nevertheless prevails. My concierge, Baptiste, for instance, shakes his
head in a mournful way and says: "Ah! Monsieur, there is already
terrible loss of life. My brother-in-law, who left Luxemburg three weeks
ago to join his reserve regiment in France, is without a cent in the
world, and what will become of his wife and two little children--the
Lord only knows! Their little farmhouse, with all their belongings, has
been burned, and nothing is left."

I breakfasted to-day at the restaurant Champeaux, Place de la Bourse.
Two agents-de-change (official members of the Paris Stock Exchange) took
very gloomy views of the situation. It seems, however, that the French
rentes maintain their quotation of seventy-five francs. Mr. Elmer
Roberts of the Associated Press and Mr. Hart O. Berg sat at our table.
Both thought that the war would be much longer than at first expected
and would depend upon how long Germany could exist, owing to the
impossibility of obtaining food from abroad. "Eight months," said Mr.
Berg.

After lunch I went with Roberts to see the departure of the first
contingent of American volunteers from the Gare Saint-Lazare. These
youths are a tall, stalwart lot, marching with a sort of cowboy swing.
They were not in uniform, but wore flannel shirts, broad-brimmed felt
hats, and khaki trousers. They carried a big American flag surmounted
with a huge bouquet of roses, and alongside this a large French flag.
They were loudly cheered as they were entrained for Rouen, where they
will be drilled into effective shape.

I met Mrs. Edith Wharton, who remains in Paris, and is doing good work
with her _ouvroir_, or sewing-circle, which, with Mrs. Thorne, she
has organized in the Rue Vaneau. This _ouvroir_ is to supply work