Yet, if some are betraying levity and selfishness, others are filled with a desire to do something for their country. The doctors offer their services in a body, and hospitals for the wounded are being established at various points.
Ladies wearing a brassard on the arm (the Red Cross badge) were almost too numerous; and some of these had more zeal than strength, and failed lamentably when brought face to face with horrible sights.
On the 19th of September some French forces, who occupied the heights of Chatillon, were attacked in force by the Germans, and driven away, and they ran through Paris crying, “We are betrayed!” but the people gloomily replied, “Cowards!”
The next day many of these fugitives were marched along the boulevards, their hands tied behind their backs, and the word Lâche (coward) printed in large letters between their shoulders. Yet still crowds of men in uniform and ladies fashionably dressed crowded the cafés, laughing and full of mirth.
As the bombardment grew, it became the fashion to gather at the Trocadero, and watch the Prussian shells exploding in mid-air.
The village folk who had lived within the lines of investment were brought inside the ramparts, and formed a class of bouches inutiles, though some of the men were employed to cut down trees and build barricades.
The Palace of St. Cloud was burnt down about this time—some said by the French themselves, either by accident or design.
A post by balloon and by carrier-pigeons had been introduced—par ballon monté—by which letters were sent away, but could not be received.
The Balloon Post used during the Siege of Paris