ignation" has lost
some of its elasticity by this time. It is an action so vivid, so
neat, so concise, that it turns the sympathies of neutrals more than a
thousand "routine" accounts of burnings and killings. _They bombarded
Rheims Cathedral!_ These four words need no elaboration. I myself find
it difficult to keep that neutral equilibrium which is necessary in an
Attache who wishes to observe as much and as correctly as possible.
Whitney Warren, the architect, and several Attaches are to be sent to
Rheims in a day or two to make an investigation.

* * * * *

_Sunday, September 27th._ I examine indigent Germans, Austrians, and
Hungarians every morning, and during the afternoon take special cases
to the police, and write up accounts.

Today Paris had another visit from a German aeroplane which threw the
usual three bombs. One of them fell in the Avenue du Trocadero near
the Embassy. It just missed demolishing the Ambassador and Mr. Frazier
who were in an automobile on their way to inspect the buildings and
grounds of the German Embassy. They had driven over the spot only two
minutes before the bomb struck. I was at the same time on my way to
the Embassy, having met them near the Pont d'Alma. I passed along the
avenue a minute later and had just turned the corner when the bomb
fell, killing an old man and tearing a leg off a little girl. The day
was very cloudy and the aviator was above the clouds; for this reason
no one seems to have discovered him and he must have thrown his bomb
at random.

* * * * *

_Monday, September 28th._ At lunch today in the Cafe Royal I overheard
a Frenchman remark that although he and all his compatriots greatly
esteemed Mr. Herrick, it would nevertheless have been an excellent
service against the enemy had he tactfully allowed himself to be
annihilated by the German bomb which missed him yesterday. Later in
the afternoon I took tea with Mr. Herrick at the _Chancellerie_, and
he was much amused when I recounted to him this example of a somewhat
equivocal good-will.

* * * * *

_Tuesday, September 29th._ The damage to Rheims Cathedral was largely
the result of fire. The Germans had, during the time they held the
city, converted it into a hospital; they had stacked the chairs
against the walls and covered the floor deep with straw upon which to
lay their wounded. During the spring and summer th