event of an occupation of the city by the Germans, Ambassador Herrick
requests all American citizens owning or leasing houses or apartments in
the city of Paris or its vicinity to register their names, with
descriptions of their dwellings, at the Embassy. If worse comes to the
worst, notices will be posted on American dwellings, giving them the
protection of the American flag.

Mr. Robert Bacon, former Ambassador to France, is stopping at the Hotel
de Crillon in the Place Vendome. He lunched to-day with Mr. Herrick, and
both express optimistic views of the situation from military,
diplomatic, and financial standpoints.

My servant, Felicien, telephoned me from Aubervillier, some ten
kilometers from Paris, saying that he, together with four men of his
squadron, had become separated from his regiment, the Thirty-second
Dragoons. They had lost their horses in the marshes and woods near
Chantilly during a cavalry engagement and had been instructed to make
their way to Paris and rejoin their regimental depot at Versailles. The
party was in charge of their sergeant, who explained that the regiment
had at first been sent towards Metz, where they took part in the daily
fighting all along the line there, and that suddenly they were entrained
and rushed across country to Peronne, to check the advance of the
Germans in their march upon Paris. This seems to indicate that the
French generals did not fully appreciate until too late the really vital
importance of the concentrated rush upon Paris of the right wing of the
German armies, where all their strength had been assembled. The dragoons
seemed pretty worn out, but were in good spirits and anxious to get back
again in the fighting line. But they must go to Versailles to obtain
their remounts. Sophie made a succulent lunch for them in the kitchen.
They ate beefsteak, potatoes, cabbage, fruit, rice, and cheese, washed