THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. 71 
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. 
21st. 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 gth 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 
