“Mouzon,” continued the professor, apostrophizing, “the resort for centuries of the high and mighty of the earth, your ancient streets have witnessed the pageants of popes and kings, cardinals and princes, have echoed with merry shout at carnival time, with solemn chant of cowled monk, with cry of battle and shriek of the dying. They have resounded with the tread of the barbarian, have known plague and famine, and have often been illumined by the ruddy glare of fire. All this, as time passed, has been added to the panorama of which you have been the stage. A city situated in a battlefield, or in a spot that has been a battlefield of Europe, through all the centuries from the time of the Romans to the battle of Sedan.” I can now remember, as we sat there, listening, that the voice of the professor grew dramatic and echoed in the vast interior of the cathedral with a solemn effect. “Mouzon,” continued he, “the historic, the romantic has no mention in guide books, it has no visitors or tourists, because it is out of the traveled route. Even children in the streets gaze with curiosity on the stranger. It has neither gained nor lost in population, as the centuries rolled on and the events of history have thundered over it, even from the time when this magnificent cathedral was commenced, which, though often ruined in the wars, is, as now restored, one of the finest specimens of Norman architecture in the world. “Mouzon was a fortress in 247 B.C., then on the borders of France, and was the scene of many a battle of the Visigoths and other barbarians with the French kings. In 486 A.D. the great King Clovis wrested it from the Visigoths and gave it, and the beautiful surrounding country, which included the historic battlefield of Sedan, into the possession of the good monk, St. Remy, who built and maintained a great abbey here. For centuries thereafter it was controlled by the Catholic Church and became a great ecclesiastical center. Prior to this time the Romans had penetrated throughout this region, bringing their rare civilization, building magnificent roads, fortresses and temples, remains of which exist to-day. “This beautiful province in northern France has been the theater of the most tremendous events in the history of France and the history of Europe. “Ah! Those were terrible centuries, when the good monks lived with the prayer book in one hand and the sword in the other.