llows hanging around a doorway, listening to a
gratuitous lecture on the 75, given by an elder.

"That's not true," cuts in one. "It's not that at all, the
_correcteur_ and the _debouchoir_ are not the same thing. Not by a
long sight! I ought to know, hadn't I, my father's chief gunner in his
battery."

"Ah, go on! Didn't Mr. Dumont who used to teach the third grade, draw
it all out for us on the blackboard the last time he was home on leave?
What do you take us for? Why he's even got the _Croix de Guerre_ and
the 'Bananna.'" [1]

Nor is the _communique_ ignored by these budding heroes. On the
contrary, it is read and commented upon with fervour.

In a little side street leading to the Seine, I encountered a ten year
old lad, dashing forward, brandishing the evening paper in his hand.

"Come on, kids, it's time for the _communique_," he called to a couple
of smaller boys who were playing on the opposite curb. The children
addressed (one may have been five, the other seven, or thereabouts)
immediately abandoned their marbles, and hastened to join their
companion, who breathlessly unfolded the sheet.

"Artillery combats in Flanders----" he commenced.

The little fellows opened their big candid eyes, their faces were drawn
and grave, in an intense effort of attention. Their mouths gaped
unconsciously. One felt their desire to understand, to grasp things
that were completely out of reach.

"During the night a spirited attack with hand grenades in the region of
the Four de Paris," continued the reader. "We progressed slightly to
the East of Mort Homme, and took an element of trenches. We captured
two machine guns, and made several prisoners."

"My papa's in Alsace," piped one listener.

"And mine's in the Somme."

"That's all right," inferred the elder. "Isn't mine at Verdun?" and
then proudly, "And machine gunner at that!"

Then folding his paper and preparing to move on:

"The news is good--we should worry."

Yes, that's what the little ones understood best of all, "the news is
good," and a wonderful, broad, angelic smile spread out over their
fresh baby faces; a smile so bewitching that I couldn't resist
embracing them--much to their surprise.

[Illustration: A COURTYARD IN MONTMARTRE]

"I just must kiss you," I explained, "because the news is good!"

From one end to the other of the entire social scale the children have
this self same spirit.

Seated at the dining-room table, a big spot