Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-11-04
SHELLS Of BOOBIES
HOLD NO TERR0RS
People Of Rheims Go About Their
Business. Undisturbed by
Bombardment.
FIRE AL MOST CONTINUOUS
Germans Center Their Aim on
Cathedral, N glecting
French Batteries.

Love laughs At shells H. this city Of
the famed cathedral. which has itself
been battered partly 10 ruins by Ger
man cannonadng.
our ear stopped befor" 81 little post
card and tob eco shop short distance
from tho cathedral just as the Kaiser's
gunn,rs began tuning up for the after
noon b"mbardmcnt Of Rheims. y
pretty, dark-cy"d girl was spooning
quite Openly ana quito noisily with
her soldier lover on It bench in front
Of The store
'WhiI1' bo om"-w.nt Eochc
she'll. followed by loud crash as i,
found it's mark in a residential see
ton "A few hundred yards distant
Smack -''smack'-cainc from the
lovers bench as the crash died away.
'Whizl' "whizz" boom"
"boon''-,he shells wor" coming closer
and ~. began TO feel mighty uncon-
Portable.
Ma cleric" An. ma cherie"
'Sma-aci;" from tn. bench
Even an army chauffeur who had
once braved the danger Of arbitrating
professional baseball games was get
ting nervous as We moved off and
''hN'' Ipi dHOlutI section pi town,
But the pretty little French girl was
stli snusgied up in the arms Of the
handsom" young poilu when we drew
out Of sight.
YOU GET ACCUSTOMED
no B0CHE FIREWORI<s
We told VI. Dramas. editor Of the
daily i.i:claireur de 'Es, that con-
tinu"s To- publish III the shadow of the
cathedral. about tho lovers.
oh, that's nothing" he said After
you've heard them for several months
YOU get used to the Bochc fireworks
why, a few wc.ks ago a she'll blew
out The sid. OF that building over
there wv" doors from US. and one of
my lazy iypcscttcrS wouldn't even 20
10 tn" door 10 soc what had happened"
The German artillery FIRE has plaved
hon With what was once a line little
newspaper plant, The three linotvpe
machines that used TO set column. of
type ahou, the daily doings In Rheims
Tor L'Ecia!reur de Fest and the press
have been wrecked Two German
shciIs shot through the roof Of the
prcssrooin.
Now three LITTLE old men. pcrched on
hish stools and smoking pipes with all
'ne contenimcnt Of fishermen. set type
ny hand several hours each dav with
INC boom; boom" of German shells
in their ears. One was setting III.
afternoon French War Office statcmen,
as we entered. Another was preparing
= ooN SHOWING the number of shells
that had fallen in Rheims in the prc
tedinG twenty-four hours and compar-
ing II with the shell record of the
same day the previous week
Throughout Rheims a visitor cucoun
tcrs the same Indifference to the bonn
bardmcnt. The few thousand civilians
VINO remain go abou; their duties much
as they did before the war. Madam.
serves you luncheon with apologies for
the quality OF the butter. but with a
cherry smile that makes you forge,
German artillery. And YOU get rcs,
France
DESERVE SOMETHING
ron LIVING THERE
They deserve something for living
here III this hell" said "a French officer,
so the government lets them have
plenty Of -four and white bread"
Since April l6. 1917, the Boches have
been hombardinS Hhcims daily with
big naval guns and sending over in
Ccndiary shells. Before they had con-
tented themselves with guns OF smaller
Ca libcr. The great projectiIcs from the
naval guns have worked havoc i'm the
interior OF the famous old cathedral
row only a she'll.
They knew how to build in tho old
days said the carctakcr who showed
us about the interior Of the cathedral
Those two naval shells that broke i'm
the roof up there would have blown
to pieces Any modern church,"
For each she'll that finds it's mark in
Rheims Cathedral the caretaker Inakes
an affidavit attesting the fact that the
struck and stating the dam
age done. These alidavis are TO he
preserved and to become part of the
History Of Rheims after the war. In
other wrecked rathcdrals notably the
one at Ncrdnn. visitors are invited to
pick up bits OF the broken window
glass to carry away as souvenirs Upon
entering the cathedral here you are nut
on your honor TO pick UP nothing. Each
precious piece of glass from the famous
rose window and from every other
window III the cathedral. each chip OF
sculpturing, is hcins carefully pre-
old edficc survives German attack for
the remainder of the war. the cathedral
VIII he restored as nearly as possible to
its original form.
WASTE FEW SHELLS
on FRENCH BATTERIt:S
Ii was singular thing that while
the Bochc sunncrS were Keeping up a
lively bombardmcnt OF Rheims while
we were in the city they were wasting
a single shell against French
batteries outside the town I'm route 10
the first-line trenches we passed French.
guns bclching away at the Teutons, but
getting not Il single she'll i'm rcnIy. Dur
ing several hours of our visit to the
first. second and third lines of French
trenches not Il single shell cxplcdod
within 500 yards of us. Here i'm the
city VIC saw very few French soldiers,
some OF them. apparently permission
aires, exploring the ruins. What the
German object is in ma. nta'nin9 n con-
slant fire on Tho civ oplv tho Roohaa