Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-05-03
APATIENT WAIT
FOR BATTLE END
How Frenchman Feels in
Present Crisis
Prof, Williamson Writes An Interesting
Letter from his School
in France

been prevailing IN france III the cllllchl
DAYS of the big drives may be CLEANED
from the letter which Prof, Myron H.
Sanford Of the Latin department at the
College, who is head OF the Middlebury
College War Service Committee, has
inst received from Prof, II, p, William
son de Visme. Prof, Williamson, as he
Is known here, was head Of the Depart
ment of French at the Middlebury Col
lege Summer Sessions in 1914 and 1916
and will return for the same duties here
this summer. He is at present the di-
rector OF de PEcole du Chateau de
Soisy, in France, which he founded six
years ago, and II is from this school at
Soisy.sous. Etiolles that he writes in the
early days OF the present great oilen-
sives, at the time when the German
long.range guns were dropping their
ifst shells on Paris,
Chateau de Soisy-sous- Etiolles.
lie Is March 1918
Ny dear Professor Sanford;
Your letters OF February 81, March
3 and 9 reached me almost at the same
time | hasten to send you short re-
ply. My thoughts are all at the front
they are strong as steel, and as intense
as fire You can understand why. The
greatest battle that history has ever
known has been raging for seven end
less DAYS and it is still going ruthlessly
on We are living over again the days
If Ia Marine. 1t is true that the Boches
have gained ground, but that is good
tactic on our part. They are throwing
their best reserves into the jaws of our
wonderful cannon, so what difference
does il make If we do lose some terri
tory? The "poilu" is there his breast
is bare, his eye is open, his heart is
firm. and he knows that he is soldier
We cannot admire enough the British
who have not failed in this awful mo-
ment ! affirm to you that | am conn.
dent in our victory Clemenceau Said
so Yesterday at the Chambre. lie is
a man of acts not words, and he never
has lied. 1t is hard, | admit, to keep
the nerves even. They culver when we
think of the fellows who fall never to
rise. Never to rise physically perhaps,
but they are already placed high in the
sky of history, and no eye can read the
recital of their exploits and remain dry
Could YOU read the letters that the
Young soldiers have written to me, Just
before they went into the fight! Such
simplicity, such joy, such courage! And
| know so many who are only nineteen
wears old. They look at you out OF
steady open eyes and you realize you
are talking to men. They are giving
their lives to save the right to THINK.
Poor fellows! Brave poilus' Eternal
examples.
We can hear the cannon mean
those of the front. We dcspise the two
or three that have belched their bullets
on Paris. The city goes about its bust
ness as usual and when a shot comes,
some one looks up, smiles and says: rs
that all the damage it does" The
Gothas did much dirty work but they
could not demoralize the Parsians.
That is something the Boche cannot un-
derstand. They judge everybody by
themselves Well, one thing is certain;
Frenchmen have never resembled that
rapacious race in any resPecR Thank
God. Our nights have been made hid
eous Our children have spent many
hours in the cellars, but the spirit OF
the city is higher than ever before Oh
their children for a more quiet spot 1t
is hard for young children and babies
to be awakened every night between
twelve and one and hurried down sew
eral flights into cellar. Many pro-
test vigorously. Last Saturday all the
school children of Paris spent the hours
from 8 in the morning till A in the alter
noon in the cellars, The masters read
them les classiques to keep them busy.
When they came out they looked like
spectres. | saw some of them myself
and was astonished at their calmness.
They are de la graine de poilu, that is
all.
My little boy, Rene, was in hospital
at Neuilly during whole week OF the
raids And as you know Boche has
no respect for a hospital, especially II
it contains children, you can imagine
that our hearts had to have locks put
on them. The little fellow was not
afraid he amused himself by analyzing
his sensations. We know that the
whole question Of the war is beng de-
decided by this battle. | wish l could
convey to you the absolute certainty
that feel, the conviction | entertain
that the allies are sure 10 WIN.
Dear friend in Middlebury: there is
a power that rules the universe and
Germany cannot escape that DONNA
ton even though she does possess
Kaiser. I trusted in God before the
Marine and | trust in Him now. Ger
tainly not in the German God, the
modern Jahve, but in the God OF JUS
tice and Right who has always put all
His enemies under His feet.
Shoulder to shoulder the French and
British are defending the ground. Thou
sands and thousands of Boches are fall
ing before the mouth of Justice, and be-
hind the lines am sure that the imperl-
al criminal is asking himself how much
longer his doom will wait. 1t tears the
heart to see train loads of refugees such
as I saw yesterday with all their poor
possessions coming in upon Paris For
the second time they have been Obliged
to flee. Never mind The hour always
strikes, and the wise man waits with
his mind we'll in hand. II am enclos-
ing the article of Maurice Barres as 1T
appeared in the Echo de Paris OF this
morning. 1t will interest you.)
Remember the heroes OF la Marine
IT. lofo,Ja-e of Verdun are in this