iment
of Hussars forming part of the Twentieth army corps, wrote to his
parents on July 5 an account of the maneuvers in which he had just
taken part. He said that "the presence of these two eminent men gave a
great interest" to the events he described. And the impression made
upon him by Foch is so remarkable that his letter is likely to become
one of the small classics of the war--endlessly reproduced whenever the
story of Foch is told.

"General Foch," he reminds his parents, "is a former commander of the
School of War, where he played, on account of his great fitness, a very
remarkable role.

"He is a man still young [he was almost 63!], slender and supple, and
rather frail; his powerful head seems like a flower too heavy for a
stem too slight.

"What first strikes one about him is his clear gaze, penetrating,
intellectual, but above all and in spite of his tremendous energy,
luminous. This light in his eyes spiritualizes a countenance which
otherwise would be brutal, with its big mustache bristling above a very
prominent, dominant jaw.

"When he speaks, pointing lessons from the maneuver, he becomes
animated to the extent of impassionedness, but never expressing himself
otherwise than with simplicity and purity.

"His speech is sober, direct; he affirms principles, condemns faults,
appeals to our energies in a brief but comprehensive style.

"He is a priest, who judges, condemns, and instructs in the name of the
faith which illumines him and to which he has consecrated all the
powers of his mind and his heart. General Foch is a prophet whom his
God transports."

The young officer who wrote thus to his parents was Captain Andre
Dubarle; and he later laid down his life for his country on the field
of honor commanded by General Foch.

The letter seems to me as treasurable for what it conveys to us of the
sort of young man Foch found among his officers and soldiers (there
were many such!) as for what it tells us of the impression Foch created
even in those days before men's souls were set on fire with fervor for
France.

On July 18 General Foch asked and obtained a leave of absence for
fifteen days, so that he might join the family group gathered at his
home near Morlaix in Brittany. His two sons-in-law, Captain Fournier
and Captain Becourt, also obtained leave. The former was attached to
the general army staff at Paris, and was granted seventeen days. The
latter was in command of a company of the T