64 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



round. But it was worse inside. There its split walls, rent 

 roofs, and ruined houses, presented a spectacle never to be 

 forgotten while memory last. Upwards of twenty-five 

 houses were totally destroyed, and one hundred others ren- 

 dered uninhabitable. All this was the work of the sugar- 

 loaf shells,* one of which had pierced the face of the old 

 church clock, stopping its hands at twenty minutes after 

 one. The bombardment had begun on the 20th of Novem- 

 ber at six o'clock in the morning, and continued, with one 

 short interval of rest, for two days. The victors marched 

 in on the 26th, and immediately hastened to extinguish the 

 flames, but two houses were smoking still when we arrived. 

 The ability displayed in managing the assault was very 

 great. Before beginning, the Germans divided their artillery 

 into three batteries, so placed as to be about equidistant. 

 From each of these was hurled, no round shot, but the much 

 more effective shell — oblong and conical — which bursting 

 into fragments jeoparded alike life and property, while at 

 the same time the petroleum inside ignited, quickly kindling 

 all that it might happen to come in contact with. No 

 sooner was a house perceived to be in flames than the guns 

 were compressed into a focus on it, and all the efforts of the 

 artillerymen were directed to spreading the conflagration. 

 This was the mode of warfare, and the gutted town bore 

 awful testimony to its success. We did not see a French 

 soldier; they had been all sent away into Germany. They 

 were chiefly the " Garde Mobile." Very few of them were 

 killed or wounded. Only the poor inhabitants were made 

 to suffer, for the enemy did not fire at the ramparts. This 

 explains why the town did not surrender sooner. In spite 

 of the confusion we got a capital dinner, but the people 

 were atraid to light a fire, dreading lest there might be an 

 unexploded bomb in the chimney. However, I believe it 



** 20,000 were thrown into this devoted town» 



