Paris War Days: Diary of an AmericanBarnard, Charles Inman
History
Paris War Days: Diary of an American
Barnard, Charles Inman
Paris (France) -- History -- 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
Among the American women who have volunteered to serve as nurses in the
hospital now being established in the Lycee Pasteur, in Neuilly, are the
following: Mrs. H. Herman Harjes, Mrs. Frederick H. Allen, Mrs. Laurence
V. Benet, Mrs. Whitney Warren, Mrs. Charles Carroll, Miss Ives, Miss
Edith Deacon, Mrs. Barton French and Miss Treadwell.
_Sunday, August 23_.
Twenty-first day of the war. A hot sultry day, with southerly wind.
Temperature at five P.M. 25 degrees centigrade.
The fourth Sunday of August finds Paris silently awaiting news from the
great battle going on for a distance of one hundred and five miles
extending from Mons to the Luxemburg frontier, and which is expected to
rage for several days. Parisians receive with enthusiasm the news
communicated by M. Iswolski, the Russian Ambassador, announcing that
three of the five army corps which Germany has in East Prussia have been
defeated by the army of General Rennekampf, near Gumbinnen.
I drove to-day with the Duke de Loubat, who is a close friend of
Cardinal Ferrata, now spoken of as foremost favorite among the
_Papabili_ Cardinals. Monseigneur Ferrata enjoys great popularity
not only at Rome but abroad, and is a warm friend of the United States.
He has also a keen sense of humor. Not long ago a distinguished member
of the French parliament lunched with Monseigneur Ferrata and remarked:
"How is it that the Church requires such a long lapse of time before
pronouncing a decree of nullity of marriage?" "Well," replied Cardinal
Ferrata, "before the end of the ten years' delay, it is usually found
that _one of the three_ dies or disappears, and that the petition
consequently is no longer pressed!" A great change is noticeable in the
Paris churches. They have been more crowded since the war than for many
years past. I entered the Madeleine to-day and found, to my surprise, an
unusually large proportion of men among the congregation. Most of them
were reservists called to arms. In other churches the congregations were
almost entirely composed of women and children.
Our Ambassador, Herrick, is a sort of guardian angel for Americans in
Paris. I saw him to-day working with Mr. Robert Woods Bliss, first
secretary of the Embassy. He rose at six in the morning, and except for
a brief repose for breakfast and dinner, is constantly ready to give
advice to Americans or to attend to intricate diplomatic duties that
crop up here at every turn. Our Ambassador also has on his shoulders the
affairs of all the Germans and Austrians who remain in France. Some of
our countrymen are very hard to please. Everything possible is being
done for those who wish to return home, and money, when necessary, is
advanced to them for the purpose. But they strongly object to waiting
in line for their turn, whether at the Embassy, the Consulate, or at the
Transatlantic Company, where, owing to the crowd of applicants, there is
some necessary delay in attending to them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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