Norwich bulletin., 1918-04-09
AMERICANS ON LEAVE IN PARIS. What Aid Is Given Them
 To Secure Entertainment
Special to the Bulletin,

HAASA iCdIl SOIOt6IS VIII DC n6lpeC to enjoy their leave from the firing line when they visit Paris occasionly is suggested in an engaging commnnica- tion from Carolyn Cory to the National Geographic Society. Mrs. Corey, who has been in Paris for nearly two years, helping soldiers on fdrlough to en- tertain themselves, gives picturesque account of one of her personally con- ducted tours of 'Versailles' in com mand of a group of g Americans, Canadian Australian, and New Zea- land soldiers. A part of her eommuni- cation is issued By the Society as the following bulletin:
 Yesterday afternoon I took thirty two soldiers to Versailles. make this trip three times week On the other from the front. It is such fun that I object strenuously to reference to this as my war work"
 French soldiers get home leaves every four months. But I've had boys with me who were out of lHe for the first time q year. They were the lucky ones; for many that I meet tell me they are free for ten days after six teen, seventeen. and even riinteen months. If their first excursion hap pens to take place on the day 0 f arrival, they are more frightened of me than of all the shells and ''sllrap' they've ever faced.
 "" Not the least of my task is to, put them at their ease. I succeed best when talk their ling. I've learned a lot of it from their predecessors and am learning more every day. If a sky.. 4. hear your slankwidge', I know he's my Pm a regular guy, then the ice is broken for all of us.
 "In the center of the huge Versailles courtyard gather them an abont me and give a short, q very short, description af the palace. Every one listens carefully and the intelligent ones ask questions. When I call their attention to the original cobblestones someone remarks, I'd like to meet the gink that invented them. Bet he never had to wear ten pounds of iron in his boots When 1 say that the palace cost four million pounds hear, Wrap it up And when I say slowly and distinctly there are rooms for ten thousand guests, hear sigh and I'd like to stay here for duration
 W0 L41S. Lo1iIC CC and tell the story of how 1t was built and ab-so- -lute-ly finisted in three
 months, and hear a grunt of dis belief and bass voice saying, It takes Frenchy that long to cook a steak When I announce that the guide is, a veteran af the Franco-Prussian War, as they can see by his military medal and his empty sleeve, one generous fellow yells, Every fellow hand him a franc But I would object vigorously and tell them that that would never do; it would be establishing another precedent, and goodness knows enough have already been established here for the man in khaki; at which the wit of the crowd pipes, At least you'n let me kiss him.
 "Now, thanks to the kindness of the French Government, the chateau. is opened to my thirty-two. We enter into all the magni1cance that was Louis's through the great wide doors. not, however, wide enough to accom- modate the eager troop of veritable children, who crowd and push and joke and swear. n
 We halt a second before the big picture of Louis XIV, because several want to take a peek at the 'kink' who was responsible And as all of Yer sailles is essentially Louis, after awhile it gets to be a game; this hunting for and finding of Louis in bronze, marble. Eand oil in all, sorts of poses and costumes; so much so that one day when one of my guests took some snap shots of the party, another said. We mustn' tell Iooey; he'd hate so
 we ascend the /. gorgeous marble staircase the favorite one of Marie | +zsxY ffaT Ia when a miner from the Yukon refers to her as Marie Antonio.' Lord love him he's going to see everything and know who's who and why. At least that's what he tells me. An Austral- ian mutters that his favorite staircase is the one that leads off the boat at ! Sydney, and a second, and a third, and a fourth agree with enthusiasm.
 we wander slowly and awesomely through the grandeur of the gallery of battle pictures. We examine attenti- vely the picture depicting one of the first victories of France, in the year
 496. never forget to point out; the trench helmet. so like the one in use
 now, and employed as another picture
 proves, early in the thirteenth century. I always remember to halt the entire company before the battle of Lens which took place in 164S, on the 20th Iiof August. The date and month are of importance, because it was on a1- most that very same date and month of 1917 that Canada started to get
 back Lens. |. And when I ask misclievously Boys. are we or are we not going to
 do it?" well. I'll venture to say that
 the great roon in which we stand
 never echoed to deeper or sincerer
 emotion than during the second when positive voices shouted, We are!'
 We are taken through many of the private rooms of the court. We see Louis's bedroom. It's funny, fiat bed, and one fellow says that if Looey had one drink he couldn't get onto 1t. and that if he took two he couldn't
 old rooms, and furniture, and rugs, the tapestries we tip our guide in true soldier style. Then we sally forth into the fresh. sweet elling ppenness of the garden. We all have B huge sigh to leave behind the close,
 hot air of indoors. We breathe deeply for very joy of living and being away from Fritzie.' in whom we all admit there's . might good kick yet"