The Washington herald., 1918-02-26

wear them. Small difference, too,
in the happiness of their faces, for
the parents of France are doing this
wonderful thing for their children,
rich and poor and middle-class alike:
They are keeping from them as much
as possible the chastity horror Of
this war.
There are those who have no par
ents. The orphans of France form a
great, and a constantly growing prob
lem. Much has been done toward saw
ing these future generations which
| must replenish France; much more
must be done. Those who have given,
must give, and give, and give again;
for these coming citizens need more
than food and shelter; IL they are to
grow up useful to humanity, and as
brave as the fathers who died for
humanity's sake, they must be made
happy as well as healthy.
No gloom for the little ones! Every
body in France makes that a constant
effort.
1t cannot be an easy task for a
grief-stricken woman to turn always
a smiling face when her child asks
for its dead father
We know a most conscientious
woman who did not quite succeed one
day. She succumbed to the tremen-
dous bitterness which was in her;
against not only the hell-loosed Hun
who had taken her husband and two
brothers, but against everything, to
the infinite; a fierce protest that she,
in the midst Of peace and happiness,
she and her countless widowed sisters
of France, had been plunged into such
needless agonies of grief!
Boys Arc Brave.
She cried! Something stopped her;
the voice Of her 2-year-old son,
who was crying out of sheer SYM
pathY. Her first. and her most nat
ural' instinct was to clasp him in her
arms; but at the same moment came
the thought that, If future France is
to maintain its centuries-old sublimity
of courage and endurance, it was for
her, as for every mother, to set an
example Of strength. So she dried
her tears. and smiled.
But the future Frenchman was
started and could not stop. The
most powerful lever was used: he
was told that little French gentle
men did not cry! 1t was a terrible
! blow, and he struggled with all his
baby might to achieve the high ideal
which was his because it was his
mothers; but the sobs continued.
Amidst them, he stoutly maintained
that he was little French gentle
man, even If he did cry; and that
took almost more strength than his
mother possessed, for she was COM
PEELED to dispute his proposition;
whereupon he turned from her knee
and toddled to the door.
He opened it, he marched through,
snufrling and gulping, he closed
that door; but not altogether. A
tiny crack remained, 1t held slightly
wavering for a long time, a very
long time. The mother, sitting per-
fectly motionless, had as hard a
struggle as the one which was 60
ing on in the hall
All! The door opened, and a
smiling but moist face was reveal
ed, while a triumphant voice pro-
claimed that the owner thereof was
indeed, and in fact, a little French
gentleman! That's the sort of lit
tie boys who grew up to be the sort
Of men who held VerdunI
hefOic Llttie UhI.
1t is one of our great privileges
also to know a certain little Made
leine, who is five and a half years
old. Madeline, of course, cannot re-
member when there was no war;
but she can remember, with vivid
distinctiveness, the air raids which
occurred in the beginning, when the
Germans were more convinced than
now that the world was their foot
ball, and that all they had to do
was come over in leisurely fashion,
three or four nights a week, and
drop bombs until all the little Mad
eleines and Yvonnes and Henris and
Jacques were destroyed.
1t has been a long time since the
German has felt it safe or profitable
to try that trick on Paris, but, long
as the time is, Madeline can remem-
ber the warning scream of the siren,
the deafening reports OF the aircraft
guns, the whizz and shrek of the
falling bombs, the crash Of the ex-
plosions, the fires which fiared up.
The other night when there was a
practice warning of the siren to keep
the defense system in working order,
like fire drill, Madeleine's lip quiv-
cred at the first sound, but that was
all.
She sat bravely In her chair and
went on eating her dinner and even
managed to answer, though somewhat
wanly, a reassuring smile.
Do you know why Madeleine did
not cry when that weird wild sound
struck terror to her heart? She
couldn't; they had company for din
ner!
That is the sort Of little girls who
grew up to be the sort of mothers
who raised the sort of sons who held
Verdun!
Copyright. lsls)