Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-04-26

weeks in a canteen many things that
once doomed large seem small, and
many just little things seem the great
wonders of the world.
A letter from an American girl to
her mother, written after her first day
as an assistant at one OF the Croix
Rouge canteens near Paris, tells of her
encounter with the poilus and her first
goodbye at departure of the troops.
while I was talking with the di-
rectrice through the yard In front OF
the canteen," she writes, carrying one
of her big baskets, she was called away
and while stood there waiting for her
funny little dark soldier came up and
got quite excited at the contents OF my
basket (big pink boxes with Arabian
characters, whose significance / knew
notl. In very businesslike manner he
grabbed tin can from a comrade, put
1t on the ground. placed the loaf OF
bread he was carrying on top of it so
1t wouldn't get dirty. straddled the
over, pulled out his purse which held a
few sous and then began to negotiate
insistently for one Of the pink boxes.
showing me by pantomime that he
wanted me to pull 1t apart and let him
have some of it"
"G kept telling him that couldn't sell
1t, didn't know what 1t was, that 1t be-
longed to Miss c.. and the more L
Soon we had crowd-if you could have
seen 1t! A few of them understood
my French and more of them didn't
and the ones who did stood ready to
pull the little soldier off, while he kept
repeating he only wanted to buy, but
buy he must. The crowd of fifty or
sixty soldiers. was so sweet and would
certainly have taken him off If IL
hadn't been such a friendly fight.
FINALLY as one last appeal to my op-
ponept 1 said very slowly and en-
phatically, syllable by syllable, in
French, so he would be sure to under
stand that did not speak or under
stand French. And he, thinking this a
piece OF tho most flattering coquetry,
burst into a thousand catolings and
tried to force all his sous in my hand
with one of his hands, and to make q
slit with his fngernail on the pink
wrappings of my boxes with the other.
Just then / saw Miss G. and
ran after her, the crowd opening to let
me through. When l found her and told
her about the passionate eagerness for
something in the pink boxes she said
II could find him again to bring him
to her, that the boxes were Algerian
cigarettes and that he had served in
the colonies and was doubtless wild for
some. and she would let him have an
extra lot.
Il found him finally and told him to
come with me, and never did you see
any one so thoroughly scared. He
hadn't known Miss IS name, and
1t suddenly dawned upon him that the
boxes were hers, and all that I'd been
trying to tell him. He must have
thought that we were going to arrest
him, for he started to run away. A
couple of the soldiers got on each side
of him and kind of showed him along
for me, 1 trying to assure him by
many Tres Biens' and 'cigaretts pour
vous,' and he frightened, glowering and
suspicious Thanks to the others, we
got him pushed up to where Miss C.
was, and there ne saw her dealing out
the cigarettes to the men who were
going on depart. I pointed him out to
her, and she filled both his hands. He
was so bewildered. taken aback and
overcome that he was the most pathetic
little figure in all France"