The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-12-28


cluded many thousands of dancing and
been rescued in the Place de la Re-
publique and hurried inside the gates
Of the prefecture the parade might
have ended only when Mellett and I
had reached the swooning point.
Hundreds Encircle Car.
When we reached the Port des
Postes, with its several traffic aisles,
hundreds of people came running out
OF the gate, a ~never-ending stream
that tightly encircled our car.
lies Anglaises sont lei! vive les
Anglaisei" was what they shouted as
they tumbled toward us, and we even
heard 1t being taken up In alarming
crescendo on the other side of the city
wall.
AS soon as the kissing started Mel
lett surrendered his face and hands,
but, with his mind still on business,
managed to slide out of the car. / I'M
wisely established a precedent for
lifting up babies, kissing them In the
French fashion on either cheek, giving
them q little spank and tossing them
back to the first woman in sight. This
was unwise in a way because it at
tracted hundreds of mothers who
wanted their offspring kissed and
spanked by the bogus great English
man, and undoubtedly resulted in
many delirious mothers extricating
themselves from the mob only to find
themselves in possession of a strange
infant, for in the excitement of the
moment l could take no responsibility
for making correct returns.
Kissed by Swarm Of Maids.
Yet 1t showed that l had q family
heart, and, while / was paralyzed by
the sea of babies surging up to me-
many Of them back for q second go,
no doubt-still there was the ~satisfac-
ton Of seeing that among the babies
were the flowers of Lille. the prettiest
mademoiselles. Mellett, in the mean
time, was struggling with a swarm of
buxom housemaids, who were 'bussing
him four and five at q time. In fact
he had all the La Bassee mud kissed
off one ear.
/ remember his tussles with the stout
girls quite distinctly, and the recollec-
ton always flashes upon me when ne
happens to mention my graciousness to
the bearded gentlemen.
"For Gods sake, climb out, or we
are lost!" shouted Mellett, so I per-
mitted several Of my lissome beauties
to assist me dismount, collected a few
warm oscillations, and, with three of
the loveliest on either arm, surged
forward.
The crowd gave way with a shout,
and tumbled back through the gate
ahead Of US as the heralds of our pro-
cession. Seeing that 1t was unwise for
Mellett and me to be too dlstantly sep
arated, / unlocked two Of the girls
and Mellett took the arm Of the one
between us, Mile. Berthe Dubauts, by
the way. France made 'em pref
tier than Mile. Berthe.
Everybody Wanted Two Kisses.
The enormity of what was ahead of
us was not realized until we were
through the gate. Our heralds were
shouting 'The English are comingi I"
Wave upon wave of men, women and
children bore down upon us and at
times there were collisions that must
have hurt. Everybody wanted at least
two kisses and a handshake.
The dear old ladies of Lille had the
highest average, going at the rate of
20 in a possible 100. The younger
women (and I am not referring to Mel
let's CONTINGENCY wanted to do the
thing tenderly and gently and as a re-
suit Often got only a little bump
against my nose or ear. the second kiss
missing fire or ricocheting to one of
my winsome escort.
The only trouble with the escort
was that they could not tell us where
we wanted to so. We just staggered
on, pushed and pulled at from all di-
rections, sometimes almost carried
down by the weight of some wildly
joyous person who would spring at us,
throw both arms around our necks and
kiss us rapturously.
As we were entering Rue des Postes