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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16945-8.txt b/16945-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..af06f3f --- /dev/null +++ b/16945-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2054 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The White Road to Verdun, by Kathleen Burke + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The White Road to Verdun + + +Author: Kathleen Burke + + + +Release Date: October 25, 2005 [eBook #16945] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHITE ROAD TO VERDUN*** + + +E-text prepared by Irma Spehar, Emmy, and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 16945-h.htm or 16945-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/4/16945/16945-h/16945-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/4/16945/16945-h.zip) + + Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive: + Canadian Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/whiteroadverdun00burkuoft + + + + + +THE WHITE ROAD TO VERDUN + +by + +KATHLEEN BURKE + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Frontispiece.] + + + + +Hodder and Stoughton +London New York Toronto +Printed in Great Britain by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and +Aylesbury + +MCMXVI + + + + +TO + +DR. C.O. MAILLOUX + +(NEW YORK) + +MR. AND MRS. L.B. FRANKLIN + +AND + +JEANNETTE FRANKLIN + +AND TO MY + +MOTHER + +WHO BY THEIR AFFECTION AND PRACTICAL + +SYMPATHY HELPED ME IN ALL THE + +WORK I HAVE UNDERTAKEN. + + + + 10th August, 1916. + +We left Paris determined to undertake the journey to the front in the +true spirit of the French _poilu_, and, no matter what happened, "_de ne +pas s'en faire_." + +This famous "motto" of the French Army is probably derived from one of +two slang sentences: "De ne pas se faire des cheveux" ("To keep one's +hair on"), or "De ne pas se faire de la bile" (or, in other words, not +to upset one's digestion by unnecessary worrying). The phrase is typical +of the mentality of the _poilu_, who accepts anything and everything +that may happen, whether it be merely slight physical discomfort or +intense suffering, as part of the willing sacrifice which he made on the +day that, leaving his homestead and his daily occupation, he took up +arms "offering his body as a shield to defend the Heart of France." + +Everything might be worse than it is, says the _poilu_, and so he has +composed a litany. Every regiment has a different version, but always +with the same fundamental basis: + +"Of two things one is certain: either you're mobilised or you're not +mobilised. If you're not mobilised, there is no need to worry; if you +are mobilised, of two things one is certain: either you're behind the +lines or you're on the front. If you're behind the lines, there is no +need to worry; if you're on the front, of two things one is certain: +either you're resting in a safe place or you're exposed to danger. If +you're resting in a safe place, there is no need to worry; if you're +exposed to danger, of two things one is certain: either you're wounded +or you're not wounded. If you're not wounded, there is no need to worry; +if you are wounded, of two things one is certain: either you're wounded +seriously or you're wounded slightly. If you're wounded slightly, there +is no need to worry; if you're wounded seriously, of two things one is +certain: either you recover or you die. If you recover, there is no need +to worry; if you die, you can't worry." + +When once past the "Wall of China," as the French authorities call the +difficult approaches of the war zone, Meaux was the first town of +importance at which we stopped. + +We had an opportunity to sample the army bread, as the driver of a +passing bread-wagon flung a large round loaf into our motor. + +According to all accounts received from the French soldiers who are in +the prison-camps of Germany, one of the greatest hardships is the lack +of white bread, and they have employed various subterfuges in the +endeavour to let their relatives know that they wish to have bread sent +to them. Some of the Bretons writing home nicknamed bread "Monsieur +Barras," and when there was a very great shortage they would write to +their families: "Ce pauvre Monsieur Barras ne se porte pas très bien à +présent." Finally, the Germans discovered the real significance of M. +Barras, and they added to one of the letters: "Si M. Barras ne se porte +pas très bien à présent, c'est bien la faute de vos amis les Anglais" +("If M. Barras is not very fit, it is the fault of your friends the +English"), and from then all the letters referring to M. Barras were +strictly suppressed. + +While the German Press may not be above admitting a shortage of food in +Germany, it seriously annoys the Army that the French prisoners or the +French in the invaded regions should hear of it. I heard one story of +the wife of a French officer in Lille who was obliged to offer unwilling +hospitality to a German captain, who, in a somewhat clumsy endeavour to +be amiable, offered to try to get news of her husband and to convey it +to her. Appreciating the seeming friendliness of the captain, she +confided to him that she had means of communicating with her husband who +was on the French front. The captain informed against her, and the next +day she was sent for by the Kommandantur, who imposed a fine of 50 frs. +upon her for having received a letter from the enemy lines. Taking a +100-fr. note from her bag, she placed it on the desk, saying, "M. le +Kommandantur, here is the 50 frs. fine, and also another 50 frs. which I +am glad to subscribe for the starving women and children in Berlin." + +"No one starves in Berlin," replied the Kommandantur. + +"Oh, yes, they do," replied Madame X. "I know, because the captain who +so kindly informed you that I had received a letter from my husband +showed me a letter the other day from his wife, in which she spoke of +the sad condition of the women and children of Germany, who, whilst not +starving, were far from happy." Thus she not only had the pleasure of +seriously annoying the Kommandantur, but also a chance to get even with +the captain who had informed against her, and who is no longer in soft +quarters in Lille, but paying the penalty of his indiscretion by a +sojourn on the Yser. + +The bridge at Meaux, destroyed in the course of the German retreat, has +not yet been entirely repaired. Beneath it rushes the Marne, and the +river sings in triumph, as it passes, that it is carrying away the soil +that has been desecrated by the steps of the invader and that day by day +it is washing clean the land of France. + +In the fields where the corn is standing, the tiny crosses marking the +last resting-places of the men are entirely hidden; but where the grain +has been gathered, the graves stand out distinctly, marked not only by a +cross, but also by the tall bunches of corn which have been left growing +on these small patches of holy ground. It has always been said that +France has two harvests each year. Certainly in the fields of the Marne +there is not only the harvest of bread--there is also springing up the +harvest of security and peace. + +The peasants as they point out the graves always add: "We of the people +know that those men sacrificed their lives that our children might live. +Those who have died in vain for an unjust cause may well envy the men of +France who have poured out their blood for the benefit of humanity." + +Looking on the crosses on the battlefield of the Marne, I realised to +the fullest extent the sacrifices, borne with such bravery, of the women +of France. I thought of the picture I had seen in Paris of a group of +mothers standing at the foot of Calvary, looking out over the fields of +small black crosses, lifting their hands to Heaven, with the words--"We +also, God, have given our sons for the peace of the world." + +At Montmirail the real activity of the war zone first became apparent. +We drew the car to the side of the road and waited whilst a long +procession of empty munition-wagons passed on the way back from the +munition-parks near the fighting-line. There was a smile on the face of +every one of the drivers. Each of them had the satisfaction of knowing +that there was no chance of his returning with an empty wagon, as there +is no lack of provisions to feed the hungriest of the "75's" or any of +her larger sisters. + +The fact that it is known that there is an ample supply of munitions +plays an important part in the "moral" of the troops. The average +_poilu_ has no sympathy with the man who grumbles at the number of hours +he may have to work. We heard the tale of a munition-worker who was +complaining in a café at having to work so hard. A _poilu_ who was _en +permission_ and who was sitting at the next table, turned to him, +saying, "You have no right to grumble: you receive 10 to 12 francs a day +for making shells, and we poor devils get 5 sous a day for stopping +them!" + +We lunched in the small but hospitable village of Sézanne, in company +with a most charming invalided officer who informed us that he was the +principal in that district of the S.D.R.D.R. (Service de Recherche des +Rattiers) (the Principal Recruiting Officer for Rat-catchers). In other +words, he is spending his time endeavouring to persuade suitable +"bow-wows" to enlist in the service of their country. Likely dogs are +trained until they do not bark, and become entirely accustomed to the +sound of firing; they are then pronounced "Aptes à faire campagne," or +"Fit for service," receive their _livret militaire_, or +certificates--for not every chance dog is allowed in the trenches--and +are dispatched to the trenches on a rat-hunting campaign. + +From Sézanne we proceeded direct to the new camp for German prisoners at +Cannantre. The prisoners were mostly men who had been taken in the +recent fighting on the Somme or round Verdun. The camp was already +excellently installed, and the prisoners were busy in groups gardening, +making bread, or sitting before great heaps of potatoes, preparing them +for the evening meal. The German sense of order was everywhere in +evidence. In the long barracks where the men slept the beds were tidy, +and above each bed was a small shelf, each shelf arranged in exactly +the same order, the principal ornaments being a mug, fork, and spoon; +and just as each bed resembled each other bed, so the fork and spoon +were placed in their respective mugs at exactly the same angle. There +were small partitioned apartments for the noncommissioned officers. The +French Commander of the camp told us that the German love of holding +some form of office was everywhere apparent. The French made no attempt +to command the prisoners themselves, but always chose men from amongst +the prisoners who were placed in authority over their comrades. The +prisoners rejoiced exceedingly and promptly increased in self-importance +and, alas! decreased in manners, if they were given the smallest +position which raised them above the level of the rest of the men. + +In the barrack where they were cutting up bread for the prisoners, we +asked the men if they deeply regretted their captivity. They replied +unanimously that they were "rather glad to be well fed," which seemed an +answer in itself. They did not, however, appreciate the white bread and +stated that they preferred their own black bread. The French officers +commanding the camp treat the prisoners as naughty children who must be +"kept in the corner" and punished for their own good. In all my travels +through France I have never seen any bitterness shown towards the +prisoners. I remember once at Nevers we passed a group of German +prisoners, and amongst them was a wounded man who was lying in a small +cart. A handbag had fallen across his leg, and none of his comrades +attempted to remove it. A French woman, pushing her way between the +guards, lifted it off and gave it to one of the Germans to carry. When +the guards tried to remonstrate, she replied simply, "J'ai un fils +prisonnier là-bas, faut espérer qu'une allemande ferait autant pour lui" +("I have a son who is a prisoner in their land, let us hope that some +German woman will do as much for him"). + +On the battlefields the kindness of the French medical men to the German +wounded has always been conspicuous. One of my neutral friends passing +through Germany heard from one of the prominent German surgeons that +they were well aware of this fact, and knew that their wounded received +every attention. There is a story known throughout France of a French +doctor who was attending a wounded German on the battlefield. The man, +who was probably half delirious, snatched at a revolver which was lying +near by and attempted to shoot the doctor. The doctor took the revolver +from him, patted him on the head, and said, "Voyons, voyons, ne faites +pas l'enfant" ("Now then, now then, don't be childish"), and went on +dressing his wounds. + +Everywhere you hear accounts of brotherly love and religious tolerance. +I remember kneeling once by the side of a dying French soldier who was +tenderly supported in the arms of a famous young Mohammedan surgeon, an +Egyptian who had taken his degree in Edinburgh and was now attached to +the French Red Cross. The man's mind was wandering, and seeing a woman +beside him he commenced to talk to me as to his betrothed. "This war +cannot last always, little one, and when it is over we will buy a pig +and a cow and we will go to the curé, won't we, beloved?" Then in a +lucid moment he realised that he was dying, and he commenced to pray, +"Ave Maria, Ave Maria," but the poor tired brain could remember nothing +more. He turned to me to continue, but I could no longer trust myself to +speak, and it was the Mohammedan who took up the prayer and continued it +whilst the soldier followed with his lips until his soul passed away +into the valley of shadows. I think this story is only equalled in its +broad tolerance by that of the Rabbi Bloch of Lyons, who was shot at the +battle of the Aisne whilst holding a crucifix to the lips of a dying +Christian soldier. The soldier-priests of France have earned the love +and respect of even the most irreligious of the _poilus_. They never +hesitate to risk their lives, and have displayed sublime courage and +devotion to their duty as priests and as soldiers. Behind the first line +of trenches a soldier-priest called suddenly to attend a dying comrade +took a small dog he was nursing, and handing it to one of the men, +simply remarked, "Take care of the little beast for me; I am going to a +dangerous corner and I do not want it killed." + +I have seen the Mass celebrated on a gun-carriage. Vases made of +shell-cases were filled with flowers that the men had risked their lives +to gather, in order to deck the improvised altar. A Red Cross ambulance +drove up and stopped near by. The wounded begged to be taken out on +their stretchers and laid at the foot of the altar in order that "they +might receive the blessing of the good God" before starting on the long +journey to the hospital behind the lines. + +Outside the prison-camp of Cannantre stood a circle of French soldiers +learning the bugle calls for the French Army. I wondered how the Germans +cared to listen to the martial music of the men of France, one and all +so sure of the ultimate victory of their country. Half a kilometre +farther on, a series of mock trenches had been made where the men were +practising the throwing of hand grenades. Every available inch of space +behind the French lines is made to serve some useful purpose. + +I never see a hand grenade without thinking how difficult it is just now +to be a hero in France. Every man is really a hero, and the men who have +medals are almost ashamed, since they know that nearly all their +comrades merit them. It is especially difficult to be a hero in one's +own family. One of the men in our hospital at Royaumont had been in the +trenches during an attack. A grenade thrown by one of the French +soldiers struck the parapet and rebounded amongst the men. With that +rapidity of thought which is part of the French character, Jules sat on +the grenade and extinguished it. For this act of bravery he was +decorated by the French Government and wrote home to tell his wife. I +found him sitting up in bed, gloomily reading her reply, and I inquired +why he looked so glum. "Well, mademoiselle," he replied, "I wrote to my +wife to tell her of my new honour; and see what she says: 'My dear +Jules, we are not surprised you got a medal for sitting on a hand +grenade; we have never known you to do anything else but sit down at +home!'" + +It was at Fère Champinoise that we passed through the first village +which had been entirely destroyed by the retreating Germans. Only half +the church was standing, but services are still held there every Sunday. +Very little attempt has been made to rebuild the ruined houses. Were I +one of the villagers, I would prefer to raze to the ground all that +remained of the desecrated homesteads and build afresh new dwellings; +happy in the knowledge that with the victory of the Allies would start a +period of absolute security, prosperity, and peace. + +It was on the same day that we had the privilege of beholding some of +the 400-cm. guns of France, all prepared and ready to travel at a +minute's notice along the railway lines to the section where they might +be needed. Some idea of their size may be obtained from the fact that +there were ten axles to the base on which they travel. They were all +disguised by the system of _camouflage_ employed by the French Army, and +at a very short distance they blend with the landscape and become almost +invisible. Each gun bears a different name, "Alsace," "Lorraine," etc., +and with that strange irony and cynical wit of the French trooper, at +the request of the men of one battery, one huge gun has been christened +"Mosquito," "because it stings." + +The French often use a bitter and biting humour in speaking of the +enemy. For instance, amongst the many pets of the men, the strangest I +saw was a small hawk sitting on the wrist of a soldier who had trained +him. The bird was the personification of evil. If anyone approached, he +snapped at them and endeavoured to bite them. I asked the man why he +kept him, and he replied that they had quite good sport in the trenches +when they allowed the hawk to hunt small birds and field-mice. Then, his +expression changing from jovial good-humour to grimness, he added: "You +know, I call him 'Zepp,' because he kills the little ones" ("parcequ'il +tue les tous petits"). + +In one small cantonment where 200 _poilus_ sang, shouted, ate, drank, +and danced together to the strain of a wheezy gramophone, or in one word +were "resting," I started to investigate the various kinds of pets owned +by the troopers. Cats, dogs, and monkeys were common, whilst one _poilu_ +was the proud possessor of a parrot which he had purchased from a +refugee obliged to fly from his home. He hastened to assure us that the +bird had learned his "vocabulary" from his former proprietor. A study +in black and white was a group of three or four white mice, nestling +against the neck of a Senegalais. + +The English Tommy is quite as devoted to animals as is his French +brother. I remember crossing one bitter February day from Boulogne to +Folkestone. Alongside the boat, on the quay at Boulogne, were lined up +the men who had been granted leave. Arrayed in their shaggy fur coats, +they resembled little the smart British Tommy of peace times. It was +really wonderful how much the men managed to conceal under those fur +coats, or else the eye of the officer inspecting them was intentionally +not too keen. + +Up the gangway trooped the men, and I noticed that two of them walked +slowly and cautiously. The boat safely out of harbour, one of them +produced from his chest a large tabby cat, whilst the other placed a +fine cock on the deck. It was a cock with the true Gaelic spirit: before +the cat had time to consider the situation it had sprung on its back. +The cat beat a hasty retreat into the arms of its protector, who +replaced it under his coat. Once in safety, it stuck out its head and +swore at the cock, which, perched on a coil of rope, crowed +victoriously. + +Both animals had been the companions of the men whilst in the trenches, +and they were bringing them home. + +A soldier standing near me commenced to grumble because he had not been +able to bring his pet with him. I inquired why he had left it behind, +since the others had brought theirs away with them, and elicited the +information that "his pet was a cow, and therefore somewhat difficult to +transport." He seemed rather hurt that I should laugh, and assured me +it was "a noble animal, brown with white spots, and had given himself +and his comrades two quarts of milk a day." He looked disdainfully at +the cock and cat. "They could have left them behind and no one would +have pinched them, whereas I know I'll never see 'Sarah' again--she was +far too useful." + +Entering Vitry-le-François we had a splendid example of the typical +"motto" of the French trooper, "Il ne faut pas s'en faire." One of the +motor-cars had broken down, and the officer-occupants, who were +evidently not on an urgent mission, had gone to sleep on the banks by +the side of the road whilst the chauffeur was making the necessary +repairs. We offered him assistance, but he was progressing quite well +alone. Later on another officer related to me his experience when his +car broke down at midnight some 20 km. from a village. The chauffeur was +making slow headway with the repairs. The officer inquired whether he +really understood the job, and received the reply, "Yes, mon lieutenant, +I think I do; but I am rather a novice, as before the war I was a +lion-tamer!" Apparently the gallant son of Gaul found it easier to tame +lions than to repair motors. + +We left Vitry-le-François at 6 o'clock next morning, and started "the +hunt for generals." It is by no means easy to discover where the actual +Q.G. (Headquarters) of the General of any particular secteur is +situated. + +We were not yet really on the "White Road" to Verdun, and there was +still much to be seen that delighted the eyes. In one yellow cornfield +there appeared to be enormous poppies. On approaching we discovered a +detachment of Tirailleurs from Algiers, sitting in groups, and the +"poppies" were the red fezes of the men--a gorgeous blending of crimson +and gold. We threw a large box of cigarettes to them, and were greeted +with shouts of joy and thanks. The Tirailleurs are the "enfants +terribles" of the French Army. One noble son of Africa who was being +treated in one of the hospitals once presented me with an aluminium ring +made from a piece of German shell. I asked him to make one for one of my +comrades who was working at home, and he informed me that nothing would +have given him greater pleasure, but unfortunately he had no more +aluminium. Later in the day, passing through the ward, I saw him +surrounded by five or six Parisian ladies who were showering sweets, +cigarettes, and flowers on him, whilst he was responding by presenting +each of them with an aluminium ring. When they had left I went to him +and told him, "Mahmud, that was not kind. I asked you for a ring and you +said you had not got any more aluminium." He smiled, and his nurse, who +was passing, added, "No, he had not _got_ any more aluminium, but when +he is better he will _get_ forty-eight hours' punishment; he had been +into the kitchen, stolen one of our best aluminium saucepans, and has +been making souvenirs for the ladies." He made no attempt to justify his +action beyond stating: "Moi, pas si mauvais; toi, pas faux souvenir" ("I +am not so bad; I did not attempt to give you a fake souvenir"). + +Another of our chocolate-coloured patients found in the grounds of the +hospital an old umbrella. Its ribs stuck out and it was full of holes, +but it gave him the idea of royalty, and daily he sat up in bed in the +ward with the umbrella unfurled whilst he laid down the law to his +comrades. The nurses endeavoured to persuade him to hand it over at +night. He obstinately refused, insisting that "he knew his comrades," +and he feared that one of them would certainly steal the treasure, so he +preferred to keep it in the bed with him. + +At Villers-le-Sec we came upon the headquarters of the cooks for that +section of the front. The cook is one of the most important men in a +French regiment; he serves many ends. When carrying the food through the +communicating trenches to the front-line trenches, he is always supposed +to bring to the men the latest news, the latest tale which is going the +round of the camp, and anything that may happen to interest them. If he +has not got any news he must manufacture and produce some kind of story. +It is really necessary for him to be not only a cook but also an author. + +There is a tale going the round of the French Army how one section of +the cooks, although unarmed, managed to take some twenty German +prisoners. As they went on their way, they saw the Germans in the +distance approaching them; the head cook quietly drew the field-kitchens +behind a clump of trees and bushes, placed his men in a row, each with a +cooking utensil in his hand, and as the Germans passed shouted to them +to surrender. The sun fell on the handles of the saucepans, causing them +to shine like bayonets, and the Germans, taken unawares, laid down +their arms. The head cook then stepped out and one by one took the +rifles from the enemy and handed them to his men. It was only when he +had disarmed the Germans and armed his comrades that he gave the signal +for them to step out, and the Germans saw that they had been taken by a +ruse. One can imagine the joy of the French troops in the next village, +when, with a soup-ladle in his hand, his assistants armed with German +rifles, followed by the soup-kitchen and twenty prisoners, he marched in +to report. + +It is curious to note how near humour is to tragedy in war, and how +quick-wittedness may serve a useful purpose and even save life. A young +French medical student told me that he owed his life to the quick wit of +the women of a village and the sense of humour of a Saxon officer. +Whilst passing from one hospital to another, he was captured by a small +German patrol, and in spite of his papers, proving that he was attached +to the Red Cross Service, he was tried as a spy and condemned to be +shot. At the opening of his trial the women had been interested +spectators; towards the end all of them had vanished. He was placed +against a barn door, the firing squad lined up, when from behind the +hedge bordering a wood the women began to bombard the soldiers with +eggs. The aim was excellent--not one man escaped; the German officer +laughed at the plight of his men and, in the brief respite accorded, the +young man dashed towards the hedge and vanished in the undergrowth. The +Germans fired a few shots, but there was no organised attempt to follow +him, probably because their own position was not too secure. He was +loath to leave the women to face the music, but they insisted that it +was "Pour la Patrie," and that they were quite capable of taking care of +themselves. Later he again visited the village, and the women told him +that beyond obliging them to clean the soldiers' clothes thoroughly, the +German officer had inflicted no other punishment upon them. + +A certain number of inhabitants are still living in the village of +Revigny. You see everywhere placards announcing "Caves pour 25," "Caves +pour 100," and each person knows to which cellar he is to go if a Taube +should start bombing the village. I saw one cellar marked "120 persons, +specially safe, reserved for the children." Children are one of the most +valuable assets of France, and a good old Territorial _Pè-père_ (Daddy), +as they are nicknamed, told me that it was his special but difficult +duty to muster the children directly a Taube was signalled, and chase +them down into the cellar. Mopping his brow, he assured me that it was +not easy to catch the little beggars, who hid in the ruins, behind the +army wagons, anywhere to escape the "parental" eye. It is needless to +add they consider it a grave infringement of their personal liberty and +think that they should be allowed to remain in the open and see all that +goes on, just as the little Londoners beg and coax to be allowed to stay +up "to see the Zepps." + +Passing the railway-station, we stopped to make some inquiries, and +promptly ascertained all we wished to know from the chef de gare. + +In the days of peace there is in France no one more officious than the +station-master of a small but prosperous village. Now he is the meekest +of men. Braided cap in hand, he goes along the train from carriage door +to carriage door, humbly requesting newspapers for the wounded in the +local hospitals. "Nous avons 125 blessés ici, cela les fait tant de +plaisir d'avoir des nouvelles" ("We have 125 wounded here, and oh! how +they love to have the latest news"). + +In addition to levying a toll on printed matter, he casts a covetous and +meaning glance on any fruit or chocolate that may be visible. Before the +train is out of the station, you can see the once-busy and in his own +opinion all-important railway official vanishing down the road to carry +his spoils to his suffering comrades. Railway travelling is indeed +expensive in France. No matter what time of day or night, wet or fine, +the trains are met at each station by devoted women who extract +contributions for the Red Cross funds from the pockets of willing +givers. It is only fair to state, however, that in most instances the +station-master gets there first. + +From the time we left Revigny until we had passed into the Champagne +country, upon the return journey from Verdun, we no longer saw a green +tree or a blade of green grass; we were now indeed upon the "White Road +which leads into Verdun." Owing to an exceptionally trying and dry +summer the roads are thick with white dust. The continual passing of the +_camions_, the splendid transport-wagons of the French Army, carrying +either food, munitions, or troops, has stirred up the dust and coated +the fields, trees, and hedges with a thick layer of white. It is almost +as painful to the eyes as the snow-fields of the Alps. + +I saw one horse that looked exactly like a plaster statuette. His master +had scrubbed him down, but before he dried the white dust had settled on +him everywhere. Naturally "humans" do not escape. By the time our party +reached the headquarters of General Pétain, we had joined the White +Brigade. I excused myself to the General, who smilingly replied, "Why +complain, mademoiselle? You are charming; your hair is powdered like a +marquise." The contrast with what had been a black fur cap on what was +now perfectly white hair justified his compliment. + +I have never been renowned in my life for fear of any individual, but I +must admit that I passed into the presence of General Pétain with a +great deal of respect amounting almost to awe. The defence of Verdun +through the bitter months of February and March by General Pétain, a +defence which is now under the immediate control of his able +lieutenants, General Nivelle and General Dubois, has earned the respect +and admiration of the whole world. It is impossible not to feel the +deepest admiration for these men who have earned such undying glory, not +only for themselves, but for their Motherland. + +No one could have been more gracious and kind than General Pétain, and +in his presence one realised the strength and power of France. + +Throughout all the French Headquarters one is impressed by the perfect +calm that reigns; no excitement--not even a paper on the Generals' +desks--everything perfectly organised. + +General Pétain asked me at once to tell him what I desired. I asked his +permission to go to Rheims. He at once took up a paper which permitted +me to enter the war zone, and endorsed it with the request to General +Debeney in Rheims to allow me to penetrate with my companions into the +city. He then turned to me again and asked me with a knowing smile if +that was all I required--for his headquarters were hardly on the direct +road to Rheims! I hesitated to express my real wish, when my good +counsellor and friend, with whom I was making the journey, the +Commandant Jean de Pulligny, answered for me--"I feel sure it would be a +great happiness and honour if you would allow us, General, to go to +Verdun." General Pétain appeared slightly surprised, and turning to me, +asked, "Do you thoroughly realise the danger? You have crossed the +Atlantic and faced submarines, but you will risk more in five minutes in +Verdun than in crossing the Atlantic a thousand times." However, seeing +that I was really anxious to go, and that it might be of great service +to me in my future work to have seen personally the defence of Verdun, +he added smilingly: "Well, then, you can go if you wish, at your own +risk and peril." He then telephoned to General Nivelle the necessary +permission for us to enter Verdun. + +I doubt whether General Pétain realises the respect in which he is held +in all the civilised countries of the world. Probably he does not yet +understand that people would come thousands of miles to have five +minutes' audience with him, for he inquired if we were in any hurry to +continue our journey, and added with charming simplicity--"Because if +not, and you do not mind waiting an hour, I shall be glad if you will +lunch with me." + +We lunched with General Pétain and his état-major. A charming and most +interesting addition to the party was M. Forain, the famous French +caricaturist, and now one of the chief instructors of the French Army in +the art of _camouflage_--the art of making a thing look like anything in +the world except what it is! He has established a series of schools all +along the French front where the _poilus_ learn to bedeck their guns and +thoroughly disguise them under delicate shades of green and yellow, with +odd pink spots in order to relieve the monotony. Certainly the +appearance of the guns of the present time would rejoice the heart and +soul of the "Futurists." It was most interesting to hear him describe +the work in detail and the rapidity with which his pupils learned the +new art. For one real battery there are probably three or four false +ones, beautiful wooden guns, etc., etc., and he told us of the _poilus'_ +new version of the song "Rien n'est plus beau que notre Patrie" +("Nothing is more beautiful than our country "). They now sing "Rien +n'est plus faux que notre batterie" ("Nothing is more false than our +battery"). + +It was M. Forain who coined the famous phrase "that there was no fear +for the ultimate success of the Allies, if only the civilians held out!" + +I was much amused at M. Forain's statement that he had already heard +that a company had been formed for erecting, after the war, wooden +hotels on the battlefields of France for the accommodation of +sightseers. Not only was it certain that these hotels were to be built, +but the rooms were already booked in advance. + +It was strange to find there, within the sound of the guns--sometimes +the glasses on the table danced to the music, although no one took any +notice of that--surrounded by men directing the operations of the war +and of one of the greatest battles in history, how little war was +mentioned. Science, philosophy, and the work of women were discussed. + +The men of France are taking deep interest in the splendid manner in +which the women of all the different nations are responding to the call +to service. I described to General Pétain the work of the Scottish +Women's Hospitals. These magnificent hospitals are organised and staffed +entirely by women, and started, in the first instance, by the National +Union of Women's Suffrage (Scottish Branch). He was deeply interested to +learn that what had been before the war a political society, had, with +that splendid spirit of patriotism which had from the first day of the +war animated every man, woman, and child of Great Britain, drawn upon +its funds and founded the hospital units. I explained to him that it was +no longer a question of politics, but simply a case of serving humanity +and serving it to the best possible advantage. The National Union had +realised that this was a time for organised effort on the part of all +women for the benefit of the human race and the alleviation of +suffering. + +I spoke of the bravery of our girls in Siberia; how many of them had +laid down their lives during the typhus epidemic; how cheerfully they +had borne hardships, our doctors writing home that their tent hospitals +were like "great white birds spreading their wings under the trees," +whereas really they had often been up all night hanging on to the +tent-poles to prevent the tents collapsing over their patients. + +A member of the État-Major asked how we overcame the language +difficulty. I pointed out that to diagnose typhus and watch the progress +of the patient it was not necessary to speak to him, and that by the +magic language of sympathy we managed to establish some form of +"understanding" between the patients, the doctors, and the nurses. + +The members of our staff were chosen as far as possible with a knowledge +of French or German, and it was possible to find many Serbians speaking +either one of these languages. We also found interpreters amongst the +Austrian prisoner orderlies. These prisoner orderlies had really proved +useful and had done their best to help us. Naturally they had their +faults. One of our lady doctors had as orderly a Viennese professor, +willing, but somewhat absent-minded. One morning she sent for him and +asked him, "Herr Karl, can you tell me what was wrong with my bath water +this morning?" "I really don't know, Fräulein, but I will endeavour to +find out." + +Ten minutes later he returned, looking decidedly guilty, and stammered +out: "I do not know how to tell you what happened to that bath water." +"Nonsense!--it can't be very terrible," replied Doctor X; "what was +wrong?" "Well, Fräulein, when I went into the camp kitchen this morning +there were two cauldrons there--one was your bath water, and the other +was the camp soup; to you, Fräulein, I brought the camp soup." + +We who had worked with the Serbians had learned to respect and admire +them for their patriotism, courage, and patient endurance. We felt that +their outstanding characteristic was their imagination, which, turned +into the proper channels and given a chance to develop, should produce +for the world not only famous painters and poets, but also great +inventors. This vivid imagination is found in the highest and lowest of +the land. To illustrate it, I told my neighbour at table a tale related +to me by my good friend Dr. Popovic. "Two weary, ragged Serbian soldiers +were sitting huddled together waiting to be ordered forward to fight. +One asked the other, 'Do you know how this war started, Milan? You +don't?--well then, I'll tell you. The Sultan of Turkey sent our King +Peter a sack of rice. King Peter looked at the sack, smiled, then took a +very small bag and went into his garden and filled it with red pepper. +He sent the bag of red pepper to the Sultan of Turkey. Now, Milan, you +can see what that meant. The Sultan of Turkey said to our Peter, 'My +army is as numerous as the grains of rice in this sack,' and by sending +a small bag of red pepper to the Sultan our Peter replied, 'My army is +not very numerous, but it is mighty hot stuff.'" + +Many members of the units of the Scottish Women's Hospitals who had been +driven out of Serbia at the time of the great invasion had asked to be +allowed to return to work for the Serbians, and we were now equipping +fresh units entirely staffed by women to serve with the Serbian Army, +besides having at the present time the medical care of 6,000 Serbian +refugees on the island of Corsica. + +General Pétain said, smiling, that before the war he had sometimes +thought of women "as those who inspired the most beautiful ideas in men +and prevented them from carrying them out," but the war, he added, had +certainly proved conclusively the value of women's work. + +M. Forain expressed the desire to visit the chief French hospital of the +Scottish women at the Abbaye de Royaumont. The General laughingly told +him, "You do not realise how stern and devoted to duty these ladies are. +I wonder if you would be permitted to visit them?" + +I consoled M. Forain by pointing out that surely as Chief Camoufler +(Disguiser) of the French Army he could disguise himself as a model of +virtue (_de se camoufler en bon garçon_). Certainly this son of France, +who has turned his brilliant intellect and his art to the saving of +men's lives, would be welcome anywhere and everywhere. I hastened to +assure him that I was only teasing him, and added that I only teased the +people I admired and liked. General Pétain immediately turned to the +Commandant de Pulligny--"Please remark that she has not yet teased me." + +"Probably because she fears to do it, and has too much respect for you," +replied the Commandant. + +"Fears! I do not think we need talk of that just now, when she dares to +go to Verdun." + +[Illustration: Memoribilia] + +[Illustration: Handwritten note: +To Miss Burke + +In remembrance of your very +kind visit in Verdun and of +the noble aim you pursue in +favour of our wounded and sick +soldiers. We have been extrememly +honoured that you were so kind +to dine with us to-day 26th Juli +1916 + +-Signatures-] + +[Illustration: Menu] + +[Illustration: A Handwritten Note] + +Whilst at coffee after lunch the news came of the continued advance of +the British troops. General Pétain turned to me and said: "You must +indeed be proud in England of your new army. Please tell your +English people of our admiration of the magnificent effort of England. +The raising and equipping of your giant army in such a short time was +indeed a colossal task. How well it was carried out all the world now +knows, and we are reaping the harvest." + +The General's Chief of Staff added: "Lord Kitchener was right when he +said the war would last three years--the first year preparation, the +second year defence, and the third year ... _cela sera rigolo_--it will +be huge sport." He quoted the phrase as Lord Kitchener's own. + +Before we left the General signed for me the menu of the lunch, pointing +out to me, however, that if I were at any time to show the menu to the +village policeman, I must assure him that the hare which figured thereon +had been run over at night by a motor-car and lost its life owing to an +accident, otherwise he might, he feared, be fined for killing game out +of season! + +I shall always remember the picture of General Pétain seeing us into our +car with his parting words, "You are about to do the most dangerous +thing you have ever done or will ever do in your life. As for Verdun, +tell them in England that I am smiling, and I am sure that when you see +General Nivelle you will find him smiling too. That is the best answer I +can give you as to how things are going with us at Verdun." Then with a +friendly wave of his hand we passed on our way. + +After leaving the headquarters of General Pétain we were held up for +some time at a level crossing and watched the busy little train puffing +along, carrying towards Verdun stores, munitions, and men. This level +crossing had been the scene of active fighting; on each side were +numerous graves, and the sentinels off duty were passing from one to the +other picking a dead leaf or drawing a branch of trailing vine over the +resting-places of their comrades. + +Above our heads circle _les guêpes_, the wasps of the French Army. They +had been aroused by the appearance of a Taube and were preparing to +sting, had the Taube waited or made any further attempt to proceed over +the French lines. However, deciding that discretion was the better part +of valour, it turned and fled. It is unwise, however, to stir up the +"wasps of France"; they followed it, and later in the day we heard that +it had been brought down near Verdun. + +We were now in the centre of activity of the army defending Verdun. On +every hand we saw artillery-parks, ammunition-parks, and regiments +resting, whilst along the road a long line of _camions_ passed +unceasingly. During the whole length of my stay on the French front I +only saw one regiment marching. Everywhere the men are conveyed in the +_camions_, and are thus spared the fatigue which would otherwise be +caused by the intense heat and the white dust. There are perhaps only +two things that can in any way upset the perfect indifference to +difficulties of the French trooper: he hates to walk, and he refuses to +be deprived of his _pinard_. The men of the French army have named their +red wine _pinard_, just as they call water _la flotte_, always, however, +being careful to add that _la flotte_ is excellent "for washing one's +feet." + +As we passed through the headquarters of General Nivelle, he sent down +word to us not to wait to call on him then, but to proceed at once to +Verdun, as later the passage would become more difficult. He kindly sent +down to us one of the officers of his staff to act as escort. The +officer sat by our chauffeur, warning him of the dangerous spots in the +road which the Germans had the habit of "watering" from time to time +with _marmites_, and ordering him to put on extra speed. Our speed along +the road into Verdun averaged well over a mile a minute. + +Within range of the German guns, probably not more than four or five +kilometres from Verdun, we came on a line of men waiting their turn to +go into the cinema. After all, there was no reason _de s'en faire_, and +if they were alive they decided they might as well be happy and amused. +Just before entering the gate of Verdun we passed a number of +ambulances, some of them driven by the American volunteers. These young +Americans have displayed splendid heroism in bringing in the wounded +under difficult conditions. Many of them have been mentioned in +dispatches, and have received from France the Croix de Guerre. I also +saw an ambulance marked "Lloyd's." + +It would be useless to pretend that one entered Verdun without emotion. +Verdun, sorely stricken, yet living, kept alive by the indomitable soul +of the soldiers of France, whilst her wounds are daily treated and +healed by the skill of her Generals. A white city of desolation, +scorched and battered, yet the brightest jewel in the crown of France's +glory; a shining example to the world of the triumph of human resistance +and the courage of men. A city of strange and cruel sounds--the short, +sharp bark of the '75's, the boom of the death-dealing enemy guns, the +shrieks of the shells and the fall of masonry parting from houses to +which it had been attached for centuries, whilst from the shattered +window-frames the familiar sprite of the household looked ever for the +children who came no longer across the thresholds of the homes. Verdun +is no longer a refuge for all that is good and beautiful and tender, and +so the sounds of the voices of children and of birds are heard no more. +Both have flown; the children were evacuated with the civilians in the +bitter months of February and March, and the birds, realising that there +is no secure place in which to nest, have deserted not only Verdun but +the whole of the surrounding district. + +We proceeded to a terrace overlooking the lower part of the town and +witnessed a duel between the French and German artillery. The Germans +were bombarding the barracks of Chevert, and from all around the French +guns were replying. It was certainly a joy to note that for one boom of +a German cannon there were certainly ten answers from the French guns. +The French soldiers off duty should have been resting in the caves and +dug-outs which have been prepared for them, but most of them were out on +the terraces in different parts of the city, smoking and casually +watching the effect of the German or of their own fire. I inquired of +one _poilu_ whether he would be glad to leave Verdun, and he laughingly +replied: "One might be worse off than here. This is the time of year +that in peace times I should have been staying in the country with my +mother-in-law." + +There is no talk of peace in Verdun. I asked one of the men when he +thought the war would end. "Perfectly simple to reply to that, +mademoiselle: the war will end the day that hostilities cease." + +I believe that the Germans would not be sorry to abandon the siege of +Verdun. In one of the trench newspapers I saw the following verse: + + Boches, à l'univers votre zèle importun + Fait des 'communiqués' dont personne n'est dupe. + Vous dites: "Nos soldats occuperont Verdun. + Jusqu'ici c'est plutôt Verdun qui les occupe." + + (You say that you soon will hold Verdun, + Whilst really Verdun holds you.) + +We left the car and climbed through the ruined streets to the top of the +citadel. No attempt has been made to remove any of the furniture or +effects from the demolished houses. In those houses from which only the +front had been blown away the spoons and forks were in some instances +still on the table, set ready for the meal that had been interrupted. + +From windows lace curtains and draperies hung out over the fronts of the +houses. Everywhere shattered doors, broken cupboards, drawers thrown +open where the inhabitants had thought to try to save some of their +cherished belongings but had finally fled, leaving all to the care of +the soldiers, who protect the property of the inhabitants as carefully +as if it were their own. + +It would be difficult to find finer custodians. I was told that at +Bobigny-près-Bourget there is on one of the houses the following +inscription worthy of classical times: + +"The proprietor of this house has gone to the war. He leaves this +dwelling to the care of the French. Long live France." And he left the +key in the lock. + +The soldiers billeted in the house read the inscription, which met with +their approval, and so far each regiment in passing had cleaned out the +little dwelling and left it in perfect order. + +From the citadel we went down into the trenches which led to the lines +at Thiaumont. The heat in the city was excessive, but in the trenches it +was delightfully cool, perhaps a little too cool. We heard the men make +no complaints except that at times the life was a little "monotonous"! +One man told me that he was once in a trench that was occupied at the +same time by the French and the Germans. There was nothing between them +but sandbags and a thick wall of clay, and day and night the French +watched that wall. One day a slight scratching was heard. The men +prepared to face the crumbling of the barrier when through a small hole +popped out the head of a brown rabbit. Down into the trench hopped Mrs. +Bunny, followed by two small bunnies, and although rabbit for lunch +would have improved the menu, the men had not the heart to kill her. On +the contrary, they fed her on their rations, and at night-fall she +departed, followed by her progeny. + +From all the dug-outs heads popped out, and the first movement of +surprise at seeing a woman in the trenches turned to a smile of delight, +since the _poilu_ is at all times a chivalrous gentleman. One man was +telling me of the magnificent work that had been accomplished by his +"compagnie." I congratulated him and told him he must be happy to be in +such a company. He swept off his iron casque, bowed almost to the +ground, and answered: "Certainly I am happy in my company, mademoiselle, +but I am far happier in yours." + +The principal grief of the _poilus_ appeared to be that a shell two or +three days before had destroyed the store of the great _dragée_ (sugared +almond) manufactory of Verdun. Before leaving, the manufacturer had +bequeathed his stock to the army, and they were all regretting that they +had not been greedier and eaten up the _dragées_ quicker. + +In the trenches near Verdun, as in the trenches in Flanders, you find +the men talking little of war, but much of their homes and their +families. I came once upon a group of Bretons. They had opened some tins +of sardines and, sitting around a bucket of blazing coals, they were +toasting the fish on the ends of small twigs. I asked them why they +were wasting their energies, since the fish were ready to be eaten +straight from the tins. "We know," they replied; "but it smells like +home." I suppose with the odour of the cooking fish, in the blue haze of +the smoke, they saw visions of their cottages and the white-coiffed +Bretonnes frying the fresh sardines that they had caught. + +The dusk was now falling, and, entering the car, we proceeded towards +the lower part of the town at a snail's pace in order not to draw the +German fire. We were told that at the present time approximately one +hundred shells a day still fall on Verdun, but at the time of the great +attack the number was as high as eight hundred, whilst as many as two +hundred thousand shells fell daily in and around Verdun. + +Just before we reached the entrance to the citadel, the enemy began to +shell the city, and one of the shells exploded within two hundred feet +of the car. We knew that we were near the entrance to the vaults of the +citadel and could take refuge, so we left the car and proceeded on foot. +Without thinking, we walked in the centre of the road, and the sentinel +at the door of the citadel began in somewhat emphatic French to +recommend us to "longer les murs" (to hug the walls tightly). The +Germans are well aware of the entrance to the citadel and daily shell +the spot. If one meets a shell in the centre of the road it is obviously +no use to argue, whilst in hugging the side of the wall there is a +possibility of only receiving the fragments of the bursting shell. + +The subterranean galleries of the citadel of Verdun were constructed by +Vauban, and are now a hive of activity--barbers' shops, sweet shops, +boot shops, hospitals, anything and everything which goes to make up a +small city. + +One of the young officers placed his "cell" at our disposal. The long +galleries are all equipped with central heating and electric light, and +some of them have been divided off by wooden partitions or curtains like +the dormitories in a large school. In the "cell" allocated to us we +could see the loving touch of a woman's hand. Around the pillow on the +small camp-bed was a beautiful edging of Irish lace, and on the +dressing-table a large bottle of eau-de-Cologne. There is no reason to +be too uncomfortable in Verdun when one has a good little wife to think +of one and to send presents from time to time. + +Emerging from the galleries we met General Dubois, a great soldier and a +kindly man, one who shares the daily perils of his men. The General +invited us to remain and dine with him. He had that day received from +General Nivelle his _cravate_ as Commander of the Legion of Honour, and +his officers were giving him a dinner-party to celebrate the event. "See +how kind fate is to me," he added. "Only one thing was missing from the +feast--the presence of the ladies--and here you are." + +It would need the brush of Rembrandt to paint the dining-hall in the +citadel of Verdun. At one long table in the dimly lighted vault sat +between eighty and ninety officers, who all rose, saluted, and cheered +as we entered. The General sat at the head of the table surrounded by +his staff, and behind him the faces of the cooks were lit up by the +fires of the stoves. Some short distance behind us was an air-shaft. It +appears that about a week or a fortnight before our arrival a German +shell, striking the top part of the citadel, dislodged some dust and +gravel which fell down the air-shaft on to the General's head. He simply +called the attendants to him and asked for his table to be moved forward +a yard, as he did not feel inclined to sit at table with his helmet on. + +An excellent dinner--soup, roast mutton, fresh beans, salade Russe, +frangipane, dessert--and even champagne to celebrate the General's +_cravate_--quite reassured us that people may die in Verdun of shells +but not of hunger. We drank toasts to France, the Allies, and, silently, +to the men of France who had died that we might live. I was asked to +propose the health of the General, and did it in English, knowing that +he spoke English well. I told him that the defenders of Verdun would +live in our hearts and memories, that on behalf of the whole British +race I felt I might convey to him congratulations on the honour paid to +him by France. I assured him that we had but one idea and one hope, the +speedy victory of the Allied arms, and that personally my present desire +was that every one of those present at table might live to see the flag +of France waving over the whole of Alsace-Lorraine. They asked me to +repeat a description of the flag of France which I gave first in Ottawa; +so there, in the citadel of Verdun with a small French flag before me, I +went back in spirit to Ottawa and remembered how I had spoken of the +triumph of the flag of France: "The red, white, and blue--the red of +the flag of France a little deeper hue than in time of peace, since it +was dyed with the blood of her sons, the blood in which a new history of +France is being written, volume on volume, page on page, of deeds of +heroism, some pages completed and signed, others where the pen has +dropped from the faltering hands and which posterity must needs finish. +The white of the flag of France, not quite so white as in time of peace, +since thousands of her sons had taken it in their hands and pressed it +to their lips before they went forward to die for it, yet without stain, +since in all the record of the war there is no blot on the escutcheon of +France. And the blue of the flag of France, true blue, torn and tattered +with the marks of the bullets and the shrapnel, yet unfurling proudly in +the breeze whilst the very holes were patched by the blue of the sky, +since surely Heaven stands behind the flag of France." + +The men of Verdun were full of admiration for the glorious Commander of +the Fort de Vaux. They told me that the fort was held, or rather the +ruins of the fort, until the Germans were actually on the top and firing +on the French beneath. + +I discussed with my neighbour the fact that the Germans had more hatred +for us than for the French. He said the whole world would ridicule the +Germans for the manner in which they had exploited the phrase "Gott +strafe England," writing it even on the walls anywhere and everywhere. +He added laughingly that it should not worry the English comrades. "When +they read 'Gott strafe England,' all they needed to reply was 'Ypres, +Ypres--Hurrah!'" + +He told me that he had been stationed for some time with his regiment +near the English troops, and there had been loud lamentations among the +_poilus_ because they had been obliged to say good-bye to their English +comrades. He added that the affection was not entirely disinterested. +The English comrades had excellent marmalade and jam and other good +things which they shared with their French brothers, who, whilst +excellently fed, do not indulge in these luxuries. He told me a +delightful tale of a French cook who, seeing an English soldier standing +by, began to question him as to his particular branch of the service, +informing him that he himself had had an exceedingly busy morning +peeling potatoes and cleaning up the pots and pans. After considerable +conversation he inquired of the English comrade what he did for his +living. "Oh," replied the Englishman, "I get my living fairly +easily--nothing half so strenuous as peeling potatoes. I am just a +colonel." + +The clean-shaven Tommy is the beloved of all France. I remember seeing +one gallant khaki knight carrying the market-basket of a French maiden +and repaying himself out of her store of apples. I regret to say his +pockets bulged suspiciously. Whilst at a level crossing near by, the old +lady in charge of the gate had an escort of "Tommies" who urged her to +let the train "rip." This was somewhat ironical in view of the fact that +the top speed in that part of the war zone was probably never more than +ten miles an hour. + +Tommy is never alone. The children have learned that he loves their +company, and he is always surrounded by an escort of youthful admirers. +The children like to rummage in his pockets for souvenirs. He must +spend quite a good deal of his pay purchasing sweets, so that they may +not be disappointed and that there may be something for his little +friends to find. I remember seeing one Tommy, sitting in the dusty road +with a large pot of marmalade between his legs, dealing out spoonfuls +with perfect justice and impartiality to a circle of youngsters. He +speaks to them of his own little "nippers" at home, and they in turn +tell him of their father who is fighting, of their mother who now works +in the fields, and of baby who is fearfully ignorant, does not know the +difference between the French and the "Engleesch," and who insisted on +calling the great English General who had stayed at their farm "papa." +It matters little that they cannot understand each other, and it does +not in the least prevent them from holding lengthy conversations. + +I told my companion at table that whilst visiting one of the hospitals +in France I had heard how one Englishman had been sent into a far +hospital in Provence by mistake. He was not seriously injured, and +promptly constituted himself king of the ward. On arrival, he insisted +on being shaved. As no shaving-brush was available, the _piou-piou_ in +the next bed lathered him with his tooth-brush. The French cooking did +not appeal to him, and he grumbled continuously. The directress of the +hospital sent her own cook from her château to cater for Mr. Atkins. An +elaborate menu was prepared. Tommy glanced through it, ordered +everything to be removed, and commanded tea and toast. Toast-making is +not a French art, and the château chef was obliged to remain at the +hospital and spend his time carefully preparing the toast and seeing +that it was served in good condition. When Mr. Atkins felt so disposed, +he would summon a _piou-piou_ to give him a French lesson, or else +request the various inmates of the ward to sing to him. He would in turn +render that plaintive ditty "Down by the Old Bull and Bush." A nurse who +spoke a little English translated his song to the French soldiers. +Whilst not desiring to criticise the _rendez-vous_ selected by their +_camarade anglais_, they did not consider that "près d'un vieux taureau" +(near an old bull) was a safe or desirable meeting-place. When I +explained to the nurse that "The Bull and Bush" was a kind of _cabaret_, +she hastened from ward to ward to tell the men that after all the +Englishman might have selected a worse spot to entertain his girl. He +was at once the joy and the despair of the whole hospital, and the nurse +had much trouble in consoling the patients when "our English" was +removed. + +When Tommy indulges in the use of the French language, he abbreviates it +as much as possible. + +One hot summer's day, driving from Boulogne to Fort Mahon, halfway down +a steep hill we came upon two Tommies endeavouring to extract a +motor-cycle and a side-car from a somewhat difficult position. They had +side-slipped and run into a small tree. The cycle was on one side and +the side-car on the other, and a steel rod between had been rammed right +into the wood through the force of the collision. + +My three companions and myself endeavoured to help the men to pull out +the rod, but the united efforts of the six of us proved unavailing. We +hailed a passing cart and tied the reins around the motor-cycle, but +immediately the horse commenced to pull the leather of the reins +snapped. Behind the cart walked a peasant. Only one adjective can +possibly describe him--he was decidedly "beery." He made no attempt to +help, but passed from one Tommy to the other, patting them on their +backs, assuring them "that with a little goodwill all would be well." +There was a dangerous glint in the younger Tommy's eye, but in the +presence of ladies he refrained from putting his thoughts into words. +Finally, his patience evaporating, he suddenly turned on the peasant and +shouted at him, "Ong, ong." It took me some time to grasp that this was +Tommy's abbreviated version of "Allez-vous en" ("Clear out"). In any +event it proved quite useless, as he continued to pat the Tommies +affectionately and to bombard them with impracticable suggestions. + +We were joined later by three villagers, two gendarmes and a postman, +and all pulling together we managed to extract the rod from the tree. A +large lorry was passing, and on to it we heaved the wreckage. Up +clambered the Tommies followed by their unwelcome friend, who managed to +sit on the only unbroken portion of the side-car. This was too much for +Messrs. Atkins' equanimity. Limp with laughter, we watched them pass +from sight amidst a chorus of "Ong, ong," followed by flights of oratory +in the English tongue which do not bear repeating, but which were +received by the peasant as expressions of deep esteem and to which he +replied by endeavouring to kiss the Tommies and shouting, "Vive +l'Angleterre! Allright! Hoorah!" + +Our guiding officer began to show some signs of anxiety to have us leave +before ten o'clock, but the good-byes took some time. Presents were +showered upon us--German _dragées_ (shell heads and pieces of shrapnel) +and the real French _dragées_, the famous sweet of Verdun. + +We crept out of the city, but unfortunately at one of the dangerous +cross-roads our chauffeur mistook the route. A heavy bombardment was +taking place, and the French were replying. We were lucky enough to get +on to the route and into safety before any shell fell near us. It +appears that the Germans systematically bombard the roads at night, +hoping to destroy the _camions_ bringing up the food for the city, fresh +munitions, and men. + +We slept that night at Bar-le-Duc and next morning saw the various +ambulances and hospitals which the Service de Santé had particularly +requested me to visit. I was impressed by the splendid organisation of +the Red Cross even quite close to the firing-line. + +Passing through one tent hospital, an Algerian called out to me: + +"Ohé, la blonde, viens ici! J'ai quelque chose de beau à te montrer" +("Come here, fair girl, I have something pretty to show you"). + +He was sitting up in bed, and, as I approached, unbuttoned his +bed-jacket and insisted on my examining the tag of his vest, on which +was written, "Leader, London." The vest had come in a parcel of goods +from the London Committee of the French Red Cross, and I only wished +that the angel of goodness and tenderness who is the Presidente of the +Croix Rouge, Mme. de la Panouse, and that Mr. D.H. Illingworth, Mr. +Philip Wilkins, and all her able lieutenants, could have seen the +pleasure on the face of this swarthy defender of France. In the next bed +was a Senegalais who endeavoured to attract my attention by keeping up a +running compliment to my compatriots, my King, and myself. He must have +chanted fifty times: "Vive les English, Georges, et toi!" He continued +even after I had rewarded him with some cigarettes. The Senegalais and +the Algerians are really great children, especially when they are +wounded. I have seen convalescent Senegalais and Algerians in Paris +spend hours in the Champs Elysées watching the entertainment at the +open-air marionette theatre. The antics of the dolls kept them amused. +They are admitted to the enclosure free, and there is no longer any +room for the children who frequented the show in happier days. These +latter form a disconsolate circle on the outside, whilst the younger +ones, who do not suffer from colour prejudice, scramble on to the knees +of the black soldiers. + +The sister in charge was a true daughter of the "Lady of the Lamp." +Provided they are really ill, she sympathises with all the grumblers, +but scolds them if they have reached the convalescent stage. She carries +a small book in which she enters imaginary good points to those who have +the tables by their beds tidy, and she pinned an invisible medal on the +chest of a convalescent who was helping to carry trays of food to his +comrades. She is indeed a General, saving men for France. + +Not a man escaped her attention, and as we passed through the tents she +gave to each of her "chers enfants"--black or white--a cheering smile or +a kindly word. She did, however, whilst talking to us omit to salute a +Senegalais. Before she passed out of the tent he commenced to call after +her, "Toi pas gentille aujourd'hui--moi battre toi" ("You are not good +to me to-day--me beat you"). This, it appears, is his little joke--he +will never beat anyone again, since he lost both his arms when his +trench was blown up by a land mine. + +It was at Triancourt that I first saw in operation the motor-cars that +had been sent out fitted with bath tubs for the troops, and also a very +fine car fitted up by the London Committee of the French Red Cross as a +moving dental hospital. + +I regret to add that a _poilu_ near by disrespectfully referred to it as +"another of the horrors of war," adding that in times of peace there +was some kind of personal liberty, where as now "a man could not have +toothache without being forced to have it ended, and that there was no +possibility of escaping a dentist who hunted you down by motor." + +It was suggested that, as I had had a touch of toothache the night +before, I might take my place in the chair and give an example of +British pluck to the assembled _poilus_. I hastened to impress on the +surgeon that I hated notoriety and would prefer to remain modestly in +the background. I even pushed aside with scorn the proffered bribe of +six "boche" buttons, assuring the man that "I would keep my toothache as +a souvenir." + +At one of the hospitals, beside the bed of a dying man, sat a little old +man writing letters. They told me that before the war he had owned the +most flourishing wine-shop in the village. He had fled before the +approach of the German troops, but later returned to his village and +installed himself in the hospital as scribe. He wrote from morning until +night, and watching him stretching his lean old hands, I asked him if he +suffered much pain from writer's cramp. He looked at me almost +reproachfully before answering, "Mademoiselle, it is the least I can do +for my country; besides my pain is so slight and that of the comrades is +so great. I am proud, indeed proud, that at sixty-seven years of age I +am not useless." + +At one hospital I was shown a copy of the last letter dictated by a +young French officer, and I asked to be allowed to copy it--it was +indeed a letter of a "chic" type. + +"CHERS PARRAIN ET MARRAINE, + +"Je vous écris à vous pour ne pas tuer Maman qu'un pareil coup +surprendrait trop. + +"J'ai été blessé le ... devant.... J'ai deux blessures hideuses et je +n'en aurai pas pour bien longtemps. Les majors ne me le cachent même +pas. + +"Je pars sans regret avec la conscience d'avoir fait mon devoir. + +"Prévenez donc mes parents le mieux que vous pourrez; qu'ils ne +cherchent pas à venir, ils n'en auraient pas le temps. + +"Adieu vous tous que j'aimais. + + "VIVE LA FRANCE!" + + +"DEAR GODFATHER AND GODMOTHER. + +"I am writing to you, so as not to kill mother, whom such a shock would +surprise too much. I was wounded on the ... at.... I have two terrible +wounds and I cannot last long. The surgeons do not even attempt to +conceal this from me. I go without regret, with the consciousness of +having done my duty. Kindly break the news to my parents the best way +you can; they should not attempt to come because they would not have +time to reach me before the end. + +"Farewell to all you whom I have loved. + + "LONG LIVE FRANCE!" + + +Whilst loving his relatives tenderly, the last thought of the dying +Frenchman is for his country. Each one dies as a hero, yet not one +realises it. It would be impossible to show greater simplicity; they +salute the flag for the last time, and that is all. + +From Triancourt we went straight to the headquarters of General Nivelle. +They had just brought him the maps rectified to mark the French +advance. The advance had been made whilst we were standing on the +terrace at Verdun the night before. We had seen the rockets sent up, +requesting a _tir de barrage_ (curtain of fire). The '75's had replied +at once and the French had been able to carry out the operation. + +Good news had also come in from the Somme, and General Nivelle did not +hesitate to express his admiration for the British soldiers. + +He said that there was no need to praise the first troops sent by +Britain to France--everyone knew their value; but it should be a great +satisfaction to Britain to find that the new Army was living up to the +traditions of the old Army. + +He added: "We can describe the new army of Britain in two words: '_Ça +mord_'--it bites." + +The Father of his own men, it is not surprising that General Nivelle +finds a warm corner in his heart for the British Tommy, since his mother +was an Englishwoman. + +At lunch General Nivelle and the members of his staff asked many +questions as to the work of the Scottish Women's Hospitals. I told them +that what appealed to us most in our French patients was the perfect +discipline and the gratitude of the men. We are all women in the +hospitals, and the men might take advantage of this fact to show want of +discipline, but we never had to complain of lack of obedience. These +soldiers of France may some of them before the war have been just rough +peasants, eating, drinking, and sleeping, even having thoughts not akin +to knighthood; but now, through the ordeal of blood and fire, each one +of them has won his spurs and come out a chivalrous knight, and +they bring their chivalry right into the hospitals with them. We had +also learned to love them for their kindness to one another. When new +wounded are brought in and the lights are low in the hospital wards, +cautiously watching if the nurse is looking (luckily nurses have a way +of not seeing everything), one of the convalescents will creep from his +bed to the side of the new arrival and ask the inevitable question: +"D'où viens-tu?" ("Where do you come from?"). "I come from Toulouse," +replies the man. "Ah!" says the inquirer, "my wife's grandmother had a +cousin who lived near Toulouse." That is quite a sufficient basis for a +friendship; the convalescent sits by the bedside of his new comrade, +holding the man's hand whilst his wounds are being dressed, telling him +he knows of the pain--that he, too, has suffered, and that soon all +will be well. + +[Illustration: Menu, 27 Juillet] + +[Illustration: Note by General Nivelle] + +Lions to fight, ever ready to answer to the call of the defence of their +country, yet these men of France are tender and gentle. In one hospital +through which I passed there was a baby. It was a military hospital, and +no civilian had any right there, but the medical officers who inspected +the hospital were remarkably blind--none of them could ever see the +baby. One of the soldiers passing through a bombarded village saw a +little body lying in the mud, and although he believed the child to be +dead, he stooped down and picked it up. At the evacuating station the +baby and the soldier were sent to the hospital together; the doctors +operated upon the baby and took a piece of shrapnel from its back, and +once well and strong it constituted itself lord and master and king of +all it surveyed. When it woke in the morning it would call "Papa," and +twenty fathers answered to its call. All the pent-up love of the men for +their own little ones from whom they had been parted for so long they +lavished on the tiny stranger, but all his affection and his whole heart +belonged to the rough miner-soldier who had brought him in. As the +shadows fell one saw the man walking up and down the ward with the child +in his arms, crooning the Marseillaise until the tired little eyes +closed. He had obtained permission from the authorities to adopt the +child, as the parents could not be found, and remarked humorously: +"Mademoiselle, it is so convenient to have a family without the trouble +of being married!" + +What we must remember is that the rough soldier, himself blinded with +blood and mud, uncertain whether he could ever reach a point of safety, +yet had time to stoop and pick that little flower of France and save it +from being crushed beneath the _camion_ wheels. I told General Nivelle +that the hospital staff intended to keep the child for the soldier until +the end of the war, and we all hoped that he might grow up to the glory +of France and to the eternal honour of the tender-hearted fighter who +had rescued him. + +After lunch we stood for some time watching the unending stream of +_camions_ proceeding into Verdun. I believe it has been stated that on +the average one passed through the village every fifteen seconds, and +that there are something like twelve thousand motor vehicles used in the +defence of Verdun. The splendid condition of the roads and the absence +of all confusion in the handling of this immense volume of traffic is a +great tribute to the organising genius of the chiefs of the French Army. + +We left General Nivelle, as General Pétain predicted we should find +him--smiling. + +We slept that night at Epernay, in the heart of the Champagne district. +The soil of France is doing its best to keep the vines in perfect +condition and to provide a good vintage to be drunk later to celebrate +the victory of France and her Allies. + +The keeping of the roads in good condition is necessary for the rapid +carrying out of operations on the front, and a "marmite" hole is +promptly filled if by a lucky shot the German batteries happen to tear +up the roadway. We were proceeding casually along one road when a young +officer rode up to us and told us to put on speed because we were under +fire from a German battery which daily landed one or two shells in that +particular portion of the roadway. It is wonderful how obedient one +becomes at times! We promptly proceeded to hasten! + +After visiting General Debeney and obtaining from him the necessary +authorisation and an officer-escort, we entered Rheims. + +The cathedral is now the home of pigeons, and as they fly in and out of +the blackened window-frames, small pieces of the stained glass tinkle +down on to the floor. The custodian of the cathedral told us that during +the night of terror the German wounded, lying in the cathedral, not +realising the strength and beauty of the French character under +adversity, feared, seeing the cathedral in flames, that the populace +might wreak vengeance on them, and it was exceedingly difficult to get +them to leave the cathedral. Many of the prisoners fled into corners and +hid, and some of them even penetrated into the palace of the Archbishop, +which was in flames. All the world knows and admires the bravery of the +curé of the cathedral, M. Landrieux, who took upon himself the defence +of the prisoners, for fear insults might be hurled at them. He knowingly +risked his life; but when, next day, some of his confrères endeavoured +to praise him, he replied: "My friends, I never before realised how easy +it is to die." + +One of the churches in the city was heavily draped in black, and I asked +the sacristan if they had prepared for the funeral of a prominent +citizen. He told me that they were that day bringing home the body of a +young man of high birth of the neighbourhood, but that it was not for +him that the church was decked in mourning. The draperies had hung there +since August 1914--"Since every son of Rheims who is brought home is as +noble as the one who comes to-day, and alas! nearly every day brings us +one of our children." + +We lunched in the hotel before the cathedral, where each shell-hole has +an ordinary white label stuck beside it with the date. The landlord +remarked: "If you sit here long enough, and have the good luck to be in +some safe part of the building, you may be able to go and stick a label +by a hole yourself." + +After lunch we went out to the Château Polignac. To a stranger it would +appear to be almost entirely destroyed, but when M. de Polignac visited +it recently he simply remarked that it was "less spoilt than he had +imagined." This was just one other example of the thousands one meets +daily of the spirit of noble and peasant _de ne pas s'en faire_, but to +keep only before them the one idea, Victory for France, no matter what +may be the cost. + +We went later to call on the "'75," _chez elle_. Madame was in a +particularly comfortable home which had been prepared for her and where +she was safe from the inquisitive eyes of the Taubes. The men of the +battery were sitting round their guns, singing a somewhat lengthy ditty, +each verse ending with a declamation and a description of the beauty of +"la belle Suzanne." I asked them to whom Suzanne belonged and where the +fair damsel resided. "Oh," they replied, "we have no time to think of +damsels called 'Suzanne' now. This is our Suzanne," and the speaker +affectionately gave an extra rub with his coat-sleeve to the barrel of +the "'75." + +By a wonderful system of trench work it is possible for the gunners, in +case of necessity, to take refuge in the champagne-vaults in the +surrounding district, and it is in the champagne-vaults that the +children go daily to school, with their little gas-masks hanging in bags +on their arms. It appears that at first the tiny ones were frightened of +the masks, but they soon asked to be also given a sack, like their +elders, and now one and all have learnt at the least alarm to put on +their masks. There is no need to tell the children to hurry home. They +realise that it is not wise to loiter in the streets for fear of the +whistling shells. They are remarkably plucky, these small men and women +of France. + +During one furious bombardment the children were safe in the vaults, but +one small citizen began to cry bitterly. He was reproached by his +comrades for cowardice, but he replied indignantly: "I fear nothing for +myself--I am safe here; but there is no cellar to our house, and oh! +what will happen to the little mother?" The teacher reassured him by +telling him that his mother would certainly take refuge in somebody +else's cellar. + +On leaving Rheims we passed through various small hamlets where the +houses had been entirely destroyed, and which now had the appearance of +native villages, as the soldiers had managed to place thatched roofs on +any building which had a semblance of walls standing. + +At Villars Côterets the Garde Champêtre sounded the "Gare à Vous!" Four +Taubes were passing overhead, so we took refuge in the hotel for tea. +The enemy did no damage in that particular village, but in the next +village of Crêpy-en-Valois a bomb killed one child and injured five +women. + +At his headquarters next morning I had the honour of being received by +the Generalissimo Joffre, and telling him of the admiration and respect +which we felt for him and for the magnificent fighting spirit of the +troops under his able command. He replied modestly by speaking of the +British Army. He referred to the offensive on the Somme, and said, "You +may well be proud of your young soldiers--they are excellent soldiers, +much superior to the Germans in every way, a most admirable infantry; +they attack the Germans hand to hand with grenades or with the bayonet, +and push them back everywhere; the Germans have been absolutely +_stupefied_ to find such troops before them." The General then paid a +tribute to the Canadian and Australian troops, and told me that that day +the Australians had taken new territory, adding, "And not only have they +taken it, but like their British and Canadian brothers, what they take +they will hold." + +I explained to General Joffre that, whilst I was not collecting +autographs, I had with me the menu of the dinner in the citadel at +Verdun, and that it would give me great pleasure to have his name added +to the signatures already on that menu. All the signatures were on one +side, so I turned the menu over in order to offer him a clear space, but +he turned it back again, saying: "Please let me sign on this side; I +find myself in good company with the defenders of Verdun." + +At departing he said to me: "We may all be happy now, since certainly we +are on the right side of the hill" ("Nous sommes sur la bonne pente"). + +In case this little story should fall into the hands of any woman who +has spent her time working for the men at the front, I would like to +tell her the great pleasure it is to them to receive parcels, no matter +what they contain. Fraternity and Equality reign supreme in the +trenches, and the man counts himself happy who receives a little more +than the others, since he has the joy and the pleasure of sharing his +store of good things with his comrades. There is seldom a request made +to the French behind the lines that they do not attempt to fulfil. I +remember last winter, passing through a town in the provinces, I +noticed that the elderly men appeared to be scantily clad in spite of +the bitterness of the weather. It appeared that the call had gone forth +for fur coats for the troops, and all the worthy citizens of the town +forwarded to the trenches their caracul coats. Only those who are well +acquainted with French provincial life can know what it means to them to +part with these signs of opulence and commercial success. + +It is perhaps in the post-offices that you find yourself nearest to the +heart of "France behind the lines." + +One morning I endeavoured to send a parcel to a French soldier; I took +my place in a long line of waiting women bound on the same errand. A +white-haired woman before me gave the post-office clerk infinite +trouble. They are not renowned for their patience, and I marvelled at +his gentleness, until he explained: "Her son died five weeks ago, but +she still continues to send him parcels." + +To another old lady he pointed out that she had written two numbers on +the parcel. "You don't want two numbers, mother. Which is your boy's +number?--tell me, and I will strike out the other." + +"Leave them both," she answered. "Who knows whether my dear lad will be +there to receive the parcel? If he is not, I want it to go to some other +mother's son." + +Affection means much to these men who are suffering, and they respond at +once to any sympathy shown to them. One man informed us with pride that +when he left his native village he was "decked like an altar of the +Blessed Virgin on the first of May." In other words, covered with +flowers. + +There are but few lonely soldiers now, since those who have no families +to write to them receive letters and parcels from the godmothers who +have adopted them. The men anxiously await the news of their adopted +relatives, and spend hours writing replies. They love to receive +letters, but needless to say a parcel is even more welcome. + +I remember seeing one man writing page after page. I suggested to him +that he must have a particularly charming godmother. "Mademoiselle," he +replied, "I have no time for a godmother since I myself am a godfather." +He then explained that far away in his village there was a young +assistant in his shop, "And God knows the boy loves France, but both his +lungs are touched, so they won't take him, but I write and tell him that +the good God has given me strength for two, that I fight for him and +for myself, and that we are both doing well for France." I went back in +imagination to the village, I could see the glint in the boy's eyes, +realised how the blood pulsed quicker through his veins at the sight of, +not the personal pronoun "I" in the singular, but the plural "We are +doing well for France": for one glorious moment he was part of the hosts +of France and in spirit serving his Motherland. It is that spirit of the +French nation that their enemies will never understand. + +On one occasion a young German officer, covered with mud from head to +foot, was brought before one of the French Generals. He had been taken +fighting cleanly, and the General was anxious to show him kindness. He +asked him if he would not prefer to cleanse himself before examination. +The young German drew himself up and replied: "Look at me, General; I am +covered from head to foot with mud, and that mud is the soil of France. +You will never possess as much soil in Germany." The General turned to +him with that gentle courtesy which marks the higher commands in France, +and answered: "Monsieur, we may never possess as much soil in Germany; +but there is something that you will never possess, and, until you +conquer it, you cannot vanquish France, and that is the spirit of the +French people." + +The French find it difficult to understand the arrogance which appears +ingrained in the German character, and which existed before the war. + +I read once that in the Guest-book of a French hotel a Teutonic visitor +wrote: + +"L'Allemagne est la première nation du monde." + +The next French visitor merely added: + +"Yes, 'Allemagne' is the first country of the world--if we take them in +alphabetical order." + + * * * * * + +I left the war-zone with an increased respect, if this were possible, +for the men of France. They have altered their uniforms, but the spirit +is unchanged. They are no longer in the red and blue of the old days, +but in shades of green, grey, and blue, colours blending to form one +mighty ocean--wave on wave of patriotism--beating against and wearing +down the rocks of military preparedness of forty years, and as no man +has yet been able to say to the ocean "Stop," so no man shall cry "Halt" +to the armies of France. + +I have spoken much of the men of France, but the women have also earned +our respect--those splendid peasant-women who even in times of peace +worked and now carry a double burden on their shoulders; the +middle-class women, endeavouring to keep together the little business +built up by the man with years of toil, stinting themselves to save five +francs to send a parcel to the man at the front that he may not suspect +that there is not still every comfort in the little homestead; the noble +women of France, who in past years could not be seen before noon, since +my lady was at her toilette, but who can be seen now, their hands +scratched and bleeding, kneeling on the floors of the hospitals +scrubbing, proud and happy to take their part in national service. The +men owe much of their courage to the attitude of the women who stand +behind them, turning their tears to smiles to urge their men to even +greater deeds of heroism. + +In one of our hospitals was a young lad of seventeen, who had managed to +enlist as an "engagé volontaire" by lying as to his age. His old mother +came to visit him, and she told me he was the last of her three +sons--the two elder ones had died the first week of the war at +Pont-Mousson, and her little home had been burned to the ground. The boy +had spent his time inventing new and terrible methods of dealing with +the enemy, but with his mother he became a child again, and tenderly +patted the old face. Seeing the lad in his mother's arms, and forgetting +for one moment the spirit of the French nation, I asked her if she would +not be glad if her boy was so wounded that she might take him home. She +was only an old peasant-woman, but her eyes flashed, her cheeks flushed +with anger, and turning to me she said: "Mademoiselle, how dare you say +such a thing to me? If all the mothers, wives, and sweethearts thought +as you, what would happen to the country? Gustave has only one thing to +do, get well quickly and fight for Mother France." + +Because these women of France have sent their men forth to die, eyes +dry, with stiff lips and head erect, do not think that they do not mourn +for them. When night casts her kindly mantle of darkness over all, when +they are hidden from the eyes of the world, it is then that the proud +heads droop and are bent upon their arms, as the women cry out in the +bitterness of their souls for the men who have gone from them. Yet they +realise that behind them stands the greatest mother of all, Mother +France, who sees coming towards her, from all frontiers, line on line of +ambulances with their burden of suffering humanity, yet watches along +other routes her sons going forth in thousands, laughter in their eyes, +songs on their lips, ready and willing to die for her. France draws +around her her tattered and blood-stained robe, yet what matters the +outer raiment? Behind it shines forth her glorious, exultant soul, and +she lifts up her head rejoicing and proclaims to the world that when she +appealed, man, woman, and child--the whole of the French +nation--answered to her Call. + + + + * * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + ' was used for raised dots on all "'75's" + + Page 70: Closing quote added to poem. "...qui les occupe." + + Page 92: Period added to Mme. + + Page 98: "Triaucourt" changed to "Triancourt." + + Page 110: Changed Debency to Debeney. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHITE ROAD TO VERDUN*** + + +******* This file should be named 16945-8.txt or 16945-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/4/16945 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The White Road to Verdun</p> +<p>Author: Kathleen Burke</p> +<p>Release Date: October 25, 2005 [eBook #16945]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHITE ROAD TO VERDUN***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Irma Spehar, Emmy,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="https://www.pgdp.net/">https://www.pgdp.net/</a>)<br /> + from images generously made available by<br /> + The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/toronto">http://www.archive.org/details/toronto</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive: + Canadian Libraries. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/whiteroadverdun00burkuoft"> + http://www.archive.org/details/whiteroadverdun00burkuoft</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<p><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 1]</span></p> + +<h1>THE WHITE ROAD</h1> +<h1>TO VERDUN</h1> + +<p><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 2]</span><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 3]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/frontis.jpg"><img src="./images/frontis-tb.jpg" alt="Kathleen Burke" title="Kathleen Burke" /></a></div> + + + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>KATHLEEN BURKE</h2> + + +<h3><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />HODDER AND STOUGHTON</h3> + +<h4>LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO</h4> + +<h4>MCMXVI</h4> + +<div class='center'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 4]</span><i>Printed in Great Britain by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld.,<br />London and +Aylesbury</i><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 5]</span></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='center'><small>TO</small><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap"><big>Dr. C.O. MAILLOUX</big></span><br /> +<br /> +<small>(NEW YORK)</small><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap"><big>Mr. and Mrs. L.B. FRANKLIN</big></span><br /> +<br /> +<small>AND</small><br /> +<br /> +<big>JEANNETTE FRANKLIN</big><br /> +<br /> +<small>AND TO MY</small><br /> +<br /> +<big>MOTHER</big><br /> +<br /> +WHO BY THEIR AFFECTION AND PRACTICAL<br /> +<br /> +SYMPATHY HELPED ME IN ALL THE<br /> +<br /> +WORK I HAVE UNDERTAKEN.</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 6]</span><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 7]</span></p> + + + +<div class='right'> +<i>10th August, 1916.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>We left Paris determined to undertake the journey to the front in the +true spirit of the French <i>poilu</i>, and, no matter what happened, "<i>de ne +pas s'en faire</i>."</p> + +<p>This famous "motto" of the French Army is probably derived from one of +two slang sentences: "De ne pas se faire des cheveux" ("To keep one's +hair on"), or "De ne pas se faire de la bile" (or, in other words, not +to upset one's digestion by unnecessary worrying). The phrase is typical +of the mentality of the <i>poilu</i>, who accepts anything and everything +that may happen, whether it be merely slight physical discomfort or +intense suffering, as part of the willing sacrifice which he made on the +day that, leaving his homestead and his daily <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 8]</span>occupation, he took up +arms "offering his body as a shield to defend the Heart of France."</p> + +<p>Everything might be worse than it is, says the <i>poilu</i>, and so he has +composed a litany. Every regiment has a different version, but always +with the same fundamental basis:</p> + +<p>"Of two things one is certain: either you're mobilised or you're not +mobilised. If you're not mobilised, there is no need to worry; if you +are mobilised, of two things one is certain: either you're behind the +lines or you're on the front. If you're behind the lines, there is no +need to worry; if you're on the front, of two things one is certain: +either you're resting in a safe place or you're exposed to danger. If +you're resting in a safe place, there is no need to worry; if you're +exposed to danger, <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 9]</span>of two things one is certain: either you're wounded +or you're not wounded. If you're not wounded, there is no need to worry; +if you are wounded, of two things one is certain: either you're wounded +seriously or you're wounded slightly. If you're wounded slightly, there +is no need to worry; if you're wounded seriously, of two things one is +certain: either you recover or you die. If you recover, there is no need +to worry; if you die, you can't worry."</p> + +<p>When once past the "Wall of China," as the French authorities call the +difficult approaches of the war zone, Meaux was the first town of +importance at which we stopped.</p> + +<p>We had an opportunity to sample the army bread, as the driver of a +passing bread-wagon flung a large round loaf into our motor.</p> + +<p>According to all accounts received from <a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 10]</span>the French soldiers who are in +the prison-camps of Germany, one of the greatest hardships is the lack +of white bread, and they have employed various subterfuges in the +endeavour to let their relatives know that they wish to have bread sent +to them. Some of the Bretons writing home nicknamed bread "Monsieur +Barras," and when there was a very great shortage they would write to +their families: "Ce pauvre Monsieur Barras ne se porte pas très bien à +présent." Finally, the Germans discovered the real significance of M. +Barras, and they added to one of the letters: "Si M. Barras ne se porte +pas très bien à présent, c'est bien la faute de vos amis les Anglais" +("If M. Barras is not very fit, it is the fault of your friends the +English"), and from then all the letters referring to M. Barras were +strictly suppressed.<a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 11]</span></p> + +<p>While the German Press may not be above admitting a shortage of food in +Germany, it seriously annoys the Army that the French prisoners or the +French in the invaded regions should hear of it. I heard one story of +the wife of a French officer in Lille who was obliged to offer unwilling +hospitality to a German captain, who, in a somewhat clumsy endeavour to +be amiable, offered to try to get news of her husband and to convey it +to her. Appreciating the seeming friendliness of the captain, she +confided to him that she had means of communicating with her husband who +was on the French front. The captain informed against her, and the next +day she was sent for by the Kommandantur, who imposed a fine of 50 frs. +upon her for having received a letter from the enemy lines. Taking a +100-fr. note from her bag, she placed it <a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 12]</span>on the desk, saying, "M. le +Kommandantur, here is the 50 frs. fine, and also another 50 frs. which I +am glad to subscribe for the starving women and children in Berlin."</p> + +<p>"No one starves in Berlin," replied the Kommandantur.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, they do," replied Madame X. "I know, because the captain who +so kindly informed you that I had received a letter from my husband +showed me a letter the other day from his wife, in which she spoke of +the sad condition of the women and children of Germany, who, whilst not +starving, were far from happy." Thus she not only had the pleasure of +seriously annoying the Kommandantur, but also a chance to get even with +the captain who had informed against her, and who is no longer in soft +quarters in Lille, but paying the penalty of his indiscretion by a +sojourn on the Yser.<a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 13]</span></p> + +<p>The bridge at Meaux, destroyed in the course of the German retreat, has +not yet been entirely repaired. Beneath it rushes the Marne, and the +river sings in triumph, as it passes, that it is carrying away the soil +that has been desecrated by the steps of the invader and that day by day +it is washing clean the land of France.</p> + +<p>In the fields where the corn is standing, the tiny crosses marking the +last resting-places of the men are entirely hidden; but where the grain +has been gathered, the graves stand out distinctly, marked not only by a +cross, but also by the tall bunches of corn which have been left growing +on these small patches of holy ground. It has always been said that +France has two harvests each year. Certainly in the fields of the Marne +there is not only the harvest <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 14]</span>of bread—there is also springing up the +harvest of security and peace.</p> + +<p>The peasants as they point out the graves always add: "We of the people +know that those men sacrificed their lives that our children might live. +Those who have died in vain for an unjust cause may well envy the men of +France who have poured out their blood for the benefit of humanity."</p> + +<p>Looking on the crosses on the battlefield of the Marne, I realised to +the fullest extent the sacrifices, borne with such bravery, of the women +of France. I thought of the picture I had seen in Paris of a group of +mothers standing at the foot of Calvary, looking out over the fields of +small black crosses, lifting their hands to Heaven, with the words—"We +also, God, have given our sons for the peace of the world."<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 15]</span></p> + +<p>At Montmirail the real activity of the war zone first became apparent. +We drew the car to the side of the road and waited whilst a long +procession of empty munition-wagons passed on the way back from the +munition-parks near the fighting-line. There was a smile on the face of +every one of the drivers. Each of them had the satisfaction of knowing +that there was no chance of his returning with an empty wagon, as there +is no lack of provisions to feed the hungriest of the "75's" or any of +her larger sisters.</p> + +<p>The fact that it is known that there is an ample supply of munitions +plays an important part in the "moral" of the troops. The average +<i>poilu</i> has no sympathy with the man who grumbles at the number of hours +he may have to work. We heard the tale of a munition-worker <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 16]</span>who was +complaining in a café at having to work so hard. A <i>poilu</i> who was <i>en +permission</i> and who was sitting at the next table, turned to him, +saying, "You have no right to grumble: you receive 10 to 12 francs a day +for making shells, and we poor devils get 5 sous a day for stopping +them!"</p> + +<p>We lunched in the small but hospitable village of Sézanne, in company +with a most charming invalided officer who informed us that he was the +principal in that district of the S.D.R.D.R. (Service de Recherche des +Rattiers) (the Principal Recruiting Officer for Rat-catchers). In other +words, he is spending his time endeavouring to persuade suitable +"bow-wows" to enlist in the service of their country. Likely dogs are +trained until they do not bark, and become entirely <a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 17]</span>accustomed to the +sound of firing; they are then pronounced "Aptes à faire campagne," or +"Fit for service," receive their <i>livret militaire</i>, or +certificates—for not every chance dog is allowed in the trenches—and +are dispatched to the trenches on a rat-hunting campaign.</p> + +<p>From Sézanne we proceeded direct to the new camp for German prisoners at +Cannantre. The prisoners were mostly men who had been taken in the +recent fighting on the Somme or round Verdun. The camp was already +excellently installed, and the prisoners were busy in groups gardening, +making bread, or sitting before great heaps of potatoes, preparing them +for the evening meal. The German sense of order was everywhere in +evidence. In the long barracks where the men slept the beds were tidy, +and above each bed was a small shelf, <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 18]</span>each shelf arranged in exactly +the same order, the principal ornaments being a mug, fork, and spoon; +and just as each bed resembled each other bed, so the fork and spoon +were placed in their respective mugs at exactly the same angle. There +were small partitioned apartments for the noncommissioned officers. The +French Commander of the camp told us that the German love of holding +some form of office was everywhere apparent. The French made no attempt +to command the prisoners themselves, but always chose men from amongst +the prisoners who were placed in authority over their comrades. The +prisoners rejoiced exceedingly and promptly increased in self-importance +and, alas! decreased in manners, if they were given the smallest +position which raised them above the level of the rest of the men.<a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 19]</span></p> + +<p>In the barrack where they were cutting up bread for the prisoners, we +asked the men if they deeply regretted their captivity. They replied +unanimously that they were "rather glad to be well fed," which seemed an +answer in itself. They did not, however, appreciate the white bread and +stated that they preferred their own black bread. The French officers +commanding the camp treat the prisoners as naughty children who must be +"kept in the corner" and punished for their own good. In all my travels +through France I have never seen any bitterness shown towards the +prisoners. I remember once at Nevers we passed a group of German +prisoners, and amongst them was a wounded man who was lying in a small +cart. A handbag had fallen across his leg, and none of his comrades +attempted to remove it.<a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 20]</span> A French woman, pushing her way between the +guards, lifted it off and gave it to one of the Germans to carry. When +the guards tried to remonstrate, she replied simply, "J'ai un fils +prisonnier là-bas, faut espérer qu'une allemande ferait autant pour lui" +("I have a son who is a prisoner in their land, let us hope that some +German woman will do as much for him").</p> + +<p>On the battlefields the kindness of the French medical men to the German +wounded has always been conspicuous. One of my neutral friends passing +through Germany heard from one of the prominent German surgeons that +they were well aware of this fact, and knew that their wounded received +every attention. There is a story known throughout France of a French +doctor who was attending a wounded German on the battlefield. The man, +who <a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 21]</span>was probably half delirious, snatched at a revolver which was lying +near by and attempted to shoot the doctor. The doctor took the revolver +from him, patted him on the head, and said, "Voyons, voyons, ne faites +pas l'enfant" ("Now then, now then, don't be childish"), and went on +dressing his wounds.</p> + +<p>Everywhere you hear accounts of brotherly love and religious tolerance. +I remember kneeling once by the side of a dying French soldier who was +tenderly supported in the arms of a famous young Mohammedan surgeon, an +Egyptian who had taken his degree in Edinburgh and was now attached to +the French Red Cross. The man's mind was wandering, and seeing a woman +beside him he commenced to talk to me as to his betrothed. "This war +cannot last always, little one, and when it is <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 22]</span>over we will buy a pig +and a cow and we will go to the curé, won't we, beloved?" Then in a +lucid moment he realised that he was dying, and he commenced to pray, +"Ave Maria, Ave Maria," but the poor tired brain could remember nothing +more. He turned to me to continue, but I could no longer trust myself to +speak, and it was the Mohammedan who took up the prayer and continued it +whilst the soldier followed with his lips until his soul passed away +into the valley of shadows. I think this story is only equalled in its +broad tolerance by that of the Rabbi Bloch of Lyons, who was shot at the +battle of the Aisne whilst holding a crucifix to the lips of a dying +Christian soldier. The soldier-priests of France have earned the love +and respect of even the most irreligious of the <i>poilus</i>. They never +hesitate to risk their lives, and have dis<a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 23]</span>played sublime courage and +devotion to their duty as priests and as soldiers. Behind the first line +of trenches a soldier-priest called suddenly to attend a dying comrade +took a small dog he was nursing, and handing it to one of the men, +simply remarked, "Take care of the little beast for me; I am going to a +dangerous corner and I do not want it killed."</p> + +<p>I have seen the Mass celebrated on a gun-carriage. Vases made of +shell-cases were filled with flowers that the men had risked their lives +to gather, in order to deck the improvised altar. A Red Cross ambulance +drove up and stopped near by. The wounded begged to be taken out on +their stretchers and laid at the foot of the altar in order that "they +might receive the blessing of the good God" before starting <a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 24]</span>on the long +journey to the hospital behind the lines.</p> + +<p>Outside the prison-camp of Cannantre stood a circle of French soldiers +learning the bugle calls for the French Army. I wondered how the Germans +cared to listen to the martial music of the men of France, one and all +so sure of the ultimate victory of their country. Half a kilometre +farther on, a series of mock trenches had been made where the men were +practising the throwing of hand grenades. Every available inch of space +behind the French lines is made to serve some useful purpose.</p> + +<p>I never see a hand grenade without thinking how difficult it is just now +to be a hero in France. Every man is really a hero, and the men who have +medals are almost ashamed, since they know that nearly all their +comrades merit them. It is <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 25]</span>especially difficult to be a hero in one's +own family. One of the men in our hospital at Royaumont had been in the +trenches during an attack. A grenade thrown by one of the French +soldiers struck the parapet and rebounded amongst the men. With that +rapidity of thought which is part of the French character, Jules sat on +the grenade and extinguished it. For this act of bravery he was +decorated by the French Government and wrote home to tell his wife. I +found him sitting up in bed, gloomily reading her reply, and I inquired +why he looked so glum. "Well, mademoiselle," he replied, "I wrote to my +wife to tell her of my new honour; and see what she says: 'My dear +Jules, we are not surprised you got a medal for sitting on a hand +grenade; we have never known you to do anything else but sit down at +home!'"<a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 26]</span></p> + +<p>It was at Fère Champinoise that we passed through the first village +which had been entirely destroyed by the retreating Germans. Only half +the church was standing, but services are still held there every Sunday. +Very little attempt has been made to rebuild the ruined houses. Were I +one of the villagers, I would prefer to raze to the ground all that +remained of the desecrated homesteads and build afresh new dwellings; +happy in the knowledge that with the victory of the Allies would start a +period of absolute security, prosperity, and peace.</p> + +<p>It was on the same day that we had the privilege of beholding some of +the 400-cm. guns of France, all prepared and ready to travel at a +minute's notice along the railway lines to the section where they might +be needed. Some idea of their size may be obtained from the fact that +there were ten <a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 27]</span>axles to the base on which they travel. They were all +disguised by the system of <i>camouflage</i> employed by the French Army, and +at a very short distance they blend with the landscape and become almost +invisible. Each gun bears a different name, "Alsace," "Lorraine," etc., +and with that strange irony and cynical wit of the French trooper, at +the request of the men of one battery, one huge gun has been christened +"Mosquito," "because it stings."</p> + +<p>The French often use a bitter and biting humour in speaking of the +enemy. For instance, amongst the many pets of the men, the strangest I +saw was a small hawk sitting on the wrist of a soldier who had trained +him. The bird was the personification of evil. If anyone approached, he +snapped at them and endeavoured to bite them. I asked the man why he +kept him, <a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 28]</span>and he replied that they had quite good sport in the trenches +when they allowed the hawk to hunt small birds and field-mice. Then, his +expression changing from jovial good-humour to grimness, he added: "You +know, I call him 'Zepp,' because he kills the little ones" ("parcequ'il +tue les tous petits").</p> + +<p>In one small cantonment where 200 <i>poilus</i> sang, shouted, ate, drank, +and danced together to the strain of a wheezy gramophone, or in one word +were "resting," I started to investigate the various kinds of pets owned +by the troopers. Cats, dogs, and monkeys were common, whilst one <i>poilu</i> +was the proud possessor of a parrot which he had purchased from a +refugee obliged to fly from his home. He hastened to assure us that the +bird had learned his "vocabulary" from his former proprietor. A study +<a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 29]</span>in black and white was a group of three or four white mice, nestling +against the neck of a Senegalais.</p> + +<p>The English Tommy is quite as devoted to animals as is his French +brother. I remember crossing one bitter February day from Boulogne to +Folkestone. Alongside the boat, on the quay at Boulogne, were lined up +the men who had been granted leave. Arrayed in their shaggy fur coats, +they resembled little the smart British Tommy of peace times. It was +really wonderful how much the men managed to conceal under those fur +coats, or else the eye of the officer inspecting them was intentionally +not too keen.</p> + +<p>Up the gangway trooped the men, and I noticed that two of them walked +slowly and cautiously. The boat safely out of harbour, one of them +produced from his <a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 30]</span>chest a large tabby cat, whilst the other placed a +fine cock on the deck. It was a cock with the true Gaelic spirit: before +the cat had time to consider the situation it had sprung on its back. +The cat beat a hasty retreat into the arms of its protector, who +replaced it under his coat. Once in safety, it stuck out its head and +swore at the cock, which, perched on a coil of rope, crowed +victoriously.</p> + +<p>Both animals had been the companions of the men whilst in the trenches, +and they were bringing them home.</p> + +<p>A soldier standing near me commenced to grumble because he had not been +able to bring his pet with him. I inquired why he had left it behind, +since the others had brought theirs away with them, and elicited the +information that "his pet was a cow, and therefore somewhat difficult to +<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 31]</span>transport." He seemed rather hurt that I should laugh, and assured me +it was "a noble animal, brown with white spots, and had given himself +and his comrades two quarts of milk a day." He looked disdainfully at +the cock and cat. "They could have left them behind and no one would +have pinched them, whereas I know I'll never see 'Sarah' again—she was +far too useful."</p> + +<p>Entering Vitry-le-François we had a splendid example of the typical +"motto" of the French trooper, "Il ne faut pas s'en faire." One of the +motor-cars had broken down, and the officer-occupants, who were +evidently not on an urgent mission, had gone to sleep on the banks by +the side of the road whilst the chauffeur was making the necessary +repairs. We offered him assistance, but he was progressing quite <a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 32]</span>well +alone. Later on another officer related to me his experience when his +car broke down at midnight some 20 km. from a village. The chauffeur was +making slow headway with the repairs. The officer inquired whether he +really understood the job, and received the reply, "Yes, mon lieutenant, +I think I do; but I am rather a novice, as before the war I was a +lion-tamer!" Apparently the gallant son of Gaul found it easier to tame +lions than to repair motors.</p> + +<p>We left Vitry-le-François at 6 o'clock next morning, and started "the +hunt for generals." It is by no means easy to discover where the actual +Q.G. (Headquarters) of the General of any particular secteur is +situated.</p> + +<p>We were not yet really on the "White Road" to Verdun, and there was +still much <a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 33]</span>to be seen that delighted the eyes. In one yellow cornfield +there appeared to be enormous poppies. On approaching we discovered a +detachment of Tirailleurs from Algiers, sitting in groups, and the +"poppies" were the red fezes of the men—a gorgeous blending of crimson +and gold. We threw a large box of cigarettes to them, and were greeted +with shouts of joy and thanks. The Tirailleurs are the "enfants +terribles" of the French Army. One noble son of Africa who was being +treated in one of the hospitals once presented me with an aluminium ring +made from a piece of German shell. I asked him to make one for one of my +comrades who was working at home, and he informed me that nothing would +have given him greater pleasure, but unfortunately he had no more +aluminium. Later in the day, passing through the ward,<a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 34]</span> I saw him +surrounded by five or six Parisian ladies who were showering sweets, +cigarettes, and flowers on him, whilst he was responding by presenting +each of them with an aluminium ring. When they had left I went to him +and told him, "Mahmud, that was not kind. I asked you for a ring and you +said you had not got any more aluminium." He smiled, and his nurse, who +was passing, added, "No, he had not <i>got</i> any more aluminium, but when +he is better he will <i>get</i> forty-eight hours' punishment; he had been +into the kitchen, stolen one of our best aluminium saucepans, and has +been making souvenirs for the ladies." He made no attempt to justify his +action beyond stating: "Moi, pas si mauvais; toi, pas faux souvenir" ("I +am not so bad; I did not attempt to give you a fake souvenir").<a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 35]</span></p> + +<p>Another of our chocolate-coloured patients found in the grounds of the +hospital an old umbrella. Its ribs stuck out and it was full of holes, +but it gave him the idea of royalty, and daily he sat up in bed in the +ward with the umbrella unfurled whilst he laid down the law to his +comrades. The nurses endeavoured to persuade him to hand it over at +night. He obstinately refused, insisting that "he knew his comrades," +and he feared that one of them would certainly steal the treasure, so he +preferred to keep it in the bed with him.</p> + +<p>At Villers-le-Sec we came upon the headquarters of the cooks for that +section of the front. The cook is one of the most important men in a +French regiment; he serves many ends. When carrying the food through the +communicating trenches to the front-line trenches, he is always supposed +<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 36]</span>to bring to the men the latest news, the latest tale which is going the +round of the camp, and anything that may happen to interest them. If he +has not got any news he must manufacture and produce some kind of story. +It is really necessary for him to be not only a cook but also an author.</p> + +<p>There is a tale going the round of the French Army how one section of +the cooks, although unarmed, managed to take some twenty German +prisoners. As they went on their way, they saw the Germans in the +distance approaching them; the head cook quietly drew the field-kitchens +behind a clump of trees and bushes, placed his men in a row, each with a +cooking utensil in his hand, and as the Germans passed shouted to them +to surrender. The sun fell on the handles of the saucepans, causing them +to shine like bayonets, and the Germans, taken <a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 37]</span>unawares, laid down +their arms. The head cook then stepped out and one by one took the +rifles from the enemy and handed them to his men. It was only when he +had disarmed the Germans and armed his comrades that he gave the signal +for them to step out, and the Germans saw that they had been taken by a +ruse. One can imagine the joy of the French troops in the next village, +when, with a soup-ladle in his hand, his assistants armed with German +rifles, followed by the soup-kitchen and twenty prisoners, he marched in +to report.</p> + +<p>It is curious to note how near humour is to tragedy in war, and how +quick-wittedness may serve a useful purpose and even save life. A young +French medical student told me that he owed his life to the quick wit of +the women of a village and the sense of humour of a Saxon officer. +Whilst passing <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 38]</span>from one hospital to another, he was captured by a small +German patrol, and in spite of his papers, proving that he was attached +to the Red Cross Service, he was tried as a spy and condemned to be +shot. At the opening of his trial the women had been interested +spectators; towards the end all of them had vanished. He was placed +against a barn door, the firing squad lined up, when from behind the +hedge bordering a wood the women began to bombard the soldiers with +eggs. The aim was excellent—not one man escaped; the German officer +laughed at the plight of his men and, in the brief respite accorded, the +young man dashed towards the hedge and vanished in the undergrowth. The +Germans fired a few shots, but there was no organised attempt to follow +him, probably because their own position was not too secure. He <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 39]</span>was +loath to leave the women to face the music, but they insisted that it +was "Pour la Patrie," and that they were quite capable of taking care of +themselves. Later he again visited the village, and the women told him +that beyond obliging them to clean the soldiers' clothes thoroughly, the +German officer had inflicted no other punishment upon them.</p> + +<p>A certain number of inhabitants are still living in the village of +Revigny. You see everywhere placards announcing "Caves pour 25," "Caves +pour 100," and each person knows to which cellar he is to go if a Taube +should start bombing the village. I saw one cellar marked "120 persons, +specially safe, reserved for the children." Children are one of the most +valuable assets of France, and a good old Territorial <i>Pè-père</i> (Daddy), +as they are nicknamed, <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 40]</span>told me that it was his special but difficult +duty to muster the children directly a Taube was signalled, and chase +them down into the cellar. Mopping his brow, he assured me that it was +not easy to catch the little beggars, who hid in the ruins, behind the +army wagons, anywhere to escape the "parental" eye. It is needless to +add they consider it a grave infringement of their personal liberty and +think that they should be allowed to remain in the open and see all that +goes on, just as the little Londoners beg and coax to be allowed to stay +up "to see the Zepps."</p> + +<p>Passing the railway-station, we stopped to make some inquiries, and +promptly ascertained all we wished to know from the chef de gare.</p> + +<p>In the days of peace there is in France no one more officious than the +station-master <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 41]</span>of a small but prosperous village. Now he is the meekest +of men. Braided cap in hand, he goes along the train from carriage door +to carriage door, humbly requesting newspapers for the wounded in the +local hospitals. "Nous avons 125 blessés ici, cela les fait tant de +plaisir d'avoir des nouvelles" ("We have 125 wounded here, and oh! how +they love to have the latest news").</p> + +<p>In addition to levying a toll on printed matter, he casts a covetous and +meaning glance on any fruit or chocolate that may be visible. Before the +train is out of the station, you can see the once-busy and in his own +opinion all-important railway official vanishing down the road to carry +his spoils to his suffering comrades. Railway travelling is indeed +expensive in France. No matter what time of day or <a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 42]</span>night, wet or fine, +the trains are met at each station by devoted women who extract +contributions for the Red Cross funds from the pockets of willing +givers. It is only fair to state, however, that in most instances the +station-master gets there first.</p> + +<p>From the time we left Revigny until we had passed into the Champagne +country, upon the return journey from Verdun, we no longer saw a green +tree or a blade of green grass; we were now indeed upon the "White Road +which leads into Verdun." Owing to an exceptionally trying and dry +summer the roads are thick with white dust. The continual passing of the +<i>camions</i>, the splendid transport-wagons of the French Army, carrying +either food, munitions, or troops, has stirred up the dust and coated +the fields, trees, and hedges with a thick layer of white. It is almost +as <a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 43]</span>painful to the eyes as the snow-fields of the Alps.</p> + +<p>I saw one horse that looked exactly like a plaster statuette. His master +had scrubbed him down, but before he dried the white dust had settled on +him everywhere. Naturally "humans" do not escape. By the time our party +reached the headquarters of General Pétain, we had joined the White +Brigade. I excused myself to the General, who smilingly replied, "Why +complain, mademoiselle? You are charming; your hair is powdered like a +marquise." The contrast with what had been a black fur cap on what was +now perfectly white hair justified his compliment.</p> + +<p>I have never been renowned in my life for fear of any individual, but I +must admit that I passed into the presence of General Pétain with a +great deal of respect <a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 44]</span>amounting almost to awe. The defence of Verdun +through the bitter months of February and March by General Pétain, a +defence which is now under the immediate control of his able +lieutenants, General Nivelle and General Dubois, has earned the respect +and admiration of the whole world. It is impossible not to feel the +deepest admiration for these men who have earned such undying glory, not +only for themselves, but for their Motherland.</p> + +<p>No one could have been more gracious and kind than General Pétain, and +in his presence one realised the strength and power of France.</p> + +<p>Throughout all the French Headquarters one is impressed by the perfect +calm that reigns; no excitement—not even a paper on the Generals' +desks—everything perfectly organised.<a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 45]</span></p> + +<p>General Pétain asked me at once to tell him what I desired. I asked his +permission to go to Rheims. He at once took up a paper which permitted +me to enter the war zone, and endorsed it with the request to General +Debeney in Rheims to allow me to penetrate with my companions into the +city. He then turned to me again and asked me with a knowing smile if +that was all I required—for his headquarters were hardly on the direct +road to Rheims! I hesitated to express my real wish, when my good +counsellor and friend, with whom I was making the journey, the +Commandant Jean de Pulligny, answered for me—"I feel sure it would be a +great happiness and honour if you would allow us, General, to go to +Verdun." General Pétain appeared slightly surprised, and turning to me, +asked, "Do you thoroughly realise the <a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 46]</span>danger? You have crossed the +Atlantic and faced submarines, but you will risk more in five minutes in +Verdun than in crossing the Atlantic a thousand times." However, seeing +that I was really anxious to go, and that it might be of great service +to me in my future work to have seen personally the defence of Verdun, +he added smilingly: "Well, then, you can go if you wish, at your own +risk and peril." He then telephoned to General Nivelle the necessary +permission for us to enter Verdun.</p> + +<p>I doubt whether General Pétain realises the respect in which he is held +in all the civilised countries of the world. Probably he does not yet +understand that people would come thousands of miles to have five +minutes' audience with him, for he inquired if we were in any hurry to +continue our journey, and added with charm<a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 47]</span>ing simplicity—"Because if +not, and you do not mind waiting an hour, I shall be glad if you will +lunch with me."</p> + +<p>We lunched with General Pétain and his état-major. A charming and most +interesting addition to the party was M. Forain, the famous French +caricaturist, and now one of the chief instructors of the French Army in +the art of <i>camouflage</i>—the art of making a thing look like anything in +the world except what it is! He has established a series of schools all +along the French front where the <i>poilus</i> learn to bedeck their guns and +thoroughly disguise them under delicate shades of green and yellow, with +odd pink spots in order to relieve the monotony. Certainly the +appearance of the guns of the present time would rejoice the heart and +soul of the "Futurists." It was most interesting to hear him describe +<a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 48]</span>the work in detail and the rapidity with which his pupils learned the +new art. For one real battery there are probably three or four false +ones, beautiful wooden guns, etc., etc., and he told us of the <i>poilus'</i> +new version of the song "Rien n'est plus beau que notre Patrie" +("Nothing is more beautiful than our country "). They now sing "Rien +n'est plus faux que notre batterie" ("Nothing is more false than our +battery").</p> + +<p>It was M. Forain who coined the famous phrase "that there was no fear +for the ultimate success of the Allies, if only the civilians held out!"</p> + +<p>I was much amused at M. Forain's statement that he had already heard +that a company had been formed for erecting, after the war, wooden +hotels on the battlefields of France for the accommodation of +<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 49]</span>sightseers. Not only was it certain that these hotels were to be built, +but the rooms were already booked in advance.</p> + +<p>It was strange to find there, within the sound of the guns—sometimes +the glasses on the table danced to the music, although no one took any +notice of that—surrounded by men directing the operations of the war +and of one of the greatest battles in history, how little war was +mentioned. Science, philosophy, and the work of women were discussed.</p> + +<p>The men of France are taking deep interest in the splendid manner in +which the women of all the different nations are responding to the call +to service. I described to General Pétain the work of the Scottish +Women's Hospitals. These magnificent hospitals are organised and staffed +entirely by women, and started, in the first instance, <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 50]</span>by the National +Union of Women's Suffrage (Scottish Branch). He was deeply interested to +learn that what had been before the war a political society, had, with +that splendid spirit of patriotism which had from the first day of the +war animated every man, woman, and child of Great Britain, drawn upon +its funds and founded the hospital units. I explained to him that it was +no longer a question of politics, but simply a case of serving humanity +and serving it to the best possible advantage. The National Union had +realised that this was a time for organised effort on the part of all +women for the benefit of the human race and the alleviation of +suffering.</p> + +<p>I spoke of the bravery of our girls in Siberia; how many of them had +laid down their lives during the typhus epidemic; how cheerfully they +had borne hardships, our <a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 51]</span>doctors writing home that their tent hospitals +were like "great white birds spreading their wings under the trees," +whereas really they had often been up all night hanging on to the +tent-poles to prevent the tents collapsing over their patients.</p> + +<p>A member of the État-Major asked how we overcame the language +difficulty. I pointed out that to diagnose typhus and watch the progress +of the patient it was not necessary to speak to him, and that by the +magic language of sympathy we managed to establish some form of +"understanding" between the patients, the doctors, and the nurses.</p> + +<p>The members of our staff were chosen as far as possible with a knowledge +of French or German, and it was possible to find many Serbians speaking +either one of these languages. We also found interpreters <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 52]</span>amongst the +Austrian prisoner orderlies. These prisoner orderlies had really proved +useful and had done their best to help us. Naturally they had their +faults. One of our lady doctors had as orderly a Viennese professor, +willing, but somewhat absent-minded. One morning she sent for him and +asked him, "Herr Karl, can you tell me what was wrong with my bath water +this morning?" "I really don't know, Fräulein, but I will endeavour to +find out."</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later he returned, looking decidedly guilty, and stammered +out: "I do not know how to tell you what happened to that bath water." +"Nonsense!—it can't be very terrible," replied Doctor X; "what was +wrong?" "Well, Fräulein, when I went into the camp kitchen this morning +there were two cauldrons there—one was your bath water, and the other +was the <a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 53]</span>camp soup; to you, Fräulein, I brought the camp soup."</p> + +<p>We who had worked with the Serbians had learned to respect and admire +them for their patriotism, courage, and patient endurance. We felt that +their outstanding characteristic was their imagination, which, turned +into the proper channels and given a chance to develop, should produce +for the world not only famous painters and poets, but also great +inventors. This vivid imagination is found in the highest and lowest of +the land. To illustrate it, I told my neighbour at table a tale related +to me by my good friend Dr. Popovic. "Two weary, ragged Serbian soldiers +were sitting huddled together waiting to be ordered forward to fight. +One asked the other, 'Do you know how this war started, Milan? You +don't?—well then, I'll tell you. The<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 54]</span> Sultan of Turkey sent our King +Peter a sack of rice. King Peter looked at the sack, smiled, then took a +very small bag and went into his garden and filled it with red pepper. +He sent the bag of red pepper to the Sultan of Turkey. Now, Milan, you +can see what that meant. The Sultan of Turkey said to our Peter, 'My +army is as numerous as the grains of rice in this sack,' and by sending +a small bag of red pepper to the Sultan our Peter replied, 'My army is +not very numerous, but it is mighty hot stuff.'"</p> + +<p>Many members of the units of the Scottish Women's Hospitals who had been +driven out of Serbia at the time of the great invasion had asked to be +allowed to return to work for the Serbians, and we were now equipping +fresh units entirely staffed by women to serve with the Serbian Army, +besides having at the present time the <a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 55]</span>medical care of 6,000 Serbian +refugees on the island of Corsica.</p> + +<p>General Pétain said, smiling, that before the war he had sometimes +thought of women "as those who inspired the most beautiful ideas in men +and prevented them from carrying them out," but the war, he added, had +certainly proved conclusively the value of women's work.</p> + +<p>M. Forain expressed the desire to visit the chief French hospital of the +Scottish women at the Abbaye de Royaumont. The General laughingly told +him, "You do not realise how stern and devoted to duty these ladies are. +I wonder if you would be permitted to visit them?"</p> + +<p>I consoled M. Forain by pointing out that surely as Chief Camoufler +(Disguiser) of the French Army he could disguise himself as a model of +virtue (<i>de se camoufler en<a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 56]</span> bon garçon</i>). Certainly this son of France, +who has turned his brilliant intellect and his art to the saving of +men's lives, would be welcome anywhere and everywhere. I hastened to +assure him that I was only teasing him, and added that I only teased the +people I admired and liked. General Pétain immediately turned to the +Commandant de Pulligny—"Please remark that she has not yet teased me."</p> + +<p>"Probably because she fears to do it, and has too much respect for you," +replied the Commandant.</p> + +<p>"Fears! I do not think we need talk of that just now, when she dares to +go to Verdun."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/mem1.jpg"><img src="./images/mem1-tb.jpg" alt="Menu, Merteler, Cantinier" title="Menu, Merteler, Cantinier" /></a></div> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/signatures.png"><img src="./images/signatures-tb.jpg" alt="Signed Note" title="Signed Note" /></a></div> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/menu.png"><img src="./images/menu-tb.jpg" alt="Menu" title="Menu" /></a></div> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/note.png"><img src="./images/note-tb.jpg" alt="Handwritten Note" title="Handwritten Note" /></a></div> + + +<p>Whilst at coffee after lunch the news came of the continued advance of +the British troops. General Pétain turned to me and said: "You must +indeed be proud in<a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 57]</span><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 58]</span><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 59]</span><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 60]</span><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 61]</span><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 62]</span> England of your new army. Please tell your +English people of our admiration of the magnificent effort of England. +The raising and equipping of your giant army in such a short time was +indeed a colossal task. How well it was carried out all the world now +knows, and we are reaping the harvest."</p> + +<p>The General's Chief of Staff added: "Lord Kitchener was right when he +said the war would last three years—the first year preparation, the +second year defence, and the third year ... <i>cela sera rigolo</i>—it will +be huge sport." He quoted the phrase as Lord Kitchener's own.</p> + +<p>Before we left the General signed for me the menu of the lunch, pointing +out to me, however, that if I were at any time to show the menu to the +village policeman, I must assure him that the hare which figured thereon +had been run over at night by a <a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 63]</span>motor-car and lost its life owing to an +accident, otherwise he might, he feared, be fined for killing game out +of season!</p> + +<p>I shall always remember the picture of General Pétain seeing us into our +car with his parting words, "You are about to do the most dangerous +thing you have ever done or will ever do in your life. As for Verdun, +tell them in England that I am smiling, and I am sure that when you see +General Nivelle you will find him smiling too. That is the best answer I +can give you as to how things are going with us at Verdun." Then with a +friendly wave of his hand we passed on our way.</p> + +<p>After leaving the headquarters of General Pétain we were held up for +some time at a level crossing and watched the busy little train puffing +along, carrying towards Verdun stores, munitions, and men. This <a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 64]</span>level +crossing had been the scene of active fighting; on each side were +numerous graves, and the sentinels off duty were passing from one to the +other picking a dead leaf or drawing a branch of trailing vine over the +resting-places of their comrades.</p> + +<p>Above our heads circle <i>les guêpes</i>, the wasps of the French Army. They +had been aroused by the appearance of a Taube and were preparing to +sting, had the Taube waited or made any further attempt to proceed over +the French lines. However, deciding that discretion was the better part +of valour, it turned and fled. It is unwise, however, to stir up the +"wasps of France"; they followed it, and later in the day we heard that +it had been brought down near Verdun.</p> + +<p>We were now in the centre of activity of the army defending Verdun. On +every <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 65]</span>hand we saw artillery-parks, ammunition-parks, and regiments +resting, whilst along the road a long line of <i>camions</i> passed +unceasingly. During the whole length of my stay on the French front I +only saw one regiment marching. Everywhere the men are conveyed in the +<i>camions</i>, and are thus spared the fatigue which would otherwise be +caused by the intense heat and the white dust. There are perhaps only +two things that can in any way upset the perfect indifference to +difficulties of the French trooper: he hates to walk, and he refuses to +be deprived of his <i>pinard</i>. The men of the French army have named their +red wine <i>pinard</i>, just as they call water <i>la flotte</i>, always, however, +being careful to add that <i>la flotte</i> is excellent "for washing one's +feet."</p> + +<p>As we passed through the headquarters of General Nivelle, he sent down +word to us <a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 66]</span>not to wait to call on him then, but to proceed at once to +Verdun, as later the passage would become more difficult. He kindly sent +down to us one of the officers of his staff to act as escort. The +officer sat by our chauffeur, warning him of the dangerous spots in the +road which the Germans had the habit of "watering" from time to time +with <i>marmites</i>, and ordering him to put on extra speed. Our speed along +the road into Verdun averaged well over a mile a minute.</p> + +<p>Within range of the German guns, probably not more than four or five +kilometres from Verdun, we came on a line of men waiting their turn to +go into the cinema. After all, there was no reason <i>de s'en faire</i>, and +if they were alive they decided they might as well be happy and amused. +Just before entering the gate of Verdun we <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 67]</span>passed a number of +ambulances, some of them driven by the American volunteers. These young +Americans have displayed splendid heroism in bringing in the wounded +under difficult conditions. Many of them have been mentioned in +dispatches, and have received from France the Croix de Guerre. I also +saw an ambulance marked "Lloyd's."</p> + +<p>It would be useless to pretend that one entered Verdun without emotion. +Verdun, sorely stricken, yet living, kept alive by the indomitable soul +of the soldiers of France, whilst her wounds are daily treated and +healed by the skill of her Generals. A white city of desolation, +scorched and battered, yet the brightest jewel in the crown of France's +glory; a shining example to the world of the triumph of human resistance +and the courage of men. A city of strange <a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 68]</span>and cruel sounds—the short, +sharp bark of the '75's, the boom of the death-dealing enemy guns, the +shrieks of the shells and the fall of masonry parting from houses to +which it had been attached for centuries, whilst from the shattered +window-frames the familiar sprite of the household looked ever for the +children who came no longer across the thresholds of the homes. Verdun +is no longer a refuge for all that is good and beautiful and tender, and +so the sounds of the voices of children and of birds are heard no more. +Both have flown; the children were evacuated with the civilians in the +bitter months of February and March, and the birds, realising that there +is no secure place in which to nest, have deserted not only Verdun but +the whole of the surrounding district.</p> + +<p>We proceeded to a terrace overlooking <a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 69]</span>the lower part of the town and +witnessed a duel between the French and German artillery. The Germans +were bombarding the barracks of Chevert, and from all around the French +guns were replying. It was certainly a joy to note that for one boom of +a German cannon there were certainly ten answers from the French guns. +The French soldiers off duty should have been resting in the caves and +dug-outs which have been prepared for them, but most of them were out on +the terraces in different parts of the city, smoking and casually +watching the effect of the German or of their own fire. I inquired of +one <i>poilu</i> whether he would be glad to leave Verdun, and he laughingly +replied: "One might be worse off than here. This is the time of year +that in peace times I should have been staying in the country with my +mother-in-law."<a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 70]</span></p> + +<p>There is no talk of peace in Verdun. I asked one of the men when he +thought the war would end. "Perfectly simple to reply to that, +mademoiselle: the war will end the day that hostilities cease."</p> + +<p>I believe that the Germans would not be sorry to abandon the siege of +Verdun. In one of the trench newspapers I saw the following verse:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Verdun holds you"> +<tr><td align='left'>Boches, à l'univers votre zèle importun<br /> +Fait des 'communiqués' dont personne n'est dupe.<br /> +Vous dites: "Nos soldats occuperont Verdun.<br /> +Jusqu'ici c'est plutôt Verdun qui les <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original text missing ending quotation mark">occupe."</ins><br /><br /> +(You say that you soon will hold Verdun,<br /> +Whilst really Verdun holds you.)</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>We left the car and climbed through the ruined streets to the top of the +citadel. No attempt has been made to remove any of the furniture or +effects from the demolished houses. In those houses from which only <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 71]</span>the +front had been blown away the spoons and forks were in some instances +still on the table, set ready for the meal that had been interrupted.</p> + +<p>From windows lace curtains and draperies hung out over the fronts of the +houses. Everywhere shattered doors, broken cupboards, drawers thrown +open where the inhabitants had thought to try to save some of their +cherished belongings but had finally fled, leaving all to the care of +the soldiers, who protect the property of the inhabitants as carefully +as if it were their own.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult to find finer custodians. I was told that at +Bobigny-près-Bourget there is on one of the houses the following +inscription worthy of classical times:</p> + +<p>"The proprietor of this house has gone to the war. He leaves this +dwelling to the <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 72]</span>care of the French. Long live France." And he left the +key in the lock.</p> + +<p>The soldiers billeted in the house read the inscription, which met with +their approval, and so far each regiment in passing had cleaned out the +little dwelling and left it in perfect order.</p> + +<p>From the citadel we went down into the trenches which led to the lines +at Thiaumont. The heat in the city was excessive, but in the trenches it +was delightfully cool, perhaps a little too cool. We heard the men make +no complaints except that at times the life was a little "monotonous"! +One man told me that he was once in a trench that was occupied at the +same time by the French and the Germans. There was nothing between them +but sandbags and a thick wall of clay, and day and night the French +watched that wall. One day a <a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 73]</span>slight scratching was heard. The men +prepared to face the crumbling of the barrier when through a small hole +popped out the head of a brown rabbit. Down into the trench hopped Mrs. +Bunny, followed by two small bunnies, and although rabbit for lunch +would have improved the menu, the men had not the heart to kill her. On +the contrary, they fed her on their rations, and at night-fall she +departed, followed by her progeny.</p> + +<p>From all the dug-outs heads popped out, and the first movement of +surprise at seeing a woman in the trenches turned to a smile of delight, +since the <i>poilu</i> is at all times a chivalrous gentleman. One man was +telling me of the magnificent work that had been accomplished by his +"compagnie." I congratulated him and told him he must be happy to be in +such a company. He <a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 74]</span>swept off his iron casque, bowed almost to the +ground, and answered: "Certainly I am happy in my company, mademoiselle, +but I am far happier in yours."</p> + +<p>The principal grief of the <i>poilus</i> appeared to be that a shell two or +three days before had destroyed the store of the great <i>dragée</i> (sugared +almond) manufactory of Verdun. Before leaving, the manufacturer had +bequeathed his stock to the army, and they were all regretting that they +had not been greedier and eaten up the <i>dragées</i> quicker.</p> + +<p>In the trenches near Verdun, as in the trenches in Flanders, you find +the men talking little of war, but much of their homes and their +families. I came once upon a group of Bretons. They had opened some tins +of sardines and, sitting around a bucket of blazing coals, they were +toasting the fish on the ends of small twigs. I asked <a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 75]</span>them why they +were wasting their energies, since the fish were ready to be eaten +straight from the tins. "We know," they replied; "but it smells like +home." I suppose with the odour of the cooking fish, in the blue haze of +the smoke, they saw visions of their cottages and the white-coiffed +Bretonnes frying the fresh sardines that they had caught.</p> + +<p>The dusk was now falling, and, entering the car, we proceeded towards +the lower part of the town at a snail's pace in order not to draw the +German fire. We were told that at the present time approximately one +hundred shells a day still fall on Verdun, but at the time of the great +attack the number was as high as eight hundred, whilst as many as two +hundred thousand shells fell daily in and around Verdun.</p> + +<p>Just before we reached the entrance to the citadel, the enemy began to +shell the city, and one of the shells exploded within two hundred feet +of the car. We knew that we were near the entrance to the vaults of the +citadel and could take refuge, so we left the car and proceeded on foot. +Without thinking, we walked in the centre of the road, and the sentinel +at the door of the citadel began in somewhat emphatic French to +recommend us to "longer les murs" (to hug the walls tightly). The +Germans are well aware of the entrance to the citadel and daily shell +the spot. If one meets a shell in the centre of the road it is obviously +no use to argue, whilst in hugging the side of the wall there is a +possibility of only receiving the fragments of the bursting shell.</p> + +<p>The subterranean galleries of the citadel <a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 76]</span>of Verdun were constructed by +Vauban, and are now a hive of activity—barbers' shops, sweet shops, +boot shops, hospitals, anything and everything which goes to make up a +small city.</p> + +<p>One of the young officers placed his "cell" at our disposal. The long +galleries are all equipped with central heating and electric light, and +some of them have been divided off by wooden partitions or curtains like +the dormitories in a large school. In the "cell" allocated to us we +could see the loving touch of a woman's hand. Around the pillow on the +small camp-bed was a beautiful edging of Irish lace, and on the +dressing-table a large bottle of eau-de-Cologne. There is no reason to +be too uncomfortable in Verdun when one has a good little wife to think +of one and to send presents from time to time.<a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 77]</span></p> + +<p>Emerging from the galleries we met General Dubois, a great soldier and a +kindly man, one who shares the daily perils of his men. The General +invited us to remain and dine with him. He had that day received from +General Nivelle his <i>cravate</i> as Commander of the Legion of Honour, and +his officers were giving him a dinner-party to celebrate the event. "See +how kind fate is to me," he added. "Only one thing was missing from the +feast—the presence of the ladies—and here you are."</p> + +<p>It would need the brush of Rembrandt to paint the dining-hall in the +citadel of Verdun. At one long table in the dimly lighted vault sat +between eighty and ninety officers, who all rose, saluted, and cheered +as we entered. The General sat at the head of the table surrounded by +his staff, and behind him the faces of the cooks were lit <a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 78]</span>up by the +fires of the stoves. Some short distance behind us was an air-shaft. It +appears that about a week or a fortnight before our arrival a German +shell, striking the top part of the citadel, dislodged some dust and +gravel which fell down the air-shaft on to the General's head. He simply +called the attendants to him and asked for his table to be moved forward +a yard, as he did not feel inclined to sit at table with his helmet on.</p> + +<p>An excellent dinner—soup, roast mutton, fresh beans, salade Russe, +frangipane, dessert—and even champagne to celebrate the General's +<i>cravate</i>—quite reassured us that people may die in Verdun of shells +but not of hunger. We drank toasts to France, the Allies, and, silently, +to the men of France who had died that we might live. I was asked to +propose the health of the<a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 79]</span> General, and did it in English, knowing that +he spoke English well. I told him that the defenders of Verdun would +live in our hearts and memories, that on behalf of the whole British +race I felt I might convey to him congratulations on the honour paid to +him by France. I assured him that we had but one idea and one hope, the +speedy victory of the Allied arms, and that personally my present desire +was that every one of those present at table might live to see the flag +of France waving over the whole of Alsace-Lorraine. They asked me to +repeat a description of the flag of France which I gave first in Ottawa; +so there, in the citadel of Verdun with a small French flag before me, I +went back in spirit to Ottawa and remembered how I had spoken of the +triumph of the flag of France: "The red, white, and blue—the <a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 80]</span>red of +the flag of France a little deeper hue than in time of peace, since it +was dyed with the blood of her sons, the blood in which a new history of +France is being written, volume on volume, page on page, of deeds of +heroism, some pages completed and signed, others where the pen has +dropped from the faltering hands and which posterity must needs finish. +The white of the flag of France, not quite so white as in time of peace, +since thousands of her sons had taken it in their hands and pressed it +to their lips before they went forward to die for it, yet without stain, +since in all the record of the war there is no blot on the escutcheon of +France. And the blue of the flag of France, true blue, torn and tattered +with the marks of the bullets and the shrapnel, yet unfurling proudly in +the breeze whilst the very holes were patched <a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 81]</span>by the blue of the sky, +since surely Heaven stands behind the flag of France."</p> + +<p>The men of Verdun were full of admiration for the glorious Commander of +the Fort de Vaux. They told me that the fort was held, or rather the +ruins of the fort, until the Germans were actually on the top and firing +on the French beneath.</p> + +<p>I discussed with my neighbour the fact that the Germans had more hatred +for us than for the French. He said the whole world would ridicule the +Germans for the manner in which they had exploited the phrase "Gott +strafe England," writing it even on the walls anywhere and everywhere. +He added laughingly that it should not worry the English comrades. "When +they read 'Gott strafe England,' all they needed to reply was 'Ypres, +Ypres—Hurrah!'"</p> + +<p>He told me that he had been stationed <a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 82]</span>for some time with his regiment +near the English troops, and there had been loud lamentations among the +<i>poilus</i> because they had been obliged to say good-bye to their English +comrades. He added that the affection was not entirely disinterested. +The English comrades had excellent marmalade and jam and other good +things which they shared with their French brothers, who, whilst +excellently fed, do not indulge in these luxuries. He told me a +delightful tale of a French cook who, seeing an English soldier standing +by, began to question him as to his particular branch of the service, +informing him that he himself had had an exceedingly busy morning +peeling potatoes and cleaning up the pots and pans. After considerable +conversation he inquired of the English comrade what he did for his +living. "Oh," replied <a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 83]</span>the Englishman, "I get my living fairly +easily—nothing half so strenuous as peeling potatoes. I am just a +colonel."</p> + +<p>The clean-shaven Tommy is the beloved of all France. I remember seeing +one gallant khaki knight carrying the market-basket of a French maiden +and repaying himself out of her store of apples. I regret to say his +pockets bulged suspiciously. Whilst at a level crossing near by, the old +lady in charge of the gate had an escort of "Tommies" who urged her to +let the train "rip." This was somewhat ironical in view of the fact that +the top speed in that part of the war zone was probably never more than +ten miles an hour.</p> + +<p>Tommy is never alone. The children have learned that he loves their +company, and he is always surrounded by an escort of youthful admirers. +The children like to <a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 84]</span>rummage in his pockets for souvenirs. He must +spend quite a good deal of his pay purchasing sweets, so that they may +not be disappointed and that there may be something for his little +friends to find. I remember seeing one Tommy, sitting in the dusty road +with a large pot of marmalade between his legs, dealing out spoonfuls +with perfect justice and impartiality to a circle of youngsters. He +speaks to them of his own little "nippers" at home, and they in turn +tell him of their father who is fighting, of their mother who now works +in the fields, and of baby who is fearfully ignorant, does not know the +difference between the French and the "Engleesch," and who insisted on +calling the great English General who had stayed at their farm "papa." +It matters little that they cannot understand each other, and it does +not in the least <a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 85]</span>prevent them from holding lengthy conversations.</p> + +<p>I told my companion at table that whilst visiting one of the hospitals +in France I had heard how one Englishman had been sent into a far +hospital in Provence by mistake. He was not seriously injured, and +promptly constituted himself king of the ward. On arrival, he insisted +on being shaved. As no shaving-brush was available, the <i>piou-piou</i> in +the next bed lathered him with his tooth-brush. The French cooking did +not appeal to him, and he grumbled continuously. The directress of the +hospital sent her own cook from her château to cater for Mr. Atkins. An +elaborate menu was prepared. Tommy glanced through it, ordered +everything to be removed, and commanded tea and toast. Toast-making is +not a French art, and the château chef <a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 86]</span>was obliged to remain at the +hospital and spend his time carefully preparing the toast and seeing +that it was served in good condition. When Mr. Atkins felt so disposed, +he would summon a <i>piou-piou</i> to give him a French lesson, or else +request the various inmates of the ward to sing to him. He would in turn +render that plaintive ditty "Down by the Old Bull and Bush." A nurse who +spoke a little English translated his song to the French soldiers. +Whilst not desiring to criticise the <i>rendez-vous</i> selected by their +<i>camarade anglais</i>, they did not consider that "près d'un vieux taureau" +(near an old bull) was a safe or desirable meeting-place. When I +explained to the nurse that "The Bull and Bush" was a kind of <i>cabaret</i>, +she hastened from ward to ward to tell the men that after all the +Englishman might have selected a <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 87]</span>worse spot to entertain his girl. He +was at once the joy and the despair of the whole hospital, and the nurse +had much trouble in consoling the patients when "our English" was +removed.</p> + +<p>When Tommy indulges in the use of the French language, he abbreviates it +as much as possible.</p> + +<p>One hot summer's day, driving from Boulogne to Fort Mahon, halfway down +a steep hill we came upon two Tommies endeavouring to extract a +motor-cycle and a side-car from a somewhat difficult position. They had +side-slipped and run into a small tree. The cycle was on one side and +the side-car on the other, and a steel rod between had been rammed right +into the wood through the force of the collision.</p> + +<p>My three companions and myself endeavoured to help the men to pull out +the <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 88]</span>rod, but the united efforts of the six of us proved unavailing. We +hailed a passing cart and tied the reins around the motor-cycle, but +immediately the horse commenced to pull the leather of the reins +snapped. Behind the cart walked a peasant. Only one adjective can +possibly describe him—he was decidedly "beery." He made no attempt to +help, but passed from one Tommy to the other, patting them on their +backs, assuring them "that with a little goodwill all would be well." +There was a dangerous glint in the younger Tommy's eye, but in the +presence of ladies he refrained from putting his thoughts into words. +Finally, his patience evaporating, he suddenly turned on the peasant and +shouted at him, "Ong, ong." It took me some time to grasp that this was +Tommy's abbreviated version of "Allez-vous en"<a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 89]</span> ("Clear out"). In any +event it proved quite useless, as he continued to pat the Tommies +affectionately and to bombard them with impracticable suggestions.</p> + +<p>We were joined later by three villagers, two gendarmes and a postman, +and all pulling together we managed to extract the rod from the tree. A +large lorry was passing, and on to it we heaved the wreckage. Up +clambered the Tommies followed by their unwelcome friend, who managed to +sit on the only unbroken portion of the side-car. This was too much for +Messrs. Atkins' equanimity. Limp with laughter, we watched them pass +from sight amidst a chorus of "Ong, ong," followed by flights of oratory +in the English tongue which do not bear repeating, but which were +received by the peasant as expressions of deep esteem and to which he +replied by endeavouring <a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 90]</span>to kiss the Tommies and shouting, "Vive +l'Angleterre! Allright! Hoorah!"</p> + +<p>Our guiding officer began to show some signs of anxiety to have us leave +before ten o'clock, but the good-byes took some time. Presents were +showered upon us—German <i>dragées</i> (shell heads and pieces of shrapnel) +and the real French <i>dragées</i>, the famous sweet of Verdun.</p> + +<p>We crept out of the city, but unfortunately at one of the dangerous +cross-roads our chauffeur mistook the route. A heavy bombardment was +taking place, and the French were replying. We were lucky enough to get +on to the route and into safety before any shell fell near us. It +appears that the Germans systematically bombard the roads at night, +hoping to destroy the <i>camions</i> bringing up the food for the city, fresh +munitions, and men.<a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 91]</span></p> + +<p>We slept that night at Bar-le-Duc and next morning saw the various +ambulances and hospitals which the Service de Santé had particularly +requested me to visit. I was impressed by the splendid organisation of +the Red Cross even quite close to the firing-line.</p> + +<p>Passing through one tent hospital, an Algerian called out to me:</p> + +<p>"Ohé, la blonde, viens ici! J'ai quelque chose de beau à te montrer" +("Come here, fair girl, I have something pretty to show you").</p> + +<p>He was sitting up in bed, and, as I approached, unbuttoned his +bed-jacket and insisted on my examining the tag of his vest, on which +was written, "Leader, London." The vest had come in a parcel of goods +from the London Committee of the French Red Cross, and I only wished +that the angel of goodness and tenderness <a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 92]</span>who is the Presidente of the +Croix Rouge, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original text missing fullstop/period">Mme.</ins> de la Panouse, and that Mr. D.H. Illingworth, Mr. +Philip Wilkins, and all her able lieutenants, could have seen the +pleasure on the face of this swarthy defender of France. In the next bed +was a Senegalais who endeavoured to attract my attention by keeping up a +running compliment to my compatriots, my King, and myself. He must have +chanted fifty times: "Vive les English, Georges, et toi!" He continued +even after I had rewarded him with some cigarettes. The Senegalais and +the Algerians are really great children, especially when they are +wounded. I have seen convalescent Senegalais and Algerians in Paris +spend hours in the Champs Elysées watching the entertainment at the +open-air marionette theatre. The antics of the dolls kept them amused. +They are admitted to <a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 93]</span>the enclosure free, and there is no longer any +room for the children who frequented the show in happier days. These +latter form a disconsolate circle on the outside, whilst the younger +ones, who do not suffer from colour prejudice, scramble on to the knees +of the black soldiers.</p> + +<p>The sister in charge was a true daughter of the "Lady of the Lamp." +Provided they are really ill, she sympathises with all the grumblers, +but scolds them if they have reached the convalescent stage. She carries +a small book in which she enters imaginary good points to those who have +the tables by their beds tidy, and she pinned an invisible medal on the +chest of a convalescent who was helping to carry trays of food to his +comrades. She is indeed a General, saving men for France.</p> + +<p>Not a man escaped her attention, and as <a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 94]</span>we passed through the tents she +gave to each of her "chers enfants"—black or white—a cheering smile or +a kindly word. She did, however, whilst talking to us omit to salute a +Senegalais. Before she passed out of the tent he commenced to call after +her, "Toi pas gentille aujourd'hui—moi battre toi" ("You are not good +to me to-day—me beat you"). This, it appears, is his little joke—he +will never beat anyone again, since he lost both his arms when his +trench was blown up by a land mine.</p> + +<p>It was at Triancourt that I first saw in operation the motor-cars that +had been sent out fitted with bath tubs for the troops, and also a very +fine car fitted up by the London Committee of the French Red Cross as a +moving dental hospital.</p> + +<p>I regret to add that a <i>poilu</i> near by disrespectfully referred to it as +"another of the <a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 95]</span>horrors of war," adding that in times of peace there +was some kind of personal liberty, where as now "a man could not have +toothache without being forced to have it ended, and that there was no +possibility of escaping a dentist who hunted you down by motor."</p> + +<p>It was suggested that, as I had had a touch of toothache the night +before, I might take my place in the chair and give an example of +British pluck to the assembled <i>poilus</i>. I hastened to impress on the +surgeon that I hated notoriety and would prefer to remain modestly in +the background. I even pushed aside with scorn the proffered bribe of +six "boche" buttons, assuring the man that "I would keep my toothache as +a souvenir."</p> + +<p>At one of the hospitals, beside the bed of a dying man, sat a little old +man writing <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 96]</span>letters. They told me that before the war he had owned the +most flourishing wine-shop in the village. He had fled before the +approach of the German troops, but later returned to his village and +installed himself in the hospital as scribe. He wrote from morning until +night, and watching him stretching his lean old hands, I asked him if he +suffered much pain from writer's cramp. He looked at me almost +reproachfully before answering, "Mademoiselle, it is the least I can do +for my country; besides my pain is so slight and that of the comrades is +so great. I am proud, indeed proud, that at sixty-seven years of age I +am not useless."</p> + +<p>At one hospital I was shown a copy of the last letter dictated by a +young French officer, and I asked to be allowed to copy it—it was +indeed a letter of a "chic" type.<a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 97]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot">"<span class="smcap">Chers Parrain et Marraine</span>, + +<p>"Je vous écris à vous pour ne pas tuer Maman qu'un pareil coup +surprendrait trop.</p> + +<p>"J'ai été blessé le ... devant.... J'ai deux blessures hideuses et je +n'en aurai pas pour bien longtemps. Les majors ne me le cachent même +pas.</p> + +<p>"Je pars sans regret avec la conscience d'avoir fait mon devoir.</p> + +<p>"Prévenez donc mes parents le mieux que vous pourrez; qu'ils ne +cherchent pas à venir, ils n'en auraient pas le temps.</p> + +<p>"Adieu vous tous que j'aimais.</p> + +<div class='center'> +"<span class="smcap">Vive la France</span>!"<br /><br /> +</div></div> + + +<div class="blockquot">"<span class="smcap">Dear Godfather and Godmother</span>, + +<p>"I am writing to you, so as not to kill mother, whom such a shock would +surprise too much. I was wounded on the ... at.... I have two terrible +wounds and I <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 98]</span>cannot last long. The surgeons do not even attempt to +conceal this from me. I go without regret, with the consciousness of +having done my duty. Kindly break the news to my parents the best way +you can; they should not attempt to come because they would not have +time to reach me before the end.</p> + +<p>"Farewell to all you whom I have loved.</p> + +<div class='center'> +"<span class="smcap">Long live France</span>!"<br /><br /> +</div></div> + + +<p>Whilst loving his relatives tenderly, the last thought of the dying +Frenchman is for his country. Each one dies as a hero, yet not one +realises it. It would be impossible to show greater simplicity; they +salute the flag for the last time, and that is all.</p> + +<p>From <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Triaucourt'">Triancourt</ins> we went straight to the headquarters of General Nivelle. +They had just brought him the maps rectified to <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 99]</span>mark the French +advance. The advance had been made whilst we were standing on the +terrace at Verdun the night before. We had seen the rockets sent up, +requesting a <i>tir de barrage</i> (curtain of fire). The '75's had replied +at once and the French had been able to carry out the operation.</p> + +<p>Good news had also come in from the Somme, and General Nivelle did not +hesitate to express his admiration for the British soldiers.</p> + +<p>He said that there was no need to praise the first troops sent by +Britain to France—everyone knew their value; but it should be a great +satisfaction to Britain to find that the new Army was living up to the +traditions of the old Army.</p> + +<p>He added: "We can describe the new army of Britain in two words: '<i>Ça +mord</i>'—it bites."<a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 100]</span></p> + +<p>The Father of his own men, it is not surprising that General Nivelle +finds a warm corner in his heart for the British Tommy, since his mother +was an Englishwoman.</p> + +<p>At lunch General Nivelle and the members of his staff asked many +questions as to the work of the Scottish Women's Hospitals. I told them +that what appealed to us most in our French patients was the perfect +discipline and the gratitude of the men. We are all women in the +hospitals, and the men might take advantage of this fact to show want of +discipline, but we never had to complain of lack of obedience. These +soldiers of France may some of them before the war have been just rough +peasants, eating, drinking, and sleeping, even having thoughts not akin +to knighthood; but now, through the ordeal of blood and fire, each one +of them has won his spurs and come <a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 101]</span><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 102]</span><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 103]</span><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 104]</span><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 105]</span>out a chivalrous knight, and +they bring their chivalry right into the hospitals with them. We had +also learned to love them for their kindness to one another. When new +wounded are brought in and the lights are low in the hospital wards, +cautiously watching if the nurse is looking (luckily nurses have a way +of not seeing everything), one of the convalescents will creep from his +bed to the side of the new arrival and ask the inevitable question: +"D'où viens-tu?" ("Where do you come from?"). "I come from Toulouse," +replies the man. "Ah!" says the inquirer, "my wife's grandmother had a +cousin who lived near Toulouse." That is quite a sufficient basis for a +friendship; the convalescent sits by the bedside of his new comrade, +holding the man's hand whilst his wounds are being dressed, telling him +he knows of the pain—that he, too, <a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 106]</span>has suffered, and that soon all +will be well.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/menu2.png"><img src="./images/menu2-tb.jpg" alt="Menu, 27 Juillet" title="Menu, 27 Juillet" /></a></div> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/note2.png"><img src="./images/note2-tb.jpg" alt="Note by General Nivelle" title="Note by General Nivelle" /></a></div> + +<p>Lions to fight, ever ready to answer to the call of the defence of their +country, yet these men of France are tender and gentle. In one hospital +through which I passed there was a baby. It was a military hospital, and +no civilian had any right there, but the medical officers who inspected +the hospital were remarkably blind—none of them could ever see the +baby. One of the soldiers passing through a bombarded village saw a +little body lying in the mud, and although he believed the child to be +dead, he stooped down and picked it up. At the evacuating station the +baby and the soldier were sent to the hospital together; the doctors +operated upon the baby and took a piece of shrapnel from its back, and +once well and strong it constituted itself <a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 107]</span>lord and master and king of +all it surveyed. When it woke in the morning it would call "Papa," and +twenty fathers answered to its call. All the pent-up love of the men for +their own little ones from whom they had been parted for so long they +lavished on the tiny stranger, but all his affection and his whole heart +belonged to the rough miner-soldier who had brought him in. As the +shadows fell one saw the man walking up and down the ward with the child +in his arms, crooning the Marseillaise until the tired little eyes +closed. He had obtained permission from the authorities to adopt the +child, as the parents could not be found, and remarked humorously: +"Mademoiselle, it is so convenient to have a family without the trouble +of being married!"</p> + +<p>What we must remember is that the <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 108]</span>rough soldier, himself blinded with +blood and mud, uncertain whether he could ever reach a point of safety, +yet had time to stoop and pick that little flower of France and save it +from being crushed beneath the <i>camion</i> wheels. I told General Nivelle +that the hospital staff intended to keep the child for the soldier until +the end of the war, and we all hoped that he might grow up to the glory +of France and to the eternal honour of the tender-hearted fighter who +had rescued him.</p> + +<p>After lunch we stood for some time watching the unending stream of +<i>camions</i> proceeding into Verdun. I believe it has been stated that on +the average one passed through the village every fifteen seconds, and +that there are something like twelve thousand motor vehicles used in the +defence of Verdun. The splendid condition <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 109]</span>of the roads and the absence +of all confusion in the handling of this immense volume of traffic is a +great tribute to the organising genius of the chiefs of the French Army.</p> + +<p>We left General Nivelle, as General Pétain predicted we should find +him—smiling.</p> + +<p>We slept that night at Epernay, in the heart of the Champagne district. +The soil of France is doing its best to keep the vines in perfect +condition and to provide a good vintage to be drunk later to celebrate +the victory of France and her Allies.</p> + +<p>The keeping of the roads in good condition is necessary for the rapid +carrying out of operations on the front, and a "marmite" hole is +promptly filled if by a lucky shot the German batteries happen to tear +up the roadway. We were proceeding casually along one road when a young +<a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 110]</span>officer rode up to us and told us to put on speed because we were under +fire from a German battery which daily landed one or two shells in that +particular portion of the roadway. It is wonderful how obedient one +becomes at times! We promptly proceeded to hasten!</p> + +<p>After visiting General <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Debency'">Debeney</ins> and obtaining from him the necessary +authorisation and an officer-escort, we entered Rheims.</p> + +<p>The cathedral is now the home of pigeons, and as they fly in and out of +the blackened window-frames, small pieces of the stained glass tinkle +down on to the floor. The custodian of the cathedral told us that during +the night of terror the German wounded, lying in the cathedral, not +realising the strength and beauty of the French character under +adversity, feared, seeing the <a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 111]</span>cathedral in flames, that the populace +might wreak vengeance on them, and it was exceedingly difficult to get +them to leave the cathedral. Many of the prisoners fled into corners and +hid, and some of them even penetrated into the palace of the Archbishop, +which was in flames. All the world knows and admires the bravery of the +curé of the cathedral, M. Landrieux, who took upon himself the defence +of the prisoners, for fear insults might be hurled at them. He knowingly +risked his life; but when, next day, some of his confrères endeavoured +to praise him, he replied: "My friends, I never before realised how easy +it is to die."</p> + +<p>One of the churches in the city was heavily draped in black, and I asked +the sacristan if they had prepared for the funeral of a prominent +citizen. He told <a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 112]</span>me that they were that day bringing home the body of a +young man of high birth of the neighbourhood, but that it was not for +him that the church was decked in mourning. The draperies had hung there +since August 1914—"Since every son of Rheims who is brought home is as +noble as the one who comes to-day, and alas! nearly every day brings us +one of our children."</p> + +<p>We lunched in the hotel before the cathedral, where each shell-hole has +an ordinary white label stuck beside it with the date. The landlord +remarked: "If you sit here long enough, and have the good luck to be in +some safe part of the building, you may be able to go and stick a label +by a hole yourself."</p> + +<p>After lunch we went out to the Château Polignac. To a stranger it would +appear to be almost entirely destroyed, but when<a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 113]</span> M. de Polignac visited +it recently he simply remarked that it was "less spoilt than he had +imagined." This was just one other example of the thousands one meets +daily of the spirit of noble and peasant <i>de ne pas s'en faire</i>, but to +keep only before them the one idea, Victory for France, no matter what +may be the cost.</p> + +<p>We went later to call on the "'75," <i>chez elle</i>. Madame was in a +particularly comfortable home which had been prepared for her and where +she was safe from the inquisitive eyes of the Taubes. The men of the +battery were sitting round their guns, singing a somewhat lengthy ditty, +each verse ending with a declamation and a description of the beauty of +"la belle Suzanne." I asked them to whom Suzanne belonged and where the +fair damsel resided. "Oh," they replied, "we <a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 114]</span>have no time to think of +damsels called 'Suzanne' now. This is our Suzanne," and the speaker +affectionately gave an extra rub with his coat-sleeve to the barrel of +the "'75."</p> + +<p>By a wonderful system of trench work it is possible for the gunners, in +case of necessity, to take refuge in the champagne-vaults in the +surrounding district, and it is in the champagne-vaults that the +children go daily to school, with their little gas-masks hanging in bags +on their arms. It appears that at first the tiny ones were frightened of +the masks, but they soon asked to be also given a sack, like their +elders, and now one and all have learnt at the least alarm to put on +their masks. There is no need to tell the children to hurry home. They +realise that it is not wise to loiter in the streets for fear of the +whistling shells. They are <a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 115]</span>remarkably plucky, these small men and women +of France.</p> + +<p>During one furious bombardment the children were safe in the vaults, but +one small citizen began to cry bitterly. He was reproached by his +comrades for cowardice, but he replied indignantly: "I fear nothing for +myself—I am safe here; but there is no cellar to our house, and oh! +what will happen to the little mother?" The teacher reassured him by +telling him that his mother would certainly take refuge in somebody +else's cellar.</p> + +<p>On leaving Rheims we passed through various small hamlets where the +houses had been entirely destroyed, and which now had the appearance of +native villages, as the soldiers had managed to place thatched roofs on +any building which had a semblance of walls standing.<a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 116]</span></p> + +<p>At Villars Côterets the Garde Champêtre sounded the "Gare à Vous!" Four +Taubes were passing overhead, so we took refuge in the hotel for tea. +The enemy did no damage in that particular village, but in the next +village of Crêpy-en-Valois a bomb killed one child and injured five +women.</p> + +<p>At his headquarters next morning I had the honour of being received by +the Generalissimo Joffre, and telling him of the admiration and respect +which we felt for him and for the magnificent fighting spirit of the +troops under his able command. He replied modestly by speaking of the +British Army. He referred to the offensive on the Somme, and said, "You +may well be proud of your young soldiers—they are excellent soldiers, +much superior to the Germans in every way, a most admirable infantry; +they attack the Germans hand to hand <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 117]</span>with grenades or with the bayonet, +and push them back everywhere; the Germans have been absolutely +<i>stupefied</i> to find such troops before them." The General then paid a +tribute to the Canadian and Australian troops, and told me that that day +the Australians had taken new territory, adding, "And not only have they +taken it, but like their British and Canadian brothers, what they take +they will hold."</p> + +<p>I explained to General Joffre that, whilst I was not collecting +autographs, I had with me the menu of the dinner in the citadel at +Verdun, and that it would give me great pleasure to have his name added +to the signatures already on that menu. All the signatures were on one +side, so I turned the menu over in order to offer him a clear space, but +he turned it back again, saying: "Please let me sign on this side; I +find <a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 118]</span>myself in good company with the defenders of Verdun."</p> + +<p>At departing he said to me: "We may all be happy now, since certainly we +are on the right side of the hill" ("Nous sommes sur la bonne pente").</p> + +<p>In case this little story should fall into the hands of any woman who +has spent her time working for the men at the front, I would like to +tell her the great pleasure it is to them to receive parcels, no matter +what they contain. Fraternity and Equality reign supreme in the +trenches, and the man counts himself happy who receives a little more +than the others, since he has the joy and the pleasure of sharing his +store of good things with his comrades. There is seldom a request made +to the French behind the lines that they do not attempt to fulfil. I +remember last winter, <a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 119]</span>passing through a town in the provinces, I +noticed that the elderly men appeared to be scantily clad in spite of +the bitterness of the weather. It appeared that the call had gone forth +for fur coats for the troops, and all the worthy citizens of the town +forwarded to the trenches their caracul coats. Only those who are well +acquainted with French provincial life can know what it means to them to +part with these signs of opulence and commercial success.</p> + +<p>It is perhaps in the post-offices that you find yourself nearest to the +heart of "France behind the lines."</p> + +<p>One morning I endeavoured to send a parcel to a French soldier; I took +my place in a long line of waiting women bound on the same errand. A +white-haired woman before me gave the post-office clerk infinite +trouble. They are not renowned for their <a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 120]</span>patience, and I marvelled at +his gentleness, until he explained: "Her son died five weeks ago, but +she still continues to send him parcels."</p> + +<p>To another old lady he pointed out that she had written two numbers on +the parcel. "You don't want two numbers, mother. Which is your boy's +number?—tell me, and I will strike out the other."</p> + +<p>"Leave them both," she answered. "Who knows whether my dear lad will be +there to receive the parcel? If he is not, I want it to go to some other +mother's son."</p> + +<p>Affection means much to these men who are suffering, and they respond at +once to any sympathy shown to them. One man informed us with pride that +when he left his native village he was "decked like an altar of the +Blessed Virgin on the first of May." In other words, covered with +flowers.<a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 121]</span></p> + +<p>There are but few lonely soldiers now, since those who have no families +to write to them receive letters and parcels from the godmothers who +have adopted them. The men anxiously await the news of their adopted +relatives, and spend hours writing replies. They love to receive +letters, but needless to say a parcel is even more welcome.</p> + +<p>I remember seeing one man writing page after page. I suggested to him +that he must have a particularly charming godmother. "Mademoiselle," he +replied, "I have no time for a godmother since I myself am a godfather." +He then explained that far away in his village there was a young +assistant in his shop, "And God knows the boy loves France, but both his +lungs are touched, so they won't take him, but I write and tell him that +the good God has <a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 122]</span>given me strength for two, that I fight for him and +for myself, and that we are both doing well for France." I went back in +imagination to the village, I could see the glint in the boy's eyes, +realised how the blood pulsed quicker through his veins at the sight of, +not the personal pronoun "I" in the singular, but the plural "We are +doing well for France": for one glorious moment he was part of the hosts +of France and in spirit serving his Motherland. It is that spirit of the +French nation that their enemies will never understand.</p> + +<p>On one occasion a young German officer, covered with mud from head to +foot, was brought before one of the French Generals. He had been taken +fighting cleanly, and the General was anxious to show him kindness. He +asked him if he would not prefer to cleanse himself before examina<a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 123]</span>tion. +The young German drew himself up and replied: "Look at me, General; I am +covered from head to foot with mud, and that mud is the soil of France. +You will never possess as much soil in Germany." The General turned to +him with that gentle courtesy which marks the higher commands in France, +and answered: "Monsieur, we may never possess as much soil in Germany; +but there is something that you will never possess, and, until you +conquer it, you cannot vanquish France, and that is the spirit of the +French people."</p> + +<p>The French find it difficult to understand the arrogance which appears +ingrained in the German character, and which existed before the war.</p> + +<p>I read once that in the Guest-book of a French hotel a Teutonic visitor +wrote:<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 124]</span></p> + +<p>"L'Allemagne est la première nation du monde."</p> + +<p>The next French visitor merely added:</p> + +<p>"Yes, 'Allemagne' is the first country of the world—if we take them in +alphabetical order."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I left the war-zone with an increased respect, if this were possible, +for the men of France. They have altered their uniforms, but the spirit +is unchanged. They are no longer in the red and blue of the old days, +but in shades of green, grey, and blue, colours blending to form one +mighty ocean—wave on wave of patriotism—beating against and wearing +down the rocks of military preparedness of forty years, and as no man +has yet been able to say to the ocean "Stop," so no man shall cry "Halt" +to the armies of France.<a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 125]</span></p> + +<p>I have spoken much of the men of France, but the women have also earned +our respect—those splendid peasant-women who even in times of peace +worked and now carry a double burden on their shoulders; the +middle-class women, endeavouring to keep together the little business +built up by the man with years of toil, stinting themselves to save five +francs to send a parcel to the man at the front that he may not suspect +that there is not still every comfort in the little homestead; the noble +women of France, who in past years could not be seen before noon, since +my lady was at her toilette, but who can be seen now, their hands +scratched and bleeding, kneeling on the floors of the hospitals +scrubbing, proud and happy to take their part in national service. The +men owe much of their courage to the attitude of the women <a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 126]</span>who stand +behind them, turning their tears to smiles to urge their men to even +greater deeds of heroism.</p> + +<p>In one of our hospitals was a young lad of seventeen, who had managed to +enlist as an "engagé volontaire" by lying as to his age. His old mother +came to visit him, and she told me he was the last of her three +sons—the two elder ones had died the first week of the war at +Pont-Mousson, and her little home had been burned to the ground. The boy +had spent his time inventing new and terrible methods of dealing with +the enemy, but with his mother he became a child again, and tenderly +patted the old face. Seeing the lad in his mother's arms, and forgetting +for one moment the spirit of the French nation, I asked her if she would +not be glad if her boy was so wounded that she might take him home. She +was <a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 127]</span>only an old peasant-woman, but her eyes flashed, her cheeks flushed +with anger, and turning to me she said: "Mademoiselle, how dare you say +such a thing to me? If all the mothers, wives, and sweethearts thought +as you, what would happen to the country? Gustave has only one thing to +do, get well quickly and fight for Mother France."</p> + +<p>Because these women of France have sent their men forth to die, eyes +dry, with stiff lips and head erect, do not think that they do not mourn +for them. When night casts her kindly mantle of darkness over all, when +they are hidden from the eyes of the world, it is then that the proud +heads droop and are bent upon their arms, as the women cry out in the +bitterness of their souls for the men who have gone from them. Yet they +realise that behind them stands the greatest <a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 128]</span>mother of all, Mother +France, who sees coming towards her, from all frontiers, line on line of +ambulances with their burden of suffering humanity, yet watches along +other routes her sons going forth in thousands, laughter in their eyes, +songs on their lips, ready and willing to die for her. France draws +around her her tattered and blood-stained robe, yet what matters the +outer raiment? Behind it shines forth her glorious, exultant soul, and +she lifts up her head rejoicing and proclaims to the world that when she +appealed, man, woman, and child—the whole of the French +nation—answered to her Call.</p> + + +<div class='center'><i>Printed in Great Britain by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., <br />London and +Aylesbury.</i></div> + + +<div class='tnote'><h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber's Notes:</span></h3> + +<p>' was used for raised dots on all "'75's"</p> + +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. +Scroll your mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHITE ROAD TO VERDUN***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 16945-h.txt or 16945-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/4/16945">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/4/16945</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The White Road to Verdun + + +Author: Kathleen Burke + + + +Release Date: October 25, 2005 [eBook #16945] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHITE ROAD TO VERDUN*** + + +E-text prepared by Irma Spehar, Emmy, and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 16945-h.htm or 16945-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/4/16945/16945-h/16945-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/4/16945/16945-h.zip) + + Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive: + Canadian Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/whiteroadverdun00burkuoft + + + + + +THE WHITE ROAD TO VERDUN + +by + +KATHLEEN BURKE + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Frontispiece.] + + + + +Hodder and Stoughton +London New York Toronto +Printed in Great Britain by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and +Aylesbury + +MCMXVI + + + + +TO + +DR. C.O. MAILLOUX + +(NEW YORK) + +MR. AND MRS. L.B. FRANKLIN + +AND + +JEANNETTE FRANKLIN + +AND TO MY + +MOTHER + +WHO BY THEIR AFFECTION AND PRACTICAL + +SYMPATHY HELPED ME IN ALL THE + +WORK I HAVE UNDERTAKEN. + + + + 10th August, 1916. + +We left Paris determined to undertake the journey to the front in the +true spirit of the French _poilu_, and, no matter what happened, "_de ne +pas s'en faire_." + +This famous "motto" of the French Army is probably derived from one of +two slang sentences: "De ne pas se faire des cheveux" ("To keep one's +hair on"), or "De ne pas se faire de la bile" (or, in other words, not +to upset one's digestion by unnecessary worrying). The phrase is typical +of the mentality of the _poilu_, who accepts anything and everything +that may happen, whether it be merely slight physical discomfort or +intense suffering, as part of the willing sacrifice which he made on the +day that, leaving his homestead and his daily occupation, he took up +arms "offering his body as a shield to defend the Heart of France." + +Everything might be worse than it is, says the _poilu_, and so he has +composed a litany. Every regiment has a different version, but always +with the same fundamental basis: + +"Of two things one is certain: either you're mobilised or you're not +mobilised. If you're not mobilised, there is no need to worry; if you +are mobilised, of two things one is certain: either you're behind the +lines or you're on the front. If you're behind the lines, there is no +need to worry; if you're on the front, of two things one is certain: +either you're resting in a safe place or you're exposed to danger. If +you're resting in a safe place, there is no need to worry; if you're +exposed to danger, of two things one is certain: either you're wounded +or you're not wounded. If you're not wounded, there is no need to worry; +if you are wounded, of two things one is certain: either you're wounded +seriously or you're wounded slightly. If you're wounded slightly, there +is no need to worry; if you're wounded seriously, of two things one is +certain: either you recover or you die. If you recover, there is no need +to worry; if you die, you can't worry." + +When once past the "Wall of China," as the French authorities call the +difficult approaches of the war zone, Meaux was the first town of +importance at which we stopped. + +We had an opportunity to sample the army bread, as the driver of a +passing bread-wagon flung a large round loaf into our motor. + +According to all accounts received from the French soldiers who are in +the prison-camps of Germany, one of the greatest hardships is the lack +of white bread, and they have employed various subterfuges in the +endeavour to let their relatives know that they wish to have bread sent +to them. Some of the Bretons writing home nicknamed bread "Monsieur +Barras," and when there was a very great shortage they would write to +their families: "Ce pauvre Monsieur Barras ne se porte pas tres bien a +present." Finally, the Germans discovered the real significance of M. +Barras, and they added to one of the letters: "Si M. Barras ne se porte +pas tres bien a present, c'est bien la faute de vos amis les Anglais" +("If M. Barras is not very fit, it is the fault of your friends the +English"), and from then all the letters referring to M. Barras were +strictly suppressed. + +While the German Press may not be above admitting a shortage of food in +Germany, it seriously annoys the Army that the French prisoners or the +French in the invaded regions should hear of it. I heard one story of +the wife of a French officer in Lille who was obliged to offer unwilling +hospitality to a German captain, who, in a somewhat clumsy endeavour to +be amiable, offered to try to get news of her husband and to convey it +to her. Appreciating the seeming friendliness of the captain, she +confided to him that she had means of communicating with her husband who +was on the French front. The captain informed against her, and the next +day she was sent for by the Kommandantur, who imposed a fine of 50 frs. +upon her for having received a letter from the enemy lines. Taking a +100-fr. note from her bag, she placed it on the desk, saying, "M. le +Kommandantur, here is the 50 frs. fine, and also another 50 frs. which I +am glad to subscribe for the starving women and children in Berlin." + +"No one starves in Berlin," replied the Kommandantur. + +"Oh, yes, they do," replied Madame X. "I know, because the captain who +so kindly informed you that I had received a letter from my husband +showed me a letter the other day from his wife, in which she spoke of +the sad condition of the women and children of Germany, who, whilst not +starving, were far from happy." Thus she not only had the pleasure of +seriously annoying the Kommandantur, but also a chance to get even with +the captain who had informed against her, and who is no longer in soft +quarters in Lille, but paying the penalty of his indiscretion by a +sojourn on the Yser. + +The bridge at Meaux, destroyed in the course of the German retreat, has +not yet been entirely repaired. Beneath it rushes the Marne, and the +river sings in triumph, as it passes, that it is carrying away the soil +that has been desecrated by the steps of the invader and that day by day +it is washing clean the land of France. + +In the fields where the corn is standing, the tiny crosses marking the +last resting-places of the men are entirely hidden; but where the grain +has been gathered, the graves stand out distinctly, marked not only by a +cross, but also by the tall bunches of corn which have been left growing +on these small patches of holy ground. It has always been said that +France has two harvests each year. Certainly in the fields of the Marne +there is not only the harvest of bread--there is also springing up the +harvest of security and peace. + +The peasants as they point out the graves always add: "We of the people +know that those men sacrificed their lives that our children might live. +Those who have died in vain for an unjust cause may well envy the men of +France who have poured out their blood for the benefit of humanity." + +Looking on the crosses on the battlefield of the Marne, I realised to +the fullest extent the sacrifices, borne with such bravery, of the women +of France. I thought of the picture I had seen in Paris of a group of +mothers standing at the foot of Calvary, looking out over the fields of +small black crosses, lifting their hands to Heaven, with the words--"We +also, God, have given our sons for the peace of the world." + +At Montmirail the real activity of the war zone first became apparent. +We drew the car to the side of the road and waited whilst a long +procession of empty munition-wagons passed on the way back from the +munition-parks near the fighting-line. There was a smile on the face of +every one of the drivers. Each of them had the satisfaction of knowing +that there was no chance of his returning with an empty wagon, as there +is no lack of provisions to feed the hungriest of the "75's" or any of +her larger sisters. + +The fact that it is known that there is an ample supply of munitions +plays an important part in the "moral" of the troops. The average +_poilu_ has no sympathy with the man who grumbles at the number of hours +he may have to work. We heard the tale of a munition-worker who was +complaining in a cafe at having to work so hard. A _poilu_ who was _en +permission_ and who was sitting at the next table, turned to him, +saying, "You have no right to grumble: you receive 10 to 12 francs a day +for making shells, and we poor devils get 5 sous a day for stopping +them!" + +We lunched in the small but hospitable village of Sezanne, in company +with a most charming invalided officer who informed us that he was the +principal in that district of the S.D.R.D.R. (Service de Recherche des +Rattiers) (the Principal Recruiting Officer for Rat-catchers). In other +words, he is spending his time endeavouring to persuade suitable +"bow-wows" to enlist in the service of their country. Likely dogs are +trained until they do not bark, and become entirely accustomed to the +sound of firing; they are then pronounced "Aptes a faire campagne," or +"Fit for service," receive their _livret militaire_, or +certificates--for not every chance dog is allowed in the trenches--and +are dispatched to the trenches on a rat-hunting campaign. + +From Sezanne we proceeded direct to the new camp for German prisoners at +Cannantre. The prisoners were mostly men who had been taken in the +recent fighting on the Somme or round Verdun. The camp was already +excellently installed, and the prisoners were busy in groups gardening, +making bread, or sitting before great heaps of potatoes, preparing them +for the evening meal. The German sense of order was everywhere in +evidence. In the long barracks where the men slept the beds were tidy, +and above each bed was a small shelf, each shelf arranged in exactly +the same order, the principal ornaments being a mug, fork, and spoon; +and just as each bed resembled each other bed, so the fork and spoon +were placed in their respective mugs at exactly the same angle. There +were small partitioned apartments for the noncommissioned officers. The +French Commander of the camp told us that the German love of holding +some form of office was everywhere apparent. The French made no attempt +to command the prisoners themselves, but always chose men from amongst +the prisoners who were placed in authority over their comrades. The +prisoners rejoiced exceedingly and promptly increased in self-importance +and, alas! decreased in manners, if they were given the smallest +position which raised them above the level of the rest of the men. + +In the barrack where they were cutting up bread for the prisoners, we +asked the men if they deeply regretted their captivity. They replied +unanimously that they were "rather glad to be well fed," which seemed an +answer in itself. They did not, however, appreciate the white bread and +stated that they preferred their own black bread. The French officers +commanding the camp treat the prisoners as naughty children who must be +"kept in the corner" and punished for their own good. In all my travels +through France I have never seen any bitterness shown towards the +prisoners. I remember once at Nevers we passed a group of German +prisoners, and amongst them was a wounded man who was lying in a small +cart. A handbag had fallen across his leg, and none of his comrades +attempted to remove it. A French woman, pushing her way between the +guards, lifted it off and gave it to one of the Germans to carry. When +the guards tried to remonstrate, she replied simply, "J'ai un fils +prisonnier la-bas, faut esperer qu'une allemande ferait autant pour lui" +("I have a son who is a prisoner in their land, let us hope that some +German woman will do as much for him"). + +On the battlefields the kindness of the French medical men to the German +wounded has always been conspicuous. One of my neutral friends passing +through Germany heard from one of the prominent German surgeons that +they were well aware of this fact, and knew that their wounded received +every attention. There is a story known throughout France of a French +doctor who was attending a wounded German on the battlefield. The man, +who was probably half delirious, snatched at a revolver which was lying +near by and attempted to shoot the doctor. The doctor took the revolver +from him, patted him on the head, and said, "Voyons, voyons, ne faites +pas l'enfant" ("Now then, now then, don't be childish"), and went on +dressing his wounds. + +Everywhere you hear accounts of brotherly love and religious tolerance. +I remember kneeling once by the side of a dying French soldier who was +tenderly supported in the arms of a famous young Mohammedan surgeon, an +Egyptian who had taken his degree in Edinburgh and was now attached to +the French Red Cross. The man's mind was wandering, and seeing a woman +beside him he commenced to talk to me as to his betrothed. "This war +cannot last always, little one, and when it is over we will buy a pig +and a cow and we will go to the cure, won't we, beloved?" Then in a +lucid moment he realised that he was dying, and he commenced to pray, +"Ave Maria, Ave Maria," but the poor tired brain could remember nothing +more. He turned to me to continue, but I could no longer trust myself to +speak, and it was the Mohammedan who took up the prayer and continued it +whilst the soldier followed with his lips until his soul passed away +into the valley of shadows. I think this story is only equalled in its +broad tolerance by that of the Rabbi Bloch of Lyons, who was shot at the +battle of the Aisne whilst holding a crucifix to the lips of a dying +Christian soldier. The soldier-priests of France have earned the love +and respect of even the most irreligious of the _poilus_. They never +hesitate to risk their lives, and have displayed sublime courage and +devotion to their duty as priests and as soldiers. Behind the first line +of trenches a soldier-priest called suddenly to attend a dying comrade +took a small dog he was nursing, and handing it to one of the men, +simply remarked, "Take care of the little beast for me; I am going to a +dangerous corner and I do not want it killed." + +I have seen the Mass celebrated on a gun-carriage. Vases made of +shell-cases were filled with flowers that the men had risked their lives +to gather, in order to deck the improvised altar. A Red Cross ambulance +drove up and stopped near by. The wounded begged to be taken out on +their stretchers and laid at the foot of the altar in order that "they +might receive the blessing of the good God" before starting on the long +journey to the hospital behind the lines. + +Outside the prison-camp of Cannantre stood a circle of French soldiers +learning the bugle calls for the French Army. I wondered how the Germans +cared to listen to the martial music of the men of France, one and all +so sure of the ultimate victory of their country. Half a kilometre +farther on, a series of mock trenches had been made where the men were +practising the throwing of hand grenades. Every available inch of space +behind the French lines is made to serve some useful purpose. + +I never see a hand grenade without thinking how difficult it is just now +to be a hero in France. Every man is really a hero, and the men who have +medals are almost ashamed, since they know that nearly all their +comrades merit them. It is especially difficult to be a hero in one's +own family. One of the men in our hospital at Royaumont had been in the +trenches during an attack. A grenade thrown by one of the French +soldiers struck the parapet and rebounded amongst the men. With that +rapidity of thought which is part of the French character, Jules sat on +the grenade and extinguished it. For this act of bravery he was +decorated by the French Government and wrote home to tell his wife. I +found him sitting up in bed, gloomily reading her reply, and I inquired +why he looked so glum. "Well, mademoiselle," he replied, "I wrote to my +wife to tell her of my new honour; and see what she says: 'My dear +Jules, we are not surprised you got a medal for sitting on a hand +grenade; we have never known you to do anything else but sit down at +home!'" + +It was at Fere Champinoise that we passed through the first village +which had been entirely destroyed by the retreating Germans. Only half +the church was standing, but services are still held there every Sunday. +Very little attempt has been made to rebuild the ruined houses. Were I +one of the villagers, I would prefer to raze to the ground all that +remained of the desecrated homesteads and build afresh new dwellings; +happy in the knowledge that with the victory of the Allies would start a +period of absolute security, prosperity, and peace. + +It was on the same day that we had the privilege of beholding some of +the 400-cm. guns of France, all prepared and ready to travel at a +minute's notice along the railway lines to the section where they might +be needed. Some idea of their size may be obtained from the fact that +there were ten axles to the base on which they travel. They were all +disguised by the system of _camouflage_ employed by the French Army, and +at a very short distance they blend with the landscape and become almost +invisible. Each gun bears a different name, "Alsace," "Lorraine," etc., +and with that strange irony and cynical wit of the French trooper, at +the request of the men of one battery, one huge gun has been christened +"Mosquito," "because it stings." + +The French often use a bitter and biting humour in speaking of the +enemy. For instance, amongst the many pets of the men, the strangest I +saw was a small hawk sitting on the wrist of a soldier who had trained +him. The bird was the personification of evil. If anyone approached, he +snapped at them and endeavoured to bite them. I asked the man why he +kept him, and he replied that they had quite good sport in the trenches +when they allowed the hawk to hunt small birds and field-mice. Then, his +expression changing from jovial good-humour to grimness, he added: "You +know, I call him 'Zepp,' because he kills the little ones" ("parcequ'il +tue les tous petits"). + +In one small cantonment where 200 _poilus_ sang, shouted, ate, drank, +and danced together to the strain of a wheezy gramophone, or in one word +were "resting," I started to investigate the various kinds of pets owned +by the troopers. Cats, dogs, and monkeys were common, whilst one _poilu_ +was the proud possessor of a parrot which he had purchased from a +refugee obliged to fly from his home. He hastened to assure us that the +bird had learned his "vocabulary" from his former proprietor. A study +in black and white was a group of three or four white mice, nestling +against the neck of a Senegalais. + +The English Tommy is quite as devoted to animals as is his French +brother. I remember crossing one bitter February day from Boulogne to +Folkestone. Alongside the boat, on the quay at Boulogne, were lined up +the men who had been granted leave. Arrayed in their shaggy fur coats, +they resembled little the smart British Tommy of peace times. It was +really wonderful how much the men managed to conceal under those fur +coats, or else the eye of the officer inspecting them was intentionally +not too keen. + +Up the gangway trooped the men, and I noticed that two of them walked +slowly and cautiously. The boat safely out of harbour, one of them +produced from his chest a large tabby cat, whilst the other placed a +fine cock on the deck. It was a cock with the true Gaelic spirit: before +the cat had time to consider the situation it had sprung on its back. +The cat beat a hasty retreat into the arms of its protector, who +replaced it under his coat. Once in safety, it stuck out its head and +swore at the cock, which, perched on a coil of rope, crowed +victoriously. + +Both animals had been the companions of the men whilst in the trenches, +and they were bringing them home. + +A soldier standing near me commenced to grumble because he had not been +able to bring his pet with him. I inquired why he had left it behind, +since the others had brought theirs away with them, and elicited the +information that "his pet was a cow, and therefore somewhat difficult to +transport." He seemed rather hurt that I should laugh, and assured me +it was "a noble animal, brown with white spots, and had given himself +and his comrades two quarts of milk a day." He looked disdainfully at +the cock and cat. "They could have left them behind and no one would +have pinched them, whereas I know I'll never see 'Sarah' again--she was +far too useful." + +Entering Vitry-le-Francois we had a splendid example of the typical +"motto" of the French trooper, "Il ne faut pas s'en faire." One of the +motor-cars had broken down, and the officer-occupants, who were +evidently not on an urgent mission, had gone to sleep on the banks by +the side of the road whilst the chauffeur was making the necessary +repairs. We offered him assistance, but he was progressing quite well +alone. Later on another officer related to me his experience when his +car broke down at midnight some 20 km. from a village. The chauffeur was +making slow headway with the repairs. The officer inquired whether he +really understood the job, and received the reply, "Yes, mon lieutenant, +I think I do; but I am rather a novice, as before the war I was a +lion-tamer!" Apparently the gallant son of Gaul found it easier to tame +lions than to repair motors. + +We left Vitry-le-Francois at 6 o'clock next morning, and started "the +hunt for generals." It is by no means easy to discover where the actual +Q.G. (Headquarters) of the General of any particular secteur is +situated. + +We were not yet really on the "White Road" to Verdun, and there was +still much to be seen that delighted the eyes. In one yellow cornfield +there appeared to be enormous poppies. On approaching we discovered a +detachment of Tirailleurs from Algiers, sitting in groups, and the +"poppies" were the red fezes of the men--a gorgeous blending of crimson +and gold. We threw a large box of cigarettes to them, and were greeted +with shouts of joy and thanks. The Tirailleurs are the "enfants +terribles" of the French Army. One noble son of Africa who was being +treated in one of the hospitals once presented me with an aluminium ring +made from a piece of German shell. I asked him to make one for one of my +comrades who was working at home, and he informed me that nothing would +have given him greater pleasure, but unfortunately he had no more +aluminium. Later in the day, passing through the ward, I saw him +surrounded by five or six Parisian ladies who were showering sweets, +cigarettes, and flowers on him, whilst he was responding by presenting +each of them with an aluminium ring. When they had left I went to him +and told him, "Mahmud, that was not kind. I asked you for a ring and you +said you had not got any more aluminium." He smiled, and his nurse, who +was passing, added, "No, he had not _got_ any more aluminium, but when +he is better he will _get_ forty-eight hours' punishment; he had been +into the kitchen, stolen one of our best aluminium saucepans, and has +been making souvenirs for the ladies." He made no attempt to justify his +action beyond stating: "Moi, pas si mauvais; toi, pas faux souvenir" ("I +am not so bad; I did not attempt to give you a fake souvenir"). + +Another of our chocolate-coloured patients found in the grounds of the +hospital an old umbrella. Its ribs stuck out and it was full of holes, +but it gave him the idea of royalty, and daily he sat up in bed in the +ward with the umbrella unfurled whilst he laid down the law to his +comrades. The nurses endeavoured to persuade him to hand it over at +night. He obstinately refused, insisting that "he knew his comrades," +and he feared that one of them would certainly steal the treasure, so he +preferred to keep it in the bed with him. + +At Villers-le-Sec we came upon the headquarters of the cooks for that +section of the front. The cook is one of the most important men in a +French regiment; he serves many ends. When carrying the food through the +communicating trenches to the front-line trenches, he is always supposed +to bring to the men the latest news, the latest tale which is going the +round of the camp, and anything that may happen to interest them. If he +has not got any news he must manufacture and produce some kind of story. +It is really necessary for him to be not only a cook but also an author. + +There is a tale going the round of the French Army how one section of +the cooks, although unarmed, managed to take some twenty German +prisoners. As they went on their way, they saw the Germans in the +distance approaching them; the head cook quietly drew the field-kitchens +behind a clump of trees and bushes, placed his men in a row, each with a +cooking utensil in his hand, and as the Germans passed shouted to them +to surrender. The sun fell on the handles of the saucepans, causing them +to shine like bayonets, and the Germans, taken unawares, laid down +their arms. The head cook then stepped out and one by one took the +rifles from the enemy and handed them to his men. It was only when he +had disarmed the Germans and armed his comrades that he gave the signal +for them to step out, and the Germans saw that they had been taken by a +ruse. One can imagine the joy of the French troops in the next village, +when, with a soup-ladle in his hand, his assistants armed with German +rifles, followed by the soup-kitchen and twenty prisoners, he marched in +to report. + +It is curious to note how near humour is to tragedy in war, and how +quick-wittedness may serve a useful purpose and even save life. A young +French medical student told me that he owed his life to the quick wit of +the women of a village and the sense of humour of a Saxon officer. +Whilst passing from one hospital to another, he was captured by a small +German patrol, and in spite of his papers, proving that he was attached +to the Red Cross Service, he was tried as a spy and condemned to be +shot. At the opening of his trial the women had been interested +spectators; towards the end all of them had vanished. He was placed +against a barn door, the firing squad lined up, when from behind the +hedge bordering a wood the women began to bombard the soldiers with +eggs. The aim was excellent--not one man escaped; the German officer +laughed at the plight of his men and, in the brief respite accorded, the +young man dashed towards the hedge and vanished in the undergrowth. The +Germans fired a few shots, but there was no organised attempt to follow +him, probably because their own position was not too secure. He was +loath to leave the women to face the music, but they insisted that it +was "Pour la Patrie," and that they were quite capable of taking care of +themselves. Later he again visited the village, and the women told him +that beyond obliging them to clean the soldiers' clothes thoroughly, the +German officer had inflicted no other punishment upon them. + +A certain number of inhabitants are still living in the village of +Revigny. You see everywhere placards announcing "Caves pour 25," "Caves +pour 100," and each person knows to which cellar he is to go if a Taube +should start bombing the village. I saw one cellar marked "120 persons, +specially safe, reserved for the children." Children are one of the most +valuable assets of France, and a good old Territorial _Pe-pere_ (Daddy), +as they are nicknamed, told me that it was his special but difficult +duty to muster the children directly a Taube was signalled, and chase +them down into the cellar. Mopping his brow, he assured me that it was +not easy to catch the little beggars, who hid in the ruins, behind the +army wagons, anywhere to escape the "parental" eye. It is needless to +add they consider it a grave infringement of their personal liberty and +think that they should be allowed to remain in the open and see all that +goes on, just as the little Londoners beg and coax to be allowed to stay +up "to see the Zepps." + +Passing the railway-station, we stopped to make some inquiries, and +promptly ascertained all we wished to know from the chef de gare. + +In the days of peace there is in France no one more officious than the +station-master of a small but prosperous village. Now he is the meekest +of men. Braided cap in hand, he goes along the train from carriage door +to carriage door, humbly requesting newspapers for the wounded in the +local hospitals. "Nous avons 125 blesses ici, cela les fait tant de +plaisir d'avoir des nouvelles" ("We have 125 wounded here, and oh! how +they love to have the latest news"). + +In addition to levying a toll on printed matter, he casts a covetous and +meaning glance on any fruit or chocolate that may be visible. Before the +train is out of the station, you can see the once-busy and in his own +opinion all-important railway official vanishing down the road to carry +his spoils to his suffering comrades. Railway travelling is indeed +expensive in France. No matter what time of day or night, wet or fine, +the trains are met at each station by devoted women who extract +contributions for the Red Cross funds from the pockets of willing +givers. It is only fair to state, however, that in most instances the +station-master gets there first. + +From the time we left Revigny until we had passed into the Champagne +country, upon the return journey from Verdun, we no longer saw a green +tree or a blade of green grass; we were now indeed upon the "White Road +which leads into Verdun." Owing to an exceptionally trying and dry +summer the roads are thick with white dust. The continual passing of the +_camions_, the splendid transport-wagons of the French Army, carrying +either food, munitions, or troops, has stirred up the dust and coated +the fields, trees, and hedges with a thick layer of white. It is almost +as painful to the eyes as the snow-fields of the Alps. + +I saw one horse that looked exactly like a plaster statuette. His master +had scrubbed him down, but before he dried the white dust had settled on +him everywhere. Naturally "humans" do not escape. By the time our party +reached the headquarters of General Petain, we had joined the White +Brigade. I excused myself to the General, who smilingly replied, "Why +complain, mademoiselle? You are charming; your hair is powdered like a +marquise." The contrast with what had been a black fur cap on what was +now perfectly white hair justified his compliment. + +I have never been renowned in my life for fear of any individual, but I +must admit that I passed into the presence of General Petain with a +great deal of respect amounting almost to awe. The defence of Verdun +through the bitter months of February and March by General Petain, a +defence which is now under the immediate control of his able +lieutenants, General Nivelle and General Dubois, has earned the respect +and admiration of the whole world. It is impossible not to feel the +deepest admiration for these men who have earned such undying glory, not +only for themselves, but for their Motherland. + +No one could have been more gracious and kind than General Petain, and +in his presence one realised the strength and power of France. + +Throughout all the French Headquarters one is impressed by the perfect +calm that reigns; no excitement--not even a paper on the Generals' +desks--everything perfectly organised. + +General Petain asked me at once to tell him what I desired. I asked his +permission to go to Rheims. He at once took up a paper which permitted +me to enter the war zone, and endorsed it with the request to General +Debeney in Rheims to allow me to penetrate with my companions into the +city. He then turned to me again and asked me with a knowing smile if +that was all I required--for his headquarters were hardly on the direct +road to Rheims! I hesitated to express my real wish, when my good +counsellor and friend, with whom I was making the journey, the +Commandant Jean de Pulligny, answered for me--"I feel sure it would be a +great happiness and honour if you would allow us, General, to go to +Verdun." General Petain appeared slightly surprised, and turning to me, +asked, "Do you thoroughly realise the danger? You have crossed the +Atlantic and faced submarines, but you will risk more in five minutes in +Verdun than in crossing the Atlantic a thousand times." However, seeing +that I was really anxious to go, and that it might be of great service +to me in my future work to have seen personally the defence of Verdun, +he added smilingly: "Well, then, you can go if you wish, at your own +risk and peril." He then telephoned to General Nivelle the necessary +permission for us to enter Verdun. + +I doubt whether General Petain realises the respect in which he is held +in all the civilised countries of the world. Probably he does not yet +understand that people would come thousands of miles to have five +minutes' audience with him, for he inquired if we were in any hurry to +continue our journey, and added with charming simplicity--"Because if +not, and you do not mind waiting an hour, I shall be glad if you will +lunch with me." + +We lunched with General Petain and his etat-major. A charming and most +interesting addition to the party was M. Forain, the famous French +caricaturist, and now one of the chief instructors of the French Army in +the art of _camouflage_--the art of making a thing look like anything in +the world except what it is! He has established a series of schools all +along the French front where the _poilus_ learn to bedeck their guns and +thoroughly disguise them under delicate shades of green and yellow, with +odd pink spots in order to relieve the monotony. Certainly the +appearance of the guns of the present time would rejoice the heart and +soul of the "Futurists." It was most interesting to hear him describe +the work in detail and the rapidity with which his pupils learned the +new art. For one real battery there are probably three or four false +ones, beautiful wooden guns, etc., etc., and he told us of the _poilus'_ +new version of the song "Rien n'est plus beau que notre Patrie" +("Nothing is more beautiful than our country "). They now sing "Rien +n'est plus faux que notre batterie" ("Nothing is more false than our +battery"). + +It was M. Forain who coined the famous phrase "that there was no fear +for the ultimate success of the Allies, if only the civilians held out!" + +I was much amused at M. Forain's statement that he had already heard +that a company had been formed for erecting, after the war, wooden +hotels on the battlefields of France for the accommodation of +sightseers. Not only was it certain that these hotels were to be built, +but the rooms were already booked in advance. + +It was strange to find there, within the sound of the guns--sometimes +the glasses on the table danced to the music, although no one took any +notice of that--surrounded by men directing the operations of the war +and of one of the greatest battles in history, how little war was +mentioned. Science, philosophy, and the work of women were discussed. + +The men of France are taking deep interest in the splendid manner in +which the women of all the different nations are responding to the call +to service. I described to General Petain the work of the Scottish +Women's Hospitals. These magnificent hospitals are organised and staffed +entirely by women, and started, in the first instance, by the National +Union of Women's Suffrage (Scottish Branch). He was deeply interested to +learn that what had been before the war a political society, had, with +that splendid spirit of patriotism which had from the first day of the +war animated every man, woman, and child of Great Britain, drawn upon +its funds and founded the hospital units. I explained to him that it was +no longer a question of politics, but simply a case of serving humanity +and serving it to the best possible advantage. The National Union had +realised that this was a time for organised effort on the part of all +women for the benefit of the human race and the alleviation of +suffering. + +I spoke of the bravery of our girls in Siberia; how many of them had +laid down their lives during the typhus epidemic; how cheerfully they +had borne hardships, our doctors writing home that their tent hospitals +were like "great white birds spreading their wings under the trees," +whereas really they had often been up all night hanging on to the +tent-poles to prevent the tents collapsing over their patients. + +A member of the Etat-Major asked how we overcame the language +difficulty. I pointed out that to diagnose typhus and watch the progress +of the patient it was not necessary to speak to him, and that by the +magic language of sympathy we managed to establish some form of +"understanding" between the patients, the doctors, and the nurses. + +The members of our staff were chosen as far as possible with a knowledge +of French or German, and it was possible to find many Serbians speaking +either one of these languages. We also found interpreters amongst the +Austrian prisoner orderlies. These prisoner orderlies had really proved +useful and had done their best to help us. Naturally they had their +faults. One of our lady doctors had as orderly a Viennese professor, +willing, but somewhat absent-minded. One morning she sent for him and +asked him, "Herr Karl, can you tell me what was wrong with my bath water +this morning?" "I really don't know, Fraeulein, but I will endeavour to +find out." + +Ten minutes later he returned, looking decidedly guilty, and stammered +out: "I do not know how to tell you what happened to that bath water." +"Nonsense!--it can't be very terrible," replied Doctor X; "what was +wrong?" "Well, Fraeulein, when I went into the camp kitchen this morning +there were two cauldrons there--one was your bath water, and the other +was the camp soup; to you, Fraeulein, I brought the camp soup." + +We who had worked with the Serbians had learned to respect and admire +them for their patriotism, courage, and patient endurance. We felt that +their outstanding characteristic was their imagination, which, turned +into the proper channels and given a chance to develop, should produce +for the world not only famous painters and poets, but also great +inventors. This vivid imagination is found in the highest and lowest of +the land. To illustrate it, I told my neighbour at table a tale related +to me by my good friend Dr. Popovic. "Two weary, ragged Serbian soldiers +were sitting huddled together waiting to be ordered forward to fight. +One asked the other, 'Do you know how this war started, Milan? You +don't?--well then, I'll tell you. The Sultan of Turkey sent our King +Peter a sack of rice. King Peter looked at the sack, smiled, then took a +very small bag and went into his garden and filled it with red pepper. +He sent the bag of red pepper to the Sultan of Turkey. Now, Milan, you +can see what that meant. The Sultan of Turkey said to our Peter, 'My +army is as numerous as the grains of rice in this sack,' and by sending +a small bag of red pepper to the Sultan our Peter replied, 'My army is +not very numerous, but it is mighty hot stuff.'" + +Many members of the units of the Scottish Women's Hospitals who had been +driven out of Serbia at the time of the great invasion had asked to be +allowed to return to work for the Serbians, and we were now equipping +fresh units entirely staffed by women to serve with the Serbian Army, +besides having at the present time the medical care of 6,000 Serbian +refugees on the island of Corsica. + +General Petain said, smiling, that before the war he had sometimes +thought of women "as those who inspired the most beautiful ideas in men +and prevented them from carrying them out," but the war, he added, had +certainly proved conclusively the value of women's work. + +M. Forain expressed the desire to visit the chief French hospital of the +Scottish women at the Abbaye de Royaumont. The General laughingly told +him, "You do not realise how stern and devoted to duty these ladies are. +I wonder if you would be permitted to visit them?" + +I consoled M. Forain by pointing out that surely as Chief Camoufler +(Disguiser) of the French Army he could disguise himself as a model of +virtue (_de se camoufler en bon garcon_). Certainly this son of France, +who has turned his brilliant intellect and his art to the saving of +men's lives, would be welcome anywhere and everywhere. I hastened to +assure him that I was only teasing him, and added that I only teased the +people I admired and liked. General Petain immediately turned to the +Commandant de Pulligny--"Please remark that she has not yet teased me." + +"Probably because she fears to do it, and has too much respect for you," +replied the Commandant. + +"Fears! I do not think we need talk of that just now, when she dares to +go to Verdun." + +[Illustration: Memoribilia] + +[Illustration: Handwritten note: +To Miss Burke + +In remembrance of your very +kind visit in Verdun and of +the noble aim you pursue in +favour of our wounded and sick +soldiers. We have been extrememly +honoured that you were so kind +to dine with us to-day 26th Juli +1916 + +-Signatures-] + +[Illustration: Menu] + +[Illustration: A Handwritten Note] + +Whilst at coffee after lunch the news came of the continued advance of +the British troops. General Petain turned to me and said: "You must +indeed be proud in England of your new army. Please tell your +English people of our admiration of the magnificent effort of England. +The raising and equipping of your giant army in such a short time was +indeed a colossal task. How well it was carried out all the world now +knows, and we are reaping the harvest." + +The General's Chief of Staff added: "Lord Kitchener was right when he +said the war would last three years--the first year preparation, the +second year defence, and the third year ... _cela sera rigolo_--it will +be huge sport." He quoted the phrase as Lord Kitchener's own. + +Before we left the General signed for me the menu of the lunch, pointing +out to me, however, that if I were at any time to show the menu to the +village policeman, I must assure him that the hare which figured thereon +had been run over at night by a motor-car and lost its life owing to an +accident, otherwise he might, he feared, be fined for killing game out +of season! + +I shall always remember the picture of General Petain seeing us into our +car with his parting words, "You are about to do the most dangerous +thing you have ever done or will ever do in your life. As for Verdun, +tell them in England that I am smiling, and I am sure that when you see +General Nivelle you will find him smiling too. That is the best answer I +can give you as to how things are going with us at Verdun." Then with a +friendly wave of his hand we passed on our way. + +After leaving the headquarters of General Petain we were held up for +some time at a level crossing and watched the busy little train puffing +along, carrying towards Verdun stores, munitions, and men. This level +crossing had been the scene of active fighting; on each side were +numerous graves, and the sentinels off duty were passing from one to the +other picking a dead leaf or drawing a branch of trailing vine over the +resting-places of their comrades. + +Above our heads circle _les guepes_, the wasps of the French Army. They +had been aroused by the appearance of a Taube and were preparing to +sting, had the Taube waited or made any further attempt to proceed over +the French lines. However, deciding that discretion was the better part +of valour, it turned and fled. It is unwise, however, to stir up the +"wasps of France"; they followed it, and later in the day we heard that +it had been brought down near Verdun. + +We were now in the centre of activity of the army defending Verdun. On +every hand we saw artillery-parks, ammunition-parks, and regiments +resting, whilst along the road a long line of _camions_ passed +unceasingly. During the whole length of my stay on the French front I +only saw one regiment marching. Everywhere the men are conveyed in the +_camions_, and are thus spared the fatigue which would otherwise be +caused by the intense heat and the white dust. There are perhaps only +two things that can in any way upset the perfect indifference to +difficulties of the French trooper: he hates to walk, and he refuses to +be deprived of his _pinard_. The men of the French army have named their +red wine _pinard_, just as they call water _la flotte_, always, however, +being careful to add that _la flotte_ is excellent "for washing one's +feet." + +As we passed through the headquarters of General Nivelle, he sent down +word to us not to wait to call on him then, but to proceed at once to +Verdun, as later the passage would become more difficult. He kindly sent +down to us one of the officers of his staff to act as escort. The +officer sat by our chauffeur, warning him of the dangerous spots in the +road which the Germans had the habit of "watering" from time to time +with _marmites_, and ordering him to put on extra speed. Our speed along +the road into Verdun averaged well over a mile a minute. + +Within range of the German guns, probably not more than four or five +kilometres from Verdun, we came on a line of men waiting their turn to +go into the cinema. After all, there was no reason _de s'en faire_, and +if they were alive they decided they might as well be happy and amused. +Just before entering the gate of Verdun we passed a number of +ambulances, some of them driven by the American volunteers. These young +Americans have displayed splendid heroism in bringing in the wounded +under difficult conditions. Many of them have been mentioned in +dispatches, and have received from France the Croix de Guerre. I also +saw an ambulance marked "Lloyd's." + +It would be useless to pretend that one entered Verdun without emotion. +Verdun, sorely stricken, yet living, kept alive by the indomitable soul +of the soldiers of France, whilst her wounds are daily treated and +healed by the skill of her Generals. A white city of desolation, +scorched and battered, yet the brightest jewel in the crown of France's +glory; a shining example to the world of the triumph of human resistance +and the courage of men. A city of strange and cruel sounds--the short, +sharp bark of the '75's, the boom of the death-dealing enemy guns, the +shrieks of the shells and the fall of masonry parting from houses to +which it had been attached for centuries, whilst from the shattered +window-frames the familiar sprite of the household looked ever for the +children who came no longer across the thresholds of the homes. Verdun +is no longer a refuge for all that is good and beautiful and tender, and +so the sounds of the voices of children and of birds are heard no more. +Both have flown; the children were evacuated with the civilians in the +bitter months of February and March, and the birds, realising that there +is no secure place in which to nest, have deserted not only Verdun but +the whole of the surrounding district. + +We proceeded to a terrace overlooking the lower part of the town and +witnessed a duel between the French and German artillery. The Germans +were bombarding the barracks of Chevert, and from all around the French +guns were replying. It was certainly a joy to note that for one boom of +a German cannon there were certainly ten answers from the French guns. +The French soldiers off duty should have been resting in the caves and +dug-outs which have been prepared for them, but most of them were out on +the terraces in different parts of the city, smoking and casually +watching the effect of the German or of their own fire. I inquired of +one _poilu_ whether he would be glad to leave Verdun, and he laughingly +replied: "One might be worse off than here. This is the time of year +that in peace times I should have been staying in the country with my +mother-in-law." + +There is no talk of peace in Verdun. I asked one of the men when he +thought the war would end. "Perfectly simple to reply to that, +mademoiselle: the war will end the day that hostilities cease." + +I believe that the Germans would not be sorry to abandon the siege of +Verdun. In one of the trench newspapers I saw the following verse: + + Boches, a l'univers votre zele importun + Fait des 'communiques' dont personne n'est dupe. + Vous dites: "Nos soldats occuperont Verdun. + Jusqu'ici c'est plutot Verdun qui les occupe." + + (You say that you soon will hold Verdun, + Whilst really Verdun holds you.) + +We left the car and climbed through the ruined streets to the top of the +citadel. No attempt has been made to remove any of the furniture or +effects from the demolished houses. In those houses from which only the +front had been blown away the spoons and forks were in some instances +still on the table, set ready for the meal that had been interrupted. + +From windows lace curtains and draperies hung out over the fronts of the +houses. Everywhere shattered doors, broken cupboards, drawers thrown +open where the inhabitants had thought to try to save some of their +cherished belongings but had finally fled, leaving all to the care of +the soldiers, who protect the property of the inhabitants as carefully +as if it were their own. + +It would be difficult to find finer custodians. I was told that at +Bobigny-pres-Bourget there is on one of the houses the following +inscription worthy of classical times: + +"The proprietor of this house has gone to the war. He leaves this +dwelling to the care of the French. Long live France." And he left the +key in the lock. + +The soldiers billeted in the house read the inscription, which met with +their approval, and so far each regiment in passing had cleaned out the +little dwelling and left it in perfect order. + +From the citadel we went down into the trenches which led to the lines +at Thiaumont. The heat in the city was excessive, but in the trenches it +was delightfully cool, perhaps a little too cool. We heard the men make +no complaints except that at times the life was a little "monotonous"! +One man told me that he was once in a trench that was occupied at the +same time by the French and the Germans. There was nothing between them +but sandbags and a thick wall of clay, and day and night the French +watched that wall. One day a slight scratching was heard. The men +prepared to face the crumbling of the barrier when through a small hole +popped out the head of a brown rabbit. Down into the trench hopped Mrs. +Bunny, followed by two small bunnies, and although rabbit for lunch +would have improved the menu, the men had not the heart to kill her. On +the contrary, they fed her on their rations, and at night-fall she +departed, followed by her progeny. + +From all the dug-outs heads popped out, and the first movement of +surprise at seeing a woman in the trenches turned to a smile of delight, +since the _poilu_ is at all times a chivalrous gentleman. One man was +telling me of the magnificent work that had been accomplished by his +"compagnie." I congratulated him and told him he must be happy to be in +such a company. He swept off his iron casque, bowed almost to the +ground, and answered: "Certainly I am happy in my company, mademoiselle, +but I am far happier in yours." + +The principal grief of the _poilus_ appeared to be that a shell two or +three days before had destroyed the store of the great _dragee_ (sugared +almond) manufactory of Verdun. Before leaving, the manufacturer had +bequeathed his stock to the army, and they were all regretting that they +had not been greedier and eaten up the _dragees_ quicker. + +In the trenches near Verdun, as in the trenches in Flanders, you find +the men talking little of war, but much of their homes and their +families. I came once upon a group of Bretons. They had opened some tins +of sardines and, sitting around a bucket of blazing coals, they were +toasting the fish on the ends of small twigs. I asked them why they +were wasting their energies, since the fish were ready to be eaten +straight from the tins. "We know," they replied; "but it smells like +home." I suppose with the odour of the cooking fish, in the blue haze of +the smoke, they saw visions of their cottages and the white-coiffed +Bretonnes frying the fresh sardines that they had caught. + +The dusk was now falling, and, entering the car, we proceeded towards +the lower part of the town at a snail's pace in order not to draw the +German fire. We were told that at the present time approximately one +hundred shells a day still fall on Verdun, but at the time of the great +attack the number was as high as eight hundred, whilst as many as two +hundred thousand shells fell daily in and around Verdun. + +Just before we reached the entrance to the citadel, the enemy began to +shell the city, and one of the shells exploded within two hundred feet +of the car. We knew that we were near the entrance to the vaults of the +citadel and could take refuge, so we left the car and proceeded on foot. +Without thinking, we walked in the centre of the road, and the sentinel +at the door of the citadel began in somewhat emphatic French to +recommend us to "longer les murs" (to hug the walls tightly). The +Germans are well aware of the entrance to the citadel and daily shell +the spot. If one meets a shell in the centre of the road it is obviously +no use to argue, whilst in hugging the side of the wall there is a +possibility of only receiving the fragments of the bursting shell. + +The subterranean galleries of the citadel of Verdun were constructed by +Vauban, and are now a hive of activity--barbers' shops, sweet shops, +boot shops, hospitals, anything and everything which goes to make up a +small city. + +One of the young officers placed his "cell" at our disposal. The long +galleries are all equipped with central heating and electric light, and +some of them have been divided off by wooden partitions or curtains like +the dormitories in a large school. In the "cell" allocated to us we +could see the loving touch of a woman's hand. Around the pillow on the +small camp-bed was a beautiful edging of Irish lace, and on the +dressing-table a large bottle of eau-de-Cologne. There is no reason to +be too uncomfortable in Verdun when one has a good little wife to think +of one and to send presents from time to time. + +Emerging from the galleries we met General Dubois, a great soldier and a +kindly man, one who shares the daily perils of his men. The General +invited us to remain and dine with him. He had that day received from +General Nivelle his _cravate_ as Commander of the Legion of Honour, and +his officers were giving him a dinner-party to celebrate the event. "See +how kind fate is to me," he added. "Only one thing was missing from the +feast--the presence of the ladies--and here you are." + +It would need the brush of Rembrandt to paint the dining-hall in the +citadel of Verdun. At one long table in the dimly lighted vault sat +between eighty and ninety officers, who all rose, saluted, and cheered +as we entered. The General sat at the head of the table surrounded by +his staff, and behind him the faces of the cooks were lit up by the +fires of the stoves. Some short distance behind us was an air-shaft. It +appears that about a week or a fortnight before our arrival a German +shell, striking the top part of the citadel, dislodged some dust and +gravel which fell down the air-shaft on to the General's head. He simply +called the attendants to him and asked for his table to be moved forward +a yard, as he did not feel inclined to sit at table with his helmet on. + +An excellent dinner--soup, roast mutton, fresh beans, salade Russe, +frangipane, dessert--and even champagne to celebrate the General's +_cravate_--quite reassured us that people may die in Verdun of shells +but not of hunger. We drank toasts to France, the Allies, and, silently, +to the men of France who had died that we might live. I was asked to +propose the health of the General, and did it in English, knowing that +he spoke English well. I told him that the defenders of Verdun would +live in our hearts and memories, that on behalf of the whole British +race I felt I might convey to him congratulations on the honour paid to +him by France. I assured him that we had but one idea and one hope, the +speedy victory of the Allied arms, and that personally my present desire +was that every one of those present at table might live to see the flag +of France waving over the whole of Alsace-Lorraine. They asked me to +repeat a description of the flag of France which I gave first in Ottawa; +so there, in the citadel of Verdun with a small French flag before me, I +went back in spirit to Ottawa and remembered how I had spoken of the +triumph of the flag of France: "The red, white, and blue--the red of +the flag of France a little deeper hue than in time of peace, since it +was dyed with the blood of her sons, the blood in which a new history of +France is being written, volume on volume, page on page, of deeds of +heroism, some pages completed and signed, others where the pen has +dropped from the faltering hands and which posterity must needs finish. +The white of the flag of France, not quite so white as in time of peace, +since thousands of her sons had taken it in their hands and pressed it +to their lips before they went forward to die for it, yet without stain, +since in all the record of the war there is no blot on the escutcheon of +France. And the blue of the flag of France, true blue, torn and tattered +with the marks of the bullets and the shrapnel, yet unfurling proudly in +the breeze whilst the very holes were patched by the blue of the sky, +since surely Heaven stands behind the flag of France." + +The men of Verdun were full of admiration for the glorious Commander of +the Fort de Vaux. They told me that the fort was held, or rather the +ruins of the fort, until the Germans were actually on the top and firing +on the French beneath. + +I discussed with my neighbour the fact that the Germans had more hatred +for us than for the French. He said the whole world would ridicule the +Germans for the manner in which they had exploited the phrase "Gott +strafe England," writing it even on the walls anywhere and everywhere. +He added laughingly that it should not worry the English comrades. "When +they read 'Gott strafe England,' all they needed to reply was 'Ypres, +Ypres--Hurrah!'" + +He told me that he had been stationed for some time with his regiment +near the English troops, and there had been loud lamentations among the +_poilus_ because they had been obliged to say good-bye to their English +comrades. He added that the affection was not entirely disinterested. +The English comrades had excellent marmalade and jam and other good +things which they shared with their French brothers, who, whilst +excellently fed, do not indulge in these luxuries. He told me a +delightful tale of a French cook who, seeing an English soldier standing +by, began to question him as to his particular branch of the service, +informing him that he himself had had an exceedingly busy morning +peeling potatoes and cleaning up the pots and pans. After considerable +conversation he inquired of the English comrade what he did for his +living. "Oh," replied the Englishman, "I get my living fairly +easily--nothing half so strenuous as peeling potatoes. I am just a +colonel." + +The clean-shaven Tommy is the beloved of all France. I remember seeing +one gallant khaki knight carrying the market-basket of a French maiden +and repaying himself out of her store of apples. I regret to say his +pockets bulged suspiciously. Whilst at a level crossing near by, the old +lady in charge of the gate had an escort of "Tommies" who urged her to +let the train "rip." This was somewhat ironical in view of the fact that +the top speed in that part of the war zone was probably never more than +ten miles an hour. + +Tommy is never alone. The children have learned that he loves their +company, and he is always surrounded by an escort of youthful admirers. +The children like to rummage in his pockets for souvenirs. He must +spend quite a good deal of his pay purchasing sweets, so that they may +not be disappointed and that there may be something for his little +friends to find. I remember seeing one Tommy, sitting in the dusty road +with a large pot of marmalade between his legs, dealing out spoonfuls +with perfect justice and impartiality to a circle of youngsters. He +speaks to them of his own little "nippers" at home, and they in turn +tell him of their father who is fighting, of their mother who now works +in the fields, and of baby who is fearfully ignorant, does not know the +difference between the French and the "Engleesch," and who insisted on +calling the great English General who had stayed at their farm "papa." +It matters little that they cannot understand each other, and it does +not in the least prevent them from holding lengthy conversations. + +I told my companion at table that whilst visiting one of the hospitals +in France I had heard how one Englishman had been sent into a far +hospital in Provence by mistake. He was not seriously injured, and +promptly constituted himself king of the ward. On arrival, he insisted +on being shaved. As no shaving-brush was available, the _piou-piou_ in +the next bed lathered him with his tooth-brush. The French cooking did +not appeal to him, and he grumbled continuously. The directress of the +hospital sent her own cook from her chateau to cater for Mr. Atkins. An +elaborate menu was prepared. Tommy glanced through it, ordered +everything to be removed, and commanded tea and toast. Toast-making is +not a French art, and the chateau chef was obliged to remain at the +hospital and spend his time carefully preparing the toast and seeing +that it was served in good condition. When Mr. Atkins felt so disposed, +he would summon a _piou-piou_ to give him a French lesson, or else +request the various inmates of the ward to sing to him. He would in turn +render that plaintive ditty "Down by the Old Bull and Bush." A nurse who +spoke a little English translated his song to the French soldiers. +Whilst not desiring to criticise the _rendez-vous_ selected by their +_camarade anglais_, they did not consider that "pres d'un vieux taureau" +(near an old bull) was a safe or desirable meeting-place. When I +explained to the nurse that "The Bull and Bush" was a kind of _cabaret_, +she hastened from ward to ward to tell the men that after all the +Englishman might have selected a worse spot to entertain his girl. He +was at once the joy and the despair of the whole hospital, and the nurse +had much trouble in consoling the patients when "our English" was +removed. + +When Tommy indulges in the use of the French language, he abbreviates it +as much as possible. + +One hot summer's day, driving from Boulogne to Fort Mahon, halfway down +a steep hill we came upon two Tommies endeavouring to extract a +motor-cycle and a side-car from a somewhat difficult position. They had +side-slipped and run into a small tree. The cycle was on one side and +the side-car on the other, and a steel rod between had been rammed right +into the wood through the force of the collision. + +My three companions and myself endeavoured to help the men to pull out +the rod, but the united efforts of the six of us proved unavailing. We +hailed a passing cart and tied the reins around the motor-cycle, but +immediately the horse commenced to pull the leather of the reins +snapped. Behind the cart walked a peasant. Only one adjective can +possibly describe him--he was decidedly "beery." He made no attempt to +help, but passed from one Tommy to the other, patting them on their +backs, assuring them "that with a little goodwill all would be well." +There was a dangerous glint in the younger Tommy's eye, but in the +presence of ladies he refrained from putting his thoughts into words. +Finally, his patience evaporating, he suddenly turned on the peasant and +shouted at him, "Ong, ong." It took me some time to grasp that this was +Tommy's abbreviated version of "Allez-vous en" ("Clear out"). In any +event it proved quite useless, as he continued to pat the Tommies +affectionately and to bombard them with impracticable suggestions. + +We were joined later by three villagers, two gendarmes and a postman, +and all pulling together we managed to extract the rod from the tree. A +large lorry was passing, and on to it we heaved the wreckage. Up +clambered the Tommies followed by their unwelcome friend, who managed to +sit on the only unbroken portion of the side-car. This was too much for +Messrs. Atkins' equanimity. Limp with laughter, we watched them pass +from sight amidst a chorus of "Ong, ong," followed by flights of oratory +in the English tongue which do not bear repeating, but which were +received by the peasant as expressions of deep esteem and to which he +replied by endeavouring to kiss the Tommies and shouting, "Vive +l'Angleterre! Allright! Hoorah!" + +Our guiding officer began to show some signs of anxiety to have us leave +before ten o'clock, but the good-byes took some time. Presents were +showered upon us--German _dragees_ (shell heads and pieces of shrapnel) +and the real French _dragees_, the famous sweet of Verdun. + +We crept out of the city, but unfortunately at one of the dangerous +cross-roads our chauffeur mistook the route. A heavy bombardment was +taking place, and the French were replying. We were lucky enough to get +on to the route and into safety before any shell fell near us. It +appears that the Germans systematically bombard the roads at night, +hoping to destroy the _camions_ bringing up the food for the city, fresh +munitions, and men. + +We slept that night at Bar-le-Duc and next morning saw the various +ambulances and hospitals which the Service de Sante had particularly +requested me to visit. I was impressed by the splendid organisation of +the Red Cross even quite close to the firing-line. + +Passing through one tent hospital, an Algerian called out to me: + +"Ohe, la blonde, viens ici! J'ai quelque chose de beau a te montrer" +("Come here, fair girl, I have something pretty to show you"). + +He was sitting up in bed, and, as I approached, unbuttoned his +bed-jacket and insisted on my examining the tag of his vest, on which +was written, "Leader, London." The vest had come in a parcel of goods +from the London Committee of the French Red Cross, and I only wished +that the angel of goodness and tenderness who is the Presidente of the +Croix Rouge, Mme. de la Panouse, and that Mr. D.H. Illingworth, Mr. +Philip Wilkins, and all her able lieutenants, could have seen the +pleasure on the face of this swarthy defender of France. In the next bed +was a Senegalais who endeavoured to attract my attention by keeping up a +running compliment to my compatriots, my King, and myself. He must have +chanted fifty times: "Vive les English, Georges, et toi!" He continued +even after I had rewarded him with some cigarettes. The Senegalais and +the Algerians are really great children, especially when they are +wounded. I have seen convalescent Senegalais and Algerians in Paris +spend hours in the Champs Elysees watching the entertainment at the +open-air marionette theatre. The antics of the dolls kept them amused. +They are admitted to the enclosure free, and there is no longer any +room for the children who frequented the show in happier days. These +latter form a disconsolate circle on the outside, whilst the younger +ones, who do not suffer from colour prejudice, scramble on to the knees +of the black soldiers. + +The sister in charge was a true daughter of the "Lady of the Lamp." +Provided they are really ill, she sympathises with all the grumblers, +but scolds them if they have reached the convalescent stage. She carries +a small book in which she enters imaginary good points to those who have +the tables by their beds tidy, and she pinned an invisible medal on the +chest of a convalescent who was helping to carry trays of food to his +comrades. She is indeed a General, saving men for France. + +Not a man escaped her attention, and as we passed through the tents she +gave to each of her "chers enfants"--black or white--a cheering smile or +a kindly word. She did, however, whilst talking to us omit to salute a +Senegalais. Before she passed out of the tent he commenced to call after +her, "Toi pas gentille aujourd'hui--moi battre toi" ("You are not good +to me to-day--me beat you"). This, it appears, is his little joke--he +will never beat anyone again, since he lost both his arms when his +trench was blown up by a land mine. + +It was at Triancourt that I first saw in operation the motor-cars that +had been sent out fitted with bath tubs for the troops, and also a very +fine car fitted up by the London Committee of the French Red Cross as a +moving dental hospital. + +I regret to add that a _poilu_ near by disrespectfully referred to it as +"another of the horrors of war," adding that in times of peace there +was some kind of personal liberty, where as now "a man could not have +toothache without being forced to have it ended, and that there was no +possibility of escaping a dentist who hunted you down by motor." + +It was suggested that, as I had had a touch of toothache the night +before, I might take my place in the chair and give an example of +British pluck to the assembled _poilus_. I hastened to impress on the +surgeon that I hated notoriety and would prefer to remain modestly in +the background. I even pushed aside with scorn the proffered bribe of +six "boche" buttons, assuring the man that "I would keep my toothache as +a souvenir." + +At one of the hospitals, beside the bed of a dying man, sat a little old +man writing letters. They told me that before the war he had owned the +most flourishing wine-shop in the village. He had fled before the +approach of the German troops, but later returned to his village and +installed himself in the hospital as scribe. He wrote from morning until +night, and watching him stretching his lean old hands, I asked him if he +suffered much pain from writer's cramp. He looked at me almost +reproachfully before answering, "Mademoiselle, it is the least I can do +for my country; besides my pain is so slight and that of the comrades is +so great. I am proud, indeed proud, that at sixty-seven years of age I +am not useless." + +At one hospital I was shown a copy of the last letter dictated by a +young French officer, and I asked to be allowed to copy it--it was +indeed a letter of a "chic" type. + +"CHERS PARRAIN ET MARRAINE, + +"Je vous ecris a vous pour ne pas tuer Maman qu'un pareil coup +surprendrait trop. + +"J'ai ete blesse le ... devant.... J'ai deux blessures hideuses et je +n'en aurai pas pour bien longtemps. Les majors ne me le cachent meme +pas. + +"Je pars sans regret avec la conscience d'avoir fait mon devoir. + +"Prevenez donc mes parents le mieux que vous pourrez; qu'ils ne +cherchent pas a venir, ils n'en auraient pas le temps. + +"Adieu vous tous que j'aimais. + + "VIVE LA FRANCE!" + + +"DEAR GODFATHER AND GODMOTHER. + +"I am writing to you, so as not to kill mother, whom such a shock would +surprise too much. I was wounded on the ... at.... I have two terrible +wounds and I cannot last long. The surgeons do not even attempt to +conceal this from me. I go without regret, with the consciousness of +having done my duty. Kindly break the news to my parents the best way +you can; they should not attempt to come because they would not have +time to reach me before the end. + +"Farewell to all you whom I have loved. + + "LONG LIVE FRANCE!" + + +Whilst loving his relatives tenderly, the last thought of the dying +Frenchman is for his country. Each one dies as a hero, yet not one +realises it. It would be impossible to show greater simplicity; they +salute the flag for the last time, and that is all. + +From Triancourt we went straight to the headquarters of General Nivelle. +They had just brought him the maps rectified to mark the French +advance. The advance had been made whilst we were standing on the +terrace at Verdun the night before. We had seen the rockets sent up, +requesting a _tir de barrage_ (curtain of fire). The '75's had replied +at once and the French had been able to carry out the operation. + +Good news had also come in from the Somme, and General Nivelle did not +hesitate to express his admiration for the British soldiers. + +He said that there was no need to praise the first troops sent by +Britain to France--everyone knew their value; but it should be a great +satisfaction to Britain to find that the new Army was living up to the +traditions of the old Army. + +He added: "We can describe the new army of Britain in two words: '_Ca +mord_'--it bites." + +The Father of his own men, it is not surprising that General Nivelle +finds a warm corner in his heart for the British Tommy, since his mother +was an Englishwoman. + +At lunch General Nivelle and the members of his staff asked many +questions as to the work of the Scottish Women's Hospitals. I told them +that what appealed to us most in our French patients was the perfect +discipline and the gratitude of the men. We are all women in the +hospitals, and the men might take advantage of this fact to show want of +discipline, but we never had to complain of lack of obedience. These +soldiers of France may some of them before the war have been just rough +peasants, eating, drinking, and sleeping, even having thoughts not akin +to knighthood; but now, through the ordeal of blood and fire, each one +of them has won his spurs and come out a chivalrous knight, and +they bring their chivalry right into the hospitals with them. We had +also learned to love them for their kindness to one another. When new +wounded are brought in and the lights are low in the hospital wards, +cautiously watching if the nurse is looking (luckily nurses have a way +of not seeing everything), one of the convalescents will creep from his +bed to the side of the new arrival and ask the inevitable question: +"D'ou viens-tu?" ("Where do you come from?"). "I come from Toulouse," +replies the man. "Ah!" says the inquirer, "my wife's grandmother had a +cousin who lived near Toulouse." That is quite a sufficient basis for a +friendship; the convalescent sits by the bedside of his new comrade, +holding the man's hand whilst his wounds are being dressed, telling him +he knows of the pain--that he, too, has suffered, and that soon all +will be well. + +[Illustration: Menu, 27 Juillet] + +[Illustration: Note by General Nivelle] + +Lions to fight, ever ready to answer to the call of the defence of their +country, yet these men of France are tender and gentle. In one hospital +through which I passed there was a baby. It was a military hospital, and +no civilian had any right there, but the medical officers who inspected +the hospital were remarkably blind--none of them could ever see the +baby. One of the soldiers passing through a bombarded village saw a +little body lying in the mud, and although he believed the child to be +dead, he stooped down and picked it up. At the evacuating station the +baby and the soldier were sent to the hospital together; the doctors +operated upon the baby and took a piece of shrapnel from its back, and +once well and strong it constituted itself lord and master and king of +all it surveyed. When it woke in the morning it would call "Papa," and +twenty fathers answered to its call. All the pent-up love of the men for +their own little ones from whom they had been parted for so long they +lavished on the tiny stranger, but all his affection and his whole heart +belonged to the rough miner-soldier who had brought him in. As the +shadows fell one saw the man walking up and down the ward with the child +in his arms, crooning the Marseillaise until the tired little eyes +closed. He had obtained permission from the authorities to adopt the +child, as the parents could not be found, and remarked humorously: +"Mademoiselle, it is so convenient to have a family without the trouble +of being married!" + +What we must remember is that the rough soldier, himself blinded with +blood and mud, uncertain whether he could ever reach a point of safety, +yet had time to stoop and pick that little flower of France and save it +from being crushed beneath the _camion_ wheels. I told General Nivelle +that the hospital staff intended to keep the child for the soldier until +the end of the war, and we all hoped that he might grow up to the glory +of France and to the eternal honour of the tender-hearted fighter who +had rescued him. + +After lunch we stood for some time watching the unending stream of +_camions_ proceeding into Verdun. I believe it has been stated that on +the average one passed through the village every fifteen seconds, and +that there are something like twelve thousand motor vehicles used in the +defence of Verdun. The splendid condition of the roads and the absence +of all confusion in the handling of this immense volume of traffic is a +great tribute to the organising genius of the chiefs of the French Army. + +We left General Nivelle, as General Petain predicted we should find +him--smiling. + +We slept that night at Epernay, in the heart of the Champagne district. +The soil of France is doing its best to keep the vines in perfect +condition and to provide a good vintage to be drunk later to celebrate +the victory of France and her Allies. + +The keeping of the roads in good condition is necessary for the rapid +carrying out of operations on the front, and a "marmite" hole is +promptly filled if by a lucky shot the German batteries happen to tear +up the roadway. We were proceeding casually along one road when a young +officer rode up to us and told us to put on speed because we were under +fire from a German battery which daily landed one or two shells in that +particular portion of the roadway. It is wonderful how obedient one +becomes at times! We promptly proceeded to hasten! + +After visiting General Debeney and obtaining from him the necessary +authorisation and an officer-escort, we entered Rheims. + +The cathedral is now the home of pigeons, and as they fly in and out of +the blackened window-frames, small pieces of the stained glass tinkle +down on to the floor. The custodian of the cathedral told us that during +the night of terror the German wounded, lying in the cathedral, not +realising the strength and beauty of the French character under +adversity, feared, seeing the cathedral in flames, that the populace +might wreak vengeance on them, and it was exceedingly difficult to get +them to leave the cathedral. Many of the prisoners fled into corners and +hid, and some of them even penetrated into the palace of the Archbishop, +which was in flames. All the world knows and admires the bravery of the +cure of the cathedral, M. Landrieux, who took upon himself the defence +of the prisoners, for fear insults might be hurled at them. He knowingly +risked his life; but when, next day, some of his confreres endeavoured +to praise him, he replied: "My friends, I never before realised how easy +it is to die." + +One of the churches in the city was heavily draped in black, and I asked +the sacristan if they had prepared for the funeral of a prominent +citizen. He told me that they were that day bringing home the body of a +young man of high birth of the neighbourhood, but that it was not for +him that the church was decked in mourning. The draperies had hung there +since August 1914--"Since every son of Rheims who is brought home is as +noble as the one who comes to-day, and alas! nearly every day brings us +one of our children." + +We lunched in the hotel before the cathedral, where each shell-hole has +an ordinary white label stuck beside it with the date. The landlord +remarked: "If you sit here long enough, and have the good luck to be in +some safe part of the building, you may be able to go and stick a label +by a hole yourself." + +After lunch we went out to the Chateau Polignac. To a stranger it would +appear to be almost entirely destroyed, but when M. de Polignac visited +it recently he simply remarked that it was "less spoilt than he had +imagined." This was just one other example of the thousands one meets +daily of the spirit of noble and peasant _de ne pas s'en faire_, but to +keep only before them the one idea, Victory for France, no matter what +may be the cost. + +We went later to call on the "'75," _chez elle_. Madame was in a +particularly comfortable home which had been prepared for her and where +she was safe from the inquisitive eyes of the Taubes. The men of the +battery were sitting round their guns, singing a somewhat lengthy ditty, +each verse ending with a declamation and a description of the beauty of +"la belle Suzanne." I asked them to whom Suzanne belonged and where the +fair damsel resided. "Oh," they replied, "we have no time to think of +damsels called 'Suzanne' now. This is our Suzanne," and the speaker +affectionately gave an extra rub with his coat-sleeve to the barrel of +the "'75." + +By a wonderful system of trench work it is possible for the gunners, in +case of necessity, to take refuge in the champagne-vaults in the +surrounding district, and it is in the champagne-vaults that the +children go daily to school, with their little gas-masks hanging in bags +on their arms. It appears that at first the tiny ones were frightened of +the masks, but they soon asked to be also given a sack, like their +elders, and now one and all have learnt at the least alarm to put on +their masks. There is no need to tell the children to hurry home. They +realise that it is not wise to loiter in the streets for fear of the +whistling shells. They are remarkably plucky, these small men and women +of France. + +During one furious bombardment the children were safe in the vaults, but +one small citizen began to cry bitterly. He was reproached by his +comrades for cowardice, but he replied indignantly: "I fear nothing for +myself--I am safe here; but there is no cellar to our house, and oh! +what will happen to the little mother?" The teacher reassured him by +telling him that his mother would certainly take refuge in somebody +else's cellar. + +On leaving Rheims we passed through various small hamlets where the +houses had been entirely destroyed, and which now had the appearance of +native villages, as the soldiers had managed to place thatched roofs on +any building which had a semblance of walls standing. + +At Villars Coterets the Garde Champetre sounded the "Gare a Vous!" Four +Taubes were passing overhead, so we took refuge in the hotel for tea. +The enemy did no damage in that particular village, but in the next +village of Crepy-en-Valois a bomb killed one child and injured five +women. + +At his headquarters next morning I had the honour of being received by +the Generalissimo Joffre, and telling him of the admiration and respect +which we felt for him and for the magnificent fighting spirit of the +troops under his able command. He replied modestly by speaking of the +British Army. He referred to the offensive on the Somme, and said, "You +may well be proud of your young soldiers--they are excellent soldiers, +much superior to the Germans in every way, a most admirable infantry; +they attack the Germans hand to hand with grenades or with the bayonet, +and push them back everywhere; the Germans have been absolutely +_stupefied_ to find such troops before them." The General then paid a +tribute to the Canadian and Australian troops, and told me that that day +the Australians had taken new territory, adding, "And not only have they +taken it, but like their British and Canadian brothers, what they take +they will hold." + +I explained to General Joffre that, whilst I was not collecting +autographs, I had with me the menu of the dinner in the citadel at +Verdun, and that it would give me great pleasure to have his name added +to the signatures already on that menu. All the signatures were on one +side, so I turned the menu over in order to offer him a clear space, but +he turned it back again, saying: "Please let me sign on this side; I +find myself in good company with the defenders of Verdun." + +At departing he said to me: "We may all be happy now, since certainly we +are on the right side of the hill" ("Nous sommes sur la bonne pente"). + +In case this little story should fall into the hands of any woman who +has spent her time working for the men at the front, I would like to +tell her the great pleasure it is to them to receive parcels, no matter +what they contain. Fraternity and Equality reign supreme in the +trenches, and the man counts himself happy who receives a little more +than the others, since he has the joy and the pleasure of sharing his +store of good things with his comrades. There is seldom a request made +to the French behind the lines that they do not attempt to fulfil. I +remember last winter, passing through a town in the provinces, I +noticed that the elderly men appeared to be scantily clad in spite of +the bitterness of the weather. It appeared that the call had gone forth +for fur coats for the troops, and all the worthy citizens of the town +forwarded to the trenches their caracul coats. Only those who are well +acquainted with French provincial life can know what it means to them to +part with these signs of opulence and commercial success. + +It is perhaps in the post-offices that you find yourself nearest to the +heart of "France behind the lines." + +One morning I endeavoured to send a parcel to a French soldier; I took +my place in a long line of waiting women bound on the same errand. A +white-haired woman before me gave the post-office clerk infinite +trouble. They are not renowned for their patience, and I marvelled at +his gentleness, until he explained: "Her son died five weeks ago, but +she still continues to send him parcels." + +To another old lady he pointed out that she had written two numbers on +the parcel. "You don't want two numbers, mother. Which is your boy's +number?--tell me, and I will strike out the other." + +"Leave them both," she answered. "Who knows whether my dear lad will be +there to receive the parcel? If he is not, I want it to go to some other +mother's son." + +Affection means much to these men who are suffering, and they respond at +once to any sympathy shown to them. One man informed us with pride that +when he left his native village he was "decked like an altar of the +Blessed Virgin on the first of May." In other words, covered with +flowers. + +There are but few lonely soldiers now, since those who have no families +to write to them receive letters and parcels from the godmothers who +have adopted them. The men anxiously await the news of their adopted +relatives, and spend hours writing replies. They love to receive +letters, but needless to say a parcel is even more welcome. + +I remember seeing one man writing page after page. I suggested to him +that he must have a particularly charming godmother. "Mademoiselle," he +replied, "I have no time for a godmother since I myself am a godfather." +He then explained that far away in his village there was a young +assistant in his shop, "And God knows the boy loves France, but both his +lungs are touched, so they won't take him, but I write and tell him that +the good God has given me strength for two, that I fight for him and +for myself, and that we are both doing well for France." I went back in +imagination to the village, I could see the glint in the boy's eyes, +realised how the blood pulsed quicker through his veins at the sight of, +not the personal pronoun "I" in the singular, but the plural "We are +doing well for France": for one glorious moment he was part of the hosts +of France and in spirit serving his Motherland. It is that spirit of the +French nation that their enemies will never understand. + +On one occasion a young German officer, covered with mud from head to +foot, was brought before one of the French Generals. He had been taken +fighting cleanly, and the General was anxious to show him kindness. He +asked him if he would not prefer to cleanse himself before examination. +The young German drew himself up and replied: "Look at me, General; I am +covered from head to foot with mud, and that mud is the soil of France. +You will never possess as much soil in Germany." The General turned to +him with that gentle courtesy which marks the higher commands in France, +and answered: "Monsieur, we may never possess as much soil in Germany; +but there is something that you will never possess, and, until you +conquer it, you cannot vanquish France, and that is the spirit of the +French people." + +The French find it difficult to understand the arrogance which appears +ingrained in the German character, and which existed before the war. + +I read once that in the Guest-book of a French hotel a Teutonic visitor +wrote: + +"L'Allemagne est la premiere nation du monde." + +The next French visitor merely added: + +"Yes, 'Allemagne' is the first country of the world--if we take them in +alphabetical order." + + * * * * * + +I left the war-zone with an increased respect, if this were possible, +for the men of France. They have altered their uniforms, but the spirit +is unchanged. They are no longer in the red and blue of the old days, +but in shades of green, grey, and blue, colours blending to form one +mighty ocean--wave on wave of patriotism--beating against and wearing +down the rocks of military preparedness of forty years, and as no man +has yet been able to say to the ocean "Stop," so no man shall cry "Halt" +to the armies of France. + +I have spoken much of the men of France, but the women have also earned +our respect--those splendid peasant-women who even in times of peace +worked and now carry a double burden on their shoulders; the +middle-class women, endeavouring to keep together the little business +built up by the man with years of toil, stinting themselves to save five +francs to send a parcel to the man at the front that he may not suspect +that there is not still every comfort in the little homestead; the noble +women of France, who in past years could not be seen before noon, since +my lady was at her toilette, but who can be seen now, their hands +scratched and bleeding, kneeling on the floors of the hospitals +scrubbing, proud and happy to take their part in national service. The +men owe much of their courage to the attitude of the women who stand +behind them, turning their tears to smiles to urge their men to even +greater deeds of heroism. + +In one of our hospitals was a young lad of seventeen, who had managed to +enlist as an "engage volontaire" by lying as to his age. His old mother +came to visit him, and she told me he was the last of her three +sons--the two elder ones had died the first week of the war at +Pont-Mousson, and her little home had been burned to the ground. The boy +had spent his time inventing new and terrible methods of dealing with +the enemy, but with his mother he became a child again, and tenderly +patted the old face. Seeing the lad in his mother's arms, and forgetting +for one moment the spirit of the French nation, I asked her if she would +not be glad if her boy was so wounded that she might take him home. She +was only an old peasant-woman, but her eyes flashed, her cheeks flushed +with anger, and turning to me she said: "Mademoiselle, how dare you say +such a thing to me? If all the mothers, wives, and sweethearts thought +as you, what would happen to the country? Gustave has only one thing to +do, get well quickly and fight for Mother France." + +Because these women of France have sent their men forth to die, eyes +dry, with stiff lips and head erect, do not think that they do not mourn +for them. When night casts her kindly mantle of darkness over all, when +they are hidden from the eyes of the world, it is then that the proud +heads droop and are bent upon their arms, as the women cry out in the +bitterness of their souls for the men who have gone from them. Yet they +realise that behind them stands the greatest mother of all, Mother +France, who sees coming towards her, from all frontiers, line on line of +ambulances with their burden of suffering humanity, yet watches along +other routes her sons going forth in thousands, laughter in their eyes, +songs on their lips, ready and willing to die for her. France draws +around her her tattered and blood-stained robe, yet what matters the +outer raiment? Behind it shines forth her glorious, exultant soul, and +she lifts up her head rejoicing and proclaims to the world that when she +appealed, man, woman, and child--the whole of the French +nation--answered to her Call. + + + + * * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + ' was used for raised dots on all "'75's" + + Page 70: Closing quote added to poem. "...qui les occupe." + + Page 92: Period added to Mme. + + Page 98: "Triaucourt" changed to "Triancourt." + + Page 110: Changed Debency to Debeney. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHITE ROAD TO VERDUN*** + + +******* This file should be named 16945.txt or 16945.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/4/16945 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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