.
AMERICANS SATISFIED
Those Who Remained i'm CAPITAL
Wonder What Became Of
Those who Fled.
AMERICANS SATISFIED
nv WILL =. GUARD.
Ot ne StdG Of me metropolitan Oper,
House

PANS. Aug. 12.-.l.ast Saturday
mailed THE SuN some random notes in
which | tried hastily to give you some
impressions of the life of Paris during
the opening week of the war. where
those letters there were two envelopes
arc is something to wonder over.
They went IN the mail to llavre pre-
sumably to catch the French liner
France. whose sailing had been post
poncd from day to day,
Hundreds Of Americans. believing
they could get home most readily that
way. rushed 20 lIavre Monday. Aug. 3,
leaving all the baggage behind them
excepting what they could carry by
hand. As far as we in Paris know, they
are In Havre still. living on the steam
ships. Those who have first or second
cabin accommodations have nothing to
complain Of. We can only hope that
the nice people who were compelled
10 take stcerage quarters do not lack
consideration. AS for the mail sacks
that went from Paris TO the Havre, II
is just possible that they reached
Southampton and were placed on the
American liner which sailed Aug. D
and should he sighting Sandy Hook as
] write. Meanwhile We wonder what day
our friends to whom We bade bon
voyage" over a week ago as they hustled
of To the Havre trains will get out TO
sea, whether the France and Chicago
Will sail at all and what will become
of them all If the vessels remain in port
indefinitely.
Paris Surprisingly Normal.
Paris is surprisingly normal in aspect
to-day. Yesterday the police au-
thorltirs permitted the cafes to put the
little tables and chairs on the sidewalks
in front OF their establishments. They
may remain there till IN the evening.
The subways which had been stopping
at I.3O l.. NJ. now run TIL = L. NJ The
wives and daughters Of the gatemen
gone to the front have taken their
places, the autobuses have not returned,
but now, We are told, the Government
Viii let us have them back from the
ron ana We shall be less Isolated from
our friends n distant quarters Of the
city. However, very few shops are
open except grocery and provision
shops, which are run by boys, women
and elderly men. one by one the big
hotels are being transformed into
hospitals. Monsieur Alfred Roussel a
splendid type of the phllanthropic
Frenchman who has devoted thirty
years of his life to hospital organiza-
lions and who is an important factor
in the activities of the Red Cross took
me through the Hotel Meurice this
morning and showed me what he had
done with that establishment in the
short space of three days.
Two days more" said he. and IL
will be complete as any hospital need
be-
The hotel had been almost stripped
bare-at least not a bit of carpet or
unnecessary furniture remain. 1t has
been put In sanitary condition from top
10 bottom. one hundred beds, two or
three to a room, are already waiting
sick soldiers with a corp of doctors,
pharmacists, nurses. orderlies and all
the other necessary attendants pre-
pared for action. This IL only an ex-
ample of what is going on all over
Paris. The Government. by the way,
emphasizes the announcement that the
wounded will not be brought to Paris
only the sick.
Paris Calm In Crisis.
tried to describe in my former
ietter the spirit OF calm resolution
with which the French people of every
grade of social life faced the crisis.
To-day it seems calmer than ever.
Rumors come to Paris of excitement
in Berlin during the opening days Of
no Whathar thega a
true or not We in Paris have no
means of knowing, as the only news
we get about the war are the three
daily communications 10 the press of
the Minister OF War. SO far we have
not had the least unusual excitement.
To-day there Is feeling OF anxiety
in the air. Very little news has been
given out for twenty four hours. We
are told that the French troops "are
in coltact with the enemy all along
the line" We know that something
big, something very serious. is going
on or about to go ON, but what II is
is left to the Imagination.
Just what happened in Upper AlsaCe
We don't quite know, nor do We know
all the facts about Liege. We know
many English troops are on the Con-
tiucnt, but where they are or what
they are doing is mystery. Credit
must he given to the Government for
'h" care it is taking in preventing the
spread of news which IL known to the
enemy might upset all the plans Of
t.c French ds was the case in 1870.
You Wi. sec then in what a state OF
ohs'uritN We are living in Paris. Tho
thousands ut Americans here, however,
HlN" puit" recovered from the somi-
panic into which the order of mobili-
"atlon seemed to throw them ten days
1g". Those who couldn't get away
then and who cnNied those who sue
'ecded IN reaching IIavro or Boulogne
or even London twhcre most of them
ar" said to be- still marounrdD are now
'"usralulhtug themselves thar thcv
'r" IN Paris rather than any other hig
''y Of Europe. Heaven knows how
n the Americans hottcd up in Germany
sAd Austria arc farlnc So far all
"rorts 10 communicate with Carlsbad.
for example, have failed. Here AmerI-
cans n treated with tho greatest kind
ness. The hotels and boarding houses
silIl onou don't press them for their
hlls-are willing to take so much on
account and trust them for the balance
Matters have so adjusted themselves
mat Americans with letters of credit or