Afterward Paris was attacked, but as soon as Joan was wounded the attack was dropped. Experienced generals could not make men fight the way this girl could, though she knew nothing of military tactics, and had never led anything but sheep before.
All this time the English were trying to capture Joan, and then prove her to be a sorceress, in order to show that any person crowned through her agency must of course be the wrong man. Hence Henry VI. could be crowned and recognized as the real King of France. They did finally buy her of one of the Duke of Burgundy's vassals; and then began a bogus trial to prove she was a sorceress, since merely putting her to death without proving some evil agency in her work would only make her a martyr. Charles VII., once being King, did not know exactly what to do with Joan, so he took no steps to rescue her from the English, and they spent many weary days in trying to make her say something which could be used to prove she was a sorceress. Failing in this, for she believed too strongly in herself and in her visions to alter her statements, they killed her by burning her alive in the streets of Rouen, in 1431, with the result that she became a martyr at once, and her work for France became the sacred belief of all French people. And in all the sad and fascinating story, the most interesting and wonderful point is the courage, the bravery, and the wonderful brain which a young girl of nineteen or twenty had to sway men and capture cities and crown Kings.
THE LITTLE JOAN.
See "Joan of Arc," Page 1039.
Two important matters were attended to at the meeting of the New York Interscholastic Athletic Association last Tuesday. One was the question which football rules shall govern the contests held under the supervision of the association this fall, and the other was in regard to the formation of a National Interscholastic Amateur Athletic Association.