furnished the largest portion of the money. He had some American
ambulance-wagons and the material for a field hospital brought over
and exhibited at the Exposition of 1867, and these were still in
his possession. They were early offered to the American corps, but a
misunderstanding between Dr. Evans and Dr. Sims caused the latter
to go to the field with wagons, etc. furnished by the International
ambulance. So we who formed the American corps at Paris during the
siege had the use of Dr. Evans's wagons and material. The doctor
himself accompanied the empress in her flight; but from England he
sent money whenever he could get it into Paris, and did all in his
power for the ambulance.

Some time before the Prussians had closed in upon us it was ordered
that the useless mouths (_bouches inutiles_) should leave the city. Of
course thousands left. We who remained expected we should have to
go into the ranks. I liked the excitement of the thing, and stayed
through it all. Meanwhile, Dr. John Swinburne, who was formerly, I
believe, a health officer of New York, had been invited to take charge
of the American hospital at Paris. Dr. Evans's tents were pitched in
the Avenue de l'Impératrice, in the place where the dog-show used to
be. This was our headquarters all through the siege, though at last,
as winter came on, the tents were not large or comfortable enough to
hold the wounded, and so we built barracks there. George Kidder, Will
Dreyer and I joined the corps together. My first service was to beg
Bowles Brothers' American flag and hoist it over our tents. Then our
duties consisted for a while in loafing about the grounds, driving
tent pegs, greasing the wagons and drawing up rules for our own
government, for there was no fighting just then. Those were the
bright, sunny days of September. Montretout and Châtillon had been
taken, the Zouaves had disgraced themselves, and we were utterly