The Washington herald., 1916-07-03


fulness remarkable? Perhaps still
they make their little studies a
ITecole?"
And so the catechism would pro-,
ceed-
When war broke out little madame
boldly took upon her slender shoulders
the whole OF monsieur's business, and
saved his enterprise from what looked
like immediate and inevitable ruin.
All this she did without a single
murmur. Early and late she toiled.
with a quality of heart and devotion
that even the British Tommies COM
mented upon.
| 1T really is marvellous how those
French women can work" wrote one.
they're all the same-grandes danes.
middle classes. working classes and
even field laborers. Their endurance
and resolution to carry on are ad-
complain. They're quite surprised If
we give them a word OF praise"
The old maid, too. has at last come
into her own. She is the backbone OF
the nursing corps, the hospitals. the
charitable organizations. For her
there are few home ties to make her
outside work part time" From morn
ing to night she is free to labor for the
soldiers. And she does it. too.
| Gone are the prolonged afternoon
sessions of gossip that were OF daily
occurrence before the war. When
| French women meet now 1t is for war
work. and though tongues may wag
over the making of bandages and the
knitting OF socks 1t is serious talk.
and talk with a purpose. These women
are planning further economies. fur
ther ways of collecting more money
| for the poor poilus who are fighting
so heroically for them.
| 1t was in Paris that I met my little
| friend of former days. Hortense, the
spoiled darling of her parents hearts.
Hortense had always had more money
| to spend than was strictly good for
| her. An only child. endowed with
riches and good looks, she had had
| many suitors. But she would have
none of them. Three times her doting
parents arranged a wonderful match
for her. Hortense shrugged her pret-
| ty shoulders expressively, and laughed
at them.
| you cannot expect me to ally myself
to m'sieur lie comte! Yes. he is rich
and noble-and young. But he is
hideous-affreux ugly as the
monkey! I will have none of him.
/ Meekly her father chose a second
| prospective son-in-law, this time of
even higher rank and greater wealth.
! a
! had been made, settlements drawn up
! and the betrothal ring purchased by
the infatuated suitor when: Mon
Dieu, but he is aged" wept Hortense.
Already the little hairs begin to drop
| from his head! Today l have counted
three gray ones! He makes the loud
snores when he sleeps, too. His valet
told my maid about it. I cannot marry
man 50 aged who makes the loud
snores!'
So suitor after suitor came and
went-unti Hortense herself selected
one. He was a capitaine in La Horse
poor and good looking and improvi-
dent But here her parents interfered.
The wedding was forbidden. The gal
liant captain was forbidden. His very
name was forbidden. And Hortense
would "coif St. Catherine" and never
marry any man at all.
| This was before the war, two years
ago. During the interval, I heard
that Hortense's parents had been bad
| ly hit financially and had lost all
their money. Now on arrival In Paris.
| I received an invitation from Hor-
| tense to be presnt at her wedding.
"At last my parents have consented
that marry my much loved Gaspard,"
she wrote in the slim, sloping hand
that all French women affect He
has six days leave from the front, and
we shall spend our honeymoon in the
| beautiful forest Of Marty. l am filled
with a happines quite indescribable."
That wedding was the strangest
and the most pathetic I have ever
seen. 1t was perhaps. also, the most
beautiful. For the little bride was
radiant in her simple gown. The
mother of the bride looked happy, too,
| in spite of the fact that her dress
was demodee and her hat last years
model For what did poverty matter
after all, when her beloved Hortense
could smile like that? The mother
seemed to understand her daughter.
happiness.
| But when the bridegroom stood be-
side the altar, his changed appear
| ance was startling. Where was the
handsome, debonair capitaine of two
years ago? Light from a big stained
| glass window shone on his face and
revealed 1t as SCARED out Of all recog-
milton, burned and disfigured! He
received those wounds when fghting,"
| whispered a guest. ut was the LIQUID
FIRE from the German Flammenwerfer
| that did It, Is he not changed, the
handsome capitaine? But, do you
know, whenever the little Hortense
saw him in that condition, she insisted
that her parents should permit her
J to marry him. Ah, the poor boy, he
/ has suffered agonies,' she said. and
| II is time that he has fitting recon-
pense' So finally they consented, al
though greatly wondering 80 for
Hortense never could bear anything ugly
about her, and the poor cspitaine is 40