Putnam patriot., 1921-05-13

Q h gold bars Of an officer. Here we heard of the imminence of the armis- tice. Here we had laughed and sung and eaten week in and week out while the news from the North bcame bet ter and better each day. Surely Ma dame Chariot would know and vel come us. We turned the corner al- most on run. Then we came to a full stop and sober one. Something had happened. The windows of the little restaurant were very dirty they never had been SO in the old days A billiard table filled the tiny dining room, strange faces peered from be- hind the inevitable zinc bar. We in- quired for Madame To our question came the reply we were 70 hear 90 of- ten-"Ah, non, m sieu. Madame. she was very rich after the American oe- cupation. She has retired to Paris and does not work any more ' We fled.
 As we passed dowa the winding rue Victor Hugo-for true to is literary history Tours has many streets named for authors and dramatfsts and poets and we Ventured to .r5 again. There Was the Aaison Bufaiz. surely that souid not have changed and 70 We strolled up the rue Natianale-for= merly q light brown stream of laugh ing soldiers dispensing their francs with free hand on all sides 70 the as tonishment and delight If the small shopkeepers. but now scarcely awake ih the noontide period which every true son of Gaul dedicafes =aeredly to the aperatif and a bouHteous lunch con.
 Bat our spirits rose again, for the Maison Burais was unchanged. Madame was full of eossip She was glad to see us and Che cuisine was as excellent as of yore And there was much to tell Did we remember Cap itaiHe So-and-So. and Major This-and That, and had we heard Of how Ceeile had married and gone to America and would America come again f France had to collect the refaraGi0Hs by force and would Msieu drink a Httle You. eray 1903 Which M'sieu would and did and left n a mood of full content. ment.
 Then We walked the old streets un. der the leaning fifteenth century nous es that almost shut 8ut -ae sun and spent dragging afternoon visiting one piece and anothtr But all va. changed There was Che old Inn of thc White Cross where Jeanne d.Ars had slept on the ees If Orleans and where We had had 84 dIaaef if the eohb.eH court But Madame R8z gone + Was the oI# fars laav5 revenue turing t6e American 5ecapa t5s8. d Lit of a fam H t6e environ. and Hfe af thst fruzaHty and basoI U ease so aeaI ta tne French Heaet
 As We walked The old streets 8mH che 0ld sights the conviction grey that- -eH}etiiH4 fsas gone thut wauF never return. something that Was aee essafy tu revisfg the old life Of th, Nar We had not thought To miss tho army During those streuuou, months of 1918 Se had not thought that we ever wanted to see man in khaki again The chief thing was tc finish the job and Co get home and back to home scenes and home faces But back here in France with the sun shining and the old town returned tc its own, We missed something of the army We wanted to near a dough boy mangle the French language in making himself understood to some pretty girl We wanted Co hear the siren Of an army motor. We were pl- most willing ta salute thousand and one officers as in the old days But I II was all gone disappeared into a dusty page of history Me were fl a camp that had been deserted by lts soldiery
 But there wa- satisfaction after all Tn all tha months since We had been at home ae had heard many Wild tales faam visitor. regarding Che French post-6af attitude ta Amefi- cans w were too friendly to France and Co tbt French Co believe .hem and the happiness ve found was in their complete contradiction Gratitude understanding and desire for com. plete accord with America we found on every hand So The returning sol dier-if be must eo back to the oli scenes will fgd welcome and a hearty one He'glll. as We have not cd before n these articles. find a France that httle changed Co the eve fAa, s she hlesseaness of fa1 eign=i4fe=ft Hhysiognomy of eoua- trs and Gown does not change over night w5th tfe lightning speed of our own American methods Perhaps. then, tAe# yB find satisfaction iH simply see,1z again the scenes of the war Oiar 4arning to him would be uot ra 'ooa tee carefully for the ia- dUitaa'~ 'yse Fese the life of that period ti5=N nor find them. They hFe ae~t .n the memory
 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE