THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. 7 1 



It seems that the major part of the bomb-shells which were 

 pitched into this unlucky town were not filled with petroleum 

 as at Thionville, but with bullets, which however well suited 

 to a field of battle, are not intended for streets and houses 

 where the object is not the taking of life, but the destruction 

 of property. It was these which had chipped the fretwork 

 of Strasburgh Cathedral and her stately sculptures, and 

 dotted so many holes in the grand old stained-glass windows 

 of the fourteenth century. Although there was every likeli- 

 hood of the war not being finished for some time, and in the 

 opinion of many, Strasburgh stood a fair chance of being 

 besieged again, the sanguine townspeople were busily 

 mending their cracked roofs and broken houses. The effect 

 of putting bright new tiles into old roofs was very absurd, 

 for it made the town look as if an epidemic of red spots had 

 broken out. 



2 1 St. Shortly after my return, a friend and I ascended 

 the heights of St. Quentin. On this lofty hill, at a short 

 distance from Metz, has been built an almost impregnable 

 fort, for it was obvious that if this hill was once taken, and 

 cannon placed upon it, Metz would be at the mercy of the 

 invader. But the Prussians had no thought of trying to 

 take it. They knew an easier way of getting into the town ; 

 and so far as I could see not a shot had been fired at its 

 walls, though I believe it took part in the affair of St. Privat. 

 It is also stated on the 9th of September to have shelled 

 St. Blain and Ars, and perhaps some of the shells we saw 

 in Chateau Ladonchamps came from hence. In every 

 direction were strewn about, caps, cartridge-cases, straps, 

 cleaning cases, fusees, sand bags, and all those small muni- 

 tions of war which a retreating soldiery leave behind them. 

 The trees were gnawn, and the ground trodden wherever 

 horses had been picketed. Bridles were hanging in some 

 of the boughs ; and here and there a good steed's skeleton 

 was given over to the Carrion Crows and Rooks, whose sable 



