928. January 30. Died in England.

JOFFRE

THE COOPER'S SON WHO REMADE THE ARMIES OF FRANCE

"Let's name him Joseph," said Gilles Joffre to his wife, as they viewed
their first child with much pride.

"That doesn't seem to be enough," responded Mme. Joffre. So unusual a
baby deserved better treatment, she thought.

"Then how about Joseph Jacques? That's a good, sensible sounding name."

"That sounds well," she admitted, "but still it lacks something. I'll
tell you. Let's call him Joseph Jacques Cesaire."

"Sounds like a soldier," said the father.

"Well, who knows? Perhaps he will be a general some day," Mme. Joffre
replied.

So the infant who lay quietly blinking on his natal day, January 12,
1852, was to be known as Joseph to his friends; but tucked away in his
name for future reference was Cesaire--as the French folk pronounced the
name of the great Roman conqueror.

Truly there was nothing very auspicious in the start of Joseph Joffre.
His father was merely a cooper in a straggling hillside town of the
Pyrenees in Southern France, Rivesaltas--but he was a good cooper. His
neighbors had a saying that is preserved to this day: "Barrels as good as
those made by old Gilles Joffre."

The town itself had some six thousand inhabitants, and was situated on
the River Agly, about nine miles from the city of Perpignan. The Joffre
home was a very plain and humble dwelling set alongside of the cooper
shop, and neither better nor worse than its neighbors--but the well-to-do
workman of today would turn up his nose at it. Nevertheless in this home
were born eleven children, the oldest of whom was the future Marshal of
France. And the father continued to live there for thirty years or more.

It is related of him that even as a baby Joseph never cried, but endured
his various troubles with silent stoicism. As he grew older, this trait
of silence became ingrown; it was alluded to as "Joffre's taciturnity."
But as a matter of fact the gift of silence in him as both boy and man
did not indicate a sullen or unfriendly disposition. It was merely that
he had his head in the clouds. He made a life job of _thinking_--like
the seated statue by Rodin.

As one result of this trait, little is reported concerning his childhood.
No anecdotes are related of him at all, except one doubtful story about a
fight which he had with a schoolmate. The latter wanted him to stop and
take part in some game. Joffre replied