er it struck, and struck
again--until the surprised enemy turned and fell back. Paris was saved.

In the gallery of the world's great soldiers, the homely, kindly figure
of Joffre may well find place. He seems to occupy a niche quite by
himself. He is not spectacular, nor a "hero," but a simple man among
men, whose results are built upon a lifetime of patient endeavor.

He is Rodin's statue of "The Thinker" come to life.

IMPORTANT DATES IN JOFFRE'S LIFE

1852. January 12. Joseph Jacques Cesaire Joffre born.
1867. Entered preparatory military school, Paris.
1869. Entered Polytechnic Academy.
1870. Volunteered in army to defend Paris against Prussians.
1870. Commissioned second-lieutenant.
1876. Commissioned captain for work on fortifications.
1884. Sent to Formosa to construct barracks and trenches.
1885. Decorated, Legion of Honor, Tonkin.
1891. Professor in military school, Fontainebleau.
1893. Sent to Madagascar on construction work.
1894. Headed expedition to Timbuctoo.
1901. Brigadier-general.
1911. Chief of general staff.
1914. Commander-in-chief, French army.
1916. Marshal of France.

FOCH

THE SCHOOLMASTER IN WAR

To wait until one is sixty-three years old before even smelling
powder--and then to find oneself in command of the greatest allied army
that the world has ever seen--such is the remarkable story of the
French General, Ferdinand Foch. His life, like that of more than one
famous soldier is a bundle of paradoxes, or contradictions, but prove
once again that "truth is stranger than fiction."

Those of us who know and love Dumas's swashbuckling hero, D'Artagnan,
will remember that he was a Gascon and always spoiling for a fight.
Foch was another Gascon who passed threescore years of his life
peacefully enough--but when he did get into the fight at last, it was a
"corker"!

The Gascony of France and Spain--for it is in the Pyrenees separating
the two countries--has produced some famous men, other than Foch--and
D'Artagnan. In the fighting days of the Republic and the First Empire,
it gave to France Murat, Marbot, and Bessieres. From Gascony at a
later day came "Papa" Joffre to do his sturdy bit in saving France.

The ancestral home of the Foch family is on the Garonne River, among
the foothills of the Pyrenees. Here the river is hardly more than a
trout stream threading its way down the wooded slopes or murmuring
through the vall