s had been completely destroyed by fire. The walls were partly
standing, but the floors and contents of the rooms were completely
buried under the debris of roofs that had fallen in. In a little Post
Office the telegraphic and telephonic instruments had been smashed. Just
opposite is a small building including the office of the Mayor and the
village school. The outside of the building and the outhouses were
littered with the straw on which the Uhlans had slept. In the Mayor's
office the drawers and cupboards had been broken open, and their
contents had been scattered with the remnants of meals on the floor.

But it is a scene in a little village school that will longest remain in
my memory. The low forms, the master's desk, and the blackboard stand
today as they did on July 25, which was no doubt the last day before the
Summer vacation, as it was also the last week before the outbreak of the
war. On the walls the charts remained which reminded these little ones
daily that "Alcohol is the enemy," and had summoned them to follow the
path of kindness, justice, and truth. The windows were smashed, broken
cartridge cases lay about with wings of birds and other refuse. Near the
door I saw chalked up, evidently in German handwriting, "Parti Paris,"
("Left for Paris.")

The invaders had sought to burn the place. There was one pile of partly
burned straw under the school bookcase, the doors of which had been
smashed, while some of the books had been thrown about. They had not
even respected a little museum consisting of a few bottles of metal and
chemical specimens; and when I turned to leave I perceived written
across the blackboard in bold, fine writing, as the lesson of the day,
these words: "A chaque jour suffit sa peine," ("Sufficient unto the day
is the evil thereof.")

One of the villagers gave us the following narrative of the experiences
of the past week:

"It was last Saturday, Sept. 5, that about 15,000 Uhlans arrived in the
village with the intention of marching on Provins on the morrow. They
probably learned during the night that the British and French lay in
force across their road, and perhaps they may now have received orders
to fall back.

"At any rate, early Sunday morning they started to retire, when they met
at the entrance to the village a regiment of chasseurs. This was the
beginning of fighting which lasted all day. Under the pretext that we
had learned of the presence of the French troops and had hel