Paris War Days: Diary of an American

This is not a story of the world-wide war. These notes, jotted down at odd moments in a diary, are published with the idea of recording, day by day, the aspect, temper, mood, and humor of Paris, when the entire manhood of France responds with profound spontaneous patriotism to the call of mobilization in defense of national existence. France is herself again. Her capital, during this supreme trial, is a new Paris, the like of which, after the present crisis is over, will probably not be seen again by any one now living.

As a youth in the spring of 1871, I witnessed Paris, partly in ruins, emerging from the scourges of German invasion and of the Commune. As a correspondent of the New York Herald, under the personal direction of my chief, Mr. James Gordon Bennett--for whom I retain a deep-rooted friendship and admiration for his sterling, rugged qualities of a true American and a masterly journalist--it was my good fortune, during fourteen years, to share the joys and charms of Parisian life. I was in Paris during the throes of the Dreyfus affair when, at the call of the late Whitelaw Reid, I began my duties as resident correspondent of the New York Tribune. I saw Paris suffer the winter floods of 1910. Whether in storm or in sunshine, I have always found myself among friends in this vivacious center of humanity, intelligence, art, science, and sentiment, where our countrymen, and above all our countrywomen, realize that they have a second home. With a finger on the pulse, as it were, of Paris, I have sought to register the throbs and feelings of Parisians and Americans during these war days.

I acknowledge deep indebtedness to the European edition of the New York Herald, and to the Continental edition of the Daily Mail, from whose columns useful data and information have been freely drawn.

C. I. B.

Paris, October, 1914.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Myron T. Herrick, American Ambassador in Paris. Frontispiece

Shop of a German merchant in Paris, wrecked by French mobs

Sewing-girls at work in the American Episcopal Church

American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly

Paris workmen hastening to join the colors

Woman replacing man in traffic work

General Victor Constant Michel, Military Governor of Paris until August 27, 1914

The Statue of Strasbourg, after the capture of Altkirch in Alsace by French troops

Americans in Paris besieging the American Express Company's office for funds for their daily bread

French Negro troops from Africa entraining in Paris

Flag of the 132nd German Infantry Regiment, captured at Saint-Blaise by the 1st Battalion of Chasseurs à Pied

Robert Woods Bliss, First Secretary of the United States Embassy in Paris, September, 1914

A party of American volunteers crossing the Place de l'Opéra in Paris on their way to enlist

General Joseph Simon Galliéni, appointed Military Governor and Commander of the Army of Paris, August 26, 1914

Étienne Alexandre Millerand, Minister of War, August 27, 1914

Parisians watching the German air craft that drop bombs on the city

Eiffel Tower's searchlight to reveal bomb-throwing air craft and air scouts of the Germans

Wounded French soldiers returning to Paris with trophies from the battlefields

29th Infantry Reserves, Army of the Defence of Paris

General Joffre, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies in France

M. Émile Laurent, appointed Prefect of Police of Paris, September 3, 1914

Workmen erecting a barricade in Paris

"Sauf-Conduit" issued by the Prefecture of Police to persons wishing to travel

One of the wards in the American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly

PARIS WAR DAYS

Saturday, August 1, 1914