Evening star., 1914-08-23
JACQUES BONHoMME- E-the


backbone of the French nation
They are not only the backbone.
but they possess France. They made
possible the fitness of the French army
for the present war. Jacques furnishes
a large part of the fighting force.
He helps to man the ships. and IL that
more powerful vessel. the ship OF state
Is in peril. he is right at the pilots
wheel ready with his strong arm and
his savings to steer her into port
He is the keynote of Frances great
ness 1t was the investment of his
savings that made possible the earlier
liberation by Theirs of French terri
tory from the Prussian invader of 1870.
He did not do this alone. Jeanne helped
him when she worked side by side with
him in the field.
There is no class In this country with
which the French peasant could be
compared for neither our small farmer
nor day 1aborer is like him, and per-
haps neither would be flattered by the
comparison-even could it be made.
Jacques may not be as enlightened as
Farmer Jones, neither Is he the de-
graded being portrayed by Cola and
Guy re Maupassant. nor Is he the ideal
rustic so fascinatingly and POLITICALLY
described by George Sand. but he can
be depended upon to do things. and do
them now" Also. he does not grumbie.
The American people of all classes
want 1uxuries. But not with
Jacques: he does not need a piano for
his daughter. or an automobile for his
wife. He lives as his ancestors for
generations have lived before him: per-
haps little better-no worse And he
has ever been the mainstay of France.
Gen. Joseph Joffre, the commander
in-chief of the French army, in whose
military genius the French military
men express the greatest confidence,
and whom the people enthuse over. is
of peasant stock. They point with pride
to the great Marshal Ney. of a
peasant soldier; TO the distinguished
cavalry leader Murat, later King of
Naples, and the son of an innkeeper; to
MacMahon, the great general and some
time President of France. who loved to
boast that he was a man of the people
A large number of the legislators, the
scientists. the literat and many Of
the members of the French Academy
have been Of the same class.
Jacques Bonhomme's wife, Jeanne. is
not one step behind him in pride and
patriotism. She doubtless knows moth
ing about feminism and the feminist
movement in France; but she is both
personifed. She. too. does things, as
she demonstrated the other day when
she held a German soldier until assist
ance came, to keep him from freeing
the carrier pigeons. and giving in
formation to his countrymen.
The recent appeal of President Poin-
care to the women of the country dis
trfcts to take the place in the fields of
the men who have been ordered to their
regiments. and push forward the cul-
tivating and harvesting of the crops,
has met with universal and hearty re-
sponse And now the rumor comes that
all along the frontier of Alsace-Lor-
raine- the women are reversing the
biblical prophesy and turning the
ploughshare and pruning hook into the
most up-to-date and approved guns,
and are drilling in their use So Just
as we have become accustomed to the
soldadero of Mexico, Jeanne is going to
France. And if in the fortunes of war
the services of these women are needed,
they will make az splendid fighters as
their female ancestors of the revolution
and the Franco -Prussian wars.
Should they go on the firing line they
will be the most picturesque looking
lot of Amazons the world has seen;
dresses which have not changed in
style for centuries look more appropri-
ate when pictured on one of the can
vases of Millet or Bastien Pepage
than bobbing around in. battle.
If Nancy is to be the objective of the
full German offensive-as most French
military writer's seem to think-what
a gay and artistic appearance G. COM