o find, therefore, that he passed his entrance
examinations with flying colors, and in November, 1871, donned his
uniform as a cadet in the Ecole Polytechnique. This building, like the
one at Metz, still bore evidences of the recent war. During the siege
of Paris it had been used as a hospital; and in the civil war which
followed the peace, when the Empire was overthrown, it had been through
severe fighting. Shell holes were still to be seen in its roofs and
walls. But such scars seemed to make it still more what it was in
name, a military school. Foch already felt like a soldier.

Among Foch's fellow students were two others who were destined to play
a part in the World War. One was a cadet named Ruffey, who was
destined to become a General, in command of the Third Army of France,
during 1914. The other was a short, stocky fellow, who came from the
Gascon country near Foch's home, and who had been more fortunate than
he in seeing some actual fighting during the recent war. He had been
in command of a battery of guns during the siege of Paris, and had also
taken a physical part in the fighting. Foch looked at this strapping
cadet, and then at his own much slighter frame, and a feeling akin to
envy came over him, as he may have said to himself:

"If only I could have got into it like that fellow Joffre!"

During the second year of his work here, in 1873, it was announced
that, as the army was short of officers, the course would be shortened
for the more advanced students, so that they could receive their
commissions as soon as possible. Among the students who were granted
this honor were Joffre and Foch--the former choosing the engineers, and
the latter the artillery. As a special aid in completing his course,
Foch secured a transfer to the Artillery School at Fontainebleau.

Here he felt more at home and in more congenial surroundings. He was
out of the city with its clamor and clang. Always a country boy at
heart, he recalled his beloved St. Etienne in these parks and hills.
He had always been fond of horseback riding, and now he had full
opportunity of perfecting himself in this art. The daily canters kept
his body sound, his brain clear. He came out third in his classes, a
highly creditable mark, and received his commission as a
sub-lieutenant. He was a soldier at last.

As a reward for his scholarship he was informed that he might choose
any post where he would prefer to be stationed. He selecte