Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/250

 They behaved with the wondrous good nature which characterizes a French crowd, laughing over the absurdity of their predicament and waving the tickets, which they would never be able to present, jestingly at one another. In course of time the whole of the jardin privé was full of people, who looked up at the lights streaming from the windows, and sat about on chairs quietly smoking their cigars and enjoying the lovely evening, listening to the occasional boom at the other end of the long alley, where a bright flash which bore death upon its wings appeared in the sky from time to time, in mockery of the gas-light chandeliers and feeble attempts at revelry that were going on above our heads."

The construction of barricades in the interior of Paris was now carried on with great activity, the object of the Commune being to establish a series of redoubts in the principal centres of the city. The most considerable were those in the Place de la Concorde, whose deep embankments, with a wide ditch in advance, were raised at the Rue Royale, Rue Rivoli, and at the gate of the Tuileries, facing the Champs Elysées, and at the corner of the quay. These works were constructed chiefly of bags filled with sand, and the angles and faces were carefully finished, so as to resemble masonry work. The barricade at the corner of the Rue de Rivoli reached almost as high as the terrace of the Tuileries, against which it abutted. It was pierced for five pieces of cannon, and a small passage was left open on one side.

The other open places thus defended were the Place Vendôme, Place Peréire, and Hotel de Ville. Similar works had also been commenced on the Trocadéro. Some of the barricades were made in two sections, one behind the other, so as to leave a passage for vehicles between. Works were also raised across the main thoroughfares which lead to the city gates; that in the direction of the