Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 34 December 1886 to May 1887 . ong gallop, in the attemptto carry out Prince Frederick Charlessmaxim of making for the cannon thun-der. A chronic skirmish sputtered onthe confines of Le Bourget, varied by des-perate and once or twice all but successfulefforts on the part of the French to retakethat long unlovely village, which before Ireached the vicinity of Paris they had re-covered once, to be driven out two dayslater by an onslaught so stubbornly i*e-sisted that not many of the heroic defend-ers were left to be driven out. I was nota witness of the scene
Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 34 December 1886 to May 1887 . ong gallop, in the attemptto carry out Prince Frederick Charlessmaxim of making for the cannon thun-der. A chronic skirmish sputtered onthe confines of Le Bourget, varied by des-perate and once or twice all but successfulefforts on the part of the French to retakethat long unlovely village, which before Ireached the vicinity of Paris they had re-covered once, to be driven out two dayslater by an onslaught so stubbornly i*e-sisted that not many of the heroic defend-ers were left to be driven out. I was nota witness of the scene depicted in De Neu-villes famous picture, but when I visitedthe place first with some of the officerswho had taken part in its recapture I sawand heard enough to entitle me to vindi-cate its accuracy. He painted the sceneoutside the church of Le Bourget; I wasinside that church while it yet remainedas the desperate combat left it. Its opendoor creaked dismally in the wind. Asone entered, there lay the bloody rags CHRISTMAS-TIDE WITH THE GERMANS BEFORE PARIS. 2G7. l ROUGHLY BANDAGKD HIS AUM, AND TOOK HIM HACK A LITTLE AVAY/ and gouts that were tlie relics of thewounded. Priestly vestments lay tornand foul; they had been used in thepinch to bind up wounds with, andthe blood on them was scarcely had broken through the roof, andthe floor was strewn with fragments ofceiling. The light from the windows hadbeen softened by pictured screens. Thesewere all unfastened, and swung to and froin the wind. The Virgin had a bullet-hole through her heart; our Lord hadbeen shot right through the head. Onthe altar, its marble dinted here and therewith bullet blows, and with a blood-stain- ed boot on its steps, there lay open thegreat Psalter, with a great splash of bloodacross the page. The book was open atthe 57th Psalm — Miserere mei, Deus,miserere mei. . Clamabo ad Deum altis-simum.* In all the village there wasbut one house that had not been eitherknocked about by the shell fire
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