At Nantz, five hundred children, of both sexes, the oldest not fourteen, were led out to be shot. Never before was beheld so piteous a sight! The stature of the little ones was so low that the balls passed over their heads, and, shrieking with terror, they burst their bonds, and, rushing to their murderers, they implored for pity and life. But in vain; the sabre finished the dreadful work, and these babes were slaughtered at their feet. At another time, a large body of women, most of them with young children, were carried out into the Loire, and while the unconscious little ones were smiling and caressing their distressed mothers, these mothers were bereft of all clothing, and thrown with their infants into the waves. At another time, three hundred young girls were drowned in one night at Nantz, where, for some months, every night, hundreds of persons were carried forth and thrown into the river, while their shrieks awoke the inhabitants, and froze every heart with terror. In this city, in a single month, either by hunger, the diseases of prison, or violence, fifteen thousand persons perished, and more than double that number during the Reign of Terror. In the prisons not less dreadful sufferings were endured. In these foul and gloomy abodes, the cells were dark, humid, and filthy; the straw, their only beds, became so putrid that the stench was horrible, while enormous rats and every species of vermin preyed on the wretched inmates. In such dens as these were gathered the rank, the beauty, the talents, and the wealth of Paris, and the chief cities of the land. Here, too, degraded turn-keys, attended by fierce dogs, domineered over their victims, while on one side were threats, oaths, obscenity, and insult, and on the other were vain arguments, useless supplications, and bitter tears. Every night the wheels of the rolling car were heard, coming to carry another band of victims to their doom. Then the bars of the windows and wickets of the doors were crowded by anxious listeners, to learn whether their own names were called, or to see their friends led out to death. Those summoned bade a hasty farewell to their friends. The husband left the arms of his frantic wife, the father was torn from his weeping children, the brother and sister, the neighbour and friend, parted and went forth to die, while survivers, picturing the last agonies of those they loved, or waiting their own fate, suffered a living death, till again the roll of the approaching car renewed the universal agony. To such a degree did this protracted torture prey upon the mind, that many became reckless of life, and many longed for death as a relief. In many cases, women died of terror when their cell door was opened, supposing their hour of doom was come.