The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1915-08-17
BY IA RocoNTEusE.

BY IA AOCONTEU8E.
PARIS, Aug. 17.-There are two
Impressions from my recent visit to
the front which will remain when
many other things shall have been
forgotten. A mental picture OF a
beautiful landscape with French sol
diers attacking the enemy's trenches
with the bayonet, and a memory of
the friendship and solidarity among
the French soldiers. had the i'm
preston as II had come to country
where all men were brothers
One morning very early we passed
by General Joffre's headquarters In
village which | am not permitted to
mention, though half the world knows
It. The shutters of the little house
were still closed.
When does the general rise?" I
asked
In half an hour, at six o'clock
sharp"
Does he always rise at the same
hour?'
Invariably General Joffre goes to
bed every night at the stroke of ten
and gets up the next morning at six
o'clock sharp. During these eight
hours he has given the strictest or
ders not to disturb him, no matter
what happens. When, during the bat
tie of the Marine he slept every night
with the regularity of a clockwork
from ten to six and no one dared to
disturb him"
Follows Soldiers Rules.
The French generalissimo then
strictly follows the rules laid down for
the private soldier. The guiding of
an army is brain work and the first
conditions for clear brain is regular
sleep.
And how is then the man who
sleeps behind closed shutters? You
might fill a whole library with the
books and articles that have been
written about Joffre, but his image
has not grown clearer through the
many descriptions. One correspond
ent. l remember, tried to compare him
to Napoleon.
He wrote that at first he believed
that a battlefield was the grandest of
all sights, then he saw Rheims, which
was even greater, but at last he saw
Joffre, the greatest of all.
And after this pompous beginning
Joffre came in to us and said few
quiet words about the probable out
come of the war. Whereupon the
still clinging to his
parable exclaimed: well, gentlemen,
is not this Napoleon"
Resembles Gen. Grant.
No? Joffre is not Napoleon can
not think of any poorer comparison
than that between the great Corsican
and the son of the humble cooper.
should rather think that there was
some resemblance between Joffre and
our own great General Grant.
What you notice first of all In Gen
eral Joffre is his clear blue eyes, |
which express absolute honesty, reli-
ability and kindness. He is the good
citizen, the honest patriot. but In COM
mon with Napoleon, he has his strong
sense Of realities. There is absolutely
of the mystic about him. He
is first of all a character, a personal
ity and brain. When, on the strength
of these qualities, he has become so
popular among the French army, it !
is really because he, besides, possess
es the typically French qualities of
an enormous capacity for work, a
strong economic sense, and common
sense.
He possesses not only the clearness
of the French spirit. but also in an
unusual degree the French 'bonhom-
ie," (good naturedness), which in
time of danger forms an inseparable
alliance with a sure and unshakable |
in the great future of
France.
Through poor sculpture and worse
literature, we have formed an abso-
lutely wrong idea of the Frenchman,
which has caused us to forget that
be is first of all the great realist, the
calculating man who, after
sowing the wild oats of his passion
ate youth. Invariably looks out for
and provides for his old age.
Personifies Soldiers.
For this reason, Joffre, who Is the
most typical Frenchman I ever knew,
was able to perform the gigantic task
during a winters campaign to trans
form courage into patience and brav-
cry and enthusiasm into cool calcula-
ton.
But just because he himself pos
sesses all that is superior in French
Intelligence and thought, the calm,
cool, realistic mind he has become
among his officers and soldiers "our