again the thrill which I had when the weak and melancholy old driver
pointed out the first tomb. That which we had just seen was the front
once.



II On The French Front


We were met at a poste de commandement by the officers in
charge, who were waiting for us. And later we found that we were
always thus met. The highest officer present--General, Colonel, or
Commandant--was at every place at our disposition to explain
things--and to explain them with that clarity of which the French
alone have the secret and of which a superlative example exists in
the official report of the earlier phases of the war, offered to the
Anglo-Saxon public through Reuter. Automobiles and chauffeurs
abounded for our small party of four. Never once at any moment of
the day, whether driving furiously along somewhat deteriorated
roads in the car, or walking about the land, did I lack a Staff officer
who produced in me the illusion that he was living solely in order to
be of use to me. All details of the excursions were elaborately
organised; never once did the organisation break down. No pre-
Lusitania American correspondent could have been more spoiled by
Germans desperately anxious for his goodwill than I was spoiled by
these French who could not gain my goodwill because they had the
whole of it already. After the rites of greeting, we walked up to the
high terrace of a considerable chateau close by, and France lay
before us in a shimmering vast semicircle. In the distance, a low
range of hills, irregularly wooded; then a river; then woods and