The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-01-12
Birthday of Joffre To Be
 Observed By French Today

To the Frenchman of the future the twelfth of January may become a date as hallowed with patriotic as- sociations as is the tweny-second of February in the great American re- public.
 The French people have a passion for dates and almost every day in the calendar recalls to them some glori- ous achievement of the past, or some name which shines luminous in the history of France.
 If the Allies achieve victory in the war, the twelfth of January is like 1y to be tinguished as a red-letter date in the calendars of the future, for it marks the birth of Joseph Joffre.
 Grant is over-shadowed by Lincoln in the history of the American repub- lies struggle for existence, but Joffre, if his efforts are crowned with suc- cess, will not have to play second fid- dle to any statesman. Joffre may be Grant, but certainly the Euro pean republic, although it has many able and astute statesmen, has no Lincoln. So far as the conduct of the war is concerned Joffre has reIgned as supreme as any czar. He sends reports to Paris, but he receives no orders.
 General Joffre is. by birth Pyre- mean. He was born in the little viI- Iage of Riyesaltes, near Perpignan in the department of Pyrenees Orien- tales, the fsouthern-most department of France.
 Incidentally, the, people or the South of France have much to be proud of, for the three most distin- guished military leaders of the re- public hail from that region. Joffre's b1rthplaee is at the Mediterranean end of the Pyrenean mountain chain. About midway in the chain is the of Sair 11oo r1f General Joseph GaIIieni, the Minister of War and the defender of Paris; and at the. Biscayan end of the chain is the birthplace of General Fer dinand Foch. the chief lieutenant of Joffre. Assuredly the South has a right to boast of it's contributions to
 RiYesaItes is in the muscatel wine growing district, and Joffre's father was a cooper and the owner of a, lit tie vineyard. There is nothing aris- tocratic in the origin of the comman- ideal leader of a democratic armyTa plain man, spring from the 'com- mon herd" Of blue blood he has none. Castelnau and a few other re- presentatives of the ancient nobility of France have won high honors in this war, for fJoffre is no respecter Of persons, and A duke or a marquis has just as much and no more chance of winning his favor than a common CT. but for the most part Joffre's advisers and chief aids are of humble stock, like himself, General Foch is of stock in part aboriginal Basque.
 Tn l;isayouth Joffre was noted for his great mathematical ability. He was fifteen when he entered the Ecole Polytchnfque in Paris, the youngest of the corps of cadets, and he was one of the star men of his class. Now grim. silent, calm, he was rather gay in his youth, and his com rades of other days tell many stories. of his fopdness for singing comic songs in cafes, to the great delight Of his fellow soldiers. He fought in. Timbuctoo and many other ont of the way corners of the earth before. he was called upon to head Frances grand army in war for the repub- lies existence. Next to ftla republ- que'' he loves his daughters. who were his almost constant companions in Y7aore reaceflII days.