G. H. Q.

ittle time for sport-Precautions against "joy-riding"-Th

t was spent very innocently; not to say stodgily. A walk on the Ram

towards the sea; northward across the woods and marshes of the Canche; eastward along the valley of the river and its bordering hills. On a fine day at the coming up and the going down of the sun, and every hour between, there was a constant festival of light and colour. Stormy and rainy skies gave another beauty to the wide prospect. To see a storm march up in grand procession and pass wit

eason advanced the birds came to build in the trees, and you might peep down into their nests and hear their indignant chirrups at being so closely overlooked. With summer and autumn came new colours, but always splendour and glow and movement. The country around carried that wide variety of crops in which

RAMP

parts. Going from the Ecole Militaire to the Officers' Club was three minutes by the street, seven minutes by the Ramparts, and most went by the Ramparts unless work was hideously p

nd time to exercise them properly. So most of the horses at G.H.Q. were pooled, and an officer having time and inclination too

ny other sport. At the Officers' Club there was not such a thing as a billiard table; and I never saw a game of cards played there. In some of the private messes there was a feeble attempt to keep up a Bridge or a Poker circle. But to begin t

tle total demand on officers' time. When, as was usually the case, the theatre was given up to "the pictures" it was filled by "other ranks." The non-commissioned officers and privates who were clerks in the various departments had generally just as little leisure as their officers, but some of the mili

TH

t of time. There were teams, and occasional matches, and sometimes an enthusiastic sportsman would send an urgent whip round to call attention to our deplorable neglect of the games that ma

discipline. They were "Second Echelon" mostly. Current operations had not much concern for them and it was possible to take horse-back exercise, to keep up football and cricket and even tennis and golf. At Le Touquet, which was a well-known pleasu

Not only time but transport was lacking. The only means of getting down to the beach-a distance of about twelve miles-was by motor-car, and regulations against "joy-riding" were strict. Not only were there regulations; there were also precautions to see that the regulations were kept. A car could go out from G.H.Q. garage only on an order from the officer in charge of ca

The big generals, because they had to, and a few unwise souls, because they chose to, favoured private messes and confronted at dinner at night the same men as they met in the office all day; and, without a doubt,

Club kept up a good cellar, and to the very last, when good wine was almost unprocurable in London or Paris except at exorbitant prices, the Officers' Club, Montreuil, could sell a vintage claret or burgundy at nine francs a bottle, a decent wine at five francs a bottle, and champagne at fifteen fr

olonels, with a sprinkling of brigadiers, a few majors and a few captains. The majority in the Mess, however, were temporary officers, a few of senior rank, mostly staff captains or attached officers. There were always som

many men. The representatives of the Allied nations gave an extra note of variety. You might sit at the same table with an American one night, an Italian another, or a Frenchman or Belgian o

OFFICER

this point was not so easily maintained. Any junior officer lighting up before the hour was promptly checked. But a sergeant-major found it difficult to take "disciplinary action" against an officer of General rank. One evening a very lofty general indeed, a vis

thority having transferred to this English colony in France the invariable tradition of British seaside resorts to send all the fresh fish away and consume the refuse. Our fish was always plaice, and it was often p

pportunity, but not valid cause, to grumble, and discussion of

ad this indu

rred to po

urned tail o

e that even

the point tha

had answered-"

nug, sleek dancing

untry's sake,

save our ancest

child and home

d-salt-fish, bea

nd by much pre

y-hour a map of the fighting front, and after dinner we would crowd to this room to see the latest official news put up on the map and to hear the latest uno

hospitals behind, and the Australian corps has captured 50 Ger

opted among his family of anecdotes-that the Australians, having the Americans to co-operate with, had had to remonstrate with them for their und

inference to some ears, for a Genera

gallant race. The German-er-ladi

sternness to prisoners. The average German knew that he was quite safe in the ha

officers were disconsolate for the loss of their ten minutes in the M.I. room. "I miss," sa

man has good work to do, lovely aspects of Nature to look upon, interesting compa

en on this point on the lines adopted in that exhaustive an

kes of

no snakes

n the too rare occasions when I was able to get a leave from G.H.Q., or was sent over to London on a task, the ci

-party in London and being tremendously flattered at the fact that as soon as the ladies went upstairs all the men (some of them very distinguished men) crowded round me in a spirit of inquiry. With all the resources at my disposal I framed in my mind a brief and vivid appreciation of the campaign. But-they did not want to know why the Turkish Army failed or the Serbian Army succeeded. Som

ainly those to whom I told the truth about the ladies and G.H.Q. thought I was either very sly or very unobserva

e you for sticking to your friends.

t the Calvary of Civilisation. They usually got over through the influence of political friends, and most often by way of the Belgian section of the Front, which was not so sternly guarded as the British or French sections. Military authority discountenanced these visits-however "fashiona

se got no further than the Base ports as a rule, and were not officially encouraged. The vast majority of the women workers in Franc

at G.H.Q. was truly monastic. We never saw an English woman unless she were

ACE GA

quarters of Paris whose theatres, books, newspapers, restaurants, manners are shaped by the wishes (or fancied wishes) of the floating population of visitors and of a small section of idle and worthless French. But I fancy that in these days such people are few; and most

wonderful panoramas from the ramparts; but they came to work, and did not bring with them what is supposed to be the atmosphere of the Latin Qua

ving heard that the British Army had its headquarters there, had decided, from motives of patriotism, of camaraderie, or from less admirable motives, to come and enliven the dull

nditions reflected the average attitude of the British Army administration in the matter of morals, which was practically that of British civilian life, with somewhat more precaution and guardianship but no grandmotherly supervision. The female personnel of the Army was very carefully safeguarded. The male personnel, if it were absolutely bent on it, could find opportunities for mischief in some of the Base towns. G.H.Q. itself-partly

during the summer sent his wife, and came down to see her on Sundays. It was also the beach for the Don Juan of modest means to visit with his temporary Juanita. Not this Paris reputation reacting on the traditional British hypocrisy caused the long-standing ban on Paris Plage, but practical sanitary reasons. It had not then a good reputat

another staff officer we noticed a little shop in the windows of which were displayed very coquettishly two or three filmy articles of feminine dessous. A lightning glance thro

ES CA

Inkstands and making a reconnaissance on foot we felt to be infra dig. It was only possible to pass the shop slowly on the return journey, and to look out for it the nex

d have had something better to talk about-is popular "because every man understands it." Perhaps the propriety of our conversation was partly due to the fact that there was nearly always a padre within earshot. Perhaps I may dare the explanation of the