Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-06-17
Daily ShOEf Story
Parade
n, NANCY MOORE

IN NAN hhbhh
ALL they could see was legs.
n each doing exactly the same
thing. stepping high and Stiff as #
they had no Joints The two little
girls who stood watching on the
Champs ElySeeS were not much
higher than the knees Of those
moving legs 80 Marie and
Eugenie. aged and 7
They had come 10 sec the
parade. They had stood now for
lowhole minutes while the strange
soldiers passed by, and they were
sick and tired of the whole thing
There was no bright colofed
floats. no rolling cages with fierce
animals inside, not even any
clowns
Why. il was hardly a parade at
all. II was only lot Of men who
looked exactly alike with their
square faces. who stared straight
as the French soldiers used to do.
II was only a lot of legs.
EugenieS attention turned H.
self elsewhere. She pointed AT a
Young woman dressed in black
with tears frank upon a tortured
face
Look. Marie" whispered the
child loudly, "loOk at the lady
crying"
"Poof." said Marie indiffer-
entity. That's nothing"
Once il would have shocked her
10 see a lady act so, but lately all
grown people seemed TO cry. 1t
was very confusing; always she
had been told that only children
cried.
How often her own mother had
said:
BE a big girl. chere. Don't
he cry-baby." And now
maman herself cried almost all
the time.
TEARS IN HER EYES
At first. at the beginning of the
war. Marie had said wonderlngly:
"Msman. there are tears COM
ing out of your eyes"
"Oui. said maman, and held
her daughter close against her.
Marie wriggled.
why" she asked.
Because papa has gone--has
gone to war"
II was no answer at all. Grown
people never would tell you what
YOU wanted to know. Wishing TO
show maman that she was not
fooled by such an explanation,
,arie said:
Papa didn't cry about the
war"
"You don't understand, men
enfant," replied her mother.
Maman Is glad you don't. War
Is n terrible thing" Sobbing,
she added, Papa may never
come back to us"
OF course papa would come
Jack. He had been away lots of
ines before, and never once failed
TO return. And war wasn't ter
rible at all; il was exactly the
same as no war.
You ate the same things and
went to bed at the half hour past
Z and and played with Eugene as
often as you possibly could.
Secretly Marie admired the war
very much, in spite of the tears
il made. because on account of It
papa had given her new doll, the
most beautiful doll she had ever
seen.
"For a golng-away present,
ma petite" he had said. clearing
his throat. And Maman turned
her head away. q
Now every one said the war
was over in France the Ger
mans had taken the war some
place else.
This Marie did not believe ..
all the German soldiers there
could possibly be were in Paris so
there must still be war and that's
why papa had not yet come home
CRIES MORE OFTEN
Lately maman cried more than
ever and talked of Cambria where
papa had gone and was so slow
about coming back.
Marie wished he would hurry to
see the new dress made for the
wonderful doll and 10 stop
maman's tears.
Non, IL was no treat for Marie
10 look at a lady crying on the
street.
The legs went on and on, stiff
booted legs, step, step, step. The
little girls made game of trying
owalk the funny way the soldiers
dad, and finding IL hard, they
briefly admired the men who could
do il.
But soon they were bored again.
A great red flag with a crooked
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