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Show ' IjL 1- Protecting Father Rhone, One of the Statue Personifying France's Great Rivers, in the Place de la Concorde, Paris. the Sorbonne, the Fontaine de Medicis, the National Library, the Palais de Justice and the Sainte Chapelle are among the many noted buildings and monuments that have been protected pro-tected with especial care. At Versailles stands the greatest palace in the world, built by Louis XIV. In modern times it has becu a museum and art gallery for the pleasure of Frenchmen and visitors from all countries. The pictures and art treasures within its walls aro of inestimable inestima-ble value. This palace presents a great and splendid target. The German aviator or artilleryman would certainly take peculiar joy in wrecking it. Countless thousands of sandbags have therefore been nsed in protecting it How thoroughly this work has been done is indicated indi-cated by the fact that even the fountains iri the vast grounds of Versailles have been defended. de-fended. The courage and cheerfulness of the Parisians Pari-sians under the dangers of bombardment from gun and aeroplane have been Lp i , I r I II ffiir 111 vv 1 1 1 fJfl 1 1 1 W 8 8l. Tremendous Preparations Prepara-tions to Defend the Beautiful Statues, Churches, Picture Gal- How the Great Napoleon's Tomb in the Chapel of the Invalides Used to Appear to Visitors. The First Step in the Protection Pro-tection of the Tomb from German Shells Is Shown in the Picture on the Right. The Next Step Is to Cover the Vooden Scaffolding With Sandbags. splendid. This attitude of the people has done more than . anything else to make the German atrocities ineffective. These atrocities could hardly bo expected to do much material damage except to delicate works of art, but the Germans hoped they would disorganize the industrial life of the city. The Parisians have heroically proved this impossible. i. ..iit i i leries, Paldces and Tombs of the French Capital with Hundreds of Thousands of Sandbags ! 1 j - -:;::'"'''-:"! Tremendous Sandbag Defenses of the Famous Fountains of Versailles, Near Paris. Lirohi remaiKaoie nas neen the courage of the Parisian workgirls who form so conspicuous con-spicuous a part of the population popula-tion of the gay city. In other times they were largely employed em-ployed in dressmaking and the various .luxury trades for which Paris was noted. Now they are doing many kindsof hard and serious work. In the absence of most, of the ablebodied young men at the front they carry on an import-ant import-ant parj of the industrial lifa of thewnation. The "mi dinettes," as these. Preparations to Save a Beautiful Little Group of Children at Play, by the Sculptor Houdon, in the Park of Versailles. - i . ; tiiWTm&ssm . J.;:.,-, ., .; : .v.. - : rT. : r- . - , :-v:-. r .-i- -1 ''? 2LJ'ji' UNDER the menace of the German seventy mile freak gun the Parisians are making tremendous preparations to protect their priceless art treasures from injury. ' Paris would probably be classed by artists as the most splendid city in the world. Venice and Florence rival each other, for the honor of being the world's most beautiful beauti-ful city. It is a sad fact that all these wonderful places are exposed to the destructive destruc-tive rage of the Hun. To protect Paris is a tremendous task. sMs a vast metropolis as well as a city of , ai'VComparcd to it such places as Florence ! and ence are of trifling extent. The palaces, art galleries, monuments, statues, fountains, churches, that stand in urgent need of protection in Paris, arc numbered by the thousands. Many of the towus around this city, suburbs as we should say, such as Versailles and St. Germain, possess treasures hut little less valuable than those of the capital.1 The Parisian monuments have for some mouths been in danger from the huge German Ger-man airplanes of the Gotha type, which, have perpetrated three recent raids. Within a few works the danger has been greatly increased in-creased by the operations of the new German long range gun, which fires its shells from the forest of St. Gobain, about seventy-five miles from Paris, into the city. The shells are of slight explosive force and their damage is mainly confined to the exterior of the buildings and monuments they strike. On Good Friday, however, one of the shells penetrated tie roof of a very ancient and famous church and killed a number of persons among the congregation. Photographs received from Paris give a very interesting view of the arrangements that have been made to protect the city's monuments. monu-ments. A strong wooden scaffolding of timbers tim-bers as much as four" inches thick is built around the object to be protected. There is a PljjjSjrm at the top covering the monument, jsrouncl and above this wooden framework r-ie piled sandbags about two feet in thick- I square, open place in the centre of the city, it probably presents one of the best marks visible from the skies. The raider aiming a bomb in its direction would have a strong expectancy of damaging some object of beauty or importance. im-portance. In tbe great Chapel of the Invalides, nu the left, bank of the River Seine, stands the tomb of Napoleon, the greatest soldier of all History. A German who couici succeed in wrecking the tomb of Napoleon and a church at the same time would surely win eternal fame and honor in his own country. Not wishing to afford any Hun aviator this supreme distinction, the French Government has taken especially great pains to protect Napoleon's Na-poleon's tomb. Sandbags by the thousand have been placed against, the outside of the church and around the tomb within. The great Colonne Vendome, made entirely of cannon captured by Napoleon in his battles, bat-tles, has received adequate protection. This was a great undertaking. The hcautiful angels that adorn the doorways door-ways of Notre Dame Cathedral will be bidden for the rest of the war. Very extensive protective pro-tective work has now been completed at the Cathedrsl. The Palace of the Louvre, the Arc de Tri-omphe, Tri-omphe, the Church of the Madeleine, the Grand Opera House, the Musee de Cluny, the. Palace of the Luxembourg, the buijdings of served. working girls are sometimes called, have not lost their old gayety and lightheadedness under the dangers that threaten them. They joke and chatter chat-ter when a shell or bomb falls near them, even when death or injury may be caused by the missile. Their cheerfulness does not prevent pre-vent them from giving prompt aid to tha injured. A whistle blown by the military authorities authori-ties gives warning of a coming attack of any kind. The approach of the long-distanco shell can be detected several seconds in advance ad-vance by means of delicate scientific-instruments. A different kind of warning is given for shell and airplane attacks. There is a regular system of drill Irj schools, workshops and factories on the signal sig-nal of at lack. All persons are expected to lake cover, although many are unwilling to do so. If possible they are advised to take refuge in cellars. According to last reports the airplane at-tacks at-tacks were much more dangerous than the shelling. The shell is not able to penetrate more than two floors of an ordinary house. Hence persons on the lower floor of a solid building are quite safe. Some airplane bombs, as is well known, have force enough to demolish an entire building. The1 conduct of the Parisians has proved that those who take life cheerfully can meet its worst terrors with the greatest courage. ness.. Thousands of them are used in the case of some large monuments. Sandbags have proved very efficient in giving protection against fragments of shells and bombs, and it is understood that, they will stop a shell. from the long-range gun. An iron framework will be used instead of the wooden scaffolding in some places. Enormous labor has been expended in protecting pro-tecting objects in and around the Place de la Concorde. This has been famous for over a century as the finest open space in any European Euro-pean city. The statues in the Place de la Concorde Con-corde are vei'.v beautiful and around it stand some of the finest public buildings in the city. On one side is a row of splendid ancient pal aces that now do duty as public ministries. Just across the river from this centre is uic Chamber of Deputies. The. decorations within the Place de la Concorde Con-corde include the famous statues personifying the chief French cities, among them those of Strasburg and Melz, ravished from France by the Germans in 1870. These have now been amply protected by sandbags. In the centre of the Place de la Concorde is a beautiful fountain containing figures symbolical sym-bolical of French rivers, such as the Rhone, Seine. Loire and Garonne. They have also received a defensive covering. A raiding German aviator would be likely to aim at the Place de la Concorde. A large. Copyright. 1918. br the Star Company. Great Britain nights Re |