The Washington herald., 1918-05-19
of Women Prominent the Social Life Of the Nations Cap


airs were played the audience ap.
plauded. but that was all Almost
before the nrst note Of the French
song was struck Ambassador J. j
Jusserand shot TO his feet and Inn
mediately the French oficers whc
were scattered thiclly all over the
house arose In body. and then the
entire crowd. I do think the spirit
of the French il one of the most re-
markable things. certainly the most
admirable thing in this war. As VIII
Irwin said. they are the perfec,
human race" -'..
Instead that evening went te
Camp Meade for q celebration there
They called 1t q camp fire but 1t was
more than that. In spite of the rain
which prevailed all afternoon, quite
a large and interesting company from
Baltimore and Washington gathered
together about s O'Clock. Some reach
ed there earlier. having dinner with
the various officers first But by
they had collected In q sort Of nat
ural amphitheater, q depression sur
rounded by gradually sloping hills. In
the background topping the hills was
beautiful sky with clouds Of all
shapes, rapidly changing. and colored
by the slowly fading light and the last
faint hues Of q sun that had Just set.
Suddenly in every direction from over
the tops Of the hills came the soldiers,
some 5000 In number, marching in
files about eight abreast, each file led
by Q band playing for all It was worth.
have never seen more impressive
or thrilling sight The crowd looking
on were actually struck dumb for a
few moments at the wonder of II all;
then they cheered and shouted their
admiration OF the spectacle, but the
bands drowned their voices.
By the time the troops had formed
a large square and were all seated on
the ground. darkness had fallen and
two huge bonfires that had been
lighted on the hills on each side were
flaming up into the sky. The soldiers
sang their war songs, sometimes all
together, again in large groups; the
calvary singing their songs, the in-
fantry theirs and 80 on. The colored
troops particularly. both their bands
and their songs, came in for much ap-
plause. They were splendid. The
negroes are truly natural musicians
On the stage in the center of the am
phitheater, lighted with brilliant
lights. a number Of stunts were stag
ed, including clog dancing and wres-
tling but they all seemed uninterest-
ing after the sight Of the assembling
Of the troops.
myself have never seen SO many
people in one place to begin with;
then those soldiers, marching in
such form and appearing abruptly
over the tops of the hills-it is be-
yond description and I would not
have missed II for the world. After
they were seated on the ground, be-
fore dark, they looked like they
were all smoldering for large clouds
of smoke rose from their midst in
every direction. It was startling
for a second; then one realized that
II was because so many men were
smoking at one time. Then as dark
, came on the effect was quite diff
ferent: all you could see of the men
were thousands of little fire fys
darting about the moving lighted
cigarettes and cigars. And all the
time the big fires burned and blaz-
ed. occasionally throwing into pictur.
esque silhouette a lone horseman
guarding US from the hill tops.
The celebration broke up at go
o'clock when everybody returned to
the barracks and Joined in the