With Those Who Wait

gone by it was a really royal itinerary, so vastly different and picturesque are the various regions crossed. But now that gasolene is handed out by the spoonful

ng is permitted only to those persons who must needs do so, the number of plausible motives alleged has greatly augmented, with the result that trains are crowded to the extreme limit. To tell the truth, a good

d hat and embroidered waistcoat on the promenades of the Riviera, the A

d with a basket or a bag, a carpetsack or a bundle containing patés and sausages, pastry and pic

difficulty discerning from what region he hailed. Next to him were a bourgeois couple whose mourning attire, red eyes and swollen faces bespoke plainly enough the bereavement they had just suffered. Silen

and finally a strange old creature wearing an antiquated starched bonnet, a flowered shawl, and carrying an umbrella such as one sees but in engravings ill

any boxes and bundles, bags and bales, remaining aloft by such remarkable laws of equilibrium that I feared lest any moment they f

r who offered to relieve the little old woman o

wavering treble, and an inimitable accent

right in our own home. I'm taking them to my boy, and as we stayed up very late to make them so that they woul

he. But his fever was too high when we got there, and he couldn't take a thing. 'That doesn't matte

nger resist. His natural loquaciou

last, as well as some sausage which he used to relish. Oh, if only I could brin

rward and asked the Norman farmer's wif

high. He'd been through the whole campaig

sparkled with pri

on the Rhone, had one son wounded and being cared for in a hospital at

rd, her grandson had been wounded in seven different places, and had had one hand an

d seventeen, had enlisted and was about to leave for the front. She

t, 1914. This coarse, heavy featured woman of the working classes, cherished her offspring much as a lioness does her young. She told us she had written to the President of the Republic, to her Congressman, her Senator, to the King of Spain, the Norwegian Ambassador, to the Colonel of the Regiment, as well as to all the friends of her son on whose address she had been able to lay hand

e could to buoy up

o minute detail about the parcels he sent to his own son, explaining the regulation as to contents, measures and weights, w

hes and food will do him any good. There's nothing on earth he c

surrounding her, she looked over and addressed the wom

e, Madame? But we'd never have realised how really d

ontinued to

" persisted the stout Auvergnate, whose voice su

have just buried the l

t into the distance ahead of him, but the bond of sympathy was drawn still tighter, and

e soldiers on furlough, a stout old priest, a travelling salesman, and a sho

dible length of time vainly whistling for the towe

as cross and weary finally le

me. It's certain I shall miss my connecti

t pulling out a red checked handke

r to see that," responded

se who are handling government jobs are the

the Father by way of conciliation, casting his eyes around the compartment,

of all the trouble. It was you who preache

n. He was so ruffled he could hardly find a word. In the meantime

financiers, and it's noth

about sharply. His blood was up and he st

mplaint on any subject whatsoever, it would certainly be the soldiers who are seated in this compart

Mons

you have given voice they are as stupid as they are odious. We all know now

nsi

nsi

remely pale. Then they turned about and resumed their places in each corner. The priest

a crumb of cheese on the point of their knives. They had sat silent and listened to the outbursts without tur

kes almost two days now t

knife and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "You're as wel

oned for an instant, and which he was terminating with more patience than art

est study and judge the masses, for it is as though the very texture from which France is woven were laid bare before him. This spectacle is constantly changing, constantly renewed, at times deeply moving. No face can be, or is, indifferent, in these days and one no longer feels himself a detached individual observer

stripped to the waist, making a most meticulous toilet, all the while teasing a fat, bald-headed chap to whom

the benches, some on the floor; certain lying on their faces, others on

nights of vigil; their absolute relaxation after so many consecutive days

e midst of their slumber. One or two get up, stare about them, collect their belongings and start for the platform, noiselessly stepping over their slee

aped in their noble burnous, they gently puff smoke into the air, without a movement, without a gesture, w

g a marked interest in the old-fashioned, wheezing locomotives which seem fair

es-whole tribes dragging with them their old people and their children who moan and weep incessantly. Their servants loaded down with relics saved from the disaster in heavy, clumsy, ill-tied bundles, are infinitely pitiable to behold. They are all travelling straight ahead of them with no determined end in vi

There is a long counter where everything is sold; bread, wine, cider, beer and lemonade; sandwiches, patés, fruit and sweet

IEUR

ices of bread, the whole topped off with a glass of cider or "pure juice" as they call it. It is a joy to see them seated about the board, their elbows on the table, their heads bent forward

ht to the spot

table a voi

etter than a kick in

mpty, they tighten the straps of their kit

a guerre!" and they shuffle away

lowed by oaths. The uncertain voice of a seemingly intoxicated ind

my regiment, repose upon your arms!' My arms are the bottle! My bottl

, dimmed by the rising tumult. T

es a coal scuttle. Now then,-flatt

n appeared at the thres

dier, with his helmet pulled down low over his eyes, so that

a sweeping glance over the assembled diners, he called f

g, ladies an

who evidently foresaw trouble, c

back to the buvette. You'

e gallant knight made t

e servant," he continued. "Cyprie

w then, take yourself off," c

was not to b

his heart and addr

is it thus that you receive your

t go and tell it else

ore word to say and

he came. As he disappeared from view, we heard him announce his intention of "doing some stun

from the direction in which Cyprien had vanished. The army police dashed in, followed by the station master and all the employés. A le

e men poured the tincture of iodine onto a hand held fast by a friend. Two others were rolling a bandage about his head, while the patient, far from subdued, waved the only free but much

riends enjoined; "shu

ce upon Cyprien when he had made up his

man, see if you don't. Cut it out, wo

er approa

tion. "I assure you, it's not his fault. He's just back from Saloniki-his first furlough in a y

making all this noise. S

through the pages, and

gold braid Cyprien s

Saloniki, I see yo

s,

t Beau

s,

Vauqu

s,

the soldier in front of him. Then suddenly, in an irresistible burst of sympathy

, too," was

ened up and literally crushed his su

est until it's time to leave. And you boys here," said he turning

ip of a cigar or cigarette. The soldiers turned up their collars. The wind shifting to the north was piercing cold. One had to walk briskly up and down to avoid b

you look

et for Royan. That old lad

inkled soul, in her native Norman co

ar, what a misfortune! What will b

ate and another man of her village had seen to her expenses. They had purchased her ticket and handed it to her with strict

o trust the thoroughness of his predecessors he would begin looking all over the immediate vicinity, match in hand. So presently nearly two hundred men, forgetting their sore

inging of an electric b

e can't find grandma's ticket we can't leave the old girl alone in the dark, so come on, chip

make the rounds. In an instant coppers

that's

tired t

e's some l

l buy something fo

urchased t

ou in with us. We just happen to be going your way. Here Ballut, Langlois! Quick there-take her baskets. Now then, don't let go my arm-here comes the train.

n hands hoisted their precious burden into t

cidents which the eye retains involuntarily. War factories and munition plants sprung from the ground as though by magic; immense training camps in course of construction, aviation fields over which so cle

s and rivers, fields and gardens, so wonderfully harmonious beneath the pearl tinted sky. How it al

ountry to

n. P-- is a flourishing little city, perched on the side of a

gentlemen carved in stone. The proprietor, who built the edifice and paid the bill, having been sole judge in the choice o

hind whose desk were enthroned two persons of most serious aspect; the one, stout and florid of complexion with a long nose and an allure worthy of Louis XIV, proudly bore upon her head such an extraordinary quantity of blond h

our names. The dignity and importance she attached to this ceremony would certainly not have been misp

r names, drying them with a spoonful of gold sand, gave me

o rooms?"

g room,

ose voice possessed a contralto quality utterly out

bath,

g the other a different paragraph with her fore finger. Finally t

six or number fourteen?"

s, but it would have been painful to announce to these ladies that the matter was

ows. Number fourteen has one window an

hot water has been forbidden by the municipal authorities, and

rminated the ladies' mental indecision, and seemed t

was less elevated than the princess', put her finger on a button and a

ted the rings, with a

and call Monsieur Améd

crossed the vestibule, opened a door, and her strong voice resounded al

shouted anew, but not

aure, ask for t

stibule and opening a door diametri

ur Balt

He was a little slim man who may have been sixty years old. A glass eye gave him a sardonic, comic or astonished air,

rd-what an attire

just rinsing th

for the people in rooms twe

tion. It was as though some one were making

r Balthazard. "I'll go and let him i

confided to his charge by the hotel's guests had undoubtedly been added the cook's list, for an enormous cab

far more corpulent of stature. The sleeves reached far down over his hands, the tight fitting, gold buttoned jacket strangely resembled a cross between a bag and an overcoat,

ow arrived wit

uggage and accompany Monsieu

up his new burden a

up the various objects which s

you're awfully young to

is my uncle. With old fat Julia, the maid, and Mathilde, the linen woman, we're all that's left.

ed little gifted for the various occupations to which he had consecrated his youth-and his glorious future-for in less than five minutes he had dropped a heavy valise on my toes, and upset an ink-well, whose contents dripped not only onto the carpet but onto one of my new bags. In trying to r

necks, tripping on his apron and scattering the handsome pyramids of fruit hither and yon. Lastly he took a plunge whil

done. I'll just sweep

trained every nerve in a herculean effort to keep

ly," as his youthful protégé stumbled from one blunder to anothe

o had been sent ahead with our luggage was nowhere to be found when our train was announced. My husband, a woman porter, a soldier on furlough who knew him, started out to scour the immediate surrounding

when finally it arrived and he handed our baggage into the compartment, he accidentally let slip a little

it up, e

t's not

might read "Hotel des Homines Illustre