n his marshal's
baton in Napoleon's day, I suppose, though he was out of keeping with
those showy times. I did not then know that he was to be
Commander-in-Chief; only that all France thrilled with his name, which
time will forever associate with Douaumont. At once you felt the dynamic
quality under his agreeable manner and knew that General Nivelle did
things swiftly and quietly, without wasteful expenditure of reserve
force, which he could call upon when needed by turning on the current.

There was a stranger come to call; it was a rainy night; we had better
not drive back to the hotel at Bar-le-Duc, he suggested, but find a
billet in town, which was hospitality not to be imposed upon when one
could see how limited quarters were in this small village. Some day I
suppose a plaque will be put up on the door of that small house, with
its narrow hall and plain hat-rack and the sitting-room turned into a
dining-room, saying that General (perhaps it will be Marshal) Nivelle
lived here during the battle of Verdun. It is a fine gift, simplicity.
Some great men, or those who are called great, lack it; but nothing is
so attractive in any man. No sentry at the door, no servant to open it.
You simply went in, hung up your cap and took off your raincoat.

Hundreds of staffs were sitting down to the same kind of dinner with a
choice of red or white wine and the menu was that of an average French
household. I recall this and other staff dinners, in contrast to costly
plate and rich food in a house where a gold Croesus with diamond eyes
and necklace should have been on the mantelpiece as the household god,
with the thought that even war is a good thing if it centers ambition on
objects other than individual gain. Without knowing it, Joffre,
Castelnau, Foch, Petain, Nivelle and others were the richest men in
France.

A colonel when the war began, in the sifting by Father Joffre to find
real leaders by the criterion of success General Nivelle had risen to
command an army. Wherever he was in charge he got the upper hand of the
enemy. All that he and his officers said reflected one spirit--that of
the offensive. They were men who believed in giving blows. A nation
looking for a man who could win victories said, "Here he is!" when its
people read the _communique_ about Douaumont one morning. He had been
going his way, doing the tasks in hand according to his own method, and
at one of the stations fame found him. Soldiers have their phil