The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1918-10-29


unlike their attempts TO imagine Il
for themselves.
II was not so melodramatic as
some OF them would prefer to sup
pose it. Personally. saw no blood
and very Jew tears. And yet Paris
throughout the dark spring days OF
1918 was Il tragic city. Tragic, be-
cause in the midst OF apprehension
it went about its business calmly
is kept smiling. Paris under trial is
superb. 1t is never ilustered and
/ never afraid.
! do not mean to say that individ-
ual dwellers i'll Paris during the dark
days we're never afraid. During the
heavier air-raids there were proba-
bly, many quaking hearts beneath
the lightless mansards. ii so. they
did their quaking privately. Never
once throughout a five months stay
in the city did encounter any pub
lie demonstration OF lear; yet from
time to time | saw the people of
Paris under conditions Of no ordi-
nary danger One instance occurs TO
me. | walked down one Sunday aft
ernoon with a Red Cross friend to
see what damage had been done the
night before by two bombs which
had fallen in the Marais quarter. 1t
is a crowded district and the streets
were thronged with families out ior
stroll in the Sunshine-for some
weeks past rare commodity in
Paris. As we neared the Hotel de
Vile a sharp explosion checked us.
"GrosSe Bertha. the long distance
cannon, had spoken in no uncertain
terms. The she'll must have fallen
within a block or two Of where we
stood. And we knew, the good hol-
iday crowd all about us knew, that
after a longer or shorter interval
Crosse Bertha would speak again,
for she is never content with her
foul-mouthed fury. She is as gar
rulous as she is impotently obscene.
So il would not have been strange
ii the good holiday crowd, men,
women and children. had dispersed
somewhat rapidly for shelter. II
mlght even have been the part OF
mere prudence for them to do so.
hut they ana nothing OF the kind.
Boom said girl near Us. EN-
core. She had not raised her voice
men we all started running. but not
o escape from possible danger. p''
me contrary w were curious. We
wanted TO see where the shell had
iaIien.
\ lar woman, who looked like a
cohclerge OFT duty. charged past
us dragging a breathleSS infant by
the arm. " lens. AuSuste-depe.
che--toi' ar lcl' She was hot Oh
the tralI, And the trail led her. as it
ied e us all, to a bridge over the Seine.
! ne 'hTlI hade1aIlen INTO the river
throwing out great wave of OF wa
Ter Which mad deluged some fifty or
SiN'y people III their Sunday best.
ihey were not happy about it, but
We' the undeluged, were in ecstasies.
W. thought 1t was the funniest
tllng that had ever happened. TOR
daht we called 1t, between gasps.
MeanwhiIe twenty or thirty little
boys who had scrambled down to
the embarkment below the bridge
were Hhrleking with delight. The
explosion had thrown quantity of
small dead ilSh out upon the stones
$50 there really are fish in the
SEINE! 1t took Crosse Bertha to
settle the moot question once for
all ). and the little boys ran about
collecting them into their caps and
hats.
III m said my Red Cross friend.
mot precisely what one would call
panic, Is it
And presently Crosse Bertha
cursed us again, but more distantv,
and we turned our backs on her non
sense and went on to look for the
degatS materiels' caused by those
tar more efficient aeroplane bombs
the night before.
During the air-raids much OF Paris
dives below and remains safely
enough in deep cellars until the
cheerful little bugles go through the
streets sounding the "berloque"-
the all clear But there are always
people in the open throughout the
raids. standing on corners, chatting
together, and gazing up into the un-
revealing sky. One never sees the
"Gothas' even when the search
lights trap them. but one freouentIv