New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-12-02
By Arthur Gleason

extension Of the foyers among the French.
General Petain has signifed his approval OF
the plans The hundred huts must become
thousand. The handful of American helpers
must grow 10 three hundred.
As we stood near the boiler Of hot coffee
the two best strummers of the group took
turns on the piano, and a third man sang.
Then a poilu. shot by sudden impulse, showed
his blue-clad body through the group jumped
up on a settee and called for the famous
ban" to be three times given for d. A.
Davis, American Director OF French Foyers.
The ban" is concerted handicap, deliv-
cred in one-two, one-two-three time. II
makes room rock with rhythm.
The Job of Thinking
1t is the purpose of the French and Amer
lean directors Of the foyer work to plant
huts through the sheled villages Of the
Sixth Army. SO we motored to the head
quarters OF that victorious army which at
bitter cost has lifted the Western Front and
tossed it few kilometres nearer the Rhine.
Headquarters is a silent place. IL IS here
that the battle is planned and directed. II
governs 100000 men and loose6 the guns and
sets the battle raging. But the big chiefs
are quiet, urhurried men. They have the
hardest job Of all, the last JOB man is will
ing to tackle, the job Of thinking To keep
the mind cool for decisions that affect the
future of Europe, to sit clear-eyed over the
shambles: this is the task of the general
and his colonies in the etat-maj or. Ard the
place is like the mena great silent house,
as silent as il it were empty, friendly
garden, stately fir trees, low-voiced at
tendants who move without clatter at the
bidding Of those mystic adopts, the bosses
Of modern battle. Beyond the captured ridge
were masses OF men in motion, incessant
laundering noise of guns, world in tumult'
And here place of peace. Here. where the
brains Of the whole ugly business presided,
was a great, good place, spot of quietness,
4 broodng retreat Of thought. Only the dense
clump of telegraph wires coming into one
rose-g gathered fist from all the points Of the
compass connected that hushed abode with
the bloody acres beyond.
Reward for the First american
the Germans offered 10000 marks and ff-
teen days Of leave 10 the soldier who capt I
ured the first American, and that the first
American had been captured. We knew
what that meant in torture-the military
third degree to obtain information OF how
many Yanks had come and where they were.
Two staff officers explained that new
foyers could not yet be planted in this re-
gion of emin-des-Dames because the
battle-ground was changing every day. That
afternoon the advance guard had gone ahead
some distance without locating the enemys
new position. The Boches were falling back
how far few days will show. Meanwhile,
they said, wait for new villages to appear.
So we went and saw the foyer that Is
houseboat. In the days Of peace it was
hoa.ed up and down France by the Mccall
Mission Now the poilus crowd it for the
warmth and light. The director rents little
boats. One Of them was sunk the week before
our visit by a she'll that killed over a dozen
persons on the bridge POO feet away from the
houseboat.
Next day we rode on through the shelled
villages Of the recent advance. We found
one foyer selling seventy different articles
10 the poilus. One director was an enthusi-
astic Librarian.
Serious Books the More Popular
at is extraordinary he said, chow the
soldiers like anything connected with why
men fight and the analysis OF war instincts.