72 



REGULAR 'MEETING, MONDAY, MAY 15, 1871. 



Mr. James Kimball in the chair, after the reading of the 

 records and announcement of recent donations to the 

 Historical departments and the Museum, the Secretary, 

 Dr. A. H. Johnson, presented some 



MEMENTOES FROM THE RECENT FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. 



These were collected by the donor in the vicinity of 

 Paris from the battle field of Mt. Avron, from Fort 

 Rosny, and the grounds about St. Cloud. They included 

 pieces of German bombs, a fragment of a gun carriage, 

 and a portion of marble from the ruined Palace of St. 

 Cloud. In his narrative of the circumstances under 

 which these mementoes were obtained, the secretary stated 

 that at the time the German troops made their triumphal 

 entry into Paris, the French expressed their aversion to 

 their conquerors with a childish sulkiness. The faces of 

 the public statues were concealed with black veils. The 

 shops and restaurants accessible to the Germans were 

 closed. Some adventurous dealers who furnished food 

 and drink to Prussian soldiers speedily found their gains 

 cancelled by the demolition of their windows and coun- 

 ters. At night the streets were unlighted, not because 

 there was no gas, but in order that the hated invaders 

 might not see the magnificent city which lay at their 

 mercy. It was an aggravating circumstance that the pale 

 light of the moon revealed in some measure the mag- 

 nificent buildings and Boulevards. By day, many of the 

 Parisians avoided the quarters of the city occupied by 

 the Germans, avoided even looking upon the marching 

 columns of their foe, and shrunk in turn from being 

 seen by them. The stranger from a neutral power en- 

 joyed at this time unusual facilities for visiting localities 

 which had acquired peculiar interest during the recent con- 



