renown, was on his way to Blois when he heard of
the magnificence of Gaston Phoebus, Count of Foix. Whereupon the
chronicler turned him about and jogged on his way to Foix. Gaston
Phoebus was not there, but at Orthez--150 miles west and north--and,
nothing daunted, to Orthez went Froissart, by way of Tarbes, traveling
in company with a knight named Espaing de Lyon, who was a graphic and
charmful raconteur thoroughly acquainted with the country through which
they were journeying. A fine, "that-reminds-me" gentleman was Espaing,
and every turn of the road brought to his mind some stirring tale or
doughty legend.

"Sainte Marie!" Froissart cried. "How pleasant are your tales, and how
much do they profit me while you relate them. They shall all be set
down in the history I am writing."

So they were! And of all Froissart's incomparable recitals, none are
more fascinating than those of the countryside Ferdinand Foch grew up
in.

II

BOYHOOD SURROUNDINGS

The country round about Tarbes has long been famed for its horses of an
Arabian breed especially suitable for cavalry.

Practically all the farmers of the region raised these fine, fleet
animals. There was a great stud-farm on the outskirts of town, and the
business of breeding mounts for France's soldiers was one of the first
that little Ferdinand Foch heard a great deal about.

He learned to ride, as a matter of course, when he was very young. And
all his life he has been an ardent and intrepid horseman.

A community devoted to the raising of fine saddle horses is all but
certain to be a community devotedly fond of horse racing.

Love of racing is almost a universal trait in France; and in Tarbes it
was a feature of the town life in which business went hand-in-hand with
pleasure.

In an old French book published before Ferdinand Foch was born, I have
found the following description of the crowds which flocked into Tarbes
on the days of the horse markets and races:

"On these days all the streets and public squares are flooded with
streams of curious people come from all corners of the Pyrenees and
exhibiting in their infinite variety of type and costume all the races
of the southern provinces and the mountains.

"There one sees the folk of Provence, irascible, hot-headed, of
vigorous proportions and lusty voice, passionately declaiming about
something or other, in the midst of small groups of listeners.

"There are men of the Basque province-