The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-07-22
SHOULD LEARN FRENCH.
Knowledge Of the Language Will
Help American Soldiers.

Il
une the other day the story of young
American officer at the training camp
in France-a West Pointer-who was al
lowed, as a compliment, to drill some
French troops recently. Quite number
of our officers have been so honored
which, by the way, seems to be bit
rafting to them at first.
Our young fellow got his Frenchmen !
started all right, as he expressed it;
they went at a great clip. But after
while he noticed that there was cliff |
dead ahead, and when he tried to think |
of how he could stop them, he found he |
could not find the equivalent of the |
English order-the word of command |
wouldn t come. He could not well run
ahead of them and turn into q human |
semaphore by waving his arms at them;
what would have become of his Ameri- |
can dignity? They, on the other hand, |
had been told TO go ahead, they could
not stop without orders-or what would
have become of their "poilu" honor?
They had their orders and were going
right on to their death or destruction
rather than funk. . 1t looked as though
we d all march right off the cliff to sat
isfy my pride and theirs, when the
| French Lieutenant came to the rescue
with Gauche a quatre which saved
the day.
The American officer did not know
! that one, but he admits he was good
deal of a goat just the same, as he could
have got away with HALT which is
nearly the same as ITaltc' in French.
i And you may be quite sure that at such
a juncture the French soldiers would
not have been particular as to, the pro
nunciation of the word. They would
have understood fast enough.
4 Plattsburg man with whom | was
talking over the above tells me that a
similar incident occurred at the famous
American camp last summer. young
Lieutenant had started his men toward
a railroad cmbankment when he was
startled by the Shrek of an approach
ING train He could not think Of tire
proper word, which was Halt He
was ratified as the train came in sight,
and not being West Pointer, he sim
ply dropped his dignity and yelled to his
command, "Chccsc it for the trainl
just in the nick of time.
Another general -in-the making was
ordered to get some men on board a
motor to unload, after which he was to
get them off again as fast as he could.
4 What he should have said is as much
of mystery to me at this time as APP
] parcntlv il was TO him then. But what
4 he did command was, Fall in! and
:. FAN ont and that was quite wrong
I for the Plattshurg veterans nearly split
I their ribs laughing.
Then ii was that an ancient and hon
i orable who usually contributes to these
modern symposiumS some good old ClNl
War stories, told how Abraham Lincoln
when appointed Captain in the Black
8 Hawk War, and leading his men to
4 gap in fence during drill, could not
q think of the words Single file HI
Il stammercd and thought, and finally
giving il up, yelled with superiiuous clio
& qucnce: Fall out on this side Of tn
y fence. fall in on the other side Fer
: haps he remembered his own military
shartcoming later when he was so IN
a fnitely patient with the inefiieieney o
a lis generals Who knows!
e The story is also told of George Enc
Il Of New York an excellent fellow, a
one time popular member OF section
of the American Ambulance H1eId serV
n ice. but whose French was of tn
8 strictly collegiate quality, who ON on
4 occasion, being on the road one dar
81 night with a carload of wounded, wa
challenged by q sentry In his SLOW
4 drawing, vague manner Of speech \
rcplicd i'm Englsh-of which. of course
the sentry knew not one word, = don
y remember exactly, but it seems to m
b that il sounded something like "moto
4 car.
The password was . Montauban.
K Whether the sentry was unusual
y clever and caught on, or whether wit
4 the noise of the bursting shells-it wa
q at Vcrdun the sentry simply gave
z nj ard let the American through b.
81 cause he recognized him, don t knoN
a But he let it 20 at that.
From the above it seems quite Gle;
that some French is necessary if OF
wants to get along satisfactorily ov
II there; nj least those who can speak
have an easier and better time.
3 This reminds me that soldiers, sailor
"a and nurses preparing to 90 abroad
- national duty can get free lessons
the French War Relief committee
he Fmergcncy Aid. at 1l22 Vain
Street, where French teachers are pr
vided having volunteered for t
kpurpose On application to the oiliC
time may be adjusted to suit those wi
ING to take course. At present the
is one teacher in charge, August n
being n very active month in this eli
In the early autumn a number of GO
French schools have volunteers to &C
duet conversational classes for tho
who. having studied French, are DIES
ous OF acquiring facility. Among the
1 Mrs Benjamin Tilghman and Miss NJ
lieent Dana, both of whom spe
French nuently and with ease and "
u are quite. willing TO place their faeil
- and proficiency at the disposal of Thu
who require 1T in order to do efici'
service to their country abroad, viii
in attendance to take charge of
seq work. Nothing just now could be
greater value to our young men.-P
"P gy Shipper in Philadelphia Ledger.
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