public boolean removeChildren(final String cname, final Namespace ns) {
    boolean deletedSome = false;

    final ElementFilter filter = new ElementFilter(cname, ns);
    final List<Element> old = content.getView(filter);
    final Iterator<Element> iter = old.iterator();
    while (iter.hasNext()) {
      iter.next();
      iter.remove();
      deletedSome = true;
    }

    return deletedSome;
  }
public boolean removeChildren(final String cname, final Namespace ns)