been
engaged in a series of bloody battles. The bravery of our
soldiers has gained them marked advantages at several
points. But in the north the pressure of the German forces
has compelled us to withdraw.

This retirement imposes a regrettably necessary decision on
the President of the Republic and the Government. To protect
national safety the government officials have to leave Paris
at once.

Under the command of an eminent leader, a French army, full
of bravery and resource, will defend the capital and its
people against the invader. But at the same time war will
be carried on over the rest of the territory.

The small notice was from General Gallieni, the new Governor of Paris.
It had, in its brevity, the beauty of an ancient inscription:

"I have been ordered to defend Paris. I shall obey this
command until the end."

That same Sunday, the thirtieth of August, was the first day the
Taubes came over Paris. By chance I was guarding one of the city's
gates. I saw the airplane coming from a distance. I had not the least
doubt about it for it had the silhouette of a bird of prey that
rendered the German planes so easily recognizable at that time. For
that matter, no one was deceived by it, and from all the batteries,
forts and other positions a violent fusillade greeted it. There was
firing from the streets, windows, courts and roofs. I followed it
through my field glass, and for a moment I thought it had been hit,
for it paused in its flight. But this was an optical illusion.... The
plane simply flew higher, having without doubt heard the sound of the
fusillade and the bullets having perhaps whistled too close to the
pilot's ears. When he was almost over my post, a light white cloud
appeared under its wings and, in the ten ensuing seconds, there
followed a terrible series of sounds, for a bomb had just fallen and
exploded very near at hand. But so entrancing was it to observe the
flight of this pirate who, in spite of everything, continued in his
audacious course, that I gazed at the heavens, trying to determine
whether or not I saw once more the little white cloud, the precursor
of the machine of death.

And everyone who was near me--workmen, passers-by, women,
children--stayed there too, their feet firmly on the ground, their
glances lost in the limitless sky. No one ran away; no one hid; no one
sought refuge behind a door or in a cellar.