The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-06-16

tine. Capt. Durier escorted us over
the place, and as 1 passed one poor
devil in a cot he noticed the "Ameri'
can ambulance" on my uniform
sleeve. Raising himself, he said in
English: Flows everything at home.
Doc? I'm from Kansas, and got in
four months before the Bosches got
me. And say, Doc, for Gods sake,
have you got an American cigar
ette?" He was a Frenchman run
ming a farm in Kansas, and enlisted
last fall. His shout upon receiving
a real Fatima that I brought over
here did me good. He had a shell
wound of the thigh with the bone
sticking out, but knew the value of a
Fatima in France. No one but the
French would have thought to make
such a place attractive. There were
flowers everywhere, and in place OF
trying to partition off the big shed,
they had simply erected portable
houses, brightly painted and serving
admirably. These were arranged
around a little Square" in the CEN
ter of which were braziers of Goals.
as the day was chilly, and the poor
devils, in their tattered coats, and
bloody faces, drinking hot soup, and
smoking the eternal cigarettes, was 4
great sight. We came back with II
Fords filled, each carrying three
"blesses." 1t was a very inspiring
sight to e the fortitude and placid
ity of these wonderful Frenchmen,
putting up with anything suggested
by the commanding officers of the sta
ton, and eternally saluting and smil-
ing, and "Bon jour M'sieur-ing."
They are a great people.
BY Rail to Meaux.
The most interesting day l have
spent outside the hospital was at
Meaux, with DR.. Greenough and cou-
pie of US. We left Paris in the morn
ing and went by rail to Meaux, where
we were lucky enough to find an old
Delahaye limousine, and an English
speaking chauffer. We covered in all
IS miles up and down the old lines of
the battlefield of the Marine, the most
sensational fight in all history. 1t was
here the hastily modified and green
French army demonstrated to the
world that the splendid machine" of
V. Kluck was not only not invincible,
but capable of doing the 2:20 in re-
cord time-back the way they came.
The Germans fought desperately, and
for three days the losses were fright
full, but the little Frenchmen showed
them back so miles, and although the
"contemptible little army" of Gener-
al French did much to turn the tide
for the allies, still the French deserve
the major part of the credit.
Keen for "The Tommies."
Due to the English having practi-
cally saved MeauX, on the second day
of the fight, the inhabitants of this
pretty little place are naturally pref
ty keen for the "Tommies." Unfor-
tunately, our uniform, the regulation
French Red Cross uniform, is almost
identical with the English officers
which, added to our talking English,
produced considerable excitement.
Small boys yelled after US, "V;va
L'Anglais," etc. l was somewhat en-
barrassed, as it seemed unfair some
how, but as Dr.. Greenough said, "you
can't be in the English arm. every
day, and we didn't design the uni
FORMS" Hence l tried to give what
I supposed was a Lord Kitchener re-
turn to the salutes. All o. there
towns are garrisoned, 50 we were
kept busy saluting. DR.. Greenough
is a very striking looking man, ard
makes a fine appearance in his uui
form, so naturally the soldiers
thought he was a big gun out in
specting the lines with his staff. q
wasn't such q bad figure of a subai-
tern myself.) But I could never
get used to these splendid big cuiras-
seurs stiffening up and saluting;
while / stalk by, wondering if l sa-
luted with my off hand Or not. They