are served daily to
the soldiers who have decided for the first time in their life they
really like such stuff. There one sees more soldiers at the same time
than at any other place in the fighting zone; there they sit and discuss
the future calmly and confidently, there being a distinct feeling that
the war is likely to be over next Summer.

No one knows what the Spring tactics of General Joffre will be. Along
the section of the front I visited the officers are all satisfied that
the Commander in Chief's "nibbling tactics" have forced the Germans to
retire on the average of two to three miles all along the line. The very
name of that great man is spoken with reverence, almost with awe, by his
"children at the front."

I, therefore, from the facilities given me, can only make one assertion
in summing up my opinion of the French grand army of 1915, that it is
strong, courageous, scientifically intelligent, and well trained as a
champion pugilist after months of preparation for the greatest struggle
of his career. The French Army waits eager and ready for the gong.

[Illustration]

Dodging Shells

[From The London Morning Post, Feb. 1, 1915.]

The Echo de Paris has published today a letter that throws a
considerable amount of light upon the psychology of the French soldier,
and that shows how he behaves himself when subjected to very trying fire
and compelled to act on his own initiative. It is written by the man to
his wife, and is as follows:

I am acting as guard to a convoy, and am comfortably installed, with no
work to do, in the house of an old woman who has lent me a candle and
writing materials. I shan't be suffering from the cold in the way I have
done on previous nights, as I have a roof over me and a fire. What
luxury! It's been freezing for several nights, and you feel the frost
when you are sleeping in the open. But that is nothing to the three days
we passed in the village of ----. We were stationed in the mairie. In
front of us in the clock tower an artillery Captain was taking
observations. On the road between the church and the mairie a Sergeant
and four artillerymen were sending orders to the battery behind us.
Suddenly a shell struck. We saw the artillerymen on the ground and the
Sergeant alone left standing.

The fire was so thick that no one could think of going out. But suddenly
one of the men moved, so I got up to find out about it, taking care to
put on my knapsack. When I was amo