The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1918-12-03
II Bit of France
: and French /:
BY Mrs. Byrd Trego.

piled duties have Kept MRS. Trego
SO occupied she asks that you read
this excellent story from the STARS
and Stripes" this week.
Domremy is wee mite of town
boasting in times of peace but some
800 inhabitants and in wartime
even fewer than that. 1t Is little
more than a small collection of
houses, humble and broken down, on
the road that leads to TOul, lying on
the left bank of the river Mouse.
Yet there is not single Ameri-
can soldier, Catholic or Protestant
or Jew or what not, who, learning
that chance has placed him for a
while in the region about Domremy,
does not bend every effort to visit it.,
even tho the visit may entail long
overland hike after a week of much
hiking.
For Demremy - Domremy-la-Pu-
celle. as the guidebooks call it's
the birthplace, the shrine Of Jeanne
dare; and, being that, 1t is one
shrine above all in France for all
Americans to honor.
Over the road leading to the south,
the very road by which Jeanne and
her family fed Neufchateau to es-
cape the marauding band of Antonio
de Vergny, the governor OF Cham
payne who espoused the English
cause, you can see the Americans
trudging of Sunday. Over the
road from the north. the road by
which the maid of France set out for
Vaucouleurs to beg the aid OF the
Sire de Baudricourt for her high ad-
venture, you can see them tramp
ing in amain. Yet they march with
less than their usual blithness and
abandon, if anything; for, one and
all, they instinctively feel that they
are about to enter on holy ground.
The Mission of Jeanne
Holy ground it is indeed, as holy
in the eyes of the long suffering
France as the tombs Of Mt. Vernon
and of Springfield, Illinois, are IN
the eyes of America. Here in TINS
obscure little hamlet of the Lor-
raine marshes, was born she VINO
was to lead her country, sore oppres-
sed by foreign rule, sore beset by in
ternal strife, to liberation and unity.
Though her work was later set
at naught, though her striving had
to be repeated, over and over again,
by men less worthy, less disinterested
than she yet she it was who gave
to the French the vision of a united
and restored nation, free from Tor
eign domination, nation wholly
French. AS she put it, 1T Is my
Lords will that the Dauphin should
be king and receive the kingdom IN
trust" meaning in trust for the
King of Kings.
Reyerently the Americans enter
the village, and proceed to the little
church. successor to the edifice In
which Jeanne was baptized and IN
which. for long hours, she used to
implore the aid of her sanity trio,
the great st. Michael and SITS. Mar
guerite and Catherine, the martyrs
who sent her forth on the quest that
ended in her own martyrdom.
There in the garishly new but none
the less inspiring windows of stained
glass. they can read her history, from
the time when, under the great beech
tree on the hill beyond, she heard
the yoic calling her to the time
when. reviled and discredited, she
was led to the stake at Rouen.
Pilgrims, Not Sightseers
Perhaps they enter the little
church during service, and near the
choir Of children singing Sur ton
front noble heroine" the hymn
especially dedicated to the Maid OF
Domremy. Perhaps, too, as on one
occasion, they retire abashed before
the eloquent welcome Of M. le cure,
uttered from the pulpit itself.
The good man has been exceeding
lv touched to see the Americans,
strangers from more than 5000 Kill
ometers oversee, come trooping by
two and threes, Sunday after sun
day, into his famous little parish,
and coming frankly as pilgrims, NOT
as mere sightseers. In consequence,
his greeting Is warm, and 1t loses
none of it's warmth because OF the
fact that, perhaps, not one In four OF
his khaki auditors can comprehend
It all. Certainly, on their part, their
appreciation is just as great as II
thew understood every word OF IL;
thew are content at being able TO
divine the spirit behind 1t.
Then, of course. there is the shrine
of shrines of Domremy. the little
house close by the church in which,
on January 6, 1412, Jeanne was
born, with the white marble statue
of her that was sent from England,
the model Of tn, bronze statue
wrought in her memory by Princess
Marie Of Orleans, and the earlier
one given by King Louis XII, adorn-
ing the room on the ground floor IN
which the family Of Jacques dare,
all unmindful Of the fame that was
to come to tn I'm because OF the
youngest daughter sat during the
long cold evenings-colder ana
bleaker in old Lorraine than In any
other part of France.
The Room With the Double window.
From this room the pilgrims may
proceed, with hats of and with rev.
erent step, through the low door
that leads into the bare little room
known as Jeanne dare own, with
its double window looking out on the
garden beyond. Above, on the sec
ond floor, they may see the collec-
tion of arms, of pictures, books and
other relics Of the days when the
peasant girl led the fiued-de-lys to
victory.
Tntorautinp 40 The house and the