THE VANDALS INVADE FRANCE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 24, 26 March 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE VANDALS INVADE FRANCE.

On December 111, 400, the Vandals, Hurpindians, and other barbarian hordes poured across the frozen Rhine to invade the country now known as I'raneo, dtit wliich was then the defenceless Roman province of Gaul. The hanks of the broad river—then considered as the dividing line between civilisation and savagery —were dotted, like- those of tlie Roman Til)er, with handsome villas and fertile and welltilled farms. The invading host from the North ruthlessly advanced, leaving nothing behind thorn but wasted lands and smoking ruins. The great city of Montz was thus sacked and burnt, many thousands of Christians being massacred in the church, where they had taken sanctuary. Worm; paid the penalty of its long and obstinate resistance, Strasburg and Rheims, Tournai, Arras, and Amiens felt the cruel oppression of the barbarians' yoke, and nearly all the seventeen provinces of Roman Gaul fed a prey to the Northern horde. Neither age. sex, nnr religion protected the helpless victims of war. Laden with the spoils of their bouses and altars. the senator, the bishop, the maiden trudged among the luckless herd of raptivrs destined .to (slavery, if they escaped a worse fate.

"What do von mean, sir o " asked the indignant maiden as she l extricated herself from her eager lover's arms.

"That you ire mv chance for hanpiness,' - he cried, rapturously, ";>nd T always embrace an opivirtunitv." "Nav," she returned, coldly, "in this case you were but hugging a delusion. '