eys. It is just such a spot as any boy would like to
call "home."

The father of Ferdinand Foch had been born here during the days of the
First Empire, when the fame of the Corsican was ringing around the
world--and had consequently been christened Napoleon. He married the
daughter of one of Bonaparte's officers, Colonel Dupre, and the family
were naturally ardent loyalists. To Napoleon Foch and Sophie Dupre
were born four children, a daughter and three sons, and the second son
was christened Ferdinand. The father at this time had entered the
French civil service, and in 1851, when Ferdinand was born, was at
Tarbes in the Upper Pyrenees, as secretary of the prefecture.

The family name of Foch does not sound French, and as pronounced in
Gascony with a hard guttural sound it is more like German. It would
seem to indicate that in an earlier day the ancestors had lived on the
Rhine. Up in northern France they have softened the name to sound like
"Fush." The meaning of the name is said to be "Fire"--and certainly
the Germans kindled a greater fire than they could quench, when their
invasion produced the quiet leader with this flaming name.

Napoleon Foch did not rise very high in his official positions. His
work was chiefly clerical and caused him to remove from one town to
another. He did not want to lose sight of his boys, by placing them in
an academy, but kept them with him, placing them in first one public
school and then another, as he was compelled to move. The first school
that Ferdinand attended was the old college at Tarbes, where he
remained until ten or eleven years old. The family home at Valentine,
in the country, was always visited in the summer and other holiday
seasons, and here the youngsters had many a romp. Their father on his
infrequent visits home would enter into the sport like one of them.

A favorite excursion was up one of the neighboring hills to a cliff
known as the Bout du Puig, which commanded a wonderful view up and down
the valley. Here they would take their lunch and feel like true
mountaineers.

From Tarbes, the family moved to Polignac, where Napoleon Foch was
Public Treasurer. After Ferdinand and his brothers had attended the
school at this place for a time, they removed to the town of Rodez--and
another school.

In these early days Foch was on a par with the average schoolboy,
neither better nor worse, if local records are to be believed. He did,
however, win an hon