shrapnel could destroy. Shrapnel is futile against the body of the
Cathedral, as is proved by the fact that 3,000 shells have fallen on
or near it in a day and a night. If the Germans used high-explosive,
one might believe that they had some deep religious aim
necessitating the non-existence of the Cathedral. But they do not
use high-explosive here. Shrapnel merely and uselessly torments.

When I first saw the Cathedral I was told that there had been calm
for several days. I know that German agents in neutral countries
constantly deny that the Cathedral is now shelled. When I saw the
Cathedral again the next morning, five shells had just been aimed at
it. I inspected the hole excavated by a 155-mm. shell at the foot of
the eastern extremity, close to the walls. This hole was certainly not
there when I made the circuit of the Cathedral on the previous
evening. It came into existence at 6.40 a.m., and I inspected it at
8.20 a.m., and a newspaper boy offered me that morning's paper on
the very edge of it. A fragment of shell, picked up warm by the
architect in charge of the Cathedral and given to me, is now in my
pocket.



We had a luncheon party at Rheims, in a certain hotel. This hotel
had been closed for a time, but the landlady had taken heart again.
The personnel appeared to consist solely of the landlady and
a relative. Both women were in mourning. They served us
themselves, and the meal was excellent, though one could get
neither soda-water nor cigars. Shells had greeted the city a few
hours earlier, but their effect had been only material; they are
entirely ignored by the steadfast inhabitants, who do their primitive