MINISTER TO FRANCE.                267
could not be sated ; the thirst grew ever stronger
as the draughts were deeper. The danger to
Morris's own person merely quickened his
pulses, and roused his strong, brave nature ; he
liked excitement, and the strain that would
have been too tense for weaker nerves keyed
his own up to a fierce, half-exultant thrilling.
But the woes that befell those who had be-
friended him caused him the keenest grief. It
was almost unbearable to be seated quietly at
dinner, and hear by accident " that a friend
was on his way to the place of execution," and
to have to sit still and wonder which of the
guests dining with him would be the next to go
to the scaffold. The vilest criminals swarmed
in the streets, and amused themselves by tear-
ing the earrings from women's ears, and snatch-
ing away their watches. When the priests
shut up in the carnes, and the prisoners in the
abbaie were murdered, the slaughter went on
all day, and eight hundred men were engaged
in it.
He wrote home that, to give a true picture
of France, he would have to paint it like an
Indian warrior, black and red. The scenes
that passed were literally beyond the imagina-
tion of the American mind. The most hideous
and nameless atrocities were so common as to
be only alluded to incidentally, and to be re-