army men, who have had
experience in war, as their field officers. We don't want to be under a
worthy citizen who has been elected solely because he is popular in his
quarter, or a demagogue who is chosen because he is a fluent speaker,
and has made himself conspicuous by his abuse of Napoleon. This is not
the time for tomfoolery; we want men who will keep a tight hand over us,
and make us into fair soldiers. It may not be quite agreeable at first,
but a corps that shows itself efficient is sure to be chosen when there
is work to be done, and will be doing outpost duty, whilst many of the
others will be kept within the walls as being of no practical use. Just
at present everything is topsy-turvy, but you may be sure that Trochu
and Vinoy, and the other generals will gradually get things into shape,
and will not be long before they find what corps are to be depended on
and what are not."

Crossing the river they made their way out beyond the walls. Even the
light-hearted students were sobered by the sight beyond. Thousands of
men were engaged on the work of demolition. Where but ten days since
stood villas surrounded by gardens and trees, there was now a mere waste
of bricks and mortar stretching down to the Forts of Issy and Vanves.
The trees had all been felled and for the most part cut up and carried
into Paris for firewood. Most of the walls were levelled, and frequent
crashes of masonry showed that these last vestiges of bright and happy
homes would soon disappear. A continuous stream of carts and
foot-passengers came along the road to the gate--the men grim and
bitter, the women crying, and all laden with the most valued of their
little belongings. Numbers of cattle and herds of sheep, attended by
guards, grazed in the fields beyond the forts.

"By Jove, Dampierre," Cuthbert said, "if I hadn't made up my mind to
join a corps before, this scene would decide me. It is pitiful to see
all these poor people, who have no more to do with the war than the
birds in the air, rendered homeless. A good many of the birds have been
rendered homeless too, but fortunately for them it is autumn instead of
spring, and they have neither nests nor nestlings to think of, and can
fly away to the woods on the slopes below Meudon."

"What a fellow you are, Hartington, to be thinking of the birds when
there are tens of thousands of people made miserable."

"I fancy the birds are just as capable of feeling misery as we are,"
Cuthbert sa