The L'Anse sentinel., 1919-01-17

n tarm tney haO the resulntlOn rs
n army tents. Today they have
a large dining hall with beamed E
ceiling, rough hewn chairs and
a tables In close imitation of an
n early colonial home. r.
m N ~ m ~ ~ N N IN N S,
~~s~~~-~-o-~~-~-~~~~~-~
and tumbled back through the gate
ahead Of us as the heralds of our pro-
cession. Seeing that II was unwise for
Mellett and me to be too distantly sep
arated, I unlocked two Of the girls
and Mellett took the arm of the one
between us. Mile. Berthe Dubauts. by
the way. France never made 'em pref
tier than Mile. Berthe.
Everybody Wanted Two Kisses.
The enormity of what was ahead of
US was not realized until we were
through the gate. Our heralds were
shouting "The English are comingp
Wave upon wave of men, women and
children bore down upon us and at
times there were collisions that must
have hurt. Everybody wanted at least
two kisses and handshake.
The dear old ladies of Lille had the
highest average going at the rate of
| 20 in a possible 100. The younger
women (and am not referring to Mel
/ lett's contingent) wanted to DO the
thing tenderly and gently and as re-
suit often got only little bump
against my nose or ear. the second kiss
missing fire or ricocheting to one Of
| my winsome escort.
The only trouble with the escort
was that they could not tell us where
we wanted to so. We just staggered
on, pushed and pulled at from all d.
rections, sometimes almost carried
down by the weight of some wildly
joyous person who would spring at us,
| throw both arms around our necks and
kiss us rapturously.
AS we were entering Rue des Postes
we heard a booming voice call out:
"Can / help? Just minute while l
get through these blinking girls"
| He was M. Auguste Vonherzeele, a
Belgian tailor, formerly of London.
Because he was siXty-four years old
| the Germans had not forced him to
work. He had kept his son hidden for
| four years, but. he said, "the little fool
insisted finally cn getting out and had
been seized and taken away by the
Germans when they deported all the
able manhood, even youths In mid
teens, shortly before the evacuation.
M. Vonherzeele introduced us to nj.
Fernand Hanciaus, Lille representative
Of the General Electric company OF
Schenectady, N. Y.
"Will you-smack-take US through
-smack-the main streets-smack-.
to the mayor-smack-and back
smack - to our car - smackT we
begged, between kisses.
The two turned about and talked
very fast to the mob. A way opened
for us and we started. All went well
for two minutes. then fresh battal-
ion of kisses went over the top and cut
Nj. Hanciaus off from oil communica-
ton with us. We never saw him
again.
Hlbpons, Badges, HoSettc6.
We now began to be entwined with
red, white and blue ribbons, and many
badges and rosettes were pinned TO
us. We also got lunches of red, white
and blue paper flowers.
There was nothing amorous about
the kisses. They were given by old
and young to the "good English" One
trim mademoiselle In my retinue
kissed me once for the allies. once for
England, once for myself and once for
my wife. (Note-I am not adding this
to square myself at home. This true
and accurate history Of the great oc-
casIon must be complete in all details.)
What happened to the kissers after
they had battered their way into our
parade and finally got within kissing
reach 2 They formed In lines fifteen
abreast and danced or stamped ahead
or behind us, singing the Marseillaise.
When we got back to our car we
found 1t indistinguishable In the mob.
The British captain had two babies on
either knee, and he sat so they were
between him and the kissers. The
driver had given up fighting long
time ago and quite miserably hung
over his seat in limp position within
reach of short or tall. For him II was
more cheerful to give than to receive.
The brave British deliverers Of Lille
later did get tremendous ova-
tion from the city. We saw few SEN
tries when we returned there having
their guns held by girls and being be-
decked with garlands and fed with
cakes. We saw other Tommies having
their guns and packs carried by Lille
girls. 1t is pity that the first spon-
taneous outburst on gratitude to the
British should have been centered on
two Yank correspondents.