Semi-weekly herald., 1914-10-22
(By VIM. G. sHEPHERD.)

tDy w vi. VI. SdEPHERlD,)
PARIS, Sept. 29.-(By Mail to New
York. "A little man all bundled up
in coats drove up this very street one
December day century ago and
rushing into building in this very
park, tore through the halls, dashed
into certain room and there threw
his arms around the empress of
France. He was Napoleon, back from
Moscow, where the Russians had ali
but shattered him. Two days later
/ he told France the story and France
shuddered at the name of Russia.
But today when | saw this street.
/ France was thrilling with hope at the
thought that somewhere, in the fog
of war, huge Cossacks from Moscow
itself, perhaps, were coming, by land
or by sea, with their wild horses, to
save this street and palace and the
great art galleries and Paris and
France itself from the Germans.
The street was almost deserted. The
great Tuilleries gardens lay in the
golden autumn sunshine as empty and
silent as if they had been farms in
Iowa, after crop time, instead of the
most famous park in the world.
The Louvre are gallery was locked.
l don't know whether its art treas
ures remain there or not. A soldier
at one door told me he didn't know
either. The wonderful pieces of mar
BILE and painting which Napoleon him.
self when master of Europe seized
as he pleased and took off as war
booty to his great and powerful Paris
have been hidden away perhaps ere
now or will be when the sound of
German guns which ] heard booming
to the northwest this afternoon grows
louder.
Here's the great building right here
the great Louvre gallery. Stand and
look at it this September afternoon
and then listen to the cannon, not :
many miles away, and you'll have
thrill you'll never forget. We cross
the river. | want to see Napoleon's
tomb. We pass great railroad sta
tions that are closed; somewhere the
steel lines that run out from them
have been cut by the Germans and the
trains are not running Here we are
at the Invalides, the old soldiers
home. can't go in hs"n;t even
go near the old cannoiA Srophies
which Napoleon brought from the
tattered flags seized in other days
from other armies by armies of
France are still in their glass cases
in the Invalides or have they been
hidden, ignominously also with the
trophies of art?
Come around behind this old In
valides building topped by a dome.
Soldiers stop you. Under that dome
rests great stone sarcophagus.
know it well because I have spent
hours like every other tourist gazing
at it. / know it stands there under
the dome in the center of that stone
circle with magic names of "Auster-
litz" and "Sedan" worked in marble
below it.
Napoleon lies here. remember the
shrine with the marble Christ watch
ing over the dead Emperor's grave
and l remember in all this great build
ing that the word Napoleon" is chis-
elled only once and that in small let-/
ters under the sentence: II desire to
rest on the banks of the Seine, amid
the French people whom loved so
we'll" How well are you resting this
Indian summer afternoon, Napoleon,
with those German cannon sounding
at the gates of Paris?
You may talk to tombs all you
please and get no answer. They have
only to do with the past, anyhow, and
the cannon and German aeroplane
flying overhead reminded me of the
present. "Where are the French air
men?" | asked an officer of the
guard.
Everybody believes they're all
dead" he said. "The Times said the
other day that when the world knows,
at the proper time, the story of our
airmen, it will thrill and weep" As
/ said goodbye to the officer he turn
ed away to continue his job Of guard
ing the tomb OF Napoleon.
The Eiffel tower, 1000 feet high,
loomed before us in the evening dusk.
"The Germans will cut that in two
with their Shells" said the cab driv-
er. "That's the wireless station. What
fall it will be-"
For the past few nights the armies
of Europe have been sleeping and
marching and killing under full aut,
umn moon. There has been surpris-
ingly little rain in Europe and even
London has had only splendid clear
days. So 1t was through a beautiful
J evening that went to my big, lone,