g until six
at night. In return they received paper bills with which they were
unable to purchase milk and similar necessities. The majority, however,
were so overjoyed at their deliverance that they were almost incoherent
in discussing the enemy occupation.

The inhabitants of Stenay remained hiding in their cellars even after
the Americans had entered the town. They came out hesitatingly and in
small groups.

Hostilities along the American front ended with a crash of cannon.

The early forenoon had been marked by a falling off in fire all along
the line, but an increasing bombardment from the retreating Germans at
certain points stimulated the Americans to a quick retort. From their
positions north of Stenay to southeast of the town the Americans began
to bombard fixed targets. The firing reached a volume at times almost
equivalent to a barrage.

Two minutes before eleven o'clock the firing dwindled, the last shells
shrieking over No Man's Land precisely on time.

There was little celebration on the front line, where American routine
was scarcely disturbed over the cessation of fighting. In the areas
behind the battle zone there were celebrations on all sides. Here and
there there were little outbursts of cheering, but even those instances
were not on the immediate front.

Many of the French soldiers went about singing.

"Well, I don't know," drawled a lieutenant from Texas while the
artillery was sending its last challenge to the Germans, "but somehow I
can't help wondering if we have licked them enough."

The Germans were manifestly so glad over the cessation of hostilities
that they could not conceal their pleasure. Prisoners taken at Stenay
grinned with satisfaction. Their demeanor was in sharp contrast to that
of the American doughboys who took the matter philosophically and went
about their appointed tasks.

In the front line it was the same. The Americans were happy, but quiet.
They made no demonstrations. The Germans, on the other hand, were in a
regular hysteria of joy. They waited only until nightfall to set off
every rocket in their possession. In the evening the sky was ablaze with
red, green, blue and yellow flares all along the line.

Flags appeared like magic over the shell-torn buildings of Verdun,
French and American colors flying side by side.

In every village, even those from which the Germans had been driven,
there were flags and decorations which were brought up to the front by
the