, 1918-08-01

cupytng 1t for eight days and then
49, marching away, leaving the inhabi-
49, tants cheering, and waving friendly
A- adieux. For the foreign force was
- the first party of American permits
- sionaires-soldiers on leave-and the
city was Aix-les-Bains, the first American leave
center in France. Here the French saw the
Americans at play and were satisfied.
"Aix-les-Beans' the American boys pronounce
1t, at the imminent risk of the name being short
ened to 1.-THE Beans" Aka jewel, clear-cut,
with brilliant facets set in a frame of gorgeous
moonlight and of wonderful opaline sunsets and
sunrises. This is the beauty spot to which are sent
the boys in olive-drab, wearied by months in
trench mud, under bursting shells. And this is
the story of the first permissionaires to arrive in
Aix-the American soldiers Blighty.
On a certain bright Saturday a cosmopolitan
crowd gathered at the railroad station all in a
high state of anticipation. One could easily pick
out the persons of prominence, the mayor, the
doctors, lawyers and others of small but as
sured incomes. And it might be noticed that the
older women kept watchful eyes ON the jeunne
files who, tense with expectancy, gazed up the
iron road along which the first permissionaires
We're to come. For who could tell what romance
might not be on the way, romance excusing the
futtering of eyelids and the extra nicely of
dress?
AS a special effort to make the incoming Amer
leans feel right at home. the crowd featured a
negro band and the local baseball nine, composed
of small boys in scarlet jerseys and linen trous-
ers, with legs bare as only a French boy ever
dares wear them. The lads had small American
flags tied around their arms, and their teeth were
rafting with the cold, for the snow lay on the
mountain sides and q refrigerated wind hIau
down from there.
In the crowds also were American officers and
visitors, Y. M. G. A. secretaries, canteen workers
and uncatalogued spectators. Before the Ameri-
cans arrived a dozen British aviators on their
way to Italy changed trains and, seeing the
throng, asked the reason. On being Informed.
they exclaimed with heartfelt approval:
wish we were American permissionaires ~
And well they might. for beautiful AK, which
in the happy days before 1914 had attracted the
discriminating visitors of all nations, was in more
than gala dress this day, painting the lily, while
military and civil representatives had assembled
there to give welcome to the boys who had come
from the west shores of the Atlantic to fight
shoulder to shoulder with the French.
These are the early arrivals of the American
expeditionary force which landed I'm France last
mer-regu and volunteers. They had come
from the trenches with scarcely an hour to pre-
pare.
They wore their trench helmets, their packs
were on their backs, their clothes and boots COW
cred with mud, their faces grimy, their hair dis
ordered. Their train was two hours late, but the
crowd has been waiting that time and the cold
winds have not chilled the enthusiasm which
greeted the appearance of the Yankees.
"It certainly did make an Impression said one
old regular of this reception. "We didn't know
what Kind of a place 1t was and some of us
were sore because we couldn't go to Paris, while
half OF us didn't have the money to see 1t
through, or the right outfit. But 1 guess Uncle
Sam had an idea it would be Just as well to let
the French people know the American troops
weren't kept in bandboxes and tissue paper, but
were in the fight"
There was no doubt in the minds of those who
watched the boys getting out of the cars that
they had been at the front. They were hungry
and tired, having been 30 hours on the way, with
only one stop-over, where the Red Cross unit had
breakfast ready for them. But they were too ac-
customed to discipline to resist sp~eech-making
and hospitality, so they listened patiently to the
provost marshals friendly admonitions to shun
wine and women. No ban was placed on song.
Then-on with the welcomed
The negro band erupted into jazz and raggy
noises, taking the Americans back home in spirit
at least, following which a French orchestra
swung gracefully into the strains Of a "Suite de
Massenete," and the permissionaires were es-
corted to their temporary homes. They were led
through streets flanked by hag-draped balconies,
from which pretty girls cried with familiar greet
ing:
"vive rAmeriquel vive Ia Francei vive oncle
Sami"
And that is how the first American permits
sionaries anne to the A. p. Els Blighty, with a
blare of trumpets. a waving of flags, cheers.
smiles, sparkling eyes and welcoming speech. Be
fore them lay eight days of clean, delightful
recreation amid beautiful scenes and-probably
best of all-unlimited baths.
We've fed on mud.r said one happy permits
sionaire. ''The rats come and sit on the edges
Of our straw and give use morning salute. We
haven't had n real wash for so long that we've
almost forgotten how 1t feels to have that sense
Of self-respect that comes with the morning tub"
ak, with Its famous waters, baths and casinos,
needs no introduction to many men In the Amer
lean expedltionary force. In the days before the
war II attracted thousands of Americans each
season. among them the late j. Pierpont Nor