s, arrested and led into the presence
of a court-martial. The judgment was summary, and after a quarter of
an hour's questioning Marcelle Semer was condemned to death.

"Do you admit," asked the presiding officer, "that you helped French
soldiers to escape?"

"I certainly do," she replied. "I managed it so that sixteen of them
escaped, and they are beyond your reach. Now you can do what you want
to me. I am an orphan. I have only one mother--France. She does not
disturb me when I'm dying."

This was one time when God intervened. Marcelle did not die. Brought
to the place of execution, at the very moment when they were about to
shoot, the French reentered the village and, by a miracle, she escaped
her executioners. Today she wears the Croix de Guerre and the medal of
the Legion of Honor.

* * * * *

They were Frenchwomen and fighters, these women whose names and deeds
are to be found in the columns of the "Journal Officiel." Read, for
example, this citation concerning Madame Macherez, President of the
Association des Dames Francaises de Soissons:

She willingly assumed the responsibility and the danger of
representing the city before the enemy, and defended or
managed the interests of the population in the absence of
the mayor and the majority of the members of the town
council. In spite of an intense bombardment which partially
ruined the city, she took the most effective means possible
to maintain calm in the city and to protect the lives of the
inhabitants.

In this department, a lay instructress, Mlle. Cheron, merited a
citation which does not contain the least over-praise:

She evidenced the greatest energy in difficult
circumstances. Charged with the duties of Secretary to the
Mayor, and alone at the time of the arrival of the Germans,
she was not disconcerted by their threats, and kept her head
in the face of their demands with remarkable calm and
decision. When our troops returned, she assumed
responsibility for the service and feeding of the
cantonment. She personally took the steps necessary for the
identification and burial of the dead. Finally, she was able
to prevent panic at the time of the bombardment by the force
of her example and her encouragement of the populace.

Those three nuns were also Frenchwomen and fighters of whom the
"Journal Officiel" in the general order