Background
On 19 July 1870, Emperor Napoleon III of the second Empire declared war against Prussia. From the first days of the war, defeat followed defeat. By January 1871, Paris was under siege, two-thirds of the country was in the power of the Prussians, and they was advancing towards the west of France.
It was snowing. Night and day wagons passed through Laval from east to west. All day long the wounded were being sent down. In the countryside farmers were hiding their possessions - money, corn, wine and linen. An outbreak of typhoid had been declared. Smallpox was spreading. On the 11th of January an Aurora Borealis made a deep impression on many. Some saw in it the masts of a phantom ship; others, on the steeples of the cathedral. By the 17th January, 1871, the Prussians were just across the river from Laval, which is the City next to Mayenne. About half past twelve, there was an earthquake in Pont-Main.
Read more about this topic: Our Lady Of Pontmain
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)