ity, were in many places too weak
for the enormous weight above, and in most places had themselves been
undermined, or perhaps originally stood upon ground which had previously
been hollowed. The aqueduct of Arcueil passed over this treacherous
ground; it had already suffered some shocks, and if the quarries had
continued to be neglected, an accident must sooner or later have
happened to this water-course, which would have cut off its supply from
the fountains of Paris, and have filled the excavations with water.
Repairs were forthwith commenced, and promptly completed, and a portion
of the old quarries was devoted to receive the bones of the dead. This
took place in April, 1786; the remains of the dead were removed at night
in funeral cars, covered with a pall, and followed by priests chanting
the service for the dead. When they reached the catacombs, the bones
were shot down a well, and the rattling and echoing which they made in
their fall were as impressive as any sound ever heard by human ears.
Thus the limestone quarries that had supplied the materials for building
the superb monuments, palaces, and houses of Paris became huge
charnel-houses, which they now remain! Calculations differ as to the
number of bones collected in the catacombs, but it is certain that they
contain the remains of at least _three millions_ of human beings!

[Illustration: RETRIBUTION--A WARNING TO STONE-THROWING BOYS.]

End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Young People, July 13, 1880, by Various

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